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Roarkshop

"Drop it," Finch said, referring to the side arm Shepard had, rather quickly, pulled from her pant leg. Shepard's eyes darted around, trying to judge their surroundings. Besides Finch, there were five others peppered around pointing guns at her, but not firing. The civilians surrounding them had all started to scatter from the scene. Shepard knew help wasn't coming. This was Omega. She suddenly regretted going out in her casuals.

Well, she thought with a sneer. At least I'm not in that horrendous dress.

"I mean it," Finch said, tightening his grip on Solana's mouth, preventing her from screaming. "Don't make me kill this girl, Jane."

"Well that'd be awfully stupid," Shepard said, taking slow steps to her side. "You'd all be dead before she hit the ground."

Solana struggled under the man's grip, trying to say something that was muffled.

"It's okay Solana," Shepard said. "You're going to be fine."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Finch said through clenched teeth, flicking the hammer back on his gun.

"All these years later, Finch, and you're still a rookie. You've made several fatal errors here. Firstly, you and your lackeys back there didn't come in shooting. That, coupled with the fact that you took a hostage, means you need me alive, am I right? I assume whoever is in charge is going to be very, very upset if I'm dead. Since chances are good that you're still a pussy, I'd wager you really don't want that person angry."

His silent frustration answered for him.

"Well," Shepard said, putting the barrel of her gun against the side of her head. "Looks like we both have a hostage."

Solana's eyes widened and she struggled to get away.

"You don't have the guts," Finch spat.

"Don't I?" She sneered. "You think death scares me, Finch? I've already beaten it once. And if you were to give me the choice between pulling this trigger right now or having to tell her brother that she's dead, I won't even hesitate. That girl you're threatening me with is the sister of the only person in this universe who means anything to me. I will die a thousand times before I see him hurt."

"Figures," Finch said. "Still in bed with the aliens."

"Let her go, and I will come along quietly."

"How do I know you won't kill us all after I let her go?"

"You have two options here, Finch," Shepard said through her teeth. "Either every single one of you dies a slow, gruesome death, or maybe none of you die. I suggest you choose very, very carefully."

"She's right Finch," one of the lackeys said from a distance. "It's not worth the trouble. Just let her go."

Finch scoffed and, keeping his pistol trained on the girl, shoved her at Shepard. Solana stumbled over and Shepard re-trained her pistol on Finch.

"What do we do now?" Solana said, exhaling an angry breath.

"Now, you run," Shepard said.

"What? No. I can't just leave you, Jane. Spirits, Garrus would never forgive me."

"I can take care of myself, Solana. So now I need you to run. I'm the one they need alive, not you. Garrus has already dealt with losing me once, don't make me have to suffer through seeing him lose you."

Solana didn't say anything. What could she say?

"But," Shepard continued. "If you've got any kindness for me, when you're telling Garrus about this later, leave out that last part of what I said, okay? About him being the only thing that means anything. I uh…" she cleared her throat. "That'll be our little secret."

"Okay," Solana said, taking slow steps backward. "I understand."

"Thanks," Shepard said, turning her head just enough to see the outline of the girl.

"Enough with the heartfelt goodbye," Finch cursed before sending a round through the arm Shepard was using to hold up her gun, splattering Solana's throat and chest with blood.

"God damn it," Shepard spat, as she struggled to keep her gun up. She should have known better than to take her concentration off the target. Rookie mistake. She fired a couple of stray shots as cover fire, not really paying attention as to whether or not she hit anyone. "Solana, get the hell out of here, now!"

Solana turned, and without looking back, sprinted as fast as she could back to her family. Shepard watched her go until she knew she was far enough away to be safe. Then fell to her knees, dropping her gun as she held the wound on her shoulder. Finch rewarded her with a taser to the back of the neck.

And the day had started off so well.

"Look, Dad," Garrus said, their argument slowly calming into a conversation. "What we're doing out here, it's important. Actually important. Save the galaxy, important. I know it's hard to believe but you know I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't believe that it needed to be done."

"I know, Pup," Teryk said, putting a hand on Garrus' shoulder. "Your mother is in bad shape. It's getting harder and harder to shoulder, watching her deteriorate like she is."

"Yeah. I wish I could be there. And I will be, after we finish this I'll come home, I promise."

"Alright. I know better than to argue with you," he said with a laugh. "It was good to finally meet this Spectre you're so crazy about anyway. Glad I could finally see what all the fuss was about."

Garrus rubbed the back of his neck. "She's certainly something else."

"I like her," his dad said.

"I-what? You do? But, you hate Spectres."

"Sure, as an ideal, but she doesn't seem too fond of them either. Besides she didn't back down when I got in her face. Humans usually crumble like stale bread when I advance on them."

