MASS EFFECT ANDROMEDA SERIES II
CHAPTER 24
"Shepard has one shutter locked down. We may have to hold them off until he closes the second one!" Garrus yelled over the gunfire to his assigned teammate, Jacob Taylor.
"No sweat!" Jacob yelled back in a sarcastic tone as he unleashed his biotics and slammed one Eclipse merc against the bridge.
Seeing the oncoming forces dwindling, Garrus casted a glance to Andromeda's unconscious body that had been dragged to the next room by Miranda. In fact, Miranda was the one who rendered her unconscious. He found himself longing to go over to her side and see if she was alright; but tried to push his focus back to the few remaining pockets of freelancers who haphazardly were crossing over without any real formation. "Novices," he thought. He wondered what the price the Suns promised these young street kids. A knot formed in the pit of his stomach. He hated to shoot them, but he didn't have a choice.
"That's the last one of them," Jacob sat back down in relief as he panted to catch his breath. He looked over to where Andromeda was still in the donned up Suns armor. "So is she with the Blue Suns?"
"No," Garrus shook his head as he eased up off the floor to survey the base. This couldn't be all the mercs. Where was the Blood Pack? Maybe Shepard was able to suppress Garm's forces. "She pretended to be one to get to me."
"She your-"
"Friend," Garrus quickly shot out. He felt nervousness overcome him. What was the emotion he was experiencing? Not like he was lying. She was a friend of his, but what great lengths did he overcome to get her back safe. Then again what great lengths did she have to overcome to get to where she was now? Safety was a myth. Even with her that close to him, she wasn't safe. Aria would learn of her disappearance soon enough and with their forces in depletion, any Blue Suns remaining members may tell her of probable whereabouts. An eerie calm swept throughout the base. Something just wasn't right. Racing out of the room, he bolted towards the main floor. No, the door was still locked, but a frightening chatter of Vorcha was on the other side. Then seconds later, sparks began to fly as the Vorcha were trying to cut their way through the thick metal door.
"Garrus, this is Shepard. All the shutters have been secured. We are coming back up there," Shepard's voice of hope came through the comm. Just the answer to his unspoken prayer he needed!
"Get back here, Shepard! They are coming in through the doors," He made his way up the stairs. He knew it was futile to try to prevent them breaking in, but he would be ready for them. He would take the leverage of the upper floor. Vakarian motioned to Jacob to be ready to flank them. The sound of the door being sliced up made his heart race. Every second was going slower.
A familiar growl echoed throughout the base as it appeared Garm was the first to step inside. Beside him was his entourage of Vorcha gang members. "Rip them to shreds!"
Garrus quickly raised up his sniper rifle and took aim. He maneuvered the scope to one of the Vorcha who went past Garm. He would take them down first. He wouldn't make the same mistake going up against Garm again. The Vorcha's ugly face got into his sights and he pulled the trigger. The bullet pierced the vile creature's neck and he fell backwards as blood filled up his mouth. Garm looked down at his fatally wounded comrade without pity and then glared hard up at Garrus. For the first time in the Krogan's life, he saw Archangel face to face without the helmet. The burly Krogan's eyes narrowed as if he was saving a mental image of Garrus' face. Garrus didn't flinch from fear as he ejected a round and reloaded the weapon. Garm turned to head up the stairs, "Watch my back. I'm going after Archangel."
"Come on you, ugly son-of-a bitch," Garrus pointed to the remaining Vorcha to Jacob as he scrambled to shut their door. If Garm was coming after him, he was going to make the trip difficult. He saw Garm crest at the top of the steps just as the door closed.
"You can't hide from me, Turian," Garm's voice bellowed as he thundered closer.
"You made a lot of friends here I see?" Jacob cracked a smile to Garrus as the Turian knelt down, aiming squarely at the door. He would have to at least get a few rounds off to wound Garm as much as he could before he charged.
"Shepard's down there!" Jacob exclaimed as he fired down at the Vorcha vermin that were infesting the base once more.
"Good," Garrus let out a sigh of relief. The celebration was only temporary as he heard the door open. The Krogan gang leader stormed in with a purple hue, his biotic power was surging. Garrus fired quickly but the biotic barrier blocked all the rounds.
Garm smirked at the shocked Turian. "I am going to tear you limb from limb and then feed you to my Varren!" The growls of oncoming Varren could be heard close by, but then a whimper as they were hit by bullets. Garm looked back to see his once beloved Varren dead in the hallway as Shepard and Miranda went up the stairs. In desperation, Garm roared as he charged directly at Archangel.
"Watch out, Garrus!" Jacob yelled but his warning was in vain. The Krogan was on top of Garrus within seconds. Garrus fumbled to switch to a shorter range weapon but he was too close. The Krogan head butted him hard and then smacked him. With the power up of biotics, the smack spun Garrus around and he slid about ten feet away. His body ached and he felt blood in his mouth. He spat out some to get rid of the putrid taste.
