Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the slightly off personality of my Shepard.
Note: English is not my mother language so I shall immediately apologize for any grammatical and/or spelling mistakes made. Mind you some of it is quite deliberate.
*ch6.
As they waited for certain Elias Kelham to be dispatched their way, Shepard busied herself playing with the VI of herself on her omni-tool, occasionally letting out a snort to cover laugh. This was particularly true each time 'I delete data like you on the way to real errors,' came up. It was a bizarre moment, to sit in a busy precinct with a Spectre and wait as one would a misguided family member. In a roundabout way he supposed he was doing much the same thing.
"Mouse is good," she said suddenly and quite unexpectedly making a comment about a former duct-rat. "He's still in the sea but at least he's holding onto the shore. Here's to hoping the waves don't pull him under."
A strange metaphor but he understood what she meant. He nodded, "He had managed to survive where many have not." It was not said out loud but between them, they both knew there was still time for Mouse to get himself killed. As effortlessly as it was for smalltime criminals to fly beneath the scope of their respective bigger breed, they could also be targeted all too easily.
She glanced at him, contemplative, before looking back though the glass wall where officers mingled. "You appear less than calm. This wouldn't happen to be your first time in precinct's waiting room?"
"I cannot say that there ever was a need for me to. You, however, seem at ease here."
"Ah," she waved her hand and switched off her omni-tool. Armor clicked as she stretched arms over her head and then brought down to fold them behind. "A second home to me."
Not the most reassuring comment he had ever heard from her. And also one to raise more questions. Still, he was not one to pry, and he would not do so now.
"Take a look," she said pointing at the door, "our guest has arrived." He turned to see a human, Kelham, being dragged in, hanging between two officers. Sheaprd rose to her feet and stood next to him, "And it appears he had offered some resistance on the way here. If regular C-Sec officers were enough to agitate him so, getting the name out of him will not be so hard." Sofia turned to C-Sec officer waiting before the door, "Kelham is here. Do inform Bailey that we shall commence shortly." With a salute the man was off and shortly in his place his commanding officer came. Thane inclined his head, spotting as once more there was a playful smile spread across her lips, one he had quickly come to associate with the wheels of her mind turning – which was near constant.
"He'll expect me to get him out of this," the Captain of the Ward gestured at the interrogation room with his head.
"Not today, I think." Thane's voice rasped with certainty. Shepard grinned.
Bailey tilted his head, pressing the comm. link in his ear. After a moment he nodded and looked at the Spectre and assassin, "I'll stall him. Get in there and work fast."
Thane stepped in front of her, "We should question him together. Keep the pressure on."
"We should?" Shepard quirked an eyebrow in question.
"Thoughts on how we approach it?" Sofia looked at him, smiled and shrugged. This surprised him a little. He would have guessed that she had done this before. "You don't have much experience with heading an interrogation, do you?"
"People lay their soul bare at my feet every day. How hard can it be to have a criminal do the same?" Shepard offered to perplexed drell unlocking the entry.
Shaking his head Bailey watched the two disappear into the interrogation room. In the meantime, he had a lawyer to stall. He disliked dealing with them, especially those of self-appointed mob bosses but to give them time he'll have to curb his aversion to buy the Spectre some time. Possibly due to some intergalactic alignment of stars, barely as he approached the front door, the one behind him hissed open and Shepard stepped out, casually dispatching nonexistent dirt from her shoulder, followed by the drell.
Thane looked over at her, half amazement and more than half amusement, "That may go down in history as the shortest interrogation ever."
Shepard cocked her head in his direction, "It would not kill you to trust me, Mr. Krios. I can guarantee that, in fact, it will prolong your life." Her voice was part cackle part serious business, in a complicated composition only Shepard could produce.
"What's the story? Why did Khelum hire the boy?" Crossing his arms Bailey asked as they approached him.
"The presence of one Joram Talid bothers him a lot apparently," she explained their finding. "I am afraid I have been perusing the other side for a while too long to recognize the name."
"Joram? Yeah. You might have seen his posters around. He's promising to end organized crime on the Ward. The thing is, his message is all mixed up in race politics. He's anti-human."
Sofia sighed, "One should think that after all we have done for the Council – die, namely – they'd have a bit more appreciation."
"Even with that many still think that our climb to council seat was too quick. And now C-Sec is filled with humans; our fleet guards the station. Anderson is not Udina but he won't let them just forget who it was exactly to take down Sovereign."
Politics. Shepard shrugged, "A ride to 800 Blocks would be much appreciated."
