Disclaimer: not mine

Chapter 9

They ran mission after mission, some related to their overall goal of stopping Saren, some for the Alliance, and others as favours for people they came across. Tim was usually the one to press for those, explaining that the better their reputation the easier it would be to get help when they needed it. People would press their government to help someone that they saw as helpful in return. The team continued to grow closer and Tim focused on proving to Tali that he wasn't a threat even as Wrex or Garrus usually remained in between them, just to be safe.

,

"Gear up people!" John called, getting the teams attention. "SOS from a squad of Alliance marines."

That got them all moving, marines didn't call for help for no reason.

"How are we getting groundside?" Liara asked as she let Tim check her armour seals for her.

"We'll be dropped a few clicks out and make our way on foot," he explained. The sooner the Mako was replaced, the better.

That got a few grimaced but they all got ready for the jump as the Normandy entered the atmosphere. The ship lost altitude quickly as the loading ramp opened. A biotic barrier went up, protecting them from the harsh wind as the Normandy approached their jump point. John nodded at Tim and Liara for the forethought. The Normandy slowed almost to a stop and they all jumped. John used his biotics to control his fall, unable to help anyone else, but Liara, Tim, Alenko, and Wrex were able to handle it. He would have to speak to them about furthering his skills. Fun.

They all landed easily, weapons up as they looked around.

"How far from the beacon are we?" Tali asked.

"About two clicks," he answered with a grimace, but any closer when they didn't know what they were walking into…

"So about an hour out," Tim's grimace said it all, and John was glad the kid kept his helmet transparent now.

"An hour for two clicks?" Ash scoffed.

"Over this kind of terrain, that's an optimistic estimate," John backed Tim up, because he was right.

They needed to replace the Mako fast. Tim had said that several designs were being tested at the moment, they needed a good balance of armour, weapons, speed and manoeuvrability.

"Most of it is very uneven terrain, not mountains thankfully but there's a ridgeline between us and the beacon. This was the only clear area for the Normandy to drop us." He glanced at Tim and smirked. "We can't all survive suborbital drops after all."

"I could," Wrex grumbled.

"I have no doubt. Let's move out."

"Want me to move ahead and check it out?" Tim offered. "Geth would like to run me through my paces in a real environment. They think I can avoid most of the obstacles."

"Alright, stay on comms," John ordered, and Tim nodded before taking off.

"Are humans meant to be that fast?" Garrus asked.

"No," Ash grumbled. "That's how he left me behind on the Citadel."

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Tim was amazed by his speed over open terrain, nowhere near what Kon or Bart could reach but well beyond what a normal human could ever manage. It would be easy to be distracted by that but he stayed focused on the mission. "Shepard, veer east a few degrees, the ridge is too steep."

"Understood."

Tim slowed as he approached the beacon, scanning the surrounds carefully, sending the data to the team and Normandy. He lay flat on the rise above the beacon, taking in the open plain and then the overturned vehicles and scattered equipment. "I've found them. Two Mako's and accompanying marines around a beacon."

"Status?"

"Two dead and the rest are fading fast."

"Wait for us."

"Can't, they won't last long enough. Going in." He engaged the cloak built into his armour, better than anything the Alliance had. He pulled his assault rifle, scanning for the enemy. Who or what could have done so much damage?

And then he saw the acidic scoring on the Mako's…that was not a good sign. He quickly reached the marines and began applying medi-gel to stabilise them as best as he could. Of course, that was when the ground began to shake, one of the marines whimpering

Tim stared up at the massive creature that burst from the ground. "Shepard, there's a Thresher Maw. Please pick up the pace."

"Fall back! We're too far out," Shepard yelled.

"Can't," he answered before cutting his comm.

The Geth were running through every possible scenario and none of them looked good. But Wrex had taken one of these things with a shotgun once, so it wasn't impossible. He called for his ship, relieved the talker platform was onboard, it could evacuate them, or at least the marines.

As the giant mouth opened, Tim threw a biotically guided grenade, grinning when it went off and the thresher thrashed in shock and pain.

"Come on, follow me," he murmured, tossing another, getting it to focus on him and not the easier prey of the marines.

He pulled out his shotgun, he hadn't really used it before but it had more stopping power than the rifle. He took aim at where the Geth marked the very few weak spots and opened fire, ensuring to remain on the move the whole time. His shields were good but he didn't want to test them against that acid.

He was nearly knocked off his feet as the air pressure changed, his ship coming in fast, opening fire on the thresher, forcing it back underground even as the loading ramp lowered. The stalker leapt out, grabbed a soldier and leapt back in. Tim shifted his position to cover them and opened fire again as it burst through the surface to spit acid at the ship. His poor ship, first lava and now acid. But it was soon focused on him again as the main threat since the ship was no longer firing. And it was smart enough to force Tim to move further away, cutting off an easy escape once the soldiers were aboard. Tim forced himself to stay calm as the fight continued. He'd been in a lot of seemingly impossible fights before after all. He'd fought Kryptonians, Parademons, actual demons, gods… and this thing was big but no match for a lot of them.

