Earlier I had forgotten to put something in that was pretty important to Chapter 3. There was a 5 day separation between Chapter 2 and 3. I have went back and corrected this and I wanted to make sure everyone knew. Once again I apologize for not doing it earlier.
I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and like always I like hearing from you guys. Also there is a little bit of sexual in nature stuff in here so here's my heads up.
-ArchelionGen
The Knife Unseen
Chapter 7
The young turian sat in his seat fidgeting a little as he waited to leave. "Victor, stop that we'll be out of here soon. Just be patient." Peridus sat in a becoming manner that was expected of a turian in her position as she watched her mate Garren mingle with the rest of the generals.
"Mom, what's going on up there?"
Peridus brought her focus from the stage to her impatient son who was trying to lift himself up higher to be able to see. "Your father and the generals are trying to decide what they should do about this new threat."
Watching the generals begin to disperse, he nodded at his mother's soft voice before lowering back into his chair. Scanning the crowd, Victor spotted his father pushing his way through with a weird turian he had met earlier in tow. Pondering for a minute he racked his brain looking for a name, before it came to him "Marius". The two turians talked as they approached the table where Garren's family had been sitting.
"We're done here. Let's head home." Obviously disgruntled by something, he let out a deep aggravated sigh as he offered his hand to Peridus.
Taking her mate's hand she rose up turning to Victor signaling him to get up and follow. Standing up as per requested he began walking behind his parents trying to listen to what they were saying when he noticed Marius was walking with him. Unlike the young turian beside him he seemed more preoccupied with watching the surrounding crowd carefully as they walked paying no attention to the conversation in front of him.
Making out only bits of the conversation, he could tell it made both his parents anxious as their voices started to rise. " What are they thinking?" "They'll surely..." "We can't be around for..."
Victor listened carefully as he walked behind them struggling to hear the conversation over the crowd. Coming to an irrupt halt, Garren raised his hand gently telling his mate to "Keep it down."
Waiting outside the colossal building a car waited for Garren and his family. Approaching the car Victor's father was stopped by Marius as him and his mother entered the vehicle.
"Don't worry, we'll get this all sorted out." Marius patted Garren on the shoulder giving him a reassuring smile before Garren went to get into the skycar.
-Present
Citadel
"Get in there." The large turian officer opened the cell door, pushing Victor in without a fight or even a snarl.
Lost in thought he sat and stared blankly at the cell wall, reliving moments in his head. He could feel guilt begin to naw at his heart chipping away pieces of himself. He wanted to blame the mercenaries or even C-Sec, but he couldn't. He knew the blame sat rightfully heavy on his shoulders and it almost drove him to tears.
The silence of the cell was interrupted by the door to the cell opening, behind it was a human man Victor recognized as Laural's commanding officer. The man's face was vexed and drained with dark circles under his eyes no doubt from a lack of sleep. Even in his tired state, his stance commanded respect from everyone.
"So you're the mystery man that the detective was always after?" The man sighed, closing his eyes and rubbing them with his fingers tips carefully. "Listen make this easy and we'll see if we can get you an easier sentence. "We need to know who your employers are and how to find them." Opening his eyes again, he studied Victor for a moment as he sat without saying a word. "Alright then." The man turned back around and walked out the door when he stopped hearing Victor clear his throat.
"How much easier?" The man turned around and walked back into the room stopping in front of Victor.
"We can work out you having a few privileges."
A moment passed as Victor thought carefully, he found it hard as his thoughts were not as collected as they would be under normal circumstances. "I can get you their names, but I don't know where they are holed up." Most assassins like Victor would never give his employers names in fear of being killed for it, but what did he have to lose at this point?
"Well that's a start... Guard, give me some restraints." The same large turian officer that had put him in his cell came around the opening, handing the human what he'd wanted. "Come on we're going for a little walk." Tightening the set of cold restraints against Victor's wrist the man lifted him up from his bench, pulling him into the large white hallway dotted with cells.
