26: Runaways
Dr. Karin Chakwas watched from the designated waiting zone of the shuttle bay as the two Kodiak shuttles returned from Haestrom's surface. The older woman had seen more than her fair share of injuries and wounds during her long career in the Alliance, many of which were provided by one patient, John Shepard. She had me the hero in passing after arriving on Elysium immediately following the Skyllian Blitz, but her first contact with the man came during her time stationed in Rio for N-School until the two met again working under then Captain Anderson. And after that the two always seemed to find each other in the med bay.
However, in her time aboard both iterations of the Normandy she couldn't help but feel her heart drop as these type of rendezvous occurred in the shuttle bay, the feeling that before she could actually diagnose or put hands upon the injury it was already too late to help the soldier or ally in need.
These fears were always put back in their right place a few seconds later as her wellspring of medical knowledge and knowhow returned to the forefront of her mind, knowing she had a job to do and she was going to do anything necessary to help her patients.
As the first shuttle came aboard it turned ninety degrees as it hovered and fired its reverse thrusters, not caring about the crates that were knocked down or in the way.
While the shuttle was turning the door opened showing Miranda dong what she could to address Tali's headwound as Liara and Samara struggled to maintain an airtight barrier that kept Tali's face free of airborne contaminants yet still providing Miranda the ability to move her arms within the barrier. To provide a barrier to protect from the outside while still allowing movement of an individual's appendages was extremely complicated, to say the least.
"Javik, some help here!" Liara struggled to say as the prothean immediately left Chakwas' side. He had remained on the frigate in the extreme chance EDI was not her complete self upon upload, his resistance to the AI during the war making him the least hesitant to literally pull the plug, should it come to that.
As Javik made the few steps toward his injured companion Liara finally broke her biotic field, Samara doing the same when she realized that Javik understood the situation and was able to maintain the field on his own for the short distance to the infirmary.
Chakwas signaled for the prothean to lift her from the shuttle floor to the hovering medical bed as Miranda navigated her way through the traffic of people without any complaint. Arms still trying to stop the bleeding, a tap on her shoulder let her know it was ok to stop.
"I have it now, dear. Shepard radioed ahead, the infirmary is decontaminated and ready to go." A motherly rub of the back showed her appreciation for hanging in there as well as she did, "I suggest you clean up, and I'll let you know if your assistance is needed."
"Thank you, Karin," Miranda sighed as her hands left the barrier, wiping the sweat from her pale face. Chakwas stepped in without a step as Traynor offered her assistance and pushed the bed to the elevator with Javik keeping pace.
Standing in front of the modification bench and Cortez's requisition terminal were the three females, looking to each other with concern and exhaustion, both the physical toll from the mission minutes earlier as well as the mental fear that the youngest member of the squad was in serious danger.
One character lost in the commotion was Garrus. He had finally left the shuttle, allowing Cortez to activate the mag-crane to reposition the Kodiak to its original location in the bay. Knowing he would get in the way of letting Miranda and Liara tend to her wounds, he resorted to clutching the three-fingered hand of his paramour tightly until the shuttle door opened.
He desperately wanted to believe that he was able to channel his own life to Tali through the grip, that this hereto unknown form of space magic would help the quarian make it through. It was a ridiculous notion, but he was clutching at straws, needing something to make those few minutes between leaving the atmosphere and returning to the frigate more bearable.
Of the crew only Garrus had seen Tali without her helmet off, yet even then it had only been a handful of times. Seeing her with that pain and shock riddled across her face was something that was going to stay with him much longer than previous injuries she or other members of the Normandy had sustained.
In the back of the shuttle bay the other members of the squad stood still as they garnered sympathetic looks from the squad in front of them. Except for one. Garrus' eyes narrowed in on his best friend, genuine hostility manifesting between the two in such a short amount of time that the others didn't know how to react.
