Chapter 5

Ari groaned as she woke up laying down on a cold hard slab. She had a black eye, cracked ribs, and some possible fractures in her arms and legs. Okay, it must have been one hell of a night at the bar. Everything seemed a bit fuzzy. She remembered buying another bottle of liquor from the Turian bartender. He said something about it being Krogan liquor. Maybe that's why she had troubles remembering what happened. However, judging by everything hurting, it must have been one hell of a fight. She also saw the glow of a containment field. Oh, lovely. I must have ended up being carted away by C-Sec and ended up in a cell. The cell she was in wasn't empty either. Jack was pacing back and forth like a wild animal.

"Calm down. We'll get out of here."

She glared at Shepard. "This is all your fucking fault, Shepard. If you hadn't challenged me to a fight, we wouldn't be in this mess."

"Uhh what? Oh shit, I don't remember any of that."

Jack rolled her eyes. "Do you remember any of our conversation?"

"Something about becoming a pirate. I turned it down. And after that it gets a bit fuzzy."

Jack rolled her eyes. "You ordered me to dance with you. I turned you down and you didn't like that answer and you got physical with me. "

Ari groaned in pain. "That explains why I feel like a piece of tenderized meat. And my head…." Shepard rubbed the front of her head with her hand. "Feels like when I was connected to that damn Prothean beacon on Eden Prime."

She looked at Jack, she had a few minor scratches and some bruises but seemed relatively unscathed. Shepard tried to laugh but the pain in her ribs stopped her from a full out laugh and came out more like a cough. "Remind me not to pick any more fights with you."

Shepard managed to sit up and she leaned back against the wall of the cell and closed her eyes. The light in the cell was not helping the headache she had. "No more Krogan liquor."

Jack remarked with a snort. "No shit."

Ari sighed and tried to calm and center her thoughts; it was something that Liara had helped her with quite a few times. Despite the fact that she wasn't Asari, Shepard found the technique soothing and helped her think a bit clearly.

"Jack, why didn't you kill the C-Sec officers when we got thrown in here like when you were back on Purgatory?"

"Because fucking Purgatory was run by Blue Sun mercs. They deserved to die. Besides, I have a good thing going with you, Shep. I am not going to mess that up by killing C-Sec officers."

"I see."

"And if you're a Specter, why are we in jail in the first place?"

Shepard chuckled or rather coughed with her cracked ribs. "Pretty sure Specter status means shit when you're drunk. Or these C-sec officers haven't figured out that I am Commander Shepard. After all I was dead for two years."

"You have purple hair, for crying out loud! Pretty sure, it's known that Commander Shepard has purple hair. And I never got to ask, why the purple hair?"

Ari once again tried to laugh but felt pain instead. "Ugh…." She then said. "A memento from my wild days as a kid back on Earth. Never could give it up, even when I decided to enlist. Gave me no end of issues when I was in Basic. You want to be singled out, go around with purple hair. But after Torfan, no one honestly gave a fuck about my hair. I did what everyone else couldn't do, and that was give those Batarian bastards the best ass kicking of their lives. I hate Batarians, never knew any that didn't deserve a bullet in the brain."

"That's another thing. You claim I am bloodthirsty but you seem like you're in for blood just as much, if not more."

"I never said I was a saint." She then motioned for Jack to come closer to her and she whispered to her. "Here's a secret for you that I have learned. I can kill whoever the Alliance wants dead and I can do it because I have the authority to do so and without too much sanction. I am smart enough to kill enemies of the State. And…." Shepard grinned and continued. "Feel satisfied letting out some good unadulterated rage and bloodlust in doing it. It may come with some controversy, but who cares, in the end, my superiors know I was just doing my job. So what if a few malcontents and criminals died. In the long run, my superiors know I did them a favor. I save them the time and money it takes to process and condemn criminals."

Jack shivered. "Damn you're cold, Shepard. But there's a lot of sense in what you're saying."

"Better to fight and kill with the law on your side than against it." Shepard gave a deep sigh through gritted teeth. "What I wouldn't give for a shit load of Medi-gel at this moment in time. Pretty sure Doctor Chakwas is going to be thrilled with my condition once we get back to the Normandy."

Ari heard footsteps enter the cell block and walked towards them. She heard a rather perfunctory voice speak. "Shepard, you could have at least have invited me to join in on the fun." Shepard turned to see who the voice belonged to, to discover that it was her Turian crewman.

"Garrus! Have you come to get us out of here?"

The Turian chuckled. "Of course, Shepard. I still have some pull around here. I told Captain Bailey that if he wanted to live a long and healthy life, he really ought to think about releasing The Specter, Commander Shepard and her squadmate. He really didn't hesitate after that. He knows like everyone else that holding a Specter can be hazardous to one's health."

Ari shook her head. "Garrus, you really shouldn't have threatened Captain Bailey. Not that I don't mind you doing it. But we might need to pull a favor out of him later on. I'd rather not piss him off completely. Remind me to send Captain Bailey a bottle of Asari Honey-Mead. I have a bottle stashed away in my cabin that I managed to wrestle away from Aria when we were on Omega."

Garrus nodded. The cell's energy field turned off and Shepard managed to hobble out despite the pain she felt. Garrus seeing that Ari was injured offered himself as support to lean against. Shepard smiled at the Turian's offer and leaned against him. He was one of the few members of her original team that had served on the previous Normandy. He was a good and loyal friend and Ari appreciated him for his solid tactical advice among other things.

"Let's get back to the Normandy before…well before someone around here changes their mind."