"She's definitely not the crumbling type," he said with a laugh.

"She's obviously very fond of you," Teryk said.

Garrus tilted his head to the side. It was weird for his dad to say anything even remotely sentimental. But maybe he had picked up on just how much his friendship with Shepard meant to him, and this was his father's way of saying that he supported it. Garrus smiled.

"So, what's this treatment the salarians have for mom? Is it expensive?"

"Yeah, but they said in the meeting they were going to do it gratis. Some anonymous donor gave them a bunch of research material so they're anxious to try it."

"Oh," Garrus rubbed his neck. "That's great then."

"Yeah. I'm going to take Sol back to the Citadel for a few days. She needs a vacation."

"You don't have to get back?"

"We have your mother put up for the week as the salarians do whatever it is they do. There's really not much we can do so I figured Sol could use the time to rest. She puts on a brave face but… I don't know, Pup. I know it can't be easy on her."

"Well you know her," Garrus said. "Can't get her to do what you want, and you can't get her to stop doing what she wants."

"Hah, that's certainly true. She has her mother's stubbornness." Teryk exhaled through his nose before checking his omni-tool for the time. "So how long is this...Collector thing going to take? There's virtually no information on the Collectors, how exactly do you-"

More gunshots rang out, and Teryk flinched.

"I hate this station," he said under his breath.

"Wait..." Garrus said, looking off to his right. "Isn't that the direction that..."

Teryk sensed his son's apprehension.

"Spirits," Teryk said, breaking into a full sprint in that direction, followed very closely by Garrus. "Why did you let them go off alone?" He cursed. "You know how dangerous this station is."

"She's with Shepard, Dad. I'm sure there's no..."

"Garrus!" Solana called out as she saw him down the wards. Her chest was covered in crimson as she ran.

"Oh god. That's Shepard's blood," Garrus said as they met up with her, the panic rising in his chest.

"Solana," Teryk said. "What the hell happened?"

"It's Jane," Solana panted, grasping onto his arms and trying to pull him in the direction she had come from. "She made them let me go and they shot her, Garrus."

He didn't need to hear the rest as he sprinted ahead of his family, slamming his hand into his omni-tool.

"EDI!" he shouted into it. "We have an emergency, everyone needs to report back to the Normandy on the double."

"Very well," she said. "I will summon the rest of the crew."

He came up on Shepard's abandoned gun and metal omni-tool bracelet surrounded by small puddles of her blood. He followed the scent, seeing a drop every three or four feet until he came up on an empty hangar.

Garrus stared at the empty hangar; As if he could glare them back to the station. His breath was huffing from him so fast and so hard he sounded like a freight train. Every ounce of energy and strength was dedicated to keeping himself under control, keeping the blood haze at bay, keeping himself from murdering everyone he came in contact with.

"Are they gone?" Teryk asked breathlessly as him and Solana caught up to him.

"Yeah…" Garrus said in a low tone. "Yeah, she's gone."

"What do we need to do?" Solana asked, panting.

"Who was it, Sol," Garrus asked without turning around. "Who took her?"

"She uh… She called him Finch. And he called her Jane Doe."

"Does that mean something?" Teryk asked.

Garrus exhaled a long, slow, angry breath from his nose. That's exactly what he had been expecting her to say, dreading really. His heart leaped into his throat as he tried to stay calm.

"I'm sure you both saw that report on her past a few years back after she became a Spectre, right?"

"Yeah," Teryk said.

Garrus looked down at his bleeding palms, not even realizing how hard he had been tightening them into fists.

"The men who did that, all those years ago, are the ones who have her now."

Teryk Vakarian hadn't wanted to go to Omega. He hadn't wanted to meet these Salraians. But if he didn't go, Solana had made it very clear that she would go alone and that wasn't something he was going to allow. Now that he was sitting on the Normandy, watching his son debrief a mismatched crew on the disappearance of the human Spectre that lead them, he was absolutely sure it had been a terrible idea.

Still, watching Garrus command the crew, watching the confidence and power in him, the pride he felt was hard to ignore. Several times over the past years, Teryk wondered what his son had meant when he told him that his friendship with the human Spectre had made him into a better man. It wasn't until that moment, that he was watching him deliver the news to her crew, that he really believed him.

"I don't know why they took her," Garrus continued, obviously putting forth great effort to remain calm. "Or what they intend to do with her. All I know is that she is currently completely unarmed, and at the mercy of these thugs." He exhaled through his nose and leaned his hands on the comm table.

"What do you need us to do, Garrus," The female they all called Miranda said as she stood up.

