Out For Karma: Mass Effect

[Book Two] Chapter 3: Nostalgia

Chapter 3: Nostalgia

The district was in pure chaos. Fires burning everywhere, barricades blocking the way and blue suns mercs shooting everything that moved.

“It looks like a war zone.” Jacob said.

“It is a war zone. The blue suns seemed to have begun to kill any one not part of them when the plague hit. Some people should have fought back. Then there is the part where the humans get suspected because they’re immune.” Rick replied.

“Why not the vortchas? They are immune too.” inquired Shepard.

“They’re not smart enough to come up with a bio-weapon like a virus.” answered Miranda.

“And that’s exactly why they’re the one responsible for what’s happening here. It’s always the one you suspect the least or don’t suspect at all.” Rick commented.

“So if they’re not smart enough but they are spreading the virus; they’re doing it on orders of someone else? Is that what you’re saying?” 

“Yes, Red.”

“But why?” Jacob wondered.

“Why the plague or why use the vortchas?” asked Rick for clarification.

“I was thinking of the former but the latter is a good question too.”

“Vortchas are stupid, mean, cheap and immune to most biological agents. They are the perfect workforce. As for the plague… It’s either to use  humanity as a scapegoat or for its supremacy.”

“That’s a bit contradictory.” the redhead commented.

“Think about it. Omega is a small space station with all species represented. The fact that humanity is the only species immune and has the brain to come up with something like that, paints a target on every human's back. All species against one. The second option is more obvious, the virus is tested in a small district a bit isolated from the rest. Only humans survived and can blame and prove the vortchas are the ones responsible. If the virus is released in every part of the station, it effectively goes under human control and the virus is a success. Owning Omega is like owning the Terminus. Everything goes through here.”

“Which one do you think it is?

“Not enough data to determine.”

“But enough to have a guess?”

Rick went silent at that. He didn’t do guesses, he did probabilities. Guesses were a shot in the dark often leading to errors, they took unreliable factors, like emotion and bias. That didn’t mean he didn’t have some but he kept them to himself and ignored them.

“Come on, I know you do.” Shepard insisted.

“The former.”

“Why?” Miranda asked, intrigued.

“Because it’s too obvious and because creating a virus that kills anyone but humans… It requires a very advanced technology for humanity to have. Not impossible but very unlikely.”

“Who’s the culprit?” Asked the redhead.

“For the former…Top of my list is either the reapers or the collectors. For the latter, Cerberus. And before you say anything, Bubble, yes, it’s exactly what Cerberus would do. Lots of experience with how they work.”

“Bubble?” Miranda asked with a frown, not liking the nickname and the blaming of her organization.

“Don’t mind it Miranda, he just sucks at remembering names.” shepard explained.

“It takes space in my head and it’s not useful information if interaction is very limited in time.” explained the helmeted man.

“A nickname is still a name.” noted the commander.

“Yes, but my information, not the information from someone else. It has more value hence it stays longer.”

“Wow.” Shepard said in disbelief

“What?”

“A bit arrogant don’t you think?” Jacob remarked.

“Data and experience spoke for themselves; it’s not arrogance if it’s the truth. I have yet to meet someone as smart as I am, therefore my information has more value.”

“Fair logic.” agreed Miranda.

“It is logic after all.” 

Of course they would share this opinion, they’re the same in that regard. Though, Rick is the real deal. Is Miranda? Shepard thought.

“What about Tali? Isn’t she smart enough for you?”

“She’s a genius but only focused on tech. Should I change my mind and decide to spend some time educating myself on her subject, I’ll probably be better.”

“Why don’t you, then?” asked a curious Miranda.

“One, I don’t have enough time or interest. Two, do you know how lonely it is to be the smartest and most knowledgeable guy around? So smart that talking to other is torture, either because they are ignorant, do not understand what you’re talking about or not smart enough to keep up? Tali is the first person I met that could somehow keep up with me. I didn’t have to spend hours explaining an idea to someone who could do nothing with it. She got it almost immediately. Severing that connection doesn’t have any pros, just cons.”