As they walked down the cell area, Victor looked around at the officers surrounding him as they were watching him carefully. People watching him didn't usually bother him, but each of the officers had a glare in their eyes that he was sure was meant for him. They reached the end of the hallway where a table sat with assorted items that Victor had recognized as his own. The captain grabbing what appeared to be an omni-tool and handed it to Victor.
"Here. Give me the names and we'll see what we can do, but with dead officers and civilians on your hands, it'll be a long shot." Victor nodded, grabbing the Omni-tool from the captain and began scrolling through the information. The man watched him carefully as he was working the Omni-tool, waiting for something.
Victor stopped before he handed the Omni-tool back to the captain. "Here. I usually used a trace on the calls, just in case. That's about as much as I can do."
"This will do for now." The captain took the Omni-tool looking at it, then looking back at Victor. "I kind of figured you'd put up more of a fight after seeing what you did to those mercenaries." Victor said nothing as he avoided eye contact with the man. The captain waited a minute before signaling over an officer to put him back into his cell.
After being thrown into the cell, Victor sighed before looking around the cell before returning to his seat on the metal bench. He rubbed his wrists that were rubbed raw from the restraints as he tried to relax. His mind relentlessly tracing the last few days that now became so important. He needed to find something... anything. A name that stood out more than others people that would try to kill him.
"Someone needed to pay for what they've done to me...to her." Victor's thoughts filled his head trying to find an answer.
-8 Days before
Laural's laugh echoed through the restaurant. A number of nearby salarians looked at the pair with disapproval, before returning to their business lunch. The couple were too engrossed in each other to notice.
"So you just let him get away with that?" Laural leaned in closer to Victor trying to listen to his story.
"Of course not! I got up and walked out after him and when we finally got outside I punched him in his mandibles. I knocked him on his ass; needless to say he wasn't content with just letting it happen. He got up and I swept his legs putting him on the ground, but this time I put my knee on his throat. He eventually apologized to me." Victor laughed remembering the event while Laural sat across from him smiling.
Letting the smile fade from his face. "So what is it exactly you do, If I may ask?"
"I'm a detective for C-Sec, I mostly investigate homicide."
"So I better watch my step then."
They both chuckled lightly before Laural spoke again. "You better." She smiled as she took a drink from her glass.
"Let's get out of here, I've got something to show you." Standing up from the table, he reached out his hand to Laural and waited for her to take it.
Taking his hand they began to walk out of the restaurant, only briefly pausing to let Victor pay the bill. Making their way outside Victor breathed in the cold night air as they walked to his skycar. Reaching the skycar Victor graciously opened the door helping her in. Sitting into the drivers seat he closed the door and started the skycar, making it come to life.
"Where are we going?"
Grinning at her excitement, he piloted the skycar through the crowded skies of the Citadel. "I figured since we are both people of excitement and danger, we could go have a little more fun than a fancy dinner."
"What if I liked the fancy dinner?" A quick look at Victor's face told her that he doubted it very much.
As the skycar rushed through traffic as Laural looked through the window, watching lite buildings blur by. Lost in her thoughts, the fact that they had begun to descend, alluded her up to the point they landed.
"Here we are." Interrupting her thoughts, Victor touched her shoulder bringing her back to reality.
Taking note of her surroundings, she was surprised to find where they had gone. "A shooting range?"
"What's wrong with this? You got objections?" He knew the answer, but he still attempted to play coy.
"Of course not, I've just never had someone take me to a range before for a date."
"Well I told you I'm not like other guys you've met before." Still looking quite proud of himself, he exited the car looking around before walking over and opening the passenger side.
"No you're not and I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing yet?"
"Well, I consider a good thing."
"Of course you do, big guy." As she got out of the car, she patted his right mandible, before walking towards the building. Smiling in amusement for a moment, he ran to catch up with Laural as she stopped outside the building waiting.
