A/N: Hey, so here is a bit o' fanfiction. I know this isn't entirely accurate; the Widow should NOT be the gun she has, the series of events, and some of the dialogue isn't accurate. I'm really REALLY sorry.. I hope you like it anyway. This might turn into a little series, but probably would not be updated daily if it was. But anyway, enjoy, and thanks. Mass Effect plot, characters, quotes, ect. belong to the wonderful BioWare and EA publishers.
The area carried the scent of gun smoke, copper, and dust. It was spread out, with boxes moved around the room haphazardly for makeshift cover. The entrance was under a balcony, but even from here, Ren Shepard could see the pipes and metal support bars holding the vast ceiling up. Above her, the sound of a sniper picking off the last of the mercenaries it could see. In front of her, new mercenaries readied their guns. A younger man, about twenty two, was setting up explosives. They were going to blow the floor apart, and rip the target from their perch.
Archangel.
The thought of this recruiting this stranger brought a strong surge of emotions that she couldn't quite keep hold of.
Caution, which she had already been feeling toward her new "teammates" at Cerberus, Miranda Lawson and Jacob Taylor, doubled. Cerberus had, in the way the Illusive Man had meant, given her these companions to help her on her mission. But "assigned" was a more appropriate term. She trusted neither of them, and she knew neither of them trusted her. Miranda's eyes watched her always, like she was still an experiment. Still on the slab labeled "Project Lazarus". Still being brought back from the dead. She could practically hear Miranda's instinct to shoot her in the back. And Jacob, acting as if Miranda's word was gospel. No matter what Shepard would say, she could see it in his eyes that he believed in Cerberus, the Illusive Man, and Miranda. A woman from the Alliance Navy whose mistrust of Cerberus was practically palpable had no place near him.
This wasn't a team. This was an uncomfortable and unfortunate arrangement of soldiers fighting for the human race. It wasn't like the old days; the days with Ash and Kaidan.
And now she would have to trust an assassin.
And with that came frustration. Cerberus brought her back from the dead. Though she wanted to, she couldn't walk away. They gave her life so she could fight whatever she was supposed to fight. The only thing was, she was under the thumb of the Illusive Man. He had control of her, he had her do his bidding, he had contacts on her crew, and he could not be trusted. Though his cause had seemed noble as he spoke to her, Shepard heard something in his voice. Saw something dark behind his glowing eyes. She owed this organization her life; but she was stuck now. Stuck until Cerberus had no more use for her. She saw no way out; if the files-her files-were correct, she had been pronounced dead two years ago. Her crew had long since vanished, with the exception of Doctor Chakwas and Joker. The SSV Normandy SR-1 was crashed on some desolate planet, and the SR-2 was property of Cerberus. Until she left Cerberus-and she would leave, dammit. She would leave if she had to-she would have nowhere to go. Even when it was over, she still wasn't sure what there was to go back to.
So, she was stuck. Which then filled her with longing and loneliness. She yearned for her old crew. For the old walls of the Normandy, and the laughter of the crew. For her evenings playing strip poker with Kaidan. For the fire fights and adrenalin rush she'd felt when she and Liara worked to cover Tali. She missed the nights when she and Garrus Vakarian would talk through the night in the mess hall, exchanging stories and laughs. She missed the small bouts of arm wrestling with Wrex. She even missed the nights she would lie awake in her cabin with regret and remorse twisting her stomach as she thought of Ashely, and Virmire.
"You ready, Shepard?" Jacob asked, shaking her back to the present.
She nodded. "Find a spot, take cover, and take out as many mercs as you can." She paused as a thought suddenly occurred. "Don't shoot Archangel, if you can help it. They might nick you a few times, but-"
"We need them," Miranda finished. "So please, Jacob, if he does 'nick you', watch your temper."
Shepard nodded once, doing her best to ignore the interruption. The mercenaries where already heading out, and the sound of gunfire filled the air. "Watch yourselves!" Shepard yelled over the noise.
She barreled into the fight, her first shot hitting a Blood Pack merc on her left, and then turning to shoot the boy setting up the explosives.
She had just taken out a Blue Suns member with two shots when she first felt her shields fluctuate. She slid into cover between two boxes just as Archangel took another shot at her. She glared up at the balcony where she caught a glimpse of them. From what she could make out, the shooter was turian, male, and, as she ducked again, either too proud to accept the help or just too stupid as to not realize thats what they were sent to do. She popped out of cover, shot the wall twice by his head and showed him and obscene digit, a human sign that she hoped he'd understand.
Shepard rolled out of cover and took down two more Blue Suns mercs before the reached the steps. She was vulnerable now and the stragglers left behind her were working hard to take down her shields. It was only when a bullet whizzed by her ear did she realize they had succeeded. She starred at the bullet hole behind her, and back in the direction it came from. Archangel had their gun aimed in her direction. She quickly took the steps two at a time, moving out of the snipers way, keeping her head low.
He was probably stupid, she decided.
A Blue Suns merc, batarian by the look of them, charged Shepard as soon as she reach the top step. She shot passed his shields and took him down before he could touch her, and took a breath of relief, thankful she had not first fallen down the steps.
The next two mercs were easy take downs. She didn't waste her bullets; charging the first one, she socked the human male with enough force to send him reeling back before she hit the top of his head with her gun hard enough to dent the helmet he wore. She second merc was busy trying to bypass the door to Archangel's balcony. She took hold of the turnian's head and snapped his neck.
She turned to look at the sniper. From what she could see, his shooting was getting a bit more random. Like he stopped caring. The shots were lacking passion. All this action, protecting himself, the shots he must have taken, would have worn any species down. He was getting tired, and Shepard knew she needed to get in there quickly.
"Shepard!" Miranda called from below. Well, maybe not a quick as she would have hoped.
Miranda was stuck in cover, covering both her flanks. Behind her, Jacob was trying to cover himself in a very similar way. But both were outnumbered in every direction. When they stopped covering one side long enough to protect the other, they came under heavy fire all over again.
Shepard didn't hesitate. The door bypass would have to wait. Archangel held his own this long; he could hold out a bit longer.
