A/N: I wanted to apologize for the poor quality of the last chapter, unlike most of my stories, "Taken" doesn't have the benefit of me writing a rough draft beforehand because I skipped over it and went straight to writing the rough draft of its sequel (on the plus side, this means that I have a much better idea about how to foreshadow things related to the sequel in this story).
3: A Place to Start
Garrus' expression as he marched towards John and Detective Wu was, to say the least, pissed. "What is this?!" Garrus demanded, shoving an insignia in John's face "What is this?!"
John frowned and took the insignia from Garrus "Well, I'd say that it's the Terminus emblem inside an inverted triangle inside a circle inside a diamond."
"Don't get smart with me!" Garrus snapped, shoving a scrap of paper at John. "This says 'Ask Carn' so I want to know what the hell your father has to do with this!"
John's eyes narrowed "Are you accusing my father of something?"
"Do we know someone else named Carn?!" Garrus snarled. "I swear Shepard; if this is all someone getting revenge on your father through Alice I'll-"
"You'll what?" Shepard said darkly, his expression hard.
He and Garrus stared down one another, neither willing to back down when Wu coughed "Um, not to interrupt or anything, but where did you find this?"
"In a box at the Memorial." Garrus said, breaking the stare and looking at the Detective. "It had a transmitter that was set to go off when I was near."
"And you're sure it's from the kidnappers?" John asked.
Garrus held up a lock of familiar midnight black hair that sent a sharp pang through John's chest. "I'm sure."
Wu however, was not convinced "But why would they leave a clue behind unless it was to deter us or lead us into a trap? It doesn't make sense."
"Still, it can't hurt to follow up on this." John said "Come on Garrus, my dad's helping Ash and my mom look after Lily."
They were starting to leave when John noticed that Detective Wu was following them. "Um, Detective? Not that you haven't been helpful or anything, but this is kind of a private matter."
Wu gave John a hard glare "This is my investigation. It is my duty to question all suspects and gather as much information as possible in order to locate your sister, regardless of how 'personal' the matter is."
John's eyes narrowed "I'm a Council Spectre, and therefore this matter is classified. Take it up with Bailey if you have a problem with it." Without another word, John turned on his heel and marched away with Garrus, leaving the fuming detective behind.
Several minutes later John and Garrus entered the spacious apartment the Shepard's lived in. John shook his head as he picked up a toy cowboy pistol off the floor of the entry hall "I keep telling that girl to pick up her toys. Why won't she listen?"
"Give Lily a lecture later," Garrus said "Right now, we need to find Carn."
John nodded and moved into the kitchen to see Ashley sitting down with her head on the table, a full cup of coffee next to her. She looked up as John and Garrus came in "Hey," she said somberly "How's the search coming?"
John leaned down and kissed her forehead "We've got a lead. You okay?"
Ashley nodded "I couldn't go back to sleep after you left, I kept worrying about Alice." She looked at Garrus "I'm sorry; I thought we had taken care of all the threats. I should have pushed for more security like Miranda."
John shook his head, "It's not your fault; you couldn't have known what would happen."
It was not lost on John that Garrus ignored Ashley's apology and just got straight to the point "We need to talk to Carn. Do you know where he is?"
Ash nodded "He's with Hannah keeping Lily distracted in her room,"
"Thanks," Garrus immediately started towards the bedrooms without even a backwards glance.
John kissed Ashley on the forehead again "Thanks Ash, go get some sleep, you look like hell."
Ashley lightly punched John in the shoulder "You certainly know how to make a girl feel pretty." She said dryly.
"It's a gift." John said with a smirk before following Garrus to Lily's bedroom.
