Chapter Text
I can't get enough of you, baby,
Can you get enough of me?
Paragon
“Take them out! Nobody touches Eve,” Shepard ordered her squad. Black scorch marks stood out in stark relief against the white walls. The midafternoon sun continued to shine like this paradise hadn’t been disturbed. Jane Shepard found herself rapidly running out of fucks to give about the Cerberus troops between herself and her target. She threw herself over a planter box, nailing a poor grunt’s head with her heel. She tagged him with a biotic mine before getting the fuck out of there as fast as she possibly could.
Maybe Garrus isn’t going to get this one. I like it.
The sleek, white weapon fit well in her off hand, and dual wielding made her feel kind of like a space cowboy. Liara ran herself into the ground with biotic crowd control. Shepard could hear her struggling to breathe through the comm. The Asari archaeologist-cum-information broker managed to keep pace, ramping up her assault even though it was obvious she was starting to flag.
Cerberus noticed too. A couple of enemy soldiers began to take shots at Liara to distract her or make her focus on maintaining her own barrier. Shepard backed up, torn between running through the STG lab to help Mordin rescue Eve and staying to protect Liara. Bugs buzzed in the air, their droning mixing with gunfire and shouts. Shepard’s ears rang. Red lights flashed and an automated voice kept bitching about the power being offline.
When she was a kid, one of the vids she liked to watch showed horses racing. At the start of the race, they were kept back by gates. Every animal pranced, snorted, and twitched in agitation. They hated the small enclosure. They weren’t made for it. Neither was Shepard. She hated feeling trapped. When she felt trapped, she wanted to take her goddamn Carnifex and blow her fucking brains out.
Shepard ran for the power terminal, pushing the manual override back inside its slot. The flashing lights stopped at least. She turned around to find Mordin and Eve’s transport pod, but another squad of Cerberus bitches decided today would be a good day to die.
“We’ve reacquired the Krogan, grid three-five-one,” an enemy soldier called to his squadmates in the low, guttural voice that Shepard still couldn’t place as being natural or the product of a voice modulator. She didn’t really care to find out.
“Like hell you have!” Shepard rolled around the corner and landed on her knees with her pistols out, alternating between shooting her Hand-Cannon and the biotic pistol. She’d have to cross-reference it with the records kept by Salarian Spectres on the Citadel to see what its name was.
“Dammit, Commander!” Liara shouted above the din. She slumped against a support column, reloading her own gun.
“Jane, I swear to you, you insane, terrifying, anxiety-inducing–”
“Flattery gets you everywhere, babe.”
“Counting on it.” Shot after shot ripped through the air from behind her, combining with her own volleys and shredding Cerberus’s men to… well… shreds. The blasts from the biotic mines staggered their enemies if not outright killing them. Garrus started aiming at the mines to detonate them early.
“That’s the last of them,” Liara called.
“Excellent!” Mordin said cheerfully. “Affinity for destruction remains intact, Commander. Can clear us through now.”
Shepard approached the terminal and followed Mordin’s instructions once more. Why was this taking so long? And how many had the Illusive Ass sent just to kill Eve? She hadn’t heard anything from Wrex or Steve. Was the shuttle still okay?
“How are you holding up?” Shepard asked. Her hands hunted and pecked over the terminal keys. She felt Garrus sidle up next to her and slip more thermal clips into the ammo pouch hanging off her belt before distributing the rest of the ones he’d looted to Liara.
“Containment shield strong, but not designed for direct fire.” Mordin frowned. His wide mouth sank into deep wrinkles.
“This isn’t your problem, Commander,” Eve said. “You don’t know me.”
Shepard was taken aback. “That doesn’t mean I should leave you for dead.” She finalized the clearance sequence. “When we get back to my ship, drinks are on me. I’ve never gotten to talk to a Krogan woman before.”
“Patient not cleared for alcohol consumption,” Mordin grumbled.
“How many more checkpoints, Mordin?” Shepard looked back at Liara, who looked closer to sky blue than cerulean. Her cheeks were splotched with purple.
“Just the landing area. Hope Urdnot Wrex still waiting.” Mordin’s large, dark eyes shifted back and forth between Eve and Shepard.
“Wrex can’t keep his hands off a fertile female,” Eve said. “He’ll be there.”
Shepard had many questions about Krogan courtship and the concept of “consent”. Wrex hadn’t struck her as a belligerent bastard, but then again they’d been on a ship without any females of his species. There hadn’t been anyone else on the SR-1 that he’d found attractive either.
Two more Cerberus troops burst into the room. “I’ll see you up top.” Shepard readied each of her handguns and pounced into the line of fire. These two weren’t alone. Their backup descended on rocket boots. Shepard slapped the Hand Cannon into its thigh holster and chucked a few grenades Cerberus’s way as a thanks for the smokescreen they laid down.
