CHAPTER FOUR - Found You
"I think I'm going to employ violence." - Aria T'Loak
Liara breathed a heavy sigh of relief as she intercepted Janix's transmission to the Astrea. Her faith in their mission had not been misplaced. She knew that the Krogan were not a trusting people due to a history of betrayal; that had been her real test by sending them to Tuchanka. If the Krogan could find the means to trust them then it shouldn't be an issue for herself.
Her fingers scanned the keypad sending out a coded signal to Feron's receiver. They didn't have time to spare in getting the team together to go help Shepard. She heard the almost silent change in background static click in and began talking after hearing his cautious and quiet go ahead.
"They managed to get Grunt," she informed him. "I don't know about Wrex but they're making progress. I'm going to send you the dossier on Garrus now. He'd want to be the first to know."
"Alright," he confirmed.
"There are a couple more stationed on the same planet as him as well so I'll add their dossiers."
"Of course," Feron replied sternly as she sent the information to him.
"I will contact you in a bit to see how the transmission goes, there's a couple of things I need to take care of."
She cut the call to him and turned to a different console to continue mapping out how she would direct this crew to carry out her mission. Liara's thoughts barely had time to organize themselves before her terminal lit up with another transmission. Panic curled through her; Feron knew better than to contact her directly and the transmission hadn't needed approval before displaying. She turned in slow fear fueled anticipation to the hollow screen and her face twisted in anger to try and hide her fear.
"How did you find me," she demanded.
The woman on the display smiled coldly at the Asari. She was obviously human but shadows hid most of her face except for the small glint from her eyes.
"Liara T'soni." Shit. Whoever it was knew her. Knew exactly who they were looking for. They weren't just looking for the Shadow Broker. It also hinted that her confronter could probably see her as well meaning that they'd wormed their way past all of her firewires.
"How did you find me," Liara demanded once again as she walked over to the image.
"You made it easy," the woman admitted with a shrug. "By being the worst Shadow Broker ever."
The accusation stung Liara's pride; she felt she was quite good at being an information broker. Not just any one THE information broker. In fury she began to dance her fingers across the keypad in an attempt to cancel the transmission and possibly retrace it to its source.
The woman scoffed and shook her head. "You're a fool T'soni. You're a good broker and even better at hiding. But you're not very good at keeping your emotions in check. Maybe if you'd been smart enough to withdraw yourself from the situation we might never have discovered you were the broker and found you."
"Remove myself..." Liara's mind raced. She'd done everything right. She'd been careful and diligent. This was Shepard they were talking about. It'd only been a few days since the fall of the Reapers they couldn't expect...
The woman backed away from the receiver enough to hide her features entirely in the dark buzzing blue hologram but also enough for Liara to make out the Cerberus logo on the front of her armor.
"By the goddess," Liara swore despite herself and her hands fell still.
The woman's smile broadened. Just like every Cerberus soldier she loved knowing that she had the upper hand. "That little band shot at us Miss T'soni so it wasn't like we didn't know that they had been there. It was very probable that they were just scavengers in the wrong place at the wrong time. But do you really think any Cerberus Commander worth her salt would just make that assumption."
Liara considered that for a moment and cursed herself for having not realised it sooner. She was so sure that if Cerberus was after the Commander they wouldn't have wasted their time with a little scavenger group. Something else didn't make sense. "Then why not just kill them and be sure? Why let them fly off?"
"Because T'soni. You, better than anyone, know how valuable a good reputation is. If they were going to come back for us then we would have solved the problem. However, nothing spreads information like the underworld pipeline. Cerberus can always use a few more members and all the better if you alien scum are made aware that even the great Commander Shepard couldn't take us down. A little cannon fodder and a little fear. When they docked at Illium we almost decided to leave them alone. But that's when something interesting happened. The Shadow Broker contacted them and next thing we know they're making a straight path to Tuchanka. Now that doesn't make any sense for a little band of miscreants now does it."
"No.." Liara's disbelieve was imminent.
"And intercepting every transmission," the Cerberus Commander added for insult. "You thought you were so brilliant T'soni. All you Asari think so. You all think you're so much better than the rest of us. Especially the little pink creatures new to the system that rose up so quickly. But that's your flaw. Your pride. You Asari can always be counted on to let your pride get you killed." The commander checked the fingers on her hand as a deliberate action of clear boredom even though she was fully armored and couldn't see her fingernails. "I suggest you say good bye to Feron."
