Chapter 12
On the surface of Therum, Shepard was standing behind a wall wondering how things had gone so wrong.
Shitty shit shit fucking fucker. I shoulda known things were too easy. Drive the Mako around, let Garrus blow up some geth, knock some other ones into the lava, try to avoid following them into said lava. We were having a great fucking time, then the fucking rocks get in the way so I have to leave the Mako behind. Killing geth on foot wasn't so bad, hell; Garrus and I were exploding flashlight heads way the fuck off in the distance. I wonder how far out he can actually go? Could he be better than me? Nah. I'm the best. Like no one ever was. But maybe I should worry about that later. For now, I should probably deal with the dozen geth and their fucking Colossus. How in the fuck are we supposed to kill that goddamn thing anyway? It's huge! Fuckity fuck!
Looking around, Shepard could see Tali standing right next to him, engrossed in her omni-tool. Across the field, Garrus was taking cover behind a large crate. Occasionally, he would poke his head out in order to take a shot at one of the many geth standing between their team and the entrance to the Prothean ruins.
"Garrus! Are you trying to hit the little jumpy ones?" Shepard spoke over the comms.
"I am, Commander."
"Well, do a better job, would ya? I'm still hearing a lot of that annoying rubber band sound they keep making every time they move."
"I'll do my best, Commander." Garrus's reply was dry. "It might go faster if you decided to help out a little, rather than hiding over there with Tali?"
"Alright, Garrus." Shepard sighed dramatically. "I was just trying to give you a chance to get ahead of me for once."
"I wasn't aware we were keeping score."
"Well, we weren't. I always win, so I got bored with counting. But I thought you might like to get a chance to regain some of your lost pride."
"Uh huh. We shall see, Shepard." With that, Garrus poked his head out from cover and obliterated one of the hoppers.
Shepard smiled to himself. "Tali, what are you up to?"
"Oh, have you two finished your male bonding?" Tali seemed a bit miffed.
"What's wrong?"
"I just don't understand how you two can stand there joking when we're outnumbered and pinned down." She still hadn't looked up from her omni-tool.
"It's just the way we deal with stress. You get pissy, whereas we get funny."
"I'm not pissy!" Tali yelled, looking up to glare at him. "And you are not funny!"
"If you say so, Tali." He smirked over at her. "In the meantime, I think I hear a rocket trooper. Think you can make him shoot at his friends instead of at us."
"Yes." She said in a huff, before getting back to work.
"Are you two about done over there?" Garrus spoke up. "I'm kicking your ass, Shepard."
"Sure you are." Shepard rolled his eyes. "Lemme show you how it's done." Switching to his pistol, he stepped out from behind his wall and started to shoot at the nearest geth while sidestepping to a large crate nearby. "Got one!" He exclaimed as he dropped one of the leapers. Two steps away from his next cover, he spotted a geth sniper just at the edge of his pistol's range. He launched an overload at it, and saw the telltale flicker of collapsing shields. Three shots sped downrange while he was taking another step, dropping the sniper. "Got two!"
Just before he reached his cover, a rocket hit the ground right next to him, and the shockwave drew a wave of pain from his torso. Fuck. Maybe that cannon on Luna did a bit more damage than I thought. Oh well. Chakwas can fix me up when we get back to the Normandy. Nearly falling into cover, he took several deep breaths, the pain subsiding a little with each one.
"Commander, you okay?" Garrus asked, unsure of whether he needed to be worried since the Commander was still on his feet.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Shepard shook his head to clear the cobwebs, and then looked for Tali. "Hey Tali, what happened to making the rocketeer shoot his buddies instead of me?"
"There are two of them, Shepard. I can only hack one at a time." She pointed out sarcastically. "Maybe you should be more careful next time."
"Ah. Still mad I see." Shepard laughed once, without any real mirth. Fuck, laughing hurts. No more of that. Switching to his sniper rifle, he began to work in concert with Garrus, picking off geth. While they were shooting the enemy, Tali continued hacking one geth at a time, making them thin their own herd.
Finally, the only geth still standing was the Colossus.
"Tali, any idea how much shielding this thing's still got?" Shepard asked as his cover shook with the impact of yet another siege pulse.
"I'm not sure. Probably a lot."
"Wonderful. Can you hack it?"
"No. Its code is beyond anything I'm capable of interfering with. It would take me a few days just to figure out where to start attacking it."
