Alright, I know I said I wouldn't give you guys anymore before school starts again, but a certain request got me thinking. Why not see what actually happens when Kasumi crosses over? And well, why not see just what kind of man Oleg Petrovsky actually is?
In short, this might be a little brutal. Oleg is about to face litteral work of the Devil, and it isn't going to be pretty. You have been warned.
Masterthief and Mass murder
Andromeda Galaxy, Galactic Republic Space.
Republic battlecruiser Venator.
For most people, sneaking aboard an enemy, or at least not-friendly, dreadnought-sized battleship filled to the brim with soldiers more than willing to replace every cell in your body with super-heated plasma, would be a bad idea, if not completely suicidal and insane.
Unfortunately for Kasumi Goto, it meant earning an 'honest' living.
Currently she was sneaking through the vents in a ship called the Venator, evading the multiple patrols consisting of the odd clones dressed in the phase-II armor. She had yet to actually fire at someone, so she had no idea if the armor was purely for show, or if it made them into walking tanks. And frankly, she had no intention of having to find out. Luckily for her, her small and lithe form allowed her to move through the passages of the vents relatively unhindered, having only to cut through the occasional fans or grates. All in all it was almost as if no one had ever snuck through the vents of a battleship in this galaxy before. Except for her of course.
Kasumi had made it a rule never to go to the same place twice, as that would undoubtedly mean a heightened security and a bigger chance of getting caught. And as enticing as the idea of a high-risk mission was, she wasn't getting paid to risk her life. Especially because her capture would mean the loss of the warp-tool, as Anna had dubbed it. Having made no attempts to copy or take the special Omni-tool, the Admiral had made it clear that under no circumstances could the tool be lost to the wrong hands. If she were caught, Kasumi had been ordered to wipe the codes from her tool and accept her fate in a new galaxy.
Not exactly the most charming workplace-rules. There wasn't even free soda in-between missions, and Sake was out of the question.
Looking through one of the grates in the bottom of the shaft, Kasumi saw that she had reached her destination, or at least what she believed to be her destination. It would have been nice if she could have asked Thomas Fisher about just what his sister was actually looking for. Her orders had just been 'get me something that can punch a hole in anything I encounter'.
Jeez, Anna could be a hard bitch, Kasumi thought, observing as two completely identical men in grey suits left the room she was currently about to break into. As soon as the doors hissed shut, Kasumi activated her cloak and opened the grate, utilizing her superior reflexes and athletic body to make the twelve-feet drop from the ceiling to the ground, without even making a sound as she hit surface.
The room she was in proved to be a lot bigger than she had initially thought, and Kasumi felt glad that she had activated her cloak, as there were a large number of people in the side of the room opposite to the door. In one end there were the doors leading to the elevator shaft she had just crawled up through. In front of the doors, a large holotable was positioned between a set of transparent screens hovering in the air. At the other side of the room, the walls became large windows displaying the void outside the enormous battleship. A single walkway divided a pair of 'holes', where several identical crewmen sat in front of screens and computers, none of the seemed to have registered her entrance. This is almost too easy, she thought, looking around under her cloak. What would really suck, in Kasumi's opinion, would be if one of those guys with plasma swords suddenly got the jump on her. She didn't know how, but the one with the triangle-beard had found her and almost caught her earlier, despite her being cloaked. She didn't like not knowing just how the heck he had done so.
Seeing as she remained unnoticed though, Kasumi snuck up to one of the unmanned panels in the walls, its screen displaying controls for a type of ship-grade gun she had never seen before. Turbo laser, it said. That must be something Anna can use, she thought, starting to hack into the panels to transfer the data to her Omni-tool. She had had to install a few mods that would completely snuff out the orange lights and glow normally emitted by the haptic displays, as well as rendering the tool completely transparent. The only reason she could see it was due to the pair of holographic goggles used when she normally ventured into the gray boxes that she and Keji used to store information and particularly good memories. The goggles allowed her to see her tool as if it was made of clear glass, and therefore she could use it just as well as had it been the regular kind.
Still, if someone looked at the screen in front of her, they would see a lot of data and schematics being transferred to seemingly nowhere, and then of course they would attempt to stop her. There was a reason she had stocked up on flashbangs before she returned to this place. Her gun would have no effect on their armor, of the tests from back home were to be believed. At least, they would be able to gun her down before she could penetrate their armor first. When she came back to the normal world, Kasumi wanted a raise. And that shower too. And of course a full pardon for all her visits to military installations in the Alliance. Of course, she could also demand a big house for her and Keji, but that might have, in her opinion, been stretching it.
The program was halfway through downloading the data, and the guns seemed to be worth it. From what she could see at the display, the standard ship-grade turbo laser was bigger than any other gun normally put on a Dreadnought, but then again, these people didn't believe in spinal-mounted guns, so they had to compensate.
In fact it seemed like all their ships were carriers instead of Dreadnoughts, despite the fact that many of them were twice the size of a regular dreadnought. Not that she understood why though, but if they wanted to play war that way, then who were she to tell them wrong. Especially since she would be shot dead the second she revealed herself.
The main issue with her possible reveal would be that crossing over took at least five minutes to warm up, and she couldn't do it cloaked. Therefore it was a bad idea to do so while on the run. Almost there, Kasumi thought, watching as the transparent bar on her display crawled towards the top of the screen. A few more seconds should do it. She reveled in the feeling of adrenaline and tremor that it brought being on these missions. Sure it was dangerous, but she was addicted to the surge of adrenaline. The only reason she hadn't been in the army was because she hated shooting people. Knocking them on their asses however, that was just fun and games to her. So caught up in her schemes was she, that she didn't even hear the sound of the doors at the elevator hissing open. Therefore, she didn't see the two men clad in robes until she heard the voice of one of them.
"Wolfe, everything alright up here?" The Triangle-Beard man. Kasumi thought with dread. She watched the bar reach the top and pulled the plug, ending the download the moment it was complete. If he were here, then she needed to get the heck out of dodge, as the Americans used to say. There was also a second guy with him, this one a lot younger, Kasumi noted. He had a scar going down over his eye, and he had dirty brown hair. Aside from that he was actually quite handsome. He certainly had a winning smile as he looked around him. That's when a third person stepped up next to him, dressed in a style of clothing that made Kasumi's skintight outfit appear modest and stylish. What was really causing the thief to widen her eyes, was the fact that the newcomer, being a woman, was not only completely orange in skin tone, she also had long… somethings, where humans would have hair. The girl's, and certainly it had to be a girl. From what Kasumi could see, she could be no more than sixteen, maybe eighteen. Maybe she was the guys' protégé? Even though a child could hardly count for much on the battlefield, or as an opponent in general.
