Paths to Vengeance
Chapter 13 reasons
Authors notes I don't own Mass Effect Bioware does and this fic is a slight crossover with the film War, just so you all know.
Also I recommend that all my readers check out the fics written by Angels Anthem, Appa Appa Away, LongLiveThe Clones, XxheavendragonxX, Aurora Lunar 0Love This0, Icehockeychic4 and Canadiancloneluver as they are seven of the best writers on this site in my opinion. And please if you read this fic let me know what you think of it good or bad comments let me know as I want your opinions on it.
Now there are some references to the TV Show Firefly in this and the next few chapters just letting you know and I dont own that either.
And lastly I recommend that all of readers have a look at the work written by Guardian Kitch as the work that author has written is very, very good.
Well that's enough of an authors note on with chapter 13.
The Normandy
Rogue entered the debriefing room and as he did EDI locked the door to make sure no one else would be able to barge in per The Illusive Mans orders.
As Rogue stood on the projector he saw himself facing a hologram of his former employer The Illusive Man. The leader of Cerberus said "Its been a long since we last spoke to each other, I have a lot of questions and I'm sure you do as well. Now please tell me why are you working for Aria T'Loak and why did you go off the grid for 3 years after you done that last job for us?".
Rogue was silent before he said "I made it clear that I was alright with killing that C-Sec officer, he shot me in the face, but I didn't want to kill the wife and daughter, I don't kill civilians, too messy. But I did it after that I went back home where an assassin was waiting for me, a Cerberus assassin. He wouldn't tell me who sent him to take me out, but I have a pretty good idea who sent him, it was you. Now I want to know why did you send him after me?".
The Illusive Man was shocked at this and said "It wasn't me, you know that if I wanted you dead, you would have died, heck I could have killed you years ago when the Alliance sent you to kill me, but I didn't and do you remember why?".
The assassin replied "Only too well".
Flashback 13 years ago Earth
The three Systems Alliance Admirals, Admiral Stephen Hackett, Rear Admirals Khakou and Mikhailovich. Hackett merely looked at the assassin known as Rogue and said "We may never have another opportunity like this again, our deep cover operatives in Cerberus have all informed us that The Illusive Man will be on Earth for a few days after that he will disappear once again and we wont be able to take him down. Now we'll have a squad of N7 soldiers standing by to help you in the operation, they'll be under your command. Is there anything else you need to know?".
As he looked over the files Rogue asked "What kind of opposition are you expecting there to be there, you know as well as I do that The Illusive Man is going to have his best operatives with him to watch his back?".
Mikhailovich answered "We expect he'll have no more then 5 people with him patrolling the area. Your best bet will be to take him out when he is at the cemetery in Kazito, is that acceptable?".
Rogue nodded and said "He'll be dead soon I assure you, good day admirals".
A week later Kazito Asia
As the cemetery was closed for the evening Rogue watched from outside a nearby café just as several people entered the cemetery and started to patrol the area and Rogue recognised 1 of the people from the files the Alliance gave him, it was The Illusive Man himself, looked like the Intel was finally right for once.
Rogue quickly stood up and left money on the table as he left the café and headed to the rear entrance where several undercover N7 Alliance special forces soldiers were waiting for him. Rogue then said to them "All of you stay here I'll go in first, if you hear loud gunfire then come in all guns blazing, till then stay here wait till I contact you".
The soldiers acknowledged the orders as Rogue walked over to the locked gate and shot the lock off with his silenced pistol before he entered the cemetery and quickly got behind cover.
When he saw no guards were nearby Rogue moved up from the rear to where he saw shapes in the distance moving throughout the area, keeping watch as their boss was here though he was here was something the Alliance Admiralty couldn't figure out despite the best efforts of their operatives.
As Rogue got closer to the guards, he stayed where he was and waited till 1 of them was isolated and alone before he took out a knife and snuck up behind him as he slit the man's throat.
With that done Rogue hid the body from sight before he moved forward following the other 4 guards from a safe distance.
