Legion made a descend from a metal traverse in the hall down to James, Shepard and Daniel. However, James went few steps back as Legion was approaching them.
"James… it's ok. He's no threat!" Shepard said and Legion showed his empty hands.
"We do not intend to cause harm."
"Uh… it can talk?!" James looked at Shepard.
"We are Geth. This platform is built for cooperation with Shepard-commander against the Heretics."
"Heretics are those other Geth we were fighting, James. Go and help Daniel!" Shepard said and exchanged his position with James who went down to Daniel making sure the wound wouldn't get any worse. Shepard stood face to face Legion.
"Legion, what happened here? I thought we reprogrammed Geth before."
"The main server has been infected with virus. We do not know who deployed the virus but he left a symbol." Legion said and projected some kind of insignia.
"Cerberus! Who else!" Shepard said and Legion dismissed the holograph.
"This platform has sent a distress signal once we spotted Normandy docking here. We hoped that Shepard-commander would save us."
"How long are you the main resistance here?"
"We resist the Heretics for… precisely 842 hours, 12 minutes and 17 seconds now."
"You, Loco?" James asked and Shepard with Legion looked at him, "He's losing consciousness." He said as Daniel tried to stay awake. Shepard looked back at Legion, concerned.
"He lost too much blood and the pressure between his suit and vacuum costs him air. No time to waste. Legion, we must escape this place but there is some signal jammer that holds us in here!" Shepard said and Legion activated his omni-tool.
"We recommend on shutting down the central server. It will temporarily deactivate Heretics and every other technology connected to it. We will have a few minutes before the auxiliary generator switches the base back on."
"Lead the way, Legion." Shepard said and checked James with Daniel, "Daniel, can you hear me?" Shepard asked, Daniel tiredly nodded, "Don't give up. We're almost out of this. Just hold on!"
"I'll… I'll try…" Daniel said and James helped him on feet.
"Got ya, Dan!" James supported Daniel and together with Shepard and Legion they went towards the central server. Their way was suspiciously calm, Legion in the front, James with Daniel having arm around his neck in the middle, Shepard as the last one. With no interruption, they managed to get in the central server room.
"Shepard-commander. This is the central server." Legion walked up to the console.
"How much time do you need?"
"We need only two minutes to get through firewalls and apply the command. However, as soon as we unlock first firewall, the Heretics will be invading."
"We have no ammo, Legion!"
"Then we recommend setting up defensive turrets and manually use them. Shepard-commander, we wish you good luck." Legion said Shepard with James headed to defensive turrets next to the entrance. Daniel was laid next to Legion who was working on the console. The hostile Geth were incoming to the server room but James and Shepard were taking down each one using the turrets. Daniel was watching the Geth standing next to him how it worked at the console, concentrated on breaking through firewalls.
The Geth didn't pay attention to Daniel. The human looked at the entrance as Geth were incoming but his vision was becoming very contrast. He stopped registering sound and followed by that, everything went black. After two minutes, no Geth were incoming to the room. James and Shepard got off the turrets.
"That was the last one."
"We kicked their asses, yeah!" James cheered.
"Shepard-commander. The signal interference is no longer active." Legion said.
"Good work Legi–" Shepard was about to say but then he noticed how his Geth companion kneeled down, checking on Daniel. "Daniel!" he exclaimed. Both, James and Shepard ran down to see him, "Shit!" Shepard said and started to shake with him violently, "Wake up! Daniel! No!"
"Shepard-commander. We recommend immediate evacuation before it's too late."
"He needs help! I'm not leaving him behind!" Shepard said and activated a medi-gel from his omni-tool. Daniel twitched himself a little.
"Mhm… Shep…" He murmured and Shepard took a deep breath.
"Good…" Shepard said and called to Normandy, "Joker! We need to get out! Start the engines! We'll be at Normandy in no time!"
"Roger that, commander!" Joker said and Shepard looked at Legion.
"Legion. You'll take Daniel, I and James will cover you." Shepard said and Legion took Daniel carefully in his arms. They ran out of the server room, soon the auxiliary generator switched the power back on. Hostile Geth were after them, James and Shepard were shooting through their way. Enemies were soon surprised by Normandy's lights illuminating the hallways of the ship. When the hostile Geth turned around to see, the wall of the ship blew up and all Hostile Geth were thrown far behind the squad.
"On board!" Shepard shouted. All of them ran towards the airlock door of Normandy. There was a big jump from a broken floor to the airlock but thanks to the zero gravity, every one of them got in the airlock. The door closed behind them. In the airlock, there was time before the pressure would equalize. Daniel's blood was dripping to the ground and Legion couldn't help it but he had to stare at Daniel. Holding him in arms was bringing him some vibrations in his circuits. He couldn't see under the helmet but he wanted to touch.
