Chapter 6
Retaliation Staging Grounds
With her helmet on and her weapon ready, she marched through the crowd of mercenaries, gang members, and freelancers who were milling about the entire lot. There was a nervous air around the staging grounds; everyone was on edge, waiting for the call, waiting for instructions, and keeping their heads down and away from the bridge. She had seen the alley that the recruiter mentioned. It was a walkway that led to a small structure. The building was an island, isolated from the rest of Omega. According to some, it had anti-material automatic weapons preventing aerial assault.
She didn't need to ask to tell how skilled Archangel was at dealing death. The pile of bodies that littered the bridge was more than enough info, all of them from previous attempts to take the facility. Shaking her head, she turned away from the alley and headed straight for the Blue Suns camp.
It was a short trip before she was suddenly surrounded by blue armored figures, all of them trying to look imposing. Despite their attempts, she could feel the anxiety among all of them. She felt herself getting more and more impressed with this Archangel character. Even she had a hard time having this effect on an entire gang.
As she plowed her way through the blue crowds, she began to notice that more and more of them stepped out of the way. Looking up at them because most were tall turians, she noticed the helmeted group were staring at her as she passed through the crowd. Sighing to herself, she knew she wouldn't be able to hide her identity long among the mercs. "Thought I'd have more time before they figured out who I am."
"You may actually be able to leverage your fame to our benefit," responded Miranda.
"How am I gonna push my fame on a group who have notoriously clashed with me in the past?" asked the spectre curiously, noticing that the crowd was all but guiding her towards the center now.
"You're famous, you're a force to be reckoned with. As long as you're not here to kill them, they might consider helping you find the turian in return for assistance," said the operative who walked through the lot as casually as if she were back on the ship.
"I suppose. But how do I tell them to take me to their leader without sounding like a racist?" asked Shepard, getting a chuckle from Jacob. It turns out she didn't have to wait long for an answer as the crowd finally broke open and she found herself staring at an annoyed looking batarian leaning over a table with a human woman next to him in matching blue armor.
"Spectre Jane Shepard, known terrorist in batarian space. Give me one reason why I shouldn't have my men gun you down right now," spoke the batarian as he looked up at her with all four of his large eyes.
Groaning to herself, she put her hands on her hips. "Look, you're welcome to try, but you seem like you've got a lot on your plate already and I'm not here to add more to it."
The batarian eyed her for a long moment before nodded. "I do have a lot on my plate, which makes me want to get rid of you quickly."
"But it won't be quick," she said as she took a step forward, causing some of the nearby guards to raise their weapons. "You honestly thought I'd come here and walk through a crowd of people to talk to you and I wouldn't have a contingency?"
"Of course you do," sneered the man as he sighed to himself. "What the hell do you want?"
"I'm looking for the turian known as Garrus Vakarian. A little…" she started with the human phrase, but stopped as she realized how many turians could take it the wrong way. "A friend told me he had joined up with your group."
"Jentha, take her to the turian, and if she tries to snipe him from me then taser her and throw her over the safety rail," ordered the man as he continued looking over the table with a small holographic map on it.
The human next to him nodded and stepped up to the spectre. "Follow me before he gets me killed by asking me to remove you," she said, her own voice showing some measure of irritation at their presence.
"Mind if I ask some questions?" asked Shepard, a small smirk on her face knowing the woman at least respected her power.
"Go nuts," replied Jentha as her aura caused her own men to scramble away.
"Is all this really for one guy?" asked Shepard as she waved to the literal army waiting in the staging grounds.
"Didn't used to be one guy. He used to have a team, but Tarak took care of them himself. Now it's just down to him. And yes, all of this is for him," snorted the woman. "Archangel has faced off against Garm from the Gowthra Family in a one-on-one match and nearly killed him, though the krogan would never admit it. Whoever the hell he is, he doesn't fuck around when it comes to killing."
"I can see that…" said the spectre as she eyed the alley once more. "You have him trapped in the building. Wouldn't it be easier to just take a gunship in and rip the place apart?"
Jentha stopped and eyed Shepard with annoyance. "We did, and he shot it down. It's currently being repaired by Sergeant Cathka and the guy you're looking for."
"Ever the calibrator," said Shepard as she shook her head.
