Ch. 25

"Where's Sidonis?"

Melanis shrugged from his spot on the sofa, never taking his gaze off the video screen. "I'm not his keeper," he muttered, waving his hand in the air. On the screen, his avatar sliced the head off a demon.

Garrus grimaced, crossing his arms, scanning the room. "We're meeting in an hour, you know that. New mission briefing."

"Yeah." He glanced over his shoulder with a quick grin, "I'll save my game, I'll be there."

"You're up for it?" Garrus asked, watching the kid move with a critical eye. Watching for muscles still tight and sore from injury. There were still bandages under his clothes, bare spots where his plating was growing back.

"I'm fine." Melanis made another motion with his hand and paused the game. He turned to Garrus. "Just say the word and I'm back to work. My old armor is shot to shit, but I got your old gear to wear. Which I appreciate."

Garrus smirked, "Not too big on you? Perhaps in the crotchetal region?"

Melanis laughed and rolled his eyes, "Your mom didn't think so. I'll be there."

The elder turian nodded once, slipping out of the room to hunt through the hallways. Sidonis should be here somewhere. Still glowering, perhaps, but always ready to work. He still wouldn't let up on the idea of going to Aria.

"I'm not saying she should be an ally," he'd told Garrus in the supply room the previous day.

"Yes, you are."

"I'm saying we can use her."

"And that's better how?"

Sidonis glared at him and slammed the weapons locker shut. "We have a common enemy. And she has more resources than we do. Why is it so terrible to use her against Tarak?"

"Because then we owe her, Sidonis," Garrus lowered his chin and narrowed his eyes. "If she does our job for us, then we are in her debt. We aren't going to put ourselves in that position."

"So we tip her off anonymously."

"Have you forgotten who we're talking about here?"

Sidonis gave him a dark look and sulked off, avoiding him for the rest of the day. That morning he'd taken off without a word and apparently still hadn't returned.

Garrus had since gotten word from Illium that Jaroth had been rush ordering mechs. They were probably already here. The LOKI's had to be taken out before they could be activated.

In the kitchen he found Erash, Vortash, and Ripper, bent over a datapad. "Any of you seen Sidonis?"

"He went to get pizzas, didn't he?" Vortash glanced up.

"Did he?" Garrus asked.

"You need to see what Ripper edited together. Our greatest hits," Erash looked up at him with a grin and motioned at the datapad.

Garrus' shoulders sagged. Sidonis wasn't here. "Maybe another time," he ran his fingers over his omni-tool display. "Meeting in an hour."

"We know." Vortash pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, watching the video.

Garrus paused, then leaned over the batarian's shoulder. He spotted Melanis' skinny form sprinting through a mech assault. Next was a brief image of all of them, all of his men, passing Ripper's camera to one another around the dinner table and mugging. Suddenly, the image blinked and went blank.

"Dead," Ripper said with a frown. "Batteries on these things are shit." The human looked up at Garrus. "Something wrong with Sidonis?"

"No. Not yet. Lemme know if he gets back, okay?" Garrus slipped back into the hallway while Ripper turned the dead datapad in his hands thoughtfully.

The turian made his way into a room that they had filled with unwanted cubical dividers and office furniture. He was about to call Sidonis when the omni-tool blinked and buzzed, illuminating Sidonis' name on the display. Garrus tapped the key to take the call. "Where are you? We have a meeting in an hour, I wanna hash this over with you. Vortash says we should just steal the mechs, but-"

"Archangel."

His tone sent chills down Garrus' spine. Weary, breathless. Beaten down. Frightened. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, I need-…" He could hear Sidonis swallow and take in a breath. His voice was shaking. "I thought I saw them."

"Who?"

"My kids."

Garrus hung his head, closing his eyes. This had happened once before. Only then he thought he saw Jortia. "Sidonis, no. You didn't."

"Can you just-… can you just come out here? Please? I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"Calm down."

"I'm sorry."

"Where are you?"

He heard Sidonis suck in a breath. "Uh… Kappa… Kappa sector."

What the hell was he doing all the way out there? It was the farthest spot from base you could get without heading back again. "Where at?"

"By… by where the gardens used to be. Archangel, I'm sorry."

"It's all right, Sidonis. I'll be there." He ended the call and shook his head. Man hadn't had a breakdown like that in months. Anything could have brought it on. Now Garrus had the pleasure of going all the way out there to talk him down from whatever state he was in.

The next recruit needed to be a shrink.

On the balcony at the end of the hall he spied Sensat. The drell sat on the railing, overlooking the grounds with a rifle in his hand and a far off look in his eyes. Garrus whistled and he looked up.

"Did you see Sidonis today? When did he leave?"

Sensat glanced at his omni-tool. "Yeah, this morning."

"Did he take the Hornet?"

"No, he walked."

All the way out to Kappa? Garrus frowned and crossed his arms, then looked back at the drell. "You all right?"

Sensat put on a smile and nodded a little. "Just reminiscing."

"What about?"

The drell's grin broadened slowly, "You sure you want to know that?"

"Not if it'll offend my delicate sensibilities."

Sensat laughed, but the laugh faded quickly. He hesitated before asking, "Are we ever going to go after Aria?"

"I think it's inevitable," Garrus murmured. "Why? You want to do that?"

Sensat shrugged, looking down at his rifle. "I heard you and Sidonis talking. I used to work for her, you know?" He looked back up at the turian, brows pulled together. "This girl and I were partners. Dalia. Aria thought she was feeding information to some Spectre and had her killed."

Garrus leveled a look at him. Sensat had always insisted he was nothing more than a former private security agent. Sidonis was having a panic attack, and Sensat decided to drop this on him now. Terrific. "Does she know you're working for me?"

"It is Aria we're talking about."

"Right…" Garrus sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Look. Sidonis is having a crisis, I gotta go pick him up. You wanna ride along?"

Sensat shook his head.

"All right, we'll talk when I get back. After the mission brief."

Sensat nodded with a grimace, folding his legs up under him. "Sure."

Garrus wove his way back through the base, heading towards the garage. He poked his head back into the mess, where Butler, Mierin, and Weaver had joined the brothers and Ripper with a new, charged up datapad. Krul was rooting through the fridge, plopping any leftovers onto a large platter. "Hey."

Butler looked up after laughing at the video, "Yeah?"

"Everybody's here?"

"Yeah."

"I gotta go pick up Sidonis. We'll start when I get back."

"Sure, no problem."

Garrus waved while the men turned their attention back to the video, and he left the base to the sound of their laughter.