Sorry it took so long, guys! I've been on vacation for a while, and all I could was brainstorm. But, after a month of waiting, here it is!

Chapter 2: Suns, Skycars, and Skydiving

Dust fell on my face. I opened my eyes, colors blurry and disorienting.I rubbed my eyes, and slowly sat up, grunting from the pain in my back. Then it all came back to me, the husks, the Reapers, the helicopters, the crash, Emilia…shit, where is she? I looked around, ignoring the protest from my neck as I turn side to side, searching. Then I saw the helicopter, which was crashed six feet from me. I got up, staggering, but I made my way to the crash site. "Emilia? Emilia, where are you?"

"Shit…"

I looked over the other side of the helicopter, and Emilia was leaning against the side of it, her right arm clamped over her left. "Glad to see you're still alive," she groaned. "Care to help?"

I vaulted over the helicopter, climbing slowly down the wreckage. "Injured?"

"Nothing too bad," she grunted, clutching her bleeding arm. "I've seen worse."

"I've got some medi-gel. Hold on."

I applied the medi-gel to the wound, and she gritted her teeth as the gel worked on her injury. "Are we the only survivors?" I nodded. "Shit…I can't believe this is happening again."

I suddenly remembered that she had crashed with her squad in a helicopter as well. "I'm guessing you won't be riding on helicopters any time soon?"

She chuckled. "Got that right. But shouldn't we be trying to find shelter or something rather than just sit here and chat?"

Good point. "Right, let's go." I looked around, completely blank about my surroundings. "Somewhere."

"Someone has to be the leader here. Do you want to be, or should I?"

"…I think I'll do it."

#############

The forest still looked the same. After what I thought was several hours had passed, we finally stopped walking, resting by a particularly big oak tree. "I think we're making progress," Emilia said sarcastically, sitting against the tree. I didn't respond.

"Hey, we're burning daylight here! We've got to move!"

I froze at the sound of the voices. Emilia sat up, reaching for the sniper rifle across her back. "Wait," I said, checking the heat sink on my assault rifle.

Emilia looked through the scope of her sniper rifle. "Blue Suns," she said. "Looks like scouts. About five of them."

"Blue Suns? What are they doing here?"

The merc squad slowly approached our position. "I think I heard something," said one of them, drawing his weapon. Emilia and I stood still, the silence thickening the air. "Forget it, there's nothing out here except dead people and husks."

"That's what I'm worried about."

The merc squad was five feet away, oblivious to the Alliance soldier slowly creeping up behind them. The Blue Suns suddenly turned around, guns aimed at me. "Might want to drop your weapons."

I turned around slowly. Emilia was standing there, her weapons on the ground and a pistol pressed against her neck. "Idiots," the Blue Suns merc spoke into his omni-tool, wrapping his arm around Emilia's waist. "can't you even spot one damn Alliance soldier and his girlfriend in this forest? That's what a recon team's for."

"Don't even bother trying to come up with an excuse; just secure the damn prisoners and take them back to base."

"Yes sir," said the merc numbly, and promptly hit me in the head with his gun. My vision went blurry, and then I couldn't hear anything at all. The last few pinpricks disappeared from my vision. Where are they taking us…

#############

"What's an Alliance soldier like you doing here? Thought they were finished already."

The merc interrogator punched me again, this time drawing a bit of blood. "We crashed in a helicopter after another attack," I said, spitting on the ground. "Then we just wandered through the forest until we met your squad. That's what happened."

"And what if I don't believe you?" he said, getting in my face.

"Then I'm going to regret this later," I said, throwing my head at his. He hit the ground, grunting and groaning in pain. My vision was awash in colors, and I could barely think. But it was worth it. He slowly got up, staggering towards me. The batarian reared back and punched me in the gut. I gritted my teeth and breathed deeply. "I'll be back for you later," he said, shutting the door.

I kicked the box next to me. How could I have been so stupid as to let my guard down to some mercenaries? "Damn it." I moved the handcuffs behind my back a bit; they weren't coming off anytime soon.

Emilia checked her own handcuffs. "Nothing," she said, struggling against her restraints.

Damn. Not even a location to work with. Waking up in a dimly lit room handcuffed to a metal pipe with a batarian hitting you didn't give that many hints. A drop of water dripped from the ceiling, about five feet away, and landed on my nose. It was then I realized that my helmet, and my weapons, was gone. I felt around my leg with my other leg for my knife. Damn, they took that too. "My knife's gone too," I said, stopping.

"Yeah, they made sure to take everything. How the hell are we going to get out of here?"

I grabbed my right wrist. "They didn't take everything."

