He held his omni-tool to the elevator door, overriding the fire alarm lock down and entered, turning on the ball of his foot and crouching down to face the entrance as the elevator's glass door's closed. He couldn't help but feel he had spent entirely too much time in elevators tonight. As the elevator rose, slowly moving the building entrance out of his sight line, he looked down at his pistol. He frowned, the reason for his round's lack of penetration against the Turian's shield made itself clear. When that had caught him with the Asari in the tower, his pistol had taken a hit. He hadn't bothered checking it until now, hadn't seen the crack in the case, the fractured connections. He wouldn't be able to fire anything but standard ammunition now, and he was lucky he even had that. The hit could easily have disabled the weapon entirely.  He ejected the thermal clip, and inserted another, his fingers tracing along the nearly empty thermal clip rack he had in his belt. He was down to two clips, the one in his gun and a single spare.<br/><br/>He looked back out the elevator, down at the entrance as it slowly fell lower and lower. Why weren't they coming? The car detonation couldn't have delayed them this long, and they were too far for it to had maimed them. He frowned, thinking. Then he saw something move from the corner of his eye. He looked. Nothing.<br/><br/>He slowly stood up, his instincts warning him that something wasn't right. He looked right, and saw for the briefest instant, the side of a leg, an arm, before it disappeared behind a pillar. His eyes began darting, sweeping the area. He caught movement above him, along the balcony, below him. His lips parted as he realized he was being surrounded. He lifted his pistol and moved a foot forward, readying himself.<br/><br/>Elise kept low as she approached the support on the edge of the balcony, keeping the pillar between her and man in the elevator. One of the troopers kept close behind her, getting into cover beside her. She stood as straight as she could against the pillar, keeping herself hidden. They had made good time using the stair accesses beyond view of the elevator.<br/><br/><span style="color: RoyalBlue">Repeat, all shots non-lethal. We need him alive.</span>She whispered.<br/><br/><span style="color: DarkOrange">Roger. Delta in position.</span>The confirmation sounded over the comms, followed by likewise affirmations from the other units.<br/><br/>Elise slid sideways a half step and slowly leaned out, only enough for one of her blue eyes to see the man that had foiled Vega's trap. Whoever he was, his work had been effective. She quietly admired him for that. The elevator was moving up past her position, her eyes following the figure inside. He was facing away from her, but his head was turning, he would see her. She prepared to recoil, her body tensing to retreat back away from his approaching gaze.<br/><br/>But as his head turned and she began to see his face, she froze, staring at him, her eyes widening in horror. His eyes swept across, and locked with hers. Her lips parted and she took a long breath, as the realization penetrated deep into her. Time seemed to slow as she saw the look in his eyes change as he saw her, the ready alertness shift... the rage fill him.<br/><br/><span style="color: RoyalBlue">Fire! Kill him! KILL HIM NOW!</span>She screamed and ducked back behind the pillar as he opened fire, the bullets skipping off the pillar past where the sliver of her face had been not moments ago.<br/><br/>The troopers emerged from their cover, like the teeth of some terrible predator closing in on him, clamping down. The air was split as fifteen rifles opened up, the barrage of bullets like a lethal hailstorm. The glass walls of the elevator was split and splintered and opened in a dozen places at once, the occupants shields immediately bathed the interior of the elevator in blue. He dropped the fist that held is gun onto his omni-tool, the device immediately diverting emergency power to his shields to preserve them for a few precious seconds longer. He threw himself against the wall of the elevator, the decimated glass offering no resistance as he flung himself out of it, back toward the balcony where it connected with the elevator shaft, one level above the Cerberus woman.. His foot caught the rim of the balcony's railing and he hit the floor, rolling to keep himself from taking too much damage from the fall.<br/><br/>Elise didn't wait, she was moving immediately, sprinting back into the complex toward the stair access. She entered it and grabbed the railing of the stairs, her momentum pivoting her around it, she hit the side of the stairwell and charged up the stairs, pacing her breathing.<br/><br/>A trooper was on the assassin the moment he hit the floor, firing in timed intervals. The assassin lifted his pistol and fired back, pushing himself up with one hand, then pushing forward the moment his feet found the ground beneath them, running toward the trooper pulling the trigger as fast as he could. The assassin's shields dropped first, and he felt a bullet hit him in the chest, the thick armor plating preventing penetration. But then the trooper's shields were down, and he paused, the discharge and aggression of the charging man making him recoil. Two rounds hit, and ricocheted, the third hitting him in the visor, cracking it. He took a step back instinctively trying to protect his face, his rifle firing blindly. The following elbow blow to the side of his head as the assassin closed into range set him off balance, and before he could react a black armored hand blacked out the light coming through his broken visor, then he felt a violent torsion twisted his head at an unnatural angle. He couldn't even scream before his neck broke.