*NOTE: I've decided that before every chapter, as a recap, I will quickly review the previous chapter before you continue on again. That way, you can refresh your memory. Also, this chapter is quite interesting because there's a sudden change in several people.

In addition, thank you to those that have reviewed/favourite/msged me. Because of you guys, I am inspired to write more, as long as you guys are reading! I hope the story is as enjoyable to read as it is to write.

REVIEW OF CHAPTER SEVEN:

- After getting into a slight argument, Thane decides to look for more clues to the whereabouts of his song on his OWN, while Shepard and Garrus head towards Omega's markets to see what's going on.

- On the way Shepard get's a foot grabbed by a batarian hobo who is literally high off his rocker and wanted them to give him hallex. Shepard gives him food after he tells her about a hallex deal going on tonight that might lead them to Kolyat. They are informed that Skarr (Tyrrhus' krogan bodyguard) is making this deal. The deal is to happen in a spooky place called Omega's Graveyard district which consists of a series of buildings.

Character recap:

Skarr: Krogan bodyguard for Tyrrhus

Tyrrhus: High ranking dirty turian who deals hallex and arms for his big boss, Synn. He also has a thing for Shepard and asari strippers btw. Dirty dirty fellow. Oh and he wears black armour and has white markings in his face.

Synn: Big boss that people rarely get too see. He is highly respected because he is the supplier of all drugs, weapons, illegal materials that keep Omega running as a powerhouse of dirty stuff. Even Aria has a certain degree of respect for him, because he basically runs Omega. One of his right hand men includes Tyrrhus, the dirty turian.

- Ok, back to review. Thane gets notified that there is a deal going down at 7pm and he should meet them there. Garrus decides to hide in an abandoned building (since he knows this place best) as his vantage point. Yay, he gets to relive his sexy Archangel days again.

- Thane and Shepard stay in the bottom floor of another building.

- Skarr and his buddies show up and start a firefight after Shepard says something witty

- They all work together and eliminate Skarr and his gang. Oh and Skarr's fat body is lying ontop of a datapad that will FINALLY point out there whereabouts of Kolyat's location.

Chapter Eight: Taken

Shepard stared blankly at the fast working hands of her brilliant salarian doctor who was further researching their recent findings of the Reaper technology.

Her grey eyes reflected the panels of orange and green light emitting from the doctor's lab terminal.

"Shepard. Something, troubles you," the salarian replied almost indifferently. His hands did not stop moving .

"Just tryna deal with the nightmares," Shepard sighed. She watched as an image of the reaper ship showed up on the screen.

"Ahh," he said, pausing for a split second before resuming to his work. "Nightmares, or visions?"

Shepard turned to him. "I hope it's not the latter one."

"I also sense you are bothered by more than that. Something else. More sensitive. Innate human emotion."

The commander tried her best to mask her surprise. "What are you talking about?"

"Sense tension between competing males. Ship writhing with levels of testosterone. Feel rather...uncomfortable."

Clever little Mordin. Even with his head buried miles deep in his research, he could still make out the personal implications occurring between the crew.

"Even if it is, Mordin, it's not one of my main concerns. Not right now," Shepard answered back a bit too harshly. She turned away.

"Body language says otherwise. It's okay to admit. Doctor-patient, commander-crew member...especially friend-friend confidentiality important. Will never think of betraying you, commander." The salarian managed to sneak a quick glance at her. "But rivalry between Garrus and Thane might get in the way of your mission. May complicate circumstances."

"I care about them both. They are still my friends as well as valued members of my squad...but me and Garrus..we ha- we have-" her voice cut short. She couldn't find a way to project the words right. She felt her mind contradicting with her rational thinking.

Mordin sighed and finally stopped working so vigorously. He hands fell to his sides. He pushed the orange panel on his lab terminal to standby.

"Thane," Shepard began slowly. "Might be taking things the wrong wa-"

"Jealousy. Drell are amongst one of the most monogamous species. That being said-"

"I just don't want to complicate anything, especially when I'm already combating all these inner demons in me." Her heart took a turn for the worse. "I think the most logical thing to do is just end things with Garrus."

