Chapter Fifty Eight: We Thought It Was Over
"Help," Shepard choked up. It was hard to talk when blood was choking him. There was so much blood that it wasn't red anymore, but black. It was another episode with cybernetics, but this was much worse than anything before. He was throwing up, and coughing up so much blood that Shepard thought he might actually die from blood loss. Something was wrong with his ears. The explosion had started a chain of deadly events.
Eight Hours Earlier
"Pew! Pew! Normandy is coming in! All ships behind the Normandy! BOOM!" Colt was getting into his demonstration. He had a few hours to kill, and decided to spend them with Liara. He had invited her up and much to her chagrin had gotten his model ships out. She was trying to do work, but Colt decided he would have none of it. If he was going to die soon, then dammit he was going to spend the time he had with her.
"What are you doing?" Liara asked while laughing. He had snuck up behind her, and continued his battle above the desk she was using. Over the couple weeks that the two had been reunited, Liara had slowly been moving into the commander cave. The desk she was using was officially hers. His war trophies had been shoved in the corner and her stuff was spread messily around. Colt didn't mind the company - in fact, he loved it. He hated being alone.
"I'm showing off. I'm impressing you with my knowledge of tactics and my memory of famous battles," Colt explained with a very scientific voice. "I'm doing a reenactment of the The Battle of the Citadel," Colt said.
He switched to a high pitched voice. "Oh! Commander Shepard bring your huge muscles and battle skills over here! We need to be saved!"
He quickly switched back to a deeper voice than his own, "Don't worry, I'll bring my commanderness right away!" He made the model Normandy chase the model Sovereign.
"We weren't even on the Normandy during the attack on Sovereign," Liara pointed out, while listening to Colt's sound effects.
"Shhh," Colt replied, while running a finger down her lips. "That's just minor details," he grinned at her sheepishly.
"I see. What do I get to be?" Liara asked thoughtfully.
"You can be the Normandy," Colt whispered, while delicately placing it in Liara's hand. It was his favorite model, so he treated it like a baby.
"Commander, we're half an hour from Tuchanka," Joker's voice echoed in the commander cave.
"Thanks Joker. Make sure that EDI and James know they're coming," Colt replied. When he saw the look Liara was giving him, he said, "What? It's not like I can take you on every mission. I mean, I take you almost every time, but I can't show favorites," he explained carefully. He was walking a very thin line with this one. He knew how bad Liara felt when she got left behind. She was a worried mess.
"Yes, because dating me doesn't show favoritism," Liara replied testily. Damn, she did have a point.
"True, but you do see what I'm sayin? I have to rotate people," Colt responded, and kneeled down beside Liara's chair. He put his head on the desk and looked at her seriously.
"I know, but it's nerve-wracking when something happens and I'm stuck on the Normandy. Every time I don't come with you, you manage to get yourself hurt," Liara choked up, and looked away. He felt her distress.
"I won't get hurt, I promise," Colt said gently. He took her hand in his. "Why would I get hurt, when we have an epic battle to complete?" He gestured to his model ships.
Liara turned to look at him, the same distress she felt was in her eyes. Colt stood, and placed a kiss on her forehead. He prayed that he could keep his promise. "It'll be okay," he said with the same quiet reassurance. He held her hand for a few seconds more and then left to get his gear.
...
"Lieutenant Victus, what's the situation?" Shepard called into his communicator. The area surrounding him was burning, and full of rubble. Rebar stood up dangerously everywhere, and the distinct smell of burning flesh filled the air. He hoped he wouldn't be too late.
"There's heavy Reaper forces at my location!" Victus yelled back. His voice was slightly garbled.
"Understood, send out a flair," Shepard responded. He started off towards a nearby ladder.
Everything was going well, until they came upon the crashed escape pod. Before, everything had been filled with ladders, easy Husk deaths, lots of creds, and fire. Now they had proof to validate the disgusting scent lacing the crash site. There were several dead turians surrounding an escape pod. Most of them were burnt so badly that Shepard could barely tell they were turian.
"What an awful way to die," James commented. He was looking at the way they were twisted in a desperate attempt to get away from the escape pods. Shepard closed his eyes to the unreal sight. He thanked anyone, and everyone, that his crew hadn't experienced something similar when the SR-1 went down.
