Chapter 1 – A Night to Remember
"Where the hell are they?" James Vega griped next to Garrus Vakarian, anxiously tugging on the jacket sleeve of his tuxedo as they stood waiting outside the doors of a fancy 'five-star' restaurant. Garrus cast a bemused glance at the burly Alliance soldier, noting how out of place and uncomfortable James appeared to be there on the Presidium despite wearing the fancy getup. "Do they have any idea how hard it was to get reservations at this fancy place? I swear they reject celebrities daily… I heard they even rejected Blasto!"
Garrus snorted and crossed his arms, his mandibles shifting as he addressed James. "You used Shepard's name and the manager of the place was pretty much tripping over himself making our reservations. 'Hard' is a bit of an overstatement."
"Okay, fine… it was easy. They're still late, I'm still hungry, and this still seems like it'll be boring." James cracked the knuckles in his right hand, each individual crack irritating Garrus. "Why couldn't we do a double date at the shooting range or shop for weapons and mods? I mean, girls usually like shopping, don't they? Grab some drinks and burgers afterwards… that's romantic, right?" When Garrus didn't answer, James let out a huff. "Seems a hell of a lot more romantic than sitting together around a table and having eye staring contests over foods whose names I can't even pronounce."
"The ladies wanted to try doing something that didn't involve guns or bullets for a change. Going out to dinner and dropping some credits at the Casino seemed like a safe enough bet." Garrus iterated, recalling the conversation he'd had with Shepard the night before. "Beautiful women, wine, fine food, dancing, and losing credits… what's not to like? If you play your cards right, you might get lucky at the end of the night."
James stopped fidgeting and threw Garrus a wry grin. "Safe enough bet? Shepard does recall what happened the last time she attempted to enjoy a 'fine dining experience,' right? And don't get me started with her reputation regarding casinos! Maybe this night could get interesting."
Garrus laughed as he remembered the sushi-bar incident that eventually escalated to a battle aboard the Normandy with Shepard's clone. "I doubt it. I think one crazy Shepard clone was all Cerberus could afford to make…"
James shrugged, "You know what Joker likes to say. 'With Shepard there's always an eighty-five percent chance of bullets being involved. It's why he'll never meet Shepard at a restaurant ever again."
"No, he said he'd never meet Shepard at a restaurant again because she used him as bait to draw out some Cat-6 mercenaries. He also refuses to enter unexplored relays with Shepard ever again because we barely survived the Omega-4 relay jump. As far as I know, he's never really had an issue with Shepard and bullets." Garrus glanced up from James as he heard the pitched whine of a sky car approaching. "Looks like they've finally arrived."
"Finally!" James turned to face the opening sky car with a disgruntled expression that made Garrus think he was going to berate the women for their tardiness, if not their activity choice. Instead, the soldier's expression softened and his jaw dropped as he caught sight of the two women approaching them. "Holy hell…"
Garrus followed James' gaze and felt his own mandible drop open in shock. Both Ashley Williams and Commander Shepard approached looking like human supermodels… dressed to the nines in outfits he'd never thought he'd see either woman wear. Ashley looked good in a short, navy blue number, her long black hair loose about her bare shoulders as she grinned at James. But Shepard…
Commander Shepard was wearing a simple, floor-length black dress with a plunging neckline and a thigh-high slit that revealed enough skin to make Garrus' stomach twist itself into knots. Her thick hair was pulled back and tied up into some fanciful creation, baring her slender neck and shoulders. The only piece of jewelry she wore was the eponymous N7 dog tags she never took off, dangling between her breasts tauntingly as she walked up to him. "You boys ready?" Shepard asked casually, motioning toward the doors of the restaurant.
Garrus shook his head and cleared his throat, pulling free of the trance he'd fallen into staring at Shepard. "Yeah… Vega's stomach growls louder than a Krogan in heat…" he quipped in an attempt to cover the fact that he'd been caught off-guard by Shepard's appearance.
