Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When most people in the Citadel think of c-sec, the image that comes to mind is uniformed turians patrolling with the rare human within the ranks. Marie Hitomi does not fit the appearance of a c-sec officer.

"Sir, I'm going to need you to put your hands behind your back and step into the car," Marie said as she took out her handcuffs to arrest the inebriated krogan in front of her. To the krogan, Marie looked like a child with her four-foot-five frame against his seven-foot build. Unable to stop himself, the krogan laughed, leaning against the c-sec vehicle to keep from falling over.

"C'mon Grek, not this again." Marie could feel her cheeks heating up when she saw people stopping to watch the show. Her mentor Garrus stepped in and took over cuffing Grek and putting him in the back of their squad car while Marie dispersed the crowd.

"I'm sorry, Marie," Grek slurred to Marie as Garrus drove the group back to c-sec. "You're just so tiny; you remind me of my little Shi'era when she used to pretend to be an officer."

"Isn't she about your age, Marie?" Garrus teased, earning him a punch in the arm.

"I'm twenty-six! She's like thirty! Isn't that still a baby in asari years?"

Both men laughed while she pouted. As Garrus parked the car, Marie noticed two asari waiting outside the building and immediately recognized them.

"Well, speak of the devil. Grek, your wife, is here," Marie said, climbing out of the car and helping Grek out of the backseat. She had to hold back a laugh when Grek tried to wave at his wife and only succeeded in waving his shoulder.

"Officer Hitomi, I'm so sorry about Grek. He promised to take it easy today, but he just had to celebrate Shi'era's acceptance to her first university." Grek's wife, a lovely woman, named Mira, explained.

"Really? Congratulations, Shi'era," Marie said as she uncuffed Grek and handed him off to Mira. How such a petite woman could handle a drunk krogan leaning on her Marie will never know. "I'll let him off with a warning this time since he didn't break anything. Just make sure he doesn't go out drinking without you again."

"Thank you, officer. I promise it won't happen again," Mira reassured her as she led Grek back to her car. Behind her, she could hear Garrus chuckle before she felt her hair ruffled.

"You know, you always take it easy on them because Mira calls you officer."

"As if you don't give that quarian a pass because she gifted you that Fleet and Flotilla collection."

"Alright, keep it up, and I won't be buying drinks tonight," Garrus threatened as they walked over to his car. Since she became Garrus's partner, it had become a tradition to share some drinks after their shift at the end of the week. It had become so routine that the bartender knew the pair by name and had their first set of drinks ready as soon as they stepped through the doors.

"So, do you know what today is?" Garrus asked, watching Marie down half her beer as soon as she sat down.

"Uh, another day of getting mistaken for a child and having an elcor almost trip over me?"

"No, but that was hilarious."

He had to duck to avoid another punch from Marie.

"Alright, alright, it's officially been a year since you started working at c-sec. To celebrate, I thought I'd get you something." He handed her a medium-sized box she didn't notice he brought with him. Curious, Marie took the box and opened it to reveal a pistol. Attached to the bottom of the grip was a butterfly charm. Marie couldn't help but laugh. Leave it to Garrus to gift a friend a gun.

"I can't wait until you finally get a girlfriend. If you give your friends pistols, what would she get? A sniper rifle?"

"Heh, if I'm lucky, she would already have one."

"God, you're such a dork," Marie snickered. Garrus couldn't help but laugh with her as they clinked their glasses together.

Marie jolted awake to her phone going off. The light filtering through her window made her head pound as she tried to ignore the slowly forming headache as she answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Marie? Why does it sound like you just woke up?"

She couldn't help but groan when she heard her mother's voice.

"Mom, it's six in the morning on the Citadel. Also, how did you get this number?"

"Alexander gave it to me."

Of course, he did. Marie made a mental note to curse at her brother before she changed her number again. If she wanted to stay in touch with her mother or father, she wouldn't have run away to the Citadel while they were at a dinner party.

"Listen, Marie. You were a cop on Earth for three years and worked on the Citadel for a year. Your father will be retiring soon. Isn't it time you come home and take over his position?"

And there it was. Whenever Marie's mother talked to her, it was about her taking over her father's company. God forbid they try to rein in her older brother, who was supposed to take over the company initially.

"Maybe you should talk to Zander about that. After all, you and dad love to remind me that he was supposed to be dad's heir."

She didn't let her mother respond as she ended the call and blocked the number. Grabbing one of her pillows, she covered her face and let out a frustrated scream.

Noxis jolted awake from the sound of a scream followed by gunfire. Peeking out his window, he could see a pair of blue suns kicking the corpse of a vorcha. It looks like the blood pack tried to gain more turf and failed again. A ping from his computer alerted him to another job request. He walked over to the mini-fridge in the corner of his one-room apartment and grabbed the leftover noodles from last night's dinner.

While the noodles heated in the microwave, Noxis read through the request. It was a simple job, 500 credits for proof an Earth businessman has been secretly funding an anti-alien group. It was child's play. By the time the microwave beeped, Noxis had already broken into the target's company site and figured out his password.

It's always a partner or kid's name; no one is ever creative with their passwords.

