I Made You a Promise

Shepard heard the doors to the main battery open behind her. She smiled as a pair of taloned hands placed themselves firmly on her waist. "Ready for some action?" The turian's words were spoken into her right ear, making her shiver.

She turned around carefully, making sure to keep her hip bones in contact with the taloned hands that rested on them. It was her favorite place for them to be. "Where are we going?" Shepard asked, a smirk playing around the corners of her mouth.

Garrus' mandibles flicked. "Omega," he answered.

Shepard's eyebrows shot up. "Shit, really?"

Garrus nodded. "Don't worry, you'll be safe. Besides, I thought all the mercs thought you were dead?"

Shepard shrugged. "That would be nice, but I know them too well. Even if they think I'm dead, they won't believe it unless they see a body. The Blood Pack are mostly krogan and vorcha, but they're not stupid. Same goes for Blue Suns and Eclipse, even if those groups recruit humans and turians and batarians. They're not gonna believe me dead until one of them kills me, and even then, the two groups that didn't kill me might not believe it."

Garrus' face was shrouded in thought. "Well, we might be able to fool them," he thought aloud after a moment.

"If this involves dyeing my hair, I'll take my chances of getting caught, thanks."

Garrus' mandibles flicked in amusement. "That actually wasn't on my mind, but good to know that you're not willing to part with your hair color." He ran a talon through her hair, as if examining it, then returned the hand to her waist. "Besides, I like your hair this color too. Although I'll admit that I'd be okay with seeing it change."

"At least one of us is," Shepard replied.

Garrus just chuckled and pressed his mouth to her forehead in an attempt at a light kiss. He was still working on those kinds of things. "Don't worry, we're not changing anything about you. I was just thinking that we could find someone on Omega itself to play your part so the mercs will truly think you dead."

"That's cute, Vakarian," Shepard intoned. "But there are two things wrong with that." Garrus raised an eye-plate in question. "One, we have no leverage on Omega. No one knows who we are, and they probably wouldn't care if they did. And two, I'm not endangering a stranger and dragging them into my personal problems. That's the exact reason I started everything I did there."

Garrus just watched Shepard expectantly, like he was waiting for some kind of further explanation. Shepard sighed. "When the old Normandy was blown up by that Collector ship two years ago, I thought we were just going to wait to find everyone again and get a new ship. But then I learned that you didn't make it off the ship. I've told you enough about my time of despair right after we all thought we had lost you, but hearing more won't hurt, I guess." Shepard turned her eyes away from Garrus' and they instead focused on a pattern in the armor on his chest. "Of course I wasn't the only one that was sad about losing you, Garrus. The whole crew of the old Normandy absolutely loved you, would have followed you to the ends the galaxy, and they kind of did." Garrus smiled at this remark. "So it makes sense that everyone was really sad that you had been lost, but you weren't the only one. There were servicemen on the lower decks who didn't get out in time, and Pressly was killed too. So all the mourning wasn't for you. All the crew was close with each other too. I think I mourned you enough for two Normandy crews. I was devastated by your loss, mainly because I had never gotten the chance to tell you how I felt about you."

"Never got the chance or never got up the courage?" Garrus cut in.

Shepard glanced up at his small blue eyes and playfully smacked his shoulder. "Shut up. I did it eventually, didn't I?"

"Yes, but that was only after I was dead for two years."

"I'm pretty sure you're the only person that has happened to, so stop making it sound like it happens to everyone," Shepard said. Garrus kept quiet after that. "Anyway, I felt like shit for not telling you before the ship's explosion, so I spent a good few months moping around the Citadel. I spent basically all of my time in clubs and bars, drinking the days away. I didn't care what I was doing to myself, because I didn't see the point of living anymore, really. I didn't have the guts to put a pistol to my head and blow my brains out against the wall of the apartment I was sharing with Ashley and another girl named Sarah, so I killed myself slowly.

"Ashley was the one to finally raise me from perdition, so to speak. She got me help, and I stopped my self-destruct cycle. I even took my job back at C-Sec, because they had offered it to me after I had been back on the Citadel for about a month or so, and the station was built back up enough to have C-Sec back up and running again. I didn't take it back right away because I was drinking myself to death, of course, but I saw it as basically my only option after I got clean. Then it had been six months since the Normandy went down, and I went out and got drunk that night. When one year turned, the living crew had all gathered to have drinks to commemorate the fallen of the Normandy explosion. We had one for each one that we had lost. I had two for you." Shepard took a breath before continuing. "I didn't mean for this to be storytime, by the way."

Garrus chuckled again, his mandibles flicking as he smiled. "It's alright, as unfortunate your time in between Normandys was, I enjoy hearing about it. It's good to know that my crew was out having lives of their own while mine was being restored, even if those lives weren't always the best."

