Thanks a lot for the reviews, especially Leene for the incredibly encouraging one. I'm not ashamed to say I was blushing as I read it. I hope I can make the plot as appealing to you as the characters. Thanks to darkerego as well for being one of the most frequent reviewers. So I promised more meat, and here it is, in more ways than one.
Silence, dangerous silence with murderous intent mixed with the sounds of a plethora of firearms being cocked, stocked, and loaded. Samara sighted her Vindicator and Tempest. A friend has been taken by unjust criminals, and she was duty bound to take action, preferably with her biotics. Grunt loaded shells into his custom Claymore shotgun, a gift from Shepard. A member of his krant needed help, and his battle master was giving him freedom to 'test' these people. Shepard and Garrus were already set before the others arrived. This was more personal than maybe anyone else. Tali was in trouble, and they were pissed. Shepard was not only angry, but he couldn't shake the feeling of regret that clawed at his mind constantly. He had given Tali a reason to leave, and if she was killed, he would never be able to apologize. He shook those thoughts from his head. She wouldn't be dead, not yet. She was an incentive for him and the others to come to the Reds, a grave mistake on their part. They were already in for a world of pain, and god help them if she was hurt. He wouldn't give them the benefit of dying quickly.
"Shepard, a word?" Garrus asked him.
Shepard could hear in his voice that it wasn't a request. He wanted to say no, that they needed to prepare, but Garrus was unlikey to accept that. He followed the Turian just into the hallway.
"What's this about Garrus?"
"Oh, well it's about Tali for mostly, and it's also about you and this Alexander."
"Garrus, we don't have time for..."
"Don't tell me we don't have time. Don't tell me that it does not matter. Don't let more people suffer for your stubbornness. I need you to tell me something, anything about what kind of situation Tali is in."
Shepard had a knot in his throat. His mouth was open, but his tongue remained motionless, his breath held. He didn't meet Garrus's eyes, but he felt them digging into his head. Why was this so goddamn important? Why did he need to reveal so much?
You don't let people hurt you. If you are hurt, you don't act right, you act mad and broken. Then you get killed, or worse, fail me. But if someone does hurt you, make sure that you hurt them worse, much worse lad.
That's why, Shepard realized after returning from some far off dark place, is why he needed to reveal something. This was right up Alexander's alley. He wouldn't let killing two high ranking members and disrupting operations go without getting revenge. And that meant Tali would suffer.
No. Shepard thought with as much determination as if he had said it aloud.
"Alexander is, was the closest thing I ever had to a parent. Well, a parent is sugar coating it maybe. He is the leader of the Reds, has been for years now. I was just a street urchin, living out of a run down orphanage with barely enough food to feed the mice. I was eight, and I was walking through this secluded pathway that ran for a few yards between buildings. I always walked through there, it was always empty, safe. But that time, it wasn't empty. In the dim brightness of a neglected light, a group of people stood with a clear line between them. I hid nearby to eavesdrop, and withing minutes there were gunshots. I was scared, too scared to move and I was hit in the shoulder by a stray shot. It was the first time I ever felt pain like that."
Shepard remembered that moment vividly. Despite having been wounded more times than a normal person could withstand throughout his career, he remembered the first time with more pain than any other.
"When I managed to pull myself up off the ground, two people were left. One was on the ground with the other standing over him with a gun. I didn't hear what they said, because all I remember was picking up a gun and shooting the armed man, dead."
"The one on the ground..." Garrus began.
"Alexander." Shepard finished for him.
Both of them were silent, a realization donning on one, ironically still ignorant, and a large weight being lifted off the chest of the other, though a sense of foreboding still lingered.
"You asked me what Alexander is to me Garrus, well I'll tell you this, he was important to me."
Garrus, to Shepard's dismay, still seemed unsatisfied.
"As long as Tali is more important to you when the shit hits the fan, and in our case, it always does."
