Jack saw one of the Blue Suns try a rush towards their position, only to get his head removed by a shot from some unknown position. She figured the bird-man in blue must have arrived. Thane then took another casual shot around the side of the car with his own weapon, scoring another kill. The drell was five for five so far.
Jack moved Samara into a sitting position, and leaned the asari back up against the side of the car. "Blue? Stay with me, Blue, dammit." The Justicar really didn't look good. A thin trickle of purple blood oozed from the wound in her neck, and Jack didn't have any clothing to help stop the bleeding; her panties were completely soaked in blood by this point. Her bigger worry was Samara's color. The asari's skin looked almost white, and her eyes were unfocused.
On the other side of the car, Grunt snapped off individual shots with a pistol. For once he wasn't using his OMFG, probably because he wanted better accuracy. The krogan glanced behind them. "The salarian doctor is on his way. I will provide covering fire." He holstered the pistol and then slung the OMFG off his shoulder. He swung out of cover and let loose two huge booming shots that echoed around the parking lot.
Jack heard someone running up from behind, and then Mordin slid in feet first next to her with his bag in hand. "Greetings. Apologies for delay. What is your condition?"
"I'll live, doc. You help Samara."
The salarian moved over to the justicar. "Samara? How are you feeling?"
"My heart feels..weak," murmured Samara.
Mordin examined her neck wound with quick, nimble fingers. Jack held up the darts she'd taken out of Samara's neck. "This is what she was shot with. It doesn't make sense, it wasn't that bad of a hit."
Mordin carefully plucked the darts from her hand and sniffed them. "Certainly drugged. Meant to incapacitate, probably using biotic supressant. Had they dosed you with something when you were brought here?"
Jack was relieved for a moment. Maybe it was just a bunch of knockout drugs affecting Samara. But then why did she look so pale? "Yeah, the Cerberus asshole said they had me on some kinda biotic suppressant. It started with an 'H'. Halfor? No, Haldoran."
Mordin blinked. "Not good. Haldoran safe for humans, but causes massive allergic reaction in asari. No real antidote. Causes severe autonomic response of circulatory system. Vessels begin to dilate spasmodically." He was digging through this bag as he spoke, and removed a vial and a hypo. "This will only partially counteract symptoms. Need proper medical care soon." He injected the hypo into Samara's arm, then applied a bandage to her neck.
"Okay, so let's move our asses," said Jack. "I'm not having her die for me."
There was a distant whump followed by a bright flare of orange light which filled the parking lot. Jack heard screaming and looked up. Several flaming figures ran in panic around the parking lot. Zaeed must had gotten to use his flamethrower, which she knew would make the mercenary happy. Thane and Grunt began casually picking off the frantic on-fire mercs. Jack turned away from the carnage to focus back on Samara. The salarian had finished his injection. At least it looked like the asari's eyes were focusing again.
Mordin activated his comm. "Samara's condition serious, need to evacuate ASAP."
"Got it," said Garrus's voice. "All units, fall back to extraction point."
----------------------------------------
Oriana clutched the little slip of paper in her hand. She wanted to read it, but knew that she didn't dare. She was sure that Enyala was watching her closely. They were now out of the more crowded areas and approaching a side corridor. Oriana was pretty sure that when they were safely out of sight of everyone she would be getting a taser to the neck. She kept looking around, but there wasn't anything near which she could use as a distraction. So, she was just going to have to leg it. Maybe if she started running forward, in the same direction they were going, it would confuse them long enough for her to get a good head start. It was a crummy plan, but it was all she had right now...
Her frantic internal plotting was interrupted by a cheerful little chiming 'beep' from next to the group. The glowing sphere of a combat drone appeared next to Enyala and discharged an electrical blast right into the asari's side.
Oriana's reflexes had always been first-rate. Some of her classmates had once gotten into a 'snatch-the-pebble-from-my-hand' contest after watching some old vid about a Chinese monk. She had always been able to get the pebble from them, and they had never once gotten the pebble from her. She didn't know why she was so fast; it was just always the way she had been.
