Chapter Thirty-Three

The Huntress

Everything was dark and screaming, an alarm blaring in the corridor so loud it pierced through the thick door a few feet away. It was all I could hear, repeating endlessly like a banshee. Blood. Why was there blood? I could smell it but it was so dark I couldn't see any, I couldn't even see my own fucking hands. Something metallic and sharp dug into my neck, burning like a bad itch. Where was I? What was going on?

The last thing I remembered was… Ilsa.

Ilsa.

A concrete wall slammed into my forehead and I stumbled down. What the fuck was going on? I was at Headquarters, wasn't I? At least, that's where I had gone. We'd seen a reaper and… our eyes were glowing. Both of ours.

"Mikoff?" I gasped, that wall only driving further into my brain. Where was Vund? Where was my partner? No matter how hard I squinted it was pitch black. My body ached as if I'd been fighting for days, limbs heavy and pulsating. The familiar burn of biotic exhaustion crawled down my spine. What the fuck was going on?

I needed to understand my situation immediately. Darkness, someone's blood, exhaustion, an alarm and no sign of anyone. It was quiet other than that fucking siren. No one was crying, talking, whimpering… wait no. Something was breathing nearby. It was so soft compared to the siren but with enough focus, I singled it out. I started moving that way, legs screaming with each step. Fuck I was tired. Keep moving.

I scrambled over destroyed furniture and glass as I followed the breathing, the crunching barely loud enough to be heard over the alarm. My head was pulsating with the beat, making my exhaustion solidify into a headache worse than my last hangover. Stay focused. I was in danger, but if I kept my wits about myself I would get out of this alive. Just… Stay… Focused.

A sliver of light cut through an opening in the wall, illuminating a hand in stark red. It was so bright it hurt my eyes, and I winced. The stench of blood multiplied, permeating every inch of the air. I was almost glad for the darkness. Carefully, I poked the hand with my boot. It didn't twitch, but a pained groan creaked through the air. Blue lights flickered on and turned towards me. Cybernetic eyes? I stepped a bit closer and squatted to about eye level. Try as I might manifest some biotics to lighten up the area, I was just too tired. I couldn't even get a single dark energy mote to flicker if I tried.

I was fucking tired.

Half of me just wanted to lay down and sleep, but this was easily the worst place to do that in. Unknown threats, annoying siren, smoke- fuck something was burning nearby. Those eyes were staring so pointedly that it made my skin crawl even more. Whatever it was, it saw me. It moved. I scrambled away, climbing blindly over ruined furniture that was suspiciously wet but I couldn't waste time on that. That thing was still alive!

It screamed, pitching like something out of a horror vid. I could hear it trying to get free of the debris pinning it down, but I wasn't going to wait around for that. How was it still alive? What even was that thing! More voices came from ahead, shrill gasps, undulating growls, noises I couldn't even describe. There was just enough light to show the split in the corridor, bodies piled high to the left. Some of them were moving, wriggling like worms as they tried to come free.

Fuck that turning right! I crunched over broken glass and discarded papers, leaving a trail of noise and ruins as I made for the other corridor. Another red light cut across it from a nauseating angle, as if every light in the base had been tossed onto the floor. The alarm was still going, muffling only slightly as I got away from… wherever I had been. An airlock came in front of me, the kind that segmented different parts of the station. I sprinted in and tried to activate it with my omni-tool, but I didn't have mine. Shit.

Breathe.

Okay.

The monsters chasing me were getting closer, shadows dancing on the wall as they came around the corner. Come on, there had to be a manual switch! I tore the protective panel off and found a pair of wires that fed into a marked 'power' slot. Time to find out if old skycar jacking worked on airlocks. With some of the discarded metal I stripped the insulating off the wires and twisted them together. There was a soft purr of power and the airlock lit up. White light pooled out into the corridor I had come from, illuminating the faces of those cybernetic abominations that we're racing towards me.

