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The surviving troopers ducked under the arcing fire from the C-Sec officers above, a few advancing quickly in crouches while two more hung back, spraying the overhead walkway in suppressive fire. One of his Krogan did the same, drawing his Phalanx and popping shots at the closer group of Troopers while the other warrior shielded he and Thane and bundled them away from the wreck and up the path into a wide, open landing built at the end of the walkway, full of people panicking and cramming the two narrow flights of stairs that lead up onto the wider walkway that what little C-Sec presence had been present were using to try and cover them while hundreds rushed by storefronts behind them. People behind the officers, and on the stairs, were caught by errant rounds from the Cerberus soldiers and even from across the water, only making the panic and screaming and press worse and worse.
He'd seen enough evacuations from Covenant attacks to know that dozens more would end up trampled rather than shot…
"We'll never get out that way…" He muttered, scowling.
"In there!" His bodyguard barked, gesturing at a thick, concrete counter in front of a mostly open-air hibachi and bar that had been left empty, food already burning on the wide grills.
He and Thane huddled down behind the hardy barrier while the younger of his guards stood, covering his other guard as the Troopers tried to rush him, desperate to get out of the open and into some semblance of cover. One fell to a few accurate Phalanx shots that managed to catch him in the gut, staining the white of the armor a dark pink shade. Another slammed into the Krogan shoulder first and his guard laughed, grabbing his helmet and turning to hurl him off the walkway and down, into the water some thirty feet below.
Two, though, managed to slip by and while one turned to spray fire into the first Krogan's back, the other pulled a grenade and turned towards them.
"Thane!" He grunted, "Grenade! Can you-"
"On it." The Drell grunted, sweating from the run but crackling in power regardless as he stood. The grenade was mid-air when Thane's Throw caught it, hurling it away, out into the soldier pinning down the C-Sec above where it blew him apart.
Just in time for a Kodiak to swing in over his Krogan, the door opening as a pair of Phantoms dropped out onto him and a heavy machine gun slid out. He caught one and turned, bending her backwards at an angle so sharp John could feel the bones shattering even from here. But the second landed behind him, lashing out and carving off his leg before using her Biotics to hurl the warrior away where he crushed the iron roll-doors a shop had pulled down to protect itself. Heavy rounds ripped into him before he could even try and react, and John snarled as the Phantom rushed for them, ahead of a pair of Guardians and a Centurion that emerged from the same shuttle now that it was safe.
"Damn it!" The last guard roared, eyes and nose flaring as he pushed a new thermal clip into his gun. "You should make a run for it, Doe. I'll distract 'em."
"No." Even if he were willing to entertain that kind of idea, where would he go? The stairs were clear, but he'd only get a couple levels up before the crowd made by everyone in the floors below plus the third made getting through a nightmare. And in that, he'd not be able to manuever, not to mention the civilian casualties it'd bring… Shaking his head, he said, "Thane, can you handle a Pull? Yank their shields away?"
"No…" The Drell sighed, "I can only manage one."
"Then do it, and you," he jabbed a finger at his bodyguard, "take the other. Rush him."
"And you?"
"I'll busy the Centurion." He grunted, looking up as the Phantom strafed to the left. Frowning, he asked, "Thane, can you-"
"I will hold her as best I can." He nodded, already drawing four long steak knives from a block that had tumbled to the floor in the chaos before they'd gotten there. "I am slow, but they are… Sloppy and overconfident."
"Mhm." They were indoctrinated to be cannon fodder - it made sense that they'd be arrogant, or at least reckless. They didn't have anything left to lose, after all. Grabbing one of the knives, he said, "Pray for us, Thane."
"Already done." He nodded, "On your go."
He nodded and, when he stood, Thane moved.
The Biotic Pull flashed up and down, catching the rightmost Guardian and yanking his shield away and off to the side, clattering across the floor while the three of them leapt over the low cover. The Phantom moved to intercept them, but a weak Warp caught her foot as she moved and she stumbled, so he and his bodyguard were able to get by her, with the Krogan leading to eat rounds for John's more frail, unprotected body. He could hear Thane engage her, but kept his gaze forward, hands tight around the two cooking knives he'd borrowed.
