Lifeless eyes gazed back at full, expressive ones. It was as if time came to a standstill, the encapsulating regret surging through Shepard at the sight of Tali's reaction of fear. How he had wished right then that he would never have come to the Rayya, never have shown up so that she would not be able to see him in this form.
She could now plainly see the real him. His armor purged by the fire, he now stood tall and mighty in his gleaming, soot-streaked body. But he was hideous. Tali could see the hint of a red mass of organs behind the silver and black frame, encased by a synthetic skin sac. The face reminded her of a quarian skull: hollow eyes, exposed jaw, no nose. It was as if a husk had stood before her right this second, she was unable to tell the difference.
The monstrosity held out a hand as it spoke with its deep voice, "Tali…"
She shrank backward as she recognized the voice from before, "No…no…"
The metal skeleton edged closer, "Tali…please…"
"Don't…don't call me that…" she shut her eyes as if that would make him go away. Who was this? This is what Jenkins was referring to?
"You need to know, Tali," Shepard held out a hand as he pushed his conflicting thoughts aside. There was no reason to continue the charade anymore. The big reveal had been spoiled and to tell her the truth would assuage the pain somewhat, he hoped. "I need to tell you-"
"Don't tell me anything, machine!" Tali screamed as she batted the outstretched hand away, starting to sob.
"You have to hear it! I was never on Yandoa and my name is not Jenkins. Tali, I'm-"
"That just makes you a liar!" Tali backed away, towards the far end of the catwalk. "Why hide the truth from me in the first place unless…" her head tilted in shock, "…unless it was only a ploy to hand me over to Cerberus. Use their synthetic to gain my trust and to do their dirty work…"
"That is not it, Tali!" Shepard shouted, the noise making her shrink, "That doesn't make any sense, why would I go to the trouble of rescuing you from Cerberus if I was going to deliver you to Cerberus anyway? I don't work for Cerberus and I don't want to see you hurt." A last minute thought shot through him and he quickly sorted through the files for his normal voice pattern, replacing the deep, throaty one instead. "I would never do that to you, Tali. I only hid the fact from you because I didn't want you to see what I've become…it's only-"
"SHUT UP!" she shrieked, "Shut up, shut up, shut up! How dare you use him as an excuse…how dare you try this on me… to use Shepard against me…"
Shepard tried reaching out to her again, "If you only give me the chance…"
Tali skirted out of arms reach and hissed, "Go to hell, you bastard…or whatever you are." Abruptly turning, she ran down the catwalk, not bothering to look behind her the door opened to allow her inside.
"Tali!" Real smooth there, champ. Cursing his luck, Shepard followed her, smashing aside the door as he continually called out her name. "Tali! Come back! Please!" Even if she could hear him, there was no way that she was going to answer him now.
He stopped at an intersection and tried to predict which way she would have taken when there was a muffled sound to his left. He peered down the dusty hallway and started moving towards the entrance at the far end. Pace quickening, he reached the door in seconds and opened his mouth to speak once more.
"Tali? Tal- agh!" Electricity shot through his limbs as his body convulsed. Pain was now registering from every nerve as a sizzling noise was heard in the air. He roared as his legs gave out and he hit the deck hard. Shepard's head bounced off the metal and he groaned in response. His movements were sluggish, his brain felt warped. His vision was going in and out as energy surged across his artificial retinas, causing static to occur.
"Sting a little?" A voice spoke scathingly within the room, "Good. Wouldn't want you to be too comfortable."
Shepard now heard tiny whimpers of fear and, laying down on the ground, he tilted his head and saw that Tali was also on the ground, mere feet from him. A Cerberus soldier had her pinned with his knee as his rifle was trained over her head. Shepard now slowly looked around, seeing that there were six other individuals besides him and Tali here. Five of them wore the standard white armor but the sixth was dressed in a sleek, black armor, and held an assault rifle that glowed blue, barrel smoking.
"Operative Leng," the guard holding Tali motioned, "What should we do with her?"
Leng turned, mouth upwards in a cruel smile, "Let her watch. I do so enjoy watching them squirm while waiting for the ax to fall."
Shepard positioned himself slightly upwards as he drew his forearms down. "Let the quarian go, Leng," he snarled, "It is Leng, yes? Let her go, this doesn't concern her." Suddenly he jolted as the lightning passed through his body again, limbs rattling across the floor in shock as he felt everything start to burn.
