Asshole.
Officer Asshole.
Yeah, Officer Asshole was a good name for him.
Well, it was Vakarian, but still, asshole felt better, fit better for him too.
Flashes of his sharp blue eyes bore into Shepard's mind constantly on the ride back home. A pale orange salarian weaved the taxi through the morning traffic away from C-sec cells. His dark eyes watched Shepard carefully through the rearview mirror. She must have looked like a wreck. With a broken nose, a tattered dress, and probably bloodshot eyes, it was a surprise he even picked her up.
A dull pain built behind Shepard's forehead as she shut her eyes, trying to think of anything else other than the stares she had gotten today. An ache in her back burned so deep into her bones. Stomach acid rose and fluctuated as it ate away at her with hunger. All signs of overuse of her biotics.
Sure, her biotics accidentally threw the datapad at Officer Asshole as he drilled into her. But that wasn't enough to cause such an ache. Or explain why such pain was present before the interrogation. She had woken up in the drunk tank with the energy drained from her core. She must have used her biotics that night. Any thoughts of coherent memory floated away in the void of her mind on why she used them.
Shepard sighed and rested her head on the sky car window as they passed the gap between Zakera and Aroch. The floating sea of stars and light purple sky surrounded her. Her favorite thing while driving through the Citadel. It was almost like she was back on a ship with the Alliance.
Morning traffic glided across with ease underneath and around them. They passed the glittering white presidium ring before lowering down into the Segusk district of Aroch.
The cool window brought little comfort to her growing headache. She wanted food. She wanted a drink. She wanted to just worry about exams and essays. Instead, her mind raced, flashing back to sharpened talons that had pointed and raked across the steel table. Fucking corrupt asshole. Her mind continued to race with questions with no answers.
How was Aptis dead? Where was Speca? Was she okay? Why didn't Officer Asshole tell her?
An ache in her throat formed that always came before she cried. Shepard rubbed at her eyes, trying to keep the tears back. A pain shot through her face, her nose moved in an unnatural direction.
One of the other C-Sec assholes had run her into a doorway before the interrogation. A bare-faced turian walked her into a doorway and had "apologized" for the "accident." But she felt a force. He had shoved her.
Shepard cracked her nose in place, as she had done with the Alliance and Reds after a bad tumble or fight. A yelp left her lips still at the sharp pain. The salarian driver looked back briefly with dark eyes narrowed at her.
"I'm fine, just get me home," Shepard said.
"Don't get blood on the tapestry. It's new Nathak leather."
"Fancy." Shepard rolled her eyes before rubbing her dirtied hands underneath her. They descended into the dark-lit wards of the Segusk districts where she once called Aptis Casotin her neighbor.
Cops, C-Sec, fuck it, cops still the same, lined her apartment hallway. Of course, they would be here. Mostly it was humans and turians. Shepard looked out for the royal blue marking of Officer Asshole. Luckily, she did not see him. He was the last thing she needed right now.
Shepard slid back down the stairs, watching over her shoulders in case anyone followed. She doubled back to the alleyway stairs to her apartment unseen.
With a quick peek into the neighboring doorway, half a dozen officers combed Aptis' place. There was no sign of Speca. Her chest ached at the thought of the young fledgling, lost to the world. Four years of helping raise her, and she was just gone.
Shepard slammed the door to her apartment at the thought and slid against the wall. Tears she held back for hours finally flowed out. A hysterical wail left her lips. Her life was so fucked.
In between her cries, she heard the footsteps of multiple officers from her and Aptis' shared wall, the closing and opening of dressers, and shuffling papers—all sounds of them tearing into Aptis' life. But her sobs continued. Could C-Sec hear her? Did that matter? Would it make her look less guilty? The crying? Shepard slapped her leg to erase the thought from her mind.
Why did that matter? She knew or hoped she had nothing to do with it. She continued to search through last night's memories. All she could remember was Aptis in front of Dark Star as she grabbed his carapace. Anything else was trying to pull images and ideas that just weren't there.
Eventually, C-sec will be back for her. There was enough evidence of her in his apartment. Photos, gifts, and memories of good times that were now gone.
The tears flowed out faster. She tried to remember Aptis' face, who he actually was, but only a broken fringe and purple flesh spewed into her vision. Her stomach flipped and quelled at the thought. Dead bodies were an expected sight as a marine. She even killed many turians pirates on Elysium.
But for Aptis, he wasn't just another body. He was someone who she met at the lowest points of their lives–when they became neighbors in the shithole of Segusk four years ago.
Shepard was a less-than-honorable soldier due to a drug relapse. Aptis, barely an adult, lost his wife with a tiny, meek, crying reminder of her.
They picked up the pieces of their lives and slowly put each other back together. He cooked dinner for her even when he couldn't eat it. She secured a car loan from the Reds to help him work towards his own business. He helped her study and apply for law school. She would coo and watch over Speca while he worked. Even with the walls between them, they had become a family.
