25: The Convergence

Entering the operations centre for this branch of SOTIG, Sevarn was not surprised to see that it had become an utter mess. Windows were shattered, computers broken, bullet holes peppered the walls and floors and amongst it all, bloodied bodies lay strewn. Some were of security guards, others of staff members as judged by their civilian attire. Several Cerberus troopers lay dead amidst them, so the fight had not been too one-sided despite the element of surprise the Cerberus attackers had had as their initial advantage.

Sevarn moved carefully but quickly, rifle at the ready. As an interloper here, both the SOTIG people and the Cerberus intruders would likely see him as a hostile. He would have to be quick to defuse any situation that might arise if he was discovered by anyone from SOTIG, and this would be at the same time as trying to keep any Cerberus trooper from blowing his head off.

He had the schematics of the place, as provided by Chas, accessible via his visor. As such, he was able to keep some idea of just where he was in relation to the rest of the place, and the signs about the building's interior gave a good enough idea of just what purpose each room served.

He tried his communicator again in an attempt to get through to Chas, but all he heard through it was static. He would likely have to get out of here and some distance away before his comms started functioning again.

He came upon what appeared to be the main corridor for this floor. With little clue as to where he might find Lyssa, dead or alive, he figured that he would simply have to work his way through the building one room at a time. Hardly practical, but without Chas' guidance he had to work with what he had, and in this case that was not much more than his own wits.

As he moved into the corridor, he heard footsteps up ahead. He darted into the nearest adjoining room, an office of sorts that was deserted and had evidently been rendered that way in a hurry. The computer was still running and a half-filled mug of coffee sat on the desk, amidst multiple data pads that had been strewn across the desktop. Sevarn remained just inside the doorway, peering about the side and into the corridor in order to discern the source of the noise.

A gunshot rang out from somewhere further along, the weapon shot something thunderous. This was followed by the telltale clunk of someone crumpling to the floor, no doubt a victim of that weapon. More shots rang out, some more distant than others. There was still resistance throughout the building, hardly the clean sweep the Cerberus strike team had likely been hoping for.

Sevarn moved along at a more cautious pace now, checking each room he passed with a quick sweep but otherwise finding no one in any of the first three he came upon. If he had to sweep the whole building, he would. He did not intend on leaving Lyssa behind, and he knew that he had come to care for her in a strange sort of way. A woman who had outright tried to shoot him when they had first met had since become the one and only person on this planet he could truly trust. He would have been lying to himself if he said he did not find her alluring in some way. There was a common perception that turian men liked headstrong women, presumably a result of their military upbringing and the prevalence of their females in the military. How true this was, Sevarn could not be certain. Nonetheless, there was no denying that Lyssa Raine was indeed headstrong.

He stepped into another room, a somewhat sparse kitchen of sorts. As he did so, he swept his rifle to the left, and as he came around to the right he suddenly heard the telltale click of a gun being cocked. He froze, and it was at this point he felt the cold metal of the barrel push against his neck.

'Hold it right there.' A man's voice, firm but not as threatening as he might have expected. The owner of that voice simply sounded tired. He was no doubt worn out by the fighting that had torn up the inside of the building.

'Lower the gun. Drop it.' The commands were delivered in a way that indicated that any protest would prove unwise. Sevarn did as he was told, dropping the rifle to his feet. This was no Cerberus troopers threatening him, as such an individual would have simply shot him straight away.

'Kick it away.' Another command the turian followed, and he gave the rifle a hard shove with his foot. It slid across the tiled floor some way, before coming to rest against the leg of the table ahead. The owner of the voice and of the gun pressed against him stepped forwards then, and he kept one hand to his gun whilst the other plucked the pistol off of Sevarn's thigh.