"You like it, huh?" Leng laughed, "Disruptor rounds. Passes right through shields and does well on synthetic targets. Your organic makeup doesn't react well to this kind of ammo, I would guess based on your rather intense reaction. Apparently the charge conducts right into whatever organic parts that are in contact with that metal body of yours. Makes it more painful than it ever could be for a human."
"Still got some fight in this one," the guard growled as Tali struggled to get free, writhing against her captor.
The man sighed, "Well, if she tries anything funny again, crack her open. Not exactly a tough decision to make!"
Striving to control his breathing, Shepard coughed, "You only want me. What's one quarian to you? Just take me to wherever you want but you let her go."
"You are persistent, my friend."
"You're no friend of mine."
Leng shook his head, "You were supposed to be. Lawson never fully completed her work and her folly has cost us greatly. If only she had implanted that control chip first we might not be here now. As to your original demand, I don't think that will be possible. The quarian has seen too much, knows too much. She's part of your crew, after all. Why else do you think we would take a peripheral interest in her?"
"I'm not part of his crew, you bosh'tet!" Tali shouted, grunting as she was painfully jammed into the ground, "Why are you talking to it as if you know him?"
"Oh, this is priceless," Leng smiled, eyebrows arcing upward in realization, "You never told her…"
"Told me what?!" Tali cried.
"Tali," Shepard cautioned, "Just-"
Leng lashed a boot out and it connected with Shepard's metallic face. There were no pain sensors to activate but the motion was uncomfortable all the same. He shut his eyes for a brief moment. "Remember your Pilgrimage data?" he shouted, "Remember Kaidan and Wrex and Garrus? Remember them?"
"STOP IT!" Tali sobbed, "Stop talking like him, you're not him! You can't be…"
"Continue speaking in that raised tone and I'll put you down," Leng warned, rifle aimed squarely at the cyborg's forehead.
Shepard seethed, eyes blazing with orange, "I would welcome the opportunity for you to kill me, but not before I say to you who I really am." He took a big breath, daring Leng to pull the trigger at point-blank range, glancing back at the captive quarian, "You might not want to accept the fact that I am who I say I am, but I assure you it's the truth. I…am…Shepard."
"No…" Tali squeezed her eyes shut, the glow only coming by in slits through the smoky purple of her visor, "Stop lying to me…stop it…"
"I am Shepard," he repeated. "I am Shepard, Tali. I was the commander of the Normandy, I saved you from Saren's thugs on the Citadel, I sacrificed Ashley Williams on Virmire!"
"No, no…" Tali mumbled, shaking her head, "Please, no…"
"Stand down, Shepard!" Leng spat, pistol wavering in front of the ex-human's face.
"You won't kill me!" Shepard roared, "You can't! You need me for who I am, because I know the truth that is coming to destroy this galaxy. Because I am Commander John Shepard!"
Leng flirted with hesitation on what to do, weapon shaking in his grip. Cursing, he suddenly aimed at Shepard's back as he lay on the ground, firing the pistol in small bursts. Shepard screamed as the electric shocks from the disruptor rounds immobilized him and streamed through his very being. The heat was incredible, the pain encompassing all that he was. He still continued to shout and plead as the torturous experience continued. Leng's face was a blank mask as he still fired on his prisoner, seemingly reveling in Shepard's misery as he jerked helplessly on the ground.
Tali's eyes were wide as she witnessed the shrieking, twisted hunk of metal wreathed in electricity. The noise that filtered through her helmet sent chills up her spine. It was Shepard's voice, no doubt, and she couldn't help but feel like some part of her was being electrocuted as the cyborg continued to scream. It was the sound of a soul being torn apart. It was the sound of Shepard in pain.
He needs my help.
The knee that had been holding her down had eased a bit and she used it to her advantage. She couldn't reach the pistol that was tucked on her back so she shot an arm out upwards and it caught on the thug's pistol in his holster. Before he could even react, Tali had whipped it out and took her one chance. One shot to end the suffering of the man right in front of her. She let the sights rest on the cruel person who continued in his vile work. Leng. But she was rushed and didn't bother to adjust when his head came to rest in front of her and she instantly pulled the trigger.
Kai Leng screamed as he jerked back, blood flying across his face, spewing from his eyes as the bullet passed clean through both of them. He dropped the gun he was holding as he too fell to the ground to wipe away the blood, now blind.
Tali smiled once before a heavy weight smashed into the back of her head. She only had a second to perceive the ground rushing to meet her.
There was a splintering sound as her visor shattered.
