Something did not feel right. Kacey could feel it with every fiber of her being. It was the same dread she felt when up against the Reapers; the same anxiety, the same guarded and over alert nature. She could place why she was feeling this way.
Why now? Of all times?
She found herself on the roof of the office, opening the latch and dropping herself in, keeping a close eye for any sign of movement. Gripping her rifle tightly, her finger ready to pull the trigger in a split second she searched her surroundings as Aria and Nyreen dropped through the gap, landing on their feet.
Finding the controls, Kacey slammed her fist on the comically large red button, which led to the screens and lights flickering on as the power was restored to the systems.
"When this is over, there will be a lot of repairs to make." Aria said in a rather firm tone of voice.
"I hope you'll focus on the civilian areas first." Nyreen added.
Aria scowled, "You are relentless."
"That's one thing we have in common." Nyreen said.
The sound of shattered glass caused Kacey to spin round and came face to face with some sort of Reaper made creature. Kacey trained her gun on the hulking creature, with tendrils coming out of its mouth. The creature was covered in blood, its bulb-like head glowing an eerie blue.
"Spirits!" Nyreen exclaimed, her voice tense and frightened.
"Unload on it!" Kacey ordered, already firing on the thing as it threw what looked to be a biotic attack at the trio. Despite Kacey's order, Nyreen seemed frozen in place.
"Nyreen, wake up!" Aria chastised coldly; Nyreen jumped at the sound of her name before firing her rifle.
Kacey's best advice when dealing with Reaper forces was to keep your distance, no matter what. It was too risky to try it up close and personal, and the adjutants were no exception. Kacey circled the area, firing inferno bullets and concussive shots into the creature, trying to keep it as far away from her as possible. Nyreen, however, seemed like she was a million miles away, throwing whatever she could at it to slow it down.
Even as the thing disintegrated, Nyreen still shuddered at the sight, adding, "I hate those things."
"Hate should make you deadlier." Aria callously snapped, "That looked like fear to me."
"All right, let's get to the door." Kacey cut in before Nyreen could respond; another argument was not what they needed right now. Not with adjutants lurking around everywhere.
Kacey reloaded her rifle as she made her way out of the office and towards the door, keeping a close eye on her surroundings. Truth be told, she could understand Nyreen's fear, but she also couldn't empathise with it. Perhaps she was just too numb to the Reapers and their horrific methods. Three years of horrors far beyond imagination tended to have that effect as she could attest to. She wasn't surprised by anything at this point.
"Another one!" Nyreen called as they approached the door; Kacey had already opened fire on the adjutant.
"Fire at will!" Kacey shouted as she sent the adjutant flying backwards with an inferno concussive shot.
Kacey had hit the button on the elevator as the trio took position, fending off the adjutants closing in on their position. Nyreen kept darting away from the adjutants, forcing Kacey and Aria to draw their attention with their own attacks. Kacey was lucky that she still had plenty of grenades left, punting them over to the Reaper like monsters and watching as they were hit with one explosion after another.
Aria's biotics tilted the battle in their favour; her ruthlessness combined with her fierce biotics kept the adjutants at a distance, although the creatures didn't make it easy. They crawled and jumped around, making hitting them with bullets a crapshoot unless they could pin them down. Kacey found this simple enough, (it wasn't the first time she had to do this after all) but she knew that she didn't have an endless supply of thermal clips, and these bastards were relentless.
One nearly got the jump on Kacey, but the scarlet haired commander proved to be faster when she rolled out of the way and fired a concussive shot, which sent the creature hurling through the air and colliding into the wall. Before it could recover, Kacey shot it in the head with her shotgun, causing black liquid to seep from the corpse.
With the adjutants dead, Kacey headed towards the elevator, "All right, into the elevator."
"I seal the door…" Nyreen said as all three of them stood on the elevator platform, "Just in case."
"On to the mines." Aria said curtly before turning her attention to Nyreen, "What's eating you, Nyreen?"
"Just processing." Nyreen replied bluntly, "It's clear the General sealed that area to keep the adjutants in."
Kacey scoffed, her arms crossed, "Along with some unlucky soldiers."
"Yes. The creature killed them but didn't turn them into more adjutants." Nyreen explained, her voice uneasy, "I can't shake it…something's off."
"You're just spooked." Aria dismissed.
