I do not own Mass Effect or any of the characters.
School Shooting
David smiled as he watched his students and Jack's fling balls of electricity equivalent of a stun gun and biotic throws at each other respectively. They had decided to have a competition to test their students, as well as to spark a competition between the classes in order to get them to improve their skills to try and do better in the next competition. Currently, it was about even for who had been taken out of the competition by being hit once and who was still fighting. They were also almost all of the students remaining. The rest of the students had been sent home shortly after the Reaper Invasion began, as did almost all the staff. David, Jack, and Kahlee were all that remained. Out of the students, only Octavia and Isaac were missing, both currently working on their shield projector, which, while functional, couldn't stay active for longer than about five minutes without overheating.
"Your kids are doing well," Jack commented.
"So are yours," David said.
"Well yes, but mine are all Biotics," Jack said. "They all should have an advantage."
"Well it helps we have them limited to biotic throws," David said. "Plus, they're not you. Tech can be upgraded, but biotics have to be trained to get stronger and better."
"True," Jack said. "Speaking of trained, I haven't seen you doing any recently."
David grimaced. "I haven't felt like passing out recently."
Jack shook her head, smirking, only to stop as the academy's intercom crackled to life, the students all stopping.
"Attention Grissom Academy," a male voice David didn't recognize said. "This is Cerberus. As of now, Grissom Academy belongs to us."
"I don't fucking believe it," Jack snarled.
"Like Hell it does," David said, opening his omni-tool. "Kahlee, Jack and I are in Orion Hall. Where are you?" He looked at Jack as he received only static. "Kahlee?" When he received only static again, he sighed, typing on his omni-tool. "Fucking Cerberus. Of all the idiots to attack this place. They should know better than to think they can keep comms jammed with me here." He tried calling again. "Kahlee?"
"David!" Kahlee gasped, sounding relieved. "I've been trying to call you for five minutes! Cerberus has control of the docking bays! I'm heading to Server Room Two to try and see how much of our station I can get control back from them for."
"Lock and disable the door behind you," David said. "Jack and I have most of the other students in Orion Hall right now. We'll bunker down here. Once you get there, put out a distress call."
"What if Cerberus blocks it?" Kahlee asked.
"Then Jack and I will figure something out," David said.
"Alright," Kahlee said. "I'm in the server room. Sealing the doors now. Be careful. There are Cerberus Troops boarding the station at all of the docking bays. I don't know what they want."
"That's fine," Jack said. "We'll deal with it."
"Okay," Kahlee said.
"I have to go," David said. "I need to call Octavia." His comms jammed again suddenly, and he rolled his eyes, typing on his omni tool again. "Really now, Cerberus. Octavia, can you hear me?"
"David!" Octavia gasped, then spoke in a hushed, urgent whisper. "What's going on!? Cerberus troops are boarding the station! They look like they're armed for a war!"
"They probably are," David said. "Are you with Isaac?"
"Yes!" Octavia said. "We're trying to get to Orion Hall with our barrier! David Archer's with us!"
"Set your barrier up where you are and turn it on as soon as anyone from Cerberus sees you," David instructed. "Ask David to check the math and see if he can make it last longer."
"Okay," Octavia said. "Are you going to come find us?"
"Yes," David said. "Where are you?"
"By the armory," Octavia said. "We only got a little ways out of the room before you called."
"Okay," David said. "Stay there. I'll be right over."
"Please hurry!" Octavia pleaded before disconnecting.
"Be careful," Jack said seriously.
"I will," David said. "Don't worry. I'll be invisible the whole way."
Jack nodded, smiling. "You're a lot more calm than I remember you being."
"Well, Cerberus can't see me when I'm invisible like the Collectors, and also I'm not being shot at yet," David smiled, then kissed her. "I'll be back soon."
