Disclaimer: I do no own Mass Effect, I do not claim to own Mass Effect, I am only doing this for fun.
Author Notes: Well, this is it. The conclusion of the Skyfall arc. As an additional disclaimer, I want to say that I am not a geneticist, so please pardon me if I egregiously misunderstood a certain important detail. That said, please enjoy!
Episode 52: Skyfall [Part III]
Citadel Security Headquarters…
Castis had just arrived at the office, carrying his second morning kava, and Bellacus ambushed him with a message from T'Veris. She had worked the night through to complete the additional tests on the blood and apparently had something to show him. Bellacus warned him that she was more excited than she should be considering she had not slept.
Castis dismissed the junior detective, signed into the system, and then made his way to the lab, still carrying his kava. T'Veris was not the only one who got little sleep that night. He had been up until very late poring over the materials Shepard provided. As a result he only got three hours of sleep, which was way too little. It was at times like these that Castis acutely felt his fifties.
The lab door opened for him as soon as he drew near it, allowing him to walk right in.
"Good morning, Castis!" T'Veris called without even looking up from her terminal.
Bellacus had been right, she was far more energetic than she ought to have been, despite getting no sleep at all. At ten times his age, when T'Veris thought she solved a case she turned back into a maiden. "Good morning," he said calmly as he approached her.
T'Veris tutted, "I know that tone, you have not slept, have you?"
Castis hummed. Just like that the matron was back, and mothering him. "I do not have the luxury. Forty hours have passed, we must either formalize the charges against Shepard, or let her go."
"I do worry about you, you know that?" T'Veris asked.
"I appreciate it, but duty first." Castis replied. "Bellacus said you found something."
"Of course." T'Veris replied as she brought up a series of files. "Here, take a look at this. I conducted full sequencing tests on all the samples I have, but at the top here are the three important samples."
Castis leaned down to look at the screen over her shoulder. The file she pulled up contained the numerical representations of genetic code from the samples.
"The first is the blood I personally took from Commander Shepard yesterday. The second is the blood on the undersuit fibers. The third comes from the trail of blood drips we found a few vehicles away from the spot where Venari was attacked."
"I am not seeing any differences," Castis said, the numbers were all the same.
"Exactly. Samples two and three are absolutely identical!"
"Both came from the same source, from the attacker's wound," Castis said, more to himself than to T'Veris. Shepard seemed to suspect that there would be a difference, except there was none. Where did that leave them?
The asari tutted again, "I did say that only samples two and three are identical! Here take a look at this section…" T'Veris scrolled down the list of values and stopped where a series of colored ribbons emphasized values that differed.
Castis stared at them. He was not a genetics expert like T'Veris, so he was not sure what he was looking at, but it was something. Any difference of values in genetic material meant there was no actual match. "What are those?" He asked.
"You are looking at the telomere lengths. Humans are naturally born with about eleven kilobases. I can tell you that the Commander was indeed genetically engineered, she still has eleven! The important part is that telomeres shorten as the cells divide and replicate."
"So what does it mean that samples two and three have… seven kilobases?" Castis could tell that T'Veris expected him to see something, but she forgot that he was not an expert in five different areas of biology, least of all exogenetics.
T'Veris looked over her shoulder and smiled. "My expert opinion is that you are looking for someone who has the same genetic code as the Commander, but their DNA… it is like their cells had been made to divide many more times than the Commander's."
Were they looking for someone older than Shepard? "So it is not Shepard? Are you sure?"
"It is not her, and I am absolutely sure. I double and triple checked all the blood samples after I found this discrepancy. All the blood from the scene has seven kilobases of telomeres. Castis, I would not have looked for the difference if the Commander had not given me a current sample for comparison. Telomeres are repetitive and universal, basically useless for identification. I would normally only look at them if I needed a rough age estimate."
"So… how did this happen?" Castis asked.
"Your theory will be as good as mine. The only thing I can think of… is if the entire blood volume was replaced with artificially-generated blood prior to the attack, and swapped back again in the hours after, just to defeat our test. Doing that is… a little ridiculous, and I found no evidence of such a procedure. The blood from the parking lot is not Commander Shepard's."
Castis hummed. The thought that someone would replace their whole blood volume twice over in order to defeat the genetic tests, just in case they were injured, was ridiculous. T'Veris was right to scoff at the idea, and she also did not know what Shepard had told him during their last meeting. Castis saw a possibility T'Veris could not. Banes had cloned himself to fake his death. Shepard assumed he cloned her blood to plant as evidence. However, in light of this revelation, Castis could only conclude that Shepard had not thought to the last, extreme possibility of that proposition. "Could the difference in telomeres be caused by an intentionally-accelerated aging process? Could this individual be Shepard's… clone?"
"A clone?" T'Veris repeated, and then her eyes widened. "In theory… But Castis, a full-body clone is just that, a body. She would have had to learn to walk, talk, and control her bodily functions. If the one who attacked Venari was a clone- I suppose it might be possible, but the resources and time required… who would do that?"
Castis knew where the incredulity came from. This time yesterday he would not have thought it possible that someone might clone an individual whole. Except he had seen Shepard's evidence with his own eyes. He even had a night shift technician perform a facial recognition test on a screen-photograph from the taunting video Armistan Banes against the one in his Alliance file. It took the technician just ten minutes to tell him that there was a match. What more, Banes taunted the Commander by name, and even called his work a proof of concept. By his own admission he could clone someone. However, could Banes actually teach a clone to kill in such a short time span? It certainly seemed like he could. "It would seem that there is someone who had done that."
"By the Goddess… who? Wait, how did you know?"
"Shepard provided me with some rather interesting information."
"I see. Well- will you tell me? I would like to know- but suppose that will have to wait. First, we need to finish here. I hear we have no material evidence linking her to the crimes, and now I can tell you that the blood we found was not hers either."
"I will not formalize the charges against her," Castis said.
"Oh good. Good-good. I'll be honest with you… I did not want this to go to trial. I would not know what to do with myself if she was guilty. I would not want to hurt Garrus like that."