'Turn around slowly,' the voice commanded. He backed away as he said this, taking the barrel off of Sevarn and putting a good two feet worth of space between them. Sevarn slowly turned about to face this human, looking upon a stern thirty-something man with short blonde hair, a no-nonsense look in his hazel eyes and a black combat vest adorning his otherwise civilian attire. He held a bulky N7 Paladin shotgun, the kind of weapon that was exceptionally rare even when it came to the more prominent mercenary groups. Sevarn had to assume that this individual belonged to the SOTIG organization, rather than Cerberus.

'You're not one of my people,' the man stated. 'And you're definitely not with Cerberus, so who are you?'

Sevarn considered the possibility of making a biotic attack then, if only to get the advantage. However, he felt no immediate threat from the man, even if he had a gun pointed in his face. The weapon was an understandable precaution.

'I am Lieutenant Sevarn Valus. I came here on the trail of a woman, Lyssa Raine.'

The man's face scrunched up, first with near confusion, only for it to shift into outright realisation when the pieces connected in his mind.

'You're with her?' He asked Sevarn.

'Yes. Do you know where she is?'

The man did not reply. Instead, he grabbed Sevarn by the arm and pulled him, hard. He took him clear of the doorway, and as Sevarn was about to protest, even shove back against him, the man simply raised a finger to his lips. A human gesture, one Sevarn understood. It simply meant, be quiet.

A trio of Cerberus troopers marched through the corridor outside. Sevarn and the SOTIG operative had ducked into the corner closest to the door, just out of immediate sight if anyone did stick their heads inside. However, these troopers seemed occupied, charging on by with barely a look to the doorway or the room that lay beyond. Both the operative and Sevarn kept quiet for what felt like several minutes, but in reality, was closer to thirty seconds. As soon as the heavy footfalls of the troopers had faded down the hall, the operative turned to Sevarn with a firm, if curious gaze.

'How did you get in here?' He asked the turian.

'Sewers. Same way these Cerberus thugs came in.' Sevarn locked eyes with the man, hoping that he did not look too threatening. He had not come in here to make more enemies.

'They've killed my people,' the man said, and anger laced his voice. 'You being here seems a little too convenient.'

'You don't actually think I'm with Cerberus?' Sevarn shook his head. 'I'm not even human.'

'They have been known to hire alien mercenaries.'

'I gave you my name and rank. I told you why I was here, and you clearly know Lyssa. Where is she?'

The man looked a little bemused by the question.

'Where is she?' He shook his head. 'I have no idea. She got loose as soon as the attack started.'

'And now?'

'Now, I suspect she went to pay a visit to a prisoner we have in the infirmary. I was on my way there before I got held up.' He shook his head slowly, and his tone once again became embittered. 'I intend on killing every last one of these bastards. They've killed my people, good people. I can't rule out that maybe Lyssa Raine was responsible for this in some way.'

'She's a fugitive to Cerberus. She wouldn't help them.'

'And you're certain of that?'

Sevarn did not reply. He simply offered the man a scowl, before he gently pushed him back a step.

'I'm here to find her. She and I have an understanding. We're both after the same people, and we're both wanted dead by the same people.'

'Is that so?'

'You're an intelligence operative, right? You must know about the Blackwatch team that was attacked?'

The SOTIG man nodded in the affirmative. Sevarn continued:

'I'm the sole survivor of that team. And Lyssa is the sole survivor of the raid on the Cerberus facility. We're loose ends.'

Sevarn could see some recognition dance across the man's face. He knew what the turian spoke of, knew about the Blackwatch team and the Cerberus facility and all those events that surrounded those things. He must have realised that Sevarn was not the threat here, and that maybe there was a chance that they might reach an understanding.

'You're just the kind of man I was looking for,' the operative remarked.

'Is that so? And who are you, if you don't mind me asking?'

'James Booker. I run this place.' He looked about the room, to the overturned furniture and the bullet holes in the walls and the broken glass scattered about the place. 'I'm beginning to think that I haven't done a very good job of it.'

