Paying the Price

Paying the Price

Chapter Eight

Pain, that was the first thing Shepard was aware of as she finally woke. Part of her wanted to embrace the cold darkness that had been there a second ago and black out again, though she forced her eyes to open regardless, pain meant she was still alive, and that meant the pulse hadn't triggered yet.

As her eyes focused, she noted her vision was blurred and red. The first was no doubt due to whatever had knocked her out, the red though, she realized was blood staining the inside of her helmet.

Several warning lights blinked on and off as well, and once she was able to focus enough to read them, she cringed at the news. Shields were offline, medi-gel supply was depleted, and her armour was starting to shut down.

Shifting slightly, she nodded her Omni-tool was glowing as well, tilting her head, she realized that her body wasn't much better, left leg was broken in three places, probably wouldn't support her weight, arm was still broken and she couldn't feel it anymore.

Damn it, it was a wonder she was still breathing, cracked ribs, the list went on…

No doubt she had the Cerberus implants to thank for her still beating heart.

Shaking her head slightly, she dug her palm into the floor and started to push herself upright. Though this proved, impossible as she became aware of something heavy resting on her back. She was in no position to move it.

After a few moments, she gave up and let her body fall back to the floor. Her Omni-tool blinked again, and she spared it a glance.

1:30

Hell, there was no time left…

Movement caught her eye, and lifting her head slightly, she spotted Garrus pulling himself out of the debris nearby and stumbling towards her. He looked as bad as she felt. Though the fact that he was still standing at this point proved he was doing much better.

Staggering over to the commander, she was surprised when he managed to lift whatever was pinning her up and off. The loud bang of it striking the floor indicated it was something heavy. A few moments later he offered a hand, which Shepard gladly accepted, though as she was pulled upright, her fears were proven correct, as she almost collapsed a second later when her leg refused to support her weight.

"You don't look so good commander…" Melina offered a rather pathetic smile at that, before shrugging slightly, this led to a wince as the movement jarred her already numb shoulder.

"You sure you're right to walk Shepard?" She spared Garrus a glance, only now realizing that behind the blood, her visor was cracked. The commander offered a annoyed glare, though it was obviously half hearted and she relaxed a second later.

"I can still walk if that's what you're asking…So, no you don't get to carry me this time." She almost laughed at the mock disappointment that briefly crossed the snipers face, or was that real? She couldn't tell, her head was spinning again and it was making it hard to focus on much of anything.

"Suit yourself." He muttered in response, and she could just pick up on the disappointment their as well, damn he was a good actor at times…

Wincing again, she moved to grab her rifle, and found it, and her other weapons missing, the only one she still had was her pistol. "Great…" Checking the display again, or what was left of it, she noted the magnetic clamps had failed as well, her weapons were gone. "Good thing this fights almost over.

1:00

"Not good!" She growled, Garrus too shifted uneasily as he caught sight of the display.

"Commander come in! Come on don't leave me hanging!" Joker, thank god he was still alive, that meant the ship was okay.

"I'm here, were-" She glanced about the platform, and finally caught sight of Legion disentangling himself from the rubble and moving towards them, his armour was melted and a few pieces were missing. And the optical light that counted for his eyes was cracked, likely making it hard for him to see, but he was still standing, and that's all she cared about. "-Were here, coming to you now!" With a nod, she whipped around and started towards the tunnel they'd, somehow found themselves in front of.

Had she more time, she'd have questioned the twist of fate, but there was seconds to go, and no time left to ponder such things now.

Gripping her pistol tightly, Shepard forced her legs into motion, despite the pain that flared up with each step, she forced herself to look past it and keep moving. She wasn't even game enough to look at the counter anymore, less she discover something she didn't want to.

The tunnel seemed to stretch on forever, and with each turn Melina couldn't shake the feeling they were going in circles. Every second counted and they were lost! Luckily this passage only went one way, so even with that notion in the back of her head, it wasn't like It mattered.

Just when things were starting to grow brighter, and she suspected the end of the tunnel was drawing close, something struck the back of her leg and caused the commander to stumble.

Twisting slightly, she noted a wave of collectors only a few feet behind them. The rest of the squad was still running, or so she assumed, but she slowed and spun to face the advancing aliens, her pistol firing aimlessly as she did her best to buy the others time.

