This chapter is basically the contents of Mass Effect: Homeworlds 3 with a little bit of Dani mixed in. I didn't write Homeworlds, I'm just using it to form the backdrop for this chapter. As always, reviews would be greatly appreciated!

An angel on Omega

Approximately two years later.

One quick look from behind his cover on the balcony told him more than enough. They were nowhere near giving up. He was running out of time, out of bullets, out of rations, out of energy.

Her vision briefly flickered in front of his eyes again. Dani. He sighed. I hope you are well love, he thought. Live life, be happy if you can. I'll be waiting at the bar, start a tab. When we meet up, we'll finally have that talk.

He took a deep breath, steeled himself and punched in a code on his omni-tool. Another deep breath, a moment to formulate the words. Then he started talking.

"Just when I think they've run out of bodies to throw at me, the reinforcements arrive. This looks like the end of the run. Garrus Vakarian's last stand. If this IS the end, then this recording you are hearing is my final reckoning. I'm setting things straight."

Another fortifying breath.

"First of, if you can, please find Dani Pryde. She's a human and I loved her. I never got to say it to her and I'm not even sure it still matters. I just, I would like her to know. I'm not sure how she's doing, if she's even still alive. She was hurt, badly, and we brought her to Torque Enterprises on Earth. For as far as I know, she's still there. The bastards were supposed to keep us informed. But they never did."

He leaned out of cover to quickly end the lives of two overconfident mercs, sneaking their way across the bridge. The one link between the building he was hauled up in, and his enemies.

"I tried to contact Dr. Torque but I never got through. All the messages I sent just bounced back. Captain Anderson remained silent as well. So, to whom may find this – please – please send my love to Dani. Tell her I never forgot and I never gave up. It just – I couldn't make it happen."

Another shot cleanly dispersed of another overzealous merc.

"Now, on to Omega. When all this is over and done, the Omega gangs will tell this story but it will be all lies. Propaganda they will use against anyone who dares stand up against their lawlessness. And I can't let that happen. Everything I've done here – Everything I've stood for – began long before I came to this damn station. It all started . . ."

Garrus sat back on his heels. Where did it all start? How should he begin his tale? Ah yes. Of course.

"It all started in a hospital room – on Palaven, my home world. I had this crazy dream to study Engineering abroad and I nearly had my dream fulfilled. But then my mother got into an accident. A hit and run. Dad wasn't home, he was working on the Citadel. C-Sec blue through and through."

Good, the mercs are being careful. Not sending wave after wave as they did in the beginning. It will give me time to tell my story.

"I gave up my dream. The scholarship was for that particular summer only and I gave it up to take care of my mother. I knew I would never qualify again. I also knew if I left my mother like that, I wouldn't deserve the scholarship and I would never forgive myself. Though dad always told me he would support me in whatever I wanted to do, he really meant as long as it was something he wanted me to do."

Just three more dextro bars left. So hungry! Just one bite then.

"I faced the fact that I was an officer's son and that was all I would ever be. And so I joined the C-Sec Academy. I worked hard and honed my skills. But it soon became clear me and my father didn't see eye to eye when it came to getting things done. I hated how all the paperwork and red tape bogged me down. Prevented me from doing my job."

Lean out, line up shot, hold breath, pull trigger, exhale, another body drops. Nice and clean, exactly as it should be. Too bad I'm running low on ammunition.

"I started to. . . cut corners. Some tampering with evidence here, some witness coercion there, sometimes a bit of assault. I didn't care, as long I could make the arrest. My father didn't approve of course. We had a fight and he basically told me to do things right or not at all. We steered clear of each other after that. Then everything changed."

He closed his eyes as he relived his first encounter with Shepard and not too long after that, Dani.

"Saren happened," his voice lost its steadiness. He continued with a hushed voice.

"I got bogged down yet again, this time in my investigation against him. And suddenly there was Shepard. I joined him. And after that there was Dani. And I fell in love. I lost her but there was no time to mourn. Sovereign attacked the Citadel. It was devastating. It was horrific. "

Another shot rang out and another body hit the floor.