The words were cold and bit into Liara's heart with such an intensity. "How do you know about Feron?!" The desperation and urgency was clear in Liara's voice. "Damn you how do you know?"
"That's none of your business Asari and I'm done with this conversation now. You really are so emotional. It makes you stupid." The woman's grin returned. "You didn't think I called just to chat did you?" The transmission cut in a blur of bright blue static.
Liara's face brimmed with horror at the realization. They'd been monitoring transmissions from the Astrea to make sure that they weren't up to anything. Feron had contacted them directly and even though it was from a channel that Liara herself had encrypted her heart sank at the realization that they had still traced it back to him. And then all they had to do was wait until Liara contacted him again to make the connection to Liara herself. The Cerberus Commander hadn't called to chat at all but Liara had been so sure of herself she thought she was untouchable. She looked at the keypad and her hands fell away. She let that Cerberus bitch get under her skin and distract her from finishing the code. If she'd only kept her emotions in check she might've been able to stop it.
They had contacted her, kept her hanging on, so that they could track her down. Normally a process like that would have taken moments of connection but with how Liara had encrypted her transmission signal and rerouted it they needed to keep connected to her longer. They had her. They had her location and she knew she didn't have a lot of time before they would be here. They probably had a squad headed for Feron and the Astrea at that moment.
"I'm sending the next dossier to you now," the Shadow Broker's voice announced over the intercom as the crew crowded around Nitall's terminal.
She pulled the file up on another screen and Janix examined the scarred Turian. Garrus Vakarian.
"There's another-"
Another signal tore through the Shadow Broker's voice breaking up their conversation. "Feron you have to get out!"
Janix was taken aback and looked back to his crew and Grunt to see if that made any sense to them. Perhaps someone had gotten on the wrong channel?
"You too Janix." Nope, not a coincidence.
"I don't have much time. Cerberus knows everything. They're after me and they're after you. Feron, I've wiped my computers and transferred everything to you."
"I..I..."
"Keep safe Feron. Meet up with someone if you can. Stay safe. Janix you need to keep going. I got careless. Cerberus is coming after you as well because they're scared. I'm going to make a run for it I'll meet up with you if I can. But you guys need to keep moving they're probably listening to this right now."
The transmission cut short leaving the crew in a stunned silence.
"You're ... you're not the Shadow Broker are you?"
"No," Feron admitted. "That was the real Shadow Broker. A close personal friend."
Janix looked to Raythe and Nitall who took the silent command and immediately went to work at separate consoles. The blue and yellow lights danced across their features as they pulled through different radars and reports.
"They're not following close enough that I can pick up on their Mass Effect field," Nitall told him instantly. "Just close enough to follow our residual trail and monitor transmission. They're far enough away we might have a fighting chance."
Raythe nodded. "Confirmed. By my calculations once we hit a relay all it would take is a total of three jumps before our trail would become indistinguishable I would suggest four just to be safe but we can make it."
"No," Janix declared. The offer was tempting but he knew that running now would jeopardize everything that they were working for. He turned back to the terminal. "Feron where are you?"
"What?"
"You heard me. I don't know who you are but you're obviously a friend. We're coming to get you."
Feron was silent for a moment before the disguised voice broke through again. "I'm on Omega. But I can't tell you where just in case Cerberus doesn't know my exact location. I'm going to stay hidden. I'll keep an ear out for you though."
The transmission ended and Janix turned to his crew. "We don't have much time. If Cerberus was eaves dropping they're going to try and beat us to Omega."
"We're sure that was the REAL Shadow Broker and not someone from Cerberus trying to spook us," Zharia asked as she looked around. "My unit and I did it all the time; it's called herding. They might just be trying to get us all in the same place and no one is going to ask questions on Omega."
The crew went quiet for a moment considering the statement before Grunt shook his massive head. "No, I knew that voice. She's a friend."
"We'll take your word for it Grunt," Janix announced. "Do you know Feron as well?"
"I've met him once."
"Would he remember you?"
Grunt scoffed. "If me and Shepard weren't there he would've had a fried brain. He damn well better."