That put an end to the conversation and made Shepard think hard.

I never saw his situation that way. I knew he was smart, but so smart he didn’t have anyone to interact with? No wonder he’s… the way he is socially. That brings to mind his wife, Liara and… Aria. I don’t know the first so I can’t get an idea of her but Liara and especially Aria don’t seem like geniuses. Sure, Liara is smart but not Tali or Rick smart and Aria is… more like mom. How come he has some kind of relationship with them? And Ash? Through his wife probably; she did say that they were friends before she met Rick.

She didn’t think about herself. While she considered him a close friend, she believed he didn’t think the same way about her. Yet again she was a special case for reasons that eluded her. Thinking of Aria, she asked the same question she did the queen of Omega.

“What’s the deal between you and Aria?”

“There is no deal between her and I.”

“I don’t believe that for a second.” interjected Miranda.

“What Miranda said but it’s not my business so I’m not asking.” Jacob replied, looking intently at his colleague trying to convey something.

“But you’re curious about him just like we are.” Shepard commented.

“This is between her and I. If you want to know that badly, go ask her.”

“That’s almost word for word what she answered.” the redhead replied with a frown on her face.

“We’re at an impasse.” Rick said.

“Not if you tell me.”

Rick flared his omni-tool and began fumbling with it. It was only then that Shepard noticed they had walked into a dead end as the door in front of them was locked. She felt quite dumb.

So that’s what he meant, he wasn’t talking about our conversation but the door. Or did he?

“You’re taking longer than usual to hack the door.”

“That’s because I’m the one who coded the program in the first place. Made sure it would be difficult or near impossible to hack for anyone, even for me.”

“Really? I would have thought you’d put a backdoor or something?”

When the door opened Rick went through it.

“Usually, I would have.” 

Usually, huh?

“What about omni-gel?”

“New types of lock in place making it useless, as predicted. Made a lot of money on that one.”

“How much?”

“Half what I made in my deal for the thermal clip.”

“Five Millions?!”

“What?!”

“Wait! You’re the one who invented the thermal clip?!” Miranda exclaimed in disbelief.

If that’s true, the Illusive man needs to know. He revolutionized a field that had been stagnant for the past hundred years! He wasn’t boasting when he said he was smart. He could be useful for Cerberus. How come there is no record nor information leak on that? From what is known he was just a member of Shepard’s team, not some genius scientist.

Little did she know, two admirals purged any trace of Rick doings with Shepard. The less people knew about his involvement the better. They didn’t want someone snooping around and finding his real identity. The only one left was his name on the patents and that was private information that couldn’t get out.

“I am.”

“I thought it was someone from the Alliance, as they never announced the name of the inventor.” Jacob voiced his thoughts.

“Nope. And in truth Tali’s and my names should have been announced. But Anderson and Hackett asked us if we could keep it quiet for our own protection. We were not okay with that at first as it was a way to restore a bit of the quarians reputation but having an entire government or more, pissed at us for outsmarting the entirety of their R&D weapon division made us change our mind.”

“That was a good call. The turians were livid.” Miranda acquiesced to the decision.

“I do regret missing the opportunity to have the Hierarchy by the balls and make them cough money in a countersuit. But Tali was safe as a result so it’s a win.”

Shepard smiled at the thought. He could have earned billions of credits and just let it all go without hesitation for Tali’s well being. Her quarian friend had been right about his loyalty. It went above anything, beyond anything rational.

She was right to be a bit scared. It is very endearing though.

The team quickly encountered two Blue Suns talking in front of a locked door. Rick shot once in the head of the merc on the right leaving him headless and with lots of blood, bone fragments and gray matter on the wall behind. He then immediately did a biotic charge on the second, crushing him against the door before pulling out his shotgun and disintegrated his head.

“Brutal.” Jacob commented.

“What kind of sniper rifle is that?” the redhead asked, joining her friend.

