Chapter 2, Reclaiming What's Mine, is broken into two parts. I'm planning on posting the second part within a day or two once I get the ending tweaked to my liking. As I mentioned in chapter 1, this is a slightly AU version of the Omega DLC and Nyreen is present during the final assault on Afterlife, joining in the fight against General Petrovsky; therefore, certain dialogue is altered a bit and the fight scene is a tiny bit different. I'd definitely like to know what you guys think about the fight scene; I'm fairly new to writing action sequences, so I'd really appreciate some critique, good or bad.
Thanks again to Sereneffect, who edited this story for me. She's marvelous and I'm so thankful she has the time to beta my stories. She has four active stories of her own right now, so I'm thrilled she's able to take the time to beta Rematch and Fathers and Daughters. Thank you so much Sereneffect! And, thank you to all my readers! I hope you enjoy this chapter; I had a blast writing it!
"Petrovsky dies, now." Aria stormed past the first set of doors, entering the hallway that was usually bustling with her guards and drunks that had been kicked out of the club. Chairs were overturned, empty thermal clips lined the floor, and wiring hung from shattered monitors. The doors at the other end of the hallway were locked as well, keeping them on the outside once again. The General must really not want Aria to find him… Nyreen thought. She shared a look with Shepard as Aria started furiously hacking the door – when Omega's one governing rule was broken, the consequences were usually harsh.
Cerberus had done a much more thorough job on this set of doors, setting up three separate locking codes that Aria would have to override to even get the doors to unlock. Spirits knew whether or not they would open after being unlocked; this place was so wrecked and broken, nothing looked fully functional.
Shepard went over to talk to the asari for a moment, while Nyreen took a minute of her own to sit down in a charred chair, reloading her pistol and assault rifle – there was no telling what kind of "guards" Petrovsky might have defending his hideout. She shuddered, silently imploring the Sprits for the inside of the club to be bereft of Adjutants. She wouldn't be surprised though if it wasn't; if she were in the General's position, she would bring every heavy trooper and mutated creation she had, putting as many bodies between herself and the asari. Aria had never been one to easily forgive, and in a situation like this… the General would be lucky to make it out in any form other than a corpse. She herself had spent years avoiding Aria's detection, simply not wanting to deal with the asari's wrath. He never should have stepped on this station… For Aria it was all about reclaiming her power, reclaiming what she viewed as hers; for Nyreen, it was simply about preventing more avoidable deaths. Too many had already suffered at the hands of Cerberus. If she could help it, no one else would have to die today. Assuming she could stop Aria from actually killing Petrovsky, which was a tall order.
A slight shuffling sound dragged her attention away from her guns and thoughts; Shepard was striding over, her eyebrows creased and her mouth turned down in a frown. She dipped her head down a bit, once she reached the chair Nyreen was sitting in, trying to meet the turian's eyes.
"Hey, you okay?" the human commander asked.
"Yeah. Little shaken, but nothing debilitating. How's the head?" Nyreen replied, gesturing with a nod while she continued to work the thermal clip into her pistol. It seemed her pistol had taken a bit of a beating during the explosion outside Afterlife; bits of the metal were slightly melted, making the thermal clip harder to jam in. That's going to be challenging once we get inside…
"Little sore, but nothing I haven't dealt with time and time again. I'm glad you're okay. We need soldiers like you… especially in this war."
"I know, Commander, but… can you blame me? What would you have done?"
Shepard sighed, her mouth pressed into a thin line. "Same thing, probably. I'm just glad it didn't come down to that," she said, shifting her eyes over to the still locked door of Afterlife, staring at Aria's back. "Besides… regardless of her coldshoulder, I think Aria really cares about you."
"Sure, but does she care about my gun or what I can do in her bed?" When Shepard went to respond, Nyreen just shook her head, cutting her off. "Don't worry about it, Commander. It's not that I don't care about her – I still do in a way. It's just… we didn't work out for a reason. She wanted… things I couldn't give her; things I couldn't be. I'm not as… severe as she is. She seems to think the world is only colored in black and white. Nothing is ever black or white. Like this situation; the civilians, Cerberus, the war... It's all grey. She doesn't know what to do with grey."
Shepard made a face, rolling her eyes and then erupting into a huge smile; it was the first real smile Nyreen had ever seen the soldier make. "I've heard that before. She sounds like she'd get along with a member of my crew – funny since he lived on Omega for almost two years, but I don't think they crossed paths much. He still has trouble dealing with the 'grey' areas of life." Her smile faded a bit as she stared past Nyreen, seemingly lost in thought. Sighing, the woman finished, "And, while it would be easier… nothing is ever black and white."
