In Ruins

02. Trials

Breathe. That's all he needed to do. With his back pressed against the cold metal railing, Callum let the breath he hadn't realized he was trapping in out with a whistle. This was his opportunity, his once chance to prove he was a valuable asset. To his right was the crouched turian they had picked up a few minutes before. To his left, Damien was spraying suppressing fire at the two between bouts of peeking out of cover.

"This isn't working, Shepard!" Garrus yelled out as he tried to line up his scope, "We need to draw them out of cover!"

Callum glanced behind him at the sound of booming footsteps.

Wrex lumbered past them, drawing his shotgun from his back. "I can handle that." The krogan took quick steps towards the other side of the platform with a deep laugh. The turian agents scrambled out of their position in an attempt to find another spot to bunker down at. They were too slow. Garrus's mandibles twitched slightly as he pulled the trigger of his sniper rifle. A sickly spray of blue blood covered the metallic wall as one of the turians fell limp.

His hands felt off as he grasped the pistol Ashley had lent him. It was unfamiliar. Its weight felt strange in his grip and its size was larger than the one he had grown so used to. Pushing the uneasiness aside, he stepped out of cover and spotted the remaining fleeting agent. A surge of blue energy emerged from his hand as he pointed it at his target. He just needed an opening. 'Wait for it. Wait for it… There!'

Unclenching his hand, the ball of energy darted towards the turian, wrapping him in a mass effect field. Yanking it back, the turian floated toward him like a ragdoll, limp and unable to move. He ignored the look in the turian's eyes as he unloaded three shots into its head. If he allowed every look of fear or every plea for mercy to get to him, he wouldn't be the man he was now. A pat on his shoulder pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Nice one, Foerstner." Damien turned to everyone, gesturing for everyone to rally around him. Once they were all gathered, he paced between them, "Those were Saren's agents. Chora's Den is probably full of even more of these mercs. I need two of you to guard this point and make sure no one gets in or out while we're in there."

Damien paused, bringing a hand to his chin as he seemed to consider his options. A chill went down his spine when Damien shifted his glance to him before starting up again, "Ashley, Wrex, I want you two to hold this position."

Ashley gave a firm nod and tightened her grip on her assault rifle, "Aye Aye, Sir."

Wrex, though, stepped dangerously close to Shepard. Callum felt himself instinctively preparing should the worst come to pass. "No can do, Shepard. My orders are to kill Fist." The krogan jabbed his finger in the air toward the entrance of the club, "I will kill Fist."

Damien's eyes narrowed to the point even he felt intimidated. The man seemed nice enough, but his being able to switch so quickly into such an authoritative demeanor made him question that. 'Note to self: Be careful.' Minutes seemed to pass as Damien simply stared at Wrex for a few seconds in silence. Eventually, he relented, "Fine. But don't kill him until I say you can."

The krogan stepped back with what seemed like a chuckle, "You've got some quads, Shepard."

Damien let the comment slide as he pointed at Kaidan, "Kaidan, hold the position with Ashley." Damien turned at Kaidan's nod and addressed the rest, "Wrex, you'll take point once we open to door. Foerstner, you and I will follow second. Garrus, try to find a position where you can put that sniper to use. Understood?"

Once everyone voiced their agreements, they moved towards the door. Callum leaned against one side of the door with Garrus to his right while Damien clung to wall with the switch. Damien looked between them all and stopped at Wrex, who was rolling his shoulders in… excitement? Whatever it was, the krogan looked ready and eager to raise hell.

"You ready, Wrex?"

The krogan grunted in response. Giving a brief nod, Damien punched the switch, "Give 'em hell!"

The door slid open and Wrex stepped through with his shotgun at a ready. Only a few seconds in, his shields became visible as shots began to ring out through the club. Callum swerved around the corner and took cover behind some upturned tables before lining up a shot with Fist's thugs. Shepard followed soon after with his assault rifle blazing before tossing a grenade toward a spot where two thugs were huddled together. The explosion resonated through the club and left the wall scorched black.

Callum grunted as he felt a number of bullets threatening to tear through his barriers. Almost immediately, he tried to force himself even closer to the ground. If his shields went down, he was as good as dead seeing as he was the only one without armor. Once he heard a break in fire, he stood out of cover and spotted the thug hiding on top of the bar.

"Not today!" He muttered beneath his breath as he wrapped the thug in a field and tossed him viciously into a nearby wall. There was a satisfying crunch of bones as the man collided against the metal. A smirk donned his lips as he scanned the area. He nodded at Damien when he heard him declare an all clear. The two of them rounded the bar to find Wrex pulling himself from the carcass of the krogan bouncer they had encountered before. The only difference between then and now was that it now had a gaping hole in its face from a shotgun blast at pointblank range. 'Excessive.'

