Never Leave Me

By Kachimoochi

Chapter VI

I Have To Do This For Her

It was still the night cycle on The Citadel, and though many were sound asleep, even more were wide awake. It seemed as if the people in charge of the weather cycles on The Citadel unanimously decided to enact a rain protocol. Rain fell upon the floating station by the trillions a second, falling into the top of the bottom portion of the atmosphere, on the lower wards it seemed as if rain was being pulled from the ground.

Of course, ever since Revin Tyuvio's death it seemed as if every night was a rainy night to RJ Clifford. He now rode his unmarked skycar to the Apartment Complex of the Citadel, a massive tenement complex, half for the middle class, and half for the low-income earners, it didn't take a cultural anthropologist to tell one that such a thing was a terrible idea. The Asari, thought to be the main masterminds controlling the Citadel preferred to see the world through rose-tinted glasses, or at least were patient enough to wait a hundred years for the problem to die out, they often would.

About 100 crimes on average were committed within or around the complex every 6 hours, C-Sec preferred to let the inhabitants of the damned, monolithic living spaces to settle their own issues, violently or otherwise. The CLED were the only authority that dared to enter the "No-Go-Zones" that the complex represented, which didn't gain a favorable image with the inhabitants. CLED also had less regulations than C-Sec, meaning concepts like police brutality and the rights of the accused existed in a grey zone. As brutal as it sounds, CLED arrested dozens of criminals and suspects there on a daily basis, it was a breeding ground for crime, but at least the officers would never be out of a job.

RJ couldn't imagine why Revin of all people, who graduated top of her class at the Palaven Academy, and was a model soldier in her required service, would choose to live in an area in which she would always sleep with one eye open. He couldn't imagine an existence where once stared evil in the face as they handcuffed it every day, only to come home to a slum where everyone knows you're a cop, and it's always open season on them.

RJ finally settled on the idea that it was a form of rebellion. Revin came from a moderately wealthy family on her native Palaven, her father was a higher-up in the Hierarchy, while her mother was one of the most successful businesswomen in her entire district. This considered, she lived a very sheltered existence, they quite literally lived in Ivory Towers, never seeing the filth and scum that permeated the undergrounds of Palaven. Maybe it was Revin's inexperience with said filth that inspired her to become a C-Sec officer, and later a CLED officer. She once told him that she didn't speak to her father for an entire year when he tried to bribe her way out of the required military service.

Revin, RJ supposed, was the stereotypical strong and independent female who didn't need anyone's help. This was completely true, save for RJ himself. He didn't think Revin had any friends, and she barely saw her family regularly except for familial functions, it was as if she preferred an existence consisting only of herself and her partner. Hell, maybe that was his personality too, he didn't have any friends either, and living in the shadow of his little brother didn't give him much incentive to make his presence known at familial functions either, they truly completed one another.

"Detective Clifford to Vikeni, come in Vikeni!" RJ called on his virtual intercom, nearing the massive complex.

"What is it Clifford?" The Salarian snapped in response.

"I'm at the complex, which level are you on?"

"You're at the complex? I told you to report to the station, I'm in the middle of the briefing!" Vikeni shouted, drawing the attention of the other detectives in the briefing room.

"Good, then I can get a head start. Now what am I looking for?"

"If you came to the station, I'd tell you"

"Time waits for no man, and neither will I"

"Enough with the semantics, it's level 58 unit 93, be careful and don't contaminate any of the evidence"

RJ punched in the coordinates seconds before he unceremoniously hung up on the Captain. The skycar descended into a preloaded path slowly taxing to a massive elevator for vehicles. This wouldn't be a fast experience, there was a surplus of time before the elevator would descend to the 58th level, and then even more time for the car to taxi to the specific unit. This was the route of visitors of course, regular home owners had their own personalized routes secured with a pin to expedite the process, but RJ possessed none. Even Revin lived on the 7th level, the more middle-class level. If this Milika Yuvora lived on the 58th floor she must have been dirt poor.

It was during this elongated decent that Revin revealed herself once more. She assumed her usual position by sitting in the passenger seat of the car, tilting her head to the sunroof and staring at the artificial stars. RJ always knew she was with him, and being as they had at least 15 minutes to travel to Milika's apartment, he decided to strike up a conversation with his contentious projection.

"Welcome back! You've been rather quiet the ride over" RJ said, a small smirk returning to his face.

"Look, I know I'm usually the free-spirited rebel, but even I realize that this death is probably a coincidence" Revin responded, turning her head back to her partner.

"I don't know, I just have a really good feeling about this, like the same feeling I get when I talk to you, like something is telling be to do this" RJ explained.

"Just don't get youself into trouble on my occount, it wouldn't do either of us any good anymore" Revin stated, returning her gaze to the stars.

They sat in silence for the extra 10 minutes it took to travel through the traffic of the inhabitants until the guiding protocol led them to Milika's apartment. Both beings exited the car and made their way to the front door. RJ despised the façade of the apartments, they were all the same, squares inside of squares inside of squares inside of squares. The sameness, the sensory deprivation, it sickened the Human detective.

Vikeni uploaded the PIN combination for the door console to her apartment, which RJ received and enacted on his Omni-Tool. As soon as he entered the small abode, the lights awoken, displaying the dead Asari's residence.

