A/N: Time for Kai Leng to make his first appearance. I really struggled with decision on which way to go with his character. I mean, he's a wannabe ninja running around with a big sword, how do I make 'that' appear serious and threatening? Then again, I didn't want to make him into an over the top parody. Or cut him from the story altogether, that seemed a bit lame, since he's an important antagonist.

During this predicament, I happened to read some of the official novels... and it made me realize one thing. Whatever plans I had about making him into a parody, were already outdone by the official novels. I can scarcely make Kai Leng more hilarious than Mr. Dietz managed. :)

Chapter 76 - Hades' Dogs Unleashed

On the route to pick up the hapless Lieutenant James Vega from Benning, the Normandy receives another urgent comm call, this time much to Shepard's surprise, it is the salarian councilor, Valern. Expecting to hear a great deal of admonishment for her handling of the krogan issue, Shepard still wastes no time in getting to the comm room, knowing that they currently have no leads to pursue and hoping that the salarian will provide something, even if it means subjecting herself to some aggressive chewing out.

"Commander... there is something we should discuss," she is quite correct, Valern sounds rather upset and strained. "If you are quite finished rewriting history."

"I'm done for now, thank you, Councilor," she nods politely. "I've saved your life once already, maybe you should start giving me a bit more credit."

"That is the only reason why we are even having this conversation, Shepard," the expression on the salarian's face is one of disapproval. "You'll forgive me for not seeing many positives in the prospect of billions more krogan running around the galaxy."

"And shooting the Reapers," Shepard adds.

"Yes... for now," Valern shakes his head. "But that was not my reason for contacting you. I have some concerns about the humanity's representative, Councilor Udina."

"I had my concerns about him since the very first time I met that blowhard," Morgan shrugs. "Or do you mean something specific?"

"My agents have discovered that he is using his authority to move vast sums of money," Valern says. "For what purpose, we're not sure."

"Hmm, never doubt a salarian's intel, one of the first rules of the galaxy," Shepard agrees. "Are you invoking my Spectre status to ask that I investigate Udina's activities?"

"First, I simply wish to review this evidence together with you privately, on the Citadel," the salarian councilor says. "Then we can decide how to proceed. Do not delay, Shepard."

"We will be at the Citadel very soon, Councilor," she speaks, watching Valern terminate the connection, before she activates her comms. "Hurry it up, Joker," she tells her pilot. "We need to pick up James quick and then hurry back to the Citadel. There... might be an emergency..."

Six hours later, during their approach to the Citadel, Joker calls for Shepard's presence on the bridge, his voice on the comms sounding odd and making Morgan worry. "Commander," her pilot speaks as she arrives to take in the always impressive and inspiring view of the heart of the entire civilized galaxy. "Take a look at this and tell me what's wrong with this picture."

Morgan stares for a while, the Citadel at first appears to be perfectly normal and ordinary, but then she realizes what exactly is off about the whole view, and that realization sends a small shiver through her frame. "The ships. Where the hell are all the refugee ships?" she blinks, surprised. "There should have been hundreds of them!"

"It's not just them who're missing," Joker adds. "I see no sign of the Citadel defense fleet."

"Well, the Council withdrew most of the ships for the defense of their homeworlds, but you're right, there should have been at least some ships patrolling," Shepard agrees.

"Even worse, the control towers are all dead," Joker tries the comms again, throwing his hands up in frustration. "Nothing! It's like the whole place is... wait, the emergency channels, perhaps someone's broadcasting there..."

"Do it," Shepard nods, starting to grow heavily concerned. This couldn't be a Reaper attack, the Citadel looks pristine and undamaged, and most importantly, there are no Reaper capitol ships or destroyers floating around and throwing shiny red rays of doom and destruction. But if not the Reapers... what else could be going on here?

"Hey! Yeah... yeah, this is Joker!" their pilot speaks excitedly, apparently having reached someone on the emergency channels. "Uh-huh. Yeah, no kidding!"

