TWENTY

Gavorn filled me in on all the details I'd missed – from the how's and why's of Archangel's demise all the way to the clearing of the plague that had been, well, plaguing the neighbourhoods around Mordin's clinic. I listened with mute numbness. I'd found that cold, empty, nothing again… which was better than the alternative, I guessed. If I weren't so fucking drunk, I was pretty sure I'd be bawling my eyes out like a pathetic little child lost at the markets. My mind still couldn't comprehend it… a galaxy without Archangel in it. Fuck. I'd fallen so bloody hard for the bastard, and I'd barely even noticed.

"Archangel is dead and mystery Cerberus agents are the new local heroes?" I frowned into the empty glass of my whiskey bottle. "Did I jump dimensions on my way back?"

"Maybe." Gavorn downed the last dregs in his own bottle, then tossed it down to join the growing pile of empties on the floor between us. "Sure as hell feels like it." He heaved a great, wistful sigh. "We're gonna need more booze."

"If you can walk straight, be my guest." I threw a hand towards the door to his small, studio apartment. "Personally, I'm pretty sure I'll throw up if I try moving."

"We should… er…" It was getting hard for the turian Captain to think straight. "Maybe… eat something? Drinking on an empty stomach is bad, right? Especially for humans and your puny constitutions."

I arched an incredulous eyebrow at him. "I'm holding my liquor better than you, old man."

Gavorn groaned and rubbed talons over his brow plates. "Yeah, but I'm way ahead of you. I don't think I've been sober for more than five minutes this week." He let his head rest against the bed we were both propped against. A slow tear escaped his eye and pooled against his cheek ridge. "Fuck."

Reaching out, I patted his arm. Not because I was really capable of feeling any sympathy for him, but because it was accepted social convention and I felt compelled after all the whiskey he'd supplied me with. "We'll get our revenge. Who's left anyway? Blue Suns? There ain't gonna be so many of those bastards around now. Not after Archangel and this big firefight in the plague zone. They'll be easy pickings."

Gavorn nodded glumly. "Yeah. They still got some small stakes left in the lower reaches, but I guess their biggest spot left is up in the eezo mines. They bolster Aria's security there." He glanced down at me. "You're gonna piss off Big Blue if you hit the mines though."

I snorted at Gavorn's nickname for his boss. "Yeah, well, 'Big Blue' can kiss my arse. What about the other two. Blood Pack and Eclipse?"

The turian shrugged. "Eclipse have a huge dock all to themselves. They run a lot of their smuggling operations out of it. If you can kick them there, it's gonna piss off their operations on a galaxy-wide level. But it's also got their heaviest guard. Even Archangel was smart enough to give the place a wide berth."

"I'm not as smart as Archangel. Blood Pack?"

"Easy. Hit the Vorcha nests. They rely on those vermin for shock troops. Crush the biggest nest, and you'll be cutting off their balls. Almost literally."

With a scoff, I looked up at Gavorn and caught his eye. "You getting me to do your dirty work now?"

He shrugged. "I can show you the way down there, but it was always too big for one guy. My job was just to keep them off Aria's doorstep anyway." Some idea seemed to cross his mind, though it formed with difficulty through the drunken haze. "A girl with your 'special abilities' might just be what we need to destroy it for good." He rubbed his forehead again and tried to get up. "I got some maps. We could—Shit!" His feet wouldn't take his weight, and he toppled down into a sprawling mess of angular limbs.

I heaved a great sigh and pushed myself up, using his cowl as support and knocking him back to the tiles as I went. "Stay down. It's way too painful to watch you flounder. Where are your maps?" I was unsteady. The apartment swayed like I was on a ship lost at sea… but I managed a few staggering footsteps. "Gavorn?"

I glanced down and found the turian captain sobbing into his floor. "Monty…" His voice cracked. The high-pitched keening shattered the ice that had encased my heart and sent a shudder of agony through my bones. I thought of the boy he missed… and then Mel… and Garrus. Blue-eyed badass with a spirit of vengeance even I had to run to keep up with. God…!

My back hit the wall of Gavorn's apartment, and I slid to the floor. Tears filled up my eyes, blurring my vision to a mess of colour and fuzzy shapes before tumbling down over my cheeks. How the hell was I supposed to carry on? It was his fault. He woke me up. He gave me purpose and family and friends. He taught me to trust… I knew it was a bad idea. I knew Omega would take it all back.

