MASS EFFECT: WINTER EYES

CHAPTER 17: LEAVING ON BAD TERMS

Hearing Bray's voice caused Garrus spin on his heel to face the batarian. His instinctive nature placed himself between their foe and Shepard. He wasn't about to lose her again. "Stand down, Bray. We are leaving."

"I don't think so." The batarian kept his rifle barrel directly on the pair. "You are in some serious shit. Aria doesn't like anyone screwing around with her."

"Who the hell is this asshole?" Raven tossed out to the turian as she glared angrily at the batarian.

"Bray. One of Aria's henchmen."

"Hah. Don't act like you don't remember me, Shepard." Bray spat coldly. "I was here when you helped Aria take Omega back from Cerberus."

"I don't remember that, and I don't remember you. Right now, I see a batarian who I'm going to kill if you don't put down that weapon." Shepard hissed at him.

"If you're smart, then I would listen to her, Bray." Vakarian encouraged him, not letting down his guard. He never did work with him on the mission to retake Omega. Aria wanted Shepard to be solo. His previous dealings with the four-eyed race were never pleasant and he didn't expect this one to be any different. Silently, he tried to read Raven's mind. One wrong move and one of them could have a round in their gut at their close range. Before Charon did what they did to her, Garrus could almost anticipate Shepard's moves during combat. He never had to wait for the order. He was there, on point. Their style was almost symbiotic. However, the woman next to him was familiar yet foreign. There was a block. Would she bold? He wondered if she would engage her tactical cloak to try to get the upper hand. The move was dangerous, and Bray could easily get frustrated and shoot him first. Taking out one of Aria's top people was also not wise. It wasn't like they were not on her bad side already. They were riding the line on breaking Omega's number one rule. A war with T'Loak was not recommended since not only were they dealing with Charon, but also holding back an angry mob of krogan. Shepard was instrumental in both situations. Departing Omega without her was not optional.

The batarian ignored her threat. "I don't give a fuck if you were the galaxy's savior or not. Aria wants to see you. I suggest you head to Afterlife now."

Raven gritted her teeth. Everything the batarian was stating was not making any sense to her. It was like he was talking about an entirely different person. Trying to figure out Vakarian with difficult enough and every time, she dove into her memory bank to solve the puzzle, her migraines flared. Curiosity wanted her to think more on what he was relaying to her, but she ignored the great temptation. Becoming mentally distracted was ill advised in their current predicament, plus another migraine would only put them in greater danger. "I don't know what he's talking about…." She muttered to the turian through her clenched teeth.

"I'll fill you in later…." Garrus whispered back. It seemed any escape from their state was hopeless at the present. "Shepard, what's the order?"

Raven blinked by his question and tilted her head in confusion slightly before looking Bray's way once more. "This is going nowhere. Stand down. Let's see what Aria wants," She spoke the last sentence louder. Her intentions were not even close to stepping foot into the club. She really didn't know who Aria was other than what was disclosed to her by word of mouth, but there was no time in dealing with her. She needed answers and she needed them now. Charon could be on their way to Omega. She wanted to put more distance between her and Erinyes until she could figure out exactly what was going on.

Bray smirked by her order. "Smart, Shepard. Go on." He motioned towards the club's direction with his rifle. "I'll follow you." He tapped his comm. "Aria, this is Bray. I have them both. I'm on my way back."

"I'll have Sh'sk meet up with you. Don't lose them."

Tali Zorah rolled her eyes as she noticed many of the residents on the station were eying her watchfully as she strolled down one of the streets away from the docks. Even with the quarian aid against the Reapers, her kind was still looked upon as vagabonds and thieves. Actuality, most species mingled with their populace, but the creation of the Geth still haunted the quarian race. The Geth's aid was instrumental as well in the war, but many still didn't care for the AI. Not being confident, Tali decided to stick with the heavier traffic and not take any backroads. Many opportunists wouldn't think twice on catching her alone, stealing what she had and puncturing holes into her envirosuit for kicks.

As she neared the club, her eyes were diverted, and she failed to see the stationary asari in front of her. Walking right into her, Tali nearly toppled over on top, but somehow managed to keep her footing. "Hey!" The asari shouted to her.

"Keelah. I'm sorry I-," Tali stopped herself, when she recognized the asari's voice. "Liara?"

