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THR

Chapter 24

Your name was Commander Shepard. In one hand you had a takeout box that had a few pieces of sashimi stored away for later. Your other one was being encased by a hand that was bigger than yours and had but three fingers instead of five.

You shifted uncomfortably in your shuttle seat, which didn't feel soft against your seldom used armor. You hadn't worn the protective suit since going against the Collectors. Although that event had gone on just a month prior you felt as though it had been an eternity ago.

Instead of slaughtering aliens you were now on your way to Vancouver. Being on Earth again was an achievement in and of itself.

Being there with Garrus was entirely different.

When you had stormed back into your room after your conversation with the Admiral, he put an apologetic hand on your shoulder while you searched for your gear. Wearing it to meet Hackett would be comparable to a businessman wearing his finest suit for his performance review with his boss. You had wanted to dress to impress. None of this had exited your mouth.

"Let me come with you," he had said in a gentle voice. He knew that this worked when you were angry. He hadn't known why you were so out of sorts when you arrived back, but this didn't stop him from being reassuring. "At least let me meet the man in person."

You allowed him to come with you for a variety of reasons, but him being there to hold your hand on the ride there was good enough for you.

When you had been in your room throwing on your breastplate, he went to his former quarters to dig out his own. He was still there for you and he would never know how much you appreciated it.

You lacked the courage to tell the Turian next to you the real reason behind your anger back on the Normandy, which was still docked in New York. Telling him that his chances were slim wasn't an easy task. Instead of having your normal keen attitude, you had resorted to waiting until the last minute. As far as he was concerned, his attendance on the mission wasn't going to be a problem. You didn't want to give him false hope, but relaying information like that wasn't your strong point. Sure, you had been able to do it while he was on your crew. Your crew was nonexistent now and there was no reason for you to give him a full blown pep talk. Perhaps you just didn't want to make him upset. Even if you did, you knew he would fight for his position to work alongside you no matter what.

A sudden jolt signaled that the shuttle had landed. You were now in the state known as Canada, which was a part of the United North American States. More specifically, you were in the metropolis known as Vancouver. It was now the headquarters for Alliance operations due to its beautiful surroundings and fairly mild climate due to the global warming conflicts. You had never gotten the chance to visit there and you assumed that Garrus hadn't either.

"Commander, there's a car waiting for you and your guest at the main terminal a few meters past the shopping district. Welcome to Vancouver, British Columbia."

The doors beside you opened in a dramatic fashion and it was clear that you had docked at a terminal that was attempting to mimic the Zakera Ward on the Citadel. Cars upon cars piled up near shuttles like yours in docking areas which led out to places to shop. The one thing that separated this place from Zakera was the wonderful sunshine that poured through the windows. It was still mid-afternoon here and you couldn't ask for anything more. The sun coated everything in a light yellow halo that had provided you with a pseudo-welcoming atmosphere.

If you were going to have a rough meeting with Hackett, at least you could do it in a somewhat tranquil setting.

You exited the shuttle along with your partner and watched as it flew away to dock at a different station. You seized the opportunity to look at your new location with a bit of zeal.

People were bustling around and they all seemed to look rather ecstatic. It was as if none of them had ever heard of anything along the lines of mercenaries, pirates or even Reapers.

It was odd seeing such a large group of people in such a good mood. Shopkeepers handed over souvenirs to small children. Some of them eagerly went back to find their parents while others zoomed around the shopping complex. Adults laughed and chattered with beverages in hand while lovers nibbled at each other's necks and kissed cheeks. Information brokers sat at advanced looking terminals while other upscale merchants showed their wares on visual display units.

Soldiers were intermixed with the civilians. There was an equal amount of men and women. A few of them were limping or obviously wounded. A majority of them were as jolly as could be. A small crowd walked by while still in uniform cheering something that you couldn't decode. They must have been headed off to a bar of some sort.

Much to your surprise, there were even some aliens mixed in with the humans. Seeing everyone interact without any sort of incidents was a bit odd to you. You might have even said that it was the slightest bit scary.

You weren't about to protest despite the false cheeriness that surrounded the docking depot. You had other things to be concerned about, such as whether or not you could get Garrus on board with Arrival.

"Is it me or is this place a little too over-emotional?"

Garrus was standing behind you with his arms crossed. He wasn't exactly shocked to see such activity. He had been across the galaxy and back.

"I don't like it either," you responded while eying the transportation terminal that your driver had pointed out to you. "I think we've been around too much gloominess to remember what happy is."

When you turned your attention back to your boyfriend, he was already walking towards the car that was waiting for you across the expansive shopping space. He turned around after noticing that you weren't initially following.

It didn't take you long to catch up, but when he did, your anger was thawed.

Just like all of the other lovers around you, he pulled you into a tight embrace and held your armored hand to his chest.

Regardless of all of the metal encasing your body, his warmth still radiated through to your bones. The butterflies were in your heart again and you smiled up at him. He still made you feel so bubbly and you could never pinpoint the exact reason why.

In moments like this you preferred to keep these reasons a mystery.

"Here's to hoping that gloomy isn't a word we have to use in the next few months. Deal?"

And, with that, you became just like all of the other couples in the vicinity. No matter how many people gawked or frowned on you, you wouldn't let it bring you down.

When Garrus Vakarian bent down and kissed you, you forgot about the very reason why you were in Vancouver to begin with.

