"Shepard. Shepard wake up," a voice broke through, jerking the Commander out of her slumber. She momentarily panicked as her thoughts turned to the time she had been woken up after Project Lazarus was attacked. It didn't help the voice was Miranda's once again.
"What? What is it?" Shepard mumbled, sitting up and rubbing her face with one hand. The 'few levels' Erica had mentioned had turned out to be about ten more. They were too tired to go further than two more so they had stopped to rest for the 'night'. Aria had been right about the 'within the week' rather than 'within the day'.
"We need to get moving, Shepard. We've almost arrived at Afterlife. That has to be the place Petrovsky is hiding. It's one of the more easily defensible positions on Omega. Come on," Miranda said.
The Commander groaned then nodded before sitting up. She pulled on her armor and helmet. She picked up her weapons. One by one they were strapped to her body in easily accessible places.
"Have we heard from Aria yet?" Shepard asked once her helmet was on securely.
"Not yet. I imagine we will soon. How's your leg?" Liara said.
"Still hurts. Going to need Chakwas to take a look at it when this is all said and done," Shepard admitted with a shrug of the shoulders. She glanced over at Erica who was again going helmetless. The Commander nodded to her a little in good morning. Erica returned the nod with a light smile.
"The medi-gel we used should control the swelling and most of the pain at least," Liara said. The five women then set off, going down multiple flights of steps and clearing the floors as they went. On the floor just above where Afterlife was, Aria opened up the communications.
"We'll take one entrance, you take the other. Try not to blow my club up while you're taking down that bastard Petrovsky," Aria said.
"I shall do my best, Your Highness," Shepard remarked, swapping out her pistol for her assault rifle.
"Hm. See that you do."
Shepard's eyes swept the immediate vicinity for any enemies or even a place in the floor to jump down into Afterlife. She found neither one.
The main entrance to Afterlife was the same as it always had been. Minus the bouncers and the long line of people waiting to get in, of course. Shepard stopped short when she caught sight of the glowing red lock on the door.
"Liara?" Shepard called out.
"I've got it," Liara said almost before Shepard got her name out. She moved forward then called up her omni-tool. Miranda and Ashley took up defensive positions. Shepard on the other hand grabbed Erica around the middle in a classic hostage pose.
"What the hell are you doing?" Erica demanded.
"Giving your boss pause when we meet with him," Shepard replied before promptly dragging the Cerberus soldier along. Liara got the lock open and the five women made their way inside. Ashley shot a couple of guards who had immediately rushed at them. Miranda dropped a third without skipping a beat. The second door was unlocked quickly. Once inside about two dozen rifles were pointed in their direction. Shepard knew however that reinforcements were on their way so she wasn't worried. Her gaze rose up to the box she had initially met Aria in. Petrovsky stared back at her, his face stoic.
"Come on out here, Petrovsky. This is our Bastogne. But I'm afraid you're not even close to being like the Allied Forces. And I'm a lot better than the German Army," Shepard called out, tightening her grip on Erica's middle as the girl began to squirm.
Shepard's jeering apparently worked as Petrovsky slowly and confidently strode out from the box and down the stairs to stand on the other side of the bar from Shepard. Neither could be standing relatively in the middle and hope to see the other.
"Do you honestly think holding one of my soldiers captive is going to help you, Commander?" Petrovsky asked calmly.
Miranda, Ashley, and Liara constantly looked around to be sure nobody would get the drop on them.
"From what I know about you, you're one of those people who doesn't care about hostages. But I figured it didn't hurt to try," Shepard said.
"Let me go," Erica begged.
Shepard chuckled before tossing the girl down. She then stepped forward, holding her assault rifle casually. She rounded the bar at the same time Petrovsky did. She did all she could not to favor her left leg which was still throbbing despite the medi-gel. Liara made sure that Erica would not go anywhere by throwing a stasis field around her.
"You could have been great, Shepard. Cerberus has needed someone like you for a long time now," Petrovsky said. They were mere feet apart.