The smell of scorching filled the area as the sound of gunshots echoed from somewhere behind a set of heavy doors leading to a back area. It was a smell and sound that Victor had come to love over the years.
As they approached the front counter, they were greeted by a man, who's face showed the wear and tear of his years."What can I do for you both today?"
"Yes, I'd like to set up the kill house for 2."
Laural scrunched her brow plates."A kill house?"
"It'll be fun." Victor smiled at her trying to reassure her. Laural hesitated before nodding, trusting that he knew what he was doing.
Raising his hand Victor transferred the do credits from his omni-tool, before heading for the range. Laural keeping to his pace walked with him into the range where there had been assorted firearms spread across a table. Quickly Victor approached the table grabbing a modified Carnifex pistol inspecting it carefully before loading it.
"Let's see how good the detective is at shooting huh?"
"Oh you're on." Laural, looking over the weapons on the table, grabbed a Stinger pistol looking it over before loading it.
Approaching the entrance of the training building, Victor watched Laural with interest as she finished checking her weapon. Finally joining Victor at the entrance, he couldn't shake his stare as he couldn't help, but be attracted to her even more now that she was holding a weapon. Stopping himself before letting his imagination run wild, he re-joined reality as he squatted a little in preparation.
"You ready?" He said while looking her over one last time, making sure she was ready. "Whoever gets the most target wins."
"Gets what exactly?"
"Winner gets to do whatever they want to the other." The suggestive manner he said it in caught her off guard making her blush and smile.
The bell rang echoing through the area giving way to both turians as they ran down the first hallway of the building. Preparing themselves before each corner, they swept thoroughly moving in sync with each other. Keeping with each others every step, Victor's pistol rang out as a hologram target disintegrated marking a point to him on the above counter "That's one for me!" Victor mused out loud.
"You know someone needs to take you down a peg, you're getting to cocky."Two shots erupted from Laural's firearm causing the target counter to go up two. "That's two for me!" Firing two more shots her counter went up again to four. "You're starting to fall behind!"
"Now who's getting cocky?" Victor looking behind him as Larual pinned her back against his smiling as they entered a large room. Sighing in relief, he had been worried that he had made the wrong call of coming to the range. Victor fired three shots adding two more to his counter.
Feeling her competitive edge kick in, she focused as they began moving farther into the building as four targets appeared. Laural's gun rang out again three times dropping all four of the targets. "There's four more, only using three shots!"
"You know you're a terrible winner!" Enjoying the witty banter, both Laural and Victor couldn't help the amused smiles that had quickly spread over their faces. Approaching another large room, 10 targets appeared causing both them to fire repeatedly rapidly taking out the targets. Each target was hit with a barrage of bullets piercing through them, until all had fell.
The room went silent as they stood up and turned to each other, Victor finding Laural smiling diabolically. "I win with eleven kills and I'm pretty sure you only have ten." Laural put her hands around his waist pulling him in closer as she whispered in his ear, causing shivers to run down his spine as each breath brushed his neck. "I'm pretty sure this means I get to do whatever I want to you."
Nuzzling his head against hers, he smiled letting a soft rumble from his chest sound out. "Enjoy it while it lasts." Only moments passing Laural grabbed Victor's gun firing it causing a hologram to dissolve. A little surprised, Victor turned his head to see where the hologram had been."I didn't want him to kill my prize."
Laughing, he looked back at her as she held her grip around his waist. "I'm a prize huh?"
"Yep and I better take you home and mount you before some other Turian woman tries to get their hands on you." Tugging his arm to make him follow she led him out of the range and into his car.
Laural sat in the drivers seat after she had pushed Victor into the passenger side. She quickly started the car and drove for her apartment... or so Victor assumed.
Looking down at his omni-tool he chuckled as he realized they had been at the range for over an hour.
It wasn't like Victor to lose track of time, but she made him forget about everything, but the fun they shared. For the first time in years he had a good time with someone; a feeling he hadn't felt since he was a boy.