A hand placing his bowl of noodles in front of him startled him out of his thoughts, and he looked behind him to see a quarian standing behind him. Even with the opaque helmet, he could tell the quarian was frowning at him.

"Honestly, Noxis, you need to upgrade your locking system."

"Not everyone can unlock doors with a stare like you, Zani."

He flinched when Zani smacked him upside the back of his head.

"Ow! Watch the fringe!"

"Don't get smart with me, child; I could cut off the oxygen ventilator in this room like that," she emphasized her statement by snapping her fingers. The threat was diminished by her enviro-suit muffling the sound of her fingers.

"Please, you love me too much to kill me."

"More like I loved your mother, and you were an addition."

Noxis chuckled and shook his head. Knowing Zani, she was about to go on another tangent about how wonderful his mother was. He wished he could remember anything about her. The earliest memory he could recall was Zani teaching him how to hack door locks.

"Before you start, do you have that part I need?"

"Of course, but it's going to cost you."

"I'll give you half of this job's payment."

"How much is it?"

"Five hundred credits"

The glare he received told him everything he needed to know.

"I'll throw in those protein pouches you like so much."

"Deal."

Zani handed Noxis a package containing a new part for his computer. It was hard enough earning enough credits for his apartment; he'd probably be living on the streets if it wasn't for Zani finding parts to keep his computer running. She gave his mandible a gentle pat before heading out of his apartment

"By the way," Zani said, poking her head back inside. "Your food is getting cold."

"Damn it!"

"Damn it!" Marie smacked the side of the coffee machine. Once again, the coffee machine broke down, and Bailey's shift didn't start for another two hours.

"Did the machine break down again?" Chellick asked, walking over to Marie with a cup of dextro coffee.

"I swear, Chellick, if it weren't for the fact my throat would close up, I'd be stealing your coffee so that I can get some form of caffeine."

"Where's Garrus? I'm surprised you're not giving him puppy eyes to get him to buy you a coffee."

"He's off this week, remember? He's visiting his mother and sister."

"Ah right, that's this week. Well, if Garrus calls, tell him I said hi."

Marie nodded, giving the machine a final smack before returning to her seat. Since Garrus was gone for the week, she was stuck doing desk work until he returned.

A cup of coffee placed on her desk pulled her away from the file she was reading, and she saw Castis Vakarian standing in front of her.

"Detective Vakarian! I thought you left for Palaven."

"It's alright, Marie; you can call me Castis. I was planning on going with Garrus, but I've been having difficulty with this case. I'm asking Chellick, you, and Garrus when he returns to assist me with this case."

As Marie sipped her coffee, almost feeling the caffeine running through her, Castis transferred a copy of the case file to her omni-tool. The first thing she saw was a list of company names. Each company has reported finding backdoor programs in their system. Some companies who tried removing the program would find it back almost days later. While no company secrets or employee information has been leaked to the public, they're hoping c-sec will find the culprits installing the program and permanently remove the program from their system.

"Has the cybercrime division in the nova sector looked into it?" Marie asked, looking up the companies listed. At a glance, none of the companies had anything in common. One sold omni-tool upgrades, while another was a pet shop.

"I just came from the nova sector. The team there couldn't match the program signature to any known hackers in our system."

It was common for most hacker groups or individuals to leave almost like a calling card in their programs. C-sec has registered every signature they've come across. However, the list only contained the hackers arrested at the Citadel.

Marie was silent as she reread the file. The cybercrime division was primarily white hat hackers that c-sec hired after showing their skills in catching other hackers or improving the security of the Citadel. If they couldn't figure it out, they might need to branch out.

"Sir, may I make a suggestion?"

"Of course."

"Well," Marie hesitated. "What if we hire another hacker to assist us."

"Excuse me?"

Marie was still learning turian facial expressions, but she could tell Castis was frowning. Garrus had spoken to her about his father's distaste for working with criminals before.

"It's been a while since we dealt with a new hacker on the Citadel; things could be different outside counsel space. A hacker from Omega, for instance, could notice patterns that we might not."

Castis was silent; Marie guessed he was thinking about her explanation. She was sure he was going to deny her suggestion until he looked at her and nodded.

"Alright. Do you know about the information broker Barla Von?"

Marie nodded; she had been to see Barla Von with Garrus once. She had to admit, talking to the volus always unnerved her since he always seemed to know you were coming, but she'd deal with it if it helped with the case.

"He would be your best bet on finding someone that could help us. I need to inform Chellick about this case. Will you be alright by yourself?"

"Of course," Marie gave Castis a salute before grabbing her jacket and heading out of the office. While she kept her cool with Castis, she couldn't hide her excitement now that she was alone. This was her first big case, and she was going to be working with Castis Vakarian, one of the Citadel's best detectives.

Even on Earth, she had heard about the turian when he was still just a c-sec officer. It was stories about him that made her want to become an officer herself. When her previous supervisor recommended she transfer to c-sec, she couldn't pack her bags fast enough.

As Marie entered Barla Von's office, she could see the volus typing away on his computer.

