AN: Happy holidays, everyone! I'm taking a break from writing for a couple of weeks to celebrate with my family, so the next update won't be until January. Have a wonderful time!
The response overwhelmed the tired crew. Minutes after Garrus' transmission calls started coming in, quickly followed by shuttles requesting docking permission.
Under normal circumstances the Normandy rarely saw guests. On that day everyone who wanted to come aboard was granted access. The quarians, having arrived in the Sol system with the most of their population and ships had the most biologists and scientists on hand. Their offer of help was soon followed by the Rayya's captain offering them a safe docking within the huge ship, where the Normandy could get the necessary repairs while the scientists worked on Shepard.
Barely a day later the Rayya was hovering over Greenland. Several STG units specialising in biology, implants and other stuff Joker didn't understand boarded the Normandy and were now debating the problem. Alongside salarians and quarians there was even one geth present. Human biologists were scarce at the moment because of the damage done to the planet by the Reapers.
The problem was not so much repairing Jo's body. First they had to find out what the force field was that had protected her from exposure in space, and how to remove it in order to get to the body inside.
Joker hadn't slept for more than four hours in the last five days. Now that they were back to civilization and had recovered Jo, there was technically no more reason for him to worry. She was safe and even if the galaxy went up in flames Joker's world was perfect because she was alive. Still, he kept his vigil in the mess hall in front of the med bay windows, watching the doctors and scientists. He remembered one of Jo's worst fears: to be treated like a piece of meat, cold and impersonal, being unable to control what was being done to her when she was helpless. There was one thing he could promise her: he would watch over her when she couldn't do it herself.
The rest of the Normandy crew were caught in a sort of limbo. Their ship was docked inside the Rayya and the quarians were more than happy to help with repairs, but nobody was really in the mood to think about anything other than their Commander's health.
While the scientists conferred about Jo's condition, Garrus called for a meeting of the crew's senior officers.
"What are we going to do now?" He asked the people. Joker shrugged: his path was clear. He was staying with Jo wherever she went. He supposed the question concerned other people more.
"As long as Jo is and the Normandy are on good hands, I'll probably join my people in their efforts to repair the relays," Tali said. "My experience with the relay we've rebuilt in that nameless system could help."
"Once we have a plan about how to get Johanna back, I'd like to join my colleagues on the planet's surface and help with the wounded," Karin spoke up next. "It's all hands on deck at the moment and I'm needed there more than I'm needed here."
"I was speaking to Kasumi," Liara said. "I'll use whatever contacts I have in the Sol system to set up a lab planetside where the scientists can work on Jo's body, and I'll do my best to get them whatever equipment they need. After that... I suppose I'll be most needed using my contacts and resources to rebuild the relay network to give the ships a chance to return to their own homeworlds."
"I don't know yet," Vega sounded a little uncertain. "Doesn't feel right to leave Shepard. I'll decide when we know more about her condition. What about you, Garrus?"
"That's what I was going to talk to you about," the turian lowered his head, torn by some inner struggle. "The Reapers might be dead, but we still have a problem. A problem of similar making. Jo saw it coming but at the time we had more important issues to deal with."
"The Leviathans?" Tali shuddered.
"Yes. Jo had been devastated when she made that deal with them. According to her those creatures see us as tools for their own goals and needs. If there is anything I've learned from losing Jo once before, it's that we can not wait until she's back again to dump another problem on her shoulders. We have to deal with our own shit when she's not here. She believes in us and it's time we proved that we're not just following her around. Each of us has some power with our own people. We have to try and solve this problem for Shepard before she returns."
"How do you propose we do that?" Vega was seemingly all for solving problems.
"The only way I see is the one way Jo would never take. I don't know what happened with the Reapers, but there is one thing I know about her: she would do anything to prevent a genocide."
"Are you suggesting we kill them all?" Karin exclaimed, not comfortable with the idea.
"It's wiser to amputate a rotting limb before the whole body is poisoned, is it not so, Doctor?" Garrus waited for the woman to nod despite obvious concern in her eyes. "I think we should definitely talk to them first. We can start with the one Leviathan that survived the battle. Maybe he can tell us what their plans for the future are. Maybe we can find out about their home base's location. If we're lucky it's under the ocean where Jo had met them, but what if it isn't? Maybe we can find out how many there are. However, I'm not going to lie to you or to myself: this mission will most likely end in destruction of a whole species, even if only a few of them remain after they'd been harvested. If the Leviathans are as dangerous to us as Jo feared, then we have to commit that genocide for her. For us. To make sure that the same problem doesn't come back to haunt us in the future."
