Chapter XXIV: Turning up the Heat

Night had fallen, the many buildings in the settlement lit up from a variety of light sources. Above, the sky was filled with a vast array of stars and two moons, each one providing a bright illumination to the landscape below. Outside of the settlement, the air was cold and quiet with very little indication that the region was actually inhabited. There was one large structure, oval in shape and several storeys high: it was a spaceport, currently populated by a single frigate and numerous armed guards. A lone car drifted along a desert road, coming to a stop by a hill some distance from the spaceport.

Garrus Vakarian stepped out, making sure to place the new eyepiece he had acquired from the armoury in Kaslin's estate over his left eye. It provided some illumination of the darkened landscape around him, singling out some objects such as rocks and desert shrubs with a purple silhouette before displaying lines of information about them. Garrus adjusted the eyepiece so that it only singled out armed targets and not random objects. He looked towards the spaceport, his eyepiece casting a purple silhouette upon the two armed and armoured human guards standing outside of the spaceport's front door. It made sure to highlight the weapons they held in a bright red light, telling the turian that they were indeed armed and dangerous. Then again, so was he.

As much as Garrus did not trust Kaslin Kevkas, he had had little option but to play along with the older turian's plan. Garrus was to go into the spaceport some time before Kaslin's goons would and cause as much mayhem as possible while trying to find Kelias. Roland was yet to leave the planet, thus there was still a chance to find him and Kelias in the spaceport. If Roland really did need Kelias alive then chances were she had not been harmed and would still be alive when Garrus finally found her. He certainly hoped that this was the case.

Garrus left the car parked behind him as he carefully started towards the spaceport, keeping low and sticking to the shadows as he moved. The two guards out the front remained oblivious to his presence. A quick look up revealed that there was a sniper on duty on a walkway near the top of the spaceport. Garrus stopped behind a vehicle parked outside of the spaceport, keeping behind it as he pulled a suppressor from his armour and screwed it onto the end of his assault rifle. Taking aim with the rifle, Garrus peered down the weapon's scope towards the sniper and pulled the trigger.

The weapon coughed, the sound almost inaudible in the night air. The human up high with the sniper rifle was hit in the face, a spray of blood signifying a critical hit. He fell backwards and disappeared from view behind the walkway's railing.

Garrus returned his gaze towards the two guards at the front of the spaceport. Neither seemed to notice the sniper's death and were both talking quietly to each other instead, oblivious to the presence of the turian. Garrus kept behind the parked car, attempting to determine the most efficient way to approach the situation. Getting inside would be easy but there was absolutely no way to determine how many of Roland's goons would be inside. It seemed logical to think that there were a lot of them. If Roland really was planning to leave then he would probably start prepping his frigate for take-off at the first sign of trouble. Garrus would have to be fast the moment he started causing mayhem inside the spaceport. Sabotaging the ship seemed like a logical thing to do and could be achieved in the spaceport's control centre or Garrus could simply ignite the fuel tanks…either way would work out fine.

Carefully, Garrus took aim at the two guards standing outside of the main entrance. Within seconds of each other, Garrus had gunned down each of the guards. Their lifeless bodies crumpled onto the ground into a heap, allowing Garrus to step out of hiding and start towards the front door.

The door was locked, something he had been expecting. Activating his omni-tool, he had little trouble hacking the security lock on the door. After a few moments, the door hissed open. Behind was a grey hallway heading either left or right or simply straight ahead into the docking area itself. The signs on the walls pointed the way to the few important areas, with one in particular getting Garrus' attention: CONTROL. It went off to the left, heading up a flight of stairs.

Slowly and with his assault rifle raised, Garrus started up the stairs. He stopped a short way from the top, pausing to listen into the room above. There were a few voices coming from the room above and a quick peek revealed that it was some sort of recreation area, complete with a pool table and vending machines. The control room was a floor above, accessible by the stairs at the end of the room.

Garrus, with his back to the wall, continued up the stairs and into the recreation area. About five of Roland's goons were in the room, two of which were playing pool, another one observing the game while the final two were standing by a vending machine and talking. Their weapons were leaning against the pool table or the wall near the vending machine, indicating that they were not expecting any sort of intruder.

When one of them saw Garrus the entire room fell silent. The muzak playing in the background continued regardless but the guards playing pool did not move. Garrus had his rifle raised, his finger on the trigger while his heart pounded in his chest. Who should he shoot first?

