Did I mention how happy I am that we're now, really, in ME2?
I didn't expect it to take a year but here we are. Here's to what might be another great year of story-telling. :D
Chapter 38
She didn't make it in time.
She knew that much from the stories—she passed every alley, every bar in Omega. Archangel was gone. The last man standing, so they whispered. One rumor was Archangel got blown up by Blue Sun's gunship. Another was that he just got overrun by the Blood Pack and got eaten by their varren.
Somebody, but though people thought him crazy, saw a ghost walk up to that base and try to save him. She knew that ghost, however, and she knew that if he was successful and Archangel was safe—then she owed him another heavy debt.
Before visiting Aria to confirm that fact, she needed to go to Archangel HQ to collect. She passed the familiar roads, the old haunts—walked down that one bottleneck bridge. She noted the devastation, the young bodies of nobodies and the Blue Suns, Blood Pack, and Eclipse.
Bullets marked the walls, scorch marks from Incinerates and explosions—signs of battle covered every floor. She traced the HQ, a halfway house of sorts to her; she willed herself to at least recall some good memories and then leave. Not that the people in this house had been empty shells to her—she had cared for them, some more than others. If she could, she'd have sent Grundan's body to be cremated and sprinkle the ashes in a garden somewhere, somewhere with lilies—his mother's namesake and his father's favorite flower.
She bit her lip. No, she thought, not here.
Had she been Shepard, there would be no end to the hurt that she would bring. When her squad had been killed by the Thresher Maw in Akuze, Shepard wasn't fully ready to heal—wasn't fully prepared to take up the mantle to lead the Dominion either. In the guise of getting over it, she dragged her feet until compromise corrupted character. Cerberus did suffer for that.
When she reached the second floor, she noted the different colored blood stains—the quarters specifically, had been marred by scorch marks, spent clips, and blue turian blood.
Garrus. What was he doing now? How was he feeling? She had lost a whole team before but how did it compare to this? Was he—dead? Not likely, she liked to think. She had yet to find a body and she wouldn't believe until she saw one.
She turned away from the room, making her way into the surveillance room instead. She eyed the broken screen and empty cargo boxes—was Erash dead as well? She didn't find his corpse in the tomb of his surveillance laboratory but he could have died elsewhere—maybe his body had been fodder for an effigy or worse.
She wasn't looking for his body though. She came here for someone else.
The sound was soft—a breath, barely awake. Her entire back stiffened before relaxing—her hand went straight for the sword at her hips. Ears searched for the sound, another raspy tiny breath and she crouched down, at the end of the room where the cargo boxes were piled up. Slowly, she made her way towards it, feet padded and silent—on the tips of her toes she sifted through the cargo—and found who she was looking for.
"Your Intel is right. Archangel and his batarian friend boarded the Normandy. One of them—Mel, is feeding of the power vacuum left behind."
"And the doctor?"
Aria gave her one of those looks. She was expecting it. She did have a six month old baby in her arms, a bottle to his lips, wrapped in clean warm blankets. She'd also purchased a pair of muffs to drown the sounds of Afterlife, but the club was still no place for a baby—and she'd gotten incredulous "You've got be kidding me" expressions on the way up here. She'd also gotten predatory ones, but she could draw her sidearm faster than most of them could think—baby in one arm be damned—and it did help that Aria's people knew her and shadowed her as she got to the right floor.
"He boarded as well after Alenko cured the plague. Why didn't you ask him yourself?"
"And let Cerberus trace his mail to my location?"
Aria blinked, turning to look at her aids before waving a hand for them to leave along with the dancers who were cooing after the baby. "You're as paranoid as ever."
"Says the asari who just sent her entire force downstairs so they wouldn't hear us talk— even after they've been working for her for a decade." She adjusted the baby bottle so Garret could drink the last few gulps quicker. "And how was our commander, Aria?"
"Collecting people. No doubt—twisted crew members for something Cerberus worthy. I can't say all the facts check out but he'd been to other places and adding more people on his ship. We'll have to wait and see." Aria stretched her arms along the back of her couch. "He does good work. Not great work, but good. The plague was a huge headache, luckily the Patriarch had some info on that to aid Alenko. Then he got rid of it. And the mercs? They needed a dressing down." Looking down from her nose at the baby, Aria smirked. "And he did all of that for free."
"I still had to do so many things for you, just so you wouldn't kill him on sight."
"Huh. I hate the way his hair was perfectly quaffed—no amount of payment could stop me from feeling that. Also," She paused with a great breath. "I wanted to kick his face."
"I'm sure the feeling was mutual. You're not exactly his idea of the ideal woman." She stood with a nod, the baby barely stirred—but there wasn't anything in the bottle anymore and she still needed to buy him things. With the new baby gear, she slid the bottle into one of the holders of her new belt. "Thank you for being accommodating, as always, Aria."
"Hn." To her surprise, the asari stood—still eying the baby a bit before looking back at her face again—then at the baby.
She sighed. "Okay, what is it?"
"Are," Aria glared at her, like it was her fault that she couldn't complete her question. She stood leaning back against one leg. Garret made cute cooing noises babies shouldn't be allowed to do. "Are you going to be okay?"
"Please, I know how to handle babies—I know that may surprise you, but I've had experience." She smiled at how much darker Aria's glare became when she added: "Besides, you were a mother yourself. How hard could it be?"
"Hah. Bitch."
"Don't teach the kid foul language." She mock frowned and drew the baby closer to her.
Aria's smirk returned before she reached out for the kid, slowly, she moved the shock of blonde hair from his chubby face. It was probably the most—gentle— she'd ever seen Aria be, and they'd been "friends" for a very long time. The asari, after some more staring, finally turned to look her in the eye. "I could learn how to be a father as well."
