Author's notes: Well here we are with Chapter 9 of From the Ashes! This is the second to last chapter, there is one more after this. (minus the epilogue.)
I will be starting the process of fixing up the previous chapters immediately. Expect chapter 10 on Friday, as I have a lot of work ahead of me. haha
Big things happening in this chapter, hope you like them!
Liara flew the shuttle into Vancouver. Radio chatter indicated that the embassy was overrun. What seemed to be Shepard's forces, soldiers in black and crimson had succeeded in massacring the ambassadors and were currently engaged in battle with the Alliance forces stationed in Vancouver. The situation was dire, and Alliance forces were still in no shape to fight. It seemed that Shepard's forces had total control of the building. Liara touched the shuttle down on one of the landing pads of the embassy building and everyone got out.
"Now the council has a bunker underneath the building that is heavily secured." Ashley advised. "I would say that it's totally secure, but it is Shepard here that we are talking about."
"Then we need to get to that bunker as soon as possible. Shepard is most likely there." Liara planned.
The group headed into the building complex. Shattered glass covered the floor from the window screens of office rooms. Dead bodies were scattered about at desks and on the floor. Liara remarked how nice and modern the diplomatic offices must have looked before they were destroyed. They went down the office halls, searching for a stairwell.
"We need to get down to the main floor; the way down to the bunker is there." Ashley told the group.
"It seems that the main floor is where the Alliance forces are engaging Shepard's as well." Liara added.
"So we get to crack some heads on the way down, fine with me." Garrus smirked.
They made their way down to the main floor. As they worked their way down, they heard gunfire and fighting on the other floors. We can't make it down to the bunker and help all these soldiers. Liara rationalized. They hit the main floor and ran out of the stairwell. They almost walked right into a squad of some of Shepard's soldiers, instead catching their mistake and taking them out rather quickly. The soldiers were guarding an entrance to a hallway, with signs indicating that it lead to the lobby.
"We need this hall, where we need to go is right nearby the lobby area."
They raced down the hallway, reaching another set of doors that lead into the main lobby area. A violent clash sounded from the other side.
"Unfortunately for the Alliance soldiers down the hall but the door leading down to the bunker is right here."
Ashley hit a painting, which with a part of a wall, moved to the side to reveal a long hallway, sensors covered this hallway.
"I need to walk in first." Ashley spoke.
She stepped in, sensors shined and lights blinked.
"SPECTRE status recognized. Welcome Spectre Ashley Williams." A robotic voice spoke overhead.
Ashley motioned for them all to follow as another door at the end of the hallway opened. The door revealed an elevator. They all boarded it and waited until the elevator reached its destination. A large and heavily reinforced door stood before them. Ashley walked up to it. Everyone could smell the horrible smell of garbage.
"This door opens to a small reception area. From there we have a choice of two hallways, one leads to the emergency supplies in case of a siege and the other leads to the main council bunker chamber. It contains all the equipment that the council would ever need. Their bedrooms are located just off the main chamber. The receptionist is a retired Spectre and we know that every Spectre is here on Earth after fighting the Reapers so they should be down here as well." She sighed. "This is it."
"I'd just never expected it to smell as bad." James commented.
"That's why I'm so worried." Ashley replied.
She put her hand to the pad, then her eye to another sensor, and finally had blood taken from her finger from yet another sensor. Lights flashed and the door began to open.
The stench was stronger on the other side of the door. They rushed in. Nobody was at the reception desk... in fact an eerie silence drifted in the air.
"Goddess, this can only mean bad things."
They ran past the reception room and down the short hallway into the main chamber. They were greeted to gunfire almost instantly.
"I see that you all still have the knack of finding out where I am." Shepard's voice taunted. "But I still got my knack for pulling off the impossible." He began to laugh; several other voices accompanied him as well.
"You killed the council?" Ashley yelled back.
"I killed the council, all the Spectres guarding them, all the diplomats upstairs, several Alliance soldiers, and I would guess a lot of the police force back in London." Again, more laughter filled the air. "It's no use, go back now, I've won."
"We want to see." Liara replied. "I don't believe you Shepard."
"Then send in a combat drone, and hack its optics. Nothing more."
The group looked at Tali who summoned a combat drone; she hacked the optics and displayed what the drone saw on her omnitool. She brought the drone out into the chamber. Almost immediately, the drone saw the 4 bodies of the galactic councilors, propped up against a couch and riddled with bullet holes. Their faces displayed intense agony. The squad gasped at the sight. Thrown down onto the floor just before the couch were the bodies of the Spectre's that had died trying to defend to the council. Tali then raised the drone, revealing a squad of soldiers with superior height advantage. They were perched on a raised platform with consoles that the council could use. Shepard was busy at work at one of the council terminals. Then the connection immediately went out.
"That's enough of seeing. Leave now or die." Shepard commanded.
"Why? Why are you doing this Shepard?" Liara replied. "I'm not leaving until you tell me... until you tell us!"