One of the guards standing near the vending machine went for a rifle that was leaning against the machine. Garrus cut down this particular guard, sending numerous rounds into him. The guard spun and convulsed before slumping against the back wall, staining it with blood as he fell down it.

In the seconds that followed, the three guards near the pool table used all of their combined effort to tip it onto its side. Billiard balls fell off and started rolling across the floor. Pulling out their side-arms, the three guards ducked behind it. The other guard by the vending machine went for his side-arm but Garrus cut him down easily, sending this particular guard falling into a heap against the vending machine.

The three guards behind the billiard table proceeded to fire blindly around their makeshift barricade, bullets pounding into the walls near Garrus. The turian ducked down the stairs as rounds zipped over him, his kinetic barriers taking a beating as he went into cover. Stowing his assault rifle, Garrus pulled out his grenade launcher and checked to make sure that it was loaded. There was a single high explosive grenade inside the launcher and it was just what Garrus needed in his current situation.

Standing up, Garrus brought the grenade launcher to bear and fired. There was a loud ploomp sound as the grenade fired, followed a split second later by a roaring explosion that knocked Garrus backwards. The billiard table was blasted into hundreds of pieces, the three guards behind it being sent flying across the room. One of them smashed into the vending machine, making a vandalism alarm sound as several cans of drink began to fall out. The other two were sent into the back wall, one knocking over a potted fern.

Regaining his senses, Garrus stowed the grenade launcher and pulled out his assault rifle. He took a moment to survey his handiwork, noticing now that the recreation room was a damn mess, left with a smoking hole in the carpet and pieces of the billiard table strewn everywhere. With a hint of satisfaction, Garrus smiled before continuing to the next flight of stairs.

An alarm began to sound throughout the spaceport and several guards began to make their way to the source of the loud explosion. Garrus came to another hallway up the stairs and a quick look around brought his gaze onto a metal automatic door labelled "CONTROL ROOM: AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY". Stepping towards the door, Garrus activated the panel in the doorway and the metal door slid open. Beyond was a small room with a wide window at the end. The room was filled with computers and other assorted tech as well as being populated by two men in technician's uniforms and a pair of armed guards. Through the window the docking area was visible, complete with catwalks and the large form of Roland's frigate, the Shoulder of Orion.

Garrus mowed down both guards with a quick volley of assault rifle fire. One of the technicians went for the announcement system with the obvious intention of calling for help. Garrus shot him a few times as well, sending the technician's lifeless corpse falling against a desk.

Immediately after this Garrus had set his aim on the other technician who was seated at the control computers. The technician raised his hands in surrender, a look of terror in his eyes as Garrus pointed his assault rifle into the human's face.

"Lock them out," Garrus said, nodding to the computers before them. All spaceports like this had the ability to lockout the controls of the ships within them, disallowing them from taking off regardless of what the pilot of the ship tried to do. This sort of thing had been used on the Normandy by C-Sec during its brief stint of lockdown on the Citadel. Of course, Captain Anderson had rectified the situation and ensured that the ship and its crew had been able to leave and head to Ilos.

"Lock them out?" The technician asked stupidly.

"Yes, damn it! Lock them out!" Garrus yelled, anger heavy in his tone. The technician promptly nodded and began to manipulate the computers before him. A minute or so later and one of the panels was flashing red, indicating that the flight controls for the frigate Shoulder of Orion had been locked out from the cockpit. Now Roland would not be able to leave unless he came up to the control room himself and overrode the lockout.

"Thanks," Garrus said, mere seconds before he sent the butt-end of his assault rifle into the back of the technician's head. The technician slumped onto the control panel, unconscious.

Turning around, Garrus opened fire as a pair of guards appeared in the doorway. Both guards spun and fell, landing on the floor with dull thumps. Stepping over their corpses, Garrus stepped out into the hallway and tried to work out what he would do next.

He need not have worried about trying to find out where Roland was: the human's voice, crazed with rage, broke the relative silence inside the spaceport. He was speaking through the spaceport's announcement system, obviously quite annoyed at the turian's intrusion here.