Shepard lightly punches Joker on the shoulder, giving him an admonishing glare. "Whoever it is, just put them through!" she urges.

"It's Thane," Joker says, acquiescing and shortly enough Morgan hears the voice of her old friend on the comms.

"Shepard, the Citadel is under attack," she can scarcely believe the words that Thane speaks. "Cerberus troops are everywhere, and they're in control of the docks."

"What the fuck, how could this be even happening?" Morgan asks desperately, wanting to scream in frustration. "What is going on down there, are you safe?"

"Nobody on the Citadel is safe, Commander," Thane replies. "I had to evade their commandos at the hospital, and now I'm hiding at a Presidium storefront."

"What are the Cerberus up to, Thane?" Shepard presses for more information. "Did you see if Kaidan got out safe?"

"I am unaware of their plans, Shepard, but there are scores of the dead everywhere," Thane explains, Shepard starting to feel dull throbbing in her temples as anger and rage start their gradual buildup. "I believe your friend Kaidan went to protect the Council. I was considering going to the C-Sec headquarters, myself."

"They would have hit that place hard, Thane," Shepard shakes her head. "Be careful."

"I'm aware, Commander," Thane replies. "But we must retake the headquarters. C-Sec response depends on restoring the communications and being able to coordinate their forces. If Cerberus control the HQ, they control the station."

"Okay, I got you Thane, that makes sense," Shepard acknowledges. "I'll put together my team and we'll come in with a shuttle in ten minutes. We'll hit those fucks so hard that the keepers won't be able to scrape their guts from the pavement." She closes the comms and then gives a sharp bark to Joker. "I want everyone in the docking bay, prepped and good to go in five minutes, round them up fast!"

With EDI following her straight off the bridge, the two of them arrive in the docking bay to see Lieutenant James Vega struggling to get into his replacement armor, the others rushing in shortly afterwards, Garrus, Javik and finally Liara. "What's the rush, Commander?" James asks, finally managing to close the straps of the armor. "I thought we were going back to the Citadel?"

"We have arrived at the Citadel," Shepard smiles thinly. "Except that apparently it's now swarming with Cerberus, trying to stage some kind of crazy coup!"

"What? That is insane!" Vega's eyes go wide as saucers.

"Finally, an opportunity to deal with these traitors once and for all," Javik speaks grimly.

"These massive plans must be why they were so desperate to turn to abducting civilians on Benning, just to have enough shock troops!" Liara realizes.

"I wonder if this has anything to do with Councilor Valern's suspicions of humanity's councilor that you mentioned," Garrus muses, looking at Morgan. "What do you think, Shepard?"

Shepard shrugs her shoulders before getting into the shuttle. "I don't know yet, Garrus. But if Udina is somehow involved, then let me make one thing clear - he's a dead man walking."

Cortez swiftly brings the shuttle through the open Presidium areas, smoke and fire rising from this once peaceful corner of the Citadel, then turning into the access passages to the Wards. The fighting is fierce across all of the Citadel without exception, and the C-Sec resistance looks to be disorganized and outmatched, Cerberus attack taking everyone by surprise. Morgan remembers well the last time she saw Citadel in such a shape, during Sovereign's attack, but this is something different, something almost incomprehensible that this fortress housing millions could fall to a stealth attack by a terrorist organization.

"This is... fucking unbelievable," Shepard mutters to herself as the shuttle quickly takes them past disturbing scenes of Cerberus troopers executing C-Sec officers raising their hands in surrender, mowing down helpless, fleeing civilians, tossing grenades at the escaping skycars, watching them plunge to fiery and explosive end. "What the hell is wrong with these people? What is the point of such slaughter... just so freaking surreal to see this..."

"They're no longer people. Not truly, not after what the Illusive Man has done to them," Liara speaks, giving her a sorrowful stare.