There was a landing pad on the rooftop, or rather one that was concealed under a retractable roof that served to render the outside of that rooftop as innocuous and drab as those throughout the surrounding neighbourhood. If all worked out then there may very well be a shuttle waiting for them within the hidden hangar, and it was to here that both Lyssa and Kanen moved. There was a good chance the Cerberus strike team had anticipated such an escape attempt from those within the SOTIG building, so Lyssa was fully expecting trouble once they reached that rooftop.

They were in the stairwell now, making their way up as fast as their already weary legs could carry them. Thankfully, the building was more of a squat office complex than a towering skyscraper, so there were not too many flights to ascend.

Kanen moved a little slower than Lyssa would have preferred, but she otherwise made no effort to wait for him. The quarian had fallen into a dour mood, no doubt brought on by Natasha's death. The pair had been close, or so Lyssa had surmised, but at the same time it was no concern of hers. She hardly knew the quarian, had in fact little reason to trust him and was still somewhat annoyed that he had tried to shoot her back at the Governor's residence.

They were halfway up the stairs when a door near the top slid open. A Cerberus trooper stuck his helmeted head over the side. Lyssa had her rifle up and ready as soon as she heard the door open, so when that trooper's head appeared she pulled the trigger. The gunfire was near deafening within the confines of the stairwell, and the Cerberus trooper above darted back away from the guardrail as bullets clanged against the metal barrier and slammed into the ceiling above him. Lyssa, poised partway up a flight of stairs only a few floors from the top, waited a moment for the trooper to make his next move. He did not show himself, rather at least three fragmentation grenades came over the railing and started falling down the stairwell's central shaft.

Lyssa threw herself to the floor as the first of the grenades detonated. A short way behind her, Kanen stumbled as the concussive force shook the steps under him. Lyssa's ears filled with a roar as the other explosives went off, primed such that they detonated mid-air. Thankfully, the timing was off slightly, and they had all exploded a little too late. Even so, slivers of shrapnel shot all round, and more than a few went clinking against the wall only inches from Lyssa. Dust and smoke filled the shaft now, and with her ears still ringing she raised her rifle and squinted through the haze about her.

Weapons fire erupted from above. Bullets came slamming into the rail in front of her. She stepped back and returned fire with barely an attempt to aim, sending a volley up-range that spurred the shooter into backing away.

Below them by at least two floors, a door slid open, and more Cerberus troopers came pouring through. There were three of them, and they began hurrying up the stairs as fast as their bulky suits of armour would allow them. Kanen was the one to look down and take aim with the Cerberus assault rifle he had pulled off a dead trooper earlier. He hit the trigger and sent a thundering volley down those few floors towards the troopers, forcing them into cover away from the central shaft. The trooper above resumed his fire, forcing Lyssa back against the wall. The pair were being hemmed in from above and below. Lyssa knew they had to push ahead and break through, no matter what it took, otherwise they would be flanked and picked off far too easily on these stairs.

Lyssa kept close to the wall as she started her way up again. She looked back at Kanen, who had ducked away from the guardrail as enemy fire tore up from below.

'Keep them occupied,' she told him. Kanen turned to her, gave her a nod, and went straight back to shooting down at the enemy troopers. Lyssa pushed on, coming to a door that was, much to her chagrin, locked tight. She considered breaking it open, but at the same time she wanted to get up to that roof. She hardly wanted to get caught up in some cat-and-mouse game within the corridors of this building, especially as she did not know the lay of the land. She needed to get out of here, and the landing pad was probably a good bet.

More fire from above interrupted her hurried thoughts. Sparks flew as some of those shots collided with the metal guardrail, denting it or otherwise shredding the metal altogether. She remained close to the wall as she moved, whilst down below Kanen continued to pour fire at the troopers trying to edge their way up the stairwell.