"Garrus Vakarian, I thought you were dead!" Roland yelled, "I should never have trusted Kaslin, that bastard. Do you think you can stop me? You cannot stop me, you are nothing! NOTHING! Do you hear me? YOU ARE NOTHING! You are in way over your head, you turian prick! Do you know what I am trying to do? The lives I will save? I am this galaxy's only salvation! And you would actually try and kill that salvation, put it out like a candle flame? You would actually ensure that the galaxy is destroyed in the years to come? I have seen the future, Garrus! You have not! I have the advantage here, Garrus! You cannot win! You can't win! You never will win! You're not supposed to win! For fuck's sake, leave! Leave now and I'll let you live!"

Garrus ignored Roland's insane rant as he continued through the hallway, starting for the door up at the end of the hallway. Out of an adjoining office a pair of guard barged into the hallway, rifles firing. Garrus ducked and returned fire just as his kinetic barriers failed. Both guards fell, blood splattering onto the walls behind them as the rifle rounds tore through their armour and into their flesh.

"You are so determined Garrus! And for what? Just because you want to see me die? Do you actually have a reason, Garrus? Do you? You do not, do you? You don't know what you're fighting for! You never have known what you've been fighting for! You pride yourself on being just when you're just as evil as the criminal scum you've killed in the past! You and I, Garrus, are no different. You and I are the same. We are both determined to see this through. We are both determined to do whatever it takes to ensure that the mission is completed, even if that means killing innocents. The innocent are not innocent when they are impeding your progress. You think that, don't you Garrus, dear boy? Don't you, you turian fuck!"

Roland was beginning to sound increasingly crazed. Garrus knew then that the human knew he was cornered. He was trying to talk Garrus out of what he was about to do but the turian would have none of it. Roland Halverson was insane and deserved to die. There was always some crazy bastard in the galaxy who needed to be put down and Roland was one of them. Garrus wanted to have the pleasure of killing the bastard, no matter what it took. Why? Because he wanted to see it through. He did not want to turn around and leave, not after all that had happened. Letting Roland get away would just hurt his pride. God only knew what the maniac would do with Kelias once she was no longer necessary to his schemes.

Garrus paused by the metal door at the end of the hallway. It lead to the docking bay area and there were certainly going to be a lot of Roland's goons hanging about outside. Taking a deep breath, the turian slowly opened the door. He closed it shut as several rifle rounds pounded into the doorway outside, clanging loudly against the metal of the building. There were guards outside just waiting for him to step through the door. Garrus would not give them the pleasure of shooting him.

Stepping into the adjoining office, Garrus crouched by the window within. Slowly he looked up over the top of the windowsill, taking note of the catwalks and the numerous gun wielding guards scattered along them. Up above were some more catwalks and ledges, populated by sniper armed guards who were carefully scanning the interior of the docking bay for a sign of the turian. Garrus carefully raised his assault rifle, taking aim at a sniper on one of the furthest and highest ledges. Using his rifle's scope, he zoomed in and set his crosshair upon the sniper's torso. Pulling the trigger, Garrus sent forth a quick volley of rifle fire that zipped through the air and pounded into the sniper's front. The guard fell forwards, over the railing and plummeted to his death, landing with a dull thump upon the top of Roland's frigate.

Garrus shifted his aim and cut down one of the other sniper wielding guards just as a hail of assault rifle fire smashed through the window and proceeded to tear apart the inside of the office. The computer on the desk smashed and the cabinet on the back wall was torn to shreds. Garrus ducked and edged his way back to the metal door, opening it slightly and cutting down a guard further along the catwalk. He tumbled over the railings, falling down onto the cement floor of the docking bay.

Garrus charged out onto the walkways. At the same time he scanned the area ahead of him and his visor highlighted every armed guard he could see, telling him how far away they were and what their current elevations above ground level were.

Promptly, the turian somersaulted behind a nearby set of metal containers. There were a few guards on the walkway above and they went to open fire but Garrus was faster, bringing his assault rifle to bear and sending a spray of assault rifle fire into the bottom of the walkway. Sparks flew and several of the rounds penetrated, the guards above convulsing and spinning about in a warped dance of death as they fell.

Rifle rounds pounded into the front of the metal containers while several more guards poured in from the docking tube connected to the parked frigate, charging onto the walkway. Garrus leaned around the metal container and opened fire, keeping the trigger pulled as the guards scattered for cover. A few of them fell while others made it into cover behind barrels and containers, proceeding to make a nuisance of themselves by blind-firing from where they were.