Jack nodded and he left quickly, leaving Jack to tell his students where he was going and get them ready for a fight. David worked his way through the hallway quickly, keeping his cloaking tech active the entire way. Finally, he reached the armory and found Isaac, Octavia, and Archer all standing inside of a barrier, Archer keeping it active, while a pair of Cerberus troops stood outside the barrier.
"Come on now, Octavia," one of them said. "We're not going to hurt you. We just want your barrier tech."
"It's not for sale," David said, appearing behind them before driving an omni-blade through their heads. He let the blades fade and the two troops crumpled to the ground.
He took a moment to inspect them. One had a Mattock, and the other a Harrier like David's had been when he got it initially, before he had tinkered with it. The one difference between the prototype David still used and the one this Cerberus troop had was that the Cerberus troop's didn't have a semi-auto mode. It was all or nothing. Their armor was new, too. They wore identical white heavy armor with yellow on the sides of the chest plate, in a strip down the outsides of his arms and legs, and a black dome-helmet with a pair of slit eye-holes in the front that were lit up red, a breathing apparatus along the bottom of the helmet, and silver plating running up the front and over the top.
"Are you three okay?" David asked.
"We're alright," Octavia said, deactivating the shield, Isaac instantly picking up the projector.
"Is it going to get loud now?" Archer asked.
"Yes, David," David said, pulling his rifle off his back. "It's going to get loud now. Turn on your Tech Armor, and I'll keep you safe. We're heading to Orion Hall. The others are all there."
Octavia and Isaac both nodded and David handed Octavia his Hurricane.
"Short bursts," David said. "Don't take unnecessary risks."
Octavia nodded and activated her own Tech Armor, as did Isaac, and David activated his black Tech Armor.
"Sir, I've been meaning to ask," Isaac spoke up. "How did you get your hands on N-Seven Slayer Armor?"
"Technically it's not," David said. "It's one of the earlier prototypes. I needed armor while I was working with Commander Shepard, so he pulled some strings and got this for me, then I made a lot of modifications."
They stepped through a door and a pair of Cerberus troops turned toward them. David stepped in front of Archer instantly, Octavia stepping in front of Isaac, and both opened fire, dropping the Cerberus troops before they could get their guns up to shoot back. David let out a slow breath, gripping his rifle hard to keep from trembling. It had been too long since he fought. He wasn't used to it anymore.
"Oh my God!" Octavia gasped, David looking to her, seeing her eyes wide and her skin paler than usual as she breathed rapidly. "I killed him! I...I killed him!"
"Hey," David said, putting a hand on her shoulder and making her look at him. "I know how you feel, but you need to grit your teeth and bear it. You need to keep it together until we get to Orion Hall. Can you do that?"
Octavia swallowed hard and nodded. David returned the nod and stood, continuing through the hallway they were in. The others followed, and after a few minutes, they reached a huge open area with grass and flowers, what David called an oxygen factory, even though that wasn't the real purpose of it. On the far side, Cerberus troops were in the process of setting up defenses. David led Octavia and the others up to a short hallway in the room's upper level that led past the water pit taking up the middle of the room. They all crouched in cover on the far side and David looked to Octavia, who nodded. David deployed his helmet, on the face of which a targeting reticle synced to his rifle appeared in front of his left eye, since it was his dominant eye, despite him being right handed. He wasn't a huge fan of it, but for this, it would be better. He nodded to Olivia and they both stood, opening fire on the Cerberus troops in short bursts. As bullets began to fly back, bouncing off the low wall around them, Octavia dropped, but David forced himself to stay up, taking long, large breaths to control his panic as his shields flashed and flared again and again, his body flickering rapidly. Finally, just as his Tech Armor shattered, the last troop crashed to the ground, blood pooling under his head. David sighed, leaning on the low wall as his body trembled for a moment, allowing his shields to recharge before activating his Tech Armor again.
"Are you okay?" Octavia asked.
"Yeah," David nodded, winking out of sight and feeling his nerves calm slightly. "I'm going to stay invisible from here on. I'll still be with you, but this way I can shoot them without them knowing I'm there."