She ran to the balcony overlooking the staircase, and set up her M-98 Widow. She looked through her scope only to see a salarian whose gun was a little too close to the brunette's head. No matter how much she would have liked to she how that scenario played out, she couldn't afford to lose a team member now. She shot the alien in the back the the head. She flipped her dark hair out of her eyes as she reloaded and shot a Blood Pack member nearest to Jacob. It went on like that for sometime. Moving hair out of her eyes, reloading, shooting, repeat.
When she began to see the mercs fall thanks to a bullets from her companions, she stood up, finished with the provided cover. The place was nearly rid of the mercs. She was just putting away her sniper when she caught Jacob suddenly turning toward her and pointing his gun.
"Shepard!" he screamed.
She spun around quick enough to catch the arm of a Blood Pack member. Her back hit the metal hard enough to make her eyes shut in agony, but by the sound of it's hissed curses, it was a vorcha, nasty creatures whose bite was defiantly worse than their bark. And, apparently, strong too. Shepard practically shook with the effort of keeping the alien's gun and claws away from her. She tried kicking its legs out from under it, but the merc had its leg situated in such a way that she couldn't quite reach them. The vorcha had her pinned to the balcony anyway; if she made any real effort to kick it away, she'd fall backward over the rail. In retrospect, it may have been a better plan to just duck and move away from the assailant, but adrenalin does little to help with rational decisions. Shepard could feel her back pressing hard against the railing as the alien wrestled to reach her neck or shoot her at the right angle.
She was going to fall. If she couldn't get the vorcha off of her, she was going to falter in her grip, and fall. That is, if the creature didn't slit her throat or put a bullet in her brain first.
Though the gunfire around them was loud, a deafening bang followed by a sick thunk noise suddenly rang in Shepard's ears. The shot was close range. The vorcha fell limp agains her.
She shimmied out from under its weight and flipped it over the railing, breathing hard. Jacob stood a few feet away. Miranda was behind him, her filled with dry amusement at Jacobs actions.
"Thanks," Shepard managed with a tired, lopsided half smile.
"Don't mention it," Jacob said tightly. He inclined his head to the door. "Ready?"
Shepard nodded. The bypass took less than a minute, and the door successfully slid open with a hiss. They stepped in slowly, the door shutting with another hiss and a beep behind them.
The sniper sat perched and watching though his scope. His body was coiled like a snake ready to strike. He knelt of the ground, as if still in the firefight, but Shepard couldn't see any body else below them. The room was empty except for the occasional plant box, a few couches, storage crates, and scattered amo. They were completely alone.
"Archangel?" she said. The name sounded like a command coming out of her mouth, but she somehow knew he could detect the caution she had tried not to let slip.
In response, the figure held up a finger.
Wait.
Just as she was about to speak, she saw a human male stick his head out from the pillar he was behind. Archangel relentlessly pulled the trigger. The man was gone in a flash, and the air quieted once more.
Archangel then stood up, his movements a bit stiff. His body seemed a bit wilted, but then again, he was tired. Still, in those movements, Shepard could swear she could see something oddly familiar. She had seen turinas before this, so maybe it was just memory. But as he put his gun away and began to remove his helmet, she knew she knew that body language. The proud walk of a turian, mixed with the stiffness that C-Sec officers just couldn't hide, former or other wise.
He plopped down on to the crates near the opening he was shooting from, one leg propped up and the other on the ground, sniper leaning against his knee. His face was worn, his eyes seemed distant from what she could tell from behind the visor, and his armored shoulders were heavy with emotion. She understood completely.
"Shepard," Garrus Vakarian said softly. "I thought you were dead."
Many emotions must have played across her face at once. Even if she wanted to, she couldn't hide them from Garrus. He read her like a damn book whenever they spoke. Shock, elation, nostalgia, and fear bubbled up inside her. She hated knowing her friends thought her dead, but she wasn't sure if she was supposed to tell them if she was alive. Should she have tried to contact Garrus? Liara? Should she have told Kaidan?
But at this moment, staring at her friend, she really didn't care.
"Garrus!" she said, spreading her arms wide and her smile even wider. "What are you doing here?"
He gave her a familiar smirk, but the expression seemed different. A deep undertone of sadness and hurt lay there. "Just keeping my skills sharp," he said with a shrug. "A little target practice."
She couldn't help but notice that the C-Sec officer in him had all but gone. Two years later, and something had changed. But he was still Garrus, and right now, it was just nice to see someone from her past alive and well. "You okay?"
"Been better," he stated, "but it sure is nice to see a friendly face. Killing mercs is hard work, especially on my own."
At that, her smile hardened a bit. "You know you shot at me," she said, miffed.
Garrus gave her a droll stare, something she thought all turians mastered. He looked as if he wanted to laugh. "Did I?"
"Yeah. Nailed me pretty good, by the way."
He rolled his eyes, and she noticed a spark in them again. "Concussive rounds only," he drawled. "No harm done. Didn't want the mercs getting suspicious."
"Uh-huh," she goaded with a roll of her own eyes.
He snorted. "Please. If I wanted to do more than take your shields down, I'd have done it."
"Sure, sure," she said, waving her hand dismissively. "And the shot that nearly took my ear off was what? An accident?"
"You shot two very real shotgun rounds at my head and purposly missed me. I was just returning the favor."
She crossed her arms and raised and eyebrow.
"Besides," he said with a shrug, "you were taking your sweet time. I needed to get you moving."
At that, she laughed. It was the first real laugh since she had died two years ago. She shook her head and moved a step closer to lean against the wall.
"How the hell did you manage to piss off every major merc organization in the Terminus Systems anyway, Garrus?" she asked.
"It wasn't easy," he said, sarcasm coating his every word. "I really had to work at it." He chuckled. "I'm amazed they teamed up to fight me. They must really hate me."
"I'll say," Shepard huffed. "You've always been such a pain in the ass, I'm surprised there aren't more mercs out for your head."
He rolled his eyes. If he was a bit less mature, she could see him sticking him tongue out at her.
She heard more voices below them. The leftover mercs, most likely. And now that their cover was blown, getting out alive was proving to be a tough option. She peaked out from the wall she was leaning on, and heard them speaking to the next wave of mercs. She cursed.
"What?" Garrus asked, suddenly concerned.
"Well, we got here," she said looking to Garrus, "but judging but the amount of mercs down there, I don't think getting out is going to be an easy task." She chewed her lip.
