C-Sec Academy

It didn't take long for Garrus and I to make it to C-Sec. We didn't really exchange any words on the way over. I was too nervous. I mean, if this had been yet another day in my old life, I would have handled it no sweat no concern. Now though? I had almost a completely clean slate. All I had to do, was get away from the Normandy, it's crew, especially Shepard and Anderson, and I could be in the wind. Retired and living in this brave new galaxy.

Instead, I had to go and play hero. Not only that, I just had to make a show of it to. What an idiot. Now I'm just sitting in this interrogation room, across from the C-Sec officer who brought me here, and I have no idea what I should do.

Garrus had just come back into the room after leaving me here for a few minutes. Saying he needed to go get something. He returned empty handed and just stared at me for a few minutes, not in the eye, but a bit lower, at my neck. Not sure if it was an intimidation tactic or bewilderment. Either way, I wasn't very comfortable. I imagined this is what it would be like to have a vampire actively fighting the urge to suck your blood. Luckily I've never had to experience that.

"Do I have something on my face?" He seemed to come out of whatever trance he was in when he heard me speak and he shook his head.

"No, no. I'm just sure I thought I saw something in your neck." That was a weird thing to say.

"Look..." He turned around, turned on his omni-tool, and pressed some buttons. After he seemed satisfied he put his omni-tool away and sat down across the table from me. "...I know that you came in on the same vessel as Commander Natalie Shepard and her crew. I was assigned to the investigation into Saren. It didn't go as planned. I tried looking into him but basically all of his activities are classified. I couldn't find anything solid. But I know he's up to something. As you humans say, I feel it in my gut. Unfortunately, the Council has ruled that he isn't guilty of any charges, and isn't going to do anything about it without further evidence." My nerves calmed tremendously hearing that this wasn't about the scuffle I got into before hand.

"Oh? Well, I'm sorry to hear that. What does that have to do with me exactly?" He sighed.

"I want to enlist your help. My superiors seem to think this is no longer our problem, and won't let me continue my investigation. Which is utter non-sense. A rogue spectre running around isn't good for anybody, especially if they are leading an army of geth. On top of that, he's giving turians a bad name, and I'd like to take him down for it." I smiled in relief.

"Oh, that's good. Um, are you asking me for help because I'm from Eden Prime and not a cop?" It wouldn't be the first time I've worked with somebody that had red tape and wanted to get around it with my help. Not being enlisted anywhere comes with it's perks, but sometimes those perks get me in trouble.

"Well, yeah there is that..." he paused as he pulled up his omni-tool, bringing up a holographic screen in front of me to show footage from just outside Chora's Den. My stomach sank as I saw the three men I had encountered before, and the sibilings I helped rounding the corner, followed by the gunshot and the arguing. "...and this. These idiots could have killed that woman. I don't know how you did it but you saved her life."

He paused again, watching the security footage right up to the point where I drain the Chora's Den sign, making things just a bit darker, before he closed the screen and put his omni-tool away.

"Pretty impressive moves MacGrath. Not to mention, you seem to be some kind of experiment. What are you? A biotic super soldier with new control over electricity? No. That can't be it. Your kind closed down Jump Zero. Unless Cerberus... ah but your with an Alliance crew and there are no records of you existing on Eden Prime, prior to your arrival here on the Citadel. Besides that, there were no traces of eezo at the crime scene, no sign of biotics being used in this surveillance footage, and I'd bet if we scanned you, there would be no readings of a biotic implant or a biotic amp. Tell me, am I hot or cold?" This guy was far too smug. Okay, maybe not. He was good. He had me dead to rights and there was no real way out of this.

"What do you want." My eyes narrowed, my voice going low and more demanding that he get to the point before I lose my cool. He waved his hand at me and got up, walking over to a table with two different containers and a some metal cups.

"Like a drink?" God, he's a turian but I'm reminded of the times I was hauled into the police station when I would get into trouble as a kid.

"Fuck off." He simply shrugged as he grabbed his own drink and came back to the table. "Why isn't this place crawling with news outlets shoving mics in my face, asking about my existence?" If he wasn't going to answer my other question, I would ask another.

"Whoa, whoa. I'm the one asking questions here, remember? You asked two now." He took a long slow slurp of his drink. His mandibles opening wide enough for his mouth to reach the cup. Then placed the cup on the table after being done. I had no idea what was in there, but given turian physiology, it probably wasn't anything I could drink.

