Hello Littleswiss here and I apologize for all of the delay for this chapter. I know I suck but life was really hard on me this time on the emotional side. It was a really stressful period for me. I will try in the future to be more punctual. On a side note, 7358 views, 63 favorites and 91 followers? Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!? It's awesome! You all are awesome! Thank you for all of your support. So whitout any delay, here's chapter 12.
I do not own Mass effect or any of the pop culture's reference I can make.
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Third person point of view
In the three weeks after Garen announcement, a lot of things changed. Of course it changed more or less depending on the person.
For Cosmo, not much. He still went to the Tempest and got intoxicated, a lot. It wasn't surprising to see him drunk when it was his turn to watch over "Garen's territory". But, even if he was drunk, he still managed to do his job correctly, no one knew how. A part of the fights he fought in were initially his fault. Because he was sometimes drunk, he may or may not have threw up on a random guy and of course he got pissed off, his "friends", if he had any, got also pissed off. And by the fact that they got pissed off Cosmo got pissed off too by the fact they were pissed off. And from there it always ended up in a fight.
For Karol it was different. Even if she was supposed to be a doctor and help people by giving medical attention, she didn't back away. On the contrary, she was 100% into it. But it must be clarified that, in her own term, she was doing it for the inhabitants of the neighborhood and not for Garen. Even if she viewed his influence as relatively positive, relatively is the key word, she was still somewhat weary of him. Her weariness was due to his imposing figure (8 feet and more than half a ton.) and his character. Okay it was mostly due to his figure but she couldn't stop herself to receive strange vibes from him.
Let's get back to when it was her turn to watch over the neighborhood. As stated before, she was 100% in it. However she was a little more prepared than the current regular of the Tempest. Her motto: safety first. She wore a helmet with a standard armor that she maybe had steal from the marines sometimes ago. That, in her opinion, held two advantages: one the armor gave some protection and two, the helmet hided her identity. Ironically, the people she had beat up the day before were often the ones she saw at her medical clinic the day after.
And finally for Crevan, aka the kid, it was entirely different from the two others. He was the one who took the fact that he was "officially" a member of Garen's band harder. It was completely foreign to him and he didn't like the unknown at all. And, as it can be guessed, the main reason for his dislike is the person of Garen. He was scared of him. No really it could be understood, since he got here. In the slums, no one was trustworthy in his book.
When the krogan announced that he with Karol and Cosmo were going to help him, he screamed in his head to refuse but it was quickly shot down by his instinct of survival that told him to accept to not make this big and mean krogan angry. And his instinct was not wrong. How did he know that? Well because Crevan somehow started to follow the alien from a Big distance. The reason? Whoever were enough stupid to try and mess with him ended up generally dead. And corpses meant looting in his book. And because of that he could pay his "debt" to his landlord. However it was not the only good news. Crevan had to jus pay half of his debt. He never got an explaination of why.
But at there is always a bad news with good ones, he, with all the "looting" he did, he couldn't find a way to repair one of his precious belongings: a kishot harpoon gun. Even the electric chip he found, before all of that happened was of no use. He tried to use it but it didn't work. However he would never admit defeat and he would find a way to repair it.
At the start of the watches, he was quite distrusting of the three (maybe less in the case of doctor Flynn: she was one of the few helping him when he arrived in the slums.) but after the time flew, he wasn't sure what to think of Garen and Cosmo. Cosmo seemed like a nice guy, unless you get to his bad side.
Garen on the other hand… Even if he seemed nice… somewhat… Crevan was still scared of him (in fact a lot of people were scared shitless of him.). He and a lot of people were afraid of his mere presence. It was clearly a statement of "Do not mess with me and you may live."
So in all, everything change for everyone.
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First pov
Three weeks have past. Well that was quick. Really, I didn't see those weeks passed. In these three weeks, one thing surprised me. It was how well Cosmo and Karol, apparently, adapted to being part of my "group". Crevan on the other hand… let's say that he takes his time. Every time I'm around he gets really nervous. I can see it because his body language is tense; his eyes look everywhere, like to find a way out. He also doesn't seem to really trust me or Cosmo. He only relax, a little, around the doc. Well in my case, it can be explained by the fact that, you know, I'm just an 8 foot tall scary alien around half a ton.
While I'm thinking about that I'm cut from my thought by a voice calling me:
"Hey bodyguard!" The owner of the voice? An asari whose name was… hm… I forget it. It doesn't matter because my job is to look scary so that no one would have the idea to try and mess with her and her husband. Therefore being myself. Her husband was a salarian that I also didn't catch the name but there something I could tell about him or more precisely how he stood. He was showing a picture of relaxation but I could just perceive every time that something unexpected happened; his pupils grew a little like he was taking information. About what? I don't know. So taking account of that, I would say that he's from the STG or maybe another special force.
Like as I did before I start following them. While we are walking, I could, from the corner of my eyes, see that some people are watching the couple I protect but they quickly stop it when they see me. It certainly was notice by the salarian but his wife was completely oblivious to it. She was all ooooooh and aaaaaah looking at the buildings and architecture in the tourist part of Vancouver. She asked here and there her husband to take a picture of her in front of this or that building. Sometimes she even asked me to take pictures of her and her husband. That was a little strange, for me or the people around. The first time she asked me I declined saying
"My job is to protect you, not taking pictures." But she didn't take it and answered with
"Well, how about we augment your pay a little then?" She told looking at her husband who nodded. Well I was not going to say no to more money. So I obliged.
