Hi all you Readers out there!
New chapter, a lot of stuff happening and we recruit Wrex!
Fixed 2021
Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 9: Going after Fist
**Quinn's POV
When she exited the bank, she was once again met with the ever so peaceful, quiet, and serene atmosphere of the Presidium. Time didn't seem to be important here as the artificial sky was above their heads, making the surroundings as perfect as ever. The lake, the greenery and all the white made everything seem problem free. Safe and sound. And ironically, all the politicians both worked and lived here. It made so much sense that all the galactic higherups occupied the central ring of the massive station. To use their two-faced façade to make themselves trustworthy enough to hide their dark secrets and hidden agendas.
Politicians… she hated them all. None could be trusted. They may start out as good, but in the end they're more crooked than the criminals and gangs they claim to fight. They would stab you in the back the first chance they got and finish you off before you knew what happened. They were all power hungry and operating by their greed for more credits. This place was sickening and made her skin crawl.
Footsteps behind her caught her attention. Glancing over her shoulder, she spotted Pretty-Boy who walked up beside her, his eyes glancing over the Presidium with a peaceful expression.
"It sure is peaceful here," he stated calmly.
Ever since she left Chora's Den, this man had barley shut the hell up. If this man was trying to get under her skin, he was succeeding in an awfully bad way. He may have a pretty face, but he got no points for insisting to be annoying.
"Yeah–" she agreed with a scowl before she turned to the bridge which would lead them towards the C-Sec Academy. "–it makes me want to hurl all over it."
There was a loud sigh behind her from the soldier, but she did not turn to comment on it. God forbid if he actually spoke again! And she wasn't even religious! Instead, she headed over the bridge, ignoring the peaceful lake flowing underneath her which drew people's attention and carried on. It would be a quick walk to the elevator leading to the Academy and she hoped to enjoy it in silence.
She was wrong.
"Do you think we can trust this krogan to tell us anything?" The man asked with doubts in the tone. "After all, it's a krogan."
"Having a problem with our giant bat-faced friends, are we?" She asked uninterested. "Who would've thought."
The man let the silence linger a moment. "No… em, not really," he said, his tone wavering some. "I'm just saying— they're not really known to be the sharing kind."
"And not the nice kind either," she continued. "Nor the peaceful kind. Or stable—" She turned to walk backwards as she said sarcastically; "Frankly, they're real shitheads. Should be put down. Why not create a weapon to do that for us? Oh yeah, the turians already did that." She turned forward once more.
"I meant they are hard to handle," he said, annoyed.
"Then I guess I'll have to rub him just in the right spot," she purred and threw him a glance over her shoulder before shrugging her shoulders nonchalant. "That or beat it out of him. Whichever works."
From her experiences with the krogan species, she actually had to agree with what Pretty-Boy said. True, they weren't the most trustworthy of aliens in the galaxy, but who could blame them? They were desperate, angry and could really hold a grudge. Hundreds and hundreds of years in fact. They had been betrayed and sterilized by both the salarians and turians. Krogans did not trust easily, but once they did, they were a hell of a companion or lackey. Not to mention – a great shield!
At the footing of the bridge, something caught her attention. A small crowed had formed there and was blocking the way. The people were watching a scene between a turian C-Sec Officer and a hanar, who was trying to make itself heard. The scene was making the crowd snicker and whisper among themselves as they gazed on with great interest.
"I've told you before, you're not allowed in here!" The C-Sec Officer said harshly to the hanar, who seemed unfazed and remained calm.
"This one believed it has the right to move freely through this area," the hanar said.
Just hearing the hanar speak made her annoyed. She was not a fan of the specie and had killed a few just because they annoyed her with how they talked. Everything about them just seemed wrong and she could not believe how of all the creatures on their home planet, how they could be the ones to evolve to the most superior intellectuals. They were walking and talking pink jellyfishes!
"You're creating a public disturbance! It's against Citadel regulations!" The C-Sec officer pushed again, growing anxious and frustrated at the same time.
"This one is unsure why the other would not wish word of the Enkindlers to be spread," the hanar said with that disturbing monotone voice.
Quinn pushed her way through the crowed which stood in the way, few of them complained openly while others cursed to themselves but with one stare from her, they were quick to shut up. Even though they did not know who she was, she still had an aura to her which had common people refrain from messing with her. With no such intention, she had succeeded in getting in front of the crowed and now stood close to the officer and hanar. With not much luck to get through the crowd without using violence, she crossed her arms under her breasts and turned to see what the fuss was all about. Hadn't the people here seen a hanar and a C-Sec officer argue before?
The turian officer took notice of the new human woman and her strong demanding energy almost immediately. He did not know much of humans, but he knew enough of their basic expressions and demeanor to know this woman was not a commoner. She demanded respect and had a dangerous atmosphere to her. Something in his mind told him to be cautious with her and alarmed at the same time, but he could not remember why at the moment.
He turned to the crowed as he said, trying to get them to disperse; "The hanar refuses to listen to reason!" Then he turned to the hanar and asked to no one in particular but to release some frustration; "Why can't it act in an orderly and lawful manner?"
Quinn tilted her head and raised an eyebrow at the turian as she thought he was too oblivious. "It's a freaking big stupid jellyfish. What do you expect?" She said to the officer with a degrading tone.
The crowed behind her began to snicker at the comment and soon after came the whisperings again. These people were truly disgusting.
Getting more frustrated at the crowed, the officer tried to pretend they weren't there. He could either put his focus on making them leave, or deal with the hanar. Either way, neither would leave without the other. But he could not help but agree at the comment yet voicing it would be unethical and unprofessional.
Turning to the hanar, which had turned to preach once more, the turian officer turned to her as he asked; "How can I convince my superiors that I deserve a promotion if I cannot convince this annoying jelly to leave?" His tone turned from frustrated to tired. "I am not unreasonable. The hanar is free to spew its nonsense once it purchases an evangelical permit."
Quinn looked at the man puzzled, as she had no idea why he was telling her that. Why would she care what happened to either of them? If it was help, he wanted, he had approached the wrong Shepard. Where did he see a sign on her that said, "I don't have enough problems so give me yours"?!
"So, if the hanar gets a permit, it's allowed to preach?" Pretty-Boy asked with an attitude which was identical to John whenever he was offering to help. A trait she hated with her brother and was not so appreciated that her babysitter was adapting.
The turian shook his head. "No. Registered evangelicals must allow regulations. There are specific areas where preaching is legal. Failure to follow the regulations results in the forfeiture of the license."
Quinn turned her eyes on Mini-John and gave him the same expression as she had given the turian officer. Why the hell was he even talking to the officer like they were offering to help the man with his problem? It was none of their business. It was irrelevant to anything that had to do with Saren. Besides, this was a John thing. Why not leave it for him to deal with when his good Samaritan-radar pick it up and he would come running. Was this a new Alliance policy that had been established since she left? To help any fool in need of help and put their noses in other's businesses?
