The sound of gunfire filled the corridors of the building. Heat sinks and led bullets piercing through the walls around them. Kaiden ducked for cover behind a metal cabinet. He looked down at his rifle. It had overheated. It would be a few seconds before the heat clip could be fired again. Too bad he didn't have that sort of time.
Kaiden decided to switch to his pistol. An M-6 Carnifex. He adjusted the settings of his weapon and selected Warp Ammo. This would inflict more damage done to a target who was affected by biotic energy. This should give him more of an edge.
Coming out from cover, Alenko raised his weapon and scanned his surroundings. She was gone.
"What the? How does a woman that huge just vanish?" He said to himself.
"Who are you calling "huge", asshole?!"
Kaiden spun around. Jane appeared out of nowhere and rammed into him, knocking the human soldier into the wall. He fell to the floor, crying out from the pain. If Kaiden had not deployed his Barrier earlier, that would have broken almost every bone in his body.
Jane closed in on him. She raised her foot, ready to bring it down on her prey's head. Kaiden rolled out of the way at the last second. The foot's impact was so strong that the entire floor shook, as if a giant had taken a single step forward.
This would be his chance to strike. Kaiden aimed his pistol and fired off multiple shots. The armored woman however tucked in her left arm and, out of thin air, a large energy barrier was deployed to protect her. Whatever that energy was, it wasn't biotics.
Kaiden stood back up and decided to try something different. He activated his armor's power abilities and fired off a powerful Cryo Blast. The freezing energy had bypassed the barrier and struck Jane directly, freezing over her entire left arm.
He smirked. "Thought maybe you needed to chill out."
"Funny." Jane said sarcastically.
She smashed her right fist against the ice, shattering it and freeing her appendage. Jane selected an option in her helmet's HUD. "Dead Weight". She summoned a shotgun that resembled a Benelli M4. Jane took aim and fired, but Kaiden managed to jump out of the way just in time. The shotgun seemed to fire off some sort of electricity. Disruptor Ammo, perhaps?
The two soldiers dashed through the halls of the precinct, firing off their guns without rest. It was a literal storm of bullets. Anyone caught in the middle of that would have been reduced to minced meat.
Jane switched over to her Khvostov mid-dash. She fired off a stream of bullets. One just grazed the side of Kaiden's cheek. The two then ducked behind walls on opposing sides. Kaiden was panting hard. He was sure that the rifle was out of ammo. He didn't even see her reload it. It wasn't a heat sink weapon. So how?
"You're probably wondering when I reloaded my rifle, right?" She assumed.
"Something like that." Alenko replied.
"This thing I'm wearing." Jane patted her chest armor. It looked like traditional military armor. "It's a little something called the Actium War Rig. Syncs up to my machine guns and auto rifles. Automatically transfers ammo right into the mags. Don't even need to reload. Pretty handy, if I do say so myself."
What? How does that work? Kaiden shook his head. Now wasn't the time to be distracted by questions. If he lost focus, even for a second, he would be dead.
*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*
What was that sound? Kaiden turned his head. There was something that looked like a grenade stuck to the wall.
"Shit!"
Alenko jumped out of the way as the grenade exploded in a blast of purple energy. Jane couldn't help but laugh.
"Magnetic Grenade, baby!" She cheered.
Kaiden rolled onto one knee. He reached for his rifle, but he saw that Jane was charging him, shouting at the top of her lungs like a bloodthirsty gladiator.
…
The window shattered into fragments. Crow dove right through the opening. He slid down the slope of the building's outer wall at high speed. Right before he reached the edge, Crow leapt off the wall and soared through the air.
There was a bridge in front of his view. A good landing spot, but he didn't think he would make it. Crow kicked his legs. He somehow managed to jump, even though he was already in the air, like a double jump in a video game. The blue man had managed to reach the bridge thanks to it, rolling onto his feet upon landing.
"Crow, you okay?" Glint asked as he disabled his stealth mode.
"Been through worse." He responded, cracking his neck. "Where's Turnbull?"
"I told him to go on without us and find Whiskey. We've already got our hands full."
Crow looked back at C-Sec HQ. His fight had taken him throughout most of the building's lower levels. If he hadn't dove through that window, he would have been shredded by grenades.
"Not going to lie. She's pretty good for a Lightless."
The hooded man looked down at his hand. He had managed to retake Hawkmoon from Kasumi. It was not an easy task.
"Good thing you're better." Glint reaffirmed.
At that moment, a bullet flew right by Crow's ear. He had no idea where it came from. There was absolutely NOTHING on his motion detector. Any other day, he would be impressed by Kasumi's skill.
