Chapter 35
People Skills
Two days had gone by since Miranda nearly ripped Ty's head off through the comm. He had hung out that day with Joker a little longer then took the two holos and recording with him downstairs where he delivered one holo to Miranda, who looked very stressed, and left quickly then dropped his off in his room. The warrior set them next to his other picture and set up the holo so anyone could see it all times.
He had taken the rest of that day to meditate in his room and relax since he didn't feel like working on the guns and there wasn't much to do for him aside from talk to others. It was a very uneventful remaining of the day, but that wasn't a bad thing. Ty needed a few uneventful days to rest and recover some of his energy he used on the missions, that and to relax from the stunts he pulled. Balancing his craziness with a little normalcy here and there was something he liked to do.
The next day was uneventful again for him but for Jacob, Kasumi and Shepard it was the complete opposite. After finally stopping in a near system to get probes, Shepard found an anomaly and took them down to a Blue Suns mining base to clear out the mercenaries.
While they were gone, the former mercenary finished off Garrus's sniper rifle and was waiting to give it to him for when he saw him next. He also started working on Jack's Carnifex hand cannon along with putting aside a Scimitar assault shotgun to customize for Jacob. The two males rarely saw each other and even more rarely spoke to each other, but it didn't feel right to outfit everyone else and leave him excluded, even if he sometimes casted distrustful glances at him. Probably because of the Illusive Man, Ty thought.
He hadn't gotten very far on Jack's gun when she somehow miraculously snuck up on him and slugged him hard in the back of his left shoulder. Ty couldn't figure out how she accomplished sneaking up on him, but he had been in deep thought about the gun and what to do with it so that was likely the reason, or at least that was his excuse.
She had a good laugh about it and they talked some more about random subjects, mostly him and his crew and some of the stupid situations they got into. They also took the time to talk seriously about the Collectors and Shepard being able to pull through. The pair agreed the Collectors were going to die by their hands and that they were both going to be loyal to Shepard to the end.
Hearing Jack talk about her loyalty to Shepard was odd. It wasn't a surprise that she was loyal, but as far as the purple eyed man could tell through all their talks about the people she had been around through her life up until now, she wasn't one to cast her loyalty card to anyone but herself. Yet here she was ready to go into the Collectors pit of hell with the squad. It hadn't seemed likely she'd ever come to believe in Shepard as some of the crew had due to her past, but then again it hadn't seemed likely for Ty to become as loyal as he was to Shepard. Hell, they both had made it clear when they joined saying that they were in for the ride and were cutting loose afterwards and neither had planned to get attached to any of the crew aside from fighting alongside them.
Maybe the former mercenary should have thought harder on it or maybe he was just too stubborn to realize it back when he joined, but there was no such thing as fighting along someone and not forming some kind of bond with them, friendship or rivalry.
Shepard was a leader at heart. Even if Jack and Ty attempted to not form bonds with the squad, they would have bonded with the N7 the way they had no matter what. Ty wasn't sure what it was about the woman that made it that way. Perhaps her good heart created a sort of indoctrination effect on all those she considered friends to make them to want to follow her into the deepest pits of hell and back. He doubted that she could control minds otherwise the Council and the Alliance would have their heads out of their asses, but there was a more likely conclusion.
People like Shepard were rare and those that existed in time were followed to the ends of the Universe by their allies regardless of the odds or how big the threat was.
Maybe she was the Universes savior, maybe the Spirits of all the races that fell chose her as their warrior to bring an end to the Reapers or maybe she was just the right person at the right time with the right charisma and right attitude in the right job. There was no certainty with any of that and there would never be a correct answer. There would only be answers that would come through the interpretations of people long after she died.
All the warrior knew was that she was a damned good friend and no matter what happened he'd follow her to the end, unless she somehow became the exact opposite of who she was, joined Cerberus fully and then decided to try to kill him or his family. That would pretty much put a sour note on it all.
That conversation ended and lead to Jack talking a little more about her history and some of the fun stuff she had gotten into before this mission. It soon ended when the shuttle came flying back in and the tattooed biotic put her barriers back up.
Shepard stopped by and shared a few words with the both of them then headed up top to get Joker back on track to Tuchanka. As the trio left in the elevator back to their quarters, Jack asked Ty if he thought Shepard was a 'girls club girl' because she seemed to like to talk to her a lot. His response had been to smirk and ask her if she was a girls club girl which earned him a punch in the left arm and a 'fuck you' from the woman.