Then there was also the question of the competent of the turian officer. If this hanar was bothering him, why did he not take more drastic measures to make him leave?
"Why don't you just arrest the fucking jelly?" She asked point blank.
The turian turned his eyes on her. "I could arrest the jelly, but my superior has requested that I find a solution that does not anger the hanar." There was a loud sigh from him before he continued; "The hanar become... vocal when they feel that their religious beliefs are being suppressed."
"Then shoot it. Problem solved! It can't get vocal if it's dead."
The turian officer stared at her, not sure if she had been joking or not. He had to search her face for any indications of it as humans were keen to duplicity when it came to what they said and acted at most of the times. It may be a normal behavior for their species, and it was not that uncommon for the rest of the species in the galaxy, but the humans had it to a whole other level which made them hard to read. This human was not joking and was completely serious. Alarms were going off in his head of this human female. This was someone he needed to keep his eyes on.
When the turian officer did not answer her, Quinn grew annoyed. "If you can't solve this problem—" She waved her hand at the hanar, "—then what makes you think you can handle red sand shipments? Gang violence? Gun smuggling? You're pathetic."
The officer snapped out of his thoughts and shouted angrily at her, "I didn't ask for your help, human. I can deal with this myself!"
"Oh really?" She took a step closer to the turian. "And here I thought you wanted me to solve your problems for you. Isn't that why you told me all of this shit?" Her tone was patronizing and a smile that matched it.
"Quinn, please," Mini-John pleaded, knowing full well she was trying to provoke the officer.
"Get her out of here!" The officer shouted with a warning tone.
"We're going," he answered, trying to sound reassuring as he walked over to her to coax her to leave.
Quinn happily turned on her heal, satisfied she had actually ruined someone's day, and even more so for being a C-Sec officer. At least there was one authority she could mess with still. The crowed finally gave them room to walk through and they could now walk to the Academy without any interruptions.
"Do you desire to learn of the Enkindlers?"
Or so she thought…
"Or has the honorable C-Sec officer enlisted assistance?" The hanar asked with a flat tone.
"Fuck no," she snapped at the big jelly and continued to walk but stopped as Mini-John asked the thing a question.
"Are you allowed to preach here in the Presidium?"
Quinn took a frustrated breath as the man behind her had just ruined her hopes of not assisting in this matter. Why couldn't he just let it go and be a normal selfish person? For a second, she actually contemplating to help the damned hanar just to get moving, but then thought there was no way in hell she would. Saren was getting further and further away as each second went on and none of these Alliance idiots seemed to realize that. It did not matter if they got evidence against the Spectre if he managed to disappear. He was their priority and she seemed to be the only one to understand that. To hell with this! Quinn walked past the hanar and if her babysitter was going to play the helping hand, then he could do so himself.
The elevator took her to the C-Sec Academy. Normally this was not a place she would put a single foot in freely. She was bound to have heads turn her way and maybe even get arrested for not being properly leashed. Executor Pallin had been clear on the issue of her not being allowed to walk around freely on her own and technically, she wasn't. Her babysitter was only a few steps behind.
Walking into the lion's den, Quinn actually felt some excitement. There were C-Sec officers crawling around this area, all of them doing their own thing, but maybe she could actually create something. A part of her wanted the fight Pallin had promised her if she was caught walking alone, to show them all she wasn't as easily caught as they made it out to be. She was a Pirate Warlord; she had earned that title and the reputation with hard work and determination. She had killed much tougher enemies than C-Sec officers to get her that power and the respect.
But as much as she wanted to show it to them, she also knew that it would not get her that far and most likely killed in the end. She had to play along for now and quickly vanquished those thoughts to instead look for the krogan she had come here to find. Although there was no sight of him and began to wonder whether the krogan had been arrested already. Thinking that might be the case, she walked further in while trying to keep her face out of the officers' eyesight. She removed the tie in her hair to let it lose so the long hair would hide her face.
She reached the offices and there was still no sight of the krogan. Had they already removed him and sent him to jail? Or had she beaten him here? Now that would be annoying. Well, she better find her babysitter before she got herself arrested while waiting for the krogan. She turned on her heel to leave, only to walk into someone.
"Detective Chellick," the person introduced himself sternly as she took a step away and found a turian officer, who pointed at his office just around the corner. "Come into my office. I want to discuss this in private."
Damn it, she thought. Was she going to be arrested now? She turned a quick eye to the corridor in hopes of finding Mini-John there looking for her, but she had no such luck. Maybe using violence would help her get away but that would alert the rest of the C-Jerks. Maybe she could knock him out in his office and get out before anyone noticed. With that plan in mind, she stepped into the office and took a stance before the desk with her arms crossed under her breasts and her weight resting on her left leg, hip popping in the cut-to-the-chase manner as she watched the turian walk around the desk and took the seat.
He leaned forward with his hands clasped together as he said; "No offence, human, but what the hell were you thinking?" The tone in his voice pitched higher as he got angrier at the end.
Quinn stared at the man with a puzzled look. "No offence"? This did not sound like a scolding she had expected nor like he was about to arrest her. Then what was he on about? Yet, she reacted at his tone the same way she would anyone. Uncrossing her arms and placing them on the desk, she leaned forward in a threatening manner.
"Watch your tone, turian," she warned before leaning back and retaking her stance. "I have no fucking idea what the hell you're talking about."
"Jenna, the bartender at Chora's Den," he explained, his tone remaining the same. She shrugged her shoulders still unknowing. "You could've blown her cover."
"Who?" She asked, still clueless. Then remembered there was a girl there who John had talked to at the bar and who he had been concerned for. "That naïve redheaded girl? She's undercover?" There was genuine astonishment in her tone. "Are the C-Sec so desperate they need little girls to do their dirty work for them now?" She couldn't help but laugh at that.
But the turian officer did not find it as amusing. "It might seem cold letting her take all the risk. But we're keeping a close eye on her."
"Oh, I can see that," she said with a condescending tone, while still keeping the mockery evident. Her eyes fell down on the desk as to prove the point to her tone and then back up to the detective. "You don't think it might be too dangerous for a kid? How old is she anyway? Sixteen? Seventeen?"
The turian officer leaned forward a little more. "This job isn't easy and it's usually unpleasant. I'll take help anywhere I can find it." He paused for a few seconds, seeming to contemplate something in his mind, then he said; "But since you're so concerned with her safety, maybe there's a way we can help each other."
"Concerned with her safety?" she repeated perplexed and tried to understand how he could come up with such an outrageous thing. "You think I care what happens to that girl?"
"No," he stated simply. She raised an eyebrow inquisitive. "But I can make sure you have less of a problem with C-Sec when you're on the Citadel," he continued. "I know who you are, Quinn Shepard. And I know you should have an Alliance escort with you at all times." He took a glance behind her to emphasize she was alone.
"Are you threatening to arrest me if I don't fix your problem?" She growled and narrowed her eyes at him.
"You could see it as that, yes."
