A/N: Rather pleased with how this chapter turned out, trying to combine the defining moments of the other loyalty missions all together. Alas for poor Grunt, his loyalty mission is kind of boring, so he got replaced by a conversation with Liara. :D I also like the idea that Shepard doesn't always succeed at everything she does, and one loyalty mission here is a pretty clear example of what I mean by that.
Well, hope you enjoy this. Mordin will be next, and he deserves a full chapter for himself. He's just that awesome. :)
Chapter 27 - Kaleidoscopes
Shepard stands tall, looking deep into the eyes of the turian in front of her, trying to see something worth saving, guilt or remorse. "You one of Harkin's men?" he asks, his voice like a hiss, the only expression in his eyes is that of fear.
Garrus speaks softly on the comms, telling her to move to the side. She hesitates. Can I allow a friend to commit murder in cold blood? Shepard thinks. Is this what he truly needs?
She remembers Garrus' heavy boot on Harkin's neck, about to crush it. Terminus really changed you, Garrus, she recalls Harkin's words. Yeah, I guess it did. Just like dying changed me. The forgiving, merciful me doesn't come out to play as often as before.
"Hey you, yeah, I'm talking to you," Sidonis becomes nervous. He looks malnourished and tired, probably from lack of sleeping, but it is not enough to conjure a sympathy in Morgan. An eye for an eye. A good rule to live by. "I thought you're here to help me! Can we hurry up?"
"Shepard, what's taking you so long," Garrus is urgent on the comms.
Would I find myself capable to forgive someone who betrayed my team? Morgan mentally asks myself. If Zaeed or Jack or one of the others would betray us to the Collectors or the Blue Suns... I would not care for their reasons. I would want them to suffer. Garrus needs this. Deserves this.
"Don't worry, this will only take a short while," she smiles coolly, stepping a little to the side, not enough to alert Sidonis to danger. There is a crisp sound of a shot taken, a bullet goes right through the left eye of the betrayer, killing him instantly. Splashes of purple blood hit her in the face, and she screams to divert suspicion from herself, feigning shock, with the corner of her eye watching Garrus flee into a maintenance shaft.
A closure, for better or worse. An eye for an eye.
"So, Shepard... I hear you've been pretty engrossed with that VI replica of yours," Kasumi speaks, as they hang around near the C-Sec quarters, waiting on Thane to reappear. "Did you actually say 'I delete data like you on the way to real errors,' when threatening Elias Kelham during that interrogation?"
"That's pretty extreme, Commander," Tali giggles.
"Oh laugh it up, you two," Shepard grumbles, meanwhile checking something on her omni-tool. "Hey, would you look at that... those three volus have released another patch. Got to download that, hope they have fixed the bug that made it crash and reboot."
"That's alright, Shep," Kasumi chuckles, amused. "This sounds like a good first step in admitting that you have a problem."
The doors to the detention cells open and Thane emerges. He looks weary, as if having suddenly aged several cycles. "It's alright, Shepard," he answers to Morgan's unspoken question, still lingering on her lips. "Our problems aren't something that can be solved in one conversation. We'll keep talking. See what happens."
"What will happen to the boy?" Shepard turns to the head of the C-Sec department on Zakera Wards, Captain Bailey. "Maybe you can work out something, Captain? Like community service, I don't know? Kolyat is not a criminal."
"Community service for attempted murder?" Bailey shakes his head. "Interesting. I wonder what jury would agree to that."
"I hear you have a knack for... interesting solutions, Captain," Shepard winks slyly. "Like with Mr. Elias Kelham buying those tickets for C-Sec Charity Ball? Or confessions obtained by making someone 'scream a little'?"
"I might be able to work something out," Bailey sighs, defeated. "I just wish you hadn't leaned on me like that, Shepard. Don't much care for it, even if you are right."
"I'm sorry, it's just... this is important," Shepard admits, feeling guilty for having to resort to near-blackmail. But this is for Thane, and for his son.