And so, the instant that Enyala jerked with surprise at the shock from the drone Oriana was already in motion. She felt a brief gust of air at the back of her head, probably from the other asari trying to make a grab for her. But it the grab missed, and she was already pelting away from them. She heard shouts and more electrical zapping noises behind her. She thought she heard pounding feet behind her. There was a corridor coming up fast, and so she feinted as if she was heading down that way then kept running straight. It must have been a good feint; she heard a thud and a curse behind her. At the next turn, she did actually take it and ran like a girl chased by all the forces of hell.
----------------------------------------
Harlon Quentin hated paperwork. As he sat at his desk he wished, just a little bit, that he had a proper AI to take care of a lot of the minutiae which came with running a large chapter of the Blue Suns. But VIs were all that was allowed, and you just couldn't leave them to their own devices. Otherwise, you ran the risk of coming back and finding out that they'd somehow ordered fifty thousand left boots for a chapter which only had five hundred members.
Not to mention his paperwork was far from normal at the moment. Right now, he was trying to deal with several messages from the Nos Astra police. They had several of his men in custody and were oh-so-politely asking him what the everlasting fuck his crew was was up to. Not for the first time, Quentin was glad that Illium wasn't quite as law-abiding as it appeared on the surface. In any of the Council worlds he would already be wearing handcuffs and trying to explain himself from inside a holding cell.
He had also heard that the reinforcements he'd sent to the hotel had run into serious opposition. The sheer number of casualties he was looking at was getting ridiculous. So he was somewhat glad for the distraction when his omni-tool chimed with an incoming call. He checked the caller's ID and then opened a link.
"Jesperson!" he barked. "Where the hell are you? What's your status?"
There was no response.
"Damn it! Answer me! Did you activate this by accident-"
He was interrupted by a calm voice. "Who is this?"
The voice was somehow familiar. Quentin racked his brain to place it. Somehow he kept thinking of the Citadel. "Fuck you, who the fuck are you?" he snarled back. "What have you done with my man?"
"He's indisposed," said the voice. "But if he's your man, then you admit he was acting on your orders."
"Listen, you shithead..." began Quentin, then stopped with a dawning horror. He now realized where he'd heard that voice before. He remembered a recent trip that he'd taken to the Citadel, and the voice advertisements which seemed to be everywhere within the station.
I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite store on the Citadel.
"Shepard?" he asked while wincing, hoping against hope that he was wrong.
"You have me at a disadvantage, sir," said the voice with a dry chuckle. That little laugh was somehow worse than a furious scream. "I will only tell you once," the all-too-familiar voice continued. "Call your men off. Call them all off, and stay out of my way. I'm willing to let it all go at this point. But if you push this, I will be showing up on your doorstep to discuss the matter more fully. And I will be there faster than you can believe."
The comm clicked off.
Quentin leaned back in his chair and felt a little trickle of sweat come down one side of his brow. The Illusive Man had told him that failure was not an option. But now the supposedly out-of-commission Shepard was very much back in commission and also very pissed off. This was the textbook definition of 'between a rock and a hard place'. He thought for a little bit more, but the churning in his guts didn't subside. He selected a number on his omni-tool and called it.
"Yeah, it's me. Get Mr. Man on the line. Shepard's awake and operational."
----------------------------------------
"She's stopped talking," said Jack. "How is she? What can I do?"
"Pulse dropping. Suspect her blood pressure getting dangerously low. Please keep talking to her. Need to keep her present and with us."
Jack dragged one hand across her eyes and was surprised to feel tears. Dammit, she'd just found out that Marcus was alive. She wasn't about to lose Samara. Especially not while rescuing herself. Their stolen cargo van rocked gently. For some reason, Zaeed had insisted on driving. Garrus and Thane crouched in the rear of the vehicle, taking the occasional shot out of the open rear doors. Their pursuit had gradually tapered off, mostly because the two snipers never missed.