The apartment was small, as expected for being on the lower levels of the complex. It was a single bedroom apartment with a single bathroom and a small kitchen, the living room took up the majority of the apartment. It was a clean enough room, RJ decided, with foodstuffs laden around the tables and shelves, there were some posters for boy bands upon the walls, yet strangely enough, there were no pictures.

"There aren't any pictures" Revin spoke to her partner. "It's like she didn't live here at all, there's nothing here with her name on it"

"That's what I was thinking, but the apartment is registered to her, maybe she didn't want anyone knowing she lived here"

"Maybe you should have listened to Vikeni, he probably has much more information than we'll find here" Revin reluctantly admitted.

"I'd rather die than live in a world where Vikeni was right" RJ decided.

RJ and Revin continued to peruse the house for any evidence that could have led to the Asari's death, or at least any information that would have brought her to her final destination. Much of the house was still empty, so RJ deduced that she must have moved to either the Citadel or this complex fairly recently. Revin ran her fingers through the main console to her house, looking for relatives or other information. Once she activated the console, which lay on a coffee table in the middle of the living room, she perused the console for Omni calls or appointments.

"I think I found out what occupation our little blue berry had" Revin shouted across the room.

"Well I just checked her closet, there weren't many clothes, and the ones there were may as well have been swimwear only"

"So…guess!" Revin exclaimed.

"Little clothes, no personal information anywhere, found dead in a parking garage…I'm surmising she was either a prostitute or a lawyer" RJ joked.

"What's the difference?" Revin quipped, with a serious look on her face.

"Then she is a prostitute?"

"Oh…yeah! There're hundreds of phone calls very specific about their demands. There are politicians, C-Sec officers, and even…keepers? How's that even possible?" Revin stated, confused.

RJ began pacing the floor for minutes on end, taking turns periodically to search a drawer or box. Revin still checked the Extranet history and Omni calls, she too felt a force telling her to keep looking. The more he paced, the more he saw that this was quite simply cut and dry, prostitutes were killed all over the Citadel on a daily basis, even though the occupation was legal, some still preferred to do it the illegal way. RJ eventually gave up the search and sauntered to the refrigeration unit, picking the only thing inside the unit, a package of square-shaped processed Thessian cheese.

He ate the square slowly, not even caring that he may be contaminating evidence, or some such. What really bothered him was that he was still back to square one, no… square zero. He wasn't any closer to finding who killed his love than he was the minute he was committed. He wouldn't stop of course, he'd continue until his final breath, but now he'd lost a lot of morale, and the square of salty and bitter foreign cheese wasn't doing much to help.

"Well it seems you were right; she was probably killed by an unsatisfied customer or a nutjob or something, nothing to do with you"

"Uh…RJ?"

"I'm going have to look that ass-kisser in his black, soulless eyes and tell him that he was right"

"RJ?!"

"You know he's never going to let me live this down right? He'll probably commit me to another psych ward; he'll say that you're distracting me"

"RJ!"

"See, you are distracting me" RJ joked, coming out of his monologue.

He noticed that the feminine phantom he once called a friend had a scared expression on her face. One probably wouldn't believe a Turian was capable of being scared, or hell, expressing emotions in the first place, but RJ knew her like the back of his hand, and she was scared. She was biting the ends of her first two fingers, as her other hand traced the virtual message coming out of the main console.

"What is it?"

"Look!" Revin whimpered.

RJ took Revin's place in front of the console, and began to trace his finger along the message. It was a transcript of an Omni conversation. The console existed in a sort of green and black matrix as it projected the message out of its projector, which enabled the message and its identities to be revealed. RJ saw immediately what frightened Revin, but he continued reading, and it would come to frighten him too.

Recording: 6 Months Ago -No response- Legnth: 6 Minutes- Speakers: Milika Yuvora, Revin Tyuvio. Omni communication converted into transcript by Modolo Tech.

Revin: So, what did you find out?

Milika: That man was crazy! I was scared for my life! You didn't tell me he was dangerous!

Revin: Don't worry, you don't know anything, it's me he's looking for.

Milika: What do you mean it's you? Why did you make me do this anyways?

Revin: I hacked into the camera of your console, I needed to see his face, I didn't expect him to be so violent with you, but I mean…it is your occupation.

Milika: I thought your occupation was to arrest scumbags? You should have heard the things he told me at the Kensetus Club, the things he admitted to. I've serviced criminals in my life, that guy was the lowest of the low!

Revin: From what I hear, he wasn't always that way.

Milika: What do you mean?

Revin: Never mind, you did your job, your credits will be transferred by courier, I need to keep this quiet.

Milika: Listen! If I'm in danger I need to know. He isn't the kind of guy I want looking for me.

Revin: Like I said, this guy doesn't take risks. Just be a bit discriminating with your Turian clientele for the next few months, if you really want to be safe.

Milika: Will you be okay?

Revin: No. I don't think so. It's all over for me, it's like I'm a totally different person.

Milika: You told me how close your partner was, just ask him for help. Certicus will come after him, anyways won't he?

Revin: No! I can't let RJ know. This isn't what I wanted…but I have to do this for her, or he'll come after her too.

Milika: Who?

Revin: Never mind, when were done talking delete this message, and stay safe.

Omni Communication End, Transcript by Madolo Tech, subscribe to Premium Version 45.7 Today!