One of the identical guys, this one wearing a different uniform, stepped up to the three newcomers and saluted. Kasumi raised a brow, noticing that the salute was the exact same they used in the Alliance navy. Funny, how things could be identical between galaxies and dimensions, or wherever she actually was. She didn't need to understand the deeper science behind her new gadget, but it would be nice knowing how there could be humans in a completely different galaxy, and how they all spoke English with British accent. Especially the guys looking more like New Zealanders from Earth.
"Yes sir. All boards are green, and all systems are go. But sir, scans detected movement in the ventilation shafts a few hours ago, and the droids found several bypassed fans. I suspect that we have an intruder somewhere on the ship. Should I organize extra patrols?" The man said, taking his hand down. Baka! Kasumi swore, biting her lip to stifle the shock. Of course they would discover the vents sooner or later.
She had just hoped it would have been later, as in when she had left their ship. Then, to her further surprise, the orange girl spoke up. Kasumi had expected a bunch of incoherent babble, seeing how her translator had never been tuned to understand whatever language the alien girl spoke, because surely she was an alien. Instead, she heard fluent English.
"Master… I sense someone in here." Of course, it being in English didn't serve to make Kasumi happier. Daburu baka!(Double damn!)She thought, gritting her teeth as the orange girl looked directly in her direction. Kasumi's hand danced over the flashbang in her belt.
"Well we have a lot of men in… wait, I sense it too. Obi-wan, I think the infiltrator is here in the bridge." The guy with the scar said, turning to the Triangle-Beard man. So his name was Obi-Wan. That would come in handy. Maybe… perhaps… maybe not… probably not… it would make no difference, he would cut her down if he caught her.
"Hmm… Wolfe, seal the doors, Ashoka, Anakin and I will comb the room." Obi-Wan said, nodding to the once again saluting man. Wolfe, as he was called, pressed a button on the wall, and the doors slid shut, the a eerie sound announced that it was locked. This was the second time those weird people had sensed her, however the hell they did so, she had no idea. Imaimashi! Damn! She swore, loosening the flashbang from her belt. She had what she came for, now she just needed to get out through the vents again, which would be a whole lot easier without those psychic plasma-sword guys, and girl, wading around trying to turn her into modern art.
"Keep your wits about you Snips, whoever this is, he snuck on board while we had all guards up. We need to take him alive. That was the straw that made Kasumi snap. Never had she been insulted so, that her chasers took her for a man because a woman couldn't do what she did. With light and silent steps she placed herself right under the still open grate, then spoke, unplugging the flashbang;
"Why, cause a woman can't infiltrate you guys? Shame on you Scarface." She mocked, then threw the flashbang before jumping back inside the vent. She didn't hang around to listen to the grenade blow, neither did she look back when she suddenly heard something jump after her inside the vents. She just doubled her speed, feeling her heart rate go up with each thump she heard behind her.
Baka, baka, baka! Someone's in the shaft right behind me! She mentally screamed, feeling panic starting to encroach on her mind. The only thing that lacked now would be that the plasma-people had superpowers as well. Still, not even she could be thát unlucky. She could suddenly hear a voice not ten meters behind her;
"Master, I'm in the vents. I'll have her soon, where are you?" Kasumi almost wet herself. If the girl was actually an accomplice warrior, then her chances just went down the drain. She would need a long stick to fish them back up. She couldn't hear the response the girl got though, and didn't honestly care. She just needed to get away from the orange alien. Skipping though the spacious vents, Kasumi loosened another flashbang from her belt, and then tossed it backwards. Hopefully that would slow the girl down, even though the first one had failed to do so.
She tossed it, but instead of hearing the bang, she heard a quick sound, as if a cable was cut, or something was burned, then she heard the voice again, this time not six meters behind her;
"You're not getting away!" Gods did she sound pissed. Sensing how she would be caught at this rate, Kasumi made up her mind to kick out the next grate she saw, even if it meant landing in a rave party of white dudes. She quickly saw the promised land in the shape of an open grate, probably the one she had entered by. She really didn't care to remember at this point. She doubted that she would have the chance to play the Admiral's message if she were caught. Playing it or destroying her Omni-tool would both take longer than the time a sword of plasma would take chopping her head off. She quickly put her feet through the hole, tossing the final flashbang towards the girl just as she came around the bend in the vents;
"Sorry honey, but I don't plan on seeing your sabers up close." She yelled as the flashbang detonated, this time resulting in a pained shout. Kasumi allowed herself a small smile. Third time was the best, as people said. Although, she really hadn't needed to experience that herself. Right now she just needed to get away from those saber-swinging lunatics.
The corridor she landed in was monotone and grey, just like every single other place on the ship. They really needed to shake things up a bit, maybe paint the walls blue or red-striped? Had she had the time and luxury, and not the threat of being cut down, Kasumi would have told these people a few things about Feng Shui, because it was painfully obvious that these guys knew nothing off it. Probably because there were no women in their army. She ran down the first corridor she saw, desperate to find a shack or a lockable room. Just somewhere she could hide for five minutes. It didn't even have to be classy. Her hopes were smashed with a sledgehammer soon enough though, as she could hear strained panting from behind, and despite her cloak being on, she felt a shiver going down her spine at the sight of the orange girl storming in her direction. Looking at her. And having a pair of emerald-green sabers out.
Now Kasumi definitely wanted that raise.
How much would it take to put that girl off of her? Silently she admired her stamina and her virtue, but that feeling was overpowered by dread as the girl sprinted faster than a jeep could drive. Great, so they did have superpowers. Kasumi felt that she needed more than just a stick to fish up her chances now. She needed a submarine!
"You can't hide from me thief!" The girl shouted, jumping through the air. It was a remarkable sight, watching her fly more than ten meters. Unfortunately, that was a sight Kasumi chose to miss in favor of rolling in the direction of the girl, planning to cross her paths and run away before she could turn in the air. If the girl could practically fly and sprint faster than a car, who was to say she couldn't see through her cloak and turn mid-air as well?
Kasumi timed her movement, then jumped forward, rolling right under the feet of the orange girl. It was so narrow, she could feel the heated gust of air created when the green sabers almost nicked her cloak. That was way to close! Rolling to her feet, Kasumi wasted no time sprinting as fast as her clothes would keep up the cloaking, despite her starting to doubt the effectiveness of it when her pursuers were in essence a trio of Spidermen with sci-fi swords. Thinking off it, she just had to get herself one of those. They could probably cut right through the systems in any vault, and she had always wanted to break into Donovan Hock's vault. If nothing else then because Fisher had told her that Hock would spell bad news for Keji. Might as well hurt the bastard before he could hurt Keji.
