And here we go FOLKS. Don't forget to Review at the end; let me know what you thought. I love reading reviews tbh, they fuel me; positive or negative. :)
*Aedon Wynne POV*
So… Iris may or may not hate me know. She was not happy about being splashed with water to wake up only an hour after she fell asleep. Nor when she got trumpets blared into her ears startling her off of her cot. She got it on the third try though, woke up before I could splash her with a another bucket of water. She has since vowed revenge upon me. I laughed it off and she seemed to take it as an insult. You wanted in on this life Iris, it isn't everything you think it is, she'll get used to it.
Once she was up for the final time I decided to go and do some training with her; teaching her the basics behind IED's. Nothing specific yet but just the broad concepts of building one. Starting simple here and when I get the chance I'll show her a good way to safely build on on her own. Preferably while the ordinance is disabled but if not we'll do what we can.
After teaching her for a bit Shepard called me to his office. Once I got there he informed me that since I had experience in the field and a stamp of approval from Dr. Chakwas I would be our field medic until Mordin finished with the Collector Swarms. I had asked Shepard why not just let Mordin do both but he dismissed that stating that he needed Mordin to focus on the Collector Swarm countermeasures in the lab. Leaving me as the team medic for now.
I was surprised by his decision but at this point I didn't much care for it regardless. His reasoning was sound and I've helped medics in the past; the Citadel being a poignant example. All those meatball surgeries I assisted on definitely helped my understanding of first aid. Still, I told him I was a poor replacement for a trained medic which ended up being my worst choice of words.
Of the last six hours we've been on the ship I've spent four of them with the Doctor getting an advanced crash course in being a medic. It wasn't bad all things considered but it wasn't what I wanted to do. Plus, I now have a first aid kit that adds almost 10 pounds to my kit. Now, I know everyone on the ground teams blood type too; Miranda is B-, Jacob A+, Zaeed B- and Shepard AB+. Little surprised that Shepard and I shared a bloodtype but meh.
After all that Garrus came and got me from her, taking me to the cargo hold so that we could go over our gear for the mission. Gear that I had to grab from my room but I didn't mind, though Iris did ask to come. I let her come with us to the cargo hold but told her it would be boring as we would just be setting up for a mission. She seemed happy enough with that.
Once we got to the cargo bay Garrus and I went over his new helmet and armor. He obviously wouldn't fit into the Cerberus stuff but we upgraded his current helmet a bit. Merc tech inside for accuracy and increased insulation for better armor in case he gets hit; it wasn't a big upgraded but it was needed. Plus we painted it white with red surrounding the eyes; it looked really good in my, no way biased, opinion.
We were just about finished putting the final touches on it when Shepard messaged us both. He told us that it would us, him and Jacob for this one and to meet him in the briefing room asap. Even he knew that there was no way it would be as simple as paying for Jack's release and leaving. From what I could tell most of the crew believed we would start a chain reaction ending with Purgatory's destruction. The rest believed we would kill every Blue sun on the station and take it over. Both options were fine with me.
Getting away from that both Garrus and I left the cargo bay and headed to the meeting room. When we got there Jacob was patiently waiting at the table ready for the meeting to begin. Miranda was in the corner with her omni-tool on. All we were waiting on was Shepard and we could start.
"Torchbearer. It's good to officially meet you," Jacob stated standing up and walking over to me with his hand outstretched. I took one look at it before turning away and sitting in a chair. He wasn't a bad guy but I never explored him in the game, I knew nothing about him and would base him on what I learned here. He would have to earn that handshake.
"Don't worry about him. He just doesn't trust you," Garrus said giving Jacob a blank stare. "He might warm up to you if you prove yourself. Name's Mr. Vakarian or Vakarian to you."
Garrus at least gave Jacob's hand a firm shake before he joined me in the chairs. Jacob looked miffed for a few seconds before it was replaced by respect and determination. Then he went back to his seat and sat down quietly; guess he was a fan of our work. Miranda on the other hand just scoffed at the interaction before returning to her omni-tool. Barely a minute after the interaction Shepard came into the room. Everyone stood up at attention for the man but he immediately dismissed us and went straight into the brief.
"Alright, we're only about an 90 mikes from Purgatory. We'll be picking up an infamous criminal named 'Jack'. No known real name, D.O.B., or place of birth. They're more or less a ghost but we know they are at least real and a woman. Other than that they're an extremely powerful biotic and Cerberus is fronting the money for their release. That being said it's us and the Blue Suns run Purgatory. The chances of this being a simple exchange of credits is zero."