"Ah, Officer, what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" Barla Von asked, continuing to type away as Marie approached him.

"I've got an exciting job for you. I'm looking for a skilled hacker willing to work with c-sec."

Her request made him pause, and Marie couldn't help but feel a little pride at catching the knowledgeable broker off guard. Feeling bold, she leaned against his desk as she opened her omni-tool.

"If you can't do it, I understand. I could probably ask someone in the cybercrime division if they know anyone that could help."

The only sound between them was Barla Von's raspy breathing until he closed his computer and opened his omni-tool.

"Give me a day; It would be best to provide yourself with a codename. Most of these people refuse to use their real names, and you wouldn't want some of these people knowing your real name."

Marie thought that sounded like something out of a secret agent movie, but he was right. It probably wouldn't be wise to give away her real name until she knew they'd work with her.

"Alright, call me Azure."

Chapter Text

Usually, the only thing that could wake Noxis up was gunfire. However, today he learned he could also wake up to loud fucking from the room next door.

When he was jolted awake by a scream, he thought his neighbor was getting murdered. Before he could grab the gun from under his pillow, a moan followed, which made him groan as he slammed a first against the wall.

"Hey! Some people are trying to sleep!"

When he heard their moaning increase, he knew it was time to play dirty.

Opening his omni-tool, Noxis searched for the closest omni-tool signals to him. Finding the familiar code, he synced into the audio function and set a timer. Climbing out of bed, he walked over to the door and opened it, leaning on the door frame as he watched his neighbor's door.

"Three, two, one…." He said out loud, smirking when he heard the sound of the elcor porn video he sent begin to play.

He almost regretted standing outside when a half-naked female krogan stormed out of his neighbor's apartment and headed to the elevator. A flustered salarian stumbled out of the apartment, calling for the krogan to come back but stopped and glared when he noticed Noxis.

"Venictus, I should have known it was you. Why don't you mind your own business for once in your life?" The salarian growled, making Noxis chuckle. It was always amusing seeing a salarian trying to be intimidating.

"Maybe if you two didn't sound like a bad porno, I wouldn't have to step in," Noxis smirked. "Though I'm curious, Jaralt, how did you get a krogan to come home with you? Did you tell her your dick could cure the genophage?"

Jaralt growled and pulled out a gun from his pants pocket. Immediately a biotic field surrounded his weapon, and Noxis was glaring at him; all humor was gone from his face.

"Think carefully about what you do next, Jaralt."

As soon as Noxis removed the field, Jaralt put his gun away and walked back inside his apartment, leaving Noxis to return to his room to nurse a slowly forming headache and growing hunger.

His mood improved when he opened his fridge and found Zani had restocked his fridge. She was a bitter quarian, but it was things like this that reminded him she cared.

He was in the middle of making a sandwich when his computer notified him of a new message. Unlike his usual requests, this one was from the Citadel.

Zero,

I have a job opportunity for you. My client, Azure, is looking for a skilled hacker to assist them with a case c-sec is looking into.

My client has said the price is negotiable, and I've included their number if you want to accept the job.

BV

Noxis couldn't help but snicker at the client's name. It was apparent whoever this was, they weren't an asari. While it wasn't explicitly stated, it was evident the client was a c-sec officer. With one hand, he looked up the c-sec directory and began to scroll through the list of active officers while taking bites from his sandwich. He made a list of a few officers he thought might be his client, mostly turians and humans.

He paused at one human that looked younger than the rest. Black hair framed a fair face dotted with freckles. She had the brightest blue eyes Noxis had ever seen. They reminded him of vacation magazines showing beaches with cloudless skies and clear blue oceans.

"Marie Hitomi, huh."

Setting down his sandwich, he opened a separate tab and looked up her name. The top results led him to Robert Hitomi, CEO of Suzaku Industry, and Sayumi Hitomi, dean and founder of Hitomi Technical University.

He pulled up an old article on the Hitomi family. From what he read, Alexander, the firstborn and heir to the Suzaku Industry, was known as a playboy and a wild child. The second-born, Marie, had dropped out of college and joined the police academy on Earth. Looking through the net, the most recent article he could find was about Alexander's latest girlfriend. There was nothing about Marie since the last piece he read. The only thing he could see was a photo of her when she was an officer for the San Antonio police department.

"What are you doing?"

Noxis was glad he set down his sandwich, or it would have flown across the room.

"Spirits! Please, Zani, knock, ring the doorbell, fire off a round, anything to let me know you're here!"

Zani rolled her eyes; at least he thinks she did, as she sat down on his bed and gestured to his screen.

"Who's the girl? She doesn't look like she matches your code."

"She isn't a target, but she might be my next client."

He switched his screen to the job request and let her read it.

"I think she might be innocent enough to call herself Azure. The real question is, what is making c-sec desperate enough to hire a hacker from the Terminus system."

"You're actually thinking about taking this job?"

Noxis sighed; he knew this would happen. The only thing Zani hates more than a rip in her suit is c-sec.

"Their price is negotiable. This could be the biggest job I'll get in months."

"Still, you know how I feel about c-sec."

Noxis stood up and sat next to her, taking one of her hands in his, careful of his talons.

