"So this dig site may be under attack?"
"Yeah, pretty much. EDI, can you tell us anything else?"
"This is the main site of a series of excavations established under Doctor Garret Bryson." EDI stated, "Staff records confirm the project lead is his daughter, Ann. She has recently uncovered another artefact possibly linked to Leviathan. That discovery must have made this dig site a target."
"And so the Reapers are one step ahead of us and we're playing catch up." Kacey said, "Does that answer all of your questions, James?"
"Pretty much, Commander." James said.
"I take it this means that Ann is our only lead?" Kaidan questioned.
"Yeah, so we better pick up the pace." Kacey replied, "Cortez?"
"Nothing so far, Commander." Cortez replied, "If she's down there, she hasn't responded to our hails. Getting some strange signals, though. Give me a minute."
Kaidan observed Kacey closely. Her demeanour had changed since their departure from the Citadel and, despite his best efforts to reassure her, it appeared that the reporter's comments had left a mark on Kacey. All Kaidan had to do was hope that she would be okay. And he made a mental note to check up on her when they had a moment.
"You don't think the artefact might be causing the signals?" James mused.
"Could be. Take us in closer." Kacey said.
"Copy that." Cortez said.
Kaidan was at a loss of what to do. Kacey's reluctance to talk about what was bothering her was starting to drive him crazy. While he assumed it was mostly his curiosity driving his desire to uncover the truth, after hearing so much of her story now…whatever had happened, it wasn't good. And it was taking a serious toll on Kacey.
"We have hostiles!" Cortez shouted.
"Take us in!" Kacey ordered.
"Commander! On the landing platform!" Cortez shouted.
As the trio looked out towards the building, Kaidan could see a young woman by the window.
"That's her!" Kacey said.
"Attention shuttle!" a static voice said through the comms, "This—Ann Bryson. We—re—un—attack!"
"Okay let's—"
"Damn it!" Cortez said as he swerved the shuttle away from the incoming Harvester, "Tracking multiple bogeys!"
"Get us over there!" Kacey said.
Kaidan was barely able to remain standing and Cortez tried to avoid the harvesters on his tail.
"Negative. It's too hot!" Cortez replied, "Heading to a lower platform—hang on!"
Kaidan saw the shuttle open up, and the small platform Cortez was referring to. But the shuttle pilot wasn't slowing down.
"Are we seriously going to jump?" James asked.
"Uh…Yeah!" Kacey said, "Come on! Jump!"
Kacey jumped off the shuttle, followed by Kaidan then James. However, once they had landed, the platform began to shake.
"The platform's unstable!" James said.
"Move!" Kacey ordered, "She's somewhere above us!"
As they ran through into a nearby building, more debris continued to fall, causing even more destruction to the facility.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" A female voice rang out through the comms, "I'm coming down!"
"No! Stay where you are!" Kacey replied, "This is Commander Shepard of the Alliance Navy. It's too dangerous! We'll come up to you!"
Before they could enter the next building, another large reaper bomb had landed on it and exploded, causing the structure to fall. Once the smoke had cleared Kaidan followed Kacey across with James. They ran across the roof and entered the building next to it, were a few husks were heading towards them.
"Yes, okay!" Ann said, "You should take the elevator up on the far side!"
"Copy that! We're on our way!" Kacey said.
Kaidan opened fire on the husks, killing them quickly, just before the building started to split in half. Kaidan had already started to run towards the exit, followed by James then Kacey. The entire facility was falling apart; the buildings were sinking beneath them as they ran across the roofs and metal walkways towards the elevator. Kacey led them down into another building and down across the roofs of buildings that hadn't collapsed yet. As they continued to run to the elevator, Ann spoke again.
"Commander, they're swarming everywhere up here!" She said.
"Can you find a place to hide?" Kacey asked.
"I'll try!"
"Get there! Stay put!"