"So… do we play along or just go in guns blazing?" Garrus asked looking to Shepard.
"Playing along would get us closer to Jack, wherever they're being kept," Jacob stated, Miranda then spoke up.
"It would also let them put you into a kill box if they'd be satisfied with you dead."
"I'm worth three times more alive last time I checked," I said shrugging my shoulders at the looks everyone gave me. "Just saying."
"We'll be playing along. It'll let us get closer to Jack and after reading her laundry list of crimes they might be more destructive than us," Shepard stated ending the conversation. We went along with his decision as well, no reason not to.
"I want everyone geared for a fight and ready at least 30 mikes before we get to Purgatory," he then dismissed us.
At that Garrus and I went back down to the cargo hold and did a final check on all of our gear. My Mattock, ax and sawed-off would be the equipment I brought this time around; along with my ever-present grenades and pistol. I made sure to bring a detonator and some det cord too in case I needed to make an IED; they had become part of my loadout since finding out how to make them. I placed the cord next to where my ax was on my leg.
My knife would be staying behind though. After my weapons were ready I checked over my armor and had Sam run a diagnostics check on both my arm and shields first.
My arm was doing well but it was definitely due for some maintenance in the joints. It wasn't a pressing concern at the moment but the shields definitely were. It wasn't about to kick the bucket but the check engine light was definitely blaring on them. The generator needed to be replaced with a new one and installed. After this mission, we'll need to head to the Citadel to pick it up from Frank and see if he can show me how to install it myself along with any extras he's got on hand.
After that was done and determined I got all my gear on and headed to the airlock. Jacob was there already with an N7 AR and what looked like a grenade launcher on his back. I gave him a thumbs up for his choice and he gave me one back as I sat down across him and waited. He didn't bother trying to break the silence and I was thankful for that. A minute passed after I got there before Shepard arrived with Garrus talking with each other.
I couldn't tell what they were waying but that didn't bother me, just my paranoia acting up as usual. Shutting that out of my mind I stoked up and readied myself. Jacob was right behind me as Shepard and Garrus stood in front of the airlock.
EDI came online and asked Shepard a question I didn't listen to. When they were done the airlock opened and we all stepped inside sitting on the two benches inside. No one said a word as we went over our gear. All that could be heard was the clicking of our guns and straps tightening. It was relaxing to be honest; no paperwork, little responsibility, no one asking me question on what needed to be done. I was finally a grunt again and I couldnt' be happier.
"We'll be arriving at Purgatory in 15. Just got the go ahead by their controller," Joker announced over the intercom.
"Thanks. Would you like a souvenir?" Shepard back to the intercom.
"I"ll take a Blue Suns helmet if you can do that," Joker quipped back with a little chortle in his voice.
"Would you like it bloody or clean?" I asked in a joking tone but I was being 100% serious. If I could get him a helmet I would; best pilot in the galaxy deserves cool shit.
"Surprise me Scary man," and that was it.
From there we got to mull around in silence as we waited for Joker to dock the Normandy. It would only be a few minutes before he did so and we were docking. We could feel the clamps connect to the airlock and the cleaning process initiated before the doors opened to Purgatory.
First impression of Purgatory is that it was everything that you would expect from a space prison in terms of how it looked on the inside. Guards posted everywhere, some ready for anything while others just relaxed. Gear at every corner ranging from metal detectors to full body scanners. The place was high tech to say the least but after 30 seconds of looking around, I had a massive smile on my face behind the mask.
"Shepard, this place is my playground," I said into my helmet radio with the output muted. He betrayed nothing after hearing my statement but I saw him tap his weapon twice signaling me to continue.
"See all the equipment; and all the circuit centers near them. I get to one and I can lock down wherever we are and more. Worst case scenario I would take out and control all their cams. Best case I take control of the turrets they have to have around here."
Shepard gave away nothing as we approached the first junction. The guards at the front were a singular Turian and two humans. All outfitted with basic armor and gear. They saw us approaching and spoke into their radio's before the Turian stepped forward towards us.
"Halt. No weapons beyond this point," He immediately had all our weapons pointed at him and low and behold the turrets didn't respond at all. Guess they had to be remotely controlled; makes my job easier.
"My weapon never leaves me," was Shepard's response to the Turian guard. If I wasn't on his team I would've sighed at the remark.
"Sir," the guard was gut off by the Warden who came out of the side hallway. "Leth them pass. We have more than enough if something should happen."
