Chapter 7 – There It Is!

A barrage of bullets thundered against the other side of the large shipping container Garrus dove behind as the vile cries of enthralled vorcha echoed through the Kima district's streets. Garrus cursed as his visor flashed with warnings about his friends' kinetic barrier statuses as well as his own; at least twenty of the damned vorcha had blocked the street off, most of them carrying submachine guns or assault rifles. He checked his sniper rifle for a thermal clip just as a someone skidded into cover next to him. "We having fun yet?" Shepard asked him with a rebellious smirk, re-summoning her tech armor with her omni tool.

"We're not even close to the Blood Pack leader's hideout and we've already got groups of them hunting us in the streets… just like old times!" he countered, offering his wife a thermal clip. She grabbed it and re-loaded her pistol. "You alright?"

"Never better." Shepard popped out of cover long enough to fire at the vorcha mob that had them pinned down. A couple of the bastards went down but were quickly replaced. Shepard dropped back into cover and stared at Garrus. "Nothing's ever simple, is it?"

The trip to the Kima district had gone off without a hitch; of course, Shepard had led them part of the way utilizing Aria t'Loak's handy tunnels, minimizing the amount of street exposure and cutting their travel time down quite a bit. But once they'd set foot on Kima, Garrus knew they were in for one hell of a shitshow. "They must've known we were coming… set up an ambush to keep us held back… how do you suppose they found out?"

"Well, we were talking with Sidonis in a rather public place… and he was looking for mercs." Shepard offered. "Maybe Aderia's discretion isn't all it's cracked up to be…"

"Aderia's been pulling operations under Aria t'Loak's nose for years. There's no way the leak came from her outfit… even Sidonis." Garrus felt distaste as he spoke the Turian's name. "He's not dumb enough to cross me and Aderia."

Shepard shrugged. "Suit yourself. This is Blood Pack we're talking about too… the most territorial of all the merc bands. Maybe they always prefer to greet tourists with an entourage of Vorcha." She glanced around the corner again only to jump back as a bullet whizzed past her head. "Honey, you do have a plan for the vorcha, right?"

Garrus hummed and peered over the container, his visor quickly counting the number of vorcha in the horde. About twenty of them and four of us…" He ducked back behind the container and cast a glance toward Ashley and Vega, who were holding their own on the opposite side of the plaza. Ashley appeared downright irritated as she took potshots with her sniper rifle from her post behind a flickering vending machine. Vega caught Garrus' eye from where he was huddled behind some overturned benches and gave him a grin and a thumbs up, before continuing his onslaught with his assault rifle. "Well at least Vega's having fun…" Garrus mused.

"Garrus. Plan?" Shepard waved her hand in front of him.

"What? Right…" Garrus chanced another glance over the container and noticed that several of the floor tiles had been torn up in the middle of the plaza, revealing rows of pipes. Graffitied warning signs indicated that construction or repairs were underway, but Garrus was more interested in the signs that suggested the contents of the pipes had dangerous but useful properties. "The pipes… we need to bring the Vorcha closer to us…"

Peering over their bunker, Shepard scanned over the battle zone and caught sight of what he'd spied. She raised an eyebrow at him. "And how do we intend on drawing them closer to those pipes?"

"We need to make them think they're gaining ground, get them to try advance on us…" Garrus signaled toward Ashley and Vega. Ashley scowled at him while Vega looked disappointed.

"You seriously think they'll be dumb enough to fall for it?" Shepard asked, her eyes following Ashley and Vega as they fell back from their position.

Shrugging, Garrus answered "How many intelligent Vorcha have you met?" He peeled away from their position, racing back toward a row of seats to hunker behind.

Shepard followed suit and barely scrambled into cover as the bullets whizzed overhead. "One…"

Surprised, Garrus glanced over. "Seriously?"

"They're coming…" Shepard huddled close to him, looking pleased. "Just a few more yards… the explosion won't take them all out, though."

