Short 18 - Lessons

Somehow I knew going to get dancing lessons from Garrus was going to become a hassle. It's just my luck.

I shifted the TARDIS into that cosmos and opened the door just to be forced to close it again as weapons fire erupted nearby. "What the...?!" I gripped the sonic disruptor and looked back to Katherine. "Stay here! Something is going on!"

Stepping out, I found myself in the Normandy's cargo bay. Opened, too, with light pouring in from the front. A man in dark-blue armor emerged from cover, bringing a weapon over to bear on me. I brought up the sonic screwdriver and sent a feedback into the mass effect field control circuits, causing the gun to explode with sparks. I went over to a nearby box and hid behind it, finding Garrus and... yes, Javik pressed against it for cover. "What the bloody hell is going on here?!"

"Great timing, Doctor. Shepard's evil clone is stealing the Normandy," Garrus answered.

On cue, I heard Shepard's voice echo in the bay. "I earned these scars saving the galaxy! You got yours from a petri dish!"

And then her voice retorted, "I can rebuild this galaxy! All you have are the vain hopes of a tired old woman!"

"This tired old woman is kicking your ass!" There was a burst of biotic energy from the other side of the cargo bay.

"How peculiar," I remarked. "Have any trouble telling them apart?"

"Unlike you, I do not have the senses of primitives," Javik remarked, taking a shot from the Prothean particle rifle in his hands at a distant target. The armored soldier collapsed.

"How many dimensionally-transcedental craft did the Protheans build, Javik? None? Then watch who you're calling primitive, primitive," I shot back with a smirk. "Who's flying the ship?"

"One of the mercenaries," Garrus answered. He popped up out of cover and brought his rifle up. Within a second he took the shot. I heard a distant cry of pain and a thump. After he got back into cover Garrus looked over at me. "They took EDI offline."

"Well, I know what I need to do now." I looked beyond our cover to the control panels at the back of the cargo bay. "Keep me covered?"

"Just be quick about it, they're trying to shoot down Joker and Cortez."

"Right." I held up the sonic disruptor and triggered Setting 42. Several of the remaining mercenaries fired at me and were thwarted by the protective field my sonic disruptor was giving off. They went back into cover when a pale green energy beam swept over their position. "Okay EDI, let's get you back in action." I moved the sonic screwdriver over the console, using it to establish a direct link into the computer systems on the ship. The shutdown of EDI had been shoddy, thankfully. If anything made the process hard, it was having to duck from taking fire.

All the while the main event was taking place on the starboard side of the cargo bay, toward the front. Two Shepard were having it out, biotic energy and shotgun blasts everywhere. With one in red armor and one in blue, it did at least make it easier to tell who was who "Fun fun fun," I breathed. "Came to get some dancing pointers and now I'm getting shot at. So much..." I had to duck another shot. "...fun!"

I was putting the final touches on turning EDI back on when I heard Garrus call out for Shepard. I hit the final key to finish what I was doing and ran toward the front of the cargo bay to find Javik and Garrus on their bellies at the end of the ramp. Garrus was busy hauling Shepard - the real one givne the red N7 armor - back up.

I looked to my side. Not far away, a dark-skinned woman in blue armor was eying the clone and frowning. She hefted the shotgun in her hands and turned to walk away. "Hey!", I called out, but I was ignored, and I couldn't get my sonic up to disable her weapon in time.

I walked out onto the ramp at this point, having a good idea of what was going to happen next. Shepard extended her hand to the clone, still dangling on the ramp's edge. "Take my hand!"

The clone glowered at her. "And then?"

"And then you live."

"For what?"

I was already in motion when she said that. I jumped and felt the air rush out of my lungs when I hit the ramp. My right arm went forward and I was just in time for my hand to grab Clone-Shepard's forearm after she let go. "What are you doing?!", she screamed.

"Saving your life!", I replied. "Give me your other hand!"

"Why?! So I can be a joke? I'm not going to spend the rest of my life in a cell and have everyone treat me like some cheap Cerberus knockoff!"

I focused my eyes on Clone-Shepard's and grunted with effort, trying to reach for her with my left arm as well. "Listen to me! You don't have to be this, Shepard. Brooks used you as a pawn! I can give you what you're looking for! There are other worlds, other places, that need a Commander Shepard!"

Clone-Shepard stopped struggling and stared at me. I could see the conflict in her eyes.

"Please, don't throw your life away," I pleaded. "You can be better. You can be Commander Shepard too."

She swallowed, thinking about it as she dangled in my grip. It felt like it was going to slip at any moment. I felt hands on my ankles and, given the number of fingers, knew it was Garrus. "I can't hold you forever!", I shouted. "Please take my hand!"

