Chapter 10
"What was so important that you couldn't wait to drag me out of the house?" Davin said, wanting to chill with his friends who he has not seen in awhile. Erik didn't respond at first, which wasn't like him. Davin raised an eyebrow at him and stopped. "What is it Erik?"
Erik finally met his eyes. "something feels...off man. I don't know, but all of this is very sudden and convenient."
Davin was only more confused. "Convenient? How so?"
"Well, out of the blue, I get the order to head here with only my original unit to protect Vara during her research, which she had stopped awhile ago. And the order didn't come from Admiral Hackett. We get sent to a place with a small population who live far away from each other, far enough that we are basically on our own. Everything about this seems like a trap to me, but our own government wouldn't betray us like that...right?"
Davin blinked, surprised that he didn't come to this conclusion on his own. It made sense. "That would explain why I got my ship." then the more Davin thought about it, the less he liked it.
"We need to get back. Now." Davin said, seeing Erik nod. They had walked a far distance, absorbing the sights. As they were walking back, the sounds of gunfire finally traveled to their ears, and they both realized that they were right, and started running. Even then, it took them about twelve minutes to get there. Davin didn't hesitate as they approached the house; He opened the door and rushed in, pistol out. The sight he received would haunt his nightmares for the rest of his life.
He fell to his knees, seeing all of his closest friends dead, their bodies thrown around like they were dolls. Debra sat against a wall, a whole portion of her head sprayed across the wall behind her. Adam was splayed out, missing most of his limbs and his chest. Jacob was slumped over a table, his blood slowly dripping off and pooling onto the ground. Levie was on her knees, her gun still smoking, chest filled with bullets. Bennie had no head, as well as most of his upper chest. Their were multiple enemies on the floor, showing that his old team went down with a fight.
Davin's mind went numb, unable to process how his team could end up like this. They were one of the best unit their was, never failing a mission and always watching each others back. Whoever did this had to have complete surprise and be just as trained. As his looked at the dead enemies, he saw the Cerberus sigil on their combat armor. Erik was right, we were completely set up. Not only that, they waited for us to leave the house. This is my fault.
Davin forced himself up. He knew what he had to do next, but he dreaded it with every fiber of his being. He slowly walked towards the hallway, hearing Erik behind him, crying but watching his back. As Davin turned the corner, he saw two more Cerberus dead bodies on the floor, and Han dead against the wall, a bullet placed perfectly between his eyes, a trail of blood going down his face. Davin closed his eyes, trying to unsee this and failing. He saw the door to Hans right open, and knew their was only one person left they hadn't seen. She can't be. They took her prisoner, and I'll be able to rescue her. He started shaking as he slowly walked towards the door, turning the corner and entering the room.
His mind went blank as he walked into the room and saw her on the floor. The love of his life, his everything. He walked over and fell to his knees, his vision blurring as tears began to well up in his eyes.
"Why?" he asked no one, knowing he would never get an answer. "Why? WHY! What did she do? She was innocent! She was brilliant! She was such an amazing person, AND SHE WAS TAKEN AWAY FROM ME! SOMEONE, ANYONE, ANSWER ME! HOW IS THIS FAIR! ALL SHE WANTED TO DO WAS HELP HER RACE. that's it..."
He ran out of words then and placed his head on the floor, crying and screaming, pounding his fist against the floor. Erik just looked at his best friend, crying as well, knowing that Davin just lost the only thing he held precious in the universe, and there was nothing Erik could do to help. He walked over to Davin, kneeled next to him, and placed his hand on Davin's back, crying with him for what felt like hours.
Davin's head began to clear now, and he sat up, wiping the tears away. He took off his trench coat, the one he had always worn, and placed it over her; it was too painful to look at her like this. He then stood up and looked around. He thought most of the place would be ransacked, but all he saw was the vent cover off. He looked around until he found the terminal. It had a red light, indicating a message. He slowly walked over to it, feeling numb again as he pushed the hologram buttons, pulling up the message. It was a video. Shaking, he opened it.
The video instantly began playing, and it showed Vara, looking scared. He could hear banging on the door in the video, and was amazed she kept her composure long enough to do this. Such an amazing woman...
She began speaking. "Davin...I wish I had more time...but I can't leave without saying goodbye." He felt his tears come back as he saw tears in her eyes as well. She continued.