We continue for a little while until they decide that was enough and they told me to accompany them to their hotel. We are walking towards it when the salarian talk to me.
"Excuse me; I think I didn't catch your name. May you tell me what is it?" He asks me. Why does he want to know my name? Ha! I know what excuse to use.
"My name is only mine and I don't see why I should tell you that after what you have done." I say it with a little anger and bile. And I don't know why but this was not forced. Hmmm. Well I think it will be more authentic.
At that the salarian stop looking at me and his wife looks a little sad and ashamed. The rest of the walk is in silence. When we arrive at their hotel they only say goodbye and transfer the credit to my omni-tool.
Now that my job is finished I need to go back to my apartment. The reason is this is the birthday of my little girl. She will turn 5 today, the 11 April. I can feel myself smiling because of that. I think that it scares people away from me. I can understand them. Let's say that my smile is predatory. They stop looking at me and start walking faster away from me.
Well to get back to my apartment I need to walk through my territory. So after 15 minutes of walking, I finally arrive at the border of the neighborhood. Now at I think about it, some things have change in it. First more shops and buildings had "my" mark on them, signaling to the others that they were under my protection. However the buildings were not the only one to have the yellow eye with the three blood red vertical slashes. Karol, Cosmo and Crevan had too the mark somewhere on them. It could be on their armor or clothes.
Suddenly while I'm walking I hear some fight in one of the alley that is on my left. Before I can enter it I hear an explosion and some shouting. When I'm there what I see make my blood bowl.
What I see is a bloody beaten looking Crevan with at least 5 men against him. Three were on the ground. They were knocked out or dead, I cannot tell. Crevan is a mess. One of his arms is limp. I see some blood coming from his mouth and nose. His clothes also are damaged. He looks really tired. And the backpack he always carry around is on the ground, its belongings spread around it.
The two guys that are attacking him have weapons. One has a gun and the other one have a knife. And by knife I mean a big bowie knife. And this knife is bloody. I don't what retains me but when I'm going to join and help him; something stops me and tells me I should watch a little. The thugs are so absorbed by the fight that they don't see me. Crevan too doesn't see me either. At this moment one of the thugs speaks.
"Well look at what you did and now look at you. You can barely stand up. Just give up and gave us the money you owe or…." Say the one with the gun and to finish the sentence the one with the knife makes a gesture like he was cutting his throat. At that Crevan say nothing but I can see hatred in his eyes.
"Your choice." Say the gunman while he levels the gun to point it at Crevan. But before he can make a move, Crevan lift his disable arm and, did he just throw a warp at him? And by the screams I would say that the thug didn't have a shield. However after he threw the warp something seems to electrocute him on the neck because he screams in pain. Shit I forget about the second one with the knife because he just runs at the kid. Not on my watch. With a roar I charge him and my roar makes him stumble and by reflex he turns around to see the origin of the roar he heard. He doesn't have the time to process what's happening that I backhanded him into the wall with a nasty crack noise.
"Hey you okay kid?" I ask Crevan. Damn they really did a number on him. Before he can responds a new surge of electricity shock him on the neck and because of that he falls on his knee and starts coughing blood. No time to waste. I grab him in my arms and start running at full speed towards the clinic of Karol.
Shit, shit shit, SHIT! He starts convulsing. His discolored eyes starts to go crazy, his brown hair are wet by the sweat.
" OUT. OF. MY. WAY!" I roar to the people on the street.
The two minutes it takes me to make it to the clinic were the ones of the longest. I didn't care of the reaction of the different people present, I didn't care about the fact I just destroyed the front door. What was important was Crevan.
"FLYNN, GET YOUR ASS HERE RIGHT NOW!" At that she slams the door of her office opens and runs towards me. When she sees me she was going to say something but when her eyes falls on the bloody mess that is currently Crevan.
"Loq go and prepare the operation's room. Fatima, close the clinic and make sure nobody enter and disturb us and when you're finished joins us." She tells her assistants, a young salarian and a young woman, while she makes signs at me to follow her. We arrive at the operation's room and I see that Loq hasn't finished the preparation. She shows me the operation's table to put Crevan on it. Loq has finish the preparation with the help of Karol and they start stripping the kid so that the clothes do not get in the way and by striping I mean they just tore the clothes off.
"Shit! his heart is defibrillating! " Karol exclaims and takes the machines in her hands because it was moving too slowly at her taste. She gives a shock.
"No response. Again!" she gives another shock. It worked because I can see on the monitor that his rhythmic cardiac is normal.
"What are you doing here Garen? Get out you will be on the way. Fatima! "She shouts at me and then at her assistant. I comply and get out of the operation's room.
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Five hours. Five freaking hours that I'm waiting in front of the doors that lead to the operation's room. Who were those thugs? What was that debt? I thought I take care of that. How could it turn out that bad? All these questions are in my head while I pace in the room.
When I hear one of the doors open I stop and turn around. It's Karol and she looks really tired, her blond hair is dropping sweat. And I don't like the looks of her eyes.
" So I got good news and bad news." She tells me. I keep looking at her telling to continue.
"The good news is that we managed to take care of all of his wounds and is out of danger. Bad news is that the most severe was situated on the base of the neck, near his spinal cord. We did what we could but I fear it might not enough. He might never move the right side of his body, if he wakes up." She tells me with sadness. I take a deep breath to calm down.
If I found who did this they. Are. Going. To. Regret it. And why I have the impression that I'm forgetting something?
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And done. Again sorry for the delay I will try to be more punctual. Thank you for supporting this story and do not hesitate to leave a review.
Thank you,
Littleswiss.