"It won't be," Garrus said grimly. "That bridge has saved my life...funneling all those witless idiots into scope.." He got up and turned to look behind them. He was silent for a moment.
"What?"
"It works both ways," he said, frustrated. "They'll slaughter us if we try to get out that way."
Shepard nodded, her frown deepening.
Miranda spoke then, her voice speaking in unfiltered frustration and anger. "So we just sit here and wait for them to take us out?"
Shepard turned to glare at her, but she had a point. They couldn't just sit there, especially now.
"It's not all that bad," Garrus said, "This place has held them off so far. And with the three of you..."
Shepard shook her head. "You aren't suggesting we sit here and play the waiting game."
"I'm suggesting," Garrus snapped, "we hold this location, wait for a crack in their defenses, and take our chances."
Shepard shook her head, and readied her gun.
"It's not a perfect plan," Garrus said to Shepard, "but it's a plan."
Shepard growled and glared at her friend. Soldier or not, tight situations like this were her least favorite to be in. Hell, she'd hate to meet anyone who liked them.
"How'd you let yourself get into this position?" she asked, only half joking. "If I end up saving your ass, I have a right to know."
He shrugged and looked away. His posture had went ridgid. "I let my feelings get in the way of my better judgement."
Shepard stared at him. Garrus had never been known to let his feelings get in the way of what had to be done. Not that he was cold-hearted, or emotionless; he was neither. She had just never known Garrus to be anything but level-headed when it came to his work. Whatever it was he did for a living now.
Something in her expression must have embarrassed him because he looked down. "It's a long story."
"Considering we may be up here awhile, I think I have some time to kill."
Garrus considered that, eyeing Miranda and Jacob carefully. His blue eyes were filled with mistrust, though none of it was directed toward her, thank God. Finally he looked down toward Shepard.
"I'll make you a deal," he said softly. "You get me out of here alive, and I'll tell you the whole damn thing."
Shepard nodded. "Then lets kick ass. I'm ready to spill a little more merc blood."
Garrus laughed. "Glad to see you haven't changed."
She half-smiled and raised her middle digit. She knew now that he'd take it as a show a friendship rather than the harsh insult it was meant to be earlier.
Garrus nodded his head toward the opposite part of the balcony over looking the bridge. "Let see what their up to."
Shepard watched as Garrus pulled his sniper up to his eyes, and used it as a telescope. "Well," he said, his tone bored, "it looks like they know their infiltration team failed."
"Here, take a look." He handed the gun to Shepard. "Scouts. Eclipse, I think."
Shepard glanced through the scope. Lined up across the bridge were LOKI mechs as well as Eclipse mercs. Both looked ready for blood. "Those look like a lot more than Scouts," she growled, handing the sniper back to Garrus.
"Indeed," he said in disgust. He kept his eyes on the figures across the bridge. "I'll stay up here. I can do a lot of damage from this vantage point."
He gave a slide ways glance to Shepard, who gave him a dark smile in return. "You," he said slowly, "you can do what you do best."
Shepard holstered her shotgun, cracked her knuckles, and rolled her shoulders a bit. "I thought you'd never ask." She brought out her Widow and set up near the next window.
"Just like old times, Shepard," Garrus murmured. The gunshots echoed in her ears as the fight began again.
Her smile grew as she let loose the next shot. "Is it?" she whipped her hair out of her eyes and readied another shot. "You and I seem to remember our adventures quite differently."
He rolled his eyes and took out two Eclipse mercs; though he seemed annoyed, she could see the ghost of a smile on his face.
She turned her attention to the fight. The Eclipse scouts and mechs seemed to go down easy, but she suspected they were holding something back. Her knowledge on the mercenary group was limited, but she had heard somewhere that this group had YMIR mechs to spare. They'd have to bring them out eventually.
She watched as Miranda took out the last standing member on the bridge and gave her a lopsided smile. She returned it with an over-confidant smirk.
Shepard fought the urge to roll her eyes and replaced her Widow with her shotgun. She knew the base wouldn't be empty for long, and they were going to need some to cover the door. She stood up and headed toward the door.
She heard Garrus murmur something about snipers being deployed, and quickly ducked out of the room. She could see the entrance from her angle, and she new most of her shots would be clear ones. She didn't have to wait long; Garrus called a warning to her that the mercs were in. She could felt Jacob's presence moving behind her.
"You cover the left side of the stairs, I get the right?" he asked.
She nodded. "Good idea. Stay in cover though. Bastards seem to have some pretty decent shields up."
They moved to cover the stairway. As soon as she had her back to the metal beam, Jacob started firing. The first few shots bounces harmlessly off a salarian merc, and Jacob had to take cover when he let loose his bullets. And asari came up behind the salarian, and shot at Shepard. The plinking sound of bullets hitting the area beside her head had her heart pounding. She spun out of cover and loosed five shots into her before the other fell.
The two barely broke a sweat bringing down the small amount of mercs sent to dispatch them. Jacob lead the way back to where Miranda and Garrus were still clearing the bridge.
In the distance, Shepard could see a salarian watching them just out of shotgun range. Jaroth was the leader of the Eclipse mercs on Omega. His remarks to her were limited, so she didn't know too much else about him other than he held a strong dislike for her kind. But if his body language was anything to go by, Jaroth was pissed.
"Alright, lets see how you handle this, Archangel," he said loud enough for her team and Garrus to hear.
Garrus reloaded his sniper stood. Shepard was right behind him. A hatch behind Jaroth opened with mechanical slowness, and, sure enough, a YMIR mech was dropped, and slowly unfolded in front of them. Garrus cursed as the creature took a few slow steps forward, it's weapons still waiting to turn on. Scouts rushed passed it, eager to reach the base.
"So they were hiding mechs," she heard Miranda muse.
"Figures. How hard can you hit it with biotics?" Shepard asked.
"Miranda shook her head. "Not as hard as I would like to. The most I can do without giving myself a nosebleed right now is disable its shields, and even then, it won't do much against it."
"Worth a shot," Jacob said with a shrug.
The machine in front of them came on line. Garrus pulled the trigger and let loose the first shot. In response, the machine raised its left arm. It wasn't moving forward anymore, and Shepard only saw what was happening after the missile was released.
