Street Cleaning – Part 2
Shepard's decision to bring fewer people with her to Chora's Den was a wise one. The club had clearly been shutdown, making them all the more wary as they prepared to enter. Garrus was able to override the lock on the door, when it slid open they were greeted with a hail of gunfire.
"Get down!" Shepard yelled.
They all did except for Wrex, who instead roared into laughter and charged at the closest gunman. When they made contact, the man was thrown back into one of the nearby tables. He did not get back up.
Meanwhile Garrus had been making good use of his marksmanship. Although the Striker was not a particularly good model of sniper rifle, he was still able to pick off three men who had taken cover on the other side of the room, each in succession.
The krogan bouncer, who had originally been guarding the door to Fists office, was making his approach. Shepard reacted instantly by showering the large target with suppressive fire, which slowed the lumbering creature even more. Wrex turned to face his distracted brethren and didn't wait to unload the entire contents of his shotgun's thermal clip into his face, improving the odds for Shepard and her squad drastically.
Derek waited for the gunfire to die down and then quickly broke out of cover. He mimicked Wrex's tactic by sending a push biotic at the nearest man to him who was knocked off his feet, although when he landed the impact only grazed him. Derek had been prepared for this and fired a couple of blast from his shotgun to finish him off. He was then hit in the back by gunfire; his biotic barrier protected him from any serious damage although he was now exposed. The man who had fired at him was stationed on top of the big dome shaped bar in the centre of the room. Derek used a lift projectile in the hopes that the man would hit the ground below when it wore off. However, he didn't have to wait as Shepard acted by firing a burst from her assault rifle, ending him quickly.
Meanwhile Wrex had made his way behind the counter at the bar where two other men had been positioned. They all but shit themselves when they saw the large krogan heading towards them with a sadistic grin on his face. Before they could escape he grabbed one of them by the neck and threw him into the other. They both collided into a set of glasses, which shattered and lacerated the two of them.
Once the firefight had ceased, they moved towards the door to Fist's office. They stood at the door and each gave a nod to Shepard, indicating they were ready for another hostile encounter. She operated the door.
"Stop right there! Don't come any closer!" A worker cried. The way he held his weapon was a clear indication that he was not a trained professional.
"Warehouse workers. All the real guards must be dead." Derek said, looking at the two men in front of them, who appeared to have one pistol between them.
"Stay back or I'll shoot!"
"This would be a good time to find somewhere else to work." Shepard casually said, ignoring the pistol aimed directly at her cranium.
"Yeah, right. Good idea." The other worker said, in an attempt to dissuade his colleague.
"Ah, hell. Fist isn't paying me enough for this." The one holding the pistol said and they both exited the door back to the main part of the club.
"It would have been quicker to just kill them." Wrex grumbled, disappointed.
"Shooting people isn't always the answer." Garrus criticized. As a C-SEC officer it was his job to de-escalate the situation and use violence only as a last resort.
The corridor they had entered turned through into another doorway. The squad rushed through and saw that it opened up into a large office. At the desk was a man, who they could only assume was Fist. For a crime boss he appeared relatively young. He was a short, stocky man and had a couple of subtle scars running along his chin. His flattop and jaw line complimented each other to give his head a peculiar square-like shape.
"Why do I have to do everything myself? Time to die little soldiers!" he yelled angrily. He then ducked behind his desk and two turrets emerged from either side of the office and engaged their targets.
All four of them were pinned down behind a table, which they had overturned. Garrus took the initiative by sending an overload tech at one of the turrets disrupting its firing pattern. Shepard lined up her shot and finished it off.
Wrex began to fire blindly over the cover at the second turret, he was fortunate and managed to land a couple of clean shots on it, ruining its shields and tearing through its armour.
Meanwhile, Derek had been tracking Fist and was waiting for him to pop his head up so he could land an incapacitating shot. Fist clearly had very little experience when it came to combat, as he stood up fully from behind his desk, exposing his torso. Derek fired and landed two shots on Fist's right shoulder. He dropped his pistol and fell to the floor.
"Nice job lieutenant." Shepard congratulated, hurrying over to Fist.
"Wait! Don't kill me! I surrender!" Fist pleaded, his panicked face displaying his absolute fear .
Shepard stood over him and pulled her pistol out, aiming it at his head.
"Where's the Quarian?" She said angrily, she was in no mood to be jerked around.
"She's not here. I don't know where she is. That's the truth!" He whimpered.
"He's no use to you now. Let me kill him." Wrex deadpanned.
"Wait! I don't know where she is but I know where you can find her. She said she'd only deal with the Shadow Broker himself."
"Face to face? Impossible. Even I was hired through an agent." Wrex said.
Fist began to stand up. "Nobody meets with the Shadow Broker. Ever. Even I don't know his true identity. I told her I'd set a meeting up. But when she shows up it will be Saren's men waiting for her."
Shepard's face turned into a cold glare, she stepped forward and grabbed Fist by his collar.
"Give me the location. Now!" She demanded. Shepard was beyond furious and that fury translated effectively to her words.
"Here in the Wards. In a back alley, by the markets. She supposed to meet them now. You can make it if you hurry."
Before she could respond Shepard heard a gun being drawn form its magnetic holster. She turned around to see Wrex aiming his shotgun at Fist and then let fire a single shot. He was dead when she looked back.
"Spirits!" Garrus exclaimed.
"The Shadow Broker hired me to kill him. I don't leave jobs half done."
Shepard sighed. Fist had surrendered, even if he was a scumbag; he didn't deserve that but she had made a deal with Wrex.
