Still going, thank you again Amyress, Kira Tamarion and BJ Hanssen!
Staying behind the others, I kept my mouth shut and eyes forward. The air was stagnant and stale but breathable and the whole place reminded me of a silicone plant near my childhood home. Pipes along the walls and strange smells greeted me as we walked down the hallway that served as the entrance into the station. I was on high alert, every movement and noise accounted for as we continued forward.
The armor was very comfortable and surprisingly light-weight so I moved freely although the steel gray color would have told me otherwise. Its construction had me questioning whether or not it would be adequate protection against hand held weaponry but realized I would find out soon enough. Jacob explained to me on the way to the meeting spot that the person we were looking for was trapped in a district that had been cut off from the rest of the station. Apparently he'd pissed off the wrong people and they were hiring thugs to flush him out. Enter us.
The plan was good, even if it meant we were going to piss off the wrong people as well. It was dangerous and most definitely had the potential to be a suicide mission but I reminded myself I was good with a gun no matter what it used for bullets and I had yet to meet someone I couldn't best at hand to hand combat. I was fast, strong, flexible and had an inhuman amount of stamina; after all I was trained by the best to be the best but there was a hang up.
I wasn't in my body.
Another concern was working as a team. I had trained with teams but once I was sent out in the field my handler would give me assignments but I saw them through their progression to completion on my own. I would have to use a large part of my concentration to ensure my team didn't get in my way and I didn't get in theirs.
Shrugging off the doubts, I followed, listened and paid attention to my surroundings. My instincts had always gotten me through before, I was determined that they would again.
That and the fact that I was coiled so tight one thing would send me into full Rambo mode… I felt like my chances of survival were pretty good.
We met the guard and rode in a vehicle that flew through the air like a plane (so cool, it distracted me for a moment when I had to hold back my nerdy squeal) to the boulevard that led to our quarry. The same industrial look flowed through the entire station much to my surprise. People lived there, aliens and humans alike, and it made me wonder just how bad things had gotten for humanity.
Our guide then told us the plan, distract Archangel so the infiltration team could sneak up behind him and take him out. Easy enough for us but the reason we were needed was the earlier attempts were for naught. Archangel was a superb sniper and took out previous distraction teams with ease. Keep an eye out and stay in cover as much as possible, check.
I wanted to ask John if this Archangel was a friendly, if he knew we were coming and who we were but there were too many mercs around that might overhear. Instead I 'accidentally' bumped into him and when I caught his eye gave him a questioning look. He seemed to understand and sent back a 'maybe?' kind of look followed by 'We got this' and a wink.
And the coil tightens…
As we made our way to the front line I noticed the other guy we had with us, Zaeed, was very much at ease around these alleged thugs. John spoke to a few of the leaders, all cowering in rooms off the boulevard. He was asking questions to get a feel for their mind set then moved on as fast as possible but when we met up with a human woman she knew Zaeed and allowed us access into a room with one of the higher ups. I was so focused on the fact that we were surrounded and could be discovered at any moment that I only heard parts of what was said and just followed along when John left.
Another small room had a large robot with guns for hands that Zaeed explained to me was called a 'mech'. John looked it over and decided to reprogram it to attack friendlies so we felt our chances were improving. We also found the mechanic for the gunship and when he called for the attack to begin everyone filtered out…
Except us.
When the guy returned to work on the gunship John grabbed a wrench of the work station behind the Batarian and moved toward him.
"You're working too hard," he said and jammed the wrench into the back of the mechanic's armor, somehow electrocuting him. The smell of burnt flesh filled my nose as I turned toward the gunship.
"Anything else we can do to tip the scales?" I asked, looking over the large drone-like machine, thinking how the hell does that thing fly with someone in it?
"Not that I can think of," John responded, looking toward Zaeed. The apparent merc shook his head and grunted then nodded toward the exit.
"Let's move, don't want to be caught in here," he said so we went to find our new partner.
I watched as the last of the distraction team headed across the bridge. We hung back to allow them to take the brunt but suddenly John stepped into the line of fire, cracking his knuckles.
"Come on," he said, motioning for us to follow, "We'll give these guys a surprise of our own."
As we advanced we took out each line in front of us. Apparently picking up on our intent, Archangel laid down fire to keep the heat off of us. At one point I saw John take a sniper shot in the shoulder, apparently from Archangel, but he brushed it off and kept moving.
The mercs finally figured out we weren't on their team and turned on us but Archangel had a great line of site and helped us clean them out. When we reached the upper platform where he had entrenched himself there was someone trying to break the door open but John took them out as it opened.
We entered cautiously, guns drawn. There was furniture scattered throughout the room, oddly shaped and seemingly of some kind of leather or maybe plastic. It was a sniper's paradise, bay windows all around so as long as that ship stayed grounded and he kept the boulevard clear he was good.
His back was to us as he aimed at someone still down below. I watched the body language of the stranger and scanned my peripheral for any movement, keeping my gun trained on the back of his head. John called out to him but was silenced by a backward wave, the armored man obviously not ready to give up his target. He took the shot then relaxed.
