Chapter Twenty Eight: Dual
"You really think this'll work?" Shepard asked while fixing his cuff for the millionth time. Samara insisted that he wear a suit to murder Morinth. God forbid he kill Samara's daughter in a sweat suit.
"We have to get Morinth's attention somehow. A suit on you will do the job." Samara was looking him over critically, straightening things here and there. "I'll think you'll definitely catch her eye,
Commander. By the way, do you remember what Morinth's tastes are? The ones Nef talked about?"
"Forta, Vaenia, and violence."
"Ya, that's pretty much it. Ready to go?"
Most members of the Normandy had been called in to make sure he looked, as Miranda put it, civilized. A few moments earlier, he'd walked out in front of everyone and modeled; luckily there'd been many nods of approval.
Shepard surveyed the room just to make sure everyone liked it. "Let's go."
…
"So, he's not going in with a gun or armor?"
Liara had somehow figured out their plan and managed to catch Shepard before he could turn the club upside down. He'd hoped to slip by the asari unnoticed. No use in causing her anymore worry.
"Correct, he can't blow his cover," Samara said. To her credit, she was being extremely patient with the younger asari. Liara had been understandably worrisome ever since the Batarian bar incident.
"Liara, I'll be fine. I'll just run in there, thrill the crowd with my dance moves-" some one burst out laughing, probably Garrus, "-go back to Morinth's house, wiggle my eyebrows a couple of times, and then kill her. Easy. That was basically my entire twenties."
"You don't understand how... convincing Ardat-Yakshi can be," Liara said. She'd been adjusting his suit for some time now. He hoped it was a nervous habit and not because he looked like a ball of Rosebud shit.
"Remember how I was able to function with the Prothean vision? Well this is no different, I'm strong willed - I'll be fine," Colt said. He patted Liara's shoulder, checked his suit again, and proceeded into the club, but not before turning around and giving everyone a thumbs up.
The club was darkly lit, the music was pretty good, and the bass hummed in his chest. Everything was in place for a nice killing. But first things first, he had to do something interesting. Something like come to the rescue of an asari dancer.
"Come on, baby," a turian said, "My place is just around the corner." He wrapped his talons around her wrist and yanked her closer.
"Uhhh, no thanks."
"Oh, come on-"
"Hey, buddy, she said no," Shepard growled, stalking up to the pair. He was so goddamn tired of dealing with assholes.
"This doesn't concern you, human," the Turian growled. He looked Colt over like a piece of meat before cocking his fist. Colt silently thanked the universe for this opportunity before promptly laying the turian out. The dancer smiled at him and walked off towards the bar.
Alright, what next? What else could draw Morinth out?
He scanned the dance floor for anything unusual. A man was pacing and muttering to himself about ten feet away. Jackpot!
"Hey, man, you alright?" Shepard asked while walking over.
"No, no I'm not."
"What can I do to help?"
"It's my friend. She's in some deep shit right now," he explained, "She's trying to get information from this gang boss, but he's figured out who she is. I need to tell her to get the hell out of there."
"I can do that, no problem."
"Thank you! You just need to say two sentences to her. The first needs the word 'terminal' in it and the second needs 'eternity.' Those are our bug-out words. She knows she needs to leave if they're ever said in that order."
Colt nodded before sauntering up to where the gang boss and reporter were sitting. He managed to plop down on the seat next to the reporter before saying, "Terminals are useful to look up information on." Was that really the best sentence Shepard could come up with?
"What the fuck?" The gang leader rumbled.
Without batting an eye, Colt continued on, "Sometimes it takes an eternity to find varren food." Great, he was now voicing personal complaints to save someone's life. How classy. The woman's eyes, however, grew big and she excused herself before running off.
The boss watched her leave before turning back to Shepard. "Hey, what the hell, buddy?"
"Whoops, wrong person," Shepard replied flatly, "Sorry." He waddled away and scanned for his next source of excitement. The only thing that really screamed at him for attention was the dance floor.
He walked to the middle of the dance circle and commenced his performance next to an unsuspecting asari. "I'm going to dance beside you," he told her, "If you want to think we're dancing together, knock yourself out." Shepard boogied for a while and almost burst out laughing as he saw the asari's face sink more deeply into horror at each awkward movement of his hands. He really hoped Morinth would come soon or else this poor girl's head would explode.