Castis sighed, T'Veris' maternal side considered everyone younger than her as children. "Spirits. I never imagined that something like this could happen."
"This does seem like one of those once-in-a-lifetime cases. Even my lifetime," T'Veris agreed. "I do not know what made the Commander give us a blood sample, but whatever it is, it exonerated her. Castis, I do not think she is… quite what she presents herself to be."
"Oh?" Castis asked.
"She… plays the fool, when it is useful to her," T'Veris went on, "while in actuality she is anything but. Yesterday I slipped up. I was answering some questions for Bellacus, and for a brief moment I forgot she was in the room. I mentioned the fibers and the multiple samples. She pretended to have been lost in thought. It was a good act, but I've been alive for five centuries, long enough to recognize an act."
Castis stared at the asari for a long moment. That was hardly a revelation. No one who witnessed Shepard converse with Arterius could ever conclude that she was naïve or intellectually deficient. He also noted how quickly she used his own passing mentions of the fibers and the multiple blood samples. At the time he thought she was desperate for anything that could prove her innocence. Now, he realized that she must have been waiting for him to mention them. She got the better of him as easily as she got the better of Arterius. "Thank you."
T'Veris smiled, "You're welcome."
"Now excuse me. I need to organize one final meeting, it is time to finish this." Castis did not like this situation. He has done his best to keep Garrus away from the sort of business Spectres dealt with. Yet, not only had Garrus become involved, but he was also under the influence of someone who was a match for Arterius. To make matters worse it was obvious that Garrus had grown attached to her.
An Hour Later…
Shepard had not been disappointed when Bellacus arrived just after she finished her breakfast to announce that Castis Vakarian called another meeting. She had been expecting it. Neither was she surprised when the junior detective took her to the same meeting room. She was somewhat mildly surprised that waiting for her there were both Nihlus and Garrus. However she did not get to talk with them as the lawyer arrived a minute later, and Castis Vakarian followed barely five minutes after that. The last arrival this time was Saren. By the look he spared Castis he was irritated, and Shepard could not tell whether it was because he was contacted on short-notice, or aware that he would not have his way.
When Castis steered the group into the room Shepard felt a hand brush her shoulder and looked up. It was Garrus, he was still not allowed into that meeting room, as he was not a Spectre or a lawyer. She spared him another smile and moved ahead. She found her seat, acutely aware that Nihlus took up position behind her, with his hands on the back of her chair. After that the meeting began with few preliminaries. Castis steered the discussion right to the blood tests. Shepard could only appreciate the detective's professionalism. Despite everything he must have learned in the past hours he displayed no hint of ill will, dislike, or anything else.
Castis took almost ten minutes to explain what T'Veris found, and why it was significant, in as plain a language as possible. Shepard listened without making a sound. She was no biologist, geneticist, or even a doctor, so some of the jargon went right over her head. Still, she got the salient part. The source of the DNA was identical to hers, but apparently either older, or the cells had been forced to divide many more times than hers. She tossed the idea of older right out the metaphorical window. Which left only a single possibility, and the thought of a clone made her blood run cold.
"Just to clarify," the lawyer stepped in. "In light of this evidence, what of the charges against my client?"
Shepard glanced at him from the corner of her eye. She would let him take over, for now, because right then, she struggled to wrap her head around the idea that Banes somehow cloned her, just so he could frame her. The audacity of it was one thing, but his arrogance was another. He thought he could get away with that.
Castis spared the lawyer a perfectly blank look for a long moment, but then turned back to her. "Commander, in light of this evidence… I no longer consider you a suspect. The charges against you will be withdrawn and everything we took as evidence will be returned."
Shepard felt Nihlus' fingers ghost across her shoulders. "Thank you," she said. There was nothing else to say. Some paranoid part of her would not believe it until she was back on the Normandy.
"Well, now that this farce is over… it remains to find the real killer." Nihlus said.
Shepard almost froze in place. To her, Nihlus' tone sounded almost friendly, but Nihlus was hardly the type to say something like that casually. Was now the time for a guided ascorbic comment of the sort Nihlus loved to launch? The glare Castis sent over her head told her exactly how the detective took it.
A moment later Castis' gaze dropped back to her, "Commander while you are cleared of all charges, I would advise you to stay out of this investigation."
Shepard leaned forward in her seat. Castis must have realized that she could restrain Nihlus, but he was not entirely correct in his assumption that she would restrain Nihlus. Shepard had half a mind to assert some superiority of her own, just this once. Banes made this personal. It was going to be the last mistake he made. "Detective, I firmly believe that this case is in very capable hands. I will leave it at that." That was not a total lie, she truly believed Castis could handle the case on his own, eventually, but she simply did not care to wait that long.
Castis gave her a blank evaluating stare, but said nothing.
Saren hummed, low in the back of his throat.
Shepard kept her face perfectly blank. She had said her piece, anything else would make the lie even more obvious. She would hunt down that clone, and if she later brought her to Castis, he would not be able to protest. The biggest concern right then was Saren. He would not buy the subterfuge. He unfortunately knew her a little too well for that. However, would he warn Castis? Somehow she doubted he would go that far. He would sooner take the chance that she would botch things and let him have something to hold against her. Shepard was not above using his machinations against him.
"Detective, if you intend to release my client, then I believe there is nothing further to discuss." The lawyer slipped in, breaking the silence that had settled on the room.
Castis shifted in his seat, "Yes, but Commander, I must ask you to remain inside the station while we process some final paperwork."
"No problem," Shepard replied automatically. There it was, the final bureaucracy. She would not be released until she signed the final forms, and in hindsight, maybe she should not have said what she did, until they were. Well, there was no taking it back. She watched as the detective shut down the terminal and got up from his seat. A moment later he left the room.
When the door closed, Saren pushed off the wall and his arms dropped to his sides, "I have to report this to the Council."