"Oh well. Figured I'd ask." Shepard turned to his other teammate. "Garrus, got any tips or tricks from the turian military manual?"
"No, Commander." Garrus shook his head to confirm his lack of expertise. "We've never fought the geth before, as far as I know."
"Wonder-fucking-ful." Shepard tried to remember anything he had ever been told about taking down an enemy of this size while on foot. This unfortunately, wasn't much. "Alright, death by a thousand cuts it is then."
"We're just taking it down piece by piece?" Garrus asked to confirm.
"Yep. Bit by bit. It'll take time, but it'll kill the damn thing. Just make sure you don't get hit by that siege pulse, you two. One hit from that and there's nothing I can do. Well, I'll avenge you, but that's not gonna do your dead body much good. So remember, if it stands up straight, hide until you feel the ground or your cover shake. Everybody clear on the plan?" They answered in the affirmative, and then all three leaned out of cover and opened fire at once; Shepard and Garrus with their sniper rifles, Tali with her pistol.
A long three minutes later, Shepard couldn't tell if any progress had been made. "Tali, are its shields down yet?"
"I think so, Shepard. But I've never seen armor like this before. I don't know how long it will take us to punch a hole in it." She shrugged her shoulders helplessly, knowing that he wouldn't like that answer.
"Fuck!" Shepard did not, in fact, like that answer. This goddamned motherfucking thing is really starting to piss me off. I just want to find this fucking asari, and take her into custody. Is that too much to ask? But if she's the person who called in this fucking Colossus, I'm gonna punch her in the face a few times before I turn her over to the Alliance for interrogation. Or would I turn her over to the Council, now that I'm a Spectre? Oh who gives a fuck, I've gotta find the bitch first. And on that note, it's time to Plan B this motherfucker.
"Alright, listen up. New plan." He paused, to make sure he had his teammates' full attention. "As soon as that thing's next siege pulse hits, I want you to immediately stop firing. Lean out one last time, and hit it with the best sabotage attack you've got. Then take cover again."
"You want us to stop shooting at the Colossus?" Garrus sounded incredulous.
"Yes." Shepard's voice was authoritative and signaled that the matter was no longer open for discussion, while he collapsed his sniper rifle and affixed it to his back. I don't have time to explain, because the siege pulse is incoming . . . now! As soon as the shot impacted his cover, he turned the corner and started charging the geth. Throwing out his arm with his omni-tool glowing, he hit the machine with a sabotage. Two other orange explosions of light covered the geth in quick order, indicating that Garrus and Tali had followed his plan. Now I just hope they remember not to shoot at it. He continued to run forward as fast as he could, praying that the sabotage would keep its weapons down for another few seconds.
Pulling his shotgun from the back of his waist, he took the last three steps separating him from the geth. Dropping to the ground, he slid underneath the Colossus before popping up behind it. Turning to face the massive geth again, he jumped up onto his back.
Peeking around their respective cover, Garrus and Tali were stunned into speechlessness. Both briefly wondered if they were somehow hallucinating, but as the insane scene continued to unfold, they realized that what they were watching was real. Their Commander was absolutely reckless, crazy, amazing, and, in Tali's opinion, more than a little sexy.
The two teammates who weren't riding bareback on the Colossus were completely forgotten by the machine, as it turned in comical, halting circles trying to find the human that had so recently been nearby. From their vantage point, they watched as Shepard held onto the geth's neck with one arm while he used the other to pump round after round from the shotgun into the metallic monster's hard carapace.
After what seemed like ages, but was actually only 80 or 90 seconds, Shepard had completely destroyed a square-meter section of armor. Ha ha, motherfucker! Shepard crowed internally. Not so tough when you can't fucking find me, are ya, you fucking rat-eating bastard! He punctuated each epithet with another shotgun blast.
Abruptly, a much larger crack followed the thunderous boom of his shotgun, and blue light began spilling out of the hole on the Colossus's back. Uh oh. That last shot may have clipped the mass effect core. I should-
His train of thought was interrupted suddenly and violently as the geth's mass effect core went critical and exploded, flinging the N7 operative away and momentarily blinding Garrus and Tali, who ducked back behind their crates just before a shower of shrapnel and Colossus parts pelted their position. Once the storm of debris had subsided, Tali ran out from behind her cover, followed quickly by Garrus.
"Commander!" Garrus shouted. That was the most irresponsible thing I have ever witnessed. What was he thinking? Was he even thinking at all? First he takes on a heavy cannon by himself on Luna, and now a geth Colossus! How has he survived this long?