Kaidan followed Kacey as they ran across the roofs of the buildings, that were barely stable as it was. As they bolted towards the elevator, a harvester blew up the stairs leading to the elevator. Kacey led Kaidan and James up a ladder and back onto the roof of another building as they tried to go around the stairs.
"Looks like a bridge over there!" James pointed out.
Kacey ran over towards the controls, with Kaidan and James close behind.
"Controls are busted." Kacey said, "Kaidan, can you fix them?"
"On it."
Kaidan took a quick look at the controls, "The wires are damaged. It'll take a bit of time to fix them."
"Okay, James and I will cover you. Just focus on repairing the controls." Kacey replied.
As husks and cannibals began to flood the area, Kaidan tried his best to work as quickly as he could to fix the bridge controls. He knew why Kacey had asked him to fix them; out of the three, he had more knowledge of tech and was more capable of fixing the bridge. While the pair were doing well behind him, and were handling the husks well, an ear-piercing scream that practically burned through Kaidan's head made the situation a lot worse.
"Banshee incoming!" James shouted as he threw a grenade.
He had to give the lieutenant credit, he was doing a pretty good job at whittling away the banshee's barriers. Kaidan wondered how many grenades James had brought with him as he finished the repairs and brought the bridge up. He turned around and, seeing that the banshee wasn't dead, he managed to use his biotics to knock it of the platform, causing it to fall a long way down to the bottom.
"Thanks for the save, Kaidan." Kacey said.
"No problem, Commander." He replied.
As Kacey led them forward, Kaidan noticed how James had looked at them suspiciously. Kaidan wondered if James was catching on; Garrus was the only one who knew that the pair were back together. And even then, Kaidan knew it was because the turian had known the duo well enough to notice these things.
As they arrived at the elevator, Kacey called it down, only for it to get stuck halfway down.
"It's never that simple, is it?" Kacey mused.
"Never is." Kaidan replied.
"Ann, the elevator's blocked! Is there another way up?" Kacey asked.
"I'll override the pod door near you!" Ann said, "There's an access point above, Commander. But you'll have to climb it!"
"Copy that!"
Kaidan followed Kacey through the pod, making leaps of faith over gaps and climbing more stairs, and even when husks did show up, bullets from shotguns and Kaidan's biotics manged to wipe them out quickly. It certainly didn't help that the ground shook a few times, nearly knocking Kaidan off his feet. They eventually ended up on a bit of solid ground underneath parts of the facility, where more husks were waiting.
"Ann, are you still there?" Kacey asked, shooting the head clean off a husk.
"We're barely hanging on!" Ann replied, "Hopkins is wounded! Are you close?"
"We're moving as fast as we can! Hang in there!"
A large explosion rang out, knocking down a large platform. Kacey led them around, back on the roofs of the structures and down another ladder. That was when they heard Ann shouting down the comms.
"No, no! Boyles stay down! Oh god!"
"What's happening?" Kacey asked.
"Kirkwood and Boyles tried to run for it!" Ann explained, "The Reapers got them!"
"Don't move until we get there!" Kacey ordered.
…
After what felt like several hours, Kacey, Kaidan and James finally reached the elevator, to which Kacey had called back up. As they walked into the elevator, James looked over at the duo.
"Something on your mind, James?" Kacey asked.
"Kind of." James said, "I don't think now's the time for it."
"There's always time for it." Kacey said, "And besides, this elevator ride is going to take a while."
"I was just thinking about something that Garrus said." James mused, "He told me you two were close, but…I don't know…it doesn't seem like it."
"Well, he isn't wrong." Kaidan said.
"I've known Kaidan a long time and vice versa." Kacey explained, "Makes sense that we're close."
"He did mention you to were involved more…intimately." James said, "I know it isn't my place, but…I'm curious."
"We…were." Kaidan answered hesitantly. Kacey had turned bright red.
"Things just got a hell of a lot more complicated." Kacey replied, "That's all."
"And what about right now?"
"What do you think, James?" Kaidan asked.
"I don't know. But I do know that I think I've stepped outta line."
