-At the docking bay-
"Garrus Vakarian," I said as I approached the familiar turian standing outside of the airlock.
"Howard," he greeted, "heard they gave you a turian ship and I had to see this myself. I assume you've heard about what happened to the Normandy?"
"Unfortunately. I could use your help, actually," I admitted.
"What, the big bad human can't handle something on his own? When's the last time you admitted that?"
"The day after I tried ryncol. This is serious Garrus, Spectre business," I said evenly.
"We'll talk on the ship then," he said stepping towards the airlock. We entered and immediately had guns pointed at us.
"Who confirmed your Spectre status?" asked the one in front.
"The asari councilor was the first to mention it," I said, keeping a barrier around me and Garrus. He signaled for the men to stand down and they returned to their stations.
"Sorry about that, the councilor told us you were coming but didn't mention anything about company," he said nodding towards Garrus.
"Yeah, I met him at the bay and asked him to come along. I can trust him to watch my back, no offense."
"None taken. Only a fool doesn't get to know his crew. Especially someone doing something as dangerous as you. My name is T'veck. I'm the pilot here and will be responsible for getting you anything you need before you go into the field."
"Just focus on getting us to Omega, Garrus has his guns and armor. Is there a captain's quarters somewhere?"
"Yes, take the stairs one flight up. It is the only room on the level," T'veck informed me.
"Thanks come on Garrus."
We made our way up the stairs and I made to talk before Garrus silenced me. He searched the room for about 20 minutes before he nodded, satisfied with whatever he was doing.
"Sorry," he apologized, "I was checking the room for any bugs. Figured you wouldn't want anyone overhearing."
"Thanks, Garrus. I'll keep it short, Nihlus has went missing."
"How does a Spectre just go missing?"
"I have no clue. There's more though, Liara sent an asari commando to personally deliver me a message."
"How does Liara have control of a commando? Their ridiculously expensive to hire, unless you have your own personal squad," he supplied.
"That's not the point. Whoever had the information that Liara gave me, is looking for a way to blackmail me into working for them. Like, they had scans of my biography that I didn't even know existed, Garrus. The asari also gave me a warning before she left, the shadows are watching. Do you have any idea what that could mean?"
"Well, I've got an idea. It could be the Shadow Broker."
"Who's that?"
"Only the most powerful information broker on the planet. Apparently, they have people in every major organization, everywhere. The Alliance, asari commandos, STG, Citadel, and there's even rumors of a mole in the Spectres."
"What would I have to do to keep someone safe from them?"
"Honestly, keep them close. If the broker really does have agents everywhere, it's probably the safest place to be."
"Garrus… it's not people that are close to me. It's Ashley's family. I'm not sure if that's an option."
"I see. Maybe try and work out some protection for them with Anderson? He should have people he trusts," Garrus suggested.
"I don't suppose you're for hire, are you?" I asked with a smirk.
"Not exactly," he said, his mandibles flaring.
"Either way we have to focus on the mission at hand. What do you know about Omega?"
"From my own experiences? Not a thing. Everyone knows of Aria T'loak, though. She apparently runs Omega and keeps most merc groups on a tight leash."
"So, if I was looking for information…" I started.
"Aria is our best bet. Information isn't cheap either."
"Ugh, I'm going to be broke again after this, aren't I?"
"Yep."
"Get some sleep, Garrus. We'll be there in a few hours," I ordered as I laid back on the bed.
-Timeskip-
"Stop right there," a batarian ordered us after we stepped out of the airlock. "Aria wants to talk to you."
"Looks like we got the VIP treatment," I said looking back at Garrus, "Lead the way."
We followed him pass a hanar that was arguing with a human trying to get in. We walked through a corridor and passed through a door leading to what is either the best bar, or worst club I've ever been in. He motioned for me to go up the stairs. Garrus went to follow me but was cut off by the guard.
"Only the human. You'll have to wait down here."
"It's fine Garrus, go start a fight or something," I dismissed him before heading up the stairs. When I reached the top I noticed an asari in a white jacket and saw an opportunity I couldn't resist.
"You're part of the white jacket organization too? Sweet. Everyone knows only the hardest of hard asses wear white on a battlefield." Aria snorted at this and another batarian stepped forward and began to start a scan on me. I drew my pistol and fired a round in his leg. I then pressed the pistol in between his eyes and spoke again. "What the hell is this? you could have at least asked me to dinner first."
Aria actually gave a smirk at this and waved off the other guard who was aiming at me. She motioned for me to sit and I did, after hitting the batarian with my pistol.
"It was just a scan to make sure you weren't an imposter. He should have explained beforehand though, would have saved him the headache later," she said.
"I'm here looking for a turian Spectre. I'm prepared to pay for the information," I said motioning towards a credit chit.
"Hmm, two Spectres on my station within a month is bad for my business. You make people nervous, you see," she said.
"How did you know I'm a Spectre?" I asked warily.
"You can say that Tevos and I are old acquaintances. She messaged me and let me know ahead of time."
"Alright, what about Nihlus?"
"Keep your money. We seem to have a mutual problem. He was kidnapped by a particularly annoying group of batarian slavers. Survivors of the raid on Torfan, they claim. Realistically, they're probably just another group of greedy mercs looking for some fast reputation. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, but they messed with Omega's number one rule."
