John, Tali, and Miranda barreled out of the shuttle with their guns drawn and aimed at the solid black cube. It was closed, and John muttered a curse; this was about to get ugly. Chakwas was there with Mordin and a stretcher and they stared at John, who had made a full recovery the moment Jane resurrected and he was able to focus his resources on himself.
"What's this, then?" Chakwas asked, annoyed. "I thought you said you needed a trauma kit!"
"Appears Shepard's condition is real," Mordin commented. "Complete recovery of faculties in extremely short time-period. Fascinating—would like to study further, if possible."
"Yeah, sure Mordin," John answered. "For now, you need to get clear of the hold and go back to your posts. This thing is dangerous."
"Aye, Commander," said Chakwas, and she and Mordin wheeled the stretcher out.
"EDI, get Garrus and Grunt down here. Tali, Miranda, stand guard at the door. If he tries to get out, light him up."
"If who tries to get out?" Miranda asked suspiciously.
"Able."
"He's in there?" Tali asked, her eyes widening in alarm.
"Yeah. That thing never closes unless he's inside. Now get back . . . please." He shot Tali a pleading look and she nodded, taking Miranda with her to the doors. Grunt was in first, followed by Garrus a moment later.
"Shepard," said the turian with a sidelong glance at the box. John racked his rifle and waved him over. "You rang?"
"You and Grunt are the two best hand-to-hand fighters on the ship, and I need your help subduing a violent stowaway." He pointed to the cube, and he could have sworn that the carvings were moving. It made the air around it shimmer like waves of heat on asphalt. "When he comes out, he'll come out swinging but I think between the three of us we can keep him occupied long enough to wear him out."
"Why don't we just shoot him?" Grunt grumbled. "Seems easier."
"No one is blowing holes in my ship. Besides, Joker would never let me live it down if I hurt his baby, so if you can avoid it, don't." He turned back to Tali and Miranda and called, "If he gets past us, all bets are off, but don't shoot unless you have to." The locks on the cube started turning on their own and the three of them stood in a semi-circle, readying themselves for the fight to come. Garrus stripped off his gloves and flexed his taloned fingers while Grunt pounded his fist into his hand and rolled his shoulders, grinning widely.
*You ready for this?*
Hell yeah. She had adopted his strategy and had Thane and Samara on door duty while Garrus and Grunt stood to either side of her. Able's box had started to swing open and her muscles were thrumming with adrenaline overload. Be careful—it's too dangerous to get killed with the timelines merging like this.
*Luck.*
Same.
One whole side of the cube swung back on invisible hinges revealing the chained coffin within. The air was electric with tense anticipation, the silence drawing out with a razor knife-edge. Then the lid burst open and Able came charging out, his eyes solid black, tattoos writhing over corded muscles, and his face contorted into a mask of bloodlust and madness.
He was so fast it was difficult to track him as he rushed straight at John and barreled into him. They rolled across the floor and when they stopped, Able was on top and launched a savage blow to John's jaw. His vision bloomed with white and his jaw exploded with agony, but the weight on his chest disappeared when Garrus, snarling, hauled Able up with his long claws digging into the man's bare ribcage. Able kicked and thrashed and pried Garrus' hands off him only to spin on his heel and throw a full-bodied punch to his jaw. Garrus caught it before it landed, squeezed hard, and his talons punctured Able's hand, tearing through tendon and bone like a hot knife through butter. Able roared and flew into a frenzy of killing blows that Garrus dodged like a ballroom dancer.
John stood in awe at finally seeing his friend let off the brakes and turn his full strength and fighting talent loose on Able, whose punches were growing more wild and frenzied as he failed to connect over and over while Garrus feinted and turned. The turian's punches by comparison looked weaker, but they were all fast and well-placed and carried with them the force of a sledgehammer, cracking bone and bruising muscle wherever his fists landed. He tore through the meat of Able's shoulder and the man's arm went limp and useless, the joint hanging at an unnatural angle just under his skin, and he bared his teeth in a ululating howl of pain and fury. Blood gushed from dozens of gashes and punctures, but he didn't show any signs of slowing down until Grunt thundered into the fray and crashed into Able with all the grace of a Mack truck.