She should have knocked this guy out as soon as she had stepped a foot inside this office. "Fine," she said reluctantly. "I guess I have not much of a choice but to agree."
"I thought you would," he said satisfied with himself.
"I'll need more details," she said coldly. "I don't give a crap what happens to that girl. Thrill seeking fools gets what's coming to them sooner or later."
The turian didn't take her threat as she had intended and instead said with a lowered head; "Okay, maybe you're right. She's not really cut out for this, anyway. I'll cut her loose, even get her cut off Chora's Den, no strings attached. But–"
"How nice of you," she said as she cut him off. "But I really don't give a shit. Now, cut to the case."
The turian straightened in his seat. "I'm trying to track down an illegal arms producer. Thanks to Jenna's Intel, I've learned there's a seller here on the Citadel. Meet our man, named Jax, pick up the mods and bring them back here. That'll give me everything I need."
Seeming bored, Quinn said; "Sounds easy enough. I will get this Jax talking."
"No," the officer said firmly. "You tip Jax off and all my leads will disappear faster than you can say "bad bust"."
"So, where can I find this guy?" She said followed with an annoyed sigh.
"He is down in the lower level of the markets. I'll send word through our channels that you're the buyer. Good luck, Shepard."
Wasting no more time in lingering in that office, she turned on her heels and walked out in anger. Again, she was forced to follow someone else's bidding. How low had she fallen?! This was a fool's errand, not a job for a high-ranking warlord's such as herself. There were not even credits at the end of this assignment… What the fuck had happened to her?!
"Witnesses saw you making threats in Fist's bar."
She heard someone say as she walked down the stairs from the office area. She looked up and found a few officers and a large krogan at the base of the stairs. And not far from them, her babysitter who was looking for her frantically.
"Stay away from him," one of the officers said to the krogan.
The large krogan didn't seem intimidated by the human officer's threat and took a step closer as he said; "I don't take orders from you."
"This is your only warning, Wrex." The officer didn't back down either, challenging the much larger krogan.
"You should warn Fist." The krogan showed him the long row of teeth in his much larger mouth which could probably swallow the officer's head in one bite if he had the desire to. "I will kill him."
The officer straightened as he asked sternly; "You want me to arrest you?"
The officers behind him got ready to interfere if the krogan got violent. But the krogan did not show any indication of it and stayed calm during the whole encounter.
"I want you to try," he said with much amusement underneath his growling tone, like it was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard.
It was then the krogan took notice of her just a few steps above, watching the scene with much interest and amusement. Their eyes met and she gave him a nod of approval of his battering with the officers. The officers knew very well that they would have a huge problem arresting the krogan, therefore their threats. If that were to happen, Quinn would not want to miss seeing the officers get pummeled by the much larger and heavier alien. But much to her disappointment, the krogan turned away from the officers and walked off a bit, waiting for her to get off the stairs.
"Go on. Get out of here," the officer shouted behind him, clearly thinking he had won the argument. The other officers were quick to praise with complements and claps on the shoulders as they walked off and up the stairs.
Quinn looked at the group with a raised brow, thinking that the guy should consider himself lucky he got out of that with his bones intact, then she walked down the rest of the stairs to meet up with the krogan, who turned to her directly once she got close.
"Yes human?"
Quinn took her usual stance and crossed her arms under her breasts as she cut to the case. "I'm trying to bring down Saren. Barla Bon said to talk to you."
"Barla Von is a wise man. We may share a common goal, human," he said with a mysterious tone to it.
"Spit it out. Or are you trying to build suspense?" She asked, letting him know she had no time nor patience for this conversation to be dragged out.
"Hah, I like you, Shepard," he said rather amused while also pointing out he knew very well who she was. Taking a couple of steps closer, he continued; "I've been hired to kill the owner of Chora's Den. A man named Fist. He did something very foolish."
Getting intrigued, she raised an eyebrow as she stated; "He betrayed the Shadow Broker."
"A quarian showed up here on the Citadel. She was on the run. She wanted to trade information for a safe place to hide, so she went to Fist," he explained. "He promised to arrange a meeting between her and the Shadow Broker. Instead, he contacted Saren."
"Fist's not too smart."
"He's just greedy," the krogan stated simply. "Saren paid him a small fortune for the quarian. He had to. She has evidence connecting him to the geth."
"If we get our hands on that evidence, we can prove that Saren's a traitor!" Mini-John said suddenly from behind her, almost startling her, which had her turn to him with no pleasant outcome if it had been anyone else. "The Council will have to listen to us."
Glaring daggers at the man for startling her, she growled; "Saren might already have her."
"Last I heard, Fist still had her. Probably somewhere inside his club," Wrex said, then his voice turned more serious as he offered; "You help me kill Fist, she's all yours."
Quinn had no problem with that, but it wasn't she who answered the krogan.
"We can help you bring him in, not help you kill him," Mini-John offered sternly, almost like he thought he was the one in charge now when John wasn't here.
Wrex turned his eyes to the human man who had walked up to the two out of nowhere and looked at him like he was just another annoying pyjak like the C-Sec officers who thought they could order him around. This man was a military man, Alliance for sure, but although the man seemed to think he was in charge, Wrex had no business with him.
"I wasn't talking to you, human," he growled with a warning to the man, who took a step back.
Quinn wasn't fazed. Instead, she shrugged nonchalantly and said; "Sure. You fix you problem however you see fit. Bring him in, blow his balls off, bullet in his brain – I don't care. But I want the quarian."
"You're not authorized to make such a—"
Quinn turned swiftly on her heel to fully face the Alliance soldier with a murderous stare which had most people cave under it and forcefully shoved the man to shut him up. Then said with a threatening tone; "I'll do what I feel necessary to get my hands around Saren's throat and no one is gonna stand in my way. Not you, not the Alliance, not C-Sec, not the damned Council and especially – not – John," her tone grew colder and more venomously. "And if that means I have to kill a few numbskulls to do so, then I fucking will! You got that?"
Kaidan looked into her eyes and saw the sincerity in them. She was not kidding and would disable him if she had to. She had made it very clear from the beginning she was determined to get Saren and that drive was what he found admirable. Yet he knew if he allowed this to happen, he would be just as responsible for the man's death as the two of them. This was getting dangerous, and he knew he had to report this to Commander Shepard before it was too late.
"You two may be criminals, but I'm not," he said strongly. "I am an Alliance soldier and I'm not going to stand idly by while you kill your way to Saren." He brought out his omni-tool, but before he could press the call button, a hand grabbed a hold of it.
"Try it and I will break your arm."
Quinn pushed the arm down and even thought Kaidan was stronger than her, he did not resist it in fear of alerting the officers around them and have them arrest the pirate who they needed. Reluctantly, he let her remove his hand from the omni-tool, but he never let his determined eyes leave hers. He wasn't going to let them kill this man.
"I need to tell the Commander about the quarian," he said, his tone strong and hoping she would take that excuse and let him get in contact with her brother. "They're gone to look for that turian officer – Garrus Vakarian."