“Shepard! Get your ass up here! I can’t fly around forever,” Wrex barked through her earpiece.
“They’re headed for the landing area. Get there and hold the line, you old toad!” Shepard’s squad made short work of this wave of Cerberus men. She followed the path her enemies took to get into this room and found a ladder. Shepard scrambled up it, holding one gun in her teeth and the other carelessly looped around her pinky finger by the trigger guard.
Once she made it to the top, more of the Illusive Ass’s ill-fated ground troops were waiting for them. Half broke towards Eve and the quarantine pod. The other half tried to create a line through which Shepard was not intended to pass.
Bass pulsed in her ear. Piano and guitars tangled around each other, backed by strings and horns and woodwinds and a whole goddamn choir. Shepard smiled a cold, gleeful, sadistic smile. She dove headfirst into another patch of smoke. Not only could she not see Cerberus, but they couldn’t see her. She put herself in a risky spot, but that didn’t matter, though. Her backup had this shit on lock.
Until Liara’s barrier failed and she got shot. Shepard watched in horrified shock as a bullet ripped through Liara’s shoulder in slow motion, spraying purple blood that the unflappable midafternoon sun turned to droplets of amethyst.
“Dammit!” Liara grunted, hitting the ground and clutching her shoulder in pain. Shepard tagged the Cerberus troops nearest to her with biotic mines and bolted back to her friend.
“Shepard, we’re taking fire!” Mordin called out.
“Liara’s down,” Shepard said. Her legs kicked apart in a flying leap as she cleared the last obstacles between herself and Liara.
“Got you covered, sweetheart,” Garrus said.
Shepard reached Liara and dragged her to cover, leaving Garrus to clean up.
“I guess this is why you never took me with you in the old days,” Liara huffed. Blood leaked out between her fingers as she tried in vain to keep pressure on the wound. “I never could keep up with the rest of the squad.” Tears stood in her eyes. “Wrex is a better biotic. Ashley’s a better soldier. Fuck, even Tali fights better than me.”
“Liara, shut the hell up. You’re just as good a fighter as everyone else.” Shepard cracked a can of medigel open with her teeth and started applying it to Liara’s shoulder. “Besides, you did just fine without me. I mean it when I say that I’m proud of you. You’re the fucking… you know.” Shadow Broker.
“I suppose you’re right.” Liara sucked in a breath through her teeth. “Shit, that stings.”
“Give the biotics a rest for a little bit,” Shepard cautioned. “We can handle it if we’re overrun.” She smiled. “The closer these fuckers get to me, the closer they are to dead.”
“We all need you, Commander,” Liara said. “This war… Nobody else could win it.”
“Well that’s not true at all.” Shepard patted the top of Liara’s head. “You all were getting along just fine without me.”
Observer
Shepard leaned back to peer over the trampled planter box that served as their only safety. “They’re getting pretty thinned out, and Garrus has the shields on lock.” She looked Liara in the eye again. “Remember the rules. Nobody dies. Stay back here for a bit.”
“But, Commander, I–”
“No buts.” Shepard held two fingers up to Liara’s lips to shush her. “I can’t very well show my face on the Citadel if I get Ash’s wife killed.” Her lopsided grin had only grown more uneven since coming back to life. This was the Shepard a younger, much less mature Liara had idolized to the point of believing herself to be in love. “We might not tear-ass our way through them as fast, but we will tear-ass our way through them.”
“Okay,” Liara acquiesced. She put her pistol away and opted for a submachine gun that was even small by submachine gun standards. If she stayed on the ground and leaned around the corner of the rectangular planter box, she wouldn’t further injure her shoulder. Liara’s brows drew together and she set her mouth in grim determination. Cerberus couldn’t get the female, Eve. The Illusive Ass wasn’t going to ruin their one shot at beating the Reapers. It all came down to Liara, Shepard, Garrus, and the next few minutes.
Shepard rolled out of cover and shot off like a rocket again. She jumped and skipped over anything in her way as she took a direct line straight up the middle, baiting Cerberus’s men out into the line of fire. Shepard had been right. The closer the enemy got to her, the faster they died. If Shepard didn’t kill them herself, then Garrus took their lives with startling speed and accuracy. When the Commander fought, she almost appeared to be dancing. She led with either her hips or her toes, fluidly dodging around opponents that couldn’t hope to keep up with her. These were heavy ground forces.
It seemed to Liara that both Shepard and Garrus were enjoying themselves far too much for anyone’s comfort. Motherfuckers were flirting back and forth through the comm line.
