Joker was being an ass.
Not that it surprised Garrus all that much...but he still found himself scowling at the pilot as the man loudly broke wind into his seat...making Garrus cross his arms over his chest in annoyance. "Is this when you're being professional?"
"Relax, would you? You'll get a heart attack one of these days if you don't." Joker retorted with a grunt as he leant back in his seat.
"Turians don't get heart attacks."
"Yeah...well...whatever you guys get when you're wound so tightly it's a wonder you can take a shit."
A frustrated growl escaped Garrus as he narrowed his eyes at the human. Impossible...pilot!
"Are you two...always like this?" Jacob muttered the question, the man opposite Garrus in the cockpit as they flanked Joker and his idleness.
Joker chuckled. "Nah, two years ago I could actually frustrate Garrus here."
Garrus' mandible twitched.
Only for him to look up as EDI's hologram suddenly appeared. "Commander Taylor, I have detected an energy surge in Purgatory systems." Eh? "I took the liberty of checking and communications with Shepard are cut."
What!
Garrus and Jacob both took a step forth, eyes wide as Joker stared at the hologram in shock. "Are you sure? Or are you just messing with me because of what I did with your camera?"
The hologram looked back at the pilot, the synthetic voice droll. "I would never 'mess' with you about such a thing." The hologram turned back to Jacob. "I'm now in their security system..." Already! "...have located the Commander, he and his team are pinned down within chamber D-fifty-six, Purgatory security mechs and personnel are currently forcing him and his team backwards. I have also located two dozen heavily armed security personnel heading for our airlock...detecting several shaped charges, predicting they'll use them to breach our doors."
Silence.
Garrus looked over to Jacob, finding the man staring at the hologram with wide eyes, not having expected such news.
We need to move, we should...no...
Garrus looked away, shame and uncertainty stopping the words he wanted to say from escaping his mouth.
"So...shit hit the fan?" Joker quipped, making Garrus shoot him an angry glare.
"Right..." Jacob finally nodded, taking a deep breath. "Send out the call and rally the team, we'll repel these sons of bitches and then go get Shepard."
"That's...a plan." Garrus noted, grimacing. Maybe...no...I shouldn't...I...dammit...it's...it's just a suggestion, yes, a suggestion... "Perhaps...not taking on the entire base head on...would be good? I mean...we only want Shepard right?" Please li...no...don't listen...I don't... Garrus' plates itched, an unfamiliar nervousness digging into his gut.
Dammit...
Jacob nodded, hesitating. "EDI, how many mercenaries does Purgatory have?"
"Their personnel outnumbers our ground team forty-five point three to one, discounting non-combat personnel they-"
"Right." Jacob interrupted with a sigh. "Can you release us from this docking? We'll try to enter another way..."
"Purgatory docking clamps hacked...releasing us." EDI replied. Huh... Garrus arched a brow, impressed. "I also took the liberty of hacking Purgatory outer defences, their turrets are now offline."
"You can do that?" Garrus found the question escaping him before he could stop it. He hadn't talked much to the...well...computer...and hadn't been particularly keen on it being there at all...but he was rapidly learning...not to like it perhaps...but at least to respect it. "That quickly?"
"I am a computer, I work faster then any organic." EDI replied, the tone lacking any judgement, despite the implied insult. Perhaps it doesn't even understand it to be an insult...? "Purgatory has cut corners, their computers do not have military level security."
"Would that stop you?"
A minuscule pause, as if the computer was shrugging. "For a few minutes."
"Right, interesting." Jacob nodded in as much disinterest as it was impatience. "But we need a plan, an entryway..."
"Viable attack sites located." EDI instantly replied, as if having expected the question, or perhaps the mere moments of him speaking the words were enough... That's...a little creepy. "May I suggest burning your way into hallway thirty-two-B? It is close to Shepard's location and will avoid the majority of currently deployed Purgatory troops."
Jacob blinked, then nodded. "Sure, we'll take the shuttle while you and Joker put the Normandy at a safe distance, ready to go in guns blazing if things go wrong. Can you hack back communications with Shepard?"