"Okay," Octavia said. "Am I still okay to shoot?"
"Don't," David decided. "It's not far to Orion Hall, so I should be able to handle it from here on. Keep the gun just in case, though."
Octavia nodded and David called Jack.
"Where are you!?" Jack asked instantly, gunfire sounding from her end.
"Three minutes out!" David said, all four of them running down the ramp to the lower level then toward the door leading toward Orion Hall.
"Be careful!" Jack said. "There's a lot of them between you and me!"
"We will be!" David said, then hung up.
He made sure to stay with the others as they ran, gripping his rifle tightly and keeping it raised in front of him. Then, they stepped into Orion Hall and stopped. There were dozens of troops in the room. The students were all upstairs in the observation room where Jack and David had been watching their match from, and jack was currently using the doorway on one side for cover, using her Biotics and pistol to keep Cerberus from getting close.
"Get down!" David hissed to Octavia, who led the other two over into cover behind a flower bed.
Then, David went to work, firing a short burst into a troop before moving to another spot and firing an Incineration Blast into two, moving again before using a Cryo Blast. He sent an omni-bow bolt into one troop's face and it exploded, taking out three more. He sprayed a group of them with his rifle and killed them. Jack sent a Shockwave ripping through another group and David and Octavia together quickly finished them before Octavia shot the last troop. Once everyone was dead, Octavia handed David's Hurricane back before running up the stairs with Isaac and Archer.
"Took you long enough!" Jack snapped, walking over to David as he deactivated his helmet, meeting her with a kiss. "I was so worried!"
"I'm sorry," David said. "Is everyone here okay?"
"Yeah," Jack nodded. "We're all good here, but we can't stay here forever."
"We can stay for a while," David said. "At least until someone comes for us."
Jack nodded. "Let's go upstairs to rest. I have a surprise for you. I was going to give it to you when we got back to the room, but then Cerberus happened."
David raised an eyebrow and followed her up the stairs to the observation room and Jack grabbed small box off one of the tables and handed it to him. He opened it and gasped, then grinned, pulling out his Locust, the same that Kasumi had given him, then that he had sent to her to have fixed once it broke, resulting in him needing his Hurricane to replace it.
"When did it get here?" David asked.
"Just now," Kasumi said from behind David, who spun. "Nice to see you again, David."
"Kasumi!" David cheered, hugging her. "God it's been so long! How'd you get here?"
"The same way you joined the suicide mission, as I recall," Kasumi said. "I stowed away on the wrong ship."
"You stowed away on a Cerberus Cruiser?" David asked, raising an eyebrow. "How, exactly?"
"That's a long story," Kasumi said. "So, have we sent out a distress signal?"
"Yes," David said. "I don't know who answered it, though."
"Is this thing working?" Kahlee suddenly said over the intercom. "Shepard, you're a miracle worker."
"Shepard?" David asked. "You think it's John or Jane?"
"Gotta be ours," Jack said.
"Students, if you can hear me, this is Kahlee Sanders!"
"Go, go, go!" a Cerberus troop shouted suddenly from off to one side.
"Shit!" David growled. "More company!"
He and Kasumi both turned invisible instantly, all three of the former suicide squad members heading down to meet Cerberus, Jack starting with a Shockwave. David opened fire with his rifle on the group on the left and Kasumi used her Locust to take out the group on the right. However, just as they finished, a screech of metal on metal went off behind them. They spun, seeing a massive white mech with a Cerberus troop inside , protected by bulletproof yellow glass scraping through the door. Its right arm rose toward Jack, but Jack's arm snapped up, forming a barrier in time for an explosive round to go off against it, failing to get through.
"Jack!" Shepard shouted from the room's front door suddenly as Jack's barrier began to change into a pulse of biotic energy.
David heard a mechanical whir behind him and hurled himself toward Jack, tackling her out of the way just as a heavy turret roared to life. Nearly fifty bullets ripped into David's shields and Tech Armor in the second it took David and Jack to fall into cover behind a flower bed.
