A/N: OK first of all I apologise. I said I was going to upload this chapter on Sunday and I didn't as I ended up being busier than I thought I would be. I've been wrestling a bit with how I should write this chapter so I hope this one is up to scratch.
Chapter 11
I earned how much?
Shepherd blinked at the screen displaying a procession of zeros.
Well this beats my Alliance pay grade she thought. And for all the shit Cerberus put me through I'm worth every penny…and more she mused. Her thoughts turned to the events of the past few months; I still feel like a whore though.
"What?" Shepherd whirled around at the voice realising belatedly she had spoken aloud.
"It's nothing Garrus, let's get moving" she said stepping away from the banking terminal.
Shepherd had intended to go gun and armour shopping with Garrus, but with her new found wealth, decided to detour through an upmarket street specialising in human clothing. She pressed her fingers to the glass of one shop and admired the shoes inside. Ignoring Garrus's huffing behind her she walked in and proceeded to try on a few pairs. After trying on the fifth pair, she turned to Garrus and asked "so what do you think of these ones?" Garrus rolled his eyes. Shepherd didn't mind though, she didn't really want his opinion, in fact she wasn't really that bothered about buying shoes either, she was only asking to wind him up further. She laughed at him, it was so funny that she had asked Garrus the same sort of question when they were out shopping for sniper rifles but he never huffed like he was now, he enjoyed that, but the minute she went to get something he wasn't interested in, he wanted to make a fuss. Men she thought, all the same no matter the species.
"Uh…Shepherd, can you make it quick…people are starting to think we're a couple" Garrus said lowly. Shepherd brought a hand to her chest feigning insult and gave an exaggerated gasp "I'm not good enough for you Vakarian?" Garrus gave a small smile and motioned very subtly at the woman behind the counter. The blonde human woman was stared daggers at them her mouth pursed together in disgust. Oh Shepherd thought. She grinned mischievously at her friend pulling on his arm signalling for him to stoop down a little. Once he was low enough to be face to face with Shepherd, she draped her arms around his neck, kissing his scarred cheek. The woman balked turning bright red. Garrus, picking up on the show put his arm around Shepherds waist. "Let's go dear, I'm sure we can spend outr money elsewhere" he said, turning to give the shop keeper a glare of his own.
Shepherd and Garrus burst into peals of laughter almost the second they emerged from the shop.
"Did you see her face?!" Garrus roared
Shepherd cried in mirth with her hands on her knees
"Well that showed her"
"Indeed"
"You didn't get your shoes" Garrus said sobering a little
"Nah, I don't like to patronise the businesses of xenophobes"
Garrus groaned a little "we're not going to another shoe shop are we?"
"Nope" the look of relief on the turian'sface was palpable.
"Let's get that sniper rifle you wanted" Shepherd replied pushing him playfully, resolving to go clothes shopping another time without a moany turian in tow.
"Oh yeah, and Garrus?"
"Yeah Shepherd?"
"Don't ever call me dear again"
Along with guns, Shepard bought restocks for the Normandy and also some improved food options for Gardner to use. Gardener tried his best but it seemed food was the one thing Cerberus decided to cut costs on. She had been buying her own food since she had been on the New Normandy. With all the items arranged to be delivered to the ship, Shepard parted ways with Garrus and made her way to the warehouse district of the Citadel.
Much had changed about the Citadel since Sovereign's attack on the Citadel but this district had changed very little and her feet took her down the familiar route. As a soldier often travelling in deep space, she had had no permanent home, just ship life and the temporary apartments the Alliance provided. As such she had kept her few possessions in storage on the Citadel under a moniker so it was difficult to trace. She was genuinely surprised that after two years, her pass code was still validated and all of her possessions had remained untouched in the room she had left them in. She carefully prised open the crates and sifted through the contents. Her cabin was pretty bare and she had little clothes without a Cerberus logo imprinted on them so she searched through her things with the mind to take some of it. She sat cross-legged on the cold concrete floor of the little room (merely an industrial container divided by walls of metal) and folded the clothes she had decided to take into a duffel bag she had bought while she was with Garrus. Nestled in a leather jacket she found a holo disk. She switched it on and watched as the memories danced before her eyes: There were pictures of the entire Normandy crew in group shots, the candid photos Tali loved taking of everyone, pictures of her and Garrus, Liara, Kaidan. There were also pictures of Jake, Ma and Frank and even long forgotten pictures of herself as a child and as a teenager. Reminiscing on the good times, time began to slip away and she realised she had been sitting in that grey windowless room for two hours. She got up, brushed off her clothes and pack the rest of the things away; the holo disk, her medals, a huge data cache of Frank's music, some of her watches and sunglasses. She took one last look at the room and locked the door behind her.
