Chapter Text
The sound of thunder burst over the room and vibrated along the wall he leaned against. He felt it, though it was clearly not nearby. The whitewashed space was cool, and despite how thin the jumpsuit he had on was, sweat was running rivets down his spine. His brow prickled with the droplets of moisture that threatened to obscure his vision. It was a struggle to remember to take in deep breaths, heavy from his diaphragm with his hands shaking like they were. Hell, the more aware he became, the more he realized his whole body was shaking. Knocking his head back against the wall, once, twice; he swore to himself and pushed himself back up wincing at the pain sharp in his sciatica shooting down his legs. The muscles were slightly atrophied from disuse.
Another explosion sounded off in the distance and his lips curled rather manically. It was his cue. The sound pumping adrenaline through his veins as he began to move again, bare feet pounding along the tile on the floor. Vaguely he could hear boots down the hall headed in the direction of the last blast. It had been too many months planning for anything to fail now.
Throwing his body against the next corner, the shadows around him seemed to embrace his pallor skin and he took in another heavy breath to calm down the pounding in his chest, holding it till his lungs burned. It wouldn't do, to plan so meticulously for so long through a haze of drugs and pain, only to fail because he couldn't hold in a few measly breaths.
Static crackled in his ear from the stolen short-range transmitter and his jaw clenched. He wasn't sure if it was blood or sweat that he felt pool along his lip, but his hand raised to swipe it away absently, as he listened intently to the broken words that crackled sporadically: "...has escaped...all units to section de-...I repeat S-..."
A laugh nearly bubbled out of his chest: good, communications were knocked out as well. It meant they were flying just as blind as he was. The relief was short lived; however, as the pounding of metal on metal and a skid of boots echoed through the hall, coming closer. His head whipped around to see three white armoured men round the corner and his arm flung out, a wash of blue swirling around him, bursting through the air as one guard flew straight up as if gravity no longer functioned properly. He wasn't sure who, but a distant cackle rang through the air as the other two took two steps back. It wasn't until the next one flew into the wall with a swipe of his eager hand that he realized the laugh was coming from himself. It sent a shiver down his back, knotting at the base of his spine uncomfortably.
His jaw once more tight, his teeth almost ground together, he stalked toward the final soldier, bullets pinging off the blue barrier that caressed tight around his flesh. He heard a screech and watched the man almost tumble over his feet as his hand hurled itself against his chest causing him to flip feet over chin, brown eyes dark and wavering behind angry blue light.
Stepping over the body, his barrier sizzling around him, there was another jagged sound cutting through the air. Static squealed overhead as a voice echoed through the halls. "Do not let him escape! Approach with caution, do not use lethal force. Subject Zero must be captured alive." His hand was wrapped around the communicator. Dark energy sparked in his grip, and it took too much control not to crush the tech into dust. He needed it to keep abreast of their movements. It had been difficult enough to snag one in the first place; he wasn't about to struggle to find another.
Another click of sound and the voice cut off. They had communications back up as well; he'd have to tread a bit more carefully. Leaning down to pick up the pistol from the fallen soldier, Kaidan's hands seemed to move on their own accord: checking the heat sink, checking the safety. He snorted. The idiot had left it on. Somewhere in his chest he felt a shot of guilt for the pool of red that leaked from the white suit, but it was quickly overruled as the sound of metal crashing into metal bounced along the halls to his ears.
Weapon up, shoulders tense, his body pressed against the wall, stepping silently as he moved into position. The sound of the voices were strange to him; he didn't know if it was the helmets that did it, or if Cerberus made their officers go through voice training, but they all sounded the same. Gruff, hard, overconfident.
"Spread out. Beta team take the left; spread through the labs. He was last spotted headed toward the morgue; we can cut him off through B-wing. Foxtrot, move down the hall; Guardians, you take their point."
With a show of teeth to the unaware squad, his eyes closing, he stepped around the corner just enough to throw out a singularity before pressing himself tight to the wall again. This time he was silent, stoic, as he heard the screams from the surprised crew, bullets pelleting the hall and ceiling in haphazard attempts to either strike him or simple accident discharges in their own surprise. Not wanting to ruin the element of surprise he had afforded, his feet found themselves pushing out of cover, nearly rolling in to grab up a dropped Guardian shield. Raising it in front of him as he threw out another burst of energy, lifting two soldiers high in the air, not even looking as their limbs dangled uselessly. Pistol raised, two headshots caused blood spurting and beading in the air along with the floating bodies; the gun’s path was smooth as he made two more shots before his arm had to tuck back behind the shield. He could hear the steps forward from the others only to catch a yell as a few others got caught in the swirling core of his previous singularity. The barrier around his body seized and he didn't know where it came from, a buildup of rage and adrenaline, but his organs seemed to swell and ebb, filling with blood and eezo making him feel full, ready to burst. The noise that shook the room was nothing to the feeling over his skin as his vision cleared from the pounding red of his blood and the wavering blue of his biotics when he realized he'd burst through the line of soldiers with a biotic charge.
