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Omega sure is something else. Shepard hopes they won’t be here for long. Get in, get the professor, get Archangel, and get out. Should be simple enough. Except nothing ever ends up being easy or straightforward for her.
They reach Mordin. But, of course, not without a few obstacles. She focuses on the fact that they did get to him, though. And she got his cure settled and got him to join their cause. That’s good enough for her. Now she can focus on Archangel, which she already thinks is going to be more difficult than even traversing a quarantine zone. After all, for Archangel, they need to work their way around every merc group on Omega. Tch. Who the hell is this guy and what did he do to piss off so many people?
She’ll worry about that once she gets to him.
“What’s the plan, Commander?” Miranda asks.
“Play along,” Shepard says. “We need these mercs to believe we’re on their side and that we’re here to help them take Archangel down. Once we get close enough to him, though, we can show our true colours.”
“Getting in is gonna be a hell of a lot easier than getting out,” Jacob says.
He’s not wrong. Except that’s not Shepard’s focus. Her only focus is getting to Archangel. She’ll worry about the rest later.
They make it to the bridge. Miranda and Jacob breakaway to ask the other mercs about exactly who they’re dealing with here. Meanwhile, Shepard stands at the bridge and looks across the way. She can see Archangel from here. Watches him shoot and kill a merc with one of the cleanest headshots she’s ever witnessed. Huh. That was…impressive. She looks from the dead merc back at Archangel. She feels frozen in place. Feels like he’s somehow staring directly at her. Then he hits her with a shot that does nothing more than disrupt her shields.
“Shepard.” Miranda pulls her out of the line of fire. “What were you doing just standing there?”
She clears her throat. Shakes off the shot. “Got distracted.” It’s a lame excuse, sure, but she has a feeling Archangel hadn’t been trying to hurt her. Hmm. She turns towards her squad. “Find out anything interesting or useful?”
“Not particularly,” Miranda goes on. “Archangel is an enigma.”
“Yeah. No one seems to even know his real name,” Jacob goes on.
“Well, we’re not letting that stop us,” Shepard says. “Let’s get moving. The faster we can get to him, the sooner we can leave this godforsaken station.”
Miranda nods her head. “Agreed.”
Shepard sabotages some of the merc’s tech before she drops onto the bridge with Miranda and Jacob. She watches another freelance merc get taken out with another clean headshot. Then she gets hit with another shot that only disrupts her shields. She kicks it into gear and makes her way across the bridge. Once she’s on the other side, she starts firing at the mercs inside the hideout. Shit. They’re with Archangel. Yeah, and these freelancers don’t stand a fucking chance.
Once the lower level of the hideout is cleared out, Shepard takes a moment to catch her breath. Turns and sees eight bodies laid out and covered. That’s…grim. She swallows hard and makes her way to the second level, Miranda and Jacob trailing close behind her. She shoots the single merc that made their way up the stairs, and then they’re heading through the doorway.
“Archangel?” Shepard says.
He holds up a finger. Lines up a shot. Pulls the trigger. Then he steps away from his vantage point. Turns to face them, removing his helmet. Shepard’s stomach nearly drops when she sees who it is.
“Shepard.” Garrus sets the helmet down before seating himself. He keeps his gaze on his rifle. “I thought you were dead.”
“It’s complicated.” Everything about this just got a whole lot more complicated. Archangel is Garrus. How the hell could that be possible? “What are you doing here?”
“Target practice.”
She quirks an eyebrow. Already, he’s not acting like the turian she remembers. “You okay?”
He finally looks up at her. “Am I just supposed to believe that you’re the same Shepard? The real Shepard?”
“That’s fair.” She waves at Miranda and Jacob to holster their guns. “How would you like me to prove it?”
“Prove what?”
She pauses. “That I’m me.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to give you the impression that this is some game.”
She’s taken aback by this comment. Of course it’s not a game. Tch. Hell, she had been so sure that Garrus would be the one person to trust her without a doubt. He had jumped right onboard with her when it came to hunting Saren down, after all. They had gotten to know each other well enough to trust each other with their lives. So, receiving this attitude now—
“How about this?” She steps up to him, squaring her shoulders. “I save your sorry ass, and then you can interrogate me to your heart’s content.”
He pops the rifle’s heatsink. “Deal.”
Good. At least he’s being agreeable.
She finishes closing the distance between them. “Okay. Show me what we’re working with here.”
From that point on, everything is a bit of a blur, Shepard especially doesn’t remember much after watching Garrus get nearly taken out by the airship. She really only remembers seeing red. Then they were somehow back on the Normandy, and now—
Now she’s waiting outside the med bay. Pacing the mess hall. Mordin and Chakwas are doing what they can for Garrus and she’s doing what she can to not panic. Not to lose it. Fuck. She can’t lose Garrus. She just—She can’t. With everything that’s going on… Having him as part of her crew would make her feel so much better. Having someone around who she actually knows she can trust… It would make all the difference in the galaxy.
Not that he seems to trust her at this point.
She’s not sure how much time passes before Jacob comes to her. They’ve done all they could. That…doesn’t sound good. She heads for the med bay. Needs to see Garrus herself. So, she lets herself in even though she knows Chakwas told her to stay out. She doesn’t care anymore. She is not losing him.