I tried to be angry. I tried to hate Garrus – that would be easier than the agony of missing him. But I couldn't. The part of me that did get angry called me a liar. It wasn't Archangel who fucked up. It was Sid. It was Sid… and me. I hadn't told our leader about the secret tunnel in and out of his HQ. I hadn't told him Sid and I were going to the Citadel – maybe he would have been smart enough to wonder where Sid got his credits from. Most of all though… I'd told Sid before I'd even told Garrus…

Turian's are viciously possessive. I knew that. I used it against them all the time. Hell, I manipulated Archangel with it… But I'd never thought of Sid as a threat. Any territorial fight between the two of them would end with Archangel on top. I knew it. Sid knew it. But I'd forgotten just how deadly a coward could be. Fuck! I slapped a hand to my own face as the final puzzle pieces snapped together. That's why Sid wanted me to go with him so bad. Lure the woman away with shiny things and kill the rival from a distance. It was a mating dance older than time… and I'd fallen for it hook line and sinker!

Rage burned enough that I could sniff back the worst of my sobs. Fuck Sid. I'd deal with the mercs… then I was coming for that fucker. That was purpose enough for now.

The Blue Suns had fallen like lambs to the slaughter. I took one of Gavorn's shotguns and walked through the eezo mines, blasting down anyone in blue and white armour. It was over with quick, therapeutic chaos. Gavorn had helped me map the best path to reap maximum damage. Workers fled. Aria's thugs – when they realised I wasn't shooting at them – happily stepped aside and protected their boss's more material assets. I didn't give a fuck about credits or eezo. It was all about blood. As much as I could spill before the Suns could get organised enough to defend. Strike fast. Strike hard. Leave nothing left to retaliate with.

They were still licking their wounds when I hit the Eclipse. I lured out one of the engineers, killed her, and took her armour. With a face like everyone else's, I snuck in, hotwired one of their smaller ships and got crazy with the onboard weapons before taking my ride and crashing it into their nearby warehouses. The fuel tanks exploded behind me and, I admit, I found a mad smile as I limped away from that one.

The Blood Pack required a little more finesse. I could take on one Krogan, maybe. But half a dozen of them and a small army of Vorcha? With their preference for up-close and personal combat, there wasn't anything to hijack to get the job done easy either. It took a few nights of solid, sober thinking before Gavorn and I finally came up with a workable plan that adequately satisfied our mutual thirst for bloody revenge.

Gavorn had a broken one of those stealthy camouflage things that Monty had left. I took it to the Quarrian boy down in the markets and caught him just as the kid was packing up to leave. My reputation scared him enough to do 'one last job' before he buggered off, and he got it working for one more round. "It won't last," he promised. "You'll get maybe twenty minutes, thirty tops."

But that was all I needed. One thing I could count on with Korgan mercs – the only thing I could count on – was that they'd be almost as pickled as Gavorn and I were. I broke into their storerooms at the Vorcha nest and commandeered as much ryncol as I could fit into one pack. Then I wandered around the base, spilling it over the snoozing guards and vermin brood mothers. Whoops. I met Gavorn outside just as the camouflage unit fizzled out, and with a cocky grin, I raised the last bottle of krogan booze towards the nest building. "To you, Monty. You roguish bastard you."

With a flaming push, I ignited the trail of hard liquor and watched with a flash of excitement as the fuse went up. It burned towards the building, then snatched it. Flames roared as they engulfed the place with phenomenal speed. Vorcha screamed. Krogan shapes struggled to put themselves out. Explosions went off as their ammunition stores overheated. I put the ryncol bottle to my lips and threw back a shot. The foul taste blistered my tongue, but I swallowed it down anyway. It was so fucking beautiful.

Gavorn made a growling sound, and I looked up to find a wicked, scowling grin on his face. The reflection of my flames burned in his eyes. He took a flask from his pocket and swigged at it as he watched his justice play out, then startled me by reaching and putting his arm around me. "Thanks, Maggie."

I rested my hand against his shoulder and leaned against him. "No offence… But I didn't do it for you."

"No. You did it for Monty… and for Archangel…" He cast his blazing eyes towards me. "So you need anything to get Sidonis, you let me know."

I threw back another drink and thought for a moment. "There is something, actually…"