"They must be after my research. That's the only reason I can think of. If anyone survived this, tell them I'm sorry. If I had known they would die for this, I would never have agreed to come here." She closed her eyes, regaining her composure before going on. "This is beyond unfair. We were going to live out our life together. But that isn't going to happen. In going to be honest Dav; I'm scared. But I have to tell you two things before they break in here."
He wanted to put his hands through the screen and hold her. He went to look away, but Erik stopped him, giving him a look that said everything he needed to say. 'She made this for you. You better watch it.'
"First, they might find my research, but they won't find the materials needed to complete it. I hid it somewhere. I left the symbol we looked for when we first met there."
She must mean that bird symbol. He thought as she was finishing. "Second...Davin, you are my first and only love. I don't regret a single moment with you. Please, try not to live out your life for revenge. I want you to smile whenever you remember me. I love you...and I..." She finally wasn't able to keep her tears in, and the recording ended.
If he felt sad before, now he felt like someone took his heart and threw it in a wood chipper. His tears flowed unstopped as he roared, about to destroy the terminal. He stopped himself just in time; these were his wife's last words. Fumbling with his wrist, he opened his omni-tool and downloaded the video; he would keep it.
'I want you to smile whenever you think of me.' These words stuck on his mind as he got up and looked around, seeing the symbol of a bird on the wall. He went to it and saw it was a locked container. It was locked, and needed a code to unlock. Without hesitation he entered 'Dav', and it popped open with a hiss. He looked inside, and saw only a bag. Confused, he picked it up, looking inside and seeing what looked like a bunch of green crystals.
"What is it?" He heard Erik ask. Davin got up and grasped his best friends shoulder. "I don't know, but she considered it more valuable than her research and notes, so I will too." He then looked Erik in the eyes, saw he was broken too, and pulled him into a hug, trying to express all of their pain into that hug. When he let go, he put the bag back into the container, locking it again and walking out of the room.
"Where are you going?" Erik said, trying to keep up. Davin looked until he found his sword and strapped it to his hip, looking at Erik. "I'm going to see if their is any clue as to where they went, or even if any of them are still in the area."
"They would be pretty stupid to stick around." Erik said, pressing keys on his omni-tool. Davin said nothing, walking out of the house. His heart felt as heavy as metal, but his anger drove him on. When he got a few steps he started sprinting towards town; if any of them were stupid enough to still be here, he would find them. With his bionic legs, it didn't take him long to get to the town. He didn't even bother to see of Erik was behind him.
He stopped as he approached the market place. He was about to go to every vender, every building, when he saw what he was looking for. 2 soldiers, wearing Cerberus armor, were at a stand, looking at items. Davin's face became a face of pure rage as he calmly approached, standing right behind them, silently pulling his knife out.
"Should I get the black or red one?" one of them said to the other, oblivious to the storm of rage behind them. They were looking at helmets, a black one and a red one. They just murdered my wife and friends, and they decided to stop and buy a fucking helmet before leaving.
"The red will match your armor." Davin said. They didn't even turn around, but the one that spoke scoffed. "buddy, my armor is white. How would it possibly-"
He got his answer as Davin rammed the knife into his throat, rippling it out with as much tenacity as he could muster, sending blood spraying everywhere, covering both of their armor in blood. The soldier fell to the ground dead as the other one fell to the ground, his eyes wide with terror.
"Looks like it would match now." Davin said, his voice low and dangerous as he kneeled down next to the terrified soldier, placing the tip of his knife against the fools nose and hearing the stall vender run away as fast as he could. w"you-your Davin Kecker." the soldier said, as if it wasn't obvious.
"Correct. So you should know how fucked you are." Davin responded, barely able to stop himself from stabbing the man multiple times. "Now, this can be easy, or this can be hard. I will let you decide. Who betrayed us?"
"I-I don't kn-" he began, but Davin didn't like the answer, so he flipped the knife, slammed it into the man's knee and pushed it, literally popping off the man's kneecap. The man began to scream but Davin placed the knife up to his face, silencing him
"let's try again. Who betrayed us?" the man looked to scared to answer at first, but gave in. "I honestly don't know, but I can tell you who does. Just please don't hurt me anymore."
Did my wife say the same words to you assholes I wonder? "Talk and I will leave you be." He said, lying. The man believed him and visibly relaxed, only pissing Davin off more. "Our commander is the one that received the orders. Here, I will give you the coordinates." With that he opened his omni-tool and sent the location of the place to Davin. Davin placed the knife up to his throat, actually cutting him slightly. "You wouldn't be lying now would you?"
