Chapter 21
A/N: I'm not setting a precedent here, updating this quickly. This is more of a treat considering my long abscence recently...plus this chapter pretty much wrote itself. I'm gonna be real busy with school stuff soon, so I won't be updating anywhere near as quickly next time. Just so you know.
Enjoy the chapter!
The sudden jolt of the cruiser touching down brings me around, albeit not to my full capacity. Everything's still blurred, sounds stretch and distort, and time seems to jump around erratically. And the exhaustion. I can't move any of my limbs, even blinking takes a superhuman effort. Then the memories come flooding back, the turian shooting me, being dumped into the cruiser, something about Ricardo Fernandez…throughout the blur of my thoughts, emotions and senses, one single thought drives through with absolute clarity.
I'm seriously in the shit.
Someone opens up the trunk cover, the sudden influx of light blinding me temporarily, though the pain is dulled through the haze of whatever I was drugged with. The two turians both stare down at me, then suddenly I'm being carried along by two pairs of talons. They're talking, the flanging voices just recognisable above the persistent buzzing in my ears.
"Ricardo…wants to see…now," one says, the other nodding the affirmative in response. So, I must be at Fernandez's hideout…and I doubt it's to chat about the weather and politics. Time suddenly jolts again, as I'm brought into a darkened room, plastic chair in the centre with one lonely bulb casting a circle of light onto it. The turians dump me onto the chair, and I feel restraints biting into my wrists and ankles as I'm tied to it.
"Wake him up," a new voice says from somewhere within the darkness. The voice is clearer now as the drug starts wearing off…then a huge splash of cold water slams into my body and face, completely dispelling the drug's effects and jolting my body straight up in the chair instinctively.
"That's better," the voice mutters, sounding as if it's getting closer. "We wouldn't want our guest to sleep through what we've got in store for him."
I spit the freezing cold water out of my mouth. "Let me guess. Ricardo Fernandez?"
"Very good, detective." The man himself walks into the light, clapping his hands in a mocking fashion. He's about six feet tall, clean shaven with a short, brown, military hairstyle, dressed in a casual civilian outfit, handcannon pistol strapped to his belt. As my vision adjusts to the general darkness, I see the two turians have left, presumably to stand guard, leaving just Ricardo and an armoured asari leaning against a wall at the back of the room. "Or would you prefer Ian?"
I ignore the blatant jibe. The man has an incredibly annoying voice…a mix of Irving from Resident Evil 5, and someone who would do voice-overs for cartoons. In short, he's the perfect image of a villain everyone really, really hates. "Where am I? What the hell do you want?" I mutter.
"Straight to the point, I see." He laughs. "I like that. Still, you've got no way of escaping here, so I may as well return the favour. You're in a hideout in the 900 blocks on the Citadel, and I want to know everything you do about my little operation. Then, I want to kill you as an example to all your little C-Sec friends." He smirks in a particularly arrogant manner. "I thought this out, as you can tell."
"How did you find me?" I need to keep him talking, try to work out how to get out of here…
"It wasn't hard. Everyone has their price, even C-Sec officers. A bit of bribery goes a long way, I assure you. Finding the human officer who took down an entire mercenary unit wasn't too hard. Tracking you down was even easier," he replies, smugly. "But we're not here for me to answer your questions." Fuck. "I've got a few things I want to check with you, whether you'd like to answer them or not."
"Torture. You certainly tick all the boxes for originality, don't you?"
He laughs, mostly to himself, before suddenly rushing forward and delivering a punch straight to the centre of my face, busting my nose and making my eyes water in pain as warm blood rushes down my face. I think he broke it…shit, that absolutely wrecks!
"I don't appreciate jokes being made at my expense. Especially by someone in such a perilous position as yours. And no, I'm not going to torture you, as much fun as that would be. People will say anything under torture, try to get the pain to end. It's hideously inaccurate, and I've got much better methods." He gestures at the asari at the back of the room. Oh God, I see where this is going… "She will meld with you and get all the information I need. After that, then I might torture you. C-Sec will find your remains in the morning as a warning."
"You're insane!" I shout. "What the hell are you trying to accomplish with the poisoned red sand? Why'd you do it?"
"Shut up!" he snaps, storming back over and delivering a backhand to my face, whipping my head around and stinging my cheek. "You don't ask the questions here, remember?" Another punch, this time to my stomach and causing me to spit out blood. "My asari friend needs me to soften up your mental defences for her, then we'll find out everything you know."
"Come on," I manage to splutter out, blood spraying from my lips onto the floor. "You don't want to tell me why you did it? Your last chance to gloat in the face of your enemy?"