Shepard reacted to the whole situation with a steadfast resolve that he wasn't to blame, and Garrus had to know it, feelings for Tali aside. He made sure to maintain his eye contact with his friend, taking but not accepting whatever blame was telepathically flung his way as he reverted to that stone cold facade he had mastered years before. No matter what was said at this moment, it wouldn't change anything right now.
Lost in all this commotion was EDI's mech body looking around the bay, registering the new alliance personnel and old friends that once again inhabited the frigate. The metal hands ran themselves across crates of new supplies while the orange visor that covered the mech's eyes looked up to the engineering floor to see Adams, Donnelly and Daniels slowly waving below. Donnelly responded with a thumbs up that EDI reciprocated with a delicate wave of her hand.
"Joker, head to Omega as fast as you possibly can, just get us out of the system."
"Understood, Captain. ETA seven hours." Despite his girlfriend returning to her home, Joker was being completely professional as he heard over the comm-feed about Tali's injury. There would be plenty of time in the coming hours to enjoy their reunion.
"Come on, EDI, let's go say hello to Jeff in person."
As she stepped forward to lead her friend to the bridge Ashley gently placed a hand on Shepard's shoulder as she and the other humans walked forward to remove their gear. She was feeling a sense of guilt herself, choosing to stay seated in the shuttle when she could have stood watch along with the others as the squad climbed from the makeshift escape hole. Something, anything other than sitting in the pilot's seat might not have given Xen the opportunity to take one more shot at Shepard and ultimately hitting Tali instead.
That was a whole other situation that was ready to ignite. A quarian admiral, attempting to mortally wound the human hero of the reaper war, instead brought fire upon her fellow quarian and in turn received a severe wound from an alliance marine.
This was something that was lose/lose all the way around, and no way was this incident going to be accurately portrayed to the migrant fleet by Xen, especially if Han'Gerrel was now firmly on Shepard's enemies list as well. Therefore, the immediate departure to Omega to provide Tali medical assistance should Chakwas be unable to help, as well as providing ample distance.
As the others gathered at the elevator, Garrus finally broke eye contact with Shepard, but before he did so he pointed an accusatory finger that no one else was able to see directed right as his Captain.
As a companion piece to the finger point his mandibles twitched open and it looked as though he was saying something, or at least whispered something as the mag-crane's lift and dock of the first shuttle was being finalized and filled the bay with a winding sound that echoed off the hull. Reading a turian's lips was not a skillset that Shepard had ever considered to learn.
As the squad found themselves sharing the elevator, a tired Miranda did what she could to convey her feelings to her Captain before the elevator door broke their eye contact. It's not your fault.
In his hand Shepard held the arc pistol he initially pilfered from Xen. If only he had moved the other quarian marines to see if they were resting on another pistol, or at least checked to see that the other weapons were still functioning after crashing into the walls. If only...
The second shuttle had yet to be lifted by the crane to it's resting spot, providing Shepard a moment to experience some form of catharsis. Gripping the pistol on it's outer sides, the Spectre slammed it once into the metal door. Then again. And again. And again, each blow coming faster and more violent as the pistol broke apart with each blow to the shuttle door.
Even after the pistol was clearly broken Shepard continued a few more times while the rapid slamming getting no looks from the crew or Cortez, all fully aware about what he had felt at that moment. In the past three years he had only lost one soldier to his decisions, and he prayed it would remain that way.
Finally Shepard let loose a deep breathe as he felt the temporary joy at what he just did. It wouldn't fix anything. Tali was still being operated on, and Garrus clearly blamed him, but for a few seconds it was as if he was able to change reality by smashing that pistol to pieces.
Holding nothing else but a portion of the arc's barrel, Shepard nonchalantly tossed it on the floor as he made his way to his weapons locker.
For two hours Garrus didn't move as he watched Chakwas work on Tali in the now off-limits infirmary. He continued to look through the window that separated Chakwas' office from the mess hall, taking no food or drink despite multiple offerings.
