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four: exercise in masochism
Matching Garrus's pace is an exercise in masochism. Shepard has to push herself just to keep up. Her lungs ache and her legs burn at the effort.
But it's worth it to watch his expression shift from determination to a ferocious snarl when he sees her breaking the merc line.
He stares in horror for all of three seconds when she biotically charges her way to the middle of a group.
He plunges into the fight right after her, though. The Vindicator screams his frustration for him. Three mercs take bullets to the throat, while a fourth gets two between the eyes.
Shepard punches a merc, hard enough she hears his jaw break, and rams the butt of the Eviscerator into another merc's chest. He stumbles backward, totally unprepared for the moment she rears back and fires the Eviscerator at his head.
He takes all three serrated wedges to the face. One rips through an eye. Two years ago, she wouldn't have seen the damage, but whatever the fuck they've replaced her eyes with catches it, slows it down to make sure she gets it. She watches the eye bulge, watches the veins in the eyeball pop —
Red leaks, then sprays, and she hears the squelch even over the thunder of the Vindicator.
She wipes the blood from her face and turns. Who's next?
The mercs between Shepard and Garrus all fall. He fires in semi-automatic bursts, aiming high on the torso.
And then he's moving for her. Blood spackles his armor — most of it red, only a little blue and none of that blue blood is his. His mouth peels open long enough to show her his teeth.
"Let's keep moving forward."
"Stay behind me, Shepard. Please."
"Hiding behind the big strong turian's never been my style. What's got you so knotted up about it?"
Garrus sucks in a breath, then shakes his head. His mandibles flare for a moment before he speaks. "You just — I — Shepard —"
"Or you can say some names incoherently." More red dots appear on her HUD and she hisses, "Nevermind. Hostile contact."
It's a small group. Garrus puts himself between her and the mercs, takes them down in a single volley of fire.
"Nice work," she says.
"Accuracy at distances greater than three feet is only one of my many fine qualities. I threw it in for free."
Jackass, she thinks. He sounds both faintly mollified at the praise and unable to resist pointing out that she likes point blank range.
She sighs. "It's a valid tactic. Are we seriously going to argue about this?"
"You're putting yourself in needless danger!"
"I'm a soldier trained for CQC, and I want to make sure those hostages make it out safe. I'm not punching Praetorians in their skull-mouths or anything, here."
"I still don't like it."
Of course he doesn't. And as they advance, he keeps throwing himself between her and the mercs whenever he gets the chance. She retaliates by charging through their front lines and hitting people with the Eviscerator. Which only leads to him spraying Vindicator fire all over the place.
Every now and then, Kasumi checks in to inform them that their cleared halls are staying clear.
Shepard checks her HUD. "Bailey's team's up ahead. Let's double back and escort the hostages out."
"Finally, a decision we agree on."
"Don't think we're not going to be discussing this back on the ship," she warns him.
He looks faintly worried for a moment, but then he shakes his head.