Chapter 77: Duality
A reflection may act
It may breathe
It may seem
Yet it does not live for itself
"So!" Garrus commented as they returned to the apartment, "Nice party! Well…unless you were the host. Didn't turn out so well for him."
Terra groaned, shaking her head. "Just tell everyone what happened." While he went to do so, she turned to Brooks. "You should start working on the drives with EDI." She waited until Brooks complied before heading in herself.
Almost immediately, the others started making sarcastic comments, as was to be expected by now. These included but were not limited to James' "Yikes, commander, you can't even attend a party without someone ending up dead," Joker's "I could go for some food while we wait. Too bad you shot the best sushi place on the Citadel to pieces," and Solana's especially biting "Nice job taking down the smuggler. Oh, wait, that wasn't you?" Terra finally turned to the one person she could rely on not to provoke the taunts further.
Violet was sitting at the piano, gently tracing the keys with her fingers.
Terra smiled. She had missed seeing her sister in her element. "If you want to play, go ahead. No one else here can, as far as I'm aware."
Violet smiled back. "Maybe I will. It's just been a long time." She then turned to look at her sister and beamed. "Wow."
Terra rolled her eyes as she fiddled with the sleeves on her dress. "Yeah, I know." She smirked as she turned to whisper "Wait until you see the wedding dress."
"It is impressive, commander," Ashley smirked, "But I'll have you know I look pretty great in a fancy dress, too. I'm gonna need an occasion to wear one."
"The casino will be hosting another gala in a few months time," Glyph promptly suggested, "Shall I arrange for tickets, commander?"
Terra sighed. "…once was enough."
"What's the problem, Shepard?" Wrex commented as she started to walk past him, "Don't want me as your date? Too much krogan for you to handle? A lot of people have that problem. Most of them…are dead."
Terra finally shook her head and turned to head upstairs. "Just be ready for whatever EDI finds on the drive." Ignoring the continued smirks and sarcasm behind her, she went up to the balcony overlooking the living room.
Garrus was already there, recovering his visor to turn it back on before leaning against the railing and smiling at the sight of her. "They have an interesting way of showing they care."
"You mean the squabbling sibling dynamic? Yeah, it's one I'm very familiar with."
"I'm sure we'll have more time to have fun with it when this mess is over. Oh, and, uh…" He smirked as he drew closer and took her hand. "…to borrow a phrase from Vega, you look 'smoking' in that dress, Terra."
She smiled almost timidly as she drew closer in turn. Hearing Violet and Ashley say so was one thing, but hearing it from Garrus was quite another.
"You got some looks back there."
"So did you."
"Well, yeah, but the ones directed at me mostly said 'How did a turian like that get a girl like her?'"
She gave him a look of sheer admiration. "Honestly, there are days I wonder how I got lucky enough to get you."
He smiled as he drew her closer, nuzzling against her when she laid her head on his shoulder. "Guess we were just meant to be."
"…that's kind of what I figured, yeah."
As if to heighten the moment, that was when Violet tentatively pressed down a key on the piano. Steadily, she reached for more notes and then for proper chords before finally beginning to play a song. It took all of five seconds for the snarky conversation to die down in favor of giving the former prodigy a proper audience.
Terra sighed contentedly. If she could just stay in her mate's arms and listen to her sister playing until the end of time, she'd be happy.
"Commander!" Brooks called up as the song was fading out, "I think we found something!"
Of course she never got what she wanted. Maybe she'd at least have one night uninterrupted when this was settled and they were back to a real shore leave. Giving Garrus a shrug and an apologetic look, she went back downstairs with him close behind and started gathering the team for another meeting around the holo-table.
"Thought the data's root structure was erased," EDI informed them as they gathered, "the logic integrity remains viable."
"EDI has an incredible talent for this," Brooks nodded, "I mean, I know she's an AI, but still. We found an encrypted communication from a few days ago. Just need another minute to crack it."
"A whole minute?" Joker scoffed, "EDI here could shave that down to five seconds."
If EDI was flattered, she didn't show it. "I thought it best to give Staff Analyst Brooks a chance to improve her decryption skills."
"And now you've lost your chance to show off."
"Like she needs it!" Brooks scoffed, "You're the crew of the Normandy! You're legends to the Alliance!"
"Legends, huh?" Solana smirked, "What kind, might I ask?"
"The kind people look up to. The kind they owe their lives to."
"Then how come everyone's always shooting at us?" Wrex countered.
