Capítulo 5: 5. Vanguard
Liara stood in the bathroom. Freshly showered, she had dressed herself up professionally. Again, it was not a date. This was a business meeting. She applied her make-up, choosing to be rather conservative in her appearance. She proceeded to grab her datapad containing her notes on prothean sites.
Bruce, meanwhile, was dressing up for a very different kind of night inside the Beta-cave. He had put his black war paint over his eye while the batcomputer ran its diagnostics on the batmobile and batsuit. Everything came back green. Bruce took a second before turning to the batsuit which was opening up for him.
—
Down in the Silversun district of the Citadel Wards Garrus was sitting at one of the tables at a dextro-restaurant. Out on a patio overlooking the walkways of the district. With Tali sitting on the other side of the table. The dinner had begun somewhat awkwardly with Garrus and Tali only exchanging some simple pleasantries before the waiter came and took their order. It was only when the waiter delivered their food when the conversation actually progressed.
"So." Garrus said. "What are your plans?"
"I'm not sure." Tail answered. "I delivered everything that I had on Gedur and his involvement with the Blood Pack. I should just continue with my pilgrimage."
"But?"
"Gedur is one of my people." Tali explained. "He's a traitor to the fleet and a threat-"
"That isn't your problem." Garrus tried to assure her. Though he couldn't help but be impressed with the Quarian. With her sense of Duty.
"Isn't it?" Tali asked. "You don't know Gedur. He was always a good tech as I'm sure you've noticed. You haven't found Bane or his blood pack yet."
Garrus sighed. "We will find them."
"We?" Tali asked. "Meaning you and…"
"Me and C-Sec." Garrus corrected himself. He didn't want to give Tali the wrong idea.
"You don't trust the Batman?" Tali asked.
Garrus chose his words carefully. "I don't consider him a threat."
"I'm glad someone on this Station isn't." Tali said, referring to all the news reports.
"You were on Omega. What's your read on him?"
"I never saw him before coming here." Tali answered. "But, from what I saw while I was there, he was making things better."
"Well, I do hope he can have the same effect here." An honest opinion from Garrus. He was taking a big chance on his alliance with Batman.
From there, Garrus and Tali started eating their food while exchanging words about what Tali plans to do for money while staying on the Citadel. About Garrus' past with C-Sec. All the while, a group of Salarians were slowly moving through the area.
They were discreetly leaving devices throughout the area while Crane was waiting up in the Keeper tunnels. He was wearing a combat suit of his own design. It was plain brown with a large compartment on his back. His Jack-O-Lantern mask resting on a crate next to him.
He was going to observe and even participate in this public experiment of his. He waited patiently until one of his men gave him the signal. "The packages are all in place."
"Excellent." Crane grabbed his helmet. "Let us commence the public trail."
Garrus and Tali were just finishing up their dinner when the Turian caught something out of the corner of his eye. A Salarian putting on a gas mask. He was trying to be discreet about it.
"What is it?" Tali asked while Garrus started surveying the walkways down below. His eyes darted around as he saw another Salarian putting on a gas mask…and another. He dropped his fork and activated the comm in his omni-tool.
"This is Vakarian." Garrus yelled into the comm, alerting everyone in the restaurant. A bit too late. The sound of small explosions rang out across the district. The bombs didn't create much damage, but released large clouds of gas throughout the Silversun Strip. Garrus turned to all the other tables. "Everyone inside now!!"
Garrus and Tali stood up from their tables and went into the interior of the restaurant along with the panicked guest. Garrus yelled into his comm. "Chemical attack in the Silversun District. Deploy Emergency response and alert the Executor!"
Garrus took a final look out into the crowds of the district. The gas wasn't killing them. It was doing something else to them. Panic was gripping the streets as people were starting to scream and even attack each other.
---
Batman was flying in his Batmobile when Alfred came in over the comm. "Sir, there is a chemical attack underway in the Silversun District."
"Chemical Attack?" Batman repeated.
"Yes, Sir." Alfred confirmed. "Clouds of some sort of toxin are flooding the streets."
That didn't make sense. "That isn't Bane's M.O."
