Shepard huffed in annoyance as she read the communique she'd received from the Illusive Man. Some Cerberus agent got caught, and now the Illusive Man wanted Shepard to retrieve the intel they had on hand when they were captured. She didn't like him treating her like an errand girl, but getting her hands on that intel was worth the effort.
She activated the COM device on her omni-tool, and a few seconds later, she heard Rocket's voice. "What is it?"
"We've got a new mission, we're going to take a brief detour. I want you and Kara with me on the ground."
"We'll be there." Shepard shut the COM off and moved to gear up.
Kara stood slowly, allowing Rocket to adjust as she moved. She hefted her rifle over her right shoulder where Rocket was standing, and he leaned aside to allow her to holster the weapon, the magnetic clasps making a satisfying click as they secured the rifle. She waited for Shepard to join her and Rocket by the shuttle. When the human finally arrived, Rocket hopped down from Kara's shoulder, and seated himself. Kara grumbled in annoyance as she contorted her body to fit in the tiny shuttle.
The ride down was uneventful, worryingly so. As Kara stepped out onto the landing platform, she kept her rifle trained at the doors in front of her, there was no way their landing had gone unnoticed.
Shepard stepped out, her own weapon at the ready, and Rocket climbed up to his usual perch on Kara's shoulder. Shepard gestured forward with her left hand, and Kara advanced to the door, Shepard close behind.
They took position on the left side of the door, Shepard behind Kara. "Can you tell if anybody's home?"
Kara felt several vibrations through the metal floor beneath her, coming from inside the facility. "Confirmed movement, be ready." Kara moved in front of the locked door and holstered her rifle. She growled, and shoved her claws into the seam of the door. She pried open the door with relative ease, and saw the shocked expressions of various armed men and women. A handful quickly regained their senses and opened fire, the rest joining in soon after. Rocket returned fire from Kara's shoulder, laying down a burst of fire that killed a Turian, and forced his comrades back behind cover.
While Rocket kept them suppressed, Shepard stepped out from behind Kara, and tossed a grenade. Someone popped up as they tried to throw the grenade back, only to have their upper body blown apart by Rocket. Another tried to run, and dropped lifelessly as a burst from Shepard's rifle ventilated their skull. The grenade detonated, and Kara advanced, looking to assess their status, firing a single round into the head of whoever showed signs of life.
Shepard swept her rifle across the room, searching for more targets, then relaxed as she saw Kara lower her weapon and proceed to a door on the other side of the room. Shepard was starting to get a read on Kara. If she lowered her weapon, it meant there weren't any hostiles close enough to be a threat, and she'd notice them long before that changed.
She joined Kara by the door, and covered her six as she opened it. Inside was the corpse of the Cerberus agent.
His face had been badly beaten, dried blood covered most of it. Shepard winced, wondering how long he'd been tortured. Kara ignored the agent's body and moved straight for the terminal nearby. She tapped commands into her ancilla, and retrieved a data chip carrying a copy of Serina, and inserted the chip into the terminal.
"What have we got?" Shepard asked.
"The data they recovered from Cerberus is still heavily encrypted, they only managed to crack some of it, but judging from what's already here? If any of this data went public, it would do massive damage to Cerberus." Serina responded.
Shepard smirked. "We wouldn't want that, would we?" She whispered to herself. "Send a copy to the Alliance."
"Yes ma'am." Serina meticulously copied the data twice, one for the alliance, one for her, then erased the data. "It's done."
Shepard nodded. "Good job everyone, now let's get out of here." Kara retrieved the chip from the terminal, and inserted it into her ancilla, then she, Rocket and Shepard boarded the Kodiak, and enjoyed the ride back to the Normandy.
Kara and Rocket had been relaxing in the cargo bay for several hours, when Rocket's ears twitched as he heard the Normandy's elevator come to a stop on the cargo bay. Shepard, Mordin and Garrus, and Miranda and Jacob stepped out, and made their way to the raccoon and Kara.
Rocket shifted to face them. "What is it, Shepard?" Kara asked.