Shepard smiled and rested her head against his chest, wrapping her arms around him and then letting them fall down and rest on his waist. "Yeah, I dunno about the rest of the Normandy crew, but I might've had the worst time out of all of them. Anyway, when it had turned one year since the Normandy had gone down, I needed to get off the Citadel. I needed a change of scenery, and mostly everyone that was on the original Normandy had gotten new ship assignments, including Ashley. She actually became commander of a new ship, I think. Everyone else...Liara, Tali, Wrex, everyone had gone off to do other things, get on with their lives, complete missions of their own. I hitched a ride on the first passenger ship out of the Citadel a few days after the one-year. I quit my job at C-Sec, packed up my stuff, and left. I didn't care where I went, I just needed to leave."

"And you ended up on Omega," Garrus said.

"Yes, I did. I learned the place quickly. It was kill or be killed with all the mercs crawling the place and Aria running it. I saw all the petty crime and heard about the shakedowns the mercs were doing on a regular basis and I got tired of it pretty damn quick. So instead of silently fuming in the little apartment I had gotten myself, I did something about it. I fucked with merc weapon shipments, their vehicles, their assaults on places and people, and I made sure no one saw my face. I didn't need publicity, and I got infamy instead. I was alright with that. Then I guess I pissed the mercs off enough to make them band together and come after me after I had been fucking with them and their dealings for a year. All the mercs knew who Archangel was, even Aria did. I considered that an accomplishment. And then you were in my building, with Miranda and Jacob, and I thought I was seeing shit. I've told you all that before. Getting off Omega wasn't much of a sob story, and I'm done talking about that place." Shepard returned her eyes to Garrus'. "If we need to go back there to help someone or whatever, I'm all in." She thought for a moment. "What are we going there for, anyway?"

"I was making my rounds around the ship, talking to all the people we've picked up along the way, making sure they're settling in alright, learning about them, things like that. Samara asked me for her help. Her daughter is an Ardat-Yakshi, a special type of asari that murders those they mate with. Samara has traced her lead from Illium to Omega. She believes her daughter is currently wreaking havoc on the hollowed-out asteroid, and I told her I would help her," Garrus explained.

"An Ardat-Yakshi? Yeah, I heard about her when I was there. Tried to find her for a few days, but she's impossible to find. Must be one of those things where if you go looking for her, she disappears. Only appears when you least expect it to try and catch your guard down. No different than a merc, really, except she uses sex to kill you instead of a sniper rifle or a pistol," Shepard said.

"So you know her?" Garrus asked, a hint of excitement in his voice.

"I know of her. Like I said, couldn't find her when I went looking. If she's an asari, though, she might be kind of easy to spot. I didn't see a lot of those prowling the markets and apartments. They mostly all hung out in Afterlife. You might find her there, but I would ask Samara. It is her daughter, after all."

"I assume you'll be coming on the mission, then?" Garrus asked.

"Of course! Any merc that gets within three feet of me will get shot. Bring it on," Shepard tested, smiling. Garrus smiled back at her, his mandibles flicking.

"I promise you you'll be safe with us," the turian murmured, gently placing his taloned hands on either side of Shepard's face. She closed her eyes as a warm smile spread across her face and brought her hands up to meet Garrus'. Shepard took them down from her face and just held them in hers for a moment before taking a step closer to him and wrapping her arms around him. Garrus returned the gesture almost immediately. The pair stood like that for a handful of minutes before pulling apart. Then Garrus leaned his head down to plant a light kiss on Shepard's lips, making her grin and her cheeks flush a light shade of pink. It was something she still hadn't gotten used to yet, but Garrus didn't mind. He was perfectly alright with the ability to make someone blush, even if it wasn't going to be permanent.

"I don't have any doubt in that," Shepard replied.

"Come suit up. I've told Samara to meet us by the airlock when we dock, which we should be doing any minute," Garrus said, taking a step towards the battery door and extending his hand. Shepard set the doors to close behind them and took Garrus' hand, to be whisked away to her cabin on the first deck of the ship. She had only recently began allowing Garrus up there with her for extended periods of time.

Samara was waiting for them at the airlock when the Normandy was docked at Omega. She was wearing her typical red suit, golden collar, and red headband-type on her forehead. Shepard had wondered more than once if the justicar ever wore anything aside from that. Not that she needed to, because she was a justicar and Shepard had compared them to Council Spectres in their capacity to do anything to achieve justice, but Shepard's initial scowl at the provocative nature of Samara's outfit had put her in immediate and irrevocable disfavor with the justicar. Neither Garrus nor Shepard were happy about this.

