Semper Fi
Chapter 38
Wrex – 4

Shepard had summoned everyone shortly after their quick departure from Arcturus Station and Wrex didn't need more to know something was up. Mission-related meetings usually took place in the communication room but they all were in CIC this time. That wasn't surprising considering all the secrets in the two laboratories surrounding the communication room and the presence of Lawson and the Drell, who wasn't in his cell anymore. Wrex knew Kryik had come to talk about his self-proclaimed friend – he could still smell the Turian in the ship – so he supposed the release of the prisoner had to do with that. Why Krios was still around was a mystery though, but there was no doubt Shepard would answer the crew's questions.

She was standing on that ridiculous platform over the holographic projectors currently turned off, arms folded, her left jaw swollen and dark, her right temple bruised too. That wasn't Kryik's handy work there but another Turian's, a female Wrex had had the occasion to smell on Arcturus Station a bunch of times. Garrus had the same odor on him, plus Kan's and a hundred more, all turian. Their morning surely had been more interesting than his. Libraries cruelly lacked alcohol.

Joker limped his way to CIC from the cockpit, still wearing his civvies – nobody had had time to put on their uniform yet. "We're out of the Arcturus system, Commander," he announced, "two light-years from the closest lifeforms, all stealth systems activated."

"Good," Shepard nodded. "Thank you all to have come back so fast," she said. "I'll explain to you why in a minute, but first I'd like to introduce a new recruit, Thane Krios." She didn't need to point at the Drell for the crew to find him. Krios didn't even blink. He kept on standing next to Lawson, hands behind his back, eyes fixed on the wall in front of him. "And yes, he was our prisoner until this morning but Nihlus convinced me to reevaluate the situation." That was a lie or Wrex wasn't Krogan anymore. "Krios is an excellent sniper, I've heard, and a hand-to-hand expert. His primary job will be to watch over Lawson but he'll also train the crew in hand-to-hand combat." Shepard gave Wrex a quick look. They'd have to talk. "Now, we left Arcturus Station because Udina won the elections and I didn't want to be used for his propaganda. The investiture will take place in two weeks. That means he can't fuck with me for that time, he can't stop me from doing my job either. He technically can't but he'll do everything in his power to complicate my life since I'm not the docile human Spectre he dreams of."

"You don't know that," Ashley interrupted. That surprised Wrex. Ashley usually kept her mouth shut if Shepard was around, even in the evening when the Commander was staying on third deck for a drink after work – she tended to do that a lot recently. "Give the man a chance," Ashley continued, frowning. "He did a good job as the Earth ambassador on the Citadel."

Shepard was about to answer but Javik talked before her. "The crew must refrain from talking about sensitive matters like politic during their shift," he reminded everybody coldly.

"Aren't we legally on shore leave?" Ashley smartly retorted.

"You'll legally end the day in brigs for your insubordination," Javik added.

"Enough," Shepard barked before Williams could answer. "We don't have time to waste, people, whatever the reason. You are right, Williams, I don't know what Udina will do but I don't want to take any chance. In two weeks, he'll be able to restrict the Normandy's movements in human space if I'm not on official business. That means no surprise attack on Cerberus on human ground. That's why we'll go to the Sol system right now." Alenko raised his hand like the shy kid he was. Shepard allowed him to speak.

"What's the target?"

"Henry Lawson," Shepard answered as his 3D picture appeared on the holoscreen and started to rotate. He looked like any other Human for Wrex: small, flabby, breakable. He would have learned more about him with his smell but people rarely cared to provide a sample for a Krogan. "And yes, he's related to the miss Lawson we have on board," Shepard continued. She gestured to Lawson, who straightened before speaking.

"He's my father," Lawson said loud enough for everyone to hear, "and we know he bought a clone of me from Cerberus."

"I'd buy one," Zaeed grinned. Shepard stared at him, annoyed, as new pictures popped up on the holoscreens, pictures of that Henry and a young woman looking a lot like the Lawson on board – expect for the hair, the young one had dark, shorter hair. Lawson stared at him, unimpressed, and judged him not worthy of her attention.

"He made his fortune with colonization," Lawson kept going, "and let's say his views on the role of Humanity in the galactic community are close of Cerberus'. It's a reasonable assumption to think he financed the organization at some point."

