A/N: Thank you Kirabaros, Jules Hawk, Impslave, Vorcha Girl, ela11, and jediserenity82 for your lovely reviews. I wouldn't be here without you. Thank you jediserenity82 for jumping in as pinch-hitter, and beta reading this chapter for me! And now, enjoy!
Chapter 48. The Archives
Nick lifted the radio to her lips, casting a glance at Kaidan from the corner of her eye. "This is Delta team. Is anybody there?"
He moved next to her, and she held his gaze for a moment before he looked away sheepishly. A wave of satisfaction rolled over her.
"About time! Where the hell have you been?" a distorted voice answered. Ignoring the question, Shepard simply replied all hostiles were terminated, and requested pick-up. A pause followed, and she swallowed, wondering if they had taken the bait. "Echo team will ride over and secure the station."
Shepard let out a careful breath before gesturing Kaidan and Liara to take their positions. Moving behind a large crate, granting her cover and a good view of the tram line, she assembled her sniper rifle, and waited.
They wouldn't have much time to spring their trap.
The tram carrying the Cerberus forces arrived only moments later. Nick gazed through her scope patiently until the first hostile was in her crosshairs. A muffled shot rang out as she fired, hitting true.
Yells filled the air as their foes scattered. Liara caught several in a Singularity which detonated mere seconds later, while Shepard pulled a grenade from her belt and tossed it into the tram where more hostiles had taken cover. Kaidan's omnitool flashed as he stripped a Centurion of his shields, giving Shepard the opportunity to take him down. For a mere moment, she was so focused on her target she almost missed the grenade launched towards her cover. Cursing she threw herself to the side at the last moment. The blast tore through the air, knocking her off balance. With a grunt, she landed hard on her shoulder. Ignoring the pain shooting through her she used her momentum and rolled to her feet.
"Shepard!" Kaidan called out, firing his pistol at another trooper. The concern in his voice was unmistakable. "You okay?"
"I'm fine," Nick replied, searching the room for more hostiles. A warm feeling spread through her. Kaidan still cared. No matter his doubts about what Cerberus had done to her, he still cared. A Guardian stepped into view, and she fired. Silence spread through the room as the shot faded away. Nick grimaced as she joined the others, rolling her shoulder carefully. She didn't think it was dislocated, but it still hurt like seven hells. There was sure to be one hell of a bruise later. After administering another dose of medigel she let out a small sigh of relief. Her gaze drifted over the fallen bodies and landed on the spare clips of the guardian she had just shot. After quickly checking her own supply, she bent over and picked them up.
"Stock up on clips, and then we move on," she ordered before picking up another clip and stepping onto the cable car.
They had crossed perhaps half the distance to the other station when an explosion shook the car, bringing it to a sudden halt. Nick tried to keep her footing, stumbling against the control panel.
"There's another tram coming our way!" Liara called.
"They really don't want us getting to those archives, do they?" Kaidan asked, activating his biotic barrier.
Nick's mouth went dry as she looked into the swirling blue of his eyes.
"Well," she replied, tearing her gaze away from him and watching the approaching tram instead, "they're out of fucking luck, because that's where we're going, and they aren't going to stop us."
Moments later they had overwhelmed the Cerberus soldiers in the other car and continued on their way to the archives. As they approached the station Kaidan cleared his throat.
"Shepard."
She turned to look at him. His eyes were locked on his omnitool. "Yeah?"
"There are a shitload of tangos ahead," he told them.
Nick frowned. "I need more info than that."
Kaidan looked up and gave her a number. Her eyes widened. "You're kidding."
He shook his head, holding his omnitool so she could look for herself, and she swore under her breath as the car began to slow down. They were vastly outnumbered; this was going to be a tough fight.
Once all hostiles had been terminated they moved towards the archives. The doors opened to reveal a large circular room. An enormous Prothean artifact throned in its midst, illuminating everything with a greenish glow. Awed they stepped closer.
"How did we not find this earlier?" Nick whispered, her gaze sweeping through the chamber.
"Maybe we did, but the government covered it up?" Kaidan offered just as quietly. "Or maybe they didn't think it was important." He didn't sound convinced of his last comment, and Nick let out a derisive snort. Their eyes met for a brief moment.
"Kaidan," she said. "Secure the room while Liara and I get the data."
He gave her a quick nod and set off, pistol at the ready. Her gaze followed him for a second before looking at Liara and motioning at the archive terminals.
"Shepard."