Garrus didn't sound like he was trying to be disrespectful, but he did sound suspicious. Shepard tried to ignore it, but that sense of foreboding wouldn't go away. The sense amplified as he walked down the hall from which Garrus left through, almost to the intersection where another hall passed through. He walked passed it slowly, and he didn't need to turn completely to notice her. How long had she been there? It was too late to regret what he revealed to Garrus, and Miranda unintentionally.
"General, you asked for me?" Balak said.
A Batarian dressed in an elaborate military uniform turned in his chair to face Balak. He wore a bored expression of superiority.
"Yes I did. I'm curious as to the progress of our mission."
"Yes sir, the ship, the Normandy is in our possession, along with the majority of her crew." Balak said through a ruse of confidence.
"And is Shepard among them?"
"No sir."
"Of course he isn't I already knew that you fool. Why isn't he in a cell on this ship along with the Alliance Admiral?"
"With all due respect sir, if you would just let me go in with some troops myself instead of letting this human sick his Earth dogs on Shepard,"
"That wasn't nearly respectful enough Balak. I'm paying this human to 'sick his Earth dogs' on Shepard because I don't want the Alliance to come after us when we aren't ready for them. Also, the reason I'm not letting you handle it is because I remember how Shepard foiled you gloriously when I sent you to that asteroid."
Balak held his tongue, but his facial features betrayed him.
"That's also why I'm not letting you spearhead this operation. You are far too emotional."
"I believe in the cause we are fighting for!" Balak shouted.
The General sighed and got up from his chair. He showed no signs of hostility, until he backhanded Balak across the face. Balak didn't say anything he just kept his head low while looking the taller Batarian in the eye.
"I know you do, and so do I. I know anger and shame, the feelings our entire species live with since the humans took what was rightfully ours and turned all of Citadel Space against us. I know the vengeance you seek against Shepard for the events on the asteroid, and I know that you, and I, and every Batarian worthy of the name demand the blood of the humans responsible for killing millions of our people in the Viper Nebula. And I want you to know that we shall give it to them, we shall make Shepard and his crew and Hackett examples for all to see that the Batarians are not to be trifled with."
Balak remained silent, but he gave the general his rapt attention.
"We will have them, we will have our justice, and our revenge."
"And this human whom you are paying to deliver Shepard to us?" Balak inquired.
"The Batarians are owed millions of lives. He will be another down payment."
"Very well, General Zakman."
General Zakman waved him away and sat back down in his chair. Balak left and felt more reassured in his goals. He was so happy that he didn't notice the Informant on the other side of the wall, watching him.
"Who the hell are you?" A Reds member asked Shepard.
The answer came in the form of Samara's biotic throw sending him through the cement wall. He was dead before he hit the ground, his unarmored chest being caved in from the impact. Seven other men were interrupted from their card game when the body landed onto the card table. Two of them had holes twice as big around as their fist appear in their chests when Grunt charged in with his shotgun. Not breaking off from his charge, Grunt slammed into a third man, shattering his spine. From outside the hole in the wall, shots flew in to crack open the foreheads of two others. The last man finally had enough sense to pull out his gun, but he never got to use it. Razor sharp bullets plowed into his gut, spilling it's contents onto the floor as he fell down dead.
Shepard, Garrus, Samara, and Grunt had come here fully prepared for a fight. The data pad left with Tali's headdress read that they were to go to a discrete location and wait. Like hell. Alexander must be losing his touch, he usually has better schemes than that. Shepard had decided to head to the Reds base, where Tali was most likely held. He came here to get Tali back, and he brought his Revenant light machine gun to do it. He borrowed Thane's Shredder ammo for good measure.
On the screens scattered about his office, Alexander watched Shepard and his three accomplices breach through the wall of the Reds base of operations and destroy the first group of guards. He took a sip of his coffee and leaned forward onto his desk, his gray hair falling down slightly into his eyes.
"Here we go."
