//------------------------------// // Invisible // Story: Mass Effect: Element of Kindness // by CommanderApplejack //------------------------------// Chapter 62 Invisible Fluttershy stalked through the streets of the Citadel. The new active camouflage was working perfectly as she nimbly bobbed and weaved through the crowd. On a couple of occasions she’d accidentally bumped into some people and knocked them over, disrupting her stealth in the process, but after going for almost two hours she started to get a good hang of avoiding walking traffic. But that wasn’t her true objective right now. Fluttershy had pinged Garrus’ omni-tool for his location and was now almost on top of her boyfriend’s position. About fifty meters in front of her she could see him with his back turned towards her holding down a fuming salarian while a few other C-sec officers were keeping bystanders at a distance. “You can’t do this! I’ve already called my contacts, your career is over!” The salarian shouted as Garrus pushed him towards a C-Sec shuttle. But before he even reached it the turian’s omni-tool started beeping due to an incoming call. Fluttershy by this point had managed to stalk past the cops that were keeping the crowd away and could very clearly hear what Garrus was saying. “What do you mean ‘let him go’?! Sir, he committed a multitude of crimes. I can’t just…” Garrus fell silent as Fluttershy could hear the person on the other side of the line shouting something, only the reflected sound coming from the turian’s ears was too soft for her to make out words. Her plans to go scare the life out of the turian were abandoned… at least for now. Garrus let out an angry growl as he released the cuffs around the salarian’s hands and allowed him to step past the line of officers into the crowd. Garrus stood still for a moment, just looking at the crowd where the salarian had disappeared only to throw the cuffs to the ground in front of him with an enraged scream. The turian slumped against the shuttle and put his head in his hands as he let out another frustrated groan. Deciding that she’d seen enough, Fluttershy sat down next to Garrus and de-cloaked. “So that’s how it usually goes?” Garrus nearly jumped as he hadn’t expected anyone to be that close to him. Looking over the black clad newcomer, he quickly realized who was sitting beside him. “You know I almost had a heart attack there.” Fluttershy giggled as she pulled down the hood and lowered the piece of cloth that was covering her muzzle. “You think I’m that beautiful? I’m flattered,” the pegasus immediately covered her mouth after finishing that sentence, her face becoming beet red with embarrassment. You didn’t just say that, Fluttershy! What were you thinking?!  Garrus just blankly looked at the thoroughly embarrassed pegasus for a moment before he couldn’t keep his laughter in check any longer, falling over on his side with bellowing laughter. “That was so incredibly cute,” he managed to choke out between guffaws. Fluttershy, infected by her boyfriend’s mirth, also started chuckling. Garrus meanwhile was calming down a bit and pulled the little pegasus in for a hug, “I’m so glad that I have you here. If I hadn’t then these bureaucrats would have driven me completely insane by this point.” “So what was the deal with that salarian who you let go?” The question immediately changed Garrus’ mood again for the worse. “Someone up top didn’t want him to be arrested, so I was ordered to let him go.” Garrus spit the words out as if they were venom. “I’m done with this, Fluttershy. I can’t go on with this job if corrupt officials and unnecessary regulations keep stopping me from catching criminals. I’m going to resign from C-Sec the moment I get back to the station,” “So you’re going through with your plan to head to Omega?” Fluttershy asked, leaning against the larger alien. “Yeah. I still don’t like the fact that you’ll be in danger there as well, but I think that you’ll be fine if you use that cloak effectively,” Garrus admitted as he stood up. “Guess I’ll head back to the station and hand in my resignation. I’ll contact the people who were going to get me to Omega and tell them that there’s another passenger coming along.” “When is that ship leaving anyway?” Fluttershy asked with genuine curiosity. “Four days,” Garrus answered, slightly embarrassed. “You were going to leave me within the week?!” Fluttershy exclaimed as she narrowed her eyes and glared upwards. Garrus nervously swallowed. “Uhm, well...“ “You owe me, mister. I expect at least a romantic dinner before going to that place with you,” Fluttershy said pointedly while her heart was going wild.  Did I really just demand that? I hope he doesn’t take that too badly. Luckily for the pegasus, Garrus just chuckled. “Consider it done. Anything else ma’am?” Emboldened by the fact that Garrus hadn’t even objected to her demand a devious grin formed on Fluttershy’s face. “Not right now, but I’m sure I can think of something at some point.” Fluttershy pulled the hood back over her head and covered her muzzle again. “See you back at the apartment.” Before Garrus could reply she vanished into thin air again and started stalking her way back to their humble flat. Fluttershy was sitting in the cargo hold of the freighter she and Garrus had boarded a day prior. The crew that was going to bring them to Omega had asked remarkably few questions concerning their new passenger, though this might be chalked up to the fact that they were illegally transporting them to what was apparently considered a renegade space station, or just because they didn’t want to get strung up in any criminal operations other than their own. Either way, Fluttershy didn’t mind them not asking too many hard questions as she got used to living in the cloak Kasumi had provided to her. Garrus, before leaving the Citadel, had installed the latest upgrades into their weapons. Both their sniper rifles now had a tungsten carbide ammo block equipped, allowing them to practically fire through walls while both their assault rifles were fitted with the most efficient heat disposal unit they could find. “You ready to get out there?” Garrus asked as they felt the freighter docking with the space station. “There’s no way back now anyway. I’ll follow you while concealed,” Fluttershy answered as she covered her head with the hood and mask before disappearing from view. Garrus paid the final credits to the smugglers that had secretly gotten them off the Citadel and then headed for the exit to the station itself. The moment the two of them stepped out of the spacecraft they were hit with a terrible smell. Whereas the Citadel had a couple of areas of a similar condition, it never smelled this bad. “Welcome to Omega, the shithole of the galaxy,” Garrus murmured. The two of them walked through the station for a while, getting their bearings of its layout. Eventually they passed an alleyway where Garrus simply stopped and looked into it. Fluttershy, still invisible, looked down the alley as well, her blood starting to boil at the sight she saw. A new alien she’d never seen was holding a knife to the throat of an old human woman while an old man was begging the alien to let her go because they didn’t have anything of value. Garrus was already pulling the pistol he was carrying off of his hip and got ready to fire. 1. [Don’t use the pistol, you might hit the elder human as well!] 2. [Stop! Let me take care of this.] 3. [Garrus is a good enough shot anyway, let the bastard die.] [Vote link]