Nate POV
Silversun Strip, Tiberius Towers, Shepard's Apartment. 24 July 1:49am CTD
BOOM! A huge explosion could be heard coming from outside. That caused me to sit up immediately and threw Jen off of the bed. "Please God tell me that was in my head" I silently pleaded. My hopes were quickly dashed when the sound of glass shattering came from the living room downstairs
"JEN WAKE UP. WE'RE IN TROUBLE"
She was sluggish at first but she was slowly coming to life. "What's that sound?" she asked. It sounded like footsteps; heavy boots hitting the ground and someone barking orders. I immediately ran into the hallway but not before taking the carnifex from my cabinet. I took a quick look at who was coming but Jack, not having any idea about tact, decided to just walk out and see who was coming.
I heard one of the upstairs doors open. My mum and the kids exited the room; they were clearly sleepy and were likely confused. "What's going on?"
"Mum we need to get out of here!" I ordered
It was too late; the invaders had reached the hallway and were staring directly at my mother. "GET BACK IN YOUR ROOMS" she bellowed before shoving Jade and Oriana back into her room. I heard a gunshot and it was too quick. The blast knocked my mother back several feet to the floor and the blood was flying.
I felt something inside me snap. All that mattered to me was that they ended up dead "YOU BASTARD" I used a lot of my power to push him and his comrades back. I used so much force in the shockwave that it took some of the wall with it.
Rylee came out of her room as did Kaidan along with Miranda out of hers. Mental note# ask them about it later. Rylee had her Kestrel Armour and toting a Lancer X. Miranda wasn't armoured and Kaidan was wearing exactly what he was wearing yesterday
Rylee charged at the door she was firing shots and from the sound of it she was connecting. I began charging for the door in a similar fashion to her but she pushed me back and I fell on my ass.
"Get suited up. I'll take care of the rest" she instructed
"Like hell you are. I'm helping" I countered
"We don't have time for this. If you really want to help get armoured up quickly and…."
We were interrupted by the bullets flying in our direction. Luckily for me Jack was sharp and protected us with a barrier. The bullets merely dropped on contact. A bullet storm soon proceeded as they tried to break the barrier
"Jen how long can you hold that?" I asked
"With the shit storm that's comin' I'd give it about 5-7 minutes" she informed
"Kaidan come on I've got some armour for you. Miri use the one in Rylee's room. Rylee whilst we suit up take care of mum"
I didn't wait to see if she reacted. "I'll take over when I'm done and you suit up" I patted Jen on the back and jumped into my room with Kaidan in tow.
In the rush which we were in I picked out my Blood Dragon Armour whilst he chose my Terminus Assault Armour. "Fuck I wish they made this easier to put on" he groaned
"Making them more comfortable to wear would be a bonus too" I added picking up my Eviscerator, Tempest and Widow (thank god that Geth are so fucking smart). Kaidan chose the Phalanx and the Terminator Assault Rifle. I packed my spare clips as well as my Omni-Tool. I doubt I'm coming back here soon.
I left my room just after Kaidan had left. There were a line of soldiers currently trying to break through the barrier. They were using bullets and rockets but Jen was staying strong. I took a quick look back to see how my mother was. She wasn't there anymore so that was a good sign. She's probably in one of the rooms.
"Nate none of your sisters armour fits on me" Miranda said
Shit, I forgot that Miranda that Miranda's 5'10 and Rylee is 5'7. I'm too tall for her to wear my armour and her armour is in the armoury downstairs. Shit we need to move fast before they find it.
"Take over from Jennifer" I instructed, it was something she was clearly unhappy with but I don't care until everyone is safe
"I'll make this easy for ya" Jen bragged. She pushed her hands forward causing the barrier to expand and pushing the hostiles into the ground or over the railing "Don't get killed dumbass" she warned before heading into my room.
Rylee, Kaidan and I stepped out and Miranda erected a barrier. I turned to her and gave her one last instruction. "Don't let Jen out until one of us is dying"
I cocked my shotgun and made a beeline for the banister. I jumped over it and charged straight into the centre of one of the groups downstairs. The resulting shockwave bought me the time to let my Eviscerator do the work
"On your six" Kaidan bellowed.