Able may have had more combat training, but he wasn't prepared for a krogan blood rage. Grunt knocked him to the floor, laced his fingers together, and brought down both fists onto his face. Bone crunched and blood sprayed from Able's broken nose, but still he leapt to his feet and started circling the krogan, grinning with feral glee and the bright glint of insanity in his cold, black eyes. Grunt, tired of the games, rushed him again but Able was ready for him this time and flipped the krogan on his hump, then leapt onto his chest and pummeled his face until John drove an elbow into the back of his head and dragged him off, slamming a knee into Able's back and tossing him to the floor. He smashed his booted foot into Able's ribs, but Grunt shoved him to the side and faced his opponent again.
"This is the most fun I've had in ages!" he bellowed, and hauled Able, who was beginning to slow, to his feet. "I . . . am . . . KROGAN!" He reared back and headbutted Able so hard the skin of his forehead split and blood streamed into his eyes, which had gone back to gray. His lips twisted into a grin and he locked arms with Grunt, punching him hard in the hump.
"What's this? Have I met my match?" he asked no one in particular, and he laughed out loud. John had never heard that sound come from him before, and he looked on in bewilderment as Grunt and Able began fighting again, only the mindless animosity had gone out of them both. The two of them were wholly focused on one another and John and Garrus stood back to watch, breathing hard.
"You okay?" Garrus asked, eyeing Shepard's jaw, which was sporting an impressive black and blue bruise.
"Yeah, I'm fine. You?"
"A little sore, but nothing I can't handle. You weren't kidding when you said he'd come out swinging."
"Battle!" Able cried and charged Grunt, locking shoulders with him, and his feet slid across the floor when Grunt shoved back and wrestled him to the ground. Pinned by four hundred pounds of krogan, Able struggled uselessly before going limp. Grunt stood up and helped him to his feet, then clapped him on the shoulder.
"We are well-matched, you and I," he said, and Able nodded.
"Indeed. It is long and long since I've met someone who could best me. You are a fine example of your species. What should I call you?"
"That's Grunt," said John as he stepped closer to them, "and this is Garrus."
"Ah, John, my friend."
John crossed his arms over his chest and shifted his weight to his back leg. "We were a lot of things, but I don't know if we were 'friends'."
"You've cut me to the quick," Able said, putting a hand over his heart. "I always held you in high esteem; I assumed we had a mutual respect."
"Respect, yes. Friendship, not so much. It takes trust to be friends, and I don't trust you any farther than I can punt your tattooed ass across this room."
Able just smiled, his teeth sheathed in blood, then hoisted himself up on top of his box and sat there, dangling his legs over the side. When his heels swung into the interior of the cube, the cuffs of his pants blackened and smoked in the heat radiating from the core. "You keep interesting company, John the Shepard. I should very much like to join you."
John did a double take and looked over at Garrus to confirm that he'd heard that right, but the turian looked just as surprised as he did. "I was under the impression that you were planning to team up with the Reapers," he said slowly.
"Why would I do that? Your side of this war is sure to be the most rewarding for a battle-starved man such as myself." He leaned back on his hands and made no sign that he'd noticed the skin of his heels begin to burn and blister. Perhaps he even liked it, who knew? "Plow through armies of you soft-skinned mortals, or pit my skills against a horde of nigh-invincible sentient machines . . . hmm . . ." He scratched his chin, feigning deep thought. "I think I will join with the side with the worst odds of survival. It is more fun for me, and makes your chances better."
"Thanks, I think," John said, rubbing his neck. This had definitely taken a turn he hadn't expected, but if Able was willing to fight on their side they had one hell of a powerful ally. Far be it for him to turn down such an offer, but this was too much. Able was unstable as hell, and could wind up tearing the whole ship apart in a fit of rage. "One condition: you take orders from me. If I tell you to stand down, you will stand down."