"What?" James broke his focus and stared at Garrus. "Really? You had to ruin the moment with that image? Ugh… And my stomach doesn't growl that loudly!" He harrumphed and grabbed Ashley's hand before they headed on into the restaurant. Garrus turned to Shepard to offer her his arm, but instead found her staring him down with an intense look, her arms crossed. "What?" he asked, unnerved by the unfamiliar expression and worried he'd done something wrong.
"Nothing. It's just so damned rare to see you out of your armor… in public that is." Shepard cast him a rueful grin, her hazel eyes sparkling with a wicked glint that made his nerves tingle. "Thought I'd enjoy the view for a moment." She casually took his arm and they walked into the restaurant after James and Ashley. He dropped her arm and let his hand fall to her behind and she gave him a little shove. "Behave yourself, Vakarian." she warned.
"Building up tension for the dance floor, are we?" Garrus teased, an elation overcoming him as he watched a red tinge build up in Shepard's cheeks. "Are you blushing, Commander?"
Shepard let out a nervous cough and turned her attention from him. Garrus chuckled, enjoying the fact that he could throw the Commander off as much as she threw him off. "I can't remember the last time I'd properly gone out on a dinner date," she quickly commented as the maître de motioned for the group to follow him.
James snorted obnoxiously, drawing a few irritated and curious glances from some of the other diners. "Really? How can you forget having your own clone track you down and attempt to kill you at Ryusei's sushi bar?" he asked, pulling out a chair for Ashley to sit in. The maître de eyed him distastefully before shaking his head and wandering away. "If something as crazy as that happened to me, you can bet your ass I'd never forget it."
"I don't think that episode with the clone counted as a 'proper' dinner date, Vega." Ashley corrected James as she accepted a glass of wine from their waiter. She sipped the wine and cast James a hard glance. "I sure as hell wouldn't count it as a date… so don't you go getting any ideas!"
"First off, no one could clone this much awesomeness!" James made his usual muscle-man pose and grunted, while Ashley just rolled her eyes. "Secondly, with Shepard it pretty much counts as a date." He sniggered, "I'll bet you and Garrus consider your 'first date' as that suicide mission you took through the Omega-4 relay."
Shepard looked thoughtful as she accepted her wine glass from the waiter. "I don't know about that. Things got pretty spicy while we were fighting our way through Hotel Azure on Ilium." She set down her wine glass, gingerly picked up the menu pad before her, and began swiping through the food selections as both Ashley and James gave her looks of disbelief. When she didn't elaborate, they turned their attentions to Garrus and he let out low chuckle and picked up his own menu. "Good times…" he hummed, tapping the menu icon for the dextro-meals.
"Nuh-uh…" James shook his head in wonder. "Hotel Azure? Isn't that…" he coughed when Ashley threw him a warning glance.
"Ask Liara. She was there." Shepard said coyly and Garrus snickered when James' eyes grew wider.
"Now that you two have given my boyfriend ideas…" Ashley set down her suddenly empty wine glass and glowered at Shepard and Garrus, "Can we order? The way his stomach is growling is making me nervous."
"It's not growling that loudly!" James sighed as he wrinkled his nose at the menu. "Umm… I'll get the escar- the escargot a la- That thingy right there!" James pointed the item out on the menu before handing it off to Ashley in exasperation. "Stupid Italian…?"
"It's French not Italian. We should get your translator checked out." She paused as she eyed his selection on the menu. "You sure you want snails?" Ashley asked him with a smirk.
"Wait… that's snails? Who in their right mind- ugh! Give me that!" James grabbed the menu roughly and started quickly flipping through the other specials. "This is ridiculous!" he exclaimed. "Don't they have English translations for this stuff?" He furiously tapped at the screen, "You think they serve pizza here?" he asked exasperatedly.
"Makes me glad Turian food is pretty straightforward." Garrus quipped, selecting a couple of items from the dextro specials. "Otherwise Shepard would have a hell of a time prepping meals for me at home."