"I'll answer both questions though. Nobody knows about this. Save for the owners of Chora's Den. I hacked into their surveillance system to gain the recording before they could wipe it. I knew they'd just claim it wasn't working and get rid of the evidence so we couldn't get involved, so I took it upon myself to procure the footage. Good thing I did to? Those siblings gave a completely falsified statement to the police. There was a dead body involved, that could lead to an-"

"I aware. Get to answering my other question Vakarian." The man seemed happy with himself. Turians may be a bit harder to read then asari and humans, but I could see the playful joy in his eyes having me by the balls. It didn't help that I was showing him how in control he was with how pissed I was. Asshole.

"Alright look. I'm not interested in reporting this to anybody. Those people don't deserve any more trouble then they got from those mercs and you helped them out. I will however turn this video in if you don't help me. You've already been to Chora's Den, and they want you dead for killing one of their own and getting involved with their business anyway. I caught wind that Fist, the owner of Chora's Den, is likely an agent of The Shadow Broker." I nearly laughed.

"You can't be serious. What the hell is that?" He sighed, leaning back in his chair.

"The Shadow Broker is an information broker. Buys and sells everybody's secrets. Nobody knows who they are, if it's one person or a group, what species, nothing." Nodding my understanding of where he was going with this I concluded what he wanted from me.

"So, you want me to go to Chora's Den, fuck their shit up. Beat the info out of Fist about Saren?" Garrus, I'm pretty sure, smirked, with his mandibles in some weird way, and leaned forward.

"You take out a potential threat to yourself, help me with my investigation, and simultaneously take down a dangerous rogue spectre that was responsible for the attack on your 'home planet'..."

"...and you'll make sure nobody else sees those videos. I take it the official statement C-Sec is going with is the one the siblings gave?" The turian nodded as we both stood to leave.

"Correct. Unidentified female biotic, due to the description suspects are human and asari. Wide pool to cast a net in. I am curious though. Somebody saw you kissing a bartender, and talking with a turian general. Mind if I ask what brought you down to Chora's Den?" I smiled.

"Doing some work for the Consort after literally bumping into her in the Presidium financial district. Ended up picking up some jobs along the way. Which reminds me." Garrus had opened the door for me and we had exited into the hall. I looked around for that turian I had seen in Chora's Den that told me to come by but didn't see him.

"The Consort? Wow, first day on the Citadel and you're already involved with major players from one end of the totem pole to the other. You banging the asari councillor too?" He seemed genuinely impressed with my ability to get around.

"Not yet." I joked. He laughed. Good, he has a sense of humour at least.

"You looking for something in particular?" Garrus chimed.

"Yeah, a turian C-Sec officer. He told me to come here after speaking with the bartender at Chora's Den, the one I was kissing." Garrus seemed to mull this over for minute before snapping his fingers.

"Ah, so that's who it is. Do you think this will hinder your ability to help me out?" I shook my head immediately. Not sure what he meant by 'that's who it is' exclamation.

"No, in fact, I refuse to take another step into that shit hole until I find this guy. I promised Jenna's sister I'd get her to... quit." Garrus sighed, jerking his head behind him, indicating for me to follow.

We past a few offices and ended up standing in front of a door that was across from a waiting area. Garrus checked inside, and stated that the officer in we were here to see was in a meeting and we'd have to wait a few minutes. I shrugged, fine with waiting I went one of the seats in the open waiting room. Garrus decided to join me.

I was there not 2 minutes before I saw a volus who had been waiting in the commons area approach a human C-Sec officer, frantically claiming his business partner was trying to kill him. He wouldn't explain why, or how he even knew this, so the C-Sec officer apologized for not being able to help without the info and went about his work day.

What caught my attention was the name he gave the officer was Chorban's. So, of course, I had to stand up and approach the guy.

"Hey there! Oh, you aren't C-Sec are you. Did you want something?" his voice sounded almost like it belonged to a snot nosed kid, with a slight pep to his tone. Which is weird since he was just complaining about his life being in danger.

"Yeah, tell me about your plight, maybe I can help." Okay, I know that I complain that I can't escape people needing my help, but this involved somebody who I was working for and accepting credits from. I'd like to avoid the possible drama of being set up if I could.

"Seriously? Don't you have enough on your plate?" Garrus muttered under his breath. I shot him a look to shut up and he just crossed his arms.

"My colleague is trying to kill me, and I thought we were friends" Yeah, the way this guy talks reminds me of a cartoon character a little. Kind of exaggerated in his tone.