Touch… he never thought of touching, neither had need of something. His existence was always logical and he followed only algorithms. Now there was something he couldn't describe well, some urge to take down the helmet and see him, possibly touch him as well. No, Legion knew he was Geth, however, something didn't seem right. The airlock of Normandy opened to the deck and James with Shepard took off their helmets.
"So how did it go, commander?" Joker asked as he turned around with his pilot chair.
"We will talk later, Joker. There is one member of my squad that needs immediate medical care." Shepard explained shortly and Legion followed Shepard to the elevator. James remained with Joker.
"Looks like it didn't go as planned."
"Don't care. We made it out alive… more or less."
"Except for Dan, yeah?"
"Hey, he's not dead but he was this close to death!" James showed tiny space between thumb and index finger. Down in the medical bay, Daniel was laid on medical berth by Legion. Dr. Chakwas took off his uniform and his helmet. In the moment when Legion saw Daniel's unconscious face, there was sudden wave of heat rushing from deep of his core. The urge to touch him was increasing and Legion was processing through his data banks if there was no virus that could do this. Everything was clean.
"Shepard, Dan will be fine." Dr. Chakwas talked to Shepard behind Legion. Legion tilted his head to the side, listening to their conversation, "But he had extreme luck. According to the measures, he lost 4 liters of blood. It seems he got shot in vein which is better than get shot in artery but still."
"When is he going to be back on his feet?"
"I applied some advanced medi-gel so his blood cells should regenerate twice as fast but you can't count with mission for at least one day."
"One day? That doesn't sound like long time for him to recover."
"Well, it's no surprise actually. When I talked to him about his life before, he told me that he didn't drink or smoke. Except for the fact he wasn't in favor of doing sport, he lived pretty healthy before."
"That's good then…"
"Are you worried, Shepard?" Dr. Chakwas asked, reading a concern from face of the commander.
"I will be honest, doctor. I had my doubts every time I looked at Daniel at that ship. His look is so… so innocent, unharmed… I was so afraid of losing him when he was losing his consciousness there. I was thinking for a while that I failed as a commander…" Shepard said, sustaining his face with hand and shaking it.
"Commander. It's normal to expect risk of your squadmates getting hurt. If I should say my opinion, I think Daniel did well on this mission. It was his very first mission and he can be grateful only to you that you gave him right orders. If you didn't do all you could, we wouldn't be able to save him." Dr. Chakwas said and Shepard sighed.
"Perhaps you're right, doctor. I have to admit that despite the fact of his autistic handicap, he did a great work. I'll leave you work and him rest… Legion? We're going."
"Shepard-commander. This platform requires permission to stay. We wish to learn." Legion said and Dr. Chakwas with Shepard looked at each other.
"I think… if doctor doesn't mind you staying here… I guess you can stay, Legion."
"I don't mind it, Legion. Just don't do anything that might complicate Dan's healing procedure."
"We will not interfere into your work, doctor." Legion said and Shepard was about to leave.
"Alright then. I'm going to get ready for another mission including bringing Garrus."
"Commander, if I may suggest you something, go and take a nap. You had a rough day." Dr. Chakwas smiled.
"I don't know, doctor. I mean how long will it take for us to get to Hades Nexus?"
"Don't bother yourself, commander. We have like five hours of flight in front of us!" Joker said through com-link and Shepard crossed his arms, thinking that Joker was spying on him. Joker cut the communication and Shepard left the medical bay. Dr. Chakwas returned to her work and Legion turned back to see Daniel's pale bloodless face. The Geth was watching every body part of Daniel, feeling strange itch pushing him to touch him. Don't do it, we don't need this, we don't feel. He told himself thinking this logical assumption would help him to push back his need.
It didn't help a bit, actually it only made his need more intense. Legion's shaking three-fingered hand was slowly approaching Daniel's arm which rested forceless on the medical table. First contact with Daniel's hand was like an electrostatic discharge for Legion. A spark which made him flinch back. He actually felt it. A feeling he thought. He had to do it again. This time, he didn't flinch back. The cold metal went in contact with soft bare skin of Daniel's arm. Legion needed more. His hand made its way down Daniel's arm until his receptors met Daniel's palm.
Now the urge and itch was so powerful that Legion had to do this. He grabbed the hand, grasping it, intertwining his three fingers with Daniel's five. The itch was lowering, a heat wave flooding Legion's wires. The Geth sensed that Daniel tightened his grip as well so Legion glanced at his face and found that the human smiled.