Nonetheless, Shepard still tried to keep their relationship civil at best. She knew that Samara was likely to not hurt or kill her while on the Normandy, but her previous association with Omega was one that put Shepard in further disfavor with Samara. Shepard knew very well that Samara greatly disliked Shepard, and so did Garrus, but both expected the justicar to act with more grace than your average person would. Luckily for Shepard, she did. As the trio walked up to the line of waiting humans and the elcor bouncer, Shepard became just the slightest bit uneasy. It had been just over a year since she had been here, and she liked the idea of everyone thinking she was dead. It saved her the trouble of having to worry about being attacked by mercs, even if they had the decency to not do so in the middle of a nightclub. And there was no doubt in Shepard's mind that Aria knew she wasn't dead, so she supposed her uneasiness stemmed from the fact that Aria was exactly where they were headed upon the direction of EDI.

The thumping music of Afterlife washed over them like a tidal wave. It was immediately encompassing and the only way to escape it was to leave. Shepard, Garrus, and Samara ascended the steps to Aria's assumed throne, and she seemed like she was waiting for them, sitting nonchalantly on her couch. She immediately noticed Shepard. "Archangel," she greeted, her expression not changing. The guns on either side of her looked to her for directions, but she didn't look back at them. Her gaze remained on Shepard, who was becoming uneasier the longer the asari watched her. "Word around here is that you're dead," she said.

"I've been hearing that," Shepard replied, trying to keep her voice steady.

"Yet here you are."

"Here I am," Shepard parroted.

Aria's gaze flicked to Samara. "And you have a justicar with you. Must be important business."

"We're looking for someone," Shepard said.

Her gaze then flicked to Garrus. "I didn't think a bodyguard was your style, Archangel."

Shepard snorted. "My bodyguard? No, he's my commander."

Aria's eyebrows lifted. "Commander? So you three are from that Cerberus ship that just arrived." She paused, shifting her position on the couch. "Now that you mention it, I believe I do remember your commander. He was here about a year ago, looking for you. Along with every mercenary on the asteroid. And then you just disappeared and everyone thought you were dead. I knew they were too stupid to actually believe that."

"So did I. I knew they wouldn't believe me dead until they saw my damn body."

"You might want to be careful then. If any of the mercs see you around, they won't hesitate to shoot you. Or they might be nice and kidnap you first. That's only if you're lucky." She nodded to her guns to forget about shooting anyone at the moment. "Now, you said you were looking for someone?" Aria asked, evidently done playing with Shepard.

"An Ardat-Yakshi," Shepard replied.

"I've heard much about her, but have never seen her. Of course. She hasn't come to try and seduce me yet. Nor do I care her to. I in fact value my life. She doesn't, though, so if you're trying to get rid of her, be my guest. Last I heard, her last victim was a girl from the apartments. Pretty little thing. I'd start looking there."

Shepard looked to Samara, who merely nodded at her. "We will. Thanks."

Aria didn't reply as Shepard, Garrus, and Samara stepped away from Aria's platform. When they were just outside the door, Garrus stopped them both. "Shepard, you know this place. Why don't you ask around for information about the Ardat-Yakshi, and Samara and I will go to the apartment that the asari spoke of."

"It would be useful to know that my daughter is going by the name of Morinth," Samara said in her cool, even tone. Garrus looked at Samara as she spoke and he just nodded.

"You don't trust Aria," Shepard said, making the turian turn his attention back to her. Shepard wasn't the jealous type, but she couldn't deny that the justicar was much more attractive than she was or would ever be.

"You know this place better than either Samara or myself. Did you ever trust anyone while you were here?" Garrus asked.

"A select few. And even then did I not place my complete trust in them lest they betray me at the last second." Garrus was silent for a moment, thinking. "Either way, Aria knows everything there is to know about Omega. You saw how she knew that the Normandy had docked and that it was a Cerberus ship without even moving from her couch. She has many people and many ways of learning everything about this asteroid. If anyone has any decent information about Morinth, then it's Aria. But if you want to send me out into the markets or wherever looking for any extra information about her, I won't protest, Commander."

Garrus' mandibles flicked at her use of his title. "The markets might be the best place to start. Keep in radio contact with anything you find, or if you get in any overwhelming trouble." He held his hands up in front of him before Shepard could protest. "I know you know this place, but keep your guard up. I'm sure I don't have to tell you twice since you lived here for a year."

Shepard sulked for all of five seconds before issuing a loud, dramatic sigh and standing up a little straighter and adjusting the holster for the pistol at her hip. She only used it in emergencies, otherwise relying on her assault or sniper rifles to get and keep her out of trouble. "Yes, Commander. Where should we rendezvous?"

"When Samara and I have a lead on Morinth, we'll contact you via radio to meet up with you."

Shepard nodded. "Sounds like a plan. Good luck."

"And to you, Shepard." They both saw in the other's eyes a look of concern for the other, but they both knew that any sort of affection in front of crew members wasn't wise. Showing affection in front of anyone except each other was the first rule they had set for each other when they decided to be together. So they simply shared the look of affectionate concern for the other for a moment before splitting at the entrance to the club. The three walked together through the entrance to the markets and apartments, then Garrus and Samara nodded at Shepard just before they split. Shepard nodded back at them, made sure they found their way to wherever they needed to be, and then began her search for facts on the Ardat-Yakshi terrorizing Omega.