Yeah, buddy you might have the guns but this place is a good techie's wet dream. And if the last few years have anything to say I'm one of the best out there. If not the best… Ceelo is the only one I know of combat wise who is or could be better than me with Tali right behind me.
Either way he took us through the doors of Purgatory. Trying to show off just how powerful his prison was. Looking everywhere he would be right if it was only against the prisoners but against us this place wasn't anything hard. A lot of kill boxes we could us and a surprising amount of cover. However, there were plenty of turrets but I should be able to mitigate, if not outright negate, them or turn them on the guards themselves. I had already sent a probe into their system and it wasn't impressive at all; a Quarian child could hack this place if they wanted.
As we walked on we walked past a prisoner getting beaten by some Blue Suns guards. We walked right on by them without a care in the world; Shepard didn't give them a second glance. Can't say I blame him though, most people here would definitely be on my list of people to kill if they got out. The ones that weren't getting the shit kicked out of them stayed away from the glass doors and deep in their cells.
"No matter their amount of spirit, they all break," was all the Warden said as we walked by them.
"Has Jack?" I asked innocently and he froze up for a moment.
"We had to break Jack a different way," he let that hang in the air for a few moments before pointing down the call at a pair of double doors. "Jack is right through there. I'll expect payment before you leave."
"And you'll have it if Jack is still in a serviceable condition," was Shepard's response as he walked towards the double doors.
Jacob was right behind Shepard as he walked away. Garrus and I stayed behind for a moment exchanging a look between each other. We each acknowlowdged that the ambush was going to happen in the next couple of minutes. That and we had no actual idea where the hell Jack actually was.
When our silent conversation was done we each had the understanding the fight wouldn't be pleasant if we didn't find out where Jack was soon. Still, we turned and followed Shepard into the room the Warden had pointed out to us. The doors already closed behind Shepard once more opening for us. Shepard greeted us with a silent wave and finger pointed to one circuit center on the wall. Nodding to him I walked over to it and started hacking. I wasn't trying to do anything but find Jack first.
"Commander Shepard, Red Eyes and Garrus Vakarian. A bounty total of over 20 billion credits. Thank you for com-" his voice stopped mid monologue as I took control of all of Purgatory's cameras and speakers. It took me two seconds, this place's firewall was a joke.
"Now, that was just plain rude Aedon," Garrus admonished sarcastically as he flipped over a table and pointed his rifle at the door.
"You could of at least let him finish. He had probably been working on that speech for hours," Shepard agreed as he put a barrier over himself before getting into cover with Garrus. This left Jacob as the only man in his cover; the circuit center was already in good enough cover. As for my response to their remarks I just shrugged my shoulders.
A second later I hooked up the cameras to my omni-tool and wired them to the Normandy. Once I did that EDI picked it up immediately. It took me a few moments to convince her it was me through the coding on my omni-tol but eventually she let the connection happen.
"How can I help you Mr. Torch?"
"I've taken control of the cameras for all of Purgatory. However, I'll need to fight and won't be able to monitor them the whole time; can you monitor them for us?" EDI was silent for a moment before responding. While she was silent I found where Jack was being held.
"I will not; my shackles prevent me from doing so. However, I can connect Miss Lawson and she should be able to do so."
"Do it," it only took a second and Miranda's voice came through the radio.
"I have control."
"Good. Miranda, follow our progress and let us know who's coming," Shepard ordered. "Wynne, you have Jack's location," I gave him a nod, "Good. You'll be on point then."
"Shepard, five Blue Suns and five mechs are about to breach."
Looking to the others we all got ready for them to breach into the room. Said door popped open for a moment as one of the Blue Suns threw a canister into the room. It exploded into a cloud of smoke and noise. Miranda however barked out that the Blue Suns were entering.
As soon as I heard that I hit a pulse with 10 signatures coming up on everyone's HUD's. Shepard, Garrus and I all opened fire upon seeing the targets. Jacob was a moment behind us not knowing I could do that but he followed our example and shot into the smoke; only he did it with the grenade launcher. Once he did that the smoke began to clear and all but one of the Blue suns was dead; he was crawling away with his right leg missing.
We looked between each other for a moment before Shepard gave out his orders. I got out of my cover and walked over to Jacob tapping him on the shoulder as I passed. He then got up and followed me as I went to Shepard. Tapping hi on the shoulder I went through the open door with Jacob on my six, Garrus and Shepard right behind us.