The announcement was hardly a revelation. Sparatus would get quite the earful, and neither of them would enjoy it. The thought amused Shepard more than it ought to have. "Have a good day, Spectre, and thank you." Shepard replied. It was her way of sticking it to him one last time. He would not be having a good day at all.
Saren glowered, but did not reply as he moved toward the door. Shepard listened for it to open and close behind him even as she shifted mental tracks. Right now she needed to talk with Nihlus and Garrus somewhere without being overheard.
"Congratulations, Commander." The lawyer said.
That jarred her from her thoughts. "I did not win a prize, don't congratulate me." She spared him a blank look. His presence was officially unwanted, and what more, she had plenty of time to consider his behavior the day before, and it stirred her paranoid sixth sense.
"Ah… right, my apologies." He mumbled. "Well it has been a pleasure representing you. Now, do not worry about the final details. I will ensure that everything is above board. Please excuse me."
Shepard almost smiled at his retreating back, but stopped herself as it would not do to be seen doing so. When the door closed behind him, she rose to her feet and glanced toward her mentor. "That lawyer is making more than one alarm ring in my head." She announced.
"You are not the only one, and do not worry, I intend to look into that." Nihlus said.
Shepard nodded and smiled as she moved toward the door. The moment they opened for her, Garrus was right there at her side.
"Commander, are you alright?" he asked.
"I will be Garrus, just as soon as I get my hands on that Cerberus clone and throw her at your father's feet. Cerberus crossed the line. Even my patience has a limit."
"Is there really a clone?" Garrus wondered.
"It is the only thing that would make sense, as preposterous as that thought is." Shepard replied.
"Spirits… well, you know that I will gladly help in whatever way I can."
Shepard smiled at him, of course Garrus would help. "I know, Garrus, and thank you."
"We should not be having this conversation here." Nihlus added quietly.
"That's given, Nihlus. Right now, I need my omni-tool unlocked and my gear back. I don't even want to think about the damage careless handling might have caused." It was the least of her worries, but it was definitely on the list.
Hours later Shepard was still at the station, waiting for C-sec to finish processing the paperwork. She also did not have an opportunity to talk with Nihlus and Garrus without the risk of being overheard. Thus with each passing minute, her patience ran just a little bit thinner. This was her time that was being wasted, important time.
Complicating things further was the new developments. About an hour into the wait someone came by to unlock her omni-tool, which allowed her to contact the outside world. She used the opportunity to pass Kaidan some assurances and instructions via text message. The lieutenant made a crack about bureaucrats but then told her to leave everything to him. A few minutes later EDI contacted her to pass along the messages she deemed important.
Shepard was utterly unsurprised to find one from her mother. It was not very long, but displayed a curious mix of worry and irritation, the latter aimed entirely at Citadel Security and the fact that they dared arrest her at all. Hannah clearly did not know the names of those involved, because if she knew about Saren, her comments would have turned vitriolic. Shepard suspected that Admiral Hackett intentionally once again kept the names out of the conversation, but she also knew that her mother would see through that. Shepard would have to thank the admiral for that bit of self-sacrifice. Shepard did not want her mother to know that Castis Vakarian had been lead detective. As far as she was concerned, Castis had done his job. It was best to leave everything at that, pride be damned.
The other message was much longer and came from the admiral himself. Hackett confirmed what Shepard suspected, Castis had contacted him to verify her alibi. The rest of the message was what amounted to one long warning. While the admiral knew that she had not assassinated anyone, there were those who believed she did, because it behooved them to believe that. To make matters worse, some went above and beyond to say she was ordered to carry out the assassinations. Which amounted to an attack on Hackett himself. There were also those who took issue with the fact that Citadel Security had been allowed aboard the Normandy. Some insisted that she should have ordered her crew to maintain total lockdown. Took one for their pride. Shepard would have very much loved to tell them where they could shove that pride.
Shepard wordlessly passed that message on to Nihlus and Garrus. She could read between the lines, the admiral was fielding the fallout. There would be an inquiry before anything happened, but it could turn ugly unless the admiral had actual answers. She needed to find the real killer, as only that could clear her name unequivocally. The fact that the clone might have information would be an added bonus.
Elsewhere, One Hour Later…
Jezebel abandoned the micro-apartment and found herself a low-cost hotel room in lower Zakera Ward. It was somewhat more upscale than her apartment, but hardly a palace. It was smaller than the apartment and had no kitchen at all. Not that it mattered, she did not want to remain on the station longer than she absolutely had to. It was hardly a solution, but the motel was operated by an Asari, and most of the staff were non-humans as well, meaning it was less likely that anyone would recognize her, or report her to Mister King. Overall, it was the best thing she could do given the mess she was in.
She was currently in the process of making arrangements to get off the station. She would never book a direct shuttle from the Citadel to her final destination, as that would be trackable. So she needed multiple stop-overs, and a good change of identity, which ballooned costs and complexity. Currently, she sat on the bed, doing some background research on Nos Astra, her first stop.
The place had an immediate appeal with its weird regulated lawlessness. It was possible to buy a whole new identity with matching paperwork at the face markets there. She just needed to find and contact the right individuals, to make sure everything was ready for her. On the short-stop, she would perform simple cosmetic alteration with a bottle of hair dye and colored contacts.
Suddenly her omni-tool pinged. She had set it up to monitor the Citadel News Network for any mention of Venari Pallin or assassinations as that wound inevitably be mentioned in any update. She quickly brought up the news bulletin, and within thirty seconds her blood ran cold. The channel's correspondent with Citadel Security had just gotten word that all charges against the individual arrested for the attack on Venari Pallin had been dropped.
Jezebel's free hand rose to her hair. This was officially a disaster! They made that initial arrest based on DNA, but now they let the unknown woman go. They knew there was someone else on the station who matched. Right then the door had shut in her face. There was no way she could book a flight off the station and hope to pass security screening at the terminal. Hair dye and contact lenses would not work against facial recognition that analyzed bone structure and facial proportions. She sure as hell could not gain forty kilograms in a couple days to have any hope of distorting that.
