Hello again, everyone, and welcome back to my MechWarrior/BattleTech - Mass Effect crossover.
Thank you all for your wonderful feedback and support. I greatly appreciate it.
We're now nearing the end of the Citadel sub-story arc. For those of you that are curious, we're going to be a very interesting twist at the end. Stay tuned if you want to see what it is.
As always, leave a review, and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own the MechWarrior/BattleTech or Mass Effect franchises. They are the respective properties and trademarks of BioWare, Electronic Arts, FASA Corporation, FASA Interactive, Catalyst Game Labs, WizKids, Piranha Games Inc., etc. Any material original to the franchises belongs to it's original developers and publishers. Any material not original to the franchises is of my own invention. I do not own any music listed in each chapter. Any music listed belongs to it's original composers and/or artists.
Citadel
Approaching Citadel Archives
October 5th, 2186
A few hours later, the entire team was heading to the Citadel Archives on an Anhur VTOL, with the vehicle flying nimbly through the area, despite being fairly large in size. Onboard, Shepard was making sure his equipment was good to go, while the others did the same. Nearby, Edward was putting the finishing touches on a shaped charge that would get them into the Archives. Nearby, he could see Victor getting ready, along with Sortek and the others.
As they flew along, Shepard asked, "Brooks, what's the best way into the Citadel Archives?"
"The facility's located below the Wards," Brooks replied. "Maybe a direct breach for maximum surprise?"
"I like it. Sounds like you're learning the ropes."
"Hell," Edward beamed, "hang out with us long enough, and you'll learn ropes, knives, bombs, BattleMechs…"
"But don't hang out too long," Wrex added, "or pretty soon, you'll be making friends with the Asari."
"I heard that," Liara groused. Mason, who had come along as well, chuckled.
"Also, does C-SEC know we're going to be blasting a hole into the Archives?"
"Yes," Victor replied. "They've granted us temporary access to the Citadel Archives in order to prevent Shepard's identity theft. Bailey is currently getting a team together, but given what's happened recently, it's going to take time."
With that, they found a wide area that they could land at. Touching down, they quickly got out of the vehicle, with the Anhur leaving once everyone was out. "The archives are somewhere below us," Brooks told the team. "It could be pretty tricky to get in there."
"Not really," Edward added as he pulled the shaped charge out. "I did all the work, so I just gotta plant this where we need it and then we're in." Using his Battle Armor's sensors, he scanned the ground to find a good place to punch a hole into the Archives. Spotting a good location, he placed the shaped charge there and said, "Stand back." Once everyone was away, he detonated the charge.
There was a loud WOMP-BANG as the charge detonated. Superplastic metal tore into the material forming the roof of the entrance to the archives, while the blast wave created a hole large enough for two people to drop down through. Thanks to the blast weakening some of the connectors, the two panels with the hole in them dropped down into the exposed space.
Looking into the hole, Edward got a good idea of what had happened. "Looks like we blew a hole into a maintenance corridor."
"As good an entrance as any," Shepard decided.
"Krogan first!" Wrex shouted as he dropped in. "See you at the party, princesses!" Up above, Victor merely shook his head at there remark, before quickly following the team inside. Nearing a ladder, Shepard quickly slid down it, before moving through another cramped corridor to what appeared to be a hatch into the main lobby. Kicking at it, he knocked the panel down, before dropping own with the others.
This part of the Archives, from what he could tell, was actually a small office, with a few cubicles on the ground floor where people would be working. Up above, he could see another level, as well as doors on the other side. A large model of the Citadel was suspended over the place, and powerful lights lit the area up.
At that moment, the sensor suite in his armor detected several hostiles, with a few on the upper levels. "Not this again," he growled. Rather than let the enemy take the first shot, Shepard took aim and fired his rifle.
A pulsing blue beam of laser light cut through the air, tearing into the head of one of the CAT6 mercs that had been about to shoot at him. Said merc's head exploded inside of the helmet, before said helmet was cut clean in half by the laser beam. A few panicked shouts, and one terrified roar, told him that he had the desired effect. "Move up!" he shouted. "Take them out!"
"Ambush!" Vega shouted.
"Scatter and take cover," Victor shouted calmly.
"In the old days, we had at least five minutes before things went south," Wrex reminisced.
