A/N: Yooooooo! So hey, when I played ME2 on my PC, the game came with all sorts of fun DLC's! One was the Normandy Crash Site (soon to be a chapter/standalone) and another was ZAEED! I was so excited. I loved this guy since ever since I had read about him. I couldn't (during my very first play through on the Xbox) get the DLC for him, since I didn't have the money, but hell this came with the pack I had downloaded, so I was real excited.
However, I thought I'd have to do more than just..y'know, meet him, then do a loyalty mission. I was planning on doing the loyalty missions as a separate fic, then decided, nahh, I'll just stick it in Recruitment. So this is the first loyalty mission I'll write about. :) (Of course my roommate made me take the Paragon route..)
It leaves me with a problem though; if I should rename the fic. Do any of you, at all, have any idea what to call it? Please, help me out.
A little side note here, in my original play through as Mars, Wrex had died. However, when i edited this fic to revolve around Renita, Wrex lived. So I will be editing Chapter 1 of this fic as well as the stand-alone/prologue "Home." It will be a lot easier to write Shepard when that time comes, especially if I do a fic about the third game. So if you're interested, you can check that out. Also, I wanted people to know that yes, Renita is a person of color.
Either way, I don't own most of the dialogue, the characters, the plot, or anything. No, all of that jazz goes to EA and BioWare. Go ahead and read, review, or follow the story!
Thanks for reading!
Omega. A trash heap, crime hotspot, gang-ridden, mercenary-filled, dangerous, loud, space station built into an astroid and floating out in the middle of the Horseshoe Nebula. This place was anything but warm and comforting, especially if you had been stationed here recruiting people for a suicide mission for the better part of a week. Rescuing a friend-turned-vigilante, stopping a plague, dealing with mission reports, a stab wound to the hand, a self-appointed "queen bee" asari, mercenary groups, and all the other, smaller shit Omgea had dealt her, truly made Renita Shepard think would rather be anywhere else. She actually thought she'd prefer talking to the Council.
And it wasn't as if she wasn't strong enough to brave the streets and alleys of the astroid station; she was. But Omega was a nasty, unpredictable hell-hole. She'd rather have somebody at her back than stand alone.
As if on cue, her companion spoke up behind her. "I really shouldn't show my face around Omega too much, Shepard," Garrus murmured. "Especially now."
Shepard nodded her head. "Trust me, big guy, I know. This one shouldn't be too hard. Cerberus is actually paying this guy to join the cause. I was told we wouldn't have to go through hell to get to him."
The two picked their way across the docking bay hallway in a comfortable silence. Pipes leaked, a loud base pulsed behind metal walls, and the echo of their boots seemed louder than normal.
"Have you talked to Anderson yet?"
Shepard groaned, running a hand down her face. "Garrus, not now." The moment after they'd taken Mordin aboard the ship, Yeoman Chambers had announced to her that she'd received a message. With Garrus breathing down her neck, they'd both been alerted that Anderson had wanted to speak with her on the Citadel. It wasn't the kind of decision she was able to make on the spot. She wanted to get help from the Alliance, she really did. The more people she had in her corner and trusted, actually trusted, the better.
"Why not now?" Garrus countered. "You don't know what will happen."
"Neither do you," Shepard said under her breath. She knew exactly what would happen. She'd speak to Anderson, who would speak to the Council with her, who would deny her claims about the Collectors. It was a vicious circle two years ago, and she was sure there wasn't going to be a change any time soon.
Garrus raised his three fingered hands in defense. "It's your call, Commander. I wouldn't want to go back either, but it might be a good idea."
She turned her head and gave her friend a small, thankful smile. "I'll keep that in mind."
He looked like he was about to say something else, when a pained moan echoed down the hall. Garrus and Shepard's head snapped in the direction. A man in yellow armor stood over a cowering batarian. The alien stood on shaking legs, only to receive a fist in his gut for this efforts. He went down to the floor with a grunt and a softer, more pitiful moan.
"Hey!" Shepard hollered, jogging toward the scene. From the look of him, she'd say the male was a human and, if his armor was anything to go by - rusted, bulky, with a curve of metal over the right shoulder - a freelance merc. One with no mercy and a screwed up agenda. Another kick to the batarian was dealt and he gagged and gasped, trying to suck the air that had been beaten out of his lungs.
Once she was in sight, the batarian spoke up. "Please, you have to help me!"
"No one said you could talk, jackass," the man spat, dealing another crippling blow with his booted foot. His accent, she noted, was Australian, and his voice was not kind. She exchanged looks with Garrus, whose brow was pinched in anger and slight confusion.
She wasn't sure what made the connection in her head, but before she could stop herself, Shepard blurted, "Are you Zaeed Massani?"
The human in front of her stiffened, turned to face her. She had to hold her mouth closed and stifle a gasp. The dossiers gave a lot of information; hair color, eye color, current location, past jobs, past employers, current occupation, and age. She'd know the bounty hunter was a much older man, and the frown lines that contoured his face were proof of that. However, the dossiers rarely provided a picture. The only one that had had been Mordin's, and even that hadn't been up to date.
Zaeed's right eye was blind, glazed over and milky white. The iris was a pale, washed out blue in contrast to the deep green of his left eye. There was a scar that outlined the right side of his face, from his forehead, rounded down his cheek, and curved near his lips. It was as iff it had been peeled off at one point, and sewn back on as an after thought.
He gaged what must have been a shocked expression with on of ease. "Yeah, that's me." He gave the other a once over. "You must be Commander Shepard. I head we have a galaxy to save."
Shepard nodded, getting a hold of herself. "I assume you've been briefed?"
"I've done my homework," Zaeed said, a cautious lilt to his voice. "Cerberus sent me everything I needed to know."
"Have you dealt with Cerberus before?" Shepard asked. From the tone of his voice, he wasn't feeling very warm toward them.
"Not before now," the elder said with a shrug. "Cerberus is paying me a lot of money to help you on you mission." He crossed his arms.