"I hate to speak against something Jo believes in so strongly," Joker spoke up. "But I'm with Vakarian on this one. If the Leviathans are dangerous, they need to die. All of them."
"The fleets are assembled," Vega started collecting the facts. "The future us already secure, so nobody's running for their lives anymore. Soldiers are ready and equipped. Ships are being repaired. It would be easy to use this unique opportunity and deal with the Leviathans once and for all right now."
"So it's decided, then," Garrus said. "I'll speak to the Primarch."
"I'll talk to Hackett," Vega agreed.
"Whatever you need from me is yours," Liara bowed her head a little.
"I'll work on the other Admirals and ask the geth for help," Tali nodded.
"I'll call Wrex, Nyreen, the rachni queen and all the other contacts Jo has," Joker finalised the decision.
They gathered again the next day. Since there was no change in Jo's condition and the scientists were still debating, Joker found more than enough time to call in a lot of favours and to remind some friends that they would not be having any krogan babies at all if it wasn't for Jo, and that the Leviathans could very well enslave them all if they didn't act decisively right now.
It turned out that the only one who agreed to help with no questions asked was Hackett. All the other leaders were reluctant at first. Geth didn't even have a leader and now that they each had a mind of their own, reaching consensus for them would take a lot longer than before. Still, for better or worse, Garrus had the army he needed by morning.
By midday things changed. The geth among the scientists in the med bay made a suggestion that bore immediate fruits. It theorised that the force field surrounding Jo's body was a part of something that came from the Citadel when she was activating the Crucible. The geth suggested that whatever it was, it had latched onto Jo's brain and used her as an organic power source. With its main directive to survive, it surrounded Jo with this impenetrable force field, shielding her from scans and magnetically pulling a heap of scrap metal from its surroundings to hide under. In doing so it also shielded her from exposure in space. It was her life saver, but also a leech, sucking out her life force at the same time. The geth suggested feeding the force field from an external power source and offering it an alternative server to occupy, a better one than a damaged, dying human brain.
Within minutes the method separated Jo from the force field. The bloody goo mixed with some bones and skin was quickly rushed off to the Rayya's superior med bay, leaving the Normandy crew with a console containing... something. That something had saved her, but since nobody could tell what it was, nobody dared touch the console. Jo was a clear priority at the moment.
Now that the biggest problem was solved Joker and Liara showed the scientists all the data Jo had collected from the Illusive Asshole's home base regarding cloning and resurrection.
Liara's minions dropped several pre-made housing blocks in a snowy area in the mountains of Greenland. The location was cold, but it was isolated and untouched by the war. Materials and equipment started pouring in within hours. After Garrus' call every lab and hospital on the planet was ready to donate whatever was needed. By midnight the preliminary lab was ready to receive its patient.
Joker packed a duffel bag and paused only long enough to ask Tali to arrange for Jo's pets to be brought to Greenland as well. He didn't know if he would ever step onto his baby again and it didn't matter. He would go where his woman would go, even if it meant never flying another ship again. He even left Swan behind, still strapped in the cargo bay. That was how he'd named the sports car EDI had given him. The fish and the hamster would go with him, however.
When he landed the Kodiak at the new facility, he was not surprised to see a big room filled to the brim with machines and people. Now that the biologists had access to Jo's body, a salarian STG doctor took charge of the operation. He almost had a conniption when the entire Normandy crew came into his lab.
"Civilians are not allowed inside! Can you imagine all the germs you've just dragged in?!" He yelped. "Out, out with you, don't stand in our way. We have so much to do!"
"We'll go," Garrus accepted. "But Joker stays."
"No, no civilians," the doctor protested.
"He stays," Vega and the rest of the crew gathered around him with determined faces. "That's non-negotiable."
The salarian blinked uncertainly.
"They're almost married," Garrus explained. "Whatever decisions you'll have to make, he is her next of kin and you will run them by him first."
