MASS EFFECT: ENTANGLED

CHAPTER 26

After a brief bioscan at the security check-in, C-Sec granted Alivia passage onto the Alliance docks to where the Normandy SR-2 was currently berthed. A few under ranking Alliance officers fired her quick salutes as she passed by, and she gave them a gallant acknowledging head nod. A light, brown-skinned female officer exited the docking elevator as she rounded the corner. The unknown female quickly noted Alivia's arrival and paused in her trek to greet her. "Hello, there. Specialist Traynor. May I be of some service, Lieutenant?"

"I was looking for Commander Shepard. Is she onboard?" Alivia felt her words stumbling out of her mouth as her heart picked up speed inside her chest. She felt so apprehensive standing there in her gear. What would she say? The action was so spontaneous that she didn't really have a plan.

Traynor shook her head. "I apologize but the commander had urgent business as soon as we docked. I can pass along a message for you if you would like."

"Yes, Lieutenant Alivia Lykaia. Shepard and I have met… before…." She decided not to do a full disclosure. "I'm heading out, but I was hoping to catch her. Tell her that I heard of what happened to Thane and-," A hard lump formed in her throat. It was difficult to state his name. Her heart felt like it was forever mourning his memory. "I'm heading back out in the fight. I'm staying strong for both of them."

Bewildered by the cryptic message, Traynor blinked. "I…understand and will make sure this gets to her. Good luck out there." She tossed out a small supportive smile. "We are all in this together."

Alivia returned the smile. "Yes, we are." She didn't allow herself to exhale until she moved away towards the security checkpoint once more; there was one more place to go. Before leaving her apartment earlier, she made contact with Admiral Hackett and requested early deployment. He told her there was transport already on the station set to leave that day. She would make a switch to join up with her squadmates. Wherever they were, she couldn't get to them right away. She prayed that they would all make it out alive on the mission without her. Her hand moved to the harness pouch where she kept the trinket that Kolyat gave her. Her fingertips rubbed the metal object, and she closed her eyes momentarily to regain her inner strength. "I got this. I got this for you, Thane."

"They have been gone in that backroom for a while now," One of the Suns gibed at the surveillance terminal.

"Too bad we don't have a cam in that room," Another tittered. "Must be a good fuck."

"Shut up, the both of you!" Vossk fumed from where he sat, glowering at the feed from the main room within Chasm. Krysta and Bray moved to a back room outside their recording a few minutes after her arrival. Neither came out for an hour so far. "Did you get this intel over to Harkin? Make sure that asshole pays us."

"It's been sending, boss."

Vossk gritted his teeth as the anger in his eyes elevated. He hated that batarian so much and now, even more so after taking his chance away from Shepard. He believed he could have blackmailed her into a quick score; her and Aria. Bray was pissing him off so much and he was tired of playing games. Aria was making him look like a fool. He rose sharply from his seat. "I'm going to take a piss. Keep the feed going and make note of when they leave." He chuckled under his breath as he moved towards the room's door, "I'm sure Aria would love to know that her little pet is betraying her with the Spectre. That blue ass will be mine."

Two hours later, Citadel:

Harkin beamed triumphantly as he stood outside the apartment in the upper wards, the meeting spot with his new revenue. He would make a return soon enough and get back at Garrus and C-Sec. The Fade would not be snuffed out. No one greeted him at the door when he first entered, but he saw the same woman and male standing there inside. "Took you long enough," The male edgily noted. "You have the intel? Where is she?"

"I'm doing you two a huge favor," Harkin sourly spat as he opened his omni tool to reveal the stored video feed from the Blue Suns. "They tracked her down to Chasm a few hours ago. She met up with a batarian, one of Aria T'Loak's people, the two went to a backroom and didn't come back yet." A twisted grin moved on his face. "Looks like the savior of the Citadel is not so holy after all. Anderson knows how to pick 'em."

"Fucking disgusting," The male looked over at his woman companion. "Who is this Aria T'Loak?"

Harkin lifted an eyebrow in surprise. "You have no idea who she is?"

"We have enough. Shepard's here and distracted. We should move out, "The woman ignored the other's question.