"We can deal with the leftovers… should take out more than a few." Brandishing his sniper rifle, Garrus peered between seats, his visor zooming in on the approaching Vorcha horde. He slipped the barrel of his rifle between the seats and gazed through the scope, the targeting VI locking on the exposed pipes. He waited for five of the witless Vorcha to wander over the hazard before taking a breath and pulling the trigger. The shot punctured the metal pipe, and the gas hissed as it escaped amidst the Vorcha. "Now, Shepard…"

Shepard smirked and popped out of cover, aiming her pistol and firing a single, unerring shot toward the leaking gas pipe. The center of the plaza erupted with a loud bang; flames from the explosion engulfed seven of the enemy Vorcha, who screamed in terror and agony. Garrus watched as Shepard vaulted herself over their cover and moved in on the scattered Vorcha who remained; Vega followed suit, the two of them taking advantage of the confusion to finish a few enemies up close. Vega whooped loudly, using the butt of his assault rifle to finish off a thug, "Yeah-ah! That's what I'm talking about!"

Catching sight of a Vorcha pyro moving into position behind Vega, Garrus aimed his omni-tool and triggered an overload that caused the pyro's tank to explode violently. The blast took out two other Vorcha and made an unsuspecting Vega glance around wildly before he noticed and punched out another charging Vorcha thug. Shepard rolled beneath a Vorcha's swing and sprung up to stab her omni-blade into its back before quickly raising her pistol to shoot another in the head. Two more fell around Shepard with clean shots to each of their heads and she threw a smile toward a smug Ashley. "Gotta learn to watch your ass, Commander!" Ashley teased as she came out of cover and slowly walked toward the massacre at the center of the plaza.

Garrus rose from his own cover and walked over, surveying the dead Vorcha lying all over. "We should get a move on."

Vega laughed, "Can't take a moment to smell the roses, Scars? We just took out a whole platoon of Vorcha!"

Shepard wrinkled her nose and holstered her pistol. "Garrus is right. It's best we keep moving forward, Vega… especially since the dead Vorcha smell absolutely nothing like roses."

Rolling his eyes before taking a whiff, Vega made a face, "Ok… yeah… let's go… ugh…"

"Naturally you gotta sniff for yourself!" Ashley laughed and thumped Vega's shoulder.

Glancing around the now vacant street, Garrus tightened his grip on his rifle and moved toward the direction the Vorcha had come from, "The base can't be much farther."

They moved down the street and turned onto a war-torn avenue, war-torn being the only word Garrus could find to describe the scene. Omega was a shithole in general; pretty much all its streets had experienced a gunfight at one point or another. But this avenue looked a lot worse than he was expecting for an average gunfight between rival gangs. He carefully picked his way through what looked like makeshift barricades, noting the walls and pillars riddled with bullet holes and scorch marks from both flame and acid. Empty munitions boxes and thermal clips littered the street and old blood stains from multiple species spattered the ground and walls. He paused at a support pillar when he caught sight of an abnormal marking. Vega walked up next to him and let a curious hum. "Is that- are those claw marks?"

Shepard wandered up and glanced at the marks before walking past them and nonchalantly saying, "Adjutants."

"Come again?" Ashley asked, looking between the marking and Shepard.

"Monsters used by Cerberus… supposed to serve as shock troops. They got loose here on Omega." Garrus watched Shepard close her eyes and shiver. "Another Reaper horror." She avoided their gazes and moved on down the avenue.

Ashley frowned at the claw marks. "Damn… I'd hate to face-off against one of those." Vega grunted in agreement and the two followed Shepard.

Garrus stared at the marks and after Shepard again. She'd almost looked haunted by the idea of those 'adjutants.' Yet another secret, but one Garrus felt Shepard was keeping more so for her own protection than his. He resisted the urge to grill her further about her ordeal on Omega and returned his focus on their mission.

"Up ahead… Bloodpack base." Shepard knelt behind a low wall and stared down the street. Garrus did the same and followed her gaze, surveying the fortified warehouse ahead. "Funny Aria would allow the Blood Pack to terrorize the civilians…" Shepard observed.

"You heard Aderia. She's losing control. The Reapers are no longer a common threat." Garrus checked his weapon over as he considered their options for infiltration. "Think they saw us?"

