Who are You? Ch. 7

Shepard had been less than thrilled to see that Dr. Michel was no longer working in the clinic in the Wards, though she had been replaced by a very courteous salarian doctor who was just as skilled as she had been (though did not make as much conversation as Michel had whenever Shepard dropped in when she was in the neighborhood). Nonetheless the salarian doctor patched Shepard up with medigel and gauze alike, occasionally trying to make conversation, though mostly inquiring about where she acquired her injuries. He didn't seem too phased about her situation (the Wards had always been relatively violent), and after about an hour the salarian doctor sent her on her way.

Wasting no time, Shepard set up a comm link to Miranda as soon as she stepped out of the clinic. "Miranda, have you found anything yet?"

After a few seconds Miranda responded. "Nothing yet; I've talked to Bailey, though, and he has a few of his duct rat kids trying to scrounge up something on where he might be."

Shepard felt her stomach turn. "I guess I'm just going to start looking around. He can't have gotten far." As Shepard was about to drop the link Miranda's voice chimed in. "Wait wait wait, Shepard..." Miranda started to speak to a male voice, their conversation low and fast. Shepard was praying it was about Garrus' whereabouts, and she anxiously tapped her foot as she waited for Miranda to finish her other conversation.

Finally Miranda's voice came back on the comm, clearly addressing Shepard. "Shepard, that was Captain Bailey. He said they traced Garrus' credit chit to a small motel a little ways away from Chora's Den. Your best bet is to call rapid transit and get dropped off as close as you can…Just tell them to not let you off at Chora's..."

Shepard grinned weakly. "Noted. Thank you Miranda; I'll let you know if anything else comes up." Shepard promptly cut the comm and moved to the transit station, quickly flagging down an X3M shuttle and explaining where she needed to go. It wouldn't be a terribly long shuttle ride, but Shepard was tired of trekking through the Citadel like she was trying to work off a large breakfast. I haven't even eaten since before my shift in the morning, and now it's... Shepard looked at her omni tool, groaning when she saw it was nearly 0500. Had it really almost been a full 24 hours? I am going to kick Garrus' ass AND make him buy me a meal after all of this...

The shuttle was short indeed, as she was jolted out of her thoughts just as quickly as she had entered them as the shuttle came to an abrupt stop in a shuttle station outside of a part of the lower wards Shepard had not been in before. She leaned up, holding the seat and addressing the shuttle driver. "How far is the motel I told you about from here?"

The man motioned down an alley that could be seen from where they were. "Just take that alley until it ends, and then break right. You'll see a volus; he's the clerk."

Shepard thanked the driver, transferring funds from her credit account to his before stepping from the shuttle and heading to the alley. Of course it was poorly lit but, lucky for Shepard, it was relatively devoid of life (save for a Keeper, though in Shepard's mind they didn't technically count). She walked quickly to the end of the alley and went to the right, almost instantly spotting the volus she assumed the shuttle driver had mentioned. Again she quickened her pace, walking up to the short and stocky alien.

"Good evening."

The volus didn't even seem to be listening, too focused on something Shepard could not see. Shepard rolled her eyes, leaning over the counter and snapping her fingers in front of the volus's face. "Hey! Buddy! A little help!"

After a filtered snort and head shake the volus looked in her direction. "Ah, welcome to my, Vorlack's, rooming accommodations! May I interest you in a room?"

Shepard sighed, becoming impatient. "No. I need you to tell me what room a Mr. Garrus Vakarian is staying in. He's a turian, a bit taller than me with blue clan markings."

