Reality Checks And Prison Breaks
She stretched and let out a groan as her body protested. She looked around her room, noting she was alone. She quickly rolled out of bed and looked down at her sheets, noticing flecks of bright red blood here and there. She looked down at her body noticing claw and bite marks littered her torso and sides. Twisting her body to look behind her and noticing she had matching claw marks on her hips from where Garrus' claws had dug in.
She bit her lip as the memories poured forth.
'Shit...' her hands mapped her upper body, sliding up along her waist feeling for other injuries, cupping her breast and traveling to her neck. Her face grimaced as she felt the broken skin of her neck.
'Son of a bitch...the bastard marked me, like a damn vampire' she growled as she ran into the bathroom to take a look. She reached into her med kit and pulled out the medi-gel, ripping it open with her teeth she applied it to the chafed skin on her torso, back and inner thighs. She stared at her reflection, debating on putting it on her neck but thought better of it.
"EDI?"
"Yes Commander?"
"Where is Garrus?"
"He is currently in the cockpit with Joker."
"Okay thank you."
"Logging you out, Commander."
She stepped out of the bathroom and her eyes strayed to the picture of Kaidan on her desk. She picked up his picture and lightly traced his cheek before pressing it into her chest.
'I'm sorry, I'm so sorry...'
Garrus sat behind Joker, knowing eventually Emily would show up with a trusty cup of coffee for the pilot.
"Gunnery Chief Vakarian?" EDI's voice whispered into his comm.
"Commander Shepard has currently locked herself in her quarters, her body temperature indicates she might be in a state of shock" Garrus froze and quickly made his way to Emily's quarters.
He found her, sitting still as stone in front of her terminal, her body stiffened with shock. His eyes drifted to her terminal and quickly scanned the note, letting out a soft hiss.
From: Admiral Hackett
Commander Shepard:
Our scans in the Amada system have turned up something we thought you should see: the final location of the wreckage of the SSV Normandy.
We thought this news might be important to you, but we also have an ulterior motive. The Alliance would like to honor the Normandy with a monument, to be built on the site of the ship's final resting place. We'd like to invite you to place the monument and be the first to walk on the site.
There are still 20 crew members unaccounted for from the attack on the Normandy. If you find any signs of these lost crewman, we ask that you report to the Alliance so that those heroes' families might find some closure.
Godspeed to you, Commander.
"Emily...?" He crooned, letting out a comforting rumble. Garnering no response, he took another step closer and lightly touched her cheek. Cursing as he felt the chill through his glove, he quickly pulled her into his arms and held her close. He bit out another curse as a quiet sob escaped her throat. She turned her face towards him, pale under her dark hair, eyes too wide and filled with emotions he couldn't read.
"It..was so cold Garrus. Soo...cold..." she whispered as a her body began to tremble.
"It was warm on the ship, but...but once I started to free fall, and I realized my air tank wasn't connected...it was just so cold..." She said softly as his arms tightened around her.
"Emily..." He rumbled his flat nose pressed tightly against her neck.
"I should have been there...I would have dragged you kicking and screaming to the pod..."
She let out a hiccuped laugh as her body melted into his arms.
"Do...you want me to go with you?" He asked quietly, his taloned hands flexing lightly along her waist.
"..." she sat silently confused in her own thoughts.
"Emily...I..." He pulled her out of his arms slightly to look down at her face.
Emily stood behind Joker's chair, coffee in hand as they neared the floating prison.
"So what happened with you and Garrus?" Joker commented softly.
She gave no reply.
"I figured it would have happened sooner but...what are you going to do about Kaidan?"
Emily let out a sigh and shook her head.
"I don't know, the Illusive Man says he doesn't know where he is. But that's probably a bunch of loaded bull...damn it Joker...I've been dead for two years. A lot of people changed...hell even Tali..." she bursted out, her hand gripping his chair tightly.
"It feels like a few days for me, that I was floating out there...dying but for everyone else...two years, two damned years."
"I'm sorry, Emily."
"Don't, start."
"Look, if it wasn't for me..."
"Jeff, I'm serious don't go there."
Joker gave a long pause.
"I saw where we're going after we pick up 'The Convict,' I want to..."
"No Joker, I'm sorry but no."
"I have every right to go with you, they were my crew too. My family...our family."
Emily froze as she felt like she was plunged into ice cold water again. She took a deep breath and exhaled, eyes closed.
"Fine, but you're staying in the shuttle. Chakwas will murder me if anything happened to her precious baby boy" Emily teased, letting the tension escape her body.