Pushing out the door I walked over to where the passage to Jack was. It took us past the still crawling Blue Sun who I promptly shot in the head as I passed; no one said anything on that. Either way, as we reached the passage I began to walk down the relatively short passage only for Miranda's voice to ring out again.
"Six Blue Suns incoming; three techies, one soldier and two biotics."
Nodding absentmindedly at her voice I grabbed a grease off my bandolier and readied an Overload. Counting out three seconds and then firing off the Overload, a sound of surprise emanated from behind the bend of the corridor. Then I threw the grenade, I didn't know if it got anyone but from the second shout of surprise followed by the grenade going off and then screams of pain and moaning I had a pretty good idea I got them.
Not wanting to just rush in as the grenade had also taken out the camera I gave a hand motion and to Shepard and I waited for what he would do. A second later Jabob was pulling back and Shepard was next to me and tapped me on the shoulder. Nodding to him we both went forward and popped around the corner.
As soon as we did I was hit and sent into the wall by a Charge from a blood-stained human. Looking past him the rest of the soldiers weren't doing so hot but two others were still alive and in the fight.
Before Shepard could attack the biotic he charged me again. I rolled out of the way as his knee hit and indented the wall where my head was a moment ago. I made a off handed motion to Shepard and he nodded going around the corner to deal with the other two as Garrus ran up and joined him.
The biotic kept his eyes solely on me and pulled out a knife before he began to attack me with it. He wasn't half bad I admit and I couldn't get enough distance between us to really do anything besides counter because I still had my gun in my hands. That alone didn't let me pull my sawed-off or ax and he kept up the pressure but I didn't need to fight him to win. I simply sidestepped him. He forgot one of the most important rules of combat, be aware of your surroundings.
Jacob put him into a stasis and that allowed me to put my Mattock away and bring out my sawed off. Putting it against the biotics head I looked back to Jacob and nodded. I heard him take a few steps to get behind me and as soon as he tapped my shoulder he undid the stasis and I pulled the trigger. The biotic's head exploded in a mess of gore.
"I did not expect it to be that messy," he stated as I popped my sawed off and loaded two more shells.
"Never seen a true shotgun in action?" I asked as I put the sawed-off back onto my leg. He shook his head in the negative. "Well, now you know."
Turning to look down the hallway Shepard and Garrus were just finishing up the other two as well. Each dead with a bullet to the brain.
"Jack should be right through there," I stated pointing to the door at the end of the hallway.
Shepard nodded and motioned for Jacob and I to take up the rear. Following Garrus and Shepard there wasn't anyone else as we made our way inside the door. Well, there was one scientist but he tried to pick up a gun and shoot at us. Garrus dropped him without a second thought.
"Alright, let's get Jack and bug out," Shepard said as he went up to the control panel and started punching in system to get Jack out of there.
"Shepard. The system is corrupted, you let Jack out and every single other prisoner gets out too," Miranda barked over the radio. It stopped Shepard for a second before he looked to me.
"It'll help cover our escape," I pointed out helpfully. Shepard nodded in agreement.
"I'm starting it. We'll just have to deal," he then completed the process and the cylinder holding Jack came up from the ground revealing her.
Jack was one of those characters that you truly needed to explore in the game to understand her. When you did though she was easily one of the best characters out there and had, in my opinion, one of the best character arcs and romances. It might just be because I like strong, smart women but it is what it is. She was smart too, not in the same way as Tali was but definitely smart.
As per the trend of everyone so far she looked exactly like her in game self. Beautiful in a raw and uncompromising sort of way. It was surreal in a certain aspect as all of us watched her come up and wake from her cryo. She looked around for a second with confusion on her face, a weird thing to see on her face.
It disappeared instantly though and was replaced by anger. Infusing herself with biotics she ripped herself out of her restraints with almost no effort. Two Ymir mechs than made themselves known below us as they approached Jack. She simply snarled at them, a look in perfect sync with her shown personality, before she charged them and promptly ripped them apart.
She was frighteningly powerful to do that and on some level I wanted to fight her. To test Jack and see if she truly stood up to her reputation. As she did that though we were all put into a short silence. One Shepard broke.
"Fuck. She's hot," all three of us slowly looked between each other before looking back to Shepard. I couldn't stop the words from coming out of my mouth.
"You're not much of a hair guy are you?" his head snapped to me and glared at me for a moment before shaking his head.