"How do you know he wants you dead?" Chorban didn't seem like the violent type. He was meek, brainy, from the small interaction I had with him that's what I gather anyway. Doesn't mean he wasn't capable of going over the edge. Maybe there was a feud I didn't know about.

"He's changed. He won't talk to me at work any more and he started following me. Yesterday he followed me all the way home just waiting for a chance. I don't care what anyone thinks. He wants me gone! I know it!" The urgency in his voice seemed real enough to me. I looked over at Garrus to get his take on it and he just shrugged, shaking his head while giving me what I believed to be 'I don't give a shit about this' look. I couldn't blame him. I barely did.

"Tell you what. Why don't I go talk to him for you? Maybe I can figure out what's going on or get him to leave you alone." The volus nearly jumped for joy.

"Would you? That's all I want. Someone to talk to him. Tell him to leave me alone. He thinks he can push me around, but you'll talk to him right?" I nodded.

"Just tell me where he is."

"Oh right, he told me to meet him down in the wards by the markets. He said he just wanted to talk, but I know better. You shouldn't have any trouble, he's a salarian, just a scientist." His belief of harmless scientists caused a flash of memories to splash across my mind, images of a city slick with gore and death, before I shook my head from the delving further.

"Some of my worst nightmares were caused by dangerous scientists. I'd argue they could potentially be worse then any warlord I've heard of." I didn't really think. It just came out of my mouth. Almost like I was giving a warning for something that had long since past. Long since been destroyed.

"Uuuumm, I suppose you're right. Well, good luck. Let me know what he says."

"Sure, but may I ask your name, and his?" I didn't want to give away I knew Chorban, given that the task he gave me was kind of sort of illegal.

"Oh, I'm Jahleed, and my colleagues name is Chorban." I nodded.

"Right. I'm Cole MacGrath. I'll be sure to deal with this for you after my business here is done." Jahleed thanked me as I walked back to my seat, Garrus following in tow.

"You sure can't help yourself can you?" Garrus was giving me grief and nothing more, but it was reminding me of what Karin was saying to me earlier.

Since I blew up at her about being finished with fighting, and wanting to take it easy and take care of myself, I was still sticking my neck out for others. She just wanted to look out for me, and in her aged wisdom she had figured me out pretty quick. I was better then this at hiding myself, that trip through time really knocked me off my game. Still, I shouldn't have been so harsh with her and then proceed to ditch her. Guilt set in, and I felt like such an asshole. I had to make it up to her.

"Nope. Gotta balance the scales." I responded dryly.

"Good luck." Garrus snorted. Clearly amused by my outlook.

We sat for a few minutes longer before Garrus received a call on his omni-tool, signalling us to enter.

"Alright, it's our turn."

Getting up and walking over to the office door, which was now opened, I could see a small office and another turian sitting behind a desk. He had beige skin and green eyes with white markings on his face and mandibles. Also wearing C-Sec armour.

"I'm Detective Chellick. What can I do for you today?" The man seemed like he was following the motions. Genuinely interested if I needed help, but definitely practised speech for an introduction.

"Name's Cole MacGrath. Was told by an undercover cop to come talk to somebody about a girl you've got as an informant at Chora's Den." The man rolled his eyes, double checking to see his door was closed, and looked over at Garrus who just gave him a shrug.

"So you're the one I was told about. No offence, MacGrath, but what the hell were you thinking?" I raised my eyebrows in disbelief. I turn to Garrus and give him a look of exaggerated disbelief while pointing at Chellick with an 'is this guy serious look', which garnered a chuckle from the blue eyed turian.

"Are you serious?" I said indignantly.

"You could have blown Jenna's cover." He responded angrily.

"I was trying to help. Not to mention give her a wake up call to what the real risk actually is. There is no way that kid is any older than 20." We kept our eyes locked, staring each other down daring the other to relent. He softened up pretty quickly though. Somehow, not know very much about his species, I could tell his age was showing.

"Yeah, I gathered that. You're right, she is young. It may seem cold to let her take all the risk, but we're keeping a close eye on her." I crossed my arms, I understood that his job wasn't easy, but I couldn't abide by using kids for this type of work. It's too risky and they aren't usually experienced enough to handle any given situation. Anybody Jenna's age that gets out of dodge before dying in those environments are extremely lucky.