"I won't go into a cell," Clone-Shepard insisted.

"No, you won't. You'll go with me. And I'll find you a place. I promise!"

She looked down for a moment. The ship was starting to slow as EDI re-asserted control. I felt my grip slipping and knew I was seconds away from losing her.

And then her other arm came up. I took her hand and, with a solid grip, I pulled the clone of Shepard up onto the Normandy's cargo ramp.

"I would have let the clone go," Javik muttered.

I ignored him.

"Where can you take me?", Clone-Shepard asked.

"Oh, plenty of places and times where someone like you is needed," I replied. "You'll be your own woman. You..."

"My plan was perfect!"

The irate voice made me turn, just in time to see Brooks bringing her shotgun up. She pointed it at me and fired.

As she fired, I felt an impact on my back that knocked me onto my stomach. There was a cry of pain and spray of blood. I turned and looked down.

Clone-Shepard had been the one to knock me over, knowing it exposed herself to the blast. She hadn't time to bring her biotic barriers back up for self-defense and the shot ripped clean through even the armor, tearing a massive hole in her torso just below the neck and sending a shower of blood out of her back.

The force of the shot sent her flying off the ramp. Clone-Shepard's arms flailed helplessly as she disappeared below the edge of the ramp and into a tower rising from one of the Citadel's arms.

I screamed, "No!" and looked back up to Brooks, who was bringing her shotgun over to face the others. Shepard was leaning forward, preparing to charge the renegade Cerberus operative. I scrambled for my sonic screwdriver, looking to disable her weapon.

But I knew neither of us would stop her from firing again.

There was a loud sound from behind Brooks. She cried out in surprise and pain before crumpling to the floor of the cargo bay. Katherine stood behind her with a metal pole in her hands, holding it like it was a baseball bat. "Doctor, are you okay?", she asked.

I nodded to her. Which was, honestly, a bit of a lie. Because I was not okay.

I'd almost done it. I'd almost convinced Shepard's clone to rise above whatever Brooks had done to her, to become something better... to live up to the identity she wanted to take.

Instead, all of that promise had been wasted by a vengeful woman with a gun.

"Dancing lessons?"

The incredulous look on Shepard's face caused me to chuckle. "Well, he got you to waltz, didn't he?"

"I'm not so sure I know anything but that one," Garrus said, leaning against a crate of medi-gel. The TARDIS was beside it and Katherine was standing in the door. "But we can try. Shepard, about that shore leave?"

"Ah, shore leave already?" I looked over at Shepard. "It's good to see you've recovered enough to make it necessary."

"All thanks to you, Doc." Shepard noticed the look on Katherine's face. "So, that was a hell of a swing. Good job with that."

"Oh." Katherine blushed a little. "Thank you, Commander. I... I learned some self-defense, but I'm not a fighter to be honest."

"We all learn some time." Shepard moved a little and made a grimace from what I presumed to be a wounded shoulder. "Well, I've got a mountain of reports to send to Hackett and the Council about my ship getting stolen. And then I've got to get my biometrics loaded back in. If you're up for those dancing lessons, Doctor, we're having a crew reunion tomorrow."

"I look forward to it."

"Just... this time... none of that 'drunk whatever-it-was' nonsense," Garrus asked. "It just looks silly."

"That's the whole point of the Drunk Giraffe!", I protested, smiling.

At the end of the following night, once we had departed, I set us down somewhere private and sat alone for a time, lost in my thoughts. I couldn't get the fate of Shepard's clone out of my head. I had reached out to her and it had worked. I had been so close to helping her fulfill her potential...

I heard movement and looked over in time to see Katherine sit beside me on the steps in the TARDIS control room. "Doctor, are you alright?", she asked.

"I'm... alright, yes," I answered, even with a tear in my eye due to my thoughts on the clone.

Katherine bowed her head. "I think I understand now."

"Hrm?"

"You. Shouting about how you love to say 'everybody lives'." Katherine's grin turned sad. "It's because... they don't always live."

"You're right. They don't." I sighed. "There's always a price. And the waste of it all."

"I grew up thinking you could do anything." Her hand came up and gripped his shoulder. "But it doesn't make sense. You have limits. And sometimes it just isn't enough."

"Yes."

"I'm sorry."

She held out her hand and I took it. "You travel enough and do enough, Katherine, and you find out it always happens. So you enjoy the exceptions even more." I stood. "Now, dear, how about we practice some of that dancing for your birthday?"

That made her smile and nod. "Yes. That sounds wonderful."

"Well, we need some good music on first." I went through some interesting and even bizarre possibilities before finding the one that worked. As a serenade filled our ears, Katherine and I turned the control room's central area into our private dance floor.

As it turned out, I wasn't that bad at dancing anymore.