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Shepard grimaced at the burn of the alcohol. He didn't usually drink, but after the events of the past few days? Finding out he'd died in the Normandy attack, waking up in the middle of a base attack, finding out he was in the hands of a known terrorist organisation and on top of all that, finding out he'd been dead for two years ?
He thought he was entitled to one.
Pity it tasted absolutely disgusting.
Slamming the glass back down onto the counter, he sighed, rubbing a hand down his face. Honestly, the only thing he wanted to do right now was sleep. To try and absorb everything. But he didn't even have a moment to breathe. Even death hadn't freed him from people's expectations.
Turning away from the bar, prepared to be on his way to find the next potential member of their crew, he stopped. A burning feeling was spreading through his chest, crawling from just under his ribs up to his collarbone. He frowned, wondering if he'd pulled something in that last fight, before the burning suddenly became agonising.
"Shepard?" Looking up at Jacob with wide eyes, he saw the soldier staring at him, holding a steadying hand out in concern.
He opened his mouth to answer, but the pain crawled up his throat and the next thing he knew he was falling.
"Shepard!" Jacob rushed forward to catch the Commander as he collapsed, stumbling slightly under the dead weight.
"What happened?" Miranda rushed over to help support him, checking his pulse while she was there. She frowned when she noticed how fast it was.
"I don't know! He just collapsed!" Pulling Shepard to the side of the club, out of the way of everyone else, they lowered him down into a seat.
"Shepard?" Miranda tapped his face. "Can you hear me?"
He didn’t respond, his head lolling against his chest. Activating her Omni-tool, she scanned him quickly, trying to find out what was wrong. What she found only confused her even more. His pulse was going wild, his lungs struggling to take in breath. His implants were working in overdrive to compensate for whatever was wrong. Was it her? Had she made a mistake when she’d been rebuilding him?
“He’s been poisoned.” Jacob pulled out his gun, pointing it at the sudden arrival. The man skittered backwards, eyes wide.
“Wait, wait!” He held his hands up in the air. “I’m just trying to help.”
“What’d you mean poison?” Jacob asked, lowering his gun but not putting it away.
“Something’s been slipped into his drink.” The man said. “Look, I can explain once we get him somewhere safe. There’s too many people here.”
Jacob and Miranda looked at each other, evaluating the risk. The man was right in that there were too many people. If something had been slipped into Shepard’s drink, then the poisoner was likely still around here. They couldn’t take care of him and stay on guard the entire time.
“Where?”
“It’ll be quieter through here. Follow me.”
Hooking Shepard’s arms around their shoulders, Jacob and Miranda followed the man down a hallway, through a door and then down a slope to one of the lower areas of Omega. It was fairly run down, a fire made out of various pieces of scrap burning in one corner, but it was nowhere near as crowded as the club had been.
Carefully lowering Shepard down to the ground near the fire for warmth, they crouched down next to him to get a better look at him. The Commander’s skin was pale, beading with sweat as he shivered despite the heat of the fire. His chest shuddered as he struggled to breathe. He still wasn’t waking up.
“How long ago did he have a drink.” The man asked.
“A matter of minutes before you found us.” Miranda said. “Why?”
“That means there’s still time.” He replied, digging through the pouches on his belt and withdrawing a small vial from within. “This’ll help with getting it out of his system.”
“How do you know so much about this?” Jacob demanded.
“Because a friend of mine had it happen to him. And the last thing I want is to see anyone else suffer like he did.” The man snapped. “We don’t have time for this! The longer we wait, the worse he’s going to get!”
“Give it to him.” Jacob’s head spun to look at Miranda, his eyes wide.
“Miranda, wha-”
“He’s right. There’s no time.” She said, staring down at the Commander, struggling to draw in every breath. “Give it to him.”
The man slipped a hand under Shepard’s head, lifting it just enough to bring the vial to his lips and empty it’s content into his mouth. He automatically swallowed, and the man put his head back down gently.
“Now what?”
“We wait.”