"We're enroute to our next objective. I want everybody to look over the dossier the Illusive Man sent."
Rocket picked up his helmet laying by his side and put it on, reading the file as it flashed on the HUD. He frowned as he read over it. It felt like he was reading a summary of his early life. Jack was "experimented" on as a child to create a superior biotic, and after escaping, spent her life as a pirate, hounded by authority, and other criminals. Rocket grunted, and took the helmet off as memories invaded his mind.
Images of faceless "doctors", scalpels in hand, ready to cut him open, stinging flashes of light that burned his eyes, bloody operating tables, filthy cages. His heart began to race, and he started to hyperventilate.
He suddenly felt Kara's hands around his head, forcing him to look at her. His wild, panicked eyes settled on his reflection in her helmet. "Breathe." Kara said softly. He inhaled until it felt like his lungs would burst, then slowly exhaled.
"Hey, you okay Rocket?" Garrus asked from behind him.
"Rapid heart rate, hyperventilation, common symptoms of PTSD."
Rocket slowly recovered as he stared at Kara. A small smile graced her lips. "Excuse us for a moment." She said as she adjusted her hands, and placed Rocket on her shoulder as she turned to leave.
Once they were alone, she moved him to rest against her breast, cradling him like a baby. He always felt a little embarrassed when she did that, but it was vastly outweighed by the sense of safety, love and comfort he felt nestled in her arms.
"Did Jack's file bother you?" She asked.
Of course she knew exactly what had triggered him, she read the file herself, and she knew him better than anyone. Kara began to gently drag one of her claws across Rocket's body, and he sighed in contentment at the sensation. "Yeah. It just… hit really close to home."
"Will you be alright?"
"I will now." He whispered as he basked in her warmth.
Kara's fur twitched as she felt approaching footsteps. She knelt, and Rocket reluctantly hopped out of her arms as the door opened, Shepard entering the room.
Kara felt herself twitch again in annoyance at the interruption. "Yes Shepard?"
"I wanted to make sure Rocket was okay." She said, concern evident in her voice.
"I'm fine." Rocket said as he stepped around Kara. "Just needed a second to catch my breath."
"I'd…" Shepard hesitated, wondering if pressing the issue would be unwise.
"Speak your mind." Kara said.
Shepard sighed. "I wanted to know if it's okay if I ask what happened back there."
Kara turned to look at Rocket. Is it?
Rocket rolled his head. "Well, in case you hadn't noticed Shepard, I ain't exactly a normal… whatever." Rocket said. He paused as he considered telling her his sob story, but decided showing her would be faster. He turned, and began to remove the top of his jumpsuit.
"What are you-" Shepard began to ask, but she silenced herself when Kara raised a hand. She felt a lump form in her throat when she saw the scars... and the cybernetics grafted to his body.
Rocket suddenly felt a wave of self-consciousness overtake him. He pulled the jumpsuit back on, and turned around to see Shepard had looked away. "That file said Jack was experimented on as a kid? I can relate, and experiment is the wrong flarkin' word to describe what happened to her. Reading that just... brought back a lot of bad memories."
"Do you want to stay behind on the Normandy?"
Rocket scoffed. "Don't insult me Shepard, I'll be fine."
Shepard remained silent.
"I'll be fine." Rocket growled again, more forcefully this time.
Shepard relented. "Alright. See you at the docking umbilical."
He stared daggers at the woman's back as she left. He turned to look at Kara, who'd said nothing. "Do you… do you think I should stay?"
Kara was silent for several seconds. "I understand Shepard's concern. If you did have another episode if we were engaged, the results could be fatal… but you won't, will you?"
Rocket nodded, then climbed onto Kara's shoulder, and she moved to join Shepard.
When they arrived, they saw that Shepard was bringing along Mordin and Garrus.
The Turian nodded to Rocket, and he raised a hand in acknowledgement. "Alright, let's get moving." Shepard said as she stepped through the threshold, and into purgatory station. They were greeted by three Blue Suns mercs, two had their weapons at the ready as Shepard approached, the third was standing at the top of a short stairway in front of them.
