Chapter 19

Aria left Anto with two instructions.

He was struggling to obey one of them.

Colonel Ashe had been put in one of their interrogation units. Although they were not cells, they offered very little luxury. Anto had restrained him as a precaution because he didn't want to give the human the impression that he was a guest. Aria had said not to hurt him, but…

"So, what is your deal?" Ashe was asking him. "We could never figure it out. How does Aria's inner circle work? Did you fail as mercenaries, and she took pity on you? Or do you like to be bitch slapped?"

Sorry Aria.

Anto rushed forward, picked the Colonel up by his wrist shackles and punched him in the stomach.

"I killed twenty of her best-trained guards for this honour," he hissed in the man's ear. "Including my predecessor." When Ashe's knee came up to kick him in the groin, he let him. "Insulting our pride doesn't work on us, human." He threw him down, kicking him in the face as he did so. There was a satisfying crunch as his heel connected with the man's nose.

Such an ugly and sensitive human feature.

To the man's credit, he tried to swipe at Anto. The batarian was too fast for him, and he stepped out of the way, then stomped his foot down on the man's elbow.

"Now, let's lay down some ground rules," Anto said. "You are our guest. Guests need to show manners. You call our boss a bitch again, and I will personally cut out your tongue. I hear humans need them to articulate. Secondly…"

"Anto!"

The batarian shifted his weight to his foot as he turned to the newcomer. A salarian was at the door, his expression tense. Anto came back to himself a little. He stepped away from the human but wasn't done with him. He met Comaz's gaze and nodded to the krogan to enter the room.

"Soften him up a little; just don't break any more bones. Teach him some manners." He pulled the salarian away from the door. "What is it?"

"I just received a message from command. The Elbrus jumped through the Omega-4-relay. There is no sign that Aria's left the ship."

Anto heard a satisfying sound of flesh meeting flesh inside the room.

"Any word from the boss?"

"No."

Anto felt a flash of unease but knew Aria had planned for this scenario. He motioned to the salarian to follow him, figuring Comaz could keep the human entertained in his absence.

"What is the status of the infiltration?" He asked. "Are we clear yet?"

The salarian nodded and handed him a datapad. "There are only a few creatures left around the docks," he pointed out. "Most have been destroyed along with any potential carriers."

Anto nodded and thought about Aria's other instructions. "Then spread the word; I want everyone in the zone around Afterlife evacuated to other regions. I want the mercenaries to round up some Cerberus personnel. Quietly. It's crucial that it doesn't turn into a bloodbath. Target their facilities. Aria wants key figures."

The salarian looked sceptical as Anto turned towards Omega's Command Centre.

"That's not going to go down well," he pointed out, making Anto smile.

"Yeah," he said. "That's what Aria's hoping for."

Abby was starting to suspect there was a problem with her omnitool. While Grom sporadically got some messages on Omega's broken network, hers had stalled. Her universal translator still worked, but there was no way of communicating with it. She had no idea how the piece of equipment worked. Grom had tried to reset it, but it had yielded no success.

Abby hated technology because she wasn't very good with it.

It had made the wait very long.

Hours into the attack, they were still stuck in her clinic. From what they gathered, an alien force had attacked or gone rogue on Omega. The fighting around them was sporadic. Abby was torn between fleeing home with her two companions and waiting out the fighting. She didn't get the expected influx of patients but remained ready.

Once, when it sounded like a break in the fighting, Abby opened her clinic to see what was happening outside. A Blue Suns mercenary quickly ran past and snapped at her to go back inside. The area was still under lockdown, and it wasn't safe. She retreated immediately, and they continued waiting.

There was no glamour in it.

Abby's appetite for risk was very low, and she was relieved when a message came through to Grom's omnitool, bidding them to evacuate the area.

"We're going home," she said to the vorcha as she ran unsteadily to her office to get the bag of supplies she had. Her balance was faltering. "Go grab Oz. I don't want to leave him here. I don't care about getting robbed."

Grom didn't hesitate and ran to the reception. Abby grabbed the book she was reading, slipped it into her coat pocket and followed the vorcha. Her door opened when she came out of the hallway. She was confused because she saw Oz still on the other side of the clinic, getting up from where he was lying.

"Grom, wait!" She called and sprinted forward ready to grab the varren. He lunged forward, his teeth bared and his ridges raised. "He's not…"

There was a gunshot.

And another.

Abby stopped at her reception desk and grabbed its side as Oz stumbled forward onto his front legs.

He didn't get up again.

