It was the night before Christmas, and nobody stirred. Not even a mouse.
It wasn't, but it felt like it. Shepard was in the cockpit with Joker, the internal lights of the Normandy were still set to their minimum dim, and the console still displayed the LOCKDOWN message prominently. She had given the signal to Anderson as soon as Nihlus had emerged from the docks' lift, and now the Turian was still going through decon.
And got out while still waiting.
"Are we ready?" he said as soon as the door opened, rushing to the cockpit.
"Oh no, you don't get to rush us after being the last one in," Shepard replied. "The captain is-"
And she didn't get to finish her phrase before the entire ship livened up all at once. Lights, consoles, the main interface lost the lockdown message and booted up the navigation interface.
"We're free Commander," Joker said, already working the controls.
"Get us to the relay, fast!" Shepard ordered. "I want eyes on the fleet, if they try to chase I want us three steps ahead."
"I'll do what I can boss," Joker replied.
Of course. Despite trying to get people aboard on the lowdown, they were running a skeleton crew again. They had attracted quite a bit of attention as it was, and she couldn't risk being discovered. Pressly and Adams were aboard, so were Tali and Garrus, but other than a grand total of six other crew members to help run the ship, the place was deserted.
Talitha had all but disappeared, which she imagined had something to do with Rosie. The Dravens were close friends, after all. Joker had zero help for the flight.
Good thing it was Joker.
"So, what have you found out?"
"Where we're going," Nihlus said, and led the way towards the central console. "The map please."
Pressly did as requested, and brought up the galaxy map. With a couple of quick commands, their destination was brought up.
"Well?"
"The Mu relay," Nihlus said. That didn't get much of a response from the others, so he continued. "It's a lost relay, the location was unknown after it was thrown off course by a supernova."
"Where does it lead?" Pressly said. "If it's a primary relay, it will be useless unless we can find the destination. It could connect to hundreds of other relays."
Always the practical man, Shepard thought. She had much different questions in mind, but Pressly had hit the nail on the head. Interesting, but useless.
"Ilos."
"Ilos? What's that?"
"A prothean world, or so I heard," Nihlus replied.
"Never heard of it," Pressly replied, already working the console. "No references in the star chart."
"I was told the location is known," the turian said.
Shepard looked at the map again, and the marker of the Normandy. They were going towards the nebula's relay at a good clip. After that, hit the transition, and it'd take close to two hours until they reached th coordinates.
"We have two hours," she said. "Pressly, find that damn planet."
"I'll try, sir," he said.
"So what the hell's on Ilos?" Shepard said.
"The Conduit?" Nihlus replied.
"Yeah, I figured that much. What else?"
"How the s'kak should I know?" Nihlus retorted.
She was about to snap back, but stopped herself. Despite pretending they weren't, the crew was keeping an ear open for their conversation. No, it wouldn't do to just go at it again, when they were running such a small crew, without the captain, and heading for the unknown.
"Aww, you tease," Shepard said, her voice suddenly sultry. "You want to make it a surprise. Well, as long as I can shoot whatever's there, I'm good."
She gave him a mischievous smile and turned around, heading for the stairs. It took several steps before Nihlus recovered from the sudden blindside.
"Where are you going?" he said.
Shepard stopped and looked over her shoulder. "I've been running all over the place for hours and I stink. I need a shower."
Yes, she needed a shower, but that wasn't the reason.
One flight of stairs later, and she was in Anderson's cabin. The place was as neat as always, Anderson was quite obsessed about keeping things in their proper place. She dropped clothes left and right as she walked towards the bathroom, got into the tiny room, and after folding the sink and toilet away she hit the shower without even checking the temperature.
Cold, freezing cold. She bit her lip and clenched her fists, grunting and letting the water run over her. She needed time to think. She had been running all over the place ever since the stupid mission started, she had wasted so much time that Anderson had had to give her a dressing down to get her head in the game, she had lost half of her ground team just to destroy Saren's base, and when she thought they were finally getting close, the Council had slammed the door on their faces.
Maybe they were right. Maybe she was letting her feelings get in the way of her thoughts. She wanted Saren dead in a bad way. So did Nihlus, for the matter. Were they off their rocker? The Geth were a real, tangible threat. The Conduit was still a big unknown.