From above, another grenade came sailing down, although this one was tossed at such an angle it landed upon one of the steps ahead of Lyssa. There, it bounced, once, twice and then proceeded to roll off of another step. Lyssa saw it, an otherwise innocuous metal cylinder with a blinking red light upon it. She reacted rather than thought on it, and with one hand she plucked the live grenade from the step and threw it under the guardrail. It fell down the central shaft a short distance, before it detonated in midair, the thundering crash enough to shake the entire stairwell. There came a pained shout from below as one of the Cerberus troopers was knocked aside by the explosion, shrapnel shredding into him. He went tumbling down the stairs at his back, his armour providing an audible clunking noise with each tumble. Blood spurted in his wake, streaming down his side from the multiple gashes that had been shredded into his armour.

Lyssa was near to the top flight now, and she came around the Cerberus trooper's flank with her rifle raised. It was one of the troopers in the bulkier armour, complete with backpack, and as she opened fire she found her shots deflected by a potent kinetic barrier. Nonetheless, she simply kept on shooting, catching the trooper by surprise and causing him to stumble under the continuous hail. The trooper let out a worried yelp, his voice carrying with it the now familiar electronic edge brought on by the helmet he wore. His kinetic barrier failed suddenly as Lyssa stormed his position. He spun about to face her, his own rifle coming up, but Lyssa was already on him then. She kicked the weapon aside, sending it flying from his grasp before she rattled off another trio of shots that tore through the trooper's helmet and blasted away a sizeable portion of his head.

Blood spattered and the trooper's body landed in a heap at the top landing. Kanen was working his way up gradually, still pursued by two of the troopers. Lyssa plucked a grenade from the fallen trooper's armour, and with a slight twist she armed it. With a light toss, she sent it falling down the central shaft and in the direction of the two remaining troopers.

It clinked and clanked as it struck the rail and then the wall, before it went off little more than a metre ahead of the first trooper. His body was slammed against the wall further behind him, the front of his armour reduced to a torn, shredded mess, blood streaming forth from numerous lacerations. His compatriot stumbled from the blast, and Kanen was quick to seize the opportunity to angle on him from the flight above and hit him with a cluster of rifle fire. The trooper jerked, spasmed and then groaned as each of the four shots tore through his chest, before he simply slumped against the wall at his back and slowly but surely came to a lifeless rest at its base. Blood smeared along the wall in his wake.

Things went quiet within the stairwell. Lyssa approached the door at the top, pressing the activation button in the panel by its side. The door slid open, revealing a short corridor beyond that, in turn, led into the concealed landing pad just below the retractable roof. That roof was wide open, allowing the afternoon sunlight to stream on in. The shuttle itself appeared in good condition, and the landing area was otherwise clear of hostiles.

'Hey, bubble boy, you good?' She paused partway onto the landing pad, turning around to catch sight of the quarian. He filed through the door after her, and from his overall demeanour she got the impression he was not in much of a mood to talk. It was a little frustrating, being unable to read his expressions, but she got enough from his overall body language to know that he was still feeling the loss of his female friend and likely would continue to do so for a long time to come.

'Yeah,' Kanen replied, his voice an electronically edged rasp through his helmet. Lyssa turned her attention to the shuttle, pondering then if there were any further security protocols in place that would keep her and the quarian from commandeering it. This seemed likely, and she looked to Kanen again.

'You're good with technology, aren't you?' She asked him.

'Why, because I'm a quarian?'

'No, because I'm not much good with it,' Lyssa countered, narrowing her eyes. 'You might need to hack a means to get this thing working for us. I doubt the people here have left the keys in the ignition.'

'Ignition?' Kanen sounded a little perplexed.

'It's a figure of speech.' Lyssa saw that this short explanation did little to improve the quarian's understanding. 'Never mind. Just see if you can't get into the shuttle. I'll keep watch outside.'

She heard footsteps over by the door then. Raising her rifle, she watched as the one person she had expected to survive the attack other than herself stepped inside. James Booker looked a little beaten up, a little tired and more than a little angry. He had a bulky shotgun in hand and he had it aimed at Lyssa as soon as he entered the open landing pad. She raised her weapon in turn, though neither of them fired.