"Commander Shepard, your payment has already been cleared. If you'll follow me, we can retrieve Jack."
Shepard nodded, and she moved to follow, everyone else close behind. Rocket surveyed his surroundings from atop Kara's shoulder. The prisoners were locked inside barren cells, most didn't even have toilets. A shudder ran through Rocket's body, and his mind threatened him with images of his own cage.
He closed his eyes, and he felt Kara place a hand on him, calming him down. He gently dragged his fingers through the fur on her neck, and she turned to look at him. He nodded to her in thanks, and Kara smiled back.
"The prisoners here are sourced from dozens of worlds. They pay us to keep them housed here, and the people here are some of the most dangerous criminals in the galaxy, and Jack… She's the worst of all of them, the most hateful and violent ball of rage I've ever seen, I'm glad to be rid of her."
Kara turned to look at Rocket. "Sounds familiar." She smirked. They walked past dozens of inmates as the Blue Suns leader led them to Jack, some of them were ranting and raving, others slammed their bodies against the doors to their cells to no avail, and others simply stood and stared as Shepard's team passed.
They arrived at the control room overlooking Jack's containment and the technicians began the thawing process. Rocket stared into the room, a large cylinder slid up from the floor, and he saw a young looking human woman, her arms, legs, and neck all chained.
Rocket's head snapped down as one of the technicians began to panic. "Vitals are off the charts! She's waking up!"
On queue, Jack's eyes opened, and she tore herself free from her restraints, and fell to the ground. Rocket could see two of the massive Ymir mechs raise their weapons and approach her.
Jack's eyes radiated pure hatred and aggression as she snarled at the machines. Biotic energy swirled around her body, and she roared as she charged at them. Just as she disappeared, out of sight of the control room, Rocket felt several explosions beneath him.
Garrus sighed. "And here I thought things were going to be easy for once." He shot Shepard a look, and she smiled and shook her head.
"At least now you get to shoot something." Rocket cackled as he unholstered his weapon, the others quickly doing the same.
"It worries me how much you were looking forward to this."
Rocket shrugged. Easy was boring.
Kara slammed her fist into the window overlooking the now empty chamber beneath them, and moved to hop through the opening, leaving the rest behind. Rocket, still riding her shoulder, gripped the fur on her neck tightly, and grunted as he felt Kara land.
They saw that Jack had blown a massive hole in the wall in front of them, and they could hear and feel more explosions coming from deeper in the station.
"Don't wait for us! Stop her!" Shepard shouted as she ran down the staircase. Kara grunted, and ran through the breach, following the piles of corpses belonging to both guards and prisoners. They entered a large chamber, littered with the corpses of guards, and the still living prisoners who were now armed. They didn't hesitate to fire on the newcomers.
Kara didn't stop to engage any of the prisoners who were trying to escape, firing her sidearm as she moved, hitting most of her shots, blasting burning holes in their bodies. Rocket was shooting from her shoulder, a laugh escaping him as he fired wildly. Some of the prisoners tried to return fire, and were quickly killed as Rocket sweeped his rifle across them, tearing bloody holes through them.
One Turian prisoner planted himself directly in Kara's path, and fired until his weapon overheated, a lucky round penetrated Kara's shields, but did nothing to slow her down. She didn't break her stride, and her right foot collided with the Turian prisoner, forcing him to the ground. Rocket heard the crunch and snapping of bones as Kara's mass crushed his rib cage. Then his heart, lungs and spine were crushed underfoot as well. It was like stepping on an insect.
Rocket twisted, and fired on the remaining prisoners as Kara advanced, ignoring them, scoring three more kills. Kara was about to order him to keep his eyes (and weapon) forward, but stopped herself. Shepard and her team were following her, and the fewer hostiles they had to deal with the better.
"Ma'am I'm reading damage reports, Jack's heading towards the docking bay!" Serina's voice echoed inside Kara's mind.
Kara snarled. If Jack reached the Normandy… Judging by the damage she was causing to the much larger purgatory station, the Normandy wouldn't last long.