<br/><br/>The assassin wrapped his arm around the man's neck before he fell, stepping in behind the body, holding it, using it as a shield. The weight of the body and its armor strained him, and the assist servos activated in his armor to help him with the load. Two Cerberus troopers charged around a pillar to assist their squad member, but when they saw his limp form, they opened fire, some rounds ricocheting off the white armor, others penetrating into the corpse. The assassin had his pistol arm raised beneath the bodies arm. He fired, slowly, calculating the time between each shot. After four rounds, his pistol clicked, the thermal clip spent, and two seconds later the Cerberus troopers were empty. The assassin dropped the body along with the pistol and grabbed the rifle from the dead man's limp grip.<br/><br/>He was firing on the right hand trooper before they could reload, dropping his shields and landing a cluster of head shots, the accuracy of Mattock rifle the dead trooper had been carrying making the shots easy. The visor cracked and splintered then broke, a bullet hammering home, the trooper dropping in a heap on the ground, dead.<br/><br/>He fired a shot at the left trooper and the rifle seized, its clip spent. He reached back, and lifted the last of his thermal clips, reloading the rifle.  His shields signaled green as they charged, just as the Cerberus trooper finished reloading. Shields squared off as the two men fired on each other in the open, but the assassin was faster and more accurate, dropping the troopers shields, then the trooper before his own shields had even been depleted.<br/><br/>He grabbed a thermal clip from the nearby dead trooper and reloaded the Mattock. The rest of the units would be converging on him soon. He knew he had only moments to find an exit. He needed stairs, some other non-automated route to the top floor. As he turned, to look for a way out, a blue streak of light flashed out from beyond a storefront, the biotic dash carrying Elise forward at great speed.<br/><br/>The moment she saw him, she threw a biotic pull in a sideways arch at the assassin. He saw the incoming projectile only just in time, throwing his left shoulder back and twisting to prevent the biotic catalyst from connecting. The blue orb hit the large window of the nearby storefront, the gravity shift making the glass bow and warp, stressing it to the point of cracking.<br/><br/>He adjusted fast, returning his left hand to the grip of the gun, firing at her. She lifted her left hand as he aimed, projecting a biotic barrier before her, stopping the rounds dead. The blue nodes on her arm glowed and she grimaced under the strain and returned fire, sending two arching throw fields at him. He stopped firing and dropped, throwing himself to the left, dodging one of the throws, but the second, arching from the opposite angle caught his shoulder. He felt the field connect, felt the pull of normal gravity willing him downward become suddenly moot as the new force drew him back, spinning him as he flew.<br/><br/>He landed and threw out his arm to keep himself from rolling across the floor. He blind fired several rounds at her, trying to stand, but with another raise of her hand, the powerful barrier once again stopped any bullets that came near her. She advanced toward him confident, focused, her stare unfaltering. She pulled back her arm, readying another biotic attack. Then he suddenly raised his hand and turned his head away. She looked at his palm then took a sharp breath as she realized too late what he was holding. The blind grenade went off, and she recoiled, nearly suffering the full blinding flash before she managed to raise her arm up to shield her eyes.<br/><br/>She dropped down to one knee shielding herself, the nodes across her body glowing brightly as she emitted the biotic sphere barrier. She could feel the recoil in her nerves as the rounds hit, felt the drain on her body. He advanced, firing at her, wearing her down, wasting no time taking advantage of the blind grenade's effect.<br/><br/>She recoiled as the rounds hit her barrier, feeling her limit rapidly approaching. She grimaced, and shouted in anger, diverting the energy out of the barrier into a shock wave, the violent burst of reverse gravity hitting him and setting him off balance. She reached out, seeing him as only a dark shape as the effects of the blind grenade started to wear off. Her outreached hand curled into a claw, a baleful grip in the air. The nodes glowed again, and the assassin felt himself suddenly being dragged backwards by an increasingly strong force. The singularity behind him grew as she stood, as she tightened her grip on the air. The nodes on her body glowed steadily brighter as the singularity grew. He triggered his mag-lock boots, cementing his feet to the floor, and he tried to fight the pull, to resist with every muscle straining to try and aim the rifle, to keep control.