Ty told her no after milking the joke a little longer. He explained that Shepard was just a friendly person and thought of her crew as a family, a dysfunctional family who liked to give each other hard times and liked to fight on battlefields for some reason, but a family nonetheless. The tattooed biotic called them both weird, Shepard for being as she was and Ty for describing the squad the way he did which made him chuckle.
They talked a little longer with Jack bringing up him showing her his past. He answered some of her questions about it like the locations of some of the memories since some were in different colonies and she jokingly asked about the sex, which he couldn't pass up for shock value and a good laugh by making his own joke. He went deep into fake details about whips and chains and other kinky things until Jack hit him to stop since she was laughing so hard about it and calling him a sick kinky fucker.
She eventually left and he had lost all desire to continue work on the gun for the night so he headed back up and stopped in by Chakwas to talk a little more with her just to be friendly. Afterwards he headed back to his room for the night and meditated for a while then went to sleep. It was the next day now though and he had woken up early since he wasn't tired and got ready after a shower then headed down to the Cargo Hold again to continue on Jack's pistol with the hope of getting some work done this time.
He had a great idea for her pistol before he fell asleep but had lacked the desire to go back down and work on it at the time so he was making up for it now. Ty used his ability to see the past to see her tattoos and picked the most colorful parts and was going to paint it onto the gun which was going to take a long time for him to do to get it perfect.
He decided on the engravings, The Psychotic Biotic, on the left side and, "I"LL THROW YOU LIKE A TOY!" –Jack, on the right side which he thought was good and hoped she didn't end up throwing him like a toy for it in an attempt to be funny. He had switched the music back to his 21st century rock station and let it run with it blasting out the Cargo Hold and likely the Engineering Deck and Jack. That knowledge might have made him smile at their expense.
He had been painting the first layer of the design for two hours when his omni-tool popped up randomly signaling he had a call. He turned his music off and took his mask off as he answered, "This is Ty's porno palace. We have your best selection of alien porn, may I recommend the Asari porno Matriarchs Teaching Sensuality."
"No thanks. Do you have any suggestions for a Turian and human porno?" His brother's voice met his ear.
Ty chuckled. "Well I suggest you go down the hall and ask Jessica for some private tapes, but otherwise we don't sell that here."
"Damn, this store blows."
"If you would like to learn more about the blowing section of our store may I suggest With High Sexual Arousal: An Elcor Getting Down and Dirty."
"Ew!"
"Or might I suggest going out and actually get laid so you stop wasting your money."
"Touché."
"So what's up?" Ty asked as he sat down on a crate.
"Figured I'd check in with you see what was up with you since I don't see you too often anymore because of this mission." Z answered.
Ty felt the same pang of home sickness that his brother was feeling in wishing he wasn't on this mission. He missed his family and seeing them every day. He hadn't spent much time with them in the last few years with the whole Blue Suns hunting and now he was on a suicide mission. I need to keep in touch with them more often if this is truly going to be the end. "Touché back at you. I'm just working on a new gun for Jack. I was designing it after her tattoos and putting some engravings on it. I finished Garrus's Viper yesterday and Grunt's Avenger a while back. Otherwise went on a mission with Shepard a few days ago for Jack to help her blow up the facility Cerberus kept her in as a kid then just hanging around trying to keep everyone on the bright side."
Z chuckled in response to which Ty assumed was because they blew up a Cerberus facility which likely reminded him of that space station he had accidently dropped on top of a different Cerberus facility. Good times. "Sounds like you've taken up the responsibilities of having friends in a crew by trying to keep them less stressed."
"I can't help it. With how this mission is laid out, the crew doesn't need to be at each other's throats when we're going into hell."
"Yeah I know. You're a natural leader Ty whether you like to admit it or not. Still trying to figure where you got that from 'cause it sure wasn't me with how much of a loner I am."
Ty shook his head and rolled his eyes. "And it's your fault whether you like to admit it or not. You were a leader to me and I took after you."
"Eh details…So how you like your new tomahawks?" Z asked.
To say he was completely stoked out of his mind was an understatement and Ty didn't like using the word stoked to describe anything unless he happened to think it was the grooviest thing on the planet. "Bad fucking ass Z. You should give up that Katana for something like these."