If only I could use my biotics right now! Instead, I was stuck playing with wires. I brought another pair of wires together and the airlock interface sparked to life, some distortion making the holo waver but it was solid enough. I slammed the door button and the heavy metal barrier came sliding down as the other door locked. The beasts got their hands through before they were sliced off, red splattering across the dirtied white paneling. One hand twitched at me, once, twice, it began a thrice time only to stop in the middle. The floor had a growing pool of crimson.

I thought I was going to be sick.

The abominations were banging at the door, shrieking and demanding entrance so they could kill me. Fat fucking chance. My legs gave out and I slid down the wall until my ass slammed onto the disgusting floor. Holy shit. I took the moment to breathe and orient myself. I was in my armor, blue and silver the same as always. It felt like I had a rock in my boot and I almost had to tear the damn thing off. A piece of bone fell out when I shook it and clattered loudly on the metal paneling.

That wasn't mine, right? I checked my foot but aside from stinking worse than the grave, everything was in order. Ugh I stunk. I took my other boot off so I could air out, sweat adding to the pungent stank. I tested my helmet, but it deployed from its neck compartment to cover my head and back without a hitch. Scuffs and dents that I didn't remember adorned my armor, especially around my heart. It almost looked like something and tried tearing right through my torso. Was it one of those things? Probably. Hopefully not something even worse.

Leaving my helmet on for now, I tested my radio. Damn, nothing but static. Even after I cycled through a few freqs there was nothing there. Whatever had hit the station had really fucked things up hadn't it. It had to be wherever those things came from. They kind of looked like those reaper units I'd seen on the extranet. What was left of it at least. What were they called? Zombies? No though they might as well have been. They looked like shells of their former selves… husks! That's right, husks.

Fuck wait did that mean we were hit by the reapers? Why was I alive at all? How was there anything left of the station? It would explain the wreckage but why leave anything left? If I opened that airlock would there only be space? Shit fuck shit was the Ilsa okay? God if she was destroyed or something I was fucked. I would be lucky if she was only adrift. Fuck fuck fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck!

I slammed my hand against the ground and it reverberated for a few moments. My hand fucking stung despite my gloves but it was real. Real feeling. I needed to get control of myself, I needed a straight head if I would have any chance of surviving. Ilsa was okay, she just had to be. I had to be ready in case she wasn't but there's no way my baby is stardust. She's too small to be a target, so long as nobody tried to escape with her. They should've taken the onboard escape pods instead, they're so small it's hard to even target them, though I wouldn't put it past the reapers to be able to.

Before I got off this place I needed to confirm if Mikoff was alive. Even though this was a perfect opportunity to leave him behind, I just… I couldn't. It'd be real shitty to leave him stranded like I once was. A few months ago I'd have jumped at the opportunity but now… shit I just wanted someone to watch my back and he'd proven I can trust him. I guess he's not a total idiot either. My chances for survival were greatly increased with him at my side. Plus, no matter how much I didn't like it, I was worried for him too. He was a good man, he didn't deserve to die here.

I tried opening the SAFER panel but the damn thing was jammed. I'd need that equipment if I needed to go through open space, the jetpacks on it were the only way I was making it across. At least, with my biotics as drained as they were. Maybe I'd fought so hard I blacked out when I was out of juice. It would be one explanation at least. I examined the plexiglass but it looked weakened enough for me to dare. I kicked at it over and over until there was a solid crunch and the glass caved in. Thank fuck for gloves because I would hate getting cut right about now. Once I'd cleared the shards out of the way, it was sticking together like fragmented cobwebs, I started finagling the SAFER through the ruined panel.

Thank the stars it fucking fit, and it had power! It connected to my armor and a HUD powered to life. Full battery, full fuel, full oxygen. I could go up to an hour without overheating, and last a week off oxygen so long as my consumption was calm. It had a solar power recharger, but fuel was limited. Fortunately, the Alliance trained me how to use one of these. Small bursts for momentum, then just coast and make minimal corrections with the control sticks. Biggest threat was starvation, dehydration, the Gs or getting pulled into orbit. The station should be big enough to have its own orbit if it's relatively still together. As long as the Ilsa wasn't destroyed, I could key into her system as a beacon. That VI was programmed to automatically send it if it was ever improperly undocked.