“What’s his condition?” she asks.
“Will survive,” Mordin says. “Will also scar. Unavoidable.”
“Jacob made it sound like—”
“Commander, please. Remember to breathe,” Chakwas speaks up, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Garrus is going to be fine. Mordin here is a miracle worker.”
“Simply doing job,” Mordin goes on.
Right. Okay. Shepard does breathe. Shakily. Then she gets escorted out of the med bay by Chakwas. Right now, Garrus needs to recuperate. We’ll let you know when you can visit. Shepard then stands outside the med bay door for much longer than she cares to admit. She shakes it off and forces herself to retire to her cabin for the evening.
That retirement doesn’t last long.
Before she knows it, she’s standing outside the med bay door yet again. It’s the middle of the night cycle and Chakwas is sleeping, so—
“Up late.” She turns to see Mordin coming from the elevator. He stops beside her. “Unable to sleep?”
“Yeah.”
He hums. “Will not tell Chakwas if you don’t.”
She chuckles. “Deal.”
He turns back around and returns to the elevator. Shepard takes a deep breath and enters the med bay. As soon as the door slides shut behind her, she sees Garrus shift. Then he’s sitting up.
“Hey, you should take it easy,” she says as she crosses the distance to his bed. “No need to push yourself.”
He looks her up and down. “What…happened?”
“Well, we did get you off Omega, but not before you took a rocket to the face.”
He sighs. “That damn airship. I thought I had taken care of it.”
“It’s okay. It worked out, regardless.” She reaches for him. Moves to trace the bandaging covering half his face, only for him to flinch away from her. She pulls her hand back. Right. That’s probably too…personal for turians. “Sorry. I—” She clears her throat. “I think I owe you an interrogation.”
“That’s not necessary.”
“Oh? What changed?”
He meets her gaze, and then it drops. “If you weren’t the real Shepard, you would’ve left me for dead. But you saved me, so… That’s proof enough for me.”
She swallows hard. “You still deserve an explanation.”
And so, she gives him an explanation. Tells him everything. Not that there’s really much to tell in the long run. Not much to divulge. Just that Cerberus had recovered what was left of her body and brought her back, and now they’re working to defeat the Collectors and save the human colonies.
“Cerberus?” Garrus says. “C’mon, Shepard. You remember those awful experiments they had been conducting, don’t you?”
“Of course, but…” She shrugs her shoulders. “I dunno. They seem different now. Joker is working with them, too. But that’s also why it’s great to have you here now. Because I know I can trust you.”
“Right. And you saved me on Omega just to drag me into a suicide mission?”
“I know. Crazier than any rogue Spectre we could’ve chased after, huh?”
“Yeah.”
She pauses. She’s trying to lighten the mood, but he’s not biting. “How are you feeling?” she asks instead. “Do you need anything?” He shakes his head. She breathes deep. Silences between them have never been this uncomfortable. She still feels like he doesn’t believe she’s really her. Doesn’t know how else to prove it to him. “I can’t believe you almost died on me.” Fuck. She’s not sure where that came from, but it’s certainly not gonna make anything better.
“You did…die.”
Her breath catches in her throat. Oh. So that’s what’s on his mind. “Garrus, I—I’m sorry. I don’t—”
“Stop. I’m not looking for an apology. I know it’s not your fault. It’s not like you died on purpose, but…” He finally meets her gaze again. “I felt…lost without you. I lost all sense of direction.”
Oh. He—Where is this coming from? She lets out a breathless little chuckle. “How much medi-gel have you been given?” He sighs again, turning away once more. “Hey. I’m sorry. I just—I wasn’t—” Another chuckle. Nervous, this time. And when she looks back to him, he’s looking over at her again. She swallows hard before leaning in to press her forehead against his, closing her eyes. He pulls away first, after a moment, and she opens her eyes, fearing that maybe that had also been too personal. Except…the way he’s looking at her… She can feel heat rising in her cheeks. Shit. What has gotten into her? “Garrus—”
“Thank you for saving my sorry ass,” he says.
She laughs at this. Genuinely laughs. “Thank you for not dying.”
His undamaged mandible flicks. “Thank you for coming back.” She smiles despite the way her cheeks are burning. Presses her forehead against his again. “You—” He clears his throat. Pulls away once more. “I don’t think you understand what that means in—”
“I do.” She meets his gaze. “I did some research on…turian customs.”
“Oh.”
That’s why her cheeks are practically on fire. While she had been in her cabin worrying about Garrus, she realised that maybe there’s a deeper meaning to her concern. A deeper meaning to…hmm.
“Well, I should let you get some rest,” she goes on. He nods, still seemingly dumbfounded by her makeshift confession. “G’night.”
She turns to leave. Before she can get far, though, Garrus is reaching for her. Grabs for her hand and holds on. She looks back to him, but he’s staring at their hands. His mouth plates and mandibles shift, as if he’s trying to figure out what he wants to say but can’t settle on any words. She waits. Then he squeezes her hand gently and she understands. Squeezes his hand in return. An unspoken promise.
This isn’t something Shepard had anticipated, but it’s something she’s more than ready to explore. Huh. It’s almost funny what death can make someone realise. How, ironically enough, it can breathe life into the unknown.