"Unfortunately they have damaged Shepard's own communication gear with their hacking attack, I cannot repair it."
So synchronising with him is out the window...well I guess something had to go wrong. Garrus snorted. "Oh well, guess we'll have some fun then, but damn, that's a lot of mercenaries between us and Michael..." He didn't dare suggest it...
Fortunately Jacob came to the conclusion himself. "Yeah...we need a distraction."
"I have a suggestion..." EDI said, voice almost hesitant. "...though I am unsure if the risk is worth it...I do not have the programming to judge."
"Well, what are you saying?" Jacob asked, his foot tapping on the floor in impatience. Yeah, I want to go rescue them too...but we need a...no...you're not in command Garrus...you shouldn't be either.
None seemed to notice Garrus' sagging shoulders as EDI replied. "I have gained access to many interior systems of Purgatory; only core functions are out of my reach. Those systems under my control include the riot control systems, which I can disable. I can also..." A pause, the computer actually hesitating. "...open the doors to all the cells in the station."
"Absolutely not." Garrus growled before he knew what he was doing, surprising even himself.
The others looked at him in surprise, Jacob carefully replying. "It would be a distraction..."
Garrus shook his head, grimacing. "They are criminals, the lot of them, if we let them out they'll go back into society and wreak havoc...it's against everything I stand for!"
"Erm...you're forgetting..." Joker cocked an amused eyebrow at the Turian. "...we're in space...there's nowhere to go, we're the only ship here and we'll only pick up one prisoner...if we even find the biotic nut-case."
"That is not the point." Garrus snarled, crossing his arms over his face as he felt his scar burn, burn with the pain a criminal caused. "This is about principles!" His right hand moved up, jabbing a sharp claw at his injury to show his dedication to them even as he glared at the pilot.
Joker looked away, unable to meet Garrus' gaze.
Silence.
Then Jacob spoke, voice soft. "Would you sacrifice Shepard for the sake of upholding those principles...?"
I...great.
Garrus sighed, the anger instantly fading, draining him as he shook his head and looked down at his feet. The answer was obvious, however painful it was to admit...some things were worth more then everything he'd given so much to uphold. He shot Jacob a sad look. "No."
"Good." Jacob turned back to EDI. "Do it, open the gates, it'll be a distraction the purgatory personnel won't soon forget. We'll enter through your suggested attack site as you and Joker ready for extraction or attack, depending on our success."
A sound plan...
Garrus looked up. Through the windscreen he could see Purgatory looming as the Normandy backed away, the prison already showing something was wrong as several of its windows lit up with explosions.
Then he found a sad smile appear on his face.
Michael, I'm going to kill you for this...
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With a final creak the the ceiling of the corridor gave way, the round circle they had burnt into it giving way and letting the circle-shaped steel plate drop down onto the floor with a loud crash.
A moment later Zaeed and Garrus both dropped down through the hole as planned, facing away from one another as, kneeling, they took aim down both ends of the corridor with readied assault rifles, ready to cover the rest of the team as they deployed.
There were no targets in Garrus' aim though, his gaze darting left and right as he took in the architecture. Wide corridor, amply lit, supporting columns on each side makes for good cover, however.
Already he could hear shouts of alarm, the sound of running feet and firing weapons as the riot they'd unleashed upon Purgatory spread like a wildfire through the station; the stench of ozone and burnt flesh tickling his nose.
Can't believe I'm partly responsible for this... Garrus gritted his teeth, brow furrowing as he hoped for one of the rioting criminals to stumble into his scope.
Then Zaeed shouted. "On your six!"
Garrus swiftly turned, still on one knee as he took aim...and not a second too late.
At Zaeed's end the corridor was turning to the left...and at the corner Garrus saw a flash of blue as six Purgatory guards came running.
The men didn't even notice the team before them before they were right in the open.
Garrus heard the rest of the team drop into the corridor behind him...even as the vindicator rifle in his hands jerked with a burst. The first shot caught his target high in the chest, the second two striking his throat...before the final two thumped into the man's visor.