Shepard mimicked his movements. She wasn't a mercenary, but any idiot could put themselves in anthers shoes. She'd done so in the past with other mercenaries, ones she didn't kill on site. None of them would agree to dying for any sum of credits. She raised one dark brow. "Let me get this straight. You...took a suicide mission - you know, a death sentence - for the pay?"
He gave her a dangerous smirk, the condescending kind that was meant to make her feel small, young, and inferior. "Most mercs don't get an offer like the one Cerberus sent me."
"Most mercenaries don't tend to agree to missions like this one," Garrus voiced.
Zaeed pinned the turian with a glare that could have killed the turain. "Very observant," he growled, his voice caring a sarcastic lilt. "The mission doesn't sound like good business. But..." he rolled his neck a few times, then his shoulders, as if bored with the conversation, "...your Illusive Man can move a lot of credits."
"So I noticed." She gland down at the batarian on the ground. "The dossier said we'd be picking up one man," she growled. "Who's your friend?"
The batarian, who had been trying to crawl away unseen, froze. Zaeed sneered down at alien.
"Batarian delinquent. Pissed off someone rich enough to hire me to go after him," he chuckled. "And for my 'bring-em-in-alive' rates, even."
"Please," the batarian whimpered. "I didn't do it."
"I said shut it." The bounty hunter's boot landed against the others skull in a firm kick, and the batarian cried out, and pressed himself further against the wall.
Shepard winced sympathetically. Before he could throw in another kick, Shepard stepped in. "Listen, Massani, I like kicking the shit out of aliens as much as the next guy, but we have a lot of work we have to do." She held out a hand. "Welcome aboard."
Zaeed shook, smirked. "Thats what they tell me." He turned back to the battered alien and took out his gun to examine it. "I assume the Illusive man told you about our arrangement?"
There was always something, always a "mundane" detail left out.
"No. He left that part out. But there's always something, isn't there?" Shepard said. She glanced at Garrus who was giving her a sympathetic stare. She returned it with one of weariness and slight apathy. Being everyones errand girl was getting on her nerves.
Zaeed barked a laugh. "Good thing I asked. I picked up a mission a little before I signed on with Cerberus. Think you might be interested."
"I'm listening." Sort of. She and Garrus were more or less having a silent conversation. She had raised her eyes brows in the silent question of Do you believe this?
Garrus have her a wry grin. An I wish I could help.
A grimace, a wrinkle of her nose, and a head tilt toward the batarian on the floor. Do you trust him? His lack of empathy?
Garrus frowned, eyes half lidded, head tilted to the left and a sort of nodding motion that was meant to be sarcastic. Not as far as I could throw him.
Zaeed continued as if the silent exchange between the two wasn't happening. "You heard the name Vido Santiago?"
A wide eyed, worried frown from Garrus. Shock. She had never heard the name before, but Garrus certainly had. "Should I have?" Shepard questioned, turning her eyes to Zaeed's.
He shrugged. "He's the head of the Blue Suns. Runs the whole organization."
Of course he was. "Why is he important to this particular arrangement?"
Zaeed's face darkened a tad, taking on a sinister, vengeful kind of look. HIs mouth pulled together in a thin, humorless line. "Seems he recently captured an Eldfell-Ashland refinery on Zorya and is using the their workers for slave labor." His eyes ghosted passed Shepard, seeing something far beyond the hallways of the Omega docking bay. "The company wants it dealt with."
His good eye held a kind of bloodlust Shepard usually associated with new Alliance recruits. The thoughtless, incompetent kind that a young cadet gets right before battle, before he see what it really it. Foolhardy, rash. For an older man, one who so obviously has see war and been in a tough scrap or too, it seemed misplaced and a tad juvenile. But she held her tongue. Shepard wasn't a big fan of helping others get revenge when so much still had to be done, hated involving herself in the personal lives of barely acquainted strangers unless absolutely necessary, but she wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth either.
He was tough. And if Cerberus was paying him...
"I'll make sure we get it done."
"Good," Zaeed affirmed in a slow, patronizing way that barely touched on Shepard's own nerves. "Get it out of the way so that we can concentrate on being big goddamn heroes."
Shepard covered her mouth at the quip to hide her amusement, and Garrus chuckled. She was about to give the whole, "welcome to the crew," speech, but the batarian behind Zaeed zipped passed her, cutting off what ever she way about to say.
Zaeed casually aimed his gun, barely even glancing at the feeling alien. She pulled the trigger once, just once, and one millisecond and well-placed shot later, the batarian was on the ground, moaning and gripping his leg.
The elder casually plucked up the half conscious alien off the ground. "I better turn this thing in before it starts to stink. I'll be locked and loaded the next time you're ready to get some killing done." And with that, he was gone, dragging his moaning "bounty" with him.
Shepard stared after him for a long while, silent until Garrus - who she had momentarily forgotten was there - spoke. "I don't trust him. He doesn't have his loyalties in place. Being paid to work for Cerberus, a payed bounty hunter by-trade, and now he wants you to help him...what, with one of his final contracts?" The turian shook his head. "He rubs me the wrong way."
Shepard shrugged. "He's interesting, that's for sure."
"Yeah, sure, until his bullet is in the back of your skull."
"You're being paranoid."
"Sure I am." A nonchalant shrug of his armored shoulders. "It pays to be. If there's a chance he can be trusted, I'll be pleasantly surprised. And if we can't trust him, guess who was right?"
Shepard nudged his hip with hers and headed back to the ship, shaking her head. Garrus did have a point; he didn't seem trust worthy. He was shady as hell, if she was bing totally honest with herself. But, for the time being, Zaeed Massani seemed a-okay.
Hot and muggy was never really her thing. It wasn't that it made her hair frizz, or her nose itch. And it wasn't so much that she hated the heat either - summer, back on Earth, was her favorite season and she missed it with an intensity that was sometimes a bit overwhelming. She mostly hated being in heavy, bulky, armor. It made her feel claustrophobic, and if she could avoid the missions on planets and places where the heat was too intense, she would. But she'd promised Zaeed she'd help him find this guy, who ever he was, and take him out.
Of course, Garrus, who had insisted on coming along, (Are you kidding? I'm not leaving you alone with him for a second; he's armed to the teeth. The guy's got more gadgets on him than a quarian assassin,) was loving the heat. She supposed it reminded him of Palavin and all its over-heated glory.
