"Everybody check in," Logan demanded over the radio as he approached the bank entrance.
"BD here," Brady stated, using his initials as it was decided by the group while on the mission.
"SD ready," Stephen replied
"TZ ready," Tali chimed in.
"BH in position," Jester added.
"LF here, let's get the show on the road," came the impatient reply from Lloyd.
"LL copies all," Logan stated "We all know the plan, let's get this done quick,"
Logan and Tali strode into the bank, both holding their breaths as they passed the scanner, but fortunately it failed to pick up on their concealed pistols. Virius met them at the desk with a turian smile on his face.
"Ah, Mr. Barrus," he exclaimed as the two shook hands.
Logan glanced around for the salarian "No Jarlol today?" he asked.
"He's working the security gate today," the turian answered as they began to walk to the his office "Filling in for a sick co-worker,"
The three entered the office where Virius had two drinks ready. Logan accepted a glass but stared at it in concern.
The old turian chuckled at the look on his face "Do not worry, my friend," he stated "I made sure your drink was safe for humans,"
Logan nodded with a smile "My thanks," he replied then took a swig of the beverage, savoring the alcoholic burn.
"I apologize," Virius spoke up "I don't think any of my drinks are safe for quarians,"
"It's fine," Logan replied "It might not be a bad idea for one of us to be sober when we seal the deal,"
The turian squinted his eyes "Seal the deal?" He asked slowly.
Logan laughed "Human saying," he explained "I should say; we need someone sober when I bring my business to the BCB,"
The announcement stunned the turian for a second but he quickly recovered and let out a booming laugh "You're making the right choice," the turian stated as he held out a hand.
Logan shook and, on contact, the turian was suddenly electrocuted, his body convulsed for a few seconds before going limp and dropping to the ground with a thud.
"Get his omni-tool, TZ," Logan ordered and as the quarian moved to retrieve it, the tool started beeping "Get back!" Logan shouted as he grabbed Tali's arm and hauled her away a few meters. After a few seconds of nothing happening, Logan slowly approached it.
Suddenly their radios cracked to life, making the human jump "What the hell happened in there?" Brady shouted "The alarms are going off!"
"Shit!" Logan cried "He must have a monitor on his omni-tool, we need you guys in here, now!"
Outside
"Calvary's coming!" Brady shouted, then looked to Jester "Let's get in there, BH!"
The two charged the door, by then the guards had left their posts and were walking towards the back. Before they could fully turn around, the guards were cut down by Brady and Jester, causing the customers to scream and drop to the ground.
"Stay down!" Jester roared.
"Anyone feel like being a hero?" Brady questioned the prone crowd "Good," he stated after not receiving a replied.
"Guys, this is SD," Stephen's voice sounded in their ears "We got two Eclipse shuttles in coming, BD and BH, you guys better be ready.
"BH, babysit them, would ya?" Brady ordered, indicating to the hostages "I'll cover the door,"
He didn't have to wait long until the first Eclipse mercenary sprinted towards the door. Brady swung out from cover and pinned the trigger of his assault rifle, killing the merc and causing the others to pause in their charge and run for cover. Brady stepped back around the wall just as bullets riddled it, causing him to flinch. Outside, the mercs focused their fire on the door, ignoring the random shuttle slowly turning to allow the port side door open. Lloyd laid down in the opening and trained his sights on a salarian squad leader, then waited for Stephen to even out. Suddenly the operative squeezed the trigger and the salarian dropped. Part of the squad turned to fire upon the shuttle, but the prone man was near impossible to hit, and with his vantage point he was able to pick off a few more mercenaries. Brady swung back out and spread his fire between two mercs, killing one and wounding the other.
"LF, we've got another shuttle incoming!" Stephen shouted then spun the vehicle in a 180 degree turn so the operative could get a shot on it. Lloyd peppered the cockpit of the other shuttle and was able to nail the pilot, causing the shuttle to drop, where it exploded on impact with the ground.
"Fuck yeah!" Lloyd shouted, truly enjoying the chaos.
Inside
Logan dragged the turian's body along as he and Tali made their way towards the vault. At the security gate Jarlol looked panicked as he watched Logan drop the body at Tali's feet.
"Open the door, now!" Logan shouted to which the salarian shakily complied.