"Yeah, I guess," Shepard nods. "Still, many yet join willingly, we must not forget that, no matter how much we would like to dehumanize the enemy. Humanity unleashed this blight upon the galaxy, and we should not make excuses for it."

"I don't really see this as something that humanity should apologize for," Garrus shrugs his shoulders. "Just because Saren was a turian, nobody really pointed fingers at all turians after that."

"Yeah, but imagine if he hadn't used an army of geth, but instead had thousands of indoctrinated turians at his disposal," Shepard replies, watching Garrus flinch as he understands the implication.

Any further banter is cut off, however, as Cortez speaks up from the pilot's seat. "Bringing you in, Commander, but the landing pad is really hot," he shouts. "It's a warzone out there!"

Liara's biotics flare up the same moment as the shuttle doors open, the barriers allowing them to safely emerge and drop into cover, amidst heavy weapons fire. Cortez immediately makes a break for it, the Kodiak already punctured by bullet holes and starting to catch fire. In the wide docking bay in front of the C-Sec headquarters, the Cerberus forces have cornered a small group of remaining C-Sec officers, and Shepard's arrival is extremely timely, as it distracts the enemy forces enough to allow the besieged security personnel to recover their breaths.

There are roughly two dozen of the Cerberus goons in the docking bay, including the extremely irritating engineers, their deployed turrets preventing Shepard's team from doing much more than simply holding position. Realizing how badly Shepard and her group are boxed in, the C-Sec forces launch a desperate counterattack that leaves several of them cut to ribbons by the turret fire, but at least their sacrifice buys time for Shepard's team to leave the narrow strip of the landing pad and scatter their forces throughout the docking bay, making it impossible for the turrets to keep them all pinned down at once.

After a long and hectic battle, the Cerberus forces finally are defeated, but it is too late for most of the remaining C-Sec officers, only a few are still able to walk and Shepard is relieved to see Bailey amongst them. Not that there is anything much to be relieved about, the docking bay is drowning in blood after this insane massacre, the C-Sec and Cerberus casualties both numbering close to three dozen.

"Good timing, Shepard," Bailey greets her, breathing heavily as he wipes flecks of blood away from his face. "Bloody hell, this is a real mess! Cerberus attacking the Citadel? Insane... but at least with you here, our efforts to retake the headquarters won't be doomed to failure."

"So, you had the same idea as Thane, eh?" Morgan remarks, still feeling as if she is trapped in some kind of weird, surreal nightmare that will surely end when she finally manages to wake up and open her eyes. "He said that the C-Sec forces won't be able to coordinate their actions without their network access restored."

"In that case, let's get in and kick those assholes out," James grinds out angrily, pointing at the entrance to the headquarters. "They've probably fortified the place heavily."

"They stormed out to greet us, when we launched our counterattack," Bailey shrugs, he and his remaining three officers using the pause to catch their breaths and tend to their injuries. "Might mean that they left their positions in weakened state, we have no option but to try anyway."

With everyone covering him from potential Cerberus weapons fire, Commander Bailey opens the doors leading inside the C-Sec headquarters. The large foyer inside is empty, save for several dead law enforcement officers, the walls riddled with bullet marks and sprayed with dark, congealed blood. Seeing that there are no Cerberus forces present, Bailey quickly takes a seat behind the desk with a computer console and works swiftly to regain access to the C-Sec network.

"There we go. Our eyesight has been restored," he says, wiping his brow and looking relieved, before looking at one of his men. "Herk, you better seal those doors behind us, just in case. We'll dig in here, so I'd prefer not to worry about more Cerberus reinforcements pouring in."

The officer is already heading towards the doors, when Shepard steps into his path, stopping him. "Wait a moment," she raises her hand. "Bailey, can you get the location of the Council?"

"Working on it already," Bailey nods, then pausing. "Hello... look at that. A warning from Councilor Valern? He's supposed to be here in the headquarters, meeting with the executor. 'Be on guard - the likelihood of betrayal from within is high...' There's not a lot beyond that. But if he's inside..."