But right now, he needed to get out of the open. Crow noticed a large passing crowd of people. Urban camouflage. Crow quickly dashed into the crowd. He blended in perfectly.
He wasn't out of this yet though. He needed to keep an eye on his surroundings, for his opponent was a sneaky little weasel who could strike at any given moment. Crow noticed that there was an upper walkway to his right. He got a glimpse of Kasumi walking along it with the crowd above.
She had that damn cocky smirk on her face. The two of them continued to walk at the same pace, not taking their eyes off each other. Every now and again, they would fire off a shot from their silenced pistols, being careful to avoid hitting a civilian. One of Kasumi's bullet's just missed Crow's face. She somehow had even better aim than he did.
Crow couldn't have taken her eyes off of her for less than a second, but she was somehow gone. Not good. Turning the corner, Crow drew a knife from his boot. He would be ready for anything.
"Now you see me…"
Kasumi appeared from behind, flying towards him with a kick. Crow quickly turned around and grabbed hold of her foot, successfully blocking. However, Goto then used her other leg and managed to land another kick right in his face. Crow released her and tumbled backwards in a daze. Kasumi then charged him and hit him with another kick in the gut. That one got him to fall onto his back.
That wouldn't stop him. Crow rolled backwards into a crouching position. He glared up at the thief, who was beckoning him to her with two fingers.
With a powerful push of his legs, Crow dashed toward his adversary. He swung a high roundhouse kick. Kasumi ducked to dodge, but he followed with a series of slashes of his knife. The thief managed to dodge and block each one successfully.
Kasumi attempted a punch to his face. Crow however grabbed hold of her arm and wrapped his around it, locking her in place. Crow used his free arm to throw straight punches, which Goto dodged as easily as she did before.
"You said you were only in there to steal something. Why fight me?" Crow questioned.
Before her response, Kasumi pulled a dirty move and smashed her shin in between Crow's legs. Sov yelped as unimaginable amounts of pain surged throughout his nether regions, causing him to fall to his knees, holding his groin.
"It's your own fault for leaving yourself open." She backflipped away. "I overheard that some friends of mine were called in for something important. I'm not just going to sit back and let you people hurt them."
Despite his pain, Crow reached for a Lightweight Knife strapped to his boot and tossed it with pinpoint accuracy. However, Kasumi caught the blade mere inches away from her face. She grinned in smugness.
He was beginning to lose his patience. Crow grabbed Hawkmoon and fired in succession. Kasumi began leaping and backflipping to the side and was able to dodge every single shot fired at her. One bullet flew right in between her legs during a flip.
"We're not trying to hurt anyone. We're just here to bust out a friend." Crow protested.
Finally ceasing her display of acrobatics. Kasumi fired off a round from her M-11. Crow did the same. The two bullets were so unbelievably on the money that they actually collided mid air and were squished against one another.
"A good old prison break, huh? Sounds like fun, if not for all the beaten up officers you guys left in your path."
"We're not killing them. That must count for something."
They both charged. Both Crow and Kasumi leapt up and performed jump kicks. They both intercepted the other and jumped off each other in backflips.
"Not as much as you think." Kasumi argued as she landed.
Crop jumped up again into a midair twirl, throwing three knives at once at his feminine adversary.
"Knife Trick!" He shouted.
Goto dashed forward before sliding onto her knees and bending her body backwards. The flying blades barely missed her face.
"Not good enough, handsome!" She laughed as she continued her charge.
Upon landing, Crow reached for something in his pocket. It looked like a small explosive device. He quickly threw it onto the ground, releasing a plume of smoke which concealed his entire form. A smoke bomb.
Kasumi ran right through the smoke wall. Crow had seemingly vanished into thin air. She scanned the area. The man was completely gone.
Any other day, she would be impressed. Even she could just. Vanish In Smoke like some kind of ninja.
"Never."
His voice rang in her ears. Goto looked around. There was no trace of Crow from what she could see.
"Underestimate."
Suddenly, Kasumi felt a strong heat behind her. There was no time to turn around. Her instincts were screaming at her. Jump out of the way!
"A Hunter!"
With a powerful thrust of her legs, Kasumi bolted forward. Away from a powerful eruption of flames. She finally turned to her six. What she saw was a sight beyond what she could have never expected in all her years as a thief.
Crow stood tall within the flames. In his hands, a large battleaxe, engulfed in raging fire. The axe was beautifully crafted, with two wolves and a tree engraved into the blade. Much like his other pistols.
"Holy Dragon Age..!" She gasped in shock.
