Author's Note: Sorry about the wait. It's been one of those weeks.
Chapter Forty Eight: Aethyta
Shepard loved the limelight. He loved when he exited the Normandy, and reporters were waiting. It was a damn good thing that he liked it, too. In many ways the war hung in the balance of the media. He had to make himself, his crew, the Alliance, and ultimately the entire war effort look good. He knew he was the face leading the war and he loved it.
Arrogance was something that followed Shepard around. His confidence was always borderline arrogance. It was something that came with the job. He knew he was the best, so he acted like it. Colt was well aware how mad he could make people, even his own friends. He could be the biggest asshole this side of Mars. He tried not to be, but it happened more than he should've allowed it. Some part of his mind knew it was a defense mechanism, but he would never admit it to himself. Colt would rather be an asshole, than someone with debilitating problems.
So when the Normandy landed on the Citadel, he eagerly awaited the press with his arrogance working at full capacity. Colt waited at the airlock; he was practically gnashing at the bit for it to open. The rest of his crew stood behind him, no one seemed quite as keen as he was. It was no secret that the majority of the famed Normandy crew disliked media attention, all except their Commander.
Shepard was also secretly glad to get off the his ship. It had been only a few hours since he broke up with Liara, and he needed to get out. Once he had to go down to the crew deck, but made a full retreat when he saw Liara, and a couple other crew members at a table.
"Commander Shepard," Shepard jumped a little when his omni-tool flared to life, and Admiral Hackett appeared.
"Hackett, sir," Shepard waited for the admiral to continue.
"Have you heard?" Hackett's words were concerned, and slightly excited.
"Heard what, sir?" Shepard looked around nervously. What was so bad that the busy admiral personally got a hold of him? The rest of the crew was looking at him worriedly. When Shepard made eye contact with Liara, he quickly looked towards the admiral again.
"Some religious organization has put a bounty on you, it's on the television. Trust the press to keep something potentially lethal to themselves," the last part was mumbled by Hackett. He sounded like that neighbor everyone had, old, and disappointed in everything. One of the crew members turned on the television and the big red banner at the bottom read "Breaking News: Religious Group Demands Cmr. Shepard."
Everyone turned back to their Commander, and looked for guidance on the situation. Shepard listened to the reporter, and then burst out laughing. The shocked faces around him told Shepard that his laughter probably wasn't the most appropriate response ever. "Don't worry about it, sir. Nut jobs like that always want me for this sacrifice, and this amount of blood. Nothing new, and nothing to worry about," Shepard spoke reassuringly to Hackett, but it was meant for his crew.
"If you think so, Commander. I think this may be a legitimate threat, so be on the lookout. These people are offering a generous amount for you. At least the media hasn't said anything about the reward for you," Hackett himself looked a little surprised at Shepard's dismissal. Good, Shepard liked to keep people on their toes. One never knows what Shepard is going to say, he rarely even knew.
"Duly noted, but I think the worst that will happen is that I practice my biotics," Shepard replied.
"If anything happens, make sure you report it, Hackett out," Shepard's omni-tool collapsed again. His crew was still looking worriedly at him.
"Don't worry guys, the guns can handle anyone that tries something," Shepard raised his arms, and kissed his biceps. Then he proceeded to do a couple of poses for the benefit of his crew. His antics produced a few laughs; Shepard would take what he could get. "Now let's greet the reporters," that produced more than a few sighs.
The airlock opened, and Shepard all but skipped out. He was immediately greeted by camera flashes, and questions. He could sense the rest of the Shepard Squad (he was trying out different names for the Normandy's crew) trailing reluctantly behind him.
"Commander Shepard! How can you be sure that the galaxy will defeat the Reapers?" A reporter shouted.
"Well, I think it's fair to say that the galactic community is more than capable in these situations," Shepard turned to see the rest of his people inching their way towards the Citadel's other decks. He would keep the press busy for awhile, and allow everyone to escape. Then he would head for Huerta.
...
"Commander Shepard, it's a pleasure. It's been awhile," Doctor Michel reached her hand towards Shepard. He shook her hand, and looked around the white, sterile walls nervously. He didn't like hospitals; they always meant shots.
