The Circe Project

by Tacitus Shadowrunner

The Threat of the Reapers have been defeated, they now roam the galaxy. Repairing the damage, rebuilding empires. Now that the threat is gone a new and Fragile peace is established. However while in the midst of this new Era, a threat arises in the shadows, seeking to take control of everything. Rated T for violence. ON HIATUS.

6. Chapter 5: Blowing on The Embers

The Circe Project-Chapter 5: Blowing on The Embers

Gordon and Tectium Security, Tayseri Ward Offices.

Draco shifted through another few files on his table. The increasing number of break-ins at buildings in the citadel had begun to make the Private security company which he worked for look bad. Two warehouses, one of the electricity conduits that delivered power to sections of the citadel, and a water distribution center. So far nothing Draco or anyone on his floor had discovered would say that any of the break-ins had anything in common. However given the short time passed between the break-ins his superiors asked him to look into it more.

Draco wasn't particularly excited about his job. But it did allow him to utilize the skills he had, he was happy with the pay, and he could work from both his home and his office. Though due to his conversation with Vallian several days ago, he decided that leaving his flat a little more often might help take some load off of his mind. Whenever he wasn't being berated with superiors or workmates, it did him some good. Though lately he did his assignments from his house. It felt good to be out again, Vallian was right. But even then, he couldn't keep thoughts of Gregory out of his head. It sometimes crept into his mind, slowly, subtly. Before he knew it he was gloomy and irritated at everything it. A life about death is not living. Vallian's words rang in his head, like a resounding gong. It was a gong that kept misery at bay, and Draco, no matter how much he hated to admit, needed it badly.

The task he had at the moment however, baffled him. His superiors had felt that the cases needed another look, in fact some part of him had suspected that there was another layer to it than just break-ins. After sifting through numerous files and records however a connection failed to appear. He was looking through his notes on the break in when his omni-tool buzzed.

I'm quite busy this weekend. My agenda's packed, and so is next week's.

Maybe the week after that. Sorry…

-Yanna

Great, Draco thought to himself, unable to shake the rather dreadful feeling that his relationship was failing. It was only a dinner, he thought again as he began reading his files again. Another hour passed before the office began to close. The atmosphere of finality formed around him. The tired sighs, the creaking of chairs, the shuffling of things being picked up or thrown away, or put on. Draco gathered his files and tucked them away before putting on his wool coat. And joining the rest of the crowd out of the door. The Citadel tram station was a five minute walk from the office, then it would be a ten minute walk from there to his flat. The walkways bustled with life as people began leaving their offices and head back home. A indistinct buzz of voices and the shuffling of feet surrounding Draco. And for a moment he felt invisible. Nobody would notice him, he was just another figure in the crowd. A faceless form not to walk into, a form that no one would give a second glance. He lifted his collar and tucked his hands deeper into his coat pockets. He could nearly see his breath form mist. Today was colder than usual. He left like pulling his coat collar up higher when something whizzed into his field of vision.

The bump put a halt to his stride. Was he really that invisible that someone would not think anyone was there. Perhaps it was he that paid too little attention. Anyways, a bump like such happened often. The pair would issue a reaction; either the positive sorry or the negative watch it! then the two would be on their way. When Draco turned around he was faced with the red-haired woman that he bumped into. At a glance he thought she had been glaring at him, but in fact she wasn't. She simply stared at him, like he was a ghost. Draco checked himself, was he lighting up biotics unconsciously? No, he wasn't. ridiculous how could he have? So why would this woman pay him so much attention? She was one the verge of saying something but caught herself before saying something. Finally she did say something.

"Gregory?"

His blood ran cold, and his face must have twisted in some way because she instantly responded with a frown of disbelief. Draco felt himself back away instinctively, his move was equally reciprocated until the woman shook her head and ran; deep red hair trailing after her. He himself had to fight the urge to run after her. In the end, bitterness won and Draco walked on to the tram station.

Draco sipped his martini as Vallian downed a glass as well. "I'm still amazed they let you in after last time," Vallian said as he ordered for another dextro-protein martini.

"I paid for damage that was done," Draco said with a wave, though he didn't dismiss the thought as easily in his head, "but I think the bouncer at the door is still watching me. And I'm not sure that I'm too comfortable with that." Draco turned away from the entrance as another one of the fluorescent purple lights shined his way again. The deep bass and high pitched tunes, though from two different ends of the spectrum, came together in a synthesis good enough to listen and dance to. Draco wasn't quite sure that even the large doors of the Black Hole Club managed to keep the sound in. The bar was on the side of opposite of the entrance in the circular structure. In the middle was an elliptical dance floor. It was several steps lower that the rest of the floor. And had a pitch black floor, hence the name. When dancing there one, at a given amount of intoxication, could only focus on two things: one's dancing and one's partner. Above it were the lights, it bathed the club in purple, red, blue, and green spectrum.