It would be dangerous but I could do this.

As I filtered in exclusively oxygen and made sure my suit was airtight, I went to a terminal built into the wall. I'd restored power to it too earlier, and if I was lucky there would be logs of what happened. It popped up asking for credentials and after a few seconds it authenticated mine. The display was a bit damaged, holo flickering in and out as if it had a bad circuit. There were predominantly error messages about missing pieces, so that already was fucking bad. They dated back… three days! It'd been that long since this attack? Fuck fuck Ilsa please be nearby. As long as what caused the destruction didn't have a lot of momentum behind it she should be nearby.

Please oh god please. Three days of drift could mean a few meters or crashed on a planet. Ilsa couldn't crash, not again. Fuck. Last I remembered though there wasn't a large planet nearby, this system was practically desolate. One large star, one planet in a close orbit to it, three moons. We were far from it in our own orbit around the sun because that planet was too close to safely orbit from. The solar rays would burn our shields to a crisp in a week max. The station was its own celestial body technically, so Ilsa should be orbiting it. I was sure of it. My baby couldn't have crashed unless she was sent flying so far I'd never have a hope of navigating to anyways.

If worse came to worst, I could try for Mikoff's ship. He'd called her Bethany hadn't he, after his wife? Yeah that sounded about right. She was docked next to the Ilsa so she'd likely be in the same area. Okay, I had a solid plan and a backup. I checked my HUD, halfway to nothing but oxygen left. Good, I'd hate to get the fucking bends when I stepped out. According to the terminal, I was in the upper administrative section which was above the training facilities. Wasn't I last in the labs? Mikoff and I came in because of those cybernetics that popped up.

That was why we'd come to HQ, wasn't it? My memories blurred and my head hurt the more I tried to focus on the past. What was I missing? Come on Justine, I wasn't an amnesiac like Thena. I came to HQ for a reason, and it wasn't because I'd finally caught that twerp. No- No it was- yes it was the cybernetics. Our eyes were glowing after we fled from a reaper. Only in my baby could we have outmaneuvered a whole ass reaper. She'd taken a hit though, did the mechanics repair the damage? I was half sure one of her wings was missing pieces of the hull. Or was it a damaged viewport? No, if that'd broke we'd have been in bigger trouble even with the emergency hull covering it. The risk of depressurization was much larger from viewport damage than a wing.

She'd still be flyable, and if I had to I could repair her here if I could tether her or something. We didn't finish fueling up before that reaper showed, but there were always fuel stores in the docks, even if they didn't let me go there normally. If the relay was still working we could get somewhere less destroyed, but where would we go? Damn, save that part for later, right now I needed to actually get to my ship before I plan that far ahead. One step at a time Justine. Secure Ilsa, secure Vund, secure necessities.

Now that I thought about it I wasn't sure when was the last time I ate or drank water. My stomach wasn't gnawing at me at least, but I was thirsty. The taste of blood lingered in my mouth. Hopefully I could scavenge some food in other parts of the station. Training always had rations to refill our supplies, tasteless and nutritional. Water was also stocked too, and in the docks somewhere was water supply refills for the plumbing. Ilsa recycled water just like she did air but sometimes you'd have a leak or contamination and need fresh resources instead. I'd have to refill her oxygen reservoirs too if there were any unpatched breaches from debris or impacts. I could do that by myself, but having an extra set of hands would be wonderful.

Finding Vund wasn't just a matter of desire or kinship, it was about survival too. My best shot at this was with him. I needed my partner.

The HUD flashed a notification that my oxygenation was complete. I was as ready as I possibly could be, with a course of action to guide me. Without biotics it would be difficult to traverse, but between the SAFER's jet packs and its deployable magnetic tether, I wasn't helpless. I had survived Olor, the Alliance, Nodacrux, countless battles and too many close calls to get stranded out here now. I was not going to fucking die.

