MASS EFFECT DESCENCION: CHAPTER 20

Celest's blood was dried on his armor and hand as Sh'sk made his way to Afterlife. He went straight there without hesitation. Something had to be done. He wasn't going to let Aria just sent this one out. Gasps were heard from the patrons waiting to go into the club. He didn't care what they were saying about him. Fuck them. The elcor manning the queue shifted his large body over to block Sh'sk's path. "Sternly, you cannot enter."

Sh'sk slowly raised his head up to look up at the towering alien. "Don't fuck with me…" He hissed through his clenched sharp incisors.

The elcor moved his thick front legs a little in a slight threatening demeanor. All for show, Sh'sk knew. The elcor did have powerful deadly front legs that could crush their enemies if they were foolish enough to attack them straight on. On the downside, they were slow and Sh'sk would distance himself and launch a strong biotic attack before the alien had a chance to even think about confronting him. "Annoyed, go away."

"Aria is not wanting any audiences today." Moklan, a batarian that was guarding the main door, interjected as he walked down the steps to see what the commotion was about. "I suggest that you go back down the pisshole that you came from, Sun."

"My entire unit was killed by Archangel!" Sh'sk found himself shaking in rage from being held up as he tried his best not to just blast his way in. "Aria will see me. What's your price?"

"Condescending, you are not dressed to see her." The elcor spoke up again.

"What about us?" A male shouted from the line nearby.

"Yeah! We have been waiting!" A woman added in angrily. "Make the batarian get in the back of the line!"

The elcor sighed. "Tiresome, I'm coming back." He slowly moved away to leave Moklan to deal with Sh'sk.

"One hundred creds." Moklan flatly said. "I'll call her, but if she doesn't want to see you, I still keep it."

"Fine." Sh'sk pulled out his credit chit and let Moklan swipe it subtract the funds from his account and add to his own.

Moklan tapped his ear comm. "Aria…the Blue Suns guy is back. Bloody."

"His?" Sh'sk could hear Aria's answer come over the ear piece. There was no genuine concern in her voice.

"Don't think so. He's demanding to see you. Something about Archangel."

Aria scoffed, "He and every damn merc on this station. Let him in."

Moklan grunted towards the door with his gun. "Go in."

Sh'sk didn't mutter a thank you as he pushed his way through the crowd to get inside. A few patrons scurried away quickly from giving him a look. Just as he was at the center of the club, he overheard a familiar laughter coming from the bar. He stopped to look at his right and saw Liselle sitting there with a drink in her hand. She was accompanied by two others. One, he recognized as Sanak and the other was a human. The human appeared at least fifteen years older than Liselle, even though, that was a deception. Liselle was centuries old, but her youthful appearance masked that. She was still a maiden in her stage of life. The human was sitting was close to her. A little bit too close for his liking. The laughter quickly dissipated and then there was a startled gasp. "Sh'sk? What happened to you?"

"My men and I were attacked. It was Archangel."

Sanak chuckled. "You really think Aria is going to bail you out?"

Angrily, Sh'sk moved over and punched Sanak square in the face. The impact made the batarian stumbled backwards, nearly falling over the counter. Glasses were knocked on the ground and drinks were spilled. "Sh'sk!" Liselle exclaimed from the sudden outburst as she jumped out of her chair.

The male next to her, dashed over and shoved Sh'sk away from their group. "Cool it, pal."

"Get away from me, human!" Sh'sk barked as he used a singularity attack to throw an empty chair to block the man's path to him.

The man moved to engage, but Liselle grabbed his arm. "Paul, don't."

Sh'sk gaped at her painfully as he saw the true emotions in her eyes as she looked upon the other in worry. Taking a deep breath through his nostrils, he moved on to his intended target: the platform where Aria T'Loak was sitting.

Aria shook her head in amusement as he watched him walk up the steps. "Well, well. Look what the vorcha brought in. About time you came up here. What took you?" Her voice grew short.

"I had to deal with something." Sh'sk felt his chest become tight as he mused about Liselle and Paul. How long had she been with him? Even when he and her went to bed? Yet again, was he being played with?

"Yes, and most of Afterlife saw it." Aria's face flooded with displeasure as she stood up from her couch. "Well, obviously, you couldn't bathe before you came to see me. It must be important. What's on your mind?"

"Archangel attacked my men and I near the docks. Killed all of them, but me."

"How lucky of you." Aria commented curtly.

"I lost some good people. They didn't deserve to die like that. We were only shipping weapons mods. Something needs to be done about this guy. I have already lost territory because of the plague." He reminded her firmly. "Now I'm losing business. If this keeps up, we will have to renegotiate your fees."

