Chapter 4: The Hunt Continues
Ratchet stopped a few meters short of the clinic entrance. "Why didn't you tell the Commander about the Captain, Ash? About what Harkin said?"
Ashley stopped her hand short of the console. "Right now, we really need to find evidence against Saren, regardless of whether or not what Harkin says is true. We can't afford to start questioning Anderson now."
Ratchet contemplated this. "But you're going to tell him eventually?"
"Of course. I intend to confront the Captain myself if Shepard doesn't do anything."
"Do you trust Shepard?" Ratchet asked.
"…" Ashley hesitated a bit. "I haven't been under Shepard's command for long, but I like his style. Not only that, but if you're human, you've probably heard of Shepard. First of all, the Commander's N7, and trust me, making N7 is no small feat. They're the best of the best. Second of all, Shepard's also known as the Lion of Elysium because he practically singlehandedly saved our colony on Terra Nova."
"What'd he do?" Ratchet asked, thinking of his own adventures with Clank in Polaris, Bogon, and Solana.
"I'll tell you later," Ashley said, punching the console. "Right now– Hey! What's going on here?!" Ashley yelled, whipping out her pistol.
Immediately, Ratchet flattened himself against the wall, slowly moving forward, peering into the small room. He saw three thugs holding a woman hostage behind a small divider in the middle of the room, and what appeared to be a turian, sneaking around their flank using the divider as cover.
"Who are you?!" The thug holding the woman yelled, keeping the hostage between him and Ashley's line of fire.
"Let her go!" Ashley yelled.
Before anybody could react, the turian popped out of cover, taking swift aim. BLAM!
"Ahh!" The hostage and the thug holding her cried out at the same time. The turian's aim had been true though, and the thug's body went slack.
But before the thug's body had hit the ground, Ratchet dashed into the room, wrench in hand. In a swift motion, he hurled the wrench at the closest thug. The man crumpled as the weight of the wrench rammed into his skull. Seeing this, the third thug turned to the hostage and raised his pistol.
Ratchet dove over the divider into the woman, tackling her to the ground just as a few bullets raced overhead. Ashley quickly took aim and unleashed a barrage of bullets into the last thug. A second later, a flicker indicated that his shields had dropped under the intense pressure. The next bullet tore into the man's head, killing him instantly.
As the occupants in the room caught their breath, Ratchet turned to the woman, lifting himself of the floor. "Are you okay, ma'am? Dr. Michel?" Ratchet asked, reading the doctor's name tag.
"Y-Yes, I am," the woman breathed out shakily. "And call me Chloe, please, sir."
Ratchet chuckled as he helped her up. "Only if you call me Ratchet."
Ashley, moving over to check the bodies, breathed out, "Hostiles down." She suddenly whirled on the turian, recognizing him as Garrus Vakarian, the C-Sec officer.
"Perfect timing, guys. It gave me a clear shot at the bastard," Garrus said not unkindly.
"What were you thinking, turian! You could've hit the hostage!" Ashley yelled.
Garrus' eyes narrowed as he tensed. Ratchet saw the motion and realized that something ugly was going to explode soon.
"Dr. Michel is ok, guys. Thanks for asking," He said with a touch of sarcasm, hinting at the woman.
Both Ashley and Garrus turned on Ratchet, their glares fixating on his short frame, but Ratchet wasn't intimidated. Garrus, though, quickly realized what almost could have happened. "I– just reacted. Dr. Michel, I'm sorry, are you alright?"
Dr. Michel though waved off Garrus' apology. "I'm fine, thank you. All of you. If it weren't for your intervention, I'd be dead right now."
Garrus nodded in relief, before turning back to the Ratchet, noticeably ignoring Ashley's glare in his direction. "Aren't you guys a part of Shepard's team?" Garrus said, his visage softening a bit.
"Yeah, we are. Garrus, right?" Ratchet asked, receiving a nod in confirmation. "Cool, I'm Ratchet, and that's Chief Williams," the disguised Lombax gestured towards Ashley and gave the gunnery chief a meaningful look.
Ashley hesitated a bit before sighing in resignation. "Sorry about that, Garrus. I just got heated up in the moment. You probably saved the doctor's life."
Garrus nodded, accepting the apology and turning to the good doctor. "And speaking of which, Dr. Michel, I know those men threatened you, but I can assure you that if you have any more information, I can protect you."
"We can protect you," Ratchet added, stressing the 'we' purposefully.
Dr. Michel didn't even hesitate. "Well, Garrus, you know that those men work for Fist." Garrus nodded, and Ashley and Ratchet suddenly became interested. It seemed like Fist was the key to finding their evidence. "They wanted to shut me up," the doctor continued, "Keep me from telling you about the quarian."