"You're the most interesting person in this whole club, wanna sit?" Someone said behind him. Colt turned around to see his target. "My name's Morinth." Show time.
"Lead the way."
She brought him over to a relatively private table before asking, "Most of the time there isn't anyone interesting in this club, sometimes there's only one. Today it's you, why is that?" Her voice was somehow both deeply unsettling and entirely too enjoyable.
"I know what I'm doing, I'm confident." Shepard leaned back and crossed his arms.
She nodded thoughtfully before saying, "So, what kind of art do you like?" She mirrored him by sitting back and crossing her arms.
"This Elcor artist named Forta really speaks to me," Shepard said. He sounded so foreign to himself. He didn't have conversations about art, he had conversations about guns.
"I love him, but I didn't know anyone knew about him," she said, grinning.
"That's great!...So, uh, how do you like the music here?" Shepard sputtered. This was the exact moment he realized how uncultured he was.
"It's dark and it works."
"I agree, I enjoy violent rhythms." What the fuck? He didn't even know what a violent rhythm was.
Morinth leaned forward before saying, "Violence is the only sure way to power."
"The person who's the strongest has the best chance of getting the most power," he lied. The Salarian dalatrass was most certainly not strong, and yet she held an incredible amount of power.
"I agree," she said, drawing out each syllable, "Seems like we have a lot in common. Where do you travel?"
"I travel all over the galaxy, mostly killing people." He tried to subtly flex his right arm, but it was pretty damn obvious. She didn't care about subtly, apparently, because she stared at his arm a good two seconds.
"How about we go back to my place? I want you alone," Morinth almost growled. He took her extended hand but not before sending a prayer to whoever would listen.
...
Shepard followed Morinth wearily through the door. A quick glance around revealed that her apartment was just like every Citadel apartment-tiny with plain furniture. He passed by a few odd decorations before stopping altogether in front of a table filled with small baggies of Hallex. God damn, that was a shitload of drugs.
A hand slid across his back, sending a shiver down his spine. "You use?" She asked.
"N-no," Colt said, shaking his head. His mouth was suddenly dry and the immediate danger faded into background noise.
"Don't start now. I want you present," she murmured. She put her hand on the back of his neck and yanked his head down. She pressed her lips against his with violent tenacity. The sudden surge of action shook him to his core. He put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her off. This was an awful fucking idea.
"You like it rough, do ya?" She said, pushing him back into a couch. She descended on him again, kissing his neck.
"Get off," Colt said. He held his breath and looked at the ceiling in an effort to forget where he was.
Instead of stopping, she continued on with fervency.
"Stop, get off me," he repeated. Morinth showed no signs of acknowledging his pleas. Samara had said Morinth was a predator and ignoring his wishes was all part of the hunt.
Shepard really wanted to send her flying. Maybe snap her neck in the process. But he was paralyzed. Struggling only made these things worse. Resistance increased the suffering tenfold, so he opted to pretend he was elsewhere.
The sound of a door swishing open a second later snapped Colt out of his catatonic state.
"Mother!" Morinth screeched, jumping out of his lap. Biotics exploded out of her hands towards Samara, who was easily able deflect the hit.
Colt rolled off the couch and onto the floor. He crawled across the floor as the two asari exchanged biotic blows. The noise of the hits were deafening and shook the ground under his hands and feet. He crawled behind a kitchen cabinet and peaked out.
"Morinth, you chose your fate when you rejected a life in a monastery," Samara yelled between blasts.
"I chose to live free. Where's the shame in that?" Morinth replied. Her whole body tensed before she let out a massive wave of blue. Samara must've seen it coming, for she also launched a tremendous volley. Their biotics collided at a halfway point. Colt waited and waited for Samara to overtake Morinth, but their biotics appeared even and a stalemate descended.
There was no hiding anymore, he had to step in.
He stood up from behind the cabinets and surveyed the scene. Where was the Ardat Yakshi's weak spot?
Morinth turned her head towards to Colt before saying, "I'm more valuable to you than her! Anyone could see that."
"Shepard, I've had centuries of experience fighting," Samara said. What in the fuck? This wasn't a contest. This was a galactic service. Samara trying to prove her worth to him was sickening. He didn't flip on people for the sake of convenience. He didn't dump crewmates just because someone else wanted their place. Loyalty was a dying trait.
