Chapter 4-
Ruby left the med-bay and immediately spotted Kaiden and Williams, but she simply ignored the two as they tried to get her attention and went to sort out food for Neo and herself.
Grabbing four MRE packs made specifically for Biotics, she entered the lift and headed down to the cargo bay.
Heading to a secluded spot hidden away from the others in the cargo bay, they didn't want to get disturbed as was the norm with them after a mission, especially when one of them gets hurt.
"Want to go first?" Neo asked as she sat down opposite Ruby with the equipment.
"Sure." Ruby replied softly, removing her shirt and turning around to face the wall so Neo could see her back.
Across her back were names, it started with names of her family and then other seemingly random names written across her back.
Neo prepared a spot underneath the last name to be placed there and quietly got to work writing out Jenkins name on her back while Ruby started to eat.
Once Neo was done they swapped around so Ruby wrote the name on Neo's back, whose list was shorter than Ruby's, but many names remained the same.
Once they were both finished they sat there quietly as they finished off the food before simply sitting there together, leaning against one another.
"What did you really see?" Neo asked.
"Somethings coming. Something big. I…I think whatever wiped out the Prothean's is coming back and this is just the start." Ruby said softly, hints of fear in her voice.
"What do you mean?" Neo asked.
"That ship we saw, that's just the vanguard. There's more of them." Ruby answered, causing Neo to hug her as the fear in her voice was evident.
"Commander Gelato, Commander Rose. Please report to the bridge. I repeat, Commander's Gelato and Rose to the bridge." A voice called over the intercom.
"That's our cue, will you be alright?" Neo asked.
"I'll be fine; we better gear up." Ruby said, slowly standing up and heading over to her locker.
Neo followed Ruby and both started to pull their weapons and armour on before heading up to the bridge.
"Just in time Commander's, we're approaching the Citadel now." Joker informed the two of them as they looked out to see the large space station bustling with traffic.
"Look at that ship!" Williams said, spotting the Destiny Ascension. "Its main weapons could tear through any ship in the Alliance." Williams continued to gush over it.
"Size isn't everything." Joker commented, and William's couldn't help but make a comment at it.
It didn't take long after that initial reaction to seeing all the Citadel fleets they docked and were on their way to meet the Ambassador with the ground team.
"Ambassador, we will discuss this in our session, not before." Tevos, the Asari councillor stated and then the holograms cut out.
"Captain, it seems you have brought your entire crew." The Ambassador, Roman Torchwick remarked as he took in everyone.
"Why am I not surprised Red, you're always the one causing me problems." Roman stated as he spotted Ruby leading her ground team.
"It wasn't her fault Roman and you know it, it was Saran. Hell we have a spectre in intensive care because of him." Qrow said, defending Ruby.
"It doesn't matter whose fault it is, it's happened and as usual I've got to deal with the mess." Roman responded, "The session starts in an hour, I'll make sure you've got authorisation to reach the council chambers. Don't be late Commander. You're dismissed, Qrow stay here we need to talk." Roman stated, dismissing them all easily.
"Right." Ruby said, leaving the room with the others on her heel. As soon as the door closed though William's spoke up.
"I hate that guy; all politicians are just bad news." William's spat out.
"At least he's on our side." Neo replied, trying to ease the situation.
"I've got something to do, we'll meet at the cabs in forty-five minutes." Ruby stated and left the group without saying anything else.
"Where's she going?" Kaiden asked.
"Something she needs to do, come on let's explore a little. I haven't been to the Citadel for a while." Neo replied and went ahead with walking towards a terminal only to get called out by someone.
"Chief Williams, Chief." A man was calling out and the trio stopped just in front of him and Neo listened intently to the man's plight and it didn't stop Neo from getting angry at hearing how his wife's body was being held.
"We'll deal with this Sir, please stay here. We won't be long." Neo promised and immediately set out about hunting down the man who was dealing with all of this.
It was easier said than done though as Neo found where the man was alongside the fact that there were others in the bar that meant she couldn't make too much of a scene but it was too much.
"Look, I don't care how you do it or who you piss off. But you will release the body into the care of her husband for burial or the next time you see me it'll be of the other end of a gun. Do I make myself clear?" Neo stated, getting right into the man's face and the bar went silent at her words as everyone heard.
"Y….yes Ma'am." The man stammered out, struggling to get the words out.
"Well why are you still standing here then?" Neo asked and immediately the man hurried to get away from Neo and clearly to get everything sorted.
"Damn, remind me not to make you angry." Kaiden stated.
"William's, go and tell him that he should have his wife's body within the hour. If he has any more problems tell him to contact me directly." Neo ordered as she stormed out of the bar but not back towards the central area.