T'Soni' s expression went from anger to joy when she saw her old comrade standing in front of her. She eyed onlookers and decided against the pleasantries. "Watch where you're going." Her tone bitter.

Catching on to her ruse, Tali grinned inside her helmet. Luckily, she had the upper hand for no one could see her face. "Don't stand in my way, asari."

Noticing the bystanders went on their way to ignore the rest of their conversation, Liara's bright blue eyes looked at her friend. "Goddess, I can't believe you are here," Her voice soft. "Where are the others?"

"At the ship. Aria's people won't let them out. Fortunately for me, they didn't believe I was part of their crew since I'm a quarian. Where is Garrus?"

"I think he had a lead on Shepard. He went to get her…I just hope he finds her before Aria's people do."

"Well, if she's on this station, he will find her. He knows Omega better than any of us."

"I agree. If he held out against mercs, I know he can handle one batarian."

Step…step…step step…step…step…step step. Garrus methodically quickened his pace to get nearer to Raven without arousing suspicion from Bray. He made it out like he normally walked quicker than she did. A chill went up Raven's spine as she could feel the turian's warm breath at the back of her neck. "Wait for my signal." Vakarian kept his voice low as his blue eyes glanced around. He recognized their location too well. He often walked the streets to get a sense of the layout before he bunkered down at his warehouse as Archangel. Only a fool would box himself without knowing all escape routes and places for his enemies to flank him. Up ahead to his right would be a side street that led to a run-down housing district. The width was narrow, which prevented a lot of foot traffic. The corridor zig zagged intersecting different streets and if you found the right one, you could easily make it back to the wide area of the station near the docks. With only one batarian, the percentage of high casualties was low and Garrus was confident that they could lose Bray if the first part of his plan was a failure. He had to get Raven to the ship; that was his priority. Once she was there, she would be in the hands of Liara and the others and further away from Charon.

Raven bit her lip as she kept her eyes forward. She had no idea what Garrus had in mind for them. "We can take him," She said under her breath.

"There's a ship waiting for you, Spectre class."

"Spectre?" The title caused a slight elevation in Raven's tone and she caught herself before she let it slip out too loudly for Bray to pick up on.

"You need to get on that ship. I'll deal with this guy."

The idea of being pushed off to more people she didn't know, didn't set right with Raven. She was one hundred percent too comfortable with him, but he was somewhat familiar or, so he claimed. She stubbornly shook her head. "I thought you said we were a team, Garrus."

Hearing her voice becoming defiant, made Garrus crack a smile on his lips. "Heh, just like old times." For a slight second, he almost felt like the situation was different. He and Macha were on Omega dealing with whatever mission the Alliance tossed her way.

Bray noticed Garrus' proximity to Raven and scowled. "Hey!" He barked to the pair. "No funny business up there. I'll shoot you dead in the street."

"There's a street up ahead to your right. Go down that three blocks until you see a volus wine merchant. Take a left and then your first left. It will put you closer to the docks. As soon as I make the move, run." Garrus spoke fast and low as he placed more distance between him and Shepard to comply with the order. Noticing the street ahead that Garrus described, Raven nodded her head slightly to acknowledge what he said. Slowing his pace more, Garrus came to an almost halt, causing Bray to stop shortly in confusion. "Raven!"

Hearing his voice, Raven broke out in a mad sprint, pumping her legs fast. Seeing Shepard racing away from them, Bray moved around Garrus to aim his assault rifle at her. Soon as he was side by side with the turian captive, Garrus used his height advantage and utilized the bony point of his left elbow to hit Bray square in the head. The impact caused Bray to fire recklessly into the vicinity as his fingered squeezed the trigger on the riffle. Rounds ricocheted off structures and took out several news vid screens. Sparks flew from the electrical wiring exposed. Regaining his footing, Bray growled at the surprise attack and moved to hold his rifle towards Garrus. Taking his left boot, Garrus kicked the rifle out of the batarian's hands and rushed at him, knocking them both into the wall of a building. Garrus' talons held tightly down on Bray's armor as he used his bicep muscles to push as hard as he could to keep the batarian pinned.