"Either way, his skill can't account for the sheer numbers we have. He's dying tonight regardless of how skilled he may be. There's no escaping that compound without going through a literal army of soldiers and mechs," said the woman as she led them to a nearby warehouse with its wall torn down. It looked like they were using it as a temporary hangar for the gunship. "Even so, the guy's a fucking ghost. We'll have snipers trained to watch where he fires from, then he'll pop up and fire from another location on a different floor and take out the sniper in question."
"Impressive…" said Shepard as she reached up and scratched her chin.
"You just say that because he hasn't shot at you yet. Everything we've thrown at him so far has been destroyed. He even sniped three YMIR mechs with a sing shot when the Eclipse tried to charge them across the bridge. We literally had to go and drag them back with tow cars while he was shooting at us just to get them repaired again," she said irritably as she finally approached a pair of figures on the other side of the smoking gunship. "Anyway, here's your friend or whatever. Like Tarak said, don't try to take him or I'll be required to stop you."
"Noted," said Shepard, knowing that there was a good chance she'd have to take the woman down. Stepping forward, she walked up to the batarian sergeant who was smoking a cigarette and typing away at a terminal on a rolling table. "Looking for Vakarian."
The batarian looked up at her, then nodded his head to the second of the two who was digging through the engine of the gunship. "Make it quick. We've gotta get this thing back in the air before the next attack."
Stepping around the sergeant, she approached the blue armored turian who hadn't noticed her yet. Immediately, she could sense that something was off. While Garrus was always a big guy, her impression of him back on the Normandy was more of a lithe, deadly big rather than bulky. The turian in front of her was thicker than she recalled. Reaching back, she gripped her pistol. "Garrus Vakarian!" she snapped.
The sound of his helmet thumping against the wing of the gunship could be heard before he finally stumbled out from under the vehicle. "This better be good…" he grumbled in annoyance before he froze in place. "Oh spirits."
Shepard pulled her pistol free and aimed it directly into the visor of his helmet. "Lawson, Taylor, make sure Jentha and Cathka don't bother me for a minute."
Immediately, Jentha froze with a blue aura around her body and Cathka grumbled as Jacob held a weapon directly at the back of his head. "Not a peep," ordered the soldier.
The turian raised his arms in surrender and his sheer height all but confirmed her suspicions. "Helmet off, now." The turian reached up and did as he was told, revealing a new face. Strikingly similar to Vakarian's especially with the same clan paint, a rarity from what Shepard had seen. But it wasn't him at all. He was taller, bulkier, his voice deeper, and his eyes a different shade. "Who the hell are you?"
"L-Look… can we… just talk without the gun?" asked the turian as he took a step back.
Shepard looked back at her current prisoners and nodded towards the other side of the gunship. Once the pair were alone, she crossed her arms, the pistol and her omni-tool both ready just in case. "There, no ears. Now explain to me who the hell you are and why you're imitating my longtime crewmember."
"Look Shepard, it's not what it looks like, alright!" said the man nervously as he fidgeted far too much for someone of his intimidating size.
"Really? Because it looks like you're using his fame to land you a cushy job in the Blue Suns," she snapped with a mild look of irritation on her face. "Now, I've come a very long way and was hoping to come to Omega and visit with my friend who I haven't seen for years, only to find you."
"I understand, and I'm sorry," groaned the turian as he leaned against the gunship. Letting out a heavy sigh through his nose, he shook his head. "People said I looked like him, said I could play him in the movie. So, I kinda started dressing like him. One thing led to another…"
"One thing led to another, and you ended up in the Blue Suns gang on Omega trying to take out a man who literally has three different gangs too scared to take a step forward," she said, shaking her head in disbelief. "Fuck's sake…"
"I'm sorry I'm not your friend. If you want… I'll leave and never come back. Just… please don't kill me…" said the tall figure nervously.
"Just shut up," she groaned as she reached up and ran her hand over her helmet. "Taylor, Lawson, your informant was wrong. It was… an impersonator."
"You're kidding," came Jacob's voice through the comm.
"Wish I was. But we're not getting a squadmate here," she growled miserably, her hopes of seeing a familiar face dashed by the turian. Then her eyes turned once more, and she was able to see the bridge again. Her eyes saw the numerous gang members that had fallen there, practically forming a wall. Then her eyes turned and looked at the gunship, the engine inside looking scorched. Finally, she looked up at the gangs preparing for the next attack and saw a massive figure standing taller than everyone else. He was a krogan in dark crimson armor was the krogan skull painted on it. She recalled Jentha's words about Garm and his encounter with Archangel. "Scratch that," she said as she powered around the other side of the gunship again, her gun steering the fake Garrus around it as well.