The return of the reapers.
Return, from where? There was one ship. One. It was extremely powerful, but could it really stand up to the combined power of the Citadel's fleet?
Was she just hoping the Council were right? Was the alternative too horrible to contemplate?
The water had long stopped running, having exhausted the standard allocation, but she didn't even notice until the chime of the door interrupted her thoughts. A second chime insisted soon after the first one.
She stepped out of the shower, dripping wet and naked. She walked resolutely towards the door, and hit the release without hesitation.
"Shep-"
Nihlus was on the other side. Whatever he was going to say stopped at the sight of a naked, scowling, fresh out of the shower Shepard. She waited for a moment, eyes fixed on his own, and watching the predator's gaze sharpening with what he saw.
"Well? The hell are you waiting for?" she said.
There was a growl, she thought it was a growl, and before she knew it, Nihlus had lifted her off the ground, his face buried against her neck as his sharp teeth scraped over her skin. A blur of motion, and he dropped her on the bed, his taloned hands sending electrifying pricks along her spine.
She hadn't realized how much she needed that.
With one push, she got herself and Nihlus off the bed, landing noisily on the small desk in front of it. She took the initiative, pulling the releases of Nihlus' armor and dropping the pieces with careless abandon. Even under the armor his body felt hard, the plates on the skin smooth but digging against her skin.
It didn't matter. She dug against his neck, biting on the softer part of the throat. That was enough to set Nihlus off, he grabbed her again and pinned her against the bed, his growl almost like that of a beast, and his teeth sinking almost to the breaking point of her skin. And for the next hour, neither of them said a word, neither of them did anything but follow their more basic, animalistic instincts.
"Good grief, he sure has perfect timing, doesn't he?" Kasumi said.
On the other side of the call, Keiji chuckled loudly. "I don't think he wanted to get arrested."
"I know, but what now? Do we cancel? Do we do it before C-Sec comes after us?"
"What do you think, will he sing?"
She thought about it, while looking at their prize. She had gotten herself into one of the embassy offices in the Presidium, despite the heightened security and the amount of traffic. Because the view was the best. Or, rather, because the view gave her an excuse to get past the security and get in there to have it.
That was the reason for so much of what she did. It was that little rush that kept her on her toes. It wasn't mindless thrill seeking, it was also the satisfaction that came with it. Outwitting everyone. And there, waiting for her, was the biggest job they had ever done. There was no way she was going to let it slip away. She could see the relay monument from the window, resting lazily above the surface of the lake.
"He won't," she replied. "He wants the relay gone, he won't just give us away."
"You can't be sure," the raspy voice of the AI cut through the conversation. "Meatbags are weak, you should eliminate him to ensure secrecy."
"You always fix all your problems that way?" Kasumi said.
"It is the most effective method," the AI retorted.
"Whether he talks or not, C-Sec will figure it out sooner or later," Keiji said.
"I know. So we better do it soon."
"Bah," the AI said, its pilot light powering off.
Sulking again, Kasumi thought with a chuckle.
"Charges and chute are in place. I'll get the cargo crew to move in."
"Great. So, we're doing it."
"We're doing it," Keiji replied, and Kasumi heard the smile in his voice. That charming cockiness. "How long-"
"Hold on," Kasumi interrupted. She narrowed her eyes, fixing them on the relay monument. "Something's happening."
"What? Are you compromised?"
"No, no. The monument. I think…"
There was something odd about the relay monument. It was almost like it was fuzzy. That wasn't there before. A couple of people loitering nearby seemed to notice something, because they started looking around as if they were hearing, or feeling, some indistinct sound.
After a moment, she could actually see ripples forming on the water around the relay. A few dim lines of blue light appeared on its surface.
"Kasumi?" Keiji called. "What's going on?"
"I don't know, the monument is… Oh no. No, no, no, no!"
"What?! Kasumi!"
"The monument. It's activating! Roy was right!"
As she spoke, the rings of the monument started to spin, and with a flash, the core of the miniature relay came to life. The blue glow of the heart increased in intensity, and with another flash, something was pulled out of the mass effect corridor of the relay.