"We have to keep moving; we don't want more to end up like this," Shepard informed James and EDI. He scaled the next ladder in record time.
"Harvester!" James yelled, seconds after Shepard had sent a biotic fist through a Cannibal's chest.
"Well...shit," Shepard could not think of something cool to say. "Kill it before it takes out that escape pod!" Another escape pod was across a large chasm. This time live turians were gathered around the escape pod. Shepard had no intention of letting them die.
…
"Holy shit, Commander," James stared at Shepard. They had just driven off the Harvester and defeated the Reaper forces closing in on the turian squad. They had all helped, but Shepard had fought the hardest. Determination to save every single turian had driven the Commander to defeat the forces in an impressive amount of time. Not one turian died.
"I have to agree with James, Commander. That was incredible," EDI said without emotion, as usual.
"That's why they pay me the big bucks," Shepard laughed.
"Really?" James asked curiously.
"Nope," Shepard responded, again laughing. They couldn't reach the turians, so he started climbing a ladder to the right.
Half an hour later, they had fought a Harvester and rescued Victus. Shepard was not impressed with Victus's actions. Apparently, neither was his squad. It wasn't his place to judge though.
...
Shepard victoriously walked onto the crew deck. He felt great after saving the Primarch's son. "So, how was the show?" Shepard asked the crew, which was gathered around the screen in the Mess Hall. They were putting everything back to normal, but the majority turned when they heard his voice.
Liara walked up to him with a smile plastered on her face. "I told you that I'd be okay," he whispered. He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to his side. "Well, I should go. I need to get my armor off," Colt gave a final squeeze to Liara's shoulder, and started towards the elevator.
"Commander Shepard, people do not exaggerate your skills," Primarch Victus remarked. He stopped Shepard just before he got to the elevator.
"That's very nice of you to say, but I'm just doing my job," Shepard replied. He always liked the Primarch.
"That's very modest of you. Normally I would retreat back to the War Room, but I know of another mission on Tuchanka. It's huge, Commander. I don't mean to tell you how to operate, but it would probably be a good idea to do it today," the Primarch was speaking loud enough that everyone heard. He leaned in so that only Shepard could hear. "It's a bomb, Commander. Cerberus is going to use it to obliterate Tuchanka, or a huge portion," Victus looked seriously at him.
"As a rule, I usually don't do two missions in a day...but I can't ignore this," Shepard answered loudly. "James, are you up to another mission?" Shepard tightened the armor on his arm that he had just loosened.
"I'm always good to go, Captain," James jumped up from the table where he sat. Shepard was pleased to see that his armor was still on.
"Good," Shepard turned back to Victus. "Let's have a quick briefing in the War Room. Come on James!" Shepard turned to get on the elevator.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Doctor Chakwas asked Shepard quietly. She gave him a look which implied that she was worried about his cybernetics holding up.
"I can't ignore this. It has to be done quickly," Shepard responded to the good doctor. She nodded and let him go.
…
"Commander, Ninth Platoon reporting in!" Victus came over a vid screen in the Kodiak, "We're getting jostled around quite a bit."
"This is as close as we're getting, find somewhere to get off," Shepard told him. His small squad was also close to landing. "Tell me about this Cerberus bomb," Shepard couldn't imagine what the Krogan had done to Cerberus to get this. Sure, they hated aliens, but that didn't mean they could just start bombing them.
"It's not Cerberus... It's turian," he voice was filled with shame. Shepard could hear murmurings of people back on the Normandy through his comm. unit. Apparently no one was expecting this.
"What?!" Shepard focused more on Victus now.
"We planted it as a safeguard. In case another war broke out, we could just deploy the bomb and end another Krogan Rebellion," Victus' words made Shepard's mouth touch the floor.
James came up behind Shepard and thoughtfully said, "Seems a bit harsh, but I can see the need."
"Didn't you learn that hiding huge bombs on people's home worlds won't earn you any friends?" Shepard asked incredulously. What an awful thing to do. "We don't have time to debate ethics, we need to disarm that bomb," Shepard's head was spinning.
"Right, but Cerberus is all over it. Detonation of that bomb means all-out war between my people and the Krogans," Victus responded. The stakes just rose about ninety percent. These days, Shepard only participated in missions that if failed, would make the entire galaxy explode. "We can't fail, Commander," Victus added more pressure.