He draws his hand back for another punch, then suddenly steps back, looking thoughtful. "You know, that's not a bad idea," he says, grinning a little manically. "Fine. I've been living on the Citadel for years now, every day seeing the leech on society that is the red sand junkie. Drawing on Council resources, taking our tax credits, fuelling a culture of crime and murder in the lower wards." He spits on the floor. "Those people are a plague on the rest of us, bringing us down in a mess of death and addiction. Without them, the Citadel, the entire galaxy would be saved so much money, so much despair, and end to the petty crime they cause. Can't you see it?" He looks at me, slight desperation in his eyes. "And I am the cure to this plague. Manufacturing the poisonous version of red sand took time, but then all the best plans do. The Blue Suns were more than prepared to bring the supply in for me for a considerable fee. Poor bastards thought they were the ones ripping me off," he laughs. "It was perfect."
"What about all the people who are just trying red sand once? Peer pressured into it? Think about the tens of thousands of innocents who'd die!"
He delivers a full right hook, knocking one of my teeth out, causing pain to erupt in my mouth. I black out for a second, then come round to see Ricardo's face pressed up against mine.
"I should have known you'd be so short-sighted," he growls. "I'm not destroying the Citadel, I'm saving it!"
"You've completely lost it," I spit back, still managing to grin contemptuously through all the pain. "We stopped your supply. The merc you employed to smuggle the red sand is in C-Sec custody. You're done, Ricardo!"
That snaps his already fragile temper. With a yell, he charges forward and knocks me and the chair to the ground, then stands on my neck and starts to press down with his heel.
"I can make more," he says, smiling manically. "You got lucky once, it won't happen again." I can't breathe… "Soon, I'll know everything you know, and I won't make the same mistakes." He steps off, and I draw in huge breaths, coughing and spluttering at the sudden intake of oxygen. Fernandez chuckles to himself and signals to the asari in the corner.
"He's ready."
I'm bruised, beaten and exhausted, in no state to fight off a mental attack from an asari. The alien in question approaches, smiling to herself softly. Wait, if she melds with me, she's going to see everything! Who I am, where I come from…no, no!
"Seriously, this isn't a good idea. You're going to regret this!" I manage to gasp out through my aching body.
"Nobody asked you for an opinion," Ricardo snarls, then turns his attention back to the asari. "Do it."
Shit, this can't happen! She stands over me, then her eyes roll back and she grabs my shoulder, our eyes inseparably locked together. "Embrace eternity!"
Everything in the room whites out, changed instead to images from my memory flashing by, like some kind of Intersect. My family, graduating from university, athletics training, doing parcour with my mates…and playing Mass Effect. I can feel the asari inside my head, then her utter shock at what she's seeing. I feel the presence trying to leave, and I mentally scream out instinctively, causing the images to suddenly change.
The machine, the Reaper, screaming, the pure destruction going on around it. Aliens clutching each other close as their world is torn apart around them, consumed by the synthetic beast bearing down on them. The insides of the Reaper appear, roaring growing to a crescendo…then the Collectors, quick flashes of static images, then the rotating DNA strands…a human figure stands as a gigantic explosion lights up the sky around them, the Reaper screaming in what sounds like pain, now. Then another human, silhouetted yet evidently someone different, falling to the ground, the Reaper's screech of triumph echoing around my head…
As suddenly as it began, I'm back in the room, feeling slightly disorientated and nauseous. However, I'm doing a hell of a lot better than the asari. She staggers back, clutching at her skull, screaming at the top of her lungs as her eyes roll back in their sockets. Holy shit, the vision…she wasn't mentally strong enough for it! She collapses to the floor, convulsing, as the screams gradually die and the convulsions draw to a halt. Both Ricardo and I stare at the corpse, look of horror on his face, before he slowly drags his gaze back around to me. Oh, shit.
"What did you do to her?"
"I don't know."
"What. Did. You. Do."
"I don't know!"
"WHAT DID YOU DO?" he screams, lunging forwards and knocking me down again, throwing punch after punch at my face and chest. The pain grows and grows, the world seems to spin around me after each hit. The beating last for what seems like an eternity, before finally I feel his weight lifting off my chest. One of my eyes feels like it's on fire and I can't even open it, I can't feel my nose, and I'm having trouble breathing. I think he broke a rib…if not all of them.
"You've left me no choice," he rants, heading over to the corner where I hear the sounds of metal implements being shuffled around. "Torture might be inaccurate, but at least I get some results. And some enjoyment."
He comes back into my shaking vision, wielding what looks like a pair of pliers. "I'm going to start by tearing off your eyelid, then watch as you slowly turn blind. Then you're going to tell me everything you know, and what you just did. Then I'm going to rip you apart, limb by fucking limb."
"Go to hell," I just manage to force out.