Then her eyes landed on the final paragraph, barely a two lines which made for a glorified addendum. Citadel Security was expected to issue an apology to one Lieutenant Commander Jocelyn Shepard for their error in identifying her as a suspect. Jezebel stared at the line, since when did Citadel Security offer apologies of this sort? Well, she supposed they might apologize to someone highly placed. Which begged the question, just who was this Commander Shepard? Jezebel opened a new tab, typed in the name, and pressed search.
Citadel Security Headquarters…
Another three hours passed, and the waiting was beginning to feel like a day short of eternity for Shepard. Still, things began to move about two and a half hours previously. Apparently Citadel Security were honest about releasing her, to the point that a press release announced the charges against her were dropped. There was also something about issuing an apology, but Shepard did not get enough time to think about it as barely a few minutes later two officers arrived, carrying a crate with her gear and a datapad. She had to confirm that the items belonged to her and then sign material evidence release forms. This pushed the curiosity aside and turned her attention to her gear.
The damage to her armor's undersuit was evident for all to see. The shoulder area where the forensics took fiber samples had been circled in pink dye, and in the center was a sizable hole. The suit was made useless for the void and would have to be replaced, again. At this rate she was going to write some sort of statistic on how many of these one soldier could go through.
Her weapons had fared much better. Sin and Dex seemed alright, at least nothing rattled inside, which eliminated obvious damage. Still, there was the possibility of less obvious damage, which she would not detect until she did a thorough inspection, complete with range tests. Both had their ammo block and energy packs installed, though no thermal clips, and they were even charged, which surprised her. Nike likewise looked no worse for wear, charged, but also without a thermal clip. After that Shepard signed the form confirming that the things were hers, which let the two junior officers walk off.
After that there was more waiting as Castis Vakarian had not yet given her a release form to sign, and without that she was technically still in custody. Shepard wondered what was taking so long, but then decided to chalk it up to bureaucracy, as that was the only possibility that would merely irritate her. Castis would not be pulling a fast one on her, not with that press release. She chose to take the fact that Garrus did not appear worried at face value. He knew best how long C-sec's bureaucratic machinery could drag its feet. Nihlus spent the hours alternating between sitting and glowering at officers that passed by, and pacing like a caged wild cat. Shepard could tell he was slowly growing angrier, but she also knew it would not help matters.
Thus, by the time the three hours passed, as boredom crept in, Shepard turned to the only outlet she could think of, indulging herself in curiosity. She finally gave up on holding back, reached into the gear crate, and picked up the folded black and red rifle which lay next to Nike. The weapon was definitely complete, there was an ammo block and a power storage unit installed, and it still had power. The rifle itself was a piece of art. Its outer housing was the exact same shade of abyss black as her armor, detailed with wine red lines, the barrel was a slightly lighter dark grey. Legion had also used a matte gloss sealant top-coat. The lights from the ceiling had to hit it just right to show even a hint of reflection.
"I was wondering when you would do that, Commander," Garrus said.
"Two and a half hours, Shepard. That is more patience than I would have had." Nihlus added, tone entirely too close to sing-song, and with a teeth-baring smile.
"If I only lasted ten minutes it would still be more patience than you have." Shepard replied blandly.
"And that is a direct hit," Garrus laughed.
"I… asked for that one." Nihlus rumbled. "Well, alright, so what do you think of your reward for spoiling your adopted geth-child?"
Shepard looked up, that was just so him. Nihlus would admit to taking that hit on the nose, and then take a swing in return all the same. "Losing your touch there. I really don't think Legion built it for me." The rifle weighed considerably more than Nike. "The recoil of Legion's gun is plainly unsafe for organics. This one is probably just lighter, an anti-personnel weapon they made for their own use. Though I don't know why they colored it like my armor."
"And I would still wager a month's pay that they built it for you." Nihlus replied.
Shepard tipped her head to the side. "Alright, the only way to settle this is by asking Legion, but for the record, seeing as I don't pay you... even if you're right, you'll still get nothing." With that said Shepard turned the rifle over and flicked her finger over the activation button. The rifle instantly unfolded and extended, more than doubling in length. Its shape was definitely identical to Legion's own, but Shepard refused to believe that it would be as powerful as that anti-materiel monster the geth could use like a light DMR.
She peered down the scope, angling it at the floor. The magnification was truly something, it made every detail pop. The crosshairs were a set of virtual lines etched into the lenses by laser, and then lit by a small element at the bottom, using a clever trick of refraction. Right then they were dark, but it would not be difficult to alter the color. This made her wonder, had Legion installed night-vision capability? She would be lying if she said that she was not a little bit jealous, simply because this rifle was such a magnificent feat of engineering, and she wanted to try it out herself.
"I suggest you put that away, Commander. Before you make someone nervous."
Shepard looked up and ghosted her finger over the activation switch, causing the rifle to fold up again. There was Bellacus, and he was grinning so wide all his teeth showed. "Sorry, curiosity kills the cat." She replied as her eyes passed beyond him to where Castis Vakarian stood. To her surprise, he was geared up in a full blue and black hardsuit. "Detective. Something tells me that… this isn't just about paperwork."
"It is not," Castis replied.
"Dad, what is going on?" Garrus asked.
"Did you see the Citadel News Network update bulletin?" Castis asked.
Shepard locked eyes with the detective. "We did."
Castis nodded, "Then the explanation will not take long."
Shepard blinked. What did the press release have to do with anything? A second ticked by and it dawned on her. To begin with the whole thing was unusual. They listed her full name and Alliance rank, though not her status as a Spectre in training, and promised an apology statement! Why make such a press release and then have her wait? Now Castis appeared before her, geared for potential combat. There was a reason behind all of this, that much she knew, but it was a jigsaw puzzle that she was yet to finish putting together.
"Commander, I am aware that you fully intend to pursue the individual who attempted to frame you."