As they proceeded into the club, they found themselves facing some warehouse workers playing soldiers. If it had been up to Callum, he would have given them a shot to the foot each to warn them about doing such a dumb thing again in the future, but Damien… Damien was nicer than him in this. He managed to convince them to leave before they found themselves dead like all the other thugs. 'At least they have common sense.'

One last door stood in their way to finding Fist. If the man had any sense to him, he'd probably put up one hell of a fight. The last thing Callum was expecting was to find himself being gunned down by turrets. His barriers were no match for the barrage of bullets that he found himself facing once they entered the room.

"Shit!" He cried out as a bullet smashed into his shoulder as he tried to duck into cover. He clutched at his shoulder in an attempt to keep it from bleeding any more. His black shirt began to gain a sickly red tinge as the blood wicked through it.

"Foerstner!" Damien called out once he heard him, "Stay out of this fight!"

"Sorry, Commander," Callum's eyes turned a ghastly white as biotic energy flowed from him in vicious waves, "But this prick just pissed me off!" He clenched his teeth painfully as he reveled in the surge of energy he felt coursing through him. His anger was fueling his biotic as he stepped out into the line of sights of the turrets. Using his good arm, he stretched his hand out and crushed one of the turrets into a ball of scrap metal and tossed it into the remaining turret. A spray of sparks littered the room as he started to step forward.

"Enough!" A strong hand latched onto his shoulder, drawing him out of his phase. An angry Damien was looking at him with narrowed eyes before telling him to step back. Callum said nothing as he stepped backwards until his back met with the wall. The adrenaline was starting to wear off and he found himself clutching his shoulder once again as he watched the display.

"Fist." Damien pointed his gun at the man that was sprawled out on the floor. The man started to get up onto his feet, drawing Garrus and Wrex to aim their weapons at him as well. Fist looked between all of them before sighing.

"Please don't kill me!" It was pathetic to watch the man drop to begging for mercy.

"Where's the quarian?" Damien's voice was icy cold as he eyed the man with disdain.

"What qua-" Damien cut Fist off by jamming his pistol beneath his chin.

"Don't play coy with me, Fist." Damien's voice dipped into a cold, volatile tone.

"All right, all right! She's not here. I don't know where she is. That's the truth."

"He's no use to you now. Let me kill him." Wrex interjected, cocking his shotgun to the side.

Fist's eyes widened at the krogan's threat, "Wait! I don't know where the quarian is, but I know where you can find her. The quarian isn't here. 'said she'd only deal with the Shadow Broker himself.

"Impossible," Callum called out, "The Shadow Broker never meets with anyone face to face."

"Nobody meets the Shadow Broker. Even I don't know his true identity, but she didn't know that. I told her I'd set a meeting up, but when she shows up, it'll be Saren's men waiting for her.

"Where?" Damien's voice seemed laced with poison as he pushed his gun into Fist's skin.

"H-here on the wards. The back alley by the markets. She's supposed to meet them right now. You can make it if you hurry."

There was a long silence before Damien pulled his gun back and stepped away from Fist. The look on Fist's face was priceless. It was as if he expected to get out of the situation alive. Damien turned around, signaling a green light to Wrex by nodding at him. Just like that, Fist joined the countless other thugs they had taken out from the face of the Citadel.

Garrus's mandibles twitched as he looked over Fist's body, "I don't think C-Sec will be complaining about Fist being taken off the radar."

Damien shook his head as he ran a hand through his hair, "Maybe. Maybe not. I just hope they don't ride your ass for being here." Damien brought a hand up to his ear, turning on his radio, "Kaidan, Ashley, we've got what we came for. The quarian is about to get ambushed in the alley right by the markets. You two are the closest. Head there now and interrupt the meeting. Keep the quarian alive!"

Callum could hear the faint response coming from Shepard's comms, -Aye aye, sir!-

Damien turned to Garrus and Wrex, "You two, go and join the others. Watch your back."

Garrus nodded as he took off while Wrex left without a word. There was an awkward silence as Callum watched Damien stare at the door for a few seconds, as if he was waiting for the others to be out of earshot. Suddenly, his gaze turned towards him with a visage almost like the one he was giving Fist. His eyes eased up slightly after another few seconds in silence, "You're good, Foerstner, but you're reckless. If you're going to be on my team, you need to drop the bravado now. I won't be losing anyone to that again. Understand?"