Rifle rounds pounded into Garrus' kinetic shields from somewhere above and the turian swivelled around, catching a glimpse of a lone guard up on a walkway to the right. Garrus' shields failed and a stray round slammed into his assault rifle, sending it flying from his grip. It sparked and sizzled, sliding across the ledge and out of his reach.

Garrus immediately pulled out his heavy pistol and took aim at the guard, blowing part of the human's head away with a well placed shot. Garrus ducked back behind cover as the guards up ahead continued to fire in his direction, rounds pummelling the metal container as they gradually wore it down. The turian took a deep breath, taking a quick look behind to ensure that no one was sneaking up on him.

It struck him then that maybe coming here had not been a good idea. He was outnumbered and outgunned and now completely surrounded. Roland was nowhere in sight and neither was Kelias. They may have been inside the frigate, making this Garrus' current objective. He just had to get past the few dozen armed thugs between him and the way onto the ship.

The sound of footsteps off to his right made him look in that direction. A pair of armed guards were trying to flank him and Garrus proceeded to shoot both down, his heavy pistol recoiling in his grip with each shot. From nowhere Roland's angered voice broke over the noise of the shootout, somewhat muffled through the spaceport's announcement system:

"Coming here was a mistake, Garrus! You're going to die here! Die! Diediediediedie! HAHAHA! DIE! What compelled you to come here, Garrus? Was it your determination? Need I remind you that it was your determination to kill me that made you harm Kelias and destroy her beauty with hideous burns? You disfigured her, Garrus. Don't you feel guilty because of that? Scarring her face like that…It's bad karma. And karma can come back and bite you in the arse when you least expect it! And now, you're going to die! Are you happy with your life, Garrus? Are you? Because I don't know why you should be. You are, after all, a monster like me. As I said before, you and I are no different. Remember that, Garrus."

The only thing Garrus thought he would probably remember was how much of a nutcase Roland Halverson was. The human had to be around here somewhere. Chances were he would try and get to the control room to shut down the lockout so he could leave the planet. Almost on cue Garrus heard the human shouting from below, having connected his communicator to the spaceport's announcement system wirelessly (everything was wireless nowadays). He had Kelias in tow and was running down a set of stairs from the level Garrus was currently on, having slipped out of the frigate during the confusion of the shootout.

Garrus stood up upon seeing Roland. How the hell could that human still be alive? It was crazy to think that he had somehow survived being buried under a tonne of rubble without so much as a scratch.

"If you so much as pursue me, Garrus, I'll kill Kelias! I know you like her, so I'll hurt her! You can bet your sorry arse on it!"

Garrus gunned down a few more guards seconds before he started running along the catwalk, his gaze set on Roland who was below. Bullets slammed into the metal of the catwalk and the walls near him but he kept running and did not stop. Up ahead a pair of guards ran into view and Garrus simply raised his pistol and blasted both as he ran, knocking one of them off of the catwalk as he raced past.

That was when several armed turian and human mercenaries came running from doors onto the catwalks, all of them outfitted in the typical grey and black armour of the Dark Talons mercenary group. Garrus had no time to be relieved to see them, especially since Roland was trying to get away. As the mercenaries and Roland's thugs battled it out, removing some of the heat off of the turian, Garrus managed to make it to a flight of stairs leading down to the floor of the docking bay.

Garrus opened fire in Roland's direction, firing a few shots wide in order to get the human's attention. As he did so about three of Roland's soldiers opened fire from a walkway above, forcing the turian to duck. He shifted his aim up high and unloaded at each of them, sending the trio back into cover. One of the soldiers caught a bullet in the face and keeled over, dead.

Roland stopped running and pulled Kelias in front of him. Garrus continued down the stairs until he was on the same level as Roland, standing about twenty metres away from the human. Roland was in his usual outfit, albeit a clean one. He had a crazed, almost fiery look in his eyes. He managed a brief look around as his plans came crashing down around him, more of Kaslin's mercenaries storming the docking bay and making short work of Roland's goons.