"Well, all right. You can observe the work over the screens."
"I stay right here," Joker put his bag in the corner, knowing that his friends would stand by him. "I won't be in your way, but I'm not leaving this room."
"Do you have any idea how long this reconstruction process will take?"
"I don't care. I'm staying."
And so he did. The rest of the crew left soon after, shooed away by the scientists, to eventually pursue their own projects. Liara's people expanded the complex by adding living quarters, a kitchen, a cafeteria and a lounge to the main lab. Joker was offered a room, but he refused to leave his woman alone at any time, so he moved a cot into the lab's corner and made himself at home there. Jo was alive, her heart was beating for him, and she was right there, on the table, merely ten meters away from him. He wouldn't rest until she was safe. He couldn't.
Once the scientists reviewed the Cerberus cloning and resurrection data, they had another long debate, but in the end everyone turned to Joker. They asked him if he thought Jo would agree to have the implants replaced by new implants? Or would she desperately insist on fully regenerating the human tissue of her body? First seemed difficult, but the second was deemed almost impossible despite the possibility of cloning. She'd had the Reaper implants in her body for too long and some things were beyond repair. Joker crossed his fingers, hoping for heaven's mercy, before he answered them that she would be all right with implants. He hoped so. He knew he was all right with her implants.
The work began immediately. The burning planet was still bleeding from its wounds, the injured were still dying by the thousands, the relays were still not working properly, the doctors in the hospitals were comatose from exhaustion, ash from burned Reapers was falling from the sky like snow all across the planet, the civilians were starving and freezing, but Joker didn't care. He didn't really know or mind how long he spent in that room, watching the scientists and machines at work. All he cared about was the fact that thankfully Jo didn't have a rare blood type and there was a sufficient supply. All he cared about was that the object of everyone's attention was no longer goo with bones sticking out of it but a roughly human-shaped figure on the table, kept alive by tech. All he cared about was the steady beep of her heartbeat and a promising line of brain activity on a screen.
In the next two weeks, whenever he felt like stretching his legs, Joker went outside to look at the almost constantly present northern lights. He told the Normandy crew not to visit. They shouldn't see Jo like this, shouldn't remember her as this helpless piece of meat on the lab table.
Respectfully, they stayed away and eventually got swept away by all the activity on the planet. Garrus drafted and approved changes to the Normandy before he left her in Rome, where a dock had been found undamaged. Adams and the Donnellys stayed with the ship to see those changes and improvements done properly. Garrus himself disappeared somewhere along with a big chunk of the joint galactic armada. Karin ended up as a head surgeon at a major hospital in Cairo. Javik, Rodney and the rest of the security team joined search and rescue teams looking for survivors in the ruins of big cities. Liara and Tali stayed on the Rayya to continue their work. Wrex disappeared with Garrus and all of his soldiers. Jack and Alenko led teams of biotics, helping restore power to the hospitals and centres for the homeless.
Joker wouldn't know any of this if not for his one frequent visitor. Vega came by almost every day in the first week, bringing Joker the news. Joker could see that the younger man was at a loss. His teacher and mentor, the woman he secretly loved, was trapped inside this lab and couldn't give him any direction. He knew in his head that he should join others and help rebuild Earth, but his heart was right here and he couldn't leave, not without trying to contribute to Jo's well-being in some way. By the end of the second week Joker took pity on the guy.
"Vega, you know better than anyone what Jo would be doing if she was awake right now," he said as they stood together at a window, looking at the white mountains.
"I do?" Vega sounded surprised.
"She's your mentor and teacher. Of course you do. Think. What project would she devote herself to if she saw all the problems this planet is facing right now?"
Vega didn't have to think for long. Honestly, this was not a trick question. Joker really wanted to know what Vega thought Jo would do.
"The children," the young officer said. "She would organise search, rescue and shelter for all the orphaned kids first, she would move heaven and earth to reunite kids with their families, she would set up a DNA database if needed, a photo database for those little ones who don't know their last names or their parents' names, she would bludgeon through authorities until she had access to sufficient comm buoy bandwidth to give people across the galaxy access to that database, for all those who got separated from their kids due to circumstances..."
"You have your work cut out for you," Joker said in agreement. If Jo had a choice of projects, he had no doubt that Vega was right. He gave Vega a datapad: "If you need money, use Jo's private reserves. She would want you to. If you need anything else I can get, just ask."