After it had opened Logan strode through where the salarian held up his hands in surrender"Okay, okay, I'm doing what you say, I'm doing wh- agh!" Logan interrupted Jarlol's terrified rambling with the butt of his assault rifle. Behind him Tali slowly dragged the turian's body through and up to the hand scanner. Logan reached down and grabbed the wrist of the unconscious alien, pulling the arm up he pressed the hand to the scanner and waited while the computer authorized it. As it confirmed their entry Logan pulled the body to the side of the door, with Tali taking position on the opposite side. The door opened and inside they heard the click of guns being readied. Logan nodded to the quarian then stepped out, holding the limp turian with a gun in one hand.
"Drop the weapons, or he gets it!" Logan ordered to which the guards glanced at each other "Now!" he shouted and the guards dropped their weapons, Logan then motioned for them to get up against the wall. After the guards were in position he dropped body and walked up behind the kneeling mercs. Two quick swings of his assault rifle knocked out the guards. The human turned around to see Tali stand up from Virius's body, knife in hand with a blue liquid running down it. She wiped the knife on the DNA scanner while Logan held the turian's omni-tool up to its respective scanner. Both took a few seconds to confirm. When the vault opened it revealed a single terminal in the middle of the room.
"What?" Tali questioned "Where's the credit chits we need to carry out in a bag?"
"You've been watching our old movies, haven't you?" Logan asked.
"Only a few that Bra- BD recommended," she admitted.
Logan rolled his eyes with a small grin "Banks use terminals now, to save space," Logan explained as he handed her an omni-tool supplied by Cerberus "Get to hacking, get about two billion,"
Bank lobby
Jester kept glancing back at the door, making sure Brady had the door held. Pretty soon he had all but forgotten to keep an eye on the crowd. An elder turian saw Jester's mistake as an opportunity and pushed himself to a kneeling position and readied himself. Jester was taken completely by surprise when he was hit in the midsection and taken to the ground, his sub machine gun skittering across the ground out of reach. Despite his old age, the turian still possessed considerable strength and Jester found himself losing the battle for control of his hand gun. Jester brought his legs up underneath the turian and pushed off, sending the elder staggering back. Too late the human noticed that the turian was in possession of the hand gun. Jester tried scrambling to his feet and go for his SMG as the first two shots took down his shields. He was within inches of his gun when a round pierced his armor at his lower back. Jester cried out in pain and arched his back as three more rounds hit higher up towards his shoulders.
Brady swung around and put his sights on the turian then pinned the trigger, ignoring the terrified screams from the other hostages. The turian's body jerked as the bullets shredded his body before falling dead to the floor, the blue blood spilling from multiple orifices.
"BH is hit!" Brady yelled into the radio.
"Gah!" Jester yelped as he writhed in agony on the ground "He got me, he fucking got me!"
Brady made to go help him when an eclipse merc came barreling through the door, only to be cut down immediately "I need some help out here!" he declared.
Suddenly Logan came sprinting from the back and slid to his knees next to Jester.
"Where's TZ?" Brady asked as he reloaded.
Logan briefly made eye contact with his friend "Finishing up, she'll be out in a minute," just as he finished his sentence the quarian appeared and took up position next to Brady at the door, gunning down a merc that was making a charge.
After applying medi gel, Logan hoisted the injured man to his feet and pulled him towards the door.
"How's it looking out there?" Logan asked.
"We just took out their newest shuttle load of mercs. I don't know how long until the next so I say we go now," Brady replied. Logan nodded, signaled for them to go, and all four dashed out the door and made straight for the alley, careful to not trip over the many bodies.
"Just ditch the dead weight!" Lloyd shouted through the comms.
Logan felt Jester's grip tighten on his shirt "Please don't," he gasped.
Logan ignored the Cerberus operative in his ear and pressed on, turning down the alley. Tali was in the lead with Brady taking up the rear.
"Uh, guys?" came Stephen's voice "Just heard over the radio, we've got C-Sec coming, we gotta move!"
Pretty soon they were on the next street, Stephen maneuvered the craft low enough that Brady was able to hop in and then turn around to assist Jester inside.
"Shuttle!" Lloyd shouted as an eclipse aircraft appeared from around a building. The side door opened and a mercenary appeared holding a rocket launcher. The merc fired and Stephen yanked the controls to avoid certain death. The sudden movement cause Lloyd to stumble out of the craft and land on Logan who was still outside with Tali. Stephen swore as another rocket was fired but was able to avoid it.
"Get outta here, SD," Logan said into the comm "We can make it ourselves,"
Stephen confirmed the order then took off with the Eclipse shuttle right on their tail. The three that were left behind headed towards the alleys on the opposite side where they came from. As they reached the alley a C-SEC squad car went tearing past, not noticing the oddball group.