“M-92 Mantis. Good against basic armor, not so much against biotic barriers and shields. Standard weapon, good enough for the Terminus system as barriers and shields are not very popular there. Its greatest flaw is… It’s only one shot before changing the clip.”

“So that’s what you meant when you said a one shot pistol would be useless. Not very useful when most people around the galaxy use shields and your pistol is not nearly as powerful as a sniper rifle. I mean, I understood at the time when you explained it to me but seeing it is a different thing.”

They walked further in the district and met a very sick batarian sitting against the wall. At the sight of humans, he cursed them and tried to use his gun but he was too weak. Shepard gave him a good dose of medi-gel to hang on and promised him someone would come to fetch him back to the clinic.

“Always the bleeding heart.” Rick commented.

“He needed help.” Shepard replied with a frown.

“He’s a batarian.”

“So?!” She replied harshly not liking the implication behind his words.

“In my experience, a good batarian is a dead batarian.”

“I’m surprised you, of all people, are the one saying something  xenophobic.”

“As I said, experience. I can count on one hand the number of batarian I met not deserving a hole in the head and have some fingers left.”

He’s not entirely wrong. Between Elysium and Terra Nova, those guys are not the nicest bunch but still…

Their advance towards the clinic was smooth. They encountered some blue suns teams but they were no match. When they arrived at their destination the place was… not friendly at all. Plenty of blue sun corpses were displayed as a warning.

“That’s ominous.” Jacob said.

“But necessary. I gather the blue suns tried to assault the clinic to kill everyone who’s sick. With no one left alive to pass on the virus, no more plague.” Rick commented.

Entering the clinic, things didn’t look better. Dozens of patients, in pain and coughing hard. When they asked for Mordin Solus to nurse working the reception desk they were sent to the back of the clinic.

“...No. Demozane toxic to humans. Not an option. Not an option.”

Shepard heard a voice talking very fast coming from an open room. As if it were in a hurry. The sentences didn’t have any subject in their structure making them quite short but understandable. She recognized that speech pattern, Rick sometimes did the same when he was talking to himself out loud when he was thinking hard on something.

Well, perhaps Rick finally met his match.

She entered the room and saw both a human and a salarian working on something. She knew who of the two was her next recruit.

“Professor Mordin Solus.”

The salarian looked at her then Miranda and Jacob just behind her.

“Hmm. Don’t recognize you from area. Too well-armed to be refugees. No mercenary uniform. Quarantine still in effect. Here for something else. Vorcha? Crew to clean them out? Unlikely. Vorchas a symptom, not a cause. The plague? Invest…”

“They could be both.” Rick interjected from the back.

That broke Mordin out of his thoughts to think about this new idea.

“No. Vorchas not smart enough to create plague...”

“But smart enough to spread it with instructions.”

“...Possible.”

Mordin turned around to have a better look at the man who interrupted his thoughts twice now.

“Surprising. Aria interested in plague.”

“Why do you think that?” Shepard asked, feeling that she was about to know more about the relationship between Rick and the asari.

I can’t waste that chance.

“Little Shit of Omega present.”

“Little Shit of Omega?!” the redhead looked at Rick in a confused manner, so did the two Ceberus agents.

“Called by Aria’s men. Deal with any problem Aria has. Highly efficient. 100% success. Scares mercenaries and Aria’s people. Only one can break Omega’s rule, rumors say.”

“Interesting. Anything to say to that?” she said looking at Rick.

“Not many know that.” was his quite short reply.

“Patients under drugs talk.”

“We’ll talk about this later.” Shepard stated firmly before turning to talk to Mordin

“Mordin, I’m Commander Shepard, and I came here to find you. I’m on a critical mission, and I need your help.”

“Mission? What mission? No. Too busy. Clinic understaffed. Plague spreading too fast. Not working for Aria.”

“Not Aria, Cerberus.”

“Thought Cerberus only works with humans. Why request salarian aid?”

“The collectors are kidnapping entire human populations from colonies. We’re going to find out why and send them to hell for it.”

