A/N: Hey guys. Hope this makes up in part for the abysmal frequency with which I've been posting for the last two months. I have to say, I'm much more satisfied with my chapter than I am with the last one. And without further ado, let's get on with it!
SIX: THE EXTRACTION
This is not turning out to be a good day.
With a strangled groan and a sharp spike of pain, reality cheerfully reclaimed its grip on my world. The first thing I noticed was the blindfold over my eyes, along with the tightly bound hands and feet. From the amount of light - or rather lack of - filtering through, I could tell that I was somewhere dark.
Where am I?
After a moment, I noticed that the floor was rocking slightly, as if it was in motion. It dipped suddenly, sending me lurching into a steel wall and igniting a horrific cramp in my left thigh. I stifled a yelp of pain as my nerves drowned in fire, and blacked out momentarily.
After I came around, I collected myself and focused my attention on my other senses. By listening, I could slowly pick out the whine of a mass effect drive - a sound that had become a familiar one in the past few days.
An aircar, then. Likely locked in the trunk.
As I formulated the thought, the vehicle veered sharply down and to the left. It started slowing, likely preparing to stop. Steeling myself, I savored the last little bit of calm before the storm. The car halted and powered down, the mass effect drives ceasing their output. After a moment, I felt a subtle shift as the doors lifted and several people got out. Footsteps rang out, heading towards the trunk. Quickly, I relaxed my muscles, faking unconsciousness.
"-understand why we didn't just shoot the little fucker." a voice was saying as the trunk opened. Hands grabbed my arms and legs and hauled me back out of the stuffy box back into the world of fresh air.
"It's what the boss wants, what else do you need to know?" another replied. "Let's just get the boy inside before anyone sees us."
"C-Sec's gonnah be on ouah fucking asses soon enough." a third man with a strong Boston accent scowled. "Fucking Numb-Nuts-Nelson missed, and now a fucking cop's dead. And you," he spat, "told da boss he could do it!"
"He told me he had experience with a rifle!" the second man protested.
"And you just left it at that?" the first rebutted. "Idiot."
There was a shuffling of feet, and then I felt myself being carried up a set of stairs and then off to the right. "Yeah, it's us...we came as fast as we could, now open the door, will yah?" A second later, the door opened with a swish, and I was dragged inside.
After a few more seconds of involuntary locomotion, the men dragging me halted, dumped me in a chair, tied my hands behind it, and stepped back. Another, heavier set of feet stepped up.
This is going to hurt...
A hand grabbed my chin and lifted it up, then formed a fist that crashed into my jaw, sending my head whipping sideways.. "So…" a voice snarled, "you're the little shit who killed three of my boys. Got anything to say for yourself?"
I said nothing, but another punch sent stars through my vision. A lump of bile began to rise in my throat. Right. This'll probably piss him off more, but seriously? Fuck this asshole. With that thought, I propelled the bile straight onto the unseen figure's face. A colorful string of profanities ensued.
"-slimy rat bastard, the fucking nerve-". He grabbed the blindfold uncomfortably close to my eyes and ripped it off, allowing me to get a glimpse of my surroundings.
The room was semi-lit, and standing a short distance away, a group of gang members were standing in a circle around me and watching me with twisted expressions of hate and anger. Many of them were carrying a nasty assortment of blunt instruments, and looked eager to use them. The man currently tormenting me waved off one particularly young member who had taken a step forward when I'd spit on his leader, and returned his attention to me. "I'll ask again." he said, "Got anything to say for yourself?"
"If they were going to do what I think they were going to do," I spat, my eyes narrowing in contempt, "then they earned their fates."
He let out a low growl, and advanced on me. "Say that again.." he snarled.
"You heard me." I shot back. The answer was met by another fist, and another and another. Finally, he stepped back, his shoulders heaving in rage.
"Why did you do it?" he shouted next, saliva flying from his mouth. "You didn't have to come in, we were just doing our own damn thing!"
I rolled my eyes. "Let me guess. You don't like quarians very much, do you?"
He scoffed. "Course not. Fucking suit rats, what do they count for?"
"Doesn't matter what happens to them?" I asked rhetorically.
"Not my fault they lost their planet to some pet machines that they couldn't keep on a leash," he shrugged, "or that they now ride around on a bunch of raggedy-ass ships and steal from us when they feel like it. I mean, they brought it on themselves, come on."
