Hello again everyone, I intended to take a longer break than this due to being ridiculously busy recently (first year as a teacher, why did I choose this job?!), but I just couldn't let this story go!
For those of you who are new to my stories, this is actually the sequel to 'Falling for Garrus', which you can read if you click on my profile :)
I would probably recommend reading that one first if you really wanted to get to know my characters and story, but if not, you will probably be able to pick up the events pretty quickly when reading this one :)
Also, just a reminder that while I stick to some elements of the ME games, I like to change them around and make them a bit different (I get a little bored reading fanfic that pretty much just tells me what I've already seen when playing the game!). So I use the ME characters and stories, and change them into my own interpretation. I also pick and choose characters from the different games depending on how much I like them (for example, my first story was based on the events of ME2, but James Vega, Samantha Traynor and Steve Cortez were all members of the Normandy crew).
I think that's all I wanted to say. I hope you like the new story! The chapters may be a bit spread out or really close together depending on my schedule, but I've got some big ideas, so let's see where they go!
Mel
"Fifty!" The Vorcha hissed.
"This stuff isn't worth forty, let alone fifty. I'll give you thirty-five, that's it."
"Fifty!" The Vorcha repeated. Casey sighed. Why did she feel like she'd been here before? She leaned on the counter. "Listen to me," she muttered, "These medical supplies are vital for some of the refugees here: people you probably used to know. So you can either give them to me for thirty five, or I can send the Talons to come and take your whole store for free. It's your choice."
The Vorcha growled, but then nodded. "Fine, thirty five. Take and go!"
Casey smiled. "Always nice doing business with you." She took the bag from the counter, and made her way out of the shop. Back out on the street she pulled her hood down until it almost covered her eyes, and hurried on her way, careful not to make eye contact with anyone. They were still only rounding up the other species so far, but Casey had heard rumours that some of the Cerberus officers were beginning to arrest young Human women out on their own for some 'crime' or another, in order to force them into striking deals for their freedom. Obviously, this was something she wanted to avoid at all costs. Besides, once Cerberus had you on their system, it was much harder to hide, and hiding was the one of the things she had gotten very good at lately.
Omega was darker than it used to be. The street lights flickered on and off, and she caught glances of figures disappearing into the shadows every time a small burst of light lit their faces. It was hotter too, something to do with the drills running harder, Casey assumed. She felt beads of perspiration on her forehead, but continued on with her fast pace.
After twenty minutes or so, she found herself outside Afterlife, and finally stopped for a moment to catch her breath. She watched as a small group of people standing in single file, were lead into the club. Smaller haul today: three Batarians, one Elcor, a Turian and a couple of Vorcha. Either the other species were learning to hide better, or there were just less of them to be rounded up.
'Registration'. That's what Cerberus had called it. They invited all species other than the Humans to come and register at these small drop-in centres that popped up everywhere. A few went, most didn't. It soon became apparent that anyone Cerberus deemed a 'threat', would be moved to a containment facility, and then mysteriously disappear. When the other species stopped going voluntarily, Cerberus began rounding them up. The only Aliens you could find out in the open streets of Omega these days were those who had cleared processing (usually the old or sick), or those who were in hiding, and attempting to quickly travel between safe houses.
The Elcor caught Casey's eye. She ran her finger along the handle of the knife tucked into her belt. How she would've loved to run over and take out those Cerberus bastards: free the Elcor and the others, make one tiny move towards getting Omega back to normal. But as she watched the Elcor pushed into Afterlife, she knew it wouldn't work. She may have been able to take out a couple of Cerberus troops, her hand to hand combat had improved greatly over the past few months, but there were always more. She couldn't afford to find herself locked up or worse right now, not while people depended on her.
Casey saw a Cerberus engineer watching her, and she quickly continued on her way, towards the slums.
It didn't take Casey long to reach the bridge, and though the area seemed quiet, she knew she was being viewed through the crosshair of a sniper's scope right now. She lowered her hood and moved on towards the building.
The doors opened as she approached, and for the first time since she'd left earlier, Casey felt like she could breathe easy.
