A/N: Okay, so I have just realized I kept writing Legion referring to himself (itself?) as I when it was supposed to be 'we'. Golly, How embarrassing. =o

Chapter 7: Old Habits Die Hard

Kasumi chewed on her lip as she tried to think of what to do next. It was proving to be a difficult task what with the crackling of a chemical blaze right next to her. Her mind went over Legion's earleier analysis: Entry and exit points all blocked, no way to extinguish the blaze, no chance of a happy ending. She didn't need a happy ending though, she just needed to get Garrus out of there. The question was how? More importantly, was he still even alive?

She gritted her teeth in frustration. They were only supposed to do recon. Recon! The kind of recon that didn't involve a lot of bullets flying in the air. That bastard! Now, now she had to…. Had to… Kasumi let out a deep breath as she composed herself. Now's not a time for a nervous breakdown. She needed a way in, and by god she didn't care if it wasn't subtle.

"Wait." She said to herself, as a light bulb flashed in her mind. "Legion!" She said urgently, whipping out her omnitool, "Legion, come in!" Her eyes drifted towards the crane. "I have a plan."

"You have my full attention."

"Well listen up…"

It was… peaceful, Garrus thought. The quiet was a welcome change of pace. He was lying down against a ruined wall under the skies of palaven, on a grassy gnoll that overlooked the plains. He tried to get up, but he found it strange, to say the least. His body felt different somehow; stiffer, but lighter at the same time if that made any sense. His thoughts were cut short as he heard a soft rumble in the distance, like looming thunder. He tried to think back as to what he was doing before he got to this place, but it was fuzzy. Still, the rumbling came again, louder this time, and he felt shockwaves go through his body. His eyes wandered towards his side, as if he had to remember something about it.

There was another rumble, and the whole place shook again. But this time, his surroundings started to blur.

Again, the rumbling was gathering a violent pace as the skies cracked and the plains started to catch fire.

He sighed, looking up at the nightmarish clouds. "This is a dream, isn't it?" He looked back down to his side and found it stained with his blood. "And I'm starting to remember how much reality sucks."

Garrus groaned as he was greeted by the heat and pain, lids heavy and mouth dry. He had lost a substantial amount of blood, enough to make him delirious but just short of killing him.

Well, killing him outright, anyway. His death was going to be long, painful and excruciating. The blood loss was letting him off easier than he had hoped, but the fire was threatening to cook him alive in his armor as it is. He laughed, just a quiet resignation to his fate. With any luck, the Eclipse would still fear he was alive. That would be one mess out of Shepard's hair for a little while, he thought. If not, life was just being hilarious again. He was broken from his musings as the entire building shook violently. He shot a glance to his right and saw the wall there had been bent inwards, as if something huge was punching it from the outside.

Kasumi held on tightly as she stood atop the large cargo crate that the crane had picked up, using it like a wrecking ball against the side of the building. Gun fire shot up from below as the Eclipse mercs took their pot shots, narrowly missing her by a hair's breadth at times. "Just a little more, Legion!" she said as the metal wall started to crumple with each passing strike. She leaned over the edge, one hand grasping the cable, taking a few pot shots right back at her assailants. She drew back just in time to hold on with all her strength as the huge cargo crate crashed into the side of the office again.

The crate drew back, and the high pitched whine of metal crumbling and tearing apart filled the air. Little bits and pieces started to fall first, mostly those knocked loose by the constant assault. The sound grew louder, like a dying beast bellowing, and then the section of the wall fell down, fire erupting from the newly made hole. Kasumi shielded here face from the flames. Panic gripped her, was she too late? The flames settled, and there he was, slumped against a wall, lying in a pool of blood. "I have a visual, bring me in slowly!" The crane moved to position the crate alongside the hole and Kasumi hopped through, landing gracefully a few feet from him. "Garrus!" she said, rushing swiftly to his side. "Hold on, I have omnigel."

She ran a hand over his wound and the viscous gel sprayed over it. It seeped into the gash and Garrus cringed as it stung. "Kasumi?" He said, weakly, coming out of his delirium. He let out a groan as she administered the same treatment to the wound in his hand. He could feel the effects almost immediately, and tried to stand up. His knees wobbled, and he had to have one hand against the wall just to support himself. "You should've just run, you know?"