He instantly crumpled.
Zaeed's target, a Turian judging by his armoured form...actually managed to stumble backwards...only to fall as his knee gave in as Zaeed's Avenger poured shots into it...and then opened the Turian's back with an explosion of blue blood.
The remaining four slid to an instant halt, two leaping into the cover of the columns lining the corridor even as Garrus and Zaeed did the same...as the other two turned to run.
One fell before he could take a step, screaming as a hazy orb of orange light struck him...only to set him aflame, Mordin's attack swiftly eating through armour and flesh with equal ease.
The other took a step away, then spun as a shot took him in the shoulder...before a blue laser dot appeared on his chest. Jacob's obscenely large pistol barked thrice...and the man before him died, breastplate and ribs smashed apart by the heavy calibre bullets. Got to get me one of those...
The two that had leapt into cover moved to take aim back at the team...only to scream in alarm as they whirled about to face the other way.
Too late.
Before Garrus' stunned eyes a blur of men and women clothed in nothing but brown rags came rushing forth...
Prisoners.
The Turian guard managed to bring his shotgun to bear, blowing the abdomen apart of the woman rushing at him...even as the human guard cried out as half a dozen prisoners pounced upon him, their faces twisting up in glee as they released what had to be years of pent up hatred upon the man, their fists and feet beating the man into the floor and against the column, crushing him within his armour through the sheer number of blows.
The Turian screamed in rage...the shotgun barking out again, tearing the arm off one of those beating his friend into nothing but a bloody smear...only for his scream to turn to one of panic as another prisoner leapt upon him.
It was a large human...whose hands were like paws as they grabbed the Turian's helmet and wrenched it away. With a roar of hatred the man grabbed the panicking Turian by the mandibles...and tore them off. The Turian screamed in pain...and then agony as with a snarl the human stabbed the sharper ends of the mandibles into the Turian's eyes...
Sick... Garrus took aim...and the monster of a human fell, unarmoured head blown apart by Garrus' shots.
Garrus' had heard of the brutality of Purgatory guards...but as he saw the prisoners looking up from their lynching, eyes mad with unrelenting hatred...he couldn't blame them.
Filthy monsters...
Another burst...and one of the Batarian prisoners fell even as the rest rushed forth with a roar...
Only for them all to stumble, a push of biotic power filling the corridor between the two groups...making the prisoners grind to a halt...and then for the first row to fall as Jacob, still aglow with the release of biotic energy, fired off a round from his shotgun into the tightly packed group.
Zaeed wasn't late to take advantage, the mercenary not letting off the trigger as he sprayed shots into the prisoners. Unarmoured, they fell in droves...and Mordin's quick firing of his pistol combined with Garrus' own bursts from his Vindicator almost felt unnecessary as they culled the horde to nothing.
Behind them a prisoner was lingering back though, a man with a near balding head, a mad glint in his eyes and nothing but skin and bones...but hefting a shotgun pried from the dead Turian guard.
He was staring at the slaughter...and seemed to be enjoying it...eyes wide with glee, mouth hanging open, hungry...
Garrus drew a bead on him...only for the human to laugh aloud as he began running back from whence he'd come, shotgun barking as he fired round after round into the ceiling, helping in tearing apart an already damaged station...
Is this a prison or an insane asylum! Garrus shook his head as he rose to his feet, quickly reloading his hissing rifle. "Who votes for following the madman?"
Zaeed chuckled. "Which one? Two minutes of freedom and these idiots are already tearing apart the only thing between them and space."
Garrus shot Zaeed an amused look. "Personally I think they're doing the galaxy a favour that way."
"Agreed." The human nodded, then shrugged. "Though I'd like it if we weren't on the station when that happens."
"Then we better get moving." Jacob cut in, the human marching forth with his shotgun at the ready. "Move out."
Garrus nodded in agreement, moving to follow.
We're coming, Michael...
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Thanks to Abydos Jackson, as there will always be.