"Do you really have to risk her life to get the info you want? Chellick, this girl doesn't have enough real world experience to be fully aware of the actual danger she's in. I'd say you're praying on her and I'm really trying not to punch you in your mandibles for it." I could hear Garrus snort, trying to hold back a laugh. Chellick sighed as he leaned back in his chair, now crossing his arms.

"No need for threats. Besides I can arrest you for doing something so brash. Look, this job isn't easy, and it's usually unpleasant. I'll take help anywhere I can find it. But since you're so concerned with her safety, maybe there is a way we can help each other." Of course.

"Nice to see you're still working all the angles Chellick." Garrus seemed to approve, to an extent, of Chellick's methods. Although, I could detect a hint of distaste in his voice.

"Shut it Garrus. You know it's part of the job. Now are you going to help me or not?" Garrus just grunted as he crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. Yeah, based on what I've seen, this guy was either a real renegade, or a poser. Time would tell.

"Get her out, now. And yes, I will." Chellick nodded and typed something into his terminal while he continued.

"Good. I'll cut her lose, get her out of Chora's Den, no strings attached. That leaves my case unsolved however. I'm trying to track down an illegal arms producer. I just need some of their product. Thanks to Jenna's intel, I've learned there's a seller here on the Citadel. Go down to the Wards to meet our man, Jax, in the markets. Pick up the mods and bring them back here. That'll give me everything I need." I nodded.

"You going to provide the Credits for the purchase?" I had earned quite a bit of credits from scanning the Keepers and from Septimus for setting the record straight with Xeltan, but I was still below what Chakwas gave me.

"No, don't want it traced back to any of our agents. We will pay you back what you spend. I'll send word through the channels that you're our buyer."

"Okay, but I'm not a weapons expert. If you want somebody to identify if this stuff is legit or not, you should send somebody with me, like Garrus here." I smiled, Garrus shot me a dirty look.

"I don't know if you know each other or just have dumb luck, but I would say Garrus is our best weapons tech in all of C-Sec. Yeah, he'll go with you." Garrus groaned.

"Looking forward to it." Garrus deadpanned.

"Good. I also had already planned for there to be some agents in the vicinity to intervene if things go sideways." I nodded. That was good. I'd stick with hand to hand if I needed to fight at all.

With that, Chellick wished us luck as Garrus and I left the C-Sec offices. Jahleed had rushed up to me urgently, to ask if I was going to go talk to Chorban right away. He would like to go home, and doesn't feel safe leaving C-Sec while their dispute remained unresolved. I simply told him I was handling it and we left.

"So, why did you agree to help that volus? He didn't even offer you anything." I rolled my shoulder as I placed my hand on my neck and leaned to the side, cracking it.

"You know, sometimes people just need help. Sometimes you should just help them. Rules and rewards be damned." Even though I did want to relax, I remember Trish's last words to me. I'd honour her for the rest of my life, even if it meant doing stupid shit like this.

Besides there was no way I was going to pass up finding out whether or not Chorban was a mad alien scientist or a bloodthirsty killer. My bet was the former, buuuut... it's not like I haven't been wrong before.

"I guess I can understand that." He seemed to be more contemplative about what I said then I expected him to be. I didn't think much about it however as we made our way down to the wards, barely saying another word between us.

It took us almost 30 minutes to get down to the wards. After Garrus spent 5-10 getting changed out of his C-Sec uniform, we argued about using rapid transit.

Even though the C-Sec Academy was capable of going directly to both the Wards and the Presidium, Garrus wanted to take the rapid transit to get there in 5. I told him the last 'car' I got into blew up, and he told me these weren't cars. We argued for a few minutes before he finally relented. I didn't want to risk it today, especially not when my powers had been uncooperative due to whatever happened after I charged the RFI. I didn't tell him about any of that though.

Once we made it to the markets I saw that he place was bustling still. I wondered out loud if this was like Empire City's Neon District, the one that never sleeps. Garrus confirmed. We looked around and eventually spotted Jax, a purple krogan. Awesome. I looked around some more just to make sure I knew where Chorban was. Garrus saw him first, pointing out the black skinned Salarian that was standing in a corner a bit conspicuous.

"Thought Jahleed said he was a scientist." My turian compatriot mocked.

"He is. Smart to. Doesn't mean he understands everything though." I shook my head as I turned back towards Jax. "Alright, let's get this over with."

Cool as a cucumber I strode over to the arms dealer with all the confidence in the world. I don't know why. I had never really done anything this covert before.