"Garrus?" the krogan asked, which had both humans turn their attentions to him. "He was here just before you showed up. Said he was going to follow up a lead on his investigation. Wanted to speak to the doctor at the med clinic."
Quinn turned back to Mini-John, who had closed the omni-tool now, with a smirk on her lips. "See?" She released his hand and took a step away from him. "They're all busy finding each other and while they do that – we go and find this quarian before Saren does. How does that sound?" Although she asked the question, she was not interested in the answer. Instead, she turned to the krogan. "We're going to see Fist. But first, I need to shoot someone." She turned on her heels and headed towards the cab station.
"Now you're talking," the krogan said, his tone thrilled.
"Wait, what?!" Mini-John exclaimed behind her.
The cab drive didn't take too long, and fucking thanks for that! During the whole ride, Mini-John, had asked her millions of questions about this someone she needed to shoot. Come on, it was just a figure of speech. Sort of. The questions were even annoying the krogan, which by experience, was not a good idea when riding in such a tight space. It was only then she felt she had to explain the situation for the soldier, and not until then did he stop with the interrogation and changed his attitude to condemn the C-Sec Officer for being dirty instead. Like that was such a surprise…
"I would have shot him," growled the krogan.
"Believe me, I was tempted," she assured as she looked out through the window of the space car.
The space car descended once it reached the Market district and the three of them got out of the vehicle to trail down to the lower market area, and just like the C-Sec Officer had said, there was the arms dealer waiting for her arrival. He was not at all hard to spot and had the attitude of being shady and kept looking over his shoulder to make sure the C-Sec wasn't coming to bust him.
Quinn knew how to deal with this kind of people, and they were awfully suspicious of new buyers. They were going to scrutinize everything they said, did and how they acted just to make sure they were not undercover agents working for the authorities. Which would make Mini-John stick out like a flashlight.
She turned to him as she walked backwards and said sternly; "You go over to the booths, keep your mouth shut and don't do anything foolish if you don't want an all-out shooting."
"But—"
"No buts. Just do it."
Reluctantly, Mini-John did what she said as he realized she knew what she was talking about. Once he had gone off to a secure distance, Quinn turned around, walked through the crowd, and approached the krogan who stood off in the corner and as far away from prying eyes as he could. He had two turian bodyguards with him, both with their weapons close at hands as they watched the crates with the merchandise.
The krogan took notice of her and Wrex and turned to them as he said; "Hold it. That's close enough, pirate." He held up a hand and they stopped as he looked them over. "You got my payment?"
Quinn took her stance, popping her hip and arms crossed under her breasts as she asked with the same tone; "Do you have the mods?"
The krogan turned his head to his two bodyguards and motioned for them to bring out the crate. One of them lifted one of the smaller ones and brought it over to put in front of them.
"Show her the merchandise," the krogan then said and the turian opened it up so they could look inside.
Wrex walked up to it to take a look inside, then turned to Quinn and said; "That looks about right."
"Damn straight it is!" The krogan said loudly, offended that these people would dare to think his merchandise would be anything but the best. "These mods are the best on the market. Now hand over my credits."
He turned his hard eyes on her, and she couldn't help but to feel enraged. This krogan dared to treat her like any other petty, lowlife criminal? Did he not know who he was dealing with?! She had killed people for just throwing her the wrong kind of look and it had not mattered how much credits they could throw her way. For a second, she seriously contemplated on crushing this krogan's skull.
"What are you waiting for?" The krogan arms dealer demanded to know.
She almost snapped. The dark energy engulfed her form as she closed the short distance between her and the krogan, her hand seeking the collar of his shirt and pulled his face down to hers as she threatened; "How about I just take the weapons."
The turian guards behind him took a hold of their weapons.
"What the hell are you playing at?" The krogan demanded and tried to free his collar from her strong grip.
She pushed him closer as she snarled venomously; "Do you even know who the hell you're dealing with, you fucking bat-head?!" Then pushed him back like he was trash as she released her grip.
The krogan stumbled back a few steps but recovered before he stumbled over one of the many crates behind him. His bodyguards watched the scene unfold like they couldn't believe their eyes. This small human female had just pushed the large and heavy krogan with not much effort at all. Or so it seemed. That action had her muscles work up the strength she normally wouldn't use without her biotic's help. The krogans really needed to lose some weights.
The krogan dealer straightened his form as he turned to her, fury in his eyes and was about to tell his guards to shoot her, when she declared with a murderous tone;
"I'm fucking Quinn Shepard. Show me disrespect and your head will be a smear on the floor."
The name had the krogan almost swallow his tongue. He knew the name and the reputation which followed. He was in the very business this Pirate Warlord were conducting in the Terminus Systems and even though he had never dealt with her directly, he had done business with her operations on many occasions.
"I didn't—" he began to say, but she had enough of this idiot.
"Here's your credit," she said as she cut him off and threw him his payments, which fell to the floor.
The krogan turned an eye to the floor and there was a silent snarl from him, but he knew better now than to comment on it. "Enjoy it," he said, then turned to his guards, which was still holding their weapons and staring at them almost blank, but quickly got grip off themselves when the krogan said; "Come on, boys. We're done here."
Quinn watched them walk off to their crates before she turned her eyes to the crate at her feet.
"Nicely done, Shepard," her own krogan praised, clearly approving of her violent outburst.
A snicker escaped her as she lifted up the crate with the illegal mods. Now she needed to find a good place to stash it while she was off getting Fist. Cause there was no way she was going back to the C-Sec to dump this thing just to get back and head for Chora's Den, which was much closer than the C-Sec Academy. Her eyes searched for a place as she walked through the crowds and booths. Then she spotted Mini-John standing by a booth with a salarian seller who looked way too skittish to rip her off.
"Seems like you haven't killed anyone yet," he said as she approached, but then quickly turned his eyes to the crate in her hands. "What are you going to do with that?"
Quinn put it down on the booth-counter and turned to the salarian, who was about to greet her, but she beat him to it by saying; "You! Keep an eye on this thing until I come back and get it."
"Em…" the salarian hesitated and stared at the crate in front of him. "I'm sorry, but—"
"If you don't want to die, you do as I say, got it?" She said with a threatening tone which had the salarian turn uncomfortable and uncertain. "And don't bother to call C-Sec. It's for them you're holding it."
"Oh–oh–okay!" The salarian quickly took it and stored it safely inside the booth.
"Good, boy," she praised and pushed herself off the counter and headed towards Chora's Den.
As they approached the gentlemen's club, she found it weird there was no activity. Last time, the music was blasting, and it could be heard from the outside. It was also weird not to see people around, entering and exiting the club as it was open at all hours. The lights and signs on the outside were still lit, indicating it was not completely closed off, but the atmosphere was suspicious. Quinn opened her omni-tool to look at the time; 6.53 p.m.
"Looks like it shut down," Pretty-Boy said, he too finding it odd.