"Of course finding a money trail between Lawson and Cerberus is our priority," Shepard continued, "but we can still take him down because of the clone."

"So what's the plan?" Wrex asked. He felt his stomachs acting up again and he couldn't help his burp. "Sorry, I ate Mexican earlier," he lied. Vega looked offended, somehow.

"We need the element of surprise," Shepard said. "The Normandy was on Arcturus Station but we left right after the elections. People will think I fled to the Citadel or somewhere Udina can't reach me. Instead, we're going to the Sol system and we're not using the relay network for that. Sol is close anyway, we'll reach the system in thirty-six hours instead of three."

Wrex frowned. Travels between systems weren't as safe as what people thought. The heliosphere created by the winds emanating from a star protected the planets within from the interstellar medium, its weird physical properties and crazy amount of radiations. The interstellar medium was mostly empty but for traces of hydrogen and helium, filaments between systems, remains of denser clouds. You wouldn't even notice one of those if you were immobile in it, but ramming into one hundreds of time faster than the speed of light could destroy a ship in a fraction of a second. That was mainly why the exploration of close systems around a relay took forever. You had to go slow to avoid matter filaments on uncharted routes, which cost a lot and could easily turn to hell. The Protheans had done it before the fall of their empire but the current leading species weren't willing to do it. Less exploration meant less members of the galactic community anyway. It served the Council to keep the number of species low. Less competition for them.

"From there," Shepard continued, "the plan is to keep a low profile while we gather the intel we need about Lawson's location, security and the all of that. The odds are not in our favor, people," she warned them. "The European spaceport is in Germany, hundred of kilometers from London where Lawson should be, that means there won't be many aliens in the streets, none in combat gear due to weapons regulation laws. We'll be super easy to spot and nobody will think we're there just for a fun shopping afternoon. We have to find a way to stay under the radar."

Garrus hesitantly raised his hand. "If I may Commander, I'd recommend a nocturnal attack."

"You read my mind, Vakarian," Shepard smirked. Wrex snorted. The kid would have wiggled his tail of satisfaction if he had one. "Lawson and I still have a lot to discuss before I can present you a plan. Lawson, Vakarian, Javik, Solus and Wrex, you stay here. Joker, take us to Sol. The rest of the crew is dismissed and will resume work tomorrow morning."

"Except for me," Gardner grunted.

"Bitch please," Joker mocked, "who's gonna be up for the next thirty-six hours, piloting in interstellar space? Not you."

"I'll make coffee," Alenko said as he followed the rest of the crew to the elevator.

"Call me when you want a ring on your finger, babe!" Joker joked, already going back to the cockpit. Alenko blushed, suddenly walking faster. Wrex grumbled. Fagots.

"Krios," Shepard added, "a word." The new little green man walked back from the elevator but Shepard waited for the others to be gone before talking. "Kepral's Syndrome, is that right?"

"It is, Commander," the Drell confirmed with a small nod of the head. "It is not contagious to other species, you don't need to worry about it."

"Prolonged contact with skin may cause mild hallucinations though," Mordin intervened coldly. "Should refrain from training with the crew." Wrex knew the guy enough to imagine why he couldn't stand Krios. First, Drells were terribly slow from a salarian point of view, but what certainly irked the professor was the famous drell bigotry. They believed in their gods, they believed hard and often preached. Salarians were more spirituals than religious, and it wouldn't even occur to them to try to convince their neighbors to join their cult. They hated proselytism with a passion.

"Krios is not going to sit on his ass all day either," Shepard retorted. "He's gonna work like the rest of us."

"This is not a problem to me," the Drell assured. "I am glad to be of any service."

"Right," Shepard snorted. "Anyway, you're going to establish your quarters in Life Support. You'll have a better control on the atmospheric parameters there." She turned to a shocked Turian. "Congrats! You get a bigger room. Move your stuff in Liara's ex-quarters as soon as you can." The kid winced. Shepard rolled her eyes. "What?"

"It's, huh..." he hesitated. "The room is pretty big, bigger than my apartment on the Citadel actually and, huh..." Wrex chuckled. Turians lived in spaces adequate to their social status. A thirteenth tier like Garrus probably lived in a hutch, especially on the Citadel.