"Hold it, that's close enough human. You got my payment?" The Krogan held up his hand and looked mean as hell.

Damn, these krogans looked like grumpy old dudes, and earlier I had thought their mouths reminded me of alligators or something like that but now I'm realizing it was more like a snapping turtle. How the hell did I not see that before. Their humps make them look like they have shells... sort of.

"Yeah, do you have my x-mods?" The krogan turned to his compatriot, one of two men, a turian and a salarian, standing behind him. They opened a container they were carrying... and I had no idea what I was looking at. So I looked over to Garrus who had already inspected the goods.

"Looks good." He gave me a nod. I turned back to the krogan and I wasn't sure if he was frowning more then he was since I had turned away from him.

"Damn straight it is! These mods are the best in the market. Now hand over my credits." Pushy. Jeeze.

"Sure thing." Luckily, Garrus had told me to pull out some credits from a bank terminal while he was changing. Said that they wouldn't want the transfer to be tracked.

I handed over the credits and the krogan nodded to his friends that they were good to go. The salarian holding the container closed it up and handed it to me. After I took it they left.

"Well that was easy." I said.

"You handled that pretty well. Shouldn't be surprised, all things considered." Garrus praised.

"You know, why do I have to bring this back to Chellick. Why don't we get one of the agents here to do it?" Garrus shook his head.

"Alright, how about you go talk to Chorban, and I can go back in a rapid transit vehicle to drop off the mods. I'll meet you back here after?" I nodded, handing him the container, and we parted ways. I immediately marched over to Chorban.

"Heeey, Chorban how's it going, bud?" I strolled up to Chorban. Only now realizing there was two other salarians standing behind some cover behind him. He really was going to kill Jahleed.

"MacGrath? I wasn't expecting to see you again. Is there something I can help you with." Wait really? I scanned those keepers and he wasn't going to tell me what he found?

"Okay, first off. 'Wasn't expecting to see me again', sounds like you got me to do work for you and you don't want to share your findings. Disappointing. Even more disappointing, is that it sounds like you want to kill a co-worker. Now, I'm hoping he's wrong about you, but you know, I don't really know you. Sooo..." He sighed.

"It's okay boys, you can go." The other two salarians came out from behind their cover, looked at each other, looked back at Chorban, nodded, and walked off.

"Want to explain what this is all about?" I crossed my arms and tilted my head to the side, slightly leaning forward. I got close enough to be a little imposing, though I was probably just as tall as the salarian, he definitely leaned back a bit.

"It's not as bad as you think MacGrath. Jahleed and I just got a little... over our heads." Detecting no hint of deception from his tone, whether I actually could or not from his facial expressions would remain to be seen, I leaned back, but kept my hard stare on him.

"I'm listening." He seemed to visibly relax, suppose I can, and he took a breath before continuing.

"The company we work for has developed an experimental procedure for use in medical scanners. Jahleed and I saw even more potential. So, we stole the plans and secretly developed a tool to scan the keepers. Can you imagine?" I raised a brow.

"Did you just forget that I spent half my day scanning the Keepers in the Wards while Shepard was scanning the ones in the Presidium?" He nodded and continued.

"Right, well, the reason that's so important is because we can't capture them or take samples. They just self destruct."

"What? Why didn't you tell me that before?"

"Didn't find it pertinent to what our conversation entailed. Sorry for not informing you sooner." For the love of... scientists are so annoying.

"Okay, just keep going."

"Right. Not much else to say. For centuries we've been here and we still don't know anything about them. You see? We were the first to scan them. Ever." He said this with passionate emphasis. He really cared about this research.

"Look, I can understand your passion, but that doesn't explain why you're trying to kill Jahleed." I'm pretty sure the look this amphibious alien gave me was one of horrific shock.

"I'm not trying to kill him! Jahleed's part in this was to disseminate our initial findings. But for whatever reason, he decided to keep the data for himself. Maybe he wanted to sell it. I don't know." I knew that volus sounded way to dramatic.

All I did was shake my head and let out a deep, heavy, annoyed sigh.

"We lost our heads. We couldn't just let an opportunity like this pass us by. Cole, if you co-" I had enough of this crap.

"You know what. No. I was willing to help out, but now that I know how this all went down and how irresponsible the two of you have been, I'm nipping this in the bud." He seemed a little taken aback at my initial interruption, then dejected as I continued talking.