"Clear the channel!" Sortek shouted as he fired his own M61B Pulse Laser Rifle at a merc.
"Fuck!" one of the mercs shouted. "Shepard brought the full crew!"
"Box them in!" another shouted, just as his head exploded. Looking in that direction, Shepard watched as Victor began cutting down mercenaries. Spotting one getting too close to him, he dropped his rifle onto it's sling before pulling out a vibroblade. With a single slash, he cut through the merc's neck, causing blood to splatter the ground.
Sortek, despite his age, was really kicking ass. Sliding over some cover, he fired his M61B with pinpoint precision, neutralizing a pair of mercenaries. One, thinking he was a feeble old man, bullrushed him, only for Sortek to deliver a solid kick to the man's chest. While the merc was staggered, he fired into his chest, killing the merc instantly.
Mason was also kicking ass. While he was primarily a MechWarrior, he had gotten training in infantry combat courtesy of his father making it mandatory for him before he was allowed to pilot 'Mechs. Popping out of cover, he fired his Striker Carbine at a merc, pelting the merc's barriers with AP/D rounds. When that merc fell dead, he fired his grenade launcher at another, tearing that merc apart as well.
Just then, a loud voice shouted, "THAT'S ENOUGH! Drop your weapons, or this won't end well for her!" A moment later, a shrouded figure came out, with Brooks held at gunpoint.
"You bastard!" Brooks growled.
Shepard, realizing they were surrounded, growled, "All right…" before dropping his weapons. The others soon complied, but Sotek, looking around, dropped his rifle, while making sure that his TK70B was still hidden. He sent a smirk at Shepard, who nodded, knowing what was going on. At the team's compliance, the figure tossed Brooks at them. "Whatever you think you're getting away with, there's nowhere you can run, nowhere you can hide where we can't find you."
The figure, hearing this, seemed to tense up, though they promptly relaxed. "Hide?" the figure asked, before stepping out into the light. "I'm Commander Shepard. I don't hide."
Shepard's eyes went wide when he saw what he saw. To his pure astonishment, he was looking at… himself, only it wasn't himself. This copy of him was wearing the armor the mercenaries wore, and he looked completely unscratched by war.
"Man, this gig gets weirder all the time," Vega groaned.
"What?" Mason asked. "Oh, now that's some bullshit."
Victor and Sortek, seeing this for themselves, frowned. "Oh no, not this shit again," they both groaned. Already, Sortek felt memories of that one time when he had to rescue Hanse from the clutches of House Liao resurface. Poor Shepard, he thought to himself. What happened to Hanse has just happened to him.
"Who are you?" Shepard asked, still taken aback by what he was seeing.
"You weren't the only Shepard that Cerberus brought back to life," the copy said to him, "but at least one of us will finally be able to do something about it."
"Where did you come from?" Shepard asked.
"The same DNA as you."
"A clone," Victor growled.
"Cerberus spared no expense resurrecting you," the Clone said to Shepard. "With me… I was created for spare parts in case you needed another arm, or a lung, or a heart."
"Where have you been this whole time?" Shepard asked.
"in a coma, until I woke up about six months ago. While you were in a jail cell on Earth, I was learning how to be human. Amazing what a person can do with enough neural implants."
Hearing that, Shepard knew that, while things were looking bad, he could turn them around. I might be able to convince him to stand down. Looking his clone firmly in the eyes, he said, "If you are me, then we're on the same side."
The Clone actually laughed when he heard this. "For real? We're not even in the same league."
Ouch. "Did the Illusive Man send you?"
"No," the Clone replied, though Shepard detected some anger there. "He abandoned me when he had what he wanted: you."
"Then why attempt to kill him?" Victor asked. "Why attempt to kill me?"
"Because I don't have his memories," the Clone replied. "I'd never fool my supposed friends… the ones who abandoned their duty to join the cult of Shepard. As for you, Victor, you were a mere bystander, until you got yourself involved. Even that old man up there, who's nothing but a old, feeble man guarding an even more feeble old man with delusions of grandeur."
That made Sortek more than a little angry. "And you are just a pale, sad, pitiful copy of the real thing!" he snarled. "If you think you can do what the real Shepard did, then you are nothing but a deluded fool!"