The airlock came open with a hiss as it decompressed first. Not a good sign, they only did that if there was nothing connected. Once the air was all gone the door pulled back. Even as prepared as I was, I couldn't suppress the way my stomach flipped at the expanse of black before me. Station debris punctuated the endless void with steadily increasing drift. If I took too long the station wouldn't be one big debris field and more like several small ones. Time to get moving.

Moving through space alone was, simply put, disorientating. To say I was consumed with fear would be wrong, but not even I could pretend like I was completely comfortable with the situation. I kept thinking over and over again that I was just a tiny, fragile spaceship, but it didn't inherently translate. For one, I needed to be considerably more reserved on fuel, saving it for crucial adjustments. For a second, no ship I had ever flown came equipped with a towing cable.

As I steadily moved in what I could only describe as 'down', the debris grew thicker. Massive chunks of shorn metal spun with ceaseless momentum, clashing into one another and changing trajectory with an uncomfortable silence. I knew all the scientific reasons why space was quiet, but I honestly would have liked the clashing shriek of metal on metal than only the sound of my breathing.

Rather than use precious fuel to navigate, I utilized the cable instead. It pulled me right to the former space station and I could slow it down to keep from squashing myself like a bug on a windshield. Magnetic boots activated, I walked around until I found the next way to go, jumping like some sort of spider. If I wasn't in so much danger I might have found it a fun exercise, both of the mind and body. Instead, I just counted my lucky stars that I could save fuel like this. Every ounce could mean the difference between life and death.

It hadn't taken long for there to be bodies. I had expected to see them, after all the station couldn't have only had a population of five when it was attacked. Still, spaced corpses were always unsightly. Only a handful had been wearing armor, helmets even, instead most were dressed in standard Cerberus uniforms. The armored ones most likely died from the explosions that tore the station to pieces. Blunt force trauma, ruptured oxygen tube, or maybe even a heart attack could have gotten them. I could only speculate, except for the ones with missing limbs. The uniformed people however? They were obvious.

They'd either been blown up immediately or spaced. The liquid in the eyeballs and tongue always boiled away, leaving deflated tissue in disgusting cavities with terror stuck on their face. Their bodies were bloated from the gasses inside the body expanding and water turning into vapor. In the end, they began to freeze. Some already were solid stiff, it was a surprisingly slow process despite what all the vids portrayed.

Every single body I saw that had a chance at being Mikoff I felt my heart quicken. What would I do if I found him floating out here, a corpse to become mummified or frozen in a graveyard such as this? Damn it all I was not ready to see that. Even if eventually I would be okay, the thought of losing him was making me more upset than the overall situation was. That chatty bastard couldn't just die like that, not without me finally getting some straight answers out of him. He was a conundrum that bounced in my head that no matter how much I denied it, I needed to understand.

We had spent so much time together and he persevered after every attempt to get him to shut up. He just kept trying to be my friend, to understand who I was. Never at any point did it feel like he was looking to sleep with me, hell even after the few barns in the beginning he never pestered me about that kind of stuff. He… respected my boundaries, while at the same time he kept pushing as if trying to break through the walls I'd put up years ago. Why didn't he just give up? That's what everybody else always did.

Except Ilsa.

I got sloppy and didn't notice the debris coming from the side. It smashed into me with the force of an overgrown varren. Fuck! Ouch! Shit! Space twisted as I tumbled away, dizzying so much I nearly lost whatever was left in my stomach. On instinct I threw my hands out and tried to summon a bubble of biotics to stabilize myself but the familiar ache of biotic burnout claimed me instead. Right I was exhausted, great! Left with no other recourse, I used some fuel to orient myself.

I felt a heavy pressure as my boots stuck into something, and I righted myself up. Okay, no longer spinning out of control. Now- which way was down again? I skimmed the area but all I could see was junk. To think this was once a great station. Now it was nothing more than floating trash. Wait- what was that? I pooled over the section of the station that had caught my eye, hoping to see another flash. Was it just a stray reflection?