"David!" Jack gasped, looking at him, only to see he wasn't hurt, his shields still active, though flickering as fast as he was.
"Holy shit!" he gasped, breathing in ragged, panicked gasps and voice pinched. "I'm so glad I upgraded my shields again! Fuck I forgot how much I hate being shot at!"
Jack sighed in relief, looking to the mech, which Shepard was distracting, then to the turret just as Kasumi appeared behind the Cerberus engineer beside it, her omni-tool sending out an explosion that destroyed both the turret and and the engineer. Then, she vanished again just before bullets began to slam into the floor.
"Are you alright?" she asked quietly after a moment from beside David.
"Fine," David said, pushing himself up and looking down at his Harrier, which was riddled with bullet holes now. "Shit."
He tossed it aside and drew his Locust before looking to the students. "Jack, head upstairs and covert he kids."
Jack nodded and turned, running for the stairs while Kasumi and David shot the Cerberus troops on the ground floor, killing several and pinning the rest of them down for Jack to blast with a Shockwave as she ran. Then, David and Kasumi both winked out of sight and scattered. Several more Cerberus troops ran through the door, only to be greeted by a ball of explosive gas, all of them being killed. David turned to the mech as Shepard dove out of the way of a rocket. As he did, Liara and a synthetic with a female design and hair curling forward just over the shoulders into a pair of spikes opened fire on it, the synthetic using a Predator pistol, but Liara using a sleek white pistol that was firing spherical sticky grenades, which exploded every six she shot. Even with the mech's shields, the explosions were denting its armor. David and Kasumi both sent out a pulse of electricity to overload its shields, and the next time Liara's grenades exploded, the glass shattered. Then, Shepard stood and shot the soldier driving it.
David sighed, deactivating his cloaking tech as Kasumi did the same in front of him, holding a hand up. He gave her a high five, grinning, then looked up to Jack, who smiled in relief, seeing that he wasn't hurt. Then, he turned to Shepard and the other two, wondering who the synthetic was.
"When we put out an SOS, I had no idea the King of the Boy Scouts would show up," Jack laughed, then turned to her students, David walking up to his own. "Alright, Amp check! Prangley, those fields were weak! Cerberus isn't going to lie down out of pity like that girl you took to prom."
The other students laughed, Rodriguez giving him a playful shove and David turned to his students.
"Everyone okay?" David asked, receiving nods. "Good. Make sure your omni-tools are charged, keep your Tech Armor active, and keep your fabricators primed. You'll probably have to fight a bit more on the way out."
"Are these your students?" Kasumi asked.
"Yeah," David nodded. "This group is my tech class, that group is Jack's biotic kids. Everyone, this is Kasumi Goto, an old friend from the mission with Commander Shepard."
The two classes greeted her and David left her to tell them a few stories, as she instantly began to, While David went to talk to Shepard with Jack.
"Oh, you feel bad?" Jack was asking Shepard, having already punched him. "Well shit! I bet that's a big comfort to all the people Cerberus has killed!"
"Jack's personality seems largely unchanged," the synthetic said in EDI's voice.
"Hey EDI," Jack said without missing a beat, meanwhile David was staring at EDI in confusion. "Now you look like a sex bot instead of a sex toy."
"You got a body for EDI?" David asked.
"It's a long story," Liara said. "I'd forgotten how angry she was. I would have thought David had calmed you down by now."
"He tries," Jack said. "You were...what, that one Asari we helped with the Shadow Broker?"
"Nice of you to remember me," Liara said. "Jennifer."
Jack stared at her strangely, then shook her head. "Okay, right now, all I care about is getting my guys out of here."
"Your guys?" Shepard asked, smirking.
Jack sighed, then chuckled, looking up at their students. "Yeah, I guess so."
"I can't think of anybody who could care about them more," Shepard said.
