Melody ran from one side of the battlefield to the other effortlessly. Jumping off of Grunt occasionally, using him as a springboard to her next target.
Melody danced around the battlefield in a whirl of biotics and bullets. As she did, she took note of the team and their styles.
Thane was precise and forceful. His biotics would stun the enemy, and he would dart in close and give a few quick blasts with his pistol and the enemies dropped like flies. Miranda mirrored Thane in her tactics, but she hid behind cover and didn't advance. She kept a safe distance with her pistol and semi. Kasumi was invisible mostly, hiding her rain of bullets behind others before closing in and striking the enemy.
Jack was all over. Throwing her pistols like clubs when she got in close and using her biotics mostly. She charged and struck with her biotics like it was a punch more than dark matter, it looked so natural to the bald-woman. Grunt was using himself as a battering ram. Throwing his weight around like a hammer, laughing all the while. Samara kept her distance unloading her gun and using her biotics to rip the enemies down from the sky if they floated.
Zaeed, Legion and Mordin were back behind cover throwing cryo-ammo and heavy itinerary. Sending each other quick quips and Zaeed chuckling enthusiastically often. Melody found herself in the thick of it. And felt someone tense up near her. When she turned, she understood why.
She and Miranda were back to back. And the air from Miranda was cold as ice.
"Miri?" Melody tested gently, treading on eggshells internally.
"Mel?" she responded, her voice warm even though her demeanor was cold.
Melody let out a long heavy sigh. Miranda was hurt that she had slapped her. Melody had been mulling over it in the back of her mind. She wasn't one to apologize, she didn't regret her action, but she didn't want Miranda to despise her. They were only just settling into their friendship.
"I'm sorry I slapped you," Melody let out, letting go of her pride.
Miranda quickly shot off her gun near Melody's ear at an enemy over her shoulder.
"I'm sorry I made you doubt me," Miranda responded, quirking a brow. "We all know the costs."
"I was just as tunnel-visioned as I called you to be," Melody sighed and warped an enemy. "Forgiven?"
"Water under the bridge" Miranda shot her a cocky smirk and ducked behind cover again.
Melody let out a heavy sigh. The Brunette shot her a nod and fired again at the new wave of enemies. Melody nodded and ran into the fresh fray of enemies. She felt the metaphorical weight off her shoulders as she pressed on.
The group tensed as a massive roar shook the base. What exactly was Shepard team up against? No one had time to worry about it as the continued their defense.
"Head to the Normandy!" Melody could hear over the comms. "Joker prep the engines, We're going to blow this place sky high."
Melody could hear someone else over the comms, Miranda and the rest of the crew tensed as the person was addressed as the Illusive Man. Listening in on the conversation between John and the Illusive Man. Something had gone wrong. Melody wasn't focusing too much. She was picking up the basics. However, The Illusive man was asking John and Jane to salvage the base and wipe out the Collectors, when John was arguing that nothing here was worth the lives lost.
"Miranda-" it was the Illusive Man shouting out. "Don't let Shepard destroy this base."
Miranda tensed and looked around the group, her eyes wide in shock. The Illusive Man was borderline asking her to betray us all and kill us if she had to. The woman in question clenched her teeth. Melody saw the dark blue flicker to the twins, to Jacob and surprisingly herself; no way could she betray them. Melody eased up and nodded to Miranda. Her doubt earlier had definitely been misplaced, and she mentally kicked herself for it.
"Or what?" Miranda said over the comms, sounding defiant but absolute, a dark smirk on her face. "You'll replace me next?"
"I gave you an order, Miranda." the Illusive Man pressed, sounding deadly.
Miranda almost snorted and cockily answered.
"I noticed," she shot at another Collector. "Consider this my resignation."
"Jacob Taylor!" the Illusive Man said next. "Stop Shepard and Miranda at once."
"No can do," Jacob responded. "I have a duty to my Commander first."
"Whoever gives me this station gets the highest credit reward of-" the comms cut.
"Whoops," said Tali over the comms. "My finger slipped."
The crew chuckled, and Melody patted Miranda on the arm, the Brunette rose a brow with a small smile.
"Thank you," Melody smiled and provided some cover for the crew with a few biotic blasts.
"Let's move," they heard John over the comms. "We have ten minutes before the reactor overloads and blows this whole station apart."
Melody nodded to the crew.
"You heard the Commander," she nodded. "Move out; Joker send us a shuttle please."
"On it," he responded. "Same nav-point."
"Aye," Melody responded and they advanced back down the corridor they had been in.
Melody lead the team advance with Grunt and Zaeed kept the rear, Melody's body was starting to feel sore and weak from all her biotics. She was exhausted. One more push, she reminded herself.