"Get down!" she shouted. The missile hit the side of the balcony with enough force to rattle Shepard's teeth. Any spare ammo laying around clattered to the floor. The metal ceiling groaned, protesting the rough movement.
Shepard and Garrus exchanged shocked looks. It was one thing to hear about YMIR's; it was another thing to fight them. Not that she hadn't fought mechs before. Side by side, she remember times when she, Garrus, and Kaidan took on geth that were just as large if not larger than this mech. The only difference here was she had grenades or had been driving the MAKO. She didn't have any kind of explosive to her name now.
"Any ideas?" she asked Garrus. Behind him, Miranda had hurled the shield weakening biotics at the machine.
Garrus turned to shoot the machine twice before responding. "Explosives?" he said, but his voice was void of any kind of hope.
Shepard unloaded a clip into the machine, frustrated. It's shields had gone down as promised, but the mech marched slowly forward, unaffected. She reloaded and chose instead to hit a heavily armed merc who had just left cover. As he went down, she saw a rather large gun leave his clutches. But from here, she couldn't make it out. It looked like a...
"Jacob, cover me!" Shepard suddenly shouted. She ran for the steps, hearing Jacob shout something after her. She readied her gun and slid behind a crate just as three mercenaries sprinted into view. Jacob was shouting something to Garrus over his own gunfire. She waited until the mercenaries were charging up the stairs before she sprinted for the exit.
Shepard waited in cover, watching mercs fall at the hand of Garrus' bullets, or helplessly floating at the mercy of Miranda's biotics.
The YMIR was taking it's time moving forward. The gunshots weren't enough to damage it, no matter how well placed they may have been. If they wanted the mech down before it reached the base, she had to get to that gun. It was big enough to be a grenade launcher, but even now from a different angle, she could not be sure.
"Shepard!"
She growled at the voice in her com. "Jacob, not now."
"You ran out of there like a bat out of hell."
"Jacob, please," she said, shooting a merc who got too close. "I need to concentrate on finding an opening."
For a moment, he was silent. And then, "Why?" He sounded taken aback.
"I think," Shepard said, glancing out of her cover, "one of the mercs dropped a grenade launcher. We're going to need that, don't you think?"
A new voice came onto the frequency, and it sounded furious. "A hunch? You are going to risk a YMIR mech-which, may I remind you, has a rocket launcher in its left arm-, Eclipse mercs, LOKI mechs, and Jaroth," he spit the name out, "on a hunch?"
"Ga-Archangel, get off this frequency. Focus on the mech." Of course he would butt in; he always tried to intervene when the situation called for drastic measures. Garrus always saw the glass half-empty. If there was a way to die in any situation she got herself into-and there were always plenty-Garrus found it. Granted, it was easier to find in situations like this, especially when the risk of being blown up was on the table. Still: she had to try.
"Shepard, come on," the voice didn't sound like it was pleading. If anything, the way Garrus spoke was as if her death would inconvenience him.
She shot two more mercs before responding. "It's not a hunch." A lie, and they both knew it.
"Don't be stupid," was his immediate response.
"Get off the frequency and do your damned job, Archangel," she snarled. It wasn't clear to her why she chose to use his code name. Perhaps it was because the coms could have been hacked at any moment, or maybe she liked that the name seemed to rub Garrus the wrong way.
Whatever the reason, she didn't have time to think about it. The YMIR was close now. But it was turned toward the balcony. Easy to slip by. The rest of the Eclipse team would see her, but that's what Garrus was for.
"Job?" Garrus inquired.
"Cover me!" was all she said before she hopped over her cover and sprinted forward, gun in hand.
Shepard couldn't remember the last time an adrenaline rush felt so great. Here she was, sprinting passed the heavily armored leg of a machine, into the opposing side's cover like it was a walk in the park. The gun fire around her, the mercs that littered the floor of the bridge meant nothing to her right now. Garrus' sniper took out any oncoming threat that spirited toward her. She could hear bullets hitting the machine behind her.
The gun was only a few feet away now.
She felt a sudden stinging sensation course through her arm, and looked to her left. Jaroth stood with his gun poised and ready to take her down. He looked like vengeance. Ugly, angry, sweaty, salarian vengence. She aimed her gun and shot, only realizing she had done this after it happened. The shot hit him between the eyes, and she counted her lucky stars his shields weren't up. The Eclipse leader flopped unceremoniously onto the ground and didn't stir. Blood had started to pool around him when Shepard looked away.
She glanced briefly at her arm. It was bleeding, but the bullet had just grazed her. It would hurt like hell in a little bit, but at the moment it was only a slight annoyance. She didn't have time for it right now.
She ran the rest of the way to the gun. She had been right; the man had indeed been carrying a grenade launcher. She allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief.
She launched the first grenade at the mech, watching as it staggered forward. One more, then, she decided. The YMIR was almost inside the base; walking toward it, she launched second grenade before it could lift it's foot.
It worked wonderfully; the machine hunched over as if in pain. It's arms spasmed and it's body shook once violently. Shepard quickly hit the ground and covered her head with one arm. The explosion didn't shake the ground like she thought it would, but pieces of the YMIR flew every which way.
When she was sure it was safe, she sprinted back into the base. Jacob had done a good job of covering the door; bodies of salarians, asari, and human merc alike were scattered behind cover or near the stairs. Shepard was both horrified and proud of the carnage she had seen; her team had done beautifully, even when she pulled the stunt that she did.
Shepard sauntered in and greeted her comrades with a triumphant smile, setting the launcher on a nearby box. Jacob smiled brightly at her, and Miranda nodded in approval.
Shepard stole a look at Garrus, who stared at the gun, then at her, and then back at the gun. If he had been surprised she'd been right, he's lost all traces of it on his face. There was only genuine pride and excitement in his eyes. She walked to her friend as the others reloaded and readied themselves for another battle.
"You're kicking ass, Shepard," Garrus said approvingly. "They barely touched me." He looked down to reload his gun.
"And we got Jaroth in the process," Shepard said, matter-of-factly.
Garrus nodded to the gash on her arm. "I see he got you too."
She shrugged. "Worry about it later. I just got lucky; at that distance and to shoot me where he did, he must have been a terrible shot."