There it was again. It repeated. Flash, flash, flash, long flash, long flash, long flash, flash, flash, flash; SOS. Morse code. Someone was alive there! I took a running leap from where I stood, carried forward by momentum at an almost alarming pace. Large support pillars now with nothing to uphold drifted in my way, blocking me entirely. Fuckers. I sent out the cable and shifted so that my feet would make impact first. A small jolt ran through me as I latched on, an imaginary thunk filling the silence. I climbed up the pillar and leapt towards the cracked window the flashing was still coming from.

Please be Mikoff.

The viewport was getting closer, the flashing changed, desperate now. It was getting faster. Were they in trouble or trying to make sure I knew where to go? I twisted around a cluster of corpses, checking each of them over. Not my partner at least.

I made it to the window, and a man in protective armor waved his hands rapidly. He pointed at the crack in the viewport. His movements were floaty, and I squinted at him closer. Too slender, shoulders too narrow. It wasn't Vund. Damn. If I was lucky though he might just have info on what the fuck happened. The area he was in was decompressed, it would be safe to break through the window.

After a quick look around I had a plan, and gestured for him to move away. Once he was securely several feet back, I pushed off the viewport with all my strength back towards the debris. I felt like smashing something anyways, this was just a good excuse. Reeling back to the pillar I'd jumped from, I felt a sudden rush of adrenaline. Even if this further destabilized the station, this was going to be fun. I put both hands on the warped metal and activated the jetpack for five seconds. That's all it needed to get going, changing course from the slow amble to a gentle push right at the damaged viewport. I followed after it effortlessly.

It crashed with a beautiful webbing of the remaining glass before shattering entirely. Even in the uncomfortable silence, it was a spectacular sight. It was like watching in slow motion, stunning and almost sad. The great infrastructure, the might of Cerberus, used to destroy itself. Oh well, survival came first, even the Illusive Man would agree. We wouldn't become the dominant race by getting sentimental over trivial things like glass and destroyed stations. We would only do that by moving forward and doing what it took to survive.

I reeled myself into the exposed corridor, some sort of foyer perhaps. The man seemed relieved, and nodded his head in exaggerated motions. He opened his omni-tool and looked at me expectantly. I had to awkwardly indicate I'd lost mine. He shrugged, before typing something up on the holographic interface. Once finished, he held his arm out for me to read it.

'Thank you. There's a few omni-tools through that door. If you get one, we could talk.'

I nodded and drifted toward the door he pointed to. It was jammed shut, but a quick search found a piece of metal I could pry it open with. The man helped me. Fuck getting things to move in space was hard, what with the floating everywhere. It made it very difficult to get leverage. Eventually we got it to come open, and a supply closet of various equipment floated from the shelves they'd once been stowed in. The small discs that housed the entirety of an omni-tool weren't the only goodies within. Omni-blades, long range radios, and some scanning devices I hadn't seen before were there too. I snagged one of each, slotting the radio onto my SAFER unit. The omni-blade attachment slotted easily onto the base piece, a bright light flashing once it was fully configured. The scanning device attached onto my helmet, strange lines of code flashing on my HUD before a blinking light manifested in the center of my vision. I focused on it, and a strange pop up broke down the composition of the steel shelving in front of me.

Neat.

I turned to the suited man and keyed my new omni-tool to a secured Cerberus channel. Of course all I got was static. The broadcaster would have been destroyed, right. I changed it to a public channel that risked being overheard, but if anything that'd be useful right about now. "Can you hear me?"

"Yes."

My blood ran cold. I knew that voice.

"I thought I was going to be trapped forever!" He went on, "After the reapers arrived we were screwed! Thank you for saving me. Do you have-" I stabbed the omni-blade into his gut. He leaned towards me, gasping in pain and begging for me to stop. I only stabbed it deeper in. He was the doctor who'd tortured me.

I felt nothing but empty as I drifted through the ruins of hunter HQ. Halls I once had run up and down training in were nothing more than empty tunnels of death. Blood was smeared on most of them, with corpses floating nearby. My scanner told me which ones were dead, which was all of them, but at least it was doing its job. I had the doctor's omni-tool, something that would fill me in on all the details of what happened but I hadn't the time to spare reading it just yet. I didn't even feel satisfaction that he was gone. I was just empty.