"It's fine." Kacey said, "Joker and Garrus do it all the time."
"Joker especially." Kaidan added, "It's fine James."
"If you say so." James replied, "Sorry Kaidan, Lola."
"Still calling me Lola?" Kacey said.
"I told you, you look like a Lola."
Kaidan tilted his head to one side, a smirk on his face, "I can kinda see where you're coming from."
"Oh, stop you two!" Kacey laughed, embarrassed.
Kaidan couldn't help but smile at Kacey, as she tried to hide her embarrassment. She was always so modest and couldn't take a compliment. However, the levity of the moment was interrupted by Ann, who sounded worried through the comms.
"Commander? Where are you?" she asked, worried.
"We're on our way up the elevator, Ann." Kacey replied, "Are you okay?"
"Please hurry. I think Hopkins is dead."
The elevator stopped. The trio swiftly exited the elevator and entered the room, where a corpse of one of the researchers was lying. A young woman with very short, dark hair was on the floor next to them. The woman looked distraught.
"He tried to run." Ann said, "I told him not to, but he wanted to help the others. Where did everyone go?"
"I'm sorry. They didn't make it." Kacey replied, sympathetic, "Doctor, I need you to come with me."
"Oh, god. Yes, of course."
Kaidan had already stepped outside the room, keeping an eye out for any Reaper troops. Once he was sure the area was clear, he gestured for James and Kacey to follow, with Ann in tow. Once they moved into cover further along the path, Ann spoke up.
"I…was at another dig site when they attacked." Ann explained, "I got back as quick as I could, but…what's happening?"
"Commander, look." James said.
Kaidan looked at the wall, where several stone age paintings marked the wall. An image of people, some with spears, looked to be making offerings to what looked to be a Reaper. It was, disturbing to say the least.
"I'm not sure." Kacey answered Ann, "But it might have something to do with these paintings. Is that Leviathan?"
"Yes…yes, we think so." Ann replied, "It's old. Much older than my father thought. And there, as if the natives were under its power. Clearly a Reaper, but acting alone. Not like any Reaper we've seen before."
"Doctor, I understand you found something recently?"
"The artefact. Yes of course. Incredible. It's just up ahead."
Kaidan continued to lead the way, while Kacey remained with Ann and James covered the rear. As they continued forward, Ann continued.
"It may sound strange, but I'm certain it affects people—their behaviour to be exact. I've only had a short time to study it."
"Not strange at all." Kacey replied, "Did you find anything?"
"Not much, but I did learn something about the energy it generates." Ann answered.
Kaidan tuned the conversation out as he scouted forward. He peered his head around a corner and found not only the artefact, but lots of Reaper troops as well.
"Get down!" Kaidan said, trying not to alert the marauders nearby.
One of the marauders looked to be absorbing energy from the artefact. As Kacey took a look for herself, Kaidan quickly made sure all of his weapons were ready for one tough fight.
"What are they doing?"
"They've activated it somehow." Ann said, "I've never managed anything—"
Ann stopped, her face blank. She immediately stood up, and walked away from the trio slowly.
"Doctor?" Kacey said.
"They've Learned Too Well." The tone of Ann's voice dropped a pitch, "The Darkness Must Not Be Breached."
"This again?" Kacey said as she grabbed Ann's shoulder. Ann struggled against Kacey's grip.
"Shepard!" Kaidan called after her.
"Kaidan! Take it out!" Kacey said.
"Got it." Kaidan said.
He fired his pistol five times, which destroyed the artefact instantly. Once it was nothing more than tiny glass pieces, Ann dropped to the floor, dazed.
"Are you okay?" Kacey asked, "Cortez! We have Ann Bryson! Need a pickup!"
"On my way, Commander!" Cortez replied.
"Copy that!" Kacey turned her attention back to Ann, who had recovered, "You see the shuttle, you run. Don't look back!"
"Okay. Yes." Ann said as she hid out of the way.
"And as for us," Kacey said, "We've got marauders to kill. Come on!"