"Quarian?" Ashley asked, intrigued.
Dr. Michel wrung her hands nervously. "A few days ago, a quarian came by my office. She'd been shot, but she wouldn't tell me who did it. I could tell she was scared. Probably on the run. She asked me about the Shadow Broker. She wanted to trade information in exchange for a safe place to hide." Dr. Michel paused to gather her thoughts.
"Is the Shadow Broker an information dealer?" Ratchet whispered to Ashley, who nodded in response.
"And then?" Garrus supplied.
"I put her in contact with Fist. He's an agent for the Shadow Broker."
Garrus suddenly looked worried. "Not anymore. Now he works for Saren and the Shadow Broker isn't happy about it."
"Fist betrayed the Shadow Broker?" The doctor asked incredulously. "That's stupid, even for him. Saren must have made him quite the offer."
"That quarian must have something that Saren wants. Something worth crossing the Shadow Broker to get."
"Ok, I'm guessing that the Shadow Broker is one guy you don't wanna mess with," Ratchet cut in, "But this also means that this quarian could have the evidence we're looking for."
"Ratchet's right. Did the quarian mention anything about Saren? Or the geth, doctor?" Ashley asked urgently.
"She did!" Dr. Michel exclaimed. "The information she was going to trade. She said it had something to do with the geth!"
"She must be able to link Saren with the geth. The Council won't be able to ignore this!" Garrus exclaimed.
Ashley and Ratchet looked at each other. "Time to pay Fist another visit," Ratchet said, cracking his knuckles.
Garrus suddenly looked to Ashley. "Chief, I understand that this isn't my show to run, but I want to bring Saren down as much as you guys. I'm coming with you!"
Ashley saw a steel in Garrus' eyes that she respected, even if she didn't particularly like Garrus' fast and loose style. She nodded. "Welcome aboard, Vakarian. I just need to report to Shepard, to make sure we're all on the same page."
Flipping her communicator on, Ashley held her wrist to her hear. "Chief Williams to Commander Shepard. Come in."
There was a brief buzz before Shepard's voice crackled through the line. "Shepard here. Go ahead, Williams."
"We've met up with Garrus Vakarian. Together, we've obtained information that leads us to believe that a quarian may have the evidence we need. Currently, quarian is with Fist at Chora's Den and in danger. I repeat, quarian with our evidence is in danger."
"Copy. Kaidan and I have also picked up another ally. We're currently on our way to Chora's Den with Wrex. Rendezvous in two. Copy?" Shepard said.
"Roger. Ratchet, Garrus and I are on our way now. Williams out."
"Did Shepard say Wrex?" Garrus asked. "He's a bounty hunter hired by the Broker to take out Fist."
"Yeah. We actually saw him at Chora's Den," Ratchet commented. "Are you going to be alright, Chloe?"
Dr. Michel nodded in reply. "Yes, thank you very much Ratchet. Thank you too, Garrus and Ashley. I am in your debt."
"Don't worry about it, doc," Ashley replied easily. "Come on boys, we've got a quarian to save!" The trio rushed out of the clinic, intent on their goal.
IIIIIII
Ashley looked about impatiently. Fist had known they were coming. His goons had been covering that entrance like glue. No sooner had the door begun to open that shots started slamming through the opening. If it weren't for kinetic barriers, she would've been done for.
"Where's Shepard?!" Ratchet yelled out, shooting blindly through the door with a pistol he had picked up at Dr. Michel's clinic.A minute had already passed, and this quarian probably didn't have long.
"No idea!" Ashley yelled in reply.
"Well he better get here soon!" Garrus said, popping into the doorway dropping another thug in the scopes of his sniper rifle before whipping his head back lest a bullet smash into it, "Cause we're not getting through this door without some serious suppressing fire."
"Shepard, where are you?!" Ashley cried in exasperation.
"You clearly aren't the waiting type, are you Williams?" Shepard's voice suddenly rang out over the commotion. Ashley's head whipped towards the Commander, who was trailed by the Lieutenant and a large, imposing krogan. All of them had weapons drawn and looked ready for war. It seemed to good to be true.
"You got Wrex to come?" Garrus asked incredulously.
"Son of a Blarg!" Ratchet exclaimed at Wrex's size. "This guy's huge!"
Wrex seemed amused. "And you're tiny."
"I could still take you in a fight any day, bub!" Ratchet threw back.
"Children! Settle down!" Shepard's voice cut through the noise. "We have a quarian to save and evidence to find!"