Shepard gasped as the shocks ceased their maddening intrusion. A sudden thump and a series of new yells of pain fluttered through his vocal receptors. He opened his eyes, which had been shut the whole time, and was surprised to see Kai Leng rolling on the ground with blood completely turning half of his face red.
What happened?
There was the crinkle of broken glass. Confused, Shepard glanced to his left and saw Tali lying face down on the floor, her head surrounded by a sea of chunks of purple glass, a Cerberus trooper standing triumphantly over her, the butt of his rifle arcing away from the swing.
No…oh god, no…
His tracking software had picked up on the fact that Leng had dropped his pistol mere inches from his hand, so with lightning speed, his right appendage grabbed it from the floor. The soldier only now understood the inherent danger added to the confrontation. Shepard was now mobile and unimpeded but this fact came to him too late.
Shepard had switched the disruptor ammo off and growled in satisfaction when the man's head burst apart like a melon, chunks of skull flying everywhere in a wave of red. He rolled on his back so that the next one could come into view. The fool still didn't even have his weapon up. He too fell with half his face missing from the slug that entered just below the cheekbone.
Continuing to curve his aim to the right, the third man had his jaw blown off, collapsing as the blood loss and shock took care of the rest. The fourth and final soldier had his gun up by this point and aimed but Shepard was still quicker on the trigger. His bullet, whether by chance or skill, hit the pistol the soldier was holding and it exploded. Because the bullet's trajectory was aimed towards the man and taking into account the incredible amount of force behind it, the pistol shattered in the man's grip and the fragments were flung into his face, shredding it, leaving behind no facial features to recognize as blood oozed from the hamburger of a head.
Shepard stood up and covered every corner of the room with the gun before deeming it safe. Ignoring the still-moaning Leng, he dropped the pistol and ran over to Tali's prone body, gently rolling her over. The sight before him took his breath away.
Tali's visor was completely gone, smashed to bits. She was now exposed to the harmful particulates introduced by the foreign invaders that her weak immune system couldn't protect against. Her mouth was loosely hanging open, she appeared to be unconscious. All Shepard could see was a glimpse of grey skin and a few errant strands of dark hair before he averted his gaze, trying to abide by her encompassing sense of privacy. Using the map that he downloaded, he saw that there was a med bay only a few levels down. At the rate that Tali was deteriorating (she was starting to cough) he knew that he didn't have much time.
Nononononono, I can't lose you, Tali. Please, I don't know why but I just can't…
"Hold on, Tali," he whispered as he scooped her up in his arms. After testing that she was secure in his grip, he started to jog as he felt his pulse race, his desolation rising to the highest peak. The quarian moaned in his arms as he burst out into the open, central chamber, quivering as the air brushed across her exposed face.
"Sh…Shepard?" she softly breathed, eyes squinting to adjust at her protector.
"Don't try to talk, Tali."
Whether it was the fact that she was hallucinating or had finally accepted the insane truth, she complied and somehow found the ability to calm herself, perhaps the familiar sound of his regular voice was producing that effect.
He ran across the guarded railing, his footsteps producing huge reverberations throughout the metal. He vaulted over a guardrail to land three stories down on his feet. The shock absorbers embedded in his legs completely took the impact of the fall, to Tali it would have seemed like they only jumped down a small staircase. Shepard waited a bit to let the absorbers cycle back into the ready position before he moved again. The med bay was just across the platform, a large window combined with the visible medical equipment in the background gave it away. He let the door open to his presence and moved over to the nearest bed in the bay.
In assurance, he glanced down and widened his eyes in shock. Tali was smiling back up at him in his arms. He didn't know what to say, how could she be smiling? She must have been more badly hurt than he figured, his fearsome face and body didn't ever cause anyone to spontaneously smile at his appearance before. But he was struck at how the quarian no longer seemed to be afraid, in fact, her eyes gleamed as a few tears started to fill.
As he gently lowered her down onto the bed, the thought came before he had a chance to disregard it: She's beautiful.
Tali's breathing was becoming more ragged as she started to lose focus. Alarmed, Shepard started the sterilization cycle on the med-pod, grabbing a breathing mask, after removing her broken covering, to place over her face to prevent further infection. The med-pod was designed to eliminate any foreign contaminants outside or inside the subject presented. The mask over Tali's face softly whooshed as powerful antibiotics were breathed into her system, the cocktail of drugs making her feel woozy.
