A/N:
Sorry for not replying to you guys. Totally just left me.
Geezuz— Thank you! I hope you're enjoying it so far.
Kelise— It's the only reason to keep you coming back for more. So I gotta stop every once in a while now. I know the Anderson bit was definitely a filler, and while interesting, largely irrelevant to larger part of the story. It's only purpose was to, as you said it, to give some more background data.
Coastierks— Don't plan on it. lulz. Don't think Anderson's gettin' any of that anytime soon.
1054SS325MP— If you've disappeared again...
Enjoy! Make sure you all leave something for me glee over.
"Looks like there's another bend up ahead." Wrex said.
Garrus sighed and shook his head. "Still can't get over that. A cave. In a ship."
"Don't think too hard about it." Wrex replied, "Because I'm not."
"Surprised you think at all." Garrus muttered.
"What was that?"
"Nothing."
Liara, who'd been about fifteen feet ahead of them, instantly rose her hand up to stop the group and keep them silent. Both Wrex and Garrus shut up.
-REPORT- Tali signed with her hands.
-LOOK- Liara replied, -OUR FRONT. COMPUTER. ONE BODY.-
-WE WILL APPROACH- Garrus relayed, -COLUMN TWO. AT MY GO. COPY?-
They all nod and Garrus gave the signal to approach.
They moved in and scanned the area slowly. When it was all clear, they stand over by the dead collector on the ground as Garrus got on a knee to turn the body over.
"What happened?" Liara peered over his shoulder to get a better look, "What do you see?"
"...All his eyes got stabbed in... and he's got over three dozen holes around his neck..."
"Think one of the crew is responsible?"
"Don't know. Work at C-sec tells me the weapon was a screwdriver... or a pick. But my guess is a screwdriver. Flat head."
Liara's eyes lit up. "A screwdriver? Marcus always kept a screwdriver in his pocket... maybe it was him?"
"Do you think they escaped?" Tali said anxiously, "Do you think they're out?"
"I don't know Tali." He said with a sigh before standing back up, "But this happened pretty recently. He's still warm. If it is Marcus, he's not far off. We should try and catch up to him. Maybe he knows where the rest of the crew is at."
"Okay, let's go then. We're wasting time." Tali said, stepping off into a slight rush.
"Tali?" Garrus said to get her attention before giving her a serious look, "Don't worry. We'll get him back."
She took in a breath and nodded meekly. "...I know."
Wrex stared at Tali with as much understanding as he could muster while Liara put a hand on her arm.
They all knew what was at stake.
Especially for Tali.
Grieco moved slowly up the cave, one step at a time, and checked every corner and crevice he'd come across.
He couldn't afford to make any mistakes here. Literally none.
And even though he assured himself over and over again that he was alone, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was constantly coming up from behind him.
Every couple seconds or so, he'd glance back behind him to make sure.
And that's when it caught his eye.
A small glow came from around the corner and he immediately jumped behind an alcove before taking aim.
He wouldn't shoot if he didn't need to. It was better to let them pass uninterrupted than to give away his position and die.
He heard them whisper to each other and he felt the hairs on his neck stand.
"Guys...?" He whispered quietly under his breath when he heard what definitely sounded like Tali's voice.
They came closer and he started to see their black silhouettes. Just a second ago, he was about ready to piss himself. But now all he felt was total relief wash over him.
"Guys?!" He called out a little louder.
The four in front of him stop and raise their weapons.
Garrus rose an eyebrow. "...Grieco?"
"Holy fuck! Garrus! It's you! I'm coming out!" He called out as he stood up from his cover and ran to them. "Oh fuck, guys. You have no idea how good it is to see you all."
"Keelah, It's good to see you too Marcus." Tali said.
They all exchange hugs and pats on the shoulder.
"God, I thought I was the only one in this fucking place... do you know where we are?"
"We're in their ship." Tali answered. When he gave her an unconvinced look she nodded to know it sounded stupid. "Yeah. We know. It's crazy. Where's the crew, Marcus? Where's Shepard?"
"Back there," He pointed, "I can take you there. Are we still planet-side?"
Tali nodded. "Yeah."
"Marcus." Wrex said to get them back on track, "You said the crew was behind us. We just came from there and we didn't see anything."
"Crawled through a small tunnel thing." He replied, "And I don't think you or Garrus would be able to fit through."
Garrus didn't hide his disappointment. "Fantastic."
"Look. We should split up. I was looking for an exit so I could double back and lead the crew out. You and Wrex ca—"
"We're not splitting up." Garrus said, cutting him off, "We did it when we raided their ground base and it almost got us all killed."
"Then what are you suggesting we do then?" Marcus said defensively, "Get the whole crew out and have them wander around aimlessly unarmed until we find a way out?"