Still, at the moment she really needed to get her mind straight. Whatever was actually about to invade her galaxy, she needed to get as much tech back as possible. Anything and everything was fair game, no matter if it meant dooming another galaxy. She hoped it wouldn't, but she would gladly steal the lifestone of a galaxy if it meant saving her own. The fact that so much spiritual shit was happening around Thomas Fisher, and that fact that it was happening at all, meant something big was on the way. As Anna had put it: 'A shitstorm of biblical dimensions'. Now, Kasumi was neither Christian nor religious, but she knew enough of the bible to know that biblical proportions meant bigger than bigger than biggest.
Rounding the first corner she came past, Kasumi felt her heart drop as she was faced with a short corridor, then a door obviously locked. She had so much speed to her run that she almost hit the door before she managed to stop. Baka, baka! baka! baka! baka! She screamed in her mind, turning around from the door. If she could make it out of the corridor before… She suddenly saw the orange girl stand at the other end of the hallway, clearly looking straight at her. There was no other way out, no vents, no hackable doors, no grates in the floor, no windows leading to other room. And she was out of flashbangs as well. Kasumi, in her panic, could come up with no profanity that would match the situation. Her dread just rose when the girl smirked before raising a pretty familiar system of communication to her mouth. She didn't even try to keep her voice down.
"Masters, I've cornered the infiltrator. She's in hallway B-52. When can you be here?" The sense of victory was obvious in her voice, and Kasumi felt her stomach drop at the way she held the sabers. This girl liked violence just as much as Kasumi wanted to avoid it. Kasumi couldn't hear the answer the girl got, but she was fairly certain it was anything but positive in her case. Biting her lip, Kasumi decided that the time to hit back had come, even if it meant dropping the cloak. So she did.
"Stop right there! I don't know who you are or why you are taking schematics of our weapons, but you won't be giving them to your masters." The girl growled, the smirk having been replaced with a scowl. Kasumi held out her Omni-tool, charging up a full blast of the electronic overload meant to shut down a mech in one hit.
"Trust me honey, I really am going to deliver this. Now stand away, or I'm going to hurt you." She replied, noticing that the Overload was ready to be fired off. The orange girl didn't seem to get the message;
"I don't think s-Aaaaaaahhh!" Kasumi activated the Overload, sending hundreds of volts soaring and coursing through the body of the alien girl. She gripped her head in pain before dropping to the floor. Kasumi wasted no time bolting past her, having crossed the corner even before the girl collapsed on the floor. She didn't maim the girl, just knocked her out… she hoped. She was probably a nice enough person, when you didn't try taking her stuff, and if you didn't find yourself on the wrong end of her sabers, it was probably neat hanging with her. Unfortunately, Kasumi didn't have time to do more than yell a quick "sorry!" when she ran past the girl. There was no harm in being polite, and the girl hadn't actually harmed or insulted her. The guy with the scar on the other hand, he had insinuated that women couldn't make good infiltrators. He probably thought they were only good as seducers. Granted, Kasumi had wiggled more than one Spectre around her pinky, but that was beside the point. Also, Keji had been slightly pissed that she had danced intimately with that Jordan Baum guy. Hey, it wasn't her fault that the Salarian was a top-of-the-line dancer, and had such adorable deep eyes. Also he looked stunning in a human tuxedo, but that was… She really needed to focus on not getting speared with plasma made staff or sword. Maybe they had even made plasma-bows now. Even though that sounded ridiculous.
Still uncloaked, Kasumi kept on running. She eventually saw a patrol of the white guys headed her way, all of them armed. So, she did the only reasonable thing when her cloak wouldn't have stopped her from being trampled. She leaped inside the first room she saw, and hid there. Dammit, she thought. This was really going the wrong way. She had not only been spotted, she had even been cornered by a girl just half her age. She listened as the group of soldiers outside ran past, shouting in voices muffled by the door. Sighing with relief, Kasumi looked around in her new hideout. It seemed to be a collective locker for armor and weapons. Rows of phase-II suits were placed ready for action, and lines of rifles were placed against the wall. Kasumi got an idea.
Two minutes later, the petite Japanese girl stepped out of the room, feeling uncomfortably tight in the chest as there had been no female sets of armor. They were probably in the other end of the ship, as was her usual luck. Still, the helmet and heavy rifle in her hands made her one of the crowd, and now she just needed to find a secluded place on the ship where she could open up the tiny wormhole used to cross over between the lanes.
Before she could even carry her plan out though, she was grabbed and dragged along with a squad of the white men, all of them looking exactly like her. For a moment she thought about asking where they were going, but thought better of it. They would probably want to know why a woman was wearing a man's armor. So instead of asking questions, she simple followed the group, waiting for her window to appear and get away from the guys.
It just never came. They hadn't even been running for two minutes when they rounded the corner to find a pair of the white boys in the process of helping the orange girl on her feet. She looked fine, to Kasumi's eyes, so at least she wouldn't be charged for murder when they caught and tortured her. That was nice; you've got to enjoy the little things, as a wise man once said. Even if she were still to be caught, tortured and killed, at least it would be for something she was good at doing, not for unintentionally killing a child. Even if the child was a saber-happy alien wearing skimpy clothes.
"It's commander Tano." One of the guys next to her whispered.
Seriously? They made a child a commander? Of what, the High School team? Thomas Fisher was a decent soldier with none of those powers, and he was just a private… or was it corporal? She had hear he was promoted for blowing himself up, but wasn't sure if she believed it. Anyway, he was in his twenties, and he was a mere foot soldier, and… who the heck ever considered it a good idea to make someone not old enough to drink, responsible for thousands of lives?
"I wonder what happened to her." Another man said, this time on her right.
"I heard we have an infiltrator on board. Maybe a Sevvie did this to her?"
"No way Fox, it would take a Sith to take on the commander. I bet it was that Bane guy." A new man said, keeping his voice low while the so-called 'Commander' was helped to her feet.
"Well then, where is that blue prick? We haven't found any dead clones yet, and there have been no explosions safe for when you go to the toilet."