"Ah, yes, very nice turian..." The volus looked her up and down before looking up the room information on a datapad. "He is in 21c... very odd turian... never would have expected a human call girl for him... " Shepard instantly felt her face flush. For God's sake she was wearing a t-shirt... how could he even think she was a prostitute? Jeez, I just need to wear my armor everywhere I go from now on... Shepard swiftly left the counter muttering a low 'thanks' before winding through the halls to find the room the volus had indicated.
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Garrus sat anxiously on the shuttle, watching out of the window as the shit-hole that was Omega gave him little attractive scenery to observe. Garrus looked down at his omni-tool, re-reading the message that Sidonis had sent him requesting help from a job he was doing involving a few Blue Suns operatives. Small time thing, but Sidonis had shown a personal attachment to the job that had been offered, and Garrus had been more than happy to oblige. The turian couldn't help but worry slightly, though, as he thought of the urgency written into the message, telling him a location to meet in as soon as possible. It was decently far from his squad's hideout, but he trusted the team to hold down the fort.

The shuttle arrived, and Garrus promptly exited, activating the coordinates of the meeting position and following them quickly. He had no idea what could have gone wrong with the mission that Sidonis had been on, but as Garrus had learned while being on Shepard's team, even a perfectly planned operation can go sour in a moment's notice. The turian winced as he thought of the dead Spectre's name, an almost overwhelming sense of sadness washing over him. As long as it had been since her death, it still stung at the turian like an open wound reminding him of the times had on the Normandy...

Garrus shook himself out of his melancholic nostalgia as he arrived at the position Sidonis had indicated. He stood, looking at his surroundings and pinpointing potential threats as he always did. He was surprised, though, that Sidonis was nowhere in his sight. Could the turian have been captured? Could there have been issues Garrus hadn't forseen? No, Garrus was thorough with his research, so what had happened?

Garrus tried to link to Sidonis' comm, but when there was no answer he quickly commed another on his team. When the link opened, all Garrus could hear was static and gunfire, enough to send Garrus sprinting back to the shuttle station. He yelled where he needed to go to the shuttle driver, but his mind was a complete haze as the shuttle drove.

Sidonis hadn't been in trouble. He was setting up the base for an ambush.

The shuttle ride was agonizingly slow, but when it finally arrived Garrus sprinted from the shuttle towards the hideout. He must have pushed over 5 or 6 people in his haste, but when he slid into the alley that led to the door which would let him into the base, he could already hear the yelling and gunshots...

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK. Garrus jolted up from his nightmare, breathing heavily and feeling hot. He hadn't had a dream like that since leaving Omega... He sat up, quickly stretching his shoulders and noticing his shirt had made its way off of his torso at some point in the night. Garrus simply shrugged his shoulders a few more times before standing from the rickety bed, noticing gravity still wasn't agreeing with him yet. As well, the pounding music from one of the other rooms was still persisting (though they had been keen enough to switch songs at some point in the night). Garrus rubbed his forehead with clenched talons as he felt his headache slowly returning to a dull throb.

Garrus finally made his way over to the door, looking through the peep hole and groaned as he saw the distorted form of Shepard looking around anxiously. Garrus knew he wasn't sober enough yet for the kind of talk she would want to have, but he couldn't turn her away. Even if he was still pretty buzzed, he already felt like shit about what happened in the bar, how he had handed her over to those inflamed turians. Turning her away now would probably incite her to shoot down the door and actually beat the shit out of him this time. And those two punches to the jaw she had given him already made him know that he didn't want to experience her strength when she was fully enraged.

Conjuring up courage, Garrus unlocked the door and opened it a crack, looking out of it and down at a relieved but equally furious Shepard. She looked bruised up and hunched over a bit but overall she seemed... Honestly she looks beat to hell... have to make sure I apologize for that... After what he had realized was a relatively long and awkward period of silence, he cleared his throat and spoke. "Um...Yes?"
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Shepard crossed her arms, looking at Garrus through the door crack. She could clearly see by the way he was squinting and his body language that he was still quite drunk, but she could have cared less "You had better let me in, Vakarian, or I'll make sure you get two," she pointed to her blackened right eye, "of these." Apparently he was finally starting to understand that she wasn't messing around, and he opened the door the rest of the way, moving to the side and letting Shepard walk in. As he closed the door she took a position leaning against one of the poorly painted walls.

She wasted no time in beginning to speak. "Frankly Vakarian, I'm tired of your insubordination." The way he looked at Shepard told her he was worried, but she kept speaking. "I've treated you as a friend in the past because you were one. You were someone I could trust, someone I could depend on. Hell, I would have trusted you with my life. But now? I'm not sure."