"Just remember who's in charge next time you decide to pull of another stunt like that." Her words weren't hostile but still contained a threatening undertone.
"He was the only contract I had left. Don't we have something more pressing to worry about?" Wrex said monotonously.
"That Quarian is dead if we don't go now." Derek jumped in trying to diffuse the situation.
"Correct." She deadpanned. "Come on." She gestured to her squad mates and led them out of the door.
…
They had had to deal with the remnants of Fists thugs when they left the club but they made short work of them. It took them a minute to reach the alley from the club and they saw the Quarian. Next to her was a Turian wearing a mask and behind them in the distance were a couple of Salarians also wearing inconspicuous clothing. The Turian got even closer to the Quarian and stroked her arm, she responded by slapping his hand off of her. This annoyed him and he drew a sidearm from its holster.
Garrus, however had managed to line up his sights with the turians head and fired. The turian had strong shielding, which had depleted but he was still standing, although he was no longer aiming at the Quarian.
Derek was closing the distance between himself and the turian. He then slammed the butt of his shotgun into the turians hand, making him drop his sidearm. Derek fired a killing blow straight to the turians stomach, splattering him and the nearby Quarian in specks of blue blood.
Shepard had been doing an effective job of suppressing the two Salarians who were unable to step into the fight. Wrex had them in his sights and charged into one, pasting him against the wall. He then turned to the other and landed a lethal heavy uppercut to its large head.
Shepard, satisfied with the outcome turned to the short Quarian girl.
"Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him." She exclaimed, sounding angrier than scared, which was a surprise to Shepard.
"Don't worry he's been dealt with," Shepard said looking over to Wrex.
"That is settling news." She said more calmly. "Who are you?"
"My name's Shepard. I'm looking for evidence to prove Saren's a traitor."
"Then I have a chance to repay you for saving my life. But not here, we'd need to go somewhere safe."
"We could take her back to the human embassy." Derek suggested.
"Good idea. Udina will want to see this anyway." Shepard said.
…
After a long trip, in a very cramped sky car the squad made their way up from the embassy entrance to Udina's office.
Udina was standing in the centre of the room with Anderson. He'd been expecting them.
"You're not making my life any easier Shepard." He drawled. "Fire fights in the Wards. An all out assault on Chora's Den, do you know how many... Who is this, a Quarian? What are you up to Shepard?" He interrupted his own train of thought.
"She has information that can help us Ambassador."
"What sort of information?"
"Information linking Saren to the Geth."
"I see. Maybe you'd better start at the beginning Ms…" Udina turned to look at the Quarian.
"My name is Tali. Tali'zorah nar rayya. I was on my pilgrimage, my rite of passage into adulthood. As part of this, it is my duty to leave the flotilla in search of any valuble information or technology that I can bring back in order to aid my people."
"I assume you found something?" Shepard asked.
"I did. During my travels I began to hear reports of Geth. Since they drove my people into exile the geth have never ventured beyond the Veil. I was curious. I tracked a patrol of geth to an uncharted world. I waited for one of them to become separate from its unit then I disabled it and removed its memory core. Most of the core was wiped clean but I managed to salvage something from its audio banks."
She began operating her Omni-tool and then played a recording.
"Dened Prime was a major victory. The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit…" Said a voice, which was unmistakably Saren.
"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Said a different, female voice.
"That's it!" Anderson said, completely outstanded. "The mention of Eden Prime proves Saren is guilty!"
"What was he talking about? The Conduit, was it?" Shepard asked. "What is that?"
"I'm not certain. I didn't recognise the other voice, the one talking about the reapers." Udina added.
"What are they, some kind of new alien species?" Shepard turned to ask Tali.
"According to the memory core, the reapers were a highly advance machine race that existed fifty-thousand years ago. They hunted the protheans to total extinction, and then vanished. " Tali explained. "At least that's what the geth believe." She added.
"Sounds a little far-fetched." Udina huffed.
"The vision on Eden Prime. I understand it now." Shepard said rubbing her forehead. "I saw the reapers wiping out the protheans."
"The geth revere the reapers as gods and believe Saren is capable of bringing them back."
This caused a shiver to run down Shepards spine and the hairs on her neck stood up.
"The Council's just going to love this." Udina said crossing his arms and rolling his eyes.
"The reapers are a threat to every species in Citadel space. We have to tell them." Shepard argued her case, she'd be damned if a warning like this was to be ignored due to the disbelief of a narrow-minded fool like Udina.
"Regardles of what they think about the rest of it, these files prove Saren is a traitor." Anderson said impatiently.
"The Captain's right. We should still present them."
"What about her, the Quarian." Wrex asked.
"My name is Tali." She snapped at the much larger krogan. She then turned to look at Shepard. "You've seen my resourcefulness Commander. There are very few people who are capable of finding the information I uncovered. Let me come with you."
"What about your pilgrimage?"
"The pilgrimage proves we are willing to give of ourselves for the greater good. What does it say about me if I turn my back on this?" She defended
Her explanation made Derek smile to himself. He admired her willingness to prove herself.
"I'll take all the help I can get." Shepard also smiled and nodded gratefully.
"Thank you. You won't regret this." She chirped, behind her mask the white dots that were her eyes widened enough to show her excitement.
"Very well. Anderson and I will make arrangements with the council. I will inform you when they are ready to see you, Shepard." Udina said.
"Thank you Ambassador." She nodded at him, then at Anderson and then turned to leave, accompanied by her collection of exotic squad-mates.