"What now?" Tali asked.
Lloyd indicated another shuttle bearing down on them "We run," he stated and took off to an open store with the other two hot on his heels. The Cerberus operative was first through the door and he paused to spray bullets into the ceiling "Everybody on the ground!" he shouted amidst the startled screams.
"We're only passing through," Logan warned the crowd "Nobody moves until we're out,"
The trio snaked through the prone figures until they reached a rear exit, reserved for customers. Logan kept his gun trained on the crowd as Lloyd opened the door, then backed out, only turning around when the door shut. As they made their way towards the another open street a C-Sec squad car tore by, sirens blazing, causing the three to drop into cover behind a parked skycar.
"C-Sec and the Eclipse are both going to be looking for us," Lloyd stated as they began moving again "We need to get out of this district as soon as possible,"
"We can't risk SD coming back here," Logan declared "You know anybody here on the Citadel?"
Lloyd nodded "A few fellow Cerberus operatives," he answered "But I can't risk their cover,"
"Shit," Logan declared "Let's get to the docks, maybe we can steal a ride there, change our uniforms,"
"Anything is better than sitting in this alley," Lloyd replied "Let's go,"
The trio carefully made their way across the empty street into another set of alleys. The snaking alleys were suddenly filled with a bustle of yellow. Before they could raise their weapons, the three were surrounded.
"Drop your guns!" a salarian ordered. Logan traded looks with Tali and Lloyd before tossing his handgun down and raised his hands, the other two following suit. A couple of mercs stepped forward and kicked the guns out of their reach. The salarian turned and nodded to someone down another alley. Pretty soon an asari stepped around the corner. She was a light purple with green face markings surrounding her eyes and a single green stripe below her lips.
"Taking something that doesn't belong to you isn't very wise," she snarled "Especially when it belongs to me!" she shouted then stepped up to Logan's face "Do you know who I am?"
"Am I supposed to?" Logan shot back, truthfully he didn't know.
The asari growled then signaled to a human and he swung his assault rifle butt into the gut of Logan, causing him to drop to his knees in a coughing fit. The asari then looked to Lloyd "How about you?" she asked.
"I think so," he nodded.
"Then explain to your friend," she snarled indicating the floored human.
Lloyd looked between the two and swallowed "This is Selya T'naor, one of Jona Sederis' personal Lieutenants and one of Aria's lovers," the Cerberus operative explained "She has a death sentence on twelve systems and... maybe just a rumor, but she finds pleasure in castrating males before killing them,"
"Not a rumor," Selya smirked "Now, quarian, hand over the omni tool," Tali quickly obeyed, practically tossing the tool into the asari's hand "Thank you, sweetie," Selya declared in a falsetto voice then put her handgun to Tali's head.
"No!" Logan shouted as he jumped to his feet but was knocked back down by a biotic throw from the salarian.
Selya grinned sadistically "Oh, did I hit a nerve?" she asked sweetly "Did I threaten the girlfriend?" Logan didn't answer but instead glared daggers at the asari "You humans make it too easy," she laughed then looked thoughtfully at Tali "Quarian, take off your helmet,"
Tali twitched and looked to Logan, then back at the asari, her body beginning to quake.
"I said take off your helmet!" Selya screamed "Or I'll cut your boyfriend's balls off and make you wear them as a trinket!"
Tali slowly began to comply "Tali, don't!" Logan shouted, momentarily forgetting protocol.
"Tali? What a pretty name," the asari teased "Do as I say, or you'll never hear him say your name again,"
"Ma'am?" the salarian interrupted "I don't think that's one of ours," he declared, pointing to a quickly descending truck.
Logan, from his kneeling position, pushed off and slammed into Tali causing her to fly into Lloyd just as the shuttle slammed into the ground and slid across the floor, and across a few eclipse mercs, coming to a stop where they stood a second ago.
Logan yanked Tali to her a feet and pushed her towards the grounded vehicle "Get in!" he shouted and the three dashed by the floored asari, diving into the truck. They shut the door in the nick of time as bullets riddled it while the truck ascended.
"I'm beginning to think you've lost your touch," a gruff voice came from the cockpit and a familiar batarian face peeked around the corner.
Logan laughed, his adrenaline in full effect "Sagath, you brilliant batarian bastard!" he shouted.