Able thought for a moment, then said, "It will be as you say. May I have the use of your krogan? I should enjoy having him as a sparring partner, should the mood strike."
"I'd like that," Grunt said. "Being on this ship makes my blood boil, and I long for a good fight."
"Well then, that's settled." John motioned for Able to come down and when he did, he leaned in close to him and locked onto those depthless ashen eyes. "And I swear to you, if you hurt my crew I'll have EDI vent the hold and space you myself. Are we clear?"
"Such a thing would not kill me, John."
"That's sort of the point, Able. Think of it—freezing in space, your lungs collapsing, the vacuum making your vital organs rupture and hemorrhage . . . forever." John narrowed his eyes, putting every ounce of how serious he was into his gaze, and Able nodded.
"As I said, I will follow your orders . . . Commander." He gave a little bow and leaned back against the outside of the cube. "There is another matter I would like to discuss. Doctor Clef has met with Jane, no?"
The floor dropped out from under him and he fought to keep his features calm. "How could you possibly know about that?"
"Come now, you know that I have always known about Jane. You don't truly believe the two of you are the only ones to speak across the great distance, do you?" When John didn't respond, he continued. "No doubt he will have told her about Cain. He may not have gone into detail, but I know Clef's end game well enough."
"Is there a point to all this?"
"If you want a guided missile, you have got me. If you want a megaton nuclear warhead, I need Cain."
"You always talked about him like you hated him or something," John said, trying to make sense of this sudden turn of the conversation.
"Our situation is . . . complicated. We are magnetic opposites of a kind, but there is a part in each of us that remembers what it was to be one. Find him, bring him here, and then when you take us through the relay, you'll have your weapon of mass destruction, as it were."
"Through the Omega-4 relay?" Able nodded. "What does the relay have to do with all this?"
"I cannot explain, I don't have the words, but it will work." He extended a pale, tattooed hand to John. "Have we a deal, John the Shepard?"
He hated being left in the dark like this, but there was nothing he could do about it now, so he took Able's hand and shook it once before quickly dropping it again. "Deal. Now behave yourself, or I'll shove you in your box and space you right into a black hole, so help me god."
"I will be the very image of restraint," he promised with a smirk, and John turned on his heel and left so as to avoid punching him in his self-satisfied face.
John led the crew out and headed to the elevator, where he punched the button that would take him to the CIC. He ignored the look Miranda was giving him and touched Tali's shoulder on the way by.
"EDI—if he decides he's unhappy with my command, you know what to do."
"Understood, Shepard."
Jane stood at the galaxy map and leaned heavily on the railing. She'd just given Joker the go-ahead to take them to retrieve the IFF before heading back to Earth (which she knew she was avoiding like the plague, but she justified her reluctance by telling herself that the Collector mission was still number one priority no matter what Clef said), and she was weary to the bone. Usually after coming back from the void she needed food and sleep, and going into the fight with Able had weakened her even more. He'd landed a few good hits, breaking her arm and slamming her into the wall where she cracked her head hard and saw stars before Garrus tore him away and took his turn with him. She'd never seen him move like that; the grace of his fighting style held a savage sort of beauty, and as she replayed the scene in her mind, it lit a fire in her veins. It was still strange to her that Garrus' alienness should make him so irresistibly sexy, but there it was.
A three-fingered hand touched her between her shoulder blades and slid down to her lower back. She turned around slowly and raked her hair back out of her face. Speaking of Garrus . . . "Hey, you."
He radiated tension and kept his mandibles tight to his face. "Can we talk?"
She nodded and let him lead her into the hallway just outside the comm room. Before she could ask him what was wrong, he pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her tight with his face buried in her hair. She tried to return the embrace, but her arms were pinned to her side.