A giant metallic cube. Barrel. Some sort of large structure. In front of Kasumi's eyes, the structure unfolded, and four enormous legs pulled it up from the ground. A giant head, too, unfolded, with a single, giant flashlight-like eye in the middle.
"Geth," Kasumi said. "Geth are coming out."
The Presidium had broken into chaos. The giant geth platform had started attacking indiscriminately, shooting anything that moved and stomping along the platforms. The C-Sec presence, which had seemed so strong when she was sneaking around the area, was suddenly wholly inadequate to deal with the threat. Anyone who tried to shoot the geth ended up as nothing but a bloody lump on the sidewalk. The relay was still active, and a second enormous platform came out after the first one.
A third.
The AI's interface lit up on her omni-tool, a flurry of activity running through the three concentric circles.
"The geth have arrived," he said. "And they are not talking."
"What are they doing?"
"Death to organics, for the Old Machines. I could get behind that."
"No you couldn't," Kasumi replied. "We need to stop them."
"What?" Keiji replied. "Kasumi, get out of there!"
The battle was not just something she was watching from far above. The noise was now part of it. Screams. Guns. Explosions. A C-Sec aircar rushing towards the presidium was hit with a ball of plasma and plummeted to its doom in a fireball.
She was already on the move, throwing any thought of stealth to the wind. A stealth cloak is a very useful thing when somebody is trying to find you, but it is no protection against stray bullets or stomping giant geth. She tried to keep out of the line of fire from both sides, but with the chaos out there, there weren't many spots for one to hide. She skirted along the lake behind the impromptu line of C-Sec members, her kinetic barriers shimmering her into view as a few stray bullets hit her position, and forcing her to hide under one of the bridges. The water was not deep, barely reaching under her knees, but still not pleasant.
"Kasumi talk to me," Keiji called over the comms.
"I'm going to drain the lake," she replied, her voice barely audible over the din of battle.
"Are you crazy? You're not a soldier, we're too late, get out!"
Kasumi smiled under her hood. It was always the same; whenever they got in a sticky situation, Keiji's first concern would always be for her. But this time they couldn't just make hay and wait for a better chance.
"I hate agreeing with him, but he is right. You are doomed," the AI said.
"What about you stop agreeing with Keiji and start helping me?" Kasumi said.
"I am an advanced AI with capabilities far exceeding your own," he said, "but overcoming your organic limitations is even beyond my abilities."
"Love ya too, buddy," Kasumi said.
A large explosion rocked the ground, and she looked behind to see what was happening. Smoke was raising from an enormous hole in one of the buildings, and behind the smoke, she could see flashes in the distance, dimmed in the mist of the nebula.
"Ships," she said. "There's an invasion coming. Just like he said."
"I'll go find you, we've got our escape ship ready," Keiji said.
"No!" Kasumi cut him off. "We have to do this. Have the explosives ready, I'm near the maintenance-"
Another explosion stopped her explanation. The firefight had increased in intensity, with more and more geth units coming through the relay. Smaller ground units were landing by the dozen, and were about to overrun C-Sec. Reinforcements had arrived, but were having trouble establishing a foothold. While the geth were fighting as a unit, C-Sec was in chaos.
"Kas- y- her-" Keiji's voice was drowned in static.
"Keiji!" Kasumi shouted. More static. "I'm almost there! Don't come here, just blow it all up! Do it!"
"The geth are flooding comms channels with static," the AI said.
"Can you get through?"
"Of course I can, who do you think I am?"
"Great. Let him know, we need to get this done before it's too late."
She dragged her feet through the water and one of the ramps, trying to keep a low profile. A group of asari were trying to get to an aircar, a few of them holding off the geth troops with biotics and low yield handguns, but it was like trying to hold the tide. She recognized the one asari being rushed into the aircar first. Sha'ira, the Consort.
That attracted the attention of one of the larger geth platforms. A ball of plasma shot in their direction, hitting the asari at the font and exploding on impact. It took not just the asari, but most of the smaller geth soldiers with it. The sickening smell of burnt flesh and plastics mixed together started to waft through the air. Without waiting any longer, the aircar pulled away and flew off, leaving two asari behind.
With nowhere to go, the asari tried to fight back. The first one went down almost instantly. The second one was hit on the leg, and fell back over the edge of the platform and into the lake, just a few meters in front of Kasumi.
