Drew Karpyshyn - Retribution

Before his enemies could pick themselves up, Grayson was off and running again. He was limping noticeably, but the awkward gait did little to slow him down.

Behind him reinforcements came pouring out of the building: half a dozen batarians and two more krogan. While the original pursuers picked themselves up, those newly arrived joined the chase. Like the others, they fired their assault rifles as they ran, but by this time Grayson was well beyond the effective range of their weapons.

As he raced past Kai Leng’s hiding place, he passed under one of the few lights on the street, giving the assassin a brief but clear look at his wounds. Blood was streaming from several places in his right thigh. His left arm dangled awkwardly at his side; Kai Leng suspected a round had shattered his shoulder. His injuries were severe, but none appeared lethal — miraculously, he didn’t appear to have been hit in the torso or head.

And then Grayson was gone, fleeing down the street before vanishing around a corner. Kai Leng remained perfectly still as Aria’s troops rumbled past several seconds later, knowing any movement might draw their attention to his hiding spot. He doubted they would bother to stop; they seemed intent on chasing Grayson down. But he wasn’t taking any chances.

Several of them were shouting instructions into the transmitters of their helmets as they went by, no doubt calling in further reinforcements to help them bring Grayson to his knees. Kai Leng had a hunch they wouldn’t be successful.

It was almost a certainty that Grayson was going to escape the station; the Illusive Man would not be pleased. But witnessing the failed ambush had still given Kai Leng hope. Grayson’s wounds were proof that, as powerful as the Reapers were, they were not invulnerable. If any of Aria’s people had managed a clean headshot, the threat might have been eliminated.

He was still concealed in his hiding place, wondering what to do next, when Kahlee Sanders stepped out onto the street. An idea began to form in Kai Leng’s head.

Once Grayson left Omega, Cerberus would need to track him down again. The Illusive Man had told

Aria T’Loak that Sanders was the key. That might no longer be the case, given her role in setting him up at the warehouse. But there was a chance she could still be used as bait to lure him out of hiding a second time.

As Kai Leng was contemplating his next move, David Anderson came out of the warehouse to join Sanders. He was armed with a pistol, though Kai Leng wasn’t worried. If it came down to a physical confrontation, he was certain he was more than a match for Anderson and Sanders. But he wasn’t sure that was the right way to proceed.

He stepped out of his hiding spot and began to move quickly but silently toward them. He stayed close to the edges of the buildings along the street, trying to make himself less conspicuous by sticking to the shadows. His efforts were helped by the fact that Sanders and Anderson were completely focused on each other.

“We just have to find someone with a ship who doesn’t answer to Aria,” he heard Anderson say once he was within earshot.

Acting on a sudden impulse, he stepped out into the open and declared, “Maybe I can help with that.”

Kahlee took a quick step back, and Anderson raised his pistol.

“Who are you?” he demanded.

Kai Leng was close enough to easily disarm the admiral before he could fire a single shot. But he knew Cerberus would need Sanders’s cooperation if they wanted to find Grayson. So instead of violence, he resorted to something even more radical: the truth.

“My name is Kai Leng. I have a ship docked at one of the ports outside Aria’s sphere of influence.”

“And you just happened to wander into this district?” Anderson said, making no effort to hide his skepticism. His pistol was still pointed directly at Kai Leng’s chest.

“He’s with Cerberus,” Kahlee said, putting the pieces together. “The Illusive Man sent him to spy on

Aria. He wanted to make sure she finished Grayson off.”

“We have common goals,” Kai Leng assured them, not bothering to deny her accusation. “We all want to get off the station, and we all want to find Grayson. We should work together.”

“Or I could just shoot you where you stand,” Anderson said, waving the pistol menacingly.

“You could try,” Kai Leng answered. “But how will that help you escape Omega?”

“Not everyone here is in Aria’s pocket,” Kahlee replied. “We’ll find someone willing to give us a ride.”

“How long will that take? You don’t have much time. Right now her focus is on stopping Grayson, but once he escapes — and he will — she’ll turn her attention back to you.”

“We’ll take that chance,” Anderson said, squeezing the trigger.

Kai Leng was already in motion, spinning out of the way. Before Anderson could bring the pistol to bear again, he seized the admiral’s wrist, forcing it down and twisting it at a painful angle.

Anderson tried to fight back as the gun slipped from his suddenly nerveless fingers by bringing his knee up toward Kai Leng’s groin. But he blocked the move by turning his hips so the blow only struck him in the meat of his thigh.

Kahlee jumped in to join the fray, driving her foot into the center of Kai Leng’s back. He absorbed the impact by tumbling forward in a somersault, still keeping his grip on Anderson’s wrist. His momentum yanked Anderson off balance, dragging him down to the ground.

From his prone position, Kai Leng scissored his legs and swept Kahlee’s feet out from under her, bringing her crashing down to the ground on top of the two men. He momentarily stunned Anderson with an elbow to the solar plexus, rolled free of the tangled mass of bodies, grabbed the pistol where it had fallen, and sprang to his feet.

He pointed the weapon at his two opponents, both of whom were still on the ground. He’d left them unharmed, though the blow he’d delivered to Anderson had him gasping for air.

He kept the pistol trained on them long enough to make it clear they would have been dead had he wished it, then slipped the weapon into the back of his belt.

“Cerberus is not your enemy,” he told them. “We are defenders of the human race. We have no quarrel with you.”

Kahlee cautiously got to her feet. Anderson was still having trouble catching his breath. She reached down and offered him a hand. He shook his head and waved her off, coughing and wheezing as he struggled up on his own.

“Don’t pitch your propaganda to me,” Kahlee spat, refusing to back down even after Kai Leng’s display of physical superiority. “I know what you really are. I saw what you did to Grayson’s daughter. I saw what you did to him.”

“Sometimes individual sacrifices are necessary for the greater good.”

“Bullshit,” Anderson chimed in. “Justify your actions however you want. You’re nothing but a bunch of terrorists.”

“The Reapers are a threat unlike anything humanity has ever faced,” Kai Leng reminded them. “You may think the Illusive Man went too far, but it was necessary to learn about our enemy. The survival of our species depends on it.”

“You created a monster and set him loose on the galaxy!” Anderson shot back.

“That was as much your fault as ours. But blame gets us nowhere. We need to work together to bring Grayson back in.”

“I’m not going to help you kill him,” Kahlee declared. “So either shoot us, or leave us the hell alone.”

“You saw what Grayson has become,” Kai Leng pressed. “You can imagine what he’s capable of. He has to be stopped.”

“Clean up your own damn mess,” Anderson answered, siding with his companion.

“We can help him,” Kai Leng said, knowing there was still a way to get Kahlee to listen to him.