I activated my omni-tool and keyed in the commands. Twin shafts of orange-colored kinetic energy shot out from the base of the omni-tool, the glow of the blade lighting up the room. "That's a new toy," Emilia commented, eyes wide.

"Guns weren't the only thing I picked up while I was at the armory," I said, cutting the pipe behind me with ease. I slid my handcuffs off the jagged edge and cut the chain. In a few seconds, Emilia was free too. "Did you see where they took our weapons?"

"No," she said, shaking their head. "Any chance they have an armory?"

"No chance in hell. So how am I going to unlock—"

The door slid open and the merc interrogator's expression went from a snarl to shock. I recovered first, lunging towards him and stabbing straight through his shields and armor and out his back. My left hand clutched his neck and I tackled him to the floor, blood leaking from his back. He struggled a bit and then stopped. I got up and wiped the blood off my chest armor. I looked back to Emilia. "A flair for drama, right?"

I looked at the blade, and deactivated it. "Just a quick learner."

I looked around. The room was huge, easily ten times larger than the one we were just in. Cranes dotted the ceiling, rust falling from the metal arms. Old conveyor belts crisscrossed the room, and dust-covered crates filled in the gaps. The windows near the ceiling were all shattered, only left with shards of glass sticking out from the edges. "Looks like an old factory," she said quietly, noting the loud echo.

"This one's been out of commission for a long time." It was then I saw the Blue Suns on the other side of the room.

"Get down!" I said, hitting the floor, Emilia sliding next to me a fraction of a second later. I could still hear the mercs through the mass of conveyor belts.

"Where the hell is Jella? You'd think he'd be done by now," said a human voice.

"Knowing him, he probably killed the prisoners. Hasn't been the first time," came the flanging reply.

"If I went to go check on him, I'd probably slip on the prisoners' blood getting to the room," said a different human voice.

They all laughed, the sound echoing all over the room.

"Hey, check this out!"

I heard another merc come into the room. "Check out that guy's pistol. Better than anything we got."

"Don't touch their weapons! They'll have to be dead first."

"With Jella in there, they will be. Come on, first come first serve."

The three mercs left, leaving the other one behind. I slowly edged towards the guard, making my way around the conveyor belts and fallen crates. "Come on, guys! Wait up!"

I heard something hit the ground. "Damn it. Stupid clip." I glanced around the side of the crate and saw the mercenary. My hand twitched around my omni-tool. The merc bent over and picked up the clip.

I sprang forward, tackling him. We crashed into a stack of crates, throwing up a fine cloud of dust. I heard an audible crack. Crashing into a stack of dusty crates is by all means not a good idea, even if there's a merc to break your fall. I coughed through the dust, slowly standing up. "A bit unnecessary, wasn't it?" said Emilia dryly, arms crossed. "I mean, couldn't you have just broken his neck?"

I picked up the pistol from the fallen merc. "That would take the fun out of it," I said, sliding the pistol into my holster. I checked his person for more and found two sticky grenades and Terminator assault rifle. "Want one?" I said, tossing her the rifle.

She snatched it mid-toss, examining its scope and design. "Not my type," she grimaced, adjusting a few settings on the gun. "But it'll do."

I pointed to my pistol. "We'll have to do with what we have. But let's see if we can find our weapons."

"Good, because I really don't want to have a death by shitty merc equipment." I looked around the assembly room. Two doors on each side of the room, and no exit. "I'll take one side," said Emilia.

"Good luck."

"I won't need it." The door slid open and she was gone. I sighed and opened my door. A narrow hallway stretched out in front of me, with several doors on each side. "Damn," I cursed, heading to the first door. It's never just one door and, bamn, you found your destination. No. Why does everything have to be so complicated and difficult?

I opened the first door and the two mercenaries stared at me in shock, one merc still holding his cup of coffee in frozen motion. And damn inconvenient, too. I fired first, smashing the cup of coffee and hitting the merc twice in the chest. His partner was smarter, ducking under my line of fire and ramming me against the wall. He fumbled for his pistol and jammed my omni-tool into his chest, forcing the blade through his armor. I twisted around and threw him into the table, leaving a jumbled and bloody mess of body and metal. I breathed deeply and examined their bodies. An out-of-date Scorpion pistol, two old fragmentation grenades, I could use those, and, oh, a thermal clip. These guys weren't the top-of-the-line mercenaries. I took the grenades and thermal clip and closed the door, locking it tight. Several more doors lay ahead of me. "This is going to be a while," I said to myself.