“Jane, sweetheart, have I told you how fucking gorgeous you are?” Garrus squeezed off a shot that split the air millimeters from Shepard’s throat. Another quickly joined it, nearly brushing her lips.
Shepard smiled wickedly and added an extra spin to whatever combat maneuver she was using. The Cerberus men around her stumbled in confusion as she disappeared from their view, ducking under one of their arms after activating a smoke grenade on their belt. “Not in the last ten minutes.” She emerged from the cloud of smoke as three blasts went off in quick succession, knocking the enemy soldiers to the ground where she could fire execution shots with her Carnifex. She skipped to the side and threw a high kick into another Cerberus soldier’s face. He staggered back into a cloud of blue sparks that took down his shield.
“Spirits, those fucking legs…” The soldier’s head ceased to exist after a combination biotic mine and anti-material round vaporized it. The body fell with a hard thump. The bloodied stump of the neck faced Liara’s position. The white spinal column poked out of ruined flesh that glistened with fresh blood.
“Keep shooting and they’ll be wrapped around your neck by sundown.”
“Oh, you bitch.”
“You think I’m a bitch now?” Shepard ended the lives of another handful of Cerberus men before cartwheeling herself over their dead bodies without using her hands. “Wait until tonight .”
A noise that Liara could only describe as belonging to a bird with a pack-a-day smoking habit emerged from Garrus.
“Mmmnn… That’s what I thought, babe.” She could hear the smirk in Shepard’s voice. Apparently that sound meant that their Turian friend was turned on right now.
Wasn’t he worried about her earlier? What the…?
Perhaps that was part of the routine. Fighting for their lives had been rolled into their foreplay.
Once the final enemy was dead, Shepard flourished one of her pistols over her head and tapped the toe of her boot on the ground behind her. She’d ended the fight in a sunbeam. The light from Sur’Kesh’s sun edged everything in gold with the exception of Shepard’s hair. That glowed like a raging fire. She strapped the Carnifex to her thigh and fastened her new weapon to her belt along with the others she carried: her Mattock and a collapsible staff. Her Mantis sniper rifle had stayed on her back the entire fight. The Commander padded over to Garrus, who bent her back on a closed terminal and kissed Shepard so hard that one of her feet came off the ground and her eyes rolled back. It was Garrus who broke the kiss, and he said something in the Commander’s ear that made her face break into a wide smile as her eyes unfocused.
Liara crept out of her hiding place, keeping her gun and eyes up in case Cerberus launched another assault. Shepard quit making out with her alien boyfriend and stepped up to the console that would allow Mordin and Eve to leave their quarantine pod.
“Appears safe,” Mordin said. “Need final approval now, Shepard.”
“Liara, watch our six. Garrus, eyes on the skies. Anything that isn’t our shuttle gets a flaming bullet to the fuel tank.” Shepard’s fingers tapped clumsily over the console keys.
“Commander, you must authorize release. Pod then transfers to loading area.” Mordin fed Shepard the correct credentials and codes, repeating himself when the Commander asked him to.
“Let’s get you the hell out of here.” Shepard stepped back and smiled. The pod ascended up to the very top where hopefully Wrex and Lieutenant Cortez would be waiting.
“Shepard!” Wrex called through the comm. “Heads up! Incoming!”
Shepard turned around. “A’ight, Legolas, what we got?”
“Atlas.” Garrus followed the plummeting mech with his scope. He lost sight of it and ran back under the pavilion. Liara soon realized why. The mech slammed through the ceiling above them and left a cracked crater in the tile floors. Concrete dust filled the air. The mech ignored Liara and Garrus, turning to fire on Shepard and the console.
Paragon
Fuck ass bitch titties.
Shepard dove forward, rolling behind cover as the Atlas destroyed the command console. Eve and Mordin were about halfway across the track, the loading arms holding the pod moved painfully slowly.
Garrus unloaded on the mech with his Mattock, eating through its kinetic shields with disruptor ammo to give Liara and Shepard better openings.
“Cerberus never did play fair,” Liara said. She was taking Shepard’s advice and conserving her energy. Running into the ground against an enemy like this only ended with people getting squashed.
“We take it slow, no theatrics,” Shepard ordered. Rockets slammed into the planter box Shepard hid behind. She peeked over the top of it, shooting as fast as she could and ducked back down as another rocket flew over her head. The next rocket out of the Atlas exploded before it could fully launch. The mech staggered back. Shepard could hear Garrus muttering curses through the comm line. Another bullet slammed into the orange glass between the pilot and the open air.
“Liara, keep it busy,” Shepard called. She dashed to the side, staying as low as possible, and tried to flank the mech. It lumbered around to face her. Whoever was inside it obviously wanted Shepard dead before anyone else.