She began her search at Harrot's Emporium. Harrot was a slave driver for an elcor, always pushing you to buy at least something at his kiosk. But he was a figure on Omega. Not as big as Aria - no one was as big as Aria on Omega - but he was important enough that most people that spent any significant amount of time in the markets knew who he was. Shepard approached the elcor with an air of nonchalance. "Tentatively excited, greetings, human. How may I help you today?" Harrot's voice was like any elcor's: monotonous and dull, speaking how they would inflect their voice were they human or around other elcor.

"I just had a few questions for you," Shepard answered, leaning on the counter.

"Interested, what kind of questions do you have?"

"I was wondering if you had heard anything about an Ardat-Yakshi on Omega lately."

"Confused, an Ardat-Yakshi? I do not know what those are. Apologetic, I am sorry."

"Don't worry about it." Shepard dismissed the elcor's small apology with a wave of her hand. "Thanks," she said and pushed herself away from the counter.

Well, that wasn't any help, Shepard thought. She was on her way to Marsh's corner when Garrus came through her radio. "Shepard?"

"Commander?" She was careful how loud she spoke that word. If the wrong people heard her, it would mean trouble. And she wasn't looking forward to a fight in the middle of the markets.

"We've located what we think is the apartment of the victim. Have you gotten any useful information from the markets?"

"I've only had time to talk to one person, Commander. Be patient. I'll radio you if I learn anything interesting."

"Appreciated, Shepard." Garrus' voice clicked out on her radio. Shepard walked up to Marsh and knocked on the wood of his counter. He seemed engrossed in a data pad.

"Excuse me!" she called.

The batarian turned his attention to her. "Can I help you?" His rough voice assailed Shepard's ears, but so did all other batarian voices. It was a drawback to interacting with batarians, but it's not like Shepard could avoid them, especially in her line of work. At least her former one.

"I was just looking to ask you some questions."

"What about?" Marsh set down his data pad. Normally, Shepard would have tried to read it discreetly, but she doubted it contained information about Morinth, so she left it alone.

"Just recent happenings on Omega."

The batarian paused for a moment. "What do you wanna know?" he asked, his voice a mite lower than before.

"Anything exciting out of the rumor mill lately?" Shepard asked, leaning on the counter.

"Well there's been talk that Archangel's dead."

Shepard raised her eyebrows. "Really?"

Marsh nodded. "No one knows who killed her, though. Or if she killed herself. Don't know why she would do that anyway."

"Well that's certainly exciting."

"You're telling me. It's all I've heard for the past three days."

Shepard let a few moments pass between questions. "Any other killings lately?"

The batarian gave her a look like she didn't know where she was. "This is Omega, human. People die everyday. Young girl was just found dead the other day. No one knows who she was, but she lived on the station. The mercs don't know anything about it, so it wasn't them, and Archangel's dead, so no one knows who could have killed her."

Shepard's eyebrows now knitted together. "Does anyone know how she died?" she asked.

"Heard tell that the doctors say it was a brain hemorrhage. Doesn't sound like a way to kill someone to me, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone here's dealing drugs that an overdose does that to ya."

"Well I appreciate your time." The batarian just nodded at her and picked his data pad back up. Shepard walked away from the counter and leaned against the opposite wall. "Commander?"

It was a minute or so before he responded. "Shepard. We're at the apartment of the victim. Samara's speaking with the girl's mother right now. You have something?"

"Yeah. Just got some intel on the girl. The mother probably already knows this, but the girl died of a brain hemorrhage. Does that sound like Morinth? Ask Samara."

Shepard waited another moment or so for a response. "She says that sounds exactly like Morinth. Good work, Shepard."

"Thank you, Commander."

"Come meet us at the apartment. We're easy to spot."

"Aye aye, Commander." Shepard nodded to no one in particular and began to make her way to the entrance to the majority of the apartments. She looked at no one as she passed them.

At the entrance to the alleyway that housed the first of the apartments, a pair of krogan barred Shepard's way. "Excuse me," she said gruffly, hoping to just push past them. They didn't budge. Shepard looked up at them and noticed they were wearing Blood Pack armor. "Shit," she murmured.

"Well look who it is," the krogan on the left said. His deep bass notes resonated in Shepard's chest in such close proximity.

"You're supposed to be dead," the other krogan remarked.

"About that -" Shepard began.

"You can explain later...if we let you." Then Shepard saw only black.

