A few hours later, Garrus was sitting in his chair at his desk, turned around so he was facing Pallin, who was pacing in the room, arms folded over his chest. He definitely looked like he meant business. The expression on his face hinted at anger, and slight disappointment. He suddenly stopped, turning swiftly on his heel to face Garrus, extending his hand and pointing a finger at the turian C-Sec Officer.
"What the hell were you thinking, Garrus?" He shouted. His voice boomed through the small office, the words echoing into Garrus's head.
Garrus knew exactly what he had been thinking. He had been thinking that he would stop an unstable krogan from killing again. That was, until a certain small group of Citadel Celebration security guards thought it would be a good idea to tackle him to the ground, almost as if they were aiding the krogan on purpose. He'd already ruled that suspicion out with logic and a background check on them, though.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Garrus retorted, both confused and annoyed at his superior's words. It wasn't like he killed any civilians. He was trying to do something that would save lives, not endanger them!
"Opening fire in a large crowd? Ruining a celebration *very* important to some species? Acting COMPLETELY out of line? Garrus, I ought to have your badge for this! What you did was not only insane, it was extremely dangerous!" Pallin yelled, throwing his arms into the air, still in disbelief an officer under his command would do something like this.
Garrus sighed, and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes. He brought a hand up and ran it over his head, frustrated. A headache was coming over him.
"Pallin, I wasn't trying to kill any civilians, you know that! I know how good my aim is, and I know you do too. I knew I could take out that damn krogan with my next shot, but then those two guards tackled me! What the hell was that about?" Garrus said, his last question turning into more of a shout, a question that needed answering. Normally, the turian didn't curse this much, but he was genuinely pissed off at what had happened.
Pallin sighed, and turned, leaning up against a wall before turning back and facing Garrus.
"They were novice guards brought in from all over. The asari didn't want C-Sec guards this year for some stupid diplomatic reason. So, we got imports from all over Citadel Space."
"That's still no excuse." Garrus said, slowly standing up from the chair. "Our uniform should be recognized by *everyone* who lives in Citadel Space." He responded, before shaking his head. Now, more civilians were in danger. A loose, unstable krogan mercenary was not to be taken lightly, yet instead of stationing officers at every major location on the Citadel, his superior was standing in front of him, lecturing him on the danger the citadel population was in. Sometimes, Garrus really did hate C-Sec and bureaucratic bullshit, though these feelings only returned in times like this, when he was being prevented from doing what he needed to do.
Pallin exhaled deeply. It was clear Garrus wasn't going to let this go, and he didn't have the time or the energy to sit here debating protocol with an under-ranking officer. He stepped forward.
"Okay, Garrus." Pallin began. "I'll let you off with a severe warning and a slap on the wrist this time. But the next time you fire your gun in public against a crowd of people, whether to attempt to save them or not, and whether your faith in your aim proceeds your concern for public safety, you will not be a part of C-Sec. Ever again."
Garrus showed no emotion, no reaction, to his superior officer's words. Though the truth was, they stung. As much as he complained, C-Sec was about making a difference, right? Hopefully one day he'd get to do that. Though, with all this protocol and 'standard procedure', he wasn't sure C-Sec was so much concerned with public safety as much as they are with impressing the council with their ability to abide by their own rules and regulations. Garrus sighed, and then pushed his chair into his desk. He exited the office, and headed toward the med clinic, he needed to check on Chellick.
As Garrus entered the Med Clinic, his thoughts were weighing him down. Though, that all was momentarily brought to a halt as he entered the room where his co-worker and friend was being kept. Lying on a small bed, Chellick was wide awake, beady green eyes fully alert, observing a blonde-haired female administer him pain killers. Chellick was quickly distracted from this when he noticed Garrus entering the room.
"Still alive?" Garrus asked in a joking manner. Chellick gave a small chuckle, quickly followed by a cringe as the motion from laughing had caused his bad shoulder to move. Garrus noticed this and widened his eyes.
"Sorry." He said in a blank tone.
Chellick shook his head, dismissing the minor sting. The doctor moved from the bed, and looked to Garrus, offering a smile. There was another female doctor on the room, though she was sitting on a stool, following the blonde-haired doctor with her eyes, extreme interest quite clearly evident.