They both remembered the day when Jo had thrown up at the mere idea of making money on the war. They both knew that spending it to ease the suffering of the most innocent victims of that war would be Jo's idea of salvation.
From that day on Vega's visits became a lot less frequent. He would drop by once a week, sometimes disappearing for much longer, bringing Joker news from the outside and getting news on Jo's progress to the rest of the Normandy crew. Joker was not in contact with any of them. Simple fact was: he avoided contact with the outside world as much as possible. He didn't care that the relays had been repaired and were perfectly usable just a month after the Pulse. That was how the galactic community was now referring to the red wave the Crucible had emitted. He didn't care that other races had gone to their homes. He only nodded when four months later Vega told him that Garrus was planning some sort of a nuclear attack on a planet where the Leviathans had their home. He shrugged at the report that the Normandy was almost functional again.
He couldn't care less that Hackett was giving lots of inspirational speeches on all the news channels on Earth, or that Shepard cults and religions were sprouting like mushrooms after the rain all over the galaxy, or that a special committee was formed to officially investigate Jo's actions across her entire time of service as a Council Spectre, charging her with possible war crimes, opening a huge debate in all media. Joker never watched news, never opened messages, never even activated his omnitool. His world stood still and would remain still until his woman opened her eyes again.
Vega rarely spoke of his own projects. He did report that a database with pictures of missing children was established, followed by a database of found, orphaned and abandoned children looking for any blood relatives. It seemed that Jo's money had helped Vega build several safe houses on the planet where more and more kids were being brought every day. The work was neither easy nor safe, Joker could tell, because each time Vega appeared, he either wore new bruises or scars, heavily limping once and wearing an arm sling another time. He grunted under his breath that bandits were having a field day all over the planet, robbing the Alliance storehouses, shooting down rescue shuttles, attacking convoys and killing whole villages of survivors in order to get to their supplies. Part of Joker agreed that those people didn't deserve to live, but all he really cared about was Jo.
Jo was still work in progress and the scientists had settled for a routine that allowed them sufficient time to test and develop new implants without stalling for too long. Joker was spending day after day and night after night inside the main lab, watching those scientists, making sure they treated her with respect, but it was hardly necessary. These people were professionals, but they had nothing in common with Cerberus. They knew they were working on the saviour of the galaxy. They would discuss her insides in the coldest of medical terms, and yet even the air inside the complex was buzzing with the awe they felt.
The public was eager for any news on Jo's progress. When it became clear that the journalists wouldn't leave Greenland, a whole wing was added to accommodate them. Even Khalisah al-Jilani was here, fishing for news like all the others. It was she who revealed to Joker how favourable the public opinion was of Jo, no matter the ongoing trial in-absentia analysing her actions. There were lots of things she did that were usually punishable by jail time in Council space, but the general public didn't seem to care. Shepard religions and cults boomed, calling her a messiah, declaring her divine. Joker laughed at that: she'd proclaimed herself goddess divine long before this circus started. People were gathering in public places and praying for her, and not only humans. The quarians and the krogans were naming their newborns after her left and right, the turians dedicated settlements and military units to her, the volus set up several scholarships and fundraising organisations in her name... The list went on and on. The whole world cared about Shepard.
And the whole world wanted to know: what the fuck had happened on the Citadel in those critical last moments of the war? What had she done to activate the Crucible? Why did the search parties find the bodies of one of the most distinguished human Admirals and the most wanted human criminal in the same room, shot from the same weapon?
One day Vega brought Joker a datapad and asked for his opinion. It was a 3D reconstruction of the last moments when Jo's suit was still connected to the Normandy's systems. It was when she'd lifted the tank to free Vega from under it, called the Normandy for evac and got her team to safety only to remain on Earth alone. The moment she stepped into the beam all communication had been lost, but that was not what Vega wanted Joker to see.
