TWENTY-FOUR

In hindsight, not the best choice of opening words for our miraculous reunion… but fucking hell! Half of it was bloody well missing! A great grey bandage tried to hide the worst but scorches webbed over his mouth and up beneath his eye. More angry marks cut deep into the hide of his neck before vanishing beneath the collar of his under-suit. I gaped in horror – also not the best way to start things off.

Archangel's steel eyes hardened and, to my horror, he raised his rifle again and pointed it straight at my chest. "Where's Sidonis?" Hateful rage reserved only for the foulest of Omega scum dripped on every syllable and cut into the hope still trying to revive me. Oh, God…! He thought I was in on it with that yellow-bellied bastard? Revulsion sent a cold chill through my blood, dousing my every inner-flame. I shuddered. Why wouldn't he? Of the twelve of us that had worked for him, only two had managed to escape the attack unscathed.

"Friend of yours?" Shepard wasn't lowering her assault rifle either. I eyed the battered weapon warily. She was a vanguard, then?

The turian faltered. It wasn't detectable in any expression on his face, but I knew him well enough to hear it in his hesitation. If he knew what I was to him… he'd answer.

"I'm not with Sid," I blurted, seizing the opportunity. "I swear to fucking God almighty, Angel, I had no idea what he was planning. If I had, I'd have gutted him myself!"

"Would you?" Sharp teeth clenched. He spoke with such a growl and hiss the translator couldn't filter it all. "We both know what you'd do for credits, Maggie. You warned me yourself, trusting you is insane."

"Lucky you're a frikin nutcase then, ain't it!" The words spouted out of my mouth before I could think about them. The shock of seeing him, whole… ish… was wearing thin. Emotion strangled at me. A tangled confusion of anger and hurt that I couldn't possibly control. I gestured wildly at the bridge still drawn up behind him. "I came here trying to track Sid down! I was going to avenge you!"

He still wasn't sure. His thumb reached as if ready to pull back the safety again, but paused just shy.

"You were the only one to ever accuse me of being a good person – the only one that cared to even look, and you were dead!" I let my hands fall, defeated. He wouldn't believe me…? After everything, I was still just another Omega-rat to him. And why not? What had I ever said or done to prove otherwise? He'd offered me everything, and I'd spat in his face. Well fine. If I was going to die, I'd like it to be him. At least I'd know something of mercy. I caught his gaze and let him see as I stood down… let him see my surrender. I wasn't going to run from him. Not this time. "The only thing keeping me going was thinking of all the ways I was going to make Sid hurt." I gestured at him. "And Garrus, if he thinks you're dead too, then it ain't you he's hiding from… is it?"

A decision was made. A choice so loud and monumental, I felt it shift the very path of my life under my feet. Archangel's thumb fell back to his weapon. Garrus lowered his rifle. For a moment he just looked at me, grey eyes filling with the same angry hurt and confusion that clouded my head. Then he stooped and picked up the silver cross from the floor. It was handed back to me with short, sharp movements. For the briefest moment, his fingers brushed mine – warm, and real and most definitely alive. "If you're going after Sidonis, you may as well tag along."

I scoffed and hung the crucifix around my neck. "Baby, please. If anyone's 'tagging along' it's you. This ain't justice, Archangel…" I glared up at him, the fire of hatred filling my eyes. "…It's vengeance."

He got us over the bridge as Shepard tried to give me a lecture about following orders. I stuck my middle finger up at her, then raced over the drop and up onto some shipping containers. This was my show. Mine and Archangels. It had nothing to do with her and hell would freeze before I took orders from some random soldier bitch – hero or otherwise. "Race you!" I barked to Archangel, my knife already clasped in my hand as I sprinted and jumped from crate to crate. Besides, Garrus might have been off the mark a touch, but he was right about one thing… I did have an ulterior motive – one I doubted the 'hero of the Citadel' would approve of.