They made it to the room with little resistance, the shuttle awaiting us patiently. Once everyone was boarded she turned to Kasumi to pilot it back to the Normandy. The theif gave a two-finger salute as she slipped into the seat to pilot them back.
"All aboard J," Melody announced on the comms as she shut the doors to the shuttle. "En route."
"Aye," he responded. "Be safe, heat signatures show the seeker swarms are still around."
"Noted," Kasumi nodded and swerved the shuttle ahead.
It wasn't long before all of them were stretching their legs in the cargo bay, exhausted and patting each other on the back. Melody wanted to cry hot tears of relief, she was so exhausted and thankful they all made it.
Melody but she had no time to enjoy their good luck, she was booking it up to the cockpit. Joker was tensed at the seat waiting continuingly hailing the Commanders.
"Do you copy?" he asked. "Jane? John? Come on, don't leave me hanging. Do you copy?"
"When did we give you permission to drop formalities?" John grunted over the comms. "Did the ground team make it?"
"Everyone's aboard," Melody responded. "Get your fat asses in gear, it's been over ten minutes."
The audio cut and Melody snapped to check the thermal readings on the Base's map. Four heat signatures were booking it to their position, with enemies in pursuit. They were all fine but had no time left to defend as they escaped.
"Joker!" she nodded to the map.
He nodded and pulled the ship up to the base.
"EDI take the helm!" he nodded and stood to Melody's surprise.
Joker opened the side door and took Melody's machine gun, he propped himself on the open airlock doors and started firing at the advancing enemy. Melody was so stunned she took a moment before she helped Tali and Garrus clamber in, then Jane. The platforms the other three bounced off were taken out from falling debris. And John leaped forward.
It happened so fast but she held her breath as he outstretched his arms to catch the Normandy. She heard him knock the air out of his lungs and he was hanging off the edge, struggling a moment to get up. Joker continued to cover the Commander as Melody and Jane helped him in.
Joker smacked the doors shut, and we collapsed into the cockpit exhaustedly.
"Detonation in ten," EDI supplied Joker hobbled to his seat. "Nine, eight."
"Yeah," Joker snapped. "I get the gist of it EDI, hold on!"
He sped them up to the relay back to the Omega Nebula, explosions propelling them forward.
Melody sighed in exhaustion as the planet Omega came into view again and they settled in the docks again.
After what felt like a couple of beats of silence.
"The Illusive Man is hailing us in the comm room," came EDI's voice.
"Send it to voicemail," Joker grumbled.
John and Jane made their way to the briefing room, Melody followed. Helping the twins move some broken internal banisters, this must have happened in the crash, thank god the rest of the ship was intact. She nodded to the twins and left, the twins probably were going to tell the Illusive Man to fuck off. They were Alliance soldiers first and foremost, not his pawn.
John and Jane stood in the center of the table as Melody walked out and after shaking off her armor, unceremoniously. She called Julius and sighed happily at the sound of his comforting dual tones.
Melody had made her way to the cargo hold of the ship, she had fueled up, and the crew was sorting through some salvage. Most of the team that had been in the pods were resting in bed or in med-bay.
Melody made a mental note to talk to everyone post rest, the whole crew. Joker had set up the course to the next mission Jane had waiting, they were off to the Typhon system for the next day. Never resting.
Melody noticed Tali was working on the hull, giving scans and patching help to Ken and Gabby, most of the crew was filtering through salvage and gun ammo they had bought on Omega.
Joker stood from the crates when John came down and handed him a pad, with reaper scans. Melody nodded to John, and he smirked back. He nodded to Joker and Melody felt a tension start to build in her back like someone was watching her.
John, Jane, Jacob, and Miranda had gone down on the planet Aite. It was the last mission Jane had lined up from the Illusive Man. Something he wanted to be handled with care and secret. Melody, however, wasn't buying it and was sat in the Starboard observation with the comm chatter playing, she refused to go down and help this time. Something had struck her off about everything leading up to the planet. Not to mention she hadn't slept since the Collector base, it had only been a day, but she was exhausted and hoped to nap or properly catch up on sleep.
Melody was curled up on the couch in the observation room, prepping for her nap, listening to the comms to know how the twins were faring before she turned in. From the comm chatter she had been hearing, they stumbled across a man named Archer who was interfacing a human mind with an AI to control the Geth. The thought made her sick. The human in question was the man's brother, David. And his mind couldn't handle the link and was lashing out at the staff, killing them with all the machinery he could find, leaving only his brother behind.
They could hear the screeching of the AI, and slowly it became more and more human. John and Jane had made their way to his core with the rest of the team. Melody was curious and pulled up the video link from John's helmet onto her data-pad.
She could hear something different through the helmet though, the AI must have affected John's helmet to let him understand.
"QUIET!" the AI's human voice was screeching. "Please make it stop!"
Melody's heart broke from the man's pleading, this man wasn't a soldier, just a smart human with a power-hungry brother.