Mordin glanced at her, suddenly shocked at her abrupt suggestion of self-sacrifice. "No. No need to do so. Need to come up with compromise. Understand humans are emotional, and you, battling self-conflict. Sometimes you don't get what you want. But who knows what the galaxy has in store for us. Suggest making...best out of good moments you can still salvage...before you can't anymore."

Shepard stared deeply into the doctor's eyes. She felt the walls she built up around her emotions slowly come down. Biting her lip, she forced herself to contain her feelings. Mordin looked down, sympathetically.

"Sorry," he whispered. "Think about my advice. For now, must get back to work."

Shepard began to head out the door to the combat control centre. "Thank you Mordin, I'm sorry I took up your time."

"No problem. Anytime." With the last utterance, the door to the tech lab sealed shut.

Shepard stood craning her neck at the Combat control centre when she noticed Yeoman Kelly Chambers waving her over.

"What seems to be the matter?" she asked her bright eyed yeoman. She and Kelly had a relatively close relationship and used to open up to each occasionally. Lately, she had kept herself distant and clammed up.

"Garrus wants to see you," Kelly said with a worried look etched on her face.

Shepard swallowed hard, trying to wipe away her previous emotions. "If he wanted to talk to me, he would go to my cabin." She proceeded to summon her private terminal.

"He did," Kelly said hesitantly. "He had been wanting to see you since you guys returned to the Normandy last night."

"Guess he keeps missing me. Tough luck."

Kelly was taken back by Shepard's sudden abrasiveness. "Uhm, Shepard, are you alright? Uh, what I mean is, are you and Garrus okay?"

"We're fine," Shepard responded, continuing to punch away at her screen as Mordin did to her when they spoke. "I'm just trying to stay focused with our missions. Don't want feelings getting in the way, y'know."

"Ahh I see," her Yeoman said sympathetically. "You don't want Garrus to interfere with your emotions. Well as easy as it sounds, it's not at all."

"Don't worry Kelly," Shepard assured, "I'll be fine. Things will work out in the end, eventually."

Kelly beamed. "Great! Well if you need anything comman- I mean, Shepard, let me know. I'm always here for you to talk to. I can't imagine what you've been going through lately...but I'm always here to keep your feelings in check."

Shepard smiled and placed her hand on Kelly's shoulder. "Thanks Kelly, I'm glad to hear that." She turned to go to the elevator, but stopped. "And one more thing. Can you tell Thane to meet me in the Comm. Room? We have to debrief on the mission."

"Right away, Shepard."

Shepard leaned against the metallic surface of the table in the comm. room. The room itself felt so empty and somewhat intimidating. She remembered descending down the platform to speak with the Illusive man via hologram. The hiss of the doors opening indicated someone was coming through.

"Shepard," he called out glancing around. "Where's Garrus?"

Shepard clutched onto the datapad and skimmed through it. "We're going to find Kolyat."

"Great, have you figured out exactly how we will tackle this?"

Shepard nodded. "He's making a deal with a few small members of the Blue Suns tonight at approximately 9."

"Where is the site of transaction?"

"The Gozu District." Shepard remembered passing the Gozu district when she first took on Mordin's dossier. The quarantine zone led her through several ransacked apartments in the Gozu District.

"It doesn't seem like there are going to be many people involved," commented Shepard as she scrolled down. "He's delivering 10 kg worth of Hallex as well as two M-920 Cains...I wonder where they find these things."

Thane nodded. "Eliminating Kolyat's accomplices will be no problem. It's talking to Kolyat that I'm worried about."

Shepard closed the datapad. "You're his father. You talked to him before at the Citadel, remember? He'll listen to you better than he will to me."

"I should hope so," said Thane quietly.

"Come on, let's go to Omega, we should get there early to assess the area. I'll notify Kelly and Miranda, just in case, where we're headed."

"Right," responded Thane as he checked his weapons once before following the commander out the Comm. room.

"Reports have been confirmed that there was a small-scale gunfight at Omega's Graveyard District yesterday evening," blared the batarian reporter on the broken galactic news radio. "The bodies found indicated that the victims were members of the Blue Suns. A krogan bodyguard by the name of Skarr was amongst one of the bodies found."

