Chapter 8: Bad Temper
The acids in his stomach felt like they were boiling like a hot Palaven day, and it had nothing to do with hunger; Garrus was absolutely fuming. With every step his armored boots touched the ground with dull, metallic clanks, the image of Shepard getting handled by that sleazy human plagued his mind. He could still see her face, like the man had shattered her for a single, precious moment.
The worst part was he knew exactly what that meant because he'd seen the same look from dozens and dozens of unsuspecting females at bars or clubs when a slimy drunk violated their personal space for their first time in their life. It wasn't like they'd been assaulted or anything. It was a matter of mind: the feeling, or illusion of safety left them, and it left them raw.
Garrus spotted the human and krogan shortly after he heard the clinic's door hiss to a close. He tailed them, waiting for an opportunity to catch them outside the growing crowd. They descended some stairs leading to one of the merchant districts, and to a secluded parking lot. It was now or never.
The skycar's doors lifted, and as Garrus went around the back to catch up with the human, the krogan got into the driver's seat. Before the man got in, Garrus pulled him back by the front of his suit and without taking his eyes off the human, he pulled a pistol and aimed at the krogan's head. "You do anything, I'll show you how easy it is to keep a krogan in a cage for a long time. Understood?" It had been a while, years even, since he last lost his temper like this. It wasn't like him, not entirely. It also wasn't like Garrus to bring innocent people in, but they didn't have to know that; it paid to have people under your claw. The krogan growled in response, which left Garrus satisfied and free to focus entirely on the human— though with his gun steady on the krogan. The turian lifted the human by the neck ever so slightly, just enough for the man to lose his footing.
"H-hey, put me down," the man ordered with a yelp, hitting Garrus' forearms to make a point.
"I know a lot of humans can't tell turians apart. And a lot of turians can't tell one human from the next. Unfortunately for you, I'm not one of them." Garrus raised the man a little higher. "I've seen you at the clinic before. Waiting to have lunch with Doctor Michel." The man's eyes widened, and his attempts to free himself became a little more desperate and angry. "Good. You remember me, too." Garrus tightened his grasp on the man's neck, making sure to add pressure to his windpipe.
"Gahh!" Bane's arms gave up trying hurt Garrus, and focused on getting a grip on the turian's forearm to relieve his neck. "W-what do you want?"
"Information. What's going on between you and the doctor?" Garrus asked.
The man coughed, and Garrus reluctantly loosened his grip. He needed the human to talk, not choke. "Why do you wanna know? Trying to get her in bed or something? She's a freak, y'know?"
A quiet, small growl escaped Garrus. How could he say such a thing? He had never in a million years even thought of doing anything like that with the doctor. She was his friend, and nothing else. And the man had some nerve speaking about Dr. Michel like that. But Garrus knew better. The man was trying to psych him out, he refused to let it get to him. "I'm trying to figure out why every time I see you at the clinic," Garrus countered, his eyes glaring, "the women there look terrified of you."
"I don't know," the human said with as much of a smirk as he could muster given them circumstances, his feet dangling in the air uselessly. "Guess I come on too strong." This time, Garrus didn't bother to muffle his growl. Well, that and he wanted the human to hear him; other turians in C-Sec used it as a tactic on most other species because it frightened them— and it worked, as was evident because the man shrank back. Garrus' grip tightened anew. "Not talkin'" –he coughed again— "Screw you. Better yet, get a warrant. I'll take the doctor down with me when I sink."
At times like these, he hated being in C-Sec. Spectres didn't have to play these games; Spectres did as they saw fit. Turian Spectres included. But Garrus… Well, even if Garrus tended to play lose with the rules, he still had to watch what he did or say, had to follow regs. Whatever this man was doing, if what he'd said was true, Garrus could do nothing about it without risking the doctor in the process. Worst of all was knowing the doctor would probably just keep him in the dark, like almost all other victims did when they thought they had no other options but to remain silent. However, even C-Sec officers sometimes had to step over lines to ensure order and tranquility.