My jaw clenched as I tried to process that response, stunned at the sheer brazenness of his answer - and found that I couldn't. "So you're saying…" I said slowly, "that because of the mistakes that their ancestors made in the past, or mistakes that their leaders make today...that justifies persecution, murder, and rape?"
"Hey, if they can't protect themselves, it's not our problem. Look, what do you care?" he replied, annoyed.
I fixed him with a stony glare. "Because what you do is wrong. And it would be inherently immoral of me to just stand there and let it happen. So, in conclusion? You can go fuck yourself."
He looked as if he had just been slapped.
"Yo boss, you just gonna let him say that to you?" a member called out.
"Yeah, let us kick his ass!"
"Yeah!"
I felt a small spike of fear, but it was increasingly suppressed by the anger that was boiling up inside of me. Take your best shot, you wankers.
"You think you're so high and mighty." the boss growled, trying to regain control of the situation. He swung a massive haymaker into my jaw, sending alarm bells blaring throughout my head. "You could have left us to our own fucking business and everything would have been just fine!" he bellowed. "But now, you've involved yourself, and you're going to suffer for it." He stepped aside to reveal the gang as they tightened their circle inwards upon me. "My boys have been spoiling for some payback, and I'm all too happy to oblige them." He turned away, calling over his shoulder, "Remember boys, no shots to the head. I want him alive. Let's see how much punishment he can take."
The door of the safehouse slammed open as a quartet of armed figures in C-Sec uniform rushed through at speed. As they flowed through the halls, they split off into various rooms, checking every corner.
"Clear!"
"Clear!"
"Room clear!"
"Panic room's empty. Principal's gone!" a salarian officer called.
"Oh crap...in the living room, guys!" a turian said faintly, followed by the sound of retching.
"What? Oh...shit."
"Yeah.."
Soon, the four were standing around the body of a turian, shot clean through the head and lying in a pool of blue blood. The officer who had found the body was kneeling to check for life signs, but it was clearly a wasted gesture. A younger turian standing over him looked to be on the verge of tears. "Aetrius...what-" he choked, and then he had to be led away by the older turian.
The fourth officer - a human - sighed and glanced at the salarian, who brought up his omni-tool. "Yes, calling it in...scene clear. Principal gone, officer is down...location of other officer? Ah. No trace of him here…yes, will get on it right away. Please send Investigator Vakarian over. Imagine he will want to be notified of these developments."
A large metal pipe slammed into my gut, sending my stomach into further turmoil. I gurgled, then vomited my breakfast all over my lap. The man hitting me jumped back with a sneer, then kicked me in the ribs for his troubles. Bound to the chair, I could only sit there and take the hits as they came.
Aw, fucking Christ everything hurts…they really don't like me, I thought as the next man stepped up for his turn. They had been at it for several minutes, and I was starting to seriously worry about internal bleeding. The next man's pipe swung a few times, but then it stopped. There was a shuffle of feet, and I heard murmurs of a discussion nearby, and then the heating of a stove.
What's going on...I don't like this…
My answer came in the form of an extremely hot metal object pressed into my side. My skin burned, and I began to scream.
Garrus Vakarian knelt over the body of the friend he had been talking to just days prior and simmered in impotent fury and grief. Around him, a swarm of investigators buzzed around him like bees, taking pictures and gathering evidence, but he blocked them out, lost in his own musings.
I'm sorry, old friend. You deserved better than this. I'll make this right, I promise - whatever it takes.
Finally, he sighed and stood, turning towards the salarian officer who had been the first to enter the apartment. "Does HQ have any updates on Officer Harkin?" he said, growling the last two words.
The salarian shook his head. "No trace, Detective. Transponder's not responding. It's as if he dropped off the radar."
Garrus frowned, then asked how much time had passed since the shots had been fired.
"Witness testimony places the shots at approximately thirty-three minutes ago." the salarian answered. "We arrived at 4:06, about five minutes after the first call came in. What's significant about the call is that it came in from a civilian, not the security systems within the safehouse itself."
The detective nodded, as if he had already expected this. "Security systems disabled prematurely?"
"Highly probable."
Garrus sighed. "In that timeframe, they can't have gotten far - both the people who took Alex Zheng and Harkin himself." The scumbag, he added mentally.
"You think he was involved in the attack?" the salarian inquired, reading his thoughts.