"Ok. Just imagine... Here I am trying to start a new life for myself. I was done with all of you. I needed something… more. And yet you find me and try to bring me back. And let me tell you something: I am NOT going back."
Liara began to cry. "Shepard I loved you, I want you back. We all want you back… WE CAN HELP! What more do you need? We all loved you, we were a family. We were going to explore the galaxy together!"
Shepard was silent a long time. "You've got over losing me once; you can learn to do it again." The words came out strained but nonetheless each word stung Liara's heart.
"I'm not giving up on you." Liara wiped the tears from her eyes. "A significant other has got to worry not about themselves, but for the good of their partner." She stepped out from behind cover. "I love you Shepard."
Garrus brought her back before any bullets could do any serious damage.
"Are you crazy? You could have gotten killed!" Garrus reprimanded her.
"There is a part of Shepard that is the old Shepard, the paragon Shepard. If I put myself at risk Shepard will be torn."
"But not with several other soldiers that don't care for you in the room with him!" Garrus replied. "We are going to throw everything we got at Shepard, I promise you that." He took a peak into the chamber. "If we run in, we will have almost no cover to engage them, so either we rush in and pray that we take them out..."
"The odds of that are extremely unlikely; around one to 15,000." EDI chimed in.
"... or we could find something to use as cover." Garrus finished.
All stood and thought.
"Can we use the couch that the councilors' bodies are on?" James asked.
"That position has very low tactical value." EDI evaluated. "The elevated position of the soldiers means the couch would not provide any cover. We would be torn apart in seconds."
"What about stuff in the other rooms?" Tali suggested. "We could make our own cover."
"Yeah, there's got to be something in that supply room. It's as good a plan as any." James remarked.
Ashley snapped her fingers. "We can do even better, I think that there are some of those portable cover generators that we took from Cerberus in there."
The whole started to move off back to the reception area. Tali stopped however.
"Shepard was using the terminal for something. If he was finished, he would have been gone by now." Tali reminded them. "We need someone to distract him from whatever he is doing."
All eyes turned to Liara.
"Fine, I'll try to delay and distract him." She resigned.
The squad ran to back to get the cover, deciding that James would stay back as protection for Liara in case anything happened.
"Why are you using the console?" Liara asked Shepard.
"There are things that need to be done with council clearance."
"Indulge me."
"Dissolving certain organizations, disrupting comm channels, you name it. I've got a galaxy to take over, so I might as well make it easier for me in the long run."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"It's not as if you could stop me." He laughed.
Liara sighed. I'm not getting anywhere with that. "Remember our night together before we hit the Cerberus base? What about after the Reapers?" Better start to dig deep where it hurts. Liara thought.
"The nights I banged you hard?" he responded. "I will admit you were stunning that night." Shepard's men laughed yet again.
Those words hurt but Liara kept going. "You said that you loved me."
Shepard was unfazed this time. "Things change, sweet cheeks."
"You said you wanted those little blue children with me."
"The things I say to get you in bed…" Shepard laughed.
"Remember the names that we decided we were going to give them? The first one was going to be Benezia after my mother... Then we were going to name the next after one of Samara's children that died. I want to add another name, I want one to be named Aria."
Shepard was silent. I got him there. Liara thought. But she herself was having an extremely hard time of keeping herself together as well.
"You know that Aria committed suicide after we found her? She said that we couldn't help her, that she could never get back the things that you took from her."
Again, Shepard replied to Liara with silence.
"At first we couldn't believe what you had done, but we realize that this isn't you."
"I am Shepard, it was me." He finally answered. "And I taught the slut who was boss. She thought she was so powerful, but she couldn't even stand up to me once after I beat her down. She deserved to die…"
He kept talking but Liara did not listen. Instead she watched as the rest of the group came back with the portable cover. She never expected to ever set one of them up.
"Liara we need you to biotically throw the cover into the room." Ashley asked.
Liara nodded, enveloping herself in a biotic aura. She shot the cover out with a throw, and then set them aright. The cover was big enough for two people to use. Once she had set up three pieces of cover, the squad rushed out behind them. The cover adequately held against the gunfire.
"We are not giving up without a fight. You taught us that much Shepard!" Garrus yelled to Shepard.
He laughed. "Well this should be fun." They could see him stop at the control and say something to one of his soldiers. The soldier nodded.
"Prep your grenades!" He yelled.
Shepard's squad threw a volley of grenades. Liara acted fast and knocked them out of the way with biotics. They exploded harmlessly off to the side.
"Take them out!"
Gunfire from both sides erupted as Shepard continued to work on the console. Shepard's squad had been trained well; they responded and overcame every attempt at the Normandy squad's to attack. Soon they were low on thermal clips. Liara looked around to see the others looking at her.
"Keep firing, I need to think about what to do." The others nodded and kept at it.