"So what's the plan, Commander?" Kaidan asked, readying his weapons and biotics.
Ashley continued to lay down suppressing fire while Shepard outlined the plan to everybody a ways back from the dangerous entrance. "We need to burst in and ride the momentum. First, we need some crowd control. Wrex, Kaidan, you take care of that. I want biotics and tech grenades lighting up that room. As soon as that happens, Ashley and I will rush in and try to gain some ground. Garrus, lay down some covering fire with your sniper rifle. Ratchet, I haven't seen you fight, so go where you're needed. They won't know what hit 'em. Everybody good?" Shepard asked, his calm voice carrying over the din of the fray.
"Let's do this!" Ashley exclaimed as she pressed herself against the wall, overheating another heat sink.
"On three!" Shepard yelled. "One! Two! Three!"
As one, Kaidan and Wrex unleashed a devastating amount of biotics and tech grenades into the room, all of them exploding in a shower of sparks and lights. Several of the thugs cried out as their weapons overheated and their eyes were blinded. Before they could react, Shepard and Ashley dashed in guns at the ready.
Shepard shot four quick bursts, taking four thugs down before jumping into cover behind the centralized bar.
Ashley was right behind him, taking a more liberal application of her rifle, but downing two thugs all the same before making it behind the bar.
Both of them were surprised to nearly land on a cowering female bartender. "What the–? Who are you?!" Shepard nearly yelled.
"I– I– I d–don't wanna d–die!" The woman yelled.
Ashley groaned. "Stay put! We'll do our best to protect you!"
"Don't move!" Shepard ordered the woman, who nodded so quickly, it was a wonder she didn't get whiplash. "Team! We need suppressive fire for a big push. We need to end this quick! We have a civilian in the crossfire!"
"You got it, Shepard!" Wrex replied. Shouldering his shotgun, Wrex gave a savage battle roar and charged towards the right of the room, ramming right into a thug and unleashing three quick pumps into another. "Heh! Amateurs!" Wrex taunted as he took cover under a hail of bullets.
From his position at the door, Ratchet glanced up and saw a thug with a sniper rifle on the platform above the bar. Gesturing to Garrus for covering fire, Ratchet unstrapped his wrench from his back and dashed into the room. Using his momentum, Ratchet launched himself up towards the platform, landing with a sniper barrel in his face.
Without pausing, Ratchet whipped his face to the side and deflected the barrel with a short movement of his wrench, causing the shot to fly into another thug. Like lightning, Ratchet followed up with a three swing combo, ending with a savage swing to the man's torso, finishing him off.
Ratchet picked up the sniper rifle and dropped onto his stomach, scoping and dropping another thug with a quick shot. Then he saw them. "Fist has two krogan working for him!" Ratchet exclaimed over the comm. Scoping, Ratchet unleashed three quick shots in succession before he was forced to push the gun away as the heat sinks overheated. "Make that one!"
"Good shooting! There's only a few thugs left now!" Shepard said. "Garrus! Covering fire on the right! Kaidan, the left! On three, Ash and I'll push forward. Wrex, Ratchet, do what you do! One! Two! Three!"
As one, Garrus and Kaidan rushed in, shooting at anything pointing a gun at them. Wrex also took the opportunity to charged forward again, scattering two thugs like ninepins as he began to engage the last krogan in hand to hand combat.
Garrus and Shepard followed behind Wrex, taking care of Wrex's back. Ashley and Kaidan took the left, mowing down the thugs who had turned their attention to the growing threat of Wrex, Shepard, and Garrus. Last mistake they ever made.
Jumping down to the right of the platform, Ratchet kept his new sniper rifle trained on the krogan who was fighting Wrex. It was clear who would emerge as victor, though.
"You're weak!" Wrex insulted his opponent as he viciously head butted the other krogan to the ground. "You're supposed to stop me from killing Fist?!" Wrex bellowed in challenge as his enemy pushed himself up.
"I'll kill you!" The krogan yelled as he charged, mind hazed with bloodlust.
Wrex scoffed as he sidestepped and tripped his opponent. Two shotgun bursts into the back of the head and Wrex was the last remaining krogan in the room.
"Hostiles neutralized!" Ashley yelled out, as the last thug fell under her fire and the crew gathered around Wrex's display of battle prowess. With Ratchet providing flanking fire from the top of the bar, Garrus and Kaidan on the left, Wrex, Ashley, and Shepard on the right, Fist's bodyguards were completely overwhelmed and had fallen quickly.
Shepard made his way back to the woman behind the bar. "Alright, coast is clear ma'am."
The woman nodded gratefully, fear still in her eyes.