"I thank you, Shepard," Thane tells her, as they leave the C-Sec quarters. Morgan just feels relieved that they have been able to stop Kolyat from committing murder. Inwardly, she prays that father and son eventually manage to reconcile, unable to place guilt with either of them. I cannot blame Thane for needing to avenge his beloved wife, even if it hurt and alienated him from his son, she thinks. If someone did that to Liara... I would stop at nothing to punish them. Nothing.
"It was the least I could do, Thane," she says, hoping that her drell friend has managed to gain a measure of peace in the knowledge that his son will not suffer for the sins of his father.
2175 Aeia is a beautiful garden world, but all it does for Shepard is to remind her of Virmire. It also becomes a personal hell for Operative Jacob Taylor, coming here to find survivors of the Hugo Gernsback, hopefully including his father. But instead of his father, he finds a monster, abusing the chain of command to unthinkable extent, even creating for himself a harem from the female crew members.
"Probably not a good moment to sneak in a supportive hug," Kasumi whispers to Shepard, watching Jacob pace around angrily, trying to decide what to do with the Acting Captain Ronald Taylor.
"Not really, Kasumi," Shepard replies, shaking her head. "Maybe some other time."
"You were a better man when I thought you dead," they hear Jacob shouting in his father's face. "As far as I'm concerned... you still are!"
"Was this the kind of closure you wanted Jacob to find?" Shepard asks of Miranda, staring at Jacob with a very concerned stare, ignoring the way Kasumi sends her a few jealous glares.
"No, I could not have imagined this..." Miranda replies quietly. "Wait... how do you know it was me?" she quickly catches on.
"Really, Miranda," Morgan smiles. "Jacob mentioned this was passed through Cerberus channels. Tim would never give him intel this risky. You and Jacob have history... you're the obvious choice."
"Guilty as charged, Commander," Miranda agrees. "I hope I have not made the wrong decision. Still... I think Jacob deserved to know the truth."
"Come on, Shepard," Jacob says stiffly, passing by them and heading back the way they came. Morgan looks at Jacob's father, the man appears bewildered when he realizes that Jacob has no intention of saving him. "Let's round up the survivors and signal the Alliance."
"What about him?" Kasumi asks, pointing at the elder Taylor.
Jacob does not even spare another glance backwards, as he walks away, forever leaving the past behind. "The hunters should be along shortly to take care of him."
Waves of massive explosion underneath them rock and rattle the shuttle as it swiftly escapes Pragia, leaving behind a smoldering crater in radius of at least several miles. "Satisfied?" Shepard turns to Jack, the psychotic biotic's fingers tightly wrapped around the trigger mechanism of the bomb, not letting go. "We just wiped out every living being on a good chunk of Pragia's surface," Shepard continues. "Hope it was worth it."
"Pragia covered by industrially mutated plants. Will overgrow everything in days, Shepard," Mordin explains, sitting next to Morgan in the shuttle. "Planet only used by drug-runners, smugglers, terrorists. Acceptable casualties."
What Cerberus have been doing on the Teltin facility is morally reprehensible and despicable beyond description. Seeing the torture racks, the cells the potentially-biotic children were kept in, expendable test subjects, the memory of it makes Morgan's blood boil, and she feels a growing pang of sympathy for Jack.
She had hoped that Miranda would feel likewise, after seeing what the organization she so fervently defends is capable of. But while disgusted with what she sees, Miranda brushes off all accusations, claiming that this was simply a cell gone rogue. As if those experimenting on rachni or Thorian creatures were much different or any better.
And Jack isn't the one to let the matter drop. "You saw what went on there," she angrily exclaims, shouting at Miranda. "Admit that what they were doing was wrong!"
Miranda merely gives Jack a cool, superior stare that only further incites the psycho. "I would apologize, only it wasn't Cerberus doing those things. Not really," she says with a smirk. "But clearly, you are a mistake."
The biotics flare up, the two women about to break out into a fight that would destroy their small shuttle before they have reached Normandy. "Hey, that's about enough," Shepard says firmly, reaching out and placing one hand on Jack's shoulder, the other on Miranda's. "Save your strength for the Collectors," she says, then roughly pulling on their shoulders, sending them crashing head against head. With quiet grunts, they collapse in an undignified heap.