Wiggling against the restraint, Bray seized the opportunity and kicked Garrus in his abdomen with the heel of his right boot. The turian jumped back to put more distance to prevent further damage. Not letting up, Bray curled his fists and swung at Garrus' face, missing with one and impacting with a right cross punch. The blow made him stumble backwards and his face throbbed. Bray moved to pick up his gun, but Garrus tackled him again to the ground once more. If the batarian regained his weapon, it was game over. Using his strength, Bray rolled, pinning Garrus on the floor and reached for a knife that was fastened on his armor's back plating.

Seeing his opportunity while the batarian's weight shifted in the process, Garrus placed both feet under the batarian's and held onto his arms tightly. He lifted Bray up and threw him over his head, slamming his body hard into the structure's side once more. Leaping up, Garrus picked up Bray, who was still down on the ground dazed, and slammed his head into the wall again. The strike caused him to lose consciousness and the batarian slumped down to the ground. Leaning down to take his pulse, Garrus was satisfied to know that he didn't kill the poor bastard and then moved quickly to catch up with Raven. He prayed silently as he ran that she would follow his order and not use the time to elude him once again. He had to alert Liara. "Liara! This is Garrus. Please tell me that you're not at Afterlife."

"Garrus!" Liara happily replied seconds later. "I was worried. Is everything alright?"

"Yes, I had to deal with Bray. Raven is heading to the ship."

"Our ship?"

"I'm hoping she is. She's on our side so don't attack her. At least I hope she is. Just get there before Aria is onto us." He severed the connection as he darted around residents who were walking to and from their homes. His haste caused alarm and confusion among them and some leaped to get out of his way.

Liara turned to look at Tali after her call with Garrus. "Raven is on her way! We need to get back to the ship."

Tali took to her side as the pair moved back towards the dock. "Aria's men are there. What are we going to do? My shotgun is on the ship."

"I can handle them." Liara said knowingly.

"Hey! Stop right there." A batarian gruffly called to them as he stood to block their path. Liara recognized him to be Aria's another top minion: Sh'sk. He was aiming an assault rifle at them. "Aria doesn't like to be stood up."

"We were just leaving." Tali growled.

"I don't think so." Sh'sk shook his head. "Not until Aria says you can leave. Now move your asses to Afterlife."

"How cordial," Tali sarcastically said to her friend.

"We don't have time for this." Liara gathered dark energy and unleased a throw attack. The biotic display lifted Sh'sk several feet from the ground, then tossed him like a ragdoll into a nearby vendor store, crashing into the shopkeeper and the kiosk. Grabbing Tali's hand, Liara raced towards their destination. "Move!"

Seeing a disturbance in the travelers and dockworkers ahead, Kaidan stepped away from the ship's ramp to see what the commotion was. One of Aria's men pushed him back roughly with his hand. "Far enough, Spectre."

Glaring at the krogan, Kaidan darted his brown eyes around the burly alien to see the crowd departing like the red sea revealing Liara and Tali coming at them in a beeline. Alarmed, Kaidan looked back up the ramp to where Miranda was inside. "Miranda! They're back!"

The krogan caught onto the urgency of the situation but was still confused as to what was going on. "No funny business," He growled.

Liara used dark energy to lift the five hundred-pound krogan off his feet easily, making him helpless in the air. Kaidan seized the opportunity to administer his own biotic attack on the other guard, causing him to fall over the dock's railing and into a dark abyss. "Where's Garrus and Shepard?" Kaidan asked his friends as they approached, ignoring the bulky krogan still hanging in the air.

"Get me down!" The krogan bellowed.

"On their way! We need to get the ship ready to go!" Liara ushered Tali inside. "Help Miranda!"

"Stay on my six." Kaidan narrowed his eyes as he gazed out into the crowd. They had to expect an ambush.

Liara eagerly watched the crowd. "Come on…where are you?" She mouthed as she hopefully looked to Garrus and Raven. Seconds later, she noticed the lean turian making his way towards them. Her heart lifted then sunk, when she realized that Raven was not with him.

"Garrus! This way!" Kaidan motioned to him. There didn't seem to be any of Aria's men on him.

"Where's Shepard?" Liara desperately searched the crowd. Was their effort in vain?

Garrus cringed as he looked around in shock. "Damnit! I knew she was coming!"

