Fluttershy calmly sat at the table in Garrus’ apartment as the turian vented his troubles from work. They had returned to the Citadel over a year ago and Garrus had immediately joined back up with C-Sec. Fluttershy looked into joining but ended up deciding against it. She much preferred helping the victims of the battle with counseling and emergency aid while she was in school to become a doctor.
Initially everything had been going smooth for the turian. The regulations that had previously been holding him back were not being enforced in favour of returning law and order to the Citadel. But as that very order came back to the station, the regulations came back as well, making it so that to arrest a criminal Garrus had to slog through a pile of bureaucratic paperwork.
“…He literally had the red sand on him, and they told me that wasn’t proof enough! The only thing he had to do was say he found it and was bringing it in!”
“And you’re sure that he wasn’t telling the truth?” Fluttershy asked, though judging from earlier complaints the turian had made his claim probably wasn’t that far from the truth.
“Red sand is an expensive and highly addictive substance to humans. You don’t just ‘find’ something like that abandoned in an alleyway,” Garrus growled while taking a seat on the other side of the table to Fluttershy. “I’m just so tired of criminals getting away with crimes, and if the state of C-Sec before the attack is what they’re going for, then it’s only going to get worse!”
Garrus slammed his fist on the table in anger. Fluttershy didn’t even flinch at the move as she simply took a sip from the mug of tea in her hooves. “And you’re thinking of doing something about it?”
Garrus’ anger immediately subsided, and he grimaced. “Yes there’s something I’m thinking about doing, but that’s not something I want to involve you in. It’s not exactly the safest of plans.”
Narrowing her eyes slightly Fluttershy sternly looked at the turian. “Garrus, you know that I can handle myself. We practice our shooting at least twice a week and my biotics are slowly getting back to the place where they used to be. I might not be actively fighting gangs, but that doesn’t mean I’m helpless.”
Though it was true Fluttershy could handle herself in most situations, saying her biotic potential was coming back slowly was an understatement. Even after a year it had only increased to a point where she could use it as any biotic would, not rip entire geth apart with just her mind as she had done before.
“I know, I know, but I don’t want to put you in extreme danger,” Garrus sighed. “There is a space station in the Terminus systems that doesn’t fall under any government's jurisdiction, and it’s filled with criminals. All the major crime syndicates have large parts of their operations going on there, everything from slave trade to the creation of narcotics. Almost every severe criminal operation we’ve stopped in the last year was either directly or indirectly supported by the elements on that station.”
“That still doesn’t tell me what you’re planning to do,” Fluttershy pointed out, even though she could be pretty certain of what Garrus wanted to do. He wasn’t someone who’d just sit still and watch if he perceived an injustice being done.
“I want to cut these things off at the source. C-Sec is only fighting the symptoms of the real problems, and the Council doesn’t want to take risks.” Garrus, while simultaneously working at C-Sec, had also re-applied for Spectre training, but the Council had denied his request to join the organization. They had already denied Shepard’s claims on the Reapers and didn’t want to take the chance of having a new Spectre bring it up.
“So you were just going to go to that place without telling me?” Fluttershy suddenly felt herself become very angry at her boyfriend.
“Well, I-”
“And just leave me here, alone on the Citadel?!” Fluttershy shouted at Garrus who flinched back. “Do I mean that little to you?!”
“Of course not! I mean you don’t, I…” Garrus tried defending himself, but Fluttershy was too angry to listen any longer and jumped off her chair, grabbed a bag, and stormed out of the apartment.
Spreading her wings Fluttershy took to the air, careful not to fly too high and leave the thin layer of air that covered the ‘open air’ areas of the Citadel.
Does he really think that little of me? That he just wanted to leave at the last moment without me?
Fluttershy pushed her wings a bit further in an attempt to clear her mind. The physical therapy sessions she’d done had strengthened her wings considerably and given her some new insight on training.
Back when Rainbow was put in charge of creating the tornado that was meant to bring water to Cloudsdale she’d gone out of her way to improve her wingpower but only managed to get a fraction of what the other pegasi could do. But after telling the story to the therapists on the Citadel, the only thing they really were was impressed. They explained that the final amount of wingpower she’d managed to gain was almost five times higher than the one she’d started with. An improvement like that was an amazing feat not to be scoffed at.
With that as motivation Fluttershy had continued training and improving her performance. She guessed that even though she was most definitely not at Dash’s level of flying, she’d be able to out-fly most pegasi.
Thinking of Dash brought tears to her eyes again as she slowed down her flight to land. Yes, she really missed all of her friends, but Rainbow had been her first and best friend. Not seeing her for over a year had been really hard for the yellow pegasus.
Come on Fluttershy what would Dash do? …She’d probably stick with Garrus whatever the situation might be. I’m sure he just wanted to protect me from what he wants to do, not abandon me. It’s not like I can really blend into crowds after all.
Fluttershy had the final thought as she saw the various aliens around her looking strangely at her.
I’m pretty sure that we’re going to need to figure out a way for me to be less noticeable if I’m going to go with him… Maybe Kasumi can give me some tips on blending in. It is her job after all?
1. I’m not leaving Garrus. We’ll figure something out.
2. [Call in a favour with Kasumi.]
3. I can’t go along. It’ll only end in bloodshed.'