"I wonder what the Blue Suns are going to do about it," said Shepard as they entered the bass-echoing area in front of Afterlife. Impatient patrons were seen waiting in front of the elcor bouncer.

"Casualties come and go every day," responded Thane calmly. "It has become naturalized to be a regulator, brought upon death's invisible hand."

"And by the invisible hand you mean mercs killing mercs," replied Shepard as they walked through the corridors leading toward the marketplace.

"Not just that, but by instruments of death, death's accomplices. Weapons, drugs, alcohol- all the impurities that writhe within this hell. It is the state of mind of Omega," Thane said philosophically.

The two continued on in conversation until they stood in front of Harrot's Emporium. It was much busier today than it was yesterday. It seemed as if everyone were scrambling to barter with the shopkeepers.

"We might attract too much attention if we cause a scene at the Gozu district," whispered Shepard. She watched as a suspicious-looking batarian came scrambling from the crowd with a section of a salvaged ship engine.

"It won't be a problem. I don't think anyone wants to mess with the Blue Suns," Thane responded, suddenly lifting his head up. His eyes flickered, scanning the crowd. His attentiveness suddenly grew. It seemed as if suddenly every sense in his body was stimulated.

"What's the matter?" asked Shepard, worried by his sudden transition in state.

Thane suddenly pushed through the crowd. He glanced around frantically. "I sense someone familiar..." He continued on in a quick walk. Shepard struggled to follow in the crowd. His quick walk turned into a run. Shepard was falling behind.

"Thane!" she shouted. She knew better than to cause a commotion. Instead, she turned on her comm. link just as Thane had vanished from her sight.

"Thane," she said, breathing heavily. "Who is it?"

At first the static turned into loud voices from within the crowd until Thane's voice intercepted. "It's Kolyat. I sense him here. I saw glimpses of him, so vividly. Tall, brown jacket. Dark ashen green skin. Dark eyes making eye contact with various shopkeepers."

"He's here?" Shepard asked again, confused.

"Yes. Listen Shepard," said the drell very carefully. "I'll keep in touch. If you can't find me, we'll meet at the Gozu district at 9. Don't worry, I'll be there." The connection clicked off leaving Shepard with just static.

"Damn it," muttered Shepard as she looked around the crowd. She was alone in a dangerous place. A batarian walking by shoved her roughly on the shoulder.

"Watch it, bitch," he hissed, glaring at her with his eyes.

Shepard began to walk cautiously toward the fringes of the marketplace, where the homeless vagrants resided. She decided to head towards the Gozu district. A pair of vorcha eyed her suspiciously as she made her way into the alleyway. Dark grey walls tinted with grease and dirt seemed to close in on her. She slowly withdrew her pistol.

A dark flash went by in the corner of her eye. Amidst the steam from the broken vents and the watchful eyes of the vorcha, she whirled around, eyes wide with fright. Her pistol aimed at the air. Her instincts told her that someone was tracking her. She turned around again, this time, firing several bursts into some empty bins in front of her.

She heard a bin behind her topple as the two vorcha hissed at her and scurried away.

Shepard's grip on her pistol grew tighter as she held the gun with both hands, pulling it towards her chest.

A rush of cold air blew beside her ear. Her body froze.

"Boo," said a deep voice from behind her. Before she could whirl around, an arm in a brown jacket hooked over her neck, with the assailant's other arm restraining her other arm behind her back. She dropped her pistol. Thrusting all her might, she tried to summon her biotic powers. A blue glow emanated from her body but was quickly subdued when she froze into a white flash of stasis. Her eyes rolled around frantically, just as the assailant released his grip.

The figure wearing the brown jacket revealed himself, facing her. It was Kolyat. He snickered. Several Blue Suns showed up beside him.

Shepard felt so exposed, so helpless, so...humiliated. The Blue Suns laughed at her.

"Confiscate her weapons," ordered Kolyat in a weaselish voice.

Shepard's muscles ached as she struggled to fight the stasis inflicted upon her. The turians surrounding her quickly stripped her of her weapons. Kolyat roughly ripped off her comm. link and shoved it into his trenchcoat pockets.

"Let's move out," he ordered, waving his gloved hand towards the direction behind her.