It was clear that the remark stung the Clone, though it did a good job of hiding it. "I'm the real thing perfected." Looking at Shepard, it said, "I'm you without the wear and tear, Shepard. The doubts, the failures. I'm the lone wolf you were always meant to be, without the emotional baggage holding me back."
"No one will ever believe you are the Commander," Vega snarled.
"They will when I'm flying his ship," the Clone bit back.
Shepard, realizing the Normandy was at risk, was about to use his comm piece when he realized how dumb that would be. If I talk to Traynor, the Clone can butt in and convince her to lower the Normandy's guard! Instead, he said, "You'll have to do more than that to make people think you're me, dumbass."
"Oh, really?" the Clone smirked, before it opened a comm channel, "Specialist Traynor," it said, "prep the Normandy for emergency launch. We're leaving. I'm sending the command codes now."
"Acknowledged," Traynor replied, not knowing it wasn't actually Shepard.
At this point, Shepard was livid. "It'll be a cold day in hell before anyone takes my ship!"
"It's not stealing if I'm you," the Clone gloated. As it turned to leave, it said, "Kill them. The cult of Shepard ends today!" With that, he left. While this was going on, Shepard looked around to gauge his options. Just as he did so, Sortek acted.
In a flash of movement, Sortek, working faster than a man of his age would normally work, neutralized the guards and, whipping out his TK70B, fired it at the model for the Citadel, cutting through the steel cables holding it up. A moment later, it crashed to the ground, crushing the CAT6 guards on the ground floor while Shepard, spotting the attack, flew into cover with the others, narrowly avoiding being crushed.
At that, everyone immediately began firing at the CAT6 mercenaries. "We still got everyone?" Shepard asked.
"We're on the balcony!" Wrex shouted.
"I'm still here too!" Brooks added.
"Where's everyone else?" Shepard asked.
"Other side!" Sortek shouted.
"Having a shooting session!" Mason added.
"On high ground with a sniper rifle!" Garrus crowed. "Doesn't get any better than this!" There was a loud BOOM as his Minolta fired, sending a merc to an early grave.
"Kicking ass with my husband!" Nyreen added as she hurled a powerful biotic throw, snapping the necks of several mercs.
"Us too!" Celicia, Iavalia and Nihlus added, blasting apart a group of mercenaries.
"Having a little party up here!" Kaidan shouted. "With bullets!"
"These criminals will make good sport!" Javik snarled.
"At least if we go down, we go down together!" Liara added.
"One big, happy, ass-kicking family!" Vega crowed. "See that, Brooks? That's how it's done! WHOOO!"
"If I wasn't covering my eyes, I'd be impressed," Brooks replied.
"Uncle Wrex is in town, and he brought the boom!" Wrex taunted.
"That a one liner you're working on?" Victor asked.
"What do you think?!"
As they fought back, the mercenaries did so as well. "Rapier Squad!" a voice shouted. "Orders are to kill the other Shepard's crew, and the Inner Sphere combatants! No messing around this time!"
"But they got a Krogan!" one shouted. "How come we don't have a Krogan!"
"Wouldn't want to be you, princess!" Wrex shouted as he hurled a biotic throw, sending that merc to an early doom. He laughed maniacally as the merc screamed to his doom.
"Shit, that's a Prothean over there!" a merc shouted.
"And that is a future corpse over there!" Javik countered.
"Shit! That's Archangel!" another merc shouted. "How are we going to -" Another gunshot rang out, blasting that merc's head apart.
"You're not!" Garrus snarled, a malevolent grin on his face.
"Is that the Prince's Champion?!" another one shouted. "How come -AAAAGGGGHHHH!"
"Shut up, shitbag," Sortek growled. "I'll teach you arrogant youngsters how a real soldier fights in war."
"Fuck! That's Commander Mason of Mason's Cavaliers! How are we gonna ki -URK!"
"You call yourself a merc?" Mason asked. "Y'all are a bunch of wimps. My father would've kicked your ass, and he had less advanced gear than what you have."
"Then maybe the other Shepard should've stuck around to help!" a merc complained.
"We've got 'em psyched out!" Vega realized. "Hey, pendejos! Our Shepard's better than yours!"