Garrus was beginning to worry about Shepard, but he didn't let his worry show to either Samara or Diana, the mother of the girl who was killed. Her name was Nef. Diana had allowed Garrus and Samara to look through Nef's room to perhaps find any evidence as to where she met Morinth, but Garrus didn't want to do so without Shepard, and she still hand't shown up yet. She had radioed him just ten minutes ago, and Shepard knew Omega like the back of her hand, she should have been here five minutes ago. Unless something happened to her. Garrus shook his head. No, she's too smart for that. She knows how to defend herself. "Shepard?" Garrus called into his radio. There was no response after waiting a whole minute. She would have responded by now. Unless she's talking to someone. But she had everything she needed, and said she would meet them by the apartment, so where is she? Garrus found that his mouth had gone dry. Perhaps she's just in a spot with bad radio reception, those exist. Or she's in trouble. Spirits, I hope she's not in trouble. "Shepard," he repeated into the radio.

Samara had walked over to Garrus, a slight look of questioning replacing her usually calm mask. "Is everything alright?"

"I can't get ahold of Shepard," he answered brusquely, merely glancing at the justicar. "She should have been here by now, and she's not answering her radio. She always answers her radio."

"Commander, I do believe Shepard is in trouble. We must find out where she is."

"Let's search the room first. This is what we came here for."

Samara gently placed a hand on Garrus' shoulder. He shot her a confused look, because that was extremely out of character for what he had seen of Samara. "There is a teammate in danger. I'm afraid I must stay here and learn what I can about Morinth and her whereabouts. If I find out where she met this poor girl, I will radio you. You go find Shepard."

Garrus merely nodded at Samara as she stepped into the victim's room behind them and Garrus stormed out the door. He threw a brisk goodbye to Diana as he left. They had Shepard, whoever "they" were. He was almost certain it was mercenaries, but it could be anyone. Garrus assumed that Shepard had more enemies aside from just the major merc groups on Omega in her year here. He decided that questioning the locals was his best plan of action, so he started at the alleyway that housed the entrance to the apartments. There was a batarian leaning against a wall and Garrus approached him. "Excuse me."

The batarian looked up at him with a wary eye, noticing his armor in good condition and the guns in the holsters on his back and at his hip. "What?" he asked curtly.

"Did you see a blonde human get taken from anywhere near this area?"

"Who wants to know?" Garrus didn't have patience for a smartass batarian he didn't know.

"Commander Garrus Vakarian of the Normandy. I have no less than three guns on my back and one on my hip, and I will not hesitate to let you meet one of them if you don't give me the information that I want." Garrus had taken two steps toward the batarian, now mere inches from him with eyes that burned with anger and frustration.

The batarian's multiple sets of eyes widened. He might be a smartass, but he wasn't stupid. "Okay, okay, just don't shoot me!" Garrus took a step back from the batarian, bright blue eyes still aflame with anger. "What do you need to know?"

"If you saw a blonde human female get taken from this area."

"Yeah, she was heading into the apartments when she was stopped by two Blood Pack. They said a few things to her and then knocked her out and took her away somewhere. That's all I saw, I swear."

Garrus swore under his breath. "Did you see which way they went?"

"I don't know where they keep their headquarters, but I think they're in a warehouse in that other section of Omega. That's all I know, I swear. You keep your head out of merc business here unless you want to get killed," the batarian explained.

Garrus thought for a moment and thanked the batarian. He ran away as Garrus slowly walked towards the main marketplace, deep in thought. He was alone, with no help except the guns on his back and hip and his own intuition. Not that that had ever stopped him before, but this was different. He wasn't fighting for his life this time, but one of his teammates'. And it sounded a bit strange, even to him, but their lives mattered more to him than his did. That may be attributed to the fact that Cerberus had brought him back to life for over four million credits, but this also wasn't just any teammate, this was Shepard. Shepard was different than any other teammate on the Normandy. Garrus wasn't in love with any of them.

The turian's two-toed feet strode briskly through the markets and back out into the main area that contained the entrance to Afterlife. He continued to stride through to the end of the area where the cars rested. Garrus punched the batarian standing there in the face, he crumpled to the floor, and Garrus commandeered a car from the end of the row. He set a course for the warehouses on the other side of the station, the ones that Shepard had described to him as her hideout for her last few weeks, the ones that Garrus, Miranda, and Jacob had saved Shepard from a few weeks previous.

He arrived within ten minutes and landed the car just outside the labyrinthine maze of corridors before the warehouse proper. Garrus ran around corners and hid behind crates of unknown content before realizing he had no idea where in this warehouse Shepard was.

When she had come around, Shepard instantly recognized the room she was in as the one she had used for a bedroom when she had holed herself up here in the last few weeks of her year on Omega before the merc assault and her rescue. She tried to stretch and found herself bound to a simple metal chair. She tried to move the chair and found it was bolted to the floor. Shit. Shepard began running her processes. Where am I? She looked around the room. It was the room she had used as her bedroom just over a year ago when she had hidden out here from the mercs. She knew everything about this room, except for the pair of krogan flanking her sides. They didn't look like the same ones that knocked her out and brought her here, but krogan generally looked alike to Shepard; tall, scaly, and unfriendly. They were dressed in the red armor of the Blood Pack and didn't seem to notice that Shepard was awake and looking around the room, which was fine by her.