"Don't mind her." The blonde haired doctor said as she picked up a datapad containing Chellick's information. "That's Dr. Chloe Michel, a doctor-in-training."
Dr. Michel blushed a bit as she was brought to the spotlight for a moment, though she offered a smile to the two turians to make them aware she was indeed what the other doctor claimed she was.
A few moments passed, and the two doctors exited the room. Garrus moved to sit on the stool Dr. Michel had been using, glancing around the small area where Chellick was being kept. Chellick turned his head to face Garrus, a keen interest in his eyes, despite the pain he must be in.
"So, what happened exactly, after I went down? Pallin was here earlier, and he seemed pretty pissed, but he wouldn't tell me why." Chellick inquired, curious as to if Garrus had done something that went against all C-Sec Protocol, or if Pallin just had a stick up his ass about the krogan getting away.
"I chased the krogan to and through the Citadel Founding Celebration, but then I lost him, so I jumped up onto some railing..." Garrus said, reciting the events as they had happened, still fresh in his mind. "Pulled my pistol up, and fired a few shots at the krogan. I missed, but nobody was hurt. I gave a small chase, then some inexperienced import-celebration guards tackled me, thought I was a maniac. By the time I got back up, the krogan was gone."
Garrus was less than thrilled about the krogan escaping, and the way he told Pallin, it was definitely evident in his tone. Pallin nodded, though a look of disappointment came over his face slowly.
"Ah well." He said. "You'll get that krogan bastard, I know you Garrus. That still doesn't explain why Pallin looked so angry though. Did you take your frustration out on the guards or something?"
Garrus smirked; the idea had definitely been entertained in his mind. Unfortunately, that was all the further the idea had gotten. Sighing, he shook his head, "Apparently firing a gun into a parade crowd, even if a killer krogan is within sight and you know you aren't hurting a civilian, is against protocol. He threatened my job, but I got away with a 'severe warning.'" Garrus lifted his fingers, quoting the last words he said in an impersonation of Pallin's anger.
Vrack was, once again, at a loss for what to do. As soon as he escaped the turian C-Sec Officer, he had gone directly into hiding. Well, not before laughing at what had happened to the C-Sec Officer. Tackled by other law enforcers. Ouch. That turian's ego must be bruised. Of course, the chase wasn't over yet. Vrack knew that extra C-Sec security would be placed at all the docks, so a ship off the Citadel was damn near out of question.
He had two options. One, he could stay here and wait it out. This was the safer option, but he ran the risk of the person who hired him disappearing before paying up. Then, Vrack would have a personal chase across the galaxy to engage in, and a krogan aiming to retire soon certainly wasn't looking forward to that.
The krogan's only other option was to try and find someone who could sneak him off the Citadel, be it by a private shuttle, by claiming he was one of their crew, or by sticking a gun in their face and threatening their family if he didn't do exactly as he said. Personally, he would jump straight into the latter, but instinct told him he should offer credits first, then, if they don't comply, shove the barrel of a shotgun down their throat and demand whatever he may desire. At present: a ride off the Citadel.
Currently seated in a club a decent distance away from where he had been pursued by the turian, Vrack scouted the population of the club for anyone who might have a ship to get off the Citadel. Keeping his distance from a human bouncer on the far side of the club, though Vrack was sure that reports hadn't gone out to anyone below C-Sec yet about him, but he was sure there were reports of it being circulated on news networks.
Casually faking a yawn, the krogan stole a glance over his shoulder. At a far table sat two asari. Glancing over them, his gaze traveled from table to table until he spotted his first potential candidate (or victim). A human with long, greasy black hair reaching his mid back, dressed like a typical thug. The human wore a black leather jacket with a white shirt underneath, and light brown pants. Vrack smirked at the human's appearance. Pitiful. Perfect.
Vrack stood up, and after downing what was left of his alcoholic drink in his small glass, moved over to sit next to the human. As the krogan brought a chair up to sit at the table, the human slowly quirked an eyebrow, wary of the krogan already, though his tough-guy attitude kicked in, and his expression shifted to more of a 'badass' look.