"Better looking too!" Wrex added. With the combined firepower of everyone working together, and the mercs panic, it wasn't long before all of the CAT6 mercs were all dead.
"We're clear!" Vega reported. "Now where'd the other you go, Shepard?"
"He's pushing into the Archives," Shepard replied. "Stay in your groups!" After a moment, he said, "Team Mako, you're on point!"
"Right," Brooks remarked. "W-what's a Mako?"
"Something we could really use right now," Liara remarked.
"Why that?" Edward asked. "I'm in Battle Armor. We don't need a Mako."
"Team Hammerhead, cover the flank."
"Got it," Nihlus replied, "I'm don't know how good the Mako is though. I've heard the Hammerhead's better."
"Hey!" Vega protested. "I resent that!"
"Settle down," Shepard ordered. "Team BattleMaster, you'll provide support for Team Marauder."
"Got it," Sortek smiled. "Oh, and just so you two teams know, the Mako and Hammerhead have got nothing on the mighty BattleMaster."
"I'll lead Team Marauder," Shepard decided. "Vega, Legion, you're with me!" With that, all of the teams moved out. Moving through a door, and a checkpoint, Shepard entered the main area for the Citadel Archives.
The entire space was massive, with Shepard noting that the entire building could likely take up more than a few Leopard-class DropShips and have some room to spare. To the left and right, he could see massive cylinders that went up and down in diagonal lines. Walkways led to each one, and the lighitng in the place was dim, but enough to see by without requiring lights. Crates on the large lower deck could be seen as well.
"This is an unusual amount of space for digital records," Legion noted.
"I wonder what your clone is looking for in here, Shepard," Wrex remarked.
"If I had to guess," Victor added over the comm. "I'd say the clone is looking for data on Shepard's biometrics. If it can change those, we could try to prove Shepard's the real McCoy, but the biometrics would say otherwise. Fucking asshole had everything planned out."
"That he did," Shepard nodded.
"Reminds me of Maskirovka before the Fourth Succession War destroyed them," Sortek mused.
"Still, I feel bad for you," Kaidan remarked. "You bumped into your own clone. Now that is very unlucky."
"I don't want to talk about it," Shepard groused.
"Right," Vega smriked, "not until we've had a round of drinks."
"We will need to locate the data in an expedient timeframe," Legion noted.
"I've got an idea," Shepard beamed. "Glyph?"
"Yes, Commander?" Glyph, who had come along, asked.
"Track the target. Give me updates on it's coordinates."
"What is the nature of this target?"
"It is a clone of me. Look for someone with facial features identical to mine, but with differing biometrics. Give me status updates on where it's at."
"At once, Shepard," Glyph replied, before zooming away.
"That was quite specific," Garrus noted.
"Best thing to avoid confusion is to be specific," Shepard explained. "That's the trouble with computers when you're looking for something. You have to be awfully specific to find what you want."
"Tell me about it," Victor grunted.
As they moved forwards, a large lift on the other side lowered, with Shepard spotting some mercs. Before they could react, two laser beams cut them apart, with Shepard killing the third. Up above, Victor and Sortek continued moving forwards, rifles at the ready. "Legion, hack into their comms," Shepard ordered. "I want to know what they're saying."
"Hacking complete," Legion replied.
A moment later, Shepard heard the merc's voices. "Shit! The other Shepard and his crew are still alive!"
"Take them down!" the Clone ordered. "I need more time to find the vault!" As the mercs and the Cloned communicated with each other, Shepard got onto the platform, with Tali lowering it down. Moving into a vault that Legion opened, Shepard realized they were going to move to the other side. Once inside, he watched as the vault's barriers activated, before it slid to the right, allowing him to exit.
As he did so, Glyph came back. "Commander, your clone is searching for something 200 meters ahead."
"Thanks," Shepard nodded, with Glyph returning to tracking the Clone.
"Pretty crazy running into your clone," Garrus mused.
"But useful, Commander," Javik snickered. "If there's a task you don't want to do, let them handle it."
"Kinda like an unwanted butler," Mason remarked.
"Please spare Shepard the snide remarks," Sortek butted in. "I had to deal with a similar situation myself. Talking about it brings up some… unpleasant memories." The group fell silent at that, while Shepard, dropping down onto one of the vaults, began moving along it's top.
