Chapter 12
Grunt barely had room to move his head but he tried to look around anyway. The whole situation was bizarre. He perched awkwardly on the rim of a bulkhead in the child's room. It was barely wide enough to take half his ass. His gigantic bulk filled half the space in the tiny room. The other half contained Jack, Naya, a small bed. All the child's toys. They were Lilliputian. Maybe this is how Jack felt in the elevator. Grunt's muscles burned with a suppressed urge to stretch up, break the walls down. Instead, he accepted another toy from the child's pudgy fingers, nodded to show his approval. Heh. Naya beamed at him, scurried to find another offering. The pile between his feet was growing.
Grunt was glad when Glyph stepped out. He smelled off, like a bad wound. The whole place did. Another lair of another Shadow Broker. Go figure. The forced normality down here was all wrong. Liara must have been sick in the head. No wonder Glyph was queer. He wondered if any crazy had rubbed off on the kid.
"Wait a hundred years, you got yourself a girlfriend there. She likes you." Jack's eyes shone with amusement. She was panting slightly.
"What? This is - real annoying."
"That's a pretty big crush she's got. She's just trying to impress you, Grunt. Damn funny." Jack stretched her injured foot out in front, away from Naya. She craned her head to see into the main room. Her brow furrowed.
"Shut up. Can you see them?"
Jack said nothing. That's a no, then. Grunt was unfazed. Jack obviously was. Something was wrong with her right arm. She moved it with her left hand. She glared at Grunt, defiant, daring him to call her on it. He wasn't stupid. He looked elsewhere.
Every wall was plastered with posters and pictures: numbers (1 to 100), races (asari to yahg), planets (Antibaar to Zafe), letters (um, pass). An Alliance recruiting poster with fighter craft in formation.
Naya jumped onto her bed to see where Jack was looking, hit the leg. Grunt heard her breath catch. She swore under her breath. Her mask fell for a moment. Grunt saw pain, desperation in her face. He held his claw out to the child.
"Naya. Come sit with me." The child charged at him headfirst. Laughing. Over-excited. He gathered her up and settled her in his lap. Blue hands came up to the rim of his armour. He could handle rachni; handling an asari baby spooked him more. Especially this one. His paternal instincts reared, knocked him back. Now she was staring at his mouth.
"Your teeth are huge."
He deadpanned."I like eating kids. Especially blue ones." She responded by pushing her forearm into his mouth. Grunt nearly choked. Oh, hell. He spat it out. Naya wriggled. He dandied her on his knee.
"This kind of thing normal?"
"Yup." Jack cocked her head. "You might be being a little bit too rough, there, Grunt." Naya was bouncing violently. As far as he could see, she seemed to like it, but he dialed it down a little. Least it stopped her meddling with him. He couldn't understand why Jack was doing the same thing with her right leg. It was bouncing, seemingly beyond her control.
"Guessing you're not too hands on with your own." Jack cocked an eyebrow.
"More sharp edges on younglings. They're much more... self reliant. Krogan lifespans match asari, but we have a habit of getting ourselves killed. Even after the genophage." Grunt considered. "I'm beginning to think I'd like to be."
"You make a cute couple."
"So what's the plan now?" he asked.
"Fu- damned if I know. Something tells me we're not -" her breath hitched again - "packing her bags and breezing out of here."
"Agreed." He badly wanted another shot at Glyph. Even he knew that would be dangerous. "You think that's what they're talking about? Him and Miranda?"
"Do I look like a mind reader?" She rubbed her neck, anger spiking and ebbing back. "Sorry. Truth is, I don't know - what we're gonna do."
"I wanna rip-" Jack didn't let him finish.
"No. Too dangerous. Unless we're all - done for, don't go there." Jack eyed Naya thoughtfully. She was losing her breath. "We don't have a lot of options. Not with - her in the middle."
Naya twisted off Grunt's lap, rummaged for a toy medkit from the mound between his feet. She approached Jack's leg like a wounded animal. Finally, she reached out to pat it warily, looking up at Jack. Grunt saw her force a smile. Jack pulled her up onto the bed next to her, away from the ankle. He could see it took some effort. She wrapped one arm around the girl.
"Thanks, doc. That feels - much better. You know, you remind me of someone." Naya's toes curled in pleasure at her accomplishment. She burrowed into Jack, who smiled. She fumbled a command into her omnitool. A serious child, all narrow jaw and thick eyebrows, appeared in front of them both. Grunt leaned forward for a better look. Jack never asked to see his clutch. He had never seen her tankbred. Not their kind of conversation. Naya was fascinated.
"That's Frankie. She used to - love playing doctor when she was - well, sorta your age, anyway." Jack's throat constricted. "She'd like you."
"Really, Jack?"
Jack nodded. "Would you like to meet her?"
Grunt could see her mind churning. Naya looked like she'd been told some mythical creature actually existed. She had never met another child. They were things to be watched in vids or read about in stories. Grunt supposed she was feeling what he had when Shepard told him the galaxy was full of other krogan, just like him. Imprints just weren't the same. No matter how vivid.