This made me erect my barrier just in time for the shotgun blast to hit it. It took out a good portion of my generator and when I turned Rylee had blown his head off.
I lifted the sofa and threw it at one of the hostiles near the door but be brushed it off with his riot shield. Another two just like him appeared in the room and they were toting semi-automatic SMGs.
"Shit!" I looked to the top of the balcony and charged at the ceiling. I left a dent in the roof before landing with a thud on the ground
"Next time hang back instead of charging in like an idiot" Rylee chastised whilst wasting her ammo at the riot shield but the bullets were ricocheting around the house and they were getting dangerously close to the stairway.
Something just came to me. I hit them with a shockwave which forced them back a few feet. "Kaidan I need covering fire. NOW" I roared. He saw the look in my eye through me helmet. And took his Assault rifle from his back and took aim
"Rylee only shoot when I tell you to"
Kaidan's fire was slowing their progression down nicely. I popped out of cover and threw my arm at them. Out of my arm came a biotic tendril that latched onto the shield and flung it out of the window.
"Now Rylee" she had the unshielded merc in the scope of her Viper and a clean headshot meant the end of him.
"Kaidan you can do lash too right?"
"Yeah… I'll go this time" he suggested
I popped out of cover this time and hit them with covering fire. They were so preoccupied with me that they didn't notice Kaidan hit the second merc with lash and Rylee finish him off
"One down, one to go" Ry cheered before returning to cover.
"You two draw his attention. I'll do the rest"
Kaidan and Rylee bombarded him with a barrage of biotics and bullets but he remained resilient and continued with his one man charge. I dropped to the ground as Kaidan's lash removed his shield once more. I added an extra lash to relieve him of his firearm and tackled him to the ground
"Who the fuck are you and who sent you" I barked. He didn't respond so I punched him in the face. But he never roared from the pain. I removed that latch on his helmet so I could see his face.
My stomach lurched at the sight of him. I've see corpses before but I've never seen one that was breathing. His skin looked completely grey and drained, the life was completely sucked and his eyes were disturbingly luminescent.
"Holy shit" I cursed. Who the fuck would do this? I only now realised that the armour they were wearing was familiar. It was mostly white and had an intricate black and gold design. The emblem on it, a sideways black C with golden wings… those fucking bastards
"CERBERUS" I growled
Whilst I was investigating Rylee activated the shields that protected this apartment. Benefits of having a father who was big in the Alliance
We took our helmets off and took a breather. I headed upstairs and as I expected Jen and Miranda were arguing. Jen picked out her custom armour which was a customised version of my old N7 armour ( art/Afterword-Jack-433065387). It boosted her biotic power by a lot
"Miri drop the barrier. No more hostiles" Kaidan informed. Since when did he call her Miri?
She dropped the barrier and my girlfriend immediately began her tirade "Stupid, cheerleading bitch. I should pop your head open and hang your skull on a fucking flag pole"
"Jack I told her not to let you through" I said
Her anger shifted near completely from Miranda and squarely onto me. "Oh I see how it is. Trying to protect your little fucking flower. You think keeping me on the side-lines like some dainty bitch was for my own good. DID YA FUCKER?"
"It had nothing to do with me protecting you"
"Then what was it. Hoping that the cheerleader and me would start makin' out since we were stuck together. Or maybe you thought we'd start bonding while you had your lives on the line" she carried on.
I was about to snap before Rylee intervened "Jen you were tired from holding the barrier. We didn't know how long you'd last before you shorted out"
"I never knew you had a puppet master" she took a jab at me without even acknowledging Rylee
As I was about to open my mouth Rylee had again spoken in my place "We needed to ensure the kids were safe. If we died we knew you and Miranda could handle the rest. But that could only happen if at least one of you was fresh"
She looked like she was thinking over what Rylee had said. She resigned that Rylee was right but didn't do it openly. I could read her pretty well and that really pissed her off.
Rylee got on her tip toes and whispered into my ear "You owe me"
As I was about to respond our mother limped out of her room. The shotgun had hit her side but the shockwave had sent her across the room. The medi-gel appeared to be fresh and hadn't taken full effect. The cut was too deep, no way that's recovering any time soon.
