MASS EFFECT: ENTANGLED
CHAPTER 24
*THIS TAKES PLACE DURING THE EVENTS OF CHAPTER 24 OF "SOLACE."
Citadel
Wearing a casual dress down attire that evening, Bray was heading down the hallway from his apartment to the nearest elevator. With it being his night off, he figured to hit up a few shots at Chasm; a smaller nightclub in the Lower Wards and more to his liking. He found his new favorite spot to unwind a few nights ago by word of mouth. The clientele of refugees and non upper class citizes with dark pusling rhythms reminded him of a batarian run club on Omega and a few back on Khar'Shaan.
As he neared where a few hallways intersected, his path became blocked by an annoying familiar path. Vossk crossed his arms with a smug grin as another human and a turian took to each side. Sinsiter looks were plastered all over their faces as they snickered at their intentions. "Look who it is, boys," The leader of the Suns announced. "Aria's little pet. Are you lost, doggy?" He chuckled under his breath.
Eying them carefully, Bray moved his hand towards the back of his shirt to retrieve the stashed sidearm as he bared his sharp incisors at the threatening trio. Vossk shook his finger at him with a smirk. "Nuh-uh."
"Bad dog," The other male tacked on with amusement.
"Fuck off," Bray snapped at him.
"Oooh," The turian mocked with laughter. "This one is not friendly at all, boss."
Holding his hands up to silence the duo, Vossk kept his triumphant eyes on the batarian in front of them. "I see that you are far from Aria, Bray. Does that make her all alone?" A sadistic grin spread across his half-shaven face. "Maybe, she's waiting on me," He licked his lips hungrily.
Bray remained steadfast with his hand gripping the holster of his weapon tightly. A low growl from his chest as he watched on. He knew these three were egging him on, but what for? "We are leaving soon for Omega. Are you in or out, Vossk?" He shot back.
"Aria hasn't completed her end of the bargain," The bald man flatly reminded.
"Then you're out," Bray concluded. "Too bad. You will lose a lot of territory when we get the station back." He paused then grinned widely. "I guess it will go to the vorcha."
Vossk narrowed his eyes at the quip and clenched his jaw tightly. "Aria can't get the station back without the Suns' help. We offer the most mechs and men among all the groups."
"Yet, you whine about one turian general standing in your way."
"C-Sec isn't here to protect your batarian ass this time," The man spat sharply at him.
"I see you brought protection," Bray fired back as he gestured towards the turian and other human. "You here for another shot at me?"
"Last time, I seemed to struck a nerve about your master. Your dirty prick like her?"
"Or maybe it was the Spectre," The turian chortled.
Bray tightened the grip on his holster as the muscles in his arm twitched. He clenched his teeth harder as he fumed; unable to hold back the feral low growl in his throat. The Suns took notice of this and busted out laughing. "I thought the extranet vids were fake. Never thought that Shepard cared for batarian dick," Vossk taunted.
"She may gut you like the other four-eyed freaks on Torfan," The male chimed in.
A salarian resident exited his apartment and presed against the wall quickly when he realized he wwalked into a confrontation. "Beat it!" The turian snapped at him. The salarian whimpered as he squeamishly darted in between the group to move to the elevators first. Bray used this distraction to whip out his sidearm and fire two quick rounds; nailing both the turian and the human in the legs, dropping them to the floor as they howled in exctrutionary pain. Rushing Vossk, Bray dragged him to the other side of the wall where the salarian and the elevators were. Rounds fired at the wall's corner from where the two downed mercs were.
Holding the pistol tightly to the merc leader's temple, Bray glared at him angrily as he pinned his back to the wall, making sure he had a good line of sight should the other two regain their footing. The salarian tapped the elevator button relentlessly as he whimpered in fright at the violent display before him. He whispered prayers over and over as he watched on I fear. "Sorry that Aria has to find out that you betrayed her, Vossk. You remember what she does to traitors?"
"Aria has no power here," Vossk spat at him.
"Wrong answer," Bray lowered his weapon and fired, hitting the man in his left foot. Vossk screamed as he tried to break free. "You're running out of time. Are you in or out?"