"Bailey, Valern contacted me about twelve hours earlier," Shepard says grimly. "That's the only reason I'm actually here, I came to speak with him. He... mentioned something about Udina possibly being dirty..."

"That's... crazy!" Bailey's first reaction is disbelief. "Although... hmm." He thinks for a while. "That would mean Udina has Cerberus friends. Damn. I can... actually see that. Damn it."

"We've got to get to Valern," Shepard says determinedly. "But we can't forget about the other councilors either. Can you get a fix on Tevos or Asparagus?" She hears Garrus chuckling at her nickname for the turian councilor.

"They should still be on the Presidium, somewhere," Bailey says, having poked around the network. "...together with Udina. Damnation, this is... not good."

"Yeah, that's why I asked you to stop before sealing the doors," Shepard explains, before turning to Lt. James Vega. "James, take one of the C-Sec skycars outside. I want you to get to the Presidium ASAP and do what you can to protect the councilors. Take EDI and Prothy with you."

"Understood, Commander," James salutes, looking eager to make amends for his Benning disaster. "What about Udina?"

"Watch him, but don't reveal that we know about his involvement," Shepard instructs him. "Claim that you are there to protect all three of them from Cerberus. It's probably best if you do not strike up any conversation with Udina in particular." James just nods and together with EDI and Javik they swiftly leave, Shepard relieved to see that the docking bay is still free of any Cerberus reinforcements and her friends can safely grab a skycar and be on their way.

As Officer Herk works on sealing the doors behind them, Shepard turns towards Bailey again. "So, any clues where I should go to find Valern?"

Garrus speaks up instead. "The executor's office is in a fairly defensible position, and would be the logical choice from where to start our search. I can take us there, Shepard," he says.

"We'll stay here, and coordinate what is left of our forces," Bailey adds, then switching on his omni-tool for a quick data input. "There, Shepard, I've given you access to the C-Sec network. We can keep up on the omni-tools."

"Excellent," Shepard nods, together with Liara following Garrus' lead. "Keep us in the loop of what's going on, Bailey. We'll clear out the offices ahead, make sure nobody gets a drop on you."

"Much appreciated, Shepard," the grizzled C-Sec Commander says, looking very thankful for their aid, and for saving his life and those of his officers.

The opposition in the offices beyond the foyer is very light at first, it would appear that most of the Cerberus forces had swarmed outside to the docking bay as soon as they heard of the C-Sec counterattack. The smaller groups of several troopers provide little difficulties for Shepard, Liara and Garrus, and they advance quickly. Thane contacts her on a private channel during their passage through the offices, informing Morgan that he has nearly reached the headquarters, sounding amused at Shepard's implication that he would be unable to enter now that the doors have been sealed.

Garrus in particular looks distraught at the state of his former, albeit despised, workplace. Some of his fellow officers he has actually respected, and now he sees them lying crumpled on the floor, dead. To make things even worse, closer examination of the corpses paints a particularly grim picture. Bullet entry wounds at the back of the head in some of the cases suggest a surprise attack launched by traitors within, realization that makes Garrus' eyes harden and become cold as ice, his mandibles slightly twitching from rage barely kept in check.

And Cerberus have been extremely thorough, Shepard's team have gone through the entire first floor without finding a single survivor, only close to twenty dead C-Sec officers. The attackers have executed even those stuck in the bathroom at the time of the assault, two of the hapless men lying prone on the floor with their pants down, Shepard and Liara looking away while Garrus bends down to make their appearance a little more dignified in death, swearing angrily under his breath as he works. "Lamont," he says, looking at one of the surprised officers, shot while relieving himself. "One of the decent guys around here. Didn't deserve this kind of death. None of them did."

"Every death will be repaid tenfold, Garrus," Shepard says, cold steely edge to her voice. "An eye for an eye no longer suffices. I want to make them suffer."

"Agreed," Garrus nods. "There's a long queue lining up after the Illusive Man's head, and I'm claiming a spot in it. I want to see that bastard die horribly, Shepard."