"Tapping into Blue Suns communications," Zaeed said softly, fiddling with his omnitool. "Stay tight and look out for ambushes."
Shepard nodded, her pistol already in her hands. They trio traipsed through the jungle at a quiet steady pace.
"Squad Bravo," the radio suddenly spoke, startling Shepard, "a shuttle landed near your location. Check it out."
"Zaeed!" Shepard hissed. "Keep that thing low. I'm not about to fight an entire company of mercenaries because our receiver was too loud. We do this quietly and quickly, or not at all."
Zaeed nodded, fiddling with the omitool again. But his brow was furrowing in aggravation. "I don't believe I asked for your opinion. This isn't some favor I asked you to do, Commander, it's sealing a contract. I can walk away right now, and you can forget having an extra hand to fight those sodding Collectors."
Shepard's eyes narrowed and she could already feel her lips forming a biting comment. She pressed them together instead. A trail cadavers was starting to come into view. She wasn't too sure the killer was far behind.
"Shot in the back and left to rot," Zaeed tsked. "That's definitely Vido's style."
His style? She could do enough research on a person to know everything about them. She could find out how many people they'd been with, what school they attended at a child. She could know someones entire life before she killed them, if she chose too. But she'd never been able to find someone's style. That couldn't be found in research, couldn't be plugged into a database and searched. Not even Cerberus was that good. No, knowing somebody's style came with personal affiliation. Zaeed didn't know this guy, did he?
They walked in silence for a few more steps, the chipping of exotic bugs and screeching of alien creatures above the only noise. A rolling crackle and then a click came from behind her, and the radio spoke once more. "Command to Bravo. Take position. Likely these people are not runaways."
"It doesn't go any lower than that?" Shepard murmured.
Zaeed mumbled something unintelligible before saying at normal volume, "Why? We came here looking for a fight. If they come looking for us, it's their funeral."
Or ours, she thought grimly. The jungle planet was dense with trees; very good for cover, but not so good to run through. Very easy to get lost in as well. They were on a path of sorts now, but if they were forced to stray into unknown parts of the base, things could get dangerous.
"Heaven forbid you see logic here," She grumbled, keeping her gun poised in front of her, expecting an ambush.
"Oh, sod off," Zaeed snapped with all the sass of a rebelling teenager. "Telling me I should act my damn age isn't going to take down Vido any faster, is it?"
Deep breath. Through the nose, out the mouth. "I'm not saying you should 'act your age', Massani, as much as that would be appreciated right now. I'm saying you should act with caution."
"Caution? You act with bloody caution on the battle field, it can cost you a lot of lives, Commader," the bounty hunter sneered. "They probably don't teach Alliance soldiers that, considering half the kids there don't know whether to scratch their gun or reload their arse. So allow me to explain - "
Shepard pinned the old man with a glare that could level mountains. "I know what it can cost you, old man. But being rash on the field can cost you a hell of a lot more. Or did you forget that? Did the Alzheimer's kick in and you forgot that crucial little tidbit?" Her voice, just at the end, raised above the normal level. But it was enough to alert the Blue Suns of their location. The first shot exploded through the air, and all matter of quiet was lost.
The trio dove into cover, hiding in the brush or behind trees, rocks, or roots, just as the the radio dispatch sent out their location. Bullets flew and shots echoed around them.
Shepard was tucked behind a rather low to the ground bolder, holding her pistol at the ready. Their surroundings were a little more open, but not quite a clearing. The "southern checkpoint," had a structure that looked quite a lot like a train over-pass without the tracks. Further looked to be a piping network with a few crates scattered about. She could make out a catwalk, but that was all. A incredible explosion sounded to her left, a grenade or rocket launcher no doubt.
They were all simple kills, nothing too dangerous or risky involved. Even still, Shepard's heart was still pounding. She understood protecting the fortress as much as the next guy but normally, mercenaries like the Blue Suns didn't carry rocket launchers unless they had a personal beef with the person involved. She recalled when she had been recruiting Garrus, and how each leader had something against him, something small that Garrus had done to piss them off. So either these particular members where surprisingly protective, or this Vido Santiago personally knew Zaeed.
Thought she didn't doubt the former, the latter was more probable.
"Zaeed, do you -," Shepard started to question as the trio made their way to the other side of the clearing.
Two things happened almost too fast to catch. The radio dispatch crackled to life, "Reinforcements incoming. We've got your back!" at the same time one of those reinforcements, only twenty feet away for so, aimed and fired their rocket launcher.
"Move!" shouted Shepard, shoving Zaeed to her right near a stack of boxes, and tackling Garrus to her left, bringing them to the ground in a heap and putting them behind a concrete support beam. She shot over her shoulder without looking, and could hear the bullet's ping off of the metal supports around them.
To her right, Zaeed was crouched low to the ground, avoiding the shots and nursing the back of his head with the heel of his hand. She shot and incoming merc to his left and ducked back as another rocket flew passed her position. Shrapnel and debris and smoke clouded her vision. She turned and made an attempt to aim at any of the mercenaries. One female took a bullet to the head. Another retaliated too fast for her to catch, and shot Shepard in the arm.
She sucked in a breath through her teeth and ducked back into cover. Garrus was alternating between reloading his shotgun and glancing over his shoulder and out of cover. He didn't look up when he spoke to Shepard. "You okay?"
"Yeah, fine,' she mumbled as she administered the omnigel. Immediately the burning ache ebbed to a quiet, subdued throb. "You?"
"Never better," He leaned out of cover and loosed two shots before sliding back next to her. "Still think this guy is 'interesting?'"
Shepard swiveled her head to stared at Garrus incredulously. "Now?" she shouted, partially over the next ground shaking explosion and ear ringing and partially in frustration. "You want to make a quip about my supposed lapse in judgment now, Vakarian?"
"I'm not!" Garrus protested. "I just wanted to know if you still think he's interesting. I know I sure do."
Shepard scowled at him. "You're an ass."
"Most definitely," he pipped, his mandibles twitching a bit, barely concealing a smirk.