Shepard shrugged nonchalantly. "I gamble when I make your food. Since you haven't complained about my cooking yet, I'm starting wondering if any of it is actually any good or if you don't have the balls to tell me my dextro cooking sucks." She reached over and tapped on a menu item for James. "Try the Tarte Flambée." Shepard suggested, helpfully. "It's kind of like pizza made with onions and bacon."
"Really, Shepard? James if you eat that don't expect me to kiss you later." Ashley threatened.
"I doubt you'll be awake the way you're downing that wine." James muttered as he accepted the selection and set down the datapad to take a draught of his glass of water.
"What?" Ashley's eyes narrowed.
"Come on Ash! We haven't even been here for ten minutes and you're already starting on your second glass!" James pointed out. "If you wanted to go drinking, we should've gone out and did some real drinking instead."
"What are you saying, Vega? That I'm a lush?" Ashley asked angrily, her tone dropping low and dangerous as she planted her palms flat on the table.
"You said it. Not me." Vega held up his hands in surrender.
"Wow. This outing definitely deteriorated fast." Shepard commented to Garrus as James and Ashley started arguing heatedly.
"And you were worried about me behaving myself?" Garrus asked jokingly. He chuckled at Shepard after she playfully kicked him in the leg. "I'm just saying…"
Before Garrus could continue, he was cut off by the sound of something clattering on the tiled floor followed by an all-too-familiar beep and whoosh. A heavy screen of smoke filled the restaurant, prompting a cacophony of yells, coughing, and gagging noises from the other patrons. Gunfire went off then and Garrus instinctively jumped from his chair as Shepard quickly flipped their table up and took up cover behind it. He settled in next to Shepard and glanced over to where Ashley and James had done something similar with a nearby table. "Just once… could we go out somewhere nice without your enemies showing up to take revenge and kill you?" he complained lightheartedly, his voice barely audible over the chaos.
Just as Shepard was about to protest, one of the intruders called out orders. "Split up people! Find Archangel!" Hearing his old codename being shouted over the chaos brought back a curious sense of déjà vu. He turned to consult Shepard about it only find her giving him smug look. "What was that about my enemies?" she asked with feigned innocence.
Garrus harrumphed defensively. "Yeah, well whose idea was it to try doing something that required we be unarmed and vulnerable?"
"Do I look stupid to you?" Shepard gave him a funny look before producing two pistols. "What? You didn't think I'd learned from the first time around?"
"Where the hell were you keeping those?" he asked as he took one of the heavy pistols from her and checked the heat sinks.
Shepard gave him an enticing look as she slid the second pistol over toward Ashley and James. "Wouldn't you like to know."
"Damn you're so smart and sexy…" he purred, lightly bumping his forehead to hers.
"Hey, lovebirds? How about we focus on the group of armed commandoes threatening the restaurant full of innocent civilians?" Ashley snatched up the pistol Shepard slid over to her and expertly checked it. "Has the smoke cleared enough for a count?" she asked James.
"Are you sober enough to shoot?" James asked irritably. He yelped when Ashley punched him in the arm, before peering over this cover to take count. "At least ten. And they're packing." James loosened the collar of his jacket and rolled up the sleeves. "What's the plan Commander?"
"I'll use biotics. Garrus and I can strip shields with overloading. Ash is the better shot of you two, so you just sit tight while she and Garrus snipe as many as they can." Shepard flexed her hands and biotic energy flowed over her like water, making her glow a distinct blue. "I'll draw their attention from the civil-"
The voice called out again, cutting off Shepard's orders. "We've got an old friend of yours Archangel! Or should I say Garrus Vakarian? Sidonis didn't mention which you preferred."
At the mention of Sidonis' name Garrus felt a rush of emotion. Anger rose up, making his blood boil, but dread chilled him to the bone as he was forced to think back to his time on Omega. He caught Shepard gazing at him; her hazel eyes were wide and unwavering as she looked to him, her lips pressed into a thin line. He realized then she was looking to him, practically relinquishing her command to him as the situation had presented more information. "Spirits be damned…" he cursed quietly.
"Give yourself up or your family's next." The thug threatened from across the room. "Now that we know who you are, we know about your father and your sister. Solana is her name, right? We sure would love an opportunity to meet her."
