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Chapter 9: Tale of an Angel

Year: 2185CE

Location: Unknown

Blood. Her hands were coated with blood. Not red, but blue. The blood of a turian.

Lying on the ground in front of her was a good friend, a brother she never had.

Garrus! Shepard wanted to yell, but couldn't find her voice.

"Who else has to die before you stop, Skipper?" a woman asked.

Shepard froze at that voice, at that title. Skipper...

Looking up from her trembling hands, Shepard saw her. Ashley Williams.

"When will you stop fighting?" asked Ashley. "Will his death bring a stop to your action?"

Shepard looked down. Her blood coated hands were now red. The body on the ground was not a turian, but a human – a man who had taken her under his wings.

Anderson? No, this is not real...

"What about hers?"

Anderson's form morphed into a feminine one. Salt and pepper hair, lines on a face that was once smooth.

Mom. No...

"Or his?"

Hannah Shepard shifted into a taller, masculine form. Blood dripped from lips she used to kiss.

NO! Shepard looked away from Kaidan's lifeless body. She couldn't move, or could she speak.

"If you continue your path, they will all die," said Ashley, her face was void of emotions. "And when they die, their blood will be on your hands. The one named Ashley Williams died because of your action. How many people have to die before you stop?"

Who the hell are you?

"Your struggle is futile. You cannot stop us." Ashley's voice morphed into a deeper, monotonic one. It was the voice of not just one, but many. "The cycle will continue. You exist because we allow it. And you will end because we demand it."

The ground underneath her dissolved, Shepard dropped into dark space, screaming without voice. Surrounding her was nothing but darkness and distant twinkle stars.

And then, she heard a hissing noise from behind. That horrible noise, always started from a faint whisper, then became louder and louder.

Shepard woke with a start. Greeting her was the same view as the dream she had left behind. Just like the night before, and the night before that, Shepard couldn't tell if she was still dreaming or awake for a few seconds.

Sitting up on her bed, she pushed some tangled locks of hair off her face. Her heart was pounding, her breaths shallow. A glance at her hands confirmed that they were clean with no blood on them, be it red or blue. Shepard swallowed hard and scanned around the dimly lit room. She was inside her cabin, on board her own ship.

That was a dream. And this was real.

Garrus...

Stripping off her tank top and shorts, Shepard hurried to change and headed down to the med bay.

No more death, Shepard determined. Not on my watch.

Location: Normandy SR-2 Med Bay

"Keep this area dry for a few days," said Dr. Chakwas to Garrus when Shepard entered the med bay.

"Guess I won't be going for a swim anytime soon." Garrus stood from the bed. His right jaw was covered with bandage.

"Or ever," Shepard interjected with a grin of relief. "Glad to see you're alive, Garrus."

"I'm hard to kill," said Garrus.

"How's he doing, Doc?" asked Shepard.

"The surgery was a success," said Chakwas. "He'll feel a bit of pain and discomfort around his jaws for a while. Other than that, he's fine."

"If you call this a bit of discomfort, I really hate to know what excruciating pain is by your standard, Dr. Chakwas."

"Trust me, you don't want to know," said Shepard.

The doctor merely shook her head at them. "You need to rest for a few days to recover from the surgery, Garrus. Stop by for your checkup tomorrow."

"You heard the doctor, Vakarian. Report to the med bay daily. That's an order," said Shepard with more than a hint of smirk. "Now, get dressed. I'll show you around the ship."

Chakwas turned to her. "And you, Commander, you have been skipping our appointments."

That wiped the smirk on Shepard's face. "I have been busy."

"Yes, I've heard. Curing the plague, saving civilians, rescuing a certain vigilante. There's always something else to do."

"My to-do list is pretty long."

"When will you learn how to take care of yourself, Aerin?" The doctor gave her a motherly look. "Now that you're here voluntarily, let's waste no time. If I may, I'd like to examine you before you escape from my grasp."

"...Is this gonna hurt?"

"Alas, to my great disappointment, it's nothing invasive," Chakwas played along as she prepared her omni-tool. "I'm just going to run some diagnostics on your implants, and it'll take a few readings. Hold still."

Shepard did as she was told. The scan was over within a minute.

Chakwas nodded at the data gathered. "Good. Your implants show little signs of rejection. How is the abdominal pain?" The doctor ran another scan on Shepard's torso.

"Doesn't bother me too much anymore."

"Your organs are recovering quite rapidly, much faster than I've expected. As for your facial scaring, I've done further investigation, and the hold adage of 'mind over matter' holds true."

Shepard scowled in confusion. "What does that have to do with the scars?"