Roland was unarmed which seemed odd. Garrus did not care much about Roland being armed or not. Instead, he raised his pistol and pointed it straight at Roland. Kelias was in front of Roland but Garrus was confident that he could shoot Roland without killing her instead. He had done it before at Dr. Michel's clinic in the Citadel, getting commended by Commander Shepard for his shooting skills as a result. Remembering this only angered Garrus more since it had been because of Roland that he had been torn away from Shepard so soon after they had consummated their relationship. Roland was the cause of all of this trouble, including the device in the suitcase he now held in his left hand. His right held Kelias in a strong headlock and the female turian looked scared out of her wits.

"Garrus…please! Help me!" Kelias shouted, struggling against Roland's grip but to no avail. Roland seemed unnaturally strong for a human but Garrus doubted he would be able to survive a bullet to the head. The male turian levelled his aim with his pistol, barely noticing the shootout that was occurring on the walkways above between the Dark Talon mercenaries and Roland's thugs. Garrus knew that he would need to make sure that his aim and his timing was perfect, otherwise he would hit Kelias and probably kill her. He did not need her death on his conscience, not after all that had happened.

"You shoot me, Garrus, and you'll hit her!" Roland shouted, his voice laced with insanity, "Let us go and I'll let you live! This isn't your fight after all…You were simply dragged into all of this by accident. You were not supposed to get involved…"

"But I have gotten involved," Garrus replied. He was having none of Roland's crazed ramblings. He wanted to end this, here and now. It had already gone on long enough.

"Are you really going to risk Kelias' life again just to get me, old boy?" Roland asked, "You'll kill her this time, Garrus. Or does getting me justify such an action? Ask yourself this: what makes you so different than me? Do you think yourself morally superior?"

"Yes…"

"And yet you would sacrifice innocent lives to bring criminals to justice?" Roland asked.

"Sometimes innocents have to die for the greater good," Garrus said. He saw a fearful look in Kelias' eyes as he said this and immediately Garrus regretted saying it.

"That's exactly what I think," Roland said, "So, tell me, are we really so different?"

There was a silence between the two, backgrounded by the sounds of weapons fire from the shootout happening on the walkways above. Garrus hesitated momentarily, shifting his gaze towards the ground while Roland seized his chance to keep talking.

"We're no different. We are the same. You and me. We are the same." Roland added extra emphasis on the last word so that it almost stung Garrus' conscience. And with that, the turian returned his gaze to Roland and simply shook his head.

"We're not the same," Garrus said, "And we never will be."

With that, Garrus pulled the trigger on his pistol. The gunshot echoed throughout the expanse of the docking bay. Kelias' fell from Roland's grip onto the ground and for a heart-stopping instant Garrus thought he had shot her. She crawled away from Roland, turning around as she went to look at the human in horror. Garrus followed her gaze towards Roland and felt a stab of fear.

Roland had a gaping hole in his forehead, one that did not go as deep as it should have went. Instead, jagged flesh hung loosely around the hole caused by the bullet. The hole itself had revealed a shiny metal plating underneath. The human shook his head in a slight daze and Garrus watched with sheer amazement as the flesh healed itself over the wound within seconds, regenerating with amazing speed and leaving no visible scars.

Garrus fired again and again on impulse, blowing a few bloody holes into Roland's front. The human stumbled momentarily before regaining his footing. He shook his head, smiled and started walking towards the turian. As he walked he delivered a sharp kick to Kelias' face where she lay, knocking her out cold and sending her sprawling onto the ground. Garrus went to fire his pistol again but before he had a chance to Roland had grabbed hold of it, squeezing the barrel and crushing it in his grip. He pried the ruined pistol from Garrus' stunned hold and tossed it away.

The turian shook himself out of his stupor and in one fluid motion reached down to his waist with one hand and pulled out his combat knife. Within seconds he had plunged the whole blade into Roland's throat, making the human stumble backwards momentarily. Blood trickled down Roland's neck while the hilt of the blade jutted freely from the front of his throat. For a moment Garrus thought that Roland would finally succumb but much to his surprise the human simply reached up to the hilt of the blade with one hand and pulled it free. He tossed the blade aside, the gash on his throat healing before Garrus' very eyes.

"What the hell are you?" Garrus managed to say, moments before Roland delivered a near crippling blow to the turian's face. The turian was sent flying a few feet before landing painfully on the concrete floor, metres from Roland who simply kept on walking.