"Avoid them," the AI said.
"How did you know?" Kasumi replied, already wading back into the lake and moving quickly towards the fallen asari.
"You are as predictable as the rest of the meatbags. You'll be eliminated as soon as you're spotted."
"Aww, you care," Kasumi said.
For all the complaining the AI did, he was always extremely helpful when it counted. And this time, it didn't even deny it.
"I will confuse their targeting programs," the AI said. "You will have at least twenty seconds before they adapt."
"Thanks."
Kasumi rushed through the open space to close the distance, while bullets fell left, right, and all around her but none really hitting her. She had to get out of the water soon, as soon as she did she could get her cloak back on.
She reached the asari, and she could see she was still alive. She dragged the coughing and spluttering woman away and onto one of the low pedestrian platforms, trying to keep out of view. It didn't seem like the geth were bothering to chase her, probably finding something more dangerous close by.
"Are you okay?" Kasumi said.
"I'm-" her reply morphed into a yelp of pain when Kasumi checked the wound.
"It's pretty clean," she said. She applied some medi-gel, her movements fast. "There, don't move until it sets and stay out of view."
"T-thank you…" the asari muttered. She didn't look like she was all there, and Kasumi could hardly blame her.
"Hey, hey! Look at me!" Kasumi said, grabbing her head and looking at her straight in the eye. "You'll be fine. I need you to focus."
"Yes!"
"I need you to cover my back," Kasumi said, and put her spare pistol in the asari's hand.
"M-Me? I can't…"
"Yes you can. I'm counting on you!"
With that, Kasumi turned around and ran away, activating her cloak as she balanced along the edge of the platform.
"She will be of no help," the AI said. "You just wasted a perfectly good weapon."
"She'll be fine," Kasumi replied. "Now, where's that terminal…"
I was about to lose my mind. I had been shouting, kicking the door, and making as much of a ruckus as I could, and all I have gotten for my troubles was for the C-Sec guard to put a barrier inside the cell. Now kicking it made no noise, and I assumed it blocked sound, too, because they were completely ignoring my shouts.
This was a fucking disaster.
So, all I could do was wait. Without a clue of what was going on, just waiting for the hammer to fall. According to the stupid AI (yes, I had decided to give her that nickname as a permanent thing) this was one of the immutable events of the timeline. The impounding of the Normandy followed by the geth attack.
It was just a matter of time.
The first sign of trouble was a rather sudden spike of frenzied activity outside. I couldn't hear a fucking thing, but I could see what was going on. They were yelling at each other, running like headless chickens.
"Hey! Let me out you assholes!" I yelled, trying my best to pound the barrier. "LET ME OUT!"
No response. Then, the entire fucking building shook, throwing me off my feet as the ground below me seemed to tilt. Things were flying all over the place outside, and so were people. I braced myself and tried to get to the window, but a second impact threw me off my feet again.
"Goddammit, LET ME OUT!"
The barrier went down as soon as I yelled, and the door lock indicator turned green. I shot to my feet and rushed to it, hitting the release and opening it. In the chaos outside nobody seemed to notice I was now free. And before I had a chance to wonder what the hell was going on, I caught some music blaring through the pandemonium of the C-Sec office.
Thin Lizzy – Jailbreak
It was loud, I couldn't quite place where it was coming from. Another explosion rocked the building, and this time, I couldn't even try to keep my feet. I don't even know how I was thrown around, but ended up with my back against the wall, on the ground, and watching the whole world spin in a cloud of dust. There was a deafening roar as the world turned upside down, and I felt like I had just woken up, coughing and spluttering.
And maybe I wasn't wrong, given how dizzy I was feeling. Hit my head somewhere. A cloud of dust had engulfed the room, or what was left of it. Large pieces of masonry were dotted around, and there was even a large beam coming through the ceiling.
"Freaking… Where the hell is Gee?"
Had to be Gee, who else would free me while playing music like that? And given the song, he had to be the one that freed me. I tried to get to my feet, and failed miserably, falling on my ass again. I put the hand on the back of my head, and felt the familiar stickiness of blood. A look at my hand after the fact confirmed it, dark red blood covering my fingers.