"Then petition for a roommate or whatever, I don't care," Shepard sighed, annoyed. Garrus looked miserable but didn't dare protest. "You can go, Krios," she added, dismissively waving her hand at him from her platform.

"Actually, Commander," the Drell said, "I'd like to share my quarters with miss Lawson."

"Lawson is my prisoner and she'll sleep where I tell her to sleep," Shepard replied. "She'll stay in crew quarters and you are forbidden to enter that room."

Krios blinked of all his eyelids before bending a little in a quick salute. "As you wish, Commander." He turned to the elevator and nobody talked before the doors closed on him.

"What did he do to deserve so much love?" Wrex mocked. "The guy's been the perfect prisoner since you threw him in brigs. I talked a bit to him some nights, he's a good guy."

"He's here because Nihlus wants to keep an eye on Lawson," Shepard replied, turning to Wrex. "He's a spy as far as I'm concerned. That's why I want him to train the crew with you. That'll give Lawson and I some alone time."

"By the way," Lawson intervened, "thank you for that, Commander."

"Don't mention it," Shepard shrugged.

"You trust that woman more than Kryik's friend?" Wrex asked, surprised. "I can understand the female bounding or whatever there is between you two but, Shep, seriously?"

"Why wouldn't I trust Lawson?" Shepard retorted. "She can't lie."

"What?" Wrex and Garrus said at the same time. Lawson just arched an eyebrow.

"Shepard's idea," Mordin smirked. "Truth serum added to biotic concealer. Cannot lie."

"That explains a few things," Lawson realized. Wrex would have been furious if someone had tricked him like that but Lawson didn't seem angry. That meant she had been sincere from the beginning. She had had no intention to hide anything from Shepard, so the use of a truth serum had no importance to her.

"Wait," Garrus frowned, "a truth serum? Did you..."

"Moving on," Shepard suddenly declared. "EDI, the maps!" A whole city appeared over the holoprojectors and Wrex supposed it was London. He had never been on Earth yet and he knew very little about the places there. The city looked nothing like what he had seen before. It was very flat, with a few towers here and there in the center, around a small river with bridges, and newer districts in the distance, inspired by asari architecture. There were no fortification, no defensive systems either, nothing that looked remotely military. Something was telling Wrex that Humanity would have easily lost against the Turians if the fight had reached Earth and its cities.

"As you can see, there is no way for us to dock somewhere around London," Shepard announced, leaning on the railing bar over the map. "The closest public spaceport is in Frankfurt, in Germany. The Alliance has a base in Dusseldorf, it's closer, but we can't land there either if we want to stay off the radar. The Normandy will have to stay on low orbit, with all the risks it implies. Lawson?"

"My father owns a few buildings in London," she said as the map zoomed on one in particular, three white towers swirling together to insane heights, "but he lives in this one, the Lawson Towers. It's a small city within the city, with twenty thousands people living and working in a controlled self-sustaining environment. He installed his palace on top of the towers, one point eight kilometers above ground, in a glass bubble completely separated from the rest of the world." She paused a second, eyes almost closed, then continued. "The penthouse is a bunker. You can't break through the glass and security is tight. We can't barge in from the sky."

"Are those antennas?" Garrus asked, pointing at a spire on a side of the building.

"And maintenance and ventilation shafts, yes," Lawson nodded.

"Maybe we can use that."

"The only access I know is an elevator, big enough to lift a container, but it's too well guarded."

"I doubt your daddy's bodyguards ever fought against a team like mine though," Shepard smirked as she stood up. "Alright, it's not the final plan but it's the plan so far. Javik and Wrex, you'll both lead a team each and you'll knock on the big door. Lawson, Vakarian and I will find our way through the ventilation shafts. EDI, find us a way as soon as your maps are updated."

"Yes, Commander."

"Krios will want to come with us," Lawson warned.

"Myeah," Shepard grumbled. "I don't like the idea but who knows, maybe he'll be useful."

"Can we pick our own men?" Wrex asked.