I didn't understand why.

I'd killed him, the monster who had tortured me. It was slowly coming back to me, the terrible things he'd done to me. The blood and vomit and piss, I could almost smell them again even though I was clean. I couldn't remember when that'd happened though. The pain and agony he'd subjected me to lingered like foggy memories, blurs between drugs and hate. He kept showing me Ilsa, haunting me with her image over and over again. I didn't know why, what he thought he could accomplish by tormenting me so. His omni-tool with luck would have the answers. I should have been angry, relieved, something! Instead there was a hollow inside me eating me up bit by bit.

I kept moving.

Husks showed up from time to time, still alive despite the vacuum of space. Fortunately, I was armed now, and cut them down with ease. Between my own athleticism, the SAFER's equipment, and the new omni-tool, I could defend myself. Fortunately there were only a few stragglers than a proper throng like the one I'd faced earlier. They seemed at the very least uncertain how to move in space, flopping about like fish rather than terrifying indoctrinated soldiers. If nothing else, they were a nuisance.

The radio kept transmitting an SOS as I went, hoping for some kind of response. It was playing on the open channel, meaning anyone with an omni-tool or radio in range would pick it up. That bastard had proven one thing to me at least, I wasn't the only survivor. Vund was tough and built like a mountain, I was sure he'd survived if that one fucker did. It was just a matter of finding him.

I was almost to the airlock into the main corridor of the station. There was just another corridor and then I'd be in the docking bay. With the omni-tool I had started trying to pick up Ilsa's distress signal, but so far there was nothing. That was either the worst possible thing, or meant she was still docked. I was actually holding onto hope it was the latter. All I wanted was to leave this place and never look back.

Something blipped. I grabbed onto the wall to stop myself. The radio crackled and beeped, before a voice cut in and out. I couldn't understand the words, but it was certainly a voice. Deep? Or was that just the static? I opened the omni-tool and rushed to the tracking functions. The source was just up ahead! Vund if better be you! I kicked off the wall at full speed. I might as well have been a bullet the way I was moving. Legs flat, arms tucked, head lowered. Counting the sections of corridor I covered, I was keeping pace. One, two, three, four! I turned on my boots and came to a screeching halt just shy of the airlock doors. I fogged up the visor of my helmet as I caught my breath.

I was crackling with anticipation. It had to be Mikoff. I had no reason to actually suspect that but I felt it in my bones. It had to be my partner. I opened the airlock and stepped through. It closed and a spray poured out onto me to assure I wasn't bringing contaminants through. So this section must have been decently intact for the cleaning programs to be activating. My foot tapped as I waited for it to finish.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Air.

It came hissing through so quietly I hadn't noticed at first. This section was compressed, there was air. The less of the SAFER's storage I needed to use the better. Glorious sound reached my ears as I stepped through the airlock into the main hallway. That damned fucking alarm was back. A smile cracked across my face and I pulled back my helmet. The air was filthy, coppery like blood and layered with smoke, but fuck, it was air.

The clicks on the radio pitched up into a fury. A crackle of a voice came through. "Any- there- some-" Most of it was distorted with static but I could understand a few words. I couldn't be entirely sure with the interference, but I was ninety percent sure that was his dumb earth accent. With all his chatter I knew what he sounded like and that was it! That was my partner! There was a pounding in my chest that startled me. My limbs rushed with energy as if I'd just crushed someone with my biotics. I was going to find him. He better have been alive by the time I got to him.

I started running, the clank of my magnetized boots the only noise aside from that endless alarm as I sped through the former main corridor. The lack of decorations made it difficult to tell just how close I was to the docking area, but coming up was a pile of debris cutting me off. Not slowing me down! With practiced motions I scrambled over the debris and slipped through the gap at the top.