Miranda and Liara, tired but coping with their need for nourishment after their biotics were spent, waited at the nearby dining table, slowly picking away at the food Kasumi prepared. By the time Miranda had finished cleaning and decontaminating herself to assist, Chakwas had requested no help. Her specialty was human biology, and deferred to the much more skilled elder doctor when it came to other species. At least Oriana was able to assist in the infirmary if only to be a go-fer for the correct medical tools.
Gently rubbing her head as she closed her eyes Liara took another sip of coffee. "It was an arc pistol, so there was no real round that hit her, it was more a concussive pulse. And she was in the cover of the shuttle door when she was shot, perhaps her shields..."
Trailing off Liara sighed as she shook her head. "The Shadow Broker shouldn't be this shaken up."
"I'd be more concerned if you weren't, Liara."
"There's probably a few frigates of quarians on their way to find us right now."
"Who are a few hours behind at best. And from what John has told me Aria has made sure Omega is under tighter wraps since she retook the station. It buys us time, if for no other reason than to make sure Tali is ok. When she regains consciousness she can tell her account to the admiralty board herself, it's just a matter of waiting it out until then while keeping the heat off John."
A loud boom caused the two to turn to Garrus, who had punched a nearby food crate, enough force to follow up the sound of the punch with a fall as it fell off another crate of supplies. His three fingered hand still out in the space that occupied the crate, his punch didn't make him look away from the operating table. Any noise in the mess hall from the crew immediately stopped as all eyes were drawn to the turian.
"Lawson, for once just stop looking at this through your obnoxious 'protect Shepard' lens."
"Garrus, I don't think-"
"And that's where you're wrong, Liara, because I know Lawson thinks about every damn thing that starts in her perfect brain and comes out her perfect mouth."
Miranda placed both hands on the table as she rose to defend herself. "I know exactly how you feel right now, Garrus, but you do not use that as a reason to unleash any pent up hostility."
"Oh, this isn't hostility," Garrus coldly said as he finally turned his head ninety degrees. The stare he reserved just for Shepard hours earlier was now placed on her, and Miranda quietly thought to herself how truly menacing he could become to even his friends and allies, "this is a simple fact. You knew Tali was directly behind Shepard when it came to Xen's line of fire."
"Well, don't beat around the bush then, say what you want." Miranda knew where this was heading.
Garrus continued as he took a step towards the human female, "Shepard takes fire, literally, on an almost daily basis. And you're there to help put him back together. Tali is one of the weakest members of our squad when it comes to ground fire and in case you haven't noticed," he pointed at the infirmary, "quarians don't do well to outside environments," and then pointed to his head, "on top of getting shot in the head!"
Miranda was disgusted at what Garrus had said, unable to hide it in her face. "So you're telling me to let someone shoot John?"
"You could always get in contact with Hope Lilium and clone another body, all the while feigning ignorance about the whole thing."
"Garrus!" Liara held a hand to her mouth as she showed her complete shock at how vindictive he had gone. Not since his revenge against Sidonis had she ever seen him this far down the rabbit hole, yet even then he was still able to maintain a visage of composure.
"For your sake, Garrus, I suggest you kindly shut up and go back to staring through the window."
"And for your sake you should hope I keep my recent conversation with Dr. Michel to myself."
Instantly Miranda got quiet and immediately stopped any confrontation with Garrus, looking away as her thoughts quickly processed the threat. What surprised the others was how different this particular piece of information made Miranda react and not lash out like she usually would if, say, Oriana was involved.
"Guys..." Kasumi said quietly, hoping to get the attention of Miranda and Garrus as she motioned with her hands from the refrigerator to someone coming around the corner.
"No need for you to get involved, Kasumi, you'll just break your other foot."
"That's it," Liara couldn't stand how her longtime friend had been lashing out in the past few minutes, "Garrus, please, go rest, we can talk about everything when Tali's ok."
The asari tried to gently place a reassuring hand on his shoulder as she stepped forward, her face all but pleading to stop this action behind her large eyes, but Garrus slapped the hand away with the back of his wrist as he turned his acidic gaze on her.
"And when Miranda can't protect 'John' in time, I'm sure you'll be there to make sure he's just fine."
