#someone needs to write the AU where Archangel is Nyreen

[firesongbard]

Archangel's Shadow

A short snippet from my Post-Control longfic. Read more on AO3

T R A Y N O R

Samantha was grateful to have a puzzle to work on. The busywork of replacing capacitors and cataloging equipment was putting her to sleep. She tagged the table with her omni-tool, pulling up scans of the warehouse, and started marking explosive placements.

“That looks like a lot of cheap charges.”

She looked up at the gravelly voice in surprise. Garrus stood in the doorway, trying his damnedest to look nonchalant with his arms folded as he leaned against the wall. He still looked like hell, though.

She shrugged and waved at the hologram. “You’re actually uniquely suited for this. For a couple reasons.”

“Most of my expertise is in dating someone who punched Reapers in the face often enough to piss them off. But I suppose if you need something shot in the head from 3 kilometers, I’m your turian.”

“What if I need someone to plan a hit for an under-equipped, overly suicidal squad of misfits fueled by little more than spite and a misplaced sense of Justice?”

That may have been a little elaborate. In the last few hours, Sam had spent so much time keeping up with witty retorts she had trouble turning it off now. It took effort to keep up with Joker and James.

“You ah… read my file?”

“I’ll admit my curiosity got the better of me, but yes. I may have read the Shadow Broker’s file on you, as well as the Illusive Man’s dossier, half a dozen resistance newsletters, and then combed the Cerberus Daily News and Alliance News Network logs for mentions of Archangel…”

He remained quiet. Staring at her. Flicking his mandibles in an entirely unreadable and creepy manner. Was he judging her? She was fairly certain she was being judged. With his…judgey anti-hero eyes.

“You have to admit, it’s better reading than most dime novels. The hero with a tortured past running from a home that never loved her, vowing to make at least one corner of the galaxy a better place for the sake of her forbidden lover—“

“Her?”

“What?” Sam pulled herself out of memories of a particularly flowery editorial piece she had—absolutely not added to her personal bedtime collection.

“You said Her. I’m pretty sure Archangel was a guy.”

“Oh, well. Accounts vary.”

“You have a primary source standing in front of you.”

“The forbidden love arc was much more satisfying when it was between the biotic turian and the queen of Omega.”

“Traynor.”

“Better sex too.”

“The mission?”

“Oh God, yes. Sorry.” Her cheeks burned. What was wrong with her? Why couldn’t she focus? There was a perfectly good puzzle on the table in front of her, and her mind had wandered to dark pulp romance. Get it together, Sam.

“I’ve got the notes; just give me the highlights. What’s your read of the situation? What’s not in the logs?”

She took a breath to bring her mind back to the problem at hand, reached back in the conversation for the last thread that was important. Why Archangel was suited for this.

“We have to plan both sides of this encounter. It isn’t a standard operation. We’re feeding information to both Arcturus First Division and Cerberus and can control what they know. Unfortunately, we have people on both sides of this fight.”

“Vega infiltrated Cerberus? I knew the kid had guts, but—”

“Not James. Kaiden.”

“Alenko?” Garrus laughed. “You’re pulling my leg. It’s gotta be Liara running the show.”

“Believe it or not, Spectre Alenko split the team, sent the Lieutenant to track down the Arcturus First Division base, and ordered Liara back to us with some sort of data packet.”

“Alright. We’ve got two resource-starved teams who both think they’re fighting for justice, and they’re both desperate enough to be stupid. This sounds more like one of your Kepesh-Yakshi gambits. Why do you want me?”

“Cerberus’ team is led by a sniper. Most of my training is on groups led from the front or from a com tower. A sniper has a different perspective of the battlefield, and I won’t be as efficient determining his actions. I want to run scenarios with you, and I want you to play Cerberus. We keep running until we find one where neither of us can win.”

He laughed. “Okay, war games it is. Never did play Kepesh-Yakshi, but Shepard and I used to run Shanxi scenarios with cutlery.”

Traynor finished placing the last of her charges, nodded, and gestured to Garrus.

“I win.” He didn’t even look at the map.

“That’s not how this works!”

“You don’t have a single charge blocking access to a sniper tower. Wherever I go, I get there without incident, set up wherever I’d like, and am free to take potshots at your guys for days. And since I’m sitting on the food stores, you’re getting starved out. And you’re not getting up to a half-decent perch. I blow these two bridges and funnel you up these stairs.”

“Alright, Archangel. Round two. Help me place these charges.”