"There's a rhythm to this place, Aria. To Cerberus. If you'd stuck it out here, maybe you'd feel it, too." Nyreen snapped back.
Kacey sighed, not in the mood to deal with this nonsense, "Whatever's in our way, we deal with it."
The air was filled with silence; that is until the sound of drills came into play. Aria furrowed her brow as the sound, not looking too pleased for whatever reason.
"You can hear the drills." Aria shattered the silence like glass, "Damn it, they shouldn't be straining like that."
"Cerberus must be working them hard." Nyreen mused as the elevator came to a stop.
"Access to the reactor is somewhere on the upper level." Aria said, "Let's go."
…
The fight through the mine was intense. The place was a maze, with many areas closed off and locked up tight. The Cerberus soldiers were carefully positioned, with clear shots at the trio. Kacey couldn't help but feel like the soulless soldiers were adapting; that they were getting better and improving. She didn't like to think about it.
Of course, Kacey knew that they couldn't beat a bullet. Inferno or otherwise. As her shots found their marks in the bullet holes in the Cerberus soldiers head. Even when Rampart Mechs made their appearance, it wasn't anything she couldn't handle. She was thankful that no more adjutants appeared during their shootout in the mine, as the trio left the corpses of Cerberus soldiers in their wake.
The elevator ride was the breather they needed before reaching the reactor. After shooting through the hallway and running across the collapsing walkway, Kacey climbed the ladder and finally reached the elevator, reloading her rifle as Aria was seen smirking.
"Why are you grinning, Aria?" Nyreen asked, seemingly already knowing the answer.
"We're almost there." Aria replied with a satisfied smile, "When the force fields come down, this war finally begins."
"For some of us, it started months ago." Nyreen snapped.
"That wasn't war, babe." Aria scoffed, "That was just a warm up."
Kacey shook her head before turning her attention to the opening door. The large reactor could be seen towering above them in the chamber as Kacey stepped forward into the chamber. As the trio made their way towards the reactor, a barrier blocked their path only a few steps away. A force field was erected around the area, trapping them in the centre of the chamber.
"Not this again." Kacey sighed as a small holographic orb floated in. As Petrovsky's image came into view, Kacey's grip on her rifle tightened.
"I commend you. Your plan of attack was impeccable." Petrovsky said.
"Looks like we were expected." Kacey mused.
"More like lured." Nyreen muttered unamused.
"I knew the reactor would be the hard target. I gave you no choice but this route." Petrovsky said, his smug expression annoying the living daylights out of Kacey.
"Why don't you do this in person, Petrovsky? Get your own hands dirty?" Kacey taunted, her hand on her hip.
"I take no pleasure in any of this, Commander." Petrovsky replied, "You're the ones trying to start a war—for the glory of Aria. but now it's over."
"This isn't over until your next of kin can't identify you!" Aria seethed with rage. Kacey rolled her eyes as Petrovsky continued.
"I love your bravado, but have the sense to know when you're beaten. You've been neutralised, and I can leave you there to rot. You might as well give up."
"Never." Aria snapped as she turned on her heel and faced the force field.
"Aria, what are you thinking?" Kacey asked, unsure of what Aria was planning.
"I'm not going out like this!" Aria said as she touched the force field and began to pull it apart.
"Aria don't!" Nyreen called but it fell on deaf ears as the asari crime boss slowly pulled the force field apart.
"What the hell is she trying to do?" Petrovsky asked, furious.
"You're asking me?!" Kacey quipped.
"Damn it, Aria, you're forcing my hand. We'll do it your way then." Petrovsky said as his holographic image disappeared. Rampart mechs flooded into the area as Kacey dived behind a console and began to open fire on the mechs.
"Nyreen, mechs!" Kacey shouted as both she and Nyreen held the position, covering Aria from the mechs. Kacey wasn't sure what Aria was trying to do, but she knew she had to focus on the mechs for now.
As more mechs came flooding in, Nyreen ran to protect Aria with a barrier while shooting the mechs. Aria, who had made quite the large hole in the force field, was showing signs of struggling to hold the force field apart.
"Shepard, I can't hold this much longer. Go!" Aria shouted.
Kacey bolted towards the gap, diving through and tumbling down the steps as Aria let go of the force field. Kacey picked herself up as Aria and Nyreen took on the mechs, bolting towards the reactor the moment she got onto her feet. She blasted the mechs that got in her way with a concussive shot without slowing down; there was no time to waste.