"Listen, I'll be fine. The most that will happen is I'll get the usual glares and a few bare-face insults. I'm more likely to get hurt here than on the Citadel."

"I know; I just worry about you. I already lost Talia; I don't want to lose you too."

As soon as he heard her sniffle, he pulled her into a hug. He could feel her cling onto him as her sniffles turned to sobs. He gently rubbed her back as she cried until she began to calm down.

"Promise me nothing will happen to you."

Noxis nodded, lifting her hand to press against his forehead, a gesture Zani told him his mother used to do.

"I promise."

Marie checked her messages for what felt like the hundredth time today. Barla Von had told her that someone named Zero would contact her on a secure channel Barla Von added to her omni-tool. While Barla Von said it would take him a day to get in contact with Zero, she didn't expect it would take Zero almost a week to contact her.

"Oh, Marie!"

A singsong voice pulled her from her thoughts, and Marie found a familiar asari sitting on the corner of her desk with a grin.

"Nisia, get your butt off my desk," Marie said, poking Nisia in her side with a pen. Nisia squealed and hopped off the desk while a turian woman sitting at Garrus' desk let out a chuckle.

"Waiting for a call from a guy Marie? You didn't even hear us come in."

"You're not helping Minerva."

Both women laughed at Marie's embarrassment.

"Anyway," Minerva said, standing up from the chair. "Nisia and I were heading to Purgatory, and we wanted to see if you wanted to come. I can't even remember the last time you went out with us."

"It's because Garrus always takes up her Saturdays. Though to be fair, I wouldn't mind him taking mine." Nisia added with a wink, which made Maire roll her eyes. It was a good thing Garrus didn't get back until tomorrow, or he'd be dealing with Nisia's flirting. An alert pinged on her omni-tool, and Marie stepped away from her friends to check the message.

I heard you're looking for a hacker.

It was short and straightforward, but it made Marie's heart pound.

Are you Zero?

She immediately replied, looking behind her to make sure Minerva and Nisia weren't looking over her shoulder. Another alert let her know they replied.

Yes, I'll be in contact with you later so we can discuss payment.

Before Marie could reply, Nisia had jumped onto her back and wrapped her arms around Marie's shoulders.

"Hey, c'mon, it's been forever since we hung out, and I'm starting to miss my best friend."

Nisia was right. Other than vid calls, it's been months since she hung out with her friends. Zero had said they'd contact her later, so it wouldn't hurt to relax for a bit.

"Alright, just let me tell Chellick I'm leaving, and we'll stop at my place to change."

"Yes!" Nisia cheered, kissing Marie's cheek before hopping off her back. Marie laughed as she walked over to Chellick's office. The door was open, and she could see him writing up a report.

"Hey, Chellick."

Chellick looked up, the frown on his face melting away when he saw it was Marie.

"Oh, Marie. Any update on that contact?"

"Actually, yeah, a hacker named Zero just contacted me. They'll be in touch later to discuss payment. I just wanted to let you know I'll be heading out for the night."

"Ah, I thought I heard Nisia," Chellick chuckled, typing what Marie told him on his computer. "I'll let Castis know. You enjoy your night. I'll see you and Garrus tomorrow."

"Alright, try not to stay too late, Chellick."

"No promises."

Nisia and Minerva were waiting outside the building for Marie as she stepped outside. Marie's apartment wasn't too far away, so the three of them decided to walk to her place. Her apartment was a simple two-bedroom apartment with a living room and kitchen. Nisia took over the couch and turned on her tv while Minerva dragged Marie into her bedroom.

"Honestly, Marie, I need to take you shopping for better clothes," Minerva said as she looked through Marie's closet for something appropriate for a club. "You have so many c-sec branded shirts and what, two dresses?"

"Not all of us are fashion designers like you, Min," Marie replied, brushing her hair while Minerva laid out a dress for her to wear.

"Remind me to make you a nice dress for your birthday then."

It was a simple silver-grey dress that stopped at her knees. It was the dress she wore to her aunt's wedding years ago, and she was surprised she still fit in it. Nisia, of course, gave a wolf whistle when Marie stepped out, and the three of them took a cab to Purgatory.

"Alright! Time to party!" Nisia cheered as she climbed out of the car. Minerva and Marie followed behind. The club was bustling with people, more than likely relaxing after work like she was. Their first stop was the bar, where they each ordered their favorite drink. A turian had approached Minerva and tried flirting with her, but all he got was the cold shoulder from Minerva while she talked to the female bartender.

"Hey, Marie, come dance with me!" Nisia insisted, tugging on her hand to try and pull her to the dancefloor.

"You know I need at least three drinks before I start dancing," Marie laughed, nodding to Minerva, who had just finished her drink. "Take Min; I'll join you in a bit."

"If I don't see you on the dancefloor by the end of the night, I'll drag you there myself!" Nisia playfully threatened as she grabbed Minerva and dragged her away. Marie watched the two disappear into the crowd and turned back to her drink. She finished her drink and was about to order another one when she felt an arm wrap around her waist, and a voice almost purrs into her ear.