People had three major fear reactions. Fight, flight or freeze. Abby was aware of a breath leaving her chest as she stared at the twitching varren. She looked to the door and saw several armed people storm into her clinic. Grom was lying just a few lengths away from her, withering in pain, reaching for his fallen shotgun. He must have been on his way to Oz when the door opened. One of their assailants stepped up to him and raised a weapon.

"No!" Abby cried out and threw herself forward. "NO! Don't kill him!" She had no idea how she made it, but she threw herself over Grom before the man could fire.

"Don't shoot!" A command came. "Don't harm her!"

Grom's body shuddered beneath hers.

"Docta…" He breathed. "You run. You run!"

Hands grabbed at her, trying to lift her away from him. "NO!" Abby protested again and tried to get out of their grip. "No! You must let me help him! No!" She fought against her assailants.

"We need to go!" Another barked. "We don't have time!"

Fear woke a devil in her. Abby kicked and squirmed, screaming as she tried returning to Grom. She managed to grab a hold of his thin arm and pulled him towards her. Abby stopped fighting and tried to wrap herself around him, shielding his thin frame with her body. She saw a pistol, braced herself and was abruptly let go.

A rough hand grabbed her cheek, forcing her to look up. The visor of the soldier's helmet opened. She didn't recognise him however she could see the Cerberus emblem on his armour. Blue eyes met hers.

"Let him go. They heal. We won't kill him."

Abby didn't let go of Grom. His breathing was ragged against her chest, and she could feel his heart rapidly beating beneath her touch.

"He won't," she breathed, tears streaming down her cheeks. "He's ill. He needs medicine. If… If you let me save him, I will go with you. I won't fight, I promise."

The man's expression didn't change, but he nodded.

"Do what you need to do quickly," he said. "Now."

Abby felt nauseous as she looked around for her bag. She let Grom go, lying him down on the floor. He struggled a little, threw his arms around, but he had no more strength to get up. There was a massive wound on his shoulder, and he was bleeding fast.

Abby stumbled up, grabbed her bag of supplies and reached for the medication she had packed. Many months ago, when Grom came to her for help, she and Mordin had devised and defined a treatment which acted almost the same as a vorcha's natural healing. She grabbed medigel and bandages, putting pressure on the wound as she injected him first with the medigel, then with the stimulant she always carried with her in case he got hurt.

Omega was dangerous.

She didn't know if what she did would save him, she needed time, and he needed surgery.

"I have to…" She began as she looked around bewildered. Oz was still lying where he had fallen. Her three-legged varren wasn't moving.

No.

She tied the bandages with shaking fingers. Grom was looking at her face, his breathing a rasping gargle.

No.

A hand grabbed her roughly and pulled her away from him.

"Enough," the soldier said, his visor shifting shut again. "You've done what you can. Now come, or I will shoot him myself." Grom had closed his eyes, and his breathing was shallower.

Abby didn't know what else to do. She got pulled up and looked at the others in her clinic. They were all Cerberus and armed. She expected them to ignore her efforts and kill Grom anyway, but at a nod from the man with her, they began to pile out of the door. Abby nearly lost her balance when the man pushed her in their direction. She had started showing symptoms again because Asura had been gone for more than a week.

She's almost coming back. I must warn her.

It was chaos around them. Groups of soldiers either frightened away residents or escorted them as they all moved towards the other levels.

"Move," the man hissed in her ear. "And don't draw attention to yourself. We are escorting you to safety. Remember, I can always send someone back to kill the vorcha."

Abby walked, allowing them to guide her through the throngs of people. Some of the other residents looked at her in curiosity. Most didn't, too focused on their own progress. Outside in the streets, there was still chaos. The population was restless and afraid. Abby saw mercenary groups clustering together. Blue Suns, Talons and Blood Pack. She didn't recognise any of them and didn't dare cry out for help. They reached a bridge that led to the docks. Below them, on the next level, Abby could see other citizens also moving away from the centre of Omega. She spotted an elcor and hoped it was Chez, Omega's bouncer. He might be tall enough to see her and sound an alarm.

It wasn't Chez.

"Dr Gable!"

Abby stopped walking and turned around. The Cerberus soldiers pushed her forward, and again, she lost her balance. She grabbed the railing for support. Did she imagine her name?

"Dr Gable!" It was a thunderous voice now. A cry of fury. The crowd behind them parted, and a large krogan, one of the largest she knew, dropped his head and charged.

Patriarch.