The krogan was the first to draw his shotgun as he declared; "Fist knows we're coming."
Feeling the tingling of excitement in her body beginning to spread, she couldn't help but smile as she said; "Looks like we're getting some action after all."
She approached the door, her arms stretched along each side of her body as she summoned the dark force to engulf her form.
"What are you doing?!" Mini-John exclaimed. "You don't have any weapons!"
"I am a weapon," she stated as the door opened to reveal the thugs waiting for them inside with weapons drawn. The first one who got into her eyesight, she used her biotic to throw him against the wall and a sickening crack followed before it fell motionless to the floor.
"Take cover!" She heard someone call, but if it was from inside or behind her, she wasn't so sure as her mind was beginning to cloud from the killing thirst.
She stepped inside and immediately tipped the first table she saw over, which fortunately was made of metal and took cover behind it. She needed to keep her head on straight and tried to fight the killing instinct. No matter how much she hated to admit it, Pretty-Boy was right, she was at a disadvantage with no weapons. Her biotic was strong, but a bullet would eventually break through her kinetic shield and pierce through her barley existing armor as John had made her leave her medium armor back on the ship. Curse that idiot!
"How many are they?" Pretty-Boy asked as he too, took cover behind the table.
"How the fuck should I know?!" She retorted, annoyed at his stupid question.
Shots were fired at the table and they soon found this was not going to hold for long as they had piercing rounds. The krogan stood at the door and had switched to his assault rifle and fired at the other direction of the bar and above it as a thug stood there. The thugs were firing from three directions, which pinned the three of them down.
"Look out!" Pretty-Boy called to her and pulled her closer to him as one of the thugs were about to shot her from her side of the table.
"I'll destroy you!" the thug yelled as he fired and had the edge of the table filled with holes.
Quinn turned her head to that side once the thug had emptied the clip and exclaimed angry; "That fucking dick! He almost took my head off!"
Boosting up her shield and biotic, she pushed herself off of the floor to face the human thug who had nearly killed her and had threw a ball of dark force at the man, which was immediately engulfed in it. Then she pulled him off of his feet and into the air, then threw him at the bar, which had him crash into the wall filled with glass bottles on shelfs. The glass shattering nearly deafened the sound of shots being fired.
"Go, go, go!"
More thugs rounded the bar and took cover behind their own tables or booths as they fired at the three of them. Quinn wasn't quick enough to get behind cover and one of the shots disabled her kinetic shield and made her vulnerable. Suddenly, she was knocked to the ground as a shot grasped her right shoulder, leaving her with a shallow wound. While lying flat on the floor, the heavy weight upon her back removed itself just as quickly and more shots were fired.
Quinn threw the person an annoyed glance as she sat up and found Pretty-Boy standing over her. Then she threw a glance over at the krogan, who had now moved into the bar and stood behind a wall that stuck out. This was not doing it. She needed a weapon and all of the dead thugs' weapons were out of her reach.
She turned to the krogan. "Give me your shotgun!" She ordered and he immediately complied. Now with a weapon in her hand, she immediately felt like the tables had turned. "Now it gets fun."
Quinn took a quick look over the bar to know the places of the thugs and calculated their chances. The one thug who stood out, was the thug at the top of the bar, which gave them a huge advantage over the three invaders. From this angle, it was hard to get a shot in, while he had the perfect spot for his own advance. He needed to be taken out first. Quinn got up on her knees and summoned enough of the dark force from her implant to push herself off the floor once the man had taken cover behind the thick pillar which held the platform over the bar where some of the dancer used to be. She had the shotgun ready to shoot fired it off into the thug's stomach before he even knew what had happened, almost creating a fleshy see-through hole in the body and he fell down on the other side of the bar along with his blasted insides.
"Come on!" Another thug called to the others to motivate them after their comrade's gruesome demise.
The thugs tried to keep out of the range of her shotgun and hid in the shadows of the bar which had now been bigger as the light had dimmed even further. But with her on top, Mini-John to the right and the Krogan to the left, they were quickly taking ground and forced the thugs to either remain at the back, or chance it by coming right at them, guns blazing.
One of the thugs, she used her biotics to pull him up into the air at her level. The man dropped his weapon and began to sway his arms up and down, like he thought that would make him get his feet back on the floor. The shotgun was aimed at the man's head, and she pulled the trigger before letting the body drop, giving a satisfied thud as it hit the floor.
But soon, heavy footsteps followed and a battle cry loud enough to hurt her ears. Her eyes searched the floor from above, and all she could see was a massive body charging for Pretty-Boy's location, who barely had time to react. Quinn quickly used her biotic to throw the man aside and out of the way of the charging krogan, who ran straight into the wall, breaking it from the weight and force almost like a mini tank had rammed into it.
"It's the bouncer!" Pretty-Boy yelled as he got up on his feet.
"I'll take care of him," she yelled and jumped down from the bar, having the dark force reduce the fall so she could land smoothly on her feet and headed over to the krogan bouncer.
"Whhhaaa!" the krogan yelled as he pulled his head out of the wall and turned around to frantically search for his target as he said; "You, human scum. I'm gonna—!"
"Hey! What the fuck, Drood!" She yelled, before punching the krogan in the face as hard as she could manage, but without her biotic.
The punch in the face had Drood snap out of his frantic state and he shook his head in hopes it would remove the pain from his snout. He blinked a few times before he turned down to look at the pirate in surprise and asked; "Quinn? What are you doing here?"
"Killing Fist," she answered coldly before turning the shotgun at him. "How about it? Do I have to kill you to get to him? Or are you gonna walk away?"
Drood's gaze darkened as he snarled; "After everything, you're really gonna kill me?"
"I've killed people for less," she stated, feeling no guilt at all for what she was about to do, but when he did not move, she added; "You're standing in my way, Drood." Her threatening tone dipped into the killing instinct, which she knew people who knew her was terrified of.
Drood rigged back some as he realized the sincerity behind her words. He lowered his own shotgun and said; "I'm not dying for that jackass."
Quinn lowered her own weapon, yet she remained on guard. "Good."
"You're gonna owe me for this!" he said as he headed for the door.
"Maybe I'll buy you a drink when this is all over," she said, a small smile crawled upon her lips.
"Twelve!" he yelled over his shoulder. "I'm still waiting for the last six you'd promise me. Oh!" he turned to her as he opened his omni-tool. "Here is the code for the back. You may need it." He sent her the information to her omni-tool before he walked off to the door, muttering as he went; "Damn it, Quinn. Now I'm unemployed again because of you! You better give me those drinks!"
The door closed behind him and Quinn turned to the now empty bar, except for Pretty-Boy and the Krogan.
"I think we're good, Shepard," the Krogan said as he fired the last shot into the last thug's chest.
"Nice!" She said and rounded the bar to get to the back. "And I got the code to the back!"
Quinn entered the corridor which led to the back with the two men behind her. It was quite nice not to have to decrypt the locks for once as this particular lock was above her skill sets and she entered the code to the wall panel, which had the door open perfectly. However, as soon as it opened, two pistols were aimed at her face.