"Could have been? I am great. And Cerberus isn't the same as it was. They've completely gone against their manifesto of protecting humanity's interests. I would never work for a Cerberus like that. I didn't even like working for Cerberus during the Collector Crisis. The Illusive Man knew exactly the type of person I was. Sometimes I wonder if he thought the idea of being indebted to him for bringing me back would prevent me from destroying as much of the Collector Base as I could and then destroying any Cerberus thugs I came across after the Reapers attacked Earth. I change for nobody. Not that it matters now since he's dead," Shepard said.
"Dead?" Petrovsky asked.
"Yes. Dead. I killed him myself after he killed Anderson," Shepard replied.
"Odd. I received a message from him not five days ago," Petrovsky said. Shepard felt like she had been punched in the gut without armor on.
"That's impossible. He's dead and nobody has his credentials to send out messages under his name," Miranda piped up from where she stood near the entrance.
"Well one of us must be wrong," Petrovsky said.
"Pretty sure that person is you. I saw him die. And even if my gunshot didn't take him out, getting caught in the explosion of the Citadel did. I barely made it out and that was because people were looking for me. The Illusive Man didn't have anyone looking for him," Shepard said.
"Shepard, we're in position," Aria's voice said in the Commander's helmet. Before Shepard could say or do anything the door behind Petrovsky opened. He whipped around for a moment before launching himself at Shepard. With a grunt she landed on her back with Petrovsky on top of her and grasping at her limbs to pin her down.
She gave a growl before flipping them, pinning him down. He glared up at her.
Ashley tried to find an opening to shoot Petrovsky but couldn't get a proper one that didn't have a chance of nicking Shepard too.
"Do you surrender?" Shepard said, tightening her grip on the older male's wrists.
"Never," Petrovsky said before flailing his foot at her. She inhaled sharply when his foot hit her wounded leg. The momentary distraction allowed him to kick her off of him. She landed hard on her back, staring up at the General as he removed his service pistol. She scrabbled for her own weapon. She ignored the throbbing of her leg as she finally got a grip on her assault rifle then pulled it up, pointing the muzzle at his face.
Aria's mercenaries had stormed the club in droves, taking down Petrovsky's personal guard with ease.
"Wait! Don't kill him!" Miranda called out. Shepard looked out of the corner of her eye at her former XO.
"Why the hell not?" Ashley and Shepard demanded at the same time.
"We need him to track down the person pretending to be the Illusive Man. He's our only link and we may not have another," Miranda explained.
"What makes you think I'll let you take me alive?" Petrovsky demanded.
"This," Liara said, mass effect field glowing brightly before she threw her hand forward. Just before the attack hit him, Petrovsky fired wildly. The shot slammed hard into Shepard's right shoulder, managing to hit the spot where her pauldron met the chest piece. Pain exploded in her shoulder while blood splashed on the floor but she ignored it. Shepard watched as the Cerberus General froze in place, a blue sheen to his body.
Ashley went over then helped the Commander up. Shepard nodded to her before grunting in pain and grasping her XO to stay upright.
"Somebody cuff him then we can drag him back to the shuttle," Shepard called out.
"I don't believe that was part of the deal, Commander," Aria said, walking over.
"The deal was I throw Cerberus off your station. I threw as many as I could off and I'm going to take their general with me. The deal is complete," Shepard replied.
"I'm going to get my revenge one way or another. I will kill you to get him if I have to," Aria said.
"Aria, I have saved your ass twice. I helped you control the Blood Pack, Blue Suns, and Eclipse multiple times. I made sure if people did fuck with you that they wouldn't again. Let me do that last thing twice. I need him for questioning or else you might find Cerberus knocking on your door again. And it may not just be simple humans next time," Shepard said.
Aria and Shepard stared at each other for half a minute. The Commander watched as Aria exhaled then shook her head.
The stasis field around Petrovsky had dropped but thanks to Liara's omni-tool his wrists were handcuffed behind his back.
"When you're done with him, I want him for my own questioning," Aria said.
"I will try to send him in your direction. But no promises," Shepard said.
"I suppose that's the best I can get."
"Most likely. There may be a few more holdouts in the nooks and crannies of this place but I'm sure you and the mercs can handle it. Glad I could help you employ violence."
Shepard grasped Petrovsky's arm then lead him out of the main entrance, the rest of her crew following closely behind.