Rogue took his time as he took out another 2 guards with his blade without causing alarm and once the last two met up for a smoke Rogue took out his pistol and fired twice killing both men and it then that he saw The Illusive Man just ahead looking over 2 gravestones with a mournful look on his face.
Rogue didn't waste any time and aimed at the terrorist leader and was about to take the shot when The Illusive Man raised his head and without even turning around said "I know your there Rogue".
Before Rogue could do anything at all after he heard this, 3 Cerberus operatives appeared in front of him as they turned off their Tactical Cloaks the operatives then quickly disarmed Rogue and had him on his knees as The Illusive Man walked over to him.
The leader of Cerberus then knelt down so he was staring right into Rogues eyes as he took out a cigarette and lit it before he finally said "You honestly believed that the Alliance could have done all of this without my knowledge Rogue, remember I have many people in the highest levels of the Alliance both in the government and the military who sympathise with Cerberus and want us to do what we do".
Rogue then interrupted as he said "What you do, you have these lackeys of yours rig ships to explode over planets to deliberately expose people to dust Element Zero not caring at all about the consequences just as long as human Biotics are born and for what!".
The Illusive Man answered "Those were all necessary as humanity needs whatever it can get, we made contact with the Council through war by breaking laws that we never even knew existed and 27 years later we are still treated with distrust and suspicion and we don't have a say in Citadel affairs at all despite being a member of Citadel Space. Cant you see now that humanity needs Cerberus to protect it from the other species. And I know all about you as well, I know all about the work you have done for the Alliance, you have killed not only pro human terrorists but you have also killed several non humans as well for the Alliance, so that was why I arranged for all of this. This was all a test of your abilities".
As he struggled against the guards holding him on the ground Rogue said "This was an audition, for what exactly?".
The Illusive Man merely waved his hand as he replied "Doesn't matter you have failed, kill him".
As the Cerberus operatives were just about to kill him, Rogue managed to break free and got his knife back in his hands as he quickly killed the three Cerberus operatives before he turned to face The Illusive Man as he held a knife in 1 hand and a pistol in the other.
The leader of Cerberus smiled and blew cigarette smoke out of his mouth as he said "Very impressive, you have indeed lived up to your reputation, but before you kill me. I'll tell you a secret few people in the universe actually know. The real reason why I created Cerberus. Do you see these graves here".
As he pointed to the 2 behind him Rogue nodded as The Illusive Man continued by saying "That is my wife Amelia and my 3 year old daughter Katherine, they were killed in the first contact war. After their deaths I made Cerberus to make sure no else suffered like I did ever again and to make sure that we could defend ourselves against any and all threats to humanity. Now you can join us, Cerberus needs someone with your skills Rogue and you can do much more to help humanity then you could ever do by working for the Alliance admiralty as their plausible deniability. What do you say Rogue, will you stand with Cerberus to protect humanity?".
Nothing was said at all before a few moments and suddenly The Illusive Man said "Besides Rogue if you do kill me then you know that Cerberus will hunt you down until the day you die to get revenge, and to do that they will use any and all means possible to get to you. That would out your mother at risk wouldn't it, your elderly mother who is dying would die because of your actions here tonight Rogue. So are you going to kill me or take my offer and join us?".
After a few minutes Rogue lowered his weapons and said "I'm in, now what do you want me to do?".
The Illusive Man answered "Eliminate those Alliance soldiers with you then we begin to do our job, protect humanity".
End of flashback
Rogue then said "I joined Cerberus because it was the only way to save my family but you were right the work I done working for you allowed to do more to help the Alliance then I ever could do working for them. But that's the past, I can see your future Illusive Man and here it is. You'll look on in horror and fear as your whole organization is torn apart and your powerless to stop it. And after everything you've built as the leader of Cerberus crumbles right in front of you, And as you run in fear throughout the galaxy terrified of the thought of me coming for you, I'll be there to kill you once and for all".