"I need to take care of something first," The male clone disagreed as he moved past them both to make his way to the door.

"Wait a minute," Harkin called after him in vexation then looked back over at the unidentified woman. "Where the hell is my payment?"

The man motioned to the woman with his head. "You heard the man, Brooks. Make sure he's paid."

Unholstering a hidden pistol, Brooks aimed and shot Harkin right in the forehead just as he turned around to her. Blood and brain matter splattered as his dead body collapsed to the floor. His eyes were still wide with shock as blood trickled out from the hole in the center of his head. Brooks sighed haphazardly as her brown eyes stared down at his corpse. "I hate cleaning up these messes."

"Just make sure there's no trace of him," The Shepard Clone directed. "I don't need you fucking things up now."

"Where are you going?" When he didn't answer, she glared hard as she moved her pistol away once more. "I know you are eager to face her but do not seek her out. We need to stay with the plan."

The clone paused at the door and pivoted on his heel to face her. "I'm not seeing her."

"You have a new message," The apartment's VI alerted through the bathroom's comm speaker.

"Go away," Krysta grumbled as she left her head pressed against the smooth shower tile wall as the hot water caressed her body. She needed peace and time to herself. The sweat and body fluids were washed away by the soap earlier, but she still felt so dirty inside. She slapped the wall hard with her hand as she yelled out in aggravation. "What the hell is wrong with me?!" Her soaked long blonde hair strands fell in her face. "Kaidan…" Tears fell down her face. She was so out of control. The whole ordeal felt like something else was driving her body and actions once she docked. Her mind relayed the earlier events; the pleasure Bray gave her when he was inside of her. She had to admit it, she enjoyed it. The way he caressed her body sent shivers down her spine. His thrusts were powerful and unforgiving. He seemed well experienced in sex, and she wasn't to terms with what to make of it. Was she just another fling to him? Jealousy wormed its way into her head, and she wondered just how many partners he had before her. Were they batarians? Asari? She knew humans were off the list. He didn't seem the type to have anything serious previously; at least that's what was shown by Liara's profile on him. Was she just another mark? Cutting off the water, she stepped out onto the plush white mat and shivered as she reached beside her to grab the towel. "Why the hell am I getting so worked up about this?" She muttered heatedly under her breath. "No strings. I dealt with stress, and I'm done." Dipping her head down, she took the towel and dried her locks of hair. "I need some sushi. I'm starving."

Back in his standard green armor, Bray hurried from the skycar drop-off towards the Purgatory's VIP entrance. A buzz-cut human male bumped into him from the right, catching him off guard. "Oh, shit. Sorry," The male blubbered. Bray bit his tongue from cussing him out. "Hey, wait! I saw you here a few nights ago," The offending male exclaimed eagerly. "Extranet rumors placed Aria T' Loak here and you know how they go? I figured it was fake. I came here and there she was: The Queen of Omega, herself. She's just as beautiful as they said, but man I'm sure she would kill me."

Bray scowled at the man. "Look, no fans." He continued his way, but the man relentlessly stayed by his side.

"I saw your name on the Armax Arena Top Contenders. You have lots of attention, Bray," Shepard's clone continued, oddly emphasizing the latter sentence and his name. "Of course, Commander Shepard is right at the top. No way you can beat her."

Hearing Krysta's name, Bray dodged the man's eyes to avoid any further direct contact. He and she ended their meetup on bad terms. He reminded her that he couldn't take her former lover's place and she bitterly agreed. He was foolish to give in to his desires and now he was back on Aria's shit list for his tardiness with no agreement to help with the assault. The man seemed to finally let up his pestering, "Hey, sorry again for bumping you into like that. I better head out."

Bray shook his head as he went on inside. "That was fucking weird."

"Was that really necessary?" Brooks griped in the clone's ear comm after he walked away from the VIP entrance.

"You tracking me now too? You told me that Shepard used to be a gang member on Earth. Looks like old habits die hard if she's messing around with Aria' group. She has defiled the name of Shepard; another reason to take her out," Male Shepard seethed.

"I'm in position. Shepard is on the way to the meting point."