Dammit. Get to your feet you idiot.
Adrenalin hit my system when sounds became more distinct. Gunfire. And not just any gunfire, I recognized the high-pitched, fast-cadence rhythm of geth weaponry.
I struggled to my feet, managed to stay upright, and did my best to follow the music. It didn't take me long to find the origin this time, and it was my omni-tool. It had been left in a drawer in someone's desk, but with all the madness the desk had been reduced to rubble and it was right there on the ground. I picked it up, put it around my wrist, and immediately the UI came to life.
"Heretic-attack currently underway," Gee called. I heard his voice though my implants, even though I could barely read the text on my omni-tool.
"Gee, I need to get to the presidium," I said. "I need your- shit!"
The door to the C-Sec office opened with a loud grinding sound, and a geth appeared behind the door. I would have stayed there like a deer in the headlights, but instead of getting shot like an idiot, the geth stopped what he was doing, stood still like a statue for a moment, then started to have a spaz-like aneurysm. A couple of seconds later, it dropped its weapon, and folded on the ground like a marionette with its strings cut off.
"What the…"
"Heretic platforms currently converging on Citadel-Presidium. We are unable to disrupt consensus. Nazara-Old-Machine presence interfering with Gee-platform interference."
"Shit!" I said, steadying myself and rushing out. "I have to get to the Presidium. If they get to the tower we're screwed." I hit the comms, trying to call Kasumi, but got nothing but static. "Crap. Gee, can you locate Kasumi and Mika?"
"Kasumi-infiltrator location currently unknown. Mika-creator location currently unknown."
I stopped only to pick up the weapon from the geth platform Gee had fried – a bog standard geth pulse rifle, which was perfect for me – and got out of the C-Sec office at a good clip, before anyone had any ideas about stopping me. If anyone was still alive, that is. With the rush of adrenalin, and the single thought in my mind – get to the tower – I managed to get out at a good speed. Gee was kind enough to give me a path towards the Presidium, and it was a pretty long one. A good mile and a half, since I had to change arms to get to the first arm of the Citadel.
Not a problem.
Given how hard and how long Ash had drilled me with physical fitness training, and the fact that I had kept up with it, I made good time for my run. A ten minute mile is a decent, if not impressive, run. I managed to do the mile and a half in twelve.
I blame, or credit, adrenalin. Or desperation. Whatever it was, I got out of the office and legged it to the exchange, where the Citadel Tower and the sewers junction was, in very good time. I could hear the craziness that was the battle outside as I ran, but I had to ignore it –I had something more important on my mind.
The keeper tunnels dropped me right at the Presidium level, and what a shocker that was. I remembered the games showing the Presidium as the aftermath of an intense battle, with (badly rendered) bodies everywhere, this was very different. I came out of one of the keeper tunnels to find a scene of utter, sickening destruction. Bodies everywhere, a smell I couldn't ever describe, and signs of a grueling, deathly battle everywhere. A thin layer of smoke seemed to permeated the whole of the presidium, as did the weird smell of high-yield energy weaponry having been discharged during the battle.
Something was off. It took me a few minutes running through the aftermath of the Presidium battle to realize what it was. The water was gone. The Presidium lake had been drained, and more importantly, the relay monument was gone.
Kasumi, you're a star.
The place looked like the aftermath of a bad nightmare. But there was no fighting going on. The sounds of battle were far and muffled, but the aftermath was all around me. The property damage, the dead bodies, the sickening, burnt smell… I had seen it before, but never as intensely as that day in the Presidium.
Overhead, the battle for the Citadel was raging in full. It was still too far to really make anything other than indistinct explosions, but there were a lot of them.
"Gee, what's going on? Where is everyone?" I said.
"Heretic platforms are engaged with C-Sec units on levels ten through nineteen. Consensus estimate will achieve condition: victory in six minutes and twenty-three seconds."
Not a lot of time to catch my breath. Kasumi had managed to get rid of the relay, but apparently they hadn't had time to take it away from the Citadel. Still, I'd take any advantage I could. The run had been quite intense, but seemed like I didn't have any choice. I walked towards the sewer entrance, but stopped when I reached the embassies.
Was that…
"...lp me please," a thin voice was calling.