Garrus tightened his grip on his weapon and glanced at Shepard, giving her a nod to go. She snapped up and triggered an overload of systems on two of the thugs before charging from her and Garrus' hiding spot to slide into better cover. Garrus raised the gun and quickly aimed, not even bothering to use the targeting aid provided by his visor as he loosed two clean head shots into the unshielded thugs. He ducked as bullets flew over the table, ejecting his used thermal clips. To his right, he saw Ashley shooting and James peering over their table. He signaled for them to hold back when they finally dropped down for cover again.
A satisfying cry sounded from beyond his cover, telling Garrus that Shepard just took out another one of the bastards. He let out a breath and popped out of cover, taking a couple of shots that embedded themselves in the shoulder of a Turian mercenary. He rolled into cover opposite Shepard, who'd gotten her hands on one of the mercenary's assault rifles. She glanced toward him and signaled that she'd give him cover fire just as something small clattered along the floor between them. "Flashbang!" Shepard yelped too late.
The concussive force of the grenade threw Garrus back and he blinked fiercely against the white light that filled his vision. Tightening his grip on his pistol, he forced himself to his hands and knees, trying to ignore the high-pitched whine in his head. He chanced a quick look toward Shepard, who looked really dazed and distracted as she tried to regain her own bearing. With a deep, steadying breath, Garrus rose to his feet with his pistol in hand, hoping to distract the bastards long enough for Shepard to recover. He could barely make out the forms of the advancing mercenaries as he held up his pistol and fired rounds into them. Two of them fell, taking bullets to the head and chest; Garrus felt a sense of confidence flicker in the back of his mind.
Despite his efforts, a couple of the mercenaries got close enough for melee and Garrus rolled back to avoid a strike from his assailant. He quickly closed the distance between himself and his attacker then, ramming his fist into the attacker's abdomen to knock the air out of him before punching him out. Shepard tried to spring up out of cover and loose rounds into her own attacker, but she misjudged how far the man had been and she crumpled to the floor after he checked her with the butt of his assault rifle. The man aimed to shoot Shepard in the head, but before he could pull the trigger, James barreled in out of nowhere, wrestling the man to the ground and effectively knocking him out with a headbutt. "Eight down, two to go!" he whooped.
Ashley barely managed to grab him by the sleeve and drag him into cover just as the remaining two thugs both opened fire on him. "How about we celebrate later, Vega?"
"You alright?" Garrus asked worriedly, watching as Shepard pushed herself to her hands and knees and shook her head.
Shepard groaned and raised a hand to her head. "Yeah…" she pulled back her hand and stared at it curiously. Garrus heart nearly stopped when he caught sight of something brilliant red coating her fingers, standing out in stark contrast to her pale skin. "Maybe…" she trailed off as the remaining two thugs fired another volley.
With a low, angry growl, Garrus glanced toward the remaining two thugs, his mind racing to think of an easy, quick solution to the madness. And when he saw it he didn't hesitate: Garrus aimed the pistol for the chain holding up one of the dozen fancy chandeliers in the restaurant, this particular one dangling above the very group he sought to eliminate. His visor flashed as it scanned his target, and he pulled the trigger on the pistol, silently praying to the spirits that the chain would break and his mad plan would put an end to the assault.
And it did. The chandelier landed with a loud crash on top of the last thugs, their cries drowned out by the shattering of hundreds of crystals on the restaurant floor. People screamed and ran when it became obvious the thugs were dealt with, quickly evacuating the room in unruly fashion. Garrus found himself slowly lowering his weapon as he stared at the disaster before him, his rage and wrath quickly turning to fear and despair. They'd come looking for him. They'd threatened his family. His friends. And Shepard…
He felt a hand on his arm then and turned to see Shepard staring up at him. Her fancy updo was a ragged mess, her stylish dress was covered in food and torn... she gave him soft look and was about to say something. Instead she lurched and Garrus dropped his pistol to catch her before she hit the floor. "Maybe not…" she muttered as she rested heavily against him.