True terror struck her just then. She recovered quickly before the cold sweat could break out. "I hate your jokes."
Aria titled her head back and laughed, loud enough that it may have reached the lower floor. Somebody may have just pissed his pants at the sound of it. "Stay alive. I'll have a few of my men shadow you until you leave Omega. I know you hate depending on guns that aren't yours but do it for the kid's sake."
"Thank you." She nodded. "Likewise."
As she was leaving, Aria cleared her throat. "If the position of father—"
"Shut up."
"So? Did our stories check out?"
Joker swiveled on his pilot seat to greet her, a half-smile on his face that reminded her too much of Amadeus (who she still had to find, that bastard). She shook her head, plopping herself on one of the chairs near the doorway.
"Yeah, I've confirmed that Erash did join Garrus and boarded Alenko's ship. The doctor is with them too."
"And—the kid?"
"Sleeping. VI's watching over him. Downloaded the best one on human baby care."
Joker may not have known Nalah and she never really talked about her with him, but he did have the deepest frown she'd ever seen to date. "He's barely a year old. Will you be able to take care of him?"
She chuckled. "I have a soft spot for kids."
"Do you?" A dead-panned reply. "Because last I recall you hated people."
"I do hate people." She nodded immediately. "But children are nice. But—my last mission in the Alliance involved a kid. It didn't end well." She looked down. "Since then, I thought I didn't have a right to even be near one. But my interactions with Gregor in Tuchanka weren't so bad—"
"I don't think krogan kids are really children. And not because I'm being a xenophob, but more because they weigh twice as much as a human adult—"
"And this is Nalah's kid." She smiled. "I can afford to make an exception."
"She—" Joker hesitated, his arms and hands were on the rest and his knuckles turned white as he gripped them. "Was she important to you?"
"She was—my first friend, whether I knew it then or not. She was one of the few who knew my childhood name. There aren't a lot of people who know it."
"I'm sorry for your loss, Legacy." He closed his eyes. "Fuck, I'm sorry I can't get the tone to say sorry right either but—look, you've comforted me about the Commander and you did a good job at that. I'm just sorry I can't give you the same support."
She leaned forward and shook her head. "Don't be sorry. It's not your fault she passed away."
"It is someone's fault though."
"Yes," She didn't bother to mask the sharp sheen of her eyes. "I plan to collect."
Not just for her, she thought. But for Garrus, and Nalah's son. Erash. Melanis, despite the fact that the two never truly got along. And all the good men and women who were left for dead.
"Right now," She blinked, returning to the present. "We've done our part and the Commander is awake—which means we leave the forefront and return to giving obscure support. Some necessary polishing, so to speak. But for the most part? I left the right people in the right places. We're just about done."
Joker sighed. Maybe he expected the drama to last a little longer before they went back to business. She knew crying in front of someone new wasn't going to make her feel better. Nalah wouldn't want her to become a sobbing mess.
"I can't believe Cerberus really resurrected him."
"Hey, what's money for if it can't bring you back to life, right?" She chuckled. Leaning back against the chair, she allowed the cushions to form around her shape. "I think it's about time you decide yourself."
"Decide on what?"
"Going back to the Normandy."
"What?" He blinked several times before his eyes widened. "I never even considered leaving the Temperament."
"You should. She was your baby after all."
"What? And leave you here? Alone? With a real baby? Legacy, no offence, but you'd probably crash into nearest the floating space junk you can find. And I don't want the kid to become an orphan again."
She frowned. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying you're a horrible driver. The Temperament may not have the stealth system Aelia Vakarian had designed for the Normandy—but damn, have I told you how happy I am that this ship was designed by her?"
She crossed her arms. "Don't change the subject. You're an Alliance pilot, Joker. The best damn one, remember? There are no hard feelings between us if you choose to go back to the Normandy."
"Hah, I drove a dilapidated cargo vessel from Tuchanka to Omega for almost two damn years. That's like riding back and forth between all the rings of hell. I made it last through a hundred attempted pirate raids, a crash from freaking planet cannons—fuck best Alliance pilot, right? I am the best damn pilot in the galaxy and the Temperament can take me there. You can take me there, captain."
"Hey now, I left the Alliance before I could earn that rank."
He smiled. "For what it's worth, Legacy, you're the only commanding officer I've ever really wanted to listen to. And you know I've worked under other living Alliance legends that didn't go rogue. I'm going in whatever ship you're commandeering, ma'am."
"If you're sure."
"Dead sure."
"Hey, you don't know about that anymore. Cue Alenko."
"Hah, Reapers are assholes sure."
"Very well." She shot him a winning smile. "I'd love to have you aboard as my pilot then, Joker."
"Careful there, Legacy. You're using strong language you might actually mean." He raised his hands in surrender at her mock glare. "But what are we up to now? Alenko is back, and he'll go around cashing in all the favors you've gathered for him so far—he already took the one from Aria. Don't we need to let him know what we've uncovered?"
"Not directly." She stood up, hand on her hip. "I find that feeding people information dumbs them down and draws unwarranted attention to myself. We filter it through informants, those informants will tell Cerberus informants—"
"And we look like we were never involved."
"Exactly. We dump things inside several pipelines and they'll lead to the same ocean."
"I like the way you Black Ops think, Legacy."
"Shepard."
Joker looked up from smiling to himself, eyes wide and sparkling. "What?"
"My name. Rai Shepard." She smiled back. "I'll be plotting our next destination on the map, helmsman. Where we're going—isn't the prettiest place."
"Come on, Shepard." He said her new name seamlessly. "What could be worse than Omega?"
