Chapter 7: There's always something.
Shepard lay in her bed, still aching, sleeping and finding it hard to get comfortable as she started to wake up fully. She looked to her buzzer and leant towards it wincing - man I need some painkillers-she thought pressing the buzzer.
No response. She buzzed again, nothing. She frowned - maybe she's gone to make a drink -she could only assume, Shepard began pressing the button every few seconds in the hopes the nurse would be back soon when the doors finally opened
"Oh hey, sorry about the buzzer, im really in pain s-"
"SHUT UP NOW" the figure in front of Shepard spat, it didn't really resemble the tiny nurses frame…it was much more bulky, and sported… a gun?
"Where's the nur-"
"YOU BETTER BE QUIET LITTLE GIRL" the voice boomed at her condescendingly, a voice changing mod could be heard, Shepard tried to scout for anything around her to use as a weapon as the body fast approached her.
"Right missy" the voice said, it was almost sleezy "You're - OOF" the figure doubled over slightly as Shepard jerked both her feet into the figures stomach.
"Oh *cough* you're going to regret that bitch" the voice bit, Shepard fumbled to release anything from the bed - please, please come off bar - her body hurting to try grab and pull something to fight back even with adrenalin kicking in – UNGH – the heavy thud of the figures gun met Shepard's head knocking her clean out, soon throwing her onto the shoulder and walking out of the room.
"Clean the mess up" the voice spoke to another squad mate watching the doors.
The squaddie then started using his omnitool to delete any footage recorded.
"How are we feeling today Shep-"Miranda began as she entered the room the following morning "What the… Where's?" She turned to the nurses' station behind her with no nurse present. "Chelsea?" Miranda called the nurse's name now wondering where she could be. "Shepard?" with each bark of a name Miranda became more panicked, she began to tap away at her omni tool.
"Admiral Hackett? I can't find Shepard anywhere. Please tell me you know of her whereabouts?"
"Sorry Ms. Lawson, calm down" Hackett seemed flabbergasted by Miranda's rushed panicked speech, he could see she was genuinely worried. "I assumed she was still in her ward, resting" His eyes now glossed over. "Where is the nurse?"
"I can't find her either" Miranda stared back at Hackett's vacant expression through the VidCom and turned to a noise "Wait, what was that?" Hackett's head tilted slightly.
"Sorry I don't-"
"SHUSH wait" Miranda barked "I can hear something, I'll call you back" she went to end the chat as Hackett raised a hand to stop her.
"I'll send he-"she cut him off before he could finish, not maliciously, but she wanted to nail down where the noise happened to be coming from. She knelt down behind the nurses' desk and withdrew a concealed carnifex from her left boot, her ears listening for any sound she could pick up.
Thud thud hello?! Help?! Please! Thud thud. She looked at the store cupboard confusingly. Surely not… Miranda thought there isn't enough room in there to swing a cat let alone a person, she popped a heat sink just in case and began to approach the cupboard. She paused for a brief moment as her hand reached for the door handle. She checked her area for quick cover routes, escape routes and any areas that proved an advantage for her and quickly pulled the door open her gun locking in front of her like a second nature.
"NO PLEASE DON'T SHOOT!"
Miranda looked down towards the floor to find the Nurse beaten and tied up on the floor, her wrists tied to her ankles with c-sec grade cuffs. She frowned and immediately bent down to hack the lock on the cuffs.
"What the hell happened?" Miranda asked with concern, the doors opened to let in two guards followed by Hackett.
"Ms. Lawson?!" Hackett shouted "Are you al right?!"
"Yes Admiral in the store cupboard!"
"Store cupboard?!" Even Hackett knew there wasn't enough room in there. The nurse looked at Miranda her mascara stained down her cheeks met the dried blood on the side of her lip.
"Some guys just…Just burst in and took her!" She said helplessly.
"Who?" Hackett sounded agitated.
"I'm… not entirely sure, they wore blue and white outfits. And they had voice changers."
"Race? Turian? Krogan? Human?"
"I don't know! Easily Human…or Asari. Maybe even Drell?" Hackett looked unimpressed.
"Sounds like Blue Suns to me Admiral" Miranda mused as the cuffs finally disconnected. The nurse sighed with relief, rubbing her wrists.
"They did have this circular logo...I happened to nip out to get a drink, and as I walked down the hall I noticed she was buzzing for me. Shepard I mean" she looked at Hackett with eyes that apologised for speaking badly. "Then I noticed a guy with a gun outside and thought, OK, this isn't good. The next thing i know is I'm grabbed from behind and I must have been punched as all I remember is hearing Shepard scream, then waking up in here"
Miranda rubbed her chin contemplating what motives the Blue suns could have.
"Shepard managed to get all 3 merc groups to fight with us on Earth, why would they suddenly turn?" She asked.
"I'm not sure, and I'm not sure I care, all I do know is, I want Shepard back here safe. We need to find her." Hackett snapped almost fatherly. Miranda nodded in agreement.
"So both Kodiaks are ready to take everyone down to Earth" Cortez smiled leaning onto Jokers cockpit chair.
"Don't – do that" Joker sarcastically spat "You'll mess with my 'being'"
"Aren't we being the Diva?" Cortez raised an eyebrow. Joker mimicked Cortez's eyebrow and began to laugh.
"You get to be a Diva after being the best pilot in the whoooooole wi-"
"Erm ill refute that" Cortez bit back grinning. Joker coughed, "Anyway so how far away are we?" he folded his arms, this was a serious question now.
"Oh I'd say about 2 hours?"
"Oh wow that's pretty cool, it's been a long few weeks"
"Yeah, a lil too long, especially as Tali left us with no alcohol too"
"Don't even get me started on whatever she calls that…induction, port?" Cortez shrugged. Joker laughed.