"That's not going to happen." Aria quickly shot down the notion. "You think that you're the only group that is being bothered by Archangel? I have already had the Eclipse and Blood pack leaders come here to complain about him. It was only a matter of time I figured until you would get hit. I guess you should consider yourself lucky that Archangel chose your group last."

"They did?" Sh'sk tilted his head to the right, a sign of frustration to his people. "Are you supporting them?"

Aria turned around to look at him. "You think that I am? As I said before, Omega doesn't care about the petty merc wars. I'm not helping them and I'm not helping you."

Sh'sk stared at her incredulously. "Why the hell not? It's going to affect you too!" He shot back. "I thought that you- "

"Give you aid since I slept with you?" Aria rolled her eyes as she turned back around to look at the clubgoers below, dancing way, oblivious to the discussion above. "I do not care about you, nor do I love you. You are useful to me and if I were you, I would continue to be useful. I can easily replace you."

"So, I'm a damn tool." Sh'sk huffed as he shook his head in disbelievement as he followed her gaze out to the club.

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Aria smiled teasingly at him.

"So, who is this guy?" Sh'sk asked.

Aria gave a haphazard shrug. "A turian I've heard. The guy's a ghost."

"One of yours?" He pressed on.

Aria glared at him. "That supposed to be funny? Look, why don't all of you work together and be done with it?"

"That won't happen." Sh'sk turned away as he looked back down the steps. "Is the plague under control?"

"I have the infected areas quarantined. It seems like it's only hitting your territory and the plague isn't coming topside." She walked back over to her couch.

Sh'sk shook his head from her answer and looked at his brother, Anto, who was positioned at one end of the steps then over to Bray that was on the other side. Things were getting bad on Omega and it seemed like they were going to get worse. He wasn't going to die on the asteroid for Aria T' Loak. Innocent people were dying each day and as long as it didn't matter to her, then she was not going to do anything about it. Most of his past years, he found himself harming others for someone else's cause and it only brought him temporary pleasure and happiness. There was always some repercussion to it: His dad being killed on Torfan following the attacks on the Skyllian Verge, Charn leaving after he started to do more of Aria's bidding. "I'm leaving…" His voice trailed off. Did he really say that? It felt like he had no control over his mind as he spoke up.

"What?" The statement confused T'Loak and for once, her neutral guarded face began to falter.

"You heard what I said," Sh'sk turned around on his heel to look at her. "I'm leaving Omega."

"And who will be your protégé? I'm sure I can find someone." She dismissed the resignation with her hand.

"No, I will handle it." Sh'sk firmly said as he moved towards the steps to leave the club.

"Don't come crawling back here if you change your mind." Aria called out to him.

He didn't hesitate as he made his way down the steps. "I won't."

"What are you doing now, brother?" Anto spoke out to him, but Sh'sk ignored his question.

He waited until he exited the club and moved further away from the clubgoers before he tapped his ear piece to reach out to Tarak back at headquarters. "Tarak, you there?"

"Yeah. Been waiting fuckin' hours for your call. What the hell happened? Where is everyone?"

"Dead."

"Celest too?"

"Yeah. Archangel got them."

"Damnit. You hurt, boss?"

"No. I did nail the bastard a few times with biotics. He wasn't expecting it. Look, I don't have much time." Sh'sk gave one more look to the club and saw Bray walking out. The batarian stood at the steps, his four eyes locked on Sh'sk's location. Sh'sk turned to head towards the docks. Figured that Aria would make sure he was true to his word.

"What the hell you talkin' about? What's going on?"

"Tarak, you're in charge. I'm leaving. I'm done with this shit."

The connection became silent for a few seconds before Tarak spoke up. "You tell Aria?"

"Yes, she won't help us. Didn't like the fact that I was leaving either." He pushed his way through the crowd of newcomers to the station to make his way to the transports.

"Surprised she didn't kill you."

"I think she thought I was lying. She sent Bray to follow me out."

"Where you going?"

"I'll figure it out. Just kill Archangel. For our men and for Celest."

"Don't worry. I will."

"Tarak?" Sh'sk stopped when he met the line to purchase passage.

"Yeah?"

"Watch your ass."

Bray remained at the club's entrance and smoked on a cigarette as he watched Sh'sk turn from him down on the streets of Omega to head towards the docks. "So, the bastard wasn't bluffing after all." He muttered as he took out the cigarette to exhale. Aria ordered that he tail him until she knew for sure he was gone, but he really didn't want to deal with the annoying crowd down at the docks. Sh'sk was leaving and that was that.

"Bray." Aria's voice came through the comm. She startled him and he nearly dropped his cigarette.

"Yeah?"

"Did he leave?"

"Yeah, he went to the docks." The line went dead as soon as he said that. The disconnect made Bray shake his head as he stomped out his cigarette. He didn't get it. What made Sh'sk so special to Aria? Whatever the reason, he was gone and he wouldn't have to worry about him again.