Chapter 8:

Cerberus Attack

As consciousness slowly drifted back to Callus, he became aware of voices echoing through his mind, sounding like they were coming from another room. After a moment, he could piece together bits of the conversation. "… knew the risks when you signed up, Namis."

"Risks? Risks?! You call this a fucking risk?! This is a fucking disaster!" Namis. That slimy bastard was right there. Callus opened his eyes and was immediately blinded by the bar's now unbelievably bright neons. Silhouetted against the light were two figures, one turian, one human, who were arguing back and forth. "How the fuck did he find out it was me who modified the rifle?! It was your job to make sure it didn't get traced back to me!"

The human scoffed. "Your reputation precedes you, Namis. It was only a matter of time before your good deeds were noticed. That's exactly why we're here." He looked over to Callus and noticed his eyes open. "Well, well. Looks who's awake."

Callus' eyes adjusted to the light and he could see the human standing over him, smirking. He recognized him immediately. "You."

The smirk widened. "I hear you've been looking for me. Here I am." He pulled Callus to his feet and sat him in a chair. Callus took the opportunity to check his surroundings. There were at least twenty hostiles, all well-armed, bearing the Cerberus logo. On the opposite couch, also tied up and unconscious, were Shepard and O'Brien. The assassin noticed his gaze. "Your friends won't be helping you, I'm afraid. And the Kennedy won't be sending in the cavalry, either. They're a bit… preoccupied at the moment. Fighting a number of viruses with standard-issue Alliance software tends to be a predicament."

Callus never stopped glaring at his father's killer. Whatever he said about Shepard, whatever he said about the Kennedy, he didn't care. The man who murdered Dhalen was here, right in front of him. Nothing else mattered. "I'm gonna kill you," he said bluntly.

The assassin laughed. "Of course you will," he said sarcastically. "It's only a matter of time, right?" He laughed, a sound that rang through Callus' ears and shook his very soul. He immediately lunged at the assassin, forgetting his hands being bound behind his back. The two fell onto the ground, the assassin quickly gaining the upper hand. He pinned Callus' shoulders to the ground, effectively stopping any further attack Callus had planned. "This is the son of the great Dhalen Orion? You're not worthy of the name." Callus doubled his efforts to get up, but to no avail. Namis finally stepped in and separated the two, throwing Callus onto the couch across from Shepard and O'Brien, who were now awake.

"Wha' the fock's goin' on?" O'Brien asked, sounding very groggy. It was then Callus noticed a large blood stain on his abdomen. Oh, shit. He thought.

Shepard noticed too. "Fuck," he muttered. He glared at Namis. "He needs medical attention, now."

Namis brought the back of his hand across Shepard's face. "Shut the fuck up, you filthy fucking human!"

The assassin walked over to Shepard and knelt down, looking the lieutenant in the eye. "Ah," he said after a beat. "Staff Lieutenant John Shepard. Akuze, right? 2180?"

Shepard's glare turned to him. "Do I know you?" he asked, contempt in his voice.

"No. But I've heard of you. Caused quite a storm when you survived that little escapade. The Boss wasn't happy to hear your name."

"The Boss?" Shepard asked, raising his eyebrows. This whole situation just got more complicated. "You mean, the head of Cerberus?"

The assassin laughed again, and Shepard found himself wanting to follow Callus' example and take this son of a bitch down, if only temporarily. O'Brien grunted again, and he walked over to him. "You, I don't know. A corporal?" He smirked. "If you expect to make it any higher than that, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed." As if to amplify his point, he jabbed his finger into O'Brien's wound, causing him to cry out in pain.

"And if you think you're going to kill us," Callus said, "you'll be disappointed." He broke free of his bonds and threw his elbow into the nearest guard, breaking his nose and lowering his weapon and allowing Callus to grab it, aiming it at another guard as the injured one pulled the trigger.

Shepard took the distraction as an opportunity to break free himself, and he brought his arms out in front of him by slipping them over his legs. As soon as this was done, he threw himself at the assassin, but he was ready for him. He blocked Shepard's fists, thrown at the same time due to the bonds, and threw a kick to Shepard's midsection, but Shepard used both arms to block it, before slamming his head into the killer's face.