"No! I swear!" the man screamed, and Davin smelled the smell of urine as the man pissed himself. Pathetic! But Davin lowered the knife, giving the man false hope. "You're going to let me live?" the man said, looking hopeful. Davin heard Erik show up just as he killed the man's hope.
"Hell no." Davin said, seeing the man's expression change to terror as Davin's rage exploded. He stabbed the man, pulled out the knife, stabbed him again, pulled out the knife, and repeated this, stabbing the man over and over and over again, releasing all of his anger onto this stupid bastard. He only stopped when he was too tired to continue, the man dying long ago, the knife sticking out of his chest. Davin stood up, panting, covered in blood as he turned to Erik, so said nothing, sharing his feelings.
"I got the location of the place they are heading."
Erik looked at him and said, "What are we waiting for?"
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At the Cerberus base, the leader of the unit that killed Vara and the rest sat at a table, drinking and laughing alongside his comrades. "I love killing alien scum. Sucks about the other humans though; they were well trained. They shouldn't have been protecting that suit rat. Serves them right."
The rest of soldiers laughed at this, drinking as much and as fast as they could, now knowing the shit storm that was coming down on them. The leader of this unit, a ugly and nasty human being named Joe, hated all aliens, and enjoyed killing the Quarian. He heard a beeping in his ear and frowned, pressing his fingers into his earpiece.
"I just got off from a mission. What is it?"
"Just received a docking request. Says they're part of your unit."
"Took those slow bastards long enough. Has to be Dan and Austin, let them dock." He pulled his fingers away, shaking his head. He warned them that he'd leave them there; too much heat. He sure didn't want to meet the aliens husband, that's for sure.
They continued drinking and gambling for a few more minutes, until Joe realized he had to piss. "I'll be back boy, just gotta drain the well." He said, getting up and stumbling towards the bathroom. He relieved himself and stumbled back, almost falling into one of the urinals. Gotta stop drinking...tomorrow.
The first thing he noticed as he left the bathroom was how quiet it was. He assumed they had all gotten to drunk and went off elsewhere, so Joe decided to go to the cafeteria and grab a bite to eat. Of he had been sober, or paying attention at all, he might have noticed a smear of blood on the table, or someone's legs sticking out from under the table. When he opened the door to the cafeteria, he might have noticed that their was one of his comrades reaching for him from the shadows, covered in blood. But Joe just blindly walked forward as a sword plunged into his comrades back, killing him.
Joe fell on the way to the counter. When he finally got there, he frowned as he saw no one there to help him. "Hey, anyone here!" He yelled, pounding on the table. When no one answered, he gave up, grumbling and heading towards the main lobby. "Where the hell is every-" Joe began to yell as the door opened, but the words froze in his throat as the door opened and he saw what had happened to everyone.
Everyone was dead. It was a massacre; bodies everywhere, and only a few were not in pieces. Blood was everywhere, splashed along the walls and pooling in the floor. Even drunk, Joe realized what he was looking at as he fell back, landing hard on his ass, his eyes wide with fear. He began to back up, but his back his something. Joe slowly turned around to see two people standing there, one holding a sword, both of them covered in blood. Joe's eyes met the eye of the one holding the sword, blue eyes glowing as if they were on fire, and he realized it was Davin Kecker, the husband of the alien he killed.
"You must be Joe, the one who killed my wife." Davin said, his eyes never leaving Joes eyes. Joe was to scared to move, and like his comrade who Davin found before, he pissed himself.
Davin's face showed disgust as he kneeled down next to Joe. "Now I'm going to ask you the same question I've asked some of your friends here. Your answer will determine if you die slowly or quickly." Davin leaned in, getting as close to Joe as possible, burning the ugly bastardy face into his memory. "Who betrayed us and told you where we were?"
Joe said nothing at first, then to both Davin and Erik's surprise, Joe spat at Davin's face and said, "I won't tell you shit alien lover. You should have died along with that suit rat."
Davin reached up slowly, wiping the spit off of his face and wiping it on the floor. Joe felt proud of himself until Davin looked at him again, making his blood run cold.