The hand that was removed returned to Garrus again, only this time it slapped the turian across his scarred face, causing the visor that Garrus always wore to disappear in a pixelated haze before again covering his eyes.
Before Garrus could respond a human hand grabbed the turian by the back of his armor's collar, pulling him away from the two women up towards the main battery that had remained Garrus' base of operations.
It was Shepard, dressed in his standard alliance under armor fatigues. He had heard the last few moments of Garrus' outburst and was doing what he thought was the right to alleviate the situation. The first thing: distance.
Still stunned by the slap and surprised that the human was able to get a jump on him, Garrus simply allowed himself to follow his captain up the steps. Moments later he returned to the anger that was on full display.
Clutching one of the rails the turian halted his backwards travel, then shoved his right elbow into Shepard's side. In a fist fight between human and turian, reach always went to the turian. Using the genetics of his species to his advantage Garrus grabbed Shepard's arm and tossed him over his shoulder in one fluid motion.
As the Spectre flipped over his friend he brought his right foot up as quickly as he could, once his inertia had subsided into the floor. Bringing the foot up so quickly allowed his boot to firmly find its way into his friend's right cheek.
Instinctively Garrus let go of Shepard's right arm and backed up as he brushed his face with his hand to check if his exoskeleton was cracked. In this time Shepard rolled off his back and pushed himself up as he gathered momentum to spearhead the turian into the ground, right before the battery doors.
This was textbook N-School training when fighting turians, derived from the First Contact War; to minimize the alien's advantage in reach, get in close and use compact swings that still protected your body. If possible, grab the top horns and pull forward to crack the carapace. Hands and head were the easiest targets on the body of the species.
The others who had watched the rather quick falling out between allies had remained a distance away, not wanting to get in between the two. They could, however, hear the voices of the two mutter insults as they continued to throw punches into the other.
"Paragon of bullshit."
"Always-armored asshole."
Kasumi had called out on her comm to Williams and Vega, hoping to use them to separate the two without anyone else getting injured.
Copeland had witnessed the whole situation since the beginning, and made an effort to move in his Captain's direction but was stopped by Miranda's arm.
"Let it be," was all she said.
"Ma'am?" he replied, confused as they heard Shepard's fist slam into the floor grating as he found himself being pushed off Garrus thanks to the turian's long legs.
"When's the last time you ever saw the two have a falling out, much less any kind of real argument?"
Miranda asked the question to the ensign but her actual target of the words was Liara, for she was one of the few who had been around the two longer than Miranda had in the past four years.
Liara simply pursed her lips together as she conceded the truth: never. Shepard had allowed Garrus to get his revenge on Sidonis without putting up a fight, and the turian responded by putting up no objection to Shepard's romantic interaction with the then right-hand operative of the Illusive Man, keeping whatever reservations he had to himself.
After that the two never really had anything else get between them while the reaper war focused their efforts completely on saving the galaxy. Their sparring matches with Vega and Javik were just that, and throughout the years together their marksmanship games never carried any ill will, the only victims were those who had to hear their terrible one-liners of bravado
The two soldiers regained their footing as Garrus threw two quick jabs that Shepard accepted into his face as he backed up to remove his body from striking distance.
Garrus used this opportunity to lunge with a haymaker but struck nothing as Shepard tucked and rolled in the small space not occupied by the lanky alien on the walkway, punching the back of his knee to cause the turian to drop down, again taking the collar of his ever present armor and slamming his head into the floor while grabbing the horns and pushing them forward.
It was here that their fight ended, as Vega and Williams ran past everyone to separate the two from doing any further damage to one another. "What the hell's gotten into you two?" Ashley asked in befuddlement as she pulled Shepard away from Garrus.
Her Captain offered no resistance to being removed from the scuffle, his hands up as he was pulled away and feeling he made his point clear.
Vega lifted Garrus up without any resistance or outward hostility towards the bulky marine who made sure to place his body between the two as he spread his arms out to increase their distance from one another as they went to their respective corners.
