A/N: Sorry for the delay, family stuff hindered my ability to write. On a side note, has anyone else encountered "in-text advertising" in stories as well?
7: Temptation Part 1
Shepard had warned off by Chakwas that Alice was less than pleased by what he did to Garrus and that he should steer clear until she cooled down. Unfortunately for him, Alice was cleared to leave the medbay a few days after Garrus' visit, and she was still angry. The first thing she did when she got out was go up to her brother's room. No one was entirely sure what happened up there but that evening, Alice had a very satisfied smirk on her lips and Shepard was jumping at shadows for the next week. When questioned about what happened, Shepard would mumble "I hate hanar clowns…"
Garrus was allowed to stay on the Normandy although he made a habit of saying he was busy with calibrations whenever somebody stopped by the main battery. He remained on the ship all through their stay on Illium and rarely left the battery except for meals. Alice, figuring he just needed time to accept that she really didn't blame him, spent her spare time conversing with the drell assassin they had just recruited called Thane. She was delighted to meet another biotic Infiltrator like herself and would often converse with him for hours over various infiltration techniques.
Garrus and Shepard rarely, if ever, spoke for several weeks. Then, out of the blue, Shepard brought him and Alice along to go pick up Tali. Garrus wasn't entirely sure why but Shepard seemed to have forgiven him all of a sudden. That only served in making Garrus more confused than ever. He also found that, because he hadn't replenished his stock of turian liquor on the Citadel or Illium, he was running low. He had to start conserving the amount he drank before going to bed but soon found it harder and harder to restrain himself at night. His dreams were starting to return and he was growing more and more irritable by the day. So, when Shepard announced that they were docking at Omega, Garrus was overjoyed. After all, shitty alcohol was still alcohol.
What he hadn't counted on was Shepard insisting that he go with him and the asari justicar Samara to find Samara's homicidal daughter Morinth. So, here Garrus was, pacing back and forth outside the door to Morinth's most recent victim Nef's apartment. Apparently, Morinth suffered from a rare asari genetic disorder that causes her nervous system to overwhelm her victim's whenever she does that "Embrace Eternity" thing, and killing her victim.
Lovely, Garrus mused bitterly, a serial sex-killer.
When Shepard and Samara finally emerged from the apartment, Garrus asked "So what's the plan?"
"I'm going to be bait." Shepard replied, clearly thrilled. "I'm going to go into the VIP section of Afterlife unarmed, without backup, and try to draw Morinth's attention. Once I lure her away, Samara will strike."
" 'Unarmed, without back up'?" Garrus shook his head "I don't know Shepard, Miranda will kill me if you die, Alice will kill me if you get even a scratch on you, and Ashley will not only kill me, she'll rip out my tongue, scale me with a rusty knife, unload several clips from a Revenant into me, shoot me with the Cain, and then stomp on what's left for good measure if I let you within 500 meters of Morinth."
Shepard grinned "Glad to know you care so much about me Garrus."
"Perhaps he has a point Commander," Samara suggested "I won't be able to watch you in the club without risking Morinth recognizing me, Garrus however can." She turned to Garrus "Keep your com connected to mine at all times and head over to the VIP section now. Drop the name Jaruut to get in. keep to the shadows and don't draw attention to yourself. Shepard will be along shortly after he's changed."
"Changed?" Shepard frowned "Into what?"
"Surely you don't expect to draw Morinth out in armor?" Samara said, a smile twitching at her lips. "Kasumi said she had the 'perfect' outfit for you."
Shepard groaned "On, joy…"
Garrus chuckled at Shepard's discomfort and left for Afterlife's VIP section. After getting past the bouncer, Garrus went into the club and immediately headed for the bar. He took a seat next to a krogan in Blood Pack armor and ordered a turian beer. After all, what's wrong with a drink or two?
He took a sip from the glass and noticed the krogan was glaring at him. "Looking for your next meal?" he quipped "I wouldn't recommend it, dextro meat is very unhealthy for levo species, even krogan."
The krogan snorted "I prefer salarian anyways." He said, turning to grin harshly at a salarian seated nearby. The krogan turned back to Garrus and frowned again. "You look familiar." Garrus had been taking another drink when he'd said this and choked, coughing the beer back up. The krogan continued "You with the Blue Suns?"
Garrus eyed the krogan incredulously "Why do you say that?"
"You're wearing blue armor."