Davin was smiling, his eyes looking like they would burst into blue flames. "I was hoping you'd say something like that." Joe's fear returned and he screamed as Davin grabbed him by his armor and dragged him into the cafeteria, the door closing behind him. Erik stayed behind, not wanting to disturb Davin's revenge. Only Davin knows what happened in that room on that day; the walls were sound proof, so Erik didn't see or hear anything. He patiently waited until Davin walked out of the room, smile gone.
Davin simply walked, Erik following him. They arrived in a big room that Erik recognized as a room for meetings. Davin pressed a few buttons, and the room starting humming. After a few seconds, a hologram of a man appeared in front of them, smoking a cigarette with weird blue designs in his eyes. Erik didn't know who it was until Davin said his name.
"So you are the Illusive man. I was hoping you would be here, but I knew better."
The illusive man took a drag off his cigarette and let it out slowly, his eyes locked on Davin. "Davin Kecker. I admit, I never thought I'd receive a call from you like this. I assume this relates to the research on Quarian biology and immune system I received. I should have sent someone more capable. A mid-"
Davin waved his hand, cutting the illusive man off. "I could care less. Here's the deal; If you tell me who in my government betrayed me, I will cease attacking and killing your soldiers."
The illusive man pondered this. "And if I were to refuse?"
Davin didn't hesitate. "Then I will hunt down everyone connected to Cerberus, one by one, until I get my answer. I will kill all of you if I need to."
The illusive man took another drag, exhaling and smiling. "You are quite fearsome Davin Kecker. Alright, just so you won't be a throw in my side, I will tell you who gave me all the information I needed. It was a soldier named Derrick Grimer who sent over everything. Now I bid you farewell and good luck Davin Kecker" With that the hologram disappeared, leaving Erik and Davin in stunned silence.
Derrick? I mean, I never like the guy, but to set us up? What did we ever do to that little fucktard." Erik said, getting mad. Davin took a deep breath and sat down, tired. He got a name; Derrick Grimer. He had no idea why Derrick would hate them so much to try and have then killed, but it didn't matter.
Derrick Grimer wouldn't survive much longer for it to matter.
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"Are you sure about this?" Erik said as they leaned against the wall of the a bunker for alliance soldiers; this one was for Derrick's unit in particular. Davin had thought long and hard about it, and decided that his revenge would end after Derrick; after he killed Derrick, Davin would disappear. He would ask Erik if he wanted to join him, but he would go either way. He didn't know what he would do, but it didn't matter.
Without Vara, nothing mattered.
"You know the Alliance will see this as murder and try to arrest you. They will hunt you for the rest of your life." Erik said, his face serious. Davin nodded; he fully understood what he was about to do. He could go to the higher ups, tell them, and hope they did something about it; or he could kill the bastard now and end it. The latter sounded much quicker.
Erik sighed, then activated his shield. "Well, best friends for life right man?"
Davin smiled a sad smile, holding out his fist. His best friend bashed his fist against Davin's, and they opened the door, walking into the bunker, shields on and armed to the teeth.
Most of Derrick's unit was sleeping at this time, with a few playing poker at a table. They looked up, seeing Davin and Erik. "What the fu-" was all one soldier was able to say before Erik opened fire, spraying the soldiers at the table with bullets, killing all of them before they could react. The other soldiers scrambled to react, but Davin and Erik didn't let up; Davin rushed forward, using the speed of his bionic legs to reach the sleepy soldiers and cut them down before they became a threat. One managed to get a gun up, but Davin jumped up, living the gun out if his hand and striking down with his sword right after, hitting the poor bastard in the throat and ripping his sword out, blood showering the wall.
He saw a bullet bounce off of his shield as the soldiers finally started firing back. Erik had pushed the table over and was using it as cover, but Davin roared, rushing at them so fast to startled them, and they screamed as he cut them down. He turned around and saw Erik kill the last soldier. Erik looked at Davin, smiling and panting. "What a rush. I didn't see Derrick; did you kill him?"
"No, I'm right here." Both Davin and Erik heard before the sound of a gunshot. Davin watched in horror as the bullet went right through Erik shield, hitting him in the head. Erik fell to the ground, dead before he landed. Davin swung around to see Derrick with 2 more soldiers, grinning. And now I've lost my best friend.
It was too much; Davin roared, rushing at them. The soldiers fired at him, but Derrick ran. Davin's shield broke just as he reached them, but it was enough; he swung, cutting ones head clean off his shoulders. The other fired, but Davin ducked and swung, cutting one of his legs. As the soldier fell, screaming, Davin pulled out his pistol with his left hand and put a bullet in the soldiers head, ending it.
