Garrus Vakarian, turian C-Sec agent, was not having a great day. Although the past few haven't been kind to the poor agent, today was the cherry on top. A few days ago turian spectre Saren was accused of leading a geth attack on human colony Eden Prime. Vakarian was in charge of investigation, which at first excited the young agent. Only a few hours in and the excitement turned to frustration as every lead he had went to a dead end due to not having the authority to access the classified reports Saren filled out. Then this morning his investigation was brought to an abrupt halt by his boss. Within the same minute of being dropped he met the human that the alliance had been pushing as a spectre candidate, Commander Jenna Shepard. Standing at about 5'10" she definitely didn't look the part but after seeing some footage all doubt was erased from his from his mind her ability. She was an N7 graduate, the highest human military Interplanetary Combatives Training. If he hadn't had the privilege of viewing the vids he would never have guessed that the little redhead with bright green eyes had ever held a weapon in her life. Her freckled face was nearly flawless and she had a sweet voice that didn't command respect like most military personnel have, then again when they met she wasn't treating him like a subordinate but an equal. The commander informed him that because of the attack on Eden Prime and the prothean beacon that got destroyed in the process happened under her watch, she was most likely going to be rejected as a spectre candidate. In fact she, along with two of her squad, were on their way to present evidence to the council. Garrus had wished them luck even though inside he knew it was all but pointless as Saren was the council's favorite pet. Now however he was strolling through the small crowds of the Kithoi Ward. If he was caught here he could face termination from C-Sec since he wasn't in his sector. Zakara ward was under his jurisdiction and while on duty was not allowed to any of the other four wards or the presidium without special permission, as in the case of the Saren investigation, or extreme emergency. He was technically on lunch break visiting an old friend who wanted to borrow money. The visit was less than friendly as Garrus suspected he would be enabling his friend's red sand addiction, and when the agent refused his colleague threw a massive fit. He was so lost in thought that he nearly missed the delivery shuttle that was landed in the middle of the walkway. Garrus sighed in aggravation and approached the cockpit, knowing full well he was out of his district. The person behind the controls, human he could tell by the body shape, was dressed in normal transport attire, except the emergency breather strapped to his face which concealed his face from the bridge of the nose down. The pilot had to forcefully unlatch the door and with some exertion pushed it open.
"Apologies, officer, my shuttle shut down just before I could break the gravity well. I had to pull an emergency landing," the pilot explained without being asked.
Garruse indicated the radio "Did you alert CTC?" he asked, noting to himself that the radio wasn't active, meaning that, unless he had been here a while, Citadel Traffic Control hadn't been notified.
The human half turned to look back at it "I'm sorry, sir, it all happened so fast I didn't think about it. I'm kinda new, I've only been on my own for a week. But I called a local mechanic with my omni-tool, he should be here soon,"
Garrus stared hard into the human's eyes, looking for the lie. Being a detective since leaving the military he had easily picked up the talent for reading lies in most species' faces. He still had a little trouble reading humans, with them being as new to the galaxy as they were. The transport worker's story sounded believable. When you aren't expecting trouble it can throw you for a loop and make you forget procedures. At the same time the whole ordeal didn't sit right with him. The worker was too calm for what just supposedly happened to him.
The turian was brought out of his musings by the human speaking "Here he is now,"
Garrus turned and immediately he was struck on the jaw with a butt of a gun, dropping him instantly. As the officer lay slipping in and out of consciousness he could hear laughing, through blurry vision a figure leaned in close, patted his left mandible, and Garrus swore a human skull spoke to him "Was that as good for you as it was for me?" it said with a chuckle and the turian's world faded to black.
15 minutes earlier
"Anybody even blinks, and they losing their breathing privileges," a human male in formal wear threatened from behind his clown mask as he shakily scanned the room with his military grade M-9 Tempest smg. Codenamed 'Jester', he was in charge of crowd control at an omi-tool market he and a crew were holding up. The store they were robbing held the latest and most expensive omni-tools as well as some older models that were still rather valuable. Another human, dressed similarly as the first, came rushing through from the back room carrying a bag of loot, even in his hurry he still kept his M-8 Avenger assault rifle at the ready as he passed through the floored customers just in case anyone felt like being a hero. This man, codenamed 'Jack' due to his frightening jack-o-lantern mask, was the second in command of the heist and in charge of carrying half the loot. Finally the third and final member of the store team emerged from the back. Human as well and wearing a suit like the others, codenamed 'Silver Skull' or 'SS' for short for the gray skull mask he donned, he strode through the store with his M-23 Katana shotgun held in one hand to his side with the loot on his back.
