They spent the next two days orbiting Hagalaz. Feron was stabilized with the help of the Shadow Broker's med bay, but it was generally agreed upon that continuation of his recovery shouldn't take place on the same ship he'd been a prisoner on for the last two years. Liara spent some time catching up with the Normandy residents that she knew, and tried to question him at length about Awoken civilization, but didn't apologize for the skycar incident.
Even if not for her explosive first impression, the Asari made him uneasy. She was the Shadow Broker now. She had inherited all his dealings, information, and resources. But she had also inherited his... victims. When he asked what would happen to them, she had told him it would look odd for the Broker to suddenly just let them all go. That cutting so many people who knew too much loose on the galaxy would be a mistake. With everything going on with Glint, it makes bile rise in his throat to hear such things, especially from a friend of Shepard's(who looks a bit uncomfortable herself to hear Liara's words).
At his core he can understand why, but it was incredibly disheartening and disturbing. He has Glint cut her access to the 'Alternate Universe For Dummies' codex, she didn't need to be getting ideas from their end on top of everything else. When she asks him about why, he musters the glare Garrus had taught him again, and told her plainly that she wouldn't be staying, so she wouldn't be needing it. He declines to comment when nobody on team transmat will tell her how said transmat system works.
The request to deny her information confused everyone except Legion, who as usual had no opinions on organic social strife. She was an associate of Shepard's, so surely she could be trusted, right? Yeah, no. He had spent half his life under the thumb of an alien mob boss, he wasn't about to enable... that on a galactic scale in even the most remote sense.
He's pretty sure Tali just glared at him for calling her friend a mob boss, and Joker just looked uncomfortable. Neither of them commented further on the matter, knowing exactly why he felt the way he did on the matter. Such actions also gave him an odd sort of thrill; he's never asserted control over something like this before, let alone to hinder someone in a remotely similar position as the Spider, and it's exhilarating.
If Crow had a shit list, Liara T'Soni would have landed herself a place on it. Or maybe he did have such a list, and she was simply the first edition. Either way, by the time they drop her and Feron off on Illium, she and Crow were not fans of one another. Don't get him wrong, he was glad she got her friend back, but even her close ties with Commander Shepard weren't enough to assuage the unease that he felt whenever he saw her. She had that power now, and it was because of them- because of him. Everything she did with it now, for better or worse, was on them.
All in all, he was glad to see the backend of their business with the Shadow Broker, at least for now. But with that stressor gone, several others took its place. They went to their private dock on the Citadel first thing after Illium and spent a full three days finalizing, calibrating, improving and testing the transmat system. It took longer than any of them thought it would, with Glint and Shepard enforcing a ban on working through the night and Crow having coffee partially to blame; even if that previous behavior may have caused at least half the little issues they found in their initial diagnostics.
And once they were certain things were in top shape, though with room for future improvements, Commander Shepard had the engineering team start working with Mordin to begin installing the Reaper IFF. The salarian had rushed in while Ken was popping the cork on something alcoholic that he claimed could get 'even Crow and Legion drunk'(it didn't, and it tasted awful) in celebration of officially finishing the transmat project, and started firing off instructions and random bits of information while slamming a heavy case down on the floor next to Gabby's work station.
Joker and the others had been greatly displeased, with Crow following once his initial confusion wore off. He might not have a part to play in the IFF installation, but he's pretty sure Shepard would expect the engineers to have at least a short break before getting started! They all presented this case to the hyper scientist, but Legion was the only one to get through to him.
If 'getting through' to someone could be counted as picking them up by the back of the coat like a misbehaving kitten and carrying them out the door. Mordin didn't even struggle; either he was too surprised to act, or he was taking the unusual out so he didn't have to spend all day trying to convince tired engineers not to take a break.
Legion's declaration of 'we are currently engaging in celebratory social interaction' as he 'escorted' the salarian out was just the icing on the cake. Joker and Crow were the first ones to break out into hysterics once Mordin was gone and the geth had declared 'you may resume consuming alcoholic beverages'. Joker later used his admin powers in their group chat to change Legion's name from '404 Error' to 'Bouncer T-1k', with the promise to explain yet another pop culture reference at a later point.
