After she told Joker to head for the Citadel, she returned to her quarters to prepare for the mission. She looked at the information the Illusive Man had given her, gone over the schematics and checked the route into the Prothean city. She tried to concentrate, but her mind drifted into those revered memories when Garrus was still aboard the Normandy.
After returning from their meeting with the council, the crew celebrated once more. After so long, the council had finally agreed to support Tharrissa and provide defence against the reaper threat. They had immediately stationed most of the turian fleet near the omega 4 relay and had sensors all around it. The salvaged collector technology and sampled collector tissue, combined with a datapad containing a reliable recording of advancing reapers and the human reaper they had destroyed, forced the council to open their eyes. But it had taken so many years, and so much effort.
In the Normandy bar, they all drank and were merry. Another success with the fabled Commander Shepard. Things began to look better for the galaxy for Tharrissa. She drank little; she always hated the concept of not being in complete control of herself. Garrus and Tali also drank nothing, as no dextro-amino based drinks were available, although both were too polite to mention it. After watching Legion to 'the robot' and being shocked when Thane fell into some rather graphic solipsism, Tharrissa and Garrus found themselves alone in the bar.
"I told you." He said simply, with what could only be classed as a smirk.
"From previous experience, I'm sure you can understand why I thought the council would reject us again."
"Oh I know, I was the one proving Saren's betrayal remember? But this time, I just had a feeling that they would help our cause." Tharrissa looked at Garrus with mock suspicion.
"You slept with the asari councilor didn't you?" She asked, with an eyebrow raised, highlighting the scar that ran across her right eye. The turian laughed.
"Works every time. All it takes is one stylish and incredibly handsome turian to make an asari councilor realize that the galaxy is at stake from an imminent attack of immortal machines." They both laughed, knowing that neither of them had ever had a real relationship that was even close to serious. Both individuals could shoot down hordes of enemies in the most life threatening of situations. But when it came down to a long term relationship, the concept was too intimidating for them to consider.
"Well, it's a good thing I know that the galaxy is at stake from an imminent attack of immortal machines." Tharrissa joked.
"I could persuade you otherwise." Garrus said in a low voice. Tharrissa suddenly adopted a more serious expression and looked into Garrus' eyes, deducing his thoughts. His voice had replied jokingly, but his eyes said something very different.
"You're being serious." She said simply.
"What? I'm sorry Shepard; I know that nothing like that will ever work."
"Why not?"
"I would think it's obvious. You are a human, I'm a turian. It wouldn't be wise to get tangled up in something like that."
"There are many different species who have successful relationships with other species."
"Come on, you have received a lot of attention from people closer to home, why me?"
"Because hell Garrus, you are the only person I trust enough." That made him pause and consider.
"I think I had best sleep on this."
"May I join you? Or is it too soon?" Shepard replied with a half smile on her pale face.
"And I never had any idea you was such a reckless flirt." He responded thoughtfully, watching her with his head tilted to one side.
After that conversation, they had retreated back to their respective rooms to separately think about the same thing. But Tharrissa knew that Garrus hadn't vanished due to the prospect of having a relationship with her. In fact, she had rather it had been that simple, but he had just vanished two days later. No explanation, no trace of anyone else capturing him. He had disappeared, and Tharrissa devoted her life to searching endlessly for him right across the galaxy.
And now it was tormenting her, ever since Tharrissa realized that she held strong feelings for Garrus. She equipped her armour, black and dark purple, and put her visor on – another reminder of the one she searched so desperately for. It sat upon a mass of short messy black hair, and upon the inside of the visor, Tharrissa had etched Garrus' name. No one else but her would ever know of this, but it granted her a small happiness to be reminded of the one she fought for.
EDI announced that they had arrived at the citadel. Shepard picked Thane and Tali to accompany her. As a vanguard, she had an arsenal of devastating biotic powers at her disposal. Thane had proven adept at long ranged combat and warping the barriers of his enemies. Tali eased off pressure in more close combat situations by depositing combat drones and AI hacking any synthetic enemy. Shepard preferred shooting from mid to long range with a vindicator assault rifle. As did Garrus.