"Guys…we can't linger here any longer. Aria will be here." Kaidan clenched his teeth as he looked back at his ship nervously.

"We have to wait for her! We are not leaving her!" Liara shook her head feverishly.

"I'm already here." Raven spoke as she uncloaked herself, standing on the ramp, looking upon them with a mixture of distrust.

All three spun around to look at her excitedly. "Shepard!"

"You said something about wanting to leave Omega, right?" Raven moved inside the ship. The reunion would have to wait.

Liara followed her with Kaidan and Garrus right behind her. "You know Aria won't let us come back after this." Garrus muttered to the man beside him.

"Good. I hate this place," Alenko moved over to shut the doors once everyone was inside.

Finding his footing, Sh'sk raced out of the store, ignoring the pain in his body. He had to get to them before they left. He had to get back up! "Aria, this is Sh'sk. They are moving to the docks!"

"Fuck! Where the hell is Bray?!" Aria's voice angrily shouted to him.

"No fucking idea. I haven't heard from him."

"Radio the guards at the docks. I'm coming there myself. I'm tired of this shit." The comm ended quickly.

Sh'sk switched over to the frequency of the guards. "This is Sh'sk. Watch your asses. They are heading your way." No response. "Answer, damnit!" Still silence. Angrily, Sh'sk quickened his pace, shoving citizens roughly out of his way.

"Sh'sk! This is Bray!" A familiar voice chimed into his ear piece.

"Where the hell have you been?!" Sh'sk growled at him.

"That turian bastard must have knocked me out. I'm in Gozu. Damn, my head is killing me." Bray groggily said on the other end.

"They are going to the docks and if they leave, your head will be the least of your worries when Aria is done with you." Sh'sk firmly reminded him.

"I'm moving. Just keep them there."

Miranda managed to override the magnetic locks and their ship broke free of its holding. "Let's hope Aria doesn't order her canons to take us out." She grimly said to her colleagues who were standing in the cockpit to watch the action unfold.

"If she does, then she will spark a war with the Council." Kaidan gritted his teeth.

"Like she cares," Garrus rolled his eyes. "Aria would go to war with the whole galaxy to keep Omega." He gave a side-glance over to Raven, who stood there, listening intently, but keeping to herself. It felt good to have her there, but things just were not the same.

"Where are we going?" Tali asked as the orange hue of the Omega lights filled their viewing port as they exited the station's outer rim.

"Grissom Academy." Miranda didn't look her way as she answered. Her fingers dashing over the controls to pilot the ship.

Kaidan nervously stood there as he watched her. "Are the canons armed?"

"Yes."

"Too bad Liara couldn't recruit Joker for this. We need a pilot right about now."

"I agree," Miranda muttered. "I just manned shuttles and that was rare when I worked with Cerberus."

"Put him on the list when we return." Alenko suggested.

Garrus eyed a large transport ship to their portside. "Miranda, head for that ship's vector."

"Why?" Liara looked his way, noting that the ship was not on the same route as the relay.

"She knows we will be heading to the relay."

"Garrus, we need to keep going straight. Remember, Ilos? If we can avoid Geth armatures, and Geth troopers, then we can make this."

"We also had the Mako," Garrus reminded her. "She will expect us to head directly there. Her canons will be aimed in the same direction. The ship's speed will not give us enough time to get out of their range."

Kaidan glanced back at Raven, noting her to be quiet through all of this. "What's the order, Shepard?" All eyes looked her way.

Raven flinched as the question caught her off-guard. "What? Why me?"

"Head to the relay or use the ship as a shield?"

"If we use that ship, we could sacrifice hundreds of lives if it's fully staffed." Tali wrung her hands sadly.

"Aria won't hesitate twice on that." Liara reminded them.

"Sometimes you have to risk it. I learned that when dealing with Dr. Saleon and Sidonis." Garrus argued.

"I need an answer!" Miranda shouted over their debate. "Shepard? You have always been in command. We will follow you. What's the order?"

Aria stormed into the docks to see Sh'sk, Bray and a few others standing there at the empty berth where the Spectre ship was docked. Her purple eyes narrowed angrily at the two batarians. "You lost them…." She hissed venomously.

"They are not out of canon range yet." Bray reminded her hopefully.

"There are tons of ships in orbit. Busy shipping week." Sh'sk pointed out.