"Let's go. We'll follow her path of destruction," he then gave a simple motion with his hand and we all backed up from the window before opening fire on it. With the window sufficiently shattered we jumped through and made to follow Jack.
As we ran to catch up with her it was amazing and frankly frightening how much damage she was doing to the place. Breaking through walls and reinforced sections within the station as she charged out. Hell, I could already start to hear the station groaning under the pressure she was putting on it. She wasn't the only one though. With every other prisoner released it was a madhouse, we couldn't see it yet but we sure as shit could hear it.
Rounding a final corner we got to see the wide open area of where most of the prisoners were being kept. There was blood everywhere as prisoners fought against one another and the guards. There was no organization at all and the smart ones weren't even fighting; they were running for the escape pods eager to leave.
Looking at the far end of the corridor there was Jack fighting a YMIR mech and 10 Blue Suns by herself. None of us needed to be told twice and we went through the hole she had provided for us jumping into the chaos.
As soon as my feet touched the ground inside the area a prisoner ran at me with a prison shank. He was sloppy and desperate; I dodged his thrust, grabbed his arm and hip threw him to the ground raising my gun at his face. His mouth opened to plead for mercy but he wouldn't get it from me, I blew his brains out.
Knowing the others had already moved to cover I ran behind them and slid in next to Garrus behind a column. Popping his head out he aimed and took out a Blue Suns merc before getting back into cover. Looking to Shepard to see what he wanted us to do he gave me the signal for Cover and move*. Good enough for me.
Getting out of cover Garrus and I moved forward to the next forward cover not bothering to fire our weapons. Shepard and Jacob gave us covering fire as we moved. Once we got to cover I tapped the side of my helmet and Garrus and I popped out of cover firing at anyone we saw out of cover. Garrus, as always, took the head off a Blue Suns Merc and I took out a few unshielded prisoners and a Blue Sun who was out of cover.
As we did that Shepard and Jacob moved in front of us to the next available cover. From there we worked as a well oiled machine and steadily pushed our way forward across the whole area taking no prisoners. Hell, towards the end the Guards and prisoners tried to team up against us but it was already too late. We had cleared the room and there was next to no cover for them to protect themselves; it was a slaughter.
The only thing I would say that we could have done better was our fluidity as a unit. Still, that will come with time and most of it was from Jacob's end. This was literally his first Op with us and so far he was doing a lot better than I expected him to.
By the time we got to where Jack had been though she was long gone. The remains of the YMIR strewn about and the Guards who had been attacking her were dead.
Running past the bodies we followed her destruction as it went into the hallway before coming to another opening to just an extension of where he had just been. Jumping into the area the same as before we saw what was in here before all running for cover. All along the runway past where Jack was were Electroshock poles. Exactly what you think too, tall poles about 10 feet tall that were electrocuting every prisoner in the open. The guards were left free of it but we definitely wouldn't be.
Tapping Garrus on the shoulder twice we each readied an Overload and jumped out of cover firing them at the nearest pole. That was a mistake as it seemed to power the thing up and before I could get back into cover I got hit by a shock. Now, it didn't hurt that much as it didn't get past my shields. The problem was that with my shield generator on its proverbial last legs the shock put it over the edge and killed it.
"Shepard. My shield generator is dead," I said I crawled back into cover.
"Roger. Pick your targets and your timing, let us take the brunt," I gave him a nod of acknowledgement.
From there I switched tactics and grabbed a grenade off my belt. Popping out of cover again I threw it at the pole, this time it did something and the top half of the pole was no longer there. Shepard then radio'd me and told me to see what I could do about the rest.
Jumping over the cover I moved to where the pole was and hacked into its controls as Shepard and the others covered me. I was not happy to learn that they were each on their own separate power generator meaning I couldn't shut them down remotely. Cursing at the turn of events I shook my head to him.
He knew what I was getting at and gave us the signal that we would repeat the same cycle as we did in the last area. So that's what we did. Only this time I would be throwing grenades at the poles.
As we advanced doing this the guards recognized what we were doing early and started pressing us hard early. It was here that I would learn that my armor wasn't anything to scoff at either. That reinforced Geth plating could truly hold up against any and all of their shots whenever I did get hit. Still hurt like a bitch though and I would definitely have bruises all over my body tomorrow.
Anyways as we pushed forward together even the increased resistance from the guards couldn't match up against us. Especially when they had to deal with the prisoners and Jack while we made them pay for every single mistake they made. Being outside of cover for even a moment while Garrus or I were looking for them resulted in death and any that bunched up got blown to pieces by Jacob's grenade launcher. Shepard was the mastermind behind it all. Pointing out targets for us and backing us up for every movement we made.