"But-"

"No 'buts', Chorban. You and Jahleed will return everything you've stolen, and you will work to legally scan the keepers and continue your research. I did some work for C-Sec recently. I'll see if I can get them to put the word out to leave you two alone, but only after you've done the right thing. Got it?" Chorban formed a small smile, seeming to agree with this course of action after I made it clear that I was fine with them scanning. It was all the bullshit they were doing that needed to stop.

Seriously, Chorban had two mercs ready to light up whoever gave him grief. If Jahleed had sent a similar contingent, especially due to his fear, they could have gotten a lot of people hurt. They were going to meet in the middle of the markets for fucks sakes.

Whatever. I wasn't about to explain to them how to be better criminals. They weren't cut out for it.

"Thank you Cole. You have my word. No more scanning until Jahleed and I set the record straight with our company." Again, no hint a lie. I turned on my audio recorder.

"This is Cole MacGrath. Jahleed, I just had a word with Chorban. The two of you are scientists, real smart guys... but your both dumb criminals. No more scanning, no more data, until you've gone and returned what you stole got it? Figure out a way to get your company, or anybody, to get on board with legal scanning. Get back to me when you do and I'll ask some of my new friends at C-Sec to leave you alone when you get back to it. Out." I sent the message to Chorban so he could give it to Jahleed, seeing as how I didn't have Jahleed's contact info, and sent him on his way.

"Seriously, hired mercenaries over keeper data. That can not be worth your lives." Just as I was muttering to myself, I got a call from Garrus. "New Omni-tool who dis?"

"What? MacGrath quit fucking around. I got a panic alarm from a friend of mine. She's a doctor in the Wards. Just go past the Flux club ignore the stairs and the door that leads to the Presidium and you come across her clinic. I'll be there by the time you get there." He sounded worried and I could sense the urgency in his voice.

"Be there in seconds." I didn't lie. Wasting no time I broke out into a sprint. There were a lot of people in the markets but I used my background in urban exploration to climb up some stands and jump over everybody.

I caught the attention from some angry clerks and surprised patrons but nobody actually stopped me. Eventually I cleared the entire area and got down to the door leading to Flux and the clinic. Once through, I sprinted the distance, moving faster then I should out in the open, and made it to the clinic in seconds, as promised.

As I approached, I sent out a radar pulse. I got the signature of a turian, probably Garrus, and five humans in the clinic. I cursed. At least one of those was the doctor. I wasn't sure if there were any receptionists or not so I had to assume the other four were the suspects. There were too many to just kill, but also too many to just capture and have spreading the word about my abilities.

"I didn't tell anyone, I swear!" No time to over think things. I open the door, and I see Garrus, crouched behind the counter. He looks at me, nods, and start making his way around it. The doctor, a woman with short brown hair, is being threatened by 4 men, definitely mercs. They don't appear to know Garrus is here, and it's only a matter of time before they see me. I decide to wait until either Garrus makes a move, or they notice, only intervening if they look like their about to kill her.

"That was smart, Doc. Now if Garrus comes around you stay smart, keep your mouth shut or we'll-" It's at this point where the merc leading the interrogation of the good doctor catch me in his line of sight and grabs the woman as a hostage, pointing his gun at me.

"Bad move." I was about to raise my hand and use my precision bolt to put him down, but Garrus used my distraction to pop up from the side and blast the guy in the head. The shot was clean, and I whistled. Unfortunately, this left the doc between the mercs and Garrus, to frozen with fear to move.

I run, firing arc bolts at the men raising their weapons, which startles them into taking cover. I keep firing suppressing fire as I vault over the counter and grab the doc, who now is bewildered at my presence and my abilities, and push her behind some cover.

"Get Down!" Garrus yells as two mercs I wasn't suppressing pop out from cover and open fire.

Garrus dives behind the same cover the doc is taking while I somersault to a pillar. My arms now lit up, I lift my hands to a ninety degree angle, elbows tucked, and have my palms facing up. I focus energy into a single mass in each hand, as Garrus returns fire. My shock grenades are now ready, so I look at Garrus who's peaking out from his cover, waiting for another opportunity and I count down from 3, silently mouthing my count to him. He nods his head in time with the count and when I hit one his pops up and starts shooting to give cover.

Most of the mercenaries stop firing save one. I pop my head out while Garrus is letting his shields take the fire, and toss my shock grenade at the guy who's still exposed, he yelps in surprise as the grenade sticks to his body. I don't wait for it to go off before I lean around the other side of my pillar cover and chuck the other one towards where I knew another merc was. Using my radar pulse to get an exact read on where they all are.

