Chapter Thirty Five: Suicide Mission
"Alright, so it's settled. Tali will go in the vent, Legion and Grunt will go with me, and Garrus will lead Team B," Shepard surveyed the group and noticed how pleased Jack looked while Miranda looked upset. Shepard just couldn't say yes to Miranda leading the squad. "Let's go," Shepard led everyone out of the Normandy. "EDI get the Normandy working again, everyone's going home."
He jumped off the Normandy and gestured for Legion and Grunt to follow. He unhooked his M-76 Revenant. He took off for the place Tali was supposed to get in the vents.
"Tali, talk to me. Tell me about Rannoch," Shepard spoke into his comm. while blowing away Collectors who were in the way of getting help for Tali.
"Shepard, it's getting hot in here!" Tali cried into his comm.
"I know Tali, but do you trust me?" Shepard was going as fast as he could towards the next vent release.
"Yes," she said it like she didn't believe herself.
"Good, do you remember when I said that everyone is getting out of this alive? Well I didn't cross my fingers behind my back or something like that," Shepard was seconds away from hitting the vent release.
"What does that even mean?" Tali's breathing was getting heavy. Shepard reached out and hit the release.
"It means I wasn't lying," Shepard rasped.
…
Shepard, Legion, and Grunt were racing for the door in front of them. Behind was a whole army of Collectors threatening to overtake them. The rest of Shepard's squad was laying down covering fire. When Shepard and his band made it into the doors nothing happened, the door didn't close, and the Collectors were still bearing down on them. The noise of gunfire increased ten fold until it was a deafening roar. After what seemed like hours of bullets and Collector blood, the door finally closed.
"Okay gu-, " Shepard stopped mid-sentence when he saw Garrus clutching his stomach. "No Garrus, you don't get to die." Shepard rushed to his side and pulled out some dextro friendly medi-gel.
"It's fine Shepard. It just caught me by surprise, that's all," Garrus straightened back out and looked Shepard in the eye.
"That better be the whole godamned truth," Shepard was still inspecting the Turian's armor.
"It is," Garrus responded, while cocking his gun.
"Good, lets move people!" Shepard yelled, not letting how shaken he felt creep into his words.
...
"EDI, is everyone back on the ship?" Shepard was talking to her during a firefight. It was probably a firefight for legends considering they were fighting Collectors and a human Reaper.
"Yes. Mordin made it back with the entire support crew. Everyone is fine physically, but Doctor Chakwas is now doing psych evaluations," EDI voice betrayed no emotions - like always. "Garrus made it back with your second team, now we're only waiting on you."
"Wasn't Chakwas one of the people kidnapped?" Shepard could not believe that she was already doing her job. Hopefully her strength and sense of duty would be translated to Kelly, Donnelly, Daniels, and the rest of the crew that was taken.
"She was," EDI said. Then something remarkable happened. The human Reaper didn't get out of the abyss it had been leaping out of. Shepard waited for minutes, but nothing. They must have finally killed it.
"Alright, let's overload the reactor, people," Shepard knelt down beside the bomb and started typing in the activation code.
"Shepard! Stop, there's another way! I've been studying the schematics EDI sent me, and I've come to the conclusion that we can just send out a pulse that will kill everything living, but keep the technology intact. Be more prepared for the Reapers!" The Illusive Man's holograph shimmered from Legion's omni- tool.
Shepard almost said yes. He could see how the base would be useful in the future, but then he remembered how they liquefied people. He remembered those screams, and pleas for help being cut off. The Illusive Man couldn't be trusted with something so deadly. "They liquefied people! This place is something that needs to be purged of this world."
"Save your self-righteous bullshit, Shepard. This decision could save or kill millions of people," the Illusive Man was wasting valuable time.
"If you put your sorry ass on the line, then you could make these decisions, but you didn't. I'm the one doing it, so I'll make the call. I'm destroying it," Shepard turned around, and put the rest of the code in. "We have ten minutes, lets go!" Then Shepard heard a familiar noise, the human Reaper.
It must have been weakened from the earlier fight because Shepard and his team had beaten it down in four minutes. Not before it crashed into the platform, however. This sent Legion sliding down the side of the platform, so naturally Shepard went after him. Shepard sent a silent prayer to whoever listened to him anymore, thanking them that Grunt wasn't who had started sliding. His improved muscles easily pulled Legion up, but the platform fell again. Shepard only had seconds to register that another platform was hurtling at them, and then everything went dark.
When Shepard regained conscience, there was a piece of twisted metal sitting on top of him. "Ohh God," he groaned as he threw the metal off him. His back cracked several times before he stood up straight. He checked his watch, they had four minutes.
Grunt was under another piece of metal, but easily threw it off. Shepard found Legion not too far away, and hauled piece of debris of him. Everyone seemed no worse for wear. "Head to the Normandy, we only have a few minutes left." His team didn't need to be told twice, as they charged for the ship.
Shepard fired backwards at the Collectors that were now chasing them, but he kept going. The steady stream of enemies convinced Shepard that firing back was completely useless, so all his thoughts drained to just keep his feet moving. Up ahead he saw Legion and Grunt jump into the Normandy. Relief flooded Shepard as he realized everyone had made it, and his promise was going to be kept.
That hope went away as quickly as it came, when the platform next to the Normandy fell. Shepard would have to jump a hell of a long way and they only had a few minutes left. "Shepard to Normandy. I'll hold em' off, you guys get out of here!"
"No can do, Commander. I'm not even at the controls," Joker's voice sounded in his ear. Shepard would have to jump. His modified legs allowed him to gain more and more speed until the last moment. Then he jumped off.
Traveling through the air was agonizing, as his fate hung in the air. Then Shepard realized he wasn't going to make it, so he extended his arm out and just barely caught the edge of the Normandy. "It's always heights, isn't it?" Shepard muttered.
Grunt grabbed Shepard's arm and hauled him inside. Joker was clearly enjoying himself as he swore and sprayed the Collectors with bullets. "Shepard, is this going to become a habit? Where you jump and I have to haul you in?" Grunt asked.
"Let's hope not," Shepard was leaning against the Normandy's metal paneling when EDI took them back through the Omega Four relay.
…
No one had died, and only mild injuries were reported. Shepard had meant it when he said everyone was going home. His trip through the cargo bay was truly unforgettable, his crew was packing up, and cleaning supplies, but everyone turned and nodded at him. It was probably the biggest sign of respect he had received in any of his lives.
Something that made the trip even better was the absence of coffins. An area had been cleared away for that reason, but now it lay empty in a victorious silence. What made the trip worse was that Shepard was on his way to the Illusive Man.
"Shepard, your fascination with keeping imaginary honor cost human lives," The Illusive Bastard was sitting on his little chair, smoking a cigar that would hopefully give him cancer, and sipping on alcohol that would hopefully destroy his liver.
"I did the right thing. That base is an atrocity," Shepard was getting real tired of his shit. They couldn't work together anymore, their differences were far too large.
"You're wrong-" The Illusive Man started.
"No, your wrong, and I'm done dealing with your bullshit. Consider our partnership over," Shepard walked out of the device that projected him to the Illusive Man. He was split right down the middle. One half of him wanted nothing else to do with the Illusive Man, and the other part felt sad. The Illusive Man tried to do the right thing, and Shepard truly didn't mind him. He felt that the Illusive Man thought of himself as his father, and had a weird way of showing that he liked Shepard. Shepard had to get away, no matter how useful the Illusive Man was, he wouldn't be now. Shepard could only hope that Illusive Man could help him again in the future.