"We taking him with us?" asked Jacob curiously as the batarian had all but accepted his fate and sat smoking next to the ship.
"Not him," she said as she reached up and pointed directly at the structure on the other side of the bridge. "Them."
Both Miranda and Jacob looked up at the building before turning back and looking at her. Miranda held a look of exasperation while Jacob just held a knowing smile. "Look, if this is about me questioning your oders…"
"Quit being dramatic, Lawson," said Shepard with a smile. "You wanted to be on my team, so you do what my team does."
"Suicide?" asked the operative as she shook her head. "Fine. Orders are orders…"
"Let her go for a second," said Shepard as she looked at Jentha. Raising her weapon, she aimed it directly at the Blue Suns second's head. "If you scream, you die. Blink three times if you understand me." The woman did as she was told and blinked three consecutive times inside the stasis. "Good."
Seconds later, the woman fell to the floor and reached up to flex her neck. "Wanna tell me what the hell is going on here?" asked the annoyed woman.
Shepard knelt down, her gun still visible as she crossed her arms over her knee. "I'm gonna ask you a few questions, and I'd like an honest answer," she said as she flexed the fingers of her other hand just in case. "First question, would the gangs allow me to take Archangel off world?"
Jentha stared at her wide-eyed. "Off world?"
"You all hate Archangel, I'm offering a way to get rid of him that involves no more bloodshed on either side," said Shepard with a nod.
"As tempting as the offer is, Garm would kill you just for suggesting it. And Jaroth, the head of the Eclipse Omega Squad, wants Archangel for killing his brother. Tarak, if he were in a really good mood might take you up on the offer if you paid him. But he's not in a good mood, and he wants to see Archangel pay. You'd have a better chance fighting off them and all their men than you would convincing them to let you take him," said the woman.
Despite her trying to be discreet, Shepard could easily see her sneaking glances at her gun that was less than half a meter away. She probably thought she could wrestle it away from her and get a shot off, alerting the other gangs for assistance.
"Then that's what I'll do," said Shepard, snapping the woman's attention back on her once more.
"You're joking…" said the woman flabbergasted. "You're going to fight all three of these gangs just to get to Archangel? Why!?"
"Let's just say that I'm on a mission that requires people of talent," said Shepard with a grin. "Now… you must understand that since you know my plan, you can't be awake for what comes next." Jentha immediately lunged for the gun, but instead found herself on the ground gasping for air as an electric shock hit her directly in the chest. "You're too easy to read," snapped Shepard as she stood up and stepped over to the woman. "If you're gonna ascend to head of the Blue Suns here, you need to fix your situational awareness." Finally, she held her hand with her now glowing omni-tool out and shocked her again. This time, she fell unconscious.
Turning to Cathka, the batarian shook his head. "Look, I've got some duct tape over there. You can just use that on me instead…" said the man, the turian look-a-like next to him nodding in agreement.
Retaliation Staging Grounds
"Lawson, get a transport vehicle and hang out outside the staging area for when I call. Preferably something fast," ordered Shepard as she and Jacob casually walked through the Eclipse portion of the grounds. Passing a folded-up YMIR class mech, she flexed her hand gently, causing her omni-tool to shimmer.
"Am I the getaway driver?" asked the operative in amusement.
"I've seen your record. You're the best out of us three to do the job," said Shepard as she received a scathing look from the salarian leader of the gang. He never got up from the table where he was discussing the orders, however, and she moved on with Jacob following in her wake.
"And I've seen yours. Does the Mako actually drive that terribly, or was that all you?" asked Miranda, getting a glare from Shepard that she couldn't even see.
Even Jacob snorted behind her. "Where's the lie?"
"Very funny. Now shut up before I take you both for a ride in one," she growled as she finally stood next to the wall of the alley. There as another merc there who appeared to have gotten in over his head. He was pressed against the wall, holding his weapon to his chest, his knees practically shaking inside his armor. Ignoring him, Shepard looked up at the figure standing in plain view of the building at the end of the alley. It was the krogan warlord, Garm. He stood there, glaring down the bridge as if challenging Archangel to shoot at him. She stepped over the shattered remains of the spotlights that no doubt had initially been used to light up the insides of the windows of the building, a method to help them keep track of his location. But he had taken them out as well, leaving him to lurk in the shadows of the multi-floored building.