She moved out of cover and took down another merc before moving back to reload. "You don't think this is a bit too much? A little too heavily guarded?"
Garrus shrugged his armored shoulders. "He's the leader of the Blue Suns. The founder. He was bound to be heavily guarded."
She opened her mouth to comment, to tell him that it wasn't like normal. They weren't trying to defend their base, they didn't fight like they were trying to protect anything. They fought like they wanted to finish a job that should have been done long ago.
Until she noticed the heavy weapons man creeping closer to Zaeed, who was preoccupied with fending off two others.
Pistol forgotten, Shepard's mind reverted to hand-to hand. She sprinted forward and knocked the bastard to the ground. It was a short-lived struggle; he tried to turn under her and fight back, she pined him down, holding the back of his neck, grabbed her shotgun, and rammed it down upon his head, reducing him unconscious with a pained groan. Zaeed let out a few extremely explicit words, even for a soldier. The air quieted once more as the uplifted dirt and debris settled. Soon the sound of alien fauna filled their ringing ears. So did the sound of retreating footsteps and the sound of the dispatch sounding a retreat.
"You alright, Massani?" She asked, removing herself from the ground.
He did the same. "Hardly, but I'll live. Him on the other hand..." he aimed his gun down and fired one last shot into the Blue Suns heavy's skull.
Sentiment was something that didn't belong on the field, didn't belong in her lifestyle period at most times, but she couldn't help but feel suddenly melancholy standing over this mercs body. Zaeed had shot him like he was putting down a lame dog. Maybe, in his mind, that's all this was.
She made for her pistol, which was now in Garrus's grip. "Thanks." She reloaded is as they walk on. They followed dirt cramped dirt pathway in pregnant silence.
It was not a far walk; Shepard's feet soon found a grated metal suspension shielded by a wall of rock and a gnarled, tropical tree that grew awkwardly over it. Below them was another worn path, and to the far far left, a control panel. A gaping space over looked the jungle floor, and she assumed it to be for a bridged connection.
All was quiet save for the rustle of left in the barely-there breeze, and the insistent screech of wildlife behind them. And then, the crackle of the dispatch. A different voice came on this time, still male, but much more rough and commanding.
"This is Commander Santiago. If any of you retreat while the intruders are still alive, I'll kill you myself." Well, that was one way of inspiring your team. She glanced at Zaeed, who gave her a slight head nod and a signal to summon the bridge. "Now, get the hell back out there!" Vido demanded before disconnecting.
Shepard wasted no time, her feet clunking against the metal. She pressed a few buttons, thanked who ever was watching over her it wasn't password protected or required identification, and waited for the bridge to reach them. She tapped her fingers against the corroding metal banister.
"Sound's like he hasn't changed."
Shepard's fingers ceased immediately and she whirrled on Zaeed. "I had a feeling you had a past with Mister Santiago." He voice was sharp and full-throttle commanding. Tell me.
Zaeed stared straight ahead. "I didn't think we'd ever shove off if I told you this was a personal matter. Not by the time I had needed you too, anyway."
He was right. She wouldn't have denied him, but she'd have put it off until she could focus on his needs specifically. Right now her mission was her top priority. Doing errands for a crew member could come later. It wasn't right to hide his intentions or any information from her, but she could understand it in a sense. So she sighed and settled for leaning on the railing and staring at the crawling movement of the bridge along with him. "You aren't wrong," she admitted. "But, since we have nothing better to do than wait, and think I've earned a little back story. Don't you?"
"Earned?" Zaeed snapped. "How the fuck did you earn anything of mine?"
"I saved your ass from being blown into oblivion," she shot back almost too fast. She could feel Zaeed's glare tear away from her and heard the shift of his armor as assumed a position similar to Shepard's.
"I knew he was a sadistic bastard back when we started the Blue Suns. The Suns only got meaner after he staged his little coup twenty years ago." He shrugged. "So, yeah. We have a past."
Shepard could help her face from splitting into a half smile. "Whoa, hold on there, Massani!" she glanced at Garrus. "You were one of the founders of the Blue Suns?" A mixture of fear and excitement thrilled up her spine. Zaeed, on the other hand, seemed less than thrilled at the mention of it. "I'm guessing this isn't common knowledge?"
Zaeed sneered. "No, not really," he said, his voice full of scorn for her own jubilant tone. "No one wants to hire someone with that kind of past and I don't want to think about the bastard every time I had over a resume."
"No one needs to know too many incriminating details," Garrus supplied and, inadvertently, defended. His eyes, from this distance, were shadowed, but there was something in his voice. An understanding, solemn tone. It took her off guard for a second, but only for a second. He hadn't yet told her about the two years she'd been gone, and he had spent a good chunk of that time as a vigilante of sorts. It wasn't to far from "freelance-merc-for-hire," she'd wager.
"Your friend is right."
"But that long? Twenty years is a long time to hold a grudge," Shepard blurted. She hadn't meant to; she didn't want this mission to get anymore personal than it already was. She was already dreading going any farther now because of how close to his past she would have to go.
She tried with all her might to keep a strictly professional repoire with her crew. She had wanted nothing to do with Jacob's shady past in the Alliance, nor Miranda and the trouble with her father she'd once brought up. She struggled with Doctor Solus at times, occasionally popping in to check on the research and ending up listening to his waterfall ramblings about the STG and genophage. She'd once even brought him tea and discussed Kirrahe, a Captain she'd met on Virmire all that time ago, but after that Shepard had maganed to keep herself away from the labs. She'd tried to keep a distance with EDI as well, which, considering EDI was the entire ship, proved to be quite the challenge. In the end, the only two she'd truly managed to break her rule for Joker and Garrus. And only with them because of their past.
Zaeed Massani had no past with her, and after this mission was done, he would hopefully have no future with her either whether that meant his death or his resignation. He was a soldier at her command, a crew member, not a friend. He was willing to work with Cerberus for money and revenge. He'd kept her in the dark about the mission they were on. She had been right, as had Garrus; he was interesting, but he was also not to be trusted. He wasn't to be a friend. That wasn't how this was going to work. Which meant when his face darkened and his posture changed from relaxed and calm to tense and lethal, she had no trouble positioning her hand over her pistol.
