Alright, so I know that was the longest it's ever taken me to post a new chapter. However, I think this chapter is worth it! I found myself a wonderful beta reader, AblatedCrayon, and our work slowed down the posting a bit. You may also notice that the first five chapters have been updated. My beta helped me edit them, so I provided the finished works. Not to worry, though, I made sure there were no major content changes, and you don't necessarily need to go back and reread them if you don't want to. Enjoy the new chapter!
Red
Garrus
The air had become foul, saturated as it was with the smell of blood and bodies, but the mercenaries continued to send men over like cattle to a slaughter. The usual Omega lighting was ominous and red, a warning for those about to cross the bridge. The mercenaries had foolishly planned to come against me in my own base, a spectacular little complex that allowed access at only two points, the bridge and some tunnels. Anyone coming across the bridge fell directly under the crosshairs of my rifle. I hadn't had time to close off the lower tunnels, but the mercenaries hadn't found them yet. In the meantime, I had large food stores, plenty of thermal clips, and the best sniper position a turian could ask for. All of my wounds had been minor and I treated them easily with medi-gel, but I didn't have a solution for how tired I was. I had used a few stimulants before to keep myself awake, but had quickly run out and now was keeping my eyes open by sheer willpower and some bursts of adrenaline every time a new scouting party came over from the mercenary camp. I knew they were waiting for me to slip up, and they pushed against my defenses every hour.
It was strange that it had been so long since the last group had come over the bridge. I thought it must mean the mercs had a plan, and they were waiting to execute it-and me. I wondered if they had found the lower levels and my stomach dropped. There was no way I would survive if they came swarming in at me on both sides. I braced my rifle on the edge of the balcony, using the scope to peer into the camp. There was nothing too unusual going on; everyone looked relaxed. I guessed I wouldn't have another group coming at me for a little more time at least. A Blue Suns merc patrolling their barricade momentarily slipped, tumbled out of the barrier protected area, and fell onto the bridge. I let off a quick shot, allowing a small smile at the red cloud left behind. That got their attention, and the mercs starting moving around anxiously.
There was a small group standing off to the side with unmarked armor: freelancers. I couldn't flatter myself that I had killed so many of their men that they didn't have any more to use, so the freelancers must serve a purpose in the next advance against individuals in the freelance group caught my attention. They hadn't seemed bothered by my earlier display at all, and, in fact, looked incredibly bored with the whole situation. The other freelancers were looking at the three with what seemed to be hostility or fear; with those human faces, I could never be sure. One figure in pitch black armor stood in a familiar pose with arms crossed and weight leaned back onto one leg. I felt my chest give a small flutter when I realized what the posture reminded me of: Shepard.
Damn, I wish she were here. She would get me out of this mess. Hell, she never would have let me walk into it, I thought, keeping my eye on the figure that was clearly a human woman.
Aw, Garrus, you give me too much credit. I totally would have let you walk into this...as long as I was walking with you, Shepard said. Great, now I was so tired I was hearing voices in my head.
Do not respond, Garrus Vakarian. You're only crazy if you talk back, I thought to myself.
An older, scarred man wearing an impressive suit of armor trailed a dark haired woman wearing a skintight white jumpsuit. The dark haired woman spoke to my black armored figure and and then pointed in my direction. The other woman, who was clearly in charge, turned towards me and removed her helmet. Red hair tumbled out of the helmet and I saw the emerald eyes lock on me, at the scope I had directly on her. Her lips twitched up in what I could only call a challenge, but my stomach twisted at the sick joke being played on me by the universe. I had wanted Shepard here, but instead I received an eerie look-alike that was here to kill me.
You did ask for me, Garrus. She doesn't even look that bad. Shepard/Vakarian could definitely take her, the ghost said.
Inspecting her closely, I realized she might even be the first challenge I would really receive during this slow fight for my life. The mercenaries had been careless and their moves unintelligent, which allowed them to walk right into my bullet. This woman, Red, I named her in my mind, looked sharp and carried enough guns and explosives to take on a platoon. If she made it across the bridge, I had no doubt I would be in for the fight of my life.
Maybe Shepard/Vakarian could have taken her, but it's just Vakarian here and it looks like I'm about to get my ass kicked, I snapped back, before realizing I had told myself not to respond.
I could see the massive, well-used shotgun attached at her lower back and made a note: up-close fighter. The human was short, lean, and definitely not the normal body type for the heavy hits of close range fighting, but she walked with confidence that told me her looks would be deceiving. My mandibles twitched with unease; Shepard had been the same. She had always seemed too small to pack the punch that she did, and with her simple, dark armor, it was easy to overlook her until she was blazing across the battlefield.
So you did care...Shepard's voice crooned.
Oh, shut up, I shot back. You aren't even real.