"Sounds like this human needs to meet Aria, maybe go for a round with her…"
Shepard made a face but never got around to saying what was on her mind; the doors to Afterlife opened slowly, groaning in protest, as Aria finished overriding the last of the locks. They only parted a foot or so though, before they slammed to a halt, stuck on some broken shards of metal jutting out from the ceiling. Shepard jogged over, heaving herself in between the metal doors before they had a chance to crash shut again; she planted her feet one side of the opening, her shoulders pressing back into the other door. After a moment of struggling, they opened a bit more, allowing Nyreen and Aria to slip through, Shepard following closely behind. Aria had her pistol out and ran forward, stopping just short of the circular core in the center of the club. Cerberus propaganda littered the monitors, overriding the advertisements for asari dancers and the VIP section of the nightclub. There was no movement though; the only sound that echoed through the room was the mix of their own breathing and the fizzling sound that was coming from disconnected wiring. Utter silence was never a good sign.
A booming voice suddenly sounded from overhead, drawing their attention. All three of them looked up, aiming their pistols towards the voice and finding Petrovsky standing next to a railing in front of the main control room of Afterlife. What used to be Aria's throne was now blocked off by force field generators and two, heavy metal doors. The General sauntered forward slowly, almost casually; did he really expect to be able to walk out of here unharmed? Or did he just expect Aria to leave, after she had finally come this far?
"It's a shame all those civilian and Talon members had to die for your petty ambition Aria… This station is so empty now… hardly in need of a leader anymore."
"You're a dead man!" Aria screamed as she rushed forward, her body bursting in a blaze of blue, biotics sparking from her arms and legs as she ran; she aimed careless shots at the General, all of which bounced harmless off the walls behind him. She leapt forward, her biotics carrying her over the center of the club –
"Aria, wait! Don't!" Shepard yelled, looking at the generators strategically placed around the core of Afterlife, taking the place of the dancers usually occupying the stage. It was too late though, and Aria halted, mid-leap, suddenly trapped in a biotic stasis field; the generators had activated, reacting to the asari's own biotics, and captured her, leaving her suspended and spread-eagled in mid-air. Her back arched – from pain or from frustration, Shepard couldn't tell – and her scream echoed loudly through the room.
Nyreen rushed forward, immediately examining one of the four generators for an override mechanism, or anything to release Aria. She found nothing and her fist came slamming down on the generator in fury. The turian huntress looked over to Shepard, her eyes wide in anger and… fear? Taking a deep breath to try to calm herself a bit, Shepard turned back to the General.
"What now, Petrovsky?" she asked, still aiming her pistol at the leader of the Cerberus occupation.
"Divide and conquer, Commander. The Adjutants your friend here" – he motioned to Nyreen with his head – "killed were still being experimented on. You have put a horrible hindrance on our tests… But nevertheless, these are fully under our control – the prototypes for our future army." He brought a finger down on the console, activating the force fields surrounding Aria's seized throne, keeping him safely inside Cerberus's command center while a door swooshed open below him. Two Adjutants flew into the room, their jumps allowing them to quickly encroach on Shepard and Nyreen. These look more advanced… She couldn't take that thought any farther though, as a group of Cerberus assault troops followed the Adjutants in, immediately flanking them and peppering them with gunfire. Great, now the Adjutants have a specific target: us rather than simply non-Adjutants.
"Nyreen, find cover!" Shepard yelled, leaping to her right and out of the way of a biotic blast from one of the Adjutants; she ran up a small set of stairs, taking cover behind a low wall which ran the length of the circular walkway. She was in one of the corners of the massive room; there was a column that would provide great cover, but would also render her mostly blind to the rest of the room. She opted to take her chances and snuck over quickly, standing up behind the support, popping her head out. Nyreen was across the room, steadily working her way backwards, taking cover behind any couches or chairs that she could; one of the creatures was steadily approaching her, pelting her with blasts at every turn. Luckily for the turian, all of the Cerberus troops seemed to be focusing their attention on the human Commander. Shepard peered around the other side of the column, quickly taking down an assault trooper that was getting far too close for comfort. A corner was nowhere to get flanked.