Meanwhile, Callus dispatched four more guards before Namis threw himself at him. For a weapons dealer, Namis was very poorly trained in combat, and Callus was able to easily overcome him, taking care not to kill him so he could question him later. While he was busy with him, three guards jumped him at once, not wanting to risk their asset's safety with gunfire. Callus punched one in the throat while simultaneously blocking another's jab. He then lashed out with a kick to the third, and brought both fists down on the second at once. Many troops were now starting to run from the bar, afraid of getting caught in the battle.

Shepard wrapped his arms around the back of the assassin's neck, held there by the bindings, and began driving his knee into his abdomen. After a couple of good shots, the assassin brought his hands in the path of the blows, effectively blocking any more shots. Suddenly, he straightened, stretching Shepard's arms. Shepard brought his head crashing into the assassin's again, breaking through the binds and freeing his hands. The assassin swung for Shepard's head, who raised his arm to block it and brought his own fist around to the killer's gut.

Callus stomped his foot on the side of a guard's knee, breaking the bone and dropping him to the floor. Before he could deliver the final blow, his friend ran forward and kicked out at him. Callus caught the leg and brought his palm across his knee, breaking it, and quickly grabbed his head and twisted sharply. The injured man on the ground grabbed a knife and tried to stab Callus' foot, but he sidestepped and kicked the guard in the face. His fight finished, he looked for Shepard and noticed him fighting with the assassin. "Shepard!" He ran toward the fight, but a huge crash from above stopped him in his tracks.

Shepard noticed it, too, and turned to see an Atlus mech had landed in the middle of the bar. The distraction was all the assassin needed to hook Shepard in the face. As Shepard fell, the assassin dropped a flashbang to cover his escape and made a beeline for the door. The mech turned to Shepard and raised its gun to finish him off, the driver struggling to see him due to the flashbang. Callus took the chance to sprint forward, activating his omni-tool. As the driver's eyesight began to clear, he could make out the silhouette of Shepard. He raised the mech's arm and prepared to fire, but his HUD began flashing angrily, displaying a warning message directing in front of him. What the hell? he thought. Suddenly, sparks were flying all around him, blinding him worse than the flashbang had. The mech fell, collapsing under its own weight. Callus jumped from the top of it, landing less than gracefully, but with no real damage.

Shepard stood, clutching his throbbing jaw and blinking several times. He noticed the mech, now little more than a scrap heap. "How the hell did you do that?" he asked.

Callus held up his omni-tool before deactivating it. "Overload module. Pretty standard, but mine's modified to where it's extremely effective when my omni-tool is right on the target."

Shepard frowned. "How'd you get a mod like that?"

Callus looked at Namis, who was crawling to the exit as quickly as his injured body could take him. "Do you really need to ask?" he asked. He stepped over to where Namis was and flipped him over on his stomach, aiming his pistol at his head. "Who hired you?" he demanded.

"Go fuck yourself," Namis spat out.

Callus stepped on Namis' neck, cutting off his air supply. "A name! Now!"

Shepard turned away from the scene, his eyes catching the Atlus driver stumbling out of the cockpit. He grabbed him by the collar and pushed him against the junk heap. "Cerberus. Tell me everything you know."

The driver didn't even flinch. "You think you can stop us, Alliance? Cerberus is bigger than you can possibly imagine." He suddenly bit down hard. As foam began to flood out of his mouth, he grinned. "Humanity will rise. One way or another." Then he fell to the floor, the cyanide pill doing its work.

"Fuck," Shepard muttered. A gunshot turned his gaze back to Callus, who was walking away from Namis' corpse. He then turned to see O'Brien, still on the couch. He jogged to him and checked his vitals. "He's still alive. Barely. We have to get him out of here."

Callus nodded and applied medi-gel to the wound. The bleeding stopped, but so much blood had been lost already. Shepard grabbed O'Brien's arm and hoisted him onto his feet. "Kennedy, this is shore party, we need immediate extraction! O'Brien's hit." No answer. "Shore party to Kennedy, come in!" Nothing. "Fuck! Orion, Kennedy's not responding!"

Callus seemed to pale. "Shit," he muttered. "Cerberus uploaded a virus to the Kennedy. They're not going to be able to respond for a while."

"Fuck. Alright, let's get the hell out of here."

Callus nodded and ran to the door. As he opened it, his expression darkened even further. "Getting there's going to be a bitch," he said, motioning to the street. "Cerberus just sent reinforcements."