"Yep," Shepard nodded. "Except for Solus. He's currently my favorite so I want to keep him safe." Mordin didn't appreciate the comment and Wrew knew why. The Salarian had reached his limit during his trip on Tuchanka and was still recovering. That was a big change compared to their mission in the weird spacestation out of the galactic disk. Mordin had showed signs of fatigue during and after that mission, but nothing comparable to what he was experiencing after Tuchanka. His smell was even a bit different than before. In short, his health wasn't getting better. Shepard was right to keep his skinny ass in the ship.

"I thought I was your favorite," Joker yelled from the cockpit.

"I thought it was the Turian," Wrex snorted to hide another dolor in his stomach. Garrus frowned, mandibles twitching, not amused.

"I thought that too," Javik added and something quite interesting happened. Shepard smirked but her smell completely changed. For a second, she reeked of fear and anxiety, the typical reaction when a secret was discovered.

Of course, Javik would know what Shepard was hiding. His mind had completely invaded Shepard's when he had woken up on Eden Prime, and she had managed to survive just because she had been in contact with a prothean Beacon a few years before that. Javik didn't need to touch Shepard to know what she was thinking and feeling because of that melding. It wasn't a melding like the Asaris did it, Javik had told Wrex once, more like a copy of Shepard's mind, memories included, living within him. Touching her sort of updated the data he kept, but he didn't need to do that often. Shepard was an adult, her core personality didn't change much now. Her feelings could though, and apparently she was more attached to the Turian than what she let appear. Wrex chuckled. Oh he'll just love to tease her with that, he knew it.

"He can't be my favorite anymore because he abandoned my Black Widow on Tuchanka," Shepard lied to change the subject.

"Your new one awaits on the Citadel," Garrus grunted. "I told you last week."

"Too late, Vakarian," Shepard dramatically replied. "You betrayed me. Our relationship will never be the same again."

"I'll keep it for me then."

Shepard produced a funny undignified little squealing that made Wrex laugh. "Dismissed," she grumbled, her cheeks redder than usual. "No need to make further plans as long as we don't have a clear idea of what we'll face. Lawson, stay with me for a minute."

Wrex waited to be in the elevator to talk to Javik, even if Garrus was with them. Talking to Javik had been somehow difficult lately, because of Wrex' lies. He missed his friend a bit, to be honest, but he didn't see how he could repair what he had damaged. A simple excuse for lying to Javik wouldn't do it, truth was too important to Protheans for that. Maybe the next mission would help, maybe crushing security guards together would remind Javik how great they were together. But Shepard wanted them to both lead a team. They'd work together, sure, but not together together.

"So," Wrex hesitated, refraining a wince as his stomachs hurt again, "who do you want in your team? We're covered in biotics so we need a tech and support each, right?"

"Take who you want," Javik shrugged, "I don't care." The doors of the elevator opened on third deck before Wrex could say something else. "I'll give a tour to the Drell while you remove your belongings from Life Support," he said to Garrus.

"Thanks," the Turian replied, defeated. Javik left both of them, already yelling at the crew. Wrex sighed.

"Need a hand?" he asked, following Garrus in the corridor.

"Huh..."

"Yeah, I'm sure I've seen pretty much everything possible in my life so your shameful collection of photos of Shepard won't change anything," Wrex mocked. "Heck, I can even give you some if you want."

"I don't have pictures of her," Garrus grumbled as the door of Life Support opened. Wrex chuckled.

The air was warm and full of the Turian's smell, a mix of his own leathery body odor, gun oil, metal and rubber. The rubber was new though. Wrex looked around even if he hadn't been invited in and saw some sort of sculpted latex past on Garrus' desk, a gun handle with shavings all around. The handle wasn't for a three-fingers species. Wrex smirked. The kid was sculpting a customed one for Shepard's new Black Widow. If that wasn't dedication, he didn't know what else.

The room was otherwise clean and in order, as expected from a Turian. Wrex had never seen one messy, not even Nihlus. Garrus' collection of weapons was aligned on the wall, well cared for, but not charged. A few clips were hidden here and there in the room, Wrex learned as he watched Garrus regroup his belongings. Freaking Turians. People thought Krogans were dangerous, and they were right, but Turians weren't better. A good bunch of them never truly recovered from their mandatory military service. The most worrying were kept in the army but otherwise the others became civilians – not that the word meant something for them since every adult was technically part of the reserve. Normal, boring everyday life didn't suit them, that was why so many mercs were Turians. They needed a battlefield to exist, especially the generation who had lived through the Relay 314 Incident. Those were between seventy and fifty years old now, the age of adulthood and the first companion for Turians. They would surely produce healthy kids not xenophobic at all, Wrex ironically thought.