A shrill screech sounded from her right and Shepard whipped her head around, coming face to face with an Adjutant. Damn their jumping ability! She scrambled backwards, her shields failing rapidly because of the gunfire showering her back. The creature let off a massive blast, frying everything mechanical in the area. The Adjutant jumped, but Shepard rolled out of the way, scrambling to her feet and backing up the other way, towards the stairs. A small light flickered midway up the support column to her left, and it was only now that Shepard noticed there was a small console attached to the support beam. She didn't have time to ponder that though, as the mutant turned and started toward her again.
"Their biotics fry the consoles! Override the control and take out that generator!" Nyreen screamed from across the room.
The predicament she'd left Aria in came rushing back to Shepard; she had been so preoccupied with the mutated horrors that she had completely forgotten about the trapped asari. Shepard turned towards the column, trying to figure out how to get the Adjutant away from it. There was no way the override would be quick, whether the biotic blast fried the circuitry or not… She continued backing up, alternating shots between the husk creature and another Cerberus trooper. The trooper finally fell and the Adjutant took that moment to jump. Shepard bounded to the side at the last moment and the monstrosity went tumbling down the stairs. She rushed over to the column, slamming her hand down on the console. She was right… this would take forever. After five agonizing seconds, with enemies steadily zeroing in on her, the console beeped. The override was successful. She decided to take her chances out of cover, and charged down the walkway, leaping over toppled chairs and spare thermal clips. When she got to the other corner, she peeked out from over the wall she had taken cover in, looking towards the center of the room, where Aria was trapped. Nothing had happened. Dammit!
"Nyreen, it didn't work! The generator is still running!"
"Spirits! Try to shoot it, maybe the shields are down!"
Shepard popped out of cover and aimed some shots at the generator closest to her. Nothing. She turned her pistol and unloaded the rest of the rounds into the generator on the far side of the platform, the generator that was closest to the fried console. It sputtered and sparked after a few moments, releasing Aria's right leg.
"You can't stop us so easily, Petrovsky!" Aria screamed, thrashing her free leg around, trying to gain any sort of leverage. It was futile though, as one leg and both her arms were still bound by the stasis field.
Shepard rushed forward, seeing if the shields to any of the other generators had shut down with that override, but none had. It looked like there were three more consoles in the room they had to find and override. "One down, three to go!"
"It's progress – Shepard! Watch your back: snipers!"
Dammit! Shepard jerked around, not used to having to watch her own six, and took a blind shot to the area where she had come from. She hadn't had to worry about her own back for years; Garrus had never allowed anyone to get close. And now she was in a room filled with Cerberus troops and snipers that could sneak up on her from any angle. While her sniper was safely back on the Normandy. Shepard silently swore at Omega's queen for demanding she not bring any of the Normandy's own crew members on this mission. Cerberus snipers weren't something to mess around with. One good shot and your shields were taken all the way down, and usually, you ended up with a graze or laceration as well. A second shot from them… most people wouldn't be walking away. She'd been hit before and it took her a few days to recover fully, even with all her advanced cybernetics. And she had no help at the moment, from her absent squad or the female turian who was currently taking on an Adjutant by herself.
The sniper – Nemesis was what everyone called them; a fitting name for their talents – ducked behind cover herself, trying to avoid the Commander's wild shots, and Shepard took the time to dive behind the closest set of stairs. Reaching around and switching out her pistol for her shotgun, she peered around the wall of the stairs, trying to get a good idea of where the sniper was hiding. A shot whizzed past her head, interrupting her thoughts; she turned around only to come face to face with another trooper. This is getting ridiculous! She swung her gun around, pulling the trigger twice and blasting the trooper back. This was the reason she loved shotguns. Much more close and personal – usually how her missions went anyway. Once she confirmed he was down, she turned to try to spot Nyreen; they had to get at least one of these Adjutants down. With snipers moving around the room, two Adjutants were just too much of a risk in such a small space.
She located her at the opposite corner, down the walk way, bombarding the creature with biotic blasts while simultaneously trying to dodge the blasts it sent her way. Shepard rushed forward, hoping that maybe they could take this one down together; if they succeeded, that would just leave the remaining troops and one Adjutant… Assuming the General – who kept shouting taunts and orders out from over the railing – didn't have any more surprises up his sleeve. She reached Nyreen and started pelting the mutated husk with shotgun blasts, steadily forcing him backwards. He crouched though, as he reached the wall at his back, and leapt forward, sending off another massive pulse that overrode the console in the nearby column. Shepard and Nyreen both jumped out of his trajectory, but his hand reached out towards the turian biotic, grazing her shoulder; she latched on to Shepard's hand, trying to prevent being dragged to the ground. Quickly regaining her balance, Nyreen rushed over to the console and overrode the shield generator while Shepard turned and focused her attention on the creature, trying to place her body between the huntress and the beast. The Adjutant slammed into the wall and Shepard started pumping blast after blast into the beast's sacs, until it finally crumpled to the ground, a horrible stench and smoke overflowing from its body.
