Shepard woke up with a gasp. That time, he'd been sure he was dead. Wincing, he looked down. No, he definitely was not dead. Dead people typically did not feel this amount of pain, nor had alloy rebars stuck through their legs.
He took the time he had conscious to survey himself. His armor was damaged beyond repair, barely hanging onto his body let alone blocking any damage. It evidently had done it's job and beyond, as evidenced by the fact that he was still breathing. Although he was pinned for the moment by the rebar piercing his left thigh.
Attempting to sit up, Shepard gasped in pain. His cybernetic augments were fried, and his skin was black and blue. Plus he had a gunshot wound in his stomach. For some reason beyond him, he knew he had to get out of the rubble, it wasn't safe, plus he had someone to get to.
Tali.
The simple thought of the quarians name gave him inhuman strength. He would follow up on his promise. Struggling up, he gasped in pain has the gunshot wound in his stomach stretched and compressed, starting to leave a new red streak down his battered and useless armor. He couldn't stand up, he simply wasn't strong enough, even with his new inhuman strength. He began to crawl before he was abruptly stopped.
Looking back, he realized the iron rebar was pinning him completely, it was right through his leg and into the concrete block he had awoken on. He looked around wildly, trying to find some sort of escape. Shepard's hands scrabbled wildly all over the ground in front of him until his finger shit something hard. He grabbed it, clutching the object in front of him like it was his lifeline.
His own customized M-77 Paladin pistol sat in his hand, the familiar weight already beginning to comfort him. Turning around the pistol, he aimed it at the rebar stuck through his thigh. Shepard gritted his teeth, willing his hand to stop shaking.
He fired. The bullet ricocheted off the alloy into the concrete slab, the rebar unwilling to yield to the bullet's power. He gritted his teeth. He was a survivor. He survived his family being slaughtered by slavers. He survived Akuze. He was used to the odds being stacked up against him. He would survive.
He aimed the pistol higher, at his thigh, pressing the muzzle against the battered armor covering it. He grimaced, and his finger began to tighten on the trigger, his hand steadying.
This is for you Tali, I will come back
He fired. The round immediately entered his leg, the ruined armor giving way to the bullet, and the flesh behind it simply disappearing. In effect, he had blown off his own leg.
Shepard howled in pain, tears trailing down his cheeks. He bent down and sobbed. Even for a soldier that went through N7 advanced training, his pain tolerance simply couldn't extend to the loss of a limb.
Eventually his cries grew more quiet, his vision going dark. He felt something wet on his remaining leg and looked down. He realized he was bent over, kneeling in a puddle of his own blood, his jagged stump of a leg spurting blood out every few seconds.
Shepard panicked. He needed to stop the bleeding quickly, or else he would slip away, and he wouldn't return to Tali.
Tali
The name again gave him a brief burst of strength. He looked at the pistol still tightly clutched in his hand, and and brought it to his other hand. He quickly fired off several rounds at nowhere in particular, continuing to fire until he felt he had built up enough heat. Ejecting the thermal clip, he caught it with his hand, screaming again from the pain, and pressed the white hot clip against the jagged stump of where his leg used to be attached to.
Shepard didn't scream, he had simply lost his voice. He raised his head and gave a silent howl, the most intense pain he had ever felt rushing through him. He collapsed down, and laid there. He probably would of gave in right there to the welcoming hands of death, but he simply wasn't ready.
I will come back Tali'Zorah vas Normandy.
He always kept his promises. He pushed himself up, and began to crawl.
His cracked lips opened, and his damaged vocal cords gave way to speech.
"I am Joshua Shepard of the SR2 Normandy."
He continued to crawl, sheer willpower driving him.
"I am a survivor, I am a N7 operative. I am the first human spectre"
He found a loose piece of rebar, and grasped it.
"I am a Vanguard of the Alliance"
He pulled himself up on the rebar, using it as a makeshift leg to support his bodyweight, along with his still working leg.
"I'm coming Tali"
He continued hobbling along, in unimaginable pain. He was a survivor. Shepard could handle pain. The roar of engines temporarily blotted out his thought process and he looked up at his saving grace.
The SR2 Normandy soared overhead, looking for all the world to Shepard's pain-addled mind like a valkyrie of olde.
He watched as it began to hover above him and the docking port extended down, giving way to his angel, his Tali.
He began to hobble forward, looking up at his angel. She jumped down from the hovering spacecraft, and ran to him, her luminous eyes glowing with worry and anxiety.
Shepard had found his angel.
His poor body and mind simply couldn't handle any more stress, and his vision abruptly darkened and he lurched forward towards the ground.
The last thing he saw before his lost consciousness was two molten silver orbs in a purple mask staring down at him.
"Keelah, Shepard. You came back"