"Good thing Archangel is your boyfriend."
Elara ducked her head, stifling a snort. "It'll be an even better thing when you get your ass down here, Vakarian."
"I'm already on my way."
"Wait… who? Who are you? How did you get on this frequency?"
Leaning around a crate, Elara picked off one of her attackers and ducked back into cover. The chatter over her comm flared to life and she sighed. Typical. So typical.
"Brooks. Brooks! He's fine, it's fine. Just. It's fine."
Huffing out another sigh, she shook her head and muttered a few curses under her breath. Sliding out from cover, she pressed forward, ducking into cover again when more men rounded the corner on her. Dammit to hell.
Three more dead mercenaries later and Elara ducked around the next corner to see the path blocked. Was nothing in life ever going to be easy? Ever?
"Shit," she hissed to herself. Rubbing her temple with her free hand, she shook her head and slumped down against a nearby wall. Her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath. Even shore leave could never be easy. This was ridiculous. And, to top everything off, she was still hungry. Her stomach growled and she groaned, tipping her head back against the wall behind her and closing her eyes.
"Shepard? Are you still there?"
"I'm here Brooks."
"Well there might be a problem. I think. I don't know. It looks like C-Sec has locked that whole area down. I can't get that door open from where I am. Is there, uh, is there any way you can try to go around?"
Slowly, Elara rocked her head up and down, beating it against the wall behind her. Never. Easy.
"I can probably override it, just give me a minute."
Every muscle and joint in her body screamed at her as she slowly hoisted herself up to her feet. Cuts and bruises lined her bare arms and legs, stinging and throbbing with the movements. I shouldn't have sat down. Damn it all.
Her Spectre access did the trick, as the irritating mechanical voice cheerfully informed her. Good. Taking a deep breath, she started forward again.
"All right, it worked, I'm through."
She ducked into cover, voices shouting orders from the other side of the walkway. "Just once I'd like for the bad guys to run out of cannon fodder. Is that too much to ask? Just one time?"
"You really think that would ever happen? Come on, Shepard, none of us arethat lucky."
She chuckled, keeping low as she moved along the benches. "I don't know, Garrus, I got lucky with you, didn't I?"
"Yeah, but that's different."
"Uh-huh."
"Umm, not to cut in, but we should probably keep your comms clear. They're probably using it to, you know, track you."
"Hey, he started it."
Grinning to herself, Elara popped up from her cover to pick off a couple of her attackers. Shifting aside then, she ducked back down and peered around a corner. Her eyes darted from cover spot to cover spot, picking out her targets carefully. Her thermal clip was about spent and she had yet to see another in sight. Shit. What I wouldn't give to be a biotic right about now.
Another sigh as she broke cover to snipe off two more of the mercenaries. Crouching down again, she looked at the pistol in her hand and growled in frustration. Three more shots, by the fourth she came up empty. God help me. If I make it out of this alive, you and I need a heart to heart about all this shit you throw at me.
Adjusting her grip on the pistol, Elara sucked in a breath and dove into another spot of cover closer to the mercenaries. A few shots whizzed past her head and she grunted as she kept low. Voices again. Two this time as the remaining two men barked at each other with directions. Elara rolled her eyes, sliding around the corner and slithering up behind one of the two.
Under her firm grasp, his neck snapped and she ducked back into cover as the other one started firing at her again. Shit, shit, shit. Dammit.
Cringing as one shot seared across her arm, Elara hissed. With a hope and a prayer, she popped up long enough from her cover to lob the gun in his direction. And, much to her great surprise, it hit home; the man crumpling with a pained yelp.
"Well that never happens." Elara stood up, staring down at the man. Laughter bubbled up, but she tamped down on it immediately. The pain was not worth the outward display of her amusement. Heading over to the unconscious man, she rifled through his pockets to find some spare clips. Successful, she hummed happily to herself. "These'll do nicely."
Replacing the clip as she retrieved her pistol and turned it on the man. A bullet to the head before she pressed forward. Ahead she could hear shots being fired and Elara squinted as she peered around the corner. All she could see were two more mercenaries, but not who they were shooting at. Once again, typical.
Gun up, she went up to the door prepared to head in blazing. But the last of the mercenaries dropped and she stopped in her tracks. Lowering the gun, she set a hand on her hip.
"About damn time."
Garrus came around from behind one of the sky cars, chuckling. "Nice to see you, too, Shepard."
He stopped within arms reach, extended a hand toward her, but changed his mind. Curling his fingers back, he dropped the hand and looked her over. Elara rolled her eyes, snorting at him.
"Hell Garrus, it's just water and blood, nothing you haven't touched before."
"That wasn't…" he shook his head. "Never mind. Are you all right?"
"I've lost track of what hurts, I'm soaking wet, and if that's not bad enough I'm hungry enough I could eat a thresher maw. By myself." She inhaled a deep breath. "So yes, I'm fine."
Garrus shuffled in place, tipping his head to one side. "Well… you look good, at least."
"And I'll look even better when you get me out of this dress and into that hot tub in the apartment."
She bit her lip, inhaling a sharp breath through her nostrils. Quickly, she brushed past him before he could catch the flush of her cheeks. Garrus hummed in thought before turning around, his eyes following her movements. Elara could feel his gaze on her, which only served to fan the flames.
"I like that sound of that." He gave a light, low chuckle. "But, uh, we probably need to get out of here first."