"I would, yes." Shepard would not insult anyone's intelligence by denying that right then. Castis had every reason to suspect that Nihlus would let her do as she pleased.
"I do not intend to surrender this case to the Spectres."
"You really have no authority to stop us." Nihlus rumbled almost threateningly.
"Indeed. However, I have a proposition you might be interested in." Castis replied. "A few minutes ago someone called our anonymous informant line with the location of someone they insist bears an uncanny resemblance to the Commander. I am willing to let you assist me in arresting her, legally."
"Dad-"
"And if we do not… assist you?" Nihlus almost hissed, cutting Garrus off as if he was not there.
Shepard leaned back in her seat, caught the detective's gaze, and full-on grinned. Suddenly everything made sense. She had just been served a heaping helping of her own medicine. "I should think it's obvious, Nihlus. If we do not assist him, I will not see my release form for a few more hours." She crossed her legs and rested her elbows on her seat's armrests. "They will chalk it up as… bureaucratic errors, or a system glitch, and tack on an apology, yes?" She had already weighed the pros and cons of this arrangement and decided that the former outweighed the latter. "Let's cut the power plays, detective." If he took it as a reprimand, then it was a reprimand.
Castis motioned to the crate of gear off to the side. "If we are in agreement, then I suggest you suit up. I will provide you with thermal clips once we are on our way."
"Shepard you do not-"
Shepard chose to ignore the clear warning in Nihlus' tone right then. He was only unhappy because Castis was pressing authority over her -and him- by proxy. "Fine, detective, we will do things your way." She uncrossed her legs and got to her feet. As far as this went, it was still a two-way street. Sure, Castis got one over the Spectres, but Shepard was not so proud as to toss away what might be a shortcut to an overreaching goal just because of that. Her pride was hardly that sensitive.
"Excellent. Bellacus will show you where I will be."
"I want hazard pay for this." The other detective said blandly.
Castis spared him a rather frigid look, turned, and walked away.
Shepard did not waste time contemplating the how's and why's of the situation. Once Bellacus showed her an empty office, she was in her gear in under ten minutes. Her fatigues jacket and pants, which could not be worn underneath her undersuit, were rolled up as tightly as possible, and tucked into the waist level pouch on her webbing that normally contained thermal clips, and Legion's gun was attached behind her back. She felt uncomfortable with the added mass, but she would never leave it behind.
When she emerged from the office she could not miss the fact that Nihlus had been pacing in front of the door, and likely throwing murderous glares at Bellacus. The junior detective was leaning against the wall, tracking the Spectre's pacing. Garrus stood by the doorway, watching them both.
Shepard would not comment, but she understood what bothered Nihlus so much. He hated the mere thought of letting someone have one over him, however indirectly. Bellacus' quip about hazard pay had been a jest, but it showed he was aware of the mood. He was also paranoid enough to keep his eyes on the Spectre. As for Garrus, he was either trying to calculate the odds of a brawl, or wondering if both were crazy.
Then Bellacus pushed off the wall and said, "Follow me."
As Shepard passed the Spectre, she raised her hand and passed it along his upper arm. It was her way of telling him to calm down without saying a word.
Bellacus first led them down to the security checkpoint where Nihlus and Garrus had left their firearms. Shepard was utterly unsurprised to find that Nihlus had brought his automatic and sidearm. Garrus however, only brought his sidearm. After that, Bellacus led them to the patrol parking garage. It was about half-filled with vehicles with a scattering of officers, but two cruisers now stood by the station entrance. Castis was there in conversation with two armored turians officers by the far vehicle. The nearer had a box of thermal clips and a datapad on its roof.
Their arrival ended the conversation and the detective turned and made his way over. "We will take this cruiser," he announced.
Shepard nodded mutely. Behind him the two patrol officers climbed into their car without saying a word.
"However before we can depart, Commander, I need you to sign this last form." Castis picked up the datapad off the cruiser's roof and proffered it to her with a casualness that belied what was undeniably on it. "This is your release form. Without it, you are still technically in custody."
Shepard took the pad and glanced over the form's contents, to make sure that she was indeed signing a release form and not some late-game stunt. Not that she expected something that shady from the detective, but she was no fool either. At the end of the contact she used her finger to add her signature and then handed the whole pad over. Castis took about ten seconds to verify that the signature was properly applied, and then handed it over to Bellacus.
"Get that processed as quickly as you can. I want this joint operation legal by the time we get back." Castis said to the junior detective.
"I will do it myself," Bellacus replied.
"Good."
Bellacus turned and practically jogged back inside the station.
"Commander, with that signed, you are officially free. I do apologize for the… misunderstanding."
Nihlus snorted behind her back, but said nothing.
Shepard suspected that all the talk about an apology had been pro forma. "Given what happened, the misunderstanding could not be helped."
"On to business then… these are for you." Castis picked up the box sitting on the cruiser's roof and handed it to her. "I do not expect much trouble."
Shepard took it and peered inside, which revealed it full of thermal clips. Then, as the senior detective moved around the closest cruiser, she took a moment to fit them into her weapons and tuck the spares wherever she could in her webbing. There were enough for all her guns to have three, though Shepard would not put any into Legion's. She suspected that despite being toned down it would still only get one shot per clip, and she would not dare fire it.
After that she moved toward the cruiser's front seat. It took a few more minutes to get everyone settled and be on their way. Castis was driving. Nihlus was not happy to be in the back. Garrus was oddly quiet, just watching. Shepard suspected he might be wishing that his father would forget he was still there. However right then, Shepard would not linger on that. Garrus would forgive her if the foremost thing on her mind was the whole situation surrounding the release. All of this was a non-malicious con game. Now, being officially free and able to speak her mind she wanted to air things out.
As the cruiser climbed into the high speed traffic circling above the presidium's street level, its radio chattered quietly in the background. The second cruiser followed them closely. Shepard figured now was as good a time as any they would ever have. "Detective, may I ask a little question? It's to do with the circumstances behind this sudden joint operation."