Someone else had noticed, however, since a third krogan walked in through the door, flanked by a pair of vorcha. Shepard scowled at them as they passed through the door; to her, vorcha were nothing by two-legged vermin that were good for nothing but scavenging and target practice for her sniper rifle. It was just then that she noticed her weapons were not on her person and not in the room upon a cursory glance. Of course they would have taken my weapons. Surprised they didn't take my armor though. Looks like I'm on my own for this one. Fuck, Garrus is probably worried sick about it. Samara probably doesn't give a shit and is searching for her daughter still. Whatever. I never liked her that much anyway. Shepard pushed those juvenile thoughts from her mind as the recently arrived krogan moved to stand in front of her.

"Archangel." This krogan's voice was even deeper than the two that had spoken to her in the alley, and she thought she felt the vibrations from the bass notes through the floor, but she could be wrong. Or delusional. Or both. "We heard you were dead."

"I didn't think krogan were stupid enough to believe everything they heard on Omega," Shepard spit back.

"Good to see you still have that mouth on you, Archangel. Now why don't you tell us your real name?"

"What the hell would you do with that?" Shepard asked.

"Personal uses," the krogan answered.

"Can I at least get a name out of you? 'That stupid krogan' is much too general."

The scowl was hard to see, but still evident on the wide, scaly mouth. "Garm."

"Gesundheit."

Garm's eyes narrowed, making them look beadier than ever in his wide-set head. "You're in the presence of the leader of the Blood Pack, human. Show some respect."

"Respect is something earned, Garm, not just given. Especially not from me. Now how about releasing me from these ties so you can start earning that respect?" Shepard teased.

One of the pair of krogan flanking her extended his arm and pushed her chair over backwards. Helpless, Shepard wrapped her feet around the bottom of the legs of the chair to try and prevent her fall, the only thing she could think of, but it only slowed her fall. She tipped over, the back of the chair landing hard enough to jar her spine slightly and make her head bounce off the cement floor. "Ow," she muttered.

Garm pushed one of his krogan aside to remain face-to-face with Shepard. His eyes were shining with what Shepard saw as sadism, and that didn't really surprise her in that moment. "You're mine now, Archangel. Tarak and Jaroth can go to hell. I want to be the one to kill Archangel."

A pair of batarians then burst into the room, donned in blue armor with a white pattern on their chests and assault rifles in their hands. "Not so fast!" Shepard winced at the grating sound of the batarian's voice. Dammit, why did they all have to sound like that?

Garm whipped his head towards the door. "Tarak." The krogan's voice was short.

The batarian noticed Shepard tied to her chair that was tipped over. "Is that Archangel?" Garm nodded proudly. "Well why the hell is she in a tipped chair?" Tarak motioned for his companion to right Shepard's chair.

When she came back into the view of the seven mercenaries, she chuckled mirthlessly. "All we need is Eclipse and then it's a party!"

No one else seemed to find Shepard funny, although she didn't expect anyone to. "You'll get your wish soon enough. Jaroth should have been here twenty minutes ago, but the hell if that salarian can keep his time straight," Tarak remarked with a roll of his multiple eyes.

That screwed with Shepard's eyes and she scrunched them shut for a few seconds to regain her clear head. Or at least try. When she opened them again, Tarak and Garm were merely staring each other down. Shepard saw her best opportunity to escape appear and disappear a few minutes later, all because she was tied to a fucking metal chair in the middle of the stone room she used to sleep in. It almost made her want to cry. When the door opened again, Shepard feebly hoped it was someone with a knife or something to cut the ties off her wrists because her arms were starting to hurt.

The figure that stepped through the door was a salarian in yellow and black armor with a pistol at his hip and a salarian and two asari commandos at his back. The other salarian stepped up to the other salarian's side and simply stood there trying to look tough and professional at the same time. Shepard had to try and stifle a laugh. Tarak and Garm looked the salarian up and down with bitterness. "Jaroth," the batarian greeted with an even shorter tone than Garm had greeted him.

The salarian merely nodded at both Tarak and Garm, then looked over at Shepard tied to her now-righted chair. He walked up to her and stopped six inches from the tips of her feet. He looked her once over and then back at the two mercenary leaders. The other salarian held himself two feet behind Jaroth, and the pair of asari commandos were another foot behind him. "This is Archangel?" Jaroth asked, switching his gaze between Tarak and Garm. The two mercenary leaders nodded. "Well we knew she was a woman, but I always pictured her as a bigger human than this."