"Get me the landline" she ordered. I ran towards the port in the wall at the end of the hallway. Luckily it was only lightly damaged
I handed it over to her and she began dialling someone "Titus, someone attacked my home"
"Hannah good you're still alive" I could hear gunfire in the background. "Listen… it's Cerberus. They're at it again"
"The Illusive Man can't possibly be this bold to openly attack the Citadel"
"Yes he is. He's obviously been planning this for months. It's way too organised… hang on for a second Shepard"
"But what does he have to gain by taking the Citadel? This will be all over the news and there'll be an armada waiting to take it back" Miranda pointed out
"I don't know, but if he thinks that 'it's for the best for humanity' is going to cut it. I'll slit his throat" my mum hissed
"Miri, who is the Illusive Man? And why haven't you mentioned it before?" I asked
"To be honest he's sort of a myth. I've heard rumours that he's the one behind Cerberus but I've never been able to confirm it" she responded
"Kaidan, Jennifer do a sweep of the house and make sure that no one else is around. After that, activate the shields" my mum ordered
Hannah turned to face Miri, Rylee and I "I can confirm it. He's the founder and leader of Cerberus. Very charismatic and very dangerous." She cursed "But I never thought he'd do something this reckless. He'll lose everything unless…"
"Unless what?" I urged
"I can't see it. He has to have something up his sleeve. Something that makes him confident enough to risk this"
"Maybe he believes he can take over the galaxy" I suggested
"He doesn't work in maybes. He never takes his chances, anything he does he has to have 100% assurance that it will work. There's only one time since I've known him that he took a chance and it blew up in his face"
"What happened?" I asked
"Your father"
My dad was a part of Cerberus. No way, he may have been a lot of things but he was never a terrorist. Then again neither are Jack, Miranda Jacob or Kelly. Still my mum did say it blew up in his face so maybe he was a mole.
The line was back and Titus was breathing heavily "We're clear over here but I've got some bad news and some really bad news"
"What's the bad news?"
"They have C-Sec. They showed up in numbers and stormed the place. We were overwhelmed and we had to escape"
"That's the bad news! Vakarian you have a gift for understatement"
"Yeah well if you thought that was bad then here's the really bad news. The Cerberus troops were helped by civilians. Not just humans but Turians, Asari, Salarian you name it. Even some of my officers were helping Cerberus"
"How is that possible? The Illusive Man has to be behind this. But how… did he somehow indoctrinate them" my mum wondered
"Indoctrinate?" Rylee asked
"I'll explain later" mum brushed aside "All of the reaper tech was destroyed. I don't recall anything… Leviathan"
"That crazy bastard that explains why all this weird art crap is everywhere and why it's driving me up the fucking wall. The Council Chambers are plastered with that shit! Dammit" more gunfire could be heard coming from his end "Hannah we need to get off the Citadel now. The station is lost. Cerberus controls the Council and C-Sec. We'll see if we can come up with a plan. Vakarian out!"
"We need to get off the Citadel. Is he crazy!? Look how many people are going to die if that happens" I argued
"I'll contact some people and see what we can do. Everyone here suit up we're leaving" mum ordered
"We can't just abandon our home" I continued
She grabbed me by my shoulder pad and pinned me to the wall "The Citadel is lost. I taught you well enough that you should know that by now. This weird glowing shit around the Citadel; that brainwashes you. And if it's in the Council Chambers then Cerberus has the Council in their pocket. If they have the Council, C-Sec and the vast majority of the Citadel's population. Then this place is beyond saving. If we stay and fight, we'll be part of the body count. We need to get to the Council worlds and warn them of what's going on. Are we clear!?"
"Yes ma'am" I responded.
She limped back into her room. "Miranda your armour is in the Armoury down stairs. Get suited up and Jack go get some real weapons. The shit in my room is useless apart from the Eviscerator. Same goes for you Kaidan." I ordered
"Wait, Kaidan you Nathan and Rylee hold on a second. I have something for you."
Well getting reamed like that by my mum is never fun. But her ripping into me like that in front of my friends makes it a whole lot worse. But I need to push through.
Friends…. Shit! Sam and Tali are in trouble. I began to run for the door. That was before the roof collapsed over the bar. Some of the Cerberus troopers landed on the ground and no one could survive a fall like that.