"Aye, aye, Ma'am..." He said as they began docking procedures.
Emily placed her thermos by the co-pilot chair before turning to look behind her at Garrus and Zaeed.
"You two ready?" her hand lightly caressing her shotgun.
"Joker, keep the engines hot, Miranda and Jacob keep an eye on the door. Shoot anyone that tries to come in, don't bother asking questions."
She turned, not waiting to see if the two followed her orders as she strode through the airlock.
"Welcome to the Purgatory, Shepard. Your package is being prepped, you can claim it shortly. As this is a high-security vessel, you'll need to relinquish your weapons before we proceed" the prison guard said gesturing for their weapons.
"I'll relinquish one bullet, where do you want it?" She said pulling out her heavy pistol and arched her eyebrow.
"Everyone stand down, Commander, I'm Warden Kuril and this is my ship. Your weapons will be returned on the way out. You must realize this is just standard procedure."
"It's my standard procedure to keep my gun" she said with her eyes narrowing.
Kuril glared back at her noting how the blue armored turian seemed to shift closer to the slender Commander.
"Let them proceed, our facility is more than secure enough to handle three armed guests" he spoke, causing the turian in blue armor to snort and the other mercenary to chuckle.
Emily turned and tossed them a mocking glare causing the two to laugh out right at her expression. Emily lightly fingered the M-920 Cain and grinned sheepishly.
Kuril ignored the bypass and started walking towards the entrance.
"We're bringing Jack out of cryo, as soon as the funds clear you can be on your way. If you'll follow me to Outprocessing for the pickup, Commander." the Warden spoke with frustration.
"Let's go."
They followed Kuril through the cellblocks as he explained the purpose of his prison. Emily hid her distaste, blanking her expression. Already denouncing any of the Warden's credibility and pinned him as a greedy ass twat and shouldn't be trusted. She flicked her eyes to Zaeed and noticed he also watched the warden cautiously, their eyes met and an understanding flared between them as they both turned their attention to the warden.
Garrus was slightly nodding in agreement with the warden, keeping the bad guys away from the good guys seemed like a very good idea.
"So what happens if the colony or planet can't afford to pay?" Emily broke the silence.
"Eh...? Oh, we send the prisoner back there, in a undisclosed location of course. It becomes their problem to deal with once again" he grunted..
Garrus froze, suddenly feeling sick at the corruption the barefaced warden showed. His eyes focused on Emily's posture noting the sudden tension that shimmered in her walk, how emotionless her face was.
"Let's just keep going" Emily's voice echoed through the hall.
"I'm going to confirm that the funds from Cerberus cleared. Out Processing is straight down this hallway. Just keep going past the interrogation rooms and the supermax wing. I'll catch up with you later...Shepard" he dismissed himself.
They moved down the hallway, their steps ringing loudly.
"What do you know about this Jack person?" Zaeed asked noting of the guards and prisoners.
"No idea, but they must be pretty bad to be locked up in here, not sure what Cerberus would want with them" Emily replied.
She stopped outside a cell and watched a guard beat a prisoner, her hands balled into fists as she focused her fierce eyes on the guard watching.
"There is no excuse for beating a prisoner who can't fight back."
"This is a massage compared to what his victims went through."
"This degrades you as much as him."
"We have orders."
"What, you're not important enough to make your own decisions?" she negotiated.
"I admit... I sometimes get tired of this. Does this really get us anything useful?"
"Stop this, for your own sake."
"Yeah...you're right. Call it off, at least for now."
Emily nodded at the guard and continued to out processing.
"So, who thinks we're walking into a trap?" Emily asked as she reached for her Carnifix.
Zaeed let out a snort and pulled out his weapon, "when did you figure it out?"
"Oh about the time he caved and let us keep our weapons. Cocky bastard underestimates me." Emily growled as the door opened, revealing only one person monitoring the room.
"My apologies, Shepard. You're more valuable as a prisoner than a customer. Drop your weapons and proceed into this open cell. You will not be harmed" the warden's voice boomed over comm.
"Like hell we will." Emily growled as she dove behind a desk, gun in hand. The door whooshed open as mechs and guards flooded the room. She popped out of cover, charging the guards and let out a volley of bullets, a silent snarl on her face as she moved quickly through the guards.
"Come on we gotta find Jack and get the fuck out of here" Emily ordered as a guard shot her shoulder knocking her back a step.
"Emily..?" Garrus' voice said worriedly as he took a step towards her.
"I'm fine, fucker caught me with no shield. The Med-gel is kicking in, I'll be fine" moving passed him.