Garrus pushed the man against the skycar with a metallic thud, and he closed the distance so the man could clearly see the warning in his eyes. He knew most species felt uneasy under the gaze of turians, something Garrus was not in the habit of using to his advantage... he didn't like stirring primitive fears in anybody, because those chemicals stirred the hunter in his bones. But this, this was different. This needed to be done. In turn, the human pulled his head back as far as he could, a feeble attempt to avoid the turian's glare. "Don't let me catch you sniffing around the clinic again."
The man's face, which had been growing redder by the second, began to sprout beads of sweat on his already-shiny forehead. "Just- get your hand off me, you stupid dinosaur!"
Garrus gave him one last squeeze for good measure before letting go, and didn't move an inch as the human pressed himself against the metal of the car to avoid touching the turian as he got in. Hopefully, the man had learnt the lesson. He didn't like involving himself in things that weren't his business, but he couldn't just watch from afar when he saw something wrong. Maybe his dad would tell him to go about his business unless it was a call from C-Sec, but his mother, Garrus was sure, would disagree. The whole hierarchy could disagree with him and even look down on him, but if his mother agreed with him that would be alright, because she was the kindest and most considerate person he'd ever known.
Satisfied with the way things had gone down, Garrus began a slow walk back to the clinic. He needed real answers. It was almost too bad he wasn't still on duty, so that there would be a written report on the guy. Almost. He was no Spectre, after all. He'd get reprimanded, for one reason or another.
The fire in him died down by the time Garrus arrived back at the clinic, where he found the nurse tending to a volus. He began to turn back, when the human's voice stopped him.
"Garrus, wait!" Shepard said, motioning her hand for him not to move. "Just wait a minute," she ordered, "I'm almost finished." He did as was told, busying himself by examining the partition in the middle of the clinic, though all the while watching the nurse exchange words with the volus. After handing him a few small boxes, the nurse quickly entered data on her omni-tool and the volus left. "Okay." She looked up at him, as if that was enough to will him to her.
He walked to her, and she met him halfway. She looked better. She recovered rather quickly. The effect of violations of personal space lasted much longer on others he'd seen. Maybe it hadn't been her first time. Maybe the man had been here before.
Her brows were knitted, like she was in conflict. Her eyes avoided his as she spoke. "I… Thank you. If you hadn't gotten here, well, I'd hate to have to patch up a man I'd just beat up." She laughed at her own joke, but Garrus didn't join in. He understood her desire to ease the tension, but this was serious; men like that were serious in their threats. But so was he.
"What do you know about him?"
She stepped back from him, rubbing her arms like she was cold. "I told you, I've never seen him before in my life," she replied, finally looking up at him, with a sad smile on her lips. He didn't like the way she smiled like that. It made him feel… angry, and all because a human was sad. His dad would hate him for it. "All I know is his last name. Banes."
"Banes," Garrus repeated, memorizing his name, with his face, and his scent. "Anything else you could tell me?" She turned from him, walking back to her desk to pick up a datapad. Garrus went around the partition to the side of the desk, next to her. "Shepard?" he asked gently. She thumbed the top of the datapad before her eyes were on him again.
"He said to tell Doctor Michel he'd dropped by. And that he's not gonna wait much longer." She sighed and shook her head. "Before you ask, I don't know what that means. I don't know anything else."
"Hmm." Garrus walked past the nurse, back to his original spot, where he previously stood as he watched the nurse speak with the volus. "When does Doctor Michel return?"
"I pinged her after you left, she should be back any minute now." Her voice was closer than he expected.
He looked back to the nurse, and sure enough, she had taken a few steps toward him. He didn't want to leave her alone, but Garrus was sure this Banes guy wouldn't be back tonight. "Do me a favor, don't tell the doctor I came by."
"She's going to find out."
"She will if Banes tries contacting her again."
"I… No, I can't lie to her."