One against a dozen though had dire side effects. As Shepard discovered when several rounds pierced her armour and sent her stumbling back a step. The lack of medi-gel was quite noticeable as the injury's continued to pain her long after she was hit.

"Shepard!" She ignored Garrus for the moment and instead fired until her pistol clicked empty, then simply spun around and started running again. Finally she glanced downwards to her arm.

0:27

This was going to be the death of her, again if they didn't get out of here soon!

Stumbling around another corner, she winced as pieces of the wall behind her were chipped away, she simply kept running the others were a few feet ahead of her at this point and she intended to catch up or die trying. At this rate it was going to be the latter.

Slamming her last thermal clip into the pistol, she managed to fire another shot over her shoulder, before giving up and simply focusing on putting one foot in front of the other.

A few steps alter and the tunnel finally opened in an expansive chamber, ahead she could make out a bridge, and as she drew closer the Normandy surged into view and spun sideways, the airlock swiftly opening as they approached. "Go go go!" She called out, though she was the only one slowing them down at this point.

Garrus and Legion reached the ship, and she could just make out Joker waiting for them, assault rifle in hand as he tried to buy her some time.

Just when it looked like she would make it however, the rapidly collapsing station threw one last obstacle in her way, namely another support beam crashing into the bridge and smashing the end of it. Leaving her with several feet of nothing to close the gap with.

She had two options at this point, jump and hope for the best, or stop running now and go down fighting…

Taking a deep breath, she simply put all of her effort into running, and as the end of the remaining platform reached her feet, she pushed off and leapt forwards.

The distance was closing rapidly, but she could feel gravity pulling her downwards at the same time. This was a stupid idea!

A second later she impacted with the side of the ship, her hands instinctively lashing out in a attempt to grab hold of something as she began sliding backwards towards the sheer drop below.

Just as she reached the edge, Garrus rushed forwards, his hands closing around her wrists and stopped her at the last second. "I'm not letting you go that easily." He growled, before dragging her back into the ship. Had the situation not been as, dangerous, she'd have laughed at the reversal of their earlier situation. Though somehow he was able to pull her to safety, and the airlock slammed shut a second afterwards, any longer and she'd have likely lost her legs…

Breathing heavily, she rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling, Garrus was along side on his knees still from saving her, and was catching his breath as well. Joker was gone, likely to get them out of here, and Legion was somewhere out of sight, she presumed having followed the pilot.

The ship shuddered around them as the engines powered up. And despite everything, Shepard couldn't help but chuckle as she propped herself up on one arm. "We, we made it…I can't believ-" She was cut off by a coughing fit, by the end she could taste blood, but she ignored it for the moment and shifted back to lean against the wall. "Can't believe we made it out of there alive…"

"Me either." Garrus commented as he stood and once again offered her a hand, which she gladly accepted.

Despite her body wanting to just lay their and give up. Melina slowly limped to the bridge and rested her weight against the back of Jokers chair, ahead of them she could only see the blackness of space, and the debris of the ships that had failed before them.

"We made it, and the stations purged…Lets just hope the Illusive Man can make use of the tech we left behind…If the stations still standing." Shepard chuckled quietly at the turian's comments, after all the damage they did; it wouldn't surprise her if it detonated anyway.

She paused to remove her helmet, and cringed at just how much blood stained the inside. She HAD to have a head injury after all this. A glance downwards confirmed her armour wasn't much better, bullet holes, blood stains both hers and others, and dents marred it's once pristine surface.

Shaking her head slightly, she turned away from the bridge and started to limp towards the elevator, not noticing that each step was becoming harder then the last. "I'll be in my…Quarters…Need to get this armour off." She mumbled, her voice slurred and weak

"I think we should get you to the doctor commander." Garrus was suddenly at her side, and as Shepard turned to regard the worried turian, she found the edges of her vision were suddenly dark. And what little she could see was blurred and hard to focus on.

"Might be…Right…" She stumbled slightly as she tried to turn towards the elevator again, her hands managing to find a terminal of some description to hold her upright.

"Commander!" Melina barely heard the cry of alarm, before she finally succumbed to her injury's and collapsed to the deck with a loud thud. She was dimly aware of someone grabbing her and lifting her off the floor, before everything finally faded to black, the dull beating of her heart was the last thing she heard before that too died away.