Your name was Commander Shepard, and you only uttered one word between your kisses.

"Deal."

Your name was EDI and never before had you found a meeting to be so interesting. You could recall when Shepard had told you to take notes during her summits with the intergalactic leaders during the war. Those, although amusing, had never truly sparked your interest. Although they had been as controversial as all get out, you couldn't have predicted the scandalous encounter between Shepard and the Council that was happening as you thought.

You were watching the meeting go on just like everyone else on the Citadel now was. Contrary to what others may believe, you thought that streaming the meeting across the space station had been a wise move. You found yourself with more humanlike thoughts now than ever before, which meant that your capabilities to discern your own opinions were stronger than they had been on the Normandy. Although your intention was to be unbiased, you couldn't help rooting for Shepard.

You ran minimal scans with your unsatisfactory technology and determined that your original feed was now being broadcasted throughout the official Citadel networks. The Council must not have been aware of the interference. If they had been they would have sued the networks' programs off the air already.

You knew the story behind the Council's betrayal of Shepard. In fact, you had known for a long time. Being an AI gave you certain capabilities that made file hacking a breeze. Despite this, you decided to tune into a newsfeed to see what the media was doing with the story.

Your name was EDI, and as you listened to the stream intently, you continued to question whether or not you did the right thing.

Your name was Tanya Thompson and you were convinced that today was the day that you would get your big break.

You worked for the Citadel NewsNet and had been hired a few months ago to replace the late Emily Wong. Wong had been a well respected reporter who had allegedly committed suicide during the Reaper War. She had covered all sorts of stories across the Citadel, but perhaps her best known feat was befriended Commander Shepard. It was obvious that the first human Spectre didn't have good relations with anyone in the media. Emily Wong had defied that stereotype, though.

News about the Commander had been sparse lately. All that had been known was that she was mentally unstable and could in fact be deceased.

All of that had changed in the blink of an eye.

It started with a network interference.

The company execs watched carefully as the plot unfolded. The normal news broadcast had changed on televisions across the Citadel. Instead of hearing about box office results, viewers were getting an inside look in the former Earth councilor's office. In it was the Council, high ranking officials and the one person the entire galaxy had been searching for: Commander Liz Shepard. The footage was raw and was being provided by some hacker. As illegal as it was, the broadcasters were all over it. This was like media gold.

Just five minutes ago an assistant had handed you the script to memorize. You were the one that got to report on the Shepard story. This was your first major story that you had ever received and it was going to be huge.

As you read over the document in front of you and repeated the words in your head, a makeup artist powdered your face and got you ready for the limelight.

"This is it." you told yourself. "Don't fuck it up."

You soon found yourself in the hot seat. The cameras in front of you were about to roll and you kept your focus on the teleprompter.

And, with that, you began to speak.

"This is Tanya Thompson with the Citadel NewsNet. This morning we are broadcasting a little early to give you a special update on a woman who has undoubtedly impacted all of our lives: the disgraced Commander Shepard."

Your voice was engaging and upbeat just like you had practiced. Everything seemed to be going right so far.

"Early this morning a source indicated to us that Liz Shepard had been incarcerated for a period of a year in a Citadel penthouse for unknown reasons. Last night it was reported that she exited the residence after causing some problems with her biotics. Her and her rumored lover, former C-Sec agent Garrus Vakarian, made their way to Purgatory for a night out. Witnesses at the bar claimed that Shepard looked a little 'out of sorts' and 'troubled'. These reports must have been true considering that she was arrested and charged with causing the involuntary manslaughter of two Turian men. Later this morning, she was released from captivity to attend her own case meeting. In attendance was the Council, Commander Armando-Owen Bailey of C-Sec, Admiral Steven Hackett of the Alliance and other important dignitaries. Just a half hour ago an interference caused our airwaves to broadcast this classified meeting. The stream is credited to an unknown hacker who will remain anonymous until further notice. From this footage we learned many things, such as the reasoning behind the Commander's two imprisonments. According to the spontaneous recording of the summit, the Batarians ordered the double incarceration periods due to a covert Spectre mission that Shepard led before the Reaper war. This mission led to the destruction of the Alpha Relay and an entire Batarian system. Shepard's supposed mental torture was the Batarian's requested form of retribution, which the Council obliged to."

You looked away from the teleprompter when you saw a crewman waving his hands.

"Stop!" he mouthed silently. The expression on your face looked horrified.

The man that was manning the hovering camera then began to speak to you.

"We lost the signal. It looks like someone's trying to block us from broadcasting! We got the story but everything else is lost…"

Your name was Tanya Thompson, and you weren't sure whether you had failed or succeeded. What you did know was that the entire Citadel was now aware of what happened to Shepard, and they weren't about to let it slide.

Your name was Kaiden Alenko and you had forgotten about finishing your breakfast.

Thoughts were swirling around in your head and you didn't know how to address them. Even if you were aware of how to decode them, it was too loud for you to even consider thinking.

A mob had formed around the small television that was in the outdoor space that comprised Apollo's Café. People were yelling in protest and in happiness.

Before you could comprehend what you were making yourself do, you moved out of the crowded space and tried to think of the first rational thing that you could do.

Go back to your apartment and sort this out.

Your name was Kaiden Alenko and you did just that.

There were some calls that you needed to make and they weren't going to be easy.