Garm chuckled as he completely ignored Jacob and kept his eyes on Archangel. "You're dead meat."
"I don't think so," Jacob raised his hand cannon and he fired a few rounds trying to knock down the Krogan's shields as best as he could.
"Stay back, ugly!" Shepard added in with Miranda's weapon as they struck hard against Garm's rear side. Within moments his shields were depleted.
"No!" Garm hollered as blood soaked his armor. It was hard to tell how many rounds were able to pierce through to his thick skin. He lumbered as best as he could to Garrus.
This time Garrus was ready for him. He raised his assault rifle and fired. The armor piercing rounds tore up the massive Krogan's warlord armor and revealed his flesh. The rounds didn't stop there. They tore his skin and muscle tissue hitting vital organs. The Krogan stopped frozen as he winced in pain. He spat pools of blood as life began to drain from his body. Garm took two more steps before the wounds overcame his determination and fell to the floor, dead.
"He's tough," Jacob lifted his eye brow as he holstered his weapon.
"Tell me about it," Garrus lowered his rifle.
"Only the Blue Suns are left. I say we take our chances and fight our way out, "Shepard pointed to the door.
"What about her?" Miranda motioned over to Andromeda.
"We can't just leave her here," Jacob's voice pleaded.
"She'll come with us until we get to the Citadel," Shepard eyed Garrus carefully. As if he was trying to tell Garrus that he didn't want to deal with Andromeda at all. His mission was not to get her like Garrus'. His mission was to recruit Garrus into whatever suicide job he had for him.
"Okay. Tarak won't be expecting us to hit him head on," Garrus watched Jacob run over to get Andromeda.
Suddenly the windows shattered as large rounds struck them. The familiar sound of a gunship was just outside the complex. "Get down!" Jacob dove to the floor to seek cover.
Seeing Tarak behind the controls, Garrus jumped to the right to avoid being seen at the window. "Damnit! I thought I took that thing out already!" He looked over his shoulder to see Shepard and Miranda taking cover as well. The room that housed Andromeda was out of gunfire. He had to make sure to keep it that way.
"We got incoming," Miranda launched a biotic attack to several Suns coming down by rope from the gunship.
"Gravity's one mean mother," Jacob raised one fighter up and then tossed him out the window to his death.
"They are coming in downstairs!" Shepard rushed to take on the oncoming forces.
One merc slipped in through another window and went to follow Shepard to shoot him in the back. Garrus took aim and shot the merc in the back first. "Never saw me coming!"
"Don't get cocky," Miranda joined Shepard.
Seeing his friends being able to take out the last of the ground forces, Garrus ran over to the nearby room and crouched down to check on Andromeda. Her breathing was normal and she stirred as she was starting to come to. "If you can hear me, Andromeda, then stay still. This place isn't safe yet." He got up and walked back out to survey the upper floor. Everything seemed quiet. "Maybe Tarak ran out of men and fled like the coward that he is?" Garrus thought.
The gunship flew quickly up in the window. It totally caught Garrus off guard. Where was Tarak hiding at? "Archangel!" Tarak's voice came over the ship's intercom system. Realizing that he was totally exposed, Garrus raced to the couch to get to some sort of cover. Seeing the turret positioned right at him, he knew he didn't have time to duck. Holding his sniper rifle up, he went to aim in on the turret. If he could shoot out in time….maybe he could disarm it. The turret's machinery was faster and rounds tore apart the couch's fabric and one managed to strike his leg. Bullets sprayed all around him, tearing up the base's floor. "You think you can screw with the Blue Suns?!" Tarak screamed. Agonizing pain overwhelmed Archangel as he used his gun as a crutch to get to safety away from the window. Anything in the window would not be able to stay up to the turret's firepower. A decorative plant box was the closest thing he could get to without putting any pressure on his leg. Using the crutch, he sat himself up and kept his head covered. The turret stopped. Risking the chance to get a position on the gunship, Garrus looked over his shoulder to see Tarak still hovering ominously at the window. "This ends now," The Batarian bellowed. Suddenly the gunship launched missiles. The projectiles were coming straight at him! He tried to dodge them but didn't manage to get his entire body away from the targeted area. The missiles met their target on the box and it exploded. Garrus felt his entire face burn as he was lifted off the ground. He felt himself strike the hardness of the floor. He could hear Shepard call out his name and the sound of more gunfire. He tried to lift his head to check on Andromeda, but he couldn't move his head. A blue haze filled his eyes as he felt the warm sticky sensation of blood cover his head. His heart began to race as he went into shock. He reached out to try to get his bearings. Was he going to join his men? He grabbed onto his rifle barrel and felt the familiar cold metal within his talons. Hands began to touch him and he thought he could hear Shepard calling out his name, but he couldn't talk. He tried but blood just poured into his mouth. Unable to withstand the pain anymore, he closed his eyes and then his world became black. "So this is it…"