Everything Garrus possessed fit in two military suitcases and some sort of backpack. It was kind of sad to be honest but Wrex didn't want to pity the kid because he had even less in his name. He helped him carry everything to his new quarters, a room easily four to five times bigger, dark, cold and still smelling like Liara. Her bed was untouched in the alcove behind her office. Wrex regularly had news of the kid via emails but he missed her nonetheless. He had liked Liara from the beginning, contrary to Shepard who had kept her distances for months with the clumsy archeologist. Liara's addition to the crew had been refreshing. She wasn't a soldier nor a mercenary, she had lived a civilian life far from a militarized society, she had had a mother, friends to argue with without any dramatic consequences, she had gone to school, to restaurants, to museums, to movies without imagining for a second people, maybe friends, were dying at the same time. Wrex knew Shepard had hated Liara's innocence at first but he had welcomed it, embraced it and even loved it. Damn, he missed her, and he put the pain in his abdomen on that feeling.

"You think I can move the bed to the reserve?" Garrus asked, leaning his suitcases against a wall. "I can't use it."

"Ah, of course," Wrex mocked, "you use Shepard's."

"What?" Garrus frowned.

"You know," Wrex said and he vigorously jerked his hips against an imaginary girlfriend.

Garrus clicked, annoyed. "You people are obsessed with that," he grumbled.

"With what?" Wrex snorted. "Sex? On a military ship, with a lot of free time on our hands? Oh Garrus, how naive you are."

"I'm far from naive," the Turian replied, folding his arms, "and I'm fully aware of how soldiers pass time. I was referring to Shepard and I. There is nothing sexual between us."

"Yeah, keep telling you that, kiddo," Wrex stepped back, hands up and smirking. He didn't let Garrus time to think too much about it. "Anyway, grab the mattress," Wrex said, "I'll take the spring-bed."

Garrus frowned before complying. They both were tall and strong enough to not be really bothered by the furniture. An elevator ride and a couple of stairs later, they put them in the small local with spares of everything in the inter-bridge Legion had claimed as its. The Geth looked at them, a book in hand, but didn't offer to help.

"What are your thoughts on the teams?" Wrex asked as they walked back to the elevator. The damn thing had been used by somebody else meanwhile and they had to wait for it.

"Why don't you ask Javik?"

"There's a bit of a bad jam between us," Wrex admitted, looking at Javik's door on his right. That was the first time he told it to anyone. It felt weird – and burning, but that was his stomachs again.

Garrus folded his arms as he waited for the elevator, thinking for a few seconds. "How bad is the jam between Tali'Zorah and you?" he asked, pointing at Tali's door.

"Very bad," Wrex winced. They could still work together because they both knew how to do their job, but trust and friendship were probably gone for good. It was better that way. Tali was a Quarian, she couldn't be exposed to Wrex' shit.

"I don't know what Lawson and Krios are capable of," Garrus said, "so it's better for you and Javik to have teams of four, just in case we need backup. You should take Legion as tech, it can double as support. Massani and Vega for support too."

"Why them?"

"Because Javik can't stand Massani and Vega can learn from you more than from Javik, I think," Garrus explained.

"And who will go with Javik then?"

"Tali'Zorah, Alenko and Williams."

"Javik doesn't need another biotic and he'll lack firepower with that configuration," Wrex replied. Not that Javik needed it. "I'll take Kaidan and Vega will go with Javik, it's better that way."

Garrus looked at Wrex as the elevator's doors opened, mandible twitching. "You made your choice before asking me, didn't you?"

"I did," Wrex smirked, walking in with the Turian, "but you gotta learn, kiddo. I have ten times Shepard's experience and I know her people as well as her, if not better." He poked his nose when Garrus looked unconvinced. "You can lie with your mouth and your body, but not with your smells, not to a Krogan anyway."

Garrus, pressing the button for third deck, kept on staring at Wrex with his piercing blue eyes. "I too have something to detect liars," he said, and Wrex felt his insides doing knots. Dammit, he should have eaten in that Mexican restaurant, maybe it would have ended up better for him.