"The pleasure is mine. It's been a couple years, I think. So, ah, what's going to happen?" Shepard looked desperately at Chakwas.
"Doctor Chakwas told me about your condition. So I'm going to take some blood," there it was. The shots part. "Then me, and a couple other doctors, will make a treatment plan for you. For now, nothing will cure you permanently. We're just going to make something that will help with the pain, slow the progress of organic tissue rejecting the cybernetics, and make sure you can still go on missions," she explained.
"Okay, sounds good to me. Do anything, and everything to make sure I can still go on missions. I have to be functional during the Reaper War. I don't care about afterwards. If something makes my life shorter, or something like that, I don't care. As long as I can get through the war," Shepard tried not to look as a needle pierced his arm.
...
"So I keep seeing you around Doctor T'Soni. I've been around long enough to know that coincidences are as rare as rainbow-colored Varren," Shepard was talking to Matriarch Aethyta. Beside him was the ever adorable Rosebud, who wore her new outfit. This one had a big C-Sec painted on the side in different languages. Colt had found out that the easiest way of getting Rosebud onto the Citadel was to make her look like a C-Sec patrol Varren.
"Ya, well what's it to ya?" Aethyta grumbled. She was obsessively cleaning counters.
"I just like to know that one of my squad mates isn't being creeped on," Colt answered. He remembered meeting Aethyta a while ago on Illium. She told him some pretty...interesting stories, especially about her parents.
"I'm not creeping on her. Well.. I'm her -," The word Aethyta used was mixed up in his translator, but it was clear that Aethyta was Liara's other parent. Colt was drinking some alcoholic concoction when the truth came out, and some of it went up his nose. He managed to not spit it out everywhere, but it was a close one.
"I... ah see. Go, and meet her," Colt was trying to his hardest not to cough. If one of his parents were on the Citadel, Shepard would give anything to see them. He imagined Liara felt the same way.
"Why? I would just be some crazy bartender to her. Benezia ran off with her when she was only a couple months old," Aethyta stopped her cleaning and looked towards her daughter. Liara was sitting at a table hunched over her work. Colt felt guilty, because he was probably the reason she had stayed at that table for hours now.
"It would be stupid of me. She's the biggest intel broker in the galaxy. Plus, she has some shady connections... like a boyfriend who worked for Cerberus," Aethyta looked directly at him. She narrowed her eyes towards him, like he was a criminal!
"I only worked with Cerberus to fight the Reapers. I don't even exploit their resources anymore," Shepard fumed a little, but he wasn't too angry.
"I know. If you were still with Cerberus, you wouldn't get anywhere near her," Aethyta spoke calmly.
Colt was so tired of people threatening him. "Is that a threat?" He growled the words. Other patrons looked over, and moved away from them.
"I've never been trained, but I've had a thousand years to learn how to fight. I had to, it's not easy being this attractive. Anyways, no one messes with my girl," Colt would've been mad, except for her last couple sentences were pretty funny. Then he realized that he might be found dead in the gutter tomorrow since breaking up with 'her girl' might be considered messing with Liara.
"Ya, well nobody messes with my girl," Colt said this defiantly, and then realized what he had actually said. He had no right to say such a thing, but it was out.
"Good, I like to hear it," Aethyta smiled for the first time. "The asari matriarchs might have called a hit, if I hadn't stepped in, and volunteered to watch her. They're very threatened by the power she holds," Colt would have to help Liara be more secretive. So far everyone, everywhere knew she was the Shadow Broker.
"That's not going to happen, like ever," her words made Colt jumpy. Was someone going to assassinate Liara?
"It won't, not with me keeping an eye on things. If they do decide something, I'll tell you," Shepard relaxed slightly. He was still concerned.
"Now, go talk to Liara. If you don't, I'll get drunk, and hang around the bar. I'm a pretty exciting drunk," Colt leaned forward. He tried to contort his face into a wicked grin.
"Fine, I'll go, but only because I won't be responsible for Commander Shepard hurting himself," Aethyta turned towards another bartender, and said stuff Shepard didn't catch. Then she walked towards the table where Liara sat. The joke was on Aethyta, though. Colt couldn't get drunk, not really, not with his cybernetics. Not being able to get drunk was a double-edged sword.