Tim threw himself to the side, grunting as the impact sent him rolling across the ground but a quick check showed it hadn't eaten through his armour, thankfully. However, his shotgun hadn't been as lucky. After this, he was following Shepard's lead and carry a heavy weapon, not like the weight would affect him. He drew his assault rifle and kept shooting.

"Go!" he yelled as the ship hesitated; the soldiers needed medical which meant the Normandy. He needed to get at least a proper first aid station and a platform to run it set up soon.

Tim kept moving as he fired, knowing better than to give the creature a stationary target. He just needed to get to the right spot and an opening. He slid across the ground and then his body lit up with biotic energy as he focused and then released the blast. The thresher reared back and Tim moved. He pushed his body to top speed, rushing across the open ground, hearing the thresher coming after him, but he had a head start. He leapt up, flipping through the air to land on the rocky outcrop, dropping behind the rocks, panting.

"Drake!"

Tim blinked as he realised Shepard was yelling at him over the comm. "Here," he murmured, getting his breathing under control. How long had the man been calling for him. It took a second to send his location to the commander since his legs felt like jelly.

"Hey kid."

Tim blinked and looked up to find Alenko kneeling in front of him. "Hi," he murmured.

"You hurt?"

'We detect no damage to your body that will not be fixed with some rest, Emissary. However, the armour on your right arm is damaged.'

"Geth say the armour caught it, it didn't go through. Just exhausted."

"The thresher?" Wrex asked, sounding excited.

"Down there," Tim indicated the open area even as Alenko slid an arm under his shoulders, Ashley getting his other side and they carefully stood with him. Tim wavered between them and they took his weight.

"What did the Geth feed you?" She asked in shock and Tim laughed.

"It's the metal bones," he told her.

"Do we need to handle the thresher skip, or do we leave it?"

"They're not native here," Garrus pointed out.

"But we're on foot." Shepard looked around. "Uninhabited planet, we'll see if the Normandy can take it out from space, there's no one to complain about the damage. Let's get you back to the ship where Dr Chakwas can look you over, just to be safe."

Tim just hummed softly in agreement.

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Wrex was impressed by the runt. He'd taken on a thresher maw single handed and come out of it with some acid scouring to his armour and exhaustion. Could all humans do that or was it due to the Geth? Maybe he should suggest a spar?

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Kaidan took as much of Tim's weight as he could, Ash taking the rest, the kid pretty limp between them. He knew they'd all feared they'd arrive too late but Tim had surprised them all, again. And then the kid became deadweight, Kaidan swearing.

"Alenko?"

"Check him," he answered the Commander, unable to check himself given he was helping hold the kid up.

Shepard moved in, scanning him quickly. "Out cold. Exertion most likely. Let's move."

"Here," Wrex grunted, lifting Tim alone, hefting him over his shoulder but more gently than one might expect.

They moved further away from the thresher nest even as the Normandy dropped down to pick them up. Seeing Tim lying limp over Wrex's shoulder, a stretcher was quickly brought out. Tim was settled on it and caried to the medical bay, just to be safe.

,

Tim bit back a groan as he once again woke to find himself under Dr Chakwas' care. This was not a good habit to get into.

"You idiot!" a familiar voice snapped at him as soon as he opened his eyes. Williams was glaring at him, arms crossed over her chest, back in uniform rather than armour.

"What else was I meant to do, let them die?" he asked, pushing himself up.

"Take it easy," the doctor ordered. "Turns out there needed to be some fine tuning to your enhancements, you burned too much energy utilising the full speed that your body is capable of now on top of the fight.

"I was out for over a day?" he was shocked as he realised how long it had been.

"We had you on a strong nutrient mix to help your body recover," Dr Chakwas explained, checking the readouts. "All your readings are back to normal now and hopefully this won't happen again. Though, I don't advise taking on a thresher maw alone again."

"Noted," Tim agreed. "Trust me, I never want to do that again." He sat still as she removed the IV. "The marines?"

"You should speak to the Commander about the mission. Chief Williams, will you take the Emissary to him?"

"Come on, let's go," she grumbled, and Tim got to his feet, relieved there was no dizziness or anything.

The Geth were rather apologetic over the mistake but it was fine, they had never done what they had to him before so of course there would be a few hiccups. It could have been a lot worse.

"Admiral Hackett's come aboard," Williams warned. "We like the Admiral so be nice."

"Understood," he agreed. The man's service file ran through his mind. He had a very long and decorated career.

When they arrived in the CIC there were armed marines, two men in high ranked uniforms and one Geth platform.

"Drake Emissary," the Geth greeted, and Tim smiled.

"Geth," he returned. "You sent a platform that can communicate verbally."

"It was deemed prudent to facilitate more efficient communication during your recovery," was the explanation. "The recalibration of the energy systems required equipment from Rannoch."

"Thanks." He then looked at the Admiral. "How many of the marines made it?"

"All but two who were dead on arrival."

Tim nodded sadly. "They were dead when I arrived," he admitted.

