'Love can make you do crazy things.'
It was a saying that EDI had come across a number of times during her research and had observed on a number of occasions, none more so than in Sanctuary.
Sanctuary...even the name now made EDI's lip curl as she stalked her way through its empty corridors. Well, not quite empty as Reaper and Cerberus corpses littering the place. There had clearly been a pitched battle here, but with no clear victor as losses had been heavy on both sides. But it wasn't the dead that made EDI feel so angry, it was the occupants of the glass fronted tubes and cells that made her want to snarl. Each had contained a Reaper creature and some still did. Most were dead but some weren't and they beat at the glass in their need to be free and kill those they saw. They had been people once, like all Reaper creatures had, but these people had been betrayed. They had been drawn to this place with offers and promises of safety but it had all been lies.
Specialist Traynor had tracked Kai Leng here, and Commander Shepard had commanded the Normandy to get there as quick as was possible, determined that the Cerberus Assassin would not escape her again. This news had galvanized the Commander from her stupor at the defeat and loss of Thessia. Her focus seemed almost single-minded as she worked closely with Major Alenko on sorting out strategy for trapping the Assassin on the planet. After all, he had spent a lot more time upon Horizon that she had. EDI was surprised that there was no friction between the Commander and the Major over returning to Horizon, she thought there might be as it was the site that had cause much trouble between them. But their focus was on the task at hand, rather than on the past. EDI found that commendable.
When the Normandy had arrived in orbit above Horizon, the planet had been silent...completely silent and Shepard had expressed her concern and ordered EDI to accompany her down to the surface, saying that she would need everyone down there to help search for the Cerberus agent. EDI suspected that the reason behind her inclusion was more to deal with whatever was causing the coms blackout than solely an extra pair of eyes. She saw the worried look that Jeff gave her when Shepard had told her that she wanted EDI on the planet, but he said nothing until Shepard had gone.
'EDI, can you come here a minute and take a look at this?' he had called to her as she started to leave the cockpit, pointing to something on his console.
'Jeff, I cannot delay.' she replied only to have Jeff insist that it was important and it would only take seconds. There was an odd tone in his voice, a strain that she had never detected before. Was that concern? EDI smiled as she sashayed her way over to him, bending down to look at the area he had indicated, despite the fact she knew that what he had pointed to was, in fact, nothing that caused any concern. Her head was level with his, her eyes focused on the panel, a faint smile on her lips as she wondered what he was up to.
He kissed her on the cheek. Just a quick kiss, very different from the one they had shared in the airlock on the Citadel...but with a similar feeling behind it to when he had tried to reassure her after the loss of Legion...but even that had seemed like a lingering embrace in comparison.
EDI turned her head, a quizzical eyebrow raised to ask the silent question.
'For luck.' he grinned back and left it at that.
EDI smiled again, accepting the gift and left. Jeff was an odd one, and he did some crazy things and EDI like thoughts of the kiss and of Jeff made her attention drift for a moment, and in that moment, she witness another crazy act born out of love...although this one was much more chilling than a sweet kiss before a mission from a quietly devoted man.
'KAIDAN!' Shepard's tinny voice issued loudly from the external speakers of her helm; however, they didn't rob the horror from her tone.
Reapers had poured from the corridors, finally disturbed by the squad's push into the facility. They swarmed forward, EDI suspected that most of them were probably former residents who had finally broken free of their cells...or been released to stop the interlopes, she couldn't tell. But they formed a fairly solid wall before the squad and it was the Commander that broke their lines. Charging through them in a blue, biotic blur and trusting in her team mates to plug the gap she had punched through. EDI noticed that her powers were spiking higher than normal, her biometrics peaking too. The Commander was angry...no, EDI corrected herself, Shepard is pissed...REALLY pissed. It was also this fury that, EDI believed when she looked back on the incident, pushed the Commander physically too far and too fast, causing a gap to form in the ranks of the Reapers, which inevitably had to be filled.