"Nate" I heard a female voice call. I would know those harmonics anywhere
"TALI"
"The tenants are going crazy. There's a whole load of them banging on the door" she yelled
"I'm coming to get you"
I jumped through the hole and into her apartment. I saw the Cerberus bodies that lined the place and I was impressed. Reegar and her father wouldn't leave her side for one second so she likely did this all herself.
"You did this all yourself… impressive"
"Well she had some help" another voice entered the conversation.
Garrus walked downstairs. He was wearing plain clothes and no armour whatsoever but he still had a sniper in his hands. Tali was already in her Phoenix armour
"Garrus, what are you doing here?" I asked. That was a really stupid question considering that they were the only two people in the house. I turned to Tali with a teasing smirk "Naughty, naughty Tali, what would Reegar say if he found the two of alone in the apartment"
"If you tell them about this Nate I will show you that Jack isn't the only one with a temper" she warned
"As entertaining as this is. I'd really like to get out of here before more Cerberus goons show up" Garrus suggested
"Come to my apartment and I'll explain. Garrus I have some armour for you in the armoury"
I got Garrus to hop on my back and I jumped to the base of my floor. I jumped back up so I could pick Tali up and did the same. Miranda had already suited up, wearing Mantis armour and carrying a Paladin and a Tempest.
"Tali come with me so we can get Sam"
She followed me as I ran out of the front door. Sam lived 3 floors above me but with this armour on she may as well have lived in another building. I pumped adrenaline through my body so I could move faster.
I banged on the door "Sam it's me Nate. If you don't open in 10 seconds I'm gonna break this door down" I bellowed
1,2,3,4,5,6,7… after seven seconds the door opened and Sam had her pyjamas on, her hair was in a mess and pointed in every direction. She looked completely annoyed instead of scared.
"You better have a damn good reason for waking me up at the ungodly hour" she hissed
"You cannot be serious. You managed to sleep through all of that" Tali stated
"No stupid statements please. It's too early for this."
I grabbed her and put her over my shoulder "I'll explain later" I ignored her protests and ran down the stairs. I couldn't hear any gunfire but that's probably since most of the Citadel is brainwashed
I dropped Sam off inside the armoury and left her to Miranda. She could probably explain it a lot better than I could hope to
I walked back up the stairs towards my mum's room so that I could see why she wanted the three of us specifically. When I walked in I saw someone wearing Cerberus armour and I immediately drew my weapon.
"Whoa Nate relax, it's me Kaidan" he said. He removed his helmet to reveal that it was in fact him.
"Why the fuck are you wearing that?"
"Because this armour is fucking amazing" Rylee boasted coming out of mum's closet
"Say what you want about Cerberus but they know how to build hardware. Kaidan go into Nate's room and use the armour modifier to change the colours and make sure there are no traces of anything that could link you to Cerberus. Rylee do the same"
"Nathan, yours is in my closet too" she told me.
I had to go through the uncomfortable procedure of removing my armour which took a while. I've always loved my Blood Dragon armour but wearing it feels like wearing a porcupine coat.
"How'd you get a hold of this?" I inquired
"Alliance R&D wanted beta testers. They said that the armour is several years ahead of what they currently possess. They have some in construction on Earth, but right now these are the only three working models we have"
"And they painted it with the Cerberus logo?"
"These are three models that were removed by some of those who surrendered during the 1st invasion. With Zaeed's help I managed to fix it and keep it without anyone in the Alliance realising"
As I put it on I had this great feeling. It was really comfortable, especially in comparison to my Blood Dragon armour. It was really light too, but in my experience light tends to mean weak. But I doubt the Cerberus would let anyone wear this if it wasn't really useful.
"The Cerberus operative Armando interrogated called this Spirit armour. It has high shield strength, increases your biotic power output and reduces the cool-down time". She then started to break down the different types of Cerberus operatives and their strengths and weaknesses. Ranging from a regular trooper to a centurion, or phantom or guardian.
I finished putting it on and I could barely feel myself wearing it. But it didn't feel good wearing anything with the Cerberus logo on it. I also need to get out of here before Jen catches a look at me, if she does she may actually go crazy.