"Frek you Slammer." Kasumi just listened in wonder. What did they mean by 'clones'? did they have cloning vats on this ship? Were there tons of cloned babies or cows running around somewhere? And why did they mention a 'blue prick'? Were there any Asari there, or maybe there were blue aliens that looked like Asari? Her head was starting to hurt at all the thoughts and ideas running through her head. On top of the raise, she would demand free painkillers for the head.
"Just saying, the place looks like a Gungan Rave party when you've been out there… how you smell that badly when all you eat is Conta-beans… I'll never wanna know." The guy on her left said, sounding like he stifled a grin. Despite the situation, Kasumi caught herself smiling.
"Sshh, the commander is speaking." And the man was right, the girl looked over the soldiers, Kasumi included, and spoke. Once again, Kasumi wondered how an alien knew English.
"Troopers. The infiltrator is a woman, about one-and-a-half meters-" I'm not that small! "she wears a black and grey suit with a cowl-" It's a hood! You wear stripper-clothes! "And she possesses a high-tech wrist device that both contains stolen schematics and allows her to shock her opponents with electricity. Spread out on the ship and find her. Masters Skywalker and Kenobi are searching as well. Dismissed." Kasumi repressed a whimper. If the ship was searched, there was no way she could get a place to herself for whole five minutes. Still, she needed to get the plans back to Fisher. The Admiral, not the grunt. The other way it would prove weird and ineffective.
She was forced to follow the squad of men as they started running through the corridors. If she had tried to escape, she would have painted herself as the imposter.
Screw pay raise, she would demand a promotion after this was over, as well as a house in Florida on Earth, or maybe a mansion on Elysium. That place had almost no bad weather, it being controlled to only rain at night with some sort of satellites in orbit. She had no idea how they worked, but that didn't matter.
"See Blast? I told you it couldn't be bane. I bet it's Ventress in disguise. Wouldn't be the first time she got onboard one of our ships."
"Yeah, but she needed an army of droids to do that. Do you see any droids Slammer?" One of the men said, keeping up a remarkable pace while talking.
"Well, no. Not yet, but I'm itching to blast something full of holes. I tell you guys, if that infiltrator comes anywhere near us, I'll know, and then I'm blasting her to hell. If, she doesn't surrender I mean." Kasumi couldn't decide whether to grin at the irony that the so-called 'Slammer' was running right next to the infiltrator, or to shutter at the prospect of being riddled with plasma. So she did neither, instead just following suit. She needed to find some way to get out of the group, and then find and lock down room so that she could cross over.
One of the troopers glanced at her, and she felt her blood freeze. She was going to be busted now, she could just feel it;
"Hey, aren't you a bit short for a trooper?" He asked, a hint of joking in his voice. Kasumi knew she couldn't speak, it would blow her cover. So, drawing on her knowledge of soldier-jargon from the Alliance, she raised a gauntlet and flipped the man off.
"Wow, wow shorty, no need to be rude. Jeez, I was only kidding." He muttered, ignoring her again. Kasumi thought she was about to die right then and there. It had actually worked. So many other things could have happened. She could have been asked again, and then he would have found out. He could have punched the helmet off of her, and he would have found out. He could have punched her anywhere, and her groan would have given her away. He could be a superior officer and demand for her to remove her helmet, and he would have found out.
Instead, it worked. Kasumi felt like asking if her luck had finally turned around for the better, and actually went as far as telling herself that things were finally looking up, then promptly felt like hitting herself. The rules of the universe, and of Funny, Sarcasm and Irony dictated that that sentence would doom her.
As the group traversed the next corner, they suddenly found themselves running with the Orange Tano girl again. Kasumi wanted to hit someone, right then and there. Really hard. With something equally hard.
"Commander Tano. Sergeant D-12555. Any news?" The man in the lead asked. Kasumi would have asked what the heck kind of a name that was, but she was too busy trying to shrink herself as much as she could when the girl looked over the squad of four, now five people.
"Not yet Fox. But I can sense she is nearby. None of you have seen her yet?" she asked. Kasumi wanted to cry, but bit her lip and kept her shit where it belonged: Together.
"No ma'am. We have been looking ever since."
"Hey, hey maybe she put on a uniform eh? Maybe she's dressed like one of us?" The guy called Slammer said, clearly joking. He received a slam, perhaps the cause of his name, to the helmet from the guy named Blast.
"Shut it, don't joke around with this." He growled. Kasumi felt a bit of her hope returning, but she was still on the verge of panicking.
"Actually, that isn't all that dumb Blast." The girl said, glancing at all the men, including Kasumi. She slowly edged her way towards the back of the group, ready to make a run for it. If only these armor-things weren't so damn heavy to run in.
"Ma'am?" The leader said, clearly not following. At least he wasn't sly as a fox. Had Kasumi not been on the verge of tears, she would have wondered if they had foxes in this galaxy, or if it meant something completely different.
"Take of your helmets, all of you." That did it. Kasumi felt tears begin to well up in her eyes as the other men obeyed the girl, unclasping and undoing their headgear. She was left standing as the only one not to, trying to make it look like she had trouble getting it off. One of the men stepped over to her;
"Here Shorty, I'll help you." She could sense a guarded tone to his voice, as if he was ready to draw and fire at a moment's notice. As his hands touched her head, she whimpered. The second he had undone the seals though, she grabbed the helmet and smacked him in the face with it, then turned and ran.
"It's her, it's her!"
"Get her!"
"Blast, get up!"
"Troopers, shoot to stun!" The girl was the only voice she could recognize. All the other troopers sounded and looked alike. It was like a bizarre dream, everyone were clones and she was running for her life. If her luck held up, she would soon be shot or have a leg cut off by that weird sword.
"Take her down!"
All of those shouts and orders drowned in her ears as Kasumi ran as she had never run before. The impediment of the armor was forgotten as she bolted down the corridor, feeling the bizarre blue rings nip at her heels as they were fired after her, giving off odd electrical sounds when they dissipated on the walls or the floor. She felt tears roll down her cheeks as she ran, no grace or mastery of the athletic arts, just pure fear and panic in her mind as she ran.
In a three-way corridor, she bolted around the corner, only to see a group of the men running towards her with the other two saber-guys at the front. Screaming in frustration, she turned back, instead going up the corridor she had evaded earlier. If she could find a grate or a door, she would be safe. She could hear the pounding of heavy feet behind her, as well as fell the impact of the special shots on her shields. One second they were at hundred percent, the next they were at ten. This is it! I'm dead! They are going to kill me now! Her mind was starting to stir up, not allowing her to rationally consider her escape-routes as she went into overdrive, acting purely on a mixture of adrenaline, panic and instinct. Her holographic goggles told her briefly that a shot had just, despite her darting and stumbling, taken her shields down completely. She was now exposed, with her back against her would-be firing squad, as well as three murderous, saber-wielding, superhuman people who wanted to chop her up or tie her down before spacing her.