<br/><br/>Beads of sweat formed on her forehead and her fine features contorted with the intensity of her focus, her muscles tightening as she pushed more and more power into the singularity, the clawed  hand squeezing slowing into a fist. The window that had been cracked by her initial attack splintered and broke, sending a torrent of glass toward him, stinging his face, as the razor sharp shards cut across his exposed skin and drew blood. He fought with all his strength, but he was slowing being dragged backwards, his mag-locked boots screeching as they skidded on the floor, the force of the singularity becoming overwhelming. The sweat dripped from her forehead, and the tension in her body grew into pain as she pushed harder and harder.<br/><br/>The sound of armored boots met her ears and she smirked. She released the singularity and stood, confident. A few rogue strands of her golden hair that had come loose clung to her sweat stained features as the squad of troopers arrived, lining up beside her, opening fire.<br/><br/>Suddenly free from the singularity, the assassin broke into a sprint and dove through the shattered window, disappearing into the storefront, away from their view. She nodded for them to move up, while her breasts heaved with her heavy breaths. She stayed back, needing a moment to recoup.<br/><br/><span style="color: DarkOrange">Bravo, in position.</span>One of the Troopers said as they took up position, flanking the entrance, staying below the window, out of sight. The assassin couldn't get out the way he came in without running into four of the Cerberus men, now. The lights in the store suddenly brightened then sparked and overloaded, plunging the store into relative darkness.<br/><br/><span style="color: RoyalBlue">He's in Phillip's Finest. He's shut off the lights.</span>Elise said, stifling her panting, lifting her small omni-tool comm display to her mouth.<span style="color: RoyalBlue">Epsilon, ETA?</span><br/><br/><span style="color: DarkRed">Moving up behind the position now. We've got sight on a service entrance. Bravo, hold and prepare to breach on my go.</span>A gruff, familiar voice replied to her.<span style="color: DarkRed">Delta, hold on roof.</span><br/><br/>She looked down the hall to her right, seeing the Cerberus troops of Epsilon squad, one even more armored than the others rapidly approaching. It was about time Raeneck got there, she thought to herself. The group advanced toward her then disappeared into a doorway behind the store.<br/><br/>Raeneck, motioned as he entered the smaller hallway, the passage lacking the refined paneling of the pedestrian portion of the multi-plex. He saw a sign indicating the back door employee entrance to the designated shop. He motioned for the troopers to prepare to breach. The men stacked up at the door, ready. He raised his Cerberus Harrier rifle.<br/><br/><span style="color: DarkRed">Breach!</span>He yelled, and the lead trooper opened the door and stormed in, running through the employee areas out into the store, cutting across the back wall to the far corner while the rest of the squad took up their positions. Bravo squad came through the broken window and front entrance, sweeping their rifles past the racks of clothes.<br/><br/>Raeneck scanned the room, his visor outlining and indicating everything in it. But the target was gone.<span style="color: DarkRed">Bravo, he didn't exit rear, where is he?</span>He ordered an explanation.<br/><br/><span style="color: DarkOrange">Unknown. He didn't come out the front.</span>The trooper answered, keeping his rifle trained, looking for any nook the man could have escaped into.<br/><br/><span style="color: DarkOrange">Sir!</span>Raeneck turned, looking at the trooper from Epsilon that called to him. The trooper switched on the light on his gun and pointed it toward the floor, beneath the doors of one of the changing stalls. Raeneck looked down at what the light was illuminating. Laying crookedly on the floor was a vent grate.<br/><br/>He looked up, quickly, aiming at the ceiling above the stall. There was a square hole where the grate had been not long ago.<br/><br/><span style="color: DarkRed">God damnit.</span>He lowered his rifle.<br/><br/><span style="color: DarkRed">Delta, he is inbound on your location, I repeat target is on the move. All squads converge on the tram. Do not let him get to his ship!</span>He ordered.<br/><br/>The troopers started moving, but the leader of Bravo squad was stopped as Raeneck marched toward him, the aggressive approach making the trooper step back in apprehension. Raeneck grabbed the front of the troopers armor and brought his helmet inches away from his.<br/><br/><span style="color: DarkRed">Next time keep your god damn eyes on the target!</span>He yelled and pushed the man away, motioning for him to get moving with the others.<br/><br/>Raeneck walked out the front of the store, past the small, confined pile of glass that marked where the singularity had been. He only just saw Elise's back as she disappeared back into the stairwell to continue the pursuit. He wanted to have words with her, but as he looked around at the carnage, the three dead troopers, the expended blind grenade, the Cerberus Commander realized he knew this handiwork. He knew it all too well.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>