Shepard was painting the walls of his old 'home' with the blood of it's residents. Memories, good and bad, came back to him as fast as the bullets left his weapon. It didn't slow him down or throw his aim off, it focused him more. This was a six story building, and he had fought his way to the fourth before he realized that he had gotten far ahead of Grunt and Garrus and Samara.
Shepard was on the fourth floor, and dead bodies surrounded him. The camera on the third floor showed his alien friends still fighting. Not having a particularly hard time, but still fighting all the same while Shepard continued on ahead.
"Hmph, you haven't changed a bit John."
Alexander brought up his omni tool and opened the channel.
"Stop him, stop all of them now!"
Fifth floor. The fifth floor, maybe thirty men and women killed by him alone. Shepard found this floor to be very quiet and devoid of activity. He listened carefully, the only sounds coming from his footsteps and the faint sound of gunfire from the lower levels. Doors on either side of the hall stretched the length of it. He reached the end and stopped, drawn to the room on the left. His old room. Something came over him, and he closed his gun up and placed it on his back. The door slid open at his approach and he stepped inside. He remembered sleeping in here, eating, fucking, laughing, crying. The furniture was different, but he didn't need it to remember. Was he missing this?
Something sharp slashed at his throat , bouncing off of his neck armor and cutting his chin open. He spun around and his hands found a neck, a slender woman's neck, and the back of blond hair. A woman struggled under his hold and stared at him with fearful eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks. Shepard tried to get a hold of himself, but the blood dripping down, her audacity at trying to stab him. He looked her right in the eye, slid his hand from her neck to her chin, his other hand to her crown, and twisted her neck sharply so that a meaty crack echoed in the room. Her eyes, still open, showed no life, only her last expression of terror and the dried tears. Shepard let her drop to the ground roughly and walked out, completely numb. Numb from what, he dared not to think about.
Shepard had reached the sixth and final floor and was heading towards the main office. Alexander watched on the camera outside the office and watched Shepard kick the door in.
The doors flew open, the same wood doors that were here years ago. Shepard had his Revenant unfolding as he walked in, ready to see the beared old face of Alexander. What he saw instead was pathetic.
"Wait, wait please just stop!" Said a man cowering behind his desk.
"Who the hell are you supposed to be?" Shepard asked confusedly.
The man still cowered behind his desk, thinking it some impenetrable shield. replied with a shaky voice.
"My name is Johnathan, and this is my office, my damn building!"
"Where is Alexander?"
"Alexander? That old man hasn't been around here for almost for years now. He put me in charge of the Reds, said he was retiring.
Shepard had a joyless, mental smirk. Of course Alexander would put this scape goat here in his place. He could work with Rico behind the scenes while this spineless little puke could think himself the leader of a bunch of xenophobic punks.
"Where is the Quarian?"
"What?"
"The Quarian! Where is the Quarian! Where the fuck is Tali!"
Johnathan was shaking uncontrollably now.
"She must be at his estate, with Alexander. She was never brought here at all, just this guy head to toe in armor who told us that she would be with him."
Shepard was out the door quicker than Johnathan was able to finish his sentence.
The ride to the estate took longer than expected, though the loneliness may have added to it. Shepard had commandeered a vehicle left for the estate. He left the others behind, they would only get in the way right now. This was something he needed to do alone. Alexander's estate was in the upper city, in a richer area. Shepard docked the vehicle and approached the doorman.
"Name?" The doorman asked.
"Let me in." Shepard replied.
Before the doorman could reply, voices buzzed in his intercom. He then opened the door.
"You're expected."
"I'll bet."
The inside of the estate was lavish and clean, and expensive by the looks of it. Portraits, small sculptures, and fine leather chairs dominated the scenery.
"Up here."
Shepard recognized that voice perfectly. He began climbing the stairs and stopped before making himself seen at the top. He looked at his armor, and realized he was dirty and bloody. Why did he care how he looked to Alexander? He took a deep breath, feeling nervous, and walked up the last few steps. He saw screens, and a desk, and lounge chair, and something gray, tired, and angry.