############

One more merc down. About a hundred more to go. I fired the assault rifle again, putting two more down. I get the barracks, full of merc recruits and amateurs with guns. Out of all the doors I could have picked, the second door happened to open into the merc barracks. I wonder what Emilia got? I popped out from behind cover, emptying the rest of my clip into another merc. I popped the clip out of the rifle and tested its weight. Hot, hot! Throw it fast, James. This is going to sting. I flung the thermal clip at a merc who had just stood up from cover. It hit him in the eye, and he yelled in pain and shock. I shot him.

Silence. I checked around the corners of the bunk. Nothing except dead mercs. I peeked over the top of the bunk and saw nobody. I crouched low and slowly advanced down the narrow pathway between the lines of bunks. Suddenly, I heard a shuffling noise three bunks ahead. I ducked behind one of the bunks and stepped on one of the bodies. His armor creaked a bit and something rolled from underneath the merc. A grenade. I held it for a second, looked up, and activated the explosive. I lobbed the grenade overhead. It exploded, and I heard someone scream as the fireball threw bunks and mercs around the room. I felt the heat from behind my bunk, warm to the touch. The glow died out, and I slowly stood back up. Stepping over the wreckage, I picked up a sniper rifle from a fallen merc, and noted its build. M-96 Mattock. Old rifle, mainly used by colonist militia. This one was adapted for thermal clips. Semi-automatic, but high damage rate and accuracy rating. Not the best, but it'll do.

I found another pistol, and discarded the assault rifle. Assault rifle and pistol. Just like the old days. I moved to open the door. Locked. Huh. Mercs must have closed it during the firefight. This'll take a few seconds…

The door unlocked and opened. A turian merc was standing in the doorway, still in the motion of opening the door. I swept his legs out from under him with my leg and jammed the pistol at the back of his head. I stuck my foot onto his back and twisted his arm, pinning him against the ground. "You're going to give me answers and you're going to do it fast. Where is this place?"

The turian grumbled something unintelligible. I twisted his arm a few more degrees and he yelled in pain. "We're in Syracuse."

"What the hell is the Blue Suns doing here?"

"Our boss, Riordan, set up here to take what we could from the Alliance bases—"

"So you were taking equipment and weapons that the Alliance is using to save people?"

The turian's head suddenly exploded in a burst of blue blood, spraying my armor. I stumbled back a bit, and looked for the sources.

I whirled around. The Ex-Costa Rican soldier was holding a new looking sniper rifle. "James. Having fun?"

"You could have shot me!"

"I could have. But don't worry, I'm a great shot."

I sighed. Emilia looked curiously at my rifle. "New gun?"

I looked at the assault rifle. "Mattock. I couldn't find ours though. You?"

Emilia shook her head. "I couldn't either. Let's just go, I think they know we're already—"

"Here." And the sound of a clip entering a gun.

I turned around, bringing my Mattock up. Two turians in blue tech armor armed with M-300 heavy shotguns, and one human in blue tech armor with a Vindicator assault rifle. Two Blue Suns Commanders and a Centurion. Not good odds at close range. "So you got out," he stated, sighing. He looked at one of the turians. "Next time, you're interrogating them."

The turian nodded. "I'm guessing you're not going to go quietly?"

"No," I said, diving to behind a column. I threw the grenade and Emilia shot it, exploding it mid-throw. The turians, unhindered, fired through the fire, barely missing Emilia and me. I activated my omni-shield. "Emilia! Get out of range! I'll hold them here while you set up!"

"You sure? Think you'll last that long?"

"I'm a captain in the Alliance for a reason! Just don't take too long!"

Emilia ran back and quickly disappeared in the smoke. A stream of water hit me in the face, and I realized there were sprinklers on the ceiling. Sprinklers. People haven't used traditional sprinklers in a long time. This factory is really old. I fired a concussive shot through the water and something heavy hit the shield. I pushed back; it was then I realized that one of the Commanders was on the other side. I looked up and saw the barrel of his shotgun. I ducked, and pushed him back with the shield. Something flashed overhead and the turian stumbled back, shields pulsating bright blue. I smelled burnt hair and felt my head. The bullet had singed the top of my head. "Damn it, Emilia!" I shouted into my omni-tool, throwing my weight against the turian again. "That's the second time today."

"Got to keep you on your toes. I'd watch out, though. The second turian's coming in, and I don't think I can take him from here." I looked ahead and saw the Commander approaching with another shotgun. I looked at the turian in front of me through my shield. This might actually work.