Red finally turned away from me, towards the batarian waving at the freelancers to move forward. The batarian had turned back to the gunship repairs, and I watched Red slowly step towards him. I tore my eyes away from her to survey my bridge and quickly dropped three armored figures that hadn't bothered to move into cover. The rest had ducked behind the concrete blocks littering the walkway, and I settled in to wait for them to move. I flicked my scope back to where I had seen Red. She was gone, but the batarian was on the ground twitching with electricity. My mandibles flicked in surprise. Why would Red attack someone in the group she was working for?
C'mon, Garrus, I know you're tired, but it's pretty obvious to me. She does look a lot like me...Shepard mumbled in my head.
Funny, Shepard, but you're dead. Joker watched you get spaced, I replied. Besides, she doesn't even have that red N7 stripe on her arm that you wore everywhere.
I scanned nervously to find Red. My confusion deepened when she popped over the barricade and didn't make straight for my building. Instead, she and her two companions started attacking the other freelancers, flushing them from cover and making them easy targets for my rifle. I watched Red zero in on her last opponent and biotics crackled around her body. The sheer power of the biotics rippled around her, shifting her so that she looked like two people to my slow eyes. Then there was a noise, a thump that echoed out as her biotics propelled her forward into the last freelancers. The force of her hit alone snapped the mercenary's neck and the body flew several feet before slumping against a wall.
"Shit, Lawson, what was that?" Red's words reverberated up to my balcony. The familiar voice added another twist to my guts as tendrils of a crazy hope entered my over exhausted mind.
"While I was instructed to bring you back exactly as you were, we updated your biotic implants with the most advanced model on the market, the L5. It is also a safe assumption that your cybernetics have made you stronger and faster to heal," the dark haired human said. Even I could hear the glowing in her voice.
"Yeah, yeah, cool it Victor Frankenstein. We're not in a lab anymore," Red said, receiving a glare from Lawson.
Oho! A comedian! I do like a woman with a sense of humor. Let her be me. Let her be me, Shepard's voice started repeating in my mind, echoing the hope I was fostering in my chest.
For a moment, I actually let myself believe that Red could be Shepard. It just wasn't possible for two different people to be that similar. I knew that voice, that cadence, and that face. I could see the familiar lines of a frown that pulled her face down in exasperation. But doubt whispered in my other ear as I thought about the batarian next to the gunship. He hadn't been innocent by any means, and he was the enemy, but I would never have pictured Shepard killing someone like that. I could see her putting a quick shot through the head so he couldn't fix the gunship, but electrocuting someone inside their own armor? That just wasn't Shepard's style. My tired mind was obviously playing tricks on me.
No need to judge just off that. Maybe she was just, uh, having a bad day? The voice asked hopefully.
I snorted at my own imagination, Please, you didn't have bad days. You just had days when people pissed you off a little more than usual.
What? The voice sounded indignant. I was not always that grumpy. Don't you remember…
We were taking a small shore leave on the Citadel and the team had decided to meet for some fun at Flux. I sat with Shepard at the table while the others went off to dance. She stretched out her muscles as she leaned back in her chair, and we both laughed at Tali trying to get Wrex to dance. The quarian was engulfed by the massive size of the krogan, but she had coaxed him into a reluctant shuffle, much to his dismay.
"Why aren't you dancing?" I asked Shepard.
"If you ever have the honor of seeing me dance, you'll understand why I save it for special occasions," Shepard smirked. I fidgeted uncomfortably.
"So, uh, wanna go shoot something?" I replied a little nervously. Shepard shot me a grateful grin.
"Right behind you," Shepard proclaimed.
We grabbed a bunch of empty bottles from behind the bar and we headed towards the roof exit. I quickly motioned for Wrex to join us, and he gratefully broke away from his enthusiastic quarian dance partner. Soon, we were happily picking off bottle targets on the roof.
We began setting the bottles up in crazier locations as the night went on, daring each other to hit them. Eventually, I started slightly nudging Shepard's rifle when she went to take a shot, careful that she wouldn't notice. She would breathe, line up her shot, and right when she pulled the trigger I would give a featherlight push. Her face grew angrier and angrier every time she missed, understandably confused why she couldn't hit anything. It was all I could do to restrain my laughter.
"Damn it, Garrus, you pain in the ass!" Shepard exclaimed when she finally caught me.
Before I knew it, the woman had tackled me to the ground and we playfully struggled against each other. When Wrex came barreling in to intervene, she gave a war cry and jumped on him too. The sight of that tiny human woman clinging to a giant krogan's back was one I would never forget. I went at Wrex from the front and soon we had all collapsed on the ground participating in what could only be called giggling.
I was smiling when the voices from below called me out of my reverie.
"I would've thought you would be happy with the improvements. You're better than before," Lawson frowned.