Then she turned a new corner, hearing the shots impact on the wall right behind her. There was now nowhere to go but forward, and frankly? Kasumi felt fine about forward as long as it took her away from her assailants. The corridor twisted again, and as she rounded the new corner, she suddenly found herself faced with another group of soldiers, all of them pointing guns at her.
"Drop your weapons and get on your knees!" One of the men shouted, pointing a huge rifle at her face. Hearing the sound of the rest of the group catching up behind her, Kasumi pointed her Omni-tool at the men, then released the last bit of power left in its batteries in an overload powerful enough to spread to a good portion of the men. As electricity coursed through them, Kasumi breathed in and leaped over the group, setting off from a helmet and hearing someone grunt in pain as he as literally stepped in the face. She then continued to vault over the men and watched the floor come closer and closer, preparing for a bone-rustling roll-and-run.
Instead, she suddenly felt herself stop in mid-air, as if she had just been trapped in a biotic pull. The only thing missing was the cold tug biotics normally accompanied, as well as the general color of the gravity-defying powers.
Slowly, she felt herself being turned around in mid-air, forced to come face to face with her pursuers. The smug smile on the face of the orange girl caused tears to start rolling down her cheeks.
"Looks like we have ourselves an intruder. And pardon me miss, but haven't we met before?" The man with the red beard, Obi-Wan, said. He actually gave her a polite smile, as if it had been nothing to talk about when he had almost cut off her head with his blue saber. Kasumi well remembered the last time they had met.
"Let me go! I need those schematics!" She begged, feeling her voice being chocked with tears. As frail as it was, she had to try and talk to them. If they understood her plight, they would surely let her go. A small voice at the back of Kasumi's mind asked her why she had then not done it from the very start. And she knew the answer. Because it had been fun, taking it instead of asking for it.
"Stun her." The man with the scar over his eye said. Kasumi only briefly heard the sound of dozens of rifles being armed. Then a single man stepped forward, his helmet painted blue with odd markings. He raised his gun directly at her chest before speaking with a gruff voice;
"Gladly" And Kasumi saw only darkness.
It felt like only a second, but as Kasumi felt the sharp light shine at her face, she knew that it had probably been hours. She also knew that she had to be alive for her to feel the light, as well as the throbbing headache currently pounding her mind.
She then tried moving, only to find herself restricted by cuffs made from metal. She pulled and tore at them, unable to accept the fact that she had lost, that she would now be tortured, have her teeth punched out and her nails pulled. She had seen torture in work before, and it had sickened her to the core.
Then, she noticed another difference. She could feel the weight of her hair had shifted, and her eyes were unprotected from the light. Panicking, she tried feeling for her hood, but found that she could only look at where the edge of it had been. She was now fully unprotected, trapped by strangers and facing imminent interrogation. And on top of all of that, she was naked. Not naked in the literal sense, but without her hood obscuring her face, Kasumi always felt naked and out in the open.
She found that, aside from the sharp light, she couldn't see anything. Everything but the sharp light was total darkness to her, and she felt dread consume her. She could be anywhere. They could have her in a locker on the ship; she could be in the office of the highest ranking general in their entire army. She could be at the edge of the galaxy, and she had no idea how or when she would get home.
After sitting alone for what felt like hours, if not more, a door at the end of the room she was in suddenly opened, allowing in three people. She could only make out their silhouettes, but one of them was clear enough. It was the silhouette of the orange girl, the shape of her head gave it away.
Kasumi wanted to scream, to beg. She wanted to defend herself from whatever they were going to do to her. But strangely enough, she found that she felt unable to even muster the strength it would take to open her mouth and speak. After sensing that the newcomers, and by extension the girl with the green sabers, were not going to just let her out, Kasumi resigned, lowering her head. Tears were starting to well up in her eyes as she thought of all she would now lose. She had led a good, if dangerous life. She had robbed from the rich and given to charity what most would never earn in their entire life. She had seen sights in the galaxy, explored the vaults of crime lords and senators alike. She had robbed banks without ever being there. She had borrowed the Mona Lisa herself on a dare, and had delivered it back without anyone ever noticing. But above it all, she would lose Keji.
"I am intrigued, you know, by this device on your arm." A voice she recognized as Obi-Wan said. The light was turned off, and in a few moments, darkness dominated until her eyes readjusted to the room. She could see that she had been right, even in her panicked state. It was the Tano girl, the man named Obi-Wan, and the man with the Scar. Obi-Wan was holding something in the palm of his hand, looking at it as she had when she saw the code for the first time.
"Give it back, you have no right to take my things!" She snapped, forgetting just where she was. The sight of someone holding or taking her things always made her lose it. The man with the scar slammed a fist down on the table she apparently sat at, causing an old fashioned lamp to topple over and fall to the ground.
"Don't you dare talking about 'rights'! You infiltrated a Republic battle cruiser. You stole schematics for state-of-the-art turrets, you assaulted clone troopers. You electrocuted my padawan! If it were up to me you wouldn't even be capable of talking." The man shouted, finishing with a menacing sneer. Kasumi suddenly felt very, very small in comparison to the man with the scar over his eye. He meant every word of his threat, she could feel it.
"Calm down Anakin, I'm sure our guest here has a perfectly reasonable explanation ready." Obi-Wan said, putting a hand on the man called Anakin's shoulder. He huffed, then stood straight again, letting Kasumi release the breath she hadn't realized she was holding.
"Why should we, she's a Separatist spy." He bit back, glaring death at Kasumi.
"I… I'm not-"
"Shut up, if this was a Separatist interrogation, you would be strapped up and electrocuted!" Kasumi felt tears starting to roll down her cheeks again, her jaw trembling under the rage of the man. He radiated rage, as if it was energy, not a mere feeling.
"And since this isn't a Separatist interrogation, why don't we actually let her speak? As in without shouting at her?" The man said, calming his friend. To a neutral eye, it might have seemed like a sick sort of good cop/bad cop; "Now, do you feel like explaining your actions young lady?" Had it been under completely different circumstances, Kasumi would have blushed at that. she was thirty-one, and not exactly a young lady. Still, she felt like she could actually open her mouth without the threat of violence being thrown at her.