Twenty minutes later they met up with Ruby at the taxi ranks and Ruby simply raised her eyebrow at Neo's pissed off look but chose not to comment on it.
"Come on, as much as I'd like to piss Torchwick off I don't want to piss the council off…much." Ruby commented with hints of a smile on her lips as they all climbed inside.
"So, Commander, where did you go off to?" Kaiden bravely asked.
"I had to go meet someone, they requested my presence." Ruby answered calmly as she relaxed into the seat.
They quickly arrived at the main tower and immediately started heading up towards the council chambers but stopped when they saw two Turian's arguing with each other, seemingly over the Saran case.
Once one had walked off though the other turned to face the group and immediately spoke, "Hello Commander's Gelato and Rose. My name's Garrus Varkian, I'm the C-sec office heading up the investigation into Saran." Garrus introduced himself to them all.
"How's that going? Seems we've got him rather dead to rights." Neo asked.
"We would if Nihlus was awake but sadly he isn't, still unconscious so I've been trying to find anything on him but everything he touches becomes classified because he's a bloody Spectre." Garrus said, angry and annoyed at the lack of progress.
"Well regardless, thank you. Hopefully the council will listen. But we better hurry, don't want to keep them waiting." Neo answered for them as Ruby fell rather quiet.
"I won't keep you. Good luck." Garrus said and the group carried on going.
They all nodded and immediately started heading up the steps where Captain Qrow caught them.
"Come on, they're already starting." Qrow said as he brought them all up there and immediately they spotted Saran looking down on them all.
Ruby smirked up at him, "Why hello again, that looks like a pretty nasty wound there. I wonder how that happened." Ruby couldn't help but remark, knowing she was the cause of said wound.
"It was on a mission that I received this wound, not whatever you're thinking of. As if a human could get that close to me." Saran fired back
"How about you come here and face me, we'll see what you're like without an army of Geth to hide behind." Ruby shot back, clenching her hands at her side and Neo immediately spotted the signs of Ruby's anger.
Gently Neo placed her hand on Ruby's back, offering a little comfort but to also remind her of just where she was and who she was in front of.
"If you're both done, how about we carry on with the session." The Salarian councillor said quickly, moving them on.
The rest of the meeting devolved into a pissing contest between Roman and the councillors alongside Saran who just shot down any attempts to implicate him before cutting the communication.
At the end of it all though the council said that unless any new evidence came up or Nihlus woke up but until then nothing more could be done, and Ruby would not be inducted into the Spectres.
"You just couldn't keep your mouth shut, could you?" Roman immediately said as soon as they were clear.
"Hey, don't pin the blame on her. It was all Saran's doing and the council refused." Qrow said.
"Oh, don't get me started on you, I knew it was a bad idea to bring you there, especially with your history with Saran." Roman threw out.
"What does he mean?" Ruby asked, looking towards her uncle.
"Don't worry kid. We need to find a way to get Saran, can't trust Nihlus to wake up at a good time." Qrow said.
"As a spectre, Saran is pretty much untouchable, but I have some contacts that might come in handy, a C-sec officer named Harkin should be a good source." Roman tried.
"I wouldn't bother, he's a drunk and he's been suspended more times than I can count. If you go looking, try Chora's Den." Qrow replied.
"Any other leads?" Ruby asked.
"You could try Barla Von, I know you're friendly with him." Qrow suggested while referring to the fact that Ruby and Neo both dealt with him in a few ways. Partly the Shadow Broker part but more so in the financial support ways and trusting the Volus with their money.
"We'll try Harkin first and then go see Barla afterwards, we should see about some of our investments." Ruby answered.
"Alright then, you're dismissed. If you need anything I'll be at the Embassy." Qrow said, dismissing them effectively as he turned around to leave.
"So, Chora's den then? What is it?" William's asked.
"A bar but also a lap dance place." Neo supplied for the woman as they headed back to the taxi ranks.
"Of course, the man would hang out there. Thousands of miles from Earth and they still just go to stare at scantily clad women." William's said in response to that.
"Not a fan of that sort of thing then?" Kaiden asked.
"No. There's so much better things they could be doing and I just don't understand the need for them to just sit there and stare at anything with a pair of tits." William's shot back.
As they landed near Chora's den the discussion between the two carried on though Ruby and Neo just tuned it out.
As they turned to the concourse leading across towards Chora's den though Ruby's shield immediately flared up as it absorbed an impact.
"CONTACT!" Neo yelled as he started to pull her pistol up to return fire as her shields flared as well but Ruby beat all three of them to it.
Ruby's biotics erupted around her body as she charged across the gap, smashing into one of their assailants like a truck and he flew back into the wall behind him.