"Good. You'll be part of the ground team then. If he knows you then we'll need you on Omega so he knows we're friends and he'll feel better approaching us." Grunt nodded and Janix turned to the rest of his crew. "Zharia you'll accompany him as will you Raythe. Nitall and I will stay here and keep guard on the ship while it's docked." He turned to Zharia. "I'd like to keep Zhorn here as well if you can arrange that; he'd be a great help guarding the ship."
She nodded that she would take care of it and Janix turned to Nitall. "Get us there," he commanded.
The crowds of Omega swarmed around the small trio as they made their way from the docks to the heart of the underworld. Afterlife. Feron had said he was going to stay in hiding and there was only one person on all of Omega that knew where every breath on the station came from.
Zharia looked at the Quarian skeptically. "I really should insist that you stay with us Raythe. Omega has been on edge since it was freed. I'd feel a lot better if I could keep an eye on you."
"You don't think I can take care of myself?" His tone was beyond indignant. He really wanted to go to the shops and see what he could find.
She shrugged and turned from him. "You're welcome to try. All those parts you're looking for are in the market district just past the residential area. I think there was a plague there once. Deathly thing. Killed everyone infected and the only ones immune were humans."
"That's what Mordin told me," Grunt agreed with a devious smile on his scaled lips. "Actually, I think I remember an Elcor having a Quarian slave somewhere around there."
"No kidding," Zharia questioned in mock disbelief. "Is that the same area where the Blood Pack tried to assassinate that Krogan warlord?"
"Patriarch? Exact same area."
Raythe nearly choked on his filtered air and attempted to correct himself. "I think it'd be best if we stuck together in case we need to make a quick getaway." He gulped and looked around now terribly apprehensive of the warm bodies that pushed past his. "Why in the world would he hide out in a place like this?"
"Safest place in the galaxy right now," Zharia replied simply. "Aria had it stolen from her during the Reaper attacks so she's been on a bit of a protective warpath since. And all the citizens here are usually armed even if they aren't always dangerous. And they all hate Cerberus."
"Sounds like my kind of place," Raythe laughed. He wasn't terribly excited about facing Cerberus. After hearing about all the horrible things they'd done to their own kind he'd hate to see what they'd do to the aliens they hated so much.
"Sure if you like booze, sex, and weapons."
"Who doesn't?" Raythe joked trying to ease his own fears.
They approached the guard and the Batarian scowled at them. "Aria isn't accepting visitors right now," he growl at them. "Go back to whatever hole you crawled out of."
In the midst of a second Grunt thrust himself forward and smashed his head into the Batarian's crumpling the heavily armed man. Raythe stepped carefully over the heaped body as the trio made their way up the stairs to Aria's throne. The threatening click of guns being readied echoed around them the minute they broke through to the upper level.
"Stand down." Aria's command resounded with a power that most would never hear in a life time; laced with unwavering confidence and an unanswered hate.
She stood before them in all her strength and glory silhouetted by the bright lights of afterlife as her eyes bore down on them with judgement. The guards obeyed her grudgingly and lowered their weapons allowing the small group to approach Aria.
"Well well well look what the vorcha dragged through my door." Aria sat down and crossed her legs as she leaned back against the soft back of the couch. It looked like it had seen much better days but the Asari looked like she'd never felt better.
"Hello T'Loak," Zharia greeted as calmly as she could. The Asari had always felt overcome by Aria's ambition and power; though many would disagree she felt it was something to be greatly admired.
Aria completely ignored the other Asari and turned to Grunt. "So, never thought I would see you here again. Quite the new crowd you've got here."
"Didn't have a choice," Grunt replied. From the stories Shepard had mentioned on the ship Aria sounded like his kind of Asari. Strong and powerful with a blood lust that could never be satisfied. He could see it in her eyes; see how she craved the reverence and respect it brought.
"So it would seem," she agreed. "Still the galaxy feels smaller and smaller every day." She sighed heavily as the small chat came to an end. "What do you want." She snapped her voice laced with boredom.
"We're looking for someone," Zharia told her. "It's actually a matter that might require a little privacy."
Her eyes darted to Aria's bodyguards who looked even more furiously at the group. Aria shrugged. "They know when to keep their mouths shut. If they didn't they wouldn't be of any use to me."
Zharia couldn't help but worry. However she knew arguing with Aria would get them nowhere so she nodded and continued on. "His name is Feron."