"I think that's mostly you, Wrex," Tali remarked, "The bigger the target, the bigger the…well, target."
"You're saying I've gained weight?"
"It just means there's more of the legend to love," Liara interceded, though she was unable to hide a smirk.
Just as Wrex was unable to hide a sneer.
"And the camaraderie, the friendship?" Brooks noted, "I'm starting to think that's your secret weapon."
"Ah," Terra waved her off, "it's all just part of the job."
"Wait, 'job'?!" Garrus cut in, "You mean the rest of you are getting paid for this?! Why didn't anyone tell me?!"
"Who needs money?" Violet countered, "You're getting my sister!"
Ashley immediately busted out laughing. "She has a very good point, Vakarian!"
Garrus just groaned, practically rolling his eyes.
Brooks shook her head, turning her attention back to the decryption and finding it was complete. "Here we go." She checked it, her eyes widening at what she saw. "Whoa! Those mercs who are after you? They bought a lot of weapons. Big ones!"
Ashley's flash of mirth faded almost instantaneously when she saw what came onto the display. "Mechs? What do they need with that kind of firepower?"
That was when Glyph flew in, a red flash blinking at its core.
"It appears this drone is preparing to rebel," Javik noted, already preparing to counterattack.
Liara nudged him to calm down. "Glyph, did you find something?"
"I have just monitored the commander's Spectre access code in use at the Citadel archives," the drone reported.
Terra exchanged alarmed looks with Liara. How had the identity thief gotten her Spectre codes?! She quickly told Glyph to "Show us."
Brooks looked over the display as it turned to a layout of the archives in question. "The archives are going into emergency lockdown. Whoever's hacking your records is there right now!"
"What do we know about the place?" Terra asked.
"Council keeps sensitive historical information there," Garrus explained, "Really sensitive, I'd wager, considering even my old C-Sec clearance never got me in."
"And I'm guessing your Spectre codes can't get us in if they're already logged in the system," Solana sighed.
"Then we find our own way in," Terra announced, turning to change from the dress to her armor, "Gear up and let's—" She stopped dead in her tracks when she found a volus standing in the kitchen behind her. "…uh…" She turned questioningly back to the others. "…how did this guy get in?"
"Oh, pizza delivery guy," James explained, "I got the munchies."
"Double pepperoni," the volus confirmed, holding up a box.
Brooks made the understandable decision to ignore this and continue looking over the display. "These archives are huge. You'll have a lot of ground to cover. Shame you can't bring everyone."
Terra smirked. "Who says we can't? All hands on deck for this one."
"Alright!" James agreed enthusiastically, "But, uh, who gets to take point with you?"
Wrex quickly turned to give Terra an insistent look. "Ahem."
"Uh, ahem?" Solana retorted.
"Ahem," Tali concurred.
"Ahem!" Garrus interjected.
"Ahem!" the volus suddenly cut back in, "Who's going to pay the bill?"
Twenty minutes later…
Joker kindly volunteered to stay behind with Violet, but everyone else was set on coming along. This meant there'd be a grand total of 12 people joining in the assault, which necessitated splitting into three teams of four—Cortez, Ashley, EDI, and Javik as Team Hammerhead; Brooks, Liara, James, and Tali as Team Mako; and Terra, Garrus, Solana, and Wrex leading the charge. They arranged themselves this way even in the skycars on the way there, all connected over COMMs as they raced towards their destination.
"What's the best way into the archives?" Terra asked as they took off.
"The facility is located below the Wards," Brooks answered, "so maybe a direct breach for maximum surprise?"
Terra smirked as she finished checking her gear. "I like it. Sounds like you're learning the ropes."
"Hey," Cortez commented, "stick with us long enough and you'll learn ropes, knives, bombs, thresher maws…"
"Don't hang around too long, though," Wrex countered as they started to land, "or you'll start making friends with asari."
"I heard that!" Liara snapped as they moved out.
As they gathered, Brooks pointed them to a particular area. "This is it. The archives are right below us. Might be a little tricky to get in."
James smirked, pulling out an explosive. "Not really."
Terra stepped back, trying not to wonder how long he'd been carrying that.
When the explosive went off and took the floor with it, opening the path into the archives, Wrex immediately dropped in. "Krogan first!" he called smugly as he readied his shotgun, "See you at the party, princesses!"
Liara rolled her eyes before dropping in behind him.
The rest of the squad quickly followed, spreading out into their respective groups when they reached the first fork in the road. The room they entered in was empty, but they still had eyes on each other as they made their way in. Terra signaled them all to keep going, eyes forward and steps quiet, as they readied for the worst to happen.