Shepard stepped back as he unconsciously rubbed his head with a hand. He grabbed a chair and sat next to Tali as the whirring components continued to analyze her, scanning for any potential risk factors that might worsen with time. The list of allergic reactions that Tali was currently suffering through was being listed on a tablet near the bed. He picked it up and mindlessly flicked a finger on the surface, the endless rows of data passing him by in a daze. So, this is where his involvement got him. His life had fallen apart at the seams, his friends were alienated by his mere presence, and a dear friend was now in the process of fighting for her life. Sooner or later, this had to end somewhere, but he couldn't fathom the thought of it having any sort of happy ending.
He lowered his head in his hands, waiting for the diagnostics machine to render a result when he suddenly heard the sound of a pistol being reloaded.
Abruptly standing up, he blinked in shock to see the man who had initially been holding Tali captive was now standing on the other side of the bed, gun at the ready. His stance was well-executed, his posture was correct, and his eyes were squinted in concentration. Shepard instinctively moved away from the bed to not have Tali's prone body between them but the man moved in the opposite direction, never once breaking eye contact.
Something the big thug had mentioned came to Shepard, "You Rukin?"
He nodded once, "Who told you?"
"Just some huge bastard that loved to run his mouth."
"Ah, that would be Rosun. Where is the idiot, anyway?"
"Probably just ash at this point. We had something of a disagreement in the ship's incinerator."
Now Rukin laughed, "Bravo, Shepard. I had been wanting to kill that imbecile for months, anyway. He was never the sharpest tool in the shed, if you catch my drift." He looked down for a fraction of a second, "And I see that you managed to keep the quarian alive for this long. An admirable effort, commander. Perhaps Leng's instincts were well-founded after all."
Shepard's eyes swept the room to see if he could use something as a weapon, be it a tool or a blunt object, just something. Rukin seemed to have detected that his interest wasn't all captivated on him at this point and took the opportunity to shoot Shepard once in the knee. He gritted his teeth as his leg became numb from the disruptor rounds, thrusting out a hand to arrest his fall.
"Don't even think about it, Shepard," Rukin growled, "I know how resourceful you are, I know your capabilities, your idiosyncrasies. I oversaw your entire 'rebirth,' your creation. I was the one who essentially ran Project Lazarus."
"Project…Lazarus?"
Rukin grinned at the immobilized Shepard, "The whole point of the project was to bring you back to life, in layman's terms, that is. Cerberus managed to recover your body after the Normandy was lost over Alchera."
"What was the point to it all?"
"Humanity needed a symbol. You were the one who helped with our ascension to the Citadel Council. But it was not enough! The blind fools blamed the geth for their troubles and tried to cover up your revelation. The Illusive Man made recovering you a top priority for what you know, for what you can achieve."
Shepard was starting to rise but another burst to the other leg put him down again, "You've been a responsive audience so far, Shepard. I would hate to have you go this far without knowing so calm down right now."
"Get on with it then, you fuck," the cyborg spat.
Rukin eyed him before continuing in a mild tone, "Contrary to what you might believe, you were in better shape than what you are in now. It was my idea to put you in an artificial body, a new aspect of control."
"You mean my body was fine before?"
"I wouldn't say 'fine.' Rather, you were still a mess, but a salvageable mess nonetheless. But I introduced the idea of just plopping your organs into a customizable body. It's actually cheaper to design a chassis rather than replicate entirely new skin altogether. My cost-cutting decision was approved and here you are now. The pinnacle of what a man and a machine might become."
Shepard coughed, a dabble of blood beading on the floor, "So…what happens now?"
"Now? You're coming with us, Shepard. We're going to finish our work and make sure that you won't break free again. We-"
"I was talking about her," Shepard turned towards Tali, who was still breathing in the medicine through the mask over her face.
Rukin shrugged, "Let's be honest here, Shepard. The quarian was never going to survive this encounter. It would be better for you if she wasn't around any longer to distract you. The more incongruences in your mind, the harder it is to control you."
"You have me now. You don't need her anymore."
"But there will always be doubts in your mind. You can't possibly understand, Shepard, that memories are poison. You can't completely brainwash someone because any programming can be broken. The only way to truly control someone is to eliminate the variables that reach back."
"No…" Shepard whispered as Rukin moved closer to the side of the bed, "You leave her alone…"
Rukin moved over to the control panel and disengaged the recovery subroutine. The hiss of medication ceased and the scanners quit functioning. "When all this is over," he said sadly, "You'll realize that this was no big deal in the end. Really, commander…why care this much for a quarian? Or are you hopelessly devoted to protecting your former crew that you defy logic in an effort to reconstruct your former life? Is all this really worth it?"