"Stop right there!" One of the men warned. "Don't get any closer!"
"Really?" Quinn said, not at all amused as she stared down the two barrels and began to feel the rage of having guns up in her face and about to act on it.
"Warehouse workers," Pretty-Boy said behind her, their clothes revealing their employment. "All the real guards must be dead."
"Stay back or we'll shot!" The other worker warned, but the quivering in his tone and the pale sweating face made it obvious he was scared to death and had never shot anyone before.
Yet he was still pointing a pistol at her, and Quinn did not take that lightly no matter what they did for a living. Not only that, but they also stood in her way. About to aim the shotgun at them, a hand stopped her by grabbing the weapon and pulled it out of her hands before she could pull the trigger. The warehouse workers took a few steps back, while Quinn snapped her head to the only one, she knew would try to stop her from killing anyone. She shot her murderous eyes at Mini-John, warning him to give it back before she used it on him.
But the man stood his ground and kept the shotgun as he turned to the workers and said; "This would be a good time to find somewhere else to work."
The two men lowered their weapons, relief washed on their faces. One of them said; "Yeah. Yeah, right. That's a good idea."
The other one dried the sweat from his forehead with forearm, his tone still quivering as he said; "I never liked Fist anyway…"
"It would've been quicker to just kill them," the Krogan commented as he watched the two workers squeeze their way past them and headed for the exit as fast as they could, like they thought they were still at risk of being killed.
But Quinn had only eyes for one particular person, who said rather proudly; "Shooting people isn't always the answer."
She swirled around at the man, grabbed a hold of the shotgun in his hand with both of hers, and pushed him violently into the wall and warned; "Never, do that again!" before she forcefully pulled the weapon free from his hand.
"I saved their lives!" The man countered with an angry tone. "They had nothing to do with this."
"I don't care," was all she said about that and turned on her heels to head for the final door which would lead to Fist's office.
The bar owner was waiting for them and Quinn grabbed a firm grip on the shotgun before bursting into the office and took cover behind the short hallway wall, which divided the office into two parts.
"You're dead, Fist!" The Krogan called as he stepped into the room and placed himself in the open.
"Why do I have to do everything myself?" Fist said out loud in frustration as he took cover behind some shelves.
A few shots followed and forced the Krogan to take cover behind the wall on the opposite side of where Quinn stood. She leaned out as she heard a shifting sound and found two defense turrets come out from two holes in the floor at each side of the room.
"I smell trouble," the Krogan said timidly.
"Time to die, little soldiers!" Fist yelled, his tone confident.
Both of the turrets took their aim to each wall and fired off a full round, pinning them to their respective cover and to wait for the turrets to come to a stop to change their clips. Before that happened, it seemed like their rounds was about to pierce through the walls and hit them, but fortunately they stopped before that could happen. Taking advantage of that, Quinn motioned for Pretty-Boy to take point behind a well-placed group of couches in the middle of the room. He complied and moved, while both she and the Krogan covered him from Fist's fire.
There was no need to voice it, they all knew they had to take out the two turrets before they could get to Fist. The turrets had changed clips and was once again firing their rounds without paus at each of the walls where Quinn and the Krogan stood. The walls were quickly pierced through with the second rounds, forcing both her to move further behind and away from the room, while the Krogan got forced closer to the corner whereas eventually, he would have nowhere to go.
By the third time the turrets changed ammo, the three of them managed to get through their kinetic shields and then it was just full rain of shots at the machines, which eventually had the two of them explode, leaving Fist in their blasts zone which had him slammed up against the wall before he fell face down on the floor.
Quinn pushed herself away from the barley standing wall and quickly walked up to the man and stepped a foot on his hand which reached for his assault rifle and pointed the shotgun straight at the man's face.
"Wait!" the man yelled in panic before he pleaded; "Don't kill me! I surrender!"
Surrender? Who did he think he was talking to? She thought as she watched his pathetic pleads for his life.
"Tell me where the quarian is and I won't have to shoot you in the kneecaps," she said and pressed down harder on his hand, which made him whimper louder.
"Ah!" S-she's not here. I don't know where she is. That's the truth!"
"You're lying," she aimed the shotgun to his knees, hoping that would make him remember.
"He's no use to us now," the Krogan snarled. "Let me kill him."
The man panicked and covered his head with his hands. "Wait! Wait! I don't know where the quarian is, but I know where you can find her," he said frantically, then chanced a glance at her to see if she believed him.
Quinn raised an annoyed eyebrow once the man's eyes landed on hers. "Continue."
She remover her foot from his hand, and Fist propped himself up on his elbows and flinched as the pain of his wounds made itself known. "The quarian isn't here. Said she's only deal with the Shadow Broker himself."
"Face to face? Impossible!" The krogan exclaimed. "Even I was hired though an agent."
The bar owner pushed himself to a sitting position and slowly tried to stand up. "Nobody meets the Shadow Broker. Uh. Ever." The man's grunting and whining was really beginning to get on Quinn's nerves. "Even I don't know his true identity. But she didn't know that. I told her I'd set a meeting up. But when she shows up, it'll be Saren's men waiting for her."
Once the man had successfully gotten up on his feet, Quinn kicked him down to the floor again, her biotic flaring up from her hands to forearms and demanded; "Tell me where that meeting is before I crush your fucking skull!"
The man shot his hands up to protect his head, he quickly said; "Here on the wards. The back alley by the markets. She's supposed to meet them right now. You can make it if you hurry–"
He barely managed to end his sentence before a shot was fired into the man's head, piercing it at the left temple and exploding as it exited the back, splashing blood and brain matter on a large area on the back of the office. Even Quinn got some of it one her face and front.
"Oh my god!" Pretty-Boy exclaimed in horror and turned to the krogan in disbelief.
"The Shadow Broker paid me to kill him," he explained grimly. "I don't leave jobs half done."
Quinn dried off some of the blood which had splattered on her lips with her fingers, then walked up to the desk to see if she could find anything useful as she said to Mini-John; "You should be happy he's dead. A lot of people died because of him. He was crooked."
"That doesn't mean he had to die!"
She found a few disks labeled with different titles and information and grabbed the once which sounded the most interesting before placing them in one pocket then added; "He had it coming."
"We should have turned him over to the C-Sec," he said, not at all sounding convinced they had done the right thing.
"So, his corrupt lawyers could bail him out?" She asked sincerely and walked towards the exit. "Come on, move out. I have a quarian to find."
**John's POV
Damn it, it was so frustrating to get a hold of a skycar at this hour. The wait was long, and each minute was growing more frustrated. One would think that such an advanced space station like the Citadel would have enough skycars to go around, but no! The 10 minutes wait which was promised, wasn't applied for rush hour when the job shifts were changed, and people were going home which resulted in the queues being way too long. Neither did it help the growing frustration that John couldn't get a hold of either Lieutenant Alenko or Quinn through his omni-tool. He wasn't surprised his sister hadn't answered, but that Alenko hadn't answered was what bothered him the most. Whatever they were up to, he did not like it at all, and he completely blamed Quinn for it.