I lifted my shield and kicked his legs out from under him, and he was down. I hoisted him up onto my shield and pushed forward, with one omni-shield and one body-shield. Two loud cracks, and the body on my shield was a mess of blue blood and armor. I guess it's safe to say that the Blue Suns don't care about friendly fire. Figures. I grabbed my Mattock and fired at the second turian, shield in one hand and rifle in the other. The shots barely registered on his tech armor, and he inserted another clip into the Claymore. Another sniper shot and the gun was knocked out of his hand. I deactivated my shield, my omni-blade already out and coming towards the merc. He stepped back and hit wall. The blade cut through his shields and armor, and he slumped forward. "Emilia!" I yelled into the omni-tool, activating my shield again. "This sniper shots are really infrequent. I'd like them to happen more!"

"But then you wouldn't have any to kill."

"Damn it, Emilia! Just—"

Something exploded in front of me, past my shield, and I hit the ground. The centurion was standing in front of me, holding a metal shield and battle rifle. Another shot from Emilia and his shields flickered. He threw something down the hallway and suddenly the room was full of smoke. "If only you had just stayed in there," the Centurion growled, aiming the rifle at me. "Then you would have died more peacefully."

"Is there really a difference?"

I jumped, not backward but forward, tackling his legs and dragging both of us down. Through the pouring water, I saw something glint on his waist. I grabbed the knife and jammed it on his shoulder. Screaming, he used his uninjured arm and held my neck, squeezing. Black spots danced around my vision and I could barely move. Then, blood splattered on my face and he fell on me, almost blotting out my blocked vision.

"James," I heard someone faintly say. "Captain? Anytime now. Building full of mercs on full alert. Kind of in a hurry."

I wiped the blood and water from my eyes. Emilia was standing above me, firing at something out of sight. I groggily stood up, ignoring the blood running down my face. I really hope that's not mine. "A lot of mercs want to kill us right now," shouted Emilia, throwing me my gun. "But if you're okay with that, let me know."

She really knows when to throw in the sarcasm. I fired down the hallway, though I was unsure of what I was really firing at amidst the smoke and water. "I think we should go where the mercs are!" I shouted over the gunfire.

"Are you sure? That doesn't seem like the best plan at the moment!"

"It's the only one I have! That is, unless you have one."

"Not really!"

"Then we're off with the mercs!" I ran forward, pausing to grab the Claymore shotgun from the dead commander. Could come in handy. I rounded a corner in the hallway, and blew one merc back ten feet with the shotgun. Already has. I looked ahead to the door at the end of the hallway. Two mercs ran out of the door, and began firing at us.

Ten feet.

A sniper shot rang from behind me, and one of the mercs' shields faded away. I fired one concussive shot, knocking the merc against the wall. The second one loaded his missile launcher.

Five feet.

He fired a missile, the shot streaming past me as I rolled underneath it.

In range.

I fired the Claymore, ripping through his shields. Another crack from behind and the merc hit the ground. I reached for the door, but it was locked. "Emilia! Mind hacking this door?"

"Sure, no problem!" she shouted back, and accessed the lock on the door. "As long as there's no inherent danger, I'm fine with it!"

"As long as we both agree!" I unloaded everything I had in my Mattock, putting down two more mercs and knocking a third's shields off. I flung my grenade down the hallway and two more mercs bit the dust. I ducked behind an overturned table as bullets ricocheted all around me. "Are you done yet?"

"This would be a lot easier if I wasn't dodging fire at the same time! Keep them back!"

I popped my last clip into the Mattock. I breathed in deeply and closed my eyes. I opened them, and everything seemed to move in slow motion. I squared the sights on one merc. Two shots, no shields. One headshot, and the merc hit the ground. Two more headshots, and another merc's down. I saw a Blue Suns heavy approaching behind the merc lines. Four headshots, three for the shields, one for the head. The rest of my clip put two more down. Something grabbed my shoulder and shook me out of my reverie. "Come on! The door's open!"

I picked up the missile launcher from the merc behind me and ran through the door. This is a really big garage.

Rows of skycars were parked in the room, forming several lines. A Mantis gunship was parked on the last line. "Do you know how to fly a gunship?" I asked Emilia, running down the rows of skycars.

"I wish."

"Then I guess we can't take that one, then." I threw my last grenade at it, rolling next to the gunship. The explosion impacted its shields and flipped the entire vehicle onto the skycar next to it. I opened the door of one of the skycars and gestured at Emilia. "Do you want to drive?"

"Probably better than you," she grunted, sliding into the driver's seat. I could hear the mercs yelling at the door. I got into the back, noting the thermal clips and grenade lying on the seat. It's almost like they were preparing for something. Well, there's always the imminent threat of the Reapers to keep you on your toes. The skycar lifted into the air, and we were flying out of the factory. "Smooth sailing, huh?" I said, loading my Mattock.

"Please don't try to jinx it."