"Which would be?" I humored her.
"Don't fuck with Aria," she simply said.
"As appealing as the though is, I'm still a virgin, fortunately."
"How is that fortunate?" she asked, although she didn't really seem to care.
"Batarian slavers aren't very picky to who you are," I left that hanging.
"Anyway," she continued, unaffected, "I'll forward you the location of where the Spectre is. All I ask is you wear this camera on your gun and make the rescue as bloody as possible."
"Sure, I have no problem getting dirty. Want to tell me why, though?"
"I'm going to send the vids to their boss. Remind him to pay his protection fees."
"Got it. I'll be back later with the vid."
"Whatever," she said dismissing me.
I walked down the stairs and exited the club, Garrus following me out.
"So where are we going?" he asked.
"Some shit apartment a couple of blocks from here. Put this on your rifle and let me handle it, for the most part," I told him, tossing the camera. He caught it and looked at me skeptically.
"What are you going to do?" he asked warily.
I lifted my hand, a red glow present, and said, "What I do best. Put on a show."
-A bit later-
"So much for putting on a show," Garrus mocked as he ducked behind a table.
"How was I supposed to know they had a krogan? All Aria told me were batarians," I said blind firing my pistol.
"Don't you literally live on a world with krogan? Haven't you got some tricks to kill them easier?"
"Just one, thanks for the idea Garrus," I said holstering my pistol. "KROGAN! I CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL FOR THE TURIAN!" I screamed. The gunfire stopped, and I heard a groan from where Garrus was.
"You are hardly worth killing, human. Why should I accept?" came a gruff reply.
"Because, how many krogan say they killed Alliance Special Ops? None, because I'm the only one," I said appealing to his ego.
"I accept, human. Since I feel generous, I'll let you pick the terms of our duel."
"What about close quarters weapons only? Guns are pretty overrated."
"HA! It's your funeral, kid," he said pulling out the ceremonial dagger that most krogan carry.
"Oh, that's cute," I said removing the dagger that Wrex gave me when we came back to Tuchanka. "Looks like we match. Are you ready?"
"RARGH!" he screamed and charged me.
I stood in place, my biotic glowing, then I tried to dive out of the way at the last minute. I must have miscalculated because he clipped me and sent me crashing into the floor. I stood, the biotic energy literally dripping off my knife.
"Now you've pissed me off," and with that I biotically charged the krogan. It didn't do much to him, but I stumbled him long enough to charge my leg. I kicked him in his knee, causing it to bend backwards with a sickening crunch. He yelled out in pain and tried to slash at me, but I stepped forward into his swing and slashed my own blade through his wrist. I then launched another biotically charged knee into his chest, causing him to fall on the ground, coughing. He tried crawling away, but I just straddled his back hump.
"Time to see if the rumors are true, I've always wanted to try this." I said, stabbing my blade into his head. After some digging, I ripped forward and his head plate ripped right out from his skull. I looked up at the remaining batarians, cowering at fear at this point, and asked, "Who wants to play now?"
-Back in the Afterlife with Aria-
"I assume your mission was successful?" she said with a disgusted face.
"Hey, it's not easy to stay clean while gouging out batarians' eyeballs and ripping the skull off a fucking krogan," I said pissed. "Do you want to know the best part? Nihlus wasn't even fucking there. You better start explain before Omega's rule gets blown to hell and back."
"Calm down," she started, not impressed, "We received news that he was sold not long before you arrived here to the Eclipse. I arranged a meeting and the Spectre is in the med bay on your ship right now."
"Oh, sorry about that whole I'm gonna fuck with Aria thing. You know I was just joking, right?" I asked nervously.
"Don't worry, you amuse me, so I'll let you go. If your ever back in Omega, bring cleaner clothes," she said as started ignoring me. My signal to leave. I stood, thanking her one more time and made my way to where Garrus was sitting at the bar.
"Come on, Garrus. It's time to leave."
"I think I'm gonna stick around here for a while," he replied.
"Why? This isn't exactly the prettiest place in the galaxy to vacation at."
"Back on the Normandy, Shepard and I talked a bit about how working at c-sec with all the red tape would only hold me back. Here though, I feel like I could make a difference. It only seems right that I do what I can, with what happened to Shepard," he said.
"That's a great idea, buddy. I'll come visit you sometime and we'll have to kick these guys asses. See you then," I said giving him a manly hug. "Thanks for having my back on this too."
"Anytime Howard."
I made my way out of the bar and back onto the ship, drawing a bunch of strange looks. If I saw someone covered in blood and pieces of other organs, I would probably avoid them too. As I got onto the ship, T'veck was there waiting on me.
"How's our boy?" I asked, easing my way towards my quarters. I need a shower.
"He's unconscious, but stable. We recommend getting him back to the Citadel for a better scan, though."
"Set a course and wake me up when we get there."
"Rodger that, sir."
Thus began the reign of Archangel. So, I've noticed that it's not showing when I update my stories on the website, so be sure that your not skipping chapters. Other than that, review, review, review.
This is Cloaked Protagonist,
Signing Off