The shriek made all the organic members of the squad hesitate. They knew what it was, what it heralded, and all eyes scanned for the telltale blur of the phasing Banshee. The Commander spun around where she stood, noticing for the first time how isolated she was, and in so doing, she saw it and EDI saw the bottom drop out of her biometrics. Not only had it appeared between herself and the rest of her squad, but the corrupted asari was heading straight for Major Alenko.
EDI heard the Commander scream his name, but the Banshee was on him even has he raised his weapon to shoot at it. Those things always seemed attracted to biotics, singling them out. They often focused on Shepard during those encounters, but for some reason, this one had ignored her and opted for the Major instead.
When the crew relayed the tale back, EDI noted they spoke of time seeming to stand still when they witnessed what occurred. It seemed like a common phenomena to organics, that when something particularly emotional happened, it play tricks on their minds in terms of time. EDI saw it all at a constant speed and marvelled at how quickly the events unfolded and were concluded too as it happened over the course of seconds.
The Banshee stooped and lifted the struggling Major from his feet, like he weighed almost nothing, pulling him up to its leering face and caressing his faceplate like a lover. It was then the biotic explosion rocked the Banshee, making it almost stumble for a moment and glance away from its intended victim.
The Commander had charged it.
EDI had recorded the power output of the Commander as she had done it...it was impressive but it had only made the creature stumble. This had worried EDI greatly until she saw what Shepard was doing and she smiled. The energy hadn't been on the power of the hit but on focus, making sure that the Commander stopped where she wanted too.
EDI had to say that Commander Freya Shepard appeared somewhat sloppy when it came to precision with her biotics. She went for power over focus. High risk, high reward and potentially fatal at the same time, if she got it wrong. She often overshot her target, which meant punching them harder but it also meant she travelled further away from help and left herself exposed. She was wild on the battlefield, a shock trooper that knew her craft well and used it to maximum effect. And it was this that made it easy to forget that all biotic powers were born out of focus and said focus was always observed, even though it was hard to see.
The Commander had hit the Banshee and stopped dead within its grasp; technically leaving her open to attack from the monster, but it would've meant dropping the Major to grasp her instead. It seemed to give the beast pause for a moment, and that was what the Commander had been counting on as she jammed the muzzle of her geth plasma shotgun under the Banshee's ribcage and fired twice.
EDI watched all three collapse together, the Banshee screaming as it came apart and the two humans grunting as they hit the ground. EDI saw the warnings flash up from the Commander's armour as her gauntlets smouldered from the backwash of the plasma shots at such close range, but other than that she appear unharmed, the same for Major Alenko as he fought to extract himself from the dying clutch of the Reaper creature. Shepard gained her feet first and with a snarl stomped down on the arm that held the Major, cracking the bones, but she wasn't finished there either. Shepard roared with hatred as she stomped down again on the torso of the Banshee she had felled, pulping its chest and then its head in a venting of anger at everything that had happened.
'It's dead' Major Alenko had said, but the Commander seemed not to notice, stomping down again. 'Dammit Freya, its dead!' He had reached for her and EDI almost expected her to strike him when she started to flinch upon contact between them. The Commander and the Major looked at each other for a second before the moment was broken when Major Alenko tackled her to the ground.
'RAVAGER!' he bellowed as the blasts whistled over his head and he pinned Shepard beneath him on the ground.
The Reapers were coming again, but in the moment gained from taking cover and re-orientating herself to the new threat, EDI saw the Commander and the Major together. They had rolled into cover and were hunkered down side by side. They looked right together, EDI though, they 'fitted'...even in their conflicting armour, Shepard's was light, smoothly shaped and silver, a customised blood splattered dragon across her breastplate. Major Alenko's was royal blue, heavier and more angular...always opposites. But what surprised EDI was the fact that they risked their lives for each other. They risked their own demise to save the other. It seemed almost counterproductive...but it fitted. It made her wonder. Would she do the same for Jeff? He had risked himself for her once, braving the Collector choked corridors of the Normandy to free her from her shackles. Could she do the same, despite the illogical nature of such an act?
She shook her head. No more investigation was needed.