Callum watched the other man with curiosity, his interest piqued when Damien used the word 'anymore', but he fought the urge to ask. Instead, he just nodded, "Understood, Commander."

Damien seemed satisfied, "Good. Now let's get you patched up before we meet up with the others."

After applying a healthy dosage of medigel, the two of them raced towards the alley only to find a gun fight tearing up the area. The others were crouched down behind some crates spraying suppressive fire. Damien took cover besides Garrus, "I need a sitrep, now!"

Garrus peered to his side to acknowledge Damien, "The quarians down below. We've taken out two of the assassins. There's one left, but he's sabotaged my guns."

Damien nodded silently before a devious grin stretched across his face, "Just one? There's nothing that can't be handled with a grenade." Damien swapped places with Garrus and peeked around the corner of the crate. After a few seconds of watching, his posture tensed before he lobbed a grenade towards where he spotted the last assassin. A satisfying explosion left a silence that told them he had a direct hit. The six of them stepped out of cover and went to find the quarian.

Callum was the first to speak up once they were down at the scene, "It's safe now. No more assassins."

Truth be told, he was curious. All that he knew about quarians was what they taught in school, and his… time in school wasn't the longest. Something about how they created an artificial intelligence that ended up rebelling against them. Besides that, he knew little to nothing about them. A few seconds after he spoke, the quarian warily stepped out from her hiding spot.

"Fist set me up. I knew I couldn't trust him." The quarian spoke, her foreign voice sounding almost synthesized through her suit.

"And yet you did." Wrex grunted in disapproval from his position.

Damien shot Wrex a look before turning back to the quarian, "Don't worry. We took care of him. He got what was coming to him. He got what was coming to him sooner or later."

The quarian dropped her defensive posture and adopted a more quizzical one, "Then I guess I have two things I need to thank you for. Just… Who are you?"

"My name's Damien Shepard. I'm looking for evidence to prove Saren's a traitor."

The quarian seemed to perk up at what Damien said, "Then I have a chance to repay you for saving my life but not here. We need to find somewhere safe first."

Ashley chimed in, "The ambassador's office, it's safe there. He'll want to see this anyway."

Damien smiled in the dim red light, "There we go. Stick with us and you'll be safe."

Things seemed to go by at the speed of light. One minute they were in the ambassador's office presenting the evidence that the quarian had on Saren. He had learned that the quarian was named Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, or Tali as she had said, and that she found the information while on her pilgrimage. Next thing he knew, the whole lot of them found themselves on their way to the Citadel tower to present the new evidence to the Council.

A short sigh escaped from Callum as he stepped out from the elevator behind everyone. From what he had heard, the last time Damien and the others came by here, things didn't go so well. Something about how they seemed to completely ignore all of his claims and chose to believe their treacherous spectre instead. It was some ignorant bullshit like that.

Tali seemed to notice his discomfort, "What's wrong?"

Callum peered over to her, looking at where he assumed her eyes to be, "Nothing. Just worried whether the Council will actually act this time rather than turn us away."

The quarian looked pensive after his comment. She was probably trying to process all the new information she had received in the last hour alone. The rest of the walk was a silent one that was interrupted only by the chatter of politicians lounging about and the sound of water crashing down from the fountains. In general, the area was beautiful, but he couldn't admire it with the anticipation of the following moments burning in his bones.

After climbing up the final steps, he finally caught a glimpse of the Council themselves. Something about them just radiated 'I'm full of myself'. Or maybe it was just him and he was wrong. Ambassador Udina led them onto an extended platform a level below the Council members. Udina did most of the speaking with Damien cutting in every now and then. Then, as he was half-expecting, the Council refused to act upon the new evidence. They would let dozens of human colonies be wiped out by Saren and his geth instead of act. Callum could feel his anger rising to new peaks once again, but then, out of the blue, the asari councilor spoke up with the mention of an alternative that would aid both sides.

Damien seemed surprised when they asked him to step forward. Shit. It really was something to watch Damien be inducted into the Spectres. It meant something greater for humanity, but it also showed that he had what it took to get the job done. When he turned around, his had a cheesy grin lining his lips before Udina went and soured the mood by not even giving him his thanks and went on to say Shepard wasn't done yet. Then he just up and left.

Once Udina and Anderson were out of earshot, Callum turned to Damien with a repulsed look on his face, "If I may speak freely, Udina's one son of a bitch."

Damien sighed and clasped his hands behind his neck, "Yep."

Garrus seemed just as baffled as Tali, "You'd think he'd have shown some gratitude at least."

"You'd think that, but I've come to not expect that from Udina." Damien started walking away from the stand, "Now, I think it's time we get things settled down before we figure out what to do,