They proceeded into the cryo chambers, Emily looked at the panels, not seeing the release for the chamber that contained Jack, she randomly hit a few buttons releasing all the prisoners.
"Uh...did you...just do what I think you just did?" Garrus asked with a slight bite in his voice.
"Mhmm, only way to get Jack out of cryo" Emily murmured as she leaned into the glass and looked down seeing three mechs activate and move towards a cryo chamber. The chamber hood was pulled up, revealing a small woman covered in tattoo's and leather straps across the chest.
Zaeed whistled in appreciation.
"Interesting, is that Jack? Jack's a woman" Emily smirked as she placed a hand on the glass.
The woman blinked her eyes open, snarling she ripped her restrains off her arms and neck, launching a volley of biotics at the mechs quickly taking them down.
"Holy shit! Chick's haywire!" Emily shouted as her eyes widened in shock. "I don't think even I could do that...I should ask Miranda..."
"How about we catch up with Jack first?" Garrus commented reminding Emily where they were.
"Oh right! Yeah, let's go!" Emily grinned up at him, her brown eyes shining, causing Garrus' breath to hitch in his throat.
Zaeed let out another snort as Emily ran past them.
"You're drooling Turian" he smirked as he gestured towards Emily's back. They moved quickly following Jack's path of destruction clearing attacking guards and prisoners.
"She's good...she's really good" Emily laughed as they followed the path..
"She's good but...she lacks...subtlety" said Garrus noting the pieces of the hallway broken apart.
"No one is as stylish as you, Garrus" Emily teased tossing him a smile before charging off into a group of enemies.
Garrus shook his head and quickly snipped a guard Emily had missed. Zaeed followed suit managing to keep up with the charging woman just fine.
They walked into a room being greeted by the warden protected by barriers opening fire them. Emily turned her attention and looked around the room glancing at some devices.
"Garrus take out that console, Zaeed and I will make our way up top and deal with the guards and the warden. You're on cover fire" she ordered as she charged into the room, her shotgun blasting in her wake.
"You're valuable, Shepard. I could've sold you and lived like a king but you're too much trouble. At the very least I can recapture Jack" the warden shouted from his protective shield.
"Anyone ever tell you my middle name is 'Trouble'!" Emily shouted back.
"I thought your middle name was Rose?" Garrus commented dryly as he snipped one of the devices.
Emily tossed him an amused grin and shook her head.
"Not happening! You're a two-bit slave trader and I don't have time for this."
"I do the hard things civil governments are unwilling to! This is for the good for the galaxy!" the warden's shot glazed the railings by Shepard.
"If you say so!" Emily shouted charging into him. Garrus took down the last device then quickly took aim at the warden's head. Garrus' shot connected with the warden's head as Emily's simultaneously shotgunned him in the stomach killing him instantly.
"Well so much for that, where's my piece of the pie?" Zaeed chuckled.
Emily gave a laugh, "you're just too slow Zaeed."
"Now where is our new friend?" He continued as they ran out of the room and into another hallway.
A loud explosion followed with cursing drew their attention ahead of them, seeing the bald, tattooed woman standing in front of the docking to Normandy.
"Cerberus..." she growled out angrily. "What the hell do you want?" as the group walked towards her.
"You're in a bad situation, and I'm going to get you out of here."
"Shit, you sound like a pussy."
Emily shared a look with Garrus and laughed.
"Cute, get your ass on the ship so we can go."
"I'm not going anywhere with you Cerberus."
"How about I knock you flat on your ass and drag you to the ship?" Emily cocked her shotgun.
"I'd like to see you try!" Jack growled, biotics flickering over her balled fists.
Emily took a step towards the small woman, her own biotics flickering to life as a smirk danced across her face.
"I'd love too, Princess." Emily sneered.
"Emily" Garrus said, placing a hand on her shoulder, she turned a glare at him.
"I don't have time for this, I'm dirty, my armor is covered in blood and my fucking shoulder hurts. Just let me knock her out and you can carry her to the ship" Emily snarled as she took another step towards Jack.
"Look, fine, you want me to go with you? Make it worth my while" said Jack.
"What do you want?" Emily gave a deep sigh and crossed her arms.
"I want info, info that Cerberus has on me."
"That's it? Fine, once we're on board I'll have Miranda give you access."
"Then why the hell are we still standing here...?" Jack swiveled her way up the ramp.
"Fine Move out, such an irritating woman" said Emily dejectedly.
"You know, Miranda isn't going to like that" Garrus said stepping in place next to Emily.
"And that's what is going to make this fun." Emily said with a toss of her head.