He had never allowed any time for such things over the past few years, but somehow she wormed it out of him. Resting his mandible on his wrist he was lost in thought.
"Hey big guy, Whats wrong?" Laural asked softly while she quickly shifted her gaze between her driving and Victor with a warm glow of concern.
"Hmm... I was just thinking about things that I haven't thought about in years."
"You can drop me off and go home if you aren't up for this?"
"No..I'm fine. Besides I don't want to deprive you of your prize." Forcing a smile, she grinned before focusing once more on the drive ahead.
The car decelerated and parked it carefully on the apartment buildings landing platform. Opening the car door Laural tugged on Victors arm to follow her as they went into the building and then into an elevator. She hit the button for her floor and only just waited for the doors to close before she pulled in Victor in close.
She kissed him passionately while her hands that had tugged on his shirt now dug into the back of his neck. Quickly unbuttoning his shirt she let her hands drift down to his pants, before she squeezed his member as it pushed against his pants in lust.
As soon as Victor had his shirt off he began unfastening Laural's top when the bell rang opening the door to her floor. Both stopped when they heard a gasp from the open door of the elevator as a turian woman stood smiling at the half naked Victor.
Growling, Laural put herself in front of him and claimed him for her own.
She grabbed him quickly and dragged him to her door. She fumbled for her key card. Finally finding it, she ran it through the security lock. After the door opened the pair rushed inside.
He picked her up with Laural wrapping her legs around Victors waste while she kissed him passionately.
Her tongue ran its way down his mouth tasting his breath as they kissed. Stumbling into the bedroom he laid he down as he took off her shirt revealing her exposed skin where there wasn't plating. Quickly he began undoing his pants when he was stopped by Laural's hands as she began undoing them for him.
Victor let his pants fall as he pinned her down and ripped off her pants before taking her for the better part of five hours.
Victor laid on his back looking down at Laural as she slept on his chest laughing to himself. "I guess our first real date was a success."
-One day after Victor's arrest
"Well lucky you. The names you gave us were good and it looks as if they're going to be arrested this afternoon." The captain sighed, staring at Victor as he lay quietly with his eyes closed on the cot. "I figured you'd be happier about an easier sentence?"
Silence still filled the cell as the older man scratched his head thinking. "I've seen what you have done to my officers and I'm not thrilled about your sentence being less severe than what you deserve. You've put out of action one of my detectives and 30 officers. I'd love to watch you fry..."
Victor's shot open and sat up throwing his legs off the cot, confused."I did what?"
"Don't play coy you smug son of a bitch! You know the 30 officers you killed, leaving behind their families to survive...alone!" The calm tone the captain had been using began to raise in anger.
"Wait. About what time did this happen?" Victor's curiosity had been peaked as he sat wide eyed waiting for more details.
Studying his face, the captain suddenly looked away bewildered. Saying nothing he sat in thought for a moment. "Wasn't you was it?"
"I'll admit to...being a reason Laural's dead, but I didn't kill more than one officer over the years. I may be brutal, but I avoid unnecessary deaths of officers." Sincerity filled Victor's voice as he waited for him to do something..
Snapping himself from his thoughts, he brought his gaze back to the turian in front of him."I...can't believe I'm about to say this, but ….I believe you." Taken aback Victor tried hard to keep from looking surprised. "I've been doing this a long time son, and I can read people very well...even turians. You honestly didn't know and I can tell. That troubles me, because that means there are two of you out there."
"No, there is only one me. I have a favor to ask and I'm in no position to ask it of you...I want to help find this guy. I think he was the one who coordinated the hospital attack." Feeling uneasy asking for such a favor from his captor he pushed it aside. He was determined to find some redemption if giving Laural justice.
The Captain stiffened his posture looking over the Turian in front of him. "I'm hesitant to say yes and with damn good reasons. But... I need my officers alive and you may be the best option to find this guy. Don't think that this is a get out of jail card for you either."
Hesitantly he nodded, understanding what he was saying.