"I… can't. But I'm not a spy! I've never spied on anyone, only Tali and John in the en- I… I just needed the schematics for as many weapons as I could find." She tried, half mumbling half speaking with a voice on the point of breaking. She had never faced interrogation before, and the very prospect of what they would and could do to her if they thought she lied, was making her nauseous.
"Which makes you a spy." For the first time, the orange girl spoke up. Kasumi just slowly turned her head to look at her, fearing another smirk at her defeat. Instead it was a thin, sour line that made up the lips of the younger woman.
"No! I'm not a spy, I had to get the schematics. We need them to survive!" She exclaimed, feeling her voice returning to her in small bits.
"To survive against us, I take it. You need to make a better case for yourself, if not you won't like where they take you." Obi-Wan said, his calm voice not betraying his thoughts.
"No, not… not against you. I don't even know you, neither do… just… untie my hands, and I can show you." Kasumi said, feeling her hope slowly follow her voice as she regained her sanity from the fear of torture.
"And let me guess, you are going to give us a grand explanation involving magic and other dimensions. Am I getting closer here?" The man, Anakin, said. Despite being tied to a chair, faced with possible execution and a trio of super-humans, despite one being alien, Kasumi had to repress a small giggle. It really wasn't the best timing.
"Are you laughing at us?" The Tano-girl asked, disbelief and anger in her voice.
"I…I… don't know. I always giggle at the worst… I… no, only at the… I… the irony." Kasumi tried, stumbling over the words a she felt like smashing her forehead towards the table, if only because her hands were tied.
"Do tell though, what is the irony, in this?" Obi-Wan asked, sounding like even his patience was wearing thin. Kasumi bit her lip, considering just how to convince them if they wouldn't untie her. She couldn't activate her Omni-tool without touching it, and she would never give away the code for activating it. It contained all of her treasures, all of her personal memories, all she had.
"I…" She muttered, then took a deep breath before continuing; "The irony is, that that is more or less exactly the truth. You said an explanation involving other dimensions? Well, that's pretty much it. I- ghnnn…hhnnhnnhhh…. I can't-" As she spoke, Anakin seemed to lose his patience and did something with his hand. Whatever it was, it caused her windpipe to suddenly shut off, blocking her air-flow. Tears welled up in her eyes as she struggled in her restraints. She couldn't even claw at her throat to remove the invisible hands seemingly choking her.
"Anakin!"
"She's toying with us!"
"Let her go!"
"She's a liar!"
"Let. Her. Go."
Suddenly, she felt the pressure lessen, and with a pained gasp she could breathe again, although her throat hurt more than it ever had. Looking through blurry eyes filled with tears, she could barely see the man with the scar leave the room, rage seeping from his form like an odor. For some reason, the other man had stopped the Anakin-one from strangling her to death. Still, there was no feeling of relief as no one went to undo her hands, no one brought her water and none seemed to think of reprimanding Anakin for whatever he had just done. Almost as if it was accepted fact that he could go around and strangle people.
As she finally stopped coughing and gasping, she could start looking around again, having wiped her eyes on her shoulders. The two other people were still there, the girl and the man named Obi-Wan.
"Wha- what the hell was that?" Kasumi stuttered, looking at the pair as if they would actually answer her. And to her surprise, Obi-Wan did;
"Anakin has… issues. I don't condone them, and I try making him stop using the Force in interrogations. For what it is worth, I don't believe you are a Separatist spy. You would have killed someone in your escape-attempt then."
"The hell? You believed me and you still let him do that? Baka, what the hell is wrong wi- with you people!?" Kasumi shouted, feeling her fear turn into rage as she no longer feared for her life, naïve as it might be. The girl seemed to take offence, but Obi-Wan showed no reaction towards the accusations.
"Even if I do not think you work for the Separatists, that does not mean I think you are innocent. Still, I believe in letting people have the benefit of doubt. So, would you kindly explain, and if possible prove what you are doing here?" He said, keeping his voice calm and friendly. The Tano turned to him;
"Master, even if Anakin was… out of line, we can't trust her. She snuck around in the vents, she posed as our men. By all rights she is a spy, how do we deal with that?" She said, sounding concerned.
"I'm NOT a spy! And you just stop talking! I saw how you smiled when you guys shot at me, you… you sadist!" Kasumi shouted, glaring daggers at the woman. She seemed honestly taken aback over the accusation and of being called that.
"Because you electrocuted me! You threw flashbangs at my face! Of course I was satisfied when we cornered you!" She exclaimed, leaning in over the table so that she got within inches of Kasumi's face.
"Get out of my face you alien baka. I only did that… well it was stupid, alright? But you tried slicing me up with those freaky swords of yours, and you too, Obi-Wan! I remember getting a very short haircut when you were after me the last time. Why the heck can't you just leave me alone? I didn't even take anything, I just duplicated it." Kasumi insisted, pressing her forehead against that of the orange girl before looking at the man named Obi-Wan. In doing so she felt a pain in her forehead as she chaffed against what felt like bone right in the middle of the girl's forehead.
"We still need the reason for what you did, and no. We're not untying you before we know we can trust you not to attempt an escape." Obi-Wan said, a hand caressing his red beard.
"I already told you, but then your psychopath of a friend started tele-chocking me. What the hell do you expect me to do then? You torture me when I tell the truth!" Kasumi was shouting, feeling secure enough to start being the one berating them. Especially when the other man wasn't in the room. Obi-Wan just sighed, rubbing his forehead with his thumb and index finger.
"You keep insisting on that, don't you? Alright then, tell us of where you come from, and why you are here. and then maybe we believe you." Tano said, clearly sounding like she readied herself for a made-up tale of fairies, or whatever her kind believed in that wasn't fairies. Kasumi looked her right in the eye, feeling her rage transform into will. She was going to show that arrogant girl, and then tell her to dress like something not belonging in a seedy bar. She took a deep breath;
"Fine… I come from a place called the Milky Way. It's what we call our galaxy, and honestly I have no idea if we're still in it or not, but that's not the, and don't you dare using that freaky choking on me again, or I… I'll scream. Got it? That's not the point. Where I'm coming from, my people, all the races in our… my galaxy, face extinction when something or someone called 'Reapers' arrive in less than a year. The military leaders of humanity, the race you and your friend out there oddly enough belong to as well, don't ask me how, tasked me with tracking down the most lethal and hard-hitting weapons, guns and armor I could. And that's why I'm here. My superior, an Admiral by the name of Anna Fisher even gave me a message to play for the people who might end up catching me. It's right there, on my Omni-tool. But I'll never give up the code for it, so untie me and I'll play the message for you." Kasumi said, then sat back, hoping for something akin to a miracle to occur.