"Negative attitude and aggressive acts create adverse reactions with your cybernetic implants, while peaceful thoughts and compassionate actions promote healing. If you maintain a positive outlook, I believe your facial scarring will heal on its own."

"You serious?" Shepard raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"According to the studies, yes."

"Positive outlook, huh?" said Shepard. "Easier said than done."

"Otherwise, there is surgical equipment we could use to insulate your cybernetic implants and accelerate your healing."

"Let's try the natural way," said Shepard. "Here's my first compassionate action: Breaking a friend out of the med bay. Garrus, come on, I know exactly what you need right now."

Location: Normandy SR-2 Port Observation

"You have a bar on your ship." Garrus stared at the counter and the shelves filled with assorted bottles.

"Yup. Welcome aboard the new Normandy." Shepard headed behind the bar and picked up one particular bottle. "And we have this."

"Turian brandy." He shook his head in disbelief. "A ship full of human and you have this?"

"Now that we have my turian twin on board, I have to be prepared for his good days and his bad ones." Shepard cracked open the bottle and poured him a drink.

"You know me too well."

"Like the back of my hand." Shepard poured herself a shot of whiskey before raising her glass. "To cheating death."

"And crawling back from the Gates of Hell."

Clinking their glasses, they downed their shots just like they had done many times in the past.

"Didn't have a chance to ask for a mirror," said Garrus. "How bad is it?"

"Hell, Garrus, you're always ugly," Shepard teased him. "Slap some face paint on there, and no one will even notice."

He laughed then winced. "Ow... Don't make me laugh. Damn it! My face is barely holding together as it is."

Shepard reached across the counter to tilt his head gently to the side then examined Dr. Chakwas' handiwork. Who else has to die before you stop? That question from her dream lingered inside her head.

"Gonna leave a scar," said Garrus.

Shepard gave him a smirk. "Join the club."

"I don't mean to alarm you, Aerin, but your scars, they glow. You do notice that, right?"

Shepard touched her own cheek. "I see your eyesight is finally back," she joked. "Cybernetic implants. Don't ask me why they glow. Miranda has never told me what she's done to me."

"Doesn't look that bad," Garrus commented as he studied her. "Makes you look even more intimidating than before."

"And scare off all the men in my radius?" said Shepard with a chuckle as she filled their glasses. "Great. No one is gonna hit on me again."

"You did a good job scaring men off before. A glowing scar or twp won't make a difference."

"Look who's talking." Shepard nodded pointedly at his bandage. "I'll have to work my ass off to find you a date from now on."

Garrus reached for his drink and took a sip. "Some women find facial scars attractive. Mind you, most of those women are krogan."

Shepard chuckled out loud. She didn't know how much she had missed Garrus until now. "It's really good have you back."

"So, Dr. Chakwas filled me in. Unless I was high on painkiller, I believe she said Cerberus rebuilt you to fight the Reapers."

Shepard nodded.

"And now you're on a mission to go after the Collectors."

She nodded again. "That's why I wanted to recruit Archangel, even without knowing it was you."

Garrus gave her a look. "Really, Shepard, can't you go after normal bad guys like the slavers or mercs?"

"Fought an army of batarian slavers when I was twenty-two, Vakarian. Been there, done that."

"Frankly, I'm worried about you, Aerin. Cerberus? You remember those sick experiments they were doing?"

"Of course I do. But the Collectors are wiping out human colonies, Garrus. It's been going on for a while, and nobody cares enough to stop it. The Alliance is spread too thin, still rebuilding their fleets. The Council..." Shepard snorted in disgust. "They didn't bother to lift a finger. Tevos even threw treason at me."

"You're kidding."

"Wish I was. I invited them to come take my head, Anderson yelled at them, and they backed off. Too bad they didn't try to kill me. I've been wanting to punch Sparatus in the face."

Garrus chuckled but winced. "Can't believe I missed that."

"They reinstated my Spectre status, but wanted me to stay in the Terminus Systems."

"Your status will be useless in the Terminus Systems."

"I know. I'll let my guns do the talking."

"That's my Shepard." Garrus nodded proudly. "Hard to believe the Council is letting the attacks go unanswered, though. Damn politicians."

"Do you have problem working with Cerberus?"

"I remember all the horrible things they did. And if you ever wanted to settle a score with them, I'd be right there with you. But, for now, we have a bigger problem. A common enemy. Forming a truce with Cerberus to take down the Collectors is what a smart leader would do. And you are one."

"I'm glad you're here. If I'm walking into hell, I want someone I can trust by my side."

"You realize this plan has me walking into hell too?"

Shepard merely arched an eyebrow and glanced at him over her shot glass.