"Incoming!" Vega shouted as mercs dropped down.
A moment later, the Clone's voice came in over the comm. "Dagger Squad, I need more time to get to the vault! Keep Shepard off my back, or I'll have your head!"
"The other Shepard sounds like a real asshole!" Victor noted.
"I'd quit if he was my Commander," Brooks added.
"Reminds me off the Combine and their way of doing business," Mason remarked.
Firing on the mercs, the team quickly neutralized them, before advancing forwards and onto the other catwalk. A merc rushed up at Shepard, only for Shepard to dodge the attack, before using the merc's inertia to send him tumbling ass over teakettle over the railing. The merc let out a reedy wail of terror as he fell to a hard stop.
As they moved along, Sortek came in over the comm. "Shepard, we're moving to assist Team Hammerhead. They've got themselves pinned down!"
"Do so," Shepard nodded. As he moved along the catwalks, he soon came to an area where cargo crates were stored at. Team Hammerhead was pinned down near a ladder, while the mercs fired on them. A moment later, Hanse and his team fired on the mercs, gunning them down and allowing the other team to move up the ladder.
"All this advanced tech, and we have to use ladders still," Garrus frowned. "Why couldn't we have done something like anti-gravity?"
"I don't know," Victor remarked. "That sounds like an interesting idea. Maybe the teams at NAIS can handle that."
"Maybe." With that, they moved up the ladder. Moving through a doorway, they entered an area where they found holographic vaults that were in use. One had a recording from the time period of the First Contact War, while another was at the start of the Krogan Rebellions.
"This data is highly intriguing," Legion noted. "We often wonder why the Council keeps this information in storage, rather than using it."
"Highly sensitive info," Garrus explained over the comm. "Very hush-hush information. I'm surprised that Bailey allowed you in here, Victor."
"Between the lack of manpower that he has, and the fact that the Federated Commonwealth has considerably greater power than the Citadel Council, he really doesn't have a choice," Victor remarked. "Besides, as part of the 'lend-lease' agreement that my father made with the Council, part of that involved gaining access to sensitive information. I'd say that Shepard's identity falls under that. Plus, any data I don't have the clearance to in here, I can't see. I know because some of the exhibits went blank when I entered them."
"Fair point," Garrus mused.
Just then, Kaidan cut in. "This is Hammerhead! Enemies ahead, Shepard! We'll get their attention!"
"Got it," Shepard nodded as he heard gunfire.
. . .
While they were moving along, Victor, along with Edward, Mason and Sortek, were moving along the upper platform, firing their weapons whenever one of the teams needed support. Even as they moved through, though, Victor knew that something was off. This is remarkably too easy, he noted as he gunned down a mercenary. We're cutting through them like cheesecake, yet they knew how to get in here. Something's up.
It wasn't just the ease that they were fighting that was tipping him off. He could also hear bursts of what sounded like Morse Code over the comm as well, and that had him worried too. Looking at Hanse, who had just killed another mercenary, he said, "Sortek, something's up. I think we might have a mole."
"The same one that we were worried about?" Sortek asked.
"Yep."
"Shit… Anything else?"
"The 1st Davion Guards told me that Brooks left to get 'fresh groceries' for the apartment. When the guards checked the place's food stock, though, they found nothing out of the ordinary. She's also been acting odd, as you and I know from a few minutes ago."
"What's going on?" Mason asked.
"We're thinking that the mercs have a mole in Shepard's team," Sortek explained.
"Shit," Mason frowned. "That's not good. If that's the case, then I think they might be thinking of trapping us."
"Yeah," Sortek nodded. "That's what I thought too. It's also convenient that she would 'show up' at that one place as you said she did."
"She might be a traitor," Edward suggested. "If so, it would explain quite a bit."
"I agree. We'll make a detour to the area in question. Should Brooks turn out to be a traitor, we can kill her and the Clone in one fell swoop." With that, they continued onward, though now Sortek smiled, as he had a plan.
. . .
While this was going on, Shepard and the others had moved through the archival areas and into another area where Vaults were at. More gunfire was coming from up ahead, though when Shepard saw the target, he frowned. "You have got to be kidding me," he frowned when he saw an ATLAS Mech dropping down from a balcony.
