Harkin saw Shepard approaching his hideout.
"Shit", he cursed, tapping at his private terminal. He was trying to delete as much of the records in it as possible. He was not going to prison.
The door on his right began to open. He grabbed the gun on the table, having finished deleting the data.
The door opened and Shepard surged through, followed by a quarian.
"Too late, asshole!" Harkin shouted mockingly, as he ran towards the door on the right.
The door opened, and his world went black.
"Get up"
The darkness began to fade, and Harkin could feel something poking him to his ribs.
He opened his eyes, and could see that it was an assault rifle's barrel. The assault rifle was held by a turian clad in a blue armor.
C-Sec?
No. The armor was extremely battered, C-Sec wouldn't allow such thing to be worn.
He thought for a moment, and then it came to him.
Garrus Vakarian.
"Get up," the turian repeated harshly.
As Harkin began to climb back to his feet, he noticed that his head was hurting terribly. He touched his forehead, and could see the blood on his fingers.
He was now standing up and the turian pressed him to the wall, with his forearm on Harkin's throat.
"Garrus," Harkin muttered hoarsely.
"Hello, Harkin," the turian greeted, with a cold tone.
Harkin could feel the pressure on his throat increasing.
"We can work this out, Garrus. You know, you scratch my back, and I scr--"
His sentence was interrupted by the turian's elbow strike to his temple. He fell down.
"Ouch!" Shepard yelped, and knelt next to Harkin.
"We're not here to scratch your anything Harkin," he spoke coldly, staring at him disgustedly.
"Tell us what we need to know, or that bruise will be the least of your problems" Shepard poked Harkin hard to his temple, the one Garrus had struck, making him grunt in pain.
"I still don't know what you want," Harkin grumbled, as he rose back to his feet.
"We are looking for a turian. His name is Sidonis," Garrus answered.
Garrus pushed him from his chest, sending him against the wall again.
"You helped him disappear," the turian continued scornfully.
Harkin growled silently, and lowered his head.
"Can't do that. I don't give out clients' na—"
Another strike, this time from Shepard, send him again to the floor.
"Enough of your games Harkin!", Shepard snapped, unholstering his pistol.
"Tell us what we want to know...", he paused, pointing his pistol to Harkin's head "...or I'll let you admire your brains decorating the wall"
"Fine," Harkin snapped, and Shepard holstered his gun.
Harkin went over to his terminal, and sent a message to Sidonis, asking him to meet his assistant at the Zakera Ward's transport hub.
"It's done," he said a moment later.
"Good," Garrus said coldly.
The turian draw his pistol, pointed it towards Harkin's leg, and fired.
The excruciating pain went through Harkin as the shot landed. He yelled in pain, falling down to his knees.
"A small memento," Garrus continued with his cold tone and the three figures turned to leave.
"Bastards", Harkin muttered.
One of figures turned, and slammed the butt of his pistol on Harkin's face. He felt his cheekbone crack at the impact, and crashed to the floor. Harkin laid there, his consciousness flickering.
He could see Shepard holstering his pistol.
Tali, Shepard and Garrus had just arrived to the hub by a private shuttle.
Garrus' mandibles kept fidgeting.
"We should have killed him," he muttered in disgust.
"Someone will. He's pretty incompetent," Shepard answered, shrugging "Besides, it's not like he killed anyone"
Garrus merely snorted in response.
"So, how are we going to do this?" Shepard asked a moment later.
Garrus glanced around, and saw a maintenance walk on the top of the street level.
"I'll take position in there," he pointed towards the walk.
Shepard nodded.
"You sure about this?" he asked, looking towards the turian.
"Positive," Garrus answered, hate dripping from his voice.
"You sure?"
"What the hell would you do Shepard? You think I shouldn't kill him?"
Shepard lowered his gaze "No"
"Then let's do this," Garrus said coldly, and stepped out of the shuttle.
Shepard did not know how to feel about this.
Sidonis was a traitor and he deserved what was coming to him.
But what would it do to Garrus?
Shepard had never killed a friend before.
Garrus would never admit it, but Sidonis was still his friend.
Hate and love were not extremes, but rather next to one another. Affection turned into hate easier, than indifference turned into either. He knew this first hand.