"Well, we had some free time while you were off playing hero," Jack said. "Alliance Brass knew I helped you, so David was able to get me a job here in exchange for a clean record. And apparently the students responded well to my teaching style." She looked up at their students, who were eavesdropping without any sense of subtlety.
"The psychotic biotic!" Prangley laughed.
"I will destroy you!" Rodriguez quoted Jack, making a fist.
"Drink your juice, Rodriguez," Jack said. "You couldn't destroy wet tissue paper."
"And you definitely don't want the psychotic biotic right now, Prangley," David said. "That crazy bitch blows up space stations, not evacuates them. Jack the Teacher's a much better choice."
"Oh, just wait until I get you alone," Jack said. "I'll show you psychotic."
"Excuse me, no sex talk in front of me, please," Kasumi said, appearing off to the side.
"Kasumi?" Shepard asked. "What are you doing here?"
"Special delivery, mixed with an escape-gone-wrong, mixed with wanting to see a friend," Kasumi shrugged.
Shepard shook his head, then turned and walked away, holding a hand to his ear. As he did, David turned to Liara.
"So, do you still have your...info broker resources?" David asked.
"I do," Liara nodded. "Is there something in specific you wanted to know?"
David hesitated, glancing at Jack, who was talking to Kasumi. "Her name. And maybe her family? A couple weeks ago, she brought up family and not knowing if she even had one. I'm not sure she'll want to meet them, or if there's anyone to meet..."
"I'll find out," Liara said.
"Thank you," David said.
"Shepard to Sanders, the students are safe, but the shuttle's a no-go," Shepard said, David, Jack, and Kasumi all turning to him.
David's omni-tool beeped and he answered instantly as his graybox's holoscreen appeared and he began to type on his omni-tool. "Go ahead."
"I need station-wide camera access," Kahlee said.
"One second," David said, his fabricator making three ear pieces, two of which he handed to Kasumi and Jack, then linked his omni-tool to the station's systems, transferring access to her. "How's that?"
"Perfect," Kahlee said as the three of them linked their earpieces to their omni-tools. "The fastest way is through the atrium, but the Cerberus sealed the doors."
"On it," David said, disabling the door's locks.
"You really are amazing," Kahlee said. "Have everyone switch to the Commander's frequency."
David nodded and scanned Shepard's ear piece. Shepard raised an eyebrow, but didn't question it. A moment later, David, Jack, and Kasumi were all listening in to the conversation.
"...force the door open now," Kahlee was saying. "It's directly below the observation room."
"On it," Shepard said, walking to the door and grunting in effort, pushing it open.
"I'll get to the shuttles ahead of you and get a pair ready to fly."
"Be careful," David said, waving the students down.
"Everyone be ready," Shepard said as the door finally opened. "We'll go in first and draw their fire."
"We'll shadow you from the second level and hit those fu...those guys from above," Jack caught herself.
"That should give them some cover, too," Liara said.
"Just time your shots and stay safe," Shepard said.
"Alright, I didn't bust my ass training you so you could die now," Jack said, turning to the students. "Stay low, pick your targets."
"You too," David said, looking to his own class. "Your first task will be anything with a shield. After that, tech. If anything sets up a turret, disable it."
His class nodded.
"I'll go with Shep's group," Kasumi said. "One extra hand to cause mass mayhem."
Shepard nodded and headed for the door, Liara, Kasumi, and EDI following. However, within three feet, they stopped as the students' omni-tools all lit up and an announcement began to play from them.
"Students from Grissom Academy, the station is sealed," the Cerberus Commander said. "The Alliance Soldiers cannot save you. All they can do is get you killed. Surrender peacefully, and you won't be harmed."
"Asshole!" Jack growled.
"Dammit!" Kahlee said. "They're messaging everyone. Students, switch your omni-tools to privacy mode so they can't track you."
All of them complied.
"What if...What if they're not lying?" Rodriguez asked.
"Don't be a pussy, Rodriguez," one of David's students said. "They're about to have to fight Commander Shepard and half of his team that took down the Collectors. Plus, Jack and David have been training us for months. Cerberus is about to get destroyed."