Later that night, though, Shepard had told him they were ready to remove the bomb. Her hands had healed faster than initially predicted, and she was good to do it herself. They would be do it in a section of the Citadel that was still being repaired from the battle two years prior, and Garrus had used one of his old C-Sec contacts to secure the use of a containment chamber. Ideally, they would do it in the morning.
Which was what led him to this moment, laying on his bed in the med bay, trying to comfort Glint as the time for action rapidly approached. Neither of them had gotten any rest. Shepard wanted them within the next half hour.
"Tell me you haven't been up all night?" Chakwas asked as she walked in, coffee in hand-oh, that looked so good right now. No, Crow focus.
"Sorry." He said, letting a small wisp of Light out from his palm to brush against his anxious Ghost's shell. He's been holding Glint for the last hour, to keep him from zipping around as his nerves got worse. "He's, well we're just..."
"I understand." The doctor sets her coffee down. "I've seen plenty of people who fear surgery, though I'm not sure how close an equivalent this will be. I take it there's no way to render a Ghost unconscious for such a thing?"
"No way that isn't violent." Crow told her, pulsing his Light when Glint shifted suddenly. His Ghost had been unusually quiet since Shepard had told them the plan was a go, as well.
"Do you have any plans for shore leave?" She inquired. "In my experience, having something to look forward to helps, as does music."
"Not really, I've had other things on my mind." Though there were a lot of people on the Citadel, if Glint could be brave enough to go through with this, he could be brave enough to take his Ghost around to see the station. "Glint, is there anything you want to do?"
"... You need a haircut." Glint said softly after a few seconds of silence.
"That's a need, not a want, buddy." Crow rolled his eyes. "What do you want to do?"
"I want you to get a haircut." Leave it to a Ghost to only think about his Lightbearer. Crow sighed, ready to accept the answer, when Glint suddenly shot up, like he'd been injected with a shot of his usual enthusiasm. "Oh, wait! There's the- there's another thing, I'll be right back!"
"Wait, what are you..." it was too late, his Ghost had shot out of the med bay excitedly, leaving Crow sitting up on his bed, confused. He let out a huff of air, and Chakwas chuckled.
"Well, I guess that may have done the trick." She commented, smiling fondly. "Now, how are you doing, with all this going on?"
"I'm..." he hesitated, finding it slightly strange to be talking about his feelings with someone other than Glint, without his Ghost even present at that. Usually, even if he spoke to someone else, Glint was there too, to add his two glimmer; he saw it as part of his duty as a Ghost to heal not just his body, but to look after his mind as best he could as well. But... he supposed, Glint had enough on his metaphorical shoulders right now. He wouldn't miss one conversation. "I'm ready for this to be over. That bomb wound up in him because of me, I'm just... I'm glad to see it fixed, even if I'm not the one doing it myself."
"Crow, I don't know all the details about what happened." Chakwas' expression and voice became stern. "But I think it's safe to say that bomb wound up in him because of that... Spider character, not you. We can't control how much of a monster someone is."
"But we can recognize it." He argued, running his hand down his face. "And I didn't. I was naive enough to think Spider would never... Glint kept telling me about his misgivings, he kept insisting we leave, even if Spider didn't think the dept had been repaid. I didn't listen, and Glint paid for it."
"Crow, tell me again how old you are." He felt his face flush. It wasn't embarrassing... okay, maybe it was a little embarrassing.
"Two, by now." He rubbed the back of his neck. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"You have very little life experience." Chakwas told him, expression soft. "You may not be a child, but you don't seem mentally mature yet, either. You're still figuring out who you are, who you want to be, what works and what doesn't. Right, wrong, who to trust and who not to trust... that's the kind of knowledge you weren't reborn with. Like anyone young, there are signs you can't recognize, things you tell yourself will work themselves out. Naivete is not what Spider took advantage of; it was your inexperience. I've seen it plenty of times before, people like him drawing in youths who see no other options, ensnaring them. Youth is not a character flaw; it's a temporary hurdle. He was the villain here, he's the only one to blame, and you need to remember that."
For a few moments all Crow could do was stare at her and blink as he turned her words over in his mind. A small noise escapes him, not quite a laugh but not some purposeless nonsense either. "You think I'm like... what, a teenager?"