Thanks to the Cerberus technology Jo's suit sent a 3D scan of her environment to Joker's screens on the Normandy, showing structures, obstacles and organic beings marked as friend and foe. Garrus' and Vega's suits had been equipped in the same way, making the projection even clearer. Joker started the footage and looked where Vega told him to look. While Jo hauled her team onto the Normandy, unknown and unseen by her somewhere behind the rubble Anderson was visible. The man stood still as a handful of husks rushed him. Joker held his breath and watched with dread how the creatures grabbed the man and dragged him off to the beam, several minutes before Jo would reach it. The scariest part of it was that Anderson had not resisted the husks even for a moment. Indeed, he seemed out of it, almost... indoctrinated. Like an empty shell.
The implications were horrendous. This footage could not be released to the public until Jo regained consciousness and told he whole story. But one thing was clear: she'd shot the man and killed him up there, so she must have had a reason. Had he been indoctrinated? Had she been forced? Since Udina had been indoctrinated and worked for Cerberus, what were the chances that Anderson had spent so much time on the Citadel in the same quarters as Udina and escaped the same fate? But why hadn't he betrayed humanity? How had he led the resistance on Earth so successfully?
Only Jo could answer those questions and neither Joker nor Vega were inclined to share this intel with the committee investigating Jo's alleged war crimes. There had to be a reasonable explanation.
Vega's tentative inquiry showed that the closed casket at the grand memorial service held for Anderson shortly after the end of the war had been empty. His body was being kept by the Alliance for further investigation. When asked personally, Hackett revealed that the Alliance was waiting for Jo to wake up and explain what had happened before they would write a full report. Obviously, this report would never come to the public's eye.
Time stopped existing for Joker. Since the machines and the scientists in the lab worked around the clock there was no routine way to distinguish day from night. There were hardly any windows to begin with and Joker rarely went outside. He slept and ate right there in the lab, watching the bloody mess slowly take a woman's shape. The scientists calculated all Jo's ideal measurements from her DNA and he told them not to bother reconstructing the muscle mass. Knowing her, she would regain her tonicity in sparring and combat within months of her return. Right now there were more important things to concentrate on, like the integrity of her organs, bones and skin.
It was weird to watch the scientists grow parts of her in tanks in the adjacent room. The cloning technology, reviewed and perfected by the most brilliant minds from all the races, allowed them to grow specific body parts on demand. They'd actually re-grown her entire left arm from the elbow down. Still, the most efficient way to attach those cloned limbs was by using microscopic implants and Joker was more than fine with it as long as Jo had full functionality in the end. The doctors promised him to address the cosmetic issue at the last stage of the project: scars and other traces of this extensive surgery would be removed forever.
The seasons changed but Greenland's mountains stayed the same. During one of Vega's visits Joker realised with a start that the young man didn't look quite so young anymore. He was worn, weathered, and yet solid and confident. He'd had a backbone of steel before, but now it seemed that he trusted himself more and more. He was growing into a real man, leaving all traces of boyhood behind.
"Yeah, well," he sighed when Joker remarked on that. "Six months of hell would do that to you. The cities may be rebuilding and the factories may be reopening, but my work takes me away from civilised spots and into the wilderness. Where I go, man has lost reason and became an animal again. You wouldn't believe the spots I'm pulling some kids out of."
"Six months?" Joker looked up. "It's been that long?"
"Yeah, Joker, it's May. Her birthday was last month. People celebrated."
Joker shrugged. What was the point celebrating one of her birthdays when she already had two and was about to get a third one?
By the end of May the scientists told him that the restoration procedure was entering the final stage. Technically, Jo could be woken now and regain functionality on her own, but she would be in great pain for a while and have a whole net of scars all over her body. They advised - and Joker agreed - to keep her under medication for a few more weeks until the process was finished to spare her the unnecessary pain. There was no reason to rush things right now.
However, the doctors also told him that Jo's brain was stable and active even under anaesthesia. They said she recognised and acknowledged his presence and voice when he was near, so they allowed him to move a chair to the table she lay on and talk to her. Joker felt it was stupid to talk to his beloved under the eyes of three dozen doctors, so he started reading her a book. He remembered Gabby's claim that Jo had always wanted to read Paradise Lost, which made his choice of reading easy. She looked almost normal again and Joker felt that any day now he would hear some good news.
The day was June, 14th, seven months and one week after her second death, when the doctors announced that she was ready for her second resurrection. He held his breath. The doctors and the journalists, hell, the whole galaxy held their breath.
The saviour of the galaxy was coming back.