"Now the real fight begins."
…
The interior of the building was in utter shambles. The walls were scorched and had holes big enough to walk through in them. Lights dangled from the ceiling with loose wires throwing electrical spark everywhere. All across the floor were encompassed officers, who were either brutally beaten or tied up with their own restraints.
It had never looked this bad. Not even when Cerberus attacked the Citadel.
"Spirits… What happened here..?"
Traversing the decimated hallways, Garrus, accompanied by Liara and Javik, took in the destruction before them. It was as a thresher maw rampaged through the building. One that could shoot a gun.
"No wonder Kaiden called for us. I haven't seen this much damage in a long time." Liara stated.
"This was nothing compared to the horrors of my cycle. The Collectors would have left nothing behind, had this been their doing." Javik argued.
"Yes yes, Javik. Your cycle sucked. We've heard it a billion times now." Garrus exhaustively responded to the prothean's ramblings.
Passing by a scorch mark on the wall, Liara decided to take a closer look at it. The burn patterns and energy lingering off it were foreign to her. This was clearly not the work of biotics, or even Mass Effect energy. She could sense that it was familiar though. It felt like the same energy that she could feel coming from the gunslinger earlier.
"Javik." Liara turned to her partner. "What do you make of this?"
Javik stepped closer to the mark. Raising his hand, he gently pressed his fingers against the dark markings on the metal. A rush of information flooded the prothean's mind in an instant. His sensory ability was activating.
"This energy." He started. "I feel a great emptiness coming from it. It is… Dark, crushing, distortive, and entropic… Yet at the same time, I sense… a brightness within. Some sort of light. It is as if I am staring into the desolate void of space."
"Any chance you can tone it down a bit for the primitives?" Garrus requested.
Javik moved his hand away from the burn and shifted his view to his comrades.
"I am… unsure as to what this energy is. I have never felt anything like it, even in my cycle."
"A new form of energy, perhaps?" Assumed Liara.
Their pondering would wait however. A voice could be heard from around the next corner. It sounded like pained moans. The trio of aliens quickly closed in on the source.
Sitting against the wall, bruised and bloodied, was Kaiden Alenko. Crimson fluids trickled down his pretty much purple face. His guns had been broken in two by his adversary and rendered unusable. Hands tied up to a metal pipe to prevent him from pursuing.
Liara gasped. "Kaiden! Are you alright?"
Slowly, Alenko opened his swollen eyes. Before him, a face as blue as the sky.
"Liara..?" He could barely speak from the pain. "Did anyone catch the number of the train that hit me..?"
"Recognizes faces. Can crack jokes. Yeah, he's fine." Garrus snickered.
"Kaiden, who did this to you?" Asked the asari in worry.
It was mostly a blur to him. The last thing Kaiden remembered was running down a hallway, bulkheads closing one after another behind him. And some sort of unstoppable inhuman monster just running right through them like paper in chase of him.
A monster with a particularly nice butt, as he recalls.
"I was… fighting off one of the intruders… A woman… Total monster. She had to have had the strength of ten- No. twenty krogan. Barely got out of there alive."
"One woman, who isn't Jack, did all THIS?" Garrus questioned as he found this hard to believe.
Liara reached up to Kaiden's bound hands. She hit the release fiction on the bindings and the human was freed at last. He groaned in pain from the movement of his arms.
"I can still fight…" Kaiden insisted.
"I don't think so, Major. You're too injured." T'Soni argued.
"I'm not just gonna leave you guys to fight that woman alone. She's too strong."
He was dead set on helping, despite his state. Javik crouched down to Kaiden and placed a hand on his shoulder. His sensory activated. The prothean avatar was silent for a moment before he spoke.
"This insistence is not because you feel it is your duty to die in battle, Human." He revealed. "You feel this is how you would honor the Commander for what she did for us. Dying to protect your companions. As she did."
Kaiden looked at Javik in irritation. "When did I give you permission to read my thoughts, Javik?"
The alien removed his hand from his companion's shoulder and looked him dead in the eyes.
"If you truly wish to honor her memory, then survive this battle. Admit your weakness and live to fight another day, Kaiden Alenko. The Commander would tell you the same thing."
Alenko looked away. He was right. Shepard would tell him the exact same thing… just in a more civilized way. He had let his pride get the better of him and that wasn't like him at all.
Javik stood back up and drew his Particle Rifle.
"Dr. T'Soni, take care of the major's wounds. The turian and I shall move on ahead." He told Liara before running off down the hall.
"Does he always forget who's in charge?" Garrus muttered, following suit.