"I'm sorry, did I hear right? You want us to believe that you came from another galaxy, just you. Then you would steal one single set of schematics before going back? I don't know what you took when you made that up, but something like that isn't possible. Try again." Tano said, having not believed a word the Japanese woman had told them.
"I am skeptical too, but I cannot help but wonder then, just what is this thing I'm holding? I have never seen anything like it, at least I don't think I have when it is activated. Besides, I hardly think she can be a threat in this position." Obi-Wan said, turning over the box for the Omni-tool in his fingers. He then placed it on the table in front of Kasumi.
"Master?" Tano asked, worry in her voice.
"Untie her hands from the chair, but keep them locked together." He said, gesturing for the Tano-girl to free Kasumi's hands. AS she did, Kasumi started to worry about something completely different. Why on Earth would they believe the vid to be genuine? It could just as well be a fake, made in the case, like she had just explained, that she were caught and interrogated. A shiver went down her spine at the thought.
Her hands were suddenly free, if only for the moment it took Tano to take them to Kasumi's front and re-cuffed her. Now at least, Kasumi could move her wrists and fingers, something that had caused her pain earlier. The Omni-tool was slid in front of her.
"Show us." Obi-Wan said, tapping a finger on his arm as he crossed them, looking like Anna had done when she asked for a raise.
"I can't. It needs to be on the arm, or the haptic display will glitch and break down." She could see from the look on their faces that they had no idea what she meant. Kasumi allowed herself a huff.
"It's like holographic touchscreen worn on the wrist. I saw you had some sort of holotable on the bridge when I was there. Can't you direct that thing by touching the images?" Tano picked up the small computer.
"Are you saying this thing contains that?" She asked, putting the tool back down.
"Yes, it does. It's called an Omni-tool and is as common as the cell-phone or… the radio. I don't know what you people use, and I'm even more surprised that you speak English. Do you have a surgical translator or… getting of track. Untie my hands please, it's not as if I can do anything with that insane ba- man outside the door anyway." Kasumi said, observing the two people for a reaction.
"Hmm… well, I suppose you are correct in that statement. Still… Ashoka, hand me the keys please." Obi-Wan said. Tano, now known as Ashoka handed him a small key. Taking Kasumi's wrists in a remarkable gentle grip, he unlocked the handcuffs, letting Kasumi rub her sore wrists before once again pushing the small computer in her direction.
"Sure, sure…" Kasumi muttered, slipping the tool on the outer of her black bodysuit. She then proceeded to place her hood back over her face, finally feeling hole and clothed again. Holding up her arm she turned the tool on, spending less than two seconds typing in the twenty-two digit code. She had done it so often that her fingers danced more than typed over the tool. It then unlocked with a small ping, the stealth-mods turned off.
"That's… that's new." Ashoka commented, eyeing the strange orange glow in wonder. It wasn't that she hadn't seen a hologram before though, but the glow and the high tech evident in the tool was something new. It almost made their own holographic communications seem… primitive.
"Wait a second, I've just gotta find… there it is, now be quiet." Kasumi hissed, activating a holographic video showing a woman with red hair and several wrinkles. Despite that, Anna Fisher still looked quite attractive.
"Alright…Greetings, and hopefully not 'damn you for having killed my operative'. I am Systems Alliance Admiral Anna Cologne Fisher, Service number have probably noticed that Kasumi Goto, whom I pray is still alive, seems a little out of place where you are at the moment. Allow me to show you something" The picture of a woman became a large picture of a galaxy instead "This is the Milky Way, our galaxy. I am fairly certain that is not your current location, as I would be able to track the Omni-tool then. If Kasumi is there, sorry for planting a bug in your tool, but curiosity got the better of me. Now, as you have probably become well aware of, Kasumi has been… taking a few things that belonged to you. We have put your armor and gunships to good use by the way. I don't know what you called them, but for now we just called them LA/AT's, as that was the numbers and letters written on the schematics. Before you start shouting, if… you aren't shouting already, let me tell you just why I have ordered Kasumi to collect weapons and tech from many galaxies, yours included…" The woman seemed to experience a bad memory, and Kasumi, who had of course already watched the vid once, then found and discarded the bug on her tool, tried if she could spot a reaction from Obi-Wan. Ashoka was easy to read, as her eyes were wide open in disbelief. Kasumi hoped it was from shock and awe, not due to being insulted with a fake vid.
"My galaxy, a galaxy I would really like to keep filled with life, is about to come under attack by the greatest threat of our relatively brief existence. A race of sentient starships called 'the Reapers' are bound for our galaxy, and a vanguard is scheduled to arrive already within the next six months. If the vanguard succeeds, something I'd rather eat a grenade before allowing to happen, the rest of its kin will arrive years earlier than we speculate they will. In short: If we fail to stop the vanguard, we all die. End of story. We NEED your tech, like we needed the technology of so many others before us, to stop the Reapers. If you deny Kasumi that tech, or worse, keep her as your prisoner, you WILL be the cause of trillions of deaths. Now, I don't know if that means something else where you are, but in this galaxy… trillions dead are a bad thing. So please, and understand that as an Admiral I make a habit of NEVER begging or pleading… please let Kasumi go. If you fear that she is going to use the weapons she finds against you, you have no need to worry. We will never cause you any trouble, nor will we ever even attempt to find a way to bring people to your galaxy. Kasumi is an extension to that rule though. Just… don't stop her from saving my home." And with that, the vid ended.
"Wow, even better the second time I see it…" Kasumi muttered, seeing how neither of the two people in front of her were willing to speak. She just hoped they believed the vid. If not, she would need to be quick and destroy the code so that they couldn't use it against the Alliance. In all honesty, she doubted that they would, but she had orders.
"That was… was… special." Obi-Wan said, looking more confused than disbelieving. Or maybe it was the other way around, but frankly, Kasumi was starting to get too tired to care.
She really wanted that shower right about now.
…
Dakka system, Pragia
November 4th
Teltin Facility
"Line them up!"
Oleg Petrovsky, admiral of the sixth raiding flotilla, had seen a lot of sick shit in his life. He had assaulted slaver bases, seen cannibalism in the Terminus, dug up hundreds of burned and attempted hidden civilian bodies on Sergei, a human colony on Mindoir. He had busted Asari whore-rings, forced and beaten into prostitution. He had seen the work of Ardact Yaksi's. He had found dozens of Quarians with their helmets removed, forced to swallow Batarian feces.
But this would be what he would always call 'The worst he had faced in his twenty-seven years of service'.