"Please... let's just focus on finding the councilor," Liara interrupts them. It looks as if she wants to tell them not to give in to these visions of revenge, but finds herself unable to, almost disgusted with herself for agreeing with the sentiment in the face of the atrocities performed here.

They take an elevator to reach the upper floors, coming closer to the executor's office, but the picture around them remains the same, small groups of Cerberus patrolling through halls littered with the dead. As they walk by, Liara suddenly gasps and bumps into Shepard when a large pile of corpses suddenly and unexplainably makes a tiny movement. They quickly run towards it, trying to see if it is a sign of a survivor, the shocking image reminding Morgan of her own experiences on Elysium, and the way she had been able to hide herself from the swarming batarians.

There is a single survivor, a thin and wiry human female, her blonde hair matted with blood and she is unable to speak coherently, her only responses coming in ragged coughs and moans. "Ridgefield?" Garrus blinks, before quickly administering medi-gel to stabilize the critically injured officer. "I remember her. Tiny ball of hatred, we called her. Tough as nails, this one, if anyone would survive this... figures it'd be her."

"Commander Bailey?" Liara is on the comms immediately. "We have a survivor, Officer Ridgefield, but she is badly wounded and in need of assistance. Can you send someone up? The way is clear."

"Just her? Damn!" Bailey sounds distraught, clearly having expected more survivors, but the indoctrinated Cerberus troops possess no concept of mercy. "Well, it's better than none, thank the gods. Shaw will be with her in a moment."

"She'll be alright, Garrus," Shepard says kindly, tugging her friend on the shoulder, making him straighten up and rise. "We need to continue and find Valern." Garrus simply nods and falls in step behind her, following onwards, into a larger hall that houses a cafeteria.

"Almost there, Shepard," Garrus says. "Next stairway leads right to the executor's office."

Six Cerberus troopers immediately pour out of the stairway to confront them, running straight into the line of fire of two sniper rifles and the destructive biotics of one extremely pissed off asari. Scant moments later, Shepard and her friends step over horribly disfigured Cerberus corpses and run up the last few steps to the executor's office, Morgan swapping her sniper rifle for the Carnifex and readying it as Garrus punches in the door code, stepping aside as the entrance slowly parts.

Inside, there are only corpses, one of them is a human slumped across the desk, the new replacement to Executor Pallin not lasting very long in his post. Then there are two salarians, lying silent and prone on the floor, but Valern is not amongst them. "Where the hell could he be, we've searched through the entire headquarters, haven't we?" Shepard asks Garrus, feeling puzzled.

Garrus is standing at the window of the executor's office, looking down at the cafeteria below them. He seems to be staring at something in particular, one of the tables at the edge of the hall. Shepard is about to ask Garrus what is it that he finds so interesting about this particular object of observation, when a faint movement of one of the chairs at the table sparks a flash of understanding.

"And there's our salarian..." Shepard smiles, about to turn around, when suddenly, someone else makes their presence known in the hall below. A tall, agile black shape leaps from somewhere high above and lands next to the table that Valern is hiding under, kicking it aside with their foot to reveal the frightened councilor. "Who the fuck is that?" Shepard snarls, pointing her Carnifex at the window and shooting to shatter the glass, then jumping through the hole to come to Valern's aid, Liara and Garrus following her example.

The black-clad assassin leaps over the salarian councilor, keeping Valern trapped in the middle between the Cerberus agent and Shepard's team. The assassin raises his arm and Shepard sees a surge of energy gathering in some kind of a weapon in his palm. Even if the stranger is wearing a hideous headgear that looks more suited for a masquerade, his Asian features are still apparent, making Shepard very puzzled about his purpose. Is he sending some futuristic Japanese ninjas after us now? Methinks Tim has watched far too many crappy B-vids, she decides.