"Thank you, Shepard," Mordin comments. "Arguing getting tiresome. Affecting morale. Not concerned with reaction?"
"Not really," Shepard shrugs. "Sometimes you just need to show them who's in charge here." She thinks for a while, just enjoying the silence, before turning back to Mordin. "Say, we've got a quarter of an hour before we reach Normandy. Want to practice some more of that Gilbert and Sullivan?"
In reply, the corners of Mordin's mouth tug upwards to form a huge grin.
Zaeed is lying on the hard ground outside the burning Eldfell-Ashland refinery, a heavy metal beam pressing down on his legs, prevent him from getting up. His eyes are still fixed on the small gunship disappearing in the distance, carrying off his arch-nemesis, Vido Santiago.
"Shepard, fuck you, you traitorous cunt!" he yells, struggling to get the metal beam off his legs. "You just cost me twenty years of my life, you bitch!"
Morgan stands in front of him, hands folded across her chest, making no move to help him. "Maybe you should have considered that before you went and blew up a sodding refinery," she remarks coolly, prompting a string of expletives to be aimed in her direction.
"Help me, damn it," Zaeed grunts, finally having ceased cursing Shepard.
"Why should I? I don't even know why I need someone like you on my team," Shepard shrugs her shoulders. "You put the entire mission at risk for your own selfish goals. I don't want someone like that watching my back when we go against the Collectors."
"Fuck you! Cerberus wants me there. They already transferred first deposit of my payment, I'll do what I've been paid to do, nothing more, nothing less," Zaeed says, panting, still hopelessly trying to push off the metal beam, crushing his legs.
"Help him," Shepard gives a brief nod to Garrus and Grunt, and together they lift off the support beam, pinning Zaeed to the ground. When the grizzled mercenary rises, Shepard quickly steps up to him and lays him out with a sucker punch straight to the mouth. "Let's go," she tells the others. "I'm not going back in the same shuttle with him."
Garrus looks like he's about to protest, but Shepard cuts him off sharply. "Someone will eventually return to pick you up, Massani," she says, watching blood trickle down Zaeed's chin as he spits out bits of broken teeth. "While waiting, I advise you spend that time to think what it means to be a part of a team..."
The beats of the Afterlife's VIP lounge course through her system like a persistent electrical tingle, making Shepard crave to just throw everything aside and join the crowd of dancers in the middle of the floor. Briefly, she wonders if her drink has been spiked. Maybe it's that Hallex that Samara says Morinth likes to use. If so, then... woah, what a rush! I wonder if that's the band that she mentioned. Expel 10? They're good...
Or maybe it's just Morinth's influence, Shepard quietly regards the asari across the table, lounging in her chair, looking at her with those dark, piercing eyes, so very different from Liara's blue, but still enchanting in their own way. She's definitely beautiful, Shepard admits, hoping she is managing to remain subtle as her eyes slowly examine Morinth's gentle curves, accentuated by her tight leather suit.
But so very dangerous. Like a predator, Shepard reminds herself, but the drink and Morinth's disarming, seductive smile make it difficult for her to focus her thoughts. Is being a predator justification enough to kill it? Does a lion chasing down a gazelle is deserving of death? To kill is their nature. To serve evolution.
"Have you seen 'Vaenia'?" Morinth's voice is silky smooth, there is something feline in her entire relaxed posture.
"It's one of my favorite vids," Shepard replies. "We used to reenact scenes from it with my asari girlfriend," she adds, wondering why she is even mentioning something so private. It's probably that drink. Besides, I'm sure it won't do any harm. Someone like Morinth will only get turned on by that.
"And now you've truly piqued my curiosity," Morinth says, with that enigmatic smile of hers.