Dr Chakwas beamed at the bottle of Serrice Ice Brandy, cradling it in her hands lovingly.
"Thank you" she said studying the label, "I always regretted not opening that original bottle when I still could". She gently set the brandy down on her desk.
"Why don't we open this bottle right here, right now? You and me"
Shepard could only grin at the doctor's enthusiasm.
"Sure"
Shepard and Chakwas sat at the doctor's desk wistfully drinking the potent brandy and laughing about the 'good old days' on the original Normandy. It was nice to see Chakwas so laid back and giggling almost with school girl abandon. Everyone liked Karin Chakwas and was loath to antagonise her. It was hard to act tough with a woman who carried out your mandatory physical examination.
"You must be happy Garrus is here. Poor soul I'm sorry I wasn't able to do much more for his face, but I suspect most of his scars are internal"
"Yes, I suppose that's normally the way with soldiers"
"Indeed"
Shepard crossed her legs, swirling the liquid in her glass thoughtfully.
"Chakwas, why do you think the Alliance just left everyone down there?"
"Alchera you mean? Politics most likely, I didn't understand it myself." The older woman sighed "After all that time they spent exalting you and your crew's efforts whilst simultaneously embarking on a grand cover up." She shook her head, a little more enthusiastically than usual.
"Did you know Udina put himself forward to give your eulogy?
"No I hadn't heard that" She wasn't even surprised. That sounded just like him
Snivelling bastard
"But don't worry dear," she said placing a hand on Shepard's knee, "Anderson and Kaidan made sure that it didn't come to that...God that man was so vile, whoring himself out for political points…" she trailed off, seemingly watching Mordin flit past with a plate of food, devouring hurriedly as he headed for the elevator.
"And what of you and Kaidan?" the doctor asked suddenly
"What do you mean?" Shepard answered, reluctant to talk about him right now
"Don't play coy with me Shepard, I knew about you two. You may have been able to fool the brass but I knew. The poor boy was in pieces when you died. It took him some time to believe it."
"Yeah well, we've taken different paths in life" the younger woman muttered in to her glass
The doctor nodded blearily
"You're doing the right thing Shepard, don't let anyone tell you differently"
Shepard laughed ruefully "I just wish I knew what side I'm on exactly"
The silvery haired woman suddenly jumped out of her lull and grabbed Shepard's shoulder looking into her eyes. "You're on the galaxy's side Shepard. Do you really think you would have been better off with the Alliance? Look at them! With their fingers up their asses...Blind! They would have stuck you behind a bloody desk for the rest of your years if they had their way and you know it!" She said slamming her glass on the desk and gesturing animatedly.
"Do you think I want to work with a bunch of human extremists? No dear I don't but I joined to work for you, and that's why all of us are here. As long as you are in charge this is your operation, not Cerberus's."
She smiled at the Commander reaching for the bottle now nearing empty
"Now, enough of the depressing stuff, let's make a toast" She raised her full glass to the ceiling prompting Shepard, some of the liquid splashing to the shiny floor.
"To the people we care for"
"May we never take them for granted"
The doctor had drank so much that she needed to lie down after their drinking session and so Shepard headed for the solitude of her once sparse cabin, now made more welcoming with the things she had taken out of storage. She had also bought a few model ships to put together and bought frames for some of the holos which now sat at her desk accompanying the one she had of Kaidan from the day she had woken up in the ill fated Cerberus station. It had been amongst her personal effects that Cerberus had salvaged from the wreckage. She switched on the music console that she had uploaded Frank's disc to and notes of music wafted through the air breaking the silence that had been her company for months before.
Baby do you understand me now But oh, I'm just a soul whose intentions are good
If sometimes you see that I'm mad
Don'tcha know that no one alive can always be an angel?
When everything goes wrong you see some bad
Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood
What the hell was the Illusive man thinking? Thieves, mercenaries, psychopathic biotics, newborn krogan and now an assassin. Jacob was failing to see how the ground team choices were beneficial to the main objective. Garrus and Mordin he could understand, but everyone else seemed to have questionable motives and loyalties. He had known enough assassins in his career to know they were not to be trusted. There could be no honour from someone who snuck on unsuspecting people killing them for cold hard cash.
The fact that the assassin was not even dememding a payment only alarmed Jacob further. If money didn't motivate him, what did? What did he want? Was he some kind of spy? But Shepard seemed to have no such concerns.