Finally, she stood practically next to the massive krogan. "The hells you want?" he asked in a gruff voice, never taking his eyes off the building in front of him.
"Nothing in particular. But if you're standing out here, that means you're either safe, or stupid," she remarked as she too looked over the building.
Sniffing the air deeply, he turned to her and glared at her with his orange gaze, showing that his bloodrage was building slowly. "Spectre. I heard you were skittering around here somewhere."
"Something like that," she said as she turned her head and looked at him. "So, which is it?"
Snorting heavily, the krogan looked back at the building. "He has some kind of EMP field that knocks out shields temporarily to anything and everything within a certain range of the building. It's how he took the gunship down with just a rifle."
She nodded as she noticed that there were no bodies behind where he stood. "I see, you measured it out. We're currently just outside its range."
"Correct," he sneered as his fingers drummed against the massive shotgun he held. "What's a Council rat doing here?"
"Same as you, going after Archangel," she said as she crossed her arms.
"Archangel is mine. I'll rip his spine from his corpse myself," growled the krogan as he turned to her. "Get in the way, human, and yours will join it."
"I'll try and stay clear then," she said as she looked up at the building. "Good talk big guy, I've gotta prepare before the call comes." Garm snorted in anger as he went back to staring at the building. Meanwhile, Shepard ducked out behind a column riddled with cracks and bullet holes. Tapping her omni-tool, she felt her armor go translucent, a skill she hadn't used since waking up.
According to Miranda, the feature was much better than before. The bending of light commonly left what looked like floating distortions hanging in the air for those with sharp eyes. But this armor, built by Cerberus' best, had no such distortions, and instead had the option to project a light bending field around oneself that was flat enough to leave barely any noticeable changes in the environment. Letting out a sigh, she stepped out of cover and put her skills to work again.
She stepped around the massive krogan who took no notice of her and padded onto the bridge itself. Her heart was hammering. She technically hadn't done this for years, and the slightest rust causing her to slip up meant Archangel could put a round through her visor, or a very angry krogan could blast her in the back with a shotgun.
She was halfway across the bridge when she stopped dead in her tracks. On the ground in front of her was the glow of a common laser pointer. Her eyes widened as she looked up at the building. She felt her blood chill as she saw the helmet of a turian with a rifle aimed directly in front of her. "I think he sees me…"
"That tech could get you into most vaults. How the hell would he be able to see you?" asked Jacob from the crowds of the mercenaries.
"Hell if I know. What I do know is that he's got a laser pointer aimed directly in front of me," she growled back at him. Finally, the pointer went away as the turian raised the weapon but continued to stare in her direction. "He moved it, so I'm moving in," she said as she felt her heart pumping fire through her entire body. Moving quickly, she snuck into the shadowy cover of the building and sighed. "God I'm getting too old for this shit…"
"You're twenty-nine…" said Miranda sharply.
"Too old, operative," she snapped as she ducked inside one of the blasted open doors. "Now… how to talk to him without getting killed."
Jacob interjected. "Can't you… you know, take over his omni-tool and speak to him?"
Shepard rolled her eyes. "As thrilling as that sounds, we don't know if he has one, we don't know if there's a network here, and from the looks of the army out there, I don't have time to check either." She stared over the milling group as they finally began to organize and form up.
"Shit, you're right. It's now or never, Shepard," said Jacob who was standing among the crowd members and keeping an eye on them.
The spectre growled as she moved into the building. There were bodies everywhere, showing that the gangs had managed to get some people inside the building before they too were gunned down. From the looks of it, they had brought in explosives as well to try and take the building out but were gunned down before they got a chance to trigger them. "How the hell did they kill so many-" she started, but then her question was answered as she came face to face with a drone aiming directly at her. It hung clamped to the stairwell and turned towards her as she moved. She raised her hands to show surrender, wondering if it was capable of seeing an ally or not. "Archangel!" she shouted, not wanting to test the gun's patience further.