"Hm... Just like old times," said Garrus. "We don't need to the Council or the Alliance. We just need our guns and ammo. Lots of them."

"No red tapes, no reports to file."

"Now you're speaking my language."

"Think we can do it?"

"We took down Sovereign and Saren, we can take on the Collectors."

It was all Shepard needed to hear. With Garrus back on her side, it felt as if she had one of her arms back. Now she only need to find her other arm – Kaidan.

"So what exactly were you doing on Omega?" Shepard asked, pouring another shot for each of the empty glasses. "I thought you wanted to be a Spectre."

"I trained to become a Spectre after the Normandy was destroyed, but it didn't work out." Garrus paused then shrugged. "I quit."

"Your dad, huh?"

"No, not this time." He shook his head. "I assume you know the Council covered up everything you've done for them."

Shepard nodded, scowling.

"I thought they were better, that Spectres were supposed to be out there protecting the galaxy. But they're the same as C-Sec. Too much politicking at the Citadel no matter where I turned. Nobody was willing to take risks. I got fed up with all the bureaucratic crap. Figured I'd do more good on my own. So I left the Citadel and headed to a place where I could make a difference."

"Omega."

"A haven for criminals for thousands of years." Garrus paused then added, "You know, the turian name for Omega means 'the world without law.'"

"And from the world without law, the Archangel was born." Shepard gave him a teasing grin.

"You know what was the first thing I did when I arrived at Omega? I stopped a vorcha from mugging an elderly couple, human. That's when I knew I made the right decision. Omega was filled with criminals nobody could touch, and there was no red tape to slow me down. It was a perfect fit. People here needed someone to believe in. Someone to stand up to the local thugs. And it's not hard to find criminals. All I have to do is point my gun and shoot."

"I heard tales about Archangel. You were busy cleaning house. I'm proud of you, Garrus."

"Didn't do it on my own. I had my squad."

"How did you manage to piss off all the merc organizations in the Terminus Systems?"

"I wasn't easy. I really had to work at it." He smirked. "I got three separate merc bands to work together to take me down. My manager at C-Sec would be impressed."

"I don't know about your manager, but I am impressed. What did you do?"

"It was simple. We'd hit their shipments, disrupt activities. Get under their skin. Make them angry."

"And when they're angry, they make mistakes."

"Exactly." Garrus nodded. "They'd come charging right into our well-prepared kill-zone. Crossfire and snipers, clean and surgical. They never stood a chance."

"Sounds like you have your operation running pretty smoothly. How did those mercenary gangs take down your team?"

Garrus drained his shot before he answered, "It was my own damn fault. One of my people betrayed me. A turian named Sidonis. He drew me away just before the mercs attacked my squad, then he disappeared. Everyone except me is dead because of him. And because I didn't see it coming."

That guilt and anger was something Shepard definitely could relate. "What happened exactly?"

"Sidonis asked for my help on a job. When I got to the meeting point, nobody was there. By the time I got back to our hideout, the mercs had killed all but two of my squad. And they didn't last long."

"So those covered bodies in your hideout..."

He nodded. "Those were my squad."

"Are you sure it was a betrayal? Maybe they took Sidonis out first."

"No. I've put out feelers with some old contacts. He booked transport off Omega just before the attack. He also cleared out his private accounts before he left. He sold me out and ran."

Shepard scowled. "Do you know where Sidonis is now?"

"No. His trail vanishes after he leaves Omega. But I'll keep hunting. I lost my whole team, except for Sidonis. One day I'll find him... and correct that."

"Let me know when you find him. We'll pay that son of a bitch a visit."

"Bridge to Commander. Arriving at Korlus in thirty minutes."

"Is that... Joker?" asked Garrus, unconsciously staring at the speaker overhead.

"The one and only."

"Haven't seen that little guy for a while. Guess I should stop by the bridge."

"You might also want to check out the main battery room. I've a feeling you'll like what you see in there."

"Cannon?"

Shepard nodded. "And feel free to make any improvements as you see fit. My ship is your ship. I've to go. Time to recruit a krogan scientist."

"Did you just use those two words together?"

"Sure did."

"Want me to come with you?"

"Chakwas is going to have my head if I let you to join me when you're barely hanging onto your face."

"But I should go with you to watch your back. Can't count on Cerberus to do that."

"If you had a weapon that took you two years to build and cost you four billion credits, would you let anyone scratch it before you could even fire it?"

"Four billion credit weapon? ...You?"

Shepard made a non-committal sound and downed her last shot.

"Damn! I thought my sniper rifle was expensive."

"They'll watch my back, for now. I'm a tool to them, Garrus. A very expensive one."