"Well said," Jack said. "Come on, Rodriguez. They're only asking nicely 'cause you scared 'em in that last fight. So take your balls out of your purse, and kick some ass."
"It's a shame a bunch of computer nerds have more balls than one of the super-powered biotics trained by Jack," David said. "But, what can you do. That just proves tech powers win, right kids?"
His class cheered and Rodriguez glared at them.
"No way!" Rodriguez said. "We've got this!"
The other biotic students all cheered and David flashed Jack a grin, Jack rolling her eyes.
"Let's go," Shepard said, taking his team through their door.
David and Jack led the students up through the door they were taking and quickly followed the hallway on the other side, soon coming out into the upper level of an open area identical to the one David had gone through with Octavia, Isaac, and Archer.
"How're you holding up, David?" David asked.
"It's getting loud in here," Archer said, holding his hands over his ears.
He wasn't wrong. Below them, Shepard's team was already in a shootout with several groups of Cerberus troops.
"Don't worry, we'll keep you safe," David promised.
He winked out of sight and stood from behind the low wall they were using for cover, surveying the battlefield. There was another mech on the far side, and two Cerberus troops with huge metal shields closing in on Shepard's team. However, before they could get there, Kasumi appeared beside them, blasting one of them, then vanished. The one with the shield turned toward her, exposing himself to David, who sent an omni-bow bolt into his head, killing him. He turned and fired another into the mech, then ducked just before electricity exploded out of the bolt on the mech.
"Multiple combat engineers, several turrets, two shield pylons, eight shielded Centurions, and a heavy mech like before," David listed. "Focus on the mecha nd the turrets first."
His class nodded, meanwhile, Jack and her students were raining Warps and biotic throws on the Cerberus troops, careful not to get shot, but making it impossible for Cerberus to keep their heads up for more than a couple shots.
"A little help with the Atlas, please!" Shepard said as the mech focused its fire on them.
"Go!" David said.
He and his entire class stood. Half of them sent a ball of charged particles at the Atlas, as did David, and the others remotely overloaded the turrets, one of which was firing at Liara. Four people targeted that turret and the sudden massive feedback of four Overloads hitting it at once made it explode, killing its engineer too. A moment later, as all of the blasts of electricity hit the Atlas, its shield capacitors also exploded, blasting the mech into scrap and taking out a half-dozen troops around it.
"Thank you," Shepard said.
David nodded to his class and they all activated their cloaking tech, all standing and beginning to sent blasts of electricity and explosive gas raining on the Cerberus troops. Explosions dotted the atrium instantly, blasting most of the Cerberus troops, lighting others on fire, and anything that didn't get blasted, regardless of whether it had a shield or not, was tagged by a blast of electricity, then biotic powers immediately afterward. Shepard's group ran up to the path across the room quickly and David and Jack took their students along their path, which wrapped around three walls of the room, until they could see the door Shepard was leaving through.
"We're clear of the room," Shepard said. "Keep going."
"Got it," Jack said.
They all turned, hurrying through their door and started down the hallway.
"Everyone okay?" David asked.
"They barely had the chance to shoot at us," Prangley said.
"That tends to happen when you have a surprise volley of explosives from a dozen invisible tech experts," David said.
"Someone's feeling confident," Jack grinned.
"Of course," David smiled. "I had plenty of cover this time."
"Is he not usually confident?" Prangley asked.
"Oh, no, I'm a coward," David said. "Usually I turn invisible throughout the whole fight so that I can hide while I shoot and not get shot at back. Barring a few times when I didn't have a choice. But now, I've got plenty of cover."
"There they are!" a Cerberus troop shouted as he ran around the corner, opening fire, only for it to hit a barrier Jack formed.
Several more arrived and David fired an Incineration Blast through the barrier, the blast exploding in the middle of the group, killing all but one, who David shot as Jack lowered the barrier.