"We do not have the required hardware to destroy the enemy machine," Legion replied, almost frowning.
"No," Vega admitted, "but Edward does."
Just as he said this, Shepard watched as the ATLAS turned to fire on them. Just as it did, there was a flash as something flew directly at the Mech. There was a large puff of smoke and dust, with a loud BOOM echoing in the area. The power pack for the Mech, directly targeted by whatever had hit it, promptly exploded, blasting the Mech apart and sending shrapnel flying everywhere.
A moment later, Shepard watched as Edward landed just ahead of them, a Recoilless Rifle in his armored hands. "Hah," he smiled. "Got a good hit on the power supply. I love these new MAHEM warheads. They're just like HEAT, only more precise and powerful." Turning to Shepard, he asked, "You doing alright?"
"I'm good," Shepard nodded. "Where's Sortek?"
"Right here," Sortek replied from another catwalk. "We're making our way forwards, Shepard."
"Good," Shepard nodded. With that, they continued to advance forwards, firing at any mercs that got in their way. Eventually, they made their way into another archive area.
As they did so, Brooks contacted him. "Commander, do you copy?" she asked.
"What is it?" Shepard asked.
"The other you's trying to jam our comms. Teams Mako and Hammerhead have moved ahead to cut him off, but I've been hit and need help! Please hurry!"
"We're coming," Shepard replied. As he said this, he moved into another vaulted area. Just as he moved forwards, barriers in front of him snapped on, preventing him from moving forwards. Turning around, he saw another behind them, then it it him: they were standing on an opened vault. "Damnit!" he growled. "We're blocked in! Anyone see an override switch?"
"I don't see one," Vega frowned.
Keying his comms, Shepard asked, "Sortek? Brooks? Do you read me? Is anyone on this frequency?"
Just then, a familiar voice said, "The short answer is no. They're not." A moment later, the Clone walked into view, a smug smile on his face. "The long answer involves your friends trapped in iridium vaults and forgotten for… well forever."
"Others know about this," Shepard growled. "About you. The Federated Commonwealth will stop you, as will the Alliance."
The Clone cocked an eyebrow. "What do you think, Staff Analyst Brooks? Will the Alliance and Federated Commonwealth stop us?"
"I wouldn't know. I don't actually work for them," came the reply. A moment later, Brooks walked into view.
At that moment, Shepard realized it: he'd been duped. That fucking bitch, he snarled internally. No one betrays me, and gets away with it for long! Reigning in his anger, he asked, "Who the hell are you? And do you really think I won't track you down?"
"My name doesn't matter," Brooks replied. "I don't keep the same one for more than a few days. And if the Illusive Man hasn't found me, then you never will."
"You're Cerberus?!"
"Was. Mr. Illusive Man and I didn't see eye to eye. He's indoctrinated, whereas I prefer the whispers in my head to be my own."
"Why not come to me? We could've worked together."
"In a way, we did. I'm the one who put together all of the dossiers for your 'suicide mission.'"
"The Collector base?"
"There was the Salarian doctor, the Asari Justicar, the Drell. They were all mistakes. We were a pro-human group that started looking to aliens for help. So, I bided my time, and when I found another you who agreed… I woke him up."
So she was so xenophobic she dumped the Illusive Man, Shepard frowned. Some people don't change, I guess. Frowning, he said, "You were the one that killed Khan, that tried to kill me. I should've known better. Still, what was the point of it all? Why go through all this trouble to kill me?"
"We just wanted your Spectre codes," Brooks explained. "But then, you survived the hit thanks to that brat of a Major and you insisted on bringing in that Asari slut you call your wife, so I had to tie up loose ends, so I killed Khan. Then, however, your sex bot and that wonky AI had to go and recover all the data. So here we are, forced to… contain the situation."
I see, Shepard thought. I've heard all I need to. Frowning, he growled, "Fair warning: no one who's ever betrayed us has ever survived."
"And yet, they persist," Legion added.
"You two may think you're clever," Shepard continued. "And yeah, you were – just a bit – but clever doesn't beat a bullet. And yeah, maybe I'm trapped in here, but don't get comfortable. As for why? Well, it's simple really… That bull's eye on your backs is getting bigger by the second.