Thankfully by the time this skirmish ended Garrus was closer to the battery than Shepard was, avoiding the awkward shifting between the two that could have sparked another confrontation.
"Scars, come on, go cool down while I get you some ice and a dextro bar, yeah?" James was often the one in the sqaud who took orders, but this time he gave them and Garrus complied. Perhaps all that time spent around Shepard really was paying off in this modified N-School.
"Back to work, all of you," Shepard said as his eyes darted across the crew that gathered. A quick wipe of his face indicated a fresh cut just below his eye. Before he headed to the elevator he placed a hand on Liara's shoulder to reassure his friend, "He needed that slap, don't overthink this like you usually do." Liara smiled slightly at what she had just heard, "just let EDI contact me on any change in Tali's condition."
"Of course, John."
Shepard then left with Miranda to the elevator as they parted the crew while Ashley moved towards her asari friend to get an understanding of what had transpired.
Miranda gently wiped a small cut of blood below Shepard's left eye as the two sat on the cabin's couch. Despite her gentle touch with the cloth towel it's proximity to his eye caused Shepard to shut his eye, hiding the cut with his squinting.
"That asshole had no right to bring you two into this," Shepard muttered under his breath.
"Let it go, John, and don't flinch."
"You're taking his side?"
"Don't be absurd, I just know that protective feeling that comes with certain people," Miranda lightly rubbed his cheek as she wiped away more blood from the cut. Turning around to grab a small dab of medigel, Shepard quietly asked a question that confirmed he heard something Miranda wished he would never hear.
"What was Garrus talking abo-"
Shepard was interrupted as a synthetic female voice once again returned to echo in the speakers above, "Shepard, Dr. Chakwas has informed me that the surgery on Tali was successful and her condition has stabilized."
"Is she in serious condition, EDI?"
"Correct, Miranda. It seems Tali's shields recharged just in time to absorb a fair amount of kinetic impact of the arc round. Minor burns from Haestrom's sun and Tali's exposure to the environment acerbated the moderate wounds received. The bleeding was more a result of her shattered helmet than the actual shot."
"Is there anything Chakwas needs?"
"Not at the present time, Captain. Outside of another of Tali's suits."
Shifting up from the couch Shepard made his way to the elevator to procure the item from Tali's locker to personally deliver to Chakwas. As he made his way to the cabin door EDI chimed in once again after an almost deliberate pause, "Garrus has already arrived at Tali's locker for the spare suit."
That information caused Shepard to turn on his heel and head right back down the steps. "Thank you, EDI. It's good to have you back."
"I am glad to be back, Captain. I apologize for my behavior on Haestrom, it was never my intention to side with the other programs. It was just...a necessity...at the time."
"We can talk about it later, EDI, just let me know when we arrive at Omega. Get reacquainted with Joker."
"Already underway, Captain. Enjoy your rest. And you too, Miranda." In all the turmoil of the day it was refreshing to return to some of EDI's more common traits, that among them her always increasing dialogue and frequent teasing nature.
"Get some rest, John, we'll be at Omega in four hours and you need to be prepared to talk with Aria."
"I'm fine, Miri, been through worse. You, however, rest. Taxing your biotics takes its toll, and I can keep out of trouble below."
Before Miranda could say anything else Shepard once again probed with his question before, "What did Garrus mean about Dr. Michel?"
Eyes that were often full of a cold, tempered sort of control were replaced with a feeling of fear. Not wanting to look her lover in the eye, Miranda turned her back to Shepard as she feigned cleaning up the table of her medical utensils.
"It's nothing, John, just an empty threat during the heat of the moment," Miranda said quietly as she got up to place the medkit back in the bathroom.
"If it's something-"
"John, please. I told you, it was nothing."
"Hey, come here," Shepard said in his normal reassuring tone as he reached to Miranda as she walked past him and up the stairs, his hands now grabbing her waist instead of her shoulders. Miranda shrugged off the comfort she often found in his arms as she continued towards the bathroom.