So, naturally, the worst happened. Almost immediately, they all had laser sights trained on them.
Terra groaned as she drew her rifle. "Not this again!"
Right on cue, the lights all slammed on and a contingent of CAT6 mercenaries swarmed into the room.
"Ambush!" Wrex announced as if it wasn't obvious as he charged in.
"Scatter and take cover!" Terra called to the others as she shot down the first merc to take aim on her so she could duck down and start lining up shots.
"In the old days, we had at least five minutes before a mission went south!" Wrex scoffed even as he started shooting down their opponents.
If the mercs' startled reactions were anything to go by, they hadn't been expecting Terra to bring her entire squad and Solana, Cortez, and Brooks (and that's not even mentioning the alarmed cries she heard of "They've got a krogan!" to her satisfied delight). It was only a matter of time before the mercs were all mowed down.
"Brooks, you OK?" Terra asked between shots.
"Upstairs!" Brooks answered, "Scattering and taking cover!"
"Don't lose sight of each other. We're outnumbered in closed quarters and—"
"AH!"
"Brooks?!"
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Just as the squad had solidified the upper hand, someone on a balcony overlooking the room stepped up with a gun. Holding Brooks hostage. "Drop your weapons or this won't end well for her!"
Terra might've been convinced that they could somehow maneuver Brooks out of danger, but the whole scenario had been enough of a diversion to the fight to lure everyone into the open and, since the mercs had clearly been expecting it, into a concentrated line of fire. Even if they managed to handle that particular issue without any major injuries, it really wouldn't end well for Brooks. Limited options. One of Terra's least favorite positions. She finally grudgingly tossed her rifle down, enough signal to the others to go along with it for now.
The mysterious figure, clearly their identity thief, pushed Brooks off the balcony.
While Brooks recovered from the fall and stumbled off to regroup with Team Mako, Terra turned to glare down their adversary. "Whoever you are, your little plan is gonna fail. And then there'll be nowhere you can hide where we won't find you."
The shadow scoffed. "Hide? Why?" And then stepped into the light. "I'm Commander Shepard. I never hide."
Anyone watching from the outside would think the entire archives had been frozen in place as the shock of the moment descended on them all.
"Really?!" Tali finally groaned, "Really?"
"…OK…" Garrus said, "…not exactly how I saw this playing out."
"Yeah, this gig just keeps getting weirder and weirder," James added.
Sure enough, though, the figure that jumped down from the balcony to face them head-on was a human woman with the same face as Terra Shepard. Even in a different armor set and without her wavy brown hair pulled into its traditional style, it was plain to see. She didn't even have a similar appearance, like Violet, she was identical.
Terra, understandably, was the most stunned of all of them. "This is…what?! Who are you?! Where did you come from?!"
"The same DNA as you," she sneered as she stepped up to stare her down.
"A clone," Wrex surmised.
"Cerberus spared no expense resurrecting you. I was created in case you needed any spare parts, like a heart or a lung."
"That was a year ago now!" Terra responded, "Where have you been all this time?"
"In a coma. Until I woke up six months ago. While you were in a jail cell on Earth…I was learning to be human."
"Then we're on the same team."
The clone rolled her eyes, scoffing. "We're not even in the same league."
That made it clear there wasn't much chance of reasoning with this Terra. With made the real Terra suspicious. "I suppose the Illusive Man sent you, then?"
"No," the clone growled. Was that exasperation or dejection? "He abandoned me when he had what he wanted. You."
Garrus was tempted to argue that this wasn't exactly true but settled for asking what they were all thinking: "Then why are you trying to kill us?!"
"Because I don't have her memories," the clone shook her head, "I could never fool my supposed friends. Especially not the great Garrus Vakarian." She turned to glare at him. "I'll never understand what you see in each other."
Garrus glared right back, silently taking Terra's hand. "No. You won't."
"And I don't need to. That's what makes me better." The clone turned back to glaring at her antecedent. "I'm the lone wolf you were always meant to be. Without the emotional baggage holding me back."
Solana scoffed. "No one's ever gonna believe you're Terra."
The clone smirked. "They will when I'm flying her ship."
That did it. Terra instantly turned on her COMM and sent out the emergency signal. "Shepard to Normandy! Initiate emergency lockdown! Transmitting command codes now!" She started sending the codes through.