Huh. Never done that before.
Shaking off the prickling along his skin, Kaidan spun around to the remaining soldiers and picked one off with a shot to his leg, the clacking of armor against the flooring sharp. This time it was clear the sound that called out was not from him as a soldier ran toward him, clearly attempting his own sort of charge. It was enough of a surprise that Kaidan only caught on at the tail end, the man was closer than he should have gotten. It wasn't a move he was particularly adept at or comfortable with, but memories of another man floated through his mind. As the charging one got into range his arm raised, his body twisting out of the way, it was a confused sort of motion and guard tried to stop, maneuver; but too late. Pistol and arm coming down, he found purchase between the joint of head and shoulder, the crack was audible when encouraged by a biotic swipe. The soldier crumpled to the ground, and with his own form stiff, he stood over him, breathing heavily. His chest heaved and the sweat that clung to his skin made him almost shiver, his arm rose to wipe at his brow, the longer hairs falling into his face.
Looking at the destruction around him, his feet moved to step over another body. His brain was clouded with a throbbing savagery that was barely contained as he tapped the door control, the woosh of air as it opened actually relaxing his shoulders.
As it closed behind him, he felt that same air tickling at the back of his neck; his eyes took in the empty room in front of him. Empty until it wasn't. He knew he was getting closer to the garage, and expected more soldiers. Since they seemed to pile in with unlimited supply, he knew he should have been more prepared instead of taking the small breather.
Diving under cover of a precariously placed table drawing energy toward him, the world seemed to slow down around him, his hearing foggy as he could feel each tendon, each muscle, work in tandem as he stood. The world seemed a strange blur, soldiers moving with muddied actions, bending and taking their own cover. It was a symphony of blue and violence. Bursts of energy exploded in succession while two bodies flew, dragged into a swirling black of gravity. Bodies fell as bullets seemed to bounce with heady pings and sizzles. There was a darkness behind his brow; he moved with slow accuracy, motions rounded and meticulous. A swirling of his arm and another man found his head hitting the ceiling only to have his skull ricochet back as blood squirted from the blackened hole in a helmet.
Even as they fell, more marched in, the sound of their boots loud and foreboding. His breathing was even more labored; the amp at his back sizzled with heat causing him to flinch. There was a yell and suddenly there were two bodies flanking on either side; his gaze darted between them, trying to keep his lungs under control. They stopped, a few feet away, guns pointed deadly at his head. His barrier was getting weak, flickering in a way that he knew he wouldn't manage to withhold both the onslaughts. He'd have to chose.
As his eyes closed there seemed to be a consensus made between the two soldiers although silent; he could feel it even if he couldn't see it. Bending his knees as one gun rose, he dropped down only to fall back, tailbone complaining fervently as--sure enough--a powerful slug managed to push through and graze over his side, ribs screeching with the pain.
The hand free, not bracing him up from the floor as he caught himself, threw the weapon up, nearly smirking at the way the soldier's hands groped for the lost shotgun; he kicked out to knock him off his feet, expecting the shot that rang out from the other side. He didn't even bother to flinch as he felt it land, burying itself in the flesh of his shoulder. Standing awkwardly, a limp threatening to make itself known, he reached up to snag the floating gun from the air and pressed it to his uninjured side, flinching this time as the ricochet reverberated against his flesh. The bullet met its target square in the chest.
There was silence as he stood, the sound of his breathing loud in the empty air. There was no pride to his stance, no feeling of accomplishment at the sight of bodies that littered the floor, only a desperate need. His feet left bloodied footprints behind as he struggled to move through the room.
Another crackle of static got his attention, a voice, angry and frustrated, sounding in his ear. "Foxtrot, Charlie, Beta; status! What is the position of Subject Zero?" His eyes scanned over what were the remains of at least one of the squads; there was a part of him that nearly answered, a voice in his head, even and familiar, two years dead, that almost egged him on, but he needed to escape, not antagonize his captors.
There was a groan off by the door, the sound drew him from his thoughts and straightened his back, adrenaline fighting off the pain of his injuries. Still, there was a faint limp as he moved to the body that was not dead yet, the only movement: the rise and fall of his chest. His eyes scanned over the downed man, indecision hung in the air, thick, before he simply stepped over it like he had all the others, tapping the at the door controls and stepping into the garage.
It only occurred to him as he walked into the echoing chamber that his plan rested solely on there being some sort of vehicle present. Luckily, there were two mako's parked as if just waiting for him. His body ached, wounds reminding him of his mortality at the closed shutters. He had to move quickly, there was limited time before the disembodied voice determined where he was, and sent more troops along. Another deep breath as he moved toward the control panel that would set him toward true freedom.