Once their skycar arrived, John had jumped into it and set it straight for Chora's Den. During the ride, he had been quiet while Williams had asked Vakarian about his work in C-Sec. John had not heard a thing as his mind was filled with different scenarios in which state the strip club must be in once they got there. Mostly, he imagined it in ruins and bodies lying all over the place.
When they arrived, he quickly got out of the skycar and headed for the club. Just hours ago, the lively music could be heard even from the transportation station, and people were coming and going, but now there were no music nor any movement at all.
"This isn't good," Vakarian stated warily, and the tone in the turian's voice only confirmed John's worry.
"I'm guessing this place isn't normally this quiet," Williams commented and turned to the turian as they headed for the entrance.
"No. This club is always open. The neighbors complain regularly about the loud music and people coming and going at all hours."
Suddenly, they heard gunfire erupt from inside the club. John immediately grabbed his pistol and he motioned for the three of them to move up to the entrance. The door opened automatically as they approached, and inside, they could already see bodies lying scattered and dead on the floor, but John was at least reviled to see there were no customers nor the employees he had spotted earlier. These people had armors and were probably hired thugs.
At the back of the club, there were a few people still alive, and they were shooting down the corridor to the back. Fortunately, neither of them had taken notice of the trio just yet, which would give John and the two the element of surprise.
Despite that, John cursed silently to himself. He had hoped to get the information regarding Saren peacefully, not going through corpses. He turned to Williams and Vakarian and said; "Okay. Take out the thugs. Make sure you don't hit Alenko, the krogan or Quinn."
"Aye, aye, sir," Williams confirmed before following his orders.
"Let's go." Then he headed into the club, turning his attention to the left side of the bar, then motion with his hand for Williams to take the right, and Vakarian to stay at the back and center.
As soon as a thug came into his line of sight, he pulled the trigger and shot an immobilizing shot which wouldn't kill them. The other shot, however, would be fatal if he didn't stand down. With nearly all of them with their backs to them, it was easy to take out two or three before they realized what was going on and acted. But once they knew, the thugs reorganized themselves to cover both directions and John took cover behind the bar counter as the thugs continued to shoot and waste their ammo. Once they had to change their clips, John took a quick look over the counter to count them. He could count six but was sure there was at least one or two more further back and out of his view. Of those he indeed could see, two were by each side of the entrance to the back, pinning Alenko and the others down, the third and fourth were giving the first two cover, while five and six had their aims on John's team.
A rifle shot flew past John and went straight through the thug's shield who was pinning him down. But the shot only injured the man slightly in the arm as he managed to move out of the way by chance. Although it was enough for John to take the shot to bring the man down. Williams managed to take out the thug John wasn't sure existed and now they were down to five—four. One of the thugs at the back entrance got shot in the head and blood flew into the air as the bullet exited the skull and flew past Williams and into the wall behind her.
With now only one thug at the back entrance, who was beginning to panic as he was facing three opponents on his own, it was almost brutal to see him about go down, knowing that at least two of his opponents were shooting to kill. The other three thugs had their main focus on John's group as they were more of a threat to them. With only four thugs remaining, it would be easy to take them out.
"Stand down!" John yelled at the thugs in an attempt to end this without further bloodshed.
But the words barley left his mouth when a biotic shockwave shot out from the back hall and hit the remaining thugs with such force it threw them off of their feet and had them scatter throughout the bar as they fell down. Another flash of blue followed as Quinn came charging out of the hallway and got on top of the closest thug and smashed her fist into the man's skull, crushing and smearing the brain matter over the floor.
"That's for gracing me, you ass!" She growled at the corpse, her eyes nearly black of anger before rising to her feet.
"Are you crazy?!" John roared from across the room. "You didn't have to kill him, he was down!"
She turned an ignorant eye at him which only enraged him more. He was about to cross the room to confront her further, but a gunshot had him stop dead in his tracks and he fell back behind the bar counter for cover. There were still three thugs left. John turned towards the thug who had fired the shot with his pistol and at the same time he saw Quinn head for the exit in the corner of his eye.
"Sorry, John. I don't have time for your lectures. I have a quarian to catch," she said as she brushed past him.
His hand shot out and grabbed a hold of her wrist and tugged her back violently which had her almost fall flat on her butt next to him. "No!" He yelled at the same time. "You're damn going to explain yourself, right here, right now!" He let go of her wrist and changed the clip in his pistol, while staring her down.
She got her footing, then turned her frustrated eyes at him as she asked; "While we're being shot at, really?!"
His enraged eyes met hers. "Explain! What the hell is this?" He threw his hand to the massacre around him, knowing full well that the others could take care of the remaining thugs in the meantime. His sister's eyes never left his and he could see she did not care at all about the killing.
"A bar filled with corpses, what the hell do you think it looks like?" She retorted back, her tone callous and shrugged her shoulders. His stare narrowed even further and only then did he get her to answer more seriously. "They fired at us first. Should I just stand there and take it?"
"This isn't defending yourself and you know it," he screamed at her and gestured with his eyes at all the bodies lying bleeding all over the club, but she didn't even bat an eyelash at it. "This is manslaughter! You could've easily knocked them out instead. Immobilized them! Anything but kill them!"
Quinn turned her head away and a loud, frustrated sigh escaped her before she turned back to stare him straight in the eyes, her expression annoyed and irritated. "You weren't here. You have no say in how this went down."
"I have all the say in this!" John countered. "Are you really so far gone that you can't do anything else but kill?!"
"All clear, Commander," he heard Williams declare from somewhere, but John did not comment on it.
Instead, he stood up, threw a quick look around the room to make sure for himself that all the thugs were taken out before he once more turned his attention to the pirate and stretched out his open hand and demanded; "Give me the weapon, now!"
"I don't need a weapon to kill," she stated coldly and actually shoved the shotgun into his abdomen. He was about to give her a piece of his mind but was interrupted as she continued with a malice tone; "I'm not gonna explain myself to you, John." She pointed a finger at him and used it to pick it into his chest, hard. "But I am gonna tell you this – the longer you keep me here, our chances of getting the evidence against Saren is lost. And another person will die."
"Yeah. We should hurry to get the quarian," the krogan said and walked over to the siblings.
Quinn stared into his eyes for a few more seconds, challenging him to keep her there just so he would have another person's death on his conscience. Then she turned on her heels so quickly her lose hair almost slapped him in the face, then headed for the door with the krogan on her tail, which had snatched the shotgun out of his hands with a growl; "That's mine".
John turned to her and warned; "I'm not going to let you get away with this. You're here only because I say so. I can easily get rid of you and turn you in to C-Sec, so don't push me."
"Oooh, I'm so scared," she said over her shoulder as she was about to disappear out of the door, but before that, the pirate scooped up one of the thug's pistols and the door closed shut behind them.