Bailey nodded and turned to one of junior officers, "Sergeant! Get a patrol car. These two need to get to 800 Blocks."
"Yes sir!" The girl saluted eagerly and quickly moved to bring the shuttle around. The enthusiasm of youth, Shepard thought. Before leaving Sofia cast a thoughtful glance at Kelham and his attorney step out of the previously occupied interrogation room. There was something there, something fairly familiar to her way of thinking.
"Shepard?" She heard being called and spotted the young officer and Thane waiting for her near the exit, patrol car already parked and waiting for them.
"Oh, dear me. Can I drive?!" She asked hopping over to them. "I always did wonder how a police car felt from the front seat."
*/*/*/*/*
Sofia remembered clearly hearing him utter a prayer only to turn and see him simply not being there. Lost in the crowd he was. How utterly rude to just pop out and vanish. Especially incredible too. And pleasantly unexpected. It was so brilliantly over the top, she couldn't help but love it. She might even force herself to ask him to teach her the trick even. But he would refuse she knew.
"This doesn't stop here! I won't rest until humans are removed from power."
She leaned over the rail of maintenance catwalk and sighed reaching for the comm. "He is preaching to the masses," she said over the link. Truthfully, she wasn't listening to what the turian had been saying. Something about humans being the lowlife of universe – but her humble experiences taught her that every other race in the galaxy was as well.
From time to time her eyes would wander the crowd, and dark corners, for any sight of her associate. A practice of her own detection skills, one could say. She knew she had caught the sight of him once; three or four times could have been the work of her overactive imagination and for the rest, there was no sign to be spotted except for the voice over the comm. Sofia frowned. Each individual had a pattern they worked with best, assassins were no exception, but she had not been working with this one to detect it yet. It would take a great deal more joint missions before she will be able to read him as well as she could, say, Garrus or Tali, or Joker even.
"It's been wonderful talking to you all. I hope you'll come out on Election Day."
She continued following Talid, strutting as a peacock on a fashion scene eve. As Thane had mentioned earlier, the krogan bodyguard had made it significantly easier. She covered a snort when one of his potential voters had praised human cuisine.
"Why did you have a holo of Mouse?" Sofia asked as she moved over the catwalks, her eyes glazing over shops and people to keep a contact with the one she needed to. There was a briefest hint of a pause before she heard him respond.
/"Now would not be the best time to speak of such things, Shepard. Later perhaps."/ Professional detachment laced with undertone of regret, as far as she could tell.
"Too true. But there is a high possibility you'll be too depressed later, and I'd like to know."
A pause, longer one. Was he brining up memories even now, she wondered. Or had she tread on forbidden topic?
/"He wished for someone to remember him. A foolish bit of sentimentality."/
"Would that be yours? Or his? No. I am sorry; there is no need to answer that." And he didn't. The silence stretched between them even as the sounds of the populated area surrounded them. Following the politician went smooth as asari silk – a washed out and ragged asari silk because there are some jobs which should never go so smooth.
/"What's he doing?"/ She heard him ask after a while.
"His bodyguard is talking to a bartender…-" she paused, eyebrow arching.
/"Shepard?"/ The question came at her silence.
"A shakedown," she whispered as she observed the krogan pressure the human directly below her. She even caught a few words of threat. "Well, I now have a definitive proof that there is likeness to all politicians."
/"He would end human crime to replace it with his own."/
"Hmm…"was her quiet response as she watched the situation develop carefully. "A meeting with a group of mercenaries; the same one his bodyguard comes from. Would you stake a bet that they may not be paid for a bit more than simple nursing?"
/"I'd loose. He looks nervous. Could be he's noticed you?"/
"Him spotting Kolyat would be a safer guess."
/"Also a possibility. There are obstructions ahead. I'll try to go around. Don't loose him."/ Shepard took her hand off the comm wondering why he felt the need to treat her as if she were an amateur. This was hardly her first mission involving shadowing. Except there was a steady need to remind herself that there was something more important at stake here than safety of the galaxy – for Thane at least.
"I've got that weird feeling. Like someone's watching me," turian below her fidgeted in place, head turning left and right despite being surrounded by sturdy, if incapable guards.
She proceeded with following him, her mind now more focused on the matter at hand. Her eyes roamed the scarce crowd until she let out a subtle whistle, "Well, I never…"
"What do you see?" Came the immediate question.