"It doesn't matter what species she is!" Shepard screamed, scrambling up to reach the controls that could save Tali's life, "She's my friend and part of my crew! I would die for any of them if I had to! They're actual living beings and you people only objectify them like cattle, what gives you the right-"
A trio of shots impacted with Shepard's chest from Rukin's pistol, stopping just above the heart. The beaded electricity jolted into the organ, putting him into cardiac arrest. Clutching his chest, the cyborg collapsed with a crash as his foot twitched once and was still. Rukin maneuvered around the bed to get a better look at him, shaking his head sadly.
"So be it, Shepard." He turned away to head over to the med-bay door, where a white Kodiak shuttle was parked outside. "I need an exfil team in here right away," he spoke into his omni-tool, "We have Shepard and-"
His transmission was interrupted by a loud noise and a sharp twinge near the base of his neck. Rukin immediately clasped a hand to where it felt like he'd been pinched and was shocked to see blood on his fingers. Incredulous, he whirled around staring at Shepard. The cyborg was still motionless but the quarian on the bed was not. Despite all the odds, she was sitting up as she pointed her pistol directly at him, her eyes murderous from behind the breathing mask. Still dumbfounded, he managed to activate his shields a split second before another slug hit him in the face, causing his head to snap back from the impact.
"Shit! Goddamn it!" Rukin retreated out the door, cursing some more and yelling to his subordinates out there. Still perched on the bed, Tali leaned over to perceive Shepard, in his hateful metal skeleton blankly staring into nothing as his stasis had completely debilitated him. Now fully conscious, she knew there was no time to debate the merits of what was going to happen next. If they were to survive, she needed to act fast.
Thumbing the control on her gun to switch to disruptor rounds, she closed her eyes as she aimed at Shepard's chest. Praying that it would work, she fired and heard a yell as the cyborg's heart restarted from the electrocution. She opened her eyes as the ex-human's limbs were shaking everywhere, causing a frightful rattle from the metal on metal contact. Eventually, the horrid motions quieted as Shepard's breathing returned to normal. A ragged rasp coming from his throat, he gazed up to see only Tali's eyes, everything else covered by the breathing mask as she leaned down and whispered, "Kill him."
He didn't even take the offered pistol as he surged out from his sitting position and raced towards the door, complete rage thundering in his blood.
Rukin's neck was bleeding heavily as he shouted for reinforcements from the shuttle. The four guarding it immediately readied their weapons as they moved to cover their commander. He opened his mouth to shout another order for disruptor rounds only when the soldier who was closest to the shuttle's head exploded. The body barely finished crumpling to the ground as Rukin heard another boom, another man's cranium departing the dank confines of the skull.
A hundred meters away, Garrus smirked as he calmly reloaded atop the railing for the barracks. The landing pad was a killzone and he had the best seat in the house.
"Sniper!" Rukin roared, "Get down!"
He threw himself behind the shuttle as did two others. The last two soldiers that were slow on the uptake faltered before dying in a spray of blood and bone from the sniper's shots. Now a dismal smash was added to the mix but it was coming from behind them instead of from the front, where the shots were originating from. Rukin turned to see a black and grey figure sprint towards them, batting aside a trooper with an arm, the impact breaking ribs.
"RUKIN!" Shepard screamed as he closed the gap between them. The two soldiers rushed to meet the cyborg head-on as they aimed their Mattock rifles but Shepard was quicker. Sliding underneath their line of fire, he extended his omni-sword and whirled in a blaze of orange. Pieces of the rifles fell to the ground as the blade neatly dissected them. Realizing the danger, they started to back away but not before Shepard beheaded one and stabbed the other through the chest.
Rukin drew his pistol and leveled off a few shots but Shepard grabbed the impaled body and used it as a shield to absorb the rounds. Blood flew from the cadaver as Shepard started to move forward. Rukin's pistol snapped open as the heat sink ejected, his last one. He reached for a new one but Shepard withdrew his sword and batted Rukin's arm away, the pistol clattering over the edge into the seemingly bottomless chasm below.
Snarling, Rukin produced his own omni-sword as the two circled, staring each other down. Shepard growled, the metallic warble mixed with a static that was eerily inhuman. Rukin waited for the other to make any sudden move but the cyborg betrayed no faults, no tells that he could exploit. Human and machine were intertwined in perfect harmony. Their greatest achievement given form.