"A grudge!?" Zaeed shouted. She didn't flinched, just shut her eyes as it echoed off the trees. She heard him take two very determined, very angry step toward her. Her eyes flew open when he jabbed her armored chest with his index and looked her in the eyes. "Vido turned my men against me. He payed six of them to restrain me while he put a gun to my head and pulled the trigger."
This time, she did flinch. She watched as Garrus did too, and saw him look away, his face unreadable. Suddenly she didn't feel like she could look into the veteran's eyes without seeing it; and young man struggling, fighting the only people he thought he could trust as his partner held him at gunpoint. She couldn't imagine the fear, and she didn't think she could stomach the betrayal. Nor could she fight the strangled, unwanted thread of guilt the coiled in her gut.
"For twenty years, I've seen that bastard every time I closes my eyes. Every time I sighted down on a target. Every time I heard a gunshot." He stepped back, retracting his hand from her as if disgusted. "Don't you call that a goddamned grudge."
For a moment, she stared at Zaeed in wonder and shame. It was hard for her to get the words out, and when she did, she feared that it would interfere with her rule of getting close. "I...didn't know."
"And you didn't think," Zaeed shot back. "They don't put shit like that in the dossier, do they?" Patronizing tone. That she could deal with. It was so much better than the angry and ancient grief he'd held in his voice moments before.
"It was unprofessional of me to get that close, Massani." She straitened her postured to one of command. "I'd like to appolo-"
"Stuff it, Commander. If you don't mean it, don't put on airs like you give a shit. I don't need it, or your 'pity.' I need the job done."
The heavy clu-clunck of the bridge locking into place saved her from having to comment anymore. The click of the radio startled her a bit. Vido was on again. "Their at the southern access. All squads mass at the gatehouse! Now!"
Zaeed lowered his hand from the com in his ear and his face relaxed into a scary determined sort of calm. The kind of feeling she got right before she took down Saren. She feeling she'd felt every time she took down one of Cerberus' bases in the past. Anger and satisfaction where a lethal concoction."They know we're here." A smile, dark as hell. "Bring it on, you son of a bitch."
"Zaeed Massani. You finally tracked me down," Vido drawled, his tone all confidence. Hers would be too if she was a story above the ground, suspended over her old partner who was hell-bent on getting revenge, surrounded by ten or so subordinates at her command, and in a place she knew like the back of her hand. But there was a difference between having confidence you'll win, and being so over-confident His voice was all too confident, his arms were crossed, gun not even drawn too shoot. His mouth was pulled back into a grin politicians on the Citadel wore when they had gotten away with just enough to make it everything okay. His whole demeanor gave off a "cock-sure prick," kind of vibe. She should have killed him just on principle.
Shepard disliked a lot of things; thresher maws, the geth, Saren, Citadel politics, the Council's incessant need to deny her every claim, owing dangerous people a favor, and mercenaries, to name a few, but as of right now, Vido was slowing making his slimy way to the top of her list.
"Vido," Zaeed growled in malice. She watched him reach back and around, taking hold of his rifle. Beside her, Garrus readied his own gun.
"Don't be stupid, Zaeed," Vido scoffed. He sounded so smug in his taunts. She glanced over at Zaeed again, hopping he was smart enough to keep a level head during the other goading. But Zaeed wasn't looking at Vido. His eyes were watching the wall on the left side of the room, a corner the wall of the base and the metal platform connecting the catwalk above to the other side of the room had created. A valve connected to a pipeline was settled against the wall. It didn't look like a water main. Maybe a gas network. But he quickly looked away and she did too. "I have have a whole company of blood thirsty bastards behind me, ready to kill or be killed on my command."
She took the safety off her pistol now, watching each merc with a careful eye.
"Actually, take your shot," Vido taunted. "Give my men a reason to put you down like a mad dog."
Shepard thought that it could have been his over-cofidant, smug, shit eating grin that he wore when talking down to Zaeed, or the way that he spoke, that made her want to roll her eyes and shoot him for his sheer idiocy alone. His voice was rough in all the wrong ways, and he spoke in the same manor that his smile looked. Smug and condescending.
"Again."
She looked again to Zaeed, hoping he was keeping a level head. And for a brief half of a half a second, she thought he was. But he met her eyes, and she saw the danger behind them, the vague but effective plan that had nothing to do with defending against the impending hailstorm of bullets they were about to face and everything to do with twenty years of pent up rage, revenge, and an inability to keep his cool.
Shepard sprinted to the right of the room, sliding into a low cover behind a wide shipment crate. Garrus was right behind her, both of them crouched low the tight space. Zaeed, on the other hand, was making a beeline for the opposite side of the room, taking aim at Vido. His shots were erratic and badly aimed, the closest managing to hit the piping behind the actual target. It burst in a metallic ping, and gas leaked out of the new orifice in a steady hiss.
"What was that?" Vido sneered. "Getting near sighted, old friend?"
Zaeed had managed to make it to the valve, and his hands were quickly fiddling with it's ammo. "Burn you son of a bitch."
Three things seemed to happen all at once; one, a burst of light and heat behind Vido in an instantaneous stream of fire and sound of hissing bass as more parts burst around it. Two, a loud boom that filled the room with noise and drowned out the sound of bullets missing their mark until she was sure they'd stopped all together, indicating that the ignited flame had not become a flamethrower but a rather powerful explosion. And the not-so-surprising realization that it had not been an explosion of internal malfunction with the pipe, but Zaeed hiding something else from her - incendiary ammo.
Vido was thrown against the railing, sending a poisonous glare in Zaeed's direction as he caught himself with as much gras as a new born giraffe. "You just signed your own death warrant, Massani!"
As soon as Vido retreated, the gun fire resumed, and Shepard kept low to the floor. A monotone, metallic banging sounded from the other side of the room. Her head whipped around to see Zaeed hammering away at the main valve with the butt of his rifle. Another explosion sounded, closer to Garrus and herself, and scalding pieces of metal shrapnel flew across the room, some raking against Shepard's face before she ducked further into cover. The ground shook as another one up top took out a few mercs in the process. "What the hell are you doing?!" she screamed at him, the ground quaking again under the force of yet another blast.