As soon as it shut, John turned around and slammed his clenched fists, which he had so desperately wanted to punch into the pirate's face, down on the bar counter, hoping that would help to release some of the pint up anger and rage he felt inside. How much was he supposed to tolerate before he could take some serious actions against her? When would it be enough? How many people should have to die before he realized his sister was lost to him?!
He stared down at his fists as he demanded some answers from the Lieutenant. "What the hell happened here?!" John growled between his teeth, letting them all know he was at his last straw.
Alenko hesitated for a moment, not really knowing how to explain his actions as he did not really understand how he ended up in this situation to begin with. "I'm sorry about all this, Commander," he finally said with both guilt and regret in his tone but knowing full well that did not excuse the situation. "I don't know how they knew we were coming, but they had the place shut down when we arrived."
John turned his hard eyes on the Lieutenant. "And?"
The man gave a heavy sigh, before he said with urgency in his tone; "I want to explain it all, but Quinn's right. There's a quarian—"
"We know about her," Williams cut him off, clearly showing her disapproval of his actions as well.
Alenko did not miss it, but he knew they had to hurry if they wanted to help the quarian and get their hands on the evidence to stop Saren. He turned to the Commander. "She's meeting up with Saren's men as we speak. They're going to kill her if we don't stop it and destroy the evidence."
"Then we need to go now," Vakarian said and headed for the door.
As much as John wanted to yell at the Lieutenant, he trusted the man's word and pushed his anger and resentment aside for now. He couldn't let that cloud his mind nor judgement. He pushed himself away from the bar and headed for the door as well. "Yeah. Let's go."
They rushed out of the bar and fallowed the path to the skycar station, only to stop abruptly as they came running back into the crowed at the markets. John frantically looked around him to see if he could see where Quinn and the krogan had gone. Although there were too many people around to spot the pirate who were only five-feet-six-inches tall, so instead John tried to see if he could spot the tall krogan. It didn't take long as there weren't that many krogans walking around at the moment, and he spotted the right krogan round a corner and John picked up his speed and ran after them.
If it were true this quarian indeed had information or even evidence against Saren, they had to do anything to get their hands on it. They ran though booths and shops, pushing and zigzagging through people until they finally ran into a remote alley where there were no people. They headed up a few stairs until they spotted Quinn and the krogan coming to a stop. John carefully walked up to the pair and spotted a meeting between a lone female quarian and a trio of a turian and two salarians.
It seemed they had gotten there just in time. The quarian seemed wary and quite nervous but tried her best to hide it. The turian with the white skull painted markings on his face seemed to be the frontrunner and he walked up to the woman as he spoke, but from where John stood, he couldn't hear what he was saying. Although from what the turian did next, he could easily guess. He placed his hand on the side of her helmet, where her cheek would be and ran it down her body, following the curves seductively until the quarian slammed the hand away as he reached her hips.
"No way. The deal's off," she spoke loud enough for John to hear, and the woman backed away from the turian.
He too backed away from her, now with a grimmer expression, or if that were the skull markings, John wasn't sure, but the turian were not happy. The two salarians turned to the pair and drew their pistols, along with the turian, but the quarian were prepared and threw a flash bomb at them to throw them off balance before she took cover behind some abandoned crates.
John went into action straight away, along with Quinn and the krogan who had gotten there first. Carefully, John made his way over to the action, his pistol ready in hands and was about to order them to stand down. But the turian and the salarians saw them approach, and immediately they focused their fire on the new arrivals. One of the salarians didn't even get a chance to fire a single shot before Quinn had crossed the distance between them and had her biotic smash him into the wall, breaking the spine. The krogan had taken on the other salarian and used his own biotic to smash the salarian up against the roof and let him go so he fell to the floor face first, then fired off a few shots in the head with his shotgun.
Which only left the turian, who were being dealt with by John and the quarian. The difference between John and the rest, he didn't shoot to kill. He wasn't so sure the quarian tried to kill the man, but she wanted him dealt with and fired frantically with her own pistol, hoping it would hit. It was like she hadn't taken noticed she had gotten help, but John could see the woman knew how to use the gun. John managed to hit the turian in the leg, which had the man stumble to the right and out in the open, only to be hit by the quarian's shots in the chest and he fell to the ground, dropping his weapon as he did so.
Quinn who stood closest to the turian, walked over to the body, and kicked him on the shoulder to see if he was alive. "Dead," she stated simply.
The quarian got out of her cover straight away and yelled; "Fist set me up!" in frustration and anger. "I knew I couldn't trust him!"
"Were you hurt in the fight?" John asked concerned and walked up to her.
"I know how to look after myself," she snapped, but then quickly got calmer as she began to realize she was safe for now. There was a soft sigh from her before she added more calmly; "Not that I don't appreciate the help."
John understood it was a lot to take in and let the woman come to terms on what had happened in her own time before he was about to ask her about the information on Saren. He had no idea how much experience the quarian had with being shot at, but he guessed like most people, she wasn't used to it. And by her demeanor, he guessed he was right.
"Who are you?" She asked then.
"You've got proof Saren is working with the geth," Quinn said as she walked up to her, then demanded; "Hand it over."
"Not so fast. I don't know who you are!" The quarian took a step back and got on the defensive straight away.
"Hey," John said to his sister who was about to get up in the quarian's face, so to speak, but the pirate didn't react to him.
Quinn continued; "I don't have time for questions. I need the evidence you have on Saren. Give it, now!"
"Hey! Cut it out!" John snarled at her and grabbed her arm to push her away from the quarian before he turned back to her to answer the question. "My name's John Shepard. We're looking for evidence to prove Saren's a traitor," he explained, in hoped that would help the woman become less suspicious about them. He tried to catch her gaze from behind the foggy screen on her helmet, which made it unable to see the face underneath.
The outline of her eyes could barely be seen behind the screen, but John could tell she was flickering her eyes between him and his sister, uncertain on whom she should speak to, or trust. Eventually, she had her gaze fall on him and said; "Then I guess I owe you. But not here." John turned to the people coming behind him which the quarian had turned her eyes towards. "We need to go somewhere safe."
"We could take her to the human embassy," Vakarian said as he, Alenko and Williams finally caught up to them. "Your ambassador will want to see this anyway."
"Yeah. It's safe there," Williams agreed.
"Then let's go," John said and coaxed the quarian to come along with his hands, then took the lead and headed to the nearest space car station with the rest of the party following him.
Thank you for reading!
So now we have everyone except for Liara!
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So for the teaser...
He smiled at the woman and said; "I'll take all the help I can get."
Her eyes grew wider and brighter underneath the mask and, in her tone, he could hear her relief, gratitude and better yet, her excitement; "Thanks. You won't regret this."
"Now we're bringing children with us?" Quinn spat disapprovingly as she stood up on her feet. "What's next? A space cow for moral support?"
"You're here, aren't you?" John commented, which earned him some laughs from the rest of the group.