"Hold on tighter Rocket!" She barked. She waited just long enough for him to holster his rifle, then pushed herself into an almost dead sprint, reaching nearly 80 MPH in the fraction of a second. Rocket yelped as he was nearly thrown off her, his cybernetically reinforced body barely able to hold on as he felt the sudden acceleration. Once his body acclimated to the speed, he wrapped his arms around Kara's neck as tightly as he could. Guards and prisoners alike struggled to get a bead on the blur as she passed them.
The docking bay the Normandy was birthed in came into view, and Kara hopped and spun around sharply, her momentum carrying her forward, and dug her claws into the hull beneath her. Rocket clenched his teeth as he heard the metal scream as Kara's claws cut through it in an effort to slow herself down. Kara screeched to a halt, and she planted one of her legs underneath her, and yanked her claws out.
Rocket unwrapped his arms from Kara's neck, and went back to holding on with one hand as she moved through the blown apart door leading to the Normandy. Then they saw Jack.
Three guards ran at her, their weapons raised. Just as the guards were about to fire, Jack threw up a biotic barrier, and a split second later their rifles spat shards of metal at the woman. Jack lashed out with one of her hands, tossing one of the guards aside. The man screamed as he flew weightlessly through the air, until his head crashed against the bulkhead, snapping his neck. Before Jack could deal with the remaining two guards, two searing bolts of plasma struck them in their heads, their helmets and skulls vaporizing.
Jack spun around, and stared at the aliens who'd helped her, she'd never seen anything like them. "What the fuck are you?"
Kara huffed. "We came here for you."
"And what do you want with me?"
Kara analyzed the woman in front of her, getting a bead on her personality. "We've got some people that need killing, and we thought you'd be interested. Are you?"
Jack smirked, and Kara allowed herself a twinge of satisfaction, Jack was hooked. "You got a ship?"
Kara turned her head, looking at the Normandy through the window to her left, and scowled internally as she saw the Cerberus insignia on the side of the hull. Jack followed her gaze.
"You're Cerberus?" Jack growled, barely contained rage burning in her eyes.
"No, I'm just working with Cerberus for now. Human colonies are disappearing, and Cerberus wanted me to help stop it. As soon as the current threat is over, I'll start on them."
"Prove it. I want all the Cerberus files you have access to."
Kara hesitated. She technically didn't have the authority to order Miranda or anyone else on the ship to hand the files over, but she could easily take them. And considering Shepard's actions on their most recent operation, she doubted Shepard would suddenly care about protecting Cerberus secrets.
"Done. I'll have a data packet for you within the hour."
"Don't make promises you can't keep." Jack said skeptically.
"I don't."
Shepard and the rest of her team finally arrived then, and after briefing Shepard on Jack's conditions, as Kara predicted, Shepard agreed to share the files.
They all proceeded through the umbilical to the Normandy, and everyone moved to their respective stations. Kara and Rocket waited by the elevator to the cargo bay as Shepard spoke with Jack.
They finished their conversation, and Jack moved to join them on the elevator. Rocket shifted uncomfortably, feeling like he should say something to Jack, just not knowing what. The elevator came to a halt, and Jack stepped out, Rocket watched her leave, then sighed when the doors closed. The elevator continued down, and Kara stepped out. "Serina's almost done copying the data for Jack."
"That's good, so you gonna give to her?"
"No, I'd like you to give it to her."
"Oh great idea. That's not going to be awkward at all." Rocket said sarcastically.
"It'll only be awkward if you make it awkward. All you have to do is give her the data."
"But why are you making me do it?"
"I'm not making you. If you don't want too, I can. I just think with how similar you and Jack are, it would be... beneficial for the both of you to have the chance to get to know each other better."
Rocket sighed. "Alright... Wait, this isn't some plan of yours to get a threesome is it?"
Kara gave Rocket a gentle shove. "Don't get any ideas, there's not enough of you to go around."
Sufficiently cut down to size, Rocket sighed again. "Alright, I'll give 'er the flarking data."
"Thank you Rocket. I do think speaking with her will help you. Both of you."