"Yeah, No." he shook his head.
"Sorry to intrude guys" Liara piped up from behind making Cortez jump a little, it would have been fine if Glyph hadn't flown right into his face before she spoke, shitting him up in the process.
"Got your little friend working again then?" he asked flicking his fingers towards it.
"Not exactly, he's a little off balance, and his scheduling is all off, he changes some of my dates so more tweaking needed" she shook her head to focus back on the reason why she was there. "I've had an update from Feron. It's Shepard." Joker turned his seat around looking worried.
"It's not that, but could be deemed as bad. Well not actually, basically she's been kidnapped" Joker frowned.
"Ok, now that's just childish, and Shepard? Of all people?" Joker didn't look convinced.
"Joker, she's badly injured, she'd have no chance even with a gun" Liara protested "Anyway, Feron says Hackett informed him that this might be the work of the Blue Suns, and that's when I got confused." She folded her arms and shifted her weight to her right hip.
"That's odd, didn't they all like, work together because of Shepard?" Joker asked, he looked at EDI hoping for some smart deduction, but yet again forgot she was a mere shell of herself.
"Hmm, maybe Garrus knows a little scrap or nugget of info we may have missed? If anything, contact with Aria would be key" Liara mused.
"Whoa, seriously if we tell Garrus this, he will FLIP. The stick up the ass will be firmly back up I tell you" Joker frowned.
"Erm I don't think we should keep it from him" Cortez said sternly. "If we don't tell him he's just going to go mental, and I tell you now I am not having 6 foot whatever Garrus beat the crap outta me" he pointed his finger at the two of them one after the other, Joker laughed.
"Oh hell yeah he'd kick your ass" he added.
"GUYS!" Liara snapped, she felt like she had to play mother again in order to gain some sense from it all. "Hackett basically said see him as soon as we get to Earth, which is?" Liara looked at Joker, her one eyebrow arched so high with annoyance it could easily jump off her face. Joker rolled his eyes
"About 1 hour and 20 minutes Earth time"
"Ok." Liara tapped her omni tool up "I will go talk to Hackett, Feron and Garrus and see what we can do"
"Yep" Joker waved her off turning his back on both Cortez and Liara, slightly pissed. "I'll just carry on, flying the ship"
"Erm, I better get the Kodiaks warmed up," Cortez hitched his trousers up slightly "I'll see you down there J"
"Yep" Joker repeated again.
Garrus was tinkering away with the main guns again seeing if he could get yet more accuracy when he pulled away for a brief moment to work out a crick in his neck. He looked at the doors as they hissed open and Liara walked in looking tempered, fraught. He couldn't put his finger on it.
"T'soni?" he asked concerned. "You al right?"
"No, not really Garrus. Look." Her hands gestured for Garrus to calm down even though he hadn't got angry yet "Something's come up, and it isn't good and-"
"Just spit it out Liara" He got annoyed with everyone treading on eggshells around him.
"Erm" She wrung her hands furiously hoping Tali could have delivered this news rather than herself. "It's Shepard. She's been taken, kidnapped? I don't know what to call it, but she's not at the hospital anymore." Garrus' eyes shifted side to side slightly as he tried to see if anything else could come from Liara's mouth. After a few seconds of searching he turned to his workbench and rested his palms on the now cool surface.
"I don't know exactly what's happened Garrus but-"
"FUCK" Garrus shouted punching the desk, he huffed and started messing around on the extranet, opening various windows.
"Garrus, maybe I could help?" Liara placed a reassuring hand on Garrus' being the Shadow Broker had many perks.
"Do we even have a lead?" Garrus asked through gritted teeth whilst his eyes bounced around his screen like an 80's version of Pong searching for anything that stood out on the news pages.
"Well Hackett mentioned Blue Suns"
"BLUE SUNS?!" Garrus looked at Liara deadpan in the face "Sidonis…"
"Sidonis?" Liara frowned "I thought he admitted himself to jail"
"What's not to say he didn't bust out whilst the war was going on?" Garrus shrugged.
"I guess. It's a start, ill pull something out, find out where he is – Maybe Commander Bailey can help out?"
"Yeah, that's a good start. Shit, why the hell does nothing ever go smoothly?!" he rubbed his head. "How far are we? From Earth I mean" His face was showing signs of tiredness and in all the years Liara had known Garrus, this last year had certainly showed a bit of ageing on the soldier.
"Not far, Cortez is prepping the Kodiaks to touch down now" she answered wondering if she now looked the same tired state Garrus was in.
"Good, if you'll excuse me now" Garrus replied walking to his gun desk and playing with his sniper, making adjustments before popping it onto his back. Liara left the room and headed to her room just to the side of Garrus'
"Glyph, Find me anything on the current whereabouts of a Turian name Sidonis, Lantar Sidonis."
"Records show him being questioned on the Citadel with C-Sec officer 264, with no full evidence as Omega is out of the Jurisdiction of the Council no charges were brought against him" Liara frowned.
"So, he'd gotten away with essentially murdering Garrus' crew"
"Deem of it what you will Ms. T'soni. His last recorded message was one to a 'Harkin' who currently transferred to Earth to help the war effort." the blue hum bounced up and down with each segment of information that poured from the drones 'mouth'.
"What? Harkin? Help Earth my." she cleared her throat refraining from cursing. "this sounds dodgy. Can we access the message?"
"Will need a few moments Ms. T'soni, the file was encrypted"
"Ok do it Glyph, who knew Harkin was smart enough to encrypt a file…"
Normandy team, this is Joker. We're approaching Earth within the next few minutes. Can all crew members that will be departing for Earth make their way to the docking bay.
"Crap, Keep encrypting Glyph, but I need you to come with me"
"Right away Ms. T'soni"