Garrus chuckled. "I noticed that." He turned to look out the window, where the salarian's body still lay. "Too bad you got to him first. I've been hunting that little bastard for months."
"Sorry," she smiled, putting a hand on his shoulder. "The next mercenary leader with a gun pointed at my face is your's, okay?"
Garrus rolled his eyes at her playful tone, but his voice took on a rather protective edge. "It would be my pleasure."
If Garrus could take the pole out of his ass and learn not to take all the weird near-deaths they'd seen and been through to heart, he'd be almost normal. He'd always been protective, ever since they took the fight to Saren and Sovereign; but there was something shaper in his tone that told her he was more serious than he let on.
She glanced out the window and across the bridge. "We've still got Blood Pack and Blue Suns left," she said softly. "Think we can make a break for it?"
The turian shrugged. "Maybe. Let's see what they're up to."
He watched the bridge carefully, but even with her human eyes, she could tell they'd already regrouped.
"They've reenforced the other side...heavily. But..." Garrus trailed off, thinking to himself no doubt.
"What's wrong?" Shepard asked. Garrus seemed nervous, and that set her on edge. She was sure he'd been scared piss-less before, and she'd seen him in situations worse than this. What could be worse than the YMIR mech?
"They aren't coming over the bridge," Garrus mused. "What are they waiting for?"
A low but firm boom answered him. The ground quaked a bit, but didn't do much else. It had sounded and felt like explosives. Shepard paled a bit, exchanging glances with Miranda and Jacob.
Miranda, who was usually all confidence, spoke with a surprising amount of nerves in her voice. "That sounded bad."
Garrus had already set to work on his omni-tool. His eyebrows drew together, eyes glowing with hate. "Dammit," he hissed. "They've breached the lower level."
"Fantastic," Shepard mumbled. "What now?"
Garrus gave her an incredulous stare. "You're up, Shepard. You better get down there."
She was already shaking her head. "No way."
"I can keep the bridge clear."
"I'm not leaving you alone," she stated firmly.
"I don't think we have time to debate this," Jacob pointed out. He was right; the faster she got rid of the explosives, the safer they would all be. But she couldn't leave just like that; Garrus would get killed with no one to back him up.
"We'll spit up," Shepard suggested, keeping the fear out of her voice. The last time she "split up" was on Virmire, with Kaidan and...Ashely. Ashely had died because she couldn't be in two places at once, couldn't go back to save her in time. "Two and two. Keep one of my team here."
"Are you sure?" Garrus asked, and for once, it seemed like she had kept him from guessing her feelings. "I mean, who knows what you'll find down there."
Shepard nodded and turned to Jacob. "Jacob, stay here with him. Keep him alive." She put a hand on his shoulder. Trusted crew member or not, he was still on her squad. She wasn't going to lose anyone because she wasn't fast enough. Not again. "Keep yourself alive, too."
"I will," he said with a daring smirk. "You keep her," he nodded to Miranda, "out of trouble."
"Cross my heart," she said. She took a look at Garrus, who surprisingly looked grateful.
"Thanks, Shepard." He nodded to the door and hoisted his gun up into his hands. "You better get going. Go down a level. The basement door is on the west side of the main room, behind the stairs." He looked directly at her now. "I'll radio directions if you need help. But you better get down there quick. Good luck." He turned away then and began to set up.
Shepard only nodded, though she knew he wouldn't see it.
She just hoped, as she walked out the door with Miranda, she wasn't about to repeat history.
"Close the shutter, I heard you!" Shepard screeched into her com, kicking a varren away from her and shooting it though the head. On the opposite side of the north hall, Miranda was shooting her gun and her biotics like crazy; she wasn't sure if it was good team work or if her survival instincts had kicked in. She'd take it, whatever the case.
It was gruesome. The Blood Pack spared no expense to make sealing the shutters the hardest task of the day.
The first two had been easy enough; the shutters each took ten seconds to close, and not many reinforcements were sent in to fight over it. But the north hall is where things got tricky.
The Blood Pack had waited for them, and as soon as they where in sight, both Shepard and Miranda had come under fire. It had take awhile just to get twenty five feet away from the door. She could see the button clearly. but every time she got close, she barely have time to duck into cover before more varren and vorcha would come onto the scene, pushing them backward and away from the shutters.
Shepard had already sustained more wounds than she would have liked; a varren claw to the face and a bite to the left forearm were more than enough where those beast were concerned. She supposed she had bruises from where a krogen had slugged her across the check. That man she had been more than happy to kill.
Miranda, she could see, had been grazed by bullets twice on the same arm, and the opposite leg had been bitten by a varren. There where cuts and bruised all over the skin she could see, and she could tell that the krogen she had just shot at close range and grabbed her wrist a little too tightly. They only had one medi-gel between them; Miranda was going to need it more by the looks of it.
"Shepard the longer you put it off," Garrus' voice told her, though she strained to hear it over the loud and rather dramatic hisses of a dying Blood Pack vorcha, "the more mercs are going to come through that door!"
"You think," she huffed, taking out two varren and a krogen before leaving her cover and inching closer to the door. "I don't," she paused to cover Miranda as she made to replicate her actions. "Know that?!"
"I know you know that Shepard. I can still send Jacob-"
"Don't!" she interrupted. "Keep him there, you'll need cover if I can't shut this damn door." She rolled out of cover and ran forward until she was only five feet away from the door. She dove behind a set of crates. Down the hall way and coming up fast were there very armed and extremely angry looking krogen.
"Shepard-"
"I've got the door," she huffed in annoyance. It was now or never. She jumped over the crate she was hiding behind and slammed the side of her fist against the button that would bring peace to this damned war-zone of a hallway. "You better have fanfare prepared for when we get back," Shepard gasped. "Miranda and I are superheros."
Garrus chuckled.
The door was nearly shut, and most of the Blood Pack in the room were being taken care of by Miranda and her biotics. The woman deserved the medi-gel.
A guttural roar that sent goosebumbs fluttering across her skin made Shepard spin around. She nearly screamed. A krogen had stuck his head and hands under the shutter and was slowly trying to lift it. So far, he was succeeding.