"My gut tells me yes…" Garrus said slowly, "but as much as I trust it, I still need hard evidence." He pondered the dilemma for a few seconds. "Get the word out to the public in Zakera Ward to keep an ear open for information related to this case…and we'll see what we can dig up here at the crime scene."
As the salarian moved off to join the rest of the analysis team, Garrus' thoughts turned to the boy at the center of all this. Despite only having met him for a few days, Alex had struck him as mature for his age and unnaturally calm about the entire situation. Garrus could only hope that he was still alive to exercise it.
I weakly grimaced at the metallic taste of blood as it continued to flood the inside of my mouth. The acrid smell of it was everywhere, but I had far worse concerns, like the acute pain in my abdomen that refused to go away and made respiration a struggle, as well as the tingling flesh on my left side from the burns. I suspected that one or more of my ribs was cracked, but I tried to put it out of my mind, knowing it would do me no good. A fit of coughing wracked my shattered body, magnifying the pain immensely and making me groan.
A hand grabbed my chin and lifted it up. It was the boss, who looked me up and down in satisfaction. "Still feeling smug, rat? You're not so high and mighty now, are ya?" he smirked, rapping my temple. He chuckled. "I'm not gonna kill you just yet. I want to see you suffer. I want your last hours to be ones of misery and regret."
I coughed violently, but managed to look him in the eye. "Good luck." I rasped.
His smile faded, and he walked away without doing anything else.
The asari bartender briefly looked up as a crowd of humans came in through the front entrance, laughing and celebrating. They ordered their drinks and then went off to a nearby corner to claim a table, after which she paid no more mind to them - at least, not until a short verbal brawl erupted.
"You short-changed us, Nelson," a swaying drunk accused, pointing a finger at another, "and we can't have that happening again-"
"We still got him!" the accused interrupted loudly, drawing a few stares. "I don't see what you-"
Another man - this one a little more sober - shushed him loudly. "Keep it down!" he hissed, looking around. That was the last that the bartender heard from them, but it was enough to pique her interest. Her father had been a turian law enforcement officer back on Palaven, and she had grown up obsessed with mystery novels.
She continued with her duties for several minutes, casting occasional glances over to their table, before she stopped.
...There had been that emergency message sent out across the extranet about that kidnapped human boy earlier, hadn't there?
She stood stock still for a few seconds as she made the connection, and then she was striding towards the back room, tapping her co-worker on the shoulder on the way and asking her would you please cover the bar for a moment, I'll be right back.
Inside, she brought up her omni-tool, punched in the requisite call number, and waited.
"This is Citadel Security," a cool voice responded, "what is your emergency?"
Delaney didn't know where the incredibly hot asari at his side had come from, nor did he particularly care. All he knew was that she had come up to him with a wink and a coy smile while he was at the table with his buddies celebrating their revenge for Calvin, Theo, and Marlowe. Frankly, he couldn't believe his luck. Ten minutes later, he and the asari had "excused" themselves from the table and were walking back towards his apartment. Tonight was going to be awesome, and tomorrow...they would get back on the hunt.
After a few minutes of walking and flirting, they reached his apartment, which he hastily unlocked, eager to get down to business. They stepped inside, and he turned to lock the door. However, he had hardly touched the controls when the asari seized his head in a vice and placed a knife at his throat.
"Listen to me," she hissed, "we overheard your little conversation back there in the bar, and we know who you are and what you're responsible for." Delaney struggled, trying to break free, but it was an exercise in futility. She was too strong, and she held the initiative.
Any hopes of escape he might have harbored were dashed as a batarian strolled casually in through the door with a handgun on his hip. The asari kept talking. "We know you have Alex Zheng somewhere, and you know that we want him back and safe. So I suggest you start talking before I perform the quickest sex-change operation ever recorded by mankind." Her knife hand began to drift down…
For Delaney, it was a no-brainer situation. He sang like a canary.
Relatively speaking, the situation was better than it had been two hours ago. I was no longer the target of active hostility, having been shoved in a dark side room and left to suffer alone. However, I was still tied to a chair with no means of escape, and my body was pockmarked with bruises, not to mention that everything hurt like a motherfucker. Worst of all, I had no way to tell whether or not there was internal damage, and that was most agonizing of all, sitting there and waiting - either for rescue - or for death.