Draco's last visit to this place, earned him not only several nights under C-Sec arrest, but also a fearsome reputation in the Black Hole and her other associated clubs. After consuming enough alcohol to topple some Krogan, Draco went around and danced on the dance floor. Stealing other's dancing partners, that earned him scornful looks, shoves and loud expressions that roughly approximated bugger off. But, when he started to pick out random woman and planting kisses on them, then the fight exploded. Thankfully he was either too drunk or not drunk enough to use his biotics. Otherwise the men he knocked would have much more serious injuries than cuts and bruises.

"Vallian, do you think you can schedule another one of those double dates again?"

"Why?" Vallian glanced over as if a doctor assessing a patient, "Well, I'll see about that. Maybe she's not the one. I could always hook you up with someone else? Human? Asari?" his words earned him Draco's questioning look.

"Where do you get the time to know all these people?"

"As a C-Sec detective my job has required me to meet and get to know a plethora of people. Maybe I can get one that you fancy, Turian? Or maybe Quarian?"

"Forget I said anything," Draco said exasperatedly, he waved the bartender for another drink. She came with it a moment later. "How many Cerberus people are there here you think?"

"What? Here? I don't know… that man there looks like one look at the way he holds his drink… and that girl there, something about the way she talks that just says Cerberus." He glanced over to see if he managed to incite a humorous response from his friend. Draco was slightly smiling as his friend chuckled. "The citadel's a big place, Draco. I'm sure that there are some former Cerberus personnel up here somewhere. Friend I hate to bring this up, but I thought we'd talked about this. You have to get over this."

"I know," he said his voice a shade more melancholic then it used to be, "I went to the office today, after thinking a lot about what you had said. But then one my way home I met this girl—"

"Well, I can't say that this isn't starting to sound interesting."

"Really? Vallian's matchmaking service… " Draco wrote the name with his fingers and waved his arms round it.

"What can I say I grew up with four sisters," Vallian said chuckling again.

"Well, it's about to get much more interesting, she… mistook me for Gregory."

Vallian was silent for a second. "I didn't see that one coming…"

"Me neither."

"But this girl, you like her?"

"I only saw her for twenty seconds. She said Gregory's name before she disappeared in the crowd."

"But you like her?"

"Why are we talking about this, Vallian? I know I just asked you about setting me up for a date but now isn't the time to play matchmaker again. I had said that because—" Draco stopped dead as he say something flicker in the darkness of the night club. Vallian was still waiting, he raised his glass to drink. The flicker was hard to tell in the darkened club, especially with the flashing lights, he kept his eyes fixed at the dance floor. But Draco stopped him, "How is your tech sabotage?"

Vallian stared at him for a good three seconds, "Good, why?" Vallian said, sounding concerned.

"Get ready, on my mark," Draco saw another flicker then another. Two… Three… then a final. This time it didn't come from the dance floor, it came from a set of the tables at the edge of the dance floor. A flicker of blue and purple light as a shield activated round a figure. All four were cornering them, basic tactic. "Vallian, on my mark, run for cover," Draco watched the crowd swirl to the music. But these four moved like hyenas moving on their crippled prey. Draco saw the crowd and all the people there, and added them to the list why he should stay away from his biotics. He was adept in hand to hand combat, it would have to do. He wasn't going to unleash his biotics in a room full of people. Draco's breathing slowed as he entered a zen-like state, there was sense of peacefulness in the emptiness o his mind. Then he began to perceive the room before him perfectly and time slowed down. One of the figures drew a M-12 locust from under the folds of his coat.

"Do it." Draco hissed. Then drawing a deep breath he formed a kinetic barrier around as many people as he could. The club lit up with burst of light to compliment the clubs mood lighting. The roaring music was complemented by the staccato barks of rounds. Draco's barrier emitted bass-low resounding pings themselves as they deflected rounds off of the majority of the crowd. Draco and Vallian made for the closest pillar. Then they circled around the elliptic dance floor, using pillars, decorative plants, and low walls for cover. The two paused behind a low wall as Draco let his biotics recharge and his biotic-complementary headache reside.

"What the hell…" was all Vallian could say.

Draco was at a loss of words as well. But he still know what to do, he had no weapons on himself. But the environment was as good as any weapon. The two and the surrounding cluster of bystanders ducked lower as a shotgun blast tore away sections of concrete. "Vallian, sabotage, now!"

He complied quickly and Draco breathed in deep then he used his biotics to telekinetically pick up objects on his side of cover. Plates, glasses, spoons, seats and tables. Then, as the four attackers at the center of the dance floor were still stunned by Vallian's sabotage, Draco sent the objects flying at them. Not all at once, but using bursts of while throwing objects in a steady flow. He avoided hitting anyone else that were still stuck on the dance floor. The purple and blue lights made it difficult of see the ethereal layer of dark energy that blanketed each object. The objects though were clear enough. The group of attackers leaped to the side at the objects rained on them. Draco just nudged each trajectory slightly.