The clone received them. "Good plan. Too bad the signal was blocked." She then turned on her own COMM, transmitting the signal herself. "Shepard to Normandy. We're leaving!"
Terra started trying to throw herself at the clone, but Garrus tightened his hold on her hand, keeping her from throwing herself headlong into gunfire. "It'll snow on Palaven the day someone steals my ship!"
The clone waved her off. "It isn't stealing if I'm the commanding officer." She turned to head through the main doors and further into the archives. "Execute them!"
However, in this particular instance, Solana was the unknown variable. She may not have been the sniping, hacking scout her brother had so skillfully been, but she'd been on enough infiltration missions to know how to confront being cornered. The second the clone had left the room, Solana started scanning the environment for what the mercs wouldn't have seen. Her eyes never failed her, this time quickly taking notice of the Citadel replica hanging semi-precariously from the ceiling. Smirking mischievously to herself, she waited until the mercenary behind her had his gun trained on her and the rest were distracted with lining up shots on the others.
Then she kicked her gun up from the floor, snatched it out of midair, and whirled around to bash her would-be killer's face with it. Even through the helmet, the impact was enough to throw him, allowing her to twist his arm, use him as a human shield to deter anyone from interrupting her maneuver, and then fire his weapon directly into the wires holding up the replica.
Like a Phantom of the Opera chandelier, the replica came crashing down to shatter in the middle of the room, sending the squad and the mercs scrambling. This time, it was the Normandy crew that reacted quickly, recovering their weapons and firing position. The fight was back on.
"OK, that was actually really cool!" Terra called to Solana even as she reloaded her gun and prepared for the next wave.
Solana smirked as she dispatched her human shield and retook her own cover. "Aren't you glad you brought me along?"
"That depends. Is everyone OK?"
"We're on the balcony!" Liara confirmed over the COMM even as she used a barrier to buy Team Mako time to regroup and open fire.
"I'm OK, too!" Brooks added.
"Everyone else?" Terra asked.
"Other side!" Cortez confirmed.
"Having a little party up here!" Ashley beamed, "With bullets!"
"These primitives will make good sport," Javik agreed.
"Terminating hostiles!" EDI affirmed.
"If we go down," Liara added even as she dispersed her barrier to let loose a singularity that disabled several of the mercs taking aim on her, "at least we go down together!"
"One big, happy, butt-kicking family!" James agreed, "See that shot, Brooks? That's how legends do it!"
"If I wasn't covering my eyes," Brooks responded, "I'd be impressed!"
"Alright, everyone!" Wrex growled as he charged another mercenary, "Uncle Urdnot is back in town and he brought the boom!"
Terra gave him a sideways look before taking aim on her next shot. "Is that a catchphrase or something, Wrex?"
"Thought I'd try it out! See what you think!"
"Try again!" Tali said.
"Rapier Squad!" one of the mercs called down his COMM as a contingent of reinforcements arrived, "Orders are to kill the other Shepard's crew! No messing around this time!"
"But they've got a krogan!" one of the other mercs retorted, "Why don't we have a krogan?!"
"Wouldn't wanna be you, princesses!" Wrex called back before laughing and head-butting one of them.
"And that…that's even a Prothean over there!"
"And that's a future corpse over there!" Javik called back before slamming one of them.
"Hey, wait! That turian is Archangel! How are we supposed to kill him?!"
"You're not!" Garrus snapped before sniping his next target and setting their shields to overload.
"And word of advice?" Terra added, "No one messes with him but me!" She accented that with a grenade and an omni-blade in an opposing sniper's back.
"Maybe the other Shepard should've stuck around to help!" the complaining merc groaned.
"Wow, you guys have some scary reputations!" Solana smirked, "I'm so proud!"
"Yeah, I think we're really getting to them!" James smirked with her, "Hey, pendejos! Our Shepard's better than yours!"
"Better looking, too!" Garrus couldn't help but add with a snicker.
Terra smiled to herself before catching sight of the last merc still standing against their firing line and promptly sniping him down. She then took a second to scan the area and catch her breath. "I think we're clear!"
"Right!" Wrex said, "Now where'd the other you go?"
"She's pushing into the archives." She started forging ahead, Garrus, Wrex, and Solana right behind her, and organizing the team over the COMM as they moved. "Stay in groups and keep pushing. Search everywhere until we find her. Team Mako, take point."
"Got it!" Brooks said, "…what's a Mako?"
"Something we could use right about now…" Liara sighed.
"Team Hammerhead," Terra continued, "cover our flank."