The Krogan slammed into the unshielded Guardian first, lifting him up and turning to hurl him into the other Guardian, sending them both sprawling across the floor as the alien leapt on them, both hands raised to pummel them. He ignored them, leaping on the Centurion in the heartbeat of time he had as the Centurion tried to bring his Harrier up, sweeping from the Krogan who was turning his Guardians to pulp to try and meet the ODST mid-charge. John felt the heat of a round searing past his arm, but he slammed into the Centurion before the next could catch him.
"Fuck!" The Cerberus soldier grunted as John leapt onto him, stabbing one knife down into his shoulder and using it to keep his leverage while he tried to bear the armored man down with his weight.
Which did not work.
Instead, the Centurion dropped his rifle and turned, slamming a fist up into his stomach with more force than he should have been able to. Mechanised armor or implants, he didn't know. But the blow knocked the sense out of him as much as it knocked the wind out of him, and he hit the ground a foot or so away, sucking in breath as he staggered up and the Cebturion flicked his abandoned rifle a look on the ground a foot or so off to the side, dangerously close to where his Krogan was fighting. Apparently deciding he couldn't get to it in time, or safely, he reached up and dragged the kitchen knife out of his shoulder.
"A chef knife?" The soldier rasped, voice warped and twisted but still vaguely accented - french, he thought. "Seriously?"
"I make do." He shrugged, lunging for the Centurion who leapt to meet him.
Rather than stab for the Centurion, he instead planted a foot as they reached each other and turned, lashing out with an open palm that struck at the bloody wound in his shoulder. The pain was enough it broke the other man's knife-thrust and let John duck and turn, driving his knife into the inside of the man's groin, right where the leg went into the hip. He snarled and John twisted the knife before he punched the ODST in the face. The blow sent him reeling, and he looked up to see the Centurion coming with the knife again, this time in his other hand-
Before a heavy wha-chunk echoed and half his head vanished. The Centurion staggered forward, still, before his bloodied Krogan fired another shot from the stolen Talon that nearly destroyed his head entirely. He crumpled and John turned as the Krogan lumbered over, inspecting his new gun with an admiring view before he turned back to get the other and offered it to him.
"Here." He grunted, "We're gonna need 'em."
"Quite…" Thane sighed, taking shuddering breaths and holding a scarlet-coated sword he cleaned off with a rag left behind by the panicking crowds that they could still hear in the levels above.
Out over the reservoir, a C-Sec gunship shot by, being pursued by a pair of Cerberus Kodiaks trying to bring it down while gunfire echoed around them. But, more importantly, Huerta loomed overhead, only a few levels up. He could see broken glass and gunfire, and frowned deeply. Huerta was a valuable target for a whole slew of reasons. The VIP wing alone would cause chaos, if Cerberus killed its patients…
"We need to get up there." He grunted, turning to the other two, "Secure Huerta, and find out what's going on further on on the station."
"I can help with that!" A flanging voice called from above. When he turned, a C-Sec officer was coming down the stairs, flanked by two Human officers and an Asari who trailed behind them, stopping to check every one of the too many bodies on the stairs as they came. As he approached them, the Turian officer explained, "Communications are down, I'm betting local jamming nets. But we were also going to head to Huerta. Secure it for medical, and a good, solid vantage up and down the Presidium."
"Are you a marksman?"
"I am." He nodded, turning and jabbing a thumb at a collapsed Viper rifle on his back. "Former military, like all Turians. I was recon-support. Meaning I scouted, parked, and picked off targets while infantry went in."
"And your team is ready…?"
"My 'team' is my partner and two rookies that were supposed to be shadowing us for learning…" He sighed, the Humans beside him flinching and ducking their heads, awkwardly adjusting their grips on their submachine guns. "But they know how to shoot in the general area of a target, so they can suppress. We can hit."
"Sounds like a plan." He nodded, glad to have them. With C-Sec on their side, they'd have the authority to do whatever they needed - including issuing orders to the doctors and staff at Huerta, if it came to that. "We should move, then. Before they have more time to settle."
"Right." The Turian nodded, "I'm Captain Riks. My partner is the Asari, Leva."
"A pleasure."