"Fuck no. My katana is more badass than those. Besides, I'm researching new tech for it."
"No way, I'd take these over that any day. What are you going to do if you're out of ammo and the people are at a distance? You can't throw it like a javelin without them seeing you do it." Ty argued.
"No Ty." Z stated.
"Come on, you know you want to talk about this." He goaded.
Z let out an exasperated sigh. "We are not having the 'You're going to talk about the shotgun' conversation again but have it be about our choice of weapons. I saw those guys the other day still fucking debating about what weapons they want, and he still is talking about the shotgun." His brother scolded, shooting him down before he could start.
"Damn you."
The elder brother's laughed on the other side but then he stopped and said, "I know Shepard is, well Shepard I guess."
Ty chuckled and jumped in. "Oh you mean top of the Alliance N7, first human Spectre and Reaper killer in her spare time."
"Yeah that. Anyway, you're still watching out for everyone including her and yourself, right?"
"I have my eyes on everyone's back and my own. Oh by the way, the Illusive Man has weirder eyes then us."
It was quiet for a few seconds but then his brother came back. "You met that bastard?"
The younger brother snorted. "Please, if I did I would have added 'and he's dead' onto that. The Normandy has a QEC and I had to talk to the Illusive Man since I may or may not have hacked Cerberus files since he was stonewalling Miranda and I may or may not have transferred part of EDI to my space bike and omni-tool."
"So she's stalking us right now?"
"Incorrect. I cannot 'stalk' as the word is intended, but I could listen in if I felt the need." EDI answered over the comm.
"EDI." Ty chided.
"I felt obligated to answer."
"By stalking." Z responded with a chuckle.
"You make the assumption that I was not invited into this conversation." The synthetic said with what Ty could swear was a humorous tone. Z began laughing slightly as the purple eyed brother shook his head. "My name was mentioned Ty."
"Yes it was. Can you let us believe we have a sense of privacy for the remaining conversation EDI?"
"As you wish, Ty."
"I like her." Z said with a chuckle.
"Thank you." EDI responded.
"EDI." Ty chided again.
"Sorry. False sense of privacy mode activated." EDI responded in what Ty knew was a sarcastic tone.
"Your fault." His brother said before he could respond.
"I take full blame for her becoming funny. Anyway, the Illusive Man threated our lives after the mission is over and wants Miranda to kill me then he's going after home base."
Silence ensued for a few moments with Z obviously thinking over what he had said. The elder brother didn't like Cerberus in general, well he actually hated them but the threat not only against his younger brother but their home base as well was sure to get him thinking of ways to find secret Cerberus bases and blow them up on purpose.
"No shit and how does he expect to find us when the fucking Shadow Broker has no idea where we are and he's been trying to find us for years?"
Ty chuckled. The Shadow Broker agents never got very far and the brothers had a fair share of messages sent back to the Shadow Broker in the form of dead agents with data-pads on them or with the words 'Fuck off' carved into them depending on the viciousness either brother was feeling at the moment.
The Shadow Broker was even more pissed at Ty right now though after helping Liara and Feron with their mission and he still hadn't found them. "I know that's what I said but he was all 'don't underestimate Cerberus' and some other bullshit. I got to rip him a new ass though, that was fun."
His brother laughed. "Damn nice job. Do you think we should move home base?"
Ty sighed and shook his head. "I don't know. We've been fine there but if we move we might be moving into a place that can be found easier, you know. Run it by dad, the best plan of action is something he'll think of. We have the home field advantage if they come knocking and that things got more guns then a Krogan army, but we still have to be careful. We aren't untouchable. We do go out in the open all the time."
His brother was silent for a few seconds thinking over his words until he finally said, "I'll run it by dad, but the Illusive Ass is stupid if he thinks he's untouchable. You think Miranda would actually kill you?"
"I don't know. Depends on the day I think. The original day when I ripped him a new ass he wanted her to kill me but he withdrew the order and later on she told me she didn't think she could do it, but she could've just been lying. You never know. Then two days ago she nearly ripped my head off through a comm link about a joke, so like I said it depends on the day."
"Well if she tries or does, I will personally kill her."
"Aw and here I thought you had a crush on her." Ty jested.