He didn't give an answer.
She hit the ground and covered her head. Had she been a second too late, she could have been killed. The ground shook furiously, and heat welled up on all side of the room. Beams from the ceiling fell hard, and the metal rungs of the catwalk above flung every which way, a few spearing the ground with a metallic screech and muffled, earthy thump. The air wavered form the intense heat, and everything carried the smell of burning wood, metal, and gunfire.
She was suddenly keenly aware that there was a heavy weight on top of her. At first she had assumed it was one of the ceiling supports, and she waited in muted panic for the pain in her spine, to perhaps leg, to begin. When it didn't, she cautiously moved herself onto her side, the pressure on top of her conforming to the shift in position easily.
Ice blue eyes met her own deep blue ones. A few emotions went through herso quickly it nearly left her dizzy. Confusion was first, recognizing his eyes but not understanding why he was so damned close. Realization and gratitude followed shortly after she'd see the defensive posture he was also in, not only getting down to protect himself from the blast but protecting Shepard as well. There was also a feeling right in the back of her skull, warm and buzzing, coking its way down her spine. She wasn't sure what it was, and it happened to fast to understand what it was, only that it had been vaguely familiar, a phantom on the peripheral of her subconscious.
"Okay, he's interesting," Garrus admitted in a causal tone of voice. "You were right."
"Well, I'd hate to say I told you so, but..." she teased without really feeling it.
Too close, she thought frantically. She was alright with close contact, a handshake or, on very rare occasions and when initiated on her part, a short hug. But this? Body hovering over hers in some places and in other their ramous was flush with each other, his speaking with casual sarcasm, her usual reflex of teasing back, it was too close. Shielding her his hid body, that was too close. The buzzing feeling she had telling her that it was both a good and bad idea to stay like they were and talk as if what had happened thirty seconds ago hadn't happened at all, that was too close. Shepard was never "too close." She rarely let herself get into a position of "too close," the only case she ever had being Kaidan. She would never get too close like that. Not even with Joker or Garrus.
And then she saw the flash of mustard colored armor behind her, and everything she'd been thinking at that moment was shoved away to be taken out and looked at later. She pushed against Garrus' armored chest, and he yielded, The both stood up quickly, and Shepard honed her gaze in on Zaeed.
"What the hell was that?!"
Zaeed shrugged. "Opening the gate." The asshole actually looked a little proud on himself.
"Are you stupid?!" she hollered, striding up to him in a few, angry steps, and jabbing his hard, yellow chest. "Are you brain-damaged? You're little stunt," she waved carelessly at the flames around her, "could have put this whole quest of your on hold!"
"I knew what I was doing," he defended, sounding bored.
"Oh, did you now?" Her voice was red hot fury. "Because it looks to me like you damn near brought the base down on us. You could have killed Garrus, you could have killed me, and you could have killed yourself!"
"Oh bloody - look, don't get all sentimental on me, Shepard," Zaeed scoffed. "If you're suddenly going to sprout a heart, go back to the ship. I don't need help anymore. I've got 'im." And with that, he stared to walk away. Shepard gnashed her teeth, grabbed Zaeed by the collar of his armor, and dragged him back to the spot he had been standing.
"I'm not getting sentimental," she hissed. "I'm much rather you have been killed or knocked out during that explosion. At least have had it know some sense into you."
"What is it then, kiddo?" he mocked. His lip curled and he shrugged her off, starting to move away again. She dragged his back in the same manner, if not a bit rougher. This time he stumbled back into place.
"What is it?" she growled. "You nearly jeopardized my mission. You wanna die because of your own fucking stupidity, do it on your own time. You die on my watch and Cerberus hauls my undead ass over the coals. You're their investment, Massani, and I'm not about to take the bullet for you when you screwed up in the first place. There are better ways than risking the lives of your team."
"You wanna waste time out hear looking for another way in? Go ahead," he hissed, his eyes furious. "I don't have time for that. I'm going to kill Vido."
Since her birth, there have only been a handful of times that Commander Renita Shepard ever flew off the handle. The first time when she was very young and her family had been dragged away by slavers and slaughtered. The second when she had lost her whole team on Akuze, the pain, fear, ager, guilt, crushing her until she broke. Twice at the Council, once on that weasel, Udina, and now, at Zaeed.
She decked Zaeed hard. So hard she felt the shock wave of it through her armor, in her hand, and up her elbow. Her hand, she knew, wasn't broken, but she hoped she'd at least sprained Zaeed's nose.
Zaeed's eyes were a dangerous anger that she ignored, his lip a little bloody, and his nose only a tad more so. She gripped the front of his armor and pulled his to eye level. Her voice was cold and hushed. "I'm not your buddy, Massani. I'm not your friend. I'm your commanding officer and you will show me some goddamn respect." She shoved him backward, and Zaeed stumbled just enough to regain equilibrium and not make a fool of himself. "You're endangering lives - and this mission - for your own selfish revenge."
Every part of him looked like he wanted nothing more than to strangle the life out of her. Good. She didn't need him to like her. She needed him to cooperate. "You really wanna do this, Shepard?" Zaeed asked.
She almost took his invitation, almost clocked him on the other cheek. But what they needed right now was to move. The building was coming down, and there where still people - Blue Suns hostages - who were trapped. "I ought to knock you the hell out. But thanks to you, we have a burning refinery to save."
"Let these people burn!" Zaeed exploded. "Vido dies, whatever the cost!"
She sent his a venomous look, and took out her shotgun. "Move out."
No one spoke while they made their way forward. Every few second a faint boom would sound, or there would be a sudden burst of flame. Pieces of metal beams, broken pipes, and ceiling clattered to the ground and smoldered. It didn't take long for them to reach a door leading further back into the fortress.
To their left stood a catwalk about thirty feet off the ground, one side bursting with smoke an flames. Zaeed really did a number on this place, she thought bitterly. She was sure they'd catch Vido, but could they be able to get back to the shuttle through this? Not very likely, considering the amount of explosions heard in the time it took for the door to open.