She tapped her cheek, "I can tell he's your boy. Your fashion sense is largely the same. Or it might be that he is trying to emulate you very hard." There was a poignant pause on the other side of comm, possibly influenced by guilt. "Ah, and he is off."
/"Don't loose sight of him."/
There was a room ahead of her so not loosing sight of them was not optional. Picking up speed she slid through the storage, pausing long enough to frighten the life out of kid when she pointed gun in his face and gestured to keep silent. On the other side she skated down and saw the younger drell peel himself away from the wall and start to follow Talid through the crowd, gun in hand. Just the way he carried himself reeked of inexperience.
"Kolyat!" She called out. The sound of his name startled him, and it also startled the turian who immediately rushed into the building. His bodyguard turned to do job he was paid for but a first time lucky shot from Kolyat knocked him down. He followed the turian inside.
"Thane!" Shepard called jumping down.
"I saw." In a flash of speed he was by her side as they raced towards the apartments. Inside the elevator was already moving up, numerals flashing to show its quick climb. He turned to her, "He'll try to corner him in Talid's apartment."
"A politician's home?" She asked. She'd hazard to guess but that would mean they'd be heading for the top, and she dreaded the prospect of climbing the stairs in one of Citadel's skyscrapers. Fortunately another elevator was there for them to use – she was very grateful for small favors life offered to her. "There is time. You know he will not kill him now. Not when he needs a hostage to be able to leave alive." She said as they climbed up. And the closer they came the heavier the air appeared to them – to each for a reason of their own.
"I know."
"He will not panic."
"I pray that he does not."
Sofia frowned.
They reached the apartment door and carefully walked in, non-threatening in appearance but ready for trouble. Thane, however, had the appearance of one heading for his own execution. The C-Sec was probably on their way by now, notified of disturbance, but the two have reached Kolyat first. Both had put their weapons away knowing they would only upset the already trigger happy boy. They kept distance from each other, just in case matters at hand turn sour.
This not being her role to play, it was Shepard who kept to the shadows now while Thane stepped forward.
"Kolyat," he addressed him in something Shepard called 'almost-dead' voice.
The blue and red flashing light of C-Sec patrol cars was the only thing to illuminate the dimly lit room. Even under it, Kolyat's skin seemed to have deeper blue like tint to it. "This… this is a joke. Now, now you show up." Disbelief. Pain even. One outcome of situation the boy had perhaps not counted on to happen.
"Help me drell and I'll do whatever you want." On his knees, with hands folded behind his head and with gun pointed straight at it, Talid was the epitome of a man ready to be executed. By an inexperienced gunman no less. At least he still had enough composure to know better than to ask help from a human after all the slander he threw left and right.
"C-Sec. Put the gun down son." The voice of Captain Bailey sounded through the room as he chose this was the moment to appear with one of his officers in tow. It was just the thing to have the already anxious kid even more on the edge.
"Get out of my way." Kolyat waved his head in what should have been assertive manner, "I'm walking out and he's coming with me."
Thane stepped forward, voice calm as he tried to reason with the boy, "They'll have snipers outside."
"I don't need your help."
Feeling something akin to aggravation Sofia pulled out her gun, aimed and fired – all in one fluid motion. The lamp next to the boy toppled over with a ping. Between one 'what the hell,' his attention was drawn away long enough for her approach and knock a fist into side of his face. He lost his balance loosing his weapon, one Shepard casually kicked away from him. Her gun placed back against her hip she helped turian to his feet.
"Come along Talid," she said urging him gently to move away. "Being outside would be the best for you now."
The frightened turian shook a little before wobblingly leaving for the door, not even noticing that it as human guiding him out. "Yeah. Yeah! I will."
"Take the boy into custody," Baeily ordered to one of officers following him.
"You son of a bitch!" Obviously, not directed at her. She threw a glance to the drell from her crew. Her imagination stretched far but she was reluctant to imagine the state of mind he was in now. His dark eyes at least didn't tell her that tale.
"Your father doesn't have much time left, Kolyat. Speak with him. You might be surprised with what you learn," Sofia said and keeping close to Talid walked out of the apartment.
"What? So you've came to get my forgiveness?" Kolyat's eyes, frownd, angry and hurt turned to his father, "So you can die in peace of something?"
"I came to grant you peace." He stopped, choosing his words carefully. "You're angry because I wasn't there when your mother died."
"You weren't there when she was alive. Why should you be there when she died?" The younger drell lashed out.
Thane paused. "Your mother," he knew what he wanted to say, what he had to say but explaining it to an angry child and making him understand, was another matter entirely. "They killed her to get to me. It was my fault."