"Yeah?" Wrex smiled, uncomfortable.

Garrus taped his visor. "Heartbeat frequency. But a good liar can trick it. Shepard usually is a good liar, and she sure knows how to dodge the bullet when she doesn't want to talk, but you're a shitty one all the time." Wrex gulped. Could Garrus' toy also detect what grew inside him? "So," the Turian continued, savoring his words, "about that truth serum..."

Idiot, Wrex thought but he felt relieved nonetheless as the doors closed.

Shepard's work rarely took the crew to overpopulated planets with glimmering cities so vast you couldn't see the end of it. Wrex had been impressed by the large bright areas all over the planet during their descent through the atmosphere. Those cities were like abyssal bio-luminescent creatures with countless tentacles inviting their preys into their traps. It reminded him of Illium but ground level was nothing like the asari colony. The buildings were small and old, glued together in a smog smelling like rotting fish, coal and Humans. Wrex was kind of disappointed, to be honest.

It was stupid to start their invasion by the Lawson Towers' entrance on ground level so Cortez opened fire on the windows of a level close to the top. Wrex jumped first in the building, Javik just behind him. They made sure nobody was in that large apartment they had landed in while the rest of their teams followed them. Wrex gave the all clear to Shepard and the shuttle left them. The big elevator Lawson had mentioned was in a maintenance shaft at the center of the first tower. It was supposedly well guarded but probably not this high in the structure. Surely alarms had started ringing all around with this intrusion but the teams would be on their way up by the time any guard would show up.

Wrex took point with his team while Javik and his men took the rear. EDI's maps were up to date and the security system couldn't do shit against a single Geth so it didn't take long for them to find first the stairs, then the maintenance shaft. The only problem they encountered was the doors. They just were not the right size for Krogans and it proved difficult to pass through. The elevator was more like a big platform with railing all around than a closed box. Good. Wrex didn't like to be a sitting duck. A hack later, the elevator was theirs and all the doors giving on the maintenance shaft electromagnetically locked. They just had to sit tight and enjoy the ride until the top.

"Shep," Wrex called by the radio, the pain in his stomach waking up after a few hours of tranquility, "how is it going for you?"

"Turians are not made to crawl in ventilation towers," she replied, quite amused. Wrex heard Garrus growl something behind but he didn't get it quite right. "Krios helped though. I swear the guy is boneless. That's both impressive and disgusting. And you?"

"It's been easy so far," Wrex shrugged. "High security is a joke on your planet."

"Ow, don't be sad," Shepard mocked, "there'll be bad guys to shoot at later."

"I'm pretty sure we're the bad guys this time, Shep," Wrex replied, half-joking.

"It's a question of point of view," she admitted. "As far as I'm concerned, I'm the classic misunderstood hero saving Humanity's ass against its will, again."

Wrex snorted. An explosion a few stories above destroyed one of the elevator's door. Javik used his biotics to stop the metallic debris raining in the shaft and threw them back. "Gotta go," Wrex said before shutting down the radio. He had waited for something like that to use his Christmas present. Wrex took the black hole gun from his back, vaguely aimed while it charged and pulled the trigger. A radiant sphere of energy formed in the middle of the security guards and teared off weapons, members and even a part of the corridor as the elevator continued to go up. Wrex waved at the panicked survivors when the platform passed in front of the exit.

"That was..." Vega hesitated.

"Disgusting," Williams spat. "What the Hell, Wrex?!"

"I was going for efficient," Vega commented, "but, yeah, kind of disgusting too." Zaeed chuckled.

"We're not here to play nice," Wrex reminded the Humans, putting the gun in the small of his back. The pain in his abdomen was slowly pulsing. That was new. He felt a warmth growing in his stomachs, expending with each pulse.

"Those guys are not soldiers or mercs!" Williams kept on yelling. "They're security guards! They're not paid to deal with this kind of shit!"

"Security guards with military grade weapons," Zaeed intervened. He was right to do so. Anything coming from an alien, or a friend of Shepard's, would only envenom the situation. "Look, Sweetheart, sure, they're paid to take care of reporters and activists, not outer space mercenaries and whatever this guy is," he gestured to Javik, who frowned in return, "but, first rule of the job, that's not our bloody problem."