Davin walked outside, seeing Derrick pointing a rifle at him. "Stop right their, of you get a bullet Davin."
"Davin glared at Derrick, putting as much hate into the look as he could. "You piece of shit. What the hell did I do to you? You got my wife killed!"
Derrick laughed. "What did you do to me? You took everything from me. We were both in the war or roses, yet you got more credit than I did. I've completed just as many missions as you, but no one cares. You've lost your damn legs and you still get more notice from the admirals than I do."
Davin blinked, not believing what he just heard. "Are...you serious? You took everything from me...because of that childish bullshit?"
"Fuck you Davin!" Derrick yelled, firing. But the instant he responded, Davin had already began moving, the bullet missing easily. He ran at Derrick, faster than Derrick could keep up, and sunk his sword into Derrick's chest, all the way to the hilt. Derrick dropped his gun as blood gurgled from his mouth, falling to his knees. Davin ripped out the sword, and yelled at the top of his lungs until his chest hurt. When he was finished, panting, he saw Derrick was just starting to slip away.
"Your lucky; you deserve a far slower and more painful death. Burn in hell." Davin said, making sure these were the last words Derrick heard before he fell over, dead. Davin fell to his knees, crying. He should have listened to Vara; his drive for revenge got his best friend killed, and for what? Killing Derrick didn't bring her back, it didn't do anything except make him feel empty inside. He was broken.
He hears footsteps and voices approaching him. He didn't care; he just sat there on his knees until he heard a familiar voice
"Davin Kecker. Mind explaining this to me?" Admiral Hackett said, frowning at what he was seeing. Davin slowly turned his head, debating whether to bother responding or not. "he took away my wife and friends; I took away his life. A fair trade...right?"
Admiral Hackett looked deep in thought. Davin didn't care; just put a bullet in his head and end it. The he could see Vara again. He lowered his head, accepting death, but was surprised at what Admiral Hackett said.
"We did receive intelligence that Derrick was leaking information." Hackett walked over to Davin and put an arm on his shoulder. "Looks like you took care of a problem for us. I thank you, and I grieve for your lost my friend. You are free to go; I hope you end up recovering from this." With that Hackett walked off with his soldiers, leaving Davin alone and confused. Davin slowly got up and walked away, disappearing like he said he would.
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Shepard heard a voice he had never heard before as he entered Davin's room. He probably should have knocked, but he felt that Davin had other things on his mind, and wanted to see if maybe Davin wanted to talk about it. He entered and saw Davin watching a video. This threw Shepard off at first, until he heard the last words of the video. "I want you to smile whenever you remember me. I love you." and the video ended. He could see Davin crying, but he was smiling as well. He looked at Davin. "This was the one promise I could keep to her. I will always smile whenever I think of her."
Shepard sat next to Davin, placing a hand on his shoulder. "In that way you're a stronger man than I am. I don't know what I'd do if Tali was killed..."
Davin said nothing at first, then said, "After I found her, I went on a killing spree. I went to a Cerberus based and killed everyone there, including the man who took her life. Then, after getting the info from the illusive man, I went to the base and killed Derrick, the man who betrayed me, and his entire unit." He paused for a second, and Shepard listened, realizing he probably has never talked about this.
"Derrick killed my best friend that night. In one day, I lost everyone close to me, and I was defeated. If I had listened to her, Erik would be alive, and who knows what would have happened then. I will never know. But I do know this; Samwell is a nasty little man, and things will only get worse if he is in charge of the Alliance Navy."
Davin looked Shepard dead in the eyes, his blue eyes on fire. "I will help you beat him. This is the least I can do for Erik and Vara. And thank you for taking me along, even though when we met I would have gladly died."
Shepard grunted. "Ya, and now I've got you into a bigger mess."
Davin waved this away. "I would have gotten myself in trouble sooner or later. Better to be with the world's greatest soldier and his amazing team than by myself."
Shepard smiled, smacking Davina shoulder. "I should be thanking you. You healed Tali's immune system, and saved out asses more than once. You are a valuable asset to this team, but we are more than a team; we are a family, and not even the Alliance Navy can stand against us." With that Shepard got up and walked to the door. He turned and smiled, leaving Davin alone with a tear in his eye, both of them ready for what is to come.
End
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Authors note: Thank you for reading The Cure! I will write one more with both Davin and Shepard. I hope you enjoyed it!