"What's a pretty young thing like you doing here all alone?"

Marie turned to see a turian standing next to her. With him standing and Marie sitting, she was almost at his eye level, and she could see him eyeing her up and down. The markings around his mouth and mandibles gave him a permanent sharp tooth grin that didn't help make him any less creepy to her.

"I'm here with my friends," she said. "And my boyfriend," she quickly added, hoping he would take the hint.

"Really? And where is he?" The turian asked, hand dipping down from her waist to the curve of her hip.

"He's on his way here. I'm supposed to be meeting him here." Marie explained, keeping her expression almost bored while her heart was hammering in her chest. She hoped Minerva or Nisia would notice and come to help or even the bartender step in.

"Oh? Well, I'm sure he won't mind if I keep you company until then." He purred, making Marie tense when she felt his other hand sliding up her bare leg. Marie's hands curled into fists, and she was about to throw a punch when a voice broke her concentration, and a clawed hand grabbed the turian's shoulder.

"Actually, I would mind."

Behind the creep stood another taller turian. Unlike most, his face was bare of any colony markings. The white sleeveless hoodie he wore showed off his bare arms, and Marie couldn't help but stare as he squeezed the creep's shoulder until he let her go.

"Sorry, I'm late; I got us a booth to sit at." The turian let go of the creep and held out a hand to Marie. She gladly took it and slipped off her seat and away from the creep. As she walked away, she heard him mumble something about a "bare-faced scumbag" as the turian led her over to an open booth in the corner.

"Thanks, I wasn't in the mood to start a fight, but he apparently couldn't take a hint."

"No problem, princess, or should I keep calling you Azure."

Marie froze, looking across at the turian as he casually opened his omni-tool. He knew her codename? Did that mean he was-.

"Zero?"

"That's me, though since you already know what I look like, you might as well call me Noxis."

"Oh, ok. I'm-"

"I already know your name, Marie, though I think princess suits you much better."

She could feel her cheeks flush in embarrassment at the nickname.

"You know I'm a cop. I'm not some damsel in distress."

"Isn't that a movie cliche where the woman says she's not a princess that needs rescuing and then immediately is captured?"

"You've been watching too many old movies," Marie huffed, looking away when she heard Noxis snicker. "Listen, are you going to help me, or are you just going to tease me?"

Noxis sent her a message that contained the price for his service, one hundred thousand credits.

"If you want my help, you're going to have to pay. I'm the best at what I do, so I'm not going to be cheap."

There was no way c-sec would pay this. If she was going to get him to work with her, she'd have to take care of this herself.

"You know that's a lot of credits. We can't just give you that much when there's a chance you could just leave," she said. Noxis' omni-tool alerted him to a credit transfer. Fifty thousand credits was just sent to him through the private channel. He immediately knew what she had done.

"You'll get half of your payment now and the other half when the case is closed."

"Hm, got something to prove, princess? Most c-sec officers wouldn't pay from their own pocket."

"Maybe I'm just different from other officers."

Noxis smirked and held out a hand to her.

"Fine by me, that just makes working with you easier. You just got yourself a hacker, princess."

Marie smiled back, ignoring the nickname as she grabbed his hand and shook it.

Chapter Text

Garrus yawned as he stepped into c-sec headquarters. He only got about two hours of sleep after returning to the Citadel. As he took a sip of his coffee, he could see Marie talking to a redheaded woman.

"Alright, we'll have a cell ready for when he arrives," she said, passing the woman a holopad. "I'll send the file to my captain, and she'll meet you and Spectre Kryik at the docking bay."

"I appreciate the help, officer."

"It's no problem, Spectre Shepard."

Garrus began to cough as he choked on his coffee. Did she say, Shepard? As in Commander Shepard, the first human spectre of the Citadel? He had seen vids talking about Shepard but never saw her due to her aversion to being interviewed.

"Garrus, Are you alright?" Marie asked, looking at him concerned. He noticed Shepard had turned around to look at him. He could feel his neck burning as he heard her chuckle while he stumbled over his words.

"Yeah, forgot to breathe for a second there."

"Careful, officer," Shepard said with a smile. "Officer Hitomi just got done telling me how skilled you were with a rifle; I'd hate to see you taken out by a cup of coffee before I could see for myself."

"Don't worry," Garrus coughed, standing up straight as if that would cover his blunder. "It'll take a lot more than a coffee to kill me."

"I hope so," Shepard said, looking back at Marie. "Thanks for your help, Officer Hitomi."

"Please, call me Marie. It was no problem at all, Spectre Shepard."

"Shepard is fine; I'll talk to you later, Marie."

Garrus watched Shepard as she walked out of their office. When he looked back, Marie was grinning at him. He raised an eyebrow plate as she giggled.

"What?"

"Is it a turian thing to turn into a fool around a badass woman, or is it just a you thing?"

Marie let out a yelp when Garrus pulled her into a headlock and ruffled her hair.

"Have you been talking to Solana again? You're starting to sound more like her every day."

"You couldn't handle us in the same room then! Now let me go, you big boney ass!"