That was odd. Whenever he'd asked a human to lie, they didn't hesitate, always readily agreed. Garrus looked at the door, and then faced Shepard. "If I ask her now, she'll just deny anything is wrong. I've seen this before, in C-Sec. You'll just have to trust me."
"But," she frowned and closed her mouth again. Garrus whipped his head to the door, only to be glad no one was there. "Fine."
He left her with a curt nod, and walked briskly back to C-Sec. He needed to know what he was dealing with.
His years at C-Sec and keen eyes had granted him a small office for any casework he needed to do. A few fellow officers that started around the same time as Garrus liked to say it was, in fact, his father's close ties to the force that got him that cushy office, but most other sensible people knew that to be false. Though he was technically involved in a lot of high-grade investigations, as he did have talent after all, his full promotion to Detective was halted because somebody up there didn't take kindly to his habit of not doing things by the book. For the time being, Garrus had the official title of Investigative Officer. And, office or not, it suited him just fine.
It was a small room without windows. The walls devoid of anything save a holographic C-Sec logo. Save a desk, a turian chair, and a few boxes and datapads scattered around, it was pretty bare. The most important thing was that it was enough for him to focus without other people's conversations breaking his concentration. He turned on his private terminal, and typed Banes in the registry search engine.
Armistan H. Banes— Human/M/12.29.2147
Martha S. Banes – Human/F/03.12.2130
Patricia M. Banes— Human/F/07.11.2155
Only three results. Two of them female, and seemingly related. Garrus opened the first file, to find that he was an Alliance independent contractor. The picture of him, although must have been taken some years ago, matched the man Garrus so clearly remembered. The rest of the information was irrelevant or black-boxed by the Alliance. Except his previous places of employment on the Citadel, which was enough. Apparently, he and doctor Michel worked at the same hospital a couple of years back. He could easily get a warrant to release the information that was held secret by the Alliance, but the hospital connection was all he needed to back his suspicion.
He would have tried his luck digging through other networks for further intel, but his omni-tool pinged. He brought it to life, the orange glow lighting his face in return. A few messages from officers off-duty, probably looking to go out somewhere. One from Solana, which he would have read, had their last call not been about Dad's disappointment in him because Garrus hadn't made the effort to meet any of the turian females he'd carefully arranged for. And the latest… A message marked urgent from Barla Von, his information broker.
'6:16PM SCT Barla Von: I have information on your Spectre that might interest you. Come see me in the morning.'
Despite having to wait until tomorrow to finally get some intel on Saren, Garrus was ecstatic to even have any. It had been way too long, and Pallin was getting annoyed at Garrus' insistence.
He decided to call this day a success: Garrus had caught this Banes guy in the act of harassing someone, and had information to connect him to the doctor, and, on top of everything, tomorrow, Garrus would have some real dirt on Saren— hopefully enough to incriminate him.
The glow of the omni-tool faded until it was no more, and Garrus sat back on his chair, resting, for what seemed like the first time in weeks. He sighed heavily, letting almost a month's worth of stress out in one breath.
But the night was still young, and there was no reason to waste it. Or, at the very least, get some grub inside him before he turned in. He brought his omni-tool up again, briefly browsing through the messages his friends had sent him, seeing if any of them were just looking to have dinner. Then, just as quickly as he'd brought it up, Garrus set his omni-tool back into its hub.
A face, a human face, came to his mind. The ghost of broken pride on the nurse's face is not one he wanted to keep in memory. But it did remind him that not everybody had had a fairly good day.
Garrus told himself it was something akin to dutiful compassion that had him standing in front of Dr. Michel's clinic. He was concerned. That was all. But he shouldn't be this concerned over something that was, frankly, not a huge deal in comparison to other more grisly and terrible things to happen to females throughout the universe. At any rate, whatever had him waiting for the human to get out was not something he should be happy about. Though it wasn't something he was about to analyze either, for his own sake.
Before he could hit the pad, the door to the clinic opened with a short burst of sterile-smelling air coming from inside. An asari eyed him curiously, and it was only then that he noticed he was standing in the middle of the entry. His mouth opened to spit out some sort of apology, but she was gone before he could say a word.