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Silversun Strip, Tiberius Towers, Roof. 24 July 2:19am CTD
I managed to suit up without anyone catching a glimpse of my Cerberus armour. We knew that we had to get out of there and quickly before they returned. We headed for the fire-escape. All of the non biotics climbed the ladder whereas the biotics each took one of the kids and jumped to the top of the building. Sam and the kids were all wearing standard issue Alliance armour but it was made of ultralight material but with powerful shields.
As I was about to reach the top of the building the shots were sounding a lot more clear and less distant. "Take this motherfuckers"
"James… Jack, Miranda barrier the kids and find cover as soon as we get up there"
"Shit and here I thought that I was finally gonna get some action" Jack cursed
Garrus and Rylee had reached the top. Tali guided my mother and the kids to cover. When I finally reached the peak I was already being hit by gunfire. James wasn't wearing any armour but he was still fighting. All he had was a fucking Carnifex hand-canon. They were flanking him but without his armour he can't risk charging out.
"Nate focus on James's blind side, we'll handle the ones in front" Garrus instructed
I clenched my fists together and began my biotic charge. Upon impact I had knocked the Centurion back but his shields made it so that I didn't do much damage. I focused my biotics into my hand and activated my Omni-blade. The blow literally left a whole in his chest.
A sniper bullet whizzed past me and hit one of the troopers before another hit the second trooper. Thank you Garrus. I looked around the car that James was using as cover, Steve was also with him, which would explain how they'd survived this long. I ran in front of them and set up a barrier protecting the lot of us
"These assholes never quit do they" Vega said
"No… and this time they may have won" I didn't want to explain why "What the hell were you doing here at 2am?"
"I was just leaving this chicks place. I didn't want to wake you guys up and Sparks and scars were getting it on"
"How did you know that?"
"Sparks is not a quiet chica. She's a screamer. Anyway, I didn't have enough money for a cab so I called Steve. He was just finishing his shift"
"No, I was with Robert when you called. We were…"
"ESTEBAN… I really don't need to know about your sex life" James yelled
The fighting began to cease and when the smoke cleared our team was victorious. "How the hell are we meant to get off of this roof? Every damn car has been shot to pieces" James wondered
"What about that one" Jade pointed out. Far off in the distance was what appeared to be a military vehicle.
"That's a Cerberus vehicle" mum pointed out. Garrus and I checked it out first just in case there were any more goons that were lurking. After doing a quick sweep I was glad to report back that there were no hostiles remaining. Steve was an alliance shuttle pilot so he inspected the craft
"This is a UT-47 Kodiak. This is an Alliance shuttle, how the hell does Cerberus have possession of one of the most advanced shuttles we have?" Cortez questioned
"Cerberus has moles everywhere. I always assume that everything we have Cerberus has a more advanced version of it"
It looked very sturdy and it had a fully operational weapons bench. The only problem was the Capacity issue. There are 13 of us and I doubt that all of us can fit in it. "We need to find another vehicle. We can't all fit in there"
"3 people can sit in the front. And 7 can fit in the back. 3 people have to use a normal skycar." Miranda pointed out. We all took glances at each other. Steve has to pilot it and the kids have to be in the shuttle. So that leaves 10 people. I'll take a car
"I'll take the car" my mum beat me to it "No arguments you two. I am the oldest and the most capable. I can handle myself just fine"
"Mum you're still wounded. There is no way that I'm letting you do this without backup"
"Nate I need you to lead them. You're a fine leader and the last invasion highlighted that. You're needed here."
"I'll go with her" Miranda volunteered "Nate's right, if you go on your own in that condition, then Cerberus will have no trouble killing you"
"Miranda that's a touching sentiment. However you should go with the rest in the shuttle"
"With all due respect Hannah, you can't do this on your own. Getting killed doesn't benefit anyone and it causes more harm than it does any good."
Mum was about to argue but something I never expected happened. "I'm going too". Every one of us including the kids all turned in shock to face Jen. "Two fighters are better than one. Besides I owe the old lady too much to let her die"
"We don't have time to argue over this. We've already wasted too much of it. Jennifer, Miranda come with me."
Before Miranda followed suit she removed her helmet as did Kaidan. "Be careful, I just got you. I'm not losing you now" she stated
"Same goes for you" he whispered solemnly. The gap between their lips closed as they shared a gentle kiss. Since when did this happen?
"Eyes over here dumbass" Jen demanded as she removed her helmet and I did the same. I realised that we didn't have time and this was going to have to be quick.
