Take Garrus along 94%
Fluttershy, Garrus, and Kasumi were all sitting in the shuttle that was bringing them to the mansion on Berkenstein, the planet where the gathering of criminals would take place. Kasumi had initially been reluctant to let Garrus in on the plan, but conceded after Fluttershy made it clear that she wouldn’t come if he wasn’t allowed as well.
As a last-minute measure, Kasumi had gotten Garus a suit he could wear to make him look like a bodyguard, but ultimately the plan itself hadn’t changed. Fluttershy would still be used as a gift to get them into the party, something the pegasus was becoming increasingly anxious about.
“Are you ready, Fluttershy?” Kasumi asked. The Japanese woman had foregone her usual outfit and put on a black dress with high heels while allowing her long black hair to fall over her shoulders.
“Not really, but I don’t think we should be turning back now,” Fluttershy admitted, unlike the others she wasn’t wearing anything—not even her biotic amp as that was too visible.
“Don’t worry. Once you’re inside you can deactivate the stasis field and start snooping around,” Kasumi said as she pointed at the stasis field generator that doubled as a storage for the group’s armor and heavy weapons.
“Anything you need me to do, Miss Gunn?” Garrus asked, about as comfortable with the plan as Fluttershy was.
“Try not to start a fight with any of the criminals there. We’re trying to avoid attention, not be the center of it,” Kasumi said as she activated the stasis field generator. A blue bubble of energy appeared above the device, not unlike the one Liara had been stuck in on Therum.
With a sigh Fluttershy jumped into the bubble and immediately felt herself being frozen in place, only able to make small movements and look around with her eyes.
“The bubble also stops sound from getting out, but you won’t be able to speak, so we’ll keep in communication via radio.” Fluttershy tried replying, but the stasis field indeed stopped her from making anything but mumbling sounds. “I’ve also changed a few settings on your omni-tool that allow you to use it without the holographic interface.”
Fluttershy tried opening her omni-tool. Although she felt it activate, the hologram did not appear around her foreleg but gave feedback as she tried blindly navigating the menus on memory alone. It took her a couple of seconds before found the messaging application and started typing a short reply to Kasumi.
‘Understood.’
“Good. We’ll be arriving at Hock’s mansion in two minutes, so get ready Cailus,” Garrus huffed as he heard his cover name but made no further comment. He knew the value of staying in character from his undercover work with C-Sec.
After the two minutes were up, the shuttle came to a stop at the mansion, the door opening and revealing another human, a male, waiting for them at the stairs that lead up to the main entrance.
“Miss Gunn, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Donovan Hock said, giving Kasumi an appreciative nod, a gesture the Japanese lady reciprocated.
“The pleasure’s all mine, Mister Hock. I’ve heard many good things about your operations and hope to be opening business with you soon,” Kasumi replied diplomatically, getting an appreciative smirk from the crime boss.
“I’m sure we’ll be able to come to an agreement on that, but now I’m interested in the ‘item of value’ you have procured for me.” Kasumi gave a signal to Garrus to pull out the stasis generator that held Fluttershy. “I will admit I’ve been eminently curious ever since your message came through,” he continued. Hock’s eyes went wide as he took note of the pegasus who felt old anxieties returning to her. “Now that’s a worthy gift, Miss Gunn. I shall have it moved right away.”
Unseen by Hock, Garrus tensed up and flared his mandibles slightly the moment the crime boss referred to Fluttershy as an it, indicating that he was not happy with the way the human spoke about his mate.
“Now who is this?” Hock asked as he looked at Garrus, who had swiftly schooled his expression and returned to being stoic once more.
“This is my bodyguard, Cailus. He insisted that leaving without a guard would be inadvisable. Is that going to be a problem?” Hock checked Garrus out for a moment for any cracks in his decorum but found none as the turian used his military discipline to stay in character.
“Of course not. People like us can’t take too few precautions to stay safe. He can go upstairs to where the other bodyguards are staying while you are here. My security will make sure you’re safe within my walls,” Hock said, satisfied by the level of professionalism shown by Garrus. “Enjoy the party, Miss Gunn.”
With that, Hock returned inside while his guards handled the stasis field generator that was holding Fluttershy, bringing her inside the mansion. As she was rolled through the main lobby, all the guests she passed stopped talking, pointed at her, and continued their conversations in a hushed manner. If the pegasus was capable of shivering within the stasis field, she would have done so.
The short journey ended at the balcony on the other side of the mansion where the guards put her down and left. A cold layer of sweat formed on the pegasus’ coat as she realized that she was essentially put on display for the rest of the gathering, tears forming in the corners of her eyes.
“We have a problem, ma’am. Our assets have been misplaced,” Garrus said, and Fluttershy could see him looking down at her from the first floor.
“A small hitch in the plan. We’ll figure something out to get back on track,” Kasumi replied. They had hoped that she’d either be placed near the vault entrance or in Hock’s private quarters. Being put on display was their worst-case scenario. “I found the vault. It’s a very nice one if I do say so myself. It’s password-protected, has a kinetic barrier, a DNA scanner—looks like an EX-700 series. Everything a vault needs to be impenetrable.”
Fluttershy, in an attempt to stave off her encroaching panic, typed a message.
‘Problem?’
“Please, I could break this while asleep. We need to figure out the password for the vault. I’ve already picked up his voiceprint outside, so we won’t have to talk to him again. We can get the DNA from Hock’s private quarters and to get the barrier down we simply have to cut the power,” Kasumi explained while more and more guests came by the stasis field to study Hock’s new ‘prize’.
Fluttershy nervously swallowed as tears that had formed in her eyes rolled down her face. She felt completely vulnerable – which she wasn’t wrong about in any way – without her biotic amp or any of her armor she was getting used to wearing. The guests around her all had different reactions to her distress. Some seemed to pity the pegasus while others laughed at her misery. To make matters even worse, this was the exact time her bladder decided to pester her about having to go to the bathroom. Fluttershy quickly wrote another message to the others before she would lose even more control of herself.
‘Want out, too much attention.’
Garrus was the first to react to Shy’s message of distress. “We’ll make work of that, Shy. Miss Gunn, do you have any options?”
“I’ve got an idea of how to pull it off. I can short out the power of the stasis generator when one of the guests comes too close to make it look like they screwed with it. That’ll force Hock to put you somewhere more secure. Just make sure that you don’t talk when you’re released, and maybe make a few cute hor-”
“Do not finish that sentence… Miss Gunn,” Garrus growled, getting very territorial all of a sudden.
“...As I said, just don’t talk to anyone. When you’re out of sight of the party you can break free. The downside is that we’ll probably lose the gear that’s stashed in the generator.” Kasumi finished, not tempting her luck with Garus any further.
“So we either lose that, or she’s going to have to stick it out?” Garrus asked, severely annoyed that those were the options they had. “What do you say, Shy, do you have another option?”
Can I stick this one out? The guests are going to get bored with me at some point, right?
Fluttershy had trouble trying to decide what to do as she felt her bladder trying to empty itself again. The plan that suddenly formed in her head made her feel disgusted with herself but might actually end in them keeping their gear.
Though there’s no saying what Hock will do if I wet myself, he’ll probably be really angry.
1. Stick it out.
2. Have Kasumi disable the generator.
3. Wet the stasis bubble.