"Will do," Cortez answered, "And the Mako's got nothing on the Hammerhead!"
"Please don't start that with James again. I already said you were both right!" Shaking her head at them from a distance, she led the way through the main doors and the entryway into the archives themselves. To say that the archives themselves were as big as a city would not have been an understatement.
"Huh," Wrex, master of the obvious, noted, "big place."
"Shepard," Tali asked, "what do you think your clone is looking for in here?"
"Anything's possible," Terra shrugged.
"Like waking up and finding out you've got a clone?" Ashley remarked.
"I don't even wanna talk about it."
Solana seemed primed to make a sarcastic remark anyway but knew Terra well enough to think better of it. "Even split up, how are we supposed to find anything in here?"
Terra, however, was always quick with inspiration and came up with an idea. "Glyph!"
The info drone promptly flew over. "Yes, commander?"
"Track the target, update us on its location."
"What is the nature of the target?"
"She looks like me."
"Then I have found the target."
"No, Glyph, it's another me. Now get going!"
"At once, commander." With that, the drone flew away to scout ahead.
All three teams moved practically in unison as they rushed along the walkways, taking out every mercenary they stumbled across. Terra felt like they were only keeping pace with the clone and her men, considering they were constantly being slowed by the mercs trying to kill them, but on the other hand, the trail of people trying to kill them was a surefire sign they were going the right way. So she followed the trail of mercenaries to lead the team down a level and across a tram.
Which was were Glyph came back up. "Commander, the other you is searching for something 200 meters ahead."
"Got it," Terra nodded, briefly thanking Glyph before telling her companions "Get ready to run."
"Fighting your own clone, huh?" Solana remarked as they started doing so, "You get up to this kind of thing all the time?"
"No, this one's actually pretty crazy even for us," Garrus told his sister.
"But useful," Javik said, "If there is a task you do not wish to do, commander, let them handle it."
"I don't want to talk about it!" Terra restated firmly.
"Right," Wrex snarked right back, "So let your clone do it."
Terra shook her head, grumbling whilst still ignoring him, and led them up a flight of stairs to cut across a row of vaults.
Predictably, another squad of mercs came out to bar their path.
"Take them down now," the clone growled over their COMMs, "or I'll have your heads!"
"This other Shepard's got a real temper," Cortez commented.
"I'd quit if she was my commander," Brooks agreed.
"Just shoot them already!" Terra snapped back as she did so herself.
Solana helped clear the way with a series of pistol shots and grenades, allowing them to cut across and get back on the walkways.
No sooner were they back on track than Tali's voice came panicked over the COMMs. "Terra! They've got us pinned down!"
"On our way!" Terra quickly answered, racing down the walkway. It didn't take long to catch sight of the room in which Team Mako was indeed completely surrounded. Terra had a way around this. Team Hammerhead was cutting through the room from the other side, so she signaled them to charge in. Then, when they were drawing fire on the opposite flank, she jumped down to sneak attack the sniper on the catwalks and then drop in and start taking out the opposition. "Go!" she told the rest of the squad while she still had the jump on the mercs, "I'll cover you!"
The others quickly started in succession up the nearby ladder to the next series of halls.
Tali stopped in her tracks for a moment when a stray shot cut close to her helmet, turning back to glare at the mercs. "Hey! That's cheating! We're on a ladder!"
Terra smirked for half a second at the comment, focused on standing her ground. With the entirety of her team out of range, though, it didn't take long for her to lose her advantage and start getting boxed in. "This is Shepard!" she called into her COMM, "We need—!"
Before she could even finish, the squad made their move, gathering on the balcony overhead and opening fire. All 11 of them at once, unrelenting, only pausing to reload, shooting everything that moved. In five seconds, the entire room was clear.
Once the adrenaline rush wore off, Liara turned to give a sarcastic look to the rest of them. "I don't know. Are you sure you got them all?"
Garrus sighed. "And that was the moment the universe ran out of ammunition."
"On the contrary," Javik said, "I find what primitives lack in aim, they make up for in ammunition."
"Yeah!" James whooped, "That's right! You mess with Shepard, you mess with her friends! …unless we happen to be climbing a ladder!"
"See?" Wrex smirked, "That's what I like about hanging out with you guys. Why shoot something once when you can shoot it 46 more times?!"
Terra smiled to herself, fighting the urge to laugh with them as she made her own way up the ladder. She loved these guys. "Come on. The…other me can't be far. Keep up the pressure and we'll try to surround her. Let's move!"