When he reached the door as well he turned back to address the frightened civilians "Ladies and gentleman, I apologize for the inconvenience and I thank you for being so cooperative today. Have a great day," finally the three men exited and made a mad dash through the alleys in the direction their truck waited. The sudden sound of C-Sec sirens lent speed to their heels.
Jester kept an eye on his omni-tool as they ran, using a program that detected C-Sec frequencies, he called out directions to take to avoid heat.
"Left!" he shouted and the other two slightly ahead of him immediately altered their course seconds before a C-Sec shuttle screamed down the path they had been taking "Right!" again they changed course.
As they approached another intersection two C-sec agents, turian and asari, popped from around the right corner "Freeze! Weapons down!" the asari screamed at them. Jester dove for cover behind a large piece of metal scrap while Jack popped off a burst of rounds at the turian forcing the officer into cover. The Asari stayed in the open and began to concentrate her biotics to construct a barrier. Before it came into effect she took six rounds to the chest from the assault rifle, killing her instantly.
"HQ, officer down! Repeat offic-" the turian was cut off by a stream from the tempest as Jester had snuck around his cover using a stolen prototype cloaking device.
"Fuck, there wasn't supposed to be any C-Sec casualties!" Jack shouted.
SS shook his head "It's them or us! Let's go, I doubt our gunfire went unnoticed,"
"We're surrounded by buildings that go up past the barrier, I doubt the sound traveled too far," Jester chimed in.
SS turned his attention to him "You're more than welcome to stay here and test that theory,"
"Hell no," was the reply and the trio set off. The rest of the trip was less dramatic and as they burst from the alley to the street where the truck was parked they froze for a second at the sight that greeted them. A turian C-Sec was confronting their getaway driver. Their fourth member, human as well codenamed 'Shumacher' for his driving skills, glanced past the turian to the trio and nodded slightly as the officer indicated something in the shuttle. Slowly the crew approached, trying to make as little noise as possible. Shumacher continued his well rehearsed story on why the delivery shuttle was landed in the middle of a walkway. When they were within arms reach of the turian, SS grabbed the stock of his shotgun as well as the barrel and cocked back for a strike.
Shumacher then pointed to him and said to the officer "Here he is now,"
As the turian turned towards him Silver Skull swung hard and his attack struck true right on the left mandible, knocking the turian on his back. The officer was still slightly conscious as his arms weakly moved to try and reach his face. Shumacher and Jack both laughed at the unfortunate turian.
SS leaned down to the hurt being and patted the mandible where he struck "Was that as good for you as it was for me?" he said with a chuckle and the turian's eyes widened for a second before his body went limp.
"Is he dead?" Jester asked leaning in for a closer look.
Jack shook his head "Nope, just unconscious,"
At that Jester aimed his smg for a killing shot but was pushed into the air "None of that, no killing unless absolutely necessary," SS reprimanded the team rookie.
"Guys? I'd like to get the fuck outta here before he wakes up or C-Sec comes by this way," Shumacher spoke up. The group piled into the shuttle and ascended into the artificial sky. As they rose above the gravity barrier a squad of C-Sec shuttles streaked passed them causing Jester to instinctively clutch his Tempest tighter.
"Easy, kid, we're all but home free now," Jack reassured him.
Jester chuckled nervously, the adrenaline having not worn off yet "Yeah, we did it!"
Silver Skull couldn't help but smile from behind his mask "You did good today, kid. Our next job we'll be sure to call you,"
"Fuck yeah, I'll be down! Did you guys see me drop that salarian prick? Haha dumb lizard didn't even know what hit him," the rookie recounted causing the crew to chuckle.
"Oh yeah, you showed him," Jack humored him, knowing that the feeling. The rest of the trip was spent listening to the rookie talk himself up.
As they landed at the predetermined warehouse SS addressed Jester "You better split. Once we get the creds from this haul we'll get it dropped off to you,"
The rookie cocked his head to the side as they clambered from the shuttle and SS was sure he looked confused under his mask "No bank accounts?"
The leader shook his head "Nope, we only deal with physical currency. Bank accounts are too easy to trace and can raise suspicion. You better lie low for a while too," he ordered
Jester nodded his head "Yeah, I'll catch you guys later," he called to the crew as he boarded his personal sky car. They all waved to the rookie as he rose and eventually rocketed out of sight. They waited a good minute after he disappeared from view to remove their masks.
"He seems legit," Jack remarked. Jack; real name Brady Daniels, age 23, stands at 6'1" with light brown hair that was styled in a military cut, and a full faced beard that was well maintained. Daniels, born on Earth, joined the military at the age of 18 and served for two years, earning top honors in his marksman class, before quitting after getting into a monumental fight with his dad, who is also military. After quitting the military he took his girlfriend, Kim, and moved to the Citadel to become a C-Sec officer but quit that as well after a disagreement with his boss. For another year he lived off Kim's support while working at dead end jobs. His criminal career started after Kim grew ill and needed medical attention they couldn't afford. Brady robbed a nearby clothing store and paid for the medical bill up front while Kim never question where the money came from.
