"Toombs, is that really you?" Shepard asked, her voice louder this time. There was something else in it, too; an emotion that made the syllables sharp, the words raw. Garrus glanced over at her, ignoring the unease that screamed at him when he took his eyes off the group of armed mercs above them.
Her eyes were opened wide, despite the discomfort the harsh light must have caused her that way, and the lines of hair above them were low and close. The barrel of her gun had fallen slightly so that it no longer pointed directly towards their assailants. He felt his grip on his own gun tighten in response.
Toombs? The name was vaguely familiar as he repeated it to himself, yet he couldn't remember why.
"Surprised, Shepard?" Toombs asked as he rubbed a gloved hand across his jaw, scratching at the black hair that littered it. From this far away the man's eyes appeared to be little more than dark pits filled with shadows as they stared down at them. "What, did you think you were the only one who could come back from the dead?"
"Come back from the…? Toombs, what are you even doing here? Are these your men?" Shepard demanded, waving one of her hands towards the bodies in front of her.
Toombs tilted his head slightly, strands of his dark hair shifting in the light like oil as it hovered around his jawline. "Them?" he asked, letting out a brittle laugh. "They were nothing, just some hired thugs out for credits. No, you of all people should know what happened to my men, Shepard. Or have you already forgotten all about Akuze?"
Garrus shifted his weight from one foot to the other, keeping his eyes on the merc leader. Akuze. The colony Shepard lost her whole unit on during a Thresher Maw attack.
It had been years ago, long before Garrus had ever even heard of Shepard, let alone met her. No one had known who she was back then, not really. She'd been just another Alliance marine - fresh out of the academy - when her unit had been sent to investigate the silent colony where her reputation first began. Sole Survivor, the vids called her. The only marine out of fifty to leave the planet alive. She'd still had the scars from it when Garrus had first met her, long and cruel lines that had cut across her cheeks and chin and bit into her smile. They were gone now, of course -no longer visible since her reconstruction - but Garrus saw the way she sometimes went to rub her hand across her them, catching herself when her fingers touched only smooth skin and memories.
"You know I'd never forget that." Shepard denied, taking a step forward. "Toombs, what the hell is going on here?"
"Justice, Shepard." Toombs clasped his hands around the metal railing as he leaned over it. "Justice for crimes that have gone unanswered for far too long."
"Justice?" she repeated, eyes narrowing as she stared up at him. "What are you talking about?"
"Don't play stupid with me!" he screamed, hands flaring white as they clenched the metal beneath them. He looked away, visibly shaking as he ran a hand through his tangled hair. This guy's insane, Garrus thought, tightening his grip on his Mantis as Toombs turned back towards them. "I know all your tricks this time, Shepard. You might have gotten me back on Ontarom when you let your little friend go, but I won't fall for your lies again."
Shepard stiffened as her gun fell slowly to her side.
Ontarom. Garrus repeated, the memory coming back to him in series of flashes; intel from Hackett asking them to investigate the murders of Alliance scientists back during their hunt for Saren; Shepard's shoulders tensing when he revealed the possibility of a cover up, the sharp turn of her head at the mention of Akuze; her eyes burning as she finally learned the truth from a broken man holding a gun to another's head; black hatred scarring her face as she handcuffed the scientist instead of killing him; her soft words to other, the careful touch on his shoulder as she promised she'd make the rogue black ops group Cerberus pay for everything they'd done to them.
"Toombs...it's not what you think." she said, staring up at him.
"Don't lie to me, Shepard! I've seen the vids, I know you're one of them!"
"I'm not-" she stopped, breathing in deep. "Listen, there's more going on here than you know. Just let me-"
"Save it." Toombs cut her off with a sharp wave of his hand. He began to pace, taking a couple of steps in one direction before turning back the other way, never completely facing away from her. "I told you I'm on to you; I won't let you talk your way out of this one, not like last time."
"I'm telling you the truth!" Shepard yelled, her voice shaking slightly. Garrus shifted, mandibles flicking as he edged closer to her.
