Survivor

Chapter 31

Shepard
I stalked off the ship with an irritated Miranda close behind, Garrus, Joker, Liara, James and EDI trailing us, all concerned.
  "Think this through, I'm telling you this for a reason, Shepard."
  I spun around to face her and pointed a finger at her. "No, you're demanding this. You put me back together without it and now you want to force it back on me! I'm perfectly fine without it!"
  Miranda glared at me. "This was before you went and threw yourself back into danger. When I thought maybe you and Garrus were going to retire!"
  People were starting to stare at us, curious, but I didn't care. I was too pissed off to care.
  "What Garrus and I do is none of your business! I can take care of myself perfectly fine without it!"
  "The hell you can! You were ambushed in your own apartment and shot! Then you were attacked on Earth!"
  I clenched my jaw and spoke through my teeth, my pride stung by that. "The apartment was pre-cure. You know why I was ambushed. The attack on Earth was handled just fine without that damn implant! You wouldn't know how those L2's hurt like hell because one, you don't have one and two, your fucking perfect genetics block any shitty side effects!"
  I spun around to stalk off again, and heard the click of her heels behind me.
  "I wouldn't follow her," Joker called out to Miranda, but of course her heels still showed her following me.
  I spun around, fist raised and as she skidded to a halt in front of me, I swung, catching her by her mouth- and by surprise. Her eyes widened as the impact was made and she stumbled back a few steps.
  She touched a hand to her lip, which was split, and drew it away to see the blood on her fingertips.
  My crew stood in shock, staring at my panting form as I continued to glare at Miranda with no remorse.
  "You bitch!" She lunged at me, only to be caught by James, held only by her waist as Liara quickly grabbed her arms and struggled to cross them over her chest. Once she finally succeeded, James adjusted his grip over her arms, holding her in a bear hug, which only pissed her off further, but I couldn't care.
  "Stay out of my business," I spat at her  before I turned and stalked into the elevator with people staring at me as the doors closed.
  Garrus had tried to follow, but between the commotion of Miranda and the doors closing too soon, I was left alone.
  It was probably for the best.
  I couldn't explain why I was so irritable.
  Maybe it was the loss of Anderson.
  Or the memories of being a street rat.
  Or even the memories of the man I called my brother.
  I couldn't tell anymore. I just knew I was angrier than I had ever been, and I had to get it out before I hurt someone else I cared about.
  This wasn't me, I knew it. I was a bit wild at times, yes, but this renegade behavior was not my normal self.
  Sure, I punched a reporter once, but that was with good reason... Okay, semi good reason. But this was different.
  There's no war to create short fuses, to make tired minds with little rational thoughts.
  Even then, I've been more patient than that.
I found myself punching the button for Chora's den, despite the fact that it got less and less tasteful as time went on.
  There was a pang in my heart that wouldn't let what was left between Elias and I alone.
  I exited the elevator when it arrived and shouldered my way through the crowd toward the underground gambling chambers, accessible only through the back hall. 
  I remembered taking down Fist in his office as I passed that closed door, continuing to the access for the gambling chamber, which was guarded by two Turians.
  They held out their hands for me to stop and narrowed their eyes at me.
  "Can we help you with something?"
  I nodded and gestured to the door behind them. "Yeah, you can let me in."
  They looked at each other with raised brow plates then one shook his head as he turned back to me.
  "Why should we? We know who you are."
  I shrugged, indifferent. "Yeah? Then I guess you know how pissed Elias Quinn will be when he finds out you didn't let me in. And he will find out..."
  I let that threat hang for a moment, while the Turians shifted, weighing their options.
  Begrudgingly, the same Turian spoke again, lowering his arm. "If he's pissed that we let you in, when we come get you, you'll be leaving in a body bag."
  I waved him off as I stepped through the now open door, taking in my surroundings.
  To me, the gambling chamber looked like any other slum ring. Tables set up throughout the room with different colors of lighting set under and above them, with players sitting around the different tables.
  In the far back left, there was a bar, and connecting to that and spanning to the right side of the room was a raised platform with nicer tables and lounge areas that overlooked the gambling floor.
  I beelined toward that, my instincts telling me Elias would be watching over his operation.
  The bartender simply watched me as I sauntered past his access to the platform, which was identified as the VIP zone.
  I made my way up the few stairs and across the platform with all eyes on me until I made it to the center, where a man sat with a woman on each arm, one Asari, one human.
  They held his attention until I stood across from him, the table in front of him the only thing between us now.
  His honey brown hair was tousled like usual, falling to the top of his ears. The light caught his strong jawline and high cheekbones in a way that made him still look 21.
Finally, his grey-green eyes I knew so well flickered away from the girls to take in my form.
For a moment only indifference registered on his face, then the recognition hit.
"Sammy? Is that you?" Elias stood, waving the girls away before he ran a hand through his hair, awe clear on his face.
I nodded. "Yeah, Lie, it's me. It's been a long time."
He scoffed, nodding in agreement. "It really has. I heard the Alliance Navy has worked out well for you."
"If you count being spaced and then later dropped from the Citadel working out, then hell yeah, I'm on a roll."
Elias chuckled and gestured for me to sit as he took his seat again, waving away the guards that stood at the ready.
I walked the last few steps and sat a couple spaces over from where the girls were.
"So spaced, huh? There were a lot of stories going around the underground as to what happened to you the first time. No news source is real reliable, though."
I chuckled and shook my head. "Everyone puts their own twist on things. Long story short, we had a Collector ship blast a hole in the SR1 despite a damn good pilot up in that front seat. I went to get his stubborn ass out, got him into the pod when the ship took more damage. I was torn from the pod, but not before I could hit the eject command on the control panel. It kinda cost me when I got spaced. My breather ruptured at the back of the neck on the way down and from there I kind of lost consciousness. Cerberus found the pieces and slapped me back together to return to my search for the Reapers, though, so it worked out."
Elias shook his head at me. "Kid, if I didn't know you weren't a liar, I would be calling you out right now. That is some seriously fucked up shit right there."
I laughed. "Yeah, you're telling me."
He shrugged. "I do know more than you..."
I raised a brow at him. "Really? You still think that age trumps experience then? I fell for it as a kid, but after being in the Alliance Navy so long I'm pretty sure that's not the case."
Elias grinned. "Well, some of us street rats are smarter than others!"
I narrowed my eyes at him and gave him a playful slug to the arm, which made him laugh and rub the spot I hit.
He shook his head. "I can't even say how good it is to see you again. I've missed you more than you'll believe."
I smiled. "I'm pretty sure I can believe it. We've got a lot of catching up to do."
"Hell yeah, we do."

((A/N: So whaddya guys think? Kinda setting a brother figure and giving a little background to Shepard... It just happened lol I just write what the characters do, they have their own life, let's just go with that okay? ;)
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! If ya did, lemme know with a vote and comment! You guys are the best! Survivor as almost reached 1000 reads and I'm super hyped that we're gonna hit that soon! Thank you guys!! Keelah se'lai!))