"At least, a very close approximation of one, if at all." She offers a wry smile. "The point still stands; it is not your fault that Spider took advantage of you. And I may not be from your reality, but I can imagine that tampering with a Ghost would be seen as just as abhorrent as cutting into an organic and doing the same. It wouldn't be something anyone would imagine someone doing, so of course you never thought Spider would touch him. You can't blame yourself for the repugnant unthinkable."
"It's not that easy." He told her quietly. He heard Glint scream in so many of his nightmares, always woke up kicking himself for not doing anything differently. He could have fought back, but he hadn't; he was a Lightbearer and he had let a few spears at his throat stop him from saving his Ghost.
"I know." The doctor nodded. "But I want you to keep it in mind."
"I'll try." He took a deep breath and let it go. "I should go find him, it's almost time."
"Be strong, both of you." Chakwas nodded in understanding. "By the way, I think I overheard Joker and Donnely making plans for shore leave. You should see if you can join them, you could do to spend time with your friends outside of engineering."
"I-I'm not sure we're friends." He stuttered. Sure they worked together, and hanging out with Joker could be fun, but they were all drifting through space on the same ship and preferred circles of contact were bound to pop up, whether people were friends or not. He knew Tali wasn't his friend, but he still willingly spent time with her every day alongside the others. He wanted to say Joker was his friend, but he'd hate to presume anything when they were all forced together by circumstance. He knows Joker isn't really into dealing with other's baggage- something Crow was aware of having a lot of.
"Crow, I think I know friendship when I see it." The older woman raised one eyebrow, an amused smirk playing across her lips. "Go have fun with it. You deserve it."
"I-"
"I'm back!" Glint announces cheerfully, zipping around his Lightbearer and practically vibrating with excitement. He had no idea what his Ghost was up to, but if it put him in such a good mood, Crow wasn't going to question it.
"Hey, there." He offers his hand to land on, but Glint is still expending the energy from his sudden good mood. "We should go. I'll think about what you said, doctor."
"I'll see you later." The doctor waves, and they make their way out of the med bay.
"Think about what?" His Ghost queries as they head to the elevator.
"Oh, she uh, she thinks we should ask to join Joker and the others for shore leave when we're done." He told him, stopping in front of the elevator and feeling somewhat stupid. "What am I doing? We have transmat now! Glint?"
"On it!" He could hear the nerves creeping back into his Ghost's voice. As the sensation of transmat washes over him, he does his best to push his own fear and dread down as far as he could.
Glint could feel his newfound courage leaving his body as they materialized in the abandoned warehouse where the 'operation', for lack of a better term, would take place. Keepers were the only beings visibly active when they arrived, carrying the odd supply likely used for repairs. There were tarps and markers hanging from walls, scaffolding, and littering the floor. Lights flickered on occasion, and the only sounds aside from the keepers walking were the low voices of Shepard and Garrus as they consulted one another.
Light give me strength. The Commander and her helper were standing over a plain table with an explosive containment chamber nearby. A shorter table seemed to have the required tools on it, surreptitiously placed as if to play off the philosophy of 'out of sight, out of mind'. Glint didn't know if it was worse not seeing exactly what would be used on his person or better. He retreats to Crow's hand, and familiar sol Light brushes against his shell.
"Crow, Glint." Shepard greeted as they approached. "You two ready?"
"Yeah, we're ready." Crow took a deep breath in through his nose and out through the mouth, a sign he was trying to stay calm. Glint could feel his pulse quicken as the Awoken ran his thumb along the scar of wielding marks where Spider had cut into him-
- Spiders hand closes tightly around him, and he screams, Crow shouts-
"Okay. You sure there's no way to at least numb the pain? Will he feel the pain?" Shepard asks gently. She means well. She's not Spider. This wasn't the Shore. She had five fingers, not three. Two arms, not four.
"I could hold him, use sol Light to try and mitigate the worse of it. Not sure if it works on Ghosts, but now is the time to try." His Lightbearer worries at the cuff of one sleeve as he said this.
-electricity burns through him, hot and terrible and Travelerhe'ssosorrydon'tlethisGuardiandiebecauseofthis-
Warm Light wraps around his shell like a blanket around a small child.