Nick spun around, the sudden sound of the Illusive Man's complacent voice at her back sending a wave of cold rage surging through her veins. Narrowing her eyes she glared at the holographic projection of the Cerberus leader. Unperturbed he took a drag from his cigarette before continuing. "Fascinating race, the Protheans. They left all this for us to discover. But we squandered it. The Alliance has known about the archives for more than thirty years, and what have they done with it?"
"What do you want?" she growled, tightening the grip on her shotgun.
"What I've always wanted. The data in these artefacts are the key solving the Reaper threat," he replied.
Nick scoffed. "Yeah, I've seen your solution. Turning people into monsters - thanks, but no thanks." Her eyes briefly darted away from her former employer to Kaidan. What if he was right after all? What if Cerberus had done something to her?
"Monsters? Hardly," the Illusive Man waved his hand dismissively. "They were improved. I don't expect you to understand this. All you see is a means to destroy, but why shouldn't we control the Reapers? Why shouldn't we learn to dominate and harness their power? Imagine how powerful humanity would be!"
"You're out of your fucking mind! Earth is under attack now, and you're working on a scheme to control the Reapers?! You're indoctrinated!" she spat.
"You've always been pathetically short-sighted. Hasty. Your destruction of the Collector base proved that." He flicked the ash off his cigarette, looking quite satisfied with himself; he was winning this battle, and he knew it.
Nick wanted to wipe that expression of his face. Curling her hands to fists she replied, "That base was an abomination! Hundreds of thousands were murdered there. I told you then already that place was not worth saving, not even for possible intel. If I have to rely on technology that involves the sacrifice of sapient lives, then I'm not trying hard enough to find an alternative. We'll fight and win without it, and that hasn't changed."
"This isn't your fight any longer, Shepard," he said. There was a smugness in his tone that made her hackles rise even more. "You can't defeat the Reapers, even with the Prothean data."
"Oh yeah? Fucking watch me," she snarled in return, baring her teeth. She pointed at the artefact. "With that data, I'm going to rid the galaxy of the Reapers."
The Illusive Man narrowed his eyes. "Don't interfere with my plans, Shepard. I won't warn you again."
"Noted. And now go to hell," she said, turning away from the hologram to face Liara. "Liara, have you got it?"
"The data is being erased!" Liara shook her head, desperately trying to download as much information as she could before it was deleted. "I can't get it. There's someone else here uploading the information."
"Damn it!" Before Nick could warn Kaidan she heard him call out to someone, ordering them to step away from a console. The next thing she saw was him landing on the floor, and the artefact suddenly extinguishing.
What the hell?
"She's got the data." He sounded winded as he rose back to his feet.
Shepard tore after the woman running past her. It was the one they'd seen on the security footage, Dr. Coré. Aware of the other two following her, Nick ran as fast as she could, dodging the tech attacks the Cerberus operative threw at her. Somewhere in the back of her mind she registered again that the so-called doctor was not wearing a mask, and still she continued to run through Mars' atmosphere as if she were breathing normal air.
A strangled cry of frustration escaped her as Dr. Coré jumped into a Cerberus shuttle. This couldn't be happening.
"Damn it! James? Normandy? Anybody! She's getting away!"
"I've got this one," James replied. Nick looked up, searching the sky for the Alliance shuttle. Her eyes widened as she realized that the lieutenant was going to ram the other shuttle. She watched as the shuttles collided, and threw herself to the ground to escape the careening Cerberus shuttle before it crashed.
Nick clambered to her feet, her eyes immediately searching for her squad mates. Relief spread through her when she spotted them mostly unharmed; they had both been closer to the impact. Kaidan met her gaze and signaled to her that he was all right before rising to his feet and making his way to help Liara. Meanwhile Nick stepped back to let James land the vehicle.
"Normandy's en route," James let her know as he jumped down onto Mars' surface. "They'll be here soon."
She was just about to reply when a faint sound of metal crashing to the ground reached her ears. Nick peeked through the gap under the thrusters to see a humanoid body step out of the burning Cerberus shuttle, and hastened around the shuttle. She reached the other side of the shuttle only to see the gynoid lift Kaidan off the ground as though he were a ragdoll. His pistol fell to the ground as he gripped at the hand holding him up in the air with ease.
"Kaidan!" Nick yelled, a quavering note in her voice, pulling her own pistol. Panic surged through her. She couldn't get a clear shot; her target kept Kaidan between them at all times. "Let go of him, bitch!"
Fear seized her as the synthetic turned around in lightning speed and slammed Kaidan against the shuttle twice, and for a terrifying moment Nick froze. Her mouth went dry, and her heart clamored in her chest, but she couldn't move; she couldn't pull the trigger. The spell broke when the Cerberus operative dropped him like a used, unwanted toy, and turned to face her.