They parked the Normandy in the docking bay and proceeded to follow the directions The Illusive Man had given them. It led them to the base of the citadel, a taxi took them most of the way, and the driver seemed surprised about the direction Tharrissa wanted to go.
"It's a rough part of town. All the homeless live there and criminals run amok. It is rare for the law to catch up with them when this place is that far away from C-sec headquarters." The driver told them. "Watch your step."
He finally dropped them off just next to a narrow alley covered in debris and piles of filth. The driver hastily departed and Tharrissa studied her surroundings. Those who resided here were all in varying degrees of illness, not due to any plague, but because of the lack of hygiene and proper living standards.
"The council sure work hard to cover all this up." Tali said, waving her hand at the unfortunate inhabitants of this part of the Citadel. They were members of all species squatting on the floor, slumped in exhaustion. Tharrissa felt a pang of sorrow as she remembered a similar upbringing on Earth, constantly working on survival, escaping from gangs, not knowing who to trust and having to steal food just to stay alive.
"Let's head for this city." She said, wiping the painful memory away. The poverty stricken scene that accompanied them on the way to the assigned co-ords haunted them all. But finally, they reached a steel wall where a concealed passage was supposed to lie. There were no lines or cracks to indicate where this passage was. Tali's omni-tool flared up and she began typing into it.
"According to this, there is a hollow section just here." She informed. "It's only a small circle though, but we should all fit in."
"Did the Illusive Man specify how we get into this passage?" Thane asked.
"Yeah, apparently he already set up restrictive measures just in case anyone else discovered this. But the keepers stop anyone from finding this passage. All we need to do, is this." Tharrissa checked that the area was isolated, and then placed her ungloved hand onto the wall. A door swung open.
"Thane, you first then Tali. We have to move fast, Cerberus can only distract the keepers for so long. And we sure are vulnerable here." They all scrambled in, managing to fit. Tharrissa was grateful that the squad she picked could fit. A Krogan or turian wouldn't have a chance. She felt another pang of longing for Garrus. It had been so long, and she was so uncertain on where he was, how he was and what he is doing.
After so much tension in such an exposed and confined space, they finally met the end of the tunnel. Tharrissa was reminded strongly of Ilos at her surroundings. Here was an ancient beauty that lay within the heart of the Citadel, and had remained hidden for so long. An almost ethereal glow shone on the overgrown plants that adorned the statues and buildings. Yet looking up, the city was covered in a metal dome, no sunlight could possibly affect this city.
But they didn't have much time to appreciate the beauty of the place before bullets began firing and they had to dive for cover. It wasn't keepers that attacked them, but geth. The keepers weren't built for combat, but it made sense that they would use the non-sentient geth to attack any invaders. Well, most geth were non-sentient, Legion was a whole different story.
Shepard shouted orders to Thane and Tali, while firing through the shields of the geth. In situations like this, she wished she had Garrus back; he could simply overload the shields so Tharrissa could unleash her biotics upon their enemies. Tali already had her combat drone up and running and Thane loaded his sniper with warp ammo. Bullets sprayed around them, a geth drew in close to Thane. He quickly grabbed the geth's head and deftly twisted it right off. It was rare for Tharrissa to see Thane in melee combat, but when he did, the enemy was already dead.
Tali hacked one geth and had it firing its grenade launcher at its allies. Explosions suddenly engulfed their sight, and then there was silence. And a lot of robotic corpses lying on the ground when the dust settled. Tali regarded the mess and the explosions caused by the battle.
"Liara would not be particularly happy." She remarked.
"She probably would have voted against hacking the geth with a grenade launcher." Tharrissa agreed, "but she would just love to see this." She waved to the Prothean monuments and creations that surrounded her.
"I have never seen Prothean artifacts before." Thane mused. "Is this how Protheans looked before their extinction?" He asked, gesturing to a statue of a robed alien with a tentacled face and wise, sad eyes.