"Glint, do you want warnings, or for me to tell you what I'm doing as I work, or not?" The Commander asks, face still gentle. It's odd to see her so gentle, when she's always seemed to be fighting or serious. She is, objectively speaking, a very pretty woman, with one of the most expressive faces he's seen. Nothing like Spider's masked snarl, hidden always. But the eyes were the windows to the soul, and his had always been ugly, showing nothing but more ugly.
Shepard's eyes showed pain, not twisted ugliness. Pain, the desire to render aid, passion, always sincere. He could trust her.
"N-no I... I don't want to know just-just do it. Please, let's just do it." The sooner this got done, the sooner he could get Crow's awful hair fixed, and finish the special project. Crow would be so happy!
-he can still see, and what he sees is his Guardian watching with tears in his eyes and horror on his face-
"Okay, Crow just sit down in front and hold him." Shepard reaches down and pulls a vice into view. "Glint, do you think you can hold still, or will you need help?"
"J-just Crow will be fine." The average male Guardian had a grip strength of up to 700lb, excluding exo exceptions, females typically clocking in at 500 excluding exo exceptions. Any Guardian could crush a Ghost as easily as tin foil if they channeled Light into their grip. He wouldn't be going anywhere.
-he doesn't need to breath, but the chitinous claws gripping him feel like they're strangling him-
The vice is put out of sight, Crow sits, and holds Glint out in from of him, forcing him to turn his back to Shepard as she lines up her tools.
"Just look at me, okay?" His Lightbearer tells him, bringing his other hand up to grip both sides of his shell. Sol Light suffuses Glint's body, radiating with all of Crow's worry and care. "Just look at me, and try to think of something else."
Crow's expression is drawn and stressed, but at the same time caring. His gold eyes look slightly watery, and isn't it amazing that they're a proper, glowing gold now, rather than the ill, dull yellow of months before? Their time on the Normandy really had done wonders. He was healthy, he was making friends, he had found a fight that was worthy of any Guardian. Glint was so proud he's accomplished all of this.
"Hey Glint?" He smiled shakily. "We're going to be free."
"What if it goes off?" His Lightbearer was so close, if it went off-
"You know you'd rather go down with me if our roles were reversed. I'm not leaving you, Glint." He declared sternly, glancing up at Shepard. "We're in this together, to trails end."
The Light intensified in its sense of heal-help-comfort a moment before a burning sensation-
-he couldn't move but he could still feel, and he felt fire cutting-
-cut into his back, and Crow's grip tightened even as the Awoken muttered quiet comforts. His Light conveyed those comforts far more effectively-
-effectively into his back. Claws pry his core open harshly, and something is-
-than words. Precise movements pluck a square of housing away from his core, and he could feel a new instrument-
-forcefully jammed into his internal structures, and he can't even scream as even his spark of Light is roughly shoved aside to make room for-
-prodding gently, delicately pushing away at wires that shouldn't have been in his body in the first place. He can feel wires being snipped, feel something being cut away from his internal housing like glue being pried off, and suddenly there was room for-
-something unknown, and it hurt, and Spider is chuckling and Crow is weeping and-
-his spark, his everything else, all of it. He feels it being pulled gently back into place, and he doesn't need to breath but if this is what having a broken rib healed feels like, he wouldn't be surprised. It was so-
-painful desperation was his entire world-
-freeing-
-fire sealed his back shut and left behind rough wields-
-and where had all the time gone? Fire was sealing his back, and before he can dash away, releived to see the end, he's halted by a gentle 'not yet' from Shepard, and a dremel starts grinding away at the wields. She follows up by buffing the surface and it all ends with her declaring that the bomb is contained, and his core looks good as new. He still struggled to think of something else.
It's only then that he blacks out from the pain-
He wakes the slumbering Light within, pulls, and the corpse sits bolt upright with a gasp, throwing the sheet off him-
He shoots back to Crow, and the Hunter holds him close, still channeling Light and speaking softly. Glint isn't really paying attention; his mind is a flurry of painful memories, and he can dimly feel himself shaking. He distantly notes Crow asking to give them some time alone, and Garrus states that he aught to get 'this disgusting thing' disposed of. He manages to put together that the turian is talking about the bomb. He tries to think of something happier.