We just kept moving forward until the last pole. I hadn't thrown my grenade yet and Jacob and Shepard were in front of us when Garrus and I made to get to the next cover so I could accurately throw my grenade. As we did so I got hit by a concussive shot and was sent reeling backwards sprawled out on the ground.
The shot had hit me in the chest and knocked my gun out of my hands, the det cord off my leg and the wind out of me and I laid on the ground writhing for a few moments trying to take a breath. It took me a moment to regain my bearing and my breath but as I did and started to get back up someone came out of nowhere, picked me up and slammed me into the wall behind the cover so the others couldn't see what was happening.
For the briefest of seconds, I was able to see my attacker before the hit me across the face and I just had the unfortunate luck of finding the only fucking Krogan I had seen today. At least it was an unarmed prisoner.
Stumbling away from him to get some space from the Krogan I reached for my ax and brandished it in front of him. He just smiled back at me, the Blood Rage obvious in his eyes, before he charged at me.
I met his charge in the middle and went low before he could tackle embedding my ax in his knee. It was so deep I couldn't get it free in time and chose to let it go in order to get a better position behind him. That lasted all of a second as I got hit by the electroshock pole in the back.
This time it hurt like a mother fucker and I dropped to one knee breathing hard trying to steady myself. Again I wouldn't get the chance as the Krogan charged me and picked me up by the throat slamming me against the wall.
My adrenaline then began to roar through my veins and I lifted up my augmetic arm and brought it down on his elbows. It didn't get rid of his grip on me but it did give me just enough room to grab his shirt and yank him towards me. I met him in the middle with the most vicious headbutt I could muster.
The first one barely dazed the Krogan but the second, third and finally the fourth one made him stumble back from me. Grabbing the det cord off the ground next to me, thank god for small miracles, I activated it and charged him sliding to the right, away from the electroshock pole, while I wrapped the det cord around his waist giving it a quick tie and cut. In the two seconds that had taken me the Krogan recovered and whipped around backhanding me across the face and sending me sprawling to the ground again.
However, that was all he was able to do before the electroshock pole hit him and activated the det cord. Literally blew the Krogan in half.
Smiling to myself I crawled over to where the bottom half of his body was and took my ax back. I then got behind cover and tapped my radio telling Shepard I was okay. He tapped back and I popped out of cover and ran for their cover as they covered me. Sliding into cover I grabbed my last grenade giving a nod to Shepard. A few seconds later they gave me covering fire and I threw it at the final electroshock pole.
That seemed to be the trigger for the final boss fight though as the Warden popped up out of the ground on an elevated platform to our left. Exactly where he was in the game at this point. And a whole new group of about 5 guards ran into the area. Then of all things the guy started monologuing.
"You couldn't have just taken the easy way out? Things would've been so much simpler. You would've been with the Shadow Broker and I would be one of the richest men in the galaxy! Now, you've let that psychopath on the loose and this whole place is coming down. I'm ta-"
As one Shepard, Garrus, Jacob and myself popped out of cover and unloaded on the guy. Three crack shots plus a grenade launcher and the guy was reduced to a fine pink mist. Our shots ripping apart his shields, even with that charging bullshit he had in the game, before Jacobs grenade finished him off.
Sighing at that being over we went about dealing with the rest of the guards. They didn't stand a chance, four of the five didn't have shields and the fifth was a biotic. Who made the mistake of charging me when I saw him coming. I sidestepped his charge, letting him fly into the wall behind us. Before he could do anything I grabbed the back of his head and slammed it into the wall twice and then threw him onto the ground.
"Bye," were my simple words as I got on top of him and drained him. I was disappointed when I didn't get that high I got after draining Morinth but it still felt good. When I was done the fight was over.
"C'mon, Jack's through there," Shepard pointed towards the whole in the wall the soldiers had come out of.
We ran through the opening and followed her carnage. No more guards or prisoners tried to fight us as they were hauling ass to the escape pods. We could literally feel Purgatory starting to come apart at the seams. It would be a few minutes before it happened but we had time.
When we caught up to Jack she was basically right next to where we had first entered the main part of Purgatory. She was throwing a fit as she looked out the window and saw that the only ship that could be her salvation was a Cerberus ship. A cruel twist of fate for her.
"FUCK!" she screamed out letting out a little biotic explosion. Though, I could tell that the adrenaline of being forced awake was gone and she looked exhausted.