"Dox and Daniels contacted me after they left you behind," he explained "I figured this old man needed to show you how it's done,"
"Yeah, it got fucked pretty fast," Logan stated "Jester got hit and we lost the damn money,"
Tali raised her hand "Actually we didn't," she stated as she held up an omni-tool "I gave her mine,"
Lloyd began laughing "You're alright, for a quarian," he stated as he took the omni-tool "I'll go ahead and contact my boss,"
Zathdex 1 hour later
"Lloyd's dropping the omni-tool off and Sagath is disposing of our vehicles," Logan explained "So now we need to just lay low,"
"What about Jester?" Brady asked.
Logan sighed "For now he's alright," he explained "But he needs proper medical attention and a safe place to hide,"
"What do you mean?" Stephen asked.
"He told me.." Logan began then lowered his voice "He told me he wants to quit Cerberus and I think we all know how Cerberus will take that,"
"Does Lloyd know?" Brady asked
Logan shook his head "Doubt it," he answered "But knowing how low his opinion of Jester is, I think I know how he'll react. I'd rather that not happen,"
They all fell silent for a moment to think, then Tali spoke up "He could come with me to the fleet," she offered.
"Would the your people allow that?" Brady asked.
"The fleet won't turn down someone in need, especially if they're with me," she explained "Also, neither Cerberus or Eclipse would dare attack,"
"If you think that's best then that's what we'll do," Logan stated "But to be safe let's wait a few days for everything to calm down," the human suddenly pulled a crate of various liquors up from beneath the table "Now let's fucking party!"
The room filled with a roar of jubilation as the drinks were quickly distributed.
Logan was on his fourth drink and chatting with Stephen when an arm suddenly got thrown around his neck and a shot shoved into his hand.
Brady laughed, loudly, into Logan's ear "Well, fellas, thass anodder one for that books," he slurred.
"Fuck yeah!" Logan shouted as they cheered each other then tossed the shots back "Jager? Really?" Logan declared with a disgusted look on his face, much to the amusement of his friends.
All three flopped onto a couch, Tali soon joining them by sitting on Brady's knee.
Stephen sighed happily "You know, I know we said we were done with this shit, but god damn it felt good to pull one more score!" he declared.
"Haha, fuck yeah!" Logan agreed "This little devil more than pulled her weight," he said indicating Tali "I think we may have a hustler on our hands,"
Brady violently raised his bottle of beer, nearly drenching the quarian "Here's to popping Tali's bank robbing cherry," he declared to which Logan and Stephen whooped and joined him in a drink, Tali put a palm to her helmet while blushing furiously underneath.
Citadel docks 2 days later
Logan, Brady, and Tali stood outside of a shuttle, which contained a sleeping Jester.
"Thanks for your help, Tali," Logan declared as he gave the quarian a hug "I didn't want to drag you into our life style, but we couldn't have done this without you,"
"Happy to help a friend, even if it puts me on a wanted list," Tali stated.
"Sagath is a master at keeping C-Sec off our trail, so I would be surprised if this came back to you," Logan answered then stepped to the side to allow Brady his time with her.
"Logan!" the human heard a voice call as he stared off into space, literally, while waiting for Tali and Brady to finish their goodbyes, and turned to the source.
"Mr. Fallows," Logan said as greeting "What are you doing here?"
"I'm heading back to base tomorrow, didn't think I'd catch you before then," the Cerberus operative explained "Just wanted to let you know that you and your crew's cut will be transferred to your accounts by next week,"
Logan nodded, then sighed as he extended his hand "Thanks for your help,"
Lloyd smiled as he shook hands "Thanks for the opportunity, it was fun," he declared then suddenly pulled Lerman close "Watch your back, Eclipse won't stop at anything to get you back, Selya is a bloodthirsty bitch,"
Logan smiled "Thanks, but I think we can handle ourselves," he stated "We were good enough for Shepard after all,"
Brady and Tali had finally concluded their goodbyes, and reluctantly broke from their long hug, when Brady noticed something on Tali's suit "You got red on you," he stated and as he went to touch it the red mark moved to the top of his hand. His eyes went wide with realization and he lurched forward in front of Tali just as a shot rang out. Logan and Lloyd instinctively dropped and pulled out weapons, the former freezing as he saw his best friend fall on his face, blood pooling under him. Tali screamed in horror and tried to roll Brady over to his back. Lloyd shouted something but Logan barely heard him as time seemed to slow down. His mind hardly registered the Cerberus operative firing his handgun at the roof of a nearby building before taking off in its direction. Logan slowly crawled over to Tali, who was cradling Brady's form in her arms, shrieking something into the man's face. When he reached them he saw his friend gurgling as struggled to breath, then suddenly go still, his eyes staring past them into the sky.