He stopped, smiling to himself. Garrus began to back away, realizing that he was facing something that he had never come across before. Roland was not human. Roland Halverson was something else entirely, something that was augmented by synthetics and capable of regeneration…Nothing Garrus knew of was like that. He backed away a short distance, watching as Roland put down the suitcase he clutched in his left hand before outstretching both arms.

"Let's turn up the heat a little," Roland said, a smile playing across his features. Flames suddenly appeared at his arms, flickering eerie shadows playing across the concrete floor. Roland swung his right arm and sent a wall of flame flying forth, slamming into the fuel tanks against the wall and blasting off their valves. Raw fuel began to pour out onto the ground, all of it igniting into a startling show of pyrotechnics. Swinging out his other arm, Roland sent a wave of fire flying outwards that set alight the Dark Talon mercenary who had come running down the nearby stairs at that instant. The mercenary yelled and screamed and ran about wildly as the flames ate away at him. He fell onto the ground, screaming in agony for a few subsequent moments before those screams stopped…abruptly.

Garrus did not know what to do. For the first time he was genuinely afraid. Roland Halverson was unlike any enemy he had come across before, Sovereign not withstanding. However, there was still one ace up Garrus' sleeve that he had almost forgotten about: the grenade launcher.

Quickly, Garrus brought out the grenade launcher as Roland stood his ground, basking in his pyrotechnic glory. The turian flipped open the launcher and fumbled at his equipment belt for a grenade, finding an incendiary one which struck him as rather fitting. He shoved it into the launcher, flipped it shut and while remaining on the ground he raised it in his right hand and fired. The grenade exploded into a massive swirling ball of flame across Roland's front, setting the human's entire form alight. For a brief moment Roland just stood where he was as the flames enveloped his entire frame. He said nothing, he did not scream.

Garrus loaded another incendiary grenade and blasted Roland again. This time Roland did start screaming as his flesh began to melt away, his clothes disintegrating in the intense heat. Globs of flesh fell away from his face and his eyes melted in the most sickening display of fire damage on a body that Garrus had ever seen. His hair turned to ash, the skin on his hands bubbled away. Garrus watched as Roland's flesh melted off of his frame, revealing the metal endoskeleton beneath. It was human in its basic form but complemented with all sorts of refined synthetic parts, perhaps explaining Roland's apparent unbreakable nature. A pair of bright blue synthetic eyes gazed at Garrus and the scream that erupted from Roland's throat gave way to a metallic grinding sound, one that made the turian grit his teeth in pain as it bore its way right into his very being. Here Garrus was, faced with something completely unnatural. It chilled him to the core and fuelled his determination to see it die even more.

The synthetic endoskeleton that was Roland Halverson stumbled and flailed as the flames ate away at it but it still did not die. Standing up, Garrus loaded a high explosive round into his grenade launcher. He had seen enough to fuel his nightmares for the rest of his life. Garrus pulled the trigger on the launcher and was knocked backwards by the concussive force of the explosion. Pieces of Roland's endoskeleton were sent flying, some landing around the turian. As Garrus regained his senses, a brief look at where Roland had once stood revealed nothing but a few large chunks of scorched synthetic parts.

However, one particular item of interest had landed by Garrus. It was the suitcase, scorched and dented but otherwise intact. Picking it up, Garrus stood up and brushed himself down. He would never get over what he had seen of Roland's true nature. His gaze went to a particular part of Roland that had survived the explosion. Stepping over to it, Garrus stowed his grenade launcher and used his free hand to pick it up.

It was Roland's skull and it was burnt in places but otherwise in perfect condition. It was quite heavy and bore all the semblances of a human skull save for its shiny dull blue-grey metal with its reflective surfaces and bright blue eyes. The glow in the eyes had died, hinting that Roland Halverson was well and truly dead. Garrus tucked the metal skull under one arm and turned to Kelias, who was slowly rising to her feet.

Kelias looked at him and then at the flaming mess that was around them. She looked just the way Garrus had left her before being captured by Kaslin. She smiled at him but Garrus was in too much of a grim mood to smile back. He was still trying to work out Roland's true nature, remembering something that the human had said about a trip through the Omega-4 relay. Whatever he had found through that relay had sent him back as something unnatural.

Kelias frowned at Roland's remains, confused as to what they were. She noticed the lack of Roland Halverson and returned her gaze to Garrus.

"What happened to Roland?" She asked.

Garrus shrugged, before saying:

"He couldn't handle the heat."