Melody felt sick to her stomach when the video showed the AI barrier break from the glitch, and the horror scene hanging from the structure within. There were gasps of horror from all on the opposite side.
Hanging from his hands was a nude man, his privates covered by constricting beams, and the man had tubes leading into his body and his mouth. His head, hands, and neck were all suspended in horrid looking braces that looked like something to pin a dead animal in place. Tubes stuck in his arms and legs, and two offensive looking feeding tubes were connected to his throat. The man's eyes were held open with what looked like old-fashioned brain-washing clips.
Melody vomited into her mouth a little, trying to hold it back. Her stomach was so low and violently rejecting the image that it felt like she was going to vomit a week of food. She pained for the man in front of her that she couldn't help or take the pain from.
Jane and John slowly advanced, not tearing their eyes from the man, possibly in horror.
"Quiet," the man seemed to beg over the AI. "Please make it stop."
Melody's heart hurt in her chest, and she quietly sobbed for the man. He must be in so much physical pain. And the voices of all the AI's, all the Geth at once, must be maddening.
"Wait," the man named Archer shouted. "Commander!"
John had turned, showing Melody the plain looking man. The monster, Melody thought.
"I'm begging you," Archer pleaded. "Don't do anything rash!"
"You told us that David volunteered!" John snapped at the man.
"By necessity," Archer explained as if it was normal. "If I told you the truth, you would have shut me down, and not him."
Melody's blood boiled, how could he!
"It's not like I planned this," the British man continued. "It was an accident. Seeing David communicate with the Geth...it all seemed harmless."
"And before you knew it," Jane's voice was ice cold. "You were running your own private hell."
"I had no choice!" Archer shouted. "The demands were incredible! The Illusive Man doesn't broker failure! Any war we fight with the Geth will be bloody. I was asked to find a way to avoid that."
"Who gave you the right to play God?" Jane snapped angrily.
"People who were too afraid to make difficult decisions themselves," Archer responded quietly. "When they pray for a miracle, they are really praying for men like me to make the tough choices. If my work spares a million mothers mourning a million sons, my conscience will rest easy."
"Look at him-" John snapped, pointing to David. "Your brother will never be the same again!"
"The damage may not be permanent," Archer responded clinically. "he might recover some semblance of his mind."
"Cerberus will never leave him alone!" John shouted. "He will always be a lab rat to them!"
"But a well cared for a lab rat," Archer responded coldly. Melody wanted to punch the man in the face. "At least he'd still be alive."
"So, you'll sacrifice your brother's happiness for your own ambition?" came a cold, wavering voice. It was Miranda, sounding angry but controlled. Melody silently thanked the brunette for speaking everyone's mind.
That must have struck a chord with the scientist, as he looked to the man, dangling in front of them like a piece of meat.
Melody noticed something wet falling from the man named David's face. The man was crying, this broke a sob out of Melody, and she clutched a hand to her mouth to fight back the sounds.
"The square root of 906.01 equals..." David said slowly over the AI.
"30.1" Archer responded, his voice gravelly. The room was silent as the scientist continued softly. "What I've done to David is unethical. If he dies, it is unforgivable. Let me take care of him, please."
"Quiet—please make it stop," David said slowly, pleading with them.
Melody sobbed freshly into her hand again, thanking her instincts that she wasn't there. She would be a sobbing mess in front of this real person before beating his brother Archer senseless.
"We've seen enough of your cruelty to know he'll never be free from here," John responded. "We're taking him away."
"No!" Archer begged. "Leave him! He's too valuable!"
The man pulled a gun and shot at John, but he was too quick and dodged before pistol whipping the scientist across the face.
The man held his rapidly bruising face as John held his weapon to the man, the man was bleeding from his nose.
"You even think of coming after your brother," the shouted. "And this bullet will be waiting for you. Then we'll see who's valuable."
"W-where will you take him?" he asked.
"Nowhere you need to know," John backed off. "Somewhere they can help special cases like David—minus the torture."
"Melody," Jane heard over the comms. "You know a place?"
Melody nodded and croaked out. "I'm on it, Commander."
John turned to Jane, who's cold expression cracked upon meeting eyes with her brother. The whole group looked angry and shaken. Miranda was staring eyes watering at David, Jacob was turned away but Jane looked pleadingly to John.
"The Illusive Man can suck it," John said hoarsely to Archer, who hung his head. "If it wasn't obvious already we would not see each other in the future."
"The square root of 912.04 is 30.2," David said, choking on his tears of relief as John and Jane slowly worked on freeing the man as painlessly as possible from the apparatus. "It all seemed harmless."
The man continued repeating this as Melody sobbed into her hand, the poor man. She shut off the video feed, she couldn't watch any more.