Z barked out a laugh which the younger brother immediately read as a cover but was going to let his brother think he had him fooled. The two rarely lied to each other and only did when they were trying to protect the other or if it was something extremely personal that they didn't want to talk about. Being as close as they were to one another, though, they couldn't lie without the other knowing that it was a lie. It was as helpful as a hint to not talk about it as it was a pain in the ass when you knew they knew you were lying.
"Crush? Fuck no, not how she is now all Cerberus bitch an all, but she is great eye candy. One of those you should look and never touch kind of women."
Lies. "Maybe she'll change and see that she's working for a bunch of fucked up assholes but if she doesn't then like you said, look, don't touch." Ty said, going along with it.
"Are you going get any action on that ship? Honestly, are there some women on the ship?" His brother asked in an attempt to change the subject.
"I'm not starving for sex, Z." He chided. "But yes there are more than a few but only seven I know by name and eight including Doctor Chakwas."
Z chuckled and Ty sensed the joke before it came. "You and her should totally hook up. Older women need loving to you know."
"Not it. Anyway, there's Shepard, Jack, Miranda, Tali, Kasumi, an engineer named Daniels and a woman named Kelly Chambers are the women I know to varying degrees." He explained.
"Well are you going to try to get with one of them?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" He retorted in a jest.
"Yeah, that's why I'm asking."
"Well take Miranda off, she's more interested in you and I'm just trying to get her to be who she is under all that Cerberus bullshit. Tali is like a sister and I doubt she has those feelings for me. Kasumi had Keiji but he died and now she's mourning him and having her eyes set on a guy named Jacob on this ship. I wouldn't consider it anyways just because I enjoy our friendship. Daniels no, Chambers no."
His brother gave a low whistle. "So you are either going to get with Jack, who you'd be with for life unless you want to die or ruin the friendship, or Shepard, who is part of the people who hunt us. Not bad, not bad."
"Well Shepard has feelings for me. Don't really know how strong but she wants me to think about giving her a chance. As for Jack, I think she might have feelings but she hasn't said anything about it. I'm just trying to be her friend because of all the shit she's been through. She needs a good friend and not one who wants to use her for sex and if I did I would be, like you said, with her for life which isn't bad."
"But isn't who you want to spend the rest of your life with because eventually it would end up either being just about sex, being friends or hating each other." Z finished.
"Yeah, that."
"What do you think of Shepard?"
Ty let out a deep sigh. "Difficult to even think about because if I do date her and it somehow got public her Alliance career is over because of me. Otherwise though she's fun to be around and has a certain spunk to her along with being a very caring person. We get along great and she wants to try it but not only does the different side of the law thing weigh on my mind, but her old flame Kaiden might still be in this."
"If he's in the game, why is she flirting with you?"
"Because I'm great eye candy." He quipped.
"Right, anyway, maybe he's not in the game anymore. If that's what's holding you back then ask, unless Ka'Reena is still weighing on you as well."
Yeah….that. "You know me so well." Ty said with a forced a smile.
"I should, I'm your brother…she wanted you to move on Ty and I know it's hard for you because of what it was, but she's gone. You can't hold onto the past forever, you have to move forward."
"I know. I'm trying to, but there are so many memories with her and those never leave me. I don't doubt that me and Shepard might be able to make it work, but I really don't like the idea of traveling the hurting highway twice since she wants more than blowing off steam."
"The memories of Ka'Reena shouldn't leave you. Moving forward doesn't mean you have to forget everything that you felt with her. That was true love at its finest so take what you felt from it and put it into another relationship. You'll never know if Shepard is the right woman until you give her a chance and if you never do you'll regret it just as much as Ka'Reena."
He was right about the last part. Perhaps it was time to give Shepard a shot and if it didn't work then it didn't work. The elevator doors opened and Z said, "That or go to Aria or that one Turian you were with. Both really dig you. Or, well, the Turian did, I don't know about anymore since neither of us have seen her since you two were together which was Spirits know how long ago."
Ty chuckled. "Shut up."
"Hey, I'm just saying."
Shepard, Mordin, and Garrus walked out of the elevator prompting the former mercenary to end his conversation with his brother. "Hey, Shepard just came down with Garrus and Mordin armed to the teeth and I have to give Garrus his new gun. I'll talk to you later, alright?"
"That's fine. I'll tell everyone you love them. Love you Ty, stay safe."