Then she saw them. Looking up, she saw a large column of emptiness in the building with railings on each floor, allowing someone to see down into the ground floor from above. And leaning over the railing on the top floor was who she came to see a turian for sure in battle-scarred blue armor with a long-range anti-material rifle. For a long moment, she felt a wave of nostalgia wash over her for some unknown reason. Perhaps having a turian partner just came naturally to her.
Finally, the figure waved his hand for her to come up. The drone in front of her sagged slightly as it released her from the stalemate. Sighing to herself, the spectre took to the stairs and ascended rapidly. She found herself surprised as she moved from floor to floor, she found more long-range rifles mounted to the floors or ceilings with projectors built in. Despite how haphazard they looked, they appeared to work just fine as they turned and aimed towards the front of the bridge.
Feeling a stich in her side from the stairs, she groaned as she finally got to the final floor and looked over to see the towering figure aiming down the scope of his rifle to check the situation outside. "Archangel?"
He held up a finger signaling her to wait, a notably human gesture. Placing his hand back on the rifle, he held for a long moment, then fired.
The shot spanned the bridge and blasted through the skull of a vorcha from the Gowthra Family who had gotten a bit too close. Shepard could easily see that blood had splattered on the krogan warlord, causing him to let out a roar of anger that made her smirk.
Finally, he set the rifle down tiredly and sat down on the uncomfortable floor, leaning his back against the wall. "Shepard…" Suddenly, her eyes snapped wide open. He reached up and deactivated the seals on his helmet before removing it entirely. She felt herself practically floored as she found herself looking at her good friend, Garrus Vakarian. "I thought you were dead."
"Garrus?" she asked incredulously.
"What? Like… the actual Garrus?" asked Jacob over the comm.
"That's a hell of a coincidence…" chimed in Miranda.
"In the flesh. At least… what's left of it," he said tiredly as he eyed her.
"Garrus, what are you doing here?" asked Shepard as she stepped forward until she stood right in front of him.
"Just taking out some gangs. You know, the real nasty types. Good to have you here though. Plenty of them to go around," he said with a dry chuckle.
"Okay, but… why Omega? What happened to the Citadel?" she asked incredulously.
"I tried to play their game for a while, but after you've been under your wing for so long and return to being a cop, you begin to see how corrupt they can actually be. Nepotism, bribes, constantly patrolling the quarian sectors looking for quotas," he said as he let out a burdened sigh. "After working with you, you can't go back to playing by their rules, Shepard. Instead, I thought I'd try things your way and do things outside of the box for a while…"
She crossed her arms and cocked an eyebrow at him. "My way usually only pisses this many people off incidentally, not directly. How the hell did you manage to get all three of the main gangs of Omega pissed enough to work together to take you down?"
He chuckled again. "It wasn't easy. I reeeally had to work at it. But I'm even impressed with my own work. I never thought they'd work together to take me down. They must really hate me," he said as he flexed his neck. "Now, if you don't mind me asking a question of my own, are you real? Or have I been running on stims for so long during this siege that I've actually started to hallucinate?"
"I'm real…" she said with a heavy sigh as she stepped forward and gently bumped his chestplate with her fist.
He stared down at her fist for a long moment before looking back up into her eyes. "How?"
"Uh, Shepard. You might wanna save the heart to hearts for another time. The groups are mobilizing and they're starting to push towards the bridge," came Jacob's call over the comm.
Shepard turned and looked at the army and sure enough, the Gowthra Family had brought in heavy physical barriers to keep his shots from getting through. "Shit. They're on there way," she said as she turned to the turian again. "Let me get you off this rock and I'll tell you the whole story. Right now we need a plan."
Garrus nodded, then stood up and put his helmet back on. Flexing his arms, two omni-tools glowed to life. Shepard spun around with her pistol drawn as she saw multiple of the guns hooked to the stands spin and aim down at the crowds now amassing at his gates. "Huh, old school style. Didn't think Garm had it in him to be that creative."
"Can your weapons break through those shields?" she asked, slightly impressed at him being able to control so many drone weapons at once.
"Yes, but only the long-range ones. The guns downstairs aren't anti-material. And given how many people are about to charge across those bridges, I won't be able to get all of them," he said as he turned to look at her. "Any ideas Shepard?" He stopped for a moment and reached up to grip his head. "Wow… didn't think I'd be asking that ever again."