Something was off. With him. He felt like he'd taken too many stims and his heart was paying for it. As he stepped in, Garrus tugged down his collar in hopes it would give him some reprieve from the tension he felt, but then again, the damned thing had always been too tight around his thick neck.
"Garrus," Dr. Michel welcomed him. Typically he was the one to greet her first, and it was easily done since she was hard to miss, what with her flaming red fringe. Hair. Keratin strings. Whatever it was. But Garrus was looking for someone else and had not spotted the doctor right away. "Garrus?"
He spun his head toward the source of the hail. "Doctor Michel, how are you?"
"I'm fine, thank you. 'Ow are you?" She heard the doctor ask, but his reply didn't come. His sole focus had accidentally converted into looking for any evidence that the nurse was still around. "Garrus? Garrus?"
"Oh," he cleared his throat, suddenly feeling very thirsty. "I'm well, thank you."
"What brings you 'ere?" the doctor approached him with her arms crossed; her usually warm demeanor had quickly turned cold.
"Just checking in." He stole one more sweep around the clinic, surprised to find himself disappointed in Shepard's absence. "Is your nurse about?"
"No," the doctor replied, her cheek to him. "I… she 'ad a very busy day, so I let 'er go early. I believe 'er friend picked 'er up. Why do you ask?" Her last words were spoken very quietly, like she was afraid to break something just by sounding them out loud.
"I noticed she wears Alliance tags," he said, carefully maneuvering himself out of that sticky question of hers. "She doesn't strike me the type." And she wasn't. She told him so herself. But Garrus had a hole to dig himself out of.
A smile returned to the doctor's red mouth, the color and slimness of it reminded Garrus of a hot chili a human friend had him try a while back. A human delicacy- his friend had said. The doctor's lips looked nothing like the nurse's, which, he recalled, were full and fleshy, and were colored despite not being painted. Not that he paid a lot of mind to them; he wasn't in line for a detective job for nothing. It was his job to notice things. Little things. He really hadn't paid a lot of attention to them, they just sort of, stood out.
"She's not," the doctor agreed. "She's a good girl, but I could never see 'er following in the steps of 'er brother, or 'er parents."
Garrus could see the doctor was not about to divulge any more information on the subject of the tags, but it didn't matter, he had other things in mind, now. "Doctor Michel, do you know a lot of Alliance members?" It was as innocent as he could make that question;it was her interpretation that could grant him a world-full on information about the doctor's issues with Banes.
Much to his disappointment, her answer was flat and had no cave-ins. "It's hard to make a connection with other humans without finding an Alliance serviceman or staff in the chain." It was too bad the doctor was smarter than the average Citadel citizen.
"Yes, of course," he agreed. A human couple with a baby entered the clinic, and Garrus was glad to have an out. "I'll not take any more of your time. Take care, Doctor." And with that, he was gone.
As were his plans.
Not that his plans had been any good to begin with. Invite the nurse to dine with him and have smartass, friendly conversation? With a human? What had been thinking!? Garrus' nose ridges wrinkled as he thought this over, making his way to a nearby take-out place. Maybe he was overthinking this. He did have plenty of human friends. Just, not females unless they were all in a group. He wasn't the type to actively seek female friends, or even wanted that. Garrus was smart, and had learned through other people's mistakes that opposite sex friendships either led to trouble or something more personal. He was the type of turian whose friendships were valued as just that, friendships. If he wanted a fling or a relationship with a female, then he would seek that out, instead of a friendship. Then again, Shepard was human. And besides, hadn't he settled that his original intent was more out of concern than anything else? On top of that, there was no threat in befriending a human female. For the most part, he'd enjoyed the talks they had. It most definitely was not the big deal he was making it out to be.
As for any new plans, well, it'd been a long time since he relaxed back home and watched some vids. Maybe he'd go see the new Blasto movie before going home, catch a glimpse of that actress everyone was going on about.