"Thanks to your swift actions, the rest have survived, Emissary. Against those odds, there are far more survivors than we could have dreamed off," the other man spoke up, and Tim recognised him, Admiral Kahoku.

"They're being flown back to Earth for treatment and then time to recover."

"They're lucky the Normandy picked up their distress beacon." He was thankful that they had, that would not have been a nice way to die.

They two men exchanged a look and Tim tensed.

"It wasn't luck?"

"No marine would set a beacon in the middle of a thresher nest," Kahoku answered, while Hackett grimaced.

"One of the men came around long enough to say they never set it. It seems that someone set a trap using our wounded soldiers. The Marines themselves were investigating reports of a distress call but there is no evidence of any intelligent life on the planet."

"We're working on tracking it down but it might be a while." Kahoku assured him.

"We would be happy to provide assistance," the Geth offered to Kahoku.

Kahoku looked ready to dismiss it out of hand but Shepard jumped in. "That might be prudent, sir. After all, this attack did lead to injury of their Emissary."

Tim blinked and looked at Shepard, really? It had been exhaustion and a lack of energy that caused him to pass out. The thresher maw hadn't gotten through his armour! But if it could help Geth and Alliance relations then he'd keep quiet.

"The more help the better. Will you be coming with us?" Kahoku asked the Geth.

"Negative. We must return to Rannoch. We require further upgrades before we are ready to move amongst organics."

"What are you working on?" Tim asked curious as to which if any of his other suggestions they were taking.

He blinked as he had access to the files, looking them over, not noticing the concerned glances from the Admirals as he seemed to space out. It was impressive how they had taken his offhand examples and run with them. "Good work." He nodded to the platform.

"How will you communicate with us?" Hackett asked.

"We will send you the details for communication via Quantum Entanglement."

"Understood. Commander, we will head back to the fleet now. Emissary Drake, again, we can't thank you enough." Admiral Hackett shook Tim's hand.

"Just happy we had some success, Admiral." He felt horrible that they'd been too late for those two soldiers but there was nothing more they could have done. Medi-gel was a miracle compared to emergency medicine back home, but it couldn't revive the dead.

"How are you feeling Tim?" Shepard asked in concern.

"Fine, the alterations should keep that from happening again no matter how hard I push."

"Let's see if we can get a more controlled environment for you to test that, alright?" the commander asked, and Tim nodded.

It wasn't like he enjoyed passing out. "What about the thresher maw?"

"Dead, we took it out with the Normandy and your stalker friend went down to double check. Hopefully it was the only one there but we've put a warning out for anyone wanting to land to be careful. It was intact enough to see the damage you did, even Wrex was impressed."

Tim shrugged slightly, he'd done what he had to, to save lives.

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Tali was feeling more and more confused by Drake. He had become injured because he had faced a thresher maw alone to save Alliance marines. Why? To integrate the Geth with the Alliance? It made the most sense, so why didn't Shepard and the others see that? What was she missing?

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Dick landed easily on his feet and then began going through careful stretches. The recovery had sucked but he was finally fully over his injuries. He knew he'd scared the family badly, Damian and Jason were being downright clingy and B had been slipping extra trackers into his things, his way of showing he cared. Alfred had made a lot of his favourite foods over the last few months too.

It didn't help that the anniversary was coming up. Timmy… it still hurt so much; it would always hurt. How could it not? At least when Jason…they'd had a body to bury but with Tim, there was nothing. The magic had completely obliterated his body.

And maybe his loss had made the rest of them become closer in a way they'd never really been before. B had become more protective than ever until Diana and Babs had cornered him, then he'd backed off a bit. Having Jason back fully in the family was great, he just wished it hadn't taken Tim's death to do it.

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Kon floated in the silence of space, eyes closed, enjoying the peace. He didn't often leave the planet anymore but sometimes he needed the break from the noise. He'd finally done it, he'd retired, and Bart had followed. Cassie was still with the Titans but she was planning to join them once someone who could take her place was found, she couldn't just abandon the others.

With the money that Tim had left them, they'd gotten a small house in the Rocky mountains, near Breckenridge in Colorado. Not like the snow would slow any of them down or put them in any risk. It was an old lodge, needed work, but they could handle it. Tim would have wanted to call builders in, gotten it all done for them, spared no expense for their comfort. The isolation and lack of tech would have driven Tim mad after a while, but for them, it was perfect. They needed it.

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John sighed, seriously, why did he need to do this paperwork? Hackett and Kohaku had everything already. And they hadn't even gotten there till it was over, Tim had done it all. But no, he still had to write reports on everything. He hated paperwork.

But he had noticed, attitudes towards Tim had fully softened again. They were back to seeing him as the kid on the ship more than a diplomat, thankfully Tim didn't seem to mind. He'd mentioned having older siblings so he was probably used to it. Saving those marines at such risk to his own life meant more to the crew than Tim being part Geth. Tali was still watching him but it wasn't quite as hostile, so he was going to take it as a good sign.

And…now they had a lead on Benezia. How would Liara handle that?

TBC…