John couldn't hold back the grin that broke onto his face when he heard Lily's laughter as he opened the door. Lily's room was decorated with a theme for her latest fascination: the Old West. With cowboy wallpaper and pictures of horses and the Mojave Desert on the walls, the room was something you would have expected from a boy, not a girl. Still, it was better than her last fascination: the Mafia. (For the millionth time, John swore he would make Zaeed suffer for showing Lily The Godfather.)Inside Lily's room, Carn and Hannah were playing "Sheriffs and Outlaws" with Lily and her toys. Once again, Lily was the "Outlaw" while Carn was the "Sheriff". Lily was running around the room waving a toy cowboy like it was flying and cheerfully crying "You'll never catch me!" while Carn chased her (though obviously he wasn't trying very hard).
"Got you!" Carn said triumphantly as he caught Lily in a hug and lifted her off the ground as she squealed. Carn's voice dropped to a horrible western accent as he said "Y'all goin' to jail pardner!"
"Never!" Lily cried defiantly as she seemed to break free of Carn's grip (though in truth he'd let her escape) and resumed running around the room.
"Blast it! She escaped again!" Carn said in mock frustration as he resumed the chase.
Suddenly, Lily turned around and pointed her action figure's small gun at Carn and cried "BANG!"
"Argh!" Carn cried out in "pain", clutching his chest. "You got me!" With that he fell back to the floor, his tongue lolled out to the side and his eyes squeezed shut in "death".
Hannah, who had been watching the game from Lily's bed, gave an exaggerated gasp "You killed Grandpa!"
Lily shook her head "Nuh, uh!" without warning she happily jumped onto Carn's chest, causing her grandfather to drop the act and cry out.
"Dang it Lil'! I thought I told you that you were too big for jumping on me!" He said real pain in his voice but his tone still light.
Lily gave him her best puppy face "So?"
John spoke up, knocking on the door frame to get their attention. "Dad? We need to talk to you for a moment."
Carn nodded and lifted Lily off of him, saying "Go play with Grandma for a bit, Grandpa needs to talk with your Daddy and Uncle Garrus." Lily nodded and rushed over to Hannah as Carn got to his feet and joined John and Garrus in the hall, closing the door behind him "What's wrong? Did you learn something about the people who took Alice?"
Garrus growled "That depends," he thrust the insignia in Carn's face "Does this mean anything to you?"
Carn frowned and took the insignia from Garrus, moving further down the hallway with John and Garrus to not disturb Lily and Hannah. "I haven't seen one of these in years. Where'd you get this?"
"It was left for me by the kidnappers." Garrus said "Along with a note that said 'Ask Carn' and this." Garrus held up the lock of Alice's hair.
Carn's eyes widened as he took the lock of hair from Garrus. "God…"
"Dad, where have you seen that symbol before?" John asked.
"It's the emblem of a group of slavers who terrorized some of our outer colonies a couple decades ago. They were the ones responsible for the raid on Mindoir. I was part of the task force assembled to take them down." Carn shook his head "We wiped out almost all of them and destroyed their organization. Anyone left dispersed into other merc groups. I thought they were finished."
John frowned "But they were batarian slavers weren't they? Javik said that the people who took Alice were two humans, an asari, a salarian, and a turian."
"Maybe they've branched out." Carn suggested.
Garrus shook his head "Something doesn't add up."
"Regardless, we'll need to find them if we're going to get Alice back." John pointed out.
"Liara can use her contacts to find them." Garrus said "But we need more."
Carn cleared his throat "Yes… em… I do actually know where we can find a former member."
"Where?" Garrus demanded. "Who is he?"
"She," Carn corrected "Her name is Vel Dorrak; she was our informant on the inside. Last I heard she'd married an asari and was living on Illium, although that was before the Reaper War."
"So you're saying she might be on Illium," John ventured "or she might be dead."
Carn shook his head "Vel's tough, she would have survived, I just don't know if she's still there."
"Well we better get to Illium as quickly as possible and look for her." Garrus said, turning to leave.