A matter of minutes later, and Shepard made a horrible choking noise. Miranda shot back over to his side, hoping with everything she had that they hadn’t left it too late. She quickly realised what the choking was, and turned him to his side as he began to heave. She grimaced as his body shook, knowing however that it was unavoidable. She stilled when she saw something mixed in with the vomit.
“Is that-?”
“Blood. Yeah.” The man said quietly. “That’s what the poison does. Tears you apart from the inside.”
“Is he going to be okay?” Jacob asked, looking about ready to storm the club himself if the answer was no. After everything they’d done over the past two years, all the work to keep Shepard alive, it couldn’t end now. Not so soon. Not like this.
“It doesn’t look like a lot. He should be fine.” The man looked relieved. “But you should still get him checked out later.”
“Oh believe me.” Miranda said, looking down at the Commander, finally still once more. “We will.”
Orange light assaulted his eyes and he screwed them shut again with a groan, burying his face in the hard surface below him.
“Shepard are you alright?” He heard from above him. A hand rested on his arm, and he opened his eyes again to see Jacob hovering over him.
“What’s going on?” Shepard groaned, holding a hand to his throbbing skull. He felt horrifically weak, and could taste the coppery tang of blood in his mouth. What the hell had happened to him?
“You oughta be alright, just take it easy.” Said an unfamiliar voice. Looking past Jacob, he saw an unassuming looking man, dressed in workers clothing, gazing down at him with sad eyes.
“Who are you?” Shepard asked, sitting up with a grimace. He felt Miranda slide an arm around his back to support him as he did so, and took comfort in the fact that at least he hadn’t been alone when this had happened. In a place like Omega? He didn’t want to think about what could have happened to him.
“He helped us get you out of the club.” Miranda said. “We were ready to drag you back to the ship if we had to. But, apparently he’s seen this before.”
“Name’s Henner. Looks like you broke the first rule of Omega.” He said, elaborating when he received only a look of confusion. “Don’t order a drink from Afterlife if you’re human?”
“Are humans not welcome at Afterlife?” Shepard asked, though he doubted it. He’d seen more than a few humans around the club when he’d walked in. And from what he’d seen of the station so far, there plenty of them living here. It would be a significant portion of the population to just cut out.
“It’s just that one Batarian bartender. He’s got a stick up his ass about a bunch of Batarians that died a while back. No one does anything about it though.” Henner said bitterly. “Humans aren’t exactly held in high regard around here.”
“That bartender tried to… poison me?” The Commander asked as he made an attempt to stand up. It was slow going, he felt so dizzy that for a moment he was sure he was going to start heaving.
It wasn’t like no one had ever tried to kill him before. He was a soldier after all. It was part of the job, being prepared for the worst to happen at any moment. He’d been shot, stabbed, blow up, you name it. But poison? Slipped into his drink? That was a particular kind of maliciousness that he’d never been faced with before.
“Tried? As far as I know you’re the only human to survive it. Me and my friend Jake went there to celebrate our new shipping business.” Henner stopped, taking a breath as he clearly braced himself against the memory. “An hour later and… he was puking up blood.”
“Duly noted.” Shepard leaned against the wall, hoping his head would stop spinning soon. “Thank you. For helping me.”
“If I can stop at least one person ending up like Jake, that’s good enough for me.” Henner smiled, turning to leave. “Be careful out there.”
The Commander turned to his look squadmates, who were still hovering close to his side, looking ready to catch him at the slightest indication that he was going to collapse again.
“Thank you too. I appreciate your help.” Miranda and Jacob weren’t his crew. They weren’t Wrex’s heavy hand on his shoulder. Garrus’ jokes. Kaidan’s steady presence. Liara’s reassuring strength.
But they’d pulled through for him today.
“Don’t mention it Commander.” Jacob shook his head with a smirk. “Just glad you finished your nap.”
“Though you should still get looked over by Doctor Chakwas.” Miranda interjected, glaring at Jacob out of the corner of her eye. “Your implants may have kept you alive, but who knows what that poison might have done to you.”
“I feel fine.” He protested, wilting at her chastising look. “Mostly fine.”
“You could have died Shepard. You need to take it easy.”
“I will. But first, I have a Batarian to deal with.”