"There, that should do it."
Doctor Chakwas moved back, allowing Casey to sit up in the bed. She was feeling much better, thanks to a hefty application of medi-gel.
"What's the plan?" She heard Tali ask from across the room. Carefully, Casey got to her feet, and joined Tali, Garrus, Shepard, and Liara standing by the door. EDI was there too. Grunt was still in one of the beds, but was becoming more lucid after his own treatment. She doubted it'd be long before he was up too.
Shepard looked serious, and was examining his omni-tool closely. "Ok," he began. "According to Kasumi there's a wave of Cerberus soldiers on their way, but she's holding them off as best she can by locking every door in their path.
Casey grinned, trust Kasumi to come up with something so ingeniously simple. Shepard continued, pressing a button on his omni-tool which caused a large holographic map to appear in the middle of them all. "This is the Illusive Man's office, so this is where I'm going."
Garrus shook his head. "That means fighting through the bulk of the troops, it won't work. We need some kind of distraction."
Kasumi's voice crackled through Shepard's omni-tool. "Head's up Shep, I can't keep them away much longer. Looks like they're being led by that Clone."
Casey involuntarily shuddered. "You ok?" Shepard asked, looking over.
Casey nodded, trying not to look at Garrus for fear she might give something away. Unfortunately for her, Grunt chose that exact moment to stagger over to them. "She's fine," he muttered, clapping her on the soldier. "You should've seen Casey fighting that guy off when he pawed at her."
Garrus stiffened. "'Pawed at her'?"
"Oh yeah," Grunt continued, oblivious to Casey's pointed stares and silent pleas for him to stop. "He was like a Varren in heat, grabbing at her, drooling all over her. She did well to use that against him." Grunt looked at Casey proudly, and she tried to look as though she wasn't dying inside, carefully examining a small dent in the table in front of her. There was an awkward silence for a few moments, before Shepard continued.
"Right, well…Ok, our other choice is riskier, but may be more effective in the long term. We split into two teams, one to focus on the soldiers, get them here", he pointed to a spot on the map, "Then get the hell out. Signal Kasumi when you're clear and she'll blow the airlock. During that time I take EDI and find the Illusive Man. She knows Cerberus systems better than anyone, she'll get us to him without too much trouble. To be honest, this may be one of our most dangerous missions so far, neither option is ideal."
"Die together or die in small groups, the agony of choice," Tali muttered.
"I have faith in my team," Shepard continued with determination. "I know we can get through this, and once Cerberus is out of our way we can focus our fight on the Reapers."
The team were nodding.
"What about the Clone?" Garrus asked.
"What about him?" Shepard replied. Casey felt her stomach drop, she knew exactly where this was going.
"He might have useful information, who knows what else Cerberus are working on right now. You might want to consider letting him live."
Casey raised an eyebrow, that certainly wasn't what she had been expecting.
Shepard looked equally surprised. "You think we should capture him?"
"Yes, separate him from the others and then bring him here."
Shepard looked thoughtful, then nodded. "Ok, Garrus you handle that. EDI and I will go for the Illusive man, and the rest of you take out the soldiers."
"Seems like we got the shittiest deal." Casey spun around, there were Aria and Anaya, standing in the doorway to the med bay. They'd obviously come with Shepard to the base. Anaya grinned when she saw Casey, but stayed at her mother's side. Aria looked at Shepard, "There were a couple of Cerberus tech's hiding behind some boxes out there, we took care of them. The docks are secure."
"Did you have to kill them if they were hiding?" Tali asked.
Aria shot her a cold look. "No, we didn't have to." She replied simply. "But we did."
Shepard spoke quickly to diffuse what was brewing. "Ok team, let's move out."
Casey hadn't been specifically assigned to a group, but she knew exactly where she was going. She joined the team going after the soldiers, and Garrus was with them too for now. He didn't say anything, but walked beside her with almost a spring in his step. They were at the back of the group, so she felt safe enough to question him.
"What's going on?" She hissed.
"What do you mean?" He asked nonchalantly.
"You know what I mean, why are you going after the Clone? What's all this crap about taking him alive?"
Garrus looked like he might smile, but did not. "It's not always about vengeance Casey."
Casey felt herself getting mad, did he think she was an idiot? "There's something going on here, I know it!"