"Shepard!" Tali's voice was tinged with near-hysteria. Oh Ancestors, please let him be okay! I'll never yell at him again if you keep him safe!
Running over to the spot where the Colossus had stood only moments before, they scanned the area frantically, searching for any sign of his black armor. Spotting a bit of black at the corner of the large industrial structure, Tali let out an inarticulate shout and rushed forward. Shepard was lying in a crumpled, immobile heap. She immediately knelt down next to him and started a medical scan, all while repeatedly calling his name.
Garrus ran up behind her and looked down at the area surrounding Shepard's landing site. He noticed a large dent in the thick tubular frame of the refinery. By the spirits! Did he hit that? An impact like that should have snapped him in half. I don't know if his spine could have survived that amount of force. If he survived, I don't know if he'll ever be able to walk again. By all rights, just being alive would be a gift.
Tali's voice interrupted Garrus's concerned thoughts. "Tali'Zorah to Normandy, come in. Tali'Zorah to Normandy, do you hear me!" She felt Garrus's hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her, and this only served to distress her further. I remember when Shepard put his hand on my shoulder like that on Feros. His touch made me feel so warm inside. Was that only over a week ago? It seems like it's only been a few days, at the most. Joker's voice came over her radio, snapping her back to her present, much less pleasant situation.
"Normandy to ground team, we read you. Whatcha need?"
"Joker, you need to land at our location. Shepard's down and-"
"Belay that, Joker." Shepard said weakly, his head turning to look at Tali crouched above him like an angel of mercy. I can think of a great many worse things to wake up to than a pretty woman looking at me all concerned-like. Well, I'm guessing she looks concerned underneath her helmet. She certainly sounded concerned, anyway. "We're fine down here. Stay in orbit, we'll call you when we need a pickup."
"Shepard!" Tali exclaimed. "You can't be serious! You could have died!"
"I'm fine, Tali." Shepard said, trying to sit up. "If I'm awake, I can't be that-oh!" He gasped as he sat up and a massive surge of pain crashed through him. It felt like his entire body had been worked over by an army of construction workers all wielding sledgehammers.
"See?" Tali said, a little smug.
"I'm inclined to agree with Tali, Commander." Garrus spoke up, drawing Shepard's attention. "Can you feel your legs?"
Shepard wiggled his toes inside his boots. "Of course I can, Garrus? Why would you even ask-" He stopped talking as he saw Garrus's pointed look and noticed the large dent caved into the corner of the facility. "Oh wow, did I do that?"
"I believe so." Garrus confirmed with a nod.
"Well damn. I guess I oughta write Aldrin Labs a thank-you note for not making completely shitty armor. That or I owe my parents a thumb-up for making me so awesome." He tried to grin winningly, but it came out as a deformed grimace due to his currently apoplectic level of pain.
"Shepard, we need to get you back to the ship." Tali broke in breathlessly, turning away from the dent Shepard's body had made, shivering as she thought of how bad things could have been. "I'm showing two broken ribs and a fractured clavicle. And I'm certain Doctor Chakwas will find even more."
"It's fine, Tali." Shepard grabbed her hand, trying to calm her down. "I just hit the injector for some medi-gel in my suit, and that'll get me through 'til we find T'Soni. Then I'll go back to the ship nice and quiet, and let Chakwas run all the tests she wants. Deal?"
Tali stayed quiet for a few moments, while considering her options. Realizing that this was the best deal Shepard would offer, she nodded her head mutely.
"Good." Shepard looked up at Garrus and held up a hand. "Now gimme a hand so I can get off the ground." The turian helped his commander up. As he took a few ginger steps towards the entrance to the Prothean ruins, Tali and Garrus saw the back of his armor.
"Uh, Commander?"
"What is it, Garrus?" Shepard asked without looking back.
"Umm, you might want to check out the back of your armor."
"Well, since I don't have eyes in the back of my head, it'll have to wait until we get back on the ship." Ugh. That came out a lot more pissed off than I meant it to. That medi-gel didn't do nearly enough to dull the pain. Fucking ribs. Weak ass pieces of shit. Chakwas is gonna be so pissed at me, especially if Tali tells her I hurt it on Luna and never got it checked out. If she values her life, Tali had better not say anything. Taking a few more steps, Shepard stifled a groan. "Alright, that's enough gawking at the scenery. Let's go find Benezia's daughter and see what she's got to say."