Elina peeked around the corner, the rest of her squad and their newest addition, the quarian Soldier-turned-Merchant Vael Oran vas Torrq pressed against the wall behind her. A flight of stairs lead down from their position to some sort of gateway in which two white-clad figures stood. Elina clenched her teeth, forcing down a rising wave of anger.
"Two Cerberus-soldiers, dead ahead. They haven't spotted us yet." she signaled her team, forming the words with her hand, the other one firmly grasping her pistol. Her Operatives nodded silently, and even Oran seemed to have understood the meaning of her signals.
Returning her view to the two sentinels, she probed her mind for a solution, forming approach after approach, playing out the different scenarios in her head.
Judging by the relaxed attitude of the soldiers, Cerberus didn't know they'd arrived yet, and going in loud would strip them of the element of surprise. Settling on a plan, she brought up her Omni-Tool, swiped in two quick commands and addressed her team, forming the words with her hand again:
"I'm going to take them out quietly. Stay back and cover me."
They nodded again, readying their weapons. Seeing them all fit and ready to strike filled du Pont with some strange sense of pride.
"Alright, here we go." Du Pont thought to herself, inhaling, relaxing her muscles, activating the cloaking program.
She stepped around the corner, exhaling, and took the first step down the stairs. Her silhouette had now blended with the background completely, making her virtually invisible. The guards didn't seem to see her.
She took another step down, then another. When she had reached the middle of the stairs, she came into range to understand the words the Cerberus soldiers were speaking.
"… can't believe we're dicking around on this backwater station while Jason gets to go on the Big Score." One of the soldiers growled annoyed while adjusting his shoulder pad.
"I know, right? I didn't sign up to push around some human eggheads…" answered the other while leaning against the doorframe. "But at least we don't have to stand around that Psycho anymore."
"I hear you. Just being in the same room with him creeps me out. Did you know he supposedly shot two guys from echo because they accidently destroyed some computers?" The first one asked while du Pont crept closer, step by step.
"Eh, I didn't like those asses anyway." The one leaning against the doorframe shrugged as she stalked the last few paces.
"You know who I'd kill if I got to go on the Big Score? That Asari bitch in the Dulzura Ward! Telling me what to do, I'd …"
He was interrupted by the first soldier who'd sprung up into an alert stance, grabbing his gun startled.
"Hey, did you see that?!"
He was staring right at du Pont who had come to a stop a few mere steps away from them, her Cloaking Program concealing her.
"See what?" The other soldier trained his eyes right at her, seeing through her. She opened her arms.
Two bright orange-glowing blades flashed into life on her wrists, two fiery eyes of a beast awakening in the dark. The soldiers stepped back, startled, as she flung herself at them, leaping forward. Before they could react, she had forced her right blade into the neck of the guard to her left, killing him instantly. The other one screamed in panic and fired at her without aiming.
The first few shots missed her completely, ricocheting from the ground. She ripped the blade out of the neck of the dead soldier, when a shot hit her square in the back. Her shields flickered under the impact, but held. Whirling around, she used her momentum to deliver a vicious slash at the face of the soldier, cleaving right through his helmet. He toppled over, the edges of the cut still glimmering with heat.
Standing over the two bodies, she took a deep breath, deactivating the two blades. Moments later, her team entered the gateway, securing it. When they'd made sure that it was safe, du Pont gestured Oran to come to her.
"Alright, Oran. Where to now?" she asked while checking her pistol.
"It's just down that corridor. We're almost there."