Fluttershy carefully walked through the hallways of the space station in which she'd gained a fearsome reputation over the months she'd stayed there with Garrus. Shepard had given the entire strike team shore leave on the station while the Normandy ran some final tests on the reaper IFF in interplanetary space away from the station. Most of the others had gone over to Afterlife for some rest and relaxation before the jump but Garrus had split off from the group to wander on his own, Fluttershy having a good idea where he'd gone to.
The pegasus squeezed through the little streets into Archangel's old base, finding that pretty much nothing had changed other than the place having been ransacked. Garrus sat in the window overlooking the bridge that connected the main entrance to the base to the rest of the station as Fluttershy flew up.
“Hey.”
“Hey, what are you doing?”
“Just… checking this old place out and trying to reach my sister,” Garrus answered as he sat down with an open omni-tool. The call suddenly connected to it's destination as a turian appeared on the holo-screen.
“Garrus?” she asked.
“Hey, glad I caught you, Sol.”
“I was about to head to bed. Late my time. Where are you?”
“Come on, not over an unsec-” Garrus cringed under the stern glare Fluttershy gave him. “I'm on Omega right now.”
“Ouch, still playing Spectre after all this time? And who just got you to spill the beans on your location because I could recognise that look anywhere.”
Fluttershy sat down next to Garrus into the camera's field of view. “Hello Solana.”
“Hey, I remember you. Still got the armor I made for you?”
“It's below the cloak, it served me very well. I'm surprised Garrus hasn't mentioned me before,” Fluttershy smiled, poking the turian in the side.
“He rarely calls, that might be it,” Solana remarked.
Garrus ignored it and continued with what he wanted to ask. “Hey Sol, how is mom?”
“Last round of treatments didn't go well.”
“Damnit.”
“We may try an offworld center. Some Salarian doctors have something that might work…”
“…It's not covered though.”
“Of course not,” Garrus sighed and rubbed his head. “I can pay for the treatment.”
“Oh really? What on Omega makes enough money to pay for this other than drug running? What would dad think?”
“We're not working on the station, this is just our last stop before heading out for the job,” Fluttershy cut in.
“And what might that be?”
Garrus and Fluttershy looked at each other briefly.
“We're going to jump the Omega four relay to assault the collector base,” Garrus eventually said.
“No… Garrus, don't! We could use you here. Mom could use you.”
“I can't, Sol. This needs to be done.”
“Why?”
“Remember the ship that attacked the Citadel two years ago?” Garrus asked.
“I was still there when that happened, Garrus.”
“Now imagine thousands of those ships attacking every colony and every homeworld at once…” he shook his head, “…They're coming, Sol, and no-one is prepared.”
“You're talking reapers like that one Commander?”
“We were in the Citadel tower when that happened, we opened the station's arms,” Fluttershy said, turning to Garrus to admonish him, “Seriously, you need to talk to your family more.”
“You really should listen to her, G,” Solana said, sounding surprised at that fact.
“Yeah, yeah… I'll try to call more. If I haven't contacted you again by the end of the week… well, you're the one who's going to have to tell mom and dad.”
“Don't Garrus. Please, for our sakes, stay alive.”
“I'll try to talk to you later.”
“You too.”
Garrus cut off the connection, letting his arm slump down. “Thanks for that push, coming clean felt better than I'd thought.”
“You shouldn't keep your troubles all to yourself Garrus. You know I'm here for you, right?” Fluttershy said, wrapping a wing around his back and leaning against his side.
“I know… I don't know what I did to deserve you.”
“Does having a cute butt count?”
Garrus choked out a laugh and shook his head. “Come on, let's go find the others.”
They found the rest of the strike team in Afterlife with the exception of Samara and Shepard who were off doing something else. Everyone except Jack and Grunt had held off of the alcohol though even they kept their drinking to a minimum.
“Look at who's there! We were just sharing stories with each other,” Jack exclaimed as Garrus and Fluttershy approached but the two were stopped by a batarian guard before they reached the table.
“Aria wants to speak to you two.”
The rest of the team looked on to see what would happen, Garrus turning to them. “We'll be right back.”
The batarian lead them through the club to the overhang where Aria was located. “Here they are, Aria,”
The asari waved him off and motioned for Garrus and Fluttershy to sit down on the couch next to her. “I never thought you'd be coming back here, and to be frank I wouldn't really care…” she locked eyes with Fluttershy who gave her a cold stare back. “...If it weren't for this feather which I found on my bed.”
Garrus immediately recognised the pastel yellow primary feather, one Fluttershy would leave for every crime boss she was going to take out.
“So tell me, 'Angel of Death', are you going to kill me?” Aria snidely remarked. The guards tensed up as they too realized with whom they were dealing. “Or will you be the one to do it, Archangel? What ironic way have you thought up to be my end? Oh yes, I know about those hits. Coughing on a quarian viral specialist serial killer? Perfect way to end someone like that.”
Fluttershy kept her eyes locked on Aria as she thought over what her next step would be.
Damnit, I gave her that thing pretty much days after arriving. Compared to the other crime bosses on the station, well, she's much better than the alternative… but maybe…
1. Take back the feather.
2. Maybe some day...
3. [Attack Aria]