"I know who you're talking about," Aria snapped before she leaned back again. "And I know where he is." She looked around skeptically. "But I'm sure one of you must be familiar with the human phrase quid pro quo."
Raythe felt confused for a moment; he'd never heard of that. But then he realised that Zharia would have. As someone who had once devoted their life to studying aliens she may have some across it.
"What is it you want," she demanded all the decency gone from her tone.
"Nothing big I assure you." Her eyes fell to Grunt and she watched the blue eyed beast with that predatory gaze. "But I want you to do it. No questions."
"No," Zharia snapped back without hesitation. "We'll find Feron on our own." She didn't care what it was. There was no reason for Aria to be so vague. So if she was hiding something it meant she was well aware that they wouldn't like the details.
"Good fucking luck," Aria snapped back.
Grunt growled and his snarl turned to Zharia. Raythe instantly bristled with fear despite the fact that the Asari barely flinched. He couldn't tell if she was just hiding it very well or if after facing a Thresher Maw she would not be shaken easily. "I came for one reason only; to save Shepard. You seem to be getting in the way of that."
"Quid pro quo means a favor for a favor. Aria has no problem getting her hands dirty so whatever she wants can't be good or easy and who knows when she'll ask for it." Her gaze fell over to Aria sitting so proudly and nonchalant on her couch. "Whatever she wants..."
"Is none of my business," Grunt snapped. He needed them right now or he would never get to Shepard. So unfortunately snapping her neck like a twig out of frustration wasn't an option. "My business is Shepard." The stupid Asari didn't seem to understand what he risked to come on this mission. Wrex had given him a spot in his clan, a home and a goal. He had worked hard to make his way to be the leader of Wrex's most powerful group of warriors. He had fought rachni and was still alive to see the end of the genophage. He knew all of this. But he also knew that none of it would have been possible without Shepard. If it wasn't for her he would not have been given the opportunity to prove his worthiness and achieve all that he had. He knew that more than anything he owed his Battlemaster his life because without her he doubted that his life would have been worth even half as much. However it definitely helped that Wrex had given him permission to leave. Though he would have given it all up for Shepard regardless it was a relief to know that he didn't need to fight to have something to go back to.
Zharia's cold gaze battled with his own before her fighting spirit curled away in defeat. "Fine," she bit out with resentment. "Whatever you need Aria."
The dictator smirked in victory and stretched her arms out across the back of the couch. "Not now," Aria assured them. "A good investor knows to never cash in on her investments until they're at their most valuable."
Zharia didn't like her logic but she couldn't deny it. Favors from someone with honour were far more valuable than credits some days.
"So where is he then?"
Aria stood up from her couch and wandered to the banister so she could turn her back to the group and over look Afterlife. She watched the people living and thriving below her as she spoke to the small crew.
"The residential district seems to have been overrun by the Blood Pack." She growled and turned her gaze away from them. It almost seemed off handed but she was getting right to the point.
"You don't sound too pleased about that," Zharia observed. "I thought you were in charge of all the gangs."
"The gangs used to be under my thumb. I had them all. Recently the Blood Pack's new leader thought they were too good for that."
"Get to the point," Grunt snapped revealing his eagerness to get on the way.
Aria's face curled in distaste at Grunt's disrespect as she turned to him. "The point, you little worm, is for your own benefit. Don't expect help from anyone but me around here. And I won't be too heartbroken if you happen to show a couple mercenaries how death tastes on your way out." She sneered and turned away from him. "Now get out of my sight."
Raythe hurried out of there into the swarm of lush warm bodies that writhed against him just to get away from the coldness that Aria's presence brought him. He shivered from the change and looked over the Grunt and Zharia. The Asari was visibly irritated while the Krogan seemed to be on his warpath. She reached out and latched onto his arm spinning him to face her.
"Listen," she snarled at him knowing that her voice was hidden from others in the drown of the chaos. "I know you want to help her. To save her. So do we. So take your attitude and stick it up your ass 'cause we don't have time for it."
"You don't even know her," he snapped back. He went to turn from her but she yanked him back around again to face her.
"I don't need to," she yelled at him. "Not to know that saving her is worth my life. So just fucking relax. We're all in this together." She released his arm and finally pushed him away. "We can talk more later." She shrugged off her negative feelings and continued forward.
Grunt looked like he had something to say but held his tongue and followed with Raythe at his side. The Quarian gulped and made a small attempt at conversation.