"You stay safe. Love you bye." The warrior shut the comm and hopped off the crate. "Hey Garrus, I got you a present." All three looked over at him as he grabbed the sniper off the ground in its folded state.
"Aw you got me a new rifle. You are so thoughtful." The Turian quipped.
Ty smirked and walked over to them. "I know. Give me your old one and try this one out real quick." Garrus handed him his sniper and Ty gave the Turian the new one. He unfolded it and started checking it out. "Paint job is after your face. I scarred up the right mandible just for you, but the mandibles can be used as a bipod for those good sniping times. The dial on the right side can switch between regular ammo and Tungsten ammo that can pound through just about any armor, even a Goliath Geth if you ever end up going against one of those on foot, which I hope you don't."
Garrus looked across the room through the scope and Ty continued his explanation. "Scope can adjust to see a very long distance. A lot further then your previous one, but I can't give you a specific length. Just know that any target you can see will always most likely be in the kill zone. And a little thing I added myself, if you press the button below the dial it gives you the amount of kills and misses you have from anytime you pull the trigger, so try to have more kills then misses, Garrus."
Garrus's mandibles adjusted as he smiled. "I never miss."
"That's not what Shepard told me."
Shepard was surprised to be dragged into the conversation judging on the look on her face and the tone in her voice as she asked, "What?"
"You told him about that." Garrus said going along with the joke.
The N7 put her hands up a little. "Whoa, back up. I didn't say anything about anything you did Garrus."
"She also told me you and her had a one night stand." The warrior joked.
"What!" Shepard yelped in shocked.
"I thought that was our little secret, Shepard." Garrus said with a toothy grin.
Shepard blushed a deep red even though they all knew it was a joke since it never happened, but she still seemed embarrassed so the purple eyed warrior decided to take the attention off her and back to the gun. "Oh and one more thing about the rifle. I hope you never have to use it but the bipod is not dull. I sharpened them to be as sharp as my tomahawks and it can be used as a bayonet or a slashing weapon to fend off enemies like the Husks or anything that rush you."
The Turian folded it up and put it on the magnetic holder on his back. "Thanks Ty."
Ty nodded then turned to meet Mordin's eyes. "Mordin would you prefer a pistol or a submachine gun?"
Mordin grabbed his chin. "Hmm, interesting question. My Carnifex is very useful and doesn't need any new adjustments aside from the ones I have given it already, but my Tempest." He scowled. "That needs some work. Would appreciate it if you were able to get me a better one otherwise make do with what I have."
"You got it." He agreed with a nod.
Shepard recovered from the previous conversation and joined the conversation. "Okay you two, go load up on the shuttle. We're heading down to the surface of Tuchanka."
Garrus and Mordin walked away but the Commander stayed behind. "You need me to do something Shepard?" The warrior asked.
"Two things, first off I want you ready to go when I get back you're coming down with me and Grunt to help him out since he asked to bring you along. Secondly, can you see if you can get Miranda to release some frustration?" That was an odd request but he nodded regardless. Shepard shook her. "She's nearly about to blow on someone."
"Yeah, she already threatened to rip me in half with her biotic's." He stated.
The sapphire eyed woman ran a hand through her hair. "Well, that might complicate you helping her. We're handling two missions today so we can get her to Illium."
"Why not bring her down to Tuchanka to release frustration?"
"Because I need your help for whatever we have to do with Grunt to make it as quick as possible since we need to get back to Illium to help Miranda." Ty nodded in understanding then Shepard placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know it's a big favor since she's on edge, but it's either you or no one since she won't go talk to Chambers. I need your unique…people skills for the lack of a better word to get her a little more level headed so she doesn't kill one of the crew. Will you be fine with her and going on another mission so soon?"
Ty smirked. "Please Shepard think of who you're talking to. I used to hunt and fight for days at time with less luxury than this. I'll think of something that doesn't end in my death or damage to the ship."
Shepard offered him a smile. "Thanks Ty…have you been thinking about-"
"I have," he cut her off. "We'll talk after the missions are done. You need to go help Mordin out get his head straight and I have to handle the Princess."
"Good luck." She let her hand drop and began jogging to the shuttle.
"You're going to need it more than I do." He said to himself. Ty walked to the elevator so he could go grab his gear and Miranda to help her release frustration. He had an idea to help but he didn't know if she would be up for it or if he would be able to walk away from it with himself intact.