"Krogan!" The soldiers behind her yelled in alarm. "Charging krogan!"

Those walking ahead of her turned around and raced to the front. Patriarch's helmet had covered his head, and he was nearly on them. Abby's body shuddered as she looked at her hands, grasping the railing and at the elcor that wasn't Chez.

"Stop him!" She heard the Cerberus soldiers yell. "Stop him!" They fired, but he had a shield.

Abby vaulted over the railing and fell a little more than six feet before her feet landed on the elcor. There was a tear as his robe slid off his back. Abby lost her balance backwards, landed hard on him with her hip and spilled to the ground. She thought she felt her ankle twist, but she ignored it and scrambled up into a crowd of surprise aliens.

"I'm sorry!" She yelled as she began to run. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry!"

"Angry! Human!" It sounded as if the elcor wanted to pursue her. Abby glanced over her shoulder but not at him. The level above them was a flurry of activity. The Cerberus soldiers' frantic attempt to stop Patriarch from charging them had gone badly. Rogue shots had been fired into the crowd, and now everybody was trying to get at them. There was going to be a riot. Two Cerberus soldiers managed to disengage from the rumble and pointed in the direction she was running. Abby didn't look back again and ran forward, pushing everybody out of the way. She was running against the crowd, hoping that it would slow the soldiers down and give her just a little bit of time to escape. Adrenaline made her muscles cramp and her breathing shallow.

Breathe! She tried to tell herself. Breathe deeply!

She sometimes felt this way when she still ran races. The crowds pushing against her, the clap of the starter pistol. The knowledge that miles were ahead of her. The thrill of it. Oh, how she had to master herself then and fight against her instincts to sprint ahead.

Marathons weren't won in the first few miles.

Abby ran. She ran as hard as she could, aware of her awkward gait, aware of the sharp pain growing in her ankle. She ran through a maze of corridors, turning erratically in an attempt to shake her assailants. She ran until the only thing she heard was her own uneven footsteps and her ragged breathing. Abby looked behind her and saw she was alone. Somehow, by some miracle, she had escaped. Her breathing sounded too loud in the empty corridor, and she slapped her hands over her mouth.

Hide. You must hide!

Abby looked around her as she tried to bring her breathing under control. She looked as if she was close to one of the delivery docks. She had to come here to receive medication from the Citadel.

With Grom.

No. Don't think. Hide.

She took a step into the dim light and whimpered softly, the pain in her ankle now undeniable. Abby bit her tongue and limped forward, moving her hands over every keypad to open a door. One slid open as her hand passed it, and she slipped into the dark room. Abby touched her omnitool and brought up its faint glow. It helped her identify a desk and limped to it. Abby crouched down and hid underneath it, her hand still over her mouth as she tried to fight against her hysteria.

It was very hard to stay still, her chest burning with an attempt to keep her breathing quiet. She managed to get her breath back, but the moment she wasn't concentrating on being quiet, her mind began to think of her predicament.

Did I close the door? Or did I leave it open?"

She wanted to crawl out and see. If it was open, they might figure out where she went.

You're being stupid. If it was open, the room wouldn't be this dark. Stay still.

It was hard. Her ankle was throbbing, and her body twitched uncontrollably. She thought she heard a noise in the room with her and held her breath, listening intently. She could pick out the usual Omega sounds, the hum of the ventilation, the slight noise of shifting metal. There was nothing else in the room with her. There couldn't be.

Did you look? Did you make sure?

It didn't matter, Abby told herself. All she had to do was stay hidden until Cerberus gave up on their pursuit.

Why do they want me? What's happening?

Don't think about it now!

Panic made her nauseous, and in the dark, memories threatened to overwhelm her. The fear she felt when she was locked up in the mercenary slave ship, shot and waiting to die. Tela Vasir dragging her through Illium. Asura… Abby blinked tears and curled herself up into a tighter bundle.

I must warn Asura! This must be about her!

Cerberus knew she was an ardat yakshi. They had been on Omega experimenting, mimicking the symptoms. Abby never found out why and was angry. She never asked Aria to find out.

I have to try and contact her!

Another noise startled her. This time, Abby was sure it came from the room she was in. She opened her eyes to a faint blue glow sporadically lighting up the space. Not sure what to do, Abby carefully crawled out of her hiding spot and tried to look around the desk. The room was dark, and she thought she might have imagined it.