"Garrus put out the alert." Alfred said while he scrolled through the C-Sec reports. "C-Sec is deploying a large force."
Batman ran it over in head. "In the opposite direction of Lady Benezia's home."
"Sir, there must be hundreds of people in that part of the district at least."
----
Back at the district, Garrus was trying desperately to keep the restaurant's staff and patrons calm. Fortunately, Tali was willing to try to assist him with that while he communicated with C-Sec. "Listen…Detective Anaya, is that you? Full body protection. Combat helmets on and pressurized, the air outside is not safe….The suspects are Salarian. They'll be the ones in gas ma-"
Garrus suddenly took notice of another Salarian inside the restaurant. Standing in the middle of the crowd. Slipping on a gas mask. Garrus reached for his pistol. "Freeze!!!"
The Salarian put his hands up right before a couple bursts of gas went off from several parts of the restaurant. Filling the room with the toxin. Garrus barely had time to react before it hit his lungs. The effect was immediate.
He didn't immediately panic like the rest of the patrons in the restaurant. The frantic crowd separated him from Tali while the lights seemed to flash around him. Garrus became disoriented. The walls seemed to shift around him while the patrons morphed into something else. His mind couldn't even process what they were anymore while they viciously began to attack one another.
Garrus could hear Detective Anaya screaming in his year but her voice became muffled in his head. He stumbled away from the fighting monsters. He had no real sense of where he was going or where he even was anymore. Before he knew it he was in what seemed to be a long, dark hallway. The walls seemed to scale up to infinity.
There was a bright light at the end of the hallway. A figure stepped into the light. It spoke in an echoey voice. "Garrus."
He recognized the voice. The figure stepped forward out of the light. Garrus recognized him right away. "Dad?"
Garrus' father stared him down. Daggers in his eyes while he spoke. "A vigilante, Garrus? You're working with a fucking vigilante!?"
"What choice do I have?" Garrus pleaded. "All that red tape. Regulations keeping me from putting these monsters away."
"Power through it!" Garrus' father scowled. "Like I did. Do it the right away."
"And how many murder victims died while you were doing it the right way." Garrus yelled back.
His father just shook his head. "You disappoint me, Garrus."
"DISAPPOINT YOU!!!" Another voice screamed from behind Garrus. He turned and saw himself in his C-Sec uniform. Stepping out of the darkness that filled the other end of the hallway. Screaming back at his father. "You know damn well what these people are. What they deserve. The humans have a saying: An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. These criminals have taken many eyes and teeth and someone has to collect the debt!"
Garrus had heard those words before. In his head during his arguments with the Executor and his father about C-Sec protocols. Thoughts that had lingered in the back of his mind for years. The two figures continued to scream at each other. They're voices echoing in his mind. He grabbed his head. "This isn't real. This isn't real!"
"OF COURSE IT IS!!!!" A screeching voice rang out from above him. Piercing into his very skull. He looked up and saw a what seemed to be a spider. Four long legs climbing down the walls, another four on its small but grotesque body dangling in between. Its head was orange and black. Ooze dripped from its mouth while it spoke. "What you see is more real than anything else. The fear!!! Tearing you apart from the inside."
The creature reached out its hand. "The fear you've tried so hard to bury away, brought to the lig-"
There was a sudden boom. A flash of light that caused the creature to retreat. Garrus collapsed to the ground. The bang, the voices still ringing in his ears. But he wasn't alone anymore.
Tali, who had been protected from the gas by her enviro-suit, jumped between Garrus and the Salarian scaling back up the wall of the back alley they were now standing in. She looked down at Garrus who was now catatonic and then back up at the Salarian. He had four mechanical arms stretching out from the back of his combat suit. The suit was brown with an orange and black mask painted into the shape of some sort of smile. To Tali's sober eyes, the whole get up looked a tad ridiculous.
She grabbed Garrus' pistol from its holster and pointed it up. "Who are you?"
"I am the specter of your worst fears!" The Salarian answered. "I am Scarecrow!"
Scarecrow reached out and fired darts containing his toxin down from his wrists. Tali easily dodged them and fired Garrus' pistol back up at him. Scarecrow, using the mechanical arms, leapt up to the top of the alley. Tali threw another one of her homemade flashbangs, prompting the Salarian to retreat.
