Mass Effect - a Hero Rises

Book 2, Chapter 9 -- Prayers for the Wicked

*****

My alarm sounded and I managed to turn it off without waking her. Sliding out from under the covers, I managed to find my clothing in the darkness, peeking outside the curtains to see the sun only just starting to brighten the sky in the distance. Actually sunrise would still be a couple of hours. It was only as I was putting on my boots that Gianna finally stirred as she turned over and noticed I was missing.

"Shepard?"

I crept over to the bed and knelt on it, running my hand through her long dark hair. "I have to meet the crew for breakfast," I whispered, "Ritual I must do before every mission. Busy day."

"No breakfast this morning?"

"Not this time. Maybe tomorrow though?" I leaned down to kiss her. "I really enjoyed last night."

"So did I. You'll be back tonight?"

"Of course. Soon as I have the recruit back on the ship, we'll quickly plan the next mission then I'll head here. Not sure what time."

"Just come straight here. I'll send you the code for the front door in case I'm not here. Just come in, make yourself at home."

"I could attempt to cook but... I can admit it's not a strong point."

"Oh, I love cooking, Shepard. Don't worry. All you need to do is make sure my wine glass is never empty, and that you shower with me affection."

"Both things I can do." I leaned down to kiss her again. It was a long kiss, and the passion increased with every passing second, the sheet covering her body falling down to reveal olive skin and parts of her body I definitely enjoyed. Through sheer willpower only, I managed to pull away. "I'll see you tonight."

"Stay safe, Shepard."

"I will."

Grabbing my jacket, I glanced back as she simply watched me leave in the darkness. God, I hated myself for leaving her like that. I could have happily stayed with her all morning in bed, and not even for the sex, which was as great as I remembered, but the simple fact I really liked being with her. But the job came first. It always had, and the ritual of breakfast before the mission was one I wasn't willing to break, even for her.

I checked the time as I walked back to the

Normandy

. Most people would still be getting up. Some early birds would be in the mess already, but most would be arriving by the time I walked out of the elevator. Even this early, Nos Astra was alive with people. I think it was one of those twenty-four-hour city's that simply never sleeps.

The mess was starting to get busy as I lined up to get a tray of food, pleased to see that Gardner had been off the ship to gather plenty of ingredients. He told me that the storage unit was now full of better quality products, and while most of our meals while out traversing the galaxy couldn't be with fresh produce, while we were on Illium, we would certainly be treated to more fruit and vegetables than usual. Music to my ears, in all honesty.

Taking my usual seat across from Garrus, next to Kelly, in the middle of the crew, I listened in as many discussed stories of what they'd been up to. It sounded like they'd been enjoying time away from the ship when they had the opportunity. I asked Kelly what she'd been up to. "Just wandered around, Shepard. I wouldn't call it a conventionally pretty city but there are places of tranquillity." She then shuffled a little closer, lifting her lips to my ear. "And I may have needed to get myself off last night. It's a bit awkward in a room full of people. But don't you dare apologise. I know who you've been with."

"You do?"

"Word spreads quickly, Shepard. She was in your file."

"Thanks."

She left a soft kiss on my cheek. "You have quite a few women who like you, Shepard. You're a lucky man."

"I don't know how you do it," Garrus muttered.

Once breakfast was finished, I got in contact with Liara for any last minute intel regarding the whereabouts of the assassin. She'd been busy since early the next morning and she was hopefully going to deliver. "

Jackpot, Shepard. As I told you, the arrival of drell pretty much anywhere outside Kahje is big news, simply because we don't see many of them around. A couple of contacts have let me know that the drell, Thane Krios, is on Illium to assassinate Nassana Dantius."

"That name sounds familiar."

"You killed her sister, Shepard. She didn't order it as you weren't to know. But there was an investigation and it blew up in her face. She left the Citadel for Illium, where she now resides in Dantius Towers, surrounded by a small army of Eclipse mercenaries. I'm not sure who Thane is working for, but he must have some skill to enter a tower full of mercenaries to kill one person."

"Any sighting of him since?"