"I am Shepard and when I deal with her, then I will come back and take that batarian out one eye at a time."

One Hour Later, Citadel

When she arrived at Purgatory's main entrance, Alivia noticed a large group of various species hanging around in idle chatter. Some were waiting on others to join up while a few were drunk. She decided to make the stop to grab one shot to calm her nerves before she heading out: nothing too potent. A large line was waiting to get in which discouraged her. There was an escalator to her left for the VIP section. A group of Alliance soldiers diverted over to that free queue. Biting her lip, Alivia hurried up to join them. "Hey, guys!"

One of the marines turned back to face her and then waved. "'Sup? You got leave, too?"

"Hey, come join us," Another fellow female officer beckoned. "Our first night and Frank here is going to get hammered."

"I thought I was the designated," The younger marine which Alivia pegged to be Frank spoke up.

"Nah, no designateds here tonight," The first male officer teased. "You get first round."

"I didn't know we could get VIP. This is pretty neat," Alivia felt relieved to not be alone.

"You kidding? You want to stand in line down there?" Frank questioned as they rode up the escalator to the second floor. "The VIP is where it's at."

Once inside, Alivia resisted the temptation to bob her head or body along with the music as she strolled along with her newfound comrades. The place was enormous, and it was only one of the levels. She noticed more marines near the far back of the club where one of the bars was. As she followed her friends up the stairs to move towards their unofficial indicated section, her silver eyes panned around and then did a double take when she saw Aria sitting in a private section with Bray at her side. Alivia's face became pale, and her heart raced inside her chest. "Shit…shit...," She diverted her gaze and hid her face the best she could with her hand as she turned her back to them to follow the marines. She dared not to look to see if they noticed her or not. Why of all places was Aria on the Citadel? Alivia forced herself to remain calm and ignore the threat as she stopped at the bar with her friends to make their drink selections. This was going to be a quick trip for her and now she had to find a way to exit the club without being seen. What was she going to do?

"The most up-to-date intel is that the Gozu District has gone dark. Heavy artillery was heading that way. Those bastards are up to something…." Aria studied the holo image of her station from where she sat. Her blue eyes glanced out of her booth, perturbed by something. "This place lacks the perks that Afterlife had. Bray, get a server to bring me my wine and I expect them to be here for the rest of their shift."

"On it." The batarian dutifully left his post to fulfill the request. Both sets of his eyes avoided any direct glances with fellow patrons. Most of them didn't care for Aria's presence, given her reputation and he was right up there with her. A young asari maiden approached the nearby counter to grab a customer's order when Bray stopped her. "Aria needs her usual and she expects you to refill it when she needs it."

The asari glanced over at her co-worker who was also fulfilling the busy drink request before nodding her head at the order. "I'll be right over."

Huffing in gratitude for the lack of any further confrontation, Bray turned to move back to his post when a familiar and troubling face neared his way. His eyes widened as he watched Alivia in Alliance gear come out of nowhere. "What the hell?"

"Heh, long time no see, Bray. This is awkward," She tried to laugh off the uncomfortable state that she was in. "What are you and Aria doing here?"

"You don't watch all the news, huh? Cerberus hit Omega with some crazy creatures. We are here so Aria can get help." He pointed to her getup. "You with the Alliance now? You like to switch sides."

"I never left them."

"Sure, okay." He sidestepped around her to move back to his boss.

Alivia would not let up and pursued him. "Did you know that Shepard is here?"

"Wh-why would I care?" He grunted as his eyes broke in connection with her own as guilt consumed him.

She caught onto this. Something was troubling him. "You know it…"

"Everyone knows it…."

A pair of chatty asari moved past them towards the bar. "Oh, did you hear the news?" One asked the other.

"What's that?"

"That new sushi place, Ryuusei's is closed up and took damage."

"Really? What a shame. I had reservations to go there next week."

"Heard C-Sec had the whole place lockdown after several armed men appeared. Commander Shepard was also there when it happened."

"Her again? She always brings trouble here."

Bray and Alivia shared shocked expressions at what they overheard as the asari passed by. "What?!"