Confident that he was gone, she knelt down at Garrus' side, he was shaking from the toxin. She grabbed his arm. Activating his omni-tool. She spoke into his comm. "Hello!? This is Tali'Zorah. Garrus needs help. Send help!"
"Copy that." Anaya responded. "I'm on my way."
—
Benezia could hear the sirens in the distance, she looked out the large windows and could see the flashing lights of C-Sec off in the distance. Flying in the opposite direction from her large apartment. The Captain of the Asari Commandos guarding her stepped up behind her. "Mistress, would you like me to retrieve your daughter?"
"No." Benezia answered with an understated tone that shocked the Commando. A tone of resignation. "Right now, she's safest far away from here?"
"My lady." The Commando said. "My sisters have made this apartment the most secure place on the Citadel."
"I didn't bring you here to make things secure. I brought you here to fight." Benezia said, a bit more forcefully. The time had finally come. The rest of the Court thought she was overreacting to the Turian Councilor's murder. But It wasn't by chance that Sparatus' safe was broken into during that attack, an action that sent out an automatic alert to the rest of the Court. An alert that clearly demonstrated what that attack actually was. Even still, the rest of them were unwilling to face reality.
They had convinced themselves that the truth, the warning, that had been left behind by the Protheans wasn't something they were going to have to deal with today. Maybe a year from now, a century from now, but not now. But Benezia knew that wasn't the case. They were coming, their minions were mobilizing, and the Court needed to prepare themselves but she feared that, after all these generations, they had grown complacent. And at this moment right now, she was going to have to fight them off herself.
An explosion came from the living room of the apartment. Completely unfazed, Benezia looked at the captain of her Commandos. "Prepare yourself, "
The Matriarch strolled out of the office with the captain rushing out before her. There was a brief exchange of gunfire and biotic blasts before Benezia reached the top of the staircase leading down to the living area where her Commandos were now in a standoff with a group of Vorcha and Krogan.
"Finally." A calm, modulated voice said as a massive Krogan strolled out of the shadows from behind his men. "I was beginning to fear there wouldn't be an actual fight to be found on the Citadel. I would hate for the Bat to carry the load himself."
Benezia looked down at the Warlord. At his dead, cracking skin that revealed the cybernetics. At the grotesque metal mask welded onto the face of the seemingly reanimated corpse. "Out of all the unholy creatures I expected them to unleash, I never expected something like you."
"My appearance has nothing to do with the night winds, my lady." Bane said. "I am the sins of a galaxy come to life. Speaking for the graves your kind have built your precious peace upon…and for the gods who will see them avenged."
"You think they care at all about those who are already dead." Benezia said with a fire in her eyes. She slowly walked down the stairs. "They would've killed them themselves if they had the chance. They care not for justice."
"They have heard the suffering and, with the fire of a trillion angry, dead souls, they will burn you all away!" Bane declared with a tone that left little doubt in Benezia's mind. This Krogan, whose brilliance and will was so infamous that his name had lived on long after his death…was already lost. One of the greatest Warlords in history, reduced to a puppet.
"Have you ever faced an Asari Commando unit before?" The Matriarch asked coldly as she reached the bottom of the stairs. "I imagine you have."
"And they never disappoint." Bane matched her death glare as he raised his hand to a Vorcha that had been in the process of opening a case that contained vials in it. Clearly getting the hint, the Vorcha closed the case and moved back. Bane wasn't interested in monsters and cheap tricks here. "Let the games begin!"
The apartment then exploded in a scene of blood and biotics. The Blood Pack shot first but the Commandos were quick to get their barriers up. At least, most of them were. They fired their shotguns. The various Vorcha fell quickly while the Krogan Berserkers powered through and charged. Their eyes black with the blood-rage.
Blood colored orange and blue sprayed about as the firefight devolved into a brutal melee. All the while, Benezia and Bane kept their eyes locked onto each other. Bane stepped slowly through the carnage, blood from both sides splattering onto him as he approached the Matriarch. Benezia threw a wave of biotic energy that splashed against him like water on rock. He barely even flinched.