"What did I tell you about looking presentable?" Alexander scolded Shepard.
Shepard couldn't believe what he just heard. All that has happened recently, and Alexander was berating him for his clothing?
"Where is Tali?"
"Who?"
"The girl you kidnapped. Her name is Tali."
"Aw yeah, that fishbowl headed thing."
"Shut up!"
"Excuse me?"
"I said shut the hell up! Don't talk about her like that!" Shepard shouted.
"Watch your fucking mouth when you talk to me you little bugger!" Alexander said, standing up.
Shepard was getting very emotional now. He remembered as a young boy that he hated it when Alexander yelled at him. It seems that feeling hadn't subsided after all this time.
"I should blow your goddamn head off right now you little piss-fuck."
Alexander pulled a Carnifex hand cannon out of his desk and aimed it at Shepard, who already had his Phalanx out.
"Fancy pee-shooter you have there John, I remember strapping a couple of them to some of my boys so that they had little more 'umph' when they went to visit a foreman on the space docks."
"I use mine to kill criminals, terrorists, and other bad guys. Your kind of people."
"Oh, the irony in that." Alexander said with a venomous smirk.
Shepard allowed his eye to twitch at that. The irony indeed.
"How long has it been since you've seen me John? Six, seven years?"
"Not nearly long enough." Shepard spat.
"Really? That hurt John. I think I'm owed a little more gratitude than that."
"I think you better release Tali before I kill you in your own home."
"I don't think you'll kill me John, I can tell."
"Are you willing to risk it?"
Alexander dropped his pistol to the ground with a thud.
"I'm not risking anything. I know you too well."
"You don't know anything about me!" Shepard lied to himself.
"I watched you grow up from the oh so tender age of eight to twenty four, I'm know you better than probably anybody else."
"I've changed, I'm not your lapdog anymore, I seen the error of my ways."
"Ha! I don't know what happened to you during that job on Mindoir, but it clearly gave you some misguided sense of absolution."
"You weren't there, you never were. We had to do all your dirty work."
"That dirty work is what kept you fed, clothed, educated, and alive. And don't tell me that you didn't enjoy it."
"I wasn't given a choice!"
"Bullshit! A dragged your sorry little ass out of that alley and taught you how to survive and prosper. Turns out you were a natural at what I did, you can hardly blame me for that. You even took a little protege of your own, but we all saw what a messed up fuck he turned out to be."
Shepard shot a statue behind Alexander, the shaved off piece of metal just almost scraping his ear. Shepard was high on adrenaline. He had missed. In the split second that it took the bullet to leave the barrel and crash into the face of the marble statue, Shepard plowed through all of the sixteen years worth of memories that he had been a member of the Reds, learning from Alexander, working for Alexander, respecting and admiring Alexander. Then the day when he turned his back on the Reds, and them, and Alexander.
Seven years ago.
They both sat in the same room, at the same desk, across from one another. Each saw something in the other that he didn't like, something that they didn't see before. Shepard saw scum, and a complete lack of moral responsibility. Alexander saw betrayal, and hypocrisy. Alexander picked up his shot glass and let the bottle of whiskey hover over it. In a fit of anger he tossed the glass across the room, shattering it, and proceeded to drink directly from the bottle. Shepard sat silently, dry blood and ash staining his skin, his blood shot eyes looking almost demonic in withing the blackened, stained skin.
"What the hell did I tell you about looking presentable? Hmm?" Alexander asked him, not really caring but too distraught with emotion to ignore it.
Shepard didn't say anything, just lowered his eyes to the ground.
"Answer me for fuck sake!"
Shepard remained the same, silent and bowed. Alexander pulled a gun out of the drawer and slammed it down on the desktop. He loosely pointed it at Shepard, but didn't have his finger on the trigger.