"Alright, if we are going to do this then lets take this somewhere else, because I'm sick of standing." The man left the room leaving Victor for a moment, before popping back into the cell. "You coming?"
Once again surprised by the old human captain he rose up and walked out of the cell cautiously. Looking around once again every eye in the cell area watched him carefully as he rushed to keep up with the captain. "Why no restraints?"
"I know your type 'Jet' or 'Victor'?" The captain walked down the hallway with Victor keeping a close pace next to him.
"Victor will be fine."
"Ok. Well I know that you can easily get out of the restraints and probably take almost every officer here, but you haven't. I have no disillusion that we are the superior trained here, but I do know that you can't take on all of us, but that wouldn't usually stop someone like you from trying...So it makes me wonder why haven't you tried?" Stopping in the middle of the hallway the man turned to examine Victor.
"Honestly?"
"No I want you to lie to me. Of course honestly!"
"I feel I deserve to be here...in that cell." Victor trailed off as he looked back down the hall at the doorway they had just left.
"Curious." The Captain was puzzled, but turned again and began walking. Reaching an office bearing a small plaque with the words "Captain Sanders" he stopped and waved on Victor to come inside with him.
Victor was hit by the overwhelming smell of gun cleaner and smoke as he entered the officer. Looking around the office he was surprised to find a set of antique firearms hanging on the wall behind a large desk parallel to it. What little light was coming into the room was split between a small lamp sitting on the large desk and the lights coming in from the window. Taking a chair seated in front of the desk Victor found himself intrigued by the pictures scattered on it of a younger version of the captain. The years had not been kind to him, no doubt causes of stress from his job.
"I find it strange enough that we can't find a record of you anywhere on any database and I find it even stranger that you believe you should be here." The man grabbed a cigarette from his desk lighting it as he sat down. "Why?" Leaning back in his chair he took a deep puff of his cigarette letting the orange light light up his face briefly.
Taking a deep troubled sigh. " You ever done something that you felt so ashamed about that you needed to make amends?" Getting up, Victor walked over to the window looking out at the night life as he became entrenched in thought.
"What are you ashamed of?" The captain let out a puff of smoke as he eyed the turian.
Victor looked over his shoulder at the captain. "If it's all the same I'd rather not."
"Hmph, very well. Well I have the evidence here and it seemed like your style. The men were brutally killed, some by broken neck and others...via some unorthodox methods."
"What was the raid for?"
Hesitating he tapped a file on his desk. "They were looking for this. It's all the information on the major mercenary groups on the Citadel."
"So what did 'I' have to do with this?"
"That's the real question. We figured you were protecting your clients interest."
"Hmm, I don't do recovery contracts like that. I am a strictly kill guy."
"Well do you know of anyone that does this type of work?"
Victor let out a snort as he retook his spot in the chair. "Hell I know more than fifty people who do the work, but I only know of two who can do this. I admire his ferocity, but he's to sloppy."
"You admire his ferocity? He brutally murdered 30 officers. I don't understand why you people can just kill so many people and shrug it off."
"I had to cover my tracks. It's not all about getting caught. I don't take the killing of an innocent or an officer lightly."
"You still think all that killing keeps you from getting caught?" Taking another puff of his cigarette he then let out a long stream of smoke into the air.
"I guess not. How did you find me?"
"WE got a call from a nurse at the hospital about an injured turian coming in
"Wait I thought Laural called C-Se..." Victor cut himself off realizing she must of decided to let him go.
"There you go again, you called her Laural. How do you?...Oh!" Dumfounded by his realization the mans mouth fell open letting the cigarette in his mouth fall to the floor. "She had brought you in and didn't call it. It makes sense...you and her...and now she's..." After a few moments of letting it all come to the surface Victor slumped his head. "I'm sorry, Victor." The man truly felt sympathy for the broken turian sitting across from him.
Victor tried hard to keep his emotions behind his practiced composure, but found himself struggling. "Thanks."