"Damn it, Garrus. I didn't stutter! Now where the fuck is Chakwas?"
"She's right here, Shepard. Damn it. What is going on?"
Swearing an exotic string of profanity, Shepard had immediately found a relatively quiet corner on the Promenade before he'd called Garrus. As he listened to Shepard recount what had happened, the turian's stoic face grimaced and twisted into his own peculiar version of a scowl.
The doctor's face appeared then, her features full of concern. "Shepard, what is it?"
"Doc, I need you to be ready to work. Hell, call Doctor Michel too." Again, a rage filled shake of his head. Shepard's fists glowed blue as he struggled mightily to keep his anger in check. "Some…old friends have taken Tali."
The doctor's eyes bulged. "They what? Who did this? What do they want?"
The breath that he took was the deepest he could ever remember taking. "The Reds, Karin. The fucking Reds. They took her, right from under my fucking nose."
It was the doctor's turn to release a long breath. She was one of the very few people that knew about this particularly dark part of his life. She swallowed hard. "Okay. So what do they want?"
"That is, apparently, the easy part. Just me."
"Okay. Why?"
"I don't know that yet."
Garrus butted back in. "Shepard, I don't think the 'why' matters, do you? What matters is that they have a member of your crew -"
"Damn it, Vakarian, this is not news!"
The turian held up his hands.
"Okay, fine. I'll let you have the killing shot, but I'm going -"
"No, you're not Garrus."
The Garrus's eyes bore into the Spectre's.
"What are you talking about? Of course I am."
"No. I'm going alone. That was the instruction, and that's what I'm doing. I'm not going to risk her any more than I already have." He shook his head in barely bottled rage. "Fuck!"
"Okay, Shepard," Garrus began, "how do you want to play this then?"
"Simple. They don't know I'm a biotic, I didn't get that bit of fun until after I'd gotten out. With luck, I'll have the element of surprise." He shook his head once more. "So, I'll need you and Chakwas standing by when I finish with these fuckers. Contact Michel. Have a car ready to go." He punched in coordinates that were near enough to the warehouse that he was heading to. "Meet me there after I contact you. Tali will need medical attention. Come to think of it, I probably will, too."
He received nods from both of them.
"All right, time's wasting. See you soon."
Tali groaned.
Stupid girl! Stupid bosh'tet! You knew better, Tali! And what will Shepard think? A disturbing thought struck her. What if he comes for you and they hurt him? Keelah! What if they kill him? It will be your fault!
She knew she had to calm down.
What would Shepard do?
She slowed down her breathing, taking the time to assess her current situation.
Okay, your omnitool is fried, and the det kazuats took out the vocalizer, but did they manage to…
Utilizing her cybernetic implants, she was able to access the backup interface that every suit was programmed with in the event that the main system went offline. The system could only accept a few basic commands, but it could accept voice commands that bypassed her non-functional omnitool. Most importantly, it would help keep her alive.
She began to speak. "Access emergency systems, clearance code: Tali'Zorah nar Rayya 1-1-4-A-N-7-6-1." The menu appeared on her visor's HUD in bright green text, offering her access to a basic emergency transponder, a much less robust scanner, and a basic medical suite. Just as importantly, it also allowed for resets of the suit's sensory software.
"Reengage sensory program and access medical scanner."
On her visor's HUD, an overlay of her own body appeared, with a green line tracing across it from top to bottom. As it passed from head to toe, she was not at all surprised to see spots on her leg and on her abdomen each light up in red. Areas on her shoulders were in yellow.
She could deploy antibiotics and one vial of medigel. She ordered both be applied to her exposed wound.
"Keelah, that's going to be a hell of a reaction." She rued the suit's inability to actually seal the breach with the loss of the main system and omnitool-controlled interface. But hopefully, this would be enough to keep her alive.
Once that was done, the sensory suite reset, allowing her to hear the outside world. The visual system was not nearly as robust, but it reengaged some of the opacity to her visor. Tali heard a voice that she didn't recognize. It was unintelligible at first, before the translator kicked in. It was a jarring experience, because unlike her full translator that operated in real time, now she could hear sounds that were decidedly alien pour in before the translator could convert them to her native Khelish.
"Here you go, boss."
"Good. Did you get rid of the suitrat?" Probably the leader, Tali figured.
"Oh yeah, of course. C-Sec won't find her for at least a few days. Well, what's left of her, anyway."
A little laugh.
Keelah, they used her to get to me…and Shepard. And now she's…I didn't even know your name. May the Ancestors embrace you upon your return. Tali sighed. The poor girl had still been on Pilgrimage and was probably desperate. She didn't deserve whatever they had done to her, despite her own predicament.
"So, when Johnny gets down here -"
Who is 'Johnny'? Oh…oh! He must mean Shepard…
"And we kill him."