"Why? Why John, why have you done this?"
"I'm done."
"What?"
"I'm done with this gang. The cops are probably on their way here right now to. If you want to kill me, then do it now, because you won't get another chance."
Alexander placed his finger on the trigger, and took another swig from the whiskey bottle. He looked at it and gave it a disgusted look and dropped it on the ground, spilling the contents at his feet.
"I can't believe that you of all people would do this to me. I raised you like my own, I cared about you like my own flesh and blood. This gang was your family!"
Shepard looked at him with blank eyes. He was spent, and scarred, mentally and physically.
"I know."
The both of them stared at each other. Anguish painted Alexander's face, and Shepard remained a blank slate. Alexander dropped his gun with shaking hands, unable to finish it. His own advice, 'Never let anyone hurt you.', he couldn't follow it, not with this. He thought of Shepard as an adoptive son, as a testament to all his work and energy. Now he was a living insult to it, and yet he could not take Shepard's life.
Shepard got up from his seat and walked out the door. He wanted to turn and say goodbye. He wanted to say he was sorry for everything, but if he did, then he would be truly lost. So he left, and his inner sobs of sorrow matched the intensity of Alexander's outward ones behind him.
Alexander rubbed his ear instinctively, checking it for any kind of wound. He turned to look at the destroyed sculpture laying on the ground.
"Hit a sore spot did? Do you have any idea how much that statue was worth?"
"Do you know how much it'll cost to get a new pair of legs?"
"You probably like to think you've changed with some soul searching and fancy medals John, but your still the same man I raised."
"I've wiped out your gang..."
"Again." Alexander interrupted.
"Because you guys have been fucking with me. Tyrone tried to drug me, Rico tried to sell me to the people who took my ship and crew, and now you have Tali hostage. I won't stop with your lackeys Alexander. I've got new people to care about in my life. Now give Tali back. Now."
"I don't have her anymore. I guess that the whole reason you're here is that the 'face' of the Reds told you that I was holding her for this guy in armor, the one who contacted me and showed an intense desire to have you and your squad and this Admiral Hackett, preferably alive. He told me that your ship was stolen, but once I found out it was from an Alliance base, I didn't want any part in it. But Rico always was too greedy for his own good, spending money and using man power behind my back. I would have killed him myself if you hadn't. But you killed my men and interfered in my operations, and I couldn't let that go. So I called up the Informant and made a deal. He picked your fine assed friend up about six hours ago. I don't know who he works for or where he went, so it looks like your trail has run cold."
Shepard lowered his pistol, barely able to hold it. Tali was out of his reach, and he didn't know where to find her. He felt so damn ashamed about his last conversation with her, so stupid for not coming here first instead of assaulting the Reds base. He needed to calm down, needed to think and regroup, needed a plan. He turned to leave back down the stairs, but turned around slowly to face Alexander.
"I don't care what you may have done for me in the past. Raising me, not coming after me when I left, staying away. If she is hurt, I'm coming back and doing what should have been done years ago."
Alexander just stared right back at him, either unconvinced or too angry to care. Shepard left the estate, almost clobbering the doorman as he came out, and left the grounds until he was just on the outskirts of the property. His feet had become lead again, the knot clogging his throat. He tried to rationalize everything, but it was just too hard. Tali's fate was uncertain, the Informant was actively trying to caputre him and his friends for somebody, and Alexander. He lied to himself again. It wasn't over and done with between them. Shepard didn't think he had the will to actually kill him.
The blast came before the sound, a force of air pushing him slightly and then an explosion rocking his ears. Shepard turned to see the estate he had been in mere minutes ago set ablaze with pieces of it falling from the sky. Shepard fell to his knees, the orange and red reflecting off his armor and eyes. Reflecting off of his back were the colors of police craft lights.
And there you go, Shepard has finally had an opportunity to get some closure with Alexander. And then Alexander got blown the hell up. The next chapter, the shit hits the fan big time!