"Us here and now, no. Pretty sure they're aware we're gunning for them though, considering we just took out their welcoming party back there." Shepard's gaze was wandering along the street. "Looks like there's some ventilation we can use as a point of infiltration."

Garrus sighed. "Great."

Vega groaned. "What is with you and crawling through vents and shit?"

Ashley snickered. "Fine. Shepard and I can go in and deal with the Blood Pack while you two sit here and work on your bromance. Wouldn't want you to break a nail or something." She and Shepard stood and raced over to the vent.

"Bromance? What bromance?" Garrus asked Vega.

"Pshh… they're just jealous." Vega said, prompting Garrus to give him an awkward stare. Vega cleared his throat and motioned after the ladies. "Right, we'd better go with them."

"Right." Garrus agreed.

Shepard dropped out of the vent with a grunt, pacing around the empty storeroom to stretch her cramped muscles. She glanced around at the others doing the same and equipping their weapons. "Aaand we're in… told you that vent had access to the warehouse."

"Yeah, yeah… nobody likes a know-it-all." Garrus said. "I'm surprised there wasn't much for security."

"Nobody's dumb enough to infiltrate a Bloodpack hideout… except us. And, well… they're Bloodpack." Shepard chuckled. "And you guys said all I do is push buttons and switches… there's more to me than good looks!" She pulled out her pistol and checked its thermal clip before easing the door open a ways to peer up and down the hallway. "All clear… right or left?"

"Could split up. Hit them on two fronts? Might disorient them." Vega offered.

"Or we could be setting ourselves up for an ass-kicking." Ashley countered.

Shepard turned back to look at Garrus. "Your call, Garrus." She watched him ponder for a moment before he glanced up at her. "You want to split up."

"We'll cover more ground." Garrus nodded at Ashley. "Williams and I will go right. You and Vega take left. Hopefully we meet up again somewhere."

"Don't talk nonsense." Shepard motioned for Vega to go on ahead. "We'll see you on the other side… you still owe me that thing!" She smirked at him and turned to follow Vega down the hallway.

The two of them carefully made their way down the gloomy hallways, pausing at open doorways to check for adversaries before continuing. The silence was unnerving, deafening even, not exactly what Shepard had been expecting for a Blood Pack base. All the Blood Pack she'd ever run into were loud, eager for a fight head-on. Quiet ambushes weren't usually part of their MO. Shepard frowned as they passed yet another empty room. The earpiece of her visor crackled in her ear and Ashley's voice sounded off, "Umm, Commander… something's totally off about this place."

"You guys noticing the lack of Blood Pack too?" Vega asked in a loud whisper, the sound cutting easily through the quiet. "We only dealt with some Vorcha on the way in… where the hell are the Krogan?"

"Something's definitely not right here." Shepard said softly.

"Keep your guard up… like you said, they knew we were coming. Could have nasty surprise waiting for us." Garrus ordered over comms.

Vega let out grunt in discontent, "Then maybe Ashley was right… splitting up isn't looking like such a good idea after all… why do you guys ever listen to my ideas?"

"Let's just focus on finding them, James." Shepard turned the corner and they followed another empty hallway. Lights flickered and she couldn't help but feel her stomach start twisting itself into knots. She let out a breath to steady her nerves. Door after door, room after room, she and Vega found nothing. The lack of contact from Garrus and Ashley told her they hadn't found much either. Alarm bells began to go off in Shepard's head then. Why would Aderia send them to an empty warehouse?

"End of the line, Commander." Vega said quietly, cutting into her thoughts as the hallway finally ended at a large pair of double doors. She nodded and Vega opened them, the two of them quickly bringing up their weapons and entering, bracing for a firefight. But instead of meeting bullets they were met with more silence. And a gruesome sight. "Holy shit…" Vega breathed, lowering his rifle.

The room appeared to be the main shipping hub, filled to the brim with crates. Labels and manifests on the sides of the crates indicated the contents contained everything needed to outfit a merc group, maybe even an army: guns, ammo, grenades, armor for various species, and so on. But while the arsenal was impressive it wasn't what stopped Shepard and Vega in their tracks.