Our possible ally used the rifle to stand then he put it down and removed his helmet. I held in my gasp when he revealed a very insect-like face with what I assumed was blue paint or tattooing along the bridge of his nose and across his cheeks. Sitting casually on the arm of a nearby couch, he appeared cocky and at ease in our presence. I held back my smirk, sensing that this one was familiar with John in some way.
He was way too chill.
"Shepard," he said, propping his feet up and leveling his gaze at John. "I thought you were dead?" My suspicions confirmed, I relaxed my stance but kept my eyes on him just in case. John stepped toward him with a smile.
"Garrus!" he exclaimed, "What are you doing here?" The insect-guy barely moved.
"Just keeping my skills sharp," he replied. "A little target practice." I liked the guy more each minute.
"You ok?" John asked, more as a confirmation than affirmation.
"Been better but it sure is good to see a friendly face." He sighed. "Killing mercs is hard work, especially on my own." John stepped closer and the two started formulating a plan to get everyone out safely.
I let them all talk amongst themselves and checked out the room. There was plenty of furniture for cover but the windows would pose a problem. If that gunship gets up and running we will be sitting ducks. I overheard Garrus' plan to hold the fort until we spotted an opening and sighed; I could hear the next wave coming at us.
The new guy stayed upstairs, picking them off as they came into range while we finished off any that got through him and into the foyer. Changing the thermal clips was similar to ammo clips so it was easy to get used to, and luckily I was a careful shot so I didn't have to do it often.
And then they sent out the mech.
I couldn't stop the peal of laughter when they turned that hulking thing on and it turned on their forces. The screams were priceless as we helped their mech clean out the remaining mercs. Apparently we took out one of the leaders, someone named Jareth, and Garrus was practically giddy (from what I could read, for him it was giddy). As he and John chatted I scanned the areas surrounding us below, waiting for the next shoe to drop.
And then there was an explosion.
"What was that?" I asked Garrus, pointing my gun toward the open doorway.
"Dammit!" He spat, "They breeched the lower level. Well, they had to use their brains eventually." I looked at John.
"We need to shut the back door," I said, motioning to the stairs. He nodded.
"Jacob, you and Zaeed give Garrus some backup," he said, looking to the two men who nodded. John turned to me and grinned. "Let's go say hi." I gave him a nod and followed.
We ran for the lower level entrance behind the stairs. As we got to the bottom Garrus shouted instructions over comms for us to close the shutters before the invading mercs got through. A flashing green light outside what I assumed were the shutters he was referring to seemed the best option.
The coast was clear so I made a run for the controls, slamming my hand down on the button. A digital voice confirmed the shutdown was starting but suddenly another door opened and four aliens came at me, one I recognized immediately as a Krogan. The dossiers were complete, don't get me wrong, but the reality… this guy was about 10 feet tall and wide and let out this growl/shout that scared the shit out of me.
The ever-tightening coil snapped.
I started shooting and kept shooting, killing anything and everything while we fought for our lives. Every time we closed a shutter or even tried to another door opened releasing more strange beasts eager and willing to kill us. Facing down humans, no problem, I'd been in my share of gun fights and stand offs with the agency, even went through some military exercises with a group of very gifted Marines, but this…
The dossiers couldn't have prepared me no matter what they said.
The infiltration team was made up of Vorcha, Krogan, Batarian, Turian and these dog-like things that gave me goose bumps. There may have been others, I finally stopped trying to identify them and just kept shooting anything that wasn't John until it stopped moving but there seemed to be no end of them. I overheated the Avenger a few times, nearly burning myself through the gauntlets I wore so I used the gun as a melee weapon instead, bashing in heads and keeping jaws from tearing me in two.
When the third overhead door slammed shut and the last Vorcha was dead on the ground I scanned the area, looking for more. Waiting, listening, I could hear my heartbeat in my ears…
Something touched my shoulder and I turned quickly to face it, gun pointed and finger on the trigger.
"Hey!" John exclaimed, hands in the air. "Relax, it's over." The gun I held was shaking and I felt like I couldn't breathe, my eyes still scanning for threats.
"The Krogan," I demanded, "They can regenerate, are you sure-"
"Kayla," John said softly as he took off his helmet and put his hand on the barrel of my gun, pushing down it slowly until it pointed at the ground. "It's over."
I gripped the gun even tighter, putting my trigger finger on the outside of the grip but unsure as to whether or not I wanted to relinquish it. John dropped his helmet and reached over, cupping my hand on the grip and giving it a gentle squeeze. He smiled softly at me.
"It's ok, I'm here," he spoke softly, calming me as he gently tugged on the gun, finally pulling it from my death-grip. I took a breath in, held it then released, trying to let go of the anxiety unsuccessfully.
"I…" I couldn't speak, didn't know what to say. John reloaded my thermal clip and put the gun down.
"I know," he said, moving toward me. He put his hands on either side of my helmet then unclipped it, setting it down on one of the dividers. My hair spilled out onto my shoulders and in my face. I lifted my hands to brush it away and I froze, realizing they were still shaking. He brushed the hair away and took me into his arms.
"I know," he said again, "it will be ok." My hands rested against his chest and I felt him lean his cheek against my forehead. A wave of relief washed over me and I finally took a long, calm breath, leaning into the embrace.
"You'll be fine, I promise."