They were a team.
Until he lied to her, they were out 35k for a car loan he had lost. Even months behind on payments. He spent weeks lying to her about it. She found out right before meeting him for her birthday celebration last night.
The only clear image she had of him was her hands wrapped around his carapace, screaming at him in front of Dark Star. Her last coherent thought was how she wanted to wrap her hands around his throat at that moment. And now his body laid with many others in the Zakera ward morgue.
How could Aptis be dead? And why can't she remember anything? Well, the alcohol and the hallex probably didn't help from last night. But she usually held her own and paced herself.
Images returned to her mind—flashes of friends, dancing, moving bodies in the Dark Star. But Aptis was not there. Shepard then woke to herself vomiting in the C-Sec drunk tank with a wasted salarian.
She thought she was pulled in for drug charges when she got thrown into the interrogation room. Until Officer Asshole started to accuse her of Aptis' death. The way he listed off her life like it was nothing built anger in her. Like her life was all amounting up to her killing Aptis. He had already made up his mind before entering the room.
A sharp pain on her nose brought her out of her memories. Breathing through it had grown more difficult. She needed to set it with medi-gel.
Shepard pushed away tears and moved past her cramped living room, which was full of trinkets and books from her travels as a soldier. A small window stared out into the dark-lit, sparse streets.
She grabbed the medi-gel from her medicine cabinet and let it set as she set her nose once again with a wince. Dark, dried blood lined her nose and cracked lips. She pulled her tattered dress off, where more dried blood hid on her knees and legs. She must have tripped. Hopefully, that was all she did. Shepard didn't allow herself to dwell on what else she could have done last night.
Instead, she laid in the bathtub and let the scalding hot water of the shower rain down on her. At least there, she could have peace.
At least until her omni-took buzzed, interrupting her first quiet moments in her mind. Finch's name, in bold letters, screamed at her to answer. Shepard bolted from the tub and wrapped herself in a towel while she paced, watching the omni-tool before answering. The Red's second-in-command shrill voice rang out over the comms.
"Isn't it the birthday girl! Drank a bit too much last night? Or so I've heard? I wasn't invited. Consider Basting's visit a gift from me and Joshua."
Fuck. Shepard winced at Red's leader's name. That was the last person she wanted to disappoint.
Joshua was Shepard's "saving grace" when she was kicked out from home as a teenager and a washed-up marine as an adult. Shepard did odd jobs for him. She did drug runs mainly to keep money coming in until she started law school with Joshua's funding. That, of course, came with a price—she belonged to the Reds.
Shepard cupped her omni-tool away from the shared wall and whispered. "Quiet, C-Sec's in the neighbor's place, ransacking it, thin walls." She switched over the settings to her earpiece.
His shrill voice cut louder through her mind. "Oh shit! I heard some turian jumped at Zakera. That your guy Liv?" His voice feigned surprise. He already knew.
"Shut up, Finch," Shepard quietly hissed.
"You know? If he's dead, you're gonna have to cover his debts for the car, he was already behind. And your ass co-signed him. That's probably another year of runs."
"No, I'm done. Joshua said I could focus on school. I can't, I can't go back to that."
"It's not my fault you got cozy with a cuttlebone. Meet me at Harlow's. We can work out a deal," his cold, demanding voice said. He had planned this conversation before the call.
"Joshua wants me to focus on law school for the family. I can't be doing that shit again."
"What? 'Family?'" he asked with a snarky, sharp laugh. "Well, you owe 'the family' 35K. Your poor little bird flew right into a window. Now you're left holding the bag. Tough break.'
"Fuck off! He was tortured!" Anger rose in her throat as she yelled, not caring if C-sec heard her. "Did you have something to do with this? Joshua? Is he back on the Citadel?"
A long silence came from his end. An uncomfortable cough rang over before his sharp voice broke through.
"How do you know he was tortured?"
"Some C-Sec asshole shoved photos in my face. Did you know about—"
"Did you talk to C-Sec?" His voice clipped over her.
"I told them to fuck off. They broke my nose! They kept grilling me until Bastings showed up. Do you know anything about this?" Shepard pleaded again.
"What exactly did you say to C-Sec before Bastings showed up?"
Her stomach dropped at his cold tone. Finch, while second-in-command, had never been this serious with her. With his shrill voice so low, she should have picked her following words carefully. Instead, she let her anger course through her.
"Lawyer. Now. That's what I said. Happy? Fuck you and fuck your runs!" Shepard ended the call before he could speak.
She was screwed. She felt the walls spinning. She should have never agreed to that loan. It only put The Reds claws deeper into her. The Alliance was her one shot out, and she had already fucked that up. She was never getting out.