"What the hell happened here…" Shepard muttered to herself as she gazed over the corpses of Krogan and Vorcha strewn throughout the hub. Blood was everywhere: leaking from the bullet riddled corpses, spattered on crates and walls. "Who the hell did this?"

Vega reached up to press his comm device nestled in his ear, "Umm… Garrus… Shepard and I just found the Blood Pack. Or what's left of them."

"We see it." Garrus' voice echoed from across the hub. Shepard looked up to see Ashley and her husband standing on another platform, surveying the carnage below. Ashley looked perturbed, but Garrus had a look of indifference. "Now they really are the Blood Pack, huh?"

Casting Garrus a look of distaste, Shepard took the stairs to the lower level to take a view the massacre up close, Vega on her heels. Slowly she walked up and down the aisles of crates, carefully stepping around the unmoving bodies. Garrus and Ashley met up with them and they made their way toward the head of the room where a wall of consoles was set up. A very large Krogan lay in a heap, gun in hand, his body scorched and full of holes. "No sign of any hostiles… and I'm guessing that's the Krogan in charge? Who was in charge…" Ashley suggested.

"A ruthless Krogan by the name of Grixx." Garrus affirmed. "Ran into his lackeys back in 2185. Saw a lot of his handiwork. His killing methods weren't always quick." His indifferent stare locked on Shepard then. "Looks like our part of the bargain's done. We should get back to Aderia."

Shepard stared back at Garrus incredulously. "Aren't you even remotely curious about who did this?"

Garrus shrugged, still appearing unmoved by the gruesome display. "Grixx and his group were a cruel lot. Not sure who did this, but I'm glad they succeeded in dealing with them."

"Good god Garrus…" Shepard holstered her pistol and walked past him to open the haptic interface of one of the consoles.

"What?" Garrus followed Shepard. "These weren't good people Shepard. I don't see the point in getting worked up over their deaths. Not like we've never cleared out an entire merc operation before."

"That's… Garrus." Shepard growled and swiped impatiently at the data on the screen, scanning it quickly. She paused on a screen and glanced around the warehouse, noting an entire section of crates were gone. "A whole shipment of goods is missing…" she muttered. "Top of the line goods… some of it experimental military." She stood and faced Garrus, "Why did Aderia send us to deal with a bunch of dead Bloodpack mercenaries?"

With a sigh of exasperation, Garrus crossed his arms and looked over the scene. "This firefight looks recent. I'm willing to bet she didn't know somebody else had a beef with them. And whoever did, stole the shipment. Big deal. Why are you suddenly so interested in the deaths of a bunch of criminals?"

"Because my gut is telling me something really sketchy is going down here and I don't like it one bit." Shepard started to pace anxiously, her mind racing. "We should've just gone to Aria from the start." she muttered under her breath.

Garrus let out a loud scoff, throwing up his hands angrily. "Naturally that's what all this is about! You can't help but side with that damned asari!"

"Better the devil you know!" Shepard countered.

"I know Aderia! You can't just trust me, Shepard?! You always have to be the one in control of the situation, don't you?" Garrus said heatedly.

Shepard angrily motioned at the bloody massacre around them. "Look around! Does it look like we're in control of the situation? I trust you. I don't trust that Aderia woman!" She felt her cheeks go hot when Garrus suddenly laughed mockingly at her.

"That's what this is? Jealousy from the great Commander Shepard?" Garrus asked drily.

"You know damn well that's not…" Shepard started, but was cut short when Vega gave a panicked shout from a pile off crates on the other side of the room.

"We need to get the hell out of here! Now!" Ashley shouted as she and Vega raced back toward them. "There's a fucking bomb and we have less than 5 minutes to get the hell out! Have your lovers' quarrel later!"

Shepard's rage and embarrassment dissipated, and her stomach dropped as she processed just what it was Ashley had said. Quickly she shook herself out of her surprise and the four of them ran for one of the stairwells. They approached the entrance Shepard and Vega had come from and Vega threw himself against the doors, but they didn't budge. "Shit… they're locked! They were open just moments ago!"