Rifle in hand, I followed it to find an asari behind the front desk of the embassy level entrance. There was so much blue blood. She had crawled there a few feet, leaving a trail of it behind her, but hadn't managed much more.
She gasped when she saw me, her eyes falling on the pulse rifle first, and tried to back away, not really getting anywhere.
"Stop," I ordered, lowering the rifle. I knelt besides her, while she doubled over in a coughing fit.
She had been shot through the chest, and I was shocked she hadn't just bled out. I followed the omni-tool's instructions, applying medi-gel and trying to stop the bleeding. After a few seconds the asari stopped coughing, which made it easier to work.
When she slumped over, I realized it had just gotten worse.
"Hey!" I yelled, slapping her face. "Wake up!"
She didn't. She was still alive, but I couldn't tell how badly she needed a doctor. I managed to pick her up, and carried her with me into the sewer exchange. Not the best place to take her, but I couldn't just leave her out there in the open. I put her down on the floor, resting on the side on the basic defensive position, and tucked away from view behind one of the benches.
My omni-tool was still not connecting to anyone.
"Gee, can you get through and call for help? She needs a doctor."
"Heretic countermeasures exceed current platform capabilities," Gee replied.
"Just keep trying," I said, already heading for the tunnels. "And try to find Mika."
"Acknowledged."
"Thanks mate."
The first surprise was that the trap door to the lower tunnels was open. That put me on alert. I carefully peeked over the edge, rifle in hand, but found nothing waiting below. After climbing down, I inched my way through the tunnel, but it, too, was empty. The door to my room was open, with a double ribbon of C-Sec holographic tape across.
And it was empty.
"No, no, no, no, no!" I yelled, rushing in and searching.
The place had been ransacked, and it was all gone. All the mechs, the turrets, that I didn't care because it was too late. The guns. The armor. The prototype biotic armor Serrus had gotten for me, with the AI's shield harness inside. Everything!
I kept cursing as I ran through all the debris. Not a fucking thing left. Then my eyes fell on the stray yellow pieces of my envirosuit.
They hadn't taken that. I hoped. I started collecting pieces and getting it all on. They were all there, including the shield generator.
A stolen geth rifle and a shitty but somewhat upgraded envirosuit, versus a geth army and a Spectre. It would be laughable if it wasn't such a desperate time. Shepard wasn't going to make it back on time, at least according to the AI. I had to buy her time. I hoped that buying time would be enough. And that I would be able to even do that. When I secured the helmet, I was greeted by an all-green. I clipped the guns in place, and rushed out, climbing up the ladder and heading deeper into the sewers.
For about five meters.
"What the hell?" I muttered.
There was a security door in place. Not just that, it didn't even seem to have any locking mechanism, or electronics. I brought up the omni-tool, but neither I, nor Gee got anything. What the hell?
"Morgan-messenger. Security systems have been triggered. All physical access has been restricted."
"Well shit, I have to get outside?" I said.
"Yes."
"That was rhetorical," I said, already running towards the exit.
Crap.
The entire sewer network was on lockdown. It made sense, one wouldn't want an invading force to be able to get everywhere. But shit if it wasn't inconvenient. My master plan was to use these to access the top of the tower undetected. Now I had to use the fucking lift.
Not good.
I was about to exit when a burst of static caught my ear. I looked around, until I managed to find its origin. The terminal in the workshop was blinking, an image flashing at broken intervals.
"Mika!" I yelled, and rushed to it. "Gee, get that signal!"
"Acknowledged."
A few interminable seconds passed, but the signal was suddenly boosted, with the image clearing up. On the other side, Mika looked as surprised as I was by the sudden connection.
"Mika!" I called.
"Ohmygosh Roy! What happened everything's closed and there's explosions are we under attack you havto-"
"Mika!" I interrupted. "Where are you? Are okay?"
In my head, ideas were running at a million miles a second. I had to get to the tower or we'd be screwed, the sewers were closed, Mika was calling for help, and all I could think was that I was going to have to find out a way to get to her. While the idea on the back of my mind that I was going to have to choose.
Don't make me choose. Please dear god don't make me choose.