Turning around Ruby's Omni-blade activated and she cut the Turian's throat like a hot knife in butter once she was sure he was dead, she faced the Turian she crashed into and Neo was immediately by her side, pistol aimed at his head. "Who sent you?!" Neo shouted at him.
The Turian remained rather tight-lipped as he refused to say anything to them but it was William's that noted the weapons they used. "These weapons, they're top of the range." William's noted.
"Spectre grade gear." Kaiden finished filling in.
"So, it was Saran that sent you." Neo asked, watching his reaction carefully.
"Thanks." Ruby said, pistol barking in her hand as the back of the Turian's head blew out.
"Come on, let's see Harkin." Ruby said, putting her pistol back in its holster and blade away.
"Wait. What about the bodies?" Kaiden asked.
"It's the lower markets and just outside a club that's shady. They won't want C-sec wondering around here so they'll be gone shortly." Neo replied, not caring too much about the dead, especially considering that they tried to kill them all.
"You take care of Harkin; I've got to speak to someone else here." Ruby said as she made out towards a Turian in the club.
"Who's that?" William's asked.
"No idea. Come on, as much as I like the female form I just want to get on with this." Neo said offhandedly as she went towards a man in a c-sec uniform in the back.
"Are you Harkin?" Neo asked as she approached the man.
"If you're asking sexy, then I'll be whoever you want me to be." The man said in a sleazy tone.
"Yeah, you're Harkin alright. We're looking at Saran, apparently, you might have some leads." Neo said, ignoring his earlier comments.
"Oh, you're a part of Qrow's crew, I wonder. Has the old man ever told you his past with Saran?" Harkin said, trying to distract them.
"No, he hasn't. But just tell us what we want to know and we'll be gone." Neo said, attempting to avoid the topic.
"Well you see Qrow was up for being a Spectre, Saran was supposed to be evaluating him but the mission went sideways and well, it ended rather badly. And Qrow never became a Spectre." Harkin said.
Tiring of the distractions Neo drew her pistol and slapped it on the table. "Information. On Saran and the investigation into him." Neo said forcefully.
"Alright, calm down. Garrus Vakarian was heading up the investigation, supposedly he was onto something big and went to get some more information from a clinic run by Dr. Michel, he would have gone to see her." Harkin finally answered.
"Finally. Hope to never see you again." Neo said, leaving the man alone in his drinking as she waited by the entrance for Ruby to come back.
"Sorted. Got to go to the embassies shortly to deal with something, what did you learn?" Ruby said to them all.
"Garrus Vakarian, ran into him earlier. Supposedly he has found some information on Saran and heading to a clinic." Neo explained.
"Come on, I've got a bad feeling about this." Ruby said, hurrying them to a taxi again to move to the next location.
"It'll be quicker to walk, it's not far." Neo said, leading them away to somewhere else and going through the lower markets and to an elevator.
"It'll be quicker she said." Ruby commented lightly.
"Not my fault elevators are slow on the Citadel." Neo shot back playfully.
"Wouldn't surprise me if it was." Ruby said lowly.
Before it could go any further though William's interrupted them with a burning question.
"Where did you go off to earlier? And then in the club?" William's asked.
"I got a message from the Asari Consort, she wanted to meet with me so I did. She's been having some issues so I agreed to help. That Turian I spoke to in the club, he was a little…put out after the Consort didn't return his feelings for a more romantic life. I simply spoke to him as a soldier and he agreed to put anything he had aside the only problem is that he let someone know who's at the embassy is rather annoyed so I've got to go and sooth the issue." Ruby explained, not hiding what she was doing.
"Wait. How do you know the consort? I hear she's got a three-month waiting list to just be seen." Kaiden exclaimed.
"Connections. Someone thought I might benefit from seeing her, we became friends." Ruby answered cryptically.
No more questions could be asked as they finally arrived at the main market area, "Let's move." Ruby said as she moved with a purpose and started heading straight towards the clinic as her Omni informed her of its location.
As they approached the door though Neo stopped them all and put a finger to her lips. Listening for almost a minute until she said, "Inside, three maybe four hostiles with guns. Docs in there, I can hear her talking to them." Neo said as everyone took out their weapons.
"Right, stack up. William's, you go left with me. Neo, Kaiden you've got the right. Stand by." Ruby ordered in quick fashion as they all moved to the sides of the door as they got ready. With Ruby and Neo with their pistols out and ready.
A/N
I know, I've take a while to update. Especially considering that this is all already written I've just got to divide it up and post it.
But a lot has happened since I last updated, I went to RTX London and met some amazing people there and hopefully I've got some friends that'll last. It was a great weekend and I can't wait for next year to go again.
I'll be posting a couple things up over the next few days of stuff I'm working on that I want to show off alongside the opening for the Immortal Maiden sequel, which I'm still working on sometimes.
Anyway until next time.