"Your name wouldn't be Jenna, would it?" Shepard asked suddenly.
"Um, yes?" Jenna supplied hesitantly, hoping she hadn't done something wrong.
Shepard smiled. "Well your sister misses you, and says if you need it, Flux still has an opening for you.
Jenna smiled warmly at Shepard. "That's good to hear. Thank you, sir, for you know…"
Shepard chuckled before helping her up. "Stay safe, Jenna." Shepard then made his way back to his crew.
"Efficient," Garrus noted dryly. "We made quick work of those guys," he said with a hint of satisfaction.
"Now for Fist!" Wrex growled in disdain.
"Easy there, big guy," Kaidan said. "We need to find the quarian first."
"And we're not going to do that standing around! Let's go!" Ratchet said, he and Shepard already moving towards the door.
"Ratchet, wait–" Shepard began, but Ratchet had already activated the panel. As the door slid open, two shots rang out. Only Ratchet's reflexes saved him as he rolled forward, beneath the deadly bullets. Coming out of his roll, Ratchet saw two men, holding pistols. Ratchet swung his wrench in a side movement, knocking both pistols out of their hands. Coming back around, Ratchet was prepared to end them.
"Wait a minute, Ratchet!" Shepard ordered. Ratchet stopped his wrench mid swing. He looked back at Shepard, and then back at the two who had shot at him. They were wide eyed with fear and practically trembling. They didn't look like the bodyguards Fist had posted out front.
"Warehouse workers," Garrus pointed out. "All the real guards must be dead."
"As in, we killed them," Ashley offered helpfully, causing the two workers to quail in abject terror.
"Please, sirs! And ma'am!" He added hastily, looking to Ashley. "We just tend to the supplies!" One of them stuttered, lifting both hands in surrender.
"Why don't you find work elsewhere, then!" Ratchet practically growled, not forgetting how close they had come to putting one between his eyes.
"Uh, yeah! Right! Right away sir! Thank you sir! Sorry sir, for almost shooting you sir! You won't regret this sir!" They both kept repeating as they backed out of the back storage room slowly and into the large foyer.
Everybody in the group just rolled their eyes as they watched the two grovel on their way out the door. "Should've just killed them kid," Wrex stated bluntly. "Never leave an enemy alive. That's my motto."
"They were harmless," Ratchet muttered as he walked a little more cautiously into the room. Glancing back at Shepard, he was surprised to see a shine of approval in Shepard's eyes. It caused a smile to ghost across his face.
"Alright, let's be a little more careful with this door, shall we?" Shepard asked, as he got into position by the door. Everybody nodded. "Ok, on three. One. Two. Three."
The door slid open into a short entryway. "This is Fist's office, Wrex growled.
Shepard nodded and moved forward, peeking into the office before whipping his head back as several shots slammed into the wall. "He's got turrets."
"Stay back! I'm warning you!" Shouted out a voice in the office.
"That's Fist!" Garrus said.
"I've got this!" Wrex exclaimed before rushing into the room, heedless of the wall mounted turrets. Pulling out his shotgun, Wrex smashed into the turret on the left before unloading into the second turret. A couple of well placed shots from Shepard later, and Fist was on the ground, mouth agape as he saw the last of his defenses crumble around him.
Shepard gave a quick order. "Kaidan, Ashley, Garrus, stay out here and cover the entrance to the storage area, in case any more of Fist's bodyguards arrive."
The three nodded and took up positions. Wrex, Ratchet and Shepard all moved towards Fist.
"Wait! Don't kill me! I surrender!" The coward blubbered.
Shepard didn't waste any time as he pulled his pistol on Fist. "Where's the quarian?"
"She's not here. I don't know where she is." Fist could feel Shepard's scrutiny. "That's the truth!" Fist exclaimed.
"He's no use to us. Let me kill him." Wrex grumbled to Shepard, who almost imperceptibly shook his head at Wrex. Ratchet couldn't help but raise his eyebrow at Wrex's ruthlessness.
"Wait! Wait! I don't know where the quarian is, but I know where we can find her."
Shepard inclined his head to Fist, gesturing for him to continue.
"She's not here. Said she'd only deal with the Shadow Broker himself."
Wrex scoffed. "Face to face? Impossible! Even I was hired through an agent."
Shepard lowered his gun, but Fist tried to make a mov to get up, Wrex trained his shotgun on the man, who promptly stayed on the ground.
"No one meets the Shadow Broker. I don't even know his true identity. But she didn't know that. I told her I'd set a meeting up," Fist spoke in a hurry, eager to get Wrex's shotgun out of his face.