I got several strides ahead of them before meeting my first Blue Suns. But knowing I had three allies behind me meant I could change tactics. It meant I could cut loose – use up some of this wild, emotion jolting through my bones. It was something like fear, but so closely mixed with euphoria, I didn't know where one started and the other began anymore. Just a swirling mass of passion and a desperate need to kill something.

My blade came up on instinct and lashed at both their throats before they even knew I was there. I heard the crack of Archangel's rifle and another crumpled at my feet with a bullet between his eyes. We were like clockwork. I was hyper-aware of him – of where he was and how many rounds he had left – and he knew me. He knew how I moved and ran. He knew which targets to let me get and which to pick off before they came too close. I snatched up a thermal clip and tossed it over my shoulder without looking. Another shot rang out second later. It clipped the shields off the vanguard I was toe-to-toe with before striking the chest of the engineer just ahead. With a savage grin, I sunk the blade between my opponent's armour and sliced deep into his lungs. I saw his eyes go wide. I saw him fumble for the medigel, then threw a flaming push, knocking him and two others back from me. The fire burned – through my blood and over a canister that exploded a short way in front. I was alive. Archangel was alive. How the hell was I supposed to process that?

A whoosh in the air next to me and I turned in time to see Shepard's green and gold armour slam into another vanguard. A primal roar ripped from her throat. She followed up with a swift strike of her omni-blade. His shields were down. Another shot – not from Angel's rifle, the pitch was off – and the foe was dispatched with perfect accuracy. Shepard had expected it. She was already smashing her head into the visor of her next target – a grunt who looked almost awe-struck to be killed by her. I confess, the small, tiniest slither that was distracted by the display might have been impressed.

We reached the back office much faster than even I'd expected. I was panting as we mounted the raised platforms. Shepard signalled for us to split. She and the drell went left. I followed Garrus right.

I wasn't the only one to feel the frenzy of the fight. Archangel was back in all his glory. I watched him work – watched him throw 'Fade' about like a toy – and revelled in his return. For a moment, I allowed myself to believe it was really him. Was this what he'd done to Daniels? God, I wished I'd seen it. He got everything we needed and more without even breaking a sweat. Just like old times. Angel drew out his pistol, took aim—

"—You don't need to shoot him." Shepard's arm snatched at Angel's wrist, pulling his pistol back a notch. "He won't be able to hide from C-sec now."

What. The. Fuck? I blinked a few times in sheer shock, then again as Garrus actually lowered his gun. Archangel didn't take orders! He sure as hell didn't spare low-life shit-heads like this arsehole. I saw a glimmer of the vigilante return long enough to smack his plated head into Harkin's nose, but then he turned away and sauntered out, following after Shepard and hissing some threat about coming back to finish the job if the lead didn't follow through. I just stood there, stunned. Fade had the nerve to make a snide comment, and I brought my knee up, slamming it into his gut and knocking him back to the floor.

Garrus didn't look back. He either expected me to follow him… or he didn't care if I did or not. My heart sank in my chest, then hardened over. Fine. I didn't know what the hell was going on. It felt like reality had been turned inside out, but I had a job to do. I'd already been paid, and right now did not feel like a good time to be burning bridges. I stomped my foot down on Harkin's chest, keeping him pinned to the floor while I watched Garrus, Shepard and the drell get far enough ahead that they were almost around the corner… then I drew my pistol and put a bullet in Fade's brain.

The shot made the team stop and glance back in alarm. Shepard opened her mouth, her expression ready to rip me a new one, even from across the hall. But Garrus was already grabbing her arm and pulling her into a run. He'd caught the purpose in my stride. He knew it meant I was about to do something he deemed royally stupid. Shepard and the drell were smart enough to follow his urgings as he yelled at them to go.

I watched them run and gave them a count of ten before gathering all of the fire in my blood and pushing it out and upwards in one great push. I felt the power latch onto one of the crates of fuel moving overhead… and pulled.