"Miranda, I need you to go contact The Illusive Man and see if he's got any information we can use." The woman nodded and immediately headed off. "Tali," he said, turning to the quarian who rushed up to him, folding her hands over each other nervously. He put a hand on her shoulder. "I need you to do what you do best. That ship left about 3 hours ago, find it."

The quarian nodded vigorously. "I won't let you down, Garrus," she said before turning to leave.

"I'm going to go talk to Aria," Garrus continued. "We'll see if she's got her tiny blue hands in this. Joker, you have the ship, get her ready to leave. As soon as we know where she is I want to be able to take off."

"You got it, Garrus," the sickly man said, limping back to the Cockpit.

"Be prepared to move everyone."

Everyone gave their consent and scattered to their positions.

Garrus approached his family, rubbing the back of his neck.

"You guys sure you want to stay? I don't know what we're going to get into."

Solana scoffed, crossing her arms. "Garrus, she saved my life, you expect me to run away?"

"I didn't expect you to, Sol. I was just hoping you would."

"You should know better by now."

"She's right, Pup," Teryk said as he stood. "This human of yours sacrificed herself to save one of ours. You expect us to just walk away? Where's the honor in that? I've heard enough about this woman to know that if she hadn't needed to protect Sol she could have fought her way out."

"Alright, I get it," Garrus said. "Sol, you wanna head down to the Med Bay and meet the Doc? We might need you down there later, and she can get you cleaned up."

Solana nodded and squeezed his shoulder as she passed him.

"Well," Garrus said, turning away from his dad. "Come on then."

The dark human that was accompanying them to talk to Aria, Jacob was his name, was obviously ex-Alliance. Strong, disciplined, maybe a little ignorant but seemed like a good sort. They awaited Garrus on the docking hangar while he finished directing a few more people.

"I thought the woman, Miranda, was the Commander's X.O.," Teryk said to the human. "Seems odd everyone would follow a turian's lead, no questions asked. On a Cerberus vessel, especially."

"This isn't a Cerberus vessel," he said. "As soon as Shepard took command it stopped being that. Miranda is the X.O. As far as the Illusive Man is concerned, but we all know who Shepard would pass command to. She doesn't trust anyone like she trusts Garrus, and if anyone is going to find her, it's going to be him."

"So I'm told. The effect she has on him was not something I was prepared for," he grumbled. "It's unsettling."

Jacob just laughed, hands on his hips and looked at the floor.

"It's not just him. That's just the effect she has on you. She just… she makes you want to try and be as good as she is."

Teryk didn't say anything. The impact her disappearance was having on her crew was profound. He figured the reports of the way she gained her people's loyalty was Alliance fluff. But no, these people, of all different races and species, truly cared about her well being.

Garrus finally met them and took the lead on their way into Afterlife. Jacob at his right, his father at his left, and a special kind of purpose in his steps.

Garrus was in no mood for Aria's games, but a gun fight wasn't what he needed right now, he needed information.

"So, if it isn't Archangel," she said. "Reports of your death seem rather exaggerated. Looks like you have that in common with the Commander, now."

"Aria, Shepard's been taken," he said, getting right to the point. The asari faltered for the briefest moment before resuming her careless sneer. "Now I know nothing goes through this station without your sneaky fingers all over it so I need to know what ship they left on."

"Even if I knew who took her, which I'm not saying I do, why is it any concern of mine?"

"Because she didn't have to thwart the attempt to overthrow you, but she did. You owe her and I know how you hate being in debt to anyone."

"While that's true, and I do like Shepard, I don't know who took her. I hadn't even heard about it."

"We know who took her," he said, getting frustrated. "It was The Tenth Street Red's, some Earth gang she has old beef with."

"Ah, yes the Red's."

"So all we need is the ship they left on."

"Fine," Aria said pulling up a data pad and typing a few commands in. "But you tell Shepard when you find her that this makes us square."

"Done."

"Says here XO Finch Preston left here about 4 hours ago on the MSV Augustine."

"XO? Who's the captain?"

"He wasn't with them for some reason, or he didn't want us to know he was there. It's usually their little brotherhoods leader, Gideon Torren."

Gideon...

Garrus remembered the name, and he started growling without even realizing it.

Hold it together, he told himself. You've got to find her first.

"Thanks, Aria," he said as he turned to leave. "Tali," he said into his earpiece. "We got the ship name. She's on the MSV Augustine."

"I was afraid of that," she said with a sigh. "I'll start tracking the ship but you'd better get back here."

He didn't need to hear anything else.

"Tali get that information to Joker, I want to take off as soon as we're back on the ship."

"Of course, Garrus," She said before cutting the connection.

"Archangel?" Teryk said as they ran.

"Yeah, I'll explain later," Garrus said.

Once they boarded and Jacob returned to the Armory, Teryk and Garrus loaded themselves onto the elevator and headed down.