"Where was I? Right. The Citadel. At the time it was hard to see a way forward. The Citadel would be repaired, but how could life ever go back to what it was before? It turned out, very easily. Just, not for me. The reality of losing Dani hit me hard. We went looking for her, Shepard and I, we found her. Then I lost her all over again."

His muscles started to tremble, his vision blurred. No, keep it together. You sleep, you die!

"I returned to the Citadel. Determined to fill my days with work. This time I would make a difference. I never did join C-Sec again like I planned.
Knew exactly how that would end. And then I learned that the Normandy had been attacked. I had lost Dani, now I had lost Shepard as well."

He sighed as memories flooded him. How devastated he felt to learn about the death of his old friend, the guilt he felt because he hadn't been there with him.

"I took matters into my own hands. Got a warning from an old colleague. Threatened to lock me up if I continued. By that time, I had already learned the bad drugs overflowing the streets of the Citadel originated from Omega. So that's where I went."

Just one moment of rest. A quick peak. It looked calm out there. They were probably regrouping. Maybe now he could rest his eyes. Just for a bit.

"Everything I'd heard about Omega made it sound like a real cesspool. A station full of thugs kicking the helpless. All I had to do was point my gun and shoot and a bad guy would drop. It was just what I needed. I needed a place to start so I visited the Afterlife. Big sleazy place with loud music and lots of booze. I figured I'd waited long enough. The answer would find me. And it did."

His voice slurred and his sub-harmonics caught on the words. He just needed to rest. But the story, it needed to be told, and he didn't have long before he wouldn't be able to speak at all.

"I helped out a man. Turian. Name was Sidonis," his lower vocal cords stretched out the sounds.

"We had a talk and it appeared we both wanted to do something. I figured if we would just prove we could get things done, start hitting the gangs where it hurt, then people – good people – would join up eventually."

Garrus shifted his weight down to the floor. He needed a break. Just a little break to survive another day. How long had he been here? At least two days already. Two days of endless attacks, fights and no sleep.

"Locals started calling us Archangel for all our good deeds," he struggled on, whispering.

"Seemed like a good enough name so we ran with it. Word started to spread and it became dead easy to form our squad. In the end, there were twelve of us. Including me. Most of them were mercs who wanted to atone. Security Consultants tired of playing by the rules. Ex-military operatives. Former C-Sec agents. The usual."

There was a short pause. It took a while for Garrus to realize he'd stopped talking. Not an option. The story had to get out there.

"There was a salarian explosives expert. I'm pretty sure he'd spent time in the special tasks group. Our tech expert was a batarian, believe it or not. Not the friendliest guy but he could hack any system ever built. He could probably even hack your grandmother if he wanted to. We had one rule.
No civilian casualties. All other scum was fair game. We took the fight right to the merc gangs."

Another pause. This one a little longer. He thought. He couldn't be sure. He chuckled without humor. He realized he was on borrowed time.

"The mercs, they'd come charging right into our well-prepared kill zones. Crossfire and snipers, clean and surgical. They never stood a chance.
We pissed them off so bad, three different merc bands – the largest ones – they started to work together to take me down. It still wasn't enough."

Tick-tock, tick-tock. Time is running out Archangel, he thought. Better hurry up and finish this off.

He never really understood the tick-tock part. He'd picked it up from some human. Seemed appropriate somehow.

"We were never out to get rich. That was never our goal. But after a while the credits started piling up. That's when things started getting murky.
More credits meant more resources. More resources meant we could start hitting parts of the station previously out of our reach. More credits also complicated motivations."

Motivations. He'd forgotten all about that, hadn't he? Forgot what it was like to fight for something. For someone.

"Some started seeing a future after the fighting. Settling down. Living well. Since my future was dropped back on Earth and I was thwarted in every attempt to contact her, I wanted none of that. Instead of listening to my mates – try and understand them – I pushed them even harder. I drove them to their limits. It wasn't enough for me to make things better on Omega. I wanted to purge it!"

Yep. He'd done exactly what he had the first time he lost Dani. Buried himself in work and this time he'd expected his mates to feel and do the same.