"Why did you volunteer?"
"Brownie points. Figured this would make me look good in front of your mom" she winked
The look that I gave her showed that I wasn't in the mood for jokes. "I was being serious about wanting to make sure she doesn't end up dead" she reiterated. But she then mumbled something under her breath all I heard was the word 'practise'
"What do you mean practise?"
She started blushing. I bet she didn't think I heard that. "I… uuhh" she took a deep breath "This is practise for London". What's so special about Lon…
I was left dumbstruck by her statement. "I figured that if I could stomach being with the cheerleader until everyone gets their shit together…. Then I could stay in a shuttle with her when we go to London and… I… w-" she grew quieter as she spoke, likely from the embarrassment she was feeling.
She didn't need to finish her sentence since I knew how she would have said. I know she was going to say that she didn't want to ruin my birthday. I kissed her before she could finish the sentence. The force which I used would likely bruise her lips and mine but I gradually softened.
When we broke for air we stared into each other's eyes. I pulled her in for a hug since this could very well be the last time we see each other. "I FOUND A CAR. COME ON WE'RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME" mum roared from the other side of the roof
"There's something I need to tell you" she began
"What is it?"
She remained silent but her mouth quivered. She was on the cusp of saying it before shaking her head vigorously "Make it out alive and I'll tell you. No way I'm saying this only to have you…"
I grabbed her hands in mine "I have something to tell you too. Now go. We'll talk later"
She turned and ran along with Miranda towards the other side of the roof. The sky car flew through the air with great speed. Everyone else was already in the Kodiak and I quickly followed.
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Zakera Wards, 24 July Level 27 2:40
The children huddled close to Rylee and Tali. Having a mother figure was really handy. They'd grown so close to my mum and I could tell that my mum loved them as though they were her real daughters. Despite what they did to me a couple of hours ago I think of them as family and I'm glad that they have someone right now.
"Hey Nate" James greeted. He still didn't have any armour on so there was no way that I was going to ever let him leave this vehicle
"James"
"This is really messed up. The amount of people they killed last time was… disturbing. But with their new weapons I honestly think that we're looking at double the body count"
"Way to be optimistic Mr Vega"
"I could joke around but this seems like the time to be serious. What's the plan?"
"We're leaving" I fully expected what came next
"You're shitting me. We need to stay and drive Cerberus out of here." He argued
"I don't like it either James but there isn't anything we can do now. The sole reason why we managed to drive them off last time was the fact that they never took C-Sec. Well now they have taken over C-Sec"
"Then how do you plan on getting us off the Citadel if Cerberus controls every docking bay?"
That was a good question. If they're half way competent then they would at least have every ship on the station on lockdown. This shuttle is space worthy but I doubt it's a match for a Cerberus cruiser.
"We're still waiting on that. My mum said she would call us when she had a plan"
"If that's true then I really hope that Jack, Miranda and your mom are safe"
"Thanks"
That still doesn't explain why we're flying around aimlessly though. We're over the Zakera Wards where we can hear fighting but we can't truly help. I can't tell whether or not the civilians are Cerberus mind-controlled or if they're looking for help.
"THANE!" Rylee screamed as she looked out the window. Thane was running away from gunfire with Kolyat in his arms. "WE NEED TO GET DOWN THERE NOW!" she ordered and there was no way I was getting in her way.
Steve began to make a descent to a stable LZ. I scanned the battlefield so that I could find any blind spots or any good cover spots. That was before I saw the big ass robot MECH that was looking directly at us.
"STEVE GET US OUT OF HERE!" I roared but it was too late.
The rocket connected with the armour of the vehicle and it caused those in the Kodiak to scream. We began hurtling to the ground. The problem was that we were going to connect with the corner of the ledge and fall to one of the lower levels.
I pushed the emergency release for the door and pushed a shockwave out. I pushed a few more to try and change our direction and we skidded along the ground until we crashed through someone's house. Steve activated the mass effect shields and the rubble was cleared off
"Jade, Oriana, Rylee!" I groaned loudly enough for them to hear me
"I'm fine Nate and so are the kids" she began moving towards the now open door and un-holstered her assault rifle. She jumped out and ran away from view.