John nodded and started to follow him "I'll contact Joker and see if he's willing to fly us there…" his voice trailed off as they entered the kitchen to see Ashley waiting for them wearing her Spectre uniform, a bag slung over her shoulder. "Um… Ash? What are you doing?
Ashley gave John a look that was all business "I'm ready to leave when you are Skipper."
John's eyes widened as he realized Ashley had shifted to "soldier mode". "No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! I thought we agreed that one of us would always be home to watch Lily."
"I called Sarah," Ashley said "She, Lynn, and Abby are coming to watch her while we're gone."
"Well call them back, because there is no way I'm letting you go!" John said "This could get dangerous, Ash."
Ashley cocked an eyebrow skeptically "More dangerous than fighting the Reapers?"
"This is different." John said firmly "If something goes wrong I don't want Lily to lose both her parents!"
"Then we will just have to make sure nothing goes wrong." Carn said, coming up behind them.
John spun around to face his father "We?"
"You didn't think I was going to sit on the sidelines did you." Carn said his tone firm. "Or need I remind you who it was who taught you to fire a gun?"
"That was Mom," John said.
"Was it? Oh, that's right, I taught Alice to shoot." Carn said with a nostalgic smile. "Regardless, I can take care of myself son."
John wasn't backing down however "But you're too-"
"Old?" Carn grinned "Tell that to the N7 squad I led in the Reaper War. I believe they dubbed me 'That Crazy Old Man who can make krogan cower in terror'. It doesn't exactly flow off the tongue I'll admit but it was accurate."
"But still-"
"John" Ashley growled, giving him her patented "Williams' Glare" "We're coming."
Garrus shot John an impatient look "Just let them come, we're wasting time."
John sighed "Fine,"
"Excellent," Carn said, sounding rather chipper all of a sudden as he walked away. "I'll go tell Hannah and meet you at the Normandy once I get my gear. Don't leave without me."
"Sure," John mumbled, moving towards Ash and his bedroom to get what few things he needed that weren't already on the Normandy "Wouldn't dream of it."
Once he had packed, he and Ashley said goodbye to Hannah and Lily, telling her they needed to go on a 'business' trip and should be back in a few weeks at the most, then they headed out, Garrus having his things already on board the Normandy because of his honeymoon with Alice that he should have been on right now. Carn made a quick side trip to his and Hannah's apartment before meeting them at the docks.
"I must admit," Carn said as they walked through the crowded docks to the Normandy's airlock "Serving under my own son is something I never expected to be doing."
"Just don't start telling Joker baby stories okay?" John pleaded. "I really don't need the added embarrassment."
Carn tsked disapprovingly "Now, now, have I ever done that?"
"Yes." John said flatly as he shouldered his way around a group of asari.
"What about the rest of the crew?" Ashley asked, taking pity on her husband and changing the subject as they approached the Normandy's airlock. "Are they coming?"
"EDI can handle all necessary crew functions if needed." John replied as they walked through the airlock into the ship. "I didn't want to bother…anyone…else…" he stopped in his tracks as they entered the CIC, his mouth falling open in shock. "What the hell?"
Packed into the CIC, waiting for instructions, was almost every single person that had ever been a part of the Normandy's ground team.
"Shepard!" Liara exclaimed "We were wondering when you'd get here!"
John's mouth just kept opening and closing like a fish, absolutely speechless. Next to him, Ashley grinned "Why am I not surprised?"
John finally managed to find his voice "What-? How-? What are you all doing here?"
"Helping you rescue Alice of course!" Joker said from where he stood with EDI "You didn't think we'd just let you do this all by yourself did you?"
"But… don't you all have other obligations?" John managed to ask.
Jack grinned "I got leave from Sanders to help out."
"I convinced Brynn to let me join up." Jacob said, "Man, was she not happy, but I couldn't not do this you know?"
Tali nodded in agreement "And I have Kal being looked after by Temperance."
"You actually think that geth can properly look after an infant quarian?" John said skeptically.