"Marcus has a point." Liara piped in, "You and Wrex can go and search for a way out of here while the three of us go and get the crew."
Marcus gave Garrus a stern face. "It's the best shot we've got."
"Do you remember anything, Grieco?" Garrus asked, obviously going off subject again, "Anything at all?"
"No..." He shook his head, "I was... kind of hoping you guys would."
"What's the last thing you remember?" Tali asked.
"Uhm..." He grumbled in thought, "sitting in my foxhole... eating."
Garrus put a hand on his forehead. "Shit."
"What?"
"We don't know why or how you ended up here either." He answered.
"Look. We can worry about that later. Are you okay with the plan, Garrus?" Marcus asked again.
Garrus chewed over the idea for a moment and finally relented with a sigh. "Fine. We'll mark a rendezvous when we find an exit. Ping us your location every twenty seconds. Got it?"
"Got it."
Both Garrus and Wrex step off and headed out deeper into the cave. When they were well out of sight, Marcus turned on his heel and started backtracking.
"Let's go."
They followed.
"So..." Liara intoned as she walked up next to him, "How'd you escape?"
"My Screwdriver." Marcus said, "I woke up in this pod... broke my way out with it."
"So it was you who killed the collector then." Tali assumed.
He nodded. "...Yeah. Tunnel's right over here."
He got down onto his knees at the opening. "It took me about half an hour to get through this... You guys claustrophobic?"
"Not really."
"No."
He gave them both a blank stare. "...You will be."
"Tali, just checking up on you, how copy."
"Doing fine, Garrus. We're in the tunnel now and crawling through. You?"
"Still quiet out here." He answered, "Hopefully we'll find another ship to leave out of by the time you get the crew."
"Here's to hoping." She sighed, "...Just stay alive."
"It'll be a little easier with Wrex. Out."
Wrex got a small laugh out of that.
Garrus rolled his eyes and brought up the map of the base with his omni-tool as Wrex took up a position to cover him.
"Think you found anything yet?"
"Not entirely, no." Garrus said as he studied the diagram, "But if it were my guess, this room here kind of looks like a docking bay."
"How far away is it?"
"Five hundred meters or so?"
Garrus jumped in surprise when Wrex's gun went off.
A collector fell from across the cave. It's buddies turned around and faced the two.
"Ain't bad." Wrex replied, "But it looks like we might have to fight our way through now."
"...Fuck."
Wrex didn't waste any time firing again.
"We've got a ways to move, Garrus. We might as well get to it now."
"Right behind you Wrex."
As they crawled, they suddenly heard the faint sounds of what sounded like a firefight.
Tali didn't have to put two and two together. Garrus and Wrex were in trouble.
"We need to hurry." Tali urged them all, "How much farther, Marcus?"
"Not too long... Just another corner or so and we'll be out."
Liara groaned slightly when the tunnel got so constricting, they all had to lay their heads flat against the ground.
Marcus wasn't kidding. The tunnel was small as all living hell.
"Keelah," Tali worried after her helmet and veil got slightly caught onto a jagged rock, "this can't be safe."
"Probably not." Grieco grumbled as he kept up the pace, "But don't think about that. Just keep moving."
"Goddess, I hope Wrex and Garrus will be okay." Liara hoped with a whisper.
"They'll be just fine." Tali assured her, "I don't think Wrex has it in him to do die just yet."
"Quiet down... I can see some light. We're close."
They crawl the rest of the way in silence.
The anticipation was killing Tali inside.
She felt nothing but anxiety rumble inside of her from head to toe. After all the fighting she'd been through? She was ready to get John back.
They stopped crawling and Marcus stuck his head out to make sure nothing was around to alert them of their presence.
"Okay. It's clear." He pulled himself out of the hole and offered Liara a hand before doing the same to Tali.
They were all covered in dirt with clumps of mud stuck to them from head to toe.
Marcus more so since he'd done this twice now.
"Okay. Liara. Cover the door while Tali and I work on a way to open these fucking things up."
Marcus didn't even have to tell Tali anything. She was already well onto her fourth pod searching for John.
Bakari.
Chase.
Draven.
Pressly.
Tucks.
Adams.
Heathers.
Joker.
Tali did do a double take of Jacks and Hendricks though. They'd been listed MIA a day before this even happened.
But where the hell was John?
"Marcus!" Tali called out, "Where's Shepard?"
"I don't know!" He answered from the other side of the room as he started bashing the butt of his rifle against the glass of a random pod, "Just pick one and break the fucking thing open!"
Tali felt her blood pressure rise at the mere idea of holding off what she'd come all this way to do.
She ignored him and kept searching for him.
Gladstone.
Henderson.
Baldwin.