When she gathered her strength and took a calming breath before she contacted the old teacher of hers from Grissom Academy, Ms. Sanders. The woman had talked her up to Anderson, and she had the woman to thank for everything good in her life. It was sad that she was emailing her for business and not kind words of thanks.
She explained briefly in the email that they would need to provide constant PTSD support for the poor man in her email, as she finished wiping her tears she saw the email that someone is being dispatched to the planet immediately to collect the man.
She sighed and lay back, wiping her eyes and nose, making another mental note to talk to the crew before bed tonight before she felt herself whisking away into a nap.
Melody did not remember when she fell asleep but she woke to someone's screams. She jumped from the couch to the other room, the crews quarters, her biotics prepped for a fight. However, there was none.
Kelly was screaming and sobbing, covered in a sheen of sweat, having a vivid nightmare from the sounds of it. She flailed trying to strike out at something that wasn't in front of her. Most of the crew members were waking up, jumping back or still rubbing their eyes.
Melody immediately recognized that Kelly was having a night terror. She quickly used her biotics to move the breakable items away from the bunk before sitting down next to Kelly on the bed as she continued to thrash around screaming.
Melody put up her barrier and inched closer as Kelly thrashed around at the invisible enemies, trying to fight them off. Someone had turned on the lights to the room.
Melody slowly used a soft, motherly tone.
"Kelly," she said soothingly, as the woman tried to hit her, her arms only smacking the barrier gently. "It's okay, you're safe. We're all here, you're not there. You are safe aboard the Normandy."
"We're aboard the Normandy, you're safe," she continued. "Someone grab us water," she didn't break her tone but hoped someone was listening. "We're all here and safe aboard the Normandy in your nice safe and warm bed."
Melody continued for what felt like a long time until Kelly snapped from it herself, waking up and darting her eyes and flailing still mentally aboard that Collector base.
"Shh," Melody said, letting her barrier down so Kelly could hit her. "You're safe, you're not there. We're all here and safe on the Normandy with you."
Kelly's wild eyes finally reached Melody and saw that she had hit her and sobbed freshly, looking so upset with herself for waking everyone and striking out.
"No," Melody took Kelly into a hug and stroked the redhead's hair and back. "You are safe, and sound on the Normandy, we are all safe and sound with you."
Kelly sobbed into the woman's shoulder, gripping at her clothes and shaking.
"Get me a blanket Gabby and bring me a water and cool and damp washcloth please." she said to the engineer. "Kelly, relax with me," she stroked the woman's back again. "We are all safe and sound aboard the Normandy. You are safe with your family and me."
Kelly nodded and sniffed as Melody heard the engineer runoff.
"Say it with me slowly," Melody encouraged the woman, and they slowly spoke line by line a couple words at a time as Kelly was still shaking, her eyes red and raw.
She felt Gabby return and nodded.
"Can you take a drink Kelly?" she asked the red-head. The woman nodded.
Melody handed her the plastic cup, good choice from Gabby's part. The woman shook as she drank, Melody knew the red-head had an audience now, but she kept rubbing the woman's back, and Gabby helped bring the blanket around the red-headed woman.
"That's it," she nodded. "Take it slow, we're all safe and with you here."
The woman nodded as she swallowed, Melody took the damp washcloth and wiped Kelly's face, pushing the redhead's hair from her face and neck.
"Keep drinking until the burn leaves," Melody nodded, as she wiped continuously at her face, she kept her voice soft and motherly. "If everyone is awake now I suggest bathroom breaks and snacks. EDI wake the rest of the crew if possible. We're going to have a great big family meeting in the mess shortly."
"Understood," the AI responded softly with a gentle chime.
Everyone slowly filtered out, and Melody continued to rub the woman's back.
"I-I"
"Don't apologize," Melody shook her head. "I meant to have a meeting last night about this, but I fell asleep from mission exhaustion. Yes, I knew this would happen to some. That's why we're meeting now."
It took a while for Kelly to stop her shivering and hiccuping. But Melody didn't leave her side. Neither had Gabby. Melody nodded to Kelly.
"Are you feeling safe enough to be in the Mess with us all?" Melody asked.
The red-head nodded and clutched to her blanket.
"Then let's go and listen, okay?" she helped the woman up, and the trio made their way into the very full and very silent mess.
Authors Note:
I had actually been thinking of touching on the PTSD of the crew, I'm going to include the meeting in the next chapter, so thank you Colonel-Shep-29 for that.
And I do realize I was being a little too hot-headed towards Miranda, I tend to make Melody WAY too hot-headed on the battlefield. I hope I fixed that a bit here. That rudeness towards Miri won't happen going forward as Miranda won't be fighting along-side Melody again.
Sorry for the quickness between chapters, I had started this one, including the outline for it before posting the last one.
Keelah se'lai,
Melody Milan