Jack looked down at Samara. She was stretched out on the van's floor. Her eyes seemed to stare up and through the van's roof. Jack grabbed her hand, and the asari's eyes turned to regard her. There was fear in those eyes, Jack could see it.
"Blue? Hold my hand, you feel that? Good. Just keep looking at me, okay?"
----------------------------------------
"I see, Mr. Quentin. Thank you for the update." The Illusive Man rubbed one eyebrow. "I am changing your mission parameters. I need you to surround the Normandy and prevent any of the ground team from reaching it. And I will also need you to gain access to the ship and pacify any resistance inside. We will then send operatives to take over control of the ship."
There was a long pause on the line before Quentin replied. "You want me to storm a goddamn frigate? I'm gonna need to plan this out. It could take a little time."
The Illusive Man noted that the mercenary captain didn't ask for more money. Either this was getting personal, or the man simply knew not to press his luck. "The ship is not operational," he said to Quentin. "The drive core is shut down, and the airlocks are sealed. You'll have to cut your way into the hull."
"That will make it a lot easier," replied Quentin. "Okay, we're on it. I'll let you know when we're in."
----------------------------------------
Oriana panted as she leaned against the wall. She had ducked into a side tunnel, and was now listening fearfully for any sounds of pursuit. She didn't hear anything for the moment; taking advantage of her respite, she unfolded the little slip of paper and read it.
RUN. NO COMMS. HEAD BACK TO MODEL SHOP. LOOK FOR REDHEAD.
She wasn't one for cursing, but Oriana almost did in this case. She had to go back? She couldn't call anyone? It seemed ridiculous. Oriana thought about calling up her omni-tool in spite of the warning, but then reconsidered. This seemed to be a professional kidnapping attempt, and whoever was behind it might be able to track her through her comms. So far, the people who'd given her the note and deployed the combat drone seemed to have her welfare in mind.
Her mind flicked through the various twists and turns she'd taken to get here. She began to build up a complete mental map of her route from the model shop to here. It was an easy and automatic process for her. Oriana had no way of knowing it, but this type of ability would have been considered impressive even for a highly-trained N7 commando. Once she had the mental image firmly set, she rotated the map in her head to see if there were any side paths or shortcuts. After a moment, she nodded to herself in satisfaction. There should be several access passages that would allow her to get back much more quickly and discreetly.
She then looked over her outfit. It was nothing remarkable, just a white blouse and black trousers. After a bit of thought, she slipped off the blouse and ripped the sleeves off. She tied one of the sleeves around her temples as if it was a headband, then put the now-sleeveless blouse back on. She tied the bottom of the blouse up, exposing her midriff. Then she rolled her trousers up so that her calves were bare. All of these were little changes, but hopefully it would be enough to confuse immediate detection. Although she probably looked like some kind of ridiculous wannabe pirate right now.
Oriana peeked around the corner. There was nobody in sight. She slipped out of the tunnel and began to make her way back. Having a goal helped calm her, although she could still feel her heart bouncing in her chest. She didn't run, against every instinct in her gut. She knew that a running girl would attract attention.
----------------------------------------
Garrus felt the van bounce as Zaeed slung it into a turn. "We're almost there!" yelled the mercenary. "How's our fan club?"
Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
"None in sight," he replied. "It looks like we made them keep their distance." He opened his comm back to the ship. "EDI, do you copy?"
"Of course," replied the AI. "Shall I open the hangar ramp for you?"
Garrus looked behind him, into the center of the van. Samara lay spreadeagled and looked much too still. Jack and Mordin were working on her while Grunt stood over them. The krogan was wringing his hands together in a manner that reminded Garrus of Tali when she was nervous.
"Yeah. Can you tell somebody to prep the medbay? We're going to need it ASAP."