Her heart pounded into her head. Her vision grew fuzzy as the room spun. The walls felt like they were caving in around her. She just wanted to be a student again. A neighbor. A friend. Shepard closed her eyes tight, but the sights of Aptis, of Elyisum, of her whole fucked up life drowned her.
She needed to run.
She needed a drink.
She needed to go back to being unconscious in the drunk tank.
A buzz on her omni-tool broke her out of her panic—a message from Finch.
FW: 35K credits is not something that can just disappear, even for Joshua. Let me know when you're ready to meet up.
Fuck. Shepard needed to talk to Joshua quickly. He had her back when she joined the Alliance and still did with law school. Maybe he'd understand better. She ignored Finch's message and scrambled to send one to Joshua.
OS: hey so I'm hearing about something being messed up on Zakera. Free to talk over vid?
Minutes dragged on as she waited for a response. She had to remind herself he was still probably on Earth. It was going to take time.
Hunger gnawed away at her insides. The pulsing headache and ache in her bones grew. She hadn't used her biotics in what a year? She drained through her energy stores. She needed to eat. Anything. Everything. Just a shit load of carbs.
How much of her biotics did she use last night? She never felt this sore from them before. Did she destroy that railing? Did the Reds have something to do with Aptis? Finch and Joshua had always been open about their distaste for turians. But torture him, to rip off—
Shepard stopped the thought. They were more than capable of doing it. They had done it countless times to humans who crossed them. Why would this one turian be different? A pit formed in her stomach as more questions grew. Why kill Aptis? And did they hurt Speca? Those answers still eluded her.
Passing footsteps, followed by a rapped knock at her door, brought her out of her spiral. Shepard peeked through the peephole and met the same striking blue eyes that bore into her just hours ago.
"C-Sec, we're doing an investigation on your neighbor." His authoritative dual tone clipped out.
"Shit," she whispered to herself.
Officer Asshole. Of course, he was here. This was the last thing she needed.
Another buzz finally came through, distracting her from responding. Joshua finally replied.
JB: Be there in a few days. Big problems. Talk to Finch until then.
Sweat formed on her brow. He usually had paragraphs for her to read when he messaged. Each sentence to be so quickly punctuated meant he was pissed.
Joshua had always treated her well. She joined the Alliance for training for the Reds. Even after failing out, she joined law school to eventually help the Reds. She was always a good little soldier. She always followed orders, as she had seen countless times of those who didn't listen. She had been smart and lucky enough never to see his bad side. But now, after this, if they thought she snitched, she might end up losing her head after all.
Okay, actually, Officer Asshole might be the one thing she needed right now. If they think she talked or if they killed her real family, she might as well talk. She needed to dig their claws out from her permanently, hopefully with her head still intact.
Shepard ran to her bedroom and opened the closet safe. She could barely think. She was still on step A of her plan. Run.
The safe held a few credit chits for quick cash, an old Carnifex, and a fake ID. She holstered the pistol to her ankle and put on loose pants for easy access. She grabbed her go bag and threw on a hoodie and sneakers.
The knock grew louder at her door, his voice muffled by the distance.
"Listen, I know someone's there. I have some questions. It would help. We're trying to help your neighbor, Aptis. He was murdered."
She may need him. But not out in the open or near prying eyes. He would have to meet her elsewhere. Shepard placed on the deadbolt to give the hint to move on.
"Fine, but if you have anything, let me know, ask for Officer Vakarian with C-sec." He said, moving on to the next door and out of her view.
After giving him a few minutes head start, Shepard activated her cloak before leaving the apartment. She would just have to wait for him in the shadows.
Officer Asshole-well, Vakarian was persistent. That was at least one compliment Shepard could give him.
Dozens of doors slammed repeatedly in his face during his canvassing. He even asked about her to one nosey human who answered. Vakarian must have figured out she lived in the apartments. He was smarter than she expected, too.
Shepard's cloak was optimized to stay on for an hour as she carefully hugged the walls of the hallway. While cloaked, tight spaces could go bad quickly. But she needed him alone.
She did not know who or how many, but the Reds definitely had a few human pockets lined in C-Sec. Joshua would never hire a turian, so even if he were a shit interrogator, Vakarian could at least be trusted in that aspect.
While watching him, his persistence impressed her more. He actually wanted to find out who killed Aptis. Maybe she could help him. And maybe he could get her out of the Reds after all. If not, she would just have to run.
After getting nowhere while canvassing the apartments, Vakarian announced to his men he was heading back to Zakera–alone.
Exactly where she wanted him.
He worked his way to the darker side of the street towards the empty skyport. Without much thought, Shepard quickly disabled the cameras nearby, hiding her from any watching eyes.
Her dark blue hoodie laced tightly to hide her hair. Shepard rolled her shoulders from the mounting stress. Her breath hitched in her throat. She had to be ready.
Shepard dropped her cloak and raised her arms above her head. This might be the stupidest thing she's ever done.