"Shepard," Tali spoke "Are you just going to let Garrus do this?"
She had apparently been wondering the same thing.
"I don't know," Shepard answered.
"So, you can still hear me?" she asked coldly.
He had been ignoring and avoiding her the entire mission.
Shepard lowered his head.
"I can," he replied quietly.
"So, what?", she snapped.
"I don't know"
Tali and Shepard were standing in the middle of the hub. They saw a turian sitting on the bench, staring at the floor.
"Bring him closer. I want him to see me", Garrus said coldly over the radio.
Shepard managed to get Sidonis' attention, and winked him to come closer.
"Whatta hell is going on?" the turian asked as he came closer.
"Fade said that my cover was blown! By who?!"
Shepard stared at the turian disgustedly.
"Step a little to the right, Shepard," Garrus said over the radio.
"I know who you are Sidonis," Shepard said coldly.
"Don't use that name!" Sidonis hissed.
"Garrus is standing right behind me, looking through his scope. Give me a one reason why I shouldn't step aside," he continued, his voice as cold.
"Shepard! To the right!"
"Garrus...", Sidonis gasped.
He began to glance around nervously, his mandibles fidgeting fast.
"Look", he spoke quietly "I-I didn't want to do it..."
He lowered his head.
"They got to me. Said they'd kill me if I didn't tell them"
The turian's voice was broken.
Shepard shook his head "You are not helping yourself"
His disgust towards the turian intensified.
"I know," Sidonis whispered, his eyes empty "Sometimes I just wish it were just over. I can't even look at the mirror.."
His head lowered even further.
"I disgust myself"
Shepard felt his disgust towards the turian fading away.
Sidonis was sorry, but it was too late. He deserved his fate.
Shepard nodded to the turian, who turned his head towards him.
"Thank you," Sidonis whispered.
Shepard took a step forward. He draw his pistol and pushed it's barrel on Sidonis' stomach.
The turian's eyes widened from surprise, he had expected a different reaper.
"Goodbye, Sidonis," Shepard said coldly, and pulled the trigger.
Shepard and Tali were waiting near the shuttle in silence, when they saw Garrus walking towards them quickly.
Growling, he immediately punched Shepard to the face.
Shepard staggered backwards, and Garrus grabbed him from his collar, pushing him against the wall.
"It was my team Shepard! My team!", Garrus roared "It was my responsibility! Not yours!"
Tali tried desperately to separate them.
"Garrus, let go!", she yelled.
Garrus pushed himself off and started to pace around. He buried his face on his hands, still growling. Shepard spat out some blood.
The turian stopped after a while and turned towards Shepard, but his head still hanging low.
He shook his head.
"I know you were trying to help, Shepard. But I didn't ask for it," the turian hissed.
He snorted, before continuing "I'll wait at the shuttle."
Garrus turned and went inside the shuttle.
Shepard slid down the wall to the ground.
He touched his lip, flinching at the pain.
"Shit"
Tali knelt beside him.
"Let me take a look", she said.
"No, it's okay", he muttered.
Shepard tried to prevent her, but her hands were already on his face.
"It's not bad", she said, standing up. She began to walk towards the shuttle.
"Tali", Shepard called, and the quarian turned her head.
Shepard sighed.
Garrus' words rang on his head.
Do something about it.
"You remember our talk at the drive core?", Shepard asked quietly.
She nodded. The light from the core had danced on their faces. Romantic.
"I said I cared", he paused, snorting.
"I lied"
She now turned towards him completely.
What did he mean?
He lowered his head.
"It's more than that"
What was he saying?
"I...I did not give them the data at the Flotilla, because..."
She began to approach him.
"...because..", Shepard felt his eyes moistening.
She was closer.
"...because I can't hurt you", he whispered. He felt a tear falling down on his face.
She knelt beside him.
"I didn't say that I was sorry before, because I thought that maybe...maybe you'd be happier with someone else...with another quarian"
Shepard sighed again, this time deeper, and with wavers in his tone.
"I just want to make you happy", he whispered.
She had not known.
That he cared so deeply.
It made her want to cry.
She cried.
She put her hand on his squeezing it.
He lifted his gaze through their joined hands, all the way into her eyes.
She smiled.
Her eyes glittered behind the mask.
"You already do", she whispered.