“Collectors? Interesting. Plague hitting slums is engineered. Collectors one of few groups with technology to design it.”

“We know.”

“Oh?”

“He may be a little shit but he’s really smart.” Shepard said, looking at Rick with a proud smile. Like a mother proud of what her child did.

“I was going to stop the plague anyway but it seems our goal is aligned. We stop the plague, you’re coming with us.” Rick announced, clearly not letting any choice to Mordin.

“Acceptable. Have cure. Need to distribute it at environmental control center. Vorcha guarding. Need to kill them.” he said, picking up a medium size container and giving it to Shepard who took it without a word.

At that moment a strange sound coming from the ceiling was heard.

“That sounds troubling.” Miranda said.

“The vorchas cut off the environmental systems. We need to move fast either before we suffocate or they spread the plague to the rest of the station.” Rick replied, making his way outside.

“Correct. Vorcha trying to kill everyone. Need to hurry.” confirmed Mordin, looking at his omni-tool.

____________________________________________________________

Jacob whistled at the sight. Bodies or body parts of blue suns and vorchas were everywhere.

“Does he do that often?” Miranda asked Shepard.

“Killing everyone in his way? Sometimes.”

“Good to know but I was talking about going alone, acting on his own.”

“Going alone… when it’s necessary. Acting on his own almost all the time!” She said the last part in a clear state of irritation.

“I’m surprised you kept him in your team during your chase against Saren.” the brunette said.

“It took me some time but I saw the usefulness of letting him do his thing. Lot of introspection to understand that he was always ten steps ahead of everyone and a lot of trust to realize he always went for the best outcome and to accept it.”

“I would have put him in line the first time.”

“You would have tried. And you would have failed. No fault of yours. I failed too and so would have Admiral Anderson and Admiral Hackett or so they said. My mother would have just put him down. I don’t think anyone could tame him, not as long as you’re not on the same wavelength, meaning as smart as he is. Try if you want Miranda, I won’t stop you but have a drink or two ready because he will make you pull out your hair.” the redhead replied with a knowing smirk.

God knows I did.

“Yet, he’s working for or with Aria.” Jacob pointed out.

“I’m actually quite surprised about that. He joined and played ball with me a bit because he wanted Saren’s blood and I was his best chance. But I don’t see what he would gain by working with her. He already has more money than needed to live comfortably the rest of his life.”

“Perhaps it’s not a professional relationship but a personal one? That was quite an intimate kiss he gave her.” remarked Miranda.

Shepard thought about it for a moment and had to agree. She also noticed that he didn’t give Aria any snark or sass but acted like he respected her.

The mystery deepens.

They arrived at what looked like a big hall, being used as a battlefield. Vorchas further down, shooting at someone on the balcony.

“I guess he bit up more than he can chew.” said Miranda.

As if God himself wanted to disprove her. Rick pulled up from under his cover and shot at a vorchas with a flamethrower. The projectile hit the gas tank and a second shot, from a pistol this time, ignited it creating a big explosion killing its carrier but also the three vorchas around causing panic to the rest of the group. A blue blur crossed the room and the furthest of them was sent flying against the wall behind him and took a gunshot to the head.

Both Cerberus members were looking dumbfounded at Rick from the other side of the room. Shepard was secretly quite please.

Don’t diss my man Miranda. He’s better than any of your cerberus guys.

“You were saying Miranda?” Jacob said, still looking at Rick who just shot a tank fuel making it explode and taking two more vorchas.

“Impressive.”

“That’s also why I kept him in my team.”

“Can’t argue with that.” Jacob replied.

Not wanting to lag behind, they entered the fight and began to take down the few Vorchas left. The aliens being mowed down from both sides couldn’t do anything and died quickly.

“What’s the situation?” Shepard asked Rick.

“Vorchas. Vorchas everywhere. As if all the vorchas population was here. The blue suns are trying and failing to gain ground. The deeper we go the less we’ll see of them. By the way, what took you so long?”

