Chapter Text
The orange glow of my Omni-tool lights up my face in the darkness, signaling to anyone nearby they’re not alone in Omega’s dingy alleyways. With the streetlights out, it’s the only thing emitting any light in the area, and that makes it dangerous. Makes it easier to be spotted. Become a target.
I know who’s calling anyway.
Admiral Hackett. Again. The man knows no patience when it comes to personal assignments; he expects results quickly. When he doesn’t get them, he grows antsy.
Old bastard should have retired years ago.
I quickly set my tool to do not disturb and round the corner towards one of Omega’s smaller shipping outposts. If I’m lucky, no one has spotted me. But this is Omega; someone’s always watching, even if they don’t understand what they’re seeing.
I hate how paranoid this place has made me.
Sighing, I start my descent through the endless rows of shipping crates awaiting pickup. I’m not sure when they’ll be relocated, so I’m careful to keep my footfalls silent in case it’s soon. According to my info, there’s something going down here tonight, and if I’m right about it being more than just a routine pick up, I’ll actually have something to report back to Mister Insufferable.
Voices up ahead echo through the shipping yard back to me, and I try to listen in for any key player names. But all they’re talking about is someone’s first kill being botched. Typical Eclipse bullshit.
I wait and listen in regardless. Maybe one of them will change the subject. As I crouch in hiding, I vaguely wonder if I should pop open a crate and inspect its contents. It’s not like this is the Citadel where shit is regulated; there could be anything inside. Resting my palm against the coarse metal side of the closest container, I press a little bit of my biotics through the outer layer.
Sure enough, I feel a zap through my fingertips that isn’t from the metal.
It’s element zero. And not likely the pure kind.
This might not be quite the scandal I was looking for, but as someone who’s been on the receiving end of a bad eezo exposure, I can’t let it slide either. Silently cursing myself for caring in the first place, I consider my options.
Option one: attack the group here at the risk of someone getting through my shields and doing some damage. They’re Eclipse, after all; they’ve all made kills before. And I’m outnumbered.
Option two: break out some of this eezo and utilize my environment to… what? Knock them out and ask for names? Drag one away for an interrogation? I don’t like the idea of getting buzzed by some bad eezo in the process; the headache could last for a week.
Option three: wait for the movers to arrive so I can learn more about their operation. Then get out without being seen and return to fight another day.
Option two sounds optimal, but that’s risky without a team to back me up. But maybe I could pull it off if I’m smart enough about it. Not knowing when reinforcements could arrive puts a hinge in that plan, though, especially since I don’t have eyes or ears to tell me how far off they are. More Eclipse could be just around the corner.
But I wasn’t made Spectre for nothing, and I haven’t been crawling around this cesspool for months just to chicken out when things get a little tough. “Okay, Shepard,” I steel myself, stretching out any soreness left in my limbs. “Let’s do this.”
As soon as I step out from my hiding place and into sight of the Eclipse mercs, the telltale crack of a sniper rifle firing fills the air. One of the mercs, an asari with a visor, goes down clean. The three others hanging around, two humans and a salarian, immediately jump into action.
The salarian spots me first and tries to overload my modified pistol, but I fire off a shot that nicks his omnitool enough to throw him off. In the next second, another crack splits the air and he goes down before he can even blink. The two humans take cover, and I seize the moment to rush them, tackling one to the ground as their companion calls for backup.
With a biotic-powered punch, I break through their shield and smash their head against the concrete, knocking them out cold. The other one’s abandoned her comms to aim a shotgun at my face, and I throw up a biotic barrier just in time to avoid getting riddled with corrosives. “So much for protecting your colleagues,” I muse, dropping her pal as I stand. She would have burnt to a crisp had I not covered her too. “They must not teach you to value your team at Eclipse. Pity. A team would have saved your ass.”
There’s shouting across the yard, and the merc smirks. “Looks like you’re the one on your own. Or is a sniper all you brought for backup?”
The hairs on my arms stand on end as her words sink in; she’s right. I am alone. I have no idea who’s been taking out mercs for me.
I hope I don’t have to meet them.
“How’s bout you and me take a little stroll,” I say, cracking my knuckles. “I’ll let you keep your teeth if you give me some good info.”
“Go to hell,” the merc spits out, firing off another shotgun shell. This one I dodge, rolling into cover and thanking the gods that I have shields, because that could have been ugly. I could have been made ugly real quick. And Omega isn’t exactly known for its healers; I’d likely be dead within an hour.
“I just have some questions,” I call out. “I don’t care about your little smuggling operation… much.” I listen for her footsteps and jump behind a new container as she shuffles around mine. It’s then that I notice the tiny red light blinking on the bottom edge of the container…
Cursing, I break into a run, checking every container I pass for the same dot of red. Almost all of them have one. “Shit, shit, shit,” I breathe, skidding to a halt at the end of the yard. There are more Eclipse moving in from the other end of the platform, likely searching for me or our sniper friend, and I glance behind me at the scaffolding climbing high into the sky.
Fuck.
Starting my ascent by putting one foot in front of the other, I climb as fast as I can to put some distance between myself and the mercs down below. If the sniper’s smart, they’re already perched up here. But why haven’t they continued shooting? Did they leave already?
“Did you get scared and run off, little girl?” the human merc from earlier taunts, her voice floating up to me through the chaos erupting below. I scoff and keep climbing. If I had a hit list, she’d be at the top for calling me little girl.
I make it to the top level and take in big gulps of air; it’s cooler away from the station’s surface, and I can almost pretend that a breeze is what’s chilling my bones instead of the excessive, empty space between my body and the ground.
I swallow and shuffle forwards. If I can just make it to the other side of the yard—
A shadow consumes me, wrapping strong arms around my waist and hoisting me away from the scaffold’s edge. I jump out of my skin, not having sensed my assailant at all and not used to being taken by surprise since my teenage years. “Fucking—”
“Blow it,” the man holding me orders through his comms, dragging me away from one edge of the metal scaffolding towards another. But it’s not in the direction I want; he’s taking me towards the outer ledge bordering the scummiest district on Omega. The one where the you’re as likely to step on an addict as you are a cockroach.
He lifts me in his arms with inhuman strength and clutches me against his armored chest. “Hold onto me,” he growls, the deep rumble sending an unwelcome shiver down my spine.
“Like hell I’m going to—”
My words are swallowed by the sound of metal ripping apart and fire erupting as each tiny red dot attached to a shipping crate explodes, sending the crates’ contents into the air and into each person unfortunate enough to remain in the yard. The light from the fire illuminates my captor’s face, and our eyes meet for the longest heartbeat of my life.
Breathless. One look is all it takes.
He actually smirks at me, the bastard. How does he know?
Then he jumps; we’re airborne and crashing through a dilapidated roof before I even have a chance to scream.