The moment Kacey reached the reactor controls she began to type away on the interface. In truth, Kacey had absolutely no idea what she was doing; her knowledge of tech was limited at best and even then, shutting down a reactor wasn't part of it. She found herself relying on the small tidbits she had picked up from Tali and Kaidan over the years, trying to piece it all together. She could see that orb reappear from the corner of her eye, with Petrovsky's image coming into view. She ignored him, continuing to focus on the task in front of her.
"You can't do this, Commander." Petrovsky said, "There's more at stake than you know. That reactor powers life support systems for dozens of wards across the station. Shut it down, and thousands of people perish."
"You hearing this, Aria?" Kacey said, not looking up from the screen.
"Yes, and I don't care. Shut it down!" Aria said.
"Shepard don't! Try rerouting power away from the force fields!" Nyreen added.
She looked at the button before pounding her fist against the console, "Fuck! Hold tight down there."
"Rerouting the power to maintain the other systems…" Petrovsky mused.
"Are you crazy? We're almost spent! Nyreen, watch your flank!" Aria chimed in.
Kacey kept her focus on the terminal in front of her, refusing to deviate her attention to Aria or Petrovsky, the latter of who circled behind her.
"This is who you're working for, Shepard. She doesn't care who gets hurt." Petrovsky said, clearly trying to get a reaction out of Kacey as Aria screamed for her to overload the reactor, "She'd just throw thousands of lives away…"
"God damn it. Can't you just fuck off?" Kacey said, her sapphire eyes drifting towards the red button, but she brought her focus back; 'I can do this.'
"Shepard, Nyreen's down. I'm stabilising her!" Aria said, getting more angry by the minute, "You can't reroute the power in time! Hit the fucking overload! Now!"
Her eyes kept drifting to that button; hitting it would be so much easier. Tech wasn't her strong suit, so why was she trying so hard?
"This shouldn't be that hard. Maybe something inside is holding you back." Petrovsky said, causing Kacey to hesitate, "Maybe deep down you're starting to think the galaxy might be better off without her."
She couldn't do it; not again. Was she really falling back into those old habits again? Back to something so far removed from herself? She shook her head, snapping herself back to reality with renewed determination, tuning out Petrovsky as he rambled on.
"She's never going to learn. She'll never change. Even if you win, Omega loses…"
"Enough!" Kacey said, having reached the end of her rope; she grabbed the orb and smashed against the console as the power was successfully rerouted. She took a deep breath, collecting herself before bolting towards Aria and Nyreen.
Once Kacey reunited with Nyreen and Aria, the trio retreated back through to the nearby elevator. Kacey took a deep breath as the elevator doors closed, allowing all three of them to have some reprieve, although Kacey wasn't sure that the peace would last for long.
"You okay?" Kacey asked Aria, who seemed a little on edge.
"Despite your best efforts to kill me." Aria replied, her tone sour, "Your soft heart almost cost me everything."
"Quiet Aria." Nyreen said calmly, "It worked. Shepard saved us without sacrificing innocent lives. I applaud her."
"I suppose. Whatever." Aria scoffed; Kacey scowled as she quickly lost her temper.
"You know what? Fuck you." Kacey said angrily, "I don't know what your damage is, but I'm sure as hell not letting you commit to a fucking bloodbath for your petty revenge."
"Petty revenge? You have no idea what's going on Shepard." Aria snapped back, "You nearly let the General win."
"Then fucking shoot me." Kacey snapped back.
Nyreen was poised to stand between the two, yet Aria didn't move. Kacey watched carefully as Aria glared at her before smirking and stepping back, turning her attention to Nyreen.
"You fought bravely against those mechs in there, Nyreen. Very impressive." Aria mused.
"But?" Nyreen looked at Aria with scepticism.
"Why can't you bring that same grit when adjutants attack?" Aria asked, "It's pathetic. You tense up at the mere mention of those abominations…"
"Lay off!" Kacey snapped, catching Aria's attention, "She just saved you."
"I'm trying to help her, Shepard. Call it tough love." Aria replied plainly, "The war's starting. I don't mean to miss it."
Aria walked away as Kacey shook her head with disapproval. Nyreen turned to face Kacey, adding, "She's never been big on thank yous."
"I noticed." Kacey mused as she followed Aria.