Carehn whistled. "You're scary when you're like that, you know?" he said to Tarlessi, who merely winked at him. "Oh no, you're not seducing me as well, lady." he said in mock-fear, backing away. "I'll file a restraining order on you." he joked as she matched his steps, walking towards him.
"Oh, shut up." she laughed, punching him in the shoulder, then pulled him in to whisper something in his ear. His face turned a shade of crimson as he stammered, "I'll uh...keep that in mind." He coughed to regain some semblance of control, then shook his head and thumbed his radio. "HQ, this is Five Actual, we've got the information. Building 627 at the 600 Blocks, Zakera Ward, one-story building, transmitting schematics now…"
As Carehn and Tarlessi were wrapping up the first phase of the operation, the rest of Team Five was ready to execute Phase Two. A sniper was perched on a roof about 86 meters distant from the entrance of the bar, and proceeded to give commentary as the group exited.
"This is Five-Five, I have a visual on the suspects, coming out of the bar now. I count...six subjects, visibly intoxicated. Let's see...yep. Alright, they're heading up 45th, straight towards Killbox Two Charlie. Area is clear of civilians. Chalk Three, you're clear to proceed."
"Chalk Three copies all."
The group below carried on, oblivious to what was in store for them. They were equally oblivious to the two figures that were tailing them. Both had their hands under their coats, and had the air of people who were waiting for something to happen.
"This is Five-Five. Subjects are heading into the killbox, I repeat, subjects are heading into the killbox."
"Roger that. All teams, execute, execute, execute!"
At the first "execute", both trackers pulled small, palm-sized cylinders from underneath their clothes, grabbed the tops, twisted, and threw them into the center of the group.
BANG. Both devices detonated in a flash of deafening light and roaring sound, causing those affected to drop to the ground, clutching their eyes and ears in pain. Like hawks, several police cruisers and a heavy Special Response personnel carrier dropped out of the sky into a semicircle around the suspects. Officers leapt out and leveled assault rifles at the group, blinding them with their lights.
"Freeze! Freeze!"
"Hands on your head! Do it!"
Most of the gang were not quite so drunk and foolish as to disobey, although one of them did try to stand up. He thought better of it after several barrels swiveled to face him.
Game over.
Immediately afterwards, another Special Response team converged on Building 627 of the 600 Blocks, and at 3:09 A.M, they launched their rescue operation.
I was completely out of it.
By now, I was barely cognizant of anything around me. My extremities had gone more or less numb, and I wanted nothing more than for the pain to go away.
Damn it. Damn it all.
I'm sorry, Shepard. If I don't survive, you're going to have to make do. I hope it's enough.
Alex? Alex!
"Wha...I don't.." I mumbled.
Snap out of it!
I finally realized who it was, and a small surge of hope sparked inside me. Aeshia? I asked.
Yes. Stay with me. My head began to loll. Stay with me, dammit!
Trying - can't...find
I buckled suddenly in my chair as a small shock surged through me, snapping my senses slightly back into focus and dulling some of the pain. What the fuck?
I got to make sure that you stay alive long enough for them to get to you.
Who?
Just hold on.
I heard a muffled boom, and everything snapped into place. Shouts were heard, and then the staccato bursts of rifle fire, followed by more shouting. My door was flung open as the boss barreled through, heading straight for me and-
Crack-crack-crack.
His head exploded, sending a shower of bloody matter all over my face as his corpse tumbled to the ground. In a blur of motion, several figures darted into the room, scanning every corner.
"Clear!"
"Room clear!"
I slowly uncurled myself from the position I had assumed when the bullets started flying. One of the armored figures removed his helmet, and I found myself looking into the eyes of Garrus Vakarian, who started forward, wearing an expression of concern. "Alex?" he said reassuredly, "We're here now, you're going to be ok."
"We need a medic here, stat!" one of the other men called out.
"Come on, Alex. Talk to me." Garrus said urgently, bending to examine my wounds.
"Garrus.." I choked, feeling myself go lightheaded.
"Alex? Alex!"
Darkness.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed it. Reviews always appreciated (bar flames).
I think the part of my writing style that contributes to these slow update times is definitely my attention to diction and syntax. Not that I'm going to dump it or anything, but just to let you guys know.
Author's Semi-Chapter-ly Recommendation: If anyone is interested in a ME fanfic following the series through Liara's perspective, find the Memoirs series by Sharrukin. It is a Liaramance, just to let you know. Quite detailed, engaging, and well-written overall.