Oh keelah, no…
Tali had to resist the urge to react as she heard what they had planned; she couldn't give away the fact that she could hear them at all.
"Yeah, and when we kill him…what do we do with her?"
"The quarian? Easy. There's an old batarian friend of mine, he, uh, trades in 'exotic' merchandise." There was a pause that chilled Tali's blood. "He doesn't have a quarian."
Shepard, I'm sorry…please hurry…
"Hey Garland?"
Who is 'Gorlind'?
"Yeah?"
"He's here."
Shepard was not so stupid as to bring weapons with him. That would be the first thing they would check, and would do little good – except to perhaps give his "old friends" some very fancy Spectre-grade weapons to use against him. No, his best bet was the biotics that he wielded. With any luck, he would use that to get himself a firearm.
The row of warehouses that he had followed to get here was nondescript, as he'd expected. They cast the area in a stubborn darkness. No matter how bright the Citadel seemed to be, the darkness was only just an alley away. He had also seen no sign of activity in any of the other buildings, just as he'd expected. He presumed that Garland had paid the workers to stay away.
Turning the corner, he saw the slumped form of Tali'Zorah bundled on the ground. She was facing him, and his concern heightened exponentially as her normally bright eyes were not visible through her mask. With any luck, her eyes were just closed.
But what was that on her leg?
He'd expected to see the knife wound still bleeding, or at least…
There should be more blood.
He took another step toward her when three figures emerged from the shadows.
"Johnny-boy. Hello."
This was the first time that Shepard got a look – a good look at the man known as Garland – and what he saw turned his stomach. The light that had been present when they'd spoken earlier did the current state of the man no justice. He now took notice of the little limp that he walked with, and when Garland removed the glove on his right hand, Shepard was not overly surprised to see five metal digits emerge from his just-as-metal hand. As Garland removed the shades he wore, Shepard saw the telltale inhuman luminescence of cybernetic implants.
"Hello, Garland. I see that you're well."
He smirked. "Heh, no thanks to you."
"I'm just pissed that I didn't finish the job. You know how I hate to leave incomplete work."
He cast a glance to Tali. "Speaking of which, does your girlfriend know about your particular line of work? I mean, before you became the big fucking hero?"
Shepard smirked. He noted the two men that flanked Garland. They were armed, but again, he had the element of surprise. Then he noticed something with Tali…
She gave him what appeared to be a quick set of three nods, they were too precise to be anything else.
That was not an accident.
No one else had noticed; they were all transfixed with him.
"That would be a 'no', Garland. I've not had the chance to talk to her about…this. But let's cut to the chase. You're not here to bullshit about old times. I'm here, so let Tali go."
He knew that Garland was never planning on letting either of them go.
Garland held his hands up. "Of course! I am nothing if not a man of my word. But first…" With two quick nods, his lackeys came up to the Spectre, patting him down, checking for weapons.
The smell of their acrid breath worked his nostrils ferociously.
Shepard glanced up to Garland, who was watching with his hands on his hips and one metal digit tapping impatiently.
It was as good an opportunity as he was likely to get.
Before either of the lackeys knew what was going on, Shepard was encased in blue fire. The two toadies that had been checking for weapons yelped in surprise as their feet left the ground. In less than a second, they were both thrown like human cannonballs away from him, their arms and legs stuck out in front of their bodies as if they weren't moving at the same speed as the rest of them. Shepard did not watch as their heads smacked with a meaty thwack in a sickening flam-tap of torso then head, then limbs against the wall. The blood trailed down the wall, marring the slate gray with the nightmare crimson that eventually pooled around the limp forms of their bodies splayed on the dirty pavement.
Shepard was about to end this charade with a biotic throw at Garland himself, but a sudden change in fortune stayed his hand.
Oh keelah, Tali had never seen anything like that from her captain before. Sure, he'd used his biotics before, usually in conjunction with the team's firearms to dispatch enemies, but she'd never seen him not need a weapon. And to see his face when he'd done so! He hadn't even bothered to look at the bosh'tets as they slithered to the ground. Judging by the noises she heard, Tali figured that he didn't need to.
No, sir. They were dead; the commander had left no doubt.
She heard this Gorlind grunt, perhaps in surprise, then speak again.
"That was unexpected, Johnny. When did you learn that trick?"
That's when she saw the man step to her, leaning down…
Tali stifled a yelp of both pain and surprise as she was hoisted to her feet by the arms that were bound behind her back. Instead, she gritted her teeth as the force nearly wrenched them from her shoulder joints. It took even more strength to not cry out when she unceremoniously planted weight on her injured leg. That pain had been released as a steady stream of tears instead.
Ancestors, her leg was burning.
When the man spoke again, he sounded like he was right next to her helmet.
"Well, I don't like surprises."
That's when she felt it – the hard pressure that bore down on the center of her back.