Nihlus was suddenly grinning in the backseat, she could see his expression on the small dashboard vid feed that provided a view of the rear seat.
"What do you want to know?" Castis asked.
"Please correct me if I'm wrong…" Shepard began, though she very much doubted she was, "The reason for the delay and why I got an apology is because it allowed you to lay this trap. You wanted to keep me at the station so that there would be less false tips." Shepard figured might as well go in blunt.
She saw the detective's mandibles twitch and knew that she had hit that nail right on the head.
"I think that was obvious, Shepard." Nihlus said, smug as ever.
Shepard hummed, Nihlus would now expect her to make the detective rue the scheme. If their situations had been reversed, he would have tried to. "I wanted to say that there was no need for this… elaborate build up. I would have been perfectly happy to help with this." Perhaps saying that was a touch petty, but it was no less true. It would save her considerable time and keep the flimsy bridge between them from burning down, a total win-win.
The cruiser slipped into the covered transit lanes that ran in between the Presidium's inner and outer hulls. Here there were no windows to the outside, and no atmosphere either, muting external sounds, but making the hum of the cruiser's eezo core more pronounced. Castis stared at her like she had just grown a second head.
"I am aware of the long-standing rivalry between Citadel Security and the Spectre corps, but..." Shepard paused there. The words were right there on her tongue. However some part of her wondered, was she about to shoot herself in the foot? She really did not want Castis thinking she was just another Spectre. "Quite frankly, your assumption that I am more of the same is… made from very limited experience… and does not flatter either of us. I don't care about that rivalry enough perpetuate it, and I don't care who ends up looking better in the end. I value integrity more than pride or honor… and my definition of integrity means doing the right thing, even if no one ever acknowledges it." In fact she preferred to go unnoticed, but Castis did not need to know that.
Nihlus' grin had grown into a full on smile. Garrus was trying to angle as far away from the front seats as physically possible.
"I am willing to accept the possibility that I am wrong, but it remains to be seen whether I am." Castis replied.
Shepard closed her eyes in resignation, "Fair enough." She could not expect the detective to believe her, not so easily. Not when the words she said had sounded little better than canned talk and idealism. However, she rather loathed the mere through that she was being tarred with the same brush as the likes of Saren Arterius.
Nihlus' smug amusement had vanished. He had crossed his arms over his chest and looked vaguely petulant. However, his reaction was not what bothered her most, she was worried about Garrus. What was his takeaway from that exchange? She would not want to drive a wedge into their friendship. On the one hand, she could not see him agreeing with his father entirely, because he knew her, he knew that she was good on her word. On the other hand, it was his father, and blood ran thicker than water.
A sudden flood of light announced that the cruiser emerged over the ward. Castis went back to watching where the car was flying, which meant the conversation was over. Shepard had to concede, so she chose to simply stare out the front viewport. Only the background chatter on the radio prevented the silence from becoming uncomfortable. The scenery flew by at considerable speed, and Shepard could not be sure what ward they were flying over. Most of the traffic this close to the presidium was private vehicles. Then there were the interplanetary passenger shuttles above them. They followed Citadel Control's flight lanes, and cast moving shadows on the ward.
It was another five minutes before Castis eased the cruiser down from the high speed lanes slightly over three quarters down the ward's length. The vehicle lane they departed continued around an area designated for cargo vessel docking. The ugly, windowless vessels themselves crowded overhead, waiting for their turn to dock. The towers here did not rise as high, nor were they as backlit and decorated. There were also many more of the smaller cargo shuttles which transported goods from the docks to the warehouses or elsewhere on the Citadel.
Castis guided the cruiser through the nearest entryway, past a mass effect field, and onto the street level which provided pedestrian access to all the surrounding buildings. Here, the car could only do thirty kilometers an hour down a designated vehicle passage, which was slow enough for Shepard to take in the atmosphere. Widow's sunlight did not reach under the street level hull, which formed a solid ceiling at the height of about five floors, but there was not enough artificial lighting either, casting everything into a perpetual dusk.
There were very few large open spaces, the gaps between the towers were spanned by walkways and galleries. The vehicle passages cut right through, having regular openings for skycars to slip out onto parking pads. This was a microcosm of a city, but unlike Omega, its grey walls were free of graffiti, and there was little to no trash on the pedestrian walkways. Yet unlike the Presidium, it was confined, claustrophobic, and the only splashes of color were multicolored fluorescent signs and advertisement roundels.
It was another couple minutes before the cruiser finally exited the vehicle passage onto what looked like a shopping concourse surrounded by office buildings. The area resembled some of the most crowded megacities on Earth, floodlit with fluorescent pinks, reds, purples, and greens that advertised street food, discount electronics, cheap clothing, and a walk-in medical clinic.
"Our destination is the motel at the other side of this shopping area." Castis said as he eased the cruiser down on a parking pad near the vehicle entryway. "The manager informed us that one of their new clients bears an uncanny resemblance to you, Commander."
"It's a start," Shepard replied, and she was not even lying, but she would not hold her breath. The odds of this being a good lead depended on the manager. The unobservant would always argue that the only way to tell two asari or turians apart was by whatever markings they happened to have. She figured that would be a problem for the unobservant members of other species when dealing with humans as well. Given the lighting in this area, the odds of misidentification only increased.
Castis reached for the radio and switched bands, the background chatter disappeared instantly. "This is Vakarian in Unit One, Unit Two, I want you to stay here, just in case our target flees. Maintain radio contact."
"Unit One, this is Unit Two, orders received and acknowledged."
Castis looked up, meeting her gaze. "She should not know we are coming, but just in case she does..." Castis added as he hit the door controls, making all four move as one.
Shepard undid her safety belts and climbed out, more than happy to stretch out her legs after sitting too much. As soon as she was upright she slipped her helmet over her head, simply because she had nowhere else to put it and wanted her other hand free. The people closest stopped to watch. A moment later a hand landed on her shoulder and Shepard looked up into her mentor's green eyes.
"Spectre, Commander, Garrus, follow me."