"I'm not a fucking mercenary!" Williams cringed.

"You're an ex-Alliance gun for hire," Zaeed snorted. "If that doesn't qualify you as a merc, I don't know what else."

That didn't please the lady at all but Javik spoke before she could protest again. "Shut your mouth, the both of you. We are on a mission, people."

"Relax," Vega tempered, "everything is under control."

Wrex honestly thought for a second the kid had lost his mind. Javik didn't tolerate this kind of command and it showed on his face as he turned slowly to the Lieutenant, a green glow surrounding him already. Fortunately for Vega, who had pissed his pants at this point, the elevator suddenly stopped and all the maintenance lights went off, only to be replaced by red ones – plus Legion's lights and Javik's glow. Without the noise made by the elevator, even Wrex could hear men yelling maybe two stories above them, at the top of the shaft. A comity was waiting for them. Good, that meant nobody would think to check Shepard's route.

"They cut the power," Tali said, keying on her omnitool.

"What about emergency generators?" Alenko asked, looking over Tali's shoulder.

"Not online."

"They cut the lines then," Zaeed understood, readying his assault rifle. "Smart bastards."

Wrex looked around and checked the maps on his omitool. They could reach an elevator door giving on a maintenance corridor but the only way to Lawson's bunker was that damn shaft they were in. The platform was the only access, period, and it was protected by two layers of heavy reinforced horizontal steel doors maybe ten meters above them now, operated by hydraulic cylinders. That was a lot of work for a single Krogan, but this one had a magic gun with him. Wrex exchanged a look with Javik and they both nodded. The Prothean took the lead, jumping on the ladder along the shaft with ease, and ordered the others to follow. Wrex stayed back, took his black hole gun, aimed and pulled the trigger.

The flashing sphere of dark energy dug a hole in the melting doors and drops of red hot steel rained on the platform. Wrex jumped back against the wall to avoid them while Javik used his biotics to push what was left of the doors in the ground, with only one hand. Wrex had counted for the welcoming comity to fire at will once the doors opened but they were apparently too astonished to do anything. Zaeed used that to his advantage and threw a few grenades on what looked like a hangar above them. They felt the heat wave even in the shaft.

"I'm going in," Javik yelled over the noise. "Find cover and keep your formation."

And with that he released the ladder and jumped in mid-air, only to be lifted by his own biotics. That reminded Wrex of all those superheros movies the Humans in the crew were so fond of and he had to admit it was pretty cool – maybe he could learn to do that too.

"Legion," Wrex barked, "you go first."

"Affirmative," the Geth replied and he climbed over Zaeed and Alenko without even touching them, like an enormous metallic spider.

"Alenko," Wrex continued, "you're next. You two, cover the others while they climb."

"Yes Sir," the good little soldier yelled back.

A Human in heavy gear fell on the platform as Wrex reached the ladder. He was dead, his body twisted and broken before the fall, but his armor was interesting. That was military grade protection or Wrex wasn't Krogan. That meant Lawson had a few different teams securing his ass, maybe some old army goons like Zaeed. Security was a job like another after a contract in the army, regardless of your species.

Wrex was the last one on the ladder and he just had to raise his eyes to see Tali's lovely ass. He didn't say a word about it though – to take a kick in the face? no thank you – and eventually reached the hangar. It was a bloody mess, as expected. Javik wasn't holding back, throwing dudes around with his biotics, bullets bouncing off his shield, while Williams and Legion snipped all they wanted. Zaeed, Vega and Alenko weren't shooting much and Tali was busy hacking something, Wrex didn't know what. There wasn't much cover for a Krogan his size so Wrex decided to do without. He stood, Claymore in hand, and made sure to be generous with his bullets as he walked through the ranks. Fifty men in total, counting the already dead, maybe sixty, that wasn't much for a guy like Lawson.

A grenade rebounded on a nearby truck and rolled next to Wrex' feet. The explosion threw him on the ground but his barrier prevented a dolorous dislocation – growing back a limb took time and it was fucking annoying so Wrex tried to avoid that as much as possible. A little disoriented, Wrex rolled left and right to get back on his feet. It took him maybe three seconds to kneel, but that was enough for a guy to sneak in and stuck the barrel of his assault rifle against Wrex's forehead. Shit, he thought. His barrier was shattered by the first bullet. Wrex punched the Human in the guts but it only deviated so far the weapon, and the rest of the clip was unloaded in his throat.