"Great! Clock's ticking!" Ashley pointed out, glancing anxiously behind them.

"Move!" Shepard shoved Vega back and pulled out her pistol, firing a shot at the control interface. The interface fizzled out and Shepard gripped the edge of one of the doors and heaved on it. "Somebody grab the other door!"

Garrus complied and they heaved them apart just enough for them to slip through. "Go! Go!" Garrus urged as they clambered through and raced down the hallway.

"Not that way! Dead end!" Shepard yelled as she herded Ashley and Garrus down the right path after Vega. The lights flickered and their wild footsteps echoed loudly down the empty hallways.

Huffing loudly from ahead, Vega shouted, "This place looked a lot smaller from the outside!"

"A bomb… why the hell is there always a damned bomb?!" Ashley muttered between labored breaths.

Shepard's chest was aching and her breath ragged when they finally stumbled upon an exit from the warehouse. "There! That looks like an exit!" But her hopes of escape were quickly dashed as they approached and found that the heavy metal doors had been welded shut. "Fuck!"

"My turn! Get back!" Vega shouted, pulling a charge from his belt and slapping it on the door. They all scrambled back just as he set off the detonation, the doors blowing wide open. "Holy fuck Aderia's shit's got kick!" Vega said gleefully before Ashley roughly grabbed his arm and dragged him through.

The four of them were barely yards from the warehouse when a force erupted from the building, a roaring wall of hot energy throwing them off their feet. Shepard felt herself land hard on the ground, her ears ringing, head pounding, and body aching; she lay in shock for several moments before slowly rolling to her side and trying to rise to her feet. Not far off she caught sight of Ashley stirring and Vega already on his feet, looking back at the inferno in wonder. Shepard too looked back at the flames, her mind still reeling with a mix of emotions as she tried to process what had just happened.

A feeling of panic dominated her other emotions when she realized she couldn't see Garrus. She jumped when hand settled on her arm and someone roughly hauled her to her feet. She tensed instinctively, readying herself for a fight. Her panic quickly disappeared when she saw it was Garrus. He gripped her by the shoulders and his mouth was moving, but Shepard couldn't hear anything he was saying. As she focused on him, the ringing slowly subsided and his voice pulled through. "Shepard? Shepard! Say something!"

She blinked at him in surprise, before weakly saying "Oh look… it was a trap."

Garrus let out a sigh of relief and glanced toward the blazing building. "I guess it was… either that or a not-so-subtle cover-up for the massacre."

Vega limped over with Ashley leaning against him. "Not a proper couples' retreat without at least one decent explosion, huh?" Vega joked. Ashley half-heartedly smacked his arm, panting. "So… what now?"

Shepard looked up at Garrus. "I'm going to Aria."

Looking irritated then, Garrus dropped his grip on her shoulders. "Why? The Blood Pack is dead! The deal is done and Aderia will give us the information we want."

"We didn't kill them, Garrus." Shepard said quietly. "I don't know who's yanking us around right now… maybe it's Aderia, maybe it isn't. But I gotta go with what I know. And I know Aria t'Loak is the sounder bet." She glanced again at the remains of the warehouse, "I can't just ignore this."

Garrus let out breath and turned from her, shaking his head. He was quiet for several long moments before stating "Then I guess we split up."

"Cover more ground." Shepard offered, though she knew that wasn't exactly what he'd meant by 'split up'. Their priorities were just too different regarding what all was going on and until it was resolved there was no way they were going to be able to work together. Hell, Shepard wasn't even sure resolving the matters at hand would be enough. She swallowed and turned to head back down the street.

"Crap…" Vega groaned. He turned to Ashley, who was watching the exchange with a sympathetic expression. Putting his right, closed fist in his left open hand, he said "Okay… Rock, Paper, Scissors. Whoever loses goes with Shepard." He dropped his hands when Ashley gave him a cold look and offered a sheepish grin before hurrying down the street to join Shepard.