"Jacob, need I remind you that you work for a terrorist organisation with a history of killing admiral's who know too much, killing children in order to produce biotics and carrying out horrific experiments on civilians"
"Shepard you know my reasons for joining Cerberus"
"Yes and I respect that, hell I'm here for the same reason as you; to make a difference where the Alliance won't. I know you think you can absolve yourself because you're not directly involved with those activities, but those are the facts Jacob, we're not exactly working for Vrolic Syndrome Research here. I understand your concerns, but these are the cards we've been dealt. Thane says he's here to help and I'm inclined to believe him. Trust me on this".
"Hi I'm Kelly, the ship's yeoman" said the chirpy redhead extending her palm, "Shepard would normally show you around but as she's in a meeting at the moment, I'm here to give you the grand tour"
The wide eyed girl took him around the vast ship and introduced him to the members of the ground team dotted bout as well as the Cerberus permanent staff. The reactions of the ground team varied but the Cerberus staff greeted him with polite yet cold apprehension. It was just as well, he was not here to make friends, however he felt as if he was being parades around for the yeoman's curious amusement.
He was relieved to be alone in his assigned room at last away from the prying eyes and Kelly's endless questions. The AI had been correct; the room was pleasantly dry. There was not much to unpack; he had given most of his possessions away, expecting today to be his last. He removed the crumpled notes of cash from the nozzle of one of his rifles, smoothing them out on the table. He had intended this as his escape and evasion money; he had been prepared to bribe a local for information or for transport to the Dantius Towers but in the end he had spent very little of it. This was now all the money he had left in the world. He finished unpacking and began to pray.
He prayed to Kalihira to admit the souls he had cast into the sea, and beseeched Amonkira to strengthen his stricken body to fulfil his new purpose.
He should have been with Irikah, in her arms at last but he had to beg her forgiveness once more
Just one more job my love…there are still many wrongs for me to right…and then I shall join you. Abetter man in death than I was in life to you
There had to be some higher purpose for which the Gods had chosen to spare his life
Shepard and her cadre had blazed through the Dantius Towers on wings of fire and fury, cutting a brutal swath of blood through the unsuspecting Eclipse guards. He had counting on dying up there, to drift to the sea at last, but this…this was completely outside of his projections.
On his way up he had passed a few floors expecting heavy resistance but had instead found the floors and walls bloodied, the rooms devoid of hostiles. Initially he had concluded that she was there to assassinate Nassana herself and so he had pushed himself and fought his way through to get to the nefarious asari first. He would not be dishonoured on his last job. He could not go to the sea without fulfilling his promise. He had broken too many.
He recalled how he had dropped an Eclipse guard's spent coil before the Commander
Shepard swears under her breath, shoving the now dead mercenary with a booted foot.
"this guy must really want this job since he's pulling out all the stops to impress me. Head shots, saving civilians and dropping mercs at my feet. What more could a girl want?" she wonders aloud, to no one in particular, maybe expecting I am listening.
"He reminds me a cat I had" the heavily scarred man beside her says flippantly.
And then he knew she wasn't there for Nassana, she was there for him.
He had though it foolish for only three people to walk through two towers overrun by trigger happy mercenaries so exposed, but the trio had brought so much destruction he could hear the Eclipse gang members exchanging increasingly panicked radio chatter.
"Commander Shepard is in the building!" they exclaimed fearfully. It was if his kills meant nothing at all, Shepard was the main event and soon all of the Eclipse mercenaries had concluded that she was in fact the assassin out for Nassana's blood.
No matter
The distraction proved invaluable
The woman supposed dead for two years had stood there full of fire and life, goading the Nassana amused at her dire predicament and the asari's panic stricken face after she had subjected her workers to such wanton cruelty. Nassana couldn't keep still, her shoulder twitching nervously.
"You want money? How much do you want?" Her voice was shrill with desperation. Shepard only laughed.
"You think this is about money? Oh no Nassana" the Commander shook her head in mock pity. "That's your biggest mistake. Everything to you is about money. But this time your money cannot save you. The person here for you is doing this for free".
Nassana rifled around her desk for a credit chit, still not understanding.
"Then I'll pay you to keep them away from me!" She shrieked her knuckles a much paler shade of blue as she tightly gripped the edge of her huge desk.
Shepard crossed her arms in front of her chest and leaned forward. "Keep your money; I'm just here for the show"
The chime for the door sounded, pulling him out of his thoughts
"Commander Shepard requests entry" the AI notified him helpfully. He had wanted to be alone with his thoughts a while longer, but he was indeed curious to speak to this woman, she was now his employer after all
"Thank you" he replied granting the request.
A/N: So Thane finally makes an appearance! Please note the parallels I am adding between the various characters and Shepard. She is connected to everyone in different ways.
PS: The song is 'Don't let me be misuderstood' performed by Nina Simone