First grenade goes off, sending the guy into a wall, knocking him out. The second one goes off, but the guy it was next to was smart enough to move out of the way. He didn't take cover quickly enough however and Garrus gunned him down.

I step out of cover after the second explosion and throw one more grenade to out the remaining two mercs. Both opted to get the hell out of dodge, and Garrus and I were covering both sides. When they came out, we unloaded into them. I fired arc bolt after arc bolt, until the guy I was shooting stopped moving, and Garrus again gunned down the remaining merc.

Surveying the area, I could tell that all the mercs were dead save the one I knocked into the wall. Looking down at the one I shot to death, I felt that Garrus didn't have a problem with how this turned out, so long as his friend was safe.

"Nice time MacGrath. Gave me the opening I needed." I smirked as I went and retrieved our unconscious friend.

"You shoot pretty well. I could have taken him down, but nice work." Garrus laughed.

"Maybe next time." After his suggestion of competition Garrus looks over to the woman we just saved. "Dr. Michel? Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm okay. Thanks to the both of you." Dr. Michel had a french accent, matching her french name, and appeared to be unscathed. The man I had knocked into the wall was coming to, and Michel was startled. I dropped him on the ground, planted my foot in his sternum, hard, knocking him out again and, blasing him with an arc bolt that turned into arc restraints.

"I might interrogate him later." Garrus and Michel both had looks of wonder on their faces. Well, I assumed that was what Garrus was doing. In his case I figured he had only seen me in action through a monitor, and while he himself was in combat. Only now that everything was calm and he was thinking about everything had seen and now just witnessed, was he getting hit with the realization of what I was, or rather, what I wasn't.

"Incroyable! Wh-what are you?" I gave Garrus a stern look, and he nodded his understanding.

"Michel. Mr. MacGrath likes his privacy. If you have any cameras?" She looked awestruck, barely registering what Garrus was saying before shaking her head and bringing up her omni-tool. Apparently having cleared her security footage.

"There, it's done. I'm sorry for prying." I nodded with a soft smile.

"It's alright. Most people have this reaction. It's why I try not to get involved. I don't want to be... experimented on, nor do I want the methods of how I came to be repeated." The Doc put up her hand and gave her head a shake with a smile.

"Say no more. I will respect your wishes." I give my appreciation as I introduce myself.

"I'm Cole MacGrath. Do you mind telling us why these idiots attacked you? Who they work for?" She looks at them and puts her hand to her chin.

"They must work for Fist." Garrus and I gave each other a look. "They wanted to shut me up, keep me from telling Garrus about the quarian." She seemed a little shaken still, her voice was trembling.

"Uh, there's a quarian?" I look to Garrus for answers but he just shrugs in response.

"A few days ago, a quarian came by my office. She was shot, but she wouldn't tell me who did it. I could tell she was scared, probably on the run. She asked me about the Shadow Broker. She wanted to trade information in exchange for a safe place to hide." Oh, here we go.

"Let me guess. Fist?" She nodded. "Damn it."

"He's an agent for the Shadow Broker. So I figured that was her best bet." Fuck.

"Not anymore. Now he works for Saren, and the Shadow Broker isn't too happy about it." This just keeps getting better and better.

"Fuck me." I lift my hands to massage my temples. My head was starting to hurt. Damn, my reserves have been shortened to, if 4 grenades and about a dozen rounds of arc bolts drain me this much, I'll need to find a way to boost my powers again. Draining this last merc was enticing, but I waited to see if Garrus would be okay with murdering a helpless merc.

"Fist betrayed the Shadow Broker? That's stupid, even for him. Saren must have made him quite the offer." I was beginning to wonder about how dangerous this Shadow Broker really was. Probably somebody I shouldn't take lightly. Especially if nobody know who they are.

"That quarian must have something Saren wants. Something worth crossing the Shadow Broker to get." I had a few guesses as to what that could be.

"It has to be evidence. Knowing my luck, and how things have been turning out... come to think of it Garrus, I didn't tell you. The men outside Chora's Den..." I pulled up the recording I took of them arguing after they shot that girl. After watching it Garrus growled.

"So they were targeting Shepard and shot an innocent over what Saren is hiding." He was seething. There was no mistaking that tone and rage. Good, we'll need it.

"Did she mention anything about the geth?" I turned back to Michel and her face lit up with recognition.