"No. Your best bet would be to contact an asari by the name of Seryna. I will send you the details at the close of this call. I would be careful, Shepard. Drell mercenaries are extremely proficient. I have found out everything I could about Thane. Nothing official but he's been linked with dozens of assassinations. If you go chasing him, he might get the wrong idea and want to fight you as well."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that. Send me what you go and I'll go from there. Thanks, Liara."

"You're welcome, Shepard. One more thing. I know you're meeting with Gianna every night. Any chance we could have a chance to catch up while you're here?"

"Of course. Definitely before I have to go."

"Good. It's hard knowing you're here, off doing what you do. I have certainly missed the excitement. Being so close to death is quite the adrenaline rush."

"You're telling me! I'll let you know as soon as I can. Talk later."

Disconnecting, my omni-tool was soon flooded with information. A biography of Thane himself. Press articles that linked him to assassinations across the galaxy. An artist's impression of what he looked like. A breakdown of his favourite killing style. A list of his supposed talents. From what I read, the man made murder a work of art.

Figuring his idea of infiltrating a building would be pure stealth, I'd want to attract his attention, so would go in fast and loud. That meant Grunt, Jack, Garrus and Zaeed. I asked them to be ready in an hour as I headed up to the CIC, where I grabbed Kelly, and escorted her to the elevator, pushing the button for my cabin.

"Don't you have a mission?"

"In an hour."

"You're not..."

"I have plenty of time."

Once the elevator dinged, I grabbed her hand and led her into the cabin, where she spun and immediately kissed me as I led her towards the bed. Clothing was ripped off quickly, and once I had her down to underwear, she immediately sat back on the bed, moving backwards, as I undressed and joined her. She lifted her arse so I could lower her panties, spreading her legs and simply dove in. I think just thought of what we were doing had excited her, and I wasted little time getting her going, feeling her hand on top of my head to keep me in place. "Just like that," she breathed.

"God I love your taste," I murmured, licking and sucking every inch of her pussy I could, plunging her depths with my tongue. Her hips were soon bucking at what I was doing, hearing her breathing rate increase as she was definitely turned on now.

"Oh god," she cried quietly, almost squeaking, as she sat up on her elbows to watch me, lifting my eyes to look back at her. "Make me cum," she pleaded. I simply smiled as I made her head roll back again as my tongue found her clit, and she was ready to go now, her body grinding down into my mouth as I did everything to her clit except bite the damn thing off.

When she finally came, she came hard, trying to squeeze her legs together as I held them apart. Her back arched at quite the angle before she slowly relaxed, managing to pick herself up onto her elbows again. She now looked absolutely beautiful in the low light, with her rather red cheeks, red hair stuck to her forehead, those green eyes of hers staring into mine.

I stopped what I was doing, instead slowly kissing up her body as she managed to remove her bra, giving her hard nipples a little attention before I kissed up her neck, making her moan as I gently bit her. When I kissed her, I slid my cock in at the same time. "I can taste myself on your lips," she said with a giggle, followed by a gasp as I buried my cock.

Honestly, I would say it was the first time we made love. Feeling her pull her legs up, holding them to my side, I didn't just pound her like before. It was certainly gentler, and more about the whole experience. We made out nearly the entire time, feeling her fingers really dig into my back when I really drove down into her, but it wasn't hard, just deep, enough to earn a loud gasp or an appreciative moan.

"You feel fantastic," I murmured, "Love being with you like this, Kelly."

The smile she returned was simply fantastic, lighting up the entire room as she dragged my head down to kiss me. "You are so much better than my fingers, Shepard." I couldn't help chuckle though she laughed as well, the joke obvious.

She eventually wrapped her legs around me, feeling her ankles just above by arse, though I was in no hurry to cum, simply wanting to enjoy the feeling of being intimate with her again, as it had been a few days since our last time. But no man can last forever, and only when I could feel my orgasm arriving did I start to thrust into her a little faster, but even then, nothing like before. I kissed her hard again before I rested my forehead against hers, staring into her eyes.

"Cum in me," she breathed. I was going to do that anyway but hearing a woman say that would always be sexy. I groaned as I felt the impending rush, burying myself hard a few times before I finally erupted, a louder, longer groan escaping me as I pumped until I simply couldn't any longer, stopping with my cock completely buried inside her, resting down just above her body as I felt her arms and legs wrap around me tightly. "Think we both needed that," she whispered.