Without warning, Shepard launched himself at Rukin, barely given enough time to throw his arm up to block the blow. Sparks clashed as the omni-swords grinded together, Shepard throwing all of his weight behind the blow. Rukin barely flinched and adjusted so he could disengage, breathing heavily.
Shepard now scythed his blade across, Rukin meeting him in earnest. Frustrated, the cyborg tried a series of bone-shattering chops that Rukin either redirected with his own sword or dodged altogether. The blade bit into the ground, scorching it and sending more sparks flying. Rukin backed up near the shuttle but Shepard didn't move in with the sword. He instead faked a blow and threw a punch with his left. The colonel barely had time to duck before the appendage smashed into the metallic surface, indenting it a good foot.
While Shepard had his arm stuck in the shuttle, Rukin rolled away and moved in to stab Shepard. The metallic monstrosity saw the blow coming but was unable to move away completely in time. Instead, he repositioned his body so that instead of impaling him in his midsection, the blade came out through his shoulder. Bits of metal and plastic grated as Shepard instinctively winced, despite the lack of pain.
Muttering in determination, he threw his elbow behind him, impacting in Rukin's stomach and knocking the air out of him with a whoof! Now free, he watched as Rukin was doubled over, trying to get his wind back. Raising his blade high, he prepared to deliver a killing blow, but Rukin suddenly swiped his arm across Shepard's chest, the previous act having been a ruse. Shepard leaped back at the last second but the omni-tool gouged a rough line across the grey armor.
Still not uttering a word, the smiling Rukin now took on the role of the offensive, performing a complex set of whirls and jabs with his blade that made Shepard stumble back. The attacks were so quick that even Shepard was having a tough time parrying each blow, not having enough time to riposte.
The flat end of the sword smashed across Shepard's face during one attack, meant as an insulting impact. Shepard's combat software now popped up in his vision, having analyzed Rukin's pattern of attack. He was using a revised style of the Japanese sword art known as kendo. It was composed of using a combination of strikes and thrusts, a feat which required enormous stamina. The brief description in the popup described Rukin's attributes perfectly, the man hadn't even broken into a sweat yet. Shepard couldn't tire, but he couldn't stay on the defensive forever.
In the middle of one nasty clash, Shepard roared and pushed back with all of his might, sending Rukin leaping backwards. His shoulder was sluggish and Rukin was smiling. This had to end soon. He had to end it here.
Kendo's one weakness was that it left the attacker prone to close-range attacks, inside the stance of an enemy, so Shepard started forward with his sword raised, ready for a diagonal strike. Rukin stayed where he was, already anticipating the trajectory of the attack. But Shepard wanted to shake things up a bit. He stutter-stepped to the left as he now lowered his arm, Rukin adjusting as well. As he brought his arm up to connect both swords together, he quickly deactivated his blade and Rukin's attack sailed on past empty air, nothing to stop its momentum any more.
Rukin's mouth opened in shock as he realized what happened but it was too late. Shepard leaped on his right foot mere inches from Rukin as he twirled in mid-air, reactivating his omni-sword. At the terminus of his leap, he swiped his arm down, blade biting into Rukin's back, severing the spinal cord and sending blood flying. Rukin merely grunted in pain, eyes astonished at the fact that he had been beaten. He tried to take a step to turn him around, to look at the victor and acknowledge his defeat, body miraculously upright despite the devastating damage.
Having none of it, Shepard walked forward and grabbed Rukin by the neck. Ignoring the man's sputtering protests, he dragged him across the ground, feet scraping, as he approached the edge of the platform. Realizing what was about to happen, Rukin started to scream before Shepard threw his hand out and let go. As Rukin plummeted down off the platform into the bottomless pit below, Shepard could only watch the man's horrified expression as he fell, mouth open as his eyes were wide. He seemed to travel in slow-motion, reaching out fruitlessly for any grip that could interrupt his descent. But there was none to be had.
Shepard continued to watch until the darkness swallowed the tiny form of Rukin. He slowly blinked in relief as the finality of his battle weighed upon him. Gingerly, he staggered away from the edge of the landing platform, ignoring the hails from Garrus as he worriedly tried to contact his commander. Shepard limped over to the shuttle and flexed his hands, for once appreciating the craftsmanship and dexterity on how his limbs functioned. If he could smile, he would have until his grin burst from the effort. It was no normal life, but he was headed in the right direction.
"It was all worth it," he sighed to the empty air, taking solace in the stillness before finally acknowledging the turian on the other end.
"Objective complete."