The two soldiers pressed on, ready for whatever may come their way. Though Liara shouted after them.
"Javik, how many times do I need to tell you?! I'm not that kind of doctor!"
"Then I have to arrest you for impersonation. Hehe… Ow!"
The turian looked back at his two friends as he charged ahead. Seeing them together like that made him think back to their days on the Normandy SR1, when they were pursuing Saren.
That was long before he and Shepard ever got together, and when he viewed her as more of a mentor and a friend than a lover. Back then, it wasn't just Kaiden who took an interest in Shepard at that time, but also Liara. The three of them were all tangled up in some wacked out love triangle while trying to focus on saving the galaxy from Saren and his geth army. Garrus could still remember the 'silent' bickering between Alenko and T'Soni in the cargo hold.
Ultimately, Shepard chose Kaiden, Liara understood and from then on would remain by Jane's side as a friend and comrade.
Things between them were good… Until Horizon.
Garrus could barely look at Kaiden after that. He had hurt one of his closest friends in a way that could not so easily be healed. And when he pointed a gun at her to protect that scumbag, Udina…
Garrus wanted nothing more than to kill him.
Though they had put their issues behind them, there was a small part of Garrus that never forgave Alenko for betraying them. Betraying Shepard.
Spirits. Now wasn't the time to think about the past. He needed to move. Whoever was attacking the building he once called home was going to pay for this.
…
Whiskey remained silent. His vision focused on his hands that rested on the table. In his mind, voices were screaming at him accusingly. He could hear them calling him things. Killer. Murderer. False.
The guilt was eating him alive inside. It felt like tiny insects, gnawing on his internal framework. He couldn't stop thinking about that turian barista. The fear in her eyes as he not only robbed her, but also… He…
Light… What had he done..?
"Any word from Kaiden?"
Whiskey finally moved his gaze from his hands to his captors. Miranda was leaning back against the wall with her arms crossed, armed with an M-358 Talon pistol in her hand. Bailey was by the door with his Omni-Tool activated. He was attempting to establish a communication channel with Kaiden. Too bad all he was receiving was static.
"Not a thing. His Omni-Tool must'a been destroyed." Bailey replied.
Miranda cursed under her breath. It was bad enough that C-Sec was under attack, but they were stuck in a room with Whiskey and barely any weapons to defend themselves when the time came.
The officer marched over to the table. He slammed his hands down onto it hard and leaned in close to Whiskey, staring him down intimidatingly.
"Time you spill it, son!" Bailey shouted impatiently. "Who are you people?!"
The Exo looked up at the human. Bailey could see the regret within his optics. But he couldn't care less at that moment. His precinct was under attack by an unknown force and he wanted to know just who they were. Those were HIS men down there. He would not leave them behind.
Whiskey kept his mouthpiece quiet. More out of his guilt than self preservation. He merely gazed into the burning rage within Bailey.
"You'd better start talking, you bucket of bolts. Otherwise you're going to need more than just a criminal defense lawyer once I'm done with you." He told the Exo menacingly.
That was when they all heard the sound of glass shattering. Jacob was thrown right through the two-way mirror. He hit the back wall hard and was instantly rendered unconscious.
"Jacob!" Miranda cried.
"Sorry I'm late."
On the other side of the broken glass stood Jane. In her right hand was Whiskey's weapon, The Last Word. She must have reclaimed while dealing with Tailor.
"Jane Doe. Attorney at Law. I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to step away from my client before I pump you all full of lead."
Her instincts screaming at her, Lawson sprung into action. "You'll pay for that, bitch!"
Miranda quickly fired off her Omni-Tool's Overload function. A small electrical blast hit Jane faster than she could react. Her armor instantly locked up, preventing her from being able to move. Jane noticed something on her HUD as well. The electric blast had disabled her armor's shield, leaving her open.
Lawson followed up with a shot fired from her pistol, hitting Doe in the face. The pistol was capable of firing off a shotgun shell. The helmet was able to protect her this time, but a piece of it broke off, exposing Jane's left eye. It was a deep emerald green.
Not giving her opponent the chance to recover, Miranda jumped through the window and attempted to kick Jane in the face. Unfortunately, the armored woman regained mobility and grabbed Miranda's foot while she was in mid air.
"Nice try!"
Jane pulled on Miranda's foot hard and the scientist had her face smashed against the corner molding. She was knocked out instantly, and had some of her teeth broken in the process.
Jane stepped through the window and into the interrogation room. She backed the C-Sec captain into the desk and left him with zero escape.
"I'll be taking that Exo off your hands, officer."