"Ricky said I was supposed to meet an older volus here, not a damn krogan." The human said.
Vrack quickly analyzed the words the human said, and attempted to turn the conversation into his favor.
"The volus is sick. His suit had a hole in it. Ricky sent me instead."
The human hesitated, but ultimately relaxed, easing the tension. He nodded, and then pulled a small datapad from his pocket. Setting it onto the table, he would glance up at the krogan, eyes still had a bit of caution and doubt in them as he glanced over the krogan. He doubted that Ricky would send a well-armed krogan to a meeting about red sand.
"Alright." The human continued, "One pound of red sand…that comes to 1500 credits. Ricky said he sent you a vid mail clarifying it was one pound, not two. You got that, right?"
The krogan grunted, playing along with whatever scenario he had feigned himself into, though he was trying not to become confused with it. Carefully, he eased the idea of getting a ship off the Citadel into the conversation.
"Yeah, but I have a 'change of plans' of my own. Instead of getting the goods here, can we take it back to Tuchanka? I've got some krogan pals there who want some sand too, and I'm sure your ship would be able to handle a krogan."
The human shifted uncomfortably. Now the krogan was requesting to ride on his ship back to the krogan homeworld? He wasn't an idiot, he knew krogans, most anyway, didn't think too highly of humans. It was practically asking for trouble to have a ship piloted by a human with drugs aboard land on the krogan homeworld.
"Errr, my ship is, full…" The human lied.
The krogan knew the human was lying, evident from the uncomfortable shift of position and the way he was beginning to stumble his own words. But, luckily enough, the krogan had successfully accused the human of having a ship, and been correct. Years of reading people's actions, and predicting who they are and what they had from just how they looked was starting to pay off. The hard work was done, and even though the human had refused him access through sheer free will, Vrack would change that easily outside.
Following up on his act, the krogan growled at the human, causing him to widen his eyes. "You bastard, all you humans are scum! Morons!" Vrack shouted across the table, though he was sure half the club could hear him, even above the blasting music.
The human was taken aback for a moment, and then threw on an aggressive face. "Let's take this outside, you alien reptile-lookin' piece of shit!"
Ha. The human had fallen right into the krogan's trap.
Grunting, Vrack turned and headed for the entrance. The human hesitated, but followed, though in his mind he was panicking. He'd never fought a krogan before!
As Vrack led the human out of the club and into a back alley, the human snapped. Throwing caution to the wind, he pulled a pistol from his waistband and aimed it at the krogan. Vrack, almost anticipating this foolish move, turned quickly, and with one arm secured around the human's wrist, twisted it with such power that the gun slipped to the ground and the human's forearm snapped. Eyes widening in terror, the human looked at his now-broken arm, bending entirely opposite the way it should, though no bone pierced the skin. The krogan then shoved the human to the ground, and pulled his shotgun out from the holster on his back. Just as it finished unfolding, it was mere inches from the human's mouth.
"Now, you're getting me out of here on your ship. Understood?" The krogan asked in a demanding tone.
Despite the fact he'd already injured the human, intimidation still played a big part in this 'negotiation', which, if not going the way Vrack wanted, would end in the human's brains painting the walls of the alley. A broken arm was easy to dress up as being fine, so he hadn't done any real noticeable damage to the human…yet.
A few moments passed, and the human hadn't given an answer, struck with fear, eyes trained on the gun barrel in his face. Growing impatient, Vrack kicked the human in the stomach. The human grunted, and then finally spoke.
"Oh…okay." The human mustered. "I'll do it. J-just don't kill me!"
He was sweating profusely, some of his hair smeared across his forehead. His breathing was heavy and his stomach was weak. He felt like he'd puke any moment. Clearly in fear for his life, the human, after answering, held his breath as his gaze was fixated on the barrel of the shotgun.
The weight of the world was lifted as the krogan eventually took the gun and pressed a button on the side of it, causing it to fold back up. He placed it into the holster on his back, and stared at the human who was slumped against the wall, sitting down.
"Alright, get your ass up, human. We're heading for the docking bay."