Abby was about to move back into her hiding spot when she heard a definitive belching sound from across the room. Blue light flickered on. She looked around the table and saw a large figure writhing on the floor. Horrified, Abby watched as streaks of the blue light lit up the figure. She could not make out if it was human or batarian. The figure shuddered and made another gagging sound. Abby slapped her hand over her mouth again to stifle a whimper as a blue hump burst through the body's clothing. More blue light sprang up in the darkness, and Abby could see its legs bulging through what was left of its pants. There was an undeniable metallic sheen to it, and the whining breathing sound that followed brought another memory. One from her previous life.

The husks on Horizon.

Abby realised she had to run for it, but when she tried to get up, her legs wouldn't work. They twitched as if they belonged to someone else. Still keeping her hand over her mouth, Abby squeezed her eyes shut and tried to move back into her hiding spot. The noises from the other side of the room were terrible. She moved back underneath the desk and tried to sit very still. Stressed, her body was still shaking uncontrollably. Abby tried very hard to breathe deeply to relax herself. She heard the thing move across the room, its laboured breathing sending goosebumps up her back.

It had to be reaper technology. She wasn't sure whether Cerberus had brought it on base or whether it was the beginning of the reaper's long-awaited war. She prayed it wasn't the latter.

We need more time. I need Asura…

Her arm shuddered uncontrollably, knocking against the desk. As Abby realised it was over and gathered herself to run for the door, she heard the creature shriek. In the darkness, it stormed in the direction of the noise. Abby tried to scramble out from underneath the desk, but she felt it ripped away from her and thrown across the room. There was more light now, giving her just enough to see the creature's hand reach for her. Abby, in a futile attempt to get away, half crawled, half lounged away from the desk, but her elbow gave way underneath her. She crashed to the floor, hitting her chin. The pain was brief, overruled by the absolute terror she felt when the creature's claw enclosed around her shoulder and pulled her back. She braced herself to be thrown against a wall, but it held onto her, painfully jerking her until she was dangling right in front of it.

Abby was too afraid to do anything as the monstrosity's face came close to hers. Tentacles protruded from its mouth, and a bright blue glow surrounded it. Abby didn't scream as she saw it lift its other hand, a bright glow surrounding an instrument that looked like a fused weapon.

I'm going to die here, she thought. And I am not coming back. This is it.

In that infinite moment of terror, she thought of Shepard. Of the only other person she knew who had died. They had talked of death when they first met. Jane had not understood what it meant to her. Still didn't. Of the Normandy, only Jack knew that she had tried to commit suicide.

Death as a relief.

What a strange thing it had been for two strangers to discuss.

"When you died in the first Normandy," Abby had asked Shepard. "Only to be woken by Cerberus – how did it feel? Did you go anywhere? See anything? What happened to you?"

"I can't remember," Jane had replied softly. "I didn't dream, I certainly didn't go anywhere, and I went through it alone. If I did see something on the 'other side', it didn't leave a lasting impression."

Those words had resonated with Abby as she thought of her own death. One she had embraced because she had no reason to live. "That must make your mission all the more important." She had told Jane with a courage she didn't know she had. "Because for you, this is all that's real. There's nowhere else to go."

Abby, still locked in that infinite second as the creature's other hand came down to touch her head, blinked tears. She had somewhere to go. She had to get back to Asura. She had to see Shepard again.

"Please," she found herself whispering in prayer. "This is all I have. Don't take it from me."

The creature shrieked suddenly, and an icy pain shot through her mind.

You are not of this cycle.

It pushed Abby back roughly against the wall, which gave way without warning, tumbling her back into the corridor. Hands grabbed her under her arms and pulled her out of the way as her legs collapsed beneath her. People moved, and she was accidentally kicked in the calf as a soldier leapt over her. They were firing an automatic weapon at the creature, but it wasn't enough to deter it. Abby tried to push herself up as she was dragged across the floor, but her legs still wouldn't work. Two more soldiers leapt forward, biotics judging by the glow around their bodies, and the creature disappeared into the room, driven back by their assault.

An arm snaked around her chest and heaved her up from the floor. When she put weight on her ankle, she grunted in pain, and it started throbbing a new. A soldier in Cerberus uniform rushed towards her and grabbed her wrists painfully.

"Did it touch you?!" The visor came away, and she saw it was the same man who had taken her from her clinic. "Dr Gable, did it touch you?!" Horror and relief warred inside her as she shook her head.

"No," she breathed, knowing instinctively he was referring to the creature's weapon-like arm. "No, it didn't…"

She saw his relief as he looked up at the man holding her.

"Secure her!" He barked an order. "They are all looking for her now! We have to get out of here!"