Chakwas.
Tonyah.
Stacker.
Wallace.
She felt her breath leave her.
John.
She found him. She found John.
She grabbed for her knife, searched for some kind of seal, and jammed the blade in.
"Tali!" Garrus called through the radio rather harshly, "Come in!"
"What?" Tali said frustratingly, "What is it?"
"We found a hangar bay! Setting rendezvous point! Do you have the crew yet?"
"We do. We're getting them out now."
"Tell us when you do! Resistance is piling up... just give us the go and we'll divert them away from the hangar bay so you can approach safely!"
"Okay," Tali said as she tried sawing through the seal, "We'll tell you when."
Garrus clicked the radio off and Tali resumed the task at hand.
"Come on you piece of shit..." She growled angrily when her knife got stuck, "Come ON!"
This wasn't working. She pulled her knife out with a yank and willed herself to calm down. She searched the pod again for other signs of weakness.
"Marcus!" She yelled out to him since she was drawing a blank, "How many pods have you got open?"
"On my second!" Marcus breathed heavily as he kept working, "What about you?"
"How do you open it?"
"Break the glass!"
"I can't!"
"Then find a rock!"
Tali immediately searched the ground for one. Just right by her foot was one the size of both her fists.
She picked it up and lifted the thing above her head before smashing it against the glass. A crack split right down the middle at the first hit. She did it again with a grunt and the glass broke open just enough for her hand to fit in and touch him.
She rose the rock over her head for the third time and brought it down with as much might as she could.
The glass finally shattered from top to bottom over him (harmlessly, to her relief). She didn't waste any time picking out the biggest chunks of glass in his lap before pulling him out and laying him down onto the ground with his head cradled in her arms.
"Keelah, John..." She cried with joy as she saw him take a full breath, "I didn't think I'd ever see you again..."
She wiped away some of the dirt from his face with her caring touch and set her canteen of water aside for him to drink. "John, come on. You need to wake up... We need you. I need you."
He yawned and gently pushed Tali's arm away.
"Ugh. Five more minutes. I'll be up, I swear."
"John!" She frowned as she furrowed her brows at how ironic it was to say something like that, "You aren't in bed!"
He opened his eyes and stared up into her face. "What...? Where are we?"
"We're on a collector ship." She said as she reached for her canteen, "Here, you need to drink."
John suddenly didn't feel so tired anymore when she said that. "What?"
"We're saving you." She explained, "Now drink."
She handed him the canteen and he drank deeply.
Jesus. He didn't realize how thirsty he was.
"What happened?"
"No one knows." Tali said, "None of us remember."
He looked around blankly at the other pods and felt himself swallow hard. "...You fought your way into their ship? This is a ship?"
"Yes." She nodded, "And I know you have a lot of questions... but this isn't the time to ask them."
"Tali... I can't imagine what you went through to get here."
"A lot." She admitted with a small smile, "But it was worth it."
She almost felt tears. "God, John... I was so scared I'd never see you again... I missed you so damn much."
"How long has it been, Tali?"
"Nearly a day." She said as she grabbed his hand and squeezed.
"Now that isn't too long to miss me." He said with a warm smile.
"It is when you've been fighting for hours."
He sat up and they gave each other a hug.
"Hey. It's okay. I'm here now." He murmured to her, "Now let's help the others and get the hell out of here."
"Let's."
John got slowly to his feet and took a breath. "Okay. Tell me what's going on. Just the important stuff."
"Garrus and Wrex had to separate and find us an exit. Liara, Marcus, and I backtracked to get you guys out of here. Right now, Liara's guarding the only way in and Marcus is breaking open pods."
"Marcus?" Shepard questioned, "How many of you stayed at the Normandy?"
"Only the four of us, John. Wrex, Liara, Garrus and I... The collectors took only you guys." Tali said, "Marcus somehow woke up in his pod and got out before wandering around the ship. We found him and he lead us to you."
"Okay. I'm assuming the distant sounds of gunfire is Garrus and Wrex fighting them then..."
"They aren't far away."
John started walking down the long row of pods with Tali right beside him. "Were are we? Are we still on Ullipses?"
"Yes."
"How far away are we from the Normandy?"
"About an hour drive. If we steal one of their ships, it'll be ten minutes out at most."
He turned to one of the pods and saw Pressly on the other side. "How do we open these up?"
"Break the glass is the only way I know how."
"There's got to be another way." John said as he felt around the casket, "Maybe there's something controlling them all. Think you can look around for a computer or something to do your magic?"
"On it John. No guarantees though..."
"Good. All you have to do is try." He looked up and called out for Marcus. "Marcus!"
"Holy shit! Commander, that you?"
"Yeah, Tali got me out! How many people you got out so far?"