"Yes! That was the information she wanted to trade. It was information on the geth." Good, we're getting somewhere.

"The council can't ignore this. What she has likely links Saren to the Geth!" Garrus was chomping at the bit, and to be honest with you so was I. Everybody else had a head start on this quarian and I wanted to find her before she was taken out of commission.

"It's amazing how we were already planning on hitting Fist. He may have been given a chance to give up and leave me alone, but no. He's not escaping me now." My headache was already putting me on edge, but this Saren business, as well as Fist hurting a lot of people over it, was really pissing me off.

"MacGrath, because of my position in C-Sec, I can't just go in with out a warrant, so it's your show. I do want to take Fist and Saren down however. Badly. So I am coming with you." I smirked at Garrus for a moment, thinking about his persistent nature and drive.

"You know, seeing as how I was exposed to xenophobia from different species today, I'm wondering why a turian wants to take down Saren." I already knew the answer, but I wanted to hear him say it so there was no doubt.

"I couldn't find the proof I needed in my investigation, but I knew what was going on. Saren is a traitor to the Council, and a disgrace to my people!" The turian C-Sec agent's voice rose higher and higher, getting angrier and angrier. I don't think there was anybody else with this kind of determination, save maybe Shepard. I'd have to see more of her in action first though.

"Good, I'm in, you're in, let's make a party out of it." Garrus nodded in agreement as we started to head for the door.

"Cole!" I turned back towards the doctor.

"What about him?" Looking back down, I had realized I was so amped up on Garrus and his passion for curb stomping Fist and Saren into the pavement, that I had forgotten about the last merc.

"Oh, right." Without even looking for Garrus to approve, I walked over to the merc, feeling the lack of energy stored deep within me, wanting to replenish it immediately, and leaned down.

"Get out of here Michel." She seemed to pick up what I was saying an left the room. Garrus didn't flinch, wanting to see what I would do. I knew he wouldn't rat me out now.

The merc had just woken up again as I loomed over him. Draining him dry is what I wanted to do, but I realized I had a theory I wanted to test out earlier today.

Placing my hands around his head, my fingers and thumbs the only things making contact. He immediately tries to fight me but it's not possible with my arc restraints around him. Normally, I'd let him have a chance to fight back, but this would probably require concentration.

I reach deep with in him, searching for specific electrical currents in his mind, and I try to focus on those as I begin to drain him of his energy, attempting to gain his memories, the way Kessler was able to share his. The way I do with dead bodies.

Sure enough, I gather images, flashes of memory. They are scattered however, and unfocused. The few that come threw clearly are of him doing various jobs for fist, and being told to kill the doctor. Everything else is blurry, until near the end, I see myself through his eyes, taking his life.

But I can't stop. It only takes a few more seconds but I drain him completely to replenish my stores. I sit there for a minute, almost a euphoric feeling of being refreshed has washed over me, before I come to my senses and realize what I had done, and what I had just witnessed. The image replaying over in my head, the look on my face. I want to vomit, but can't. If I did I'd leave evidence.

So I swallow it down, and I get up, and I leave.

Garrus has a stunned look on his face. Despite everything he was taking it better then I thought he would. I nearly hurl a couple of times while heading towards Chora's Den.

"You ever do that before?" He eventually breaks the silence. I stop to think about my answer, and regret it.

"Sort of. I've drained people for energy before... I went through a dark time. What I just did was a bit different, and definitely my first time." I keep my eyes down to the ground, thinking about what I just did and how it made me feel. It terrified me, and it felt so good.

"Do you-"

"No. I don't." I didn't feel like discussing it any further with the man. I didn't know him well enough yet to just start spilling all my secrets and emotions to him.

Besides, we had work to do.

A/N: Guys, longest chapter so far. Only by around 300 more words, but still.

Next chapter will be a little different from what I've done so far. Not too much, but still, if it's too much I'd like you guys to let me know. I'll go in more depth about it at the end of the next chapter about what my plans are with my latest concocted plan. Also, I have a cool friend who drawing and awesome drawing of what Cole and Shepard Will look like side by side well into the story. Three guesses as to what that means. I'll make it the cover photo once it's complete. The sketches he's shown me so far are fantastic and his colouring and how he's making Cole's lightning powers look brighter then the rest of it like it's actually illuminating everything. Chef's Kiss*

Anyway, I hope you guys are enjoying the story and continue to do so if you are. If you aren't, let me know I guess? I'd like to get some constructive criticism every once in awhile. Have a good one!