Shepard's eyes narrowed. He moved forward like lightning, grabbing onto Fist's armor. "Location! Now!" He barked.
"It's here on the Wards! Back alley by the markets! She's supposed to meet them right now! You can make it if you hurry."
Shepard narrowed his eyes before Kaidan's voice buzzed to life on his comm. "Shepard! We're taking fire! It seems like more of Fist's thugs are trying to storm this place!"
"They're not mine! I swear it!" Fist exclaimed. "Mine were all here guarding this place!"
Shepard was about to respond before Wrex's shotgun went off, the pellets slamming into the wall behind Fist. He looked over to see a surprised look gloss over Wrex's face before it morphed into a glare directed at Ratchet.
Glancing at Wrex's shotgun, Shepard guessed what had happened. Wrex had been ready to kill Fist, but Ratchet had intervened right on time. "What do you think you're doing?" The krogan asked Ratchet.
"I could ask you the same thing!" Ratchet shot back. "He's unarmed!"
"The Shadow Broker paid me to kill him. I don't leave jobs half-finished. Besides, Fist brought this on himself," he growled before shouldering his shotgun again.
"Wrex, Ratchet! Enough! That quarian's dead if we don't go now!" Shepard declared, before moving the Fist and slamming the butt of his pistol into the man's head. Fist went down like a rock. Noticing an OSD on the floor, he quickly reached down and stored it in his suit for later. "We'll talk later, Wrex, but we don't kill unarmed prisoners, got it? We'll let C-Sec handle him."
Wrex didn't look too happy and clenched his shotgun a little tighter, but they could hear the shots right outside. Wrex grunted and left the room. Shepard and Ratchet shared a glance as they followed Wrex out. Most of the thugs had been taken care of.
"Alright! Let's move! We're going to the alley behind the markets! On the double!" Shepard ordered, his Assault Rifle churning out rounds of white hot death. The group stormed out off the room, Wrex leading the charge. He needed to kill something. Unable to handle the ferocity of the attack, the second wave of thugs were dealt with in seconds.
It was a short distance to the alley, which Ratchet discovered was actually seedier than the rest of the Ward. "She agreed to meet here? That's pretty sketchy."
"Shh," Shepard whispered, peeking around the corner. "I see the quarian. Fist's assassin is already talking to her. He's got two salarians as backup. Garrus, Ashley, switch to snipers," Shepard ordered as he took out his own sniper rifle. "Ratchet, back us up."
Ratchet nodded and readied the sniper rifle he had held onto from Chora's Den. Garrus and Ashley switched up and scoped in, each calling out a target. Ratchet stood ready to pick up a miss, though he didn't think either of them would miss. This waiting though, was making him antsy. He was used to charging in and blowing stuff up. But this was a delicate procedure. If they tipped the assassin off, he might just kill the quarian.
Suddenly, Shepard gave a hand signal. It looked like the deal had gone sour. The two salarians were moving in the quarian. Then things exploded. Literally. The quarian dove away as she tossed several grenades in their direction, taking them out. The last assassin, a turian, took out a shotgun, but he was too late. Shepard shot him right between the eyes.
Glancing at her saviors, the quarian pulled herself out of cover. "Fist set me up!" She exclaimed angrily. "I knew I couldn't trust him!"
"Were you hurt in the fight?" Shepard asked, as the rest of his crew fanned out, just in case there were more ambushers lying in wait.
The quarian took a moment to breathe a sigh of relief. "No. I know how to take care of myself. Not that I don't appreciate the help." She added hurriedly. "Who are you?" She asked Shepard with a hint of wonderment.
"My name's Shepard, and this is my crew," The commander said, gesturing generally to everybody. "I'm looking for any information relating to a turian Spectre named Saren."
"Then I may have a chance to repay you for saving my life. But not here, we need to go somewhere safe."
"We can take her back to the embassy," Kaidan supplied, gesturing everybody back. The area was clear. "Udina will definitely want to see this."
Shepard nodded. "Let's get moving. What's your name?" He asked the quarian.
"Tali'Zorah nar Rayya… sir," Tali added somewhat nervously, causing Shepard to chuckle. "Alright Tali. You can call me Shepard. Let's go."
Ratchet then took the opportunity to speak up. "Tali, right? I was just wondering, what does the rest of your name mean? And Wrex, what's with the scars? And are those mandibles, Garrus…"
As Tali, Wrex, and Garrus struggled to follow Ratchet's line of questioning, Ashley rolled her eyes, causing Shepard and Kaidan to chuckle.
A/N: Alright! Next chapter. I won't update for a long long time, be forewarned, as I'm returning to school and won't have time to write. Hope you enjoy this update though.