"Just two! They're waking up now sir! Give them a minute and they'll help!"
"Liara!"
"Good to hear you, Shepard!" Liara answered.
"We still clear?"
"Yes!"
"Good! Keep it that way!"
He leaned into Pressly's little personal prison and tried separating the lock by pulling it apart with his hands alone. Okay. That clearly wasn't going to work. "Just hold on, Pressly. I'll figure something out."
When he ducked down to find something that could hammer away the glass, all of the pods in the room suddenly opened.
"Keelah... I did it. I actually did it." Tali said in surprise, "John! They're open!"
She came running back to him as the crew starting falling out of their shells.
"Great work, Tali. Phenomenal."
"Yeah. I suppose... but it sure would've been nice if I had found that earlier..." Tali grumbled as she knelt down next to John to help Pressly up.
"Pressly. Wake up" John said as he lightly shook his shoulder, "Come on. We've got to get the hell out of here."
Pressly's eyes beaded open slowly and he looked up to see both their faces hovering right above his own. "Agh. Christ... What? Where am I?"
"In a bad place, Pressly. You need to get up and start helping the others. Get moving." He pat his shoulder before both Tali and Shepard move off to the next casket.
"How are we doing, Liara!" John yelled to her, "We still good?"
"No! They see us!" Liara yelled back before unleashing an entire blanket of bullets into a squad of collectors. She finished them off with a show of biotic force, "The crew needs to get up! Now!"
"Buy us time!"
"Will do!"
As Tali tended to Joker with Chakwas already coming over to help, John started rounding up his detachment of marines and the ones still wearing body armor.
"Marines! On me!"
Jackson nudged Hendricks shoulder and gave her a smile as they gathered around John. "Told you they'd all come for us."
Hendricks gave Jackson a toothy smile and hugged the man. "Totally thought you were wrong, Jacks. Good to see I was."
"Listen up." John said to the marines that were up and moving, "If you're wearing armor, join up with Liara now and grab one of the guns off the dead collectors. Pretty sure Liara just killed some. Move."
A chorus of 'yes sirs' rang out and went out to do what they did best.
"The rest of you, get the others up and ready. Arm yourselves with anything you can. A rock if you have to."
Pressly stepped up next to the Commander. "Sir. Half the crew's up while the other is still getting their bearings. If you've got a motivational speech to give, now's the time to give it."
John nodded to him before turning to his crew. "Everyone! Listen up!"
Dozens of heads turn to face their leader. Tali too, in the crowd of people, stared on and watched him.
"We're in a collector ship."
Some of the crew gasp while others grow silent.
"Yes. I know." He ushered them to quiet down with his hands, "We're in quite the pickle, ladies and gentleman."
Despite the circumstance, he still got some half-hearted chuckles.
Tali and John lock eyes and he gave her a grim smile.
"You have every reason to be scared right now. But we were also scared at Feros. At Noveria. At Virmire. At Illos. And at the apex of what would decide the fate of the galaxy, we were scared at the Citadel. But we prevailed. Each and every time, we achieved the impossible. We're a crazy bunch, ladies and gentleman, but we're an effective one. I don't consider this to be any harder than what we've dealt with before. Let's go home people. We're going home."
"This is Shepard, you hear me, Garrus?"
Garrus had to empty out whatever was left of his heat sink until answering him.
"Yeah! I do! Good to hear you're still alive!"
"Alive and well. You need to do that diversion, Garrus. We're leading the crew out now. Can you still do it?"
"We'll do it now!" Garrus said before putting a hand on Wrex's shoulder to tell him it was time, "Look out for a bag of guns, too; we had time to pilfer through their dead to get them for you!"
"Will do, Garrus. Just stay alive. We'll wait for you to come back."
"Copy, Shepard! Got to go!"
Garrus got up from his perch and fired. "Let's go, Wrex! We've got to lead them out of the hangar!"
"Fine!" Wrex growled as he stood up right in the middle of the fray, "I'm done sitting around!"
"Go as we planned it! I'll cover you!"
Wrex charged through the battlefield, pummeled any collector who happened to cross his path, and ran into a tunnel that would eventually loop around back to the docking bay. Garrus was quick to follow.
And based off experience, the collectors followed them mindlessly like slaves.
"Keep up, pyjack!"
Garrus actually had the capacity to roll his eyes and yell back at him as they ran. "Fuck you!"
A/N:
Have questions for you guys.
Is the dialogue good? Can you actually hear them saying all of this? Is the characterization on par with what you all want?
And if you have anything you'd like to say, either PM me or send out a review. If you want a shoutout to say your name just because, or if you have a story you'd like to share, tell me! I'll put it up for others to see!
Stick around for more soon.
-Narcrotic