This was supposed to be simple. Kill a serial killer, have a drink with Samara, and leave. All this choosing bullshit was never part of the plan. He told Samara he'd help kill Morinth and he meant it.
Colt walked up to Morinth and grabbed her arms and put them behind her back. God how he loathed his job.
Samara took the opportunity to send a biotic burst that hit Morinth square in the chest. He could hear a horrible crunch as she fell hard into Shepard's arms. She was still alive, but incapacitated with a broken back.
"Find peace in the embrace of the goddess," Samara murmured. She wrapped her hands around her daughter's neck and twisted violently. Colt could feel her vertebrae snap against his chest. He laid her carefully on the floor, took a step back, and stared at Morinth's body. He glanced at Samara. The look in her eyes made this killing a hundred times worse.
The two stared at her wordlessly before a knock at the door woke them up. "I'll get it," he said. He opened the door to find two C-Sec officers standing on the stoop.
"Hello, C-Sec. We got complaints of a possible-oh, Commander Shepard. Our apologies, sir," one of the Officers said, "We didn't realize this was Spectre Business."
"That's alright."
"Well, you have a good evening, Commander." The two turians turned around.
"Wait, we've got a body in here," Shepard said, "Could you, uh, possibly send someone over?"
"Right away, sir," one said. He reached for his shoulder radio and started speaking into it.
"They'll be right over, Commander," the other one said, "Just keep the door open."
"Of course...Thanks," Shepard said. He smiled at the pair before shutting the door lightly. This whole situation was fucked. C-Sec not only ignoring the problem but also willingly helping made his stomach churn.
He walked back over to Samara, who'd moved to a couch nearby Morinth. "Who was it?"
"C-Sec. A neighbor must've called it in," he said, "They'll take her to the morgue for you."
"Perks of being a Spectre?"
"Something like that."
The two sat in silence for awhile before Samara spoke again, "You could've killed her before I got here. You had the element of surprise, plus your biotics are much stronger. So, why didn't you?"
"I froze." She turned to look him in the eye. "When I was in the foster care system back on Earth, I was placed with a piece of shit," he explained, "Just a waste of space. Anyways, when she was kissing me like that and ignoring my pleas, all I could see was his face. I couldn't move, I couldn't breath. I just..." He shook his head.
"...Lost control?"
"Ya."
She smiled at him sympathetically before saying, "I must arrange for my daughter to be buried,"
"Wait. Here," Shepard said while also handing her about five thousand creds. He didn't know that much about asari justicars, but he did know they were notoriously poor.
"You know I can't take this." She started to hand it back.
"It's not for you," he said. Samara nodded, stood up, and walked out the door. He watched her leave before looking back at Morinth. She was perfectly still on the ground, almost like she was sleeping.
Why did this hurt so goddamn bad? Morinth was a sadistic killer and she deserved to die. This was the right move, so why didn't it feel like it?
"Shepard," a voice behind him called.
"Body's over here," he said absentmindedly.
"Colt." This got his attention. He stood up and turned around quickly. Liara was by the front door.
"Sorry," he said, "I thought you were C-Sec." He sighed and ran a hand over his head. "This was a rough one. I just..I don't know. Why was this one so hard?"
"Samara still loved Morinth and it was a brutal death," Liara said. She walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. Like an old friend would. ..Whatever, that was for another day.
She was right, but there was something more. "Whenever these things popped up on the news, I'd always wonder how someone could do that to their own kid. I don't have that luxury anymore, Liara," he said, "The way she looked at Morinth after she was dead. That wasn't a new look for me."
She nodded but didn't say anything. It was for the best. She didn't understand. Logically sure, but not emotionally. Fortunately, most people didn't.
"It's probably a good idea to get out of this place," she told him, "No need to sit around and compound your suffering. Samara and C-Sec have it from here."
"You're right. I need to get back to the Normandy. See you later?"
"See you later."
…
Author's Note: I almost killed Samara. I don't like her, but Morinth is worse. Even though I don't like either of them, I found Samara's loyalty mission particularly hard to get through. It's a testament to Bioware's ability that they could create such an emotional mission without having any combat.