----------------------------------------
Kelly sat in the mess nursing a cup of coffee and wishing she had something stronger. Her guts churned with worry. Nobody was back yet. Shepard's group was still on the way back, and at least so far they had managed to shake their pursuers. There had been sporadic reports from Team Jack; they had successfully rescued the young biotic, but there had been other casualties. Kelly hadn't been able to find out exactly what that meant. Hopefully nobody was seriously wounded. Team Oriana had to improvise a rescue, since it looked like Cerberus had moved faster than they'd expected. It was all too much to worry about, and she couldn't wait for the whole mess to be over.
"Ms. Chambers?" said EDI. "The rescue team for Jack is just arriving. We will need the medbay prepared. Can you please assist?"
Kelly nodded. "Of course." She threw the cup into the recycler and jogged towards the medbay door. Once inside, she wheeled the main operating table into the center of the space and locked it down. Then she started pulling supplies out of cabinets. She wasn't sure if this was going to be a major surgery or something less drastic, but then figured to go for broke. Fortunately Chakwas had kept the medbay arranged according to standard Alliance protocols, so Kelly was able to find everything without too much trouble. She began laying out scalpels and extractors on a mobile cart. She figured bullet wounds were the most likely injury, but she wanted to double-check that assumption. "EDI, can you tell me what injuries they-"
She was interrupted by the hiss of the medbay door opening. A confused gaggle of people suddenly swarmed into the medbay. Mordin led the way, followed by Grunt. The krogan carried...
Oh, no.
He carried Samara. The Justicar flopped like a ragdoll in Grunt's arms; Jack followed close behind. The biotic was almost naked, limping, and absolutely covered with dried blood. She looked almost like she was made out of red clay. Zaeed, Garrus, and Thane brought up the rear.
"On the table, please," said Mordin. His normally cheerful face was set in worry and concentration. Grunt gently laid Samara down, and Mordin began re-checking the asari's vitals. Kelly tried to wriggle her way over to Jack, but the medbay was very crowded right now. There was much talking back and forth, while Kelly tried to get a word in edgewise to find out what had happened.
Mordin looked up. "Need everybody out." His voice was soft, but somehow cut through all of the confused talking. Grunt ducked his massive head and trundled out the door. The others started to move as well. The salarian pointed at Jack. "Stay Jack, you're hurt. Kelly, help Jack. Get her cleaned up and tended to as best you can. Will try to have a look at her in a bit. Also may need your help with Samara."
In a few moments, the medbay was much less crowded. The biotic stared at Samara's prone form, almost as if in a trance. Kelly walked carefully up to Jack and touched her shoulder. At that tentative contact, Jack snapped her eyes around to stare at her.
"Jack? Come on over here. Let me try to get you cleaned up, okay?"
Jack just nodded. Kelly steered her over to a nearby stool and grabbed a box of antiseptic wipes. She suspected that one box wouldn't be enough but at least she could try to get Jack's face clean. Kelly began to wipe the blood off of her face; in the meantime Jack had gone back to staring at Samara. Mordin now had the front of the justicar's armor open and several monitoring electrodes applied to her chest. The salarian doctor had also started an IV drip, and was hastily putting together several medications for injection.
Kelly gently wiped the first layer of blood off of Jack's head. Jack was pretty badly banged up. She had a clearly broken nose and two nasty pressure cuts on either side of her face. Fortunately, the cuts looked like they had stopped bleeding. Kelly tried to clean off the areas around Jack's injuries, trying hard not to start them bleeding again.
"This is the second time today I've had to clean blood off of someone," she said to Jack. "First Marcus, and now you."
That name snapped Jack out of her worried trance. The biotic looked back at her. "Where is he?"
"He's off rescuing Miranda's sister. She's been targeted for kidnapping by Cerberus. Apparently they were using her to keep Miranda in line."
"So She-Bitch had a sister? Huh."