The other side was disgusting. A sea of corpses spread out before me. Husks, not all of them human, were spread out like a fan, slowly drawing towards one particular spot. Cerberus soldiers mingled with the deformed aliens, some torn into pieces while others had succumbed to invisible wounds beneath their armor. Makeshift barriers spread out, with corpses piled on either side. It all led back to the wall, where blood was splattered like a mural from dozens upon dozens of bodies. Bullet holes and scratch marks engraved suffering into metal. Raw, violent, disgusting; this battle was cemented in place to stay even after the bodies decayed away.

Leaning against the wall was a pile husk of corpses, as if they'd been trying to climb over each other towards the ceiling vent. I waded through the carnage, grateful I couldn't smell my surroundings. The beeping of the radio hadn't stopped, and instead was pitching frantically like an annoying bug. The vent was dented as if it'd been hastily moved, or damaged from the fighting. Someone must've climbed up there, it was big enough for a person though I had no idea how they'd gotten up there in the middle of a battle. If I used the jetpack I should've been able to get up there though.

I half climbed half walked up the corpse pile, trying very hard not to think about them springing to life like the ones earlier had. I really didn't have time for that! Nothing spooked me, though my skin did crawl at the blood that squished out of their taut grey bodies. Once I was close enough I activated the jetpack and sped up to the ceiling. Grab it grab it- fuck. I missed and went right into the vent cover instead, snapping it in two on my helmet. BAM! I immediately hit the vent duct, and started falling back. Shit fuck I needed biotics!

Something grabbed me.

It pulled me through into the duct and I punched and kicked but there was hardly enough room to maneuver. It was pitch black, except a faint glow of optics. So one of them got up here after all huh? Well I'll kill it!

"Justine…?"

My fist stopped.

Everything broke at once.

"Vund…?"

I turned on my helmet's light. A strong jaw and rugged blonde hair, green eyes dropping with exhaustion, pale skin bruised and bandaged. Mikoff! Before I could say or do anything he pulled me into a tight embrace, crushing my lungs and expelling all my air. My helmet retracted and I gasped. Fuck it stunk! Mikoff pulled back at my coughing, cast in darkness once again.

The light in his green eyes was like a dying flame, telling me exactly where he was. He squinted, and then his stupid laugh split the air between us. "Of course you're the one to find me!"

"Hey Vund," I chuckled, his laughter infectious. "I'm glad you're still alive."

"Oh? Happy to see me?" His voice was gravely and full of exhaustion, but that impossible optimism of his was returning with each word. I'd missed it, almost. "I am beyond overjoyed to see you!"

"What the hell is happening here?"

"The reapers came it would seem. I can't remember much. We came to find out about these cybernetics, the doctors separated us, and then…" He sounded like he was in pain there at the end.

I put my hand on his shoulder. "They tortured me. They do the same to you?" He nodded. I gritted my teeth. "I killed the fucker who hurt me. I'm sure the one who hurt you is dead too. If not I'll make it so."

"I don't want revenge, I just want to leave this place," he said quietly. Where was the boastful bastard that towered over me, almost literally larger than life. They really had hurt him. Sure they could beat me down and cut me up but I was used to this shit, I was a survivor. Mikoff was some starry eyed soldier who lost someone but didn't let that ruin him. He kept hoping for things to get better, daring to let people in. He was who I could have been, if grief hadn't consumed me.

Why was I so angry for him?

I was relieved to be with him again, his assistance would really boost my chances of surviving but this… Why did his pain upset me so? He was sniffling, rubbing his eyes and trying to keep quiet. "I'm sorry," he apologized in a pained voice. "I've been trying to keep it all together, but the fact that you are here now is just- it's all too much."

"I don't understand."

"I thought you might be dead," he confessed. "I'm sorry."

"Why? You had every reason to think so. I should be dead even."

He shook his head. The air was getting warm with us sharing this space, cramped into an air duct. I could hear his erratic breathing. My own was quick and puffing. "I'm sorry I lost hope. I thought I'd lost every one all over again."

"What are you talking about?"