“You were already on it, so I asked Mordin some questions. I got a gun out of it!” She said quite proud of herself while showing him the gun in his hand.

“M6-Carniflex? Not bad, almost thrice the power of your predator. Half the clip, but it’s worth it. Stronger recoil.”

“Yeah but it’s easily manageable.”

“The accuracy falls if you want to maintain the fire rate though. Unless you aimed low and then aimed higher the recoil would do the job. Maybe I should work on something.” he said, talking to himself, completely forgetting the presence of the other.

Jacob leaned on Shepard and whispered “Does he do that often?”

“When he’s thinking about something? All the time. Apparently he needs an expert opinion.” she whispered back.

“His, I gather?” Miranda asked, not bothering to lower her voice.

Shepard nodded and tapped Rick’s shoulder, signaling him they needed to move. They formed a good and powerful team and the vorchas fell down quickly. In fact until now the team had been a bit unbalanced, as Shepard was not used yet to fight alongside Miranda and Jacob. Their duo was quite experienced but she was a bit apart. With Rick who she was used to fighting with, the team of four was subdivided into two teams of two. She had felt nostalgic fighting this way.

Their advance was fast and steady and besides a hostage situation involving Mordin’s assistant they were asked to find and some blue suns batarians, they never stopped. The batarians were promptly dealt with by Rick without Shepard having the time to say anything, not like she would have after considering the situation, and the assistant was sent on his way back to the clinic. Things began to become more complicated when rocket launchers and fully armored krogans entered the play. Until Rick charged one of the vorchas on the balcony using a launcher. From there it was total chaos for them. Rick picked the launcher and fired mercilessly at their opponents.

“Hmm. We should keep that for analysis.” he said, getting down from his high place.

“Now that I think about it, are there any weapons useful on them?” the redhead asked.

“No. They’re vorchas. They’re paid cheap so they buy standard or substandard weapons.”

“They could have stolen them?”

“They’re not smart enough to plan that. Maybe from one person but entire weapons crates? Unlikely, not those ones at least.”

They entered the environmental systems control center and faced some more stupid aliens. Shepard started a conversation with their apparent leader and learned that they were hired by the collector to spread the plague. They fucked up though as instead of spreading it to the whole station they shut down the environmental system of the district. They were trying to correct their mistakes. With a scream the leader ordered his men to deal with the team and the fight began.

Rick charged right into the vorcha working on the terminal at the end of the room, killed him on the spot and began undoing what he did, meanwhile the rest of the team kept the others off his back.

“I need the cure!” the helmeted man yelled.

Shepard brought down her opponent and threw him the container from a dozen feet away. With no time to waste he injected it.

“Shepard, I have located the fan controls. There are two, one on either side of the room you are in right now.”

“Thank you, EDI.”

She shared the information to the rest of her team. Miranda and Jacob went right while Rick and her went left. That wasn’t a walk in the park as more vorchas came from there.

“How did you know that?” Rick asked her.

“Oh?! For the first time Rick Wald doesn’t know something?!” she replied quite smug while shooting in the head the last vorcha blocking their way.

“I’m smart Gingerbread, not omniscient.” he answered using the console to activate the fan.

“I could tell you but I prefer seeing you wonder a bit.”

“Jacob and Miranda succeeded. The cure is being spread through the vents.” EDI said in Shepard’s ear.

“We’re done. Let’s get back to Mordin.”

___________________________________________________________

They were back onto the district where the Normandy was docked with Mordin in tow. Daniel, his assistant they had saved, had taken the salarian’s place as the head of the clinic. He had been a bit overwhelmed by the new promotion but a pep talk by his mentor set him straight.

“I have some things I need to take care of. I’ll be on the Normandy in the morning.” Rick told the redhead.

“What kind of things?” Shepard asked, curious and surprised he even bothered to tell her in the first place.

“Personal.”

“Aria?”