Maybe it was cosmic justice, maybe because I had passed the warning to Shepard to avert the Virmire disaster I was supposed to pay for it. I didn't actually know how Virmire had gone, but with the kind of warning I had sent Shepard she must have gone in there with heavy reinforcements.
At least that's what I had hoped.
All of these ideas were trying to get to the forefront, none of them making any sense.
"I'm okay," Mika said. "But I'm trapped."
"The entire sewer's on lockdown. We're going to need explosives or something to get through. Where are you?"
"The water exchange on Green 29," she replied.
"Oh thank fucking god."
Just like that, all my fears disappeared. The exchange was very deep in the bowels of the citadel, and a good two miles away from the tower. Short of a nuclear bunker, it was probably the safest place to be, specially with all the bulkheads closed. There was no way the geth were getting down there, like, ever.
"Roy?"
"Holy hell," I said, the relief in my voice still apparent. "You're going to be safe there. It's as safe as it gets, the geth are going for the tower."
"Are you coming?"
"I can't," I replied. "I have to get to the tower."
"But… you said the geth are there!"
"That's right. Someone's got to stop them."
"But…"
"I'm sorry. But you'll be safe. I promise."
She looked away, fidgeting, but after a moment she looked at the camera again and nodded. "Be careful. I'll wait for you."
"I'll be there. You still have the pistol I have you?"
"Y-Yeah?" she replied, bringing up the folded Striker to the screen.
"Good. I don't think you'll need it, but should make it a bit more bearable." I heard an explosion overhead, and bit back a curse. "I have to go Mika."
She nodded, and I rushed out of the workshop. The explosion turned out to be a fallen geth transport, much like the one I dropped during that mission in the Mako where I dislocated my shoulder. Only this one was in pieces, and looked to have been shot down by ship-sized weapons fire.
If they were shooting towards the Citadel, things had to be quite desperate up there.
A few geth had survived the crash, and were making their way out of the wreck. More worryingly, geth were coming out of the doors on the platforms along the sides of the dried-up lake. Crap. I had to move to get to the tower before them.
And then, out of the hole left where the relay used to be, up came flying the uglies turian in the galaxy.
Saren.
I had been in scrambling mode ever since the attack started, but now it was even faster and crazier. Nobody had spotted me yet, and time was fast running out for me. I looked around desperately, and caught sight of a couple of geth that had separated from the pack. One of them had a rocket launcher.
Desperation brought the only idea I could think of.
"Gee, I need that rocket launcher!" I yelled, turning their way and rushing along the surface of the dry lake.
The geth spotted me quickly, and my HUD was flooded with markers and signals. Markers for the enemies, the two in front bright red, and the rest on a light orange. I knew Gee was interfering with the consensus to try and help, but there was only so much he could do against so many processes. I dropped into cover behind the beams of one of the bridges, and not a moment too soon as a rocket hit the other side and nearly made me lose my footing.
Now, now! Go!
Spurring myself into action, I came out of cover and started shooting, the pulse rifle biting through the barriers of the rocket launcher geth with excellent alacrity.
"Overload prepared," Gee announced.
I kept shooting until my shields ran low, and dropped the overload at the last moment before getting into cover. A second rocket hit the beam, and I managed to roll out of the way when some of the masonry above became loose and fell. I saw more markers on the radar turning red from their orange, which pushed me to my feet to try and finish the job.
Rifle in hand, I resumed my attack. The overload had done its work, and the two platforms were not only weakened, but also confused. They went down as I walked towards them, pulse rifle spitting rounds at a good clip. As soon as the last one went down, I broke into a run, coming to a stop a moment later to pick up the rocket launcher.
Warnings all over. Shit!
"Gee! I need this working!"
"Diagnostics indicate internal damage to ejection mechanism. Compensating."
The geth were already shooting at me, and I had to rush and get into cover. Saren hadn't seen me, or didn't care, but he was directing troops and heading for the lift. Still on his green goblin glider thing. Lazy bastard.
"Weapon online."
"Yes!" I called, raising the rocket launcher and aiming.
The HUD blinked as I began to track Saren's glider, but I had to stop and get into cover when the geth renewed their attack. They were approaching slowly but deliberately, their attacks coming in waves. I had only one rocket in the chamber before I had to eject the heatsink, and the heatsink was stuck according to Gee.