Shepard glared at him, her eyes narrowed to slits. "Fuck you. I've taken out more of all of you than any of you can count, and you think you can insult me?"

"You're tied to a metal chair. You think you hold the power?" Jaroth asked, incredulity obvious in his voice.

"How do you know I haven't freed myself and am just holding myself here, waiting for the opportune moment to attack?" Shepard shot back.

"Because if you were going to do that, you would have done so already," Tarak answered, making both Shepard and Jaroth look at him. The batarian kept his gaze on Shepard. "You're more predictable than you think, Archangel."

"You're not going to kill me," Shepard remarked, throwing the statement into the open air.

"We're not that merciful." Garm took a step toward Shepard, the floor shaking slightly under his weight.

"Then what are we going to do with her?" Jaroth asked, his small band of mercenaries now behind him as he lurked in the opposite corner of the room from the other two. "None of us are ever going to come to an agreement as to who gets to kill her, because we are all the aggrieved party. So we need an entirely different solution."

"Are you suggesting that we don't kill her?" Tarak asked, a fire in his four eyes.

"Of course not. I'm not an idiot. Archangel must answer for her crimes against us all, and the only way to do so is by death, but none of us are going to agree on just one of us killing her. So we need an entirely different solution. One that results in the happiness of all parties involved."

"Except mine," Shepard muttered sardonically, half expecting to be heard. No one seem to have heard her.

"I suggest that we step outside and discuss this." Jaroth looked at Shepard. "Archangel doesn't deserve to know what we are going to do to her."

"What if she attempts to escape?" Garm blurted.

"As Tarak noted earlier, if Archangel had wanted to escape, she would have done so by now. She's fine."

"What if we each leave one of our men to watch her?" Tarak suggested.

"That would imply we all trust each other and our men not to shoot her, and I know neither of those things are true."

There was silence among all the mercenaries for a minute. None of the accompanying had spoken, Shepard noted, but that didn't mean they weren't listening or itching to shoot someone. "Fine," Garm grumbled. Tarak had just nodded, but his face looked extremely bitter. The mob of twelve mercenaries all filed through the stone archway leading out into the adjacent hall and Shepard released a breath she didn't know she had been holding. "Shit," she muttered. "So how are we gonna get out of this one?"

She had posed the question to herself and the surrounding air, but there was a large grate in the corner behind where Garm and Tarak had been standing. She thought she heard it move in the quiet of the room, but thought she was only hearing the grate of Garm's low bass notes. When she heard it again, Shepard turned her head to the corner where the grate was and saw it had actually moved. "What the...?" she breathed, but then saw the top of the crest of horns that told Shepard Garrus had found her. His entire head popped up through the grate, holding himself up by his arms and hoisting the rest of his body through the grate and onto the stone floor with barely a sound. They wouldn't be heard by the twelve mercenaries outside, anyway, which was what Garrus was hoping for. He held a long finger to his mouth in the universal sign for quiet. Shepard merely nodded and kept her eyes on the stone archway while Garrus sneaked behind her to undo the ties on her wrists.

She wanted to tell Garrus that she had her eyes on the archway and would tell him if anything seemed suspicious, but she knew that he was constantly glancing up at the archway as he undid the ties. Shepard could hear the mercenary leaders talking outside the archway, but couldn't make out what they were saying, which was what they wanted. Once it was quiet, and both her and Garrus froze, thinking that they were about to be in trouble, but it turned out to just be a moment of silence between the three, since the quiet talking resumed a moment of two later. Just after the talking resumed, Garrus was unable to undo the ties on Shepard's wrists. She brought around to her front and rubbed them, noticing the deep, angry red marks in her skin. Garrus just gave her a concerned look when she looked up at him, and she just answered his look with a dismissive wave of her hand. Then she jerked her thumb toward the archway in a question as to what they were going to do about the mercenary leaders.

Garrus pointed to his pistol on his hip and a plate above his right eye raised in a question. Both he and Shepard had become quite skilled at communicating silently. Shepard shrugged as if to say, 'I have no idea where my weapons are.' She then pointed to her back to signal that they were taken while she was unconscious and wasn't given any idea as to where they were now. Garrus frowned and then slowly took the assault rifle out of the holster on his back and handed it to Shepard. She smiled at him and finally stood up out of the chair, arching her back in a long, much-needed stretch. She then nodded at Garrus to signal 'Let's do this.' His mandibles flicked in agreement as he drew his pistol from his hip and pointed it at the empty archway. Shepard looked to him and raised her eyebrows as far as they would go to ask 'How the hell do you suggest we go about doing this?' Garrus' response was merely firing a shot into the hallway. The succeeding groan signaled that it had hit someone and the noise of drawing weapons ensued. "I told you we should have left someone to watch her!" Garm yelled as he charged towards the door. Shepard jammed the butt of the assault rifle into the krogan's face and he stumbled backward, giving Garrus time to fire a shot into his leg to at least slow him down.