Benezia's eyes widened in surprise. She had never seen anyone just power through one of her biotic throws before. She threw a second, even stronger one, at him. He staggered a bit but kept coming. She then threw one of the most powerful singularities most people in the galaxy will ever see, sending the blood pack, commandos, and much of the furniture flying up in a tornado of dark energy.
Bane, however, immediately reached down and gripped onto the floor. His fingers digging into the tiles. He didn't even break eye contact with Benezia who was now growing more and more concerned. She had heard the tales of Weyrloc Bane, about his sheer raw strength that was only outweighed by his brilliance but, even with his clear enhancements, she never expected anything like this.
The Warlord took a step forward, throwing his other hand down as he did. Keeping his firm grip on the ground as he advanced. Benezia threw more waves of biotic throws which Bane, yet again, just brushed off like they were nothing. The Captain of her Commandos, still floating around in the singularity, pointed her shotgun and fired at the Warlord. The shot shattered the armor at his hump but he still gave no reaction other than quickly drawing his own shotgun with one hand and blasting the captain square in the chest without even a glance in her direction. Her blue blood sprayed from her armor as she ragdolled through the air.
Still not taking his eyes off Benezia. Bane released his shotgun, allowing it to fly away with the waves of the singularity, and took another step…and another. He drew a large knife as Benezia threw another wave at him. It was a futile effort. Bane rushed through and plunged his blade right between the bones of her ribcage. Straight into her lungs.
The singularity faded as the Blood Pack warriors and Asari all fell to the ground. The Krogan recovered quickly and proceeded to wipe out the Commandos. Bane finally broke eye contact with Benezia to observe the resulting massacre before looking back at the Matriarch with a mocking look of disappointment. "First time for everything."
Bane withdrew the knife from her, allowing Benezia to fall back onto the bottom of the stairs. The Warlord looked down at her, dropped to one knee, and extended his hand to the necklace at her neck. He lightly pulled it, bringing up a small electronic card that was attached to it. Hidden beneath her clothes. She thought that keeping it on her person would allow her to keep it safe. She was wrong.
"Two down." Bane said as he yanked the chain off her neck. "Three to go."
Benezia looked up at him, blood beginning to trickle down from her mouth as she said. "You…You can kill me and take that. B-But you'll never win. The cycle ended with the Protheans."
"For as long as the cycle of injustice exists." Bane responded. Necklace in one hand, blue-blood soaked blade in the other. "So too, will the cycle of vengeance."
The Warlord prepared to deliver the final blow, raising the knife up…but then there was a sudden boom. The large, ceiling windows of the apartment blew out right before several batarangs came raining down. They struck several of the krogan including Bane himself, planting itself right into the shoulder plating of his armor.
Batman then flew down and promptly began to fight the various krogan warriors while Bane just glanced over to his shoulder. He casually removed the batarang from his armor and turned to see the Batman using speed and agility to deal with the charging Krogan Blood Pack. Batman dodged blows and delivered counter punches. Using the aggressiveness of the Krogan against them. But Bane was smarter than the average Krogan.
The Warlord stood and waited while the Batman fought off his blood pack. He kept himself ready and waiting until the Dark Knight, in the midst of the fight, instinctively went to deliver a flying kick to Bane who just caught Batman in mid air and chucked him across the room. Batman rolled across the ground and got to his feet quickly while the Warlord stared him down.
"It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Batman." Bane said. "I've long waited to come face to face with the Dark Knight of Omega."
"I wish I could say the same to the Terror of Omega, Bane." Batman fired back.
"I am the Vanguard of your destruction, Batman." Bane declared as he theatrically extended his arms out. "And the salvation of the Krogan people."
Batman's eyes were drawn to the chain in Bane's hand. With the electronic key attached to it. Bane took notice to Batman's line of sight, he looked at the key himself and realized there were bigger priorities. "But I suppose your destruction can wait a bit longer."
Bane signaled to his Krogan who opened fire with their shotguns. Batman went to take cover while Bane took the opportunity to escape. Leaving through opened wall paneling from which they came.