“It’s not interested in us, Commander!” Liara shouted.
“Ass!” Shepard groaned. “Okay. Power cell on the back. Focus there!” Heavy caliber bullets ricocheted off the tile behind Shepard’s heels as she kept running. She didn’t have much more room to maneuver and narrowly avoided face planting against a wall. She fired with the little biotic pistol. It didn’t matter where the mines hit the mech so long as they hit. The fiery explosions afterward would damage the armored plating.
Shepard saw more Cerberus troops out of the corner of her eye. “Dammit! We’ve got company!” She skidded to a halt and jumped over the steady line of bullets from the slow piloted mech. While the Atlas tried to reorient itself, Shepard put as much distance between it and herself as possible. She ran for the squad of Cerberus soldiers that stormed down the stairs, hoping the Atlas pilot wouldn’t give a shit about friendly fire.
He didn’t. The Atlas pilot shot at enemies and allies alike. Liara threw out a singularity to hold them all together while Shepard slid along the ground to the other side. A few more shots from Garrus using the M98 had the mech sinking to its knees before its joints began to shake and the power cell ignited. Shepard took final shots on the soldiers Liara had captured in her biotics.
“Wrex, landing pad clear?” Shepard put a hand to her ear and started running towards the topmost level of the STG base.
“Looks clear from here. We’re coming down.”
Shepard met Wrex at the landing pad while bullets streaked through the air in different areas of the compound. Patches of the rich tropical forest burned around them, choking the air with heavy smoke from the wet wood and leaves. Wrex pumped his shotgun with one hand and smiled, his uneven, bumpy toad-like mouth turning up at the sight of Shepard’s squad. The old Krogan reached out and swallowed Shepard’s hand in his firm grip.
“You had me worried there for a minute,” Wrex said.
“Wrex, c’mon. It’s me. Do I disappoint?” Shepard flipped her ponytail with her free hand. “Let’s just go the fuck home.”
Wrex and Mordin both approached Eve’s pod. Her restraints had been released. Mordin held out a hand to help her down, but Wrex elbowed the Salarian out of the way with a glare and a low growl. Mordin briefly frowned before stepping back. Wrex held out his own hand to Eve, adopting what Shepard guessed was a gallant air. “Let’s get you out of there,” he said to Eve.
Eve stepped down out of the pod without so much as looking at Wrex’s hand. She did meet his eyes, and the gaze was enough to put Wrex in his place. Shepard put a hand to her chin and shifted her weight to one foot. She didn’t know Eve very well yet, but Shepard could tell she was going to like this Krogan woman.
“There they are! That’s them, let’s move!” Another pair of Cerberus soldiers landed on the balcony and advanced. Eve grabbed Wrex’s shotgun from him and took two shots, killing one of the two men instantly. Eve glared at Wrex before shoving the gun back into his hands and heading for the shuttle.
“I can handle myself, Wrex,” Eve said.
“Ooh. I like her,” Shepard said.
“Women…” Wrex sighed. He looked to Garrus and Mordin for validation and found none. Mordin’s focus was on his patient. He and Liara escorted Eve onto the shuttle. Garrus quickly looked from Wrex to Eve to Shepard, and back to Wrex. He shrugged.
“Well don’t look at me,” Garrus said.
Shepard heard one of the Cerberus soldiers groan in pain. He tried to sit up. She approached him. Too-dark blood dripped from a ragged hole in his armor’s shoulder.
“We…” He couldn’t get up, and he’d be dead soon. Shepard might be able to get some info.
“Why is Cerberus here?” Shepard demanded. She crouched down next to the dying man, her Carnifex in her right hand. “What the hell does the Illusive Ass want?”
Unintelligible, labored, squishy breathing noises were all that she got before the man died. Shepard scowled. She’d have preferred killing him herself after pulling the information out of him with a couple fingers jammed inside that shoulder wound.
“Jane, c’mon.” Garrus waited for her outside the shuttle. Everyone else had boarded.
“This is going to be a report and a half,” Shepard sighed. She stepped up into the shuttle. “I wonder how Hackett’s going to feel about me cussing out Dalatrass Linron.”
“Should be fine,” Mordin said in his high, rapid speech. “As long as Commander said nothing about recreational breeding.”
Shepard stayed silent, pulling her lips inside of her mouth and turning red.
Mordin closed his eyes.
“I’m fairly certain ‘fuck’ is the Commander’s favorite cuss word,” Liara said.
“Oh god, we’re fucked…” Shepard groaned. She leaned against the shuttle wall next to Garrus.
“See what I mean?” Liara put her fingers to her lips and giggled.