"My own feelings – my grief – got in the way. I had lost the one I loved and my best friend. For me there was no future. Just fighting. Purging. It blinded me. I couldn't see the cracks in the seams. So when Sidonis got compromised, I never saw it coming. He contacted me. Told me he was in over his head on his own. He needed my help against Garm and his Blood Pack. And I went."

Garrus clenched his eyes closed even tighter against the nauseating weight of his own failure.

"I went to help him, but when I reached the meeting point, there was nothing. No trace of gun-running, no trace of Sidonis. It didn't make sense.
Not at first. When the truth of what happened finally revealed itself. It was devastating."

Garrus opened his eyes and took off his visor. With a talon he traced the names engraved there. One name was scratched out.

"Sidonis had betrayed me. But it was my fault. All of it. I was so busy concentrating on details, I just missed the bigger picture entirely. When I got back to base. They were all dead. Well, almost. One of them was still alive when I got there. He died in my arms. And funny enough, for some reason . . . In that moment I thought about my father."

He heaved a deep sigh and put on his visor again. Nap time was over. This was all the rest he would get. All the rest he could afford.

"I thought about every argument we ever had. About what it was he had tried to drill into me and how hard I fought not to listen. And how it had now cost me everything. "

He leaned out to sneak a peek again. Dammit.

"More mercenaries crossing the bridge. Always part of their plan. . . get one of us to crack then attack from within. A divided Archangel could be conquered. And I let it happen. And that's it. End of the line. They are coming for me and I can't hold them off forever. This was inevitable. This is where it was always leading."

Time to get moving again. They must have thought up a plan as they were throwing mercs at him again. Volunteers from the looks of it. Some barely old enough to handle a gun. He tried to make their deaths swift and painless. He felt no joy in taking their lives.

"I have no regrets. Just sorry I can't take all these bastards with me. Sorry I never got that talk with Dani. Shepard, you better have a drink waiting for me at the bar. I'm coming up to meet you. See you soon my friend. Archangel signing out."

Well, that was that. He told his story. All he needed to do was upload it to his private terminal. Someone would find his body eventually and even if his omni-tool was destroyed, the story was safe. Just one more loose end left to tie.

Garrus punched in a code on his omni-tool. Shortly after, a painfully familiar voice rang out.

"Hello?"

"Dad," Garrus greeted him simply. His voice sounded flat, even to him.

"Garrus? Is that you? What's that noise?"

"Just a little target practice."

"Then call me back later."

Garrus paused for a moment. "I don't think I'll be able to do that. Too many targets."

There was a short silence between them.

"Oh," his dad finally said. "I see."

"I just wanted to hear your voice, dad. Wanted to know how retirement was treating you. You good?"

"I'm fine. Forget about that."

Garrus sighed and summoned up the courage to own up to his mistakes before bludgeoning on.

"Listen, dad. I don't have a lot of time. I wanted to say . . . You were right about things. A lot more than I gave you credit for. And I'm sorry we butted heads so much."

"I said forget about that," he sounded aggravated. "These targets you're practicing on . . . They're moving fast?"

"So far, not fast enough. But they're learning," Garrus admitted.

"How are your thermal clips?"

"You know how it is. Could always use a couple more."

"Work with what you've got then. You don't stop pulling that trigger until it clicks, son. No matter how hard things are falling apart around you, as long as you have at least one bullet left, you can still get the job done. Understand?"

Garrus trained his rifle on another poor schmuck feeling lucky. Seeing the familiar N7 emblem, he reeled back in shock. Impossible! It couldn't be!

"You finish up what you have to do there, and then you come home to Palaven. We have a lot to sort out."

Garrus trained his scope upwards and smirked when he recognized the familiar face. Riddled with scars. Uglier than he last saw him but unmistakably Shepard. He quickly loaded an empty concussive round and nicked his shoulder. It earned him a nasty glare. His mandibles flared in a grin. He'd apologize later but he couldn't let the mercs get suspicious.

"Yeah we do," he said hurriedly to his father. "Thanks, dad. For everything. I have to go now. Don't worry about me. I'll make it home when I can."

He paused for a moment when he noticed Shepard letting loose on some nearby mercs. The game was on again. Just like old times.

"The odds just got a lot better."

Garrus broke the connection and waited for his friend to reach him.