"Miri..."
"I screwed up, John!" Miranda slammed the medkit into the sink as finally turned around to look into his eyes with anger. Not at him, but herself. Had the day gone better without providing the ups and downs that exerted the operative both physically and mentally, Miranda would have easily held out more against Shepard's probing, perhaps be better able to dismiss the question altogether.
"I thought I could waltz right in to Huerta and help put you back together like I did before, but I froze up when I saw you lying there, beaten and bruised and..." it was then that Miranda's face went from anger to regret. "A minute into helping and it all fell apart."
Tears started to form in her eyes that made Shepard step up the stairs. He absolutely hated to see Miranda like this, the situation made worse because it never surfaced on the woman, but as she wiped away her eyes she used her other hand to stop the Spectre from coming any closer.
"I nearly killed you."
It wasn't that usual deep Australian accent that came from Miranda's lips but a distraught whisper that finally brought forth the blemished truth the beautiful woman had hoped to never reveal.
Shepard was shocked at the revelation. Any person would be when their significant other, the whole reason they clung so hard to life in the first place would admit to such a thing, but he knew there was something more to it.
Now more than before he wanted to eliminate the distance between them to show he didn't care, she could talk about it in the comfort of his arms, but Miranda held firm.
"You were being operated on and I thought I could help reduce the stress on your body with a biotic pulse, improve circulation since your implants were fried. But I watched as they stuck more tubes into you and cut away and I just...couldn't control my biotics. I was lost."
Miranda's eyes remained stuck to the floor until she waved her arm in front of her with a purple haze. "I had to be bloody sedated to stop! I became nothing more than a glorified assistant!" Miranda screamed as she finally looked Shepard in the eyes with tears.
"Doctorates from the finest universities in the galaxy and all I did was watch your vitals while everyone else put you back together, all because I cared too much!"
Shepard's sense of empathy resounded through the cabin without any trace of betrayal or anger. How could he feel such things at this time? It wasn't as though she had returned to the Citadel to finish him off. Miranda clearly felt that way though, and that was the reason this ate her up so much.
Sure, that was what Miranda was feeling she did at the moment, but it was something that the Spectre was desperately trying to remove from her mind. Once more he tried to step closer to her before whatever biotic power Miranda had left put him in a light stasis as she sat down at his terminal.
"Just, just leave me alone, John," she quietly said as she held her head in her hands as both elbows sat upon the terminal.
The stasis dropped as soon as his name left her lips. Shepard looked at the raven-haired woman perform the same gestures she did in her former office, looking to tune out the world as she tried to make sense of everything or simply tired from discussion. This time it wasn't a mission or reports but her own inadequacies that rarely, if ever, existed.
"I'm holding nothing against you, Miri, please realize that."
As no response came, Shepard turned to give Miranda her space, but not before trying to get through to her one more time. "Me and you, Lawson, through and through."
Shepard said those last words as they called back to a time that only the two remember, and despite her hands hiding most of her face he felt reassured that he saw her smile ever so slightly as she recalled the origin of that phrase.
With that Shepard left their cabin to give her the space she needed, knowing that much like his fight with Garrus earlier, this too would pass in time.
Hitting the elevator to the engineering deck, Shepard spoke to his recently returned AI. "EDI, sorry to make this your first conversation with Oriana, but could you please ask her to check in on her sister if Chakwas doesn't need her?"
"Of course, Captain."
Rolling his neck multiple times Shepard let loose a long sigh as the elevator door opened, stepping out as he gazed down at the shuttle bay below before talking to his engineers. I miss the Blitz.
Combat roll for the win, Garrus! And about that turian, it always seemed that if he wanted to use his skills for ill, he could really do some damage like we saw with his friends. We saw his wrecking crew style on Omega, but he's also as dangerous with his tongue, which was incredibly well executed in the story 'Watchdog.'
And no matter what, you really don't have a falling out between the two in the three games. If you choose to let the council die in the first game Garrus says something slightly threatening and that's about it.