"What the hell do you want!" she barked out as she saw us approach.
"We're here to get you out of here," Shepard stated placatingly trying the diplomatic approach.
"The fuck are you, some kind of boy scout. You sound like a fucking pussy," Jack scoffed at Shepard. Shepard just froze for a second before sighing.
"This place will blow or break apart in the next few minutes and we are quite literally your only ride out of here. Your choice."
"Why would I trust you then? You're with Cerberus," it was an argument I felt like we would be having a lot in the future.
"Fuck'em. What do you want?" She seemed taken aback by that turn of events and I was too. I expected more out of this.
"What's the catch?"
"You join my team. We're hunting the Collectors who are abducting whole human colonies in the Terminus Sector. It won't be easy or safe but if you join us you stay until the mission is done."
"Then I want all the data you have on that ship regarding Cerberus. Everything," She snarled the last word to try and prove her point.
"Deal. Now let's move unless you want to die."
We then proceeded to run towards the airlock and jumped in. Once we were in, Joker disconnected from Purgatory and we sailed away towards the Relay. As we got on our way we all exited the airlock and both Iris and Miranda were there waiting for us. Miranda immediately walked up to Shepard and started talking to him; I saw Jack approach them out of the corner of my eye and chose to steer clear of that chaos. As much as I wanted to see it, my whole body hurt right now. The shocks and shots put a number on me.
"The Doctor said most of your missions ended up with everything exploding. Guess she was right," Iris said with a smirk on her face.
"Shush. Speaking of doc I'll be visiting her. Wanna come?" she bobbed her head up and down happily and followed me to the med bay.
Once there the doc just sighed as she saw me enter. A quick scan from her later and she knew everything that was wrong with me. Nothing serious, just a lot of bruising that I would be feeling for quite a while. It was the usual work for her with me but she spent most of her time talking to Iris and pointing out where I was injured and how to treat it. Worked pretty well for me.
About halfway through it Shepard came into the room. He seemed to be looking for me as he spotted me right away and came over to me.
"Shepard. Where to next?" I asked before he could open his mouth.
"The Citadel but we're going to stop at the crash site first… I already asked Garrus and he said yes; you willing to join us?"
"Yes."
Over the next few hours I did a few things. Most importantly I recovered from the mission, I had two beers, and then trained Iris in both hand to hand and strategy. She didn't really like to learn about the latter option but after I explained that it was literally what kept us alive most of the time she started listening. Even when improvising you need strategy.
Either way that was most of my time. The rest of it was cleaning my gear and sleeping. When I woke Iris woke up with me and we went to breakfast together. Getting there we grabbed our meals and sat down. It was a quiet breakfast for a few minutes until Jack decided that she would join us.
She dropped in front me and sat on the chair resting her hands on the back of the chair as she stared at me. I looked at her for a second before dismissing her and continued on with my meal. Iris completely ignored her in favor of eating her food. Jack didn't particularly like to be ignored was my guess as she decided to try and reach over and grab one of my hashbrowns. I slapped her hand away and continued eating.
"Who the fuck are you?" she seethed out at me, the anger and attitude evident in her voice.
"Who do you think I am?"
"I don't know," guess she either went under before I became really famous or doesn't bother looking people up or watching the news. It might've been both.
"Read Matthew and I'll tell you. And don't swear around my daughter."
"The fuck is Ma-" I could excuse it once around Iris but not twice. She will learn to control her mouth.
Like lightening my augmetic shot out from my side and I grabbed her face completely blocking her from doing any biotics. The shock on her face when she realized that was enriching. However, it wasn't even close to the satisfaction I got when I wrenched her over to me, her chair falling over, and I brought her within a few inches of my face as my eyes bored holes into hers. For maybe the first time in her life since she was a little girl, Jack expressed fear.
"Do not swear around my daughter," I growled out before shoving her backward.
She tripped on her fallen chair and landed on her ass. That didn't last though as she jumped to her feet and activated her biotics. Before she could do anything though Shepard showed up.
"Stand the fuck down!" he roared at Jack. I was still in my seat and had my fork in my right hand. I casually went back to eating my breakfast as Jack started the beginnings of a hissy fit. Shepard came over and ordered her to go cool off. The look on her face as she looked back to me promised that this would not be the end.
"Could you refrain from not antagonizing every person on this ship you don't like?" he asked as he sat down with us. I had stopped eating for him.