Her first thought was to shoot him, but that option quickly lost it's luster when she found she had no ammo. Her sniper was full but at the rate he was lifting the door, that wasn't going to do the trick fast enough. She thought about stepping on his fingers; but he could grab her and pull her down with him, and they'd both get crushed.
Crushed!
Shepard didn't hesitate and prayed that this would work. She punched the button over and over again, the door seeming to get heavier upon the alien under it each time. His eyes bulged and his fingers shook, but Shepard hit the button one last time, and the krogen was history. She wasn't sure what she had expected to happen other than a beheading; maybe his eyes to fall out of his skull. But beheading and removal of the phalanges was the creature's fate. It lay there, motionless and gushing blood and other weird things that made a sick smack as it fell into the puddle. If she had been anyone else, she make have turned away to expel the contents of her stomach.
"Shepard?" Miranda called. "It everything good over there?"
She turned and walked toward the brunette. "Yeah," she said hoarsely. "Just catching my breath. Here," she said, waving her omni tool over Miranda. "Take it; you can possibly walk with that leg, and you fought..." she paused to think of a word. When nothing better came to mind she just shrugged. "You fought nicely. Good job."
"Nicely?" Miranda said, already healing herself. "I thought I was rather brilliant." She looked at Shepard's battered form, but Shepard only grimaced at the pity the formed in her eyes. "But thank you."
"No problem."
"Shepard?"
Shepard nodded her head to the door, indicating that Miranda follow. She grabbed as much spare ammo she could find before she left through the doors and back toward the base. "What's up?"
"Get back here. They're coming through the doors." In the background she could already hear the Blood Pack's leader, a krogan called Garm, shouting orders to kill. She cursed.
"Come on," she called to Miranda, "they're in the base, we've got to move!"
They sprinted to the exit. Shepard's heart was pounding. She wasn't sure if it was nerves or reckless joy anymore; it was such a messed up situation she'd gotten into that any feeling at all was good to her. Hell, the fact that no one was dead yet was a damned miracle. If they could survive that, then they could survive the next onslaught.
By the time she had entered the main floor, she watched Garm disappear up the stairs. She could see Jacob a few feet in front of them, fighting off the Blood Pack the best he could.
Her com was a bit fuzzy, but she still heard Garrus' voice say the Garm had him pinned. She assumed it was to Jacob.
"Cover him, Miranda. I'll take Garm."
She ran to the stairs, taking them two at a time. There was another krogen by the door, but before he could raise his gun to shoot, Shepard hit the creature in the face and popped two bullets into his brain.
"I could really use some help, Jacob!" Garrus called, but the raw fear in his voice sent chills down her spine. He was in deep shit, alright. He was confined to the back of the room near the rear window. Garm was hardly giving him an easy time. Every time Garrus would move, another spray of bullets would cut him off.
"I heard you could use some-" she hit the ground as Garm spun around to shower the wall with bullets, "-help, old friend!"
She heard Garrus snort. "It took you-" she heard him huff, no doubt ducking into cover, "-long enough!"
Shepard immediatly hopped out of cover and unloaded a round of bullets into the krogen. He gave an outraged roar and turned toward Shepard. She reloaded as fast as she could, and shot two more shots into the krogen's armor. His eyes were glazed over with blood rage, and for a small moment, fear seized her. But Garrus had recovered long enough to hop out of cover and sink a few shots into Garm himself. Garm's head turned, but Shepard had already switched to her pistol, and had begun to shoot him again. Garm roared, shooting in her direction. Lucky for her, Shepard rolled out of the way just in time. A bullet only hit her foot. She sucked in a sharp breath but stood, and shot him once more, drawing his attention back form Garrus.
"I've got at least twenty three bullets in him so far," Shepard taunted. She was trying to goad Garm away from the other.
"Only twenty three? I've sank at lest thirty into him," Garrus shouted back. Okay, so maybe not then. She quickly changed her plans when Garm turned his head toward Garrus and snarled. He advanced slowly on the other; Shepard snuck out of her cover. She met Garrus' eyes for a moment, and moved her hand in a forward motion.
Keep talking!
He seemed to get the hint. "Though I guessed as much Shepard; you're slipping." Five more feet.
"He was right there, right in front of you, and, no offense Garm, but he is huge. "
Three feet.
"And even if his size wasn't enough, you could miss an ugly maw like his. Truly, Garm, you haven't aged well."
Shepard pressed her pistol against Garm's head. He froze misstep and let out a rumbling growl. "Garrus, that was so mean." She pulled the trigger. Garm collapsed into the ground. "You should't speak ill of the dead."
Garrus cocked his head to onside. "Is that a human thing?" he asked.
"Yup. You okay?"
He shrugged. "Tough bastards. But I've seen worse." He gave Shepard a once-over, worry and sympathy filling his eyes. "You defiantly look worse."
"Gee, thank's Garrus!" Shepard said, plopping down onto a crate and sighed. "It's gonna hurt like a bitch tomorrow."
He sighed as well. "You don't have any medi-gel?"
She shook her head. The adrenaline was beginning to wear off, and she noticed for the first time how badly her body ached. Her face throbbed with every beat of her heart. "I gave the last of it to Miranda. As bad as I am, she was worse."
Garrus glared toward where the woman was standing with Jacob. Shepard turned to look as well. It was awhile before he spoke again. "That's noble of you."
Shepard just shrugged. Garrus gave her a sympathetic stare. "Well, regardless, thanks for that. Had you not come up to help when you did, I'm not sure what the bullet ratio would have been when it came to bagging my remains. I think I'd be more metal than turian."
Shepard laughed a bit. It was tired and weak, but a laugh all the same. "Garrus Vakarian, you just took down two mercenary gangs, using only a shotgun and a sniper. Your thoughts?" She held out an invisible microphone out to him as if she were a newswoman.
"That this day just keeps getting better and better." He smiled. "Garm was a tough son of a bitch."
She sighed. "There's still more where that came from." Her gaze moved to her bleeding foot. "The Blue Sun's are left. I say we take our chances and fight our way out."
"I say you're right." Garrus shrugged, his voice taking on a more relaxed tone. "Tarak's got the toughest group, nothing we haven't dealt with before."
Shepard nodded and stood up, testing her weight on her foot. She sank her teeth into her bottom lip; a searing hot pain tore through her, and her vision had gone fuzzy around the edges. She'd have to work with it though, at least until she could get to the medical bay. She looked at Garrus, a bit worried. "You think we can make it out in one piece?"
