HOME INVASION
"We'll talk again?"
"Yeah, definitely. Soon."
Alex didn't get to talk to Garrus like she wanted to. Not over a video comm. Not in front of Liara. She didn't get to ask how the Normandy crew was doing. No asking about what happened to his ailing mother and estranged father. Only a simple and straightforward explanation on how she got here and why. The rest was to be continued within a more personal encounter.
Liara packed up all her essential data files – including glyph – and loaded them onto a shuttle to take back to the dreadnought. She was coming along for the ride, and they were headed to Earth. As much as she wanted to wriggle out of it, Alex needed to present herself to the Alliance and Parliament, seeking reinstatement of her status as an N7 soldier and take the MIA label off her head. Plus, it'd be nice to see David again. Another one she couldn't imagine how her death affected them.
It was exactly like losing a child. Married to the military life for all of his younger years, David Anderson would never come to learn what it would be like to father a child, and though he isn't the biological father, David raised Alex and established the bond as if he did.
When she walked into his office at the Alliance Embassy on Earth, he pulled in his adopted daughter tight, unbelievably awakened from her death.
"Nice to see you come out hiding, Dr. T'Soni," David said in jest as they pulled away.
"It was about time that I did. Talking only to a VI day in and day out takes a toll on your social skills," Liara responded lightheartedly.
"You used to love spending the day all by yourself with fossils and artifacts," Alex retorted.
"Let's just say that I've grown accustomed to sharing a small space with a...diverse family." This earned a light chuckle from the group.
"So Councilor, huh?" Alex asked David with a humored cocked eyebrow. Following Alex's death, humanity had finally been awarded a spot on the Council. Surely a natural politician like Ambassador Udina was thought to have been the one to move up, but as fate would have it, Anderson was offered the position. Jane could almost be positive the Council chose Anderson over Udina because he liked to play politics aggressively and throw tirades. At least Anderson could be reasonable and level-headed. "I see the last couple of years have treated you right. I didn't see you much as a paper-pushing kind of guy, though."
"Serving on the Council isn't how I planned to spend my twilight years," he confessed with pause.
"Too much brown-nosing for your liking?" she smirked. There was no way David, a military man and former Spectre Candidate, was going to find government and foreign affairs anywhere near enjoyable. Not that he wouldn't be great at it.
"Sometimes it feels like I'm just beating my head against a wall, but I know how important this position is. As much as I complain, I'll keep trying to fight the good fight."
"Copy that," she muttered back. Fighting against the Reapers. And Saren. Alex already died for the fight. It wouldn't happen again. She'd be damned if she'd let it happen twice.
"So, is this…?" he began. Alex followed his gaze, planted on Legion who'd been a silent bystander in the background. A being of little words, only speaking when necessary. Alex noticed his eyes honing in on the piece her battered N7 armor on his arm. David was as equally bemused as Alex when she first saw it.
"Legion," she answered.
"And is he…?"
"We geth have no gender, and there is more than one unit on this platform. There is no sole individual here," Legion interjected as-a-matter-of-factly.
Alex followed up on his correction. "He's a 'They', actually. Legion is just the representing platform. But yeah, they rebuilt me."
"Using the Project Lazarus data?" David questioned next.
"Yes," Legion replied.
David nodded slowly, letting the presence of Alex and the docile geth sink in. He directed his next inquiry at Liara. "And you vouch for everything they've said? This is really–" His coffee-colored eyes flitted over at Alex, a hue of uncertainty hiding underneath. "—her?"
"There's no doubt in my mind, Anderson," Liara stated, vehement and unyielding. As close as Liara and Alex were, there wasn't a chance a clone or a fake Shepard could fool the doctor. Especially if the geth had obtained the original Project Lazarus data and followed it accordingly to revive her. After all, the procedure was meant for Alex specifically. "I performed trials of my own, and she has not been affected mentally in any way. Any intervention by the geth, or Saren for that matter, will not be an issue."
With Liara's blessing, Anderson confidently accepted that this was one hundred percent Alexandria Shepard. That being the case, it was time to get back to business.
The meeting with the Parliament and Alliance had been less than exciting, without exaggeration. Brutally dull and an endless amount of paperwork. So much so she almost wished she had stayed dead. Even Legion didn't want to hang around. It deemed that it's time was better off optimizing it's operating system than staring at the Commander proceed through an "inefficient human practice." Regardless, was being alive really worth jumping through all these hoops?
Following the formalities to reinstate her as an Alliance Soldier, Liara dragged Alex out of the chair she had permanently indented, sitting for hours as she filled out stacks of documents. She led Alex down and through a medical wing of the building with ease. Liara had evidently been here before. The various turns and alternate passages were nauseating. The number of soldiers posted at every corner gaping at the undead soldier – annoying. Could she blame them? Notoriety followed her through the afterlife it seemed. It grew tenfold, dying as a hero at the hands of Saren, now renowned as a rogue Spectre following his actions on Eden Prime. Liara sent her several extranet links of articles and vids covering the betrayal of the Council's top agent killing two other Spectres. It was rather scandalous, and the story had been the front page of every media outlet for weeks. She rolled her eyes thinking about the countless amount of reporters that were guaranteed to contact her after learning that she's alive and reinstated.
Wherever Liara was taking her had to be top secret, and the curiosity was excruciating. Even more irksome was that Liara wouldn't disclose where they were going exactly. To fill the dead air as they passed through security, Alex asked for the whereabouts of her former N7 squadmates.
A proud, warm grin curled her lips. "They've become quite capable during your absence. Both Ashley and Kaidan are on their way to becoming Spectres. According to my latest intel, they are on this base somewhere."
"Damn," she remarked mutedly. "That's amazing."