"Well, turns out she's more like a younger clone of Miranda." Miranda had tried to explain the exact details to the crew, but it was a little confusing to Kelly.
"Oh. That doofus had better not get himself killed. I'll never forgive him." Jack blinked a few times, then suddenly gave Kelly a much harsher look. "What happened at Hotel T'Loria, exactly? I remember the room, and the bottle with your note on it. I also remember drinking from it before it all went weird."
Kelly dropped her eyes. "I'd ordered a bottle sent up to your room. Cerberus got to it and drugged it."
"Says you." Jack's eyes were becoming very dangerous.
Kelly swallowed hard and looked over at the exam table. "Samara...she vouched for me. She did the mind thing, you know?" Kelly tapped her own temple.
Jack's expression softened. "Oh. Shit. Don't worry, Blue's been around for nine hundred years. She's not going to let something like a stupid allergic reaction take her down."
Just then Samara's heart monitor began to wail. Previously, the monitor's display had shown an erratic pulse, but now it all it showed was a flat line.
----------------------------------------
Oriana tried to look casual. The model shop stood again in front of her; fortunately there were no signs of anyone in white armor. She almost went inside, but then realized she didn't want to be in a confined area. She decided to act as if she was window-shopping instead, and used the reflection in the store window to keep an eye on the crowds behind her. There weren't any redheads that she could see. Oriana dropped her eyes down to a particular model. It was of the Destiny Ascension, the flagship of the Citadel fleet. Right now she wished she had the dreadnought's main gun at hand.
A movement in the window's reflection caught her eye. It was someone in white armor, walking along the far side of the plaza. She didn't move or turn to look, not right away. Oriana tried to look casual as she turned and looked off to her left. She used her peripheral vision to check out the possible threat. Her heart sank as she recognized the salarian from Enyala's group. He was moving slowly through the crowd, carefully sweeping his eyes over everything. Oriana didn't flinch, and didn't look away suddenly. She didn't want to draw attention by any quick movements. She was giving the redhead one more minute, and then she was opening her omni-tool and calling for help.
"Well, hullooo! Fancy meeting you here! How are ye, Jacklyn?"
It was a loud, boisterous voice with a slight Scots accent. Oriana turned and saw a big bear of a man with red hair and green eyes. His face looked like someone had, long ago, smashed it repeatedly into a hard surface. But his eyes were cheerful and he sported a broad smile. He was also wearing quite possibly the most obnoxious floral-print shirt which Oriana had ever seen. His arms were spread out wide as if he was going to hug her.
She just stared at him for a moment, unsure of what to do.
He dropped his voice and muttered at her in a volume only she could hear. "Act like yer glad to see me, ye daft besom. The fuckin' cavalry's here."
Oriana gave a huge fake smile and stepped forward. She hugged his midsection. "Larry!" she said. "I can't believe it. How have you been?" She heard the man give a slight moan of pain, and she let up the pressure on her hug. Oriana glanced around the man's torso. Enyala had entered the far side of the plaza, and was staring right at her. The salarian moved back over to her, and they both looked in her direction.
"Oh, no," she muttered. "Enyala's seen us."
"Figures," muttered the redhead. "Kasumi, are you set?"
"All set, Marcus," said a voice from near Oriana's ear. She tried not to jump, but she still gave a little jerk of surprise.
"Tali?"
Oriana heard a faint voice from the redhead's comm. "Chikitta and I are good to go."
"If we get a chance to set things off, then let's make the go-word 'fancy'," said the redhead. He looked down at Oriana. "When you hear that word, hit the ground, got it? Just in case there's any gunfire."
Oriana nodded, and let go of him. "Let's go meet your father!" said Marcus in a louder voice. "I haven't seen that daft bugger in ages!" He motioned in the direction away from Enyala, and he and Oriana began to walk. She began to hope that they would get out of this without incident. But it wasn't to be. They got about halfway to the exit corridor when Enyala's voice spoke up behind them.