Toombs brushed her protestations away with another wave of his hand. "I've seen your kinds' 'truth', Shepard. I saw it when they unleashed those, those things on us, like we were just lab rats to them. For two years I sat in their labs; had their 'truth' burned into my blood, had it stabbed into my arms with needles while your friends experimented on me in ways you could never even imagine." He stopped pacing and gestured to the mercs around them. "We all have, every single one of us. Cerberus has made a lot of enemies, Shepard. It's easy to find them when you know what to look for."
"You don't understand." Shepard said, shaking her head slightly as she took a step forward. "Cerberus isn't-"
"Don't you dare defend them to me, Shepard!" he screamed, spittle flying from his lips as he ran back to the railing and pulled something from a holster on his back. Garrus' body tensed as Toombs leveled the grenade launcher at Shepard. "After what they've done to me, to my men? Don't you dare!"
Shepard froze. Garrus shifted slightly in response, moving closer to her. His muscles hummed with adrenaline and apprehension.
"I'd never defend what they did to us, Toombs." she said, her words so quiet Garrus almost missed them.
"To us?" Toombs laughed, the sound harsh and cruel against her soft words. "There is no us, Shepard. There's only me, me and the Cerberus scum that killed my men."
"Toombs, don't-"
He pulled the trigger.
Garrus leaped.
Shepard braced herself for the hit.
Shock jolted through her when the expected force came not in an explosion of fire but instead from the side as a heavy mass crashed into her. She rolled into the fall as she hit the ground, her motion taking her further away. Less than a second later the explosion finally came, the heat crashing over her like a wave. Still, she was far enough away from the main blast that it didn't manage to cause any real damage. She coughed, choking on the smoke, and looked over at the prone body that lay where she'd been just moments before.
"Garrus!" she yelled, scrambling up despite the screams of protest that came from her battered body. She pulled her Widow close as she ran to him, blinking away the burning sensation in her seared eyes.
"Shepard's alive!" someone shouted above them.
"Get her!" another cried.
"No, stop! Shepard's mine!"
"Shoot her!"
"I said stop!"
Damnit! Shepard turned slightly, raising her gun and taking aim as best she could through her watery vision. Relying as much on memory as on sight, she shot towards the cluster of oxygen tanks she'd seen during their fight earlier, following the round with a swiftly detonated Sabotage.
The upper level exploded.
Shepard reached Garrus, hovering over his still form as a wave of sick deja-vu coursed through her. Panic choked her as she stared down at him, unsure of where to check in order to find a pulse. The hide on his neck was too thick for her to look there she realized as her hand fluttered uselessly over it. Did turians even have a major vein there like humans did? How much blood could they lose before going into shock? Dammit, what was the point of him wearing such heavy armor if it didn't even-
She stopped herself, breathing in deep. Sounds of movement were trickling down from the upper level; she didn't have the time to lose control like this.
"C'mon, Garrus, don't die on me here." She said, hauling him up. Her voice cracked over the words. "Think of all the calibrating you've still got to do."
Relief squeezed her chest at the strangled gasp that came from him as she wrapped his arm around her shoulder. He coughed, wheezing as she pulled him forward towards a door she'd seen earlier, directly across from the elevator and beneath the loft.
"Damn, you're a heavy bastard, Garrus. What do they put in those dextro bars?" she rambled as her eyes scanned above them for signs of pursuit. The upper level was masked in a haze of smoke, but she could see vague outlines of shifting bodies picking themselves up. Shepard walked faster, trying to be as gentle as possible. She didn't let herself think about how slick his armor was underneath her grip, or how ragged his breathing was in her ear. "What, no come back? I'm disappointed, Vakarian."
"Where is she?" Toombs cried from above her as she pulled Garrus into cover underneath the loft. "Someone find Shepard, now!"
"I see them! They're down there!" a voice called as Shepard reached the door. Mercifully, it opened at her touch, and she carried Garrus inside. Her pulse pounded with the sound of approaching footsteps as she lowered him against the nearby wall, her movements achingly slow as she tried to avoid causing any further damage. Once he was down, she turned back and swiftly shut the door, closing it with a sharp hiss on the clutch of mercs that were now only feet away. Gunfire clanged against the metal as she used her omni-tool to bypass the door's security, locking it tight behind her.