Red laughed. "There is no better than before, Lawson. Put me back on the SR-1 with my standard issue human body any day. I'd still kick your ass."
The SR-1? She couldn't possibly mean…My thoughts trailed off as the other human spoke.
"Can't believe you two are still bloody talking about this. You're just kicking yourself in the ass, Miranda. We both know Shepard's too goddamn stubborn to admit Cerberus can do anything right."
My thoughts tumbled over themselves, blocking out the response from Miranda. All I could hear was the man's voice saying Shepard. The group had made their way up the stairs and I could hear them talking as they got closer to my door. The door slid open and I watched as Red stepped inside, pulling off her helmet. Up close, it was even more obvious that it had to be her. The colors were wrong, but everything else fell together just like I remembered. Red hair instead of blonde still fell about her face where the unruly strands had escaped from the pins, and her eyes shone like they always had after a fight. She even had the same mods on her shotgun, mods that she and I had discussed at length aboard the Normandy SR-1. A ghost stood in front of me.
It is me, her, whatever! I told you so! How are we going to greet her? 'Been a long time, Shepard'? No, that's stupid; the woman was dead. How about, 'Where the fuck have you been'? I vote no on that one too-way too strong. Maybe 'Hey, buddy, ol' pal. Whatcha been up to'? I mentally silenced the voice blathering on in my head.
"Shepard?" I asked. "Commander Shepard?"
"Yeah?" She raised an eyebrow. "Archangel?" she questioned back.
I was surprised at her use of that name, before I realized I hadn't taken my helmet off. I pulled it off and let my grin match the one spreading across Shepard's face.
"Garrus! I can't believe it's you! How the hell did you manage to make this much trouble?" Shepard exclaimed. I let the sound of it wash over me, happy now that it was real and not some weird part of my imagination.
"Look who's talking, Shepard. You're supposed to be dead. I did, however, take my example from the best troublemaker I know," I said, winking at Shepard as I answered her questions in order.
I stepped away from balcony edge and wrapped Shepard in a display of emotion that surprised even me. The feel of her reassured me that Shepard was, in fact, alive. She was still so small, yet remarkably solid, and I held her away from me to get another look. My thought flew wildly about, trying to make sense of the fact that Shepard was actually right here in front of me. I wanted to leap for joy and cry at the same time, unusual nonsense for a turian.
"I guess you're here to pull my ass out of the fire again, eh, Shepard?" I laughed. "Just like old times."
"I should've known you'd get yourself into trouble without me, Garrus," Shepard replied, giving me a light punch on the shoulder. She was smiling, but I noticed a new edge to her voice that hadn't been there before.
"Well, without that spectacular geth target practice you cooked up, I had to find something to keep my skills sharp," I chucked as I gave her another wink.
Shepard laughed. "I think we can consider them sharpened. Let's see about getting you out of here," she said.
As we started discussing our plan to escape the complex, I let myself relax, just a little. I was relieved to have a team with me, and to finally have some hope of getting out of this place alive. However, I continued to spot the hardened glint that was flickering in her eyes. It was a stark contrast between Shepard now and the Shepard who had tackled me and Wrex on that roof. She had worn the same expression after Virmire before she tucked it away behind the cold exterior of Commander Shepard, and it worried me that her emotions now waged war so openly across her face.
It wasn't until the dark haired woman, Miranda, lightly touched Shepard's arm with a suggestion that I saw the familiar Commander snap into place. I almost chuckled as Shepard levelled a cold look at Miranda that anyone on the Normandy SR-1 would have recognized. We had all received the look at one time of the other, when we accidentally got too friendly for Shepard's comfort; and Shepard's comfort had always been at arm's length. So wonderfully awkward, she had never realized how much her crew really loved her. Miranda stepped back from the commander with displeased scowl, but not before I saw the concern for Shepard in her eyes. The emotion made me curious, since it was coupled with Shepard's obvious dislike.
I was not that awkward, the voice grumbled.
You were, too. Now, I am overly tired and Shepard's voice just happened to be the one chosen for my moment of craziness. When I escape this, we will never speak of it again. I mean, I will never speak of it again. Because you aren't real. Stop talking to yourself, Garrus!
My exhausted brain shook away the trails of irrelevant thoughts when we heard Eclipse scouts making their way towards the base. I clapped Shepard on the back, and she grinned at me, face flushed with excitement for the coming fight. I knelt at the railing, balancing my rifle as I lined up my first shots, and soon heard the familiar explosions of Shepard's biotics and her intermittent yells of triumph. Though I was still in danger and hadn't slept in days, I felt better than I had in a long time. Shepard was back. Soon I would be home on the Normandy, even if it was a copy. Shepard smiled at me from across the battlefield, raising her fingers for her number of kills. I marked mine off on my talons as well. Just like old times.