"Let's go! Everybody up and out, NOW!" Draco and Vallian led the crowd out the entrance. With Draco occasionally throwing a chair or table to keep his assailants busy. He doubted it would halt them for long, though he did hear some pained yells curses and bones crunching. The crowd made for the exit then out the dim lighted corridor to moonlight park. C-Sec Skycars were just arriving at the scene, the officers split off; some to take care of the panicky crowd, some to deal with those inside. Vallian flashed his credentials and asked for the man in charge, he found the captain and explained the situation to him. By the time he was finished he could barely see Draco's figure stalking away. He ran after him, never taking his eyes of Draco's figure, lest he should lose him again. Vallain had him to give credit, though, when he moved through the crowd he would be near-invisible even if one were looking hard for him. He was like a swimmer, easing his way, one with the currents and timing the waves.

"Draco! Wait up, where are you—"

Draco answered before he could finish, "My flat, something I have to get," His voice was flat, but far from calm. "You should go back, a good C-Sec operative like you, they could use the help."

Vallian ran ahead of Draco to look him in the eye, "First, it's detective if not then officer, but we don't have operatives," Draco stopped and looked him back in the eye, "Second, as your friend and an off-duty detective there's no stopping me from helping you out," Draco opened his mouth to reply, "And yes, deny all you want, you need the help."

"What I don't need is my best friend in jeopardy. Regardless of how much help he can give."

"Nonetheless."

Draco was quite for beat, "On one condition: When I tell you to, leave."

Vallian cocked his head, but Draco walked on before he could say anything. Lifting his coat collar to hide his face, his head was slightly down. Enough to hide some feature but not impair his vision.

"Why the flat?"

This time, Draco took half a dozen steps before answering, "There's something I have to get, something important. A key."

"Right, a key to what?"

"A safety deposit box. If this situation turns out to be what I think it is, then I'll need the contents of that box."

"And what is the situation then."

"Long story short," Draco a paused in front of his building. "My demons have come back for me," and he vanished into his building. Vallian followed slightly worried. His friend's voice was steady but far from calm. He sounded like he was sitting on a barrel of thunder. A flat tone to mask a gathering storm. The question was, how long could be sit on that barrel before its contents exploded out.

Vallian caught up with Draco just as the elevator began to close. Once on their floor, Draco was swift but his head was swiveling and his eyes darting around. The door opened with a soft swoosh, Draco knelt down to see if the small piece of paper had been moved. It wasn't, marking that the room had not been undisturbed. He made for his study. Vallian watched as Draco pulled out a drawer then lifted out the false bottom. He pocketed some false identification chips and then picked up the key. The silvery metal glistened in the light, a hexagonal prism with it fair share of sophisticated grooves and clefts. Vallian admitted it did look like a key. Draco went from there to his long reading couch and searched it's bottom till he found what he was looking for. A button. When he pressed it the couch's seat lifted away to reveal an M-25 Hornet and an M-5 Phalanx, with spare thermal clips, as well as some medigel. Vallian was mazed, he himself had lounged on that couch and would never have thought all that existed under it.

"Here," Draco tossed the M-25 SMG to Vallian along with a belt on which to holster the SMG. Vallian hooked it on and was surprised that, once on the belt, the SMG folded into its smaller size. Fitting snugly under his coat without the suspicious bulge of a weapon. Draco did the same with his. "We need to move fast. God knows who close those Clubbers are."

"Clubbers?"

"This far in, might as well call them something," Draco finished as he shrugged and wrapped a holster belt around his thigh

"But clubbers?" Vallian said, chuckling humorlessly. "So there people, you think they're the people on a vendetta against you?"

"I can only deduce that much, mostly from Miranda's visit. Nonetheless, this,
he tapped his head, "is still open to further suggestions," his tone was so cool Vallian could have sworn that he was smirking at the thought.

In a time like this? Vallian thought. "But you still think there's more to this?"

"Of course," Draco checked the Phalanx's heat sink, then smoothly holstered it. out of sight, under his coat. What he did next made Vallian question his friend's sanity. Draco casually smiled. A thin curl of the lips. "The bank is on the other end of moonlight park. It'll take us fifteen minutes to get there on foot."

"That's the plan?"

"I'll get back on you once I have my things. Now, let's go. We've wasted enough time getting this," He waved the key about before pocketing it. Vallian began to see the shift in Draco's character. He was so much more straight forward now. And his eyes kept constantly darting about, cold and calculating eyes. Though not completely devoid of emotion: there was still as glimpse of sadness as left his apartment. Perhaps for the last time. However that sadness vanished as the lift pinged on their floor. No amount of casual smiles and smirking conversational tones could hide the fact that Draco, the Elite Cerberus Phantom, was back. A pair boots clicked around the corner and Draco had his M-5 out before Vallian could say anything. And for those seconds, all they could hear was the pounding of their own hearts.

From this point on, there are going to be considerably more action scenes and the like. I'm afraid I still need to work more on writing non-action scenes. They seem to be devoid of much life to me. Please, if you have any questions or constructive criticism, write them on the reviews section. –T.S.