Shepard looked over the balcony and into the lobby below. "I do, actually. If we can hold them in the lobby until they bunch together, I can take care of most if not all of them."
"No kidding. We'll do this your way then," he said as he tapped an omni-tool. "Alright, I have full control of guns in the lobby. I'll keep them tiptoeing until you get your chance. But…" he said as he placed his talons on her shoulder. "If you can, leave Garm to me."
"Will do my best," she said as she activated her own omni-tool and went dark again. She snuck down to the third floor of the four-floor complex and peeked through the shattered windows that looked over the bridge. The Gowthra were now forming a phalanx with the shields they had brought, making it nearly impossible to see who was beneath them. She heard the long-range guns all over the building begin to fire one after the other. Looking over, she saw as the projector next to one of the long range weapons made a near perfect image of Garrus in his armor, making it look as if he was there shooting it himself. She chuckled to herself as Jentha's words of him ghosting around the building and taking them out came back to her mind. "Clever son of a bitch…"
The anti-material shots blasted through the shields and ended up causing portions of the army to collapse as they tripped over one another, but the bulk of it marched on over the bridge unabated. Soon, she began to hear the auto cannons below firing relentlessly against the shields. She watched as the front lines of the group slowed and held their shields up against the onslaught. This lasted a full minute before two krogan brute forced their way up to the drone and blasted it with their shotguns.
"GIVE ME ARCHANGEL!" shouted Garm, who was now at the head of the group and marching his way up the stairs, his eyes now fully orange with rage.
As others began to follow, Shepard shook her head. "Nuh uh," she said before waving her hand. Her omni-tool flashed, then every bomb on the bottom floor that had been left behind by the gangs detonated, causing a pillar of flame to shoot up empty airspace over the balcony. Shepard hid behind a column and watched the two remaining gangs on the other side of the bridge. They all flinched as the explosion sent bodies and debris flying at them at high speeds.
"Shepard! Was that you?" asked Garrus, no doubt also startled by the building rocking.
"Yep. Garm is on his way up, even more pissed than before as about ninety percent of his 'family' are decorating the walls of the lobby," she said as she pulled her pistol up and began picking off those that remained.
"Damn you're good at your job…" he said, his voice tinged with humor. "Thanks, I'll take care of Garm. In the meantime, make sure nobody disturbs us."
She could hear Garm shouting over the comm as he raced up the stairs to the final floor. "I've got Archangel busy! Send everyone else! Now!" shouted the krogan as he entered the last door to his fate. Shepard eyed the groups across the bridge and saw the Eclipse getting their repaired YMIR mercs ready for the invasion. She chuckled to herself and shook her head.
"Put your toys away, boys," she said as she waved her hand once more, activating the control program that she had implanted before entering the base. Many of the Eclipse surrounding the three mechs stepped backwards as they activated before told. It didn't take long before they realized something was wrong, and the entire gang began fleeing as the mechs turned on their owners and began firing their heavy arms into the crowds. "Jacob, watch yourself out there. I just unleashed the mechs."
"Uhh… yeah, I'm good," he said, sounding a bit reserved.
"You alright, Taylor?" asked Shepard, curious about his muted response.
"Spectre, I just watched you erase one gang from the map and send another screaming as it was being slaughtered by its own equipment. I'm kind of in awe at your efficiency here…" he responded, making her smirk and shake her head.
"It's called having a plan, and creative improvisation. Those two can make the world of difference," said the spectre as she watched one of the YMIR's lift its foot and crush Jaroth, the salarian leader of the Eclipse as he tried to get them under control.
"I'll keep that in mind. God only knows why any of the Blue Suns are sticking around after that display," said the soldier from his hiding spot.
"Tarak will use this as a way of wresting control from the other gangs. With them scattered, he probably thinks if he takes down Archangel, he'll wipe the others out and have full control," said Miranda thoughtfully. "At least, it's what I'd do."
"Gotta watch my back around you," said Shepard with a chuckle as she watched the carnage. Finally, she stepped back in surprise as the body of Garm fell from above and splattered against the bridge below. "You good up there Vakarian?"
"I'm alright. He's a tough bastard to kill, that's for sure," responded the turian as Shepard began to ascend the stairs.
"Shepard!" shouted Miranda as the woman stepped onto the final floor. "The gunship just took off from the hangar! It's headed straight there!"