"Probably. We saw similar ones on Ilos too. Tali came with me on that trip."
"I did. And your driving is outrageous. I'm just grateful that we don't use that vehicle anymore." She said, remembering Shepard manically driving the mako through hordes of geth and colossus in order to reach the portal in time. "I felt sorry for Garrus always having to repair-" She suddenly cut off, realizing who she was talking about. The quarian looked over fearfully at Shepard to see her wince.
"Let's move." She commanded stiffly. After nearly killing Liara, she forced herself to have a stronger hold on her temper.
They moved through the ruins, absorbing all the fascinating artwork and carvings of a lost culture. The place was almost too quiet, unlike when Shepard had taken Garrus and Tali with her to Ilos.
"Shepard, you do realize that this planet is in a fragile state, firing rocket launchers and recklessly crashing the mako into just about anything perhaps isn't the best way to preserve the history of an extinct race." Garrus said to her jokingly.
"And that's what makes it so exciting!" Tharrissa had replied, while Garrus gunned down a colossus.
"My thoughts exactly."
"Shepard, over here." Thane's deep voice brought Tharrissa back to the present. The assassin brushed some overgrown flora off part of a massive machine. "It must be a weapon. Perhaps the Protheans had started building it to retaliate against the reapers. They must have been too late."
"How far along were they with its construction?"
"Almost finished. It is loaded with some indiscernible substance. And the firing mechanism is here." He pointed to a cylindrical tube that Thane explained would likely be pressed all the way down in order to fire the weapon. "This is only one half of it though, the other part of it must be nearby."
"Let's look for it then."
"We will have to find an alternative route out however, if we take this with us."
"I'll see if the Illusive Man knows of a way out." Tharrissa fired her omni-tool up and instantly, the Cerberus leader's voice projected from it, radiating with anger.
"The other part of this weapon Shepard, it's gone."
"Are you certain? I thought no one else knew of the presence of this city?"
"So did I. Not even a shadow could have surpassed all the security precautions I took."
"Perhaps they took the other half of the weapon before you discovered this city? Or it could have been the Protheans themselves."
"No. When I discovered this city there were two energy signatures that denoted some sort of Prothean technology. Now, there is just one."
"We will find the other half later. But for now, we need to get this part of the weapon onto the Normandy. Any ideas how?"
"There is a dormant docking hull West of your current position. Tell Joker to meet you there, and activate the Normandy's stealth systems."
"A docking hull? How was this not discovered before?"
"It appears that the Protheans had their own stealth systems, Joker won't be able to see the ruins or the docking hull, so he will just have to meet you at these co-ordinates and wait for you to appear. Move quickly Shepard. The keepers are alerted to your present and will probably send more firepower shortly."
"Thane and Tali, help me lift this thing out of here. And be careful, we don't know what is in that weapon." Between them, the three managed to hoist the instrument off the ground, and carried it back to the specified location the Illusive Man had given them. Shepard radioed Joker, informing him to keep the starboard cargo open for the Prothean technology to be stored in. Shepard's muscles began to strain, but she refused to show any sign of weakness in front of her crew.
Finally, they reached a door that connected to the docking hull. Checking that all breather masks were equipped, they walked over to the massive door covered in ascending vines, which immediately opened for them. The artificial light that brightened the Citadel made them wince as they had gotten used to the soft glow of the hidden city. The Normandy was stationed just at the end of the runway. The door shut behind them as they heaved the weapon part towards the cargo deck.
Once they were just a few feet away from the Normandy , the doors leading back to the city opened.
"That can't be good…" Tali muttered. The shapes of the all too familiar geth covered the doorway with guns hoisted.
"Get this onto the Normandy! Our shields should last us." With renewed determination, they edged to the open airlock. Mordin, Legion, Jack and Kasumi had their helmets on and were already there, helping them lift the weapon into cargo as the onslaught of bullets threatened to collapse their shields. Just before the geth's attack threatened to break through their armour, they leaped onto the Normandy and the airlock shut before the ship propelled itself into space.