"And you should've pulled your head out of your ass." She shot back heatedly, walking to his side to put one arm over her shoulders. Garrus went along with it and they shuffled towards the hole where the crate lay beyond. "Of all the pig-headed, stupid, reckless things I have seen…" She said, heaving him along, petite legs straining from his weight, "You, Garrus, most definitely take the proverbial cake."

"I did what I had to do."

"Am I supposed to be impressed by the 'brooding-and-mysterious' act?"

Garrus was quiet, and they walked the rest of the way with nothing more being said. The gap that separated the crate and the floor was a small one, and Garrus hopped across it without much difficulty, though the landing made his wound twist in pain. Kasumi followed after him, grabbing onto the back of his armor as well as the cable to steady him. And no sooner than she had stepped on, the fires suddenly blazed higher, making the facility shake.

"In think we should go." She said as she sent a message to Legion.

"Yes, let's. Going is good." Garrus replied, watching the spot he was just on get covered in fiery debris.

The crane swiftly drew away from the building as Garrus and Kasumi grabbed tightly onto the cable, bracing themselves as the crate they stood on swung slightly. The flames rumbled and crackled, blazing purple as it fully consumed the office.

Garrus was about to say something, when he heard the pitter-patter of bullets ricocheting off metal. He peeked over the side and drew his head back as several shots whizzed past him. He turned to Kasumi, his best poker face on. "I think we're being shot at."

"Really?" She replied, cocking an eyebrow and drawing out her sub machine gun. "No wonder I felt so compelled to rescue you." She leaned over the side and fired back at the Eclipse. "Your ability to point out the obvious is proving invaluable so far."

"You think this is something?" He said, reaching behind her waist and borrowing her pistol, "You should see my other tricks."

"Hey!" She said in protest to his swiping of her gun as he leaned over the side himself and picked out several mercs. Kasumi's gaze drifted towards his bloody armor "What happened to you in there anyway?"

"Some punk got lucky and stuck me with a knife." He replied, reloading the pistol with a thermal clip from her pack.

"Lucky, right." She reloaded her own weapon. "Who brings a knife to a gun fight anyway?"

"Why, the stylish ones, of course."

She laughed, but caught herself doing so and immediately replaced it with a grim expression. "I'm still mad at you." She stated, returning fire over the edge once again.

"You can try to be."

She turned back to him, anger in her eyes and taking him by surprise. "I'm serious!" She walked up to him and grabbed the collar of his armor. "Is this a game to you? We were only supposed to do recon and what do you do?" she made her voice deep and gravelly in her best Garrus impersonation. "Hey guys, I'm so bad ass, let's do some pro-active recon and kill anything in yellow armor that so much as fidgets!" She let go of his collar and went back to her spot to shoot some more. "Please! Shepard might think so highly of you but you're just some thug with a mean streak."

"Excuse me?" Garrus replied, flabbergasted by the sudden outburst. "You think I'm doing this for fun?" He said between shots. "You think I just felt like doing this because it was Tuesday or something?" His voice was angry. "I did this for Shepard! For the entire crew!"

"Oh really? Do enlighten me!"

"If Omega thought Archangel was back from the grave, they'd focus on him and not on Shepard!" He was yelling, he realized. Yelling at a woman. He turned away from her, the shame causing his expression to soften. "I'm sorry for yelling… I just…"

Kasumi's scowl scrunched up in a look of confusion. "You did this… for us?" It was funny how quiet it could get in the middle of a gun fight.

"Yes." He said somberly as bullets peppered the bottom of the crate. "I didn't want to lose my team. Not again. Not if I could help it."

"That…" Kasumi's voice wavered, but found her footing again, keeping the scowl on. "That's the most selfish thing I've ever heard!"

"What?"

"You heard me!" She said, leaning over the side again to fire back, "Trying to take the weight of this entire problem as if we were all helpless! Didn't you think of how we would have felt if you died?"

"Kasumi, I…"

"I don't want another martyr, I've known one too many." She said quietly, reloading the gun. "I don't want to see any more of my friends die as much as you do. You said we were a team, and team mates can take on anything if they work together! Even Commander 'One Man Army' Shepard knows this!" She walked up to him and poked a finger to his chest plate. "So you can take your lone hero act and shove it!"