"Any problems?" Asked Fendris, a Salarian tech.
Casey shook her head, and he gave a little smile, taking the bag of supplies she held out to him.
"That's good. It happened a few minutes after you left."
Casey's eyes widened, "You're kidding!"
"Nope, without you here I had to hold the towels."
Casey felt a grin spread across her face, and hurried to the stairs, briefly waving at a few of the people settled in the living area downstairs. There were around seven families in the house, with a few more individuals, and space was in high demand.
Casey took the stairs two at a time, turning left at the top and entering the bedroom. The Turian woman, Norana, lay in the bed, cradling a small bundle in her arms. She smiled when she saw Casey enter, gesturing with her fingers for her to come closer. Casey hurried over, and caught first sight of the new-born Turian baby. It was awake, staring around the room at all the friendly, excited faces, with its bright blue eyes. "It's a boy," Norana whispered.
"He's perfect," Casey breathed.
"I'm naming him Rannus."
Casey nodded, his father's name. Norana's husband had been killed two weeks ago when a group of Cerberus operatives had taken out one of the Talon strongholds. Rannus had been a member of the gang: trying to take Omega back from Cerberus, and had left his heavily pregnant wife in the care of Casey and the others. News of his death had been a devastating blow for all of them: the Talons had looked like they were making real progress towards kicking Cerberus off the station, but with the bombing of one of the Talon's main bases of operations, their organisation had been severely weakened. Talk of defeating Cerberus turned to whispers, hissed in the dark corners of Omega.
"You should get some rest," Casey said to Norana. "You must be exhausted."
She left Norana and Rannus to get some peace, though there was still a group of people desperate to see the baby. Casey knew that everyone needed something to focus on at the moment, something beautiful and innocent, and a baby was perfect for that.
Casey moved to the only other room upstairs. This was the main bedroom, but also the meeting room, and place where all their actions were planned and discussed. At the moment it was empty, and Casey dropped down onto one of the couches, closing her eyes. She didn't like to be alone in here too much, it reminded her of the first time she'd come to this place. The night of the party on the Normandy. The night she'd left to explore Omega with Garrus.
She felt her throat constrict, even thinking his name made her whole body hurt. But what would she have done if he'd never taken her to this base? The place where he'd once taken the identity of 'Archangel', and done what she was trying to do: something good for Omega. It had been the only place she'd felt safe since arriving back on this god-awful station. But as grateful as she was, she couldn't think about that night, about the first time they'd made love on the very bed she now slept in. It brought too much to the surface, so much hurt and pain. As far as Garrus knew, Casey had died on the Collector base. He had no idea she'd managed to escape on a Collector fighter ship and practically crash land on Omega. That was months ago.
Casey sighed, it seemed like much more time had passed since she arrived, nearly dead, on Omega.
There it was, she could see it, Omega! Something was happening to Casey. She didn't feel right. It wasn't just the bone jutting out of her arm, the amount of blood she'd lost from not only that wound, but the numerous others dotted around her body, or the general battered state she was in. No, her head was pounding, her mouth was dry, she felt sick, and nothing seemed to be standing still. In fact, as she neared the station, Omega itself seemed to be dancing before her eyes. Luckily, she didn't need to do anything to the ship, it seemed to be directing itself to the docking bay.
Finally Casey felt solid ground beneath her, and she shakily pulled out the key card: stopping the engine. Heaving herself out took all the energy she had, and within moments Casey found herself on the floor of the dock. She wanted to get up, but she just couldn't, her body had had enough. Dreamily she watched as two figures approached. They looked Batarian.
"I was expecting a Collector."
"Glad it's not, I hate those things."
"Still, what's a Human doing in a Collector ship?"
"No idea, she looks pretty beat up."
"Leave her, it's almost the end of our shift."
"We can't, we should get her to a Doctor."
"She won't thank you for it, her kind hate our kind."
"Maybe they wouldn't if we didn't suggest leaving them to die on the dock. You can do what you want, I'm taking her to the clinic."
"You look deep in thought."
Casey looked up, Nyreen Kandros, head of the Talons, was standing in the doorway. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything important?" She asked.
