Jack groaned, her eyes blinking open as the scrape of the opening door pulled her out of a barely remembered nightmare and into a waking hell. She turned her head what little she could, expecting to see Maya Brooks come back to torment her once more. It wasn't the operative walking in, though. Even with her head blurry from whatever crap Cerberus was pumping into her system, there was no doubt that this woman was blue.
An asari… Samara, maybe… The woman approached the table and as she did, Jack was able to see her features more clearly. Fuck me. It's Liara Fucking T'Soni.
"Get… get me out…" She knew she sounded weak and pathetic, the drugs making her words slur together, but she was past the point of caring. Right then, all that mattered to her was that Liara could get out of this.
If that's why she's here. The Shadow Broker had been pretty pissed off at her and Shepard after she'd found out they were screwing and maybe she'd rather eliminate the competition while she had the chance. Fuck it. Even being dead is better than trapped here.
Liara was standing above her now and when her biotics flared, for an instant Jack feared that she really did mean to hurt her. Instead, the restraints around her arms and legs were torn off, one after the other. For the first time in what felt like years, Jack could move and the first thing she did was grab hold of the IV line. It hurt as she yanked it out, but the pain was welcome. It made her feel alive, a welcome contrast with the numbing fog the drugs had packed around her head. She went for the thing around her neck next, but Liara's hand caught hers before she could reach it.
"I wouldn't do that. I think that collar will explode if you try to remove it."
Liara's biotics manifested once more, and the links that held the collar to the table came off, leaving the damned piece of metal stuck around Jack's neck but no longer stopping her from rising. The biotic sat up, shaking her head as she tried to banish the cobwebs still enveloping it. There were a hundred things jumbled up in her brain, and she wasn't sure where to start, so she just said the first one that came to mind.
"Shepard? Is she…"
It only took her a second to realize that asking about the girl scout might not have been the smartest move just then, but Liara's expression remained calm. "She's not here. But she sent me to come and rescue you. We're not safe yet though. Garrus and Ashley Williams are here too, but we've been separated and there are still a lot of Cerberus forces trying to stop us. Are you able to fight?"
At the mention of Cerberus, Jack's fists clenched, her body shaking with weeks of pent-up rage. All she wanted was to pay those fuckers back for what'd they done to her, but right then, she was kind of limited. "I can't use my biotics with this piece of junk on my neck," she admitted, "But I can still shoot."
"Good." Liara reached into her long white coat and handed Jack a pistol. "And the drugs they had you on?"
Jack checked the gun. It was smaller than the Carnifex she liked to use, but it would do. "I clear out that shit pretty fast. Weird ass metabolism and all. Anyway, it's not the first time I've fought while I was fucked up."
Instead of responding, Liara opened up her omni-tool, and a second later, Jack heard Tali's familiar voice. "Liara, are you all right?"
"For now. I've found Jack and she's free, but we're still trapped inside the base."
While Liara continued speaking to Tali, the biotic took stock of her new situation. There was purple blood on the Shadow Broker's coat, and Jack wondered if she would've put herself through the same kind of danger if their situations were reversed. For Shepard, yeah, probably. That woman really is something else.
Shaking her head at how sentimental she was becoming, Jack saw that Liara had finished her call. "Tali's been able to hack inside Cerberus' systems," the asari told her, "But they're fighting back, forcing open the doors that lead here. Garrus and Ashley are trying to get to us, but they probably won't be here in time to help."
Jack's face tightened. Adrenaline was banishing her remaining fuzziness, replacing it with a steely determination. "Okay then, blue. We make our stand here." The doorway and the narrow corridor in front of it made a decent enough chokepoint. Probably Cerberus thought it would make it easier for them to keep anyone from rescuing her.
There were two dead guards lying outside the room and while they stripped them of any useful weapons and supplies, she shot a glance in the direction of Liara's wound. "You okay there?"
"It is not serious. And you?"
She gave the asari a smile, trying to seem reassuring. "Sure. I'm always ready to kick some Cerberus ass."
As they took cover back inside her cell, she spared a final look at Liara. Flickers of biotic energy were playing around her body, and in that moment she had a fierce beauty, a strength that wasn't usually visible to a casual observer. When Jack had first heard about Shepard and Liara's past, she'd wondered how a warrior like her girlfriend could have been into some mousey scientist, but now, she could definitely see it. Down the corridor, she heard the shuffling and grunts of soldiers making their way down the ladder, and a low growl escaped her throat. Bring it on, you sons of bitches.