He laughed as Marie attempted to free herself from his grip. A voice clearing their throat caused Garrus to let Marie go and turn around to see his father and Chellick watching them.

"If you two don't mind," his father said, hiding a chuckle behind a cough. "I'd like to discuss what we've found so far and get Garrus up to speed while Chellick meets with the spectres."

"Of course," Marie nodded and opened her omni-tool. She tried fixing her messed-up hair while sending a copy of the case file to him. "I've been in contact with a hacker called Zero. Part of our agreement was that they stay anonymous, so I'll be the only one that contacts them in person."

"Are you sure we can trust them?" Garrus asked, subvocals indicating his obvious concern as he read through the files. He took a sip of his coffee and looked at Marie. "I don't like the idea of you meeting this person alone without backup."

"It'll be fine," Marie assured him. "I talked to them already, and they're just as interested in who's behind this."

"She'll be fine, Garrus," Chellick slapped his back, making him choke on his coffee again. "Remember when she took down that bank robber by herself? I'm sure she could take down someone that sits behind a computer all day.

"I guess," Garrus admitted, sitting down at his desk. He knew Marie wasn't by no means helpless; she told him how she was top of her class in the police academy, but he still worried about her like he would worry about his sister.

"Just got a message from Zero; they're working on a program to trace the backdoor program. I'm going to need one of the hard drives so he can test it out."

While Marie left her desk to retrieve one of the hard drives, Garrus looked over at Marie's computer and stood up to look at the message on the screen. It was a short and simple message, telling her their plan and what they needed, nothing odd except the name Zero referred to her as.

"Uh Marie, why is Zero calling you Azure?" He asked as she returned with the hard drive from the pet shop.

"Oh, Barla Von suggested I have a codename to give Zero, better safe than sorry and all that stuff." She explained as she put the hard drive in her bag.

"Yeah but, why that name?"

"Uh, blue is my favorite color, and it sounded nicer than just calling myself blue."

"Marie, you might want to look up what that means to asari when you're alone, and with private mode on to be safe…." He could feel his neck burning in embarrassment, glad their department only had one asari, and she was off today. Marie raised an eyebrow at his comment, and he watched her head into the women's restroom. He returned to his desk and began to work on some overdue paperwork.

A few minutes later, he heard a muffled squeak from the bathroom and watched as Marie exited, cheeks bright red and a frown on her face.

"I'm so gonna kill him when I see him next." He heard her mumble as she grabbed her bag and jacket. He assumed she was talking about Barla Von since he didn't warn her about her codename.

"Going to see Zero?"

"Yeah, I'll probably be back in time to help Shepard when she returns, but if I'm not, she's bringing in a convicted murderer who's a powerful biotic; keep cell five open for him when he's brought in."

Garrus nodded and returned to his work. As tempted as he was to leave work and follow her to make sure she would be alright, a look from his father told him he knew exactly what Garrus was thinking.

"She'll be fine; I had Bailey follow her yesterday. She ran into Zero at a bar, and he helped her when she was being harassed. Bailey was about to step in when Zero arrived and acted as her boyfriend. I'm still not happy to be working with a criminal, but I trust Marie would tell us if she needs help."

Garrus was sent pictures Bailey took while following Marie, which showed her sitting across from a turian he had never seen before. Maybe it was the lighting or the distance Bailey kept, but it looked like the turian was bare-faced.

His father's reasoning was sound, but he still couldn't help but worry. He'd always been wary of bare-faced turians; most of the ones he had met were usually criminals. But, if this one really helped Marie and was willing to work with c-sec, he could set aside his assumptions for now.

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Shepard groaned as the convict, a gruff krogan named Hrag, threatened to skin her alive for the hundredth time since she and Nihlus caught him.

"I bet a hundred credits he's going to threaten to tear my mandibles off again," Nihlus said, checking to make sure the biotic dampeners were still running through the transport cruiser. It was a bitch and a half to catch him. They were lucky Hrag didn't expect Shepard to be a biotic and caught him off guard with a singularity to the face.

"Of course he will; his only insults have been skinning and tearing." Shepard slid open the divider between the front seats and the prisoner holding and checked on Hrag. Across from him was Capitan Kia, who kept her gun aimed at Hrag even as she sat relaxed on the bench.

"Doing alright in there?"

"Yeah, this isn't the first time I've handled an angry krogan."

"Thanks again for coming to assist; we're coming up on the twilight sector headquarters now."

"Roger, I'll let Hitomi and Vakarian know we're arriving and-"

As soon as Kia lowered her gun to open her omni-tool, Hrag ripped his cuffs apart and grabbed Kia by the throat. Before Shepard could grab her gun, there was a sickening crack as Hrag snapped Kia's neck.

"Nihlus! He's loose!" She shouted as Hrag broke open the back door with a mix of biotics and brute strength. Even with the dampeners active, he was still able to use them. It looks like she wasn't the only one full of surprises.

Nihlus cursed as she jumped out of the cruiser after Hrag. Luckily the cruiser wasn't too far from the ground, so she took off running as soon as she hit the ground. She could hear Nihlus calling for backup behind her as she followed Hrag through an alleyway and into a crowd of people.