"Hold up, mister."
Marcus turned and pointed at himself, raising one eyebrow. Enyala and the salarian were behind them, more or less flanking either side of the pair. Oriana darted her eyes around, looking for the other asari that she knew had to be somewhere around here.
"Yes, you, the redhead," Enyala sounded exasperated. "That young woman is a suspect in a murder investigation, and you need to step aside right now."
Marcus gave Enyala a broad smile. He put one arm casually around Oriana's shoulders. "I'm afraid you're mistaken, ma'am. Jacklyn here is the daughter of a old friend of mine. Besides, yer not the police." Oriana noticed that he kept his other hand in his pocket.
Oriana saw Enyala's jaw tighten. "I've been hired to assist in the investigation. Now step aside." The asari stepped closer to them both.
"I'll still need to see some identification, ma'am."
There was suddenly a pistol in Enyala's hand, pointed right at Marcus's stomach. She was close enough to them that the gun wasn't easily visible to any passers-by. Her other fist was sheathed in a blue glow.
"This is all the identification you're getting," she growled. "I will kill you and everyone in this plaza to get her, understand?"
Oriana felt a feathery tingle in the back of her skull. To her shock, she realized that she wasn't actually scared of Enyala. She was angry at her. This stupid asari had messed up her life. And Oriana was getting tired of being treated like some kind of stupid trophy.
Marcus nodded slowly. "I understand."
Enyala gave him a piercing look. "Take your other hand out of your pocket. Slowly."
The redhead gave her a bemused smile. "You got it, ma'am. But I must say, I've never seen an identification so...fancy."
Oriana didn't hit the ground as instructed. Instead she threw herself at Enyala's legs, hoping she could tackle her and get the asari to miss if she fired. Oriana almost succeeded. She heard the gun go off and simultaneously felt a explosion of pain near one temple as the asari smacked her in the side of the head with one armored fist. Oriana tumbled to one side and opened her eyes. She came up on one knee and took quick stock. In less than a second her mind was able to observe and reconstruct what had happened and what was going on now.
Enyala must have fired right at the same time as she hit Oriana. Marcus grappled with her gun arm as a red stain spread along the left side of his shirt. The salarian in turn wrestled with empty air. Just as Oriana got to her feet, the salarian's arm twisted into a painful-looking lock and the mercenary then got thrown to the ground by his invisible assailant. He didn't get up.
Everyone around them had either scattered at the sound of the gunshot or were now pressed to the ground in panic. Oriana ran towards Marcus. Enyala yanked hard at her trapped arm, then slapped out at the redhead's ear. He rocked a bit with the blow, grunted, then quickly drew one meaty fist back and punched at her jaw in reply. Oriana saw he had something metallic in that fist. Enyala's head snapped around and she dropped to the ground as if poleaxed.
Oriana grabbed Marcus's shoulder. "Come on, we've gotta go."
The redhead blinked, then nodded and put one hand to his injured side with a small groan. "Another fucking rib," he muttered. "What is with ribs lately?"
She heard the boom of weapons fire at the far end of the plaza. Oriana also saw the glowing form of a combat drone zipping around. Now the people around them really started to panic. Oriana could see lots of wide, staring eyes. and heard lots of confused yelling.
"That's the other asari then," said the redhead. "Tali, can you handle her okay?"
"Please, this is me you're talking to," said the faint voice. "I'm just trying to keep her from hurting anyone."
"Right, we're offski. Let's rendezvous at the docks. We're taking advantage of the panic."
Oriana wasn't as casual about the whole situation. She knew that this panic could turn very ugly, very fast. They had to get moving now. She reached out and grabbed Marcus' hand, and before he could say anything she began dragging him towards the exit, surrounded by pushing and shoving people. She hoped Marcus didn't fall over. In this crowd, he would be trampled to death.