"What are you all standing around for!" Toombs voice shouted from the other side, muffled through the wall. "Go in after her!"
"We can't, sir! She's locked the door!"
"So unlock it then, you idiots!"
"But, sir…"
"But what?"
"Well…usually Tech handles this kind of -" The voice was cut off by a low thud, followed by a groan.
"I want this door open now!"
Shepard bent down over Garrus, bringing her omni-tool up close over him. It's amber glow was the only light in the other-wise dark room - the windows behind them shuttered and useless – and she used it to finally get a look at his injuries; the explosion had blown a hole the size of her head into the right side of his armor, which had automatically attempted to repair itself by covering the area with a thin level of medi-gel to prevent further blood loss and infection. Shepard leaned in closer to look at the wound and felt her throat clench as she breathed in the smell of burnt carapace.
"What, is this it?" Shepard said softly, releasing a fresh dose of medi-gel onto the wound. Garrus hissed in a sharp breath as the more potent anesthetic worked its way through his system. "This is barely a scratch compared to that thing you call a face."
"Pardon…me." he gasped, the words weak with pain. Still, his breathing steadied even as she watched, and Shepard's heart thumped with a sudden and intense rush of love for the scientists at Sirta who had first invented medi-gel.
"What the hell were you thinking, Garrus?" she demanded as she put her hand against his cheek, turning his face towards hers so she could check his eyes; the bright blue – always so intense as it took in everything around them - was all but invisible against his dilated pupils.
"Wasn't." Garrus coughed and the feeling of mandibles flicking underneath her hand sent a strange warmth up her arm. She pulled her hand away and turned to look at their surroundings. The small room was an office apparently, with a large desk occupying the center. Two chairs placed in front of it and another behind were the only other furnishings, aside from a few potted plants scattered around. The entire back wall was made up of windows, all of which had their blinds drawn and secured.
Shepard's omni-tool beeped, alerting her that her bypass on the door was failing. Her eyes narrowed; they had to get out of here, and soon. She looked up from her omni-tool and stared at the windows.
She bit her lip.
"Shepard?" Garrus asked from behind her. His voice sounded stronger, and again Shepard silently thanked whoever it was that had created that miracle gel. If I ever find out who they are, I'll buy them a drink for every life under my command they've saved, she thought as she went back to Garrus.
"How bad is it?" she asked, crouching down next to him. His eyes were clearer now, and his breathing wasn't as shallow as before.
"I'll live." he said, wincing as she helped him up, once again wrapping his arm around her shoulders. He leaned heavily against her as she led him to the back of the room, putting the desk between them and the door. His mandibles flicked as her omni-tool beeped in alarm. "So…what's the plan, Commander?"
Shepard paused and turned her face to his, only inches away. Is he up to it?
Her omni-tool beeped again.
No choice.
Slowly, she stepped away from him, giving him time to adjust to supporting his own weight. When she was sure he wasn't going to collapse, Shepard raised her gun and shot out the center window. Sounds and light burst into the room as the glass shattered, and she walked closer to the edge. Omega lay before her, a mass of dark buildings lit by the glow of neon signs and the lights of passing shuttles. It was these shuttle lights that Shepard watched now, tracking the traffic with her eyes as it passed some twenty feet beneath them.
Garrus mandibles twitched. "You've got to be joking."
"Just gotta trust me, Garrus." Shepard said, reaching her hand out towards him. I won't let him die here, she promised silently. Not because of me.
Something inside her clenched when Garrus took her hand in his own without a moment's hesitation. His eyes met hers, and the sensation repeated itself as they held each other's gaze. His hand was warm as he stepped up beside her and Shepard turned back to the river of shuttles beneath them.
She waited.
Her omni-tool beaped.
His grip tightened slightly.
Behind them, the door opened with a quiet hiss.
Together, Shepard and Garrus jumped.