Before they could continue, the soft but certain sound of running footsteps on metal came from the catwalk. She readied her gun, expecting a merc. Instead, a young man, most likely a worker from the refinery and no more than thirty, burst out of the smoking building, gasping and coughing, covered with soot and sweat. She lowered her weapon immediately and stepped away from the door, the simple movement catching the others eye.
He was frantic. "Help! We're trapped!" He gripped the railing clumsily, gasping and wheezing, clearing his lungs of the smoke. "We can't get to the gas vales to shut them off! The whole place is going to blow!" As if to prove a point, part of the doorway burst into flames, sending burning fragments of metal every which way.
Without hesitation, Shepard started toward the burning base. A hand fit its way roughly into the crook of her arm, firmly hauling her back into place. She for her elbow from Zaeed's grip, fuming.
"No. There's no time," he snapped. "Vido'd probably halfway to the shuttle docks right now."
"Are you serious?" Garrus interrupted. "There are people in there. Terrified, dying, innocent humans, trapped. You're not suggesting we leave that be, right?"
Shepard could only agree. Whether it was Vido or the damned Collectors, there was something she could do now to prevent others from hurting. She wasn't sure if it was her own morals or the way the Alliance had trained her to think, but when you could do the saving, you never had a choice. you went, consequences be damned. Apparently, that was not how Zaeed thought. She could see it in his eyes, the unwillingness to set foot near that building, the anger beneath it toward Garrus and his outburst, and a loathing for Shepard for even considering a rescue. "You're willing to watch these people die?" she asked, her voice hushed by awe and pity.
Zaeed was firm in his answer, and it sounded more like a command. "Damn right I am. We stop to help these people, and Vido gets away." His eyes tightened around the edges. "And if he get's away, I'm blaming you."
She had tried, really tried to put herself in his shoes. The tried to think what if someone she'd cared deeply for, someone she trusted, had betray her. If Kaidan, the only one she'd ever allowed herself to be too close with, had payed her crew - Tali, Liara, Wrex, Garrus, Joker - to hold her down while he attempted murder in cold blood. But how ever hard she could have become, no matter how far she went to shut out the world, she didn't think she could sacrifice lives the way Zaeed seemed to be able to. She wasn't sure she'd ever go this far to kill anyone, no matter how much they deserved it.
But he was just so damn stubborn. It was like trying to take a bone out of a starving dog's mouth. It growled and snapped and tried it's hardest to make you go away, just so it could finish what it had started. She supposed that was the price of revenge; you lost your own humanity in the fire. But what happens once you put the fire out? She wondered. She wasn't going to try and find out. Let him blame her. Loyalty be damned.
"We're here to save these people," she ordered. "We're going in."
She dropped down off of a ledge leading to the building's entrance, hearing Zaeed mutter something under his breath about "doing this quickly." She glanced up at the burning metal hunk towering over her. She wasn't sure how many people were in there, or how long they had left, but judging from plumes of smoke ascending into the sky, there wasn't much time. For the first time since she'd met him, she fully agreed with Zaeed.
As soon as the door to what she had assumed to be the boiler room opened, Shepard was on the ground.
She had managed to cover a part of her face just in time, but the explosion from the door frame had still been damaging enough to impare her vision for a few moments, everything around her fading to a velvety black. The blast had opened several cuts along her face there were now oozing blood, and there was a loud ringing in her ears, muffling everything else so that it sounded like she was underwater. She could feel the ache in her head and the heat on her face that had nothing to do with the temperature and everything to do with whatever part of her face her didn't get to protect. It felt tight and stiff, rubbery even.
After what seemed to be five minutes, she started to gain her sight back, her headache growing ever stronger as it did. She was also acutely aware that Garrus was trying to rouse her from whatever state she had been in.
She rose slowly from her position on the ground - she couldn't have been knocked back from that, right? - and took a deep breath, refocussing on the problem at hand. Shut off the valves, save the employees, try to catch Vido. Very simple. She coughed a bit, her lungs not yet adjusting to the thickness of the air around them.
"Shepard!" Garrus demanded, bringing her back to the immediate present.
"What?" she droned. It was better than snapping at him, at least, which she would have surely done with anyone else.
"I asked if you were alright," he sighed, relived. "You sat up on your own, so I guess your spine is working. Do you think you can stand?"
She smiled and leaned forward to get up. Her chest ached, and her head was pounding, but she could see straight, and if she could see straight she could shoot straight, so that was good enough for her. Once she was on her feet, she bent over her pick up her shotgun and then turned to look at Garrus. "Fit as a fiddle."
She cautiously entered the room, not waiting for a confirmation on her physical condition. The room was large, and the smoke was so dense it took her a moment to see everything in the room clear enough to navigate it. Fires cracked and popped and hissed around her. It was a mess. To the right of the room next to a ramp, there was a valve control.
It wasn't a hard task. She went to control after control, dodging fire here, pressing a button there. It was all very easy until she saw them. They were trapped in a room, a good handful of them, and they were pounding on the glass and pointing in the direction she needed to go. Some of them, she can see, looked like the equivalent of wilting flowers. They coughed and gasped, and pointed. She registered something about the doors not opening until the fire was put out. And explosion sounded behind her and moved her forward again.
She didn't have long and neither did they.
Explosion after explosion, step after step. It was getting easier to breathe the further she traveled from the valve controls. The heat hadn't eased off, but they were making quick work of the room. A green blur beckoned her forward, a beacon through the haze until she finally stumbled through the door. It was a small room with windows looking over the refinery below. A desk pushed up against the wall with what looked like files stacked on top of it. The haze in this room hadn't been as thick, and she was able to breath a bit better. The fire extinguisher system controls were not he other side of the room.
Garrus had gotten there faster than she would have, and opened in in half the time. She had assumed he'd known a thing or two about calibrating systems and running diagnostics, considering the work he'd done on the MAKO and was now doing on the main gun of the Normandy. Nevertheless, she was impressed. The door to her left flash from its cautionary orange to welcoming green. Outside, the smog had mostly cleared, and the sprinklers were still running.