"You're really going to start talking to me like you're my superior?" Garrus blurted out. Shepard noticed that despite his outburst, it seemed like she had struck a chord within him. He moved away from the door, teetering a bit before gaining his footing.

Shepard stood from the wall, furrowing her brow. "Well, contrary to your belief, I AM your superior Garrus!" Garrus instantly shrunk from her, as if rejecting her as she moved closer to him. Inside she was extremely worried something like their first fight could happen again, but knowing it was a possibility, she was handling the situation like she would if she were negotiating with the enemy. "I treated you as an equal because I trusted you Garrus, because I wouldn't have anyone else besides you following me into hell itself, but if you're going to be a fucking ass and jump ship after every argument," the commander roared, "then I WILL talk to you like you're fucking below me!"

Garrus averted his gaze from hers, crossing his arms. The room was silent until he angrily spoke up. "It's just... Shepard, since when have you become Matriarch of Diplomacy?" Shepard's eyes widened at the name Garrus had spouted at her and she moved back again, leaning against the wall as Garrus hobbled forward, trying to pace the small room. "You used to be all for shooting first and asking questions later... you used to never shy away from a just kill. And the second I get the chance for actually enacting justice on someone who deserved to be killed, someone you agreed to help me get rid of, you stopped me and took the easy way out. Why?"

Everything Garrus had said was on point; Shepard would admit that. She had changed, and it was a conscious change for sure. As she lowered her head, she thought about the way she had handled things before she had been killed, and she knew that she had been quite the ass herself. She was lucky heat sink technology hadn't been in use yet, or she would have been out of shots the second she stepped onto a battle field.

She used to be brash, just like Garrus had been in killing Sidonis, in so many situations. And if it was two years ago, she could see herself potentially doing the same thing if she had the chance to shoot one of those bastard Cerberus scientists who killed her unit on Akuze. Through all that, though, she still tried to take the time to decide between what was right and wrong. She never killed an innocent. Or someone as pitiable and far-gone from reality as Sidonis.

"Garrus, it's never been about the easy way out. I know I was trigger happy back when we were fighting Saren. I was bitter. I was angry." Shepard paused, taking a step over to the bed and sitting down on it, resting her elbows on her knees and staring down at her feet. "But I guess dying changes the way you look at the galaxy." When she didn't hear Garrus say anything for a few moments, she looked up at him, motioning for him to sit down with her and he complied. She put a hand on his arm and looked him in the eyes.

"I know things aren't worked out. I know you're still pissed, and I know you feel like I've betrayed you. I understand. Just... Please Garrus. Come back to the Normandy with me and we can figure this out. I can't afford to lose someone like you."

Garrus kept her gaze, probably in an attempt to probe her for her true intentions, but she was being damn sincere. She had to fight back a tear or two as she pleaded for Garrus to come back with her. Yes, she had said she felt like they weren't friends, but that didn't mean she didn't want to try and fix things. A friendship like the one the two of them shared was worth trying to figure out.

Finally the turian looked down to his knees. "I still maintain what I did was right and just." He paused, his breathing jagged as if he was trying to say something else. Finally, he spoke. "Just... give me the night. I'll report to the Normandy at 1300, but just give me what's left of the night... well, morning. Just a little more time off the ship before I come back."

Shepard nodded and moved her hand off of his arm. "We can figure things out then. Slowly." Garrus nodded in agreement, and Shepard stood from the bed, slightly to the door and opening it.

"Shepard?" Shepard stopped mid-walk, looking back at Garrus, who ran his hand over his fringe. "Sorry about the black eye and about before and, well... everything else..."

Shepard winced at the mention of her injuries (especially her still throbbing back) but she grinned as she retorted playfully. "Just know that the next time we're training in the sparring room, I'm going to hand your ass to you on a silver platter." She turned and left the room, hearing the door close behind her as she walked through the halls to exit the motel. Things aren't right yet… but it's a start.