"We won't," Shepard commented before leaping into a war zone.
"Just like Elysium!" Shepard yelled, as he ran through rainfall consisting of artillery shells. It was similar to the event that jump started Shepard's career, because the first part of the siege on Elysium had been constant shelling from the Batarians.
Shepard thanked his biotic barriers and everyone else's Kinetic barriers for saving them. They were lucky that not one shell directly hit them, but some were close. Shepard was propelled backwards and to the side several times by dangerously close shells. James and EDI were also tossed about by the sheer force of close hits. It didn't help that Cerberus Troopers were everywhere. He was soooo glad that he decided not to take Liara.
"Commander! Take out those Cerberus Troopers!" James yelled behind him. He was motioning towards a group of them that was pounding James' location. Shepard summoned biotic energy for a charge, and appeared at their location seconds later. The charge killed one, and injured the other two. A biotic Nova tore through the rest.
"Come on!" Shepard yelled at his team and started for a couple of destroyed buildings. He smiled when Cerberus Troopers swarmed through the rubble.
...
Cerberus started evacuating half way through the mission. They were close to detonating the bomb, and the ground team would become just a thought if that happened. Shepard drove forward hard. He knew that his biotics were being overused, but the constant barrage of biotic attacks couldn't stop now. He took only a few moments to absorb the bomb's appearance.
"I hope Victus knows what he's doing, we won't get a second chance," James reminded the Commander.
"I know, James," Shepard gazed at the sheer size of the bomb. In an instant Commander Shepard could be nothing more than a story. He charged ahead.
About seventeen minutes later, Victus was at the bomb controls. "Commander, I can get rid of the trigger mechanism. It's old technology, so I know how to hack into the system. The trigger is just a smaller explosion, so if we can separate it from the big bomb, we'll be good," Victus was typing furiously at a holographic interface. "Should be relatively easy, and straightforward," he called. The next fifteen minutes was anything but.
"We'll keep Cerberus off of you," Shepard sent a shockwave at some Cerberus troopers. He finished them off with a storm of bullets to their location, and watched as their heads exploded.
Things were going according to plan. Shepard even got to launch a missile at an Atlas mech, which upgraded his coolness one level. Cerberus was going down easily, the ground team was working like a well oiled machine. Shepard felt a lot better about the mission. Until he got back to Victus.
"The bomb is gonna detonate in a minute!" Victus screamed. His hand/talons started working double time. For an awful second, Shepard thought about how wonderful a quick death like this would be. The bomb would go off, and there would be nothing. No pain, like being shot, and he could just leave his responsibilities. Garrus or Liara could take his place.
"Cover me!" Victus yelled at Shepard, before he started scaling the scaffolding holding the bomb. Shepard watched as Victus successfully got the detonator to release from the bomb. Well, almost every latch connecting the trigger released. One release was jammed. Shepard knew that he would need help, so he called for EDI to cover him, while he started up to help. Victus was on the latch, and taking out something.
"WAIT!" Shepard screamed at the Lieutenant. He was leaping up the ladder, passing two or three rungs with each leap.
"Victory, no matter the cost," Victus said loud enough for Shepard to hear. He gave the Commander such a look that Shepard knew he wouldn't wait. Shepard could see that the trigger would fall away from the bomb and would reach his level when it went off. His crew was also in danger of being caught in the explosion.
"Cover!" Shepard yelled at James and EDI. He let go of the ladder, and concentrated on putting a biotic barrier around himself. The explosion's shockwave sent him flying backwards.
…
James had pulled EDI behind a concrete slab just as the shockwave hit. The roar from the explosion hit seconds after the shockwave. Commander Shepard had been closer to the explosion, and without cover. The implications were unpleasant. After waiting for several minutes, James got up.
Shepard wasn't close to the explosion. James searched in a daze. "Chakwas... Shepard is still, you know?" He asked with dread coursing through him.
"He's alive, I can't tell beyond that, however. My sensors were damaged," Chakwas replied. James kept searching. Everything was on fire and in bad shape from the initial shockwave.
"James! Over here!" EDI called to him. She pointed to some blood on the ground. James followed it, and sighed with relief when he saw Shepard moving. His relief went away when he saw what was happening. Shepard was vomiting blood, and blood was coming out of his ears.