"You'd never know it from the way you're fighting now," Octavia said.
"I've got Jack to protect me," David shrugged, the students laughing.
After a few more minutes, the door opened and David yelped in surprise, winking out of sight as bullets began to rapidly slam into the wall in front of them. Jack and her class instantly formed a barrier around them all and they began to work their way forward as quickly as the class could manage, David and his class firing back with their omni-tools and David using his Locust. Finally, they were forced to stop on the far end of the room, halfway to the shuttles. Jack hurled a biotic throw into a soldier, sending him crashing into a turret and knocked it over before David blasted the troop and turret both with a ball of explosive gas. He shot three more before his class sent a volley of Incineration Blasts over half the room, catching a half-dozen Cerberus troops, only for even more to begin flooding in. Prangley hurled a Singularity into the doorway, catching a huge group before Rodriguez blasted one with a Warp, setting off a massive explosion.
"Nice!" Prangley grinned.
"Don't start celebrating yet!" David said, shooting a pair of troops as they stepped out of cover. "Plenty more to go."
Just then, an Atlas stomped into the room with Shepard seated inside of it. It began to blast the Cerberus troops and the students all cheered. David smiled looked around.
"All of you get to the shuttles!" Jack ordered. "Prangley, Rodriguez, stay put!"
"Octavia, deploy the your shield to protect everyone once you're there," David said.
Octavia nodded and David handed her his Hurricane again before they ran for the shuttles.
Shepard, watch your ass!" Jack shouted, hurling a Warp at a soldier on the far side of the room's upper level.
David turned, shooting a pair over there, then an engineer running for the Atlas Shepard was driving. Shepard opened fire on the troops pouring into the room on that side so David and Jack focused on the other side, Prangley and Rodriguez maintaining the barrier for them. Jack sent a Shockwave through the door they'd come through and scattered the troops. As they began to stand, David shot them rapidly.
"The shuttles are almost ready!" Kahlee said.
"Try to hurry!" David said as several troops rounded the corner toward their barrier, only for David and Jack to shoot them. "I'm moving to the corner."
"Be careful!" Jack said.
"I will," David said, deploying his helmet and activating his cloaking tech.
As he reached the pillar at the corner, he stepped around it and instantly formed an omni-blade, stabbing one troop in the face, then ejected the blade into another's face as he shot a third with his left hand. A shockwave scattered more troops as they ran along the path and David shot them all quickly.
"Atlas!" Jack warned, just as he shot the last one.
He spun, firing an omni-bow bolt into it, the bolt blasting it with electricity as soon as it hit, just before Jack's warp hit and reacted with the electricity to set off an explosion, rocking it back a step. Shepard's Atlas opened fire on that one and within moments, it was dead.
"Okay, we're clear!" Jack said. "Move your ass before more backup arrives!"
Prangley and Rodriguez let the barrier fade and they all headed through the door and across a waiting area to the shuttle platform. As they ran in, Kahlee was typing on a console beside one of the shuttles.
"Kahlee, how's it coming?" Shepard asked.
"Controls are unlocked," Kahlee said.
"Take the controls, and get the students aboard!" Shepard ordered.
"Wait!" Jack said. "Where the Hell's Rodriguez!?"
Just then, several gunshots echoed from the waiting room. Everyone spun, seeing Rodriguez sprinting toward them, three Cerberus troops chasing her.
"How the fuck!?" David snapped as Shepard slammed his buttstock into the bulletproof glass between them and the waiting room.
"She needs covering fire!" Shepard shouted as Rodriguez took cover behind the end of a row of chairs.
"She needs more than that!" Jack snarled, shoving Shepard out of the way before blasting the window with her biotics, shattering it and hurling the Cerberus troops.
Shepard leapt out of the window instantly and David quickly shot the three troops. A few moments later, David, Jack, Shepard, and Kahlee were on one of the shuttles with Octavia, Prangley, Isaac, Archer, and Rodriguez, everyone else was on the other shuttle.