"Fuck them. Fire the damn canons! I'll remind them who they are dealing with." Aria snapped back at them.

Bray opened his omni tool to reach a connection to the station's security team. "Lock on the Spectre ship and bring it down!"

"Acknowledged," A salarian male's voice replied on the other end.

A loud whir could be heard as the closest canon to their general location turned to the desired coordinates. Aria stared hard at Bray as she waited for the confirmation of the kill since the explosion would not be heard in the vacuum of space.

"They are locked on!" Miranda announced in a panic.

"Take your seats! This is going to be bumpy!" Kaidan shouted to the team.

Raven moved to the seat next to Miranda and strapped herself in while the rest moved to the crew hold. "Head to the relay, Miranda and punch it all that you have. I'm not risking casualties."

"Understood, Commander." Miranda continued their course. "I really miss the Normandy right about now."

"I wish I could remember that," Raven glumly replied. "Increase kinetic shields as much as you can."

"I would have to route power from other systems in order to do that."

"I think we can live without some of them. I want to make it out of here alive."

"Rerouting power. Shield capacity increased."

Liara smiled warmly to the three others that were sitting near her. "It's good to have the Commander back."

"If she's on our side," Alenko reminded her.

Her decision against his, threw Garrus off. In their earlier days on the SR-1, he mused with her about the time he tried to catch Dr. Saleon as he fled the Citadel. C-Sec told him to back down due to the risk of casualties. Garrus was against this and their decision made him lose the salarian butcher doctor. He loathed Citadel Security after that and jumped on his one time shot to work with the Spectre Commander Shepard. During their time in seeking Saren, Macha told him that she agreed with his decision on getting Dr. Saleon no matter the cost. His escape would ultimately lead to the deaths to even more innocent victims. C-Sec didn't see this, but he did and so did Shepard. Yet, her current decision contradicted everything he thought she believed in. Was she truly the same woman?

Suddenly the ship rocked violently as a canon blast hit the starboard side of their rear flank. "Shields down to sixty percent! Two more hits like that and we are dead!" Miranda yelled as the alarms began to blare.

"How soon are we out of their range?"

"Twenty seconds!"

Ten seconds later, another direct blast on their left side from another canon. The ship rocked again. "Move your ass, ship!" Raven yelled to the vessel, ignoring the wails of the alarms like banshees.

"Shields down to twenty percent!"

"We will make it!"

"Locking onto relay signature now. Setting in coordinates." Miranda used her right hand to multitask. "You know I hate working under pressure like this."

"Deal with it."

"Out of range!" Miranda shouted triumphantly. A cheer exploded in the crew hold from the good news.

"I'm going to have a new ship," Alenko muttered playfully. "I don't think the Council will like that."

"You said something about going to Grissom Academy?" Raven finally allowed herself to relax a little. "Isn't that like a school for biotic children?"

"Yes. You remember that place?" Miranda looked her way.

"Should I?"

The ex-Cerberus operative's face faltered. "We can discuss that later. There's someone there who I believe can help your condition."

"Who?"

"Dr. Gavin Archer."

"That lunatic?" Garrus picked up on the conversation and tossed the question to the others with him. "There has to be another way."

"Jacob thinks he is the ideal choice." Liara replied soothingly. "May be the only choice."

The turian shook his head. "He tortured his innocent brother for the Illusive Man by hooking him up to the Geth. Look what he did to him."

"We won't let him hook Shepard up to anything." Kaidan argued. "We will all be there to make sure that doesn't happen."

Miranda listened in on their conversation from where she sat. "Any of this coming back to you, Shepard?"

"No," Raven sighed. "To be honest, I don't know any of you. I don't know if I should trust you. I don't know what the hell is going on." She cupped her face in pure mental exhaustion.

"Charon won't find you there. The further you are away from them, the better."

"You really think they will come after me?"

"Depends on who exactly we are dealing with."

"Erinyes," Raven disclosed.

"Well, if she's anything like the Illusive Man, then there's a good chance, they will. I'm surprised he didn't come after you the first time when you distanced yourself from Cerberus. He invested way too much money into you."

"Invested? Who the hell is the Illusive Man? I vaguely know of Cerberus."

Alenko grimaced hearing Raven's confession. "Just how long will this take?"