Nihlus' hand slid off her shoulder as he moved ahead to follow the detective. Shepard fell in-step with him, and Garrus followed what sounded like a step behind her. The sight of three armed individuals led by a C-sec officer in a hard-suit worked on the crowd like an icebreaker worked on ice. Shepard casually swept the crowd with her gaze. The walk across the shopping area was not a long one, and the tower dominated the whole back of the concourse under the street hull. With the entry doors on the bottommost level, the walkways above connected an array of businesses set into the tower's face.
Once they passed the large double doors, they were in the tower's foyer, which was surprisingly small, and set behind clothing stores. Shepard's gaze landed right on the multi-lingual sign mounted on the wall on her right, which pointed the way toward the motel's registration desk. The motel took up all five of the tower's lowest floors, with the rest being a mix of offices and condominiums. At the back of the foyer was a series of eight elevators, two of which were labeled floors one through five only.
"Officer!" A voice called. Shepard turned instinctively and saw an asari wearing a black pantsuit. She almost flew across the distance, hugging a large datapad to her chest. "I'm the motel manager, Sheirana Seci." She said, sounding a little out of breath.
"I am Senior Detective Castis Vakarian," the detective replied.
"Thank you for coming… but-" the asari's eyes moved past the detective, toward Garrus, then Nihlus, and finally landing on Shepard.
Shepard would take a wild guess that the asari had expected just Citadel Security. "You needn't worry about us. I'm Commander Shepard, Systems Alliance-"
"Oh!" The asari gasped and her hand flew up to cover her mouth.
"This my friend, Spectre Nihlus Kryik, and my associate, former detective Garrus Vakarian." Shepard went on. It was her choice to downplay the fact that she was a Spectre in training, and hopefully having father and son right there was only a bad thing for humans.
"Please, accept my apologies! I was the one who called Citadel Security to report that one of our new guests bears an uncanny resemblance to you, Commander."
"Thank you for that." Castis stepped back in. "I am here to confirm her identity, and if necessary, take her into custody."
"Right, well-" the manager proffered the datapad in her hands to the detective, "This is a copy of our registration ledger. Her name is there, room five-twelve, the fifth floor. I followed the case on the news… those assassinations, and the Commander- but now- please! Believe me when I say this is not how this establishment operates. I never would have suspected that we rented a room out to a… a murderer!"
"I believe you." Castis glanced down at the pad, "And I thank you for this, but for now-" he held the pad out to her, "Keep it with you. We will back."
The manager nodded, took the pad back, wrapped her arms around it, and pressed it to her chest as if it was a shield.
Castis turned and moved toward the elevators even as he powered up his service side-arm.
Shepard followed, though she would not hurry to power up the twins yet.
As they approached the motel's allotted elevators, Shepard noted that while one was on the ground floor, the other was descending from the third floor. "That name has to be fake." She said to Castis.
"Of course it is."
Shepard stopped in front of the elevator controls and passed her fingers on the call button. The elevator that was on the ground floor instantly opened its doors with a chime, and Castis moved to board it first. The other cabin announced its arrival with an identical chime and opened its doors. The passenger, a tall man with curtains of shoulder-length black hair, clad in overalls and a pair of black, mirrored sunglasses, stepped out instantly.
"Shepard?" Nihlus called.
Shepard followed her mentor into the other cabin. When she looked up, she caught the other man's reflection in the mirrored cabin back wall. He had stopped to watch them and then cocked his head to the side, as if he was checking her out. Then, just before the elevator's doors fully shut, she saw him smile and flick her a salute with the index and middle fingers of his right hand. Shepard rolled her eyes and reached down to power up the twins.
"Detective, I will need access. Shepard and I have our own investigation to conduct," Nihlus said.
Shepard turned her head toward them.
"You will have access. After we complete full identity verifications."
Shepard grinned, Castis probably would be operating on the basis of once bitten, twice shy. He would not want to arrest the wrong individual a second time.
"If she looks identical to Shepard, then that is all the verification I need," Nihlus said.
"That is not how we operate, Spectre." Castis replied, sounding less than impressed.
Shepard figured it would be best if she stepped in. "Nihlus, please, let C-Sec do their jobs… just this once. Besides, it is much too late to quibble over these things now."
"And who ensured that?" Nihlus asked.
Shepard blinked up at him, intentionally as slowly as she could manage.
Nihlus' eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.
The elevator stopped and opened its doors, the chime served as the ending bell to the conversation. Shepard turned and stepped out, smiling to herself. The corridor beyond bisected the tower, with rooms on both sides, leading onto a ringing corridor of motel rooms. A sign on the wall immediately in front of her showed the floor's layout and room numbering. She quickly found suite five-twelve on the board. There were thirty suites in total, and they did not look to be all that large. Castis turned to her left and she could only follow him down the hall.
Suite five-twelve was the first on the left from the bisecting corridor, and if Shepard's mental positioning was right, it was on the opposite side of the building from the shopping concourse. This actually worked for them, there was no way that the woman had seen them coming.
"Follow my lead," Castis said.
"It's your show, detective." Shepard replied as she dropped her hand onto Sin.
Castis approached the door, but as soon as his body heat was in the vicinity of the sensor the door simply opened on its own. Shepard instantly side-stepped and pressed her back to the nearest wall. When she looked up she saw that Castis had done the same on the other side. "Not good." She said.
"You can say that again," Nihlus agreed.
It was then that Shepard heard the twin whines of Nihlus' and Garrus' weapons powering up.
"We have your back, Dad," Garrus said.
Castis nodded and ducked into the room, raising his pistol as he went. Shepard followed him barely a second later.
The hotel suite was tiny, a single rectangle, with one major open area and a small attached bathroom on the right. As the detective advanced into the room, she chose to duck into the bathroom. It did not take her long to see that it was empty. "Bathroom's clear," She called out as she flicked on the light.
"The main area is also clear." Castis replied.