"I'm sure I will," he chuckles. "But I've got a little while before that happens." He leans in with the pliers, opening and closing them menacingly. "I'll see you there."
I shake around in the restraints, desperately trying to break free. This isn't how I'm going to end! I prepare to try and spit in his face, some final act of defiance, before the unbelievable happens.
A huge explosion rocks the room, and the door caves in and flies into the other wall. Three armoured officers hurtle into the room with assault rifles, opening fire on Ricardo on sight. Two rounds go through his abdominal, and he goes straight down to the ground. One more, less armoured turian runs in after them, eyepiece glowing in the darkness. Garrus!
"Ian!" he yells, rushing over and starting to untie the restraints while the other officers head to secure the area. "Can you hear me? Are you alright?"
"Do I fucking look alright?" I manage to splutter out, as he heaves me back onto my feet. I'm crying now, with all the pain, fear and sheer relief to see Garrus here.
"No, you look like shit," he admits, before breaking into a wide smile. "It's alright, you're safe. We've got you."
"How…how did you find me?" I sniff.
"We traced your omni-tool. The idiots never took it off you."
"Thank Christ…" Another concern jumps straight to the front of my mind. "Where's Rebecca? Is she alright?"
"She's back at C-Sec, worried sick, of course. Shit, we all were, Ian. As soon as we noticed you'd been gone too long, Rebecca and I did the trace and got a team here as soon as we could. Looks like we got here just in time..."
"Yeah, you did. I need to go see Rebecca, right now, tell her I'm alright."
"You need a hospital, Ian! You look half dead!"
"I feel it too, but I need to see her, Garrus."
"Alright," he lifts up his talons. "I won't stop you." He looks a bit thoughtful, then gives me a cheeky wink. "Does this count as me making it up to you about the whole Jasper Thereon thing?"
"Yeah, I guess it does." I look down at Fernandez's corpse. "I'm just glad to…" Wait, that's definitely not a corpse! Ricardo's managed to reach down to his belt, unholster his pistol, and is now aiming it straight at Garrus. He's not dead! The assault rifle shots didn't finish him!
Time slows to a crawl as the scenarios play out in my mind at breakneck speed, pain completely forgotten. Ricardo has a handcannon, and even though Garrus is armoured, it's weak, basic stuff, and a handcannon round will rip straight through the barriers and kill him. Even if I had a gun, there's no way I'd be able to draw and fire before Fernandez shoots Garrus. There's also no way I'll be able to warn either Garrus or any of the other officers before he fires the shot.
So, there's only one thing I can do.
"Garrus!" I shout, diving at him full force and rugby tackling him to the ground just as Fernandez fires twice, and I hear a thud against the wall as the bullets impact it. The C-Sec team swivel around at the gunshots, lighting Ricardo Fernandez up with assault rifle fire before he can try again. His body convulses at the sheer volume of rounds entering it, before he finally lies still. Garrus rolls straight back up onto his feet, but I'm too physically exhausted to get back up.
"Spirits…Ian!" Garrus shouts, dashing back over to me and sliding the last metre on his knees to kneel next to me. What? I thought he'd be a bit more grateful considering I just saved his life…I follow his eyes, down to the point on my chest where a rapidly growing circle of blood is growing out of a small hole where my heart is. Oh…shit…everything suddenly turns incredibly cold, despite the fact the Citadel is always kept at an optimum temperature for all species. The colour's draining out of my vision…Garrus is still kneeling over me, shouting something into my face. That's funny, he's shouting, but his voice sounds so distant…
"Just hold on, Ian! Help's coming!"
What are you talking about, just hold on? I'm just a bit tired, Garrus, I just need some rest. Thirty seconds, and I'll be back on my feet…my eyelids droop, and I see moisture start to form at the edges of Garrus's eyes. What's he crying for? I just need some sleep, mate…just a minute's rest. My vision narrows to slits, everything black and white now, temperature absolutely freezing and an eerie silence descends upon the room. Just two minutes rest…that's all I need, just a few minutes.
My eyes close completely, I feel like I'm falling down, constantly falling, oddly at peace with everything around me…
Then nothing.
A/N: That's the end of the red sand investigation. I know, that's a bombshell to end it on. But this isn't the end of Masses to Masses, not by a long shot…but I won't give it away. Suffice to say, we have a pretty good investigation epilogue coming up, then the Dr. Saeleon case (which will be the final full investigation in Masses to Masses 1, before we do the full epilogue and then start Mass Effect 1 in Masses to Masses 2.)
Now the investigation's over, I would really appreciate to hear how my off-canon case went down. So review, y'all, or I'll have Ricardo Fernandez shoot you in an incredibly tragic fashion as well.
Until next chapter…have a good one.