Tarak then stumbled over Garm's fallen form and his shot aimed for Shepard's chest redirected and hit the ceiling, chunks of stone falling around him, Garrus, and Shepard. They didn't know where Jaroth was, but salarians were known for their espionage, and he had a pair of asari commandos with him, so Garrus and Shepard took that as their cue to start running. It was now that Shepard was grateful that the mercenaries had left her armor on. "I commandeered a car to get here. It's parked at the entrance. What's the quickest way there?" Garrus asked Shepard as they bolted down a hallway.

"We need to get down there," Shepard answered, pointing at the ground below the bridge the hallway had become.

"Best plan?" Garrus asked.

"Run through that entranceway and take a right and run all the way down until the ramp takes us down and out."

"What if we get cut off? We still don't know where Eclipse is, and both Blood Pack and Blue Suns will have men out for your head."

"We jump over the edge and make a break for it. Just follow me and try not to get shot," Shepard said, her breathing starting to labor as they neared the entranceway she just mentioned.

Unfortunately, Garrus was right to ask about a backup plan, because Jaroth and his asari commandos had stepped in front of the entranceway Shepard and Garrus were six feet from. It took them three feet to come to a screeching halt, so to speak, and Jaroth merely stared at them for a moment with a look of triumph in his large black eyes. If the commandos weren't wearing helmets, Shepard knew they would be able to see crooked smiles on their blue faces. She glanced at Garrus, and he understood her signal to jump the edge just as Jaroth gave the order to his commandos to fire at will.

The pair hitched themselves over the edge of the bridge and landed twelve feet below on the unforgiving stone floor. Shepard's knees yelled and her ankles screamed in protest at her harsh landing. She winced but tried to ignore the burning pain as she and Garrus gathered themselves and sped forward, dodging most of the bullets that were being fired at them now. Reaching the commandeered car, the pair scrambled in and Garrus got on his radio as he began to steer out of the warehouse. "Samara!" he almost yelled.

"Do you have Shepard?" she asked. I must have been out of range or something, because I didn't hear any comm chatter when I was tied to the chair, Shepard thought. She could still feel the radio in her ear, so she knew it hadn't been taken out, but she heard both Garrus and Samara loud and clear now. She shrugged it off and watched as Blue Suns and Blood Pack took stances at the bottom of the warehouse and began shooting at the car as it sped away.

"Yes, she's right next to me. We'll meet you at the rendezvous point in a few moments." He paused to steer out of the way of a large stone pillar. "Have you found anything on Morinth?"

"A survey of the poor girl's room in the apartment suggests that she and Morinth were spending many lengths of time in the VIP section of Afterlife. I needed only drop a name to enter, and have been sitting back, waiting for her to show her face. If she catches any glimpse of me, she will disappear for another century," Samara explained.

"Right," Garrus replied. "Shepard and I will meet you inside the club, then. What was the name you used to get in?"

"Jaruut, but I am unsure if it will work. If it doesn't, perhaps mention me, since I entered on the same name."

"Understood. Good work, Samara."

"Thank you, Commander. I await your return with Shepard."

The justicar clicked off and Shepard just watched Garrus steer the car for a moment. He glanced over at her once and asked, "What?"

"You came for me," Shepard answered without taking her eyes off the turian.

She saw his mandibles flick as he smiled. "Of course I did. You're one of mine, Shepard, I couldn't leave you behind." Garrus left it at that until he landed the car a few spots over from where he had stolen it from. He didn't see the patrolling batarian around, and assumed it was relatively safe to leave the car.

When both he and Shepard had exited the car, he walked around to her and placed his hands on her waist. She was surprised for a split second before wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and hugging him tightly. Garrus then clasped his arms around her waist and just held her there for about a minute. He would have held her longer, but they were expected elsewhere. "You came for me," Shepard repeated when she pulled away from him.

Garrus touched his forehead to hers and she closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them, they were glistening with tears and she was smiling. Her arms were still around his neck, but looser, and Garrus had unclasped his arms and returned his hands to either side of her waist. "I could never leave you behind. I made you a promise that you would never lose you and it works both ways. I'm not losing you either."

Shepard stepped forward and pressed her lips lightly to his mouth. They hadn't perfected kissing yet, but they were working on it. It took more practice than either of them had originally thought. "I love you," she whispered.

Garrus smiled and pulled her close to him again. "I love you too," he murmured in her ear, squeezing her as he said it. They stood like that until Samara came over their radios.

"Commander?" she called.

"Samara. Sorry. Shepard and I are on our way. Took some time getting out of that warehouse."

"I understand. Please move quickly. I can't lose her."

"Understood. We're en route." Garrus clicked off and turned back to Shepard. "Let's go. We don't need a justicar angry with us."

Shepard smirked as Garrus took her hand and pulled her along behind him.