"I figured he was after he gunned down the C-sec officer," Silver Skull replied. Silver Skull; real name Logan Lerman, age 24, stands at 6'3" with dark brown hair that was in a buzz cut style and clean shaved face. Lerman was born on a ship in the terminus system, which was shortly attacked by slavers. Only Logan and his mother were the ones to make it out alive. The two moved to Earth where, at the age of 16, Logan met Brady and the two became best friends. When Daniels left for the military, Lerman moved to the Citadel and became a dock worker. Shortly after arriving he met Nina, and at the age of 19 had a child with her. To help pay for the child he participated in illegal fight clubs on the side, with his natural durability earning better money than a dock worker and learning some implementable fighting techniques. When his daughter was two, his girlfriend was killed by a crooked C-Sec officer that fled the Citadel and was never caught. His criminal career started when his mom got diagnosed with a rare lung disease. He started out attacking drug trades but soon moved onto heists.
"We upping his cut, I take it?" Shumacher questioned. Shumacher; real name Stephen Dox, age 23, stands at 6' even with long curly dark brown hair and a clean shaved face as well. Dox, born on Earth, is the life long friend of Daniels. Stephen's dad was the owner of a garage and as such acquired a talent for racing. When Brady left for the military, Stephen toured the galaxy in the an intergalactic racing corporation. His racing dreams ended when his team was disbanded after funding fell through. Dox moved to the citadel and became a mechanic in hopes of reviving his bankrupt team. Those hopes were also dashed after a local gang started forcing him to pay for protection. His criminal career started when he helped Brady get away from C-Sec after robbing a store to pay for Kim's medical bills.
A male Batarian strode out of the warehouse they were parked in front of "No, everybody get's the cut they were promised at the beginning. I'll take it from here gentleman," he said and boarded the shuttle without waiting for a reply.
"Sounds good to me," Brady said and turned to his friends "Chora's Den tonight?" he offered.
Stephen chuckled as he shook his head "Sorry not tonight. I promised Sabrina a date tonight. Also I gotta stop by the garage and make sure the Twisted get their pay before they burn the shop down, again," he responded watching the delivery shuttle being loaded into the warehouse.
"When we gonna deal with those assholes?" Logan asked, he had a bad run in with the Tayseri
Twisted when he was searching for leads on the officer who killed Nina that had ended with him in the hospital for three weeks and seven of the gang dead.
"We're not," Stephen insisted "Thy have too many resources, it'd be suicidal,"
Lerman sighed in disappointment "One day, I'll take them down, with or without your help,"
"Then I wish you luck," was the reply as the Dox began walking to his skycar.
Logan nodded "Say hi to Sabrina for me,"
Stephen chuckled "You know she doesn't like you,"
"Exactly," Lerman replied with a laugh "It'll annoy her,"
After Stephen departed Brady turned to his remaining friend "So, Chora's Den tonight?"
Logan shrugged "Eh, why not? I need a drink or five after today," he said as they began to stride to their respective cars "Oh by the way, here," Logan tossed a credit chit to Brady "Give that to Kim, tell her thanks for watching Dana,"
"You got it, bro," Daniels complied.
4 hours later
Brady landed his skycar near the bar and noted that he was there before his friend "Surprise surprise" he thought as he locked his car. He was playing with his phone as he approached the bar and glanced up just in time to not walk face first into the door that didn't open. Confused he glanced over at the bar hours and saw that they should be open. As he looked around he noticed that the big lights were off as well. Pulling out his omni-tool he began hacking the door lock. After it opened he froze at the gruesome sight. Bodies laid out across the tables, floor, and one even hung from the center stage.
"Fist," he said aloud as he rushed towards the back noticing the door had been forced open. He drew his weapon as he approached the final door to Fist's office. As he reached out to the panel a loud gunshot was heard from inside, causing him to jump back. As he reached for the panel again he heard muffled shouting. As he leaned his head against the door to hear better it whooshed open and he stumbled headlong into a large being that immediately shove him roughly back onto the floor with a painful thud. Daniels groaned in pain but it died in his throat when he noticed he was staring down the barrel of three different guns.
"Another one of Fist's men," a low grumbling voice growled out and Brady realized he was at the mercy of a krogan with a shotun.
Brady tossed his pistol to the side "I'm not! I came to the bar for a drink, and obviously I couldn't get one so I came to see what was u," came his quick explanation.
"How do you know Fist?" a female voice asked, which belonged to a cute redhead who had her pistol still trained on him.