Kolyat unlaced his arms. "What?"
"After her body was given to the deep, I went to find them. The triggermen, the ring leaders. I hurt them; eventually killed them. When I came back to see you, you were… older." Guilt derived from these events laced his words. "I should have stayed with you."
He pulled back, "I guess it's too bad for me you waited so long, huh?"
Silence stretched until Thane spoke again. "Kolyat, I've taken many bad things out of the world. You are the only good thing I ever added to it."
Outside and gritting her teeth, Shepard didn't think anyone could put that much raw emotion into words.
"This isn't the conversation you should have in front of strangers." Astutely assessing the situation Captain Bailey gestured at his men, "Boys, take Kolyat and his father back to the precinct. Give them a room and as much time as they need."
Leaning against the wall Shepard listened to the conversation, her eyes fixed on the C-Sec Captain as he and two drell walked out. Hearing it all was bad enough; she didn't want to witness it too. She didn't think she could stand looking at them without having her stomach churn and bile rise to sit in her throat. "This is a great favor to do for him Bailey. Thank you," she said quietly. The man shrugged, shook his head. He actually looked a tad bit older.
"Yeah, well, send me a Christmas card or something. Come, I'll give you a ride back."
Shepard shook her head. In turn she looked a tad bit more tired, "I'll walk. If I get paraded around so casually, soon I won't be able to fit in my armor. These are custom made and thus, costly." Bailey snorted but when father and son disappeared into the elevator, she didn't follow and instead directed to where two officers guarded still stressed out Talid. From where she was, she could hear the turian complain spitefully, even using words her translator wasn't equipped to convert. To her years spent training in the Academy during period when relations between two races were less than ideal, helped a little in that department. It was always more gratifying to curse one's mother in their own language.
"Gentlemen," Shepard cut in, strutting into the corridor. She stood next to the turian with a jovial smile. "I shall take this esteemed politician to safety of the precinct."
"Commander Shepard," they saluted without question.
"This way sir," she said with a radiant smile guiding him to the elevator. Reluctantly but with a huff he complied. One did not deny a Spectre's offer of protection.
"I'll make sure that the Council hears of the happenings here today," he said almost immediately as the door shut.
"Captain Bailey will certainly appreciate any congratulations you might have to offer," she replied easily.
"Congratulations?!" His mandibles flared in indignation. "If that human had done his job as he should have from the beginning this wouldn't have happened. Of course, none of this would happen if a turian had still been in charge of C-Sec as it used to be."
"I take it I too fall short of the acceptable category? My feelings are hurt."
"You are a Spectre. Even as a human I fully expect you to dedicate yourself to Council's bidding. Which is the only thing you seem good for," he added under his breath.
"Such a selective view of humans you have there. The stories I could tell you of turians I have encountered would make us humans appear saints to the galaxy." The Warden of Purgatory came to forefront of her mind. Now that she thought about it more clearly, it seemed that most turians hated her guts, medium or well done. With the exclusion of Garrus, although with recent events firing up his metallic blood the question was raised.
He snarled, "If you think that that I'll stand here and listen to you slander my-…" With a sudden choke Joram Talid grabbed onto his chest, soaked and blue tinted material. A bewildered glance down and his hand reached to touch a small but precise hole in his chest. He did not see her pull out her pistol or hear the shot being fired. His failing eyes were already unable to focus on human Spectre before him. Sofia holstered her gun, one hand gently holding onto him while the other fiddled with a combination lock on holographic keyboard.
"This is not something you should take personally, good sir," she said softly with a murmur as the elevator slowed down and one of two possible service doors opened – the one on the floor – and the human nudged the turian towards it.
"Should have known… human- who… paid you…?"
"Should someone pay me? As you have said, I am but a humble Spectre in the service of the Council; and times are too dangerous and enemies too numerous. A rabble-rouser is not needed."
His eyes dead and his brain were shutting down when she pushed him into the hole of elevator shaft. With a few more clicks door slid shut and locked in place, and the elevator resumed with its usual speed. With little luck the Keepers will dispose of his body the same way they dispose of dead children never to be found. As the elevator reached the ground floor with a hum and a ding her face was already composed for next stage.
"Commander?" They saluted in union and looked around and behind her. "…Where's Talid?"
Sofia shrugged and shook her head sadly, "The presence of this human caused him ill. He wished to take another path down to you." She waved the officers as she left the building.
*/*/*/*/*