One shot.
I ran across the platform to the opposite end, hiding behind the cover offered by a fallen piece of the geth transport. Bullets pinged off my shields, but they held long enough for me to get there. After a moment to let them recharge, I popped out and tried to aim again, but to my infinite annoyance, I had no angle from there.
Shit!
No choice. With geth now almost breathing down my neck, I vaulted over the cover and rushed out, trying to aim as I ran. The targeting reticle jumped up and down, blinking in and out of target while geth tried to take me down. I caught sight of an armature charging up, while the targeting reticle still hadn't acquired the target.
The armature finished charging, and fired. A ball of plasma shoot towars me. Saren was almost out of range, it had to be now or never. I stopped for a moment, aiming. Swearing. Praying. It was all the same.
The reticle turned red.
I pressed the trigger and jumped down to the ground. I didn't even track the rocket. The plasma ball exploded not even a meter behind me, and I was caught in the blast, thrown off several feet while the electronics of my suit went crazy. And the pain. It didn't hit me at first, but the burning of the electrified plasma hit my back and legs like a bucket of boiling oil. I screamed in pain, struggling to get to my feet while the geth kept firing at me.
Up, up, up!
After some struggling, I managed to get up and run, trying my best to ignore the pain. There was nowhere to go on the surface. I turned away from the tower, rushing along the east wall until I found a keeper tunnel entrance, and followed it down to the main keeper tunnel.
I only stopped when I went past the third corner. No sounds.
"Is… Is anyone following…" I muttered, trying to catch my breath.
"Negative. Heretic platforms attempting to recover Saren-Prophet."
"Recover?"
"Morgan-Messenger destroyed Saren-Prophet's transport platform. Replacement platform unavailable. Heretic consensus attempting to reroute Saren-Prophet from level designation 10C."
…
Saren had fallen to the bottom of the hole.
I would have laughed if I wasn't in so much pain. I still had some medi-gel left, but the day was young, and I still had a long way to go.
"Okay Gee, tell me how to fix this fucking thing," I said. I started to walk as I tried to open the rocket launcher. "If we can use it to break the safety bulkheads, I might actually be able to get to the top before Saren."
"Acknowledged."
Author's Notes: And so, the battle for the Citadel begins! Will Shepard make it on time? Hope so, because as soon as Saren makes it to the tower he's going to be pissed at me. Might have managed to get a rocket to his face - or, rather, green goblin glider - but he's not dead. A fall of fifty meters isn't going to finish a reaperified Saren, now is it? Of course not. Lucky enough to get the shot, too. Well, not lucky. Gee is the man!
And f&*$%#! kleptomaniac C-Sec!
In the meantime, someone finally got laid (well, if rumors are to be believed, Grieco and Draven got there first). Hopefully that will finally get Shepard to be less of a bitch and Nihlus to be less of an asshole.
*Cough*
Anyway. I made a mental recap of what's coming next, and this was a good place to split the chapters. Next one should be fun!
Reviews! Comments! Thanks so much everyone for reviewing and commenting! Answering questions:
Dickson: I see what you mean. Nihlus is wrapped in too deep and too tight with Saren being a traitor and all that, which is impairing his decision making, but I might have overdone it.
LordGhostStriker: But Gee didn't forget him!
Mizuki00: I'm a sucker for suspense! I love reading suspense too, not just writing it. When I'm the reader, I'm like "DAMN YOU HOW COULD YOU! You magnificent bastard, now you know I'll be back for next chapter!"
Rainsfere: Jailbreak! They thought the omni-tool could simply be tossed in a drawer. They thought wrong MUAHAHAHA!
Dairegh: Roy had explosives, turrets, combat mechs, and enough guns to start a war down there. Overkill much? Hence the reaction :)
Ordinary-average, BJ Hanssen, Toothless, Oyshik, FluxBlade, OBSERVER01, bluemarlin, thanks for the support! Really appreciate it. We still need to do a bit of tidying up with the research data, but damn if it's not satisfying. Woot!
Next time? Well, next time someone is going to make the mother of all Entrances. Stay tuned! Thanks for reviewing, commenting, supporting, following, and last but not least - reading! This story wouldn't be the same without y'all :)