Aralakh must have been watching over Wrex from outerspace because those bullets were regular, not full of plutonium or other chemicals that would have lit Wrex like a torch. Instead, they just reaped half his throat off and were ironically stopped by his armor, but on their way out in the back. Adrenaline helped to ignore the pain and Wrex used the few seconds he had before the massive blood loss to finish that guy, using a wrap on him to shred him from the inside. The Human died in an instant, regardless of his armor.

Krogans may have had secondary everything packed in their bodies but when your throat and lungs had been reaped apart, it didn't help to have two sets of balls. Wrex couldn't stand up, his head was already light and his vision blurry, with white and black spots appearing at random. Still kneeling, he had to stabilize himself with a hand on the ground and his orange blood splashed on the concrete floor. That was a lot of blood, Wrex thought, breathing heavily. He could feel bubbles forming in his lungs and all the tubes around but it wasn't dolorous. It was only one of those silly details you climb on to when you were hurt pretty bad. Wrex knew the oddity of the process well enough. He had almost died a bunch of times and he could remember all of those special occasions precisely, thanks to the thing growing in him. He didn't know why or how but the thing had done its work properly. Wrex had remembered so much in the past couple of weeks that he had felt obligated to write those memories down, for later, for when a bullet would have shredded his brain again, for posterity. For Shepard.

Wrex heard Tali scream his name in the haze of his asphyxiation but he was more interested in the black drops falling in the pool of his blood on the floor. Black wasn't normal, he vaguely thought, and that's when the pain finally hit him. Wrex roared as he felt all his organs being sucked, reaped out of his body, shredded into goo in the process. It was like something was pulling his guts by the hole in his throat, agonizingly slowly. He felt long burning treads sliding along his veins, along his muscle fibers, along his nerves, from his toes to his head, billions of sharp little hooks scratching whatever was left behind. It was worse than anything Wrex had even survived to, worse than that rocket that cut off his leg on his first paid job, worse than the bite of the absolute zero on his face when the glass of his helmet had exploded, worse than the wrap his father had used on him to shred him to pieces after his betrayal.

Long claws pushed Wrex' head on the side with so much force the hole in his throat became a gap extending to his shoulder. Wrex could see the enormous creature towering over him, a goo-like monster with countless tentacles. It was going out. It was going to escape and it was going to kill everything around, Wrex just knew it. The phax or whatever it truly was needed to feed and finish its transformation, Wrex could feel it. His eyes fell on Tali, aghast, a few meters from him, watching the creature getting out of its stupid host. Wrex grabbed the handle of the black hole gun without even thinking and aimed at the creature.

The phax was quicker than him. It gripped Wrex's arm like a snake and clamped to it until it broke to pieces, armor included. Wrex released the gun. He couldn't fight anymore. He had lost too much blood and his body was nothing but excruciating pain. When the phax reaped his arm off, it wasn't even as painful as what he had just experienced, and that made Wrex laugh. He had thought he could handle that! That was just pathetic of him. Shepard was going to be so pissed.

Wrex felt warmth surrounding him and he opened his eyes to see a green glow all around. Javik. Good. It there was someone capable of taking care of Wrex' biggest screw up ever, it was Javik. The Prothean lifted Wrex and the phax off the ground and suddenly pushed the creature out with a violent burst of biotics. Wrex hit the ground hard, incapable of cushioning the fall. He wasn't capable of much, not even moving his fingers – the good ones, not those still attached to what was left of his other arm a few meters from him. He vaguely noticed Javik walking to him, still glowing, his fist at shoulder level, a gun in the other. Sweet, sweet release. Wrex would have begged for it if he had been able to but he couldn't talk with what was left of his throat. Javik stood above him, tall for once, and looked at him with pity.

"You better be sorry," he said as he aimed.

I am, Wrex thought and Javik pulled the trigger.

TBC

AN: please remember to not spoil in the reviews. And to write reviews too, if you have 5 minutes to spare. That's not much compared to the ten hours I spend on each chapter, is it? Thank you!