Casey shook her head, "No, of course not, come in."
Nyreen walked into the room. "I'm sorry to arrive unannounced."
Casey smiled, "You're always welcome here Nyreen, what can I do for you?" Nyreen and the Talons were one of the few groups doing some good on Omega. Not only that, but they had already dedicated a small team of Talons to protect Casey's group. Casey may not have had much to offer, but she would always do anything she could to help Nyreen.
"Our team is low on medical supplies. We know that your group need all they have, and that's the same with the others in this area. We don't want to raid the hospital or doctor's surgeries, but we know Cerberus has a large cache in their 'recruitment centre' just outside Afterlife. We can't send our people: they have cameras everywhere, and our faces would be recognised and sound the alarms. We need a small team to slip in and out."
"How?" Casey asked.
"You go in as potential recruits, and one of you slips away to the back room while the rest of you distract the officer."
"Do they not have alarms on the gear?"
"According to my sources, no."
"Because they don't think anyone would be stupid enough to just walk into their base…"
Casey spun around, perched on the window overlooking the bridge was Anaya. Anaya was a slender Asari, with light blue markings that framed her eyes like intricate make up. She wore a closely fitted black bodysuit, similar to the one Miranda had favoured on the Normandy. Unlike Miranda, however, Anaya was like a shadow. She climbed and jumped between buildings, slipped in and out of sight within seconds, and was a master thief. Nobody saw her unless she wanted them to, and this had made her one of the most valuable members of Casey's group.
Anaya dropped down from the window and walked towards Casey and Nyreen. "Right?" She asked Nyreen.
"Well, I imagine that's the reason, yes." Nyreen replied stiffly, reminding Casey for a fleeting moment of Garrus. She shook that thought away.
"Of course we'll do it, Nyreen," Casey replied.
"Yeah," Anaya shrugged, "Who doesn't like a good suicide mission?"
"Thank you," Nyreen breathed, only looking at Casey. "You're really helping my people. As payment I can provide another sniper for your group."
"Two." Anaya interrupted, and Nyreen gave her a cold gaze. Casey stepped between them in what she hoped looked like an innocent movement. "One is fine, thank you Nyreen."
Nyreen nodded, and turned to leave.
"Always a pleasure Reenie!" Anaya called. Nyreen didn't turn back, and continued out of the door. "She's such fun," Anaya added to Casey, rolling her eyes and taking off her backpack. Casey turned around, exasperated. "Do you have to do everything in your power to get under her skin?"
Anaya seemed to be thinking for a moment. "Yes."
Casey shoved her playfully. Anaya continued, "I don't know, it's just Turians. That whole self-righteous thing they've got going on. I can't take it." She stopped, her eyes flicking towards Casey. Anaya was the only person on Omega that Casey had told about Garrus. "Sorry, I-"
"It's fine," Casey replied hurriedly. "What did you bring?"
Anaya's eyes glittered as she opened her bag, "You'll never believe what weapons those Cerberus guys just leave lying around!"
After being found by the Batarians, Casey was in a hospital bed for a month. What she gathered from the snippets of conversation she overheard in her brief moments of consciousness, was that she had not only sustained physical damage when she fell down the shaft in the Collector base, but she'd also had a bad reaction to the poison they'd used to put her to sleep in the tube. She was woozy and unresponsive for so long, that it took her three weeks to realise she was staying in the same clinic where she'd worked as a Nurse, with Mordin Solus.
The Batarian who brought her in either felt guilty for something, was trying to get rid of some stolen credits, or was genuinely kind hearted (the least likely of the three options when you came from Omega), because he had paid for all of Casey's medical care in advance. She would've liked to thank him when she got out, but he never came back to the clinic, and left no name or address.
When Casey was finally allowed out, she had nowhere to go. Her old apartment had long since been sold, and Casey had no friends on Omega now that Mordin had left. Her credit chit no longer worked either. Casey supposed that when your squad mates see you die (or at least thought they did), your account closed pretty quickly.
Casey had wandered the streets of Omega for a day, finding herself feeling more and more desperate. That's when she'd found herself outside Afterlife.