"Joker, we flew out on two Cerberus Shuttles," Shepard warned. "Check your fire."
"Roger, I've got you on sensors," Joker said. "I'll be there to pick you up in a minute."
"Thank you Commander," Kahlee said. "We might never have gotten off that station if you hadn't come."
"F...Forget that," Jack said, again catching herself before she could say what she wanted. "We kicked some ass. Next place we dock, you're all getting inked. My treat."
"I'll pass," David said.
"Well, then it's a good thing you weren't included," Jack said.
"Ouch," David said.
"So, what do you guys want?" Jack asked, turning back to the students. "Ascension Project logo? Glowing fist? Omni-tool for the nerds? Maybe a unicorn for Rodriguez?"
"Screw you, ma'am!" Rodriguez smirked.
"I can't believe we got them out alive," Kahlee said. "I was going to suggest they stick to support roles. But perhaps they're ready after all."
Shepard glanced at Jack, who gave him a knowing, almost pleading look. David gave him a similar one. He and Jack had talked about it. They weren't ready for the front lines. He hoped Jack had brought it up to Shepard.
"They're definitely ready," Shepard said. "But the Alliance needs them in a support role."
Relief swept through David and he smiled, nodding.
"What!?" Prangley asked. "We trained for artillery strikes!"
"We don't need another artillery unit," Shepard said. "We need stronger barriers for our front-line squads."
"This is bullshit!" Rodriguez snapped.
"Hey, if that's where they need us, that's where we go," Jack said. "Besides, I'm sure we'll still get some shots in."
"The support role is also the more important job," David said. "You may not be the ones killing Reaper forces, but you will be making sure front-line soldiers can go home to their families, and you won't have to worry about not being able to go home to you friends and family."
"Not everyone's a coward like you!" Rodriguez snapped.
"Rodriguez!" Octavia snapped.
"Oh, you're going-" Jack stopped when David set his hand on her shoulder, watching Rodriguez carefully.
"You're right," David said. "I am a coward. I'm afraid of dying. I'm afraid of losing people too. Have you ever lost someone, Rodriguez? A mother? Father? Sibling? Even a close friend? Anyone like that died?"
"No," Rodriguez said.
"Then you don't know," David said. "You think because you made it through one battle without someone dying that means it won't happen, but that's not true. People die in combat. It doesn't matter if it's the combat associated with mercenary work, defending a facility, or fighting on a battlefield in a war, people will die. And there is nothing in this life more unbearable than the pain of losing someone you love and being powerless to stop it and having to live with that, and accept that no matter what you did, or how hard you tried, you couldn't save them. Or of always wondering if maybe you could have saved them if you'd just tried a little harder. Losing people hurts. As a support role, you won't have to worry about that happening as often."
"Commander, we've got a visual on you now," Joker said suddenly. "Preparing to dock. Hey Jack, now that you're military, you gonna wear a uniform? Or are you just gonna get the officer's bars tattooed on?"
"Screw you f...flight lieutenant," Jack caught herself, sounding disgruntled at not being allowed to say what she wanted this time.
Joker laughed. "Uh...what the Hell was that?"
"Jack promised to watch her language in order to maintain the necessary professionalism we need from our teachers," Kahlee said.
"What does she have a swear jar or something?" Joker asked. "Cause I bet if we emptied that thing out, we could afford another cruiser."
David grinned, motioning for the students to cover their ears.
"Cover your ears, kids," Jack said, no one doing it. "Hey, Joker, fuck yourself."
"Hey, that's not appropriate language around children!" Joker said in a sassy tone. "I'm going to tell on you! Kahlee, Jack said a mean word!"
Kahlee shook her head, smiling, and a couple minutes later, they all left the shuttles. EDI agreed to give the students a tour while they head to the Citadel to drop them all off. While she did, David and Jack headed down to Engineering, asking EDI to keep the students away from the stairs for a while, then went down to their old hole under the floor to see if it was as uncomfortable as he remembered.
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