"And here." He grunted, fishing out a little buckle and belt from a compartment of his armor. "It's not a great one, but I always carry a spare Kinetic Barrier generator. In case I need to get someone out of a bad spot."
"It'll do." He nodded, "Anything else?"
The Turian shook his head and turned, heading back up the stairs and grunting, "Come on, rookies. Let's earn your badges."
John was fairly certain that repelling invasions wasn't the normal way a man joined the police, but… Well, neither of them complained about it, so he let sleeping dogs lie and focused on what was more important. At least presuming neither of them accidentally shot one of them in the back…
Doctor Michel would skin him if he ended up back in Huerta after this because of friendly fire.
By now, the Presidium's wide, once-pristine walkways were empty. At least of anything alive. Storefronts had been sealed up behind reinforced rolling doors, and several segments of the walls had rolled up at even intervals to expose reinforced bulkhead doors labelled 'shelter'. Heavy barricades had risen up in front of them, where dead C-Sec and Cerberus soldiers lay, and large defense guns protruded to either side of the doors, following them as they passed.
"Anti-Geth measures." Officer Riks grunted as they made their way, carefully picking their way between bodies and cover. "They're automatic - they detect people registered in C-Sec's database. And, well, Geth."
"So we're fine…" He nodded, "Good."
Cerberus, oddly, had mostly deserted the walkways by now. Why, he had no idea. Maybe they'd only attacked them to clear them? With C-Sec busy defending the shelters, they'd have more free range to operate. And with communications down, any real target would be vulnerable and without reinforcements easily available. But what could that target really be? Presuming there weren't multiple.
He could think up a dozen just off the top of his head…
"We should hurry up." Brookes, one of the rookies, grunted as she stepped around an over-turned metal table. "We need to get up to Huerta before-"
Her head vanished in a splash of red and John swore as he ducked behind the table, slipped and tumbled back. A round punched through it a second later, right where his chest had been, and he swore and pushed himself up.
"Thermal scope!" He barked, rushing out of cover and towards the heavily reinforced corner of a shop. Surely, its armor would be enough to keep the shots at bay.
He hoped…
"Forty feet up, eighty six out." Thane gasped as he joined him, the others scattering amidst columns supporting an overhead walkway and a crashed aircar ten feet ahead of them. "Just above the primary lift up to the level Huerta is built on. They're likely trying to control access… I need a rifle."
"Got it." He sighed, raising his voice, "Riks!"
"What!" The Turian called from the concrete pillar.
"I need your rifle!"
"Why?"
"Thane is going to pick off the sniper!" He called back, adding when the Turian grimaced, ducking back from a round that ripped through the side of the pillar. "He's one of the best assassins in the galaxy - this is his field!"
"Fine!" The Turian barked, pulling it off his back and holding it up, "Pull!"
Thane understood the order immediately, flicking a hand wreathed in Biotics. The rifle yanked away faster than John had thought it would, but the Drell caught it easily, pulling him aside and kneeling at the corner. Taking a deep breath, he threw himself out of cover, landing on his back and snapping the rifle up. Three quick shots cracked, two from him and one from the Cerberus marksman which punched a fist sized hole in the concrete a few inches from Thane's head.
But, after a moment, the Drell just nodded, rolled over and stood, "We should move."
"Nice shot…" Riks murmured as Thane offered the rifle back to him. "Keep it until we get there."
"Thank you."
"Yeah." Riks nodded, waving for them to follow. "Now come on, we need to…"
His gaze caught on Brookes, laid on the floor, and he froze for a moment. Shaken, clearly, by seeing the body laid there. As if sensing his disquiet, Thane moved, gently pulling her legs straight and laying her on the floor, hands folded over her chest. He covered her ruined face with an abandoned roll of paper towels and folded his hands, frowning and praying.
"May you find your gods, your peace, young protector." He murmured, "And forgive our failure."
"Come on." John grunted, laying a hand on Riks' shoulder. "We need to move. We can still save lives."
"Right…" He nodded, shaking the moment of shock off. "Right. I don't know what- Forget it, we need to move. I can use my credentials to set the lift to express. Come on."
John watched the older Turian turn and jog off and frowned. But he let his concerns go and nodded, "Alright."
One more push, and he could catch his breath…
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