Abby's relief at being safe was short-lived as she was thrown to the ground and her arms secured behind her back. Too shocked to fight, Abby bit back a yelp in pain as they secured restraints around her ankles.

"Wait!" She tried to protest. "Just wait!" She wanted to demand what this was about, but the truth was that she probably lost the privilege when she ran from them the first time. The Cerberus soldier put tape on her mouth and unceremoniously rolled her into a black bag. They secured it, cutting her off from the outside world and any chance someone might recognise her.

Abby was too shocked to do anything but grunt in discomfort as she was picked up and slung over one of the soldier's shoulders. Disorientated, she had no idea where they were going, yet it was clear they would take her off Omega.

She didn't even cry out or struggle. In her state, she could hardly walk, much less escape.

And her head still hurt from the piercing shriek of the reaper creature.

You are not of this cycle.

Abby remembered the tone and recognised the voices, though she had never heard them herself. She had heard them in Asura's memories.

And remembered them from her own.

The reapers had touched her, and somehow, some way, they knew she wasn't from this world.

In her millennia of life, Aria had never seen anything like this. Shifting her weight from one leg to the other, she looked up through the Elbrus's windows. Debris moved everywhere around them, but it wasn't what she was looking at. Beyond the debris field, at the edge of what she could see with her naked eye, a massive void of space was accentuated by the circle of orange light surrounding it. To her perception, the black hole swirled maliciously. She had never been this close to one, and it made her uneasy to realise it was simply a jump away from her home.

Not that anybody can come through the relay, she thought. Not without the code.

Cerberus had seemingly distributed the code freely to her fleet. In the heat of battle, she had not considered that they might have given them false information. Their charge through the Omega-4-Relay happened in the heat of battle. Only two other Cerberus ships had come through with them, though at the time, it didn't feel enough.

Aria realised half the battle had been won already.

She tore her gaze away from the black hole and looked at what Oleg focused on. His expression was unreadable, but she sensed dismay and deep regret from him. Scattered around them, mixed in debris far older than her lifetime, was the mirrored plating of a Cerberus base. An employee Aria had not seen before came to Oleg's other side and handed him a datapad. The older woman had the same hard look in her dark eyes as Oleg.

"We have picked up the emergency nodule General," she said. "The moment they realised the adjuvants had escaped with some of their ships, they activated their self-destruct mechanism. Scans indicate it was strong enough to kill the adjuvants still inside the base."

Oleg glanced at the datapad before he turned his attention back to the scene of destruction before them.

"How many of ours made it out?" He asked.

The soldier straightened and took up point behind them.

"None," she said simply. "But our techs found a transmission from Avernus station. They managed to disengage the distal complex before the infection spread. It was still secure at the time of their last transmission. Other employees managed to escape out in pods. They were gathering in Sector 38. I suggest we start there."

Oleg nodded tightly. "Set a course," he said. The dark-skinned employee turned and went back to command. Aria watched her leave, then looked at Oleg.

"Sector 38? Avernus station?"

The general stood up and subtly stretched his back, his eyes briefly narrowing in pain. She wasn't the only one who had been thrown around during the initial attack.

"Section 38 is an asteroid we designated for emergency evacuation," he said. "There is a bunker and launch pad." He grimaced, considering his words. "Avernus station is our main staging area here. It is where we have done all our research on the reaper artefacts we recovered from the collector base. The destroyed base," he motioned around him, "was one of our newer projects. It is where we started to move our personnel after the turian crackdown. It was supposed to be isolated from the reaper technology, unlike Avernus station."

Aria felt a flash of anger. "So, Avernus is where you lost control?"

Oleg was an honest man.

"Yes," he said. "It sounds as if they managed to disengage a portion of the base. I am hoping it remains unaffected. Hopefully, we'll get some answers from our agents in Section 38."

"If they are still alive," Aria said dryly. "Your people really fucked up, Petrovsky. They should have let it be."

The man moved in beside her as the ship began to move again and make its way to the asteroid.

"The reapers are coming," he said. "What we tried to achieve here wasn't simply to save our own hide but every living thing. Can you blame us?" He studied her intensely. "Do you even believe in the reapers?"

Aria felt the same discomfort wash over her, which she felt whenever she thought of the subject. She always tried to deny it, but the truth was…

"I do now," she breathed and wished she had spent more time with Jane Shepard.

When I get back, I will have a proper talk with Dr Gable. It's time I face the facts.

The End of Chapter 19