"What um...what Aria was getting at was that Feron is in the residential area but that we'd have a hard time getting to him because the Blood Pack mercs would probably fight us the whole time."
The Krogan's blue eyes scanned Raythe for a moment before he grunted in response and then continued to stare forward.
The air in the room was dank and reeked of stale sweat and blood. It chilled the floor and curled around Shepard causing her to shiver and pull the thin shred of cloth she'd been given as a blanket tighter around her shoulders. Her green blue eyes narrowed at the ground where it connected to the energy field that held her at bay as if hating it would make her situation better. A part of her wished that she had died on the Citadel. She was sick and tired of surviving every god damn battle.
After fighting Saren she's still managed to crawl her way out of the debris. After fighting the Collectors she almost hadn't made it out of the base in time. And somehow she'd managed to survive the fall of the Citadel as well.
Her chest heaved with deep forlorn sigh and she found a new empty spot to stare at. The great Commander Shepard capable of anything; except staying dead apparently. She was getting kind of sick of the back and forth and silently wished her fate could just pick one or the other.
She stretched her back against the wall and glared as she heard the stiff click of shoes against the metal. A Cerberus guard stepped into view. Dispite the casual situation he was clad in full Cerberus armor and Shepard almost snickered. She was still focusing on putting enough strength back into her legs to properly use them she didn't have to ability to attack him and make a run from it. He carried with him a small tray of food; the same grey slop she'd been given since she got here.
Shepard had considered not eating but she was stubborn not stupid. She wouldn't have the energy to escape if she starved herself. She hoped that right now she had enough energy to try. She had no idea what she was facing but damned if she'd spend her days a prisoner of Cerberus.
It was always the same during meal times. The same guard would always approach her with a plate of food and cautiously feed it to her. One of the guards had suggested undoing the energy shackles so she could feed herself. He had figured then Shepard, being a creature of honour, would be more likely to see them as humans in the end rather than obstacles. The guard standing before her now didn't believe that at all. He'd heard what Cerberus had done to Shepard over the years. They'd ravaged her whole team on Akuze; they'd pulled her from the dead only to manipulate and betray her, and then they almost ruined her only chance to stop the Reapers. There was no building trust from that. Hell, sometimes he even wondered why he stayed here but the answer was obvious. What they'd do to him if he didn't. He'd joined when he was young and ambitious before Cerberus had sullied their names and he'd been there through it all. Leaving now would cost him more than his pride was worth. At least this way he could visit his family not their graves.
He approached her cautiously as the field holding her at bay diminished and knelt in front her. Her eyes were cold towards him and he couldn't blame her for her feelings. He doubted he'd feel any differently in her position. Cerberus soldiers no longer held a difference to her and in his white and yellow armor he became one of the swarm in her eyes. Cerberus. All just a single entity that needed to be stamped out.
He scooped up some of the gray sludge awkwardly and held it out to her. Their eyes clashed again through his visor and guilt swept up through his throat.
"I'm going to escape from here," she threatened him.
"I know."
"Dammit," Raythe swore as he took cover from another shot gun blast as an angry Krogan slowly advanced on the group. His incineration blasts continued to bounce off the beast's armor so he had taking to lighting the nearby vorcha on fire instead. Zharia had taken cover across the hall with Grunt covering just beside her.
The Blood Pack had ambushed them in the middle of their trek through the residential district accusing them of being a rival gang trying to intrude on their territory. Zharia had made a small attempt to correct their assumption but after a lewd comment about her breasts she shot a vorcha in the throat and sort of screwed over that plan. He only hoped that Feron hadn't heard the battle and fled to another location.
He looked over the counter of the small kiosk he'd taken cover behind and swore at the Blood pack. "Stop breeding!," he screeched at them in dismay. Where the hell were they all coming from? He felt like every time they shot one down three more respawned in its place.
"Split them up," Grunt howled in command. Raythe had almost forgotten; he read in Grunt's dossier that he had been the leader of Aralakh Company. So he was used to being a leader. And he assumed from what he knew about the Krogan that that meant leading a squad through far more battles than the average soldier.