A wave oxygen hit her like a drop shuttle and she nearly coughed out a lung as soon as her body had realized what it was being deprived of. She heard Zaeed's gasping coughs as well as Garrus'. Below, a door had slid open and the once-trapped employees were leaving in a hurried, but orderly, fashion. She exhaled a gust of air, relived. They'd gotten out safe.
"Are you done playing hero?" Zaeed complained. "Or do I have to subject - "
"Stuff if, Crocodile Dundee. If you don't like the way we're doing this, 'go wait on the ship,'" she mocked in a amazingly terrible impression of his accent. Garrus nearly choked, making a rather uncharacteristic snorting noise to hide his amusement (she assumed it was toward the accent and not the older human reference.)
They moved forward with haste now, forward, toward the sound explosions and soon, she predicted, gunfire.
It was all a matter of the way you looked at things, really. On the one hand, the Blue Sun releasing mechs was predictable, and that they should be ordered, along with the actual mercenaries, to bring Vido his head. It was completely understandable that she should defend him from cover, and let him fight his own battle that he so desperately wanted to fight.
On the other hand, she hadn't thought to bring a grenade launcher, and had picked up a flame-thrower in its stead Since that didn't quite reach the distance she needed it to, and since she only had a clip left for her sniper, defending anything but herself was impossible. Garrus was handling himself from the other side of the room, his hand-to-hand training coming in handy. Zaeed, on the other hand, was having his ass handed to him by a very vengeful mercenary and was receiving no aid.
If you put the situations on a weighted balance - letting Zaeed fight his own battles, or fight just this one for him - the latter weighed just a bit heavier.
"I could have done it myself," he grumbled. "It would have gone faster."
"Shut up," Shepard snapped. "I said it before. "You die, Cerberus loses a very expensive investment, and I lose what little patience I have left for them when they blame me for, it."
The trio hurried their way toward the door, Shepard bleeding from a cut on her head courtesy of a left hook she'd neglected to block, Zaeed now bleeding profusely from the nose and spitting it out of his mouth occasionally, and Garrus swiping at his open cheek where a turin merc had caught him with their claws.
The site on the shuttle docking bay gave her a sicking feeling in her gut. A very well armored gunship was tucking its wheels, hovering, and ready for take off. Zaeed was right, he'd gotten away.
"Not this time Zaeed, you son of a bitch," Vdio growled, the coms buzzing to life. "See you in another twenty years!"
Guilt and sorrow for Zaeed pushed its way forward. She stood by her choice; she'd always save people, always choose rescuing someone over revenge. But she should have moved faster, should have fought harder. He was gone, already escaped by the time they'd opened the door, but they ran toward the ship anyway.
She stopped a few feet in to the running, but Zaeed wasn't giving up. He ran to the edge of the platform, and shot his gun in a haphazard, angry way. Defeated. He screamed, cursed, screamed again. He was pissed, he was beyond pissed, and she knew he wasn't just cursing Vido and the Blue Suns. He shot and screamed and shouted until his gun jammed. He angrily shook it, glaring at the gunship as it disappeared over the trees. The shells pinged to the ground, rending the gun useful again, but Vido had already gone.
Shepard watched too, crushed. She should have put her morals aside.
A click in her right ear. She turned slowly, facing the barrel of Zaeed's gun.
"You just cost me twenty years of my life!" Zaeed screamed, his voice dripping with hurt, anger, hatred, betrayal, and another wretched emotion one could feel. She heard Garrus reach for his gun, but she flung a hand out to stop him from firing. The last thing they needed was a friendly fire fight.
"Zaeed - " That was all she could say. She realized with horror that they were not only sitting on top if a huge, gas and mineral based refinery that was nearly about to explode anyway, but that small containers of the stuff were bound to be everywhere. It was almost stupid, when she thought about it, or, rather stupid that she hadn't thought about it. The heated shells Zaeed's gun had spat out in its violet shaking session, had ignited. And, unfortunately, rolled a few feet and managed to ignite any and all gases near them.
It was a bigger explosion than the one at the door to the refinery, bigger than the one Zaeed had caused to open the gate. It blasted her back a few feet even when she had jumped out of the way. She scrambled to her feet with the aid of Garrus.
A beam - a tall, metal, not-entirely-studry-definitely-jarred-loose-by-the-explosion beam - toppled over. And straight onto the veteran, who stood standing there dumbly, as if the whole thing was a joke, or spectator sport.
"Zaeed!" she cried, sprinting over. "Shit, shit shit, Zaeed, can you hear me?"
"Agh!" was the answering reply. "Son of a bitch!" he moaned from behind the beam. It wasn't a direct answer, but Shepard wasn't exactly complaining.
"Zaeed, you alright?" Shepard asked, though she knew the answer. No, his leg was crushed, even wight he amount of medication and omnigel, he'd have to heal at least a month. He was very very far from okay.
"'The hell do you care?" he snapped, all bark. "I'm fine. Now come one, get me out of this shithole."
She knelt down next to Zaeed. "This is was karma looks like," she said thoughtfully. "If I get this beam off of you, why the hell should I trust you?" She gave his a hard stare. "You put your revenge ahead of the mission. You nearly killed me with an explosion, and you kept crucial parts of this entire 'side-trip' from me. How do I know I can have you at my back? How can I trust that you'll be there when we need you?"
"I'll do what I was goddamned payed to do Shepard," he snapped, his teeth clenched in anger and agony. "Just don't expect anymore than that." He groaned in eh back of his throat. "Now stop screwing around. Let's go."
She nodded. That's all she need really. The cooperation of a crew, the neat clockwork formation and air-tight plan when it came down to "D-day". He wasn't a crew member to her, she was an investment, and he'd he be gone as soon as he'd been payed the other half of what he was due. She wasn't brought back from the dead to make friends. She was here for a mission and a mission only.
"Garrus, help me with this," she commanded, working to lift the beam off. It wasn't heavy in the least, and she could have easily moved it herself, but having him help was...nice.
It made the outlook of this entire mission feel, for a few seconds, less lonely than it had to be.