"Don't even think about it, ninja-boy," Shepard says warningly, watching Liara and Garrus slowly circle around Valern, their weapons ready to take a shot at the assassin. "Three against one, pal. It's over."

"No. Now it's fun," the assassin replies smugly, the ball of energy in his palm about to burst in deadly discharge, when suddenly there is a heavy pistol pressed against his temple, Thane appearing seemingly out of nowhere to stop the attack. The assassin is very fast, though, and manages to swiftly knock the pistol aside, and he and the drell begin trading heavy blows, the movements of the two assassins so fast that they almost become a blur, making it difficult for Shepard and her friends to take aim without risk of shooting Thane.

The Cerberus assassin finally throws Thane to the floor, exposing himself to their weapons fire, but as they are about to shoot, he suddenly disappears from view, activating his cloaking. Thane also rises quickly, pulling out his pistol as they surround Valern, determined to protect the surly salarian councilor at all costs.

The assassin finally reappears very close to Thane, drawing a sword and rushing Thane, who unloads several shots but they are all absorbed by the assassin's powerful barriers and the drell is forced to duck swiftly to avoid being skewered in half. As the assassin charges by him, Thane quickly throws several punches to the attacker's midsection, followed by a biotic-charged punch that sends the assassin flying through the air and collapsing on the floor.

"What the fuck was that?" Shepard blinks, shaking her head as they all cautiously advance on the fallen assassin. "Did you see that? A sword? A fucking sword? We're in the 22nd century, you stupid asshole!"

Shepard's mocking appears to have hit a sensitive spot, for the assassin is quickly back up on his feet, grabbing his fallen sword and charging at them again, despite Morgan and Thane shooting at him, Garrus trying to overload his shields and Liara attempting to trap him in a biotic stasis. His barriers appear being able to take a lot of punishment, and he manages to reach them, forcing Thane and Morgan to stop shooting and get out of the way of their opponent's wicked looking sword. His swing just about misses Morgan, but Thane, too bold in his attempt to put down the persistent assassin, does not manage to dodge in time. There is a spray of red blood that hits Morgan in the chest and her face, as the sword passes through Thane's stomach.

The assassin's barriers finally break following his successful attack, and sensing his own vulnerability, the Cerberus bastard activates his cloaking and disappears from their view again. As Shepard drops on her knees next to Thane, Garrus and Liara continue to look around, trying to listen and watch for the slightest of noises or movements, the turian suddenly starting to shoot in the direction towards the exit from the cafeteria, one of the bullets striking true as a pained groan reveals their quarry. With great speed, the wounded assassin flees the scene, and they choose not to immediately pursue him, too worried about Thane's health and Valern's safety.

"Thane! Thane, how bad is it?" Morgan asks, taking the drell's hand, already knowing the answer. With his illness, now this loss of blood... damn, this is it, isn't it? She realizes with numbing sadness, quickly administering medi-gel to slow the bleeding. Another friend lost, and so soon after Mordin, this is not fair, it's just not fair!

"I have time, Shepard," Thane replies weakly, slowly pulling himself up against the wall in a sitting position, despite Shepard's attempts to keep him lying on the ground. "Just catch that bastard."

"Shepard, I know you want to take care of your friend, but you need to follow that assassin," Valern says, looking very worried. "Udina is with Tevos and Sparatus. He plans to hand them over to Cerberus who would then execute my colleagues! You must not allow that to happen!" Shepard hesitates momentarily. "I will remain here and watch over your friend, until the C-Sec arrives," Valern tells her. "Just... go! Save the others!"

"What would you do without me to save your skins, councilors?" Shepard allows herself a thin smile as she rises, giving one last sad stare at Thane, the brave drell looking calm and reassuring, despite knowing that his injuries coupled with his illness are surely fatal. "Just promise me to hold on, Thane. I want us to have a good, long chat, after I'm done saving Tevos and Asparagus."

Thane gives her one of those soft expressions that apparently pass for a drell smile. "Very well, Commander. I promise to wait for your safe return..."