He wondered if, having worked with nothing but Krogan, Grunt would know how to utilize each team members talents. Raythe himself was useless in close quarters combat. It had nothing to do with his physical status or combat abilities simply the fact that he was a Quarian. All his opponent would have to do is conceal a small blade and slice open his suit and let foreign bacteria do the rest. However he had a range of engineering skills that made him perfect for taking down shields and armor and just causing all around chaos.
Zharia on the other hand, being an ex-Asari commando, was far better rounded in her aspects of fight training. She may not have been strong but she was quick and resourceful and her sniping ability was uncanny. He remembered Nitall once commenting on how unfair it was for a sniper to have a synthetic eye. Zharia had taken obvious offense and replied 'it doesn't matter how far you can see if you don't know how to get your shot there.'
He looked to Zharia to see if she would argue and instead she looked to Grunt for direction.
"Charge them," he commanded her. "We'll cover for you." His gaze then turned to Raythe who nodded his assurance that he would.
Zharia returned the nod and unholstered her shotgun knowing that its scattered shot would be much more desirable once she got in close. Biotic energy swarmed up around her body taking a few Blood Pack members by surprise before her body surged forward in a sudden biotic charge. The resounding energy pulse as she collided with a Krogan in the middle of the group threw a few of the surrounding gang back a few steps and stunned the ones who were too close for their own good. Raythe launched another incineration blast taking down a couple of vorcha while Grunt emptied his thermal clip into the back of a Krogan too close for comfort and Zharia finished off the Krogan she'd landed on. Raythe knew the next few seconds were crucial as a biotic charge diminished the user's barrier leaving them very vulnerable until it charged up again.
Zharia slammed the butt of her shot gun into a vorcha's forehead to stun it before thrusting the muzzle down its gullet. Without even waiting for the remains of its head to fall to the floor she spun herself to face another vorcha still stunned from the original charge and launched her fist into his face. She didn't have the time to spare to load another thermal clip not with her biotic energy only just starting to return to her and build her barrier again. She spun around and launched the back of her heel into his chin resulting in a satisfying crack as his head twisted at an abnormal angle.
Raythe ignited another group of vorcha and whittled them off with his assault rifle as he watched Zharia spin around preparing for another attack.
"Look out," he cried at her.
Her barriers sparked back into place just in time. A large Krogan fired a shotgun blast directly into her chest launching her backwards into the ground. Zharia grunted and gasped as the wind threw itself from her lungs and her head slammed back into the cold floor. Her jaw dropped as she tried to regain her breath and the mercenary leveled his gun at her nose. A roar filled her ears and she watched as Grunt collided with the opposing Krogan throwing him to the ground in a blood rage fury. Raythe yelped in surprise but continued to attack the surrounding vorcha in an attempt to keep them from joining the fray. The Blood Pack Krogan and Grunt tousled on the floor spitting and snarling as they headbutt, scratched, and bit. Zharia pulled herself together and readied a thermal clip for her shotgun but it wasn't needed. Grunt grasped the Krogan's jaw and threw all his bodyweight against it snapping the mercenary's neck. Grunt pulled himself from the corpse and let out a challenging roar that chilled Zharia's blood and sent shivers up her spine. The remaining vorcha hissed as they cowered away from him before fleeing into the bowls of the area. Raythe fired a few shots at their backs taking out what he could before rising from his cover to join the other two where Zharia cautiously got to her feet.
"You guys ok?" Raythe looked between them.
"Fine," Grunt bit back ignoring the blood curling its way out of his neck. He shrugged it off and looked at Zharia expectantly.
"Me too," she replied quickly almost in embarrassment.
"Good to hear," came a tired vibrating male tone. Raythe recognized the thick accent as Drell immediately and they watched as Feron pulled himself from the shadows. Though his clothes were clean and tidy his face looked well worn with the lines of someone with more than their share of worry. "I'm sorry I didn't help," he apologized quietly. "But the Blood pack is for hire. You never know how far Cerberus will reach. I was worried that if they saw me..."
"It doesn't matter," Zharia told him. "What matters is you're here now." It made sense though. The Blood Pack didn't ask questions and Cerberus knew that they couldn't set foot on Omega without Aria and the public hunting them like rabid varren.
"Do you think those Blood Pack members really had no idea who we were?" Raythe looked around curiously.
"I say let's not wait around and find out," Zharia commanded as she turned to lead the way back to the docks.
"Too bad," Grunt chuckled as he cracked the kink out of his neck. "Could've been fun."