"I saw you, in Doctor Clef's apartment," he whispered. His breath hitched and he palmed the back of her head, making a fist in her hair. "I saw . . . I thought you—"
Jane pulled one arm free and stroked his cheek. She laid a gentle kiss on his chest (the only part she could reach at the moment) and shushed him. "I'm all right, Garrus. It's okay."
"I know. I know, but Jane, I . . ." His breath hitched again and Jane realized that if he were able to shed tears, her hair would be wet with them now. "I can't lose you. Not again."
She slid her arms around him and rested her head in the crook of his neck. "I'm sorry. If I'd known you were watching -"
"No, you'd have done the same thing. I understand why you had to, I think, but it was still hard to watch."
Jane tilted her head up and he let her pull away just far enough for him to lean down and kiss her. The embrace took on a new meaning as his tongue teased her mouth open and he tasted her, the foreign yet familiar earthy aroma that belonged only to her surrounding him and finally convincing him that she really was alive.
"I'm coming with you."
Jane was so wrapped up in the way just the scent of him went straight to her head that she didn't hear him at first. "Hmmm?"
"When you go to Earth, I'm coming with you."
She backed away a step to regain her composure and shook her head. "No, you're not. It's too dangerous."
"And it's not dangerous for you?"
"Considerably less so. You don't get any second chances."
"You need someone on your six you can trust, and I know you don't trust Clef." He reached out and took her hand in both of his, stroking her palm with his thumbs.
"You don't know what you're asking." She wouldn't risk him, she couldn't.
"So enlighten me."
She sighed and rubbed her cheek, trying to think how to explain it to him so he'd understand. "There are things down there that won't just kill you—they'll invade you, steal your mind, make you do awful things to the people you care about, leave you an empty shell of the person you were, and only then will you be allowed to die. You've seen our horror movies?"
"Yeah," he said with a shudder. "You humans make scary movies like no other race that I know of."
"Imagine if they were real, because a lot of them might as well be. Death isn't the worst thing that could happen to you in that facility, Garrus. There are soul traps, things that can convince you that you're a figment of someone's imagination—you could lose your mind."
"All the more reason for me to watch your back." He touched his finger to her mouth when she tried to protest and said, "If anything happened to you and I wasn't there, I could never forgive myself."
She knew that if she told him to stay, he would, but he would always believe that she didn't think he was capable enough to watch out for himself, or her. He'd be safe, but the trust they shared would be diminished. "All right. Just . . . let me take point, okay?"
"Don't I always?" he asked with a little flare of his mandibles. "Now, I've got to get to the battery to check on the updates, and you," he brushed her hair out of her face, "need to get some rest."
They rode up to the crew deck and parted ways when she stayed in the mess hall for something to eat; her stomach was eating a hole through her and she would have eaten just about anything so long as it resembled something recognizable. She headed to the table with a plate of something that probably started off as eggs when Joker waved her over and patted the spot beside him. She sat down and nodded a greeting to Zaeed, Jacob, and Kasumi in turn.
"So, what's next on the agenda, O Fearless Leader?" Zaeed asked, shoveling in a mouthful of some purple lumpy stuff that she really didn't want to think too hard about. Gardner had nearly run out of the better provisions she'd bought, so he was saving them for post-mission nosh. Nothing said "Welcome home" like a heaping plateful of better-tasting meat stuff, rather than the extremely questionable military-esque meat stuff. Sure, they it was better than ration bars, but honestly, what wasn't?
"We're off to retrieve the Reaper IFF, and then we're heading to Earth."
"Back on home turf, huh?" Jacob said, and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. In fact, everyone's faces had fallen a little at the mention of Earth.
"You guys don't seem too happy about seeing Earth again," said Jane. Their behavior was confirming for her something she'd long suspected, and she wanted to pry a bit to see if she was right after all.
"It's not that," Zaeed began, "it's just that I haven't been back in . . . god, it's been at least twenty six years."
"Eighteen years for me," said Jacob. "Mom moved out to one of the colonies after Dad disappeared, and I haven't been back since."