"She's been doing a good job so far." Tali shrugged "Besides, Rahn promised to check in when she could."
"I have all my Broker equipment on the ship anyways." Liara added. "And Zaeed and Kasumi are out using their contacts to gather information for us."
Javik snorted "I just had nothing better to do." He said, causing Liara to punch him in the arm.
"Wrex couldn't make it so he commanded me to help you! Not that he needed to ask." Grunt said with a… well, grunt.
Vega grinned, clapping Grunt on the shoulder with his cybernetic arm "Hell yeah! Nobody messes with the Normandy Crew! Those pendejos won't know what hit 'em, right Loco?"
Samara stepped forward "Mr. Vega is correct, just as you have stood by us in our hours of need, so too will we stand by you in yours."
"Agreed," Chakwas said, pushing her way through the crowd "We won't abandon you and Garrus Commander."
"Besides," Adams said as he, Ken, Gabby, Cortez, and Traynor joined Chakwas. "You need our help."
"Who else would keep the drive core from exploding?" Ken said, slinging an arm around Gabby.
"And keep this idiot from screwing things up?" Gabby added, elbowing Ken in the ribs good-naturedly.
"Or handle communications?" Traynor said with a bright smile.
"And who would pilot the Kodiak? Vega?" Cortez said, jabbing a thumb in the marine's direction.
John could hardly speak. He knew his crew cared about him but to see how much they were willing to help was overwhelming. John glanced at Garrus. He'd remained silent the entire time, and his expression was almost unreadable, but John thought he saw something glimmer in his eyes: gratitude… and determination.
John finally managed to speak "I… I guess I really shouldn't be surprised at this point… but thank you, all of you." He grinned "Now let's go make these people know why even the Reapers knew you never mess with the Normandy crew."
"We're ready to leave when you are Commander." A voice behind him said, John turned and saw Miranda standing at the airlock, a duffle over her shoulder, and wearing that white catsuit for the first time John had seen in almost 2 years.
"Miranda?" he said, utterly shocked; of all people, he would have thought Miranda would have been the one who would be unable to make it, yet here she was.
The former Cerberus operative gave him a small smile. "Reporting for duty, Commander."
John was stunned "B-But… don't you-?"
Miranda's eyes twinkled in amusement at his confusion. "Officially, I'm on 'vacation', so I should be clear to help you for the next few weeks."
John grinned "Well in that case," he stepped to the side, making a show of gesturing for Miranda to proceed into the ship. "Welcome aboard Councilor Lawson."
…
Where am I?
Alice's thoughts were a confused muddle as she swam in the sea of darkness, searching for a way out. Distantly, she could hear voices conversing with one another. She couldn't make out all the words, but one voice seemed to belong to a turian, and the other, a salarian.
"…you sure… sedative won't… adverse effects on…" the turian was saying.
"…positive… perfectly safe… specially designed…" the salarian responded
"If… sure… she… no mistakes… don't…"
The voices faded away into an unintelligible whisper as Alice felt herself being dragged deeper into the darkness. Scenes flashed before her eyes in one instant and were gone the next. She was a ship that looked a lot like the Normandy, except that it was entirely black and possessed only one engine attached to its wings, not two. She saw a young man who looked a lot like her brother, though several of his features were more akin to the pictures she'd seen of Ashley's father throwing a shockwave with biotics. She saw a krogan that looked oddly familiar working in a medbay. And finally, she saw John in his armor with an assault rifle in his hands, running from cover to cover as rounds whizzed through the air around him. He took shelter behind a large crate, and Alice noticed that he was breathing heavily. Suddenly, his breath hitched, and John's eyes widened in pain. Alice watched in horror as John clutched at his chest and toppled over in slow motion, like a titan being felled. As the darkness consumed her completely, she could barely hear Ashley cry John's name…
A/N: Hopefully this chapter was better than the last one. Please, PLEASE let me know what I did well and what I can improve on!