"This console's down!" Nyreen yelled, ducking down to replace the thermal clip in her rifle.
Shepard nodded in acknowledgement, already rushing forward toward the generator. A few shots from her shotgun, and the thing exploded, releasing Aria's other leg.
"I will kill you all!" she screamed, thrashing her legs around. The asari's arms were still trapped in the stasis field, leaving her lower body to twist and contort in the air.
"Two more! I'm moving right, you go left!" Shepard yelled to Nyreen. She hoped that with only one Adjutant left, and a slew of Cerberus troopers, they would each be able to handle their own. A shot zipped past her head, alerting her to the Nemesis still lurking around the room. Shit, there's still a sniper somewhere in here. She ran forward, reaching the adjacent column, and threw herself into cover behind the support. She looked behind her, realizing in frustration that this console was still fully functional, and to her extreme relief – or displeasure, she wasn't sure – there was no Adjutant nearby to fry the mechanics. However, at that moment, Aria let off a massive biotic pulse of her own, which engulfed the entire room in a blaze of blue.
"Watch out! Aria's trying to overload the system!" Petrovsky yelled. "Hold the perimeter!"
Shepard glanced back behind her and saw the glorious blinking red light that signaled the malfunction of this console. She quickly overrode it, disrupting the shields to the generator synced up with it. Now, just to take that one out, and then one more…
Her shields failed and her omni-tool started bleeping out a warning signal; one more hit and she'd be down. She sank to the floor, hoping that the sniper wasn't too close and that no one was around the corner. She should have known better; she'd already had her allotted luck for the day. The month. Or the year. Whichever way you wanted to look at it. The remaining Adjutant jumped past the corner, turning and locking its dreadful eyes on her. She rolled out of the way, down towards the stairs as it let loose a blast that took a chunk out of the support beam. She pushed herself up and took a few shots at the thing before turning and bolting towards the center of the room, bypassing the club's core and the unshielded generator completely. The troopers were all gathered in the corner she had just been in, giving her just enough time to get in cover, snap her shotgun to her lower back, and retrieve her pistol. Reaching down and grabbing another thermal clip, she ejected the used one, jammed a fresh one home, and lined up her shot; she unloaded the full clip into the generator, successfully taking it out. Aria's left arm was freed, leaving her hanging by her right.
"Shepard, clear the room! I got this one!" Nyreen yelled from the other corner as soon as she had seen the commander successfully take out the second to last generator. The turian biotic levered her assault rifle up, aiming it at an approaching Adjutant, trying to taunt it into heading her way. She wasn't counting on Aria being able to overload the system again. She emptied the last of her clip into the beasts belly and reached down… only to find she didn't have another clip. Her pistol was lying unusable somewhere on the other side of the room, a thermal clip jammed awkwardly – and uselessly – in the gun. Lesson learned: guns don't survive explosions. She tossed her assault rifle to the side and bolstered her barrier, bracing for a hit. But the Adjutant didn't jump; it just kept lumbering forward towards her. Spirits knew she wasn't going to be "infected" by the creature. She would not go out like that. She backed up a bit more, the back of her knees slamming in to a chair; she had to throw a hand back, bracing herself against the chair so she wouldn't collapse into it, leaving her momentarily defenseless from the creature's assault.
The Adjutant seemed to sense her brief stumble, and launched itself towards her, knocking into her and forcing her to fall to the ground, the beast landing partially on top of her. She jerked her legs out from underneath it, before it had a chance to grab on to her, and she started backing up the other way, now simply trying to put more space between herself and the creature. It regained its footing though, and turned towards her, setting its eerily blue eyes on her; it made a snorting noise before sending off a blast that hit her square in the chest, sending her flying backwards once again. It wasn't supposed to go like this, she found herself thinking for what seemed like the dozenth time tonight. Her back slammed into a couch that had been upturned and she rolled off it, landing a few yards away from the creature. She frantically looked around, trying to find anything to kill the thing – Shepard was on the other side of the room playing hide-and-seek with the Cerberus sniper, well out of helpful range. She was quick to take the rest of those troopers down. No wonder Aria wanted her help… Nyreen's eyes finally landed on a grenade strapped to another fallen Cerberus trooper. With no other choice, she grabbed the thing, pulled the pin, threw it towards the creature; she rolled, headfirst, down a set of stairs, hoping beyond hope that her barrier would hold. The resulting blast blew her backwards, knocking the wind out of her, but successfully took the creature out, both of the sacs on its back ruptured. She scrambled upright, and rushed back over to the column, working on the console until the shield on the last generator fizzled and died. She reached down to retrieve her pistol… only to realize that she had no guns and no ammo on her. Spirits, dammit!