"Definitely," I said quietly. I stayed inside her, continuing to make out, until I simply had to move, falling onto my back beside her, feeling her immediately roll onto her side as I wrapped an arm around her, feeling her head rest on my shoulder, her fingers immediately running up and down my chest. "Shepard, this is probably the best time to ask something personal."

I smiled and kissed her forehead. "Ask away, Kelly."

"Is it hard not getting feelings? Do you... just ignore them?"

"I get feelings but I just ignore them, Kelly. Otherwise I'd feel guilty about what I do sometimes, and I don't want that. I enjoy my life."

"I know about Annie, but have you had feelings for others but haven't admitted it to them?"

"Yes. Please don't ask who."

"I won't. I was... just wondering, that's all."

I turned to meet her eyes. "I really like you, Kelly. And I mean that one hundred percent."

She smiled, caressing my cheek before leaning forward to leave a soft kiss on my lips. "Those feelings are definitely returned, Shepard."

I turned onto my side and kissed her again, pulling her body close to mine, my hand running down until I grabbed her arse. The making out was passionate, her fingers again raking down my back, whimpering into my mouth. I think we would have been ready to go again until there was a noise that made us stop. "Think that might be EDI," Kelly whispered.

"Hmmm, you might be right." I cleared my throat. "Is there something you needed, EDI?"

"

Apologies for interrupting, Shepard, but you told the others to meet in one hour. You have fifteen minutes until that time."

"Ah, okay. Thank you, EDI. Appreciated."

"You're welcome, Shepard.

"

I looked back at Kelly. "I would suggest we pick this up later but..."

Kelly simply smiled. "Shepard, I said I understand so don't worry about explaining yourself." She kissed me again before saying, "I just loved what we did. Your entire focus was on me, like I was the only girl in the entire galaxy. You made me feel special. That's all any girl wants."

We headed to the bathroom for a quick wash before we dressed and headed downstairs. Kelly returned to her terminal as I walked into the armoury, quickly dressing in my armour and grabbing my weapons. Before leaving, I returned to Kelly, spun her around, and gave her quite the parting gift. The smile returned when I finally pulled back was reward enough. "Don't do anything stupid," she warned.

"I'll be back later to at least drop all this stuff off."

"Long as I get another kiss like that." She leaned forward. "Though now they're all going to gossip."

"Kelly, they know we're intimate already."

That made her rise her eyebrows. "Intimate? I thought we were fucking?"

"That too." I caressed her cheek as I added, "But I really enjoyed what we did today."

I kissed her again then walked away, feeling the eyes of some of the crew on me. I'm sure Kelly was perhaps a little embarrassed, but I glanced back to be rewarded with another grin. This sort of behaviour would never have flown on an Alliance vessel. It would have been fraternisation and we'd have both been in deep shit. Considering it was Cerberus, and it wasn't military, I was left thinking

Fuck it. Enjoy life for a change.

The four I requested were waiting outside the ship, sitting around, shooting the shit, before my arrival. Once they noticed me, they all stood up and waited for orders. I explained briefly who we were looking for, who the target was, where we would be going and what to anticipate once we were inside. Zaeed looked around and asked, "So we're not exactly going subtle then, Shepard?"

"Not at all. I want to either gain his attention or keep them distracted enough that they don't kill him before we get to him."

First port of call was to speak with Seryna. It was easy to understand within two minutes that she had a bone to pick with Nassana Dantius, but I wasn't left believing she was telling any lies. To put it bluntly, Nassana was an unscrupulous bitch who deserved to be put in the ground. As we didn't know where the towers were, she offered to take my team there, all of us managing to fit into her skycar. On the way, she provided more information, particularly in regards to infiltrating the building, the type of enemies we might run into, and a suggestion what we could do to Nassana if we got to her first. Dropped off in the parking lot outside, she wished us luck, and expressed the opinion that Thane would likely take care of Nassana thanks to us helping in our own way.

Walking towards the front doors, the sound of gunfire was a surprise, quickly taking out weapons and jogging forward. It wasn't Thane, of course. I could see mercenaries gunning down people in uniforms such as janitors. I simply charged and slammed into one of the Eclipse mercenaries, turning and blasting away another one. I hadn't taken Grunt down on Horizon, as he'd just woken up and I wasn't exactly sure about taking him down on that setting. But he proved his worth, his enormous shotgun blasting Eclipse mercenaries away with ease. In fact, the shotgun was so powerful, it generally sent them flying.