"Let my daughter go!"

Shepard cursed as she pushed her way through the crowd. In the center of the crowd stood Hrag with an asari child in one arm while his other hand glowed with biotics.

"Let her go, Hrag." She said, aiming her pistol at him. Hrag smirked and held the child in front of his chest.

"Try anything, Spectre, and the last thing anyone will hear from the kid is her screams."

"Alisa!" An asari cried, being held back by a female turian. "Please, let her go."

"Mom! Mama! Help!" Alisa cried, trying to wiggle out of Hrag's grip.

Shepard, can you hear me?" Nihlus spoke up through her earpiece.

"Yeah, I hear you." She replied, keeping her eyes on Hrag as she answered.

"I have Garrus with me; I'm patching him in."

"Shepard, I have you and Hrag in my sights. If you can find a way to free the girl, I can take him out."

She nodded and looked around. There weren't any benches or tables nearby to allow her to distract Hrag.

"Don't think I can't see you were looking around! If I see even a glow, I'm crushing the girl's skull." Hrag threatened, tightening his grip on Alisa and making her cry out in pain.

"Try seeing through this!"

A soup container was thrown at Hrag, hitting him directly in the eyes and making him roar in pain. He let go of Alisa to wipe away the hot broth running down his face. A biotic field suddenly surrounded Alisa, and Shepard watched as the girl was thrown into Marie’s arms, followed by a shot ringing through the air.

Shepard watched Hrag collapse on the ground as Alisa's parents ran over to her. Shepard watched as Alisa was handed over to her mother, and while she was glad the kid was safe, a thought was nagging in the back of her mind.

Marie mentioned she wished she had biotics when they were talking earlier. Who was the one that caught Alisa?

"Is everyone alright? I have medi-gel if anyone needs it." Marie said as she checked the couple and Alisa for any injuries.

"We're fine, officer; that krogan just shoved my wife before grabbing my daughter." The asari said, holding Alisa close.

"Thank you both for saving our daughter." The turian said, nodding to Shepard.

"It was no trouble; you three take care." She said, watching the three left before helping Marie clear the remaining crowd to allow the coroner room when they arrive. Nihlus soon came with Garrus right behind him, sniper rifle strapped to his back.

"Marie wasn't kidding; you're pretty good with a rifle," Shepard said, nodding to Hrag's body, and the bullet wound right between his eyes.

She could almost see Garrus preening as he stood a little straighter and grinned.

"Well, I was the top sharpshooter in my squad at boot camp."

While she didn't understand his subvocals, the muffled chuckling from Nihlus let her know he was trying to show off.

"How about after we clear this scene, you show me what else you can do at the shooting range." She suggested, ignoring Marie and Nihlus snickering behind her. Based on his reaction, Garrus wasn't expecting her offer, and she enjoyed watching him stumble over his words.

"Oh, uh, yeah. That would be great." He said, mandibles fluttering. She had spent enough time with Nihlus to at least know that meant he was excited.

"If you two are done," Nihlus said, walking over to Shepard and Garrus. "I need to grab the cruiser with Captain Kia's body. Marie said she needed to leave, so can you two stay here until the coroner arrives?"

Shepherd nodded as Nihlus left, leaving her and Garrus to keep civilians from stopping and starting at the scene. She hoped the coroner arrived soon before any reporters showed up.

---------------------------------------

Noxis yawned as he finished coding the new program. All he needed was Marie to give him one of the hard drives, and he could test it out.

A ping from his omni-tool alerted him to Marie searching the net. While he was willing to work with c-sec, he was still cautious about Marie and installed a net tracker into her omni-tool without her knowledge.

Checking the notification, he couldn't help but laugh when he read azure on the screen. It looks like the innocent princess finally figured out what her codename meant.

"Well, things are about to get real interesting." He said to himself as he stood up to grab a drink.

His comment proved true when he soon heard an angry knocking at his door half an hour later.

"Open up, you ass!" He could hear Marie say as he walked over to the door and opened it to reveal Marie glaring at him.

"Well, hello there, do you have some girl scout cookies for me?" He smirked, leaning against the doorframe.

"No, but I have a boot with your name on it that'll go right up your ass for not telling me what my codename meant," Marie said, pushing past him into the hotel room.

"I just thought you knew, and you had some weird kink." He teased, closing the door and returning to his computer. Marie sat in a free chair and dug through her bag until she pulled out a hard drive and passed it to him.

"You're the worst," she grumbled as he hooked up the hard drive to his computer. He set up the tracer and ran a diagnostic. It would take a while to integrate into the system and track the source, and he looked over at Marie, who was looking at a message on her omni-tool.

"Hey, wanna grab something to eat?" He asked, making Marie look up at him confused.

"Huh?"

"I don't know about you, princess," he said, leaning over to poke her cheek with his talon, which earned him a slap on the hand. "But I haven't eaten since last night, and I could really go for some noodles. I'll even be nice enough to pay for yours as well."

"Fine, stop calling me princess, and I'll show you this dual chirality ramen place I like to go to with Garrus." She swatted his hand away from her face and stood up, leaving her bag on her seat.