The first trooper reached the bottom of the ladder, and Jack tossed one of the grenades they'd taken off of his dead comrades down the corridor. He instinctively flinched away from the metal sphere, but there was nowhere to go and the explosion not only blew him apart, but a second later, an additional corpse dropped down out of the shaft above him.
No sooner had they fallen though when another trooper dropped down, and when Jack hurled the other grenade she had at him, she saw too late the large metal box he was carrying. A powerful shield sprung into existence around the area, deflecting the brunt of the blast. The man returned fire with a heavy pistol, and while Jack ducked behind Liara's barriers, the asari fired a powerful warp blast that succeeded in knocking down the energy shield. By then, though, the engineer had begun to advance, and more Cerberus soldiers were pouring out of the shaft behind him.
Jack rolled back out shooting, but she didn't have her barriers for protection, and though Liara's own shields were able to provide her with some cover, she still had to be careful. A combination of the two women's guns and the Shadow Broker's biotics dropped a few more of the troopers, but once they'd gotten their bearings, Cerberus' heavy return fire forced them to retreat back into the cell, slamming the door behind them and sealing it.
"Fuck," Jack spat, as they hurried behind the only object in the room that might offer some cover, the table she'd been bound to minutes earlier. "These assholes really don't want to let me go."
"No. Listen, Jack. They've been using you to control Shepard, and they'll do the same with me if they can. Ashley and Garrus are coming, but we can't count on them getting through. Whatever happens, we cannot let Cerberus take us alive."
There was iron in the Shadow Broker's eyes as she spoke, and Jack nodded grimly. "Better dead than back on this fucking table, I guess. I'm just wanna make sure whatever happens, I kill that bitch Brooks first."
Liara offered up a bitter smile. "It will be my pleasure to help."
There was no more time to talk. The door in front of them blew off of its hinges and even while it crashed to the ground, Liara rose, hurling a singularity into the smoke. The first two soldiers were pulled from their feet and as they hung in mid-air, Jack sprayed down the whole area with her pistol. The two men looked pretty well perforated, but before she could think about shooting anybody else, her shoulder exploded in pain. She fell, clutching at the wound, even as more soldiers rushed through the doorway.
Thankfully, Liara wasn't done yet. From above her, Jack saw the asari throw another warp, and when it struck the singularity, a massive biotic detonation enveloped the Cerberus squad. While they were stunned, Jack jammed some of the medi-gel she'd liberated from a dead trooper into her shoulder. The wound still hurt like a son of a bitch, but at least she could move it for now.
One of the remaining troopers was circling around the table to get at Liara and Jack put two rounds in his knee before he realized she was crouching there. The armored man fell towards her and she leapt upwards, driving her good shoulder into his midsection. He crashed to the floor, and Jack added another two shots to his head, shattering his faceplate and filling the helmet with blood.
That got her Brooks' attention. The bitch had finally deigned to show herself, now that most of her flunkies had died softening the two women up. Unfortunately, Liara was still engaged with the soldiers who were left alive, leaving Jack to deal with her tormentor on her own.
Brooks' shotgun flashed and Jack threw herself to the right, just barely avoiding the blast that blew a dent in the wall behind her. She fired her pistol back, but she was off-balance and the shots were wild. Most missed, and the one that connected only grazed the operative's heavy armor. Jack tried to find her balance once more, but Brooks was too quick for that. Her booted foot crashed into Jack's sternum, sending the biotic toppling over onto her back. She grunted, and though she aimed a kick at her attacker's shin, a heavy greave absorbed the blow without much effect.
"You won't be so feisty without that leg," Brooks hissed, leveling the shotgun at Jack's knee. Before she could fire, though, Liara spun in their direction, a warp from the asari connecting with the operative and sending her sprawling away from Jack.
The Shadow Broker paid a heavy price for her assistance. One of the two remaining troopers took advantage of her distraction, emptying his pistol point-blank into her barriers. Liara fell to her knees, her face clenched tight from the strain of holding them up. She managed a final biotic strike against her attacker, but it took all she had left. One soldier fell but the other took his place, smashing his rifle butt into Liara and sending her toppling to the ground with a cut on her head.
Jack rolled up to a sitting position, only to find herself starring back into the barrel of Brook's shotgun. She could see Liara with a weapon to her head as well, the asari dazed and spent from her exertions, and the hope began to drain from Jack. Guess that's it then. No way out of this except the hard one.
"Stop it, you two. We wouldn't you to hurt yourself any more than you already have."