Once the mercenaries were dead, we questioned a couple of the workers who had survived. They couldn't tell me all that much. I had some medical training, as did Garrus, so we were able to patch up those we could, but a couple wouldn't see the sun rising the next morning. Escorting the workers away, surprised that most of them were salarian, we gathered together as I issued final instructions. Well, a final instruction.

"Anyone in yellow dies." I looked at Zaeed. "Not you, obviously."

"Had me a little worried there, Shepard. Thought I might have to start wearin' blue."

"I was thinking why don't we all start wearing black," I suggested as we moved on.

"Why black?" Garrus asked.

"We'd look like sinister motherfuckers for one thing. All five of us turning up in black armour right now? We'd scare the shit out of most people."

I shut up as we soon met more Eclipse mercenaries and we all got down to what we did best. I was charging around the exposed room, Grunt didn't know what cover was, Jack used her favourite attack of shockwave, each one sending mercenaries flying through the air, Zaeed rarely missed a target, while Garrus worked from range. Nassana definitely had an army as we must have fought five to six times our number in that small battle alone. My shields went down more than once and it was only thanks to my armour that I wasn't actually shot.

I was already wondering how the incessant fire didn't attract the attention of the local police, though I'd been told Nassana had likely bought off anyone possible for protection. The only event that would probably bring anyone here was if we blew the towers to the ground. While that wasn't my intention, I didn't chuckle to myself as no doubt my reputation for destruction would only increase.

Stepping over the bodies, most of them bleeding out, shooting those who were not dead yet, we found an elevator that appeared to be in working order. Jack called me over, pointing her weapon at a door. "Voices," she whispered.

I didn't think mercenaries would be hiding behind a door, waiting for us to open, but I didn't like surprises either. I gestured for everyone to be ready as I knocked on the door. "Who's there?" asked a voice from inside.

"We're friendlies. Name's Shepard. You okay in there?"

"We are, but can you get us out. We're trapped in here."

"Stand back. I brought a krogan." Stepping aside, I gestured from Grunt to the door. "Reckon you could..." Before I could finish my sentence, Grunt charged and bust down the door with ease. Inside were four terrified salarians, probably even more terrified having seen a charging krogan appear, but Grunt stepped back and I popped my head through the gap. "Hey, fellas. Doing okay?"

They were relieved to see some friendly faces and had more information for us. Thane had actually been through this way before us and had actually sealed them inside. So he appeared to be an assassin with a conscience, or at least he didn't like collateral damage. We pointed them in the direction they could at least leave safely, suggesting they ignore the bodies though they were all dead. As they disappeared, we headed to the elevator.

In these situations, it's never wise to stand near the doors, so we stood back and waited, weapons ready, just in case. Caution proved correct when the doors opened to reveal a krogan and two asari. Before they could even move, we poured so much firepower into the small space, they had no chance, dragging their bloodied corpses out before loading in and pressing the button to go up.

"Well, this is lovely," Garrus joked, "I love it when I get blood all over my boots."

"Ah, quit your belly achin'. Part of the fuckin' job," Zaeed muttered.

"I have standards," Garrus retorted.

It was quite the journey before the elevator dinged, the doors opened, and ahead stood a lone mercenary. Gesturing for quiet, I walked forward until I could prod the barrel of my shotgun into his back. "How's it going? Lovely view from up here, isn't it?"

He was obviously having a smoke, watching his hand shake as he took it from his mouth. "Sure, what do you want to know?"

"Where's the assassin?"

He choked back a laugh. "How would I fuckin' know? I'm just smokin' here, friend."

"Not your friend. Where's the assassin?"

"I told you. I don't..."

I pulled the trigger, the blast going straight through his back, through his body, busting the glass partition in front of him, and with a soft kick, I sent his body falling over the edge. Without another word, we tuned and moved on, Eclipse now more than aware we were coming. We tried hacking into their radio channels, but they must have been encrypted, as none of us could get in, so we didn't hear their chatter.