Aria.
The thought had hit her like a shuttle to the head, how had she not thought of Aria before? They may not have been friends, but Casey used to work for her. More than that: Aria had once seduced her, had sex with her on that famous couch. Surely that meant she harboured some kind of affection towards Casey, however small? Enough to give her a ship, and an idea of where to go? There was only one way to find out.
Casey entered the club, surprised for a moment at how little it had changed. Since Casey left Omega, her whole life had turned upside-down. She'd practically become a different person, yet here was Afterlife, still the loud, dark, sleazy place it had always been. Casey supposed that it should have comforted her: given her some sense of being 'home', or of stability at the very least. But it didn't, all it did was make her feel like she was being dragged back down into her old life all over again.
Shaking away these thoughts, Casey strode confidently towards Aria's room overlooking Afterlife. One of her guards, a Batarian whose name Casey couldn't recall, held out his arm to stop her. "What do you want, human?" He asked.
"I need to see Aria."
The guard looked like he was about to say something, when Casey heard a familiar voice. "Let her through." The Batarian stepped aside, and Casey moved around towards Aria, who did not get up.
"Well, well," The Asari began, a slight smile on her face. "I heard you'd come home." Once again Aria proved how well informed she was, who could've told her Casey was back? As far as she'd been aware, she was anonymous here.
"It's been a long time," Aria continued, " I thought you went off with Shepard to save the world? Though I suppose that vacation is over now…"
"Aria, I need a favour-" But then Casey processed what Aria had said. "What do you mean, it's over?"
Aria looked mildly surprised. "Then you haven't heard? Dear Commander Shepard is in lock up back on Earth. Something about destroying a relay?"
"Crashing a relay into a Batarian colony!" The guard growled from the corner. Aria looked mildly annoyed. "Yes thank you Bray, and we're all devastated about the loss. Do me a favour, go intimidate someone or something."
Bray looked angry, but nodded and left.
"He's been driving me crazy," Aria said, rolling her eyes. But Casey couldn't pay attention to that, Shepard was locked up? He destroyed a relay? Destroyed a colony?
"Wh-what about the Normandy? The rest of the crew?" Casey stuttered.
Aria shrugged, "Went their separate ways. Nothing to hold them together with Shepard gone."
Casey dropped down onto the couch, trying to keep herself from breaking down. How would she find Garrus now?
Aria leaned closer, now looking interested. "What's wrong?" Her eyes lit up for a moment, "You got something going on with Shepard?"
"No!" Casey replied, perhaps a little too quickly, because Aria's eyes continued to glitter.
"Not Shepard, but someone then?" She grinned. "Oh Casey, I'm positively jealous."
Casey's cheeks began to burn, Aria was sitting in the exact spot on which she'd ravished Casey, what seemed like an eternity ago. Aria's grin spread wider, "Don't worry Casey, I'm in a… committed relationship now."
She said 'committed relationship' like it was an illness, then continued. "So the way I see it, you've got three options."
Casey looked up, she wasn't aware she even had one.
"One: you go to Earth and become Shepard's bunk mate until he's released or killed by Batarians."
Casey rolled her eyes, and Aria laughed. "Ok, two: I give you a ship and you roam the galaxy aimlessly with the unlikely hope that you'll somehow run into the rest of the crew."
"You'd give me a ship?"
"Of course, but I'm pretty sure you're not choosing option two."
She was right, Casey could fly around for years and not find a single member of the Normandy crew. "What's option three?" She asked, feeling her choices narrow before her very eyes.
"You stay here. I'll give you your old job back, and you can earn some money while you try and find out where your friends are. There's a room going in the dancers quarters, as long as you don't mind the smell of sweat and glitter."
Casey was grateful, Aria didn't have to do any of this for her, and as she accepted the offer, she tried to look like she was happy about it.
But she wasn't happy, she was back on Omega. It felt like she was falling back into her old life, and her new one was slipping away before her very eyes.
Are you ready? Anaya stood in the doorway to the main bedroom. Casey nodded. Now was not the time to reminisce. It was time to steal some medical supplies from Cerberus!