Once they were gone, Batman ran over to Benezia who was now only clinging to life. Batman knelt down but quickly realized that his medi-gel wasn't going to help. He activated his omni-tool to signal the batmobile while he tried to reassure her. "Hang in there. I can help-"
With all that was left of her strength, Benezia reached up to grab his arm. "T-The catalyst…you must stop them…th…the cata…"
Her arm fell down and, just like that, the Asari Matriarch was dead. A flood of rage filled Batman's veins as reality hit him like a rocket to the face. He was too late. Too slow. He stood up, gritting his teeth. Too slow!!!!
The Dark Knight turned and ran across the apartment. Quickly spotting the open wall panel. He slid in moving through the space until he came upon a vertical shaft. A dead drop down to the bottom, to the inner infrastructure of the Citadel. The Blood pack were NOT going to get away.
Bane and his Krogan moved through the shafts and piping until they met up with the Quarian tech Gredure who was surrounded with several Vorcha. The Warlord was quick with his orders. "We must move quickly. The Bat is upon us. Open a secure path."
A couple of Krogan at Bane's back began firing their shotguns while batarangs and shock grenades came flying in return. The Vorcha were quick with weapons while Bane barked at the Quarian. "Do it now!"
Panicked, Gredur ran over to one of the access hatches and began his hacking while Bane gestured to the Vorcha holding the case of Titan.
"The Bat will keep following." One of the other Vorcha screeched out.
"Indeed." Bane agreed while he opened the case. "You're just going to have to hold his attention."
"Alone!?" The Vorcha stopped firing and turned to the Warlord. "How I-"
Bane grabbed the Vorcha by the throat and proceeded to inject him with the Titan. "With your legendary intellect, of course."
He released the Vorcha who fell to the ground and quickly began to convulse while the Titan overtook him. The Quarian, meanwhile, was frantically trying to get the access hatch open while gunshots continued to go off around him. After a series of 'access denied', he finally just said. "Oh, fuck it."
Gedur then pulled out a thick wad of omni-gel and slapped it onto the hatch, prompting it to open. Bane and the Blood Pack quickly made their retreat along with the Quarian. With no more bullets firing at him, Batman came running down the corridor only to be greeted by the transforming Vorcha.
The alien's body contorted, his fingers grew into talons, the spikes on his head extended, and the folds of skin twisted and grew into more spikes. The creature roared, sending spikes shooting out from his chest. Batman dodged the spikes and realized that he had no choice but to retreat.
The Titan Vorcha pursued the Dark Knight through the bowels of the Citadel. Without the decryption skills required to break through the keeper's encryptions himself or even an accurate map, Batman simply went back to where he had come. He led the creature back to the apartment building and, from there, out onto the streets. Once he was there, he activated his omni-tool and sent the signal.
Batman fired his grappling hook to take flight specifically to draw the Vorcha to leap up after him. Once the creature was in the air, the batmobile came flying. Crashing right into the Vorcha and immediately flying up. Taking him out beyond the Citadel's great Mass Effect field, into the cold vacuum. A tactic Batman, ordinarily, would never even consider but, as he had previously informed Garrus, the moment someone is injected with the Titan Compound…they're already dead.
Liara, having heard about the chemical attack in the Silversun District, had left the restaurant where she was to meet Bruce and returned to the apartment. She walked into the horrific scene of dead Asari Commandos and Blood Pack but, before she could fully process it, she spotted her mother lying dead on the base of the steps. Liara gasped and ran over.
She stopped right at her mother's body and stood there in shock for a moment. Tears filled her eyes while she knelt down. Liara hugged her mother as she finally broke down. She cried with her mother in her arms while Batman looked down from above the shattered ceiling windows.
He was crouched down on the roof of the neighboring building while he watched Liara grieving the loss of her mother. Her cries reached his ears while the memory of him crying over the bodies of his parents flooded his mind. He hung his head in shame.
Batman had figured out Bane's game, he abandoned hundreds of innocents in the Silversun strip for the opportunity to stop him, to save Benezia. He failed. The Matriarch was dead. God only knows how many had died in the chemical attack. All of those deaths…his fault. Batman knew this, felt it in his very soul. No matter what Alfred or anyone else would tell him, it was his fault.
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