I've got a concussion right now since everything seems blurry and there's this ringing in my ear. I've also got this excruciating headache that just won't go away. To my relief Kaidan had immediately ran after her.
"I'll be there in a minute" I staggered out of the vehicle and landed limply on the ground. I removed my helmet and promptly emptied the contents of my stomach.
Garrus patted me on the back "Maybe you should sit this one out"
"Give me a minute, and don't wait up on me. Help them" I managed to say before vomiting again. The sniper didn't need a second cue before charging out onto the battlefield
I get the feeling that this is the sort of thing that adrenaline might actually make worse. "Nate… go and take three of these"
"Sam is that you? Everything's a little fuzzy right now"
"It's to help with the fuzz"
"This is an antihistamine. This isn't an allergy thing"
"It's an antihistamine and it helps with nausea. My medication bill was through the roof so I'm trying to get twofers"
"Thanks"
"And also take a pack of these. Vomit makes your breath smell like ass" she jabbed handing me some mints from her pockets
"Ignoring the thinly-veiled insult. That shuttle is a flying time-bomb. It could blow any second so get everyone out of there and stay on this private line" I gave her the codes.
"Only respond to messages on that frequency. Give Steve this" I handed her my Kassa Locust and my Lancer. She struggled slightly with the assault rifle.
I turned on my heel and made a break around the corner. Rylee was advancing toward Thane and Kolyat. Kaidan and Garrus had the Cerberus goons pinned down with covering fire.
"About time you got here" Kaidan commented before throwing a reave.
"Smash and grab" I said and the two nodded
I took my shotgun into my hands and charged towards the nearest group of hostiles. The impact was mitigated by the armour. One of the troopers took out an Omni-blade and prepared to stab me. That was before Rylee shot him in the back of the head
I used a biotic punch to the ground to throw them off guard. They were better prepared for it than the last time I did it. No one fell to the ground. Shit!
The centurion knocked me back towards the ledge. I hit him with the shockwave. This time it worked and he flew over the edge. That still left 4 left.
"Garrus, shields up. Rylee fall back" I ordered. Rylee took cover and I waited for Garrus to raise his shields. I hope this works otherwise we're all dead
I reached around my back and removed 2 grenades from my belt. I turned to face Garrus seriously hoping that I wouldn't kill him. I'm going to try and use as little force as possible. I dropped the grenades and before they hit the ground I charged towards Garrus.
The impact damn near took out his shields. We both tumbled over and as I hit the ground I could hear the grenades detonate.
I pulled Garrus up to his feet. Neither of us said anything to one another because we knew it was necessary. Garrus hid behind the mini garden. Until his shields are repaired he's going to have to stay like that. Kaidan stayed back to guard Garrus and I joined Rylee
We reached the corner and when we did Thane was sprinting with Kolyat in his arms. He turned a corner and didn't stop. "RUN". I have never seen anything that could make him run a…. a-a-what the fuck is that
Closely following the assassin was this big ass MECH. It made the YMIR MECH look like a complete bitch. This one was also piloted so hacking wasn't an option. Its arm was cocked and a rocket was fired in our direction. I tackled Rylee to the ground in order to avoid the blast.
We both got up and followed Thane. The Drell slid over the vendors table and Rylee jumped over it. I ran around it in the hope that it would divide the pilot's attention. I glanced back at the MECH and realised that it was aiming at me again. There was no cover in sight and I didn't have the time to warn the others.
I erected a massive barrier that guarded us but no one can stop a rocket launcher. Me barrier was destroyed but it was useful. Instead of killing us the blast propelled us a good 10 metres forward and well over Garrus' hiding spot. Thane twisted his body so that his back would hit the pillar not Kolyat. Rylee hit the pillars corner and I think it may have popped her shoulder.
I was fortunate enough to miss everything and skid through another glass fixture. However that glass fixture was the last thing on the level. I grabbed what was left of the fixture so I wouldn't fall over the ledge. I remember this being a lot easier last time.
I heard multiple shots being fired and none of them sounded like normal guns. I was tired and I didn't have enough energy to pull myself back. However hanging precariously over the Zakera Wards was in no way glamourous. COME ON ADRENALINE!
I struggled but in the end I managed to drag myself back onto the ground. To my chagrin there was a rocket headed directly at me. With almost no time to react I used a shockwave to force me sideways and away from the blast.