"What have you got, Tali," Garrus said as came through the doors of Engineering.

"After I hacked the docking terminal I isolated the five ships that left within the time frame you gave me and had been attempting to track them all. I had a feeling she was on the MSV Augustine. It's a cruiser and started receiving encrypted transmissions about twenty minutes ago."

"And?"

"And I recognize the encryption. Do you remember when we met? How I had been trying to trade information to the Shadow Broker for protection against Saren?"

"Spirits, they're working for the Shadow Broker?"

"It would appear so."

"Why? What would the Shadow Broker want with Shepard?"

"I don't know, Garrus. Didn't Liara say that he had originally commissioned her to find Shepard's body? Maybe he still wants her for something."

"Damn it, that explains why a bunch of human mercs can afford a cruiser, and probably how they've been tracking her this whole time. They were just waiting until she was vulnerable."

"This isn't good Garrus. If we don't catch up before they get to a relay and she's delivered to The Shadow Broker, we may never get her back."

"This is the fastest ship in the traverse, Tali. We'll catch up. Have you decrypted the messages?"

"Yeah but there's a problem," she said, bringing them up on the screen.

"It's just a bunch of lines and dots," Garrus said. "Is that the encryption?"

"No, this is after that. This is the core message, but I don't know what it is."

"It's Morse Code," Teryk said from behind them, moving to point to the screen. "It's an ancient human code used long before the First Contact War for sending short messages from place to place in secret."

"I, what?" Garrus said. "How do you even know that?"

"You know, I used to be a formidable cop back in the day."

"Well, what does it say?"

"I recognize it, but that doesn't mean I can read it," he said.

"I've got it," Tali said. "Now that we know the code, we can simply input it and EDI can translate it for us."

A few torturous moments later the transmissions were translated:

* Package acquired. Stop. Orders? Stop.*

* Is she cooperating. Stop. *

* Negative. Stop. *

* Make her talk. Stop. By any means necessary. Stop. *

"That doesn't bode well," Tali said.

"Keep on them, Tali. Let me know if you find anything else," he said, patting her on the shoulder before turning to leave.

It wasn't until he got into the elevator, with no destination, that he let it all hit him. He threw his fists into the wall so hard the metal caved under the pressure. He stood there, growling, with his forehead on the cool metal wall for long minutes. Just thinking about whatever was happening to her in the hands of those thugs made his blood scream in him. He could hardly hear anything under the rush of his blood in his ears. He had to find her. He had to.

The sight of his son hurting like he was wasn't something Teryk had prepared himself to see. Garrus took after him in that he never let anyone see how he was really feeling, never let his emotions take over and get the best of him, never let his judgment become impaired because of how we felt. The effect this human had on his son was troubling.

Obviously the other humans didn't understand Garrus at all. Teryk heard the mumblings of the crew saying that they were surprised he was coping so well. One had even mentioned that Garrus' lack of an emotional outburst was proof that he wasn't as close to Shepard as everyone seemed to think he was. But Teryk knew his son. He knew how hard he was fighting to keep the rage from taking over. It was a rage that Teryk himself had only dealt with a few times in his life, and it needed a purpose, a direction. If left idle it would burn and burn and consume all sense of rationality. If they were going to find this human, Garrus needed to keep it together.

"I can't lose her twice in a lifetime," was all Garrus said as he lowered his fists and straightened.

"Let's go talk to Solana," Teryk offered.

"What? Why?"

"Now that she's calmed down she might remember something that will help us," he said. He was lying, but he knew how hungry his rage was. The Vakarian men were never very good at sentimentality, but he loved his son, and if this human meant as much to him as Teryk was afraid she did, then he was going to make damn well sure they found her.

"Yeah," Garrus said, pressing a button on the elevator. "Yeah, okay."

Shepard groaned as she blinked her eyes open. Her head was pounding. She tried to rub it but found resistance on her wrists. The fog cleared and the severity of the situation all came back to her.

"Shit," she said trying to sit up, but her hands and feet were both tied together. She flailed around on her side, and laughed as she reminded herself of a fish out of water. She leaned her head down on the cold metal of the container she was in. "How in the hell," she said to herself. Not really trying to figure anything out, just cursing her fortune.

She spared a few minutes to think about why the Red's wanted her, and why they wanted her alive. Besides some kind of twisted, overdone, clichéd revenge plot, there was really no need for the theatrics. Tasers, bound hands, mystery ship, the lot of it was ridiculous. She would much rather they fast forward to the end where she got to put her boot in Gideon's ass. This over-dramatic display was really nothing more than masturbation, as far as Shepard was concerned.

When the door to her container opened, and the white light from behind one of her captors poured into the small space, not only was she unimpressed, she was unafraid.