"She was swearing in front of Iris," I stated matter of factly. He rubbed his forehead before responding.
"Fair… Can you do what I asked though; we need everyone I bring here to be firing on all cylinders together."
"I can do that Shepard," I nodded to him. He was right, worth it though.
"Good. We'll be at the crash site in about two hours."
I nodded to him and went back to eating my breakfast. A couple minutes later both Iris and I were done and we headed back to our room. From there it was quick decision drills with flashcards. I flip one over and she says the direction or color as fast as she can. If she didn't get it within a half second she had to do a pushup, situp or air squat.
Doesn't sound like much right, do it for 45 minutes straight and you'll change your mind. Frank did this to me a couple times but if I didn't get it right away I had to do one of those three. Three hours later I could barely stand. I was so exhausted.
Anyways when the 45 minute mark came up I told her to go to Dr. Chakwas and talk her ear off. That should get the Doc to teach Iris, if only to get her to be quiet. Once she left I put on my suit and helmet and went to the airlock as Joker was putting the Normandy down. Garrus and Shepard were both already there; we silently nodded between each other and walked out the door.
*Sunrise by Our Last Night*
We stopped as soon as we took a singular step outside of the airlock. If seeing the new Normandy brought back memories. Seeing the original one was like having a hammer slam into my heart. As weird as it might sound, the first Normandy was where I truly grew up. I went from an assassin with an agenda to a warrior and budding leader on that ship. Getting mentored from Shepard and Wrex along with Dr. Chakwas built upon what Frank had laid the groundwork for and made me into who I am today.
To see it utterly ripped apart and destroyed hurt my very soul. It held together surprisingly well but there were destroyed chunks of the ship everywhere. Looking at it longer I lost myself in thought. The SR1 might not have been my ship officially but it was ours regardless.
"C'mon Aedon. Let's pay our respects," Garrus said to me tapping my shoulder to get my attention.
From there we split up and went our separate ways around the crash site. Garrus went towards where the cockpit was, Shepard towards the middle and myself towards where I thought the cargo hold was. It was where I spent most of my time anyways.
I made it there in a few minutes and it wasn't any better up close than it had been at a mild distance. Everything that I had experienced on the ship was gone and reduced to these ashes. Barely recognizable beyond the fact that this had once been the best ship out there. It had been ours.
We had failed in this beautiful ship, we had been broken in this ship. I had saved Ceelo with this ship, Shepard had saved me with this ship. Where I got to know everyone truly. Where Garrus and I became friends. Where we had triumphed against all odds. Defied the Council and fought against a being whose age dwarfed our entire race's. Without this ship, we would not have saved the galaxy. She deserved better than to be left to rot on some unknown planet.
Walking up to the biggest piece of debris still fully intact I ran my hands over the lettering that still adorned it. "SR1" each letter and number just big enough that they could replace one of my chest pieces. I wouldn't, couldn't, leave that here. Activating my torch program I started to slowly cut around the letters.
It took me a couple minutes and when it was done I held the piece in my hand. This would either be a reminder to me forever or I would adorn it on my chest… No. I would ask Frank to make it into a chest piece. Each letter; one letter to Shepard, one to Garrus and one to me. We will not forget her sacrifice.
Stepping away from the debris with the piece in hand I looked behind it and for a moment I thought I saw something. Before I could check it out though Shepard's voice rang out through the radio.
"NOOOOO!"
His scream was full of pain and sorrow. Knowing where he was I instantly took off with the piece of debris under my arm. When I got to him though I stopped dead in my tracks, as did Garrus across from me. I was shocked into silence upon seeing what was there.
Sitting on his knees in front of us was Shepard bawling his eyes out. He was clutching the decaying body of Pressly; his name tag still legible. Looking around for the first time too without looking at the debris I saw them. This wasn't just the ship's graveyard; everyone who didn't make it off the ship had been left here.
A graveyard of all the souls assigned to the Normandy... and I was left wondering WHY?
We saved EVERYONE! We paid the price and they couldn't even give the men and women of this ship a proper burial. Couldn't even recover the bodies. This was an insult of the highest order.
A little gut punch at the end there huh.
Every choice matters, every decision, every person.
Love y'all.
DD signing off until next Saturday.
I'm drunk writing this little bit here and I don't know why I'm telling you but one of my 3 best friends; the three people in the world I would do anything for. Like seriously all they have to do is call me and say 'I need help' and I would be there fuck everything else... Well, he just asked me to be his best man at his wedding and I said FUCK YES!