"Screw you, batarian!" The man seethed through the pain as he threw his head back, groaning in pain as blood filled the hole at the top of his boot.
The salarian managed to scramble to the arrived elevator cart to escape; Bray knew that most likely he was alarming C-Sec and they would be inbound in about ten minutes. He didn't flinch. "Looks like you won't be able to get with Aria after all," He hissed as he moved his pistol away from the man's head and shoved it hard up against Vossk's groin. He slowly pushed the barrel hard against the vulnerable area for a dramatic effect as he leered with intent.
Vossk yelped wildly in panic as sweat beads formed on his face. "No! No!"
The chime from an arriving elevator was Bray's cue. He quickly removed his pistol and shoved Vossk into his two down men, making them tumble down to the floor once more. He darted into the elevator shaft where a young female human was inside. She screamed as he entered with his pistol in hand. Holding his hand to her mouth to stifle her screams, he punched another floor number five down. Only when he heard the doors shut and the cart move to its destination did he slowly remove his hand from her terrified face. "Trust me," He said gently as he stashed away his weapon. "You don't want that floor. Get off at the next stop."
The girl, most likely in her twenties, squeezed herself in the corner with tears coming down her face. She nodded at his order, but said nothing. Exhaling slowly, Bray shook his head. "What a fucking day off."
"You have an incoming call," The apartment's VI announced as Krysta stepped out of the shower.
"Always something," She moaned by the interruption. Wrapping the white plush towel around her waist, she tiptoed from the bathroom to the master bedroom to answer the call. "Answer no vid."
"Shepard, sorry to reach out just after you docked," Commander Bailey greeted her on the other end. "Some disturbing news reached my desk."
"I'm listening."
"During the Cerberus attack, a group managed to break into our detention center and release a few detainees."
"Any trends, Commander?" Krysta asked as she scrunched the water out of her locks with her towel.
"Most had racist charges; prorbably Cerberus sympatheziers. One of them is a familiar face, after all, you were the one that practically gave him to us."
She paused at her task. "Oh?"
"Harkin."
Shepard's mind flashed to when she helped Garrus track down Sidonis on the station. She allowed her turian companion to shoot Harkin in the knee after he set up the meeting with the other turian. Despite hearing his confession about Omega, Krysta still allowed Vakarian to seek his revenge and Sidonis' life with a snipe to the head. Harkin was arrested for hacking C-Sec Intel given his history of their systems and aligning up jobs for the Blue Suns on the station. "He's no threat to us, Bailey," She spat. The balding man was crude and a disgrace to C-Sec. She would have gladly allowed Garrus to shoot the man dead if he asked.
"I wondered how Cerberus managed to break into C-Sec so easily….now I am thinking that he was feeding them information for years," He sighed hard in aggravation. "I don't how anyone could support a group like that."
"Creds do a lot of talking," She stated matter-of-factly as she walked over to the wardrobe closet to see what the admiral stocked up for her. D
"He claimed to know who Sidonis down in the wards," He hesitated to allow the reality of the situation became clearer. "He, uh, said that it was your friend, Garrus Vakarian." A light chuckle filled the speaker. "Harkin gave up the information for a bargaining chip in a plea deal."
"What kind of deal?" She paused at the disclosure.
"He tells us who murdered Sidonis and we knock a few years off his sentence. You know how these things go."
Pivoting on her heel to face an invisible figure hrough the speaker, she clenched the towel at the top of her waist. "Commander, with all due respect to you and C-Sec, Harkin is an asshole. I gave Garrus the order to take the hit so it's official Spectre business."
"I figured that is what you would say if I told you," He admitted. "I closed the case out as soon as security cams flagged your presence in the area during the time of the murder. I have no idea why Cerberus broke out Harkin. I wanted to warn your friend. He used to be C-Sec."
"Thank you, Commander," She tried to lighten up a bit. Her words were brash to the man and she knew it was in defense of a longtime friend. "I'll pass the word along and if I come across Harkin, I'll make sure to deal with him."
Bailey chuckled at this. "I'm sure if he comes across you, Shepard, he would regret letting Cerberus pull him out of here. Reach out if you need anything."