"Sure," Garrus said. "Besides, he won't be expecting us to meet him head on-"
Shepard hadn't really been paying attention; behind Garrus, a gunship had mad an appearance. She immediately felt regret for not sabotaging the ship when she had a chance.
She wasn't sure if turians could pale as humans did, but the look in his eye said he had not been expecting Tarak so soon. Or, for that matter, a gunship to back him up.
Shepard took cover with Garrus behind a couch. Gunfire flew across the room.
"Dammit!" she heard Garrus curse. "I thought I took that thing out!"
Shepard nodded. "You did. They were fixing it up when I came here."
Garrus slid her an icy stare. The guilt and regret of leaving the gunship be intensified. "That would have been a lovely thing to list among the Blue Suns' assets, don't you think, Shepard?"
"I know," she sighed. "I didn't think it would be ready to fly into the fight." She decided to leave the part about the sabotage out.
Shepard peered out from her cover, and Garrus followed her lead. The ship had turned a bit so the door was now facing the window. Troops filed in through it, shooting as soon as their feet hit the floor.
Among them was Jentha, a ruthless human member of the Blue Suns. They had spoken when she'd signed up to find Archangel; the bitch was out for blood when it came to Garrus. All she had been able to pull from her story was that the Archangel and twelve others who followed in his stead were notorious for shutting down Suns operation and influence where ever it may have been. There had been an attempt on the life of Tarak, but that was all Shepard could figure out.
"They're offloading troops," Garrus growled, gripping his shotgun. "Watch you back Shepard."
She gripped her pistol and stood, favoring her right foot. She didn't have to shoot much, before something grabbed the back of her armor and spun her around. Jentha made for a left hook to her already damaged face. Shepard had enough sense to dodge the attack, and launch herself around the other's middle, taking the both off their feet. They rolled apart and made to stand; Jentha still had a firm grip on her weapon. Shepard's was by the others feet.
Jentha readied her gun even from their position on the floor, but Shepard kicked upward enough with her good foot to dislodge the gun from the other's hold. Standing up, she grabbed Jentha by her neck and brought her head down on hers. There was a sickening crack that came from Jentha's skull, and Shepard almost smiled with sick satisfaction. She dropped the human woman and looked out toward the ground floor.
The Blue Suns were already making their way up the stairs. Shepard grabbed her pistol from the floor and left Jentha on the ground, moaning in agony. In truth, even her head had ached a bit from the headbut. But she was focused enough to shoot two oncoming Blue Suns mercs as the set foot through the door. Three batarian behind them were flung backward against the wall, and she saw Miranda take each one of them down.
Jacob was out the door, and fighting near the stairs. A turian merc had just been shot in the neck by the man. and Jacob kicked the body down the stairs, effectively denying several others sure footing and sending them tumbling down as well.
Shepard put away her pistol and, for the third time that hour, brought out her Widow. She took out two mercenaries on the stairs who were trying to stagger up to Jacob. He finished of the last one himself. The others fell rather quickly after that. She would finish one man, Jacob would shoot another, and the occasional body would fly by at inhuman speeds into walls thanks to Miranda.
Movement behind her; Shepard started to turn, but felt the barrel of Jentha's gun against her skull and froze. Jentha's breathing was labored and coming out in quick aggravated puffs.
A gunshot rang through the air, and Shepard's eyes closed. Another shot, closer. She didn't move until she felt the floor was slippery with Jentha's blood.
She didn't turn to thank Miranda, but let out a heavy sigh of relief. She owed her one. It was over. The Blue Suns, Blood Pack, and Eclipse had been taken out.
She stood slowly, and got out her pistol, turning to Garrus. Just a precaution; though the sound of gunfire was only an echo, stragglers could remain. And there was that damned gunship. So it wasn't quite over, but over enough to get out.
As soon as the thought crossed her mind, the ship hovered into view in the window by the bridge. Garrus was standing closer to the window than she, facing the opposite way. Shepard eyes widened in shock and fear.
"Archangel!" Tarak shouted through the ship's com.
Garrus spun around, seeming to recognize the voice, and began to shoot. Shepard, Jacob, and Miranda dove for different positions of cover across the room. Gunship fire flew through the room, and Garrus was in the middle of it. A few sudden jerks of his body told her he'd been hit more than once. The turian went down, his face contorted in agony.
"Garrus!" Shepard screamed, trying to move closer to him. He had managed to pull himself into cover, but it wasn't going to last him very long. Not against a gunship. Not against Tarak.
"Think you can screw with the Blue Suns?" Tarak taunted.
Garrus pulled himself up and peeked over his shoulder. He was going to move in on Tarak again. Wounded as he was. She almost called out to him again, but all she could do was watch in horror, frozen to her own cover in sheer terror for her friend.
"This ends now." Tarak's voice sounded so final, and it added rage to the list of feeling that glued her to the spot. And with that, and explosion lit up the room. Tarak had fired a rocket at Garrus.
His body hit the ground hard, bounce, and rolled a few feet from the window. Then it was still, too still to be living.
"Garrus!" Shepard called, trying to rouse him, though she knew it had to be futile. The rocket had been shot at a close range; his motionless body only negated her desperate wishes.
Shepard switched to her shot gun, fury now replacing adrenaline. Tarak was a dead man.
She sprang out of cover, shooting and limping as fast as she could. Tarak shot back, but thankfully couldn't hit her fast enough before she made it to the stack of crates closest to the exit. He put away her gun, and grabbed her weapon of choice.
The ship had taken to flying to the window across from her where it had dropped off the Blue Suns troops. She stood and limped toward the opening. The sick son of a bitch way going to pay. He would die in that machine that had killed her friend. She readied the grenade launcher, and as the gunship spun to aim a shower of bullets, she fired. She ship swayed unsteadily in the air, and she could see the troops that it had planned to let off wobble unsteadily.
Good. She loosed another grenade, and this time the ship lurched forward. Shepard hoped, for once, that this batarian suffered. For whatever he had done to Garrus, for whatever his gang had done on Omega, she hoped he shouldered the suffering, all of it, and hoped he felt it burning in the fires of hell. It was a shock to her system to think that way, but revenge could do that, or so she was told. She let loose the final grenade.