I looked back and saw the virtual fleet of armored skycars float up from the factory. "Then you're really going to hate this."

"Your fault."

We were ahead, but not by much. The other skycars were near ten feet of ours, flying in a loose formation. I popped open the side window and fired two missiles in their general direction. Something exploded, and I swore I could feel something land in the skycar. "I don't think I have enough ammunition for all of them," I yelled back at Emilia over the wind.

"Then you're going to have to make do with what you have!"

I stuck my head out the window and was almost hit by another skycar, which had accelerated ahead of us. I fired two missiles at it, and the burning car fell out of the sky. A missile shot past me and collided with a burned building, leaving a trail of dull orange smoke. Oh, we are in Manhattan. I could see the ruined twin towers as we flew by. Do we really have a chance against the Reapers? Another missile barely skimmed the top of our skycar, glancing off its shields and spiraling towards another building. Oh yeah, we're in a car chase. I fired all the missiles I had out the window, hearing the satisfying explosions of several skycars behind us. Several more to go.

Our skycar veered hard left and began to shake violently. "What's going on?" I shouted at Emilia.

"They're firing missiles!"

As if on cue, missile upon missile passed through my field of vision outside the skycar, some too close for comfort. One missile hit another skycar, and the vehicle disappeared in a plume of orange and black smoke. "James? There's been a complication. Before you see it, I have to tell you that it's not my fault."

"What are you talking about?" I yelled back, still trying to hit the mercs with my Mattock.

"That."

I looked ahead and saw it. That is definitely not good. A skyscraper was collapsing, an avalanche of metal, rocks, and ash freefalling to the ground. I could hear the rubble bouncing off the skycar's kinetic barriers. "Oh, shit! Emilia, can you fly through this?"

"I'm going to have to!"

I fired the Mattock through the chaos behind us. The mercs were still firing their missiles, but the falling rubble was destroying them as soon as they left the barrel. One skycar was speared by a steel column and went down. A falling rock smashed a front windshield and the skycar crashed into another skycar. A few rounds from my Mattock and the skycars vanished from sight. "James, next to us!"

The skycar jerked violently, almost throwing me off the skycar. Two skycars were quickly approaching the opposite sides of our skycar. I fired a few rounds from my Mattock, and then the rifle clicked. I really hate that sound. "Damn it! Emilia, toss me your rifle!"

"Kind of busy!"

I grabbed the rifle next to her. Helix sniper rifle. Made by Joganmund Technology. High accuracy rate and damage rate. But jams easily. Not my weapon of choice, but I have to make do. And then everything seemed to slow down. The merc were firing in slow motion. The building was sluggishly falling apart. I quickly put the sights on the merc to the right, and fired. The merc's shields collapsed and he was down. I whirled around and took the other merc before he even managed to fire a shot. Three more rounds into the front windshield, and the skycar was spiraling away.

Suddenly, everything was a blur. I could see pieces of metal and rock falling into our skycar, and everything was flashing red. It felt like the entire skycar was being torn apart by a giant. Everything was rolling, twisting, falling. And then, everything stopped. I think that was a landing. "James! Not again. Get up! We just landed on some building. We have to go, now!"

She grabbed her rifle from under the seat. Huh. I don't remember putting that sniper rifle under the seat. Emilia stood at the broken window, firing at something out of sight. I stood up and fell back down on my ass. It felt as though my stomach was on fire. I really doubt it's my stomach, though. Probably my ribs. Have to remind myself not to get into these situations. I picked up my Mattock, and then remembered it was out of ammo. I took my pistol out and popped the clip, jamming it into my Mattock. "There you go," I murmured to myself. "Sixteen shots. This is going to be tight."

I stumbled out of the skycar, and instantly took a burst of gunfire that took out my weakened shields. I fired at anything blue, and then realized I was almost out of ammo. I looked around. A rooftop door, surrounded by Blue Suns, a ventilation pipe, with a merc firing from behind it, and…the roof itself. "Emilia!" I shouted.

"Yeah?"

"Are you afraid of heights?"

She didn't waste anytime figuring out what I was thinking. "Are you shitting me? There's no way we're jumping off the roof!"

"Got any other ideas?"

"…Damn it! I hate it when you do that. Fine, when?"

"Now!" I opened the door to the skycar, and Emilia was running out. A few more shots and my shields were out. I swear a round barely missed my head. And then we ran out of roof. Just open space. Then we were falling, with nothing between us and the ground.

Shit.

I promise you that my posts will be a lot more regular than this month. A bit of a cliffhanger, right? (funny soundtrack) We'll see what happens next! Please review, I'd accept any new ideas!