Tears burned in her eyes as Nick fired, unloading her whole clip into the gynoid. Breathing hard, she stared at the bot once it crumpled to the ground in front of her and her eyes darted to Kaidan's lifeless form.
"Grab that thing!" she ordered James, looking back over her shoulder, and rushed to Kaidan.
"Shepard," Joker's voice chimed in. "We've got Reaper signatures in orbit."
Nick blinked away her tears furiously as she squatted next to Kaidan. The glass of his visor was cracked, but thankfully not broken. Biting her lip, she pulled him into a fireman's carry and made her way to the Normandy, step by step, straining under his added weight. She was aware of Liara calling something to her, but it didn't register; all she knew was that Kaidan was severely injured, and for the moment he was her main concern.
Her breath came in gasps as she climbed up the ramp. Inertia shifted as the Normandy accelerated.
"Commander, should one of us take him?" a marine offered.
Nick shook her head, gripping her burden tighter before stepping into the elevator with Liara and James and heading up to the medbay. Her heart sank when she realized there was no medical personnel as she looked in through the large windows. No doctor, not even a medic; Kaidan would have been the medic.
She lowered Kaidan onto the bed, unclasping the release catch on his helmet with shaking hands before pulling it off carefully. His face was beginning to show dark bruises around his eyes, looking battered and broken.
"Oh my God," she whispered, her hand hovering just over his cheekbone.
"Kaidan needs medical attention!" Liara's voice cut through her thoughts and Nick tore her gaze from his battered face. "The Citadel is our best chance of finding help," Liara continued in a soft voice.
"Joker, you heard it. Get us to the Citadel ASAP," Nick said, and the reply came promptly. Taking a shaky breath, she took Kaidan's hand and squeezed it gently. "Hold on," she whispered leaning close to him. For me, she added silently. Straightening up she turned around, her gaze falling on the Cerberus gynoid. Her eyes narrowed. "See what you and EDI can learn from that thing," she ordered, her voice hard and cold.
EDI let her know there was a signal coming in over the QEC, most likely from Admiral Hackett. With a last glance at Kaidan and another squeeze of his his hand she told EDI to patch it through before hurrying up to the comm room to report what had happened on Mars. Liara joined her moments later.
"Preliminary evidence suggest the data is a blueprint for a Prothean device. A weapon," Liara clarified, answering the admiral's questions about what they had discovered, "massive in size and scope, capable of unquantifiable amounts of destruction."
The admiral nodded and told them to send him the data, so the Alliance could do there own analysis.
"This might be the key to stopping the Reapers," Hackett finished.
"I hope so," Nick replied. She leaned forward, bracing her hands on the railing around the console. "Kaid-, Major Alenko was critically injured. We're taking him to the Citadel."
"I'm sorry to hear that, Shepard." For a brief moment he sounded more like Uncle Steve than Admiral Hackett, but the trace of warmth in his voice vanished quickly. "Talk to the Council and show them what you've found. With luck they'll give us the support we need. Do whatever it takes to get them on board." He saluted and cut the connection.
Shepard stared at the empty QEC, listening almost indifferently to Liara telling her that EDI was extracting the data from the gynoid and that they would have details to present to the Council on time.
"I'm sure they'll see the need to help," Liara added.
Nick scoffed, and walked towards the bulkhead.
"It'll be a hell of a short war if they don't," she muttered. "I'm going to check on Kaidan."
The sharp, pungent smell of antiseptic filled her nose as she stepped into the med bay. James turned around to face her; he had been keeping an eye on Kaidan's vitals. "No changes," he let her know. Nick nodded wearily. She hadn't really expected anything else.
"Go grab a bite," she told him. "I'll take over. We should be at the Citadel soon."
"Aye-aye." The lieutenant looked as though he wanted to add something yet, but he closed his mouth again and walked towards the bulkhead. Not waiting for James to exit the room she grabbed a chair and sat down next to Kaidan, tenderly dabbing away a trickle of blood running from his nose.
"We're almost at the Citadel, Kaidan. You just have to hold on a little longer, you hear me?" she implored quietly, her throat constricting as she spoke. She drew a shaky breath. A wistful smile appeared on her face. "I'm still waiting for that dinner, you know? So, if you die, Alenko, I'm going to kill you."
Silence filled the med bay apart from the constant beeping of the heart rate monitor. Nick sighed, taking his hand and resting her forehead on the edge of the bed.
Don't leave me.
Please.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed it. Reviews are most welcome! :)