The ship exploded. Sparks and fire flew every which way, and pieces of machine showered down like rain. It was a regular fireworks display. But it could only hold her attention for so long. She quickly limped back to Garrus. Jacob and Miranda where already making there way to his body.
He lay with one arm out under his head in a pool of blood. His eyes were shut and his mouth slightly open. His stillness brought ice into her veins. She reach out to turn him over, a lump in her throat. Her best friend lay out dead in front of her, and all she could do was have joker come pick them up. Garrus had been one of the few connections to her old life. Her real life. God only knew if, or when, she'd see Tali again. And even then, her friend wanted nothing to do with Cerberus. Garrus was come into the fight willingly, and had planned to leave the fight and join Shepard once more by. A loyal friend. She should have screamed, said something, warned him maybe. He shouldn't have died like this; a solider like Garrus didn't deserve to die like a common mercenary.
And then Renita Shepard heard the most amazing sound in the world; Garrus Vakarian gasping for breath.
"Garrus!" Shepard gasped. She could quite place the emotions in her voice. It sounded like relief, happiness, and worry.
His gasping only increased as he tried to move. "We're getting you out of here, Garrus. Just hold on." She turned to Jacob. "Radio Joker. Make sure they're ready for us."
"Shepard..." Jacob murmured, "he...he's not gonna make it." He put a hand on her shoulder.
Shepard shook it off. "Mirnada?" she asked.
Her hand was already hailing Joker. She readied herself to move Garrus. They'd have to be fast, and with her foot, she hoped they could be. They needed him alive for this mission.
As she and Jacob hauled him across the bridge, Shepard heard his staggered breathing mixed with the occasional gurgled cough. She closed her eyes; she needed him alive too.
She prayed that Jacob was wrong.
Shepard and Jacob stood quietly in the communications and meeting room. It was brightly lit with a table in the middle to conduct strategy meetings before battle if necessary. EDI, the ships VI, glowed in the middle of the table in the shape of a blue sphere. But no one spoke a word.
Shepard had her head down, and her hands gripping the side of the table. Even with the medi-gel, bandaging, pain medication Doctor Chakwas had given her, she still favored her right foot. Her arms were bandaged where she'd been bitten, and shot, and the right side of her face sported a bandage to cover the claw marks. Chakwas had insisted she receive a few vaccinations as soon as possible, considering all the diseases varren could spread. The bruised side of her face was clearing up, but she could still feel her pulsing heartbeat under her cheek.
But that could have been nerves.
Finally, Jacob cleared his throat. "Commander," he started, folding his arms across his chest. "We've done what we could for Garrus," he paused to take a deep breath, "but her took a bad hit." Jacob tilted his head down, the floor suddenly becoming the most interesting part of this conversation.
"The docs corrected as much as they could with surgical procedures and some cybernetics. Best we can tell, he'll have full functionality, but..."
A strong wave of peace claimed Shepard, followed but a stab of fear. "But...?"
The door to the room suddenly opened. Garrus waltz through the opening, as if nothing had happened. The armor around his head was chipped and burnt away. A hole and cup on the right side marked where the missile had hit. But so did his face.
Along the side of his face, he was scarred. It looked, as of right now, like a horrible burn. From his eye, along his jaw, to the front of his mouth, his right side would forever bear that scar. It defiantly added to the dangerous facade he sometimes pretended he had.
"Shepard," he greeted, nodding his head to her. Shepard smile a little.
"Tough son of a bitch," Jacob said appreciatively. "Didn't think he' be up yet."
Garrus shook his head. "They wouldn't give me a mirror," he complained, meeting Shepard's steady gaze. "How bad is it?"
Shepard shrugged. He looked dangerous, that she knew. But most turians had scars anyway. "Hell, Garrus," she said, crossing her arms. "You were always ugly. If you slap some face paint on there, no one will even notice."
Garrus guffawed for a second or two before he touched his scar and ground his teeth. But the humor was still in his eyes. "Ah! Ouch, don'y make me laugh dammit. My face is barely holding together as it is!"
"S'not so bad," Shepard said lightly, folding her arms. "You will have some scars, though."
Garrus smirked with the good side of his mouth. "Some people find facial scars attractive," he said, eyeing Shepard's bandaged cheek. Her jew dropped a bit, and she could feel her cheeks heat up.
"Mind you, most of those 'people'," he make air quotes around the word people, "are krogen."
Shepard laughed out loud, and turned to introduce Jacob, only to notice he had already left. "So," she started, trying to pick passed the awkward "dead for two years" bit that she knew was weighing heavily on his mind.
"So," Garrus said back, a bit firmer. "Cerberus, huh? The crazy humans who conducted experiments on your leftover team on Akuze? What happened there? Finally got tired of being a part Alliance Navy?"
This time Shepard's cheeks reddened with anger. "You know me better that that, Vakarian."
"Do I?" he mused. "I seem to recall that you knew me once, too. So, what is there a no contact with you old team rule, or-"
"I knew you were going to find something to pick at," Shepard groaned. "If I could, have I would have told everyone."
"You could have sent an email, a voice memo, a tshirt. 'My friend joined Cerberus and all I got...was this..." Garrus trailed off, studying her face. She must have been giving off some intense emotions there, because immediacy, Garrus' face was filled with chagrin. "Sorry. But I have got to know; where were you for two years?"
"Comatose," she mumbled. "I don't know how Cerberus found me, or why they brought me back. But I woke up while the facility I was in was under attack, two years after I supposedly died." She shrugged. "I've gotten used to the idea of working with Cerberus, but I don't work for them."
They were both quiet for a moment. When Garrus spoke, it was in a kinder tone, understanding. "Well, I can respect that." He took a look around the room. "It's nice to be back on the Normandy," a pause. "Well, a Normandy. It beats Omega."
Shepard gave him a lopsided smile. "Welcome back, Garrus. You're a welcomed addition to any crew of mine, Cerberus or otherwise."
"Well, to tell you the truth, the life a vigilantly was getting kinda boring." Garrus gave her the same smile back, before turning to go. "I'm glad you're alive Shepard."
Shepard's eyes followed him until the door closed.
All and all, she was glad he was alive too.