It fell, spilling its contents in a great wave that splashed up the side of canisters and crates before erupting with fire. I watched the blaze climb, enthralled, my heart thudding like a primal drum behind my ribs. The smell of smoke and hot orange infernos had always driven me wild. The power of it filled the warehouse and sang to whatever was in my blood that allowed me to command it.

My trance cost me. I screamed as a canister exploded all too close to my left sending shrapnel into my leg. The fuel splashed onto my clothes, igniting them. I activated my equivalent of a biotic barrier to defend myself, but not before taking a nasty burn to my flank. "Shit!" It was time to go, preferably before the other two crates of fuel broke from their grips and tumbled down to feed the hungry blaze.

I raced down from the platform and vaulted over crates with adrenaline pounding in my ears. Squeezing between large containers, I managed to retrace my steps back over the bridge and out into the street. I skidded out of the door to the tune of an almighty explosion behind me and fell straight into waiting talons.

Archangel threw me against the wall of a nearby factory the way he'd done to Fade and hissed into my face. "What the fuck was that?"

I squirmed against the tight grip. The feel of his fingers was sending hot spikes of sensation rippling over my skin. "Come on, Angel. You know how I operate. I had to make a lot of devil's bargains to get this far." I smiled up at him. "Don't tell me you're upset about Harkin. I know you better than that."

Archangel glared me down, steel blue gaze fixated on my face as his sense of duty wrestled with the primal passion that had drawn him to Omega in the first place. He didn't know what to do with me. He still wasn't entirely sure what to make of my abrupt return… but he still wanted me. I saw it in the flare of his nostrils and the overly-tight grit of his sharp teeth.

"You could have gotten us all killed!" Shepard put in her two-pence worth, and I rolled my eyes. She hovered close, scowling with arms folded over her chest, her power making the air taste like electric.

"Considering how fast you got into that place, I figured outrunning a little fire would be no problem." I shifted against Archangel's hold enough to cast her a malicious smile. "Besides, you're already dead. What the hell can I possibly do to you?"

She pulled her gun on me and aimed it right in my face. I had to give her a little more credit, the woman was badass. I cast a glance at Garrus. "Y'know, I'm starting to get why you're so into her. She's got a quad and a spare!"

The pistol was knocked against my jaw. "You pull shit like that again…" She growled low enough to make a turian tremble. "…and finding Sidonis will be the least of your worries."

"Go fuck yourself. I don't take orders from you."

Archangel lifted me enough to slam me back against the wall again. "No, but you take them from me—"

"—Since when?" I shot back venomously. "I never do as I'm told. I only did as you asked because it suited me at the time."

"Then why bother blowing up the warehouse for your 'employer'."

"Because I pay my debts!"

I was thrown down, his hands letting go of me abruptly as my skin began to heat up. Archangel glared at me with lethal fury for the second time in a single night. "Well then, if what you've said tonight is true, you owe Shepard a pretty huge one."

I frowned, my brow wrinkling in confusion. "What the hell are you talking about?"

He took a step back and let me scramble to my feet. "She's the one that pulled me out of the fire on Omega. I'd be dead otherwise."

My heart gave a sickening leap and dropped into my stomach. I cast a look over the scars on his face. "What…?" I stumbled on the question I wasn't sure I wanted answering. "What happened?"

"Tarak got the jump on me. I took one of his gunship rockets."

I snorted with inappropriate amusement. It was all I had to hide from the terrible, haunting images he'd put into my head. I should have been there! "Jesus, Angel. Didn't they teach you to duck in vigilante school?" The only possible follow-up to that scenario suddenly caught up to me, and I turned narrowed eyes on Shepard. "Then… you're the one that shot Tarak down?"

She holstered her pistol. "Yes."

"Ah, hell no!" Rolling my eyes and tangling frustrated fingers into my hair, I turned away and began to march towards the transport hub. "Now I fucking owe you two!"

AN: This chapter was proofread while the awesome Felix Jr was jabbering in my ear. Apologies if I missed any errors!