Garrus laughed and boldly patted the krogan on the hump, earning a growl. "Congratulations, you're eyes work!"
The krogan continued to growl at Garrus. "You mocking me turian?"
Garrus was about to make a witty retort when an asari cried on the dance floor "Get lost asshole!"
Garrus turned in his seat and saw an asari dancer getting harassed by a turian who'd had one drink too many, and then some. Garrus turned back to his beer. Not your concern Vakarian, security will handle it. He looked around; where was security?
"Hey turian, answer the question!" the krogan barked.
"I said get lost!" the dancer cried.
Garrus' talons clenched around the bottle, "Excuse me." He got to his feet and marched over to where the drunken turian was harassing the dancer.
"Come on…" the turian slurred "We can go back to my place, I've got simple tastes."
"I'm a dancer not a hooker dumbass!" The asari's biotics glowed "So unless you want your balls ripped out, I suggest you BACK OFF!"
The turian grabbed the asari's forearm. "Oohoo, feisty! I like 'em feisty!"
The asari's violet eyes flashed and Garrus knew he had to act fast before the asari made good on her threat. He tapped the drunken turian on the shoulder. "I believe the lady told you to leave her alone."
The turian turned and glared at Garrus. "Back off buddy, find your own whore."
The asari's eyes turned murderous. "What did you just call me?"
Garrus didn't let the turian answer. "Why don't you head on home now pal before the good lady decides to kill you."
The drunken turian released the asari. "Why? I'm just looking for a good time!"
Garrus sighed as the asari's expression became furious. This idiot is going to get himself killed at this rate. Doing the only thing he could think of, Garrus punched the turian in the jaw, dropping him like a stone. "Good times are over."
The asari glared at Garrus, "I could handle him."
Garrus cocked a brow plate. "If by 'handle him' you mean reduce him to a bloody smear on the dance floor then yeah. Unfortunately, that would ruin everybody's evening." He gestured to her arm where the turian had grabbed her, resulting in deep scratches "You better get that looked at."
The asari eyed him for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, whatever." She walked past him and headed toward the entrance.
Garrus watched her go for a moment before shaking his head and heading back towards the bar. Garrus sat back down next to the krogan. He took another drink from his beer and noticed that the krogan was glaring at him again. "Yes, what is it this time?"
"You look really familiar…" the krogan said.
Before Garrus could reply he heard someone whisper. "We hit them in the alley. So long as it's not one of Aria's people we should be fine."
Garrus snarled and turned toward the shadows where two turians were huddled close together, speaking to one another. "Excuse me again." He said
"Hey wait, you're-" Garrus was gone before the krogan could finish.
Garrus marched to the two turians, "I'm sorry," he said, rage building inside him "but I could have sworn I heard you two planning to mug someone."
"So what if you did?" one of the turians snarled.
Garrus took a menacing step forward. "I'm not going to let that happen."
The other turian sneered "And just who do you think you are?"
"I know who he is!" Garrus spun around and saw the Krogan from the bar marching towards him. The krogan snarled and pointed a stubby finger at Garrus. "That's Archangel!"
The entire room fell silent as every single patron turned to look at Garrus. Soon, murmurs started spreading through the club.
"Archangel?"
"I heard he was dead."
"How did he survive?"
"No wonder they never found his body."
"You've got a lot of nerve coming here Archangel."
Slowly, several of the patrons, particularly those in mercs' uniforms started closing in on Garrus, surrounding him. Then, a human male from somewhere in the mob cried "Let's get him!"
Oh shit!
The mob charged and Garrus moved like he had never moved before. He had been one of the best hand-to-hand combat specialists in the turian military, and that night he proved why. He dodged punches and improvised weapons, he countered with swift strikes that immediately incapacitated everything but a krogan. It helped that many in the mob were at least slightly drunk and therefore, fairly easy to take down. Garrus held off the onslaught for what felt like hours until finally, he was the last one standing.
Garrus heard someone clapping and turned to see an asari wearing a skintight black outfit emerge from the shadows. "Well done," the asari said "that was…exhilarating."
"And you are?" Garrus asked although he already suspected who.
The asari smiled, her face was so much like her mother's "Oh, of course how rude of me. I'm Morinth, and you are the most interesting person in this place."
A/N: Oh, hello Cliffy Town! How nice to see you again! As always, let me know what I did well and what I can improve on.