Brooks' voice was poisonously sweet and the sound of it made Jack's blood boil. She wasn't afraid to die, but this bitch did not get to win, no matter how much pain Jack had to take.
Clenching her fists, she summoned her biotics and the reaction was instantaneous, starting in her neck, but not ending there. Every nerve in her body was on fire, an agony worse than anything even Jack had ever felt before ripping through her, but she didn't quit. Instead, she focused the pain outward into a primal cry that expanded until it became her whole world. She couldn't see or feel anything but this one horrible, perfect moment of rage that poured out of her before she collapsed its wake, crumpling to ground spent.
Liara's head whipped around as the air surrounding Jack burst into brilliant light. Ignoring her brains' protestations of exhaustion, she summoned a final, feeble barrier, setting it against the wave that erupted out from the convict. The soldier holding the gun on her was caught up before he could shoot, the energy lifting him off the ground and slamming him into the wall with a crack. Liara was tossed backwards as well, but the blast hadn't been aimed at her, and she only caught the edges, weak enough that even her pitiful shield was able to save her from real harm. A few seconds later, she could move again, while her erstwhile captor was left twitching on the ground.
A burst from her submachine gun put an end to that, and she turned her attention to the last enemy left standing: Maya Brooks. The Cerberus operative had been hurled by the force of Jack's biotics into the back wall of the cell, but her superior armor and shields had left her alive in spite of the powerful impact. She was dazed though, blood pouring out of a cut on her head, and she staggered, trying to find her bearings. Not wanting to let the opening go to waste, Liara turned her gun on Brooks. The other woman wasn't moving very fast and her attempt to dodge was on partially successful, several of the bullets embedding in her armor and one tearing away a chunk of her cheek.
Brooks had dropped her shotgun in the blast but she drew a pistol from her hip now, howling in incoherent rage as she fired back at Liara. The Shadow Broker dove behind the table, avoiding the wild shots easily enough.
"No more boasts?" Her voice was icy as she jammed a fresh thermal clip into her submachine gun.
"You fucking blue whore," Brooks mumbled, now bleeding from multiple wounds. "Gonna…"
Liara didn't let her finish. As Brooks stumbled towards the table, the Shadow Broker rose, emptying the entirety of her clip into her face. This time, there was no avoiding the shots, and the operative fell in a spray of blood, her final curses dying on her lips.
Once she was sure Brooks was dead, Liara let her legs give out from under her at last, falling to her knees and shaking from her final exertions. Her body felt like jelly. She'd expended too much energy in too little time, but she couldn't give in to the fatigue yet. Crawling over to Jack, she checked the tattooed woman's pulse, breathing a sigh of relief when she felt it was still strong. She knew biotic shock collars weren't designed to kill their wearers, but she'd never seen heard of anyone fighting through one like Jack had just done, and she wasn't sure what the effect might have been.
Jack also had a bullet wound in her shoulder, but the medi-gel seemed to have stabilized that injury, and Liara hoped that a second round would bring her around. They still had to escape the base, and she didn't know what Ashley and Garrus' situation was. Steadying her trembling fingers, she opened her medi-gel dispenser, and applied the soothing substance to first to her own head and then to Jack.
An instant later, those big, brown eyes shot open, the biotic rocking back and forth and gasping for breath as she looked up at Liara. "Fuck, fuck, fuck," she panted over and over again, the curse a mantra that seemed to settle her down. "That was…"
"…Very impressive." Liara finished Jack's sentence for her, wrapping a soothing hand around the back of the biotic's head to brace her as she shook. "You saved me."
Jack looked unusually abashed at the praise. "Well, you saved me first. So I guess we're even now or some shit like that."
I suspect we will require a longer conversation before we really know where we stand, Liara thought to herself, but that problem could wait for later. For now, she just said, "Fair enough," before opening up her comms once more.
Tali sounded positively overjoyed to hear from her. "Liara! You're okay!"
"More or less. We killed the Cerberus attackers including Maya Brooks, but I don't know how many more we can deal with."
"Don't worry. Garrus and Ashley should be meeting up with you in a minute or two. They took out the comm room, so I'm in full control of the base's systems now. We did it!"
In spite of her fatigue, Liara permitted herself a real smile at last. "Good. Now, we just need to tell Shepard she's free."
Next up, Shepard has to try and take back her ship. As a side note, I was surprised how many people thought Liara might kill Jack instead of rescuing her. Fortunately, my Liara isn't that renegade.