As the stasis began to wear off, she summoned her biotic powers again. The turian standing behind did not hesitate to smack the back of her head with the butt of his assault rifle.

Falling to her knees, her vision became disoriented and she slumped onto the ground. The last thing she saw were the black boots of the drell turning towards the direction of the markets.

Shepard awoke with a tremendous headache and blurry vision. She was in a dim room, and she was sitting upright. Her arms were handcuffed behind her, against a metal chair. In the dark red light, she could barely make out the figures standing before her. Several turians and krogan sat at a nearby table, playing a loud drinking game.

There was a loud throbbing she could hear pulsing from the blood in her temples. It wasn't her own heartbeat. It was a loud, deep-based beat. Afterlife's signature song.

Shepard rolled her head back, making a loud crack. She groaned. It really hurt!

"Turian bastard," Shepard muttered as her mind slowly began to retrieve her memory back. As soon as the words tumbled out of her mouth, the drunken turians playing at the table became alerted by her consciousness and headed towards her.

"She's awake," said one of the turians. They were all wearing the markings of the Blue Suns. Some of the turians had their face painted in white markings that indicated which clan they were from in their homeworlds.

One of the turians reached out and touched her face.

Groggy, but shocked at his sudden movement, she jolted awake and bit down on his hand as hard as she could. The turian screamed very loudly as Shepard's teeth sunk down onto the rough flesh of his knuckles. His dark blue blood trickled from his hand onto the floor. His buddies around him laughed drunkenly. In anger, he managed to wrestle his hand back.

"You fucking bitch!" he screeched. The angry turian rammed his rifle into Shepard's cheek before proceeding to beat her with it.

Shepard squeezed her eyes shut and felt every blow come down harder than the last.

Suddenly, a shot was fired at the wall of the room to their right. The turian retrieved his assault rifle and everyone fell silent.

Tyrrhus stood at the doorway, pistol in hand. On either sides of him were two new krogan guards.

"Back off," he hissed, holding the pistol up.

"Boss I-"

He fired a shot at the turian's shoulder. He backed away.

Tyrrhus looked pitifully at Shepard, who lay with her head to the side, hair mangled all over her face. She winced as Tyrrhus parted her hair with his fingers.

Shepard's eyes were covered in tears, as a reflex to the beating she took. A large purple bruise swelled at the top of her cheekbone, with a bleeding cut in the centre of it.

"You wrecked her face you son of a bitch," Tyrrhus shouted.

The drunken turian, clutching his bleeding hand backed away.

"Come on, let's go," said his comrade. The rest of the turians left them in the room, except for the two krogan bodyguards.

Tyrrhus withdrew a handkerchief from his pocket and began to dab the blood from Shepard's face onto it. She was on the verge from passing out. She could feel her head swelling from where the turian beat her repeatedly.

Tyrrhus kindly unlocked her handcuffs and held her head back with his large hand. With the other, he reached toward a nearby table and poured one tablet of Hallex onto his palm. Shepard's gaze rolled from his face to his hand. He was going to make her ingest it.

"Take this," he ordered. Shepard stared at him, dumbfounded.

He pried open her jaw but she withdrew from the swelling that became evident in her face. Slowly, he slipped the pill onto her tongue and gentle withdrew his fingers. His index finger rested on Shepard's lips. He then held her jaw closed.

The effects were fast and dreary. Her hearing became muffled and the painful feeling in her body turned to a pleasurable sensation. She couldn't even tell if she was smiling or crying or screaming at all. Her eyelids began to droop and everything seemed to move in slow motion. The beat of Afterlife became a permanent rhythm that synced up with her heartbeat.

"Let's put you somewhere to rest," Tyrrhus said, lifting up her limp body. He walked out of the room with Shepard beginning to doze off into his arms. The blood on her cheek wiped onto the armour on his forearm.

She looked up at the turian. He was her enemy, he was working for Synn. He degraded the asari and pressured her into joining Afterlife as a dancer. He was scum...but he was now helping her. Shepard couldn't tell if he was going to keep her alive to extort her or torture her for information. But for now, he seemed to be helping her. And with her body slipping into ecstasy and her vision blurring once more, looking up at him, he could almost pass as Garrus.