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Do you know where Garrus is? 83%
Fluttershy looked up at Kasumi. She tried being angry at the human before her, wanted to hurt her in all the ways Hock had done to her, but couldn’t as she stared into Kasumi’s sorrowful eyes.
“Fluttershy I...”
“Don’t,” Fluttershy said, cutting off the string of apologies that would have most likely followed. “We need to get Garrus and leave this place. I know you’ve already got that greybox. Hock made that very clear.”
Kasumi averted her eyes as she pulled something from a pocket and off of her back. “I managed to get most of our gear out of the generator. Garrus’ armor was too large for me to carry, but I did take the weapons and your amp.”
Fluttershy immediately took the amp from Kasumi, intent on connecting it back to the appropriate port between her wings, only to realize that there was no way she could connect it herself. “Uhm, could you connect this?”
Kasumi nodded and took the amp back. Fluttershy tensed up as Kasumi attached the amp to the slot that was hidden beneath the fur, flinching every time the human's hand touched her. The moment she felt the comforting feeling of the device's activation, she increased the distance between the two of them.
Fluttershy hadn’t taken her own armor due to the limited space the generator presented. She had argued that she’d be able to create an active biotic barrier to keep herself safe while Garrus would need the shield generator.
Intent on creating that very biotic barrier, the pegasus lit her wings up…
…and fell to the ground with a scream.
The biotic field had made the joints of her wings feel like they were being torn apart and lit on fire. Fluttershy, with an almost instinctive reaction, cut off the biotics again, heavily panting from the large amount of pain she’d experienced in the attempt to use her biotics.
“Are you okay?” Kasumi asked, a concerned look on her face and a hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder. When the pegasus realized she was being touched, she pushed Kasumi away from her and scrambled to put some distance between herself and the human.
“No. Give me that sniper rifle,” Fluttershy demanded. If she couldn’t use her biotics, then she’d need something else to defend herself with.
“Are you sure...” Kasumi tried to reason with the pegasus but stopped as she gazed into Fluttershy’s eyes. It felt as if the weight of the planet had just been laid on her shoulders.
“Give. Me. The. Rifle.” Fluttershy slowly punctuated each word, while the stare forced Kasumi to follow the order. The pegasus checked the thermal clips on it to see how many shots she’d have.
Eight clips, three shots per clip, so twenty four shots total. It didn’t look as if the shield generators and armors of these criminals have been upgraded yet, so every single shot should punch through.
“Now we’re going to find Garrus,” Fluttershy stated as she clamped the rifle below her right wing. As long as she didn’t move the joint in the middle of it, the pain would only be nagging, not crippling.
Kasumi didn’t argue against Fluttershy in any way, motioning for the pegasus to follow her. They moved out of the bedroom and into the hallway beyond, passing a set of stairs leading up and going through a door on the lower floor,
“I took the liberty to hack the security systems after retrieving my gear. I think I know where Garrus is being held, but I couldn’t Identify it precisely. The security in that part of the building is on an isolated loop,” Kasumi explained as she lead Fluttershy through the hallways, masterfully avoiding every patrol they encountered as if she knew where they were. Thinking about it, she probably did. The pair went down a couple of stairs into the depths of the compound where the guard presence seemed to be lighter than in the upper levels.
“At the end of the hallway there are two guards posted in front of the door, beyond that I can’t use the cameras,” Kasumi cautioned as they stopped at the corner. “I’ll give you the all clear when the guard’s aren’t a problem anymore.”
The human activated her active camouflage and faded from view. Seconds later two dull thumps could be heard followed by the sound of collapsing bodies. “Clear.”
Fluttershy immediately moved up through the hallway, seeing a salarian and human lying face-down on the floor. Kasumi, meanwhile, was already going to work on opening the doors. The passage opened moments later as the master thief was quick in her work. The hallway was immediately filled with the sound of someone screaming. Fluttershy’s heart skipped a beat as she realized who it was.
“GARRUS!” The pegasus surged forward, putting caution to the wind. If anyone decided it was a good idea to get in her way, then she’d make them feel every bit of pain she had.
Entering the room from where the scream had originated, she found Garrus sitting bound on a chair with two metal rods sticking out of his legs. The turian coughed up blood as he heavily panted, his eyes falling on the newcomer that stood in the doorway.
“The switch,” Garrus simply said while looking at the large switch attached to the generator that was connected to the two pins on his body. Fluttershy didn’t waste any time running up to the switch and putting it in the off position.
Garrus let out a sigh of relief but grunted and gritted his mandibles as the pegasus slammed into him and gave him a crushing hug. “Broken ribs. Please let go Shy.”
The pegasus immediately let go of the pained turian. “I-I’m so sorry, I just wanted to...”
“It’s alright, Shy. Let’s get me out of this chair and leave,” Garrus said as he pushed through the pain, his eyes falling on a second figure in the doorway as he noticed the movement. “You. The only reason I’m not thinking about killing you the moment I get out of this chair is because then you wouldn’t be able to give us the massive favour you owe us.”
Kasumi didn’t reply and helped Fluttershy loosen the straps of Garrus’ bonds. Before the turian could stand up, Fluttershy checked the two pins stuck in his legs. The flesh and muscle around them had burned from the excessive electrical current that had run through them. The pegasus decided that removing them might tear open a major artery, something that she couldn’t treat right now, and that they would have to move Garrus with them still in his legs.
“Kasumi, can you give him some support?” Fluttershy asked.
“I can, but I don’t think I can move through the facility without being detected while doing so.” The ground shook as the dull sound of an explosion could be heard a couple of stories above them.
“Shepard should take care of that situation,” Garrus grunted as he helped himself out of the chair, his legs barely keeping him standing with all the damage done to them. “Let’s get out of this hellhole.”
Just as Garrus had predicted the guards were all drawn to the upper level to counter the encroaching assault squad, something that gave the group the opportunity to quickly get back to the surface. As they reached the top they could see Hock on his knees with his hand on his head held at gunpoint by a very familiar team of aliens.
Fluttershy felt rage coursing through her veins at seeing the human sitting on his knees and brought her sniper rifle to bear.
“Fluttershy, don’t! We have him. We can question him to gain information about his business practices!” Kasumi said as she carefully approached the fuming pegasus.
“Do you have any idea what he did to me?! He hit me with whips, spit on me, cut me with knives, and he… he...” Fluttershy trembled in rage as tears flowed freely from her eyes.
“...He violated me.” Fluttershy quietly said as she looked down the scope of her rifle, the crosshairs shakily staying on target as her mind tried deciding a further course of action.
1. [Let him live. Try to get information from him.]
2. [Pull the trigger. He deserves to die.]