"I've done work for him in the past, but we had a small falling out. We ended our uh, 'partnership', on well enough terms that I could still drink here,"
"Do you know anything about a quarian?" the third a final person spoke up. A human male this time, short with dark hair.
Brady scrunched his face in confusion "A quarian? No? Never met one in my life,"
"You're free to go, but I don't want to catch you around here again," the redhead demanded "Come on you two, we have to find that meeting," she commanded and the three turned to leave.
"Wait!" Brady called bringing the three to a halt "A meeting? Did Fist set it up?" the redhead nodded as she regarded him with a suspicious look "I know where. He always set up meetings in the same alley behind the markets. It's secluded, makes it perfect for dirty business, I can take you there,"
She studied the man for a second before nodding "Lead on, if you double cross us, I will kill you. No arguments," she demanded as the other human opened his mouth to protest.
Daniels nodded "Alright, come on. Brady, by the way," he declared, retrieving his pistol.
"I'm, Shepard, that's Kaiden, and that's Wrex," she said curtly.
"I've heard a lot about you Shepard. Lotta respect, ma'am," he commended as they made their way through the doors.
"I'm sure that means a lot coming form a criminal," Kaiden snorted. Further discussion was cut short as gunfire forced them into cover. Not having armor or shields, Brady sunk as low as he could behind the cover and brought up his omni-tool and dialed a number.
"Come on, come on! Answer," he growled.
"What the hell are you doing!" Shepard shouted incredulously.
"Insuring you don't lose your quarian," Brady replied.
Outside the bar
"Closed?" Logan asked out loud to himself. His omni-tool suddenly began beeping, startling him. "Brady, the Den's clos-"
"Shut up and listen!" Brady shouted and gunfire could be heard in the background "I'm in the Den under fire right now so I don't have time to fully explain,"
Logan drew his own pistol from under his shirt "Say the word and I'll hit 'em from beh-"
"No! Go to the alley behind the wards where Fist always sets up business. There's a quarian there that's walking right into a trap, I need you to get it out of there,"
His instructions brought up a million questions but nonetheless began sprinting towards the alley "On it,"
"Might want to grab some equipment from your car, Brady out," Daniels said before killing the link.
Lerman dashed to his sky car, and pulled out his Katana from the back as well as a shield pack. The shield pack wasn't anything special, meant mostly for emergencies but it was better than nothing. As he passed through the door into the alley he could see four figures up ahead. Two salarians on lookout, a turian, and a female quarian. Logan managed to slip into cover before being noticed. As he leaned out of cover the quarian tossed a grenade at the feet of the salarians, knocking them off their feet before running for cover herself. Seizing the opportunity, Logan rushed out of cover firing his shotgun as he ran. His first shot took down one of the salarians shields and a second put him down. The second salarian recovered enough to return fire, unfortunately for the alien Logan was close enough that the shots only managed to just deplete the human's shields and at that range the shotgun made mince-meat out of the salarian's head. Without pausing Lerman sprinted at full speed towards the turian next and fired his two remaining shots in the clip that only managed to take the shields. Luckily the shots staggered the turian enough that Logan was able to execute a running double leg take down. The mercenary, however, was no stranger to cqc and was able to buck the human off and rise to his feet. As he leveled the pistol for a shot Logan grasped the turian's wrist and pushed the pistol barrel into the air and the shout flew harmlessly away. In response the turian kneed Lerman in the gut causing him to release his hold. Logan's recovery, though, is parallel by almost none and he rolled forward, tripping the mercenary and causing him to fall on his face. The human swiveled around and sprang onto the turian's back. As he wrapped is arms around the turian's neck for a choke the mercenary swung his head back to try and deliver a head but Logan utilized his head movement to avoid the blows. The natural hump in the turian's back made it difficult to lock in a rear naked choke, so Logan changed tactic and began to work on isolating an arm. When he saw an opening Lerman swung his legs over for an arm bar. While fighting for wrist control he noticed the mercenary had a blade in one of his hands and in the struggle was getting close to impaling the human. Suddenly the turian gurgled and went limp, allowing Logan full wrist control and he extended his legs as well as hips causing him to go belly down. After getting no resistance he released the limp arm and rolled to his feet to see a knife sticking out of the base of the turians neck. The quarian was staring at the blade she just stuck in him.
"Thanks," Logan panted out causing her to jump a bit and turn to stare at him "Logan Lerman," he extended his hand.
The quarian regarded his hand for a moment then shook it with her own three-fingered hand "Tali, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya,"
/
A/N: If the names sound familiar it's because I started over on a story I had under way. Wasn't happy with the way it was going so I completely revamped EVERYTHING :D Sorry for little mistakes it's usually pretty late at night when I write these. Review fav etc.