Gods, now I just reminded myself of how much I miss Liara, Morgan thinks, bringing the glass to her lips and emptying it, feeling a surge of heat and pleasant dizziness hitting her head hard. Liara... she closes her eyes, and when she opens them again, she sees the image of her lover sitting in front of her, winking at her as she sips her cocktail through a straw. No, that's not... she shakes her head, looking again. It is Morinth before her, almost just as beautiful and desirable as Liara.
"Perhaps we should go to my place," Morinth suggests, and for a moment, Morgan feels exhilarated by the thought. "We could watch 'Vaenia' together. See where that leads us..."
Can I allow Samara to butcher someone so... beautiful, so perfect? suddenly she feels cold sweat freezing her back, hoping that the anxiety does not reflect on her face. She wants to kill her own daughter, simply because of what she is. Because of her perfect predator nature.
"Get out of here, now. Quickly," Shepard grinds out the words, fighting herself all the way. Damn it, what am I doing? I must help Samara, I must... I... can't... "Your mother is watching you. Get off Omega and don't return."
Morinth understands immediately. She rises in one smooth motion, giving Shepard a small nod as she leaves and Morgan collapses on the table, pressing her head to the cold metal surface. "What the fuck just happened..." she numbly repeats to herself. "I blew it. I fucking blew it..."
"You won't believe what I just did," Shepard says with irrepressible smile, watching the vidcomm slowly clearing, the face of her asari lover drifting into focus.
"The comm chatter on Tuchanka is ripe with news about some crazy human who took out a thresher maw on foot," Liara glares, folding her hands across her chest. "Morgan, this is not reassuring me that I am getting you back in one piece once this is over! What were you thinking of?"
"Umm... sorry?" Morgan grins sheepishly, feeling a little guilty. "I had no idea that a thresher maw would show up during Grunt's rite of passage. And when it did... uh, let's just say that it was a pretty damn lucky thing when that grenade launcher went off when it did, and... yeah, we probably shouldn't mention this again."
Liara sighs deeply. "I would ask you to be careful, but what would be the point?" She loses her stern expression soon, finally cracking a smile. "So, what else have you been up to?"
"Just a lot of running all across the galaxy, trying to fix the problems of my new friends. On some occasions ending up making them worse," she admits, thinking back to Samara. At least Zaeed seemed to have gained more respect for her, after being violently taken down a notch, and Jack and Miranda had gotten over their bumped noggins and bruised egos. "Waiting for The Illusive Man to find something that would let us go through that damned Omega-4."
"Yes, you mentioned that. I have not been able to find any records about derelict Reapers or Collector ships in the Shadow Broker files," Liara muses, then becoming thoughtful. "Though I wonder about those notes attached to something called the Leviathan of Dis... anyway, if I find anything, I will let you know, Morgan."
"Thanks, Liara, I know you're doing all you can," Morgan says. "I'm sure Tim is also running ragged, trying to find any kind of intel. What about other interesting discoveries, anything on the Prothean artifacts the Broker seemed so interested in?"
"Nothing definitive. Just bits and pieces. I've still only scratched the surface of all this data," Liara admits. Her voice is almost hesitant when she speaks again. "I... could show you my findings... I mean, if you're ever close to Hourglass Nebula..."
"I've been thinking about you too, Liara," Morgan tells her, smiling. She misses me so much. As much as I miss her, there is a warm feeling in her heart from the realization. "And I have made plans to visit you soon. As soon as I'm done here on Tuchanka. There's just one thing left to settle here, we have to find Mordin's missing assistant. Not much hope of him being alive anymore, but still... need to do it for Mordin's sake."
"I understand. I will be here, waiting, working," Liara says softly. "Say hello to all our old friends. And give Wrex a hug from me, alright?"
"I can't promise that, Liara," Shepard winces, pointing at her midsection, feeling her bruised ribs. "Already tried to give him a hug of my own... Much as I love Wrex... not recommended. Or as Mordin would say... problematic!"
Liara chuckles. "Be well, Morgan," she says as they part again. "I will see you soon."
"Be well, Liara," Morgan repeats, terminating the connection. "Love you," she says to an already black screen.