It was not even two hours ago when his forces had jumped into the system and started landing men and tanks on Pragia. There had been no defending ships, of course, since the facility was secret and hidden. There had been no obstructions to his fleet as hundreds of shuttles had made their way towards the surface, with nothing but sporadic anti-air fire being shot from a single SAM-battery.
His men had then stormed the facility, tanks holding the entrances while indiscriminately gunning down anyone with a gun trying to resist. He had given the orders himself, feeling no need to interrogate people this low in the chain of command of terroists. It was more than likely that he knew more about Cerberus than they would.
He had not met proper resistance until they had stormed the facility itself. Then, guards and scientists had attempted to use the children as human shields. There would have been panic, and kids would have died, if not for the cunning, illegal cunning, of the Admiral. He himself had stepped forward, promising a fair trial to the people there if they gave up the fight.
To his credit, Petrovsky kept his word. More or less. The moment the children had been let go, he had ordered the massacre of the guards and scientists who had used them as shields. Then, he had forced his way directly into a major room in the facility where barricades had been made from tables and chairs. Obviously, the people working here, ate well. Going from the condition of the kids used as shields, that didn't apply to them.
Instead of risking his men in a long and tedious firefight, Petrovsky had called in one of the tanks to shoot through the walls at the side of the mess hall. The room was on the outer layers of the facility, and as such there was no danger of hitting a room with a child in. Petrovsky had no intentions of completing his mission with anything but a perfect score, as some called it. When the tank had then crushed the wall, the men behind the barricades had surrendered, seemingly not brave enough to face the consequences of their actions. Those men were no among the people lined up on the wall.
"Captain, I'll take the rest through the facility." He said, leaving one of his captains, Mayo Stukov, in charge of the mess hall.
"What about the prisoners sir?" He asked, looking at the forty soldiers and scientists, doctors and maintenance-crew lined up, face against the wall. Petrovsky just scoffed;
"What prisoners?" The Captain seemed to get the hint at that point, nodding with a grim mine before turning to the men aiming at the Cerberus personnel. Petrovsky was already through the door as the shooting started.
The next room he, five Spetsnaz Elite Operatives and twenty marines came upon a sight that made even the hardened Russian operatives pale. The room was obviously a morgue, but the fact that it was filled to the brim made Petrovsky want to go back to the mess, revive a scientist, beat him to death before repeating with all the others. There were at least forty bodies on gurneys, little stiff and pale hands sometimes sticking out from under the sheets. Gripping the holster of his gun, he turned to his men;
"Marines…I… I want you to get those kids out of here. Show some respect when you handle them, and… check for vitals, even if they aren't there. You five, with me." He said, pacing through the room while looking at the seemingly endless rows of dead children. His five operatives followed suit, Valkyries and Submachine guns at the ready. The next room held just a new horror.
It was a smaller mess hall, in appearance similar to the first one. Only, this one was littered with freshly executed children. Amidst them all, a single man lay, gun in hands. He was dressed in what Oleg assumed was the uniform of the director. Hesitantly walking amidst the corpses or still breathing, he reached the man in question. There was a single bullet wound in his temple, evidence that he had committed suicide when he saw the Alliance land forces. Oleg spat at his face before turning to face his men, and woman. They were all already checking for vitals, and seemingly had found at least three alive children. And yet, the wounds they all had, not a single child had escaped the madman's bullets. They all whimpered, clinging to the shapes of the Spetsnaz's as they applied Medi-gel to the wounds. One of the children, a little girl, had had her entire arm torn off by the bullets.
Petrovsky could see the same feelings in the eyes of his men as he felt himself. Fighting back an urge to throw up, he turned back to the dead man before him.
Oleg Petrovsky, Admiral and father of two, had never broken or lost his temper in service. He had seen dismembered corpses with clear signs of post-mortem sexual abuse. He had seen Batarian slaves with their eyes burned out. He had seen the pathetic excuse for a circus, when Batarians dragged an Elcor who had had his hind legs sawed off, through the center of the tent. He used to believe that he had seen the worst actions sapient life could commit, and yet… he now saw what he would describe as the worst cases of rape of life he had ever seen. And it had been his own race that had carried it out. Not the Batarians, not even the Turians. It had been humans, humans alone, who had committed this atrocity. And now… now he finally lost his temper.
Oleg sat down on the waist of the dead leader, feeling his rage reach unknown heights at the sight of what he saw as a smug and satisfied smile on the lips of the infanticdal bastard. He curled up a fist and let it hammer down at the still smiling face of the corpse. He curled up another fist, and let it hit the man's face as well. He then lost track of time and place, focusing only on the burning hatred towards the man who had gunned down a crowd of children and then been the coward to escape punishment for it. But Oleg was going to wipe that smile off his face. His was going to wipe the entire face clean off. Hell, by the time the Spetsnaz had left with the recoverable children, seven in total, plus the ones used as shields at the start, Oleg Petrovsky had wiped the entire head clean off the man's body.
He simply sat there, on top of the corpse, with his fists covered in scrapes, blood and grey matter. He stared down at the mush being all that remained of the head. Still, he felt as if the smug smile prevailed, somehow hiding among the scattered remains of the brain now flowing on the floor. He could see it etched in the splinters of the skull still hanging by strings of skin or tissue. He could see it in the one tooth somehow imbedded in his middle finger. He could see it drawn in the blood slowly flowing from the remains of the man's head.
Finally, after what he would later be told was an hour of staring, he got up and turned around. He walked for the exit with eyes devoid of life. He didn't even hear the cries of agony as the children were treated for their injuries. He didn't see the faces of the marines rushing or walking past him as he went. He didn't notice the rows of executed Cerberus-personnel along the walls as he traversed the mess hall again. He didn't respond to the salutes or questions his captain in charge asked. He just got outside the facility. He boarded one of the shuttles on the ground, then he planted himself in one of the empty seats.
And then he cried.
Alright! well, that may have seemed the wrong word to exclaim after thát ordeal... Imagine being Oleg right now... I doubt he's going to turn towards Cerberus now. Hell' if I was him' I would request the face of the Illusive man as my personal purse-decoration... or wallet-decoration, depends on what gender you (the reader) are.
Well, I know I'm squeezing the lemon here already, but I really doubt I can get anymore out before school starts. And hey, whoever said that a story couldn't have an insane amount of crossovers? Well, I certainly never did XD
Alright, since I only had two sections to this one, I expect a throughough review from each of you on my desk by the morning *makes strict teacher-face*
See ya :)