Shepard stared at the towel lying on the bathroom floor. It was clearly one of the motel's cheap white terry cloths. However it was smeared with blood. Suddenly she had a horrible sinking feeling.
Garrus hummed, "Do you smell that? Fresh human blood."
"Not touching it, but there's a towel smeared with blood on the floor here," Shepard announced.
"This scent is more powerful than just a bloody towel." Garrus replied.
Shepard backed out of the bathroom just in time to see him approach the double bed, reach down for the corner of the covers, and lift them away slowly. The tableau underneath was both gruesome and disturbing, to the point that Shepard felt a chill run down her spine. There was her clone, body angled with the feet pointed toward the door, the whole front of her white tank top was soaked through with fresh red blood, and her face was frozen, mouth open, vacant eyes staring at the ceiling. The pillows had been disturbed and pushed about, the sheets twisted, pulled, bunched, and faintly smeared with blood. There was a large smear of it just under her neck, and it had even started to seep into the underside of the covers.
"Spirits." Nihlus breathed. "I really did not want to think about the possibility, but she is… a full clone."
Shepard hummed her assent. She did not dare to approach. This room had officially become a crime scene.
Castis turned away and reached up to his communicator. "Unit Two, this is Unit One, come in."
Shepard could not hope to hear the other side of that conversation, she was not synched into that frequency. However, right then, she doubted it would have even registered over the oddly loud pounding of her own heartbeat in her ears.
"We found our person of interest dead. Contact dispatch, I need a forensic team here as soon as possible." Castis went on.
Shepard closed her eyes. This was the epitome of irrefutable proof. Banes had cloned her just to frame her. He could clone whole, living people! He thought it was a good idea to clone people just to frame others. Just where on the scale of messed up did that fall? Now the clone was dead, killed because Cerberus needed to tie up their loose ends. Just how many resources did they have? How long was their reach?
"This is now a crime scene." Castis announced. "Garrus, do not touch anything."
"No need. I can see the obvious signs of physical struggle. There are defensive wounds on her hands. Also, her core body temperature is still thirty-six and a half degrees. She died very recently." Garrus announced.
Shepard did not bother to open her eyes. She did not want the sight burned into her retinas, as it would be the main ingredient for a nightmare that would keep even her off-kilter for a day. She knew Garrus was reading those numbers off his ever-present visor, which was good enough for her. "Damn it all to bloody hell." She muttered. It was not often that she allowed herself to swear at all, but in this instance, it felt appropriate. "The blanket is an insulator, so very recently could still mean an hour. We just missed her. One hour!" It took everything not to express the searing resentment right then. If only Castis had not played that nasty trick. Then again, if he had not, she would not have even known to come here to begin with. "It was Cerberus. Had to be. They got the best of us… of me." Anger manifested. Shepard hated losing. Doubly so when it was like this.
"I do hope you are pleased, detective." Nihlus said. "We lost an important source of information."
Shepard opened her eyes.
"I am not pleased, but there is still a lot that a body can tell us." Castis replied as he directed a cold glare at the Spectre. "First, we can still obtain genetic material, though seeing your likeness and even without T'Veris running the test I am comfortable saying she was the real killer."
Shepard remained quiet. This proof of her innocence was a cold comfort right then. There would still be a lot of unanswered questions, and a long road ahead of her. Suddenly she felt a pair of hands settle on her shoulders.
"We will find the one who killed her, and you can extract the information you want from them." Castis went on.
"There will be security cameras in the corridors. We still have a chance." Garrus offered.
Shepard felt Nihlus' grip on her shoulder plates tighten. "Don't fight over this, please," She cut in. She almost cringed, her own voice sounded vaguely despondent right then.
Garrus turned to look at her, "Are you alright, Commander?"
"Yes... and not. I guess…" Shepard paused there, weighing her options. Did she want to say what was on her mind right then? "I feel… bad for her. Yes, she helped Cerberus to frame me. She killed two people and tried to kill a third, but did she really know what she was doing? Her death was the very worst sort of burn notice, a termination in the most final of ways. She struggled… she clearly thought she was someone. Banes did not care." A couple hours ago she would have thrashed her, but now, seeing her dead, the anger had been snuffed. "Did she even know she was my clone? If not… it kind of makes it worse. Her brief life was one giant lie. No one deserves that." She mused.
"She became a victim." Garrus replied automatically.
Nihlus hummed his quiet assent.
Shepard glanced up, the Spectre was close enough that she could see the striations of darker green in his bright irises. She turned back to Garrus, "I want Banes. I will not stop until I have him begging for his life at my feet." She did not care that she had just uttered a very overt threat of bodily harm in the presence of a Citadel Security detective. Banes was outside Citadel Security's jurisdiction, he was a monster, and his hare-brained scheme was no longer affecting just her. To make matters worse, he had dragged Admiral Hackett's reputation into this as well. All of that made him very dangerous. No one needed someone like that running around free.
"And he will." Nihlus replied with finality, as if making a promise.
Shepard glanced toward Castis. The detective had now seen the depth of the mess that she had to deal with. "Detective, it would seem that our… unlikely alliance will not be ending any time soon." She knew that Citadel Security will not be enough to deal with a mess of this caliber, but knew better than to say it outright. She also had nothing against cooperation, as long as it was mutually beneficial.
Castis hummed quietly as his stare bored right down to her soul.
Author Notes: This episode was a touch difficult to write, due to the fact that so much of it has to do with law enforcement, and I would bet that some have heard enough about cops to last a lifetime these days. I admit, I struggled with finding motivation in places myself. Hopefully it was still an enjoyable end for season two, even if was not as action-packed as GoldenEye had been.
General Notes:
Nothing that I want to add…
Chapter Notes:
Telomeres – These basically "cap" the tips of our chromosomes. Their function is to protect the chromosomes from damage during cell division/replication. However, they do not replicate perfectly themselves, and thus shorten with age.
Kilobases – This is a measure of length for D/RNA, each denotes a 1,000 pairs of nucleobases, the "rungs" of the DNA ladder.