The Illusive Man was silent for a few minutes before he smiled and said "Do you really think you'll be able to take down Cerberus like that Rogue, even if you did do all of this damage, you have to know that you couldn't possibly destroy the entire organization from the top to bottom. No one person can do it, not you, not Shepard and most certainly not even me. Now why are you doing this?".
He got no answer at all as Rogue simply turned around and left the debriefing room. The Illusive Man then opened up communications with Kai Leng and said "Rogue has not explained why he has now turned against us, so how close were you exactly to finding Grayson?".
Kai Leng replied "I was very close sir, why do you have a plan sir?".
The leader of Cerberus nodded and told his top assassin about his plan.
Terminus Organised Crime Unit headquarters
As Daniel Carl looked wrote up his report on the raid on the main Blue Suns base on the Citadel he thought back to something he hadn't thought about in a good long while.
Flashback 6 years ago C-Sec Academy
As C-Sec detective Garrus Vakarian dragged in the smugglers he just arrested for selling Red Sand he saw a young human man walk over to him the man said "Are you Garrus Vakarian?".
Garrus nodded as he asked "Who are you exactly?". the man extended his hand as he answered "I'm Daniel Carl your new partner, Pallin assigned me".
Garrus then said "OK help me get these 2 smugglers into interrogation rooms and then we'll get to work on getting to the bottom of this drug smuggling ring". Daniel simply done as Garrus instructed and knew already that this would be the start of a good partnership for both men.
End of flashback
Sadly though that wasn't the case 3 years into their partnership Garrus and Danny had discovered evidence of corruption in C-Sec at the highest levels.
According to the evidence they found apparently some members of organised crime were on the payroll of the gangs and mafias that were on the Citadel, and done favours for them in exchange for payoffs.
In Narcotics members of that unit helped the dealers escape being caught by C-Sec and also help them smuggle the drugs on and off the Citadel, even members of C-Sec who patrolled the streets were apparently framing Quarians for crimes they didn't commit due to the racism of Citadel spaces against their people for an incident that happened 300 years ago.
And as Garrus was put in charge of the investigation by Executer Pallin, all of the corrupt officers were arrested and put in prison but it ended with Danny being implicated by this group who were determined to make sure if they went down that they didn't go down alone.
The result was that Danny got fired from C-Sec and Danny maintained his innocence even as he walked out the door of the academy and Garrus didn't believe him that made him angry the most, the thought that his own partner and friend of over 3 years could believe he was corrupt by the evidence and not think to question it at all.
Danny then forgot about the past and focused on the future as the Citadel Council made it clear that in return for his help on the taskforce Danny would be given back a position in C-Sec and Danny was not going to let anything get in the way of that.
The Normandy
As Rogue headed down to the lower level of Deck 4 he saw Jack in the darkness loading her guns she said "What is the Cerberus gun for hire doing here, has that cheerleader Miranda ordered you to get rid of me, if so get ready for the fight of your life".
As Jack got ready to unleash a Biotic attack, Rogue held his hands up and he explained "I'm not here to kill you I don't work for Cerberus anymore, and frankly I hate that cheerleading genetically perfect brat as well".
When she heard that Jack merely put down her arms not about to attack and said "What is your game, are you down here to pretend to be my friend like others did so they can use me, or is this a new Cerberus ploy?".
Rogue answered "I used to work for them I admit it but not anymore, Jack I hate Cerberus just as much as you do, maybe more and I will make them pay for what they did".
Jack then asked "Why do you hate Cerberus what did they do to you?".
Rogue was silent before he said "They made a fatal mistake, and here is a warning, I heard the cheerleader tell Shepard that you were a mistake and Cerberus was right to what they did to you all those years ago at that facility, and that you may have to be put down like the mad, insane psycho that you are, so what are you going to do about that Subject Zero?".
As Jack started getting enraged at this news Rogue smiled to himself and thought 'Perfect this is easy'.
Authors notes well that's chapter 13 completed please let me know what you think of it read and review no flames though ok.