Garrus stopped walking and turned to face her. "I love it when you get mad," he said, before pulling her to him passionately. All too quickly it was over, and Garrus grinned, continuing on down the corridor.
What is he planning?
They arrived at a large set of doors. Kasumi had informed the group that the Cerberus troops were at the other side, trying to hack their way though. "We fight through these guys," Grunt was muttering, "And lead them towards those doors down there." He pointed to another set of doors to the right.
"During that time I'll grab the Clone and lead him to the ship," Garrus added.
"Get ready!" Grunt growled, and the doors opened.
Casey had to hand it to Grunt, he had become a great leader, and knew how to run a battlefield. While the team fought the Cerberus troops, they were also leading them all towards the doors. Once inside that room, the plan was to get out, open the air locks and space them. The corridor was very narrow, so the team were able to handle the vast numbers in small groups at a time.
They had been fighting for only a few minutes when Casey spotted the Clone. She had no idea how he had got out and begun leading the troops, but he seemed none the worse for wear. Casey was momentarily distracted by two Cerberus troops, one of whom got her round the neck while the other aimed his pistol. Casey leaned against the one who had grabbed her, lifting her feet off the floor and kicking the one aiming the gun. She spun around and watched as Tali killed the other soldier with her shotgun. Casey turned around again, and could no longer see the Clone. She had also lost sight of Garrus, and a strange feeling came over her.
After quickly downing three more troops with a warp field, Casey moved away from the main fight, and caught a quick glimpse of Garrus moving into another room. She couldn't be sure, but it looked a lot like he was dragging someone by the neck. Her stomach dropped, that couldn't be good.
Casey threw a backwards glance at the team: Grunt, Tali, Liara, Aria, and Anaya. They seemed to be handling things well enough. Casey spoke into her omni-tool, "Grunt, I'll be right back!"
"Take your time," Grunt replied, and she saw him barge through five soldiers, stomping the head of another one on the floor. Yep, they'll be fine without me.
Casey headed down the corridor towards the door Garrus had disappeared through. It was locked, but Casey quickly brought up her omni-tool and called Kasumi. "I need your help unlocking a door."
Kasumi replied quickly, "I see you on the security camera, why do you want to go in there? The rest of the squad are behind you."
"It's a long story."
"Of course it is, ok hang on. Huh, it's been hacked from the inside. Looks like whoever is inside doesn't want anyone to interrupt them."
Yeah I bet.
The door lock turned green. "There you go," Kasumi said. "Do you need back up?"
"No, I'm fine," Casey muttered, heading inside.
The room appeared to be medical quarters. Casey could see Garrus, he had his back to her, and was at the other side of the room. On the floor, with his arms tied behind a ventilation pipe, sat the Clone. Casey wasn't sure how much fighting he had done before Garrus had grabbed him, but he already had a black eye, bloody lip, and lots of bruising around his face. She couldn't see the condition of the rest of his body due to his clothing, however his armour had been removed and lay a few feet away from where she was standing.
The Clone, although directly ahead of Casey, hadn't seen her yet. He leaned to his left and spat blood onto the floor. He then looked up at Garrus. "Do your worst cuttlebone, I ain't telling you nothing." He sounded like he might be missing some teeth.
Garrus moved closer to the Clone. "That's good. Because I'm not asking." Then he stamped on one of his legs. The Clone cried out in pain.
"What are you doing?!" Casey yelled, moving to Garrus and pulling him back.
Garrus looked surprised to see her, but did not fight against her as she pulled him away. "What are you doing?" Casey repeated.
"Taking him to Shepard," Garrus replied casually.
Casey raised an eyebrow and pointedly looked at the Clone, who was looking at the pair of them with a mixture of surprise and disgust. Those were definitely three of his teeth on the floor beside him. His leg was now at a strange angle, clearly broken.
When it became obvious that Garrus wasn't going to say anything else, Casey continued. "Well, Shepard isn't here."
"I'm transporting him."
"It doesn't look like you got very far."
"We stopped for a break." Garrus grinned, clearly aware of the terrible pun.
"That's not funny," Casey sighed.
"I think it's funny," Garrus continued. He looked at the Clone. "That's funny right?"
"Hilarious," the Clone groaned.
Garrus grinned at Casey, "See, he thinks it's funny."
"I don't care what he thinks, he's a moron."
The Clone coughed, "Watch your mouth bitch."
Garrus stiffened. Casey could see where this was about to go if she wasn't careful. "Be quiet," she said quickly to the Clone.