Suddenly, just as the operative stated, the gunship practically fell out of the sky before levelling off on the top floor. As if in slow motion, Shepard saw Garrus throw his arms forward, all of the guns in the building spun and aimed directly at the ship and began firing, but only managed to ping off the still functioning shields.
"ARCHANGEL!" shouted the batarian through the speaker as he unleashed a hellish bullet storm directly at her friend. Shepard dashed forward as she saw his shields die out and multiple bullets impact his armor. Garrus hit the floor and tried to pick himself back up, snarling as blue blood trickled out of his mouth and painted the front of his visor. But before she could reach him, and before he could get back to his feet, a missile flew and hit the ground next to him.
Shepard saw stars as the explosion tore her from the ground and sent her slamming through the back of a couch and into the wall. She panted heavily, finding herself on the floor staring up at the ceiling. Reaching up, she grabbed the back of the destroyed couch and yanked herself up, groaning as she had an ache in her back. "Back into the fire, Vakarian," she growled as she finally stood up. But as she did, her eyes widened.
"Shepard, you need to get out of there now!" shouted Taylor over the comm as the sounds of the remaining Blue Suns horde rushing the bridge filtered through.
She ignored his words as she saw the turian laying face down with his visor shattered and blood pooling from his mouth. She sprinted from her spot to the side and slide behind one of the barricades he had set up to stop fire from below. Reaching out, she gripped him by the nape of his cowl and yanked him into cover with her. "Garrus! Garrus! Talk to me you turian asshole! Don't you die on me right now!"
He coughed and sputtered more blood, his breathing heavily labored as his eyes flickered around erratically. "Sh-Shepard…"
She could see that the blast has torn at his face. One of his mandibles had been torn clean off and the burn pattern from the missile was still burning through his skin. Reaching back, she pulled a medigel applier from her armor and gently covered his wounds before throwing it aside. "I'm getting you out of here," she said heatedly as she stood up and stared at Tarak directly through the windscreen of the gunship.
"Spectre. I knew you couldn't be trusted," he grunted before aiming at her, the engine under the wing sputtering wildly. "You can die together."
Not sparing him another word, she reached out with her hand. A cyclone of blue energy whirled around her as she gripped the front of the ship, her livid glare locked onto Tarak as he struggled to break free. Then, she began to shout loudly as she put more and more effort into the attack. Biotics gripped the cockpit of the ship, keeping it from moving anywhere. Tarak tried to panic fire the weapons, but they were aimed in a straight line on either side of her, none even approaching her body.
Raising her other arm, she shouted louder as she held her palms up facing one another is of she were gripping a ball. Tarak screamed in pain as the hull of the junk ship began to buckle. She could see he tried to hit the eject switch, but all it did was thrust the rest of the ship away, resulting in it crashing blow and taking out the bridge with many Blue Suns on it.
Finally, her shouted ended and Tarak's began once more as she held the lone cockpit in her grip, fire surging through her veins. Closing her hands, the entire shell of the cockpit buckled and crushed inwards. The batarian screamed in horror as the glass and metal crushed his body to dust. Then, she released her grip and the annihilated mass of metal and flesh fell down into the cavernous abyss to join the rest of the burning gunship.
The spectre turned to find the Blue Suns had already made it to the floor, and instead of stopping her, had simply watched in horror as she snuffed out the life of their batarian boss. She stepped towards them with her aura pulsing out in waves, causing them all to step back in fear. But she didn't need to continue as one of them shouted an order to the others. "Jentha ordered a retreat! Return to base!"
Shepard turned and looked over the balcony of the building to see the disgruntled figure of Jentha now organizing her soldiers to get away from the building. For a brief moment, they locked eyes. But then it was broken as the new leader turned and ordered her men to fully retreat.
Shepard felt darkness consuming her as blood trickled from her nose. All sense of balance fled from her mind as the building cleared, and she landed right next to Garrus, staring into his predatory eyes, both of them fading from consciousness as she barely registered the sound of an aircar pulling directly up to the balcony.
CODEX ENTRIES
EMP | Military Technology | Weapons
Short for electromagnetic pulse, it's a commonly used tactic for shorting out electronic devices. The technology was more common when species waged war from space onto the surfaces of planets. In modern times, it's mostly used as a metal cutting tool, but can still be found on larger ships for special situations.