Mikoff took my hand, a rush of feelings surging over me. I didn't pull away, I just froze. "The reason I left the Alliance. My squad was escorting some civilians planetside with a prothean artifact. Nothing like that beacon back on Eden a few years ago, but big enough that Alliance sent in a security detail. A six man team was All they needed to secure the package and escort them to the starport."

"Six men? That's never enough for a prothean job no matter how lowkey it was."

He gave a weary laugh. "Well, six N7s is."

Holy fuck. "You're a N7?"

"In the flesh."

The way he fought, moved and even spoke made so much more sense. He was confident because he had every damn right to be. Mikoff has trained through literal hell to become who he was and been prepared for every scenario, of course he was optimistic! He knew he would be okay already! He was a fucking N7! Even I had to regard him in a new light, because no one became a N7 by accident. He wasn't green at all, he just acted like it to lower my guard.

"What happened to your squad?"

He coughed, his grip on my hand firm. We were both armored up so it wasn't like I could feel his palm, but it's heavy presence was almost reassuring. "We got ambushed by turian pirates, they wanted the artifact to sell it on the black market. There was no way they could have known we were there unless…"

"...Unless someone betrayed you."

"Exactly. Seemed like my bud Bruce was tired of serving, and wanted an easy cash out. Not like being an N7 doesn't pay well or anything. In the end it was just Bruce, Bethany and I."

Wait. "Your wife was an N7?"

"Met her on day one of training. She was a spitfire of a woman, refused to be beaten, a true rising star. You remind me of her sometimes. She was passionate, and strong and thought she could do it all alone. Decided to do it alone at the end too. I always called her my shooting star… didn't think she'd burn out in the end."

I squeeze his hand. He was near to tears. "How did… how did she die?"

"We had the artifact, and Bruce was after us. I was wounded, lost my right foot in an explosion. We both knew he'd shoot down our shuttle from the security tower if no one stopped him. I was too hurt to make it. So… she faced him. Alone." He was crying, the soft sound of tears hitting the floor the only real giveaway aside from the ache in his voice. I'd never realized he had a prosthetic.

I should have paid attention to him, what did I ever have to lose? We've been together for half a year and I was so stubborn I refused to learn who was on my ship, who really was there. All this time we've been strangers and he's been trying to get to know me but my stupid pride got in the way. Was I scared of getting hurt again? Maybe. No matter how many times I told myself I wasn't afraid, not even I could lie that good.

I hugged him. I didn't know what to say, barely even what to do, but I could do that much. He hugged me back. I couldn't remember that last time I'd been hugged. It had to have been- "Ilsa died from wounds received in a planetary crash. We got ambushed by batarians after the Alliance sold us out." The words came out before I could stop them. My body tensed. Why had I said that?

"We both lost our loved ones to treachery," he mumbled.

"How did we end up in a secret paramilitary humanist faction?" I croaked. All my life felt like nothing but bad decisions, especially after I'd lost Ilsa. I was nothing without her. "I don't really believe this crap, about humanity being superior. Yeah I hate the frogs but that's personal. I want us to succeed but not… not by losing ourselves to do it."

"We both got lost," he agreed, voice rumbling in my ear. "But I'm glad I found you. I'm glad we have each other."

I pulled back. All I could see were his cybernetic eyes, and I knew that's all he saw of me. "Why don't you hate me? I've been awful to you."

He shrugged. "Maybe because I can tell what the pain you carry with you is. Maybe because I carry it too."

There had to be more. "You know our best chance of survival is together, don't you?"

"There is that too, yes. I know the stakes. I also know that the fact that you're alive makes me happier than I have been in a while. I know you have been very reluctant to it, but I do value your partnership Justine."

Everything was blurry and confusing. The station was falling apart and countless people were dead. I should have been running to Ilsa, or at least moving on but right now I was stuck here. I was stuck here with my partner.

"I guess we made a pretty good team on Noveria," I admitted.

He squeezed my hand. "Friends?"

"Partners," I corrected.

"I'll take it. After all this time I will definitely take it."

Despite it all I laughed. "Let's get out of here before I change my mind."