"Besides, do you two really think you can fool Hanse Davion, the First Prince of the Federated Suns? If you two think you can, then you are nothing but arrogant fools that have no idea how clever the First Prince really is. I do, so I know one thing to tell you: have your wills prepared, because he will go to every length necessary to end you two forever. You might get away with fooling the Council, but you will never fool Hackett, the Council, Quintus Allard and Hanse Davion, or even Melissa Steiner. In the end, you two will die, and I will survive."
The speech was more than enough to cause Brooks to send the Clone a worry look. Still, she covered it up with bravado when she said, "That sounds very dramatic. And if someone, like, say Commander Shepard made the threat, I'd be worried. But you're not Shepard, not anymore. You're just a corpse trapped inside of a vault, with no one to call for help."
"Oh, really?" a voice asked. Hearing this, Brooks and the Clone turned around, only to find themselves staring at Ardan Sortek, Jake Mason, Edward and Victor Steiner-Davion. All four of them had their laser weapons aimed squarely at the two. "I beg to differ, bitch," Sortek growled.
Brook's eyes went wide with shock, while the Clone pulled his sidearm out. "How?!" She asked, nearly shouting. "How did you escape?! My plan was perfect!"
"It would've been perfect, had you not tried to trap us," Victor Steiner-Davion growled. "I must admit, luring us into a vault to trap us inside would've been quite smart, were it not for the fact that we have a demolition expert with us. Wouldn't you agree, Edward?"
"Indubitably sir," Edward growled, keeping his M42C squarely fixed onto the Clone. "Oh, sure, I was startled, then I realized that I still had some det-cord in my pack. Quite handy stuff, if I do say so myself."
"Besides," Mason growled. "You really think we'd be that dumb and naive when it came to following your lead? If there's one thing that I've learned as a mercenary, it's that paranoia on the field will save your life more than once, and you were causing my paranoia meter to go ring-a-ding-ding."
"Quite so," Sortek nodded. "Besides, it was Victor that first spotted something wrong."
"You overplayed your part, bitch," Victor growled. "You were so caught up in your act that you lost the natural spontaneity that you needed to make your act perfect. When I noticed that, I knew there was more going on than meets the eye. You might've fooled Shepard, but you didn't fool me and my friends and mentors."
"Besides," Sortek added, "I've been through this before. If you bothered to study my actual dossier, Brooks, you would've realized that I rescued Hanse Davion from a similar situation involving a doppelganger. If you'd known that, you would've called this off, but I suppose you're not smart enough to know when you need to quit."
Brooks, at that moment, realized that she had been out of her league all of this time. "Damnit!" she snarled. "Still, we've got Shepard trapped, and I can end his life whenever we wish, and yours as well! No one will know."
"Then you are truly a deluded fool," Victor growled. Just as Brooks was about to shoot, Victor beat her to the punch. The M61B in his hands fired, blasting Brook's chest apart with a sapphire beam of laser light. A moment later, she collapsed to the ground, as dead as dead could get.
The Clone, however, realized that he was outmatched and outgunned. Rather than fight, he made the smartest decision of his brief existence. Dropping his weapons, he held his hands open and got onto his knees. "Good to see that someone has some sense," Victor noted. "Edward, Mason, if you two would be so kind."
"Gladly," Mason nodded. Walking over, he forced the Clone onto the ground, before taking a pair of cuffs that Edward had and snapping them over the Clone's wrists.
"You should consider yourself lucky," Edward growled. "If it had been me giving the orders, I would've vaporized you with Brooks." Walking over to Shepard, he asked, "You OK in there?"
"Yeah," Shepard nodded. "Just get us out of here." As Edward went to work cutting a hole into the vault, Shepard looked at Sortek and said, "Nice job figuring her out."
"You should thank Victor," Sortek replied. "He caught her in the act the earliest. Either way, the real identity thief is down, and we can get out of here. Time for you to get that R&R you deserve."
(Author's Q&A)
SulliMike23: Yep.
Guest: Thank you.
edboy4926: I know. Still, you really think he'd get past soldiers that are not only highly protective, but are armed with high grade weapons? At the sight of those folks, the Volus in question would probably run away.
THATs1I3ntGUY: Yep.