But unfortunately he seemed to be getting a second wind, perhaps it was adrenaline. "Knew you were more trouble than you were worth, following me around like a five credit hooker."
Garrus turned to face the Clone, and the Turian suddenly seemed so much larger than he had two minutes ago. The Clone realised what was happening, and stopped talking immediately. Garrus walked slowly and purposefully closer to him. "Care you repeat that?" Garrus asked calmly, placing his heavy foot on the Clone's unbroken leg. CloneShep shook his head, but Casey knew it was probably too late. She quickly took Garrus by the arm and gently but firmly pulled him around to face her.
At first he wouldn't look at her, his head turned away, his eyes fixed on the Clone. Casey gently turned his head towards her. "Don't." She simply said.
"This is for you…" Garrus began, trailing off. She could see that in his mind, he was avenging her: doing what he thought was the honourable thing. Casey wasn't sure if it was this fact, the look in his eyes, or the way he took her hands, but her anger began to ebb away. She squeezed his hands gently, then placed one hand on the side of his face, where his scars were. "I know, but you don't have to." She stood on her tiptoes, reaching to gently plant a kiss on his mouth.
"Fuckin' whore."
It was only a mutter, but if she heard it, she knew Garrus did too. Casey froze, but knew there was no way she could stop this. Within seconds Garrus' foot had come down hard on the Clone's leg, the bones snapping loudly under the pressure.
At that point their omni-tools lit up, and Grunt's voice rang through. "Soldiers have been spaced, heading back to the Normandy now."
Garrus swiftly untied the Clone, and threw him roughly over his shoulder. He nodded at Casey, "We should get back," he said striding towards the door. The Clone was now unconscious, which was probably a good thing, because Garrus wasn't exactly being careful not to hit his head against the edge of the door.
Back on the Normandy there was a sense of urgency, and Casey got the feeling something big was about to happen. Garrus dropped the Clone heavily onto the floor. "Can someone clean that up?" He said loudly. Grunt appeared, grinned at the Clone, and took hold of one of his legs. He dragged him along towards the elevator with even less care than Garrus had provided. Casey looked at Garrus with what she hoped was a stern expression. "Are you happy?"
He caught her gaze and grinned. "Of course, I'm with you."
As hard as she tried, she couldn't fight the smile spreading across her lips. Damn it! How did he always manage to do that do her?
She followed Garrus to the Normandy controls, where she found Joker in his usual seat. "Joker, I didn't know you were here!" She grinned.
"When Shepard told me he was getting the Normandy back there was no way I was staying put," Joker replied. "Besides, looks like you'll be needing me for this next part."
"What's next?" Garrus asked curiously.
"Shepard didn't find the Illusive Man, but he did find a way to blow this station. So we've got about ten minutes before this place is blown to hell."
Casey was struggling to process what Joker was saying, mostly because he was so unbelievably calm. Luckily Garrus spoke first. "And you're relaxed about this because…?"
"We can get out before it goes off. We're ready to go as soon as Shepard-"
At that moment Shepard and EDI came bursting through the airlock doors. "Joker, let's go, why aren't we moving?" Shepard was yelling.
"Relax, we've got time."
"What? No we haven't!"
Joker was starting to sound worried, "You said ten minutes…"
"I said two, TWO minutes!"
"Shit!"
"You sometimes have a habit of not listening Jeff," EDI said, calmly taking her seat.
"Really EDI, you want to do this now?"
Garrus took Casey's hand, pulling her towards the seats at the back of the cockpit. He strapped her in, before strapping himself. Shepard sat beside them, speaking into the console to his left: allowing his voice to project around the whole ship. "Everybody find a seat and strap yourselves in, this is going to get choppy."
"Talk about an understatement!" Joker cried, pushing about thirty buttons in the space of a few seconds. The Normandy was moving towards the hangar doors.
Suddenly Casey's stomach dropped. "Where's Kasumi? And Sam?"
"They're on board," Shepard replied. "Radioed me just before I arrived. They've rigged the hangar doors to open any second."
Right on cue the doors opened, and the Normandy was flying out of the base. What felt like milliseconds later the ship began to shake, and Casey could see debris from the base flying past the windows. She closed her eyes, gripping Garrus' hand tightly. She wondered if she would ever have a day that didn't end with gunfire or explosions.