"I left, oh, had to have been ten years ago." Kasumi rested her chin in her hand and stared off into the middle distance. "I took a job on Sur'Kesh and just . . . never went back."
"You know, I only went to Earth one time," Joker said. "Skeeved me out for some reason. The whole time I kept looking over my shoulder like something was following me. Could have had something to do with the fact we were staying in Old Brooklyn in the biggest fleabag motel I've ever laid eyes on, but I'm sure as hell not going back anytime soon."
"Now that you mention it," said Zaeed, leaning back and propping his heels up on the seat across from him, "I got the same feeling growing up in London. Always felt sort of . . . uneasy. Didn't even realize it until I caught a shuttle off-world. I'm telling you right now, I've never been so relieved as when I watched Earth disappear in the rear-view."
Jane twirled her fork around in her egg matter and listened intently. It was exactly as she thought—there was something wrong with Earth. It was the reason Arcturus Station was the Alliance capitol rather than an Earth city, and why not many people who moved away ever went back. There was an infection on that planet, and it was the cause of all the odd artifacts that the Foundation had been created to acquire. Maybe there was some sort of dimensional rift, or a huge deposit of dark energy, she wasn't sure. All she knew was that the prospect of returning after so long made her skin mound up in goosebumps.
"What are we doing on Earth, Shep?" Kasumi asked, her dark eyes glinting from under her hood. She was eating Top Ramen with one hand and had the other one under the table, probably in the vicinity of Jacob's leg if the awkward look on his face was any indication.
"Hopefully picking up a new asset."
"Another one?" Joker asked, and his eyebrows climbed up under the bill of his cap. "Because teleporting black boxes and psychotic rage-monsters weren't interesting enough for you? I swear, if that freak hurts my baby, I'll shoot him myself."
"And when you say 'baby', are you referring to the Normandy or EDI?" Jane asked with a sideways glance at him.
"The Normandy. I have no sympathy for that computer—she 'fixed' the lag, and now all my calculations are off," he complained, putting air quotes around 'fixed.'
EDI chimed in, "I adjusted the lateral drag and compensated for—"
"Yeah, yeah, and now I have to go back and run all my simulations again. Thanks a pantload, HAL 9000."
"Come on, Joker, she's just trying to help," Jane chided, and turned his hat around backwards, laughing as he groused at her.
She headed up to her cabin and took out her armor to go over it one last time before they arrived at the derelict Reaper. The way The Illusive Man made it sound they'd be in and out in a jiffy, but by now she knew better than to listen to him. She still intended to have a talk with him about the extensiveness of his security clearance, but until then she intended to keep him as far out of the loop as possible. Jane was fairly certain Miranda was firmly on her side, but she was still a believer in the Cerberus party line so confiding in her was out of the question until she was more certain of her motives. EDI was still shackled, and she didn't know how to go about freeing her yet without starting a lot of arguments with the rest of the crew, who wouldn't understand her motivations. Until all those situations were handled, she considered herself under constant surveillance, and therefore couldn't give voice to any of the suspicions that were beginning to form where Cerberus and, by extension, The Illusive Man, were concerned. It was a half-formed idea so far, and a mostly hare-brained one at that, but she trusted Cerberus less and less the more she thought about it.
A few hours later, Joker all-called the ETA, which gave her maybe twenty minutes to suit up and prep her team for the upcoming mission. Getting the IFF would be a cakewalk compared to the prospect of searching Site 25 for Able's other (and better) half, which was really saying something about the magnitude of clusterfuck her life had become.
AN-I wanted to thank the anonymous guest who suggested the bit about the human members of the crew avoiding Earth. I don't know who you are, but thanks for the idea. Hope you're still reading. :) Also, there's an opportunity coming up soon where I can probably throw in some of your favorite characters from the SCP Wiki, so if you have any suggestions, now's the time to let me know. Thanks for reading and reviewing! You guys are fantastic.