"Now Johnny, I didn't want to have to kill your friend here, but you did kill my people. Two of them, in fact. I figure I'm owed her as well as you now."
She watched her captain take a step toward them, arms raised.
"Garland, no! She didn't do anything! I'll go. Do whatever you want to me, just let Tali go."
Even in this predicament, her quarian ears and brain couldn't help but process and note the way that he spoke – he pleaded for her safety. And he was willing to certainly trade his life for hers. There was an unfamiliar feeling deep in the pit of her stomach that traced its way up her spine, settling uncomfortably in the back of her mind.
He cared for her. Keelah, did he care for her.
Tali heard the low "Hmmm" from behind, drawing her attention back to their current predicament. A second later the muzzle was pulled from her back. There was an earsplitting BANG! right next to her helmet.
"Shepard! No!"
She screamed, then tried to stumble forward before she was yanked back by the ties that bound her.
Tali watched in horror as Shepard stumbled to his knees, blood pouring out of the smoking hole that was left in his thigh. She heard him groan. Then she heard something that might have been worse.
"So, you can talk again, you bitch. Which probably means you can hear me just fine, too." This man, this evil man, clicked his tongue. "I actually thought about letting you live, ya know."
In the space of less than a second, Tali decided that slamming her helmet into the jaw of her captor would likely be the opening they needed…but she had to warn Shepard. If she spoke again, she was dead. She had to wait until he –
Despite the pain that he was clearly in – the sweat and redness of his face gave that away – Shepard's cobalt eyes locked with Tali's own luminescent pearls. She blinked three times, rhythmically, in succession. She hoped that it would be enough to convey to him that something was about to happen.
He nodded in reply; it was the subtlest of movements, but she understood it.
Understanding now confirmed between them, Tali squatted down before smashing the crown of her metallic helmet into the chin of this bosh'tet with as much force as she could muster and a scream from the burning pain that exploded from her thigh.
In a haze from the eruption of pain in her leg, Tali heard four things occurring in quick succession: the crunch of shattered bone from the force of her helmet into the man's jaw, the clanging of metal on pavement that was the handgun falling from his hand, the retort from that same weapon as it unloaded into her captor (less than a second later, she would note), and finally the thud as his body slumped to the ground.
Tali could only watch as Shepard stumbled to her, asking if she was okay as he managed to sit her back down. Unable to form words with tears streaming down her cheeks, she simply nodded in reply.
He did the same before muttering something about "being right back".
Her eyes followed his every movement as he stalked in stilted rhythm to his now-prey, pistol held tightly in his hand.
She thought she heard an exchange of words between them before her captain fired shot after shot into the man. When the heatsink finally overloaded, he chucked the weapon to the ground. He took a step toward her then stopped and turned back around. Tali cocked her head as he bent down with a pained grunt and pulled what she recognized to be her bootknife from somewhere on the dead man's body.
Returning to her, Tali felt an impossibly strong hand on her shoulder.
"Tali…I'm going to cut your bindings, okay? Don't…panic. It's okay."
"Okay," she breathed. Of course it was okay. She felt an agonizing mix of guilt, relief, and…something deeper wash over her at those words.
A second later, her arms were released as the bonds fall away. She heard a whispered apology and felt Shepard's arm around her waist in support. Tali tried to muster something to say as she stared at the hole that was still oozing blood down his leg.
"Shepard, keelah I'm sorry for -"
He shook his head, defying her apology and throwing it aside.
"Oh no, Tali'Zorah. You don't get to apologize to me for anything." Tali knew that he thought that his whole thing was his fault, and he wouldn't accept trying to convince her otherwise. She watched him shift his weight to his other leg. "Hold onto my shoulder, Tali. I'm contacting Garrus."
In a few seconds, the digitized face of Garrus Vakarian appeared.
"Spirits! Are you -"
Her captain sighed. "Garrus, no more questions. Just get to this position. Tali's injured; so am I. Is Doctor Michel with you?"
"Yes, Shepard she's right here."
"Good, hurry up." He seemed to think for just a moment before adding a hurried "please" and a smirk before signing off.
"You know Shepard, I am sure we make quite the sight." Tali intentionally added a little extra something to that as she smirked.
"Heh, yeah. We look like we're in a three-legged race." He still managed a smirk, his eyes twinkling as they leaned against a nearby wall.
"Shepard…a what?"
"A three…you know what? I'll explain it later."
"Is that before or after you buy me dinner?"
Keelah, where was this coming from?
Thankfully, he laughed as she leaned her head against his shoulder.
"How about 'over' dinner?"
A little giggle bubbled out of her. "Yeah, we can do that, Shepard. We can do that."
As Garrus and the doctors arrived, Tali couldn't help but focus on the word that popped into her mind. She released a heavy, stuttered breath as she realized all that it implied between herself and Shepard. It was one that she dared not speak aloud, certainly not to her captain –
Nehya