Liara sat down, her back against the cover. We are almost out of thermal clips and we haven't taken out any of these soldiers. She put her hand to her head. Come on Liara, think... think! She tried to think but every time her thoughts drifted back to Shepard and how to help him. She couldn't help to think about how close that she was to failing at her last chance at Shepard, the one chance that the Normandy crew had to get back their center. Shepard is the center, that's it! Liara peeked over the cover. Shepard spoke another order to one of his squad as he worked on the console. Just like he held us together, Shepard is holding this squad together as well. She then realized where her idea was leading her. Then we need to take out Shepard and the squad will fall apart. She peeked over the cover again at Shepard. The way he stood, the way he was, everything was off. But the real Shepard is in there somewhere. I can't do that to him, I can't do that to myself.
Garrus caught her eye. "We are so close to running out, tell me you have something."
Liara looked up, wanting more time for a better plan. But time was precious. "I do have one, but it involves taking out Shepard." In her mind she desperately hoped Garrus would talk her out of it.
"Then for the good of the galaxy, I guess there's no other way." Garrus exchanged his assault rifle for his sniper. He looked back at Liara. "I'm sorry Liara, but it has to be done."
He jumped out from behind cover and took aim. His shield rippled as bullets came for him. Then he took the shot.
It all happened in slow motion for Liara. The bullet exited Garrus' rifle and headed straight for Shepard. His squad ducked out of the way, only realizing too late where the bullet was headed. She watched as the bullet entered Shepard just below the ribs on the right side. She watched the body hit the console and sink down.
She couldn't take it anymore and left cover and ran to Shepard. She killed one of Shepard's squad who was in the way with a biotically charged punch, sending his body flying away. The others evaded the asari and fled back into the sewers. Liara reached Shepard and applied medigel instantly. Just don't be dead. I will kill myself right here, right now if you are dead. She checked his vitals.
"He has a heartbeat." She muttered, astounded. "Shepard is alive!"
Gratefully she hugged the body, giving it a kiss. Then she inspected his body. Finally after all this time I have you in my arms. The others ran up behind her. Just like in all those stories with happy endings, Liara hoped that he would be looking at her, smiling, somehow miraculously cured. But he was not. Ashley grabbed her shoulder and brought her back from her thoughts.
"We need to get him to the hospital!"
The hospital took Shepard immediately. Liara could only watch as the doctors swarmed over Shepard. Soon one came out to tell the squad of the initial findings.
"We cleaned his wounds, and in fact a lot of the trauma is healed already, but it seems to us that Shepard is in a coma. There's not much that we can do." The doctor sighed. "We will definitely keep him in the ICU, but we can't do anything until Shepard is awake."
"Thank you doctor. Is he in his room? Can I see him?" She asked.
"He is in ICU room 007."
Liara sprinted off to get to the room. There she found Shepard in the hospital bed with medical equipment attached all over him. Even though the equipment was not invasive and merely measuring his vitals, they reinforced a sickly image onto Shepard. Liara put her hand to his face, again hoping that he would somehow wake up.
"Well its getting close to the time that I have to say goodbye."
Liara looked to see Shiala was at the door. She held her womb and was looking at Shepard.
"I guess our child will only see her father in the vids."
Liara shook her head. "It's absurd for you to leave. You would not be a distraction. We are family."
Shiala looked at Liara. Her eyes were watery. "I just don't know what's best for the child." She looked down at her womb which she rubbed. Liara couldn't help but feel sorry for the asari, despite her jealousy.
"It's a totally different world with a child isn't it?" Liara observed.
"I am scared that I will be a bad mother. I'm a commando for crying out loud!" Shiala looked back up, this time with a little twinkle in her eye. "But my love for this baby already overcomes the fears."
Liara digested it. "I want a baby. And not just a baby, I want Shepard's baby." The words came out without any thought. Liara regretted them instantly.
Shiala walked up to her and put her hand on her shoulder. Liara looked into Shiala's eyes. "I know you will fix Shepard no matter what, and I will be there to help. You will make an amazing mother, I know it."
Liara blushed at the compliment. "Thank you." She looked back at Shepard.
Shiala looked at him too. "And he will be a great father. I just know it." She brought her hand to Liara's arm. "Come on, it's been a crazy day, you should relax."
Liara brushed off Shiala's hand. "If I were anywhere else, I wouldn't be relaxed." Shiala nodded and walked to the doorway. "I'll be back later then to see if you're not starving." She left the room.
Liara went back to running her hand along Shepard's face. The time that they lost had not been kind to Shepard. His scars had barely healed and creases marked the spots of the face that indicated anger. Liara yawned. It's been a long day. But Shepard is safe. Almost instinctively, she laid her head down on Shepard's pillow and climbed into the bed. How I've missed sleeping with you by my side. She kissed his face and put her head back down. She fell asleep almost instantly, a welcome change to the many sleepless nights she had in bed alone.
We will help you Shepard. We've pulled off the impossible and got you back. If we can pull it off once, we can pull of the impossible again.