Garrus was about to say something, when he heard a sinister whistle in the air that creeped past the noise of the gun shots. "Incoming!" He grabbed her and wrapped his other arm around the cable as an explosion rocked the crate they stood on, ripping it to pieces underfoot. A missile had slammed the underside of the crate, the angle it hit sparing them any deadly direct effects. Garrus found his footing on the hook just in time as the crate crumbled to the ground beneath them. "You still in one piece?" he said, looking down at Kasumi who had wrapped her arms around his chest. They swung like a pendulum from the force of the blast, but were otherwise unharmed. If anything, the swinging was actually helping them as the mercs below had trouble getting a bead on their sights.

"I…" she responded, looking up to his face, then looking away when she realized how close they were. "I… yeah, I'm alright." She took note of the surroundings. "Well this possibly can't get any worse!"

As if on cue, another missile flew past the pair and crashed into the crane itself. The cable shook, and Garrus thought they were both going to fall to their deaths. It held however, but they slowly lowered to the ground, towards the mercs. He looked at Kasumi in annoyance, and she replied with a sheepish grin. "You just had to jinx us, huh?"

"Oh yeah, because things were going soooo smoothly beforehand." She said, working her way around him, under his arm, wrapping one arm around his waist while the other one aimed her weapon at some mercs. Pulling the trigger, her shots took out several who were running from cover to cover. "Got your back if you got mine?"

"I'd be honored." Garrus took the hint and used his now free arm to fire on the mercs on his side. The swinging was growing weaker, and he knew they'd both be dead once the cable was still. "Reloading!" he said as he popped out the used clip and, having no other option, held the pistol in his mandibles, leaving his hand free to rummage her pack for a fresh one.

"Just watch what you grab back there." Kasumi said in annoyance, clicking her tongue as her own gun went empty. She held it behind her back, presenting Garrus with the port for the thermal clip. "Care to top a lady up?"

Garrus worked quickly as he slammed a new thermal clip into Kasumi's gun. The thief quickly said thanks and aimed at a merc who was about to fire on them, punching him full of holes. Garrus grabbed one for himself and awkwardly reloaded the gun he held in his mandibles. He grabbed it back in his hand and continued shooting. "By the way, where's Legion?"

Kasumi realized this as well, "I don't know, he's keeping radio silence!" She turned back to shoot but noticed a batarian hauling around a rocket launcher. "I think I found our rocket launcher headache."

She opened fire on him, bringing him down by shooting out his knees, but he still held the missile launcher in his hands. He was taking his time, she noticed, then her eyes widened when grim realization hit her: Homing rockets!

"Uh, Garrus?" she began.

"What is it?" he replied, busy with his shooting.

Before she could say anything else, the rocket launcher exploded, it's payload swallowing an entire group of mercs in the resulting explosion. Kasumi smiled. "Nothing, I just wanted to let you know that I found Legion."

Far below, Legion shouldered it's widow-maker and reloaded another clip in it. Taking aim, it was picking out the mercs with heavy weapons and turning them to mush with the high velocity rounds. By the time its presence was noticed, all of the Eclipse heavy gunners had been taken out.

"Is that a Geth?" a human asked incredulously.

"Who cares?" replied a batarian, drawing out his machine gun and opening fire on Legion. Several other mercs joined him and a storm of gunfire crashed towards the geth. "Slag it!"

Rather than diving for cover, Legion stood its ground as the air around it shimmered, its heavy shields taking the brunt of the assault with ease. Drawing out its machine gun, it strode across the battle field, methodically taking out each of his assailants with well-placed bursts. Its shield energy was draining rapidly, but Legion achieved its purpose of drawing fire away from its companions.

There was a loud bang in the air and Legion's shields shattered around it. Legion dove behind some rubble from the office above and pulled out its own sniper rifle, peeking above cover to get a bead on the enemy sniper. Kasumi's voice chimed through the communicator, "Legion, two snipers at your 3 o'clock!"

"Acknowledged." Legion punched the air towards the snipers and an explosive combat drone shot forth. Weaving in and out of fire, the drone reached its targets and exploded sending the two mercs flying. Legion got up from cover and brought up his machine gun, mowing down anything that got in its sights.

"Wow." Kasumi said as she watched Legion do his thing. She turned to Garrus, arching an eyebrow. "Are all geth like that?"

"Nope, just that one." He replied, firing off several shots resulting in several more dead bodies.

"Well," she said, turning her attention back to the gun fight. "I'm glad he's on our side."