Bailey cringed. "Don't think for a second that I'm just gonna let you and your possy just walk in here and-"
*POW*
Without warning, Jane slammed her head right into Bailey's and knocked him out like a light. A headbutt that would have made any krogan proud.
"And that's a wrap." She stated.
"You'd think a law enforcement agency would be more efficient in, you know, protecting their own building. This was so easy it was boring!" Whined Edith as she flew out from hiding.
And from behind Edith, another small robot emerged.
"Whiskey!"
Turnbull fluttered over to the cowboy's side and nuzzled his metal face in relief.
"You have no idea how worried I was about you, partner. When you didn't come back to the hideaway, I was afraid something bad happened. Glad to know you're in one piece!"
Whiskey did not respond however. He merely looked at the small eye with a pained glance.
Turnbull noticed this quickly. "Whiskey?" He said.
Again. No response. The little robot was getting worried all over again. As was Jane.
"Whiskey. Hey!" She called out to her comrade. "We're here to rescue you. Yay!"
Despite her efforts, the Exo was mute. Jane could tell that he was in a great deal of pain just by looking at him.
"Whiskey." Turnbull started. "What happened? What'd they do to ya, pal?"
He inhaled deeply. "They didn't do anythin'…" He finally spoke. "I did."
Jane and Turnbull looked at each other in concern. They were completely in the dark as to what had happened with the usually cheery and upbeat cowboy. But it was clear that they would not get any answers.
The armored woman moved over to Whiskey's side and helped him out of his chair. He didn't appear to need any assistance to walk.
"Come on, cowboy. Talk to me. What's going on?"
Again. Silence. Now she was really starting to worry about him.
"Whiskey…"
"Oh. Is that his name?"
A new voice caught her attention. Jane quickly turned to her six. Pointing a rather large black sniper rifle at her was an angry Garrus. His mandibles fluttering occasionally in anger. He had his finger firmly pressed against the gun's trigger, ready to fire at the slightest movement. Beside him, Javik, who was armed with his Particle Rifle.
"Wasn't expecting you to be a robot. I thought you all got fried when the Crucible activated." Garrus growled.
"I will happily fix that. Just say the word, Commander." Javik added in a hostile tone.
Turnbull screamed. "Aw, dagnabbit!"
Jane was in a pickle. She didn't have the opportunity to draw a weapon. They would open fire too fast for her to react. Whiskey could probably disarm them both with a quick draw, but he was too out of it, and Jane was nowhere near that quick.
"Easy, you guys. There's no need for another firefight." She calmly urged. "Why don't you just put down your weapons and you guys can both go home. Sound good?"
The turian scoffed. "I'm sorry. WE should put down OUR weapons? You do see the situation that you're in right?"
"You are trapped in a room with us." Stated Javik.
That was when Jane cracked her neck and rolled her shoulders.
"On the contrary, boys."
The armored soldier felt her muscles tense up. Power surged through her.
"You're trapped in a room with me."
Out of the complete blue, she charged. Garrus and Javik fired off their weapons. The energy beam from the prothean's gun and the turian's bullet both seemed to bounce right off her armor like flies. She crashed into her opponents, slamming them both hard into the wall and disorienting them.
"Doe break tiny men! Haha!" She jokingly exclaimed in a fake Russian accent.
Now was her chance. Jane rushed back into the interrogation room and grabbed Whiskey by his arm.
"We need to go! Now!"
The armored soldier and the gunslinger dashed out of the room, moving as fast as their legs could carry them.
Garrus had managed to recover from his daze. Picking up his Black Widow off the floor, the turian agent unleashed a deafening screech of anger.
"Run all you want, metal head! I WILL FIND YOU!"
He chased after the attackers, fueled by a vengeful anger. Garrus didn't even bother to wait for Javik to get up. All that mattered to him was stopping Whiskey from escaping.
Avenging Reeka.
By the time Javik came to, Garrus had already gained too great of a distance.
"Commander!" Javik called out, but to no avail.
Moans could be heard from the interrogation room. Javik turned his gaze. He noticed that Miranda was coming to. The prothean rushed over to her side to assist.
"Dr. Lawson, are you well?" He asked.
Miranda finally picked herself back up. She turned to Javik, who flinched at the sight of her. Four of Miranda's teeth were knocked out. Both her incisors and canines.
"I'm thine. Jusht a li-le thizzy…"
Without her front teeth, she could barely speak a word properly. Miranda took note that Javik was staring at her, but wasn't sure as to why.
"Wha? Ish ii my scheecsh? Ish it bash?"
"…No."