Even in her hazy state, Shepard heard the ruckus. She ducked instinctively when several shots were fired. It was frightening to be so utterly without control and at the mercy of others. She hated it. Hated how it made her feel like a helpless child again, like she had been on Mindoir when the slavers attacked and slaughtered her parents.
The memories of what had happened during that hellish experience were like ghosts, feeding of the drugs in her body, haunting her.
You have to hide, darling...
Mum, no! Please, I want to stay with you and dad!
You can't. They're coming! You have to be quiet, honey. No matter what happens! You have to survive. You have to!
She had been left in the darkness. Curled up behind sacks of fertilisers. Eyes tightly closed, hands pressed over her ears to try and shut out the sounds... gunfire and screams... Mum, dad, her brother John... She had lost her entire family, everyone and everything that she loved, in a couple of hours. But she had survived.
Trapped in her memories, Shepard flinched at the sound of weapons being fired. They were coming! She had to hide!
Struggling against the darkness that threatened to swallow her, Shepard rolled off the cot. Steadying herself against the wall, she tried to stand but she was too weak. Her knees buckled and she fell to the floor in a heap.
Get up! She tried to order her arms and legs to work but it was as if her limbs were made out of led. Sweat was pouring off her in rivulets as she struggled to lift herself off the dirty floor.
The sound of heavy gun fire seemed to be closer now. She could hear shouting and the echo of people running outside her cell.
You have to hide, darling! They're coming! You have to hide!
"Mum..." Shepard managed to raise herself into a sitting position. Her head was swimming, her breath rasping in and out of her throat in shallow gasps. Fighting the dizziness and the nausea, Shepard struggled to keep her eyes open but the drugs still in her system was too strong, and she sank back onto the floor, unconscious.
Smoke softened the contours and made it hard to see, forcing James and Kaidan to relay on what they remembered of the blueprints they had studied earlier. It was controlled chaos as more flash-bangs detonated, stunning and shocking those unfortunate to be on the receiving end.
James saw Kaidan pass him to the right without making a sound. It was time to move.
He made his way towards the stairs that led down to the underground level. Blinking sweat from his eyes, his breath coming fast and hard, thundering in his ears. James moved quickly down the steps, crouching to make himself as hard as possible to hit for anyone waiting with a weapon ready down at the end of the stairs.
The smoke was thicker now and he strained to see beyond it. After the loud bangs just seconds ago, the silence now seemed as thick and impossible to penetrate as the smoke.
Suddenly it all exploded once again around him as mechs powered up and started shooting at them.
"Let's go!" Kaidan's voice was rough in James' ear, amplified by the comm-implant. He moved forward without hesitation, surrounded by the blue glow of a biotic barrier that made him looking almost alien and unreal.
The adrenaline pumped through his body like nitro, fuelling him, and James willed himself in motion; the training overriding the natural instinct to flee danger.
Shouts and shots and more explosions. His ears rang. James moved through the chaos, controlled, in time with Kaidan as if they were performing some strange dance. Having taken out the group of mercenaries backed up by mechs, they lined up outside a door, Kaidan slammed his hand against the lock and James lobbed a flash-bang into the room. It detonated and the two soldiers burst inside, quickly taking control over the room. It was empty save for the body of a man dressed in Blue Sun's armour.
James grabbed a thermo clip off the dead mercenary and reloaded his assault rifle. Kaidan were already making his way to the door on the far side of the room, his biotic barrier giving off a blue light that drove some of the shadows away.
They had managed to bypass the lock and entered the main building. The stench of mildew was thick, mixed with a hint of antiseptics and death.
Kaidan slammed his hand against the green lock and it parted to let them through.
The room they entered looked like a mad doctor's twisted version of a clinic. In the centre stood a chair, resembling the chair in a dentist's clinic, of stainless steel. The cuffs attached to the arm and leg rests were stained with dried blood in different colours, as was the floor around it.
"My God..." Kaidan mumbled. "What kind of place is this?"
"It looks like a torture chamber." James swallowed. It was all too easy to imagine Shepard strapped into the device.
Something moved in the shadows and the two soldiers spun around, weapons raised and ready. A camera-drone flew out of the corner where it had been hovering. "Do you wish to resume filming?" it asked in an artificial voice.
"Jesus..." James mumbled.
Kaidan's face was ashen. "Download all stored material to a memory-card", he managed as cold sweat trickled down his back. His eyes fell on a stainless-steel table standing in a convenient distance from the chair. It held an array of surgical-instruments.
Had Shepard been tortured? The thought made a black rage flare up inside him.
"Done", the drone said, interrupting his brooding. The memory-card protruded from a slit under the drone's camera eye. Kaidan grabbed it and slipped it under. They would have to go through the material once they were back on the Normandy. Perhaps it could answer some of their questions and help them find who was behind Shepard's abduction. "Have a pleasant day", the drone started but it never got the chance to finish the sentence. It was blown into tiny fragments of plastic, metal and glass.
Surprised Kaidan spun around to see James lowering his rifle. "Sorry", the Lieutenant said with a sheepish shrug. "I just had to shoot something..."
"Yeah..." Kaidan ran a hand over his eyes. "I know how you feel. This place is... I'm not sure what I expected us to find, but not this. Not a damn torture chamber..."
James could only nod. "We'll find her", he promised, putting every ounce of conviction he had into his voice. "Come on. Let's move." He took the lead as they left the disturbing room.
It had started to rain again and the wind was picking up. Garrus adjusted the scope. The rifle, a state of the art Black Widow, was a gift from Shepard. It was heavy and cumbersome...
He inhaled. Held his breath. And gently squeezed the trigger. 48 metres away the merc's head exploded, blood and brain-matter splattering over the blue and white armour of the unfortunate bastard's friends.
… but it packed a hell of a punch. His mandibles twitched in a small smile as he shook the tension out of his hand, already zeroing in on his next target. The gift was typically Shepard. The way she had sauntered into the main battery with the dissembled rifle nestled in the crock of her arm and interrupted his calibrations with her swaying hips and that teasing, devil-may-care smile that always quickened his pulse. It had been a rare moment of tenderness and closeness, and it had made him dare to hope that they would continue what ever it was they had started six months ago.
Garrus pulled the trigger and the powerful rifle recoiled, slamming into his shoulder. Down in the camp yet another merc fell, blood spurting from his neck.
He loved her. It was as simple as that. And as complicated.
And he would do anything to save her. Anything. May the Spirits have mercy on those who had kidnapped Shepard, for Garrus would show them none.
Thanks for the kind reviews :) I hope you enjoy the story so far. Chapter 4 will be posted in a day or two. Cheers for now!
After having read through it I realise that I'll have to edit it at some point. It is a bit rushed. But for now I'll go on.