Speaking of Spectres…
Knowing that Nihlus is alive, she had to ask. They walked through another set of double doors into a room as Alex opened her mouth to say, "And what about—"
"Nihlus!" a chastising Australian female voice hollered. Her head snapped over at the flawless brunette who stood with her arms crossed, agitation crinkling her brow. "What did I tell you about your daily exercises?! How do you expect to recover fully if you don't follow my instructions?"
"I'm recovered," the flanging voice groaned. Alex's next intake of breath was rough, and her knees were shaking. Her eyes darted to the opposite side of the room. A maroon turian body draped across a stretching table, eyes closed and breathing slow. Unbothered and indifferent to anything going on around him. This was a private physical therapy clinic absent of any patients, aside from Nihlus.
Alex took a few gradual steps forward, eager to draw herself in closer. The sight of his limp body sprawled out flashed images in her head of the last living memory of Nihlus that she had. Gruesome and bloody. Not breathing. Not speaking. It was extraordinarily unreal to see his chest rising up and down with life.
"I prefer you keep training to stimulate neuroplasticity and maintain the connection between your mind and muscles," she bit back, severely unamused. Out of the corner of her eyes, Miranda saw a figure stalk in, and her eyes grew large. "Shepard?!"
Alex came to a halt just as Nihlus shot up from the table, bright emeralds agape and mouth frozen. He wanted to say her name too, though no such luck. His body moved on instinct, acting faster than his stunned brain. Alex and Nihlus crashed into each other halfway between their spots. His talons immediately latched onto her, one at the base of her skull and the other between her shoulder blades, holding her close to his chest as possible. Balls of fabric from his shirt were crumpled inside her fists. She was clinging onto him just as tight, deep in each other's hold. Nihlus soon found his chest dampened. Alex's body shuddered and jerked against his body, provoked by hard sobs.
They remained in this position letting the loaded cocktail of emotions uplift. Doleful notes escaped from the back of their throats. For their spectators in the room, this was an awfully sweet moment.
Miranda and Liara quietly exchanged greetings and eventually made their way over to the reunited Spectres pulling away as the sentimental moment waned.
"I've never seen you move so fast before, Nihlus," Miranda commented with a smug smile.
"All he needed was an incentive," Liara added with a wink. The room erupted with laughter – a very missed and blissful sound. Alex and Nihlus didn't experience much of this in the past two years – it felt much longer – banished to a hollow and desolate purgatory. This was a nice change of pace.
"Hey! This a comedy club now?" a booming voice called out. In unison, they all turned to a beefy, bronze-skinned man whose shirt was a couple sizes too small to fit all his bulgy muscles.
"Alex, this is Lieutenant James Vega. He's the head of the task force to protect the classified project, AKA Nihlus," Miranda introduced. Alex nodded her acknowledgment. "James, this is—
She was stopped by James' sudden snap to attention and salute. "Commander Shepard. It's an honor."
"At ease, soldier," she smiled – a bit embarrassedly – and shook his hand.
"Crazy about you and Grumps," he said. "Bet no one ever thought they'd see you two again."
"Grumps?" Alex repeated. An irked sigh came from Nihlus.
"Yeah," James shrugged back as if it were obvious. "You'll never see him in a good mood. Bitching and moaning every day of physical therapy, so I gave him a nickname. Grumps."
"You'll have to excuse Mr. Vega here. All those protein shakes lowered his IQ and limited his vocabulary."
Her favorite shuttle pilot emerged from behind James.
"Steve!" Alex yelled gleefully.
"It's going to see you alive, Commander," he told her, pulling her in for a quick embrace. "You have no idea how horrible we all felt leaving you two down there…"
The once joyous moment had shifted to a dispirited vibe. Alex scanned all the eyes in the room, avoidant and cloudy with guilt. Seeing and feeling all the accumulated lamentation caused a painful twist to Alex's heart. Nihlus became uncomfortable. He hadn't quite established the same family bond Alex had with the crew, though it wasn't to say that he didn't have some semblance of pleasant ties to them.
"And Garrus…" Liara spoke up. "He took it the hardest."
The ache grew massive in her chest. Garrus had told her over and over the bad feeling he had about letting her go without him. He insisted on going with them. With her. Garrus always had her six. Alec was glad she refused. He may have been granted the same fate as Nihlus and herself. She'd hate herself forever if she took both of them down with her.
In the still air broke through a shrilling noise, catching everyone off guard. The room was tinted red with flashing lights. Miranda swiftly moved over to her computer
"Mierda! Why the hell is the emergency alarm going off?" James questioned aloud. Everyone glanced at each other for answers. No one had one.
"Alex! Nihlus! You'll want to see this," she remarked with subdued distress. On her screen were multiple feeds of chaos. The feed that caught her eye was of a scene of a tumultuous, dark sky. Beams of red flashed amongst the ragged clouds. Hot rays of crimson shot down from above and easily split a skyscraper in half, igniting apocalyptic fires. A piercing buzzing noise then flooded the room.
"Reapers," both Spectres hissed. Their memories would have to be erased and reset for them to ever forget that distinct sound.
"We've lost contact with Luna Base," Liara reported, accessing intel through her omni-tool.
"How'd they get that close already?!" James growled.
"The Milky Way. Sol System. Earth. We're under attack by the Reapers. They're here," Liara continued.
They all ran to the window, catching a Reaper claw rear its ugly head through the ominous heavens. A low rumbling quaked beneath their feet, and a brontide rolled through, encircling them and shuddering the windows to the point of nearly breaking.
Anderson burst through the doors of the clinic, a view of a frantic scene behind him made of panicked and bustling personnel. He always had a knack for remaining cool under pressure. Even so, urgency coated his voice.
"Shepard! Kyrik! Come on, it's time to go!"