I pumped more adrenaline through my body. I ran towards the battlefield. Thane had dragged Rylee from where she landed to 'safety'. She was still holding her shoulder
Garrus used his sniper rifle to hit the glass head. "NATE WE HAVE A PLAN."
"What is it?"
"We need to distract it while Kaidan does his thing"
"Great plan, do you have one where we come out alive?" We had to empty out pretty much our entire arsenal on the MECH and it brushed it off as though we were nothing.
An unsettling click could be heard coming from our weapons "FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK! Out of ammo" I dreaded. Kaidan better hurry his ass up.
I noticed a shadow coming from behind the MECH. A bunch of cables suddenly rose through the graters and they had a biotic aura around them. The sparks coming from them made me realise what Kaidan was doing. Unfortunately so did the pilot.
He launched a rocket in Kaidan's direction and he was knocked out. On instinct I grabbed the remaining cables with my biotics and jammed them into the MECH. I pumped so much electricity into it that the MECH exploded. We had to hide in case we were hit by debris.
"NATE! LOCO are you there! Talk to me!" I heard James through my suits intercom.
"Yeah, most of us are fine. Kaidan's out and Rylee needs a help with her arm" I gave him a sit-rep as I gathered loose heat sinks as did Garrus
"Sam wired us to your suit telemetry. We saw what you saw through the suits cameras. Everything went blank after you were pushed from the ledge"
"That thing was too strong" I sighed trying to gain my breath back
"It pisses me off not being able to do anything about this. You're down to two fighters. I should be out there"
"We're doing fine without you" I lied. We could really use James at a time like this. Every muscle in my body is screaming at me and this is only my third fight of the day. Moving is becoming a real bitch.
"NATE WE HAVE COMPANY" Vakarian yelled. There were a shitload of Cerberus cannon fodder heading towards us.
"Later James we have shit to do"
This looks fairly doable. I keep them at a distance and the snipers should be able to handle the job. Just when fate appears to be favouring me. The bitch fucked me over
Two more of those MECH's showed up after being dropped from the sky. No, no, no, no, no, NO! It took everything we had just to beat one of them on its own and that was when we were relatively fresh.
"BE CAREFUL NATE" James called from the other side. Then I heard static coming from the other side.
Luckily for us Garrus had a shitload of grenades. With my biotic shockwaves and his grenades we managed to keep them at a distance. I even overloaded my Eviscerator and threw it at them as a make shift grenade
If we die at least we bought Thane and Rylee time. They were gone and that was a good thing.
"NATE GET EVERYONE THE HELL OUTTA HERE! HASTA LA VISTA BITCH" James roared.
I looked up and I saw a sky-truck moving through the air and it was aimed directly at the two MECHs. I caught a glimpse through the window and my fear was realised.
"JAMES!" Garrus and I screamed before the truck took the two MECH's over the edge.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Present
Citadel Docking Bay D24 24th July 2189 3:54am CTD
Nate lamented his friends' death, but he knew that they had to push forward in order to survive. Looking to the back of the shuttle bay in the Normandy he was thankful he could at least save his sister, her boyfriend and his kid.
He could hear the sound of footsteps hitting the metal grates and he became optimistic. When David Anderson turned the corner and began running he became ecstatic.
"OVER HERE" he called out at his father figure
But instead of climbing into the Normandy he went straight for one of the shuttle terminals.
From the same corner he turned slowly came a group of people. Firstly were Kal'Reegar followed by Morinth; however their body language implied they were being held against their will. Then came someone who when Nate saw them his blood turned to ice.
"NATE DO NOT LEAVE THE NORMANDY UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE" Anderson yelled
Hannah limped towards Reegar and Morinth. If seeing Hannah in that state set his head spinning what he saw next was going to make it explode.
Three gunmen followed directly behind them. They each took aim at the heads of Hannah, Reegar and Morinth. They were preceded by at least 10 Cerberus troopers. One man emerged from that crowd and he stood at the front with an arrogant smirk
"Hello David, don't do anything rash" the man in the dress suit advised before calmly removing the cigarette from his lips. That was the guns were cocked. Seeing them like this was seriously confusing Nate.
Jennifer, Miranda, Jacob…. WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?