'Don't shoot!' A familiar, dual-flanged voice sounded from somewhere behind him. Lyssa frowned, recognizing that voice but having not expected to hear it here, of all places. As Booker strode further onto the landing pad, the familiar figure of Sevarn appeared behind him. He hurried past Booker, holding up a hand, waving at her in an attempt to dissuade her from opening fire.

'Sev?' Lyssa frowned. Kanen had turned around to face the new arrivals, and those gleaming eyes of his visible beneath his face plate narrowed in scrutiny.

'How did you get here?' Lyssa added. She did not lower her gun, for the simple fact that Booker still had his pointed her way.

'Lyssa, Booker, don't go killing each other. We're on the same side.' Sevarn stepped between them, his own weapon lowered with one arm offering a descending wave. A simple signal to lower one's weapons, and slowly but surely the pair did so. Nonetheless, Booker watched her through narrowed eyes, wary of her as much as she was of him.

'You wouldn't have anything to do with this attack, Miss Raine?' Booker asked her.

'Seriously?' Lyssa looked to him and then to Sevarn. 'Everyone keeps accusing me of being with Cerberus. In case it wasn't obvious, Agent Booker, they're trying to kill me too.'

'Now is hardly the time to talk it over,' Sevarn stated, ever the voice of reason. 'There are more Cerberus soldiers downstairs. Chances are, they'd have realised their friends in the stairwell aren't responding to their calls. They could be here very soon.' He nodded towards the shuttle. 'There's our way out, and I believe Agent Booker has the key.'

'I can unlock that vehicle,' Booker said. 'Question is, where are we going to go? I have calls to make. This whole incident needs to be reported.'

'And you'll report all of us, I'll bet?' Lyssa inquired.

'That would be protocol,' Booker stated.

'You don't strike me as the kind of guy to adhere strictly to protocol.'

From the way he quirked one brow slightly, it seemed Lyssa was correct in her assumption. Booker considered his response for a moment, all while Sevarn began to look increasingly anxious.

'You may be right, Miss Raine.' He might have smiled then, had the circumstances not been so serious. 'Even if I were to report this to my superiors, it would be weeks before anything was done about it. I can't wait that long to avenge those who were killed here. And I get the distinct impression that the people behind this may be the very same ones you're after.'

Lyssa nodded her head slowly. Booker appeared satisfied then, and he started for the shuttle.

'I'll get this thing started,' he told the others. Using his SOTIG credentials, he was able to unlock the shuttle's side doors. 'You three keep a look out.'

Sevarn and the quarian locked gazes then, suspicion and curiosity evident from both. Lyssa stepped forwards and offered the turian a smile.

'That's Kanen,' she told him, motioning towards the quarian. 'And Kanen, this is Sevarn Valus. He's a…' She trailed off, as she considered what made for the most apt descriptor. 'He's a friend.' How strange it seemed to say that, given all that had happened between them. And yet, it was the truth, no matter how she looked at it now. He had come searching for her again, as was obvious. He had plunged himself into harm's way to find her, and when she thought of this she realised she was not at all sure how to process what that might mean. After all, he had saved her at the batarian insurgent camp, and she had saved him from the Cerberus strike team. They had each other's backs, despite having been on opposite sides some days before.

'It's good to see you making friends, Lyssa,' Sevarn remarked, as he turned his attention back to her.

'You came all this way for me?' Lyssa asked him, and she smiled. 'I'm flattered, Sev.'

'It was the right thing to do.' He cleared his throat then, and she thought he looked a little unsure of himself as she continued watching him. She had to admit, his voice carried with it a dulcet, gravelly quality that carried a certain allure she had noticed upon meeting him. She had heard other turians speak before, yet none of their voices had caught her attention much like Sevarn's had.

Booker stuck his head out of the side of the shuttle then, his voice interrupting the exchange:

'What's our destination?' He asked them, something impatient in his tone. 'And be quick to decide, because I'll bet the CED is on its way in response to all the noise going on around here. I don't fancy getting arrested by the local, corrupt constabulary.'