----------------------------------------
Kelly felt the churning in her stomach get worse. But she wasn't going to cry. Not yet. "Need to keep blood-flow going," said Mordin. The wail from the heart monitor wasn't going away. Jack just sat, staring at them all with a deadened expression on her face.
Mordin clambered on top of Samara. He was straddling her in a position that in any other circumstance would have looked suggestive. "Beginning heart compressions. Ms. Chambers, please assist with mouth-to-mouth. Human mouth structure better suited than salarian."
Kelly nodded, and moved up towards Samara's head. The salarian began administering CPR. Every twelve compressions, he nodded at Kelly. She then leaned over and locked her mouth over the justicar's and blew in. She then turned her head and felt the breath leave Samara's chest. Her churning stomach subsided. For now, there was nothing in her head but the need to keep Samara alive.
----------------------------------------
Oriana almost screamed when a small hooded figure appeared out of nowhere in front of them. Marcus leaned against a corridor wall, looking pale and sweaty while Oriana checked his injury. Enyala's bullet had bounced off of a rib as it grazed his side. At least it wasn't a puncture through his abdomen. But it was still a long, nasty gash which bled a lot more than she liked to see. She'd still had her other blouse sleeve and now held it folded and pressed against the gash. She didn't really have anything else to hold it in place.
"We should be clear back to the docks," said the hooded figure. She cocked her head. "Marcus, are you okay?"
"I'll live, Kasumi." He gave a half-smile. "It's just a flesh wound."
"He's bleeding too much," said Oriana. "We shouldn't move him."
Marcus shook his head. "I can make it. It's just a little bit farther," he said. "Did you see Tali?"
Kasumi nodded. "She's just around the corner. We've hacked the police comms to keep them looking in other places."
Oriana turned to Kasumi. "Come on, then. Give me a hand with him. Marcus, hold that cloth in place." Marcus nodded. "Go ahead and lean on our shoulders, okay?" Kasumi moved forward and they each got under one of Marcus' shoulders. As they walked carefully out of the corridor, a purple-suited quarian fell into step with them. She waved in greeting at Oriana. This must have been the 'Tali' that Kasumi mentioned.
"You gave me the note," said Oriana to her. It wasn't really a question, but Tali nodded anyway. After a few more turns, they came out into an open-air causeway that ran all along the docks. Oriana looked around. She was pretty sure she knew where she was, and where her ship should be.
"Can you take him from here?" she asked. "I know where to go to get to my ship's dock. I can't thank you enough, but I need to get back. My family's going to be worried sick."
"Ah," said Marcus. "That's a bit of a problem. You see, you're still in danger. You can't go back, or you're going to put your family in danger as well." He at least had the good grace to sound embarrassed.
"We need to get you back safe to our ship," added Tali. "We'll explain everything there and figure out what to do next."
Oriana sighed. Just as she thought it was all over. She thought briefly about simply dumping Marcus on his butt and running, but then she remembered Enyala's words in the plaza.
I will kill you and everyone in this plaza to get her, understand?
Whoever wanted her, it sounded like it was serious. "Okay," she said aloud. "Just don't make me regret lugging this guy's hairy butt around, okay?"
Marcus laughed, but his breath hitched halfway through the laugh. "Deal," he croaked. They all shuffled off. Oriana heard a distant whirring noise, and looked back just in time to see several dozen aircars fly over the concrete wall of the causeway. The swarm began flying towards them.
"I thought you hacked the police comms," said Marcus.
"I did," replied Tali. "Those aren't police."
Oriana let go of Marcus as they all began running. Marcus seemed to be keeping up okay in spite of his injury, probably due to adrenaline. "Call the Normandy," he gasped to Kasumi. "Tell them we're under attack."
Oriana didn't like the sound of that. This was supposed to be the safe option. But the ominous hum of the aircars behind them made her run as fast as she could. They were making some pretty good speed, right up until the moment that Marcus collapsed.