Yes, Naya breathed. Her eyes were wide. But her mouth didn't move. Grunt felt the answer from her, like a whisper rippling over the surface of his mind. Looked like the same had happened to Jack. There was a really strange look on Jack's face. Humans could be hard to understand sometimes, but Jack's expression was undreadable. Naya looked surprised herself.
When Jack found her voice again, it was weak. "Did you know you could do that?"
Naya shook her head. Whatever connection was there, Grunt knew it had gone. It was reabsorbed gently back into Naya's consciousness, like water soaking into the ground. A look of intense want was left on the kid's face.
"Mama does it sometimes." She knelt up, put her hands on either side of Jack's neck. Jack rallied, tweaked the end of Naya's nose softly.
"Well, we'll have to - ask Glyph nicely if he'll let - you visit."
Grunt wondered if the connection ran both ways.
There was some extremely serious shit on the datapads Kaidan found piled on the floor. He and Commander Marshall were gathering them together for analysis on the ship. Honestly, he was just relieved to be inside. Repairing the elevator had burned their oxygen reserves down to the wick. He spotted red sand consignments; a manifest of purchases made by the Turian Primarch; the classified location of an Ardat-Yakshi. A complete list of Spectre authorisation codes. Stuff he was tempted by, but was too hot to touch.
Beta Squad's mission briefing had been riddled with holes, and he was sure as hell certain Liara T'Soni was no normal information broker. Pressly's squad selection begin to make more sense. Maybe it was never Pressly's at all.
What didn't make sense, however, was the absence of Alpha Squad. They had come down here and disappeared.
"Hey, beautiful. Checking me out?"
Jack's breathing now came in shallow rasps. She was gasping more and more air in, and it never felt enough. The leer she intended wouldn't fix, slid right off her face. All suggestiveness in her voice fell flat. Fuck.
Miranda's face appeared in front of her. "At least your woeful sense of humour is still in action. You look like shit." Her fingertips stroked through Jack's hair. Jack loved that touch. She felt peaceful. Warm.
"Right back at - you, princess."
Glyph was with Naya in the kitchen. Fixing food for her. Hearing primed in their direction. Grunt had followed, hoping for something, but the android offered them none. Jack didn't mind. She had no appetite anyway.
Jack was disintegrating.
Fingers pressed softly to her neck, checking her pulse. She didn't need Miranda to tell her it was bad. She knew. Her heartbeat was weak, stop-start. Sometimes it threatened to flutter out of her chest. It made her feel sick, light-headed. When Miranda's face swung back into view, all colour had gone. Her lips were white.
"You and Glyph. Talk about anything - interesting?"
Miranda wouldn't meet her look. She busied herself making Jack more comfortable. Jack didn't want to be cosseted. She swatted Miranda's hands away with her good arm.
"What happened?"
Miranda's eyes were bright with unshed tears. Anger and something else. Fear. Not for herself. For Jack.
"That bad? - Tell me."
The tremor in Jack's leg shook the rest of her body. Miranda applied gentle pressure. It reassured her. They talked without speaking, a knack evolved from more than two decades of close contact. Jack understood from Miranda's subtle changes of expression that Glyph had made a threat. That he wanted them to leave.
"So he's - fucking batshit crazy. Knew it." Jack spoke aloud. Miranda pressed a finger to Jack's lips. Shh. Jack pouted them slightly, turning Miranda's warning into a kiss. Miranda took a ragged breath, steadied herself. Jack knew what Miranda wanted to do. She was ready to take her out of here.
"Fuck no. Miri, no. Not without her." She put as much force behind her words as she was able. Miranda's reply was barely whispered but Jack caught every word.
"I can't lose you, Jack." Her voice cracked. Jack reached for her hand, kissed it again. Spent all her effort to keep the smile fixed on her face. Sweat beaded on her forehead.
"Course you won't - dumbass. But I couldn't live with - myself if we - bugged out now. Neither could you." Jack knew Glyph was listening, didn't care. She knew Miranda would concede the point.
Miranda wiped her cheeks with the back of one hand. She left tracks of dirt on her face.
"Bullshit, Jack."
"I love you too." She pulled Miranda into her. Their lips touched, parted. Miranda's mouth was warm and soft. Salty. The kiss deepened. A hand reached up to cradle the back of Jack's head. Raw. When she pulled back, Miranda's eyes were angry.
"Don't you dare, Jack. Don't you do that."
"Wouldn't dream - of it. When this is - over, I'm getting - laid."
That made Miranda smile. Jack's heart swelled. That half roll of her eyes told her Miranda's fight was back. "You're such an arse."
"Yeah." Shit, I'm full of ideas today. Jack was still holding her hand. She began to tap out a message into the pad of Miranda's palm. She was an operative. She'll get it. A half-remembered code swam to the front of her mind.
Gonna crash out soon.
Use it.
They both froze. Fists were hammering on the compound's front door.