He wakes up. Crow is clutching him to his chest like a child with a beloved toy.
"Hello!" He manages to say, voice broken. His Guardian looks down on him sorrowfully, eyes red, cheeks wet, and guilt ridden-
He looks around, confused, with golden eyes and a rapidly climbing pulse as the panic of waking with no memories sets in. Pulled Pork- or, really, just 'Ghost' now, until his new friend names him- floats down to just below eye level, making a friendly beep sound to catch his attention.
After an indeterminate amount of time he finally realizes that the bomb is out. It's... over. The last remnant of their life on the Shore was gone. Well, not the last; but he was taking care of that later, it was a non-issue at this point. Slowly, elation fills him. Crow is holding him close to his heart, much like after the first incident. He looks up at his Lightbearer.
"Hello!" He greets his Guardian- his Guardian! The man blinks, glowing eyes settling on him. "I'm Pulled Pork- well, I was. You can name me whatever you want, though."
"Hello!" He says, voice still shakey.
"Wh-why?" He asks, voice hoarse from being dead.
"I'm your Ghost! I'd like to be your friend, I would love to be named by a friend!" He's gotten all his other names from them over the centuries, after all.
His Guardian looks down on him, with a broad smile splitting his face, and he knows he's chosen right.
His Lightbearer looks down on him with relief, eyes red, cheeks wet, with a broad smile splitting his face.
There will be fluff and shenanigans in the next chapter, I swear! That being said, I hope I delivered well for the bomb removal you've all been waiting thirty chapters and nearly two years for, let me know what you think! Part of the reason this one is late is because I was having last-minute doubts about how to present it. I had several small sessions of editing changing a dozen little things, replacing words or phrases, and the style of the present-flashback synch went through several changes. At first it was longer, because disarming and removing a bomb is a long process, but eventually I settled on what you just read both for the sake of brevity, and because time doesn't really matter to Glint during that process.
Edboy4926: Honestly, Xivu could just roll up and wage war on ME's universe and destroy the whole thing. It's never outright stated, but something on her level can only be killed by another paracausal being, and that's not even taking into account all the Ascendant Hive between her and whoever comes for her. Sure, they've got Crow, but he's still a Kinderguardian and a one man army is still just one man.
Jebest4781: :)
mccoogsamuel: Oof, that's rough buddy. Our machine complains if you don't punch at the exact. Time. Needed.
ThePilotArchangel: Aw, glad to hear it's worthy of missing! And I honestly intended for Garrus, Thane, Tali, and Legion to be Crow's main friend group when I first started writing this, with Garrus taking a larger role than the others. But I made the mistake of putting Joker in the first few chapters, and he kind of wrote himself into the story pretty naturally, so I decided to see where that brainwave took me. Now Garrus is mostly Shepard's friend while team transmat runs around using teleportation for mediocre things. I love it when a character writes himself, it saves me the trouble. I'm glad you're looking forward to the sequel, but no promises that I'll find an excuse for the Old Wolf to make an appearance.
JGThorncross: I'll probably stick around for the Final Shape, as I hate to leave a story unfinished, but jury's still out on afterwards. The only other anime I've watched is a short murder mystery called 'Erased', it was worthy of rewatching.
Knightwotlf1875: :)
Kataang00: Bold of you to assume I was actually thinking of all that when I wrote his development. ;) But seriously, thanks! I just try my best to adjust for the fact he has a 'fireteam' in this and people who actually care about his health(mental and physical) before sending him to scout the front lines. Not to bash the Vanguard or anything, but they handled Crow all wrong, particularly in Risen. I don't think Guardians care about that kind of thing because they've been taught they're invincible and don't need help. They're raised and stuck in that mindset, and that's how I think things like Shayura's rampage and Crow's psion incident happen.
Gartos: No Comment.
Wow, I really kind of just went all out with word vomit in this A/N. Whoops! Everyone give it up for hitting another multiple of ten, and me finally getting a decent picture of my gecko for a profile pic! Let me know what you think of this chapter, it's been a long time coming!
(Also BRUH is that five-hundred follows I see?)
Fare Thee Well!