"Shepard! The last shield's out, but both of my guns are gone!"
"I'm hit, so I'm not going to be much help until I get this bleeding stopped," she replied roughly, her voice harsh through her gritted teeth. Nyreen watched as she popped her head out from behind the last column, aiming a weak shot at the Nemesis across the way. Spirits!
Bolstering her barrier once more, Nyreen ran over to where the human commander was hiding, stopping in her tracks when she saw the woman's leg. Blood was gushing from a massive hole in her thigh's armor and the woman was pressing her hand into the wound, probably trying to stem the flow of blood; it looked horrible though, her fingers digging into her flesh. How is she still conscious? As Nyreen bent down, trying to remove the commander's fingers so she could assess the wound and apply some medi-gel, she found herself wondering how humans managed to survive this long. With no external plating, it was a miracle they managed to live past the first minute in a gun fight, let alone save the entire galaxy – something that the Commander seemed to have a fondness for. Shepard hissed when Nyreen started to rub the gel over the wound, flinching away from the turian's hands.
"Here, let me do that, you take this" – she handed Nyreen her pistol – "and finish that one off." Nyreen took the offered pistol, immediately regretting trying to help the woman; she highly doubted a human woman would want sharp talons next to an already gaping wound. Shepard was known for her acceptance of other species… but she was currently defenseless and Nyreen didn't blame her for not wanting her near the injury; she was sure sharp talons looked much more dangerous than comforting to softer species. Shaking her head to dispel her thoughts, she forced her attention back to the sniper; Nyreen reloaded Shepard's pistol and slowly started taking down the Cerberus troop's shields. Finally, after another half minute of playing hide-and-seek behind the columns, Nyreen got a good shot on the Cerberus woman, causing her to stagger out of cover and into the open; taking the chance, Nyreen bolted out of cover and started pumping round and round into the woman, finally taking her down.
She quickly ran back over to where Shepard was, only to find the woman pulling herself up by a chair. Shepard grimaced and staggered slightly when she tried to put pressure on the injured leg, but somehow managed to keep herself upright.
"Spirits, Commander! Don't put pressure on it! You'll bleed out!" The medi-gel had sealed up most of the wound, but a slight trickle of red blood was still dripping from the bottom of the hole, flowing over the woman's armor; Nyreen shuddered thinking about what the inside of that cuisse probably looked like.
Shepard staggered and hissed again when she took a step forward; Nyreen reached out, quickly wrapping an arm around the commander's waist and dragged her closer, trying to support the suicidal woman's weight.
"I'll be fine," Shepard said, throwing Nyreen a lopsided grin. "Cerberus cybernetics. Apparently you get upgraded when you come back from the dead."
Nyreen stumbled, barely catching herself – or the commander. Back from the dead…? But, that was just a rumor... Right?
She didn't have time to ponder it though, because Shepard shimmied out of her grasp and leaned back against a wall near the stairs, picking her foot up slightly so her injured leg wasn't supporting any weight. She gave Nyreen a small push forward, towards the center of the room, motioning towards Aria with her head. "You go take that last generator down and then we'll go deal with the General. I'll be fine," she added at the end, noticing Nyreen's hesitation. The turian huntress nodded and turned her head around, praying to the Spirits that Aria was still okay; the asari was still stuck in the stasis field, but looked unharmed. Running down the stairs, Nyreen aimed the gun at the last generator, pulling the trigger until it clicked, plaintively. The generator blew on the last shot, releasing the last of the stasis field and freeing Aria from its confinement. The asari landed elegantly on her feet, biotics humming over her blue skin as she looked up towards the control room, pupils dilated in fury. The General stumbled backwards, pressing buttons on the consoles frantically – trying to lock the doors from the inside or trying to call for backup, she didn't really know. Aria vaulted from the center of the club, landing in front of the stairs that led up to her soon-to-be-reclaimed throne.
"Omega's mine!"
I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks to those who read and/or reviewed, and another huge thank you to those that followed and/or favorited!