His lack of answer was an answer in itself to her. She really wanted to know more about him but he always had been so tight lipped around her. Perhaps now after two years, and being the only people they could count on on the ship things would change.

I can only hope.

Rick made his way towards a backstreet on the Afterlife side. A street he knew well as it was the one he used since he was ten to get in and out of Aria’s apartment. Very few people, if any, were there or knew about it. In fact it was well hidden and was more of a passage than a street. Aria herself hadn’t known about it until Rick showed her. Climbing up the wall he found his usual entrance above the nightclub. Walking up a few stairs he unlocked and opened the door to his home and went inside. It was quite late and Aria’s would be home soon. Without wasting time he began to cook what he was the best at, set the table and sit on a chair waiting for her.

He didn’t have to wait long as the asari showed up ten minutes later. One look at the situation and she knew what was going on.

“No note this time? What was it again? Oh yes, I remember: ‘ Since you won’t pop my cherry I’m going to find another badass to do it. See you later, love you mom.’ .”

“Well, it was true.”

“Seven years is not ‘later’ !”

“As if you were worried. You always let me do whatever I wanted.”

“On Omega! And I was worried. I didn’t spend six years raising you so you would get yourself killed at the first opportunity!”

“Invested, you mean?”

“Raised. Yes, it started as an investment, I won’t deny it but it changed along the way, you know that.” she said, now by his side raising his head towards her to look into his deep blue eyes. She always liked them, she could always see many things in those.

“Look, I know I’m not the best mother out there. Linesse is reminding me of that enough as it is. But I do care and I do love you. Both of you. Why do you think I kept our relationship hidden for so long? And still doing it?

“...”

“To protect you, idiot.” she replied her own question, sitting down by his side and grabbing her plate from across the table. Rick grabbed her waist with an arm and let his head rest on her shoulder.

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine. You got me a shit ton of money out of your little excursion so I forgive you.”

“She’s aware of our connection, and soon the Alliance will know too. Are you going to strike a deal with them?”

“I don’t know. If they pay well then yes.” She answered between bites.

“...”

“...”

“I suppose I don’t have to warn you about Cerberus?”

“No. I’ll try to get my hands on any information I can. It would be useful in your negotiations with the Alliance.”

“Of course you will. A little shit to the end.”

“Your little shit.”

“My little shit.” she repeated with a nod.

After that they ate in silence, then Aria went to her bedroom to sleep, followed by Rick.

“Really?”

“What?”

“You’re not ten anymore, you’re twenty five! Go to your own room!”

“I’m going on a suicide mission, is it wrong of me to want to spend my last night home with my mother cuddling her?”

Aria mentally admitted he had a point. In fact she didn’t want him to go at all and just keep her by her side. He was the only one who allowed her to relax, to be herself and not locked down her emotions. She had too with her job and it tired her to no end. Her daughter, Linesse, was too old; they were not on speaking terms anyway because of her new boyfriend that she didn’t approve of. Rick, on the other hand, was either behaving like a thousand year old matriarch or a five year old, like he was now. She found that really cute and refreshing. She knew that with him she would always feel like a good mother despite being far from one. He loved her and from that love came his undying loyalty for her. He was the one she trusted the most, even with her own life.

And now he was going away. Again. But this time he may not return.

“Fine! Get your ass under the cover!”

Things had changed however. He wasn’t the small ten year old boy she had towered over and needed comfort sometimes. Now he had a few inches on her and his frame was quite larger. She got a kiss on her cheek and let him take her arms to put them around him as he buried his head in her cleavage. She didn’t say anything and just took a sniff of his scent. Her perfect son's scent. She would never admit it but she loved it. Embracing him tighter to her body she thanked any god outhere to have put him on her path. Rick had brightened her life and saved her from being the cold hearted bitch she was. In private at least, she couldn’t change that in public, she would get killed quickly.

“Sorry but you’re too late if you want to pop my cherry.”

“GO TO SLEEP OR I’LL MAKE YOU!”

Perfect son my ass. He’s just a little shit! My little shit.

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