With Legion's aid, Garrus and Kasumi managed to easily mop up the remaining mercs, some of which started to turn tail and run. They managed to kill some, but most got away.

"This platform shall pursue and exterminate them." Legion began, drawing out his sniper rifle.

"That's not necessary, Legion." Kasumi replied, then turning to the turian wrapped around her arms. "After all, that is what you wanted, right Garrus?"

"Kasumi…" he replied slowly.

"Oh please." She cut him off with a wry grin as she rolled her eyes. "It's what you wanted right? Let them spread the return of Archangel and his new team. That'll get some heat off of Shepard."

"Kasumi…"

"You heard me, team." She said, "No more of this lone wolf business. If you have to go around killing people, you take me a long so someone can hold onto your leash."

"Kasumi…"

"What?" she replied slightly annoyed. "What the hell is your problem? Are you still insisting on running off on your own to get yourself killed!" she was angry now. She thought she had gotten through to him.

"Actually, I just wanted to point out that we're on the ground now."

She tilted her head in confusion, and then looked down to see that indeed the crane had already lowered them to the ground level. It took a couple more seconds for her to realize that she was still hugging Garrus. For his part, the turian merely cleared his throat, looking away when they made eye contact. The color rose in her face as she let go, stepping back a bit to leave some room between them. "Ah, sorry."

"Thank you." Garrus replied, stepping off the hook. "For the whole saving my life thing, I mean. I didn't mind the, ah… Thanks."

"Well, you did cover my back up there, so I'd say we're even…"

There was a long pause between them, the awkward tension only broken by Legion.

"Suggestion: We should leave." Legion didn't even wait for a reply as he turned and started walking towards the darkness.

"Right." They replied in unison, then clearing their throats at the same time, following after Legion.

"I need a drink." Kasumi said, wiping the sweat off her brow.

"Mind if I join you?" Garrus inquired, stepping up alongside her as they walked.

"Eh, why not?" She said, looking at him, then her brow furrowed. "Wait a minute… How can you act so normally after losing several pints of blood?"

"I-" Garrus arched an eyebrow at her question, puzzled himself. He looked down at his wound and the adrenalin rush suddenly left his body. "Damn it, Kasumi, you jinxed me again." His voice was groggy as he fell forward and his face planted to the ground.

"Garrus! Legion get over here! Legion! I am not carrying this big lug all the way back to the Normandy by myself! Oh no, you are not walking away from this, I know you can hear me! Legion!"

"By the spirits, you are loud…" Garrus moaned under his breath as the world started to fade to black again.

The pain had vanished. He was skeptical at first, thinking it a lie that his mind had formulated for him to cope, but it was true. His veins did not sing with agony, his extremities left unbound, his body undefiled. The second thing he noticed was the darkness; the world beyond lay in pitch black, swallowing him like a gaping maw of despair. The third thing he noticed was the silence; it was deafening, he wasn't even sure if he could hear himself think. He tried to speak out loud, but all he managed was a gurgle. Strange, it was as if he didn't know how to speak. He started walking in a straight line, to what end, who knew? He just kept on walking

Seconds stretched into minutes. The minutes stretched into hours. The hours felt like days. He walked on and on and the emptiness persisted. He would have claimed it all a terrible dream, were it not for the fact that he felt so… alive, real.

He started to laugh, softly at first, turning into a booming guffaw that penetrated the darkness as well as any light, until settling on one full of mirth. He was hardly free at all. No, his captors merely introduced him to another form of torture. Admittedly, he didn't know which he preferred less.

He was ready. For what though? He wasn't quite sure. All that mattered was that he knew it in his bones. His body remembered things. Countless hours of training, death defying feats in battle, cunning logic under fire, and the feeling of familiarity with any weapon in his grasp. He knew he could use this to kill them all. He felt his lips split into a cruel smile, and suddenly, light was cutting through the darkness. His head bolted from right to left, looking for the source, before a bright flash below him made him look at his hands. It was coming from him, he realized.

He looked down at his hands to see that his skin was fissuring, revealing scars that burned an intense bright orange. He felt confusion, then fear as the scars started to spread, then pain as they burned brighter. He yelled as he felt searing heat tear out all over his body, the hiss and scent of cooking flesh permeating in the air.

Somewhere high above the darkness, where his screams reverberated, predatory eyes watched his suffering with fervor. With pride.