"No offense, princess, but I'd rather not go to you and your boyfriend's dating spot," Noxis replied, standing up to follow her out of his room. Marie immediately turned around to glare at him, cheeks pink.

"Garrus is not my boyfriend! He's my partner in c-sec and is like a brother to me. I would have thought you knew that since you seem to know a lot about me already."

It was true; he knew a lot about her, her life on Earth at least. He knew what high school she went to, her time as a pageant participant at age six, and her volunteer work at an animal shelter from sixteen to eighteen. Other than her c-sec record, he couldn't find any information on her time on the Citadel other than news articles or glimpses of her in photos from her friend's social media accounts, including Garrus.

"You're right; it's just fun to watch you blush," he said, poking her cheek again.

"Keep that up, and I'm going to bite it," Marie threatened, smacking his hand again. She led him to a small stall which, while small, was bustling with people. Marie walked up to the counter, surprisingly run by a quarian and a human. It seemed Marie knew the two quite well since the quarian had a lively conversation with Marie about new recipes while making their food.

"Are you a friend of Marie's?" The human woman, Marie, mentioned her name was Kimi, asked him. From what Marie told him, Kimi and the quarian, Lor, were married and opened this shop together last year.

"You could say that," Noxis replied, watching Marie and Lor argue about the perfect spice level for some dish. "So, how well do you know her?"

"Marie? I don't think there's a store owner in this district that doesn't know her," Kimi explained. "She's very friendly and is always helping people. She was the one that helped Lor and me with our business. No one would approve our permit because they saw my husband's name, but Marie was able to push it through the system, and we were finally able to open this shop. Has she ever told you about her stubborn streak?"

Noxis was about to reply until a shout cut him off from a nearby courtyard.

"Stay here; I'll check it out," Marie told him before running in the direction of the shouting. Noxis looked back at Kimi and Lor and gave them a smirk as he grabbed their bag of food.

"It's cute how she thinks I'll listen." He said before following Marie. There was a crowd of people watching a krogan holding an asari child. Across from him stood a woman with a pistol pointed at him. He tapped Marie on the shoulder to get her attention.

"How quickly do you think you can get to the kid?"

"I'd like to think I'm pretty quick. What are you planning?"

He grabbed his container of noodles and let it hover above his hand with his biotics. He knew she understood what he was planning as soon as her eyes widened.

"Are you crazy? What if you hit the kid or worse, he hurts her because of it."

"Princess, sometimes you just need to take the risk."

“Yeah, but-”

“Listen, you care about these people, right? Let me tell you what’ll happen if you hesitate. Backup is gonna arrive, and when it does, that krogan will realize he’s surrounded. When that happens, he’ll have nothing left to lose. When someone has nothing left to lose, all bets are off; his life, these people’s lives, and the life of that little girl will not matter.”

It’s true, it was risky, but he’d rather that kid leave alive with a minor soup burn than hear a mother crying over their child’s corpse. He placed his hand on her shoulder and leaned down to look into her eyes.

“Just focus on getting the kid; I’ll make sure nothing happens to either of you.”

Marie was silent for a moment before nodding and reaching up to touch his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

“Alright, I trust you. When I shout, throw it and, I’ll grab the girl.”

“You got it, princess.” He grinned, watching her slip into the crowd. He frowned when he watched the krogan squeeze the girl and make her cry.

"Try seeing through this!” He heard Marie cry and, with a flick of his wrist, the container went flying through the air and hit its mark, making the container burst open and broth run down into the krogan’s eyes. Seeing an opportunity, he caught the kid with his biotics and tossed her to Marie. He was about to shield them with a field in case the krogan charged when the sound of a gunshot stopped him.

He let out a sigh of relief as Marie talked to the kid's parents. He was glad he stayed a fair distance away, so she didn't hear the trill coming from his subvocals. He was silently cursing himself for being so touch starved a touch from someone other than Zani made him croon.

If things continued like this, this woman would be the death of him.

Chapter Text

It had been almost two weeks since Noxis installed his tracking program on the rest of the hard drives, and Marie noticed a pattern forming.

Almost every day after work, she would head over to spend time with Noxis. At first, it was to check if his program had found anything yet, but after a few days of no results, it turned into them eating together while watching tv and Noxis teaching her how to hack.

"Shit," Marie cursed as she failed to hack into the lockbox in her lap. She didn't have to look at Noxis to know he was silently laughing at her.

"Not a word Nox," she grumbled, resetting the program and trying again. From the corner of her eye, she could see him lying next to her while she sat cross-legged on his bed.

"I said nothing," Noxis said, mirth obvious in his voice. She glanced over at him to see he was grinning at her, one arm propping his head up as he lay on his side. She could see his mandibles flutter as her cheeks heated up, and she looked away.

"Could you please put a shirt on. You look like you're trying out for a Fornax cover," she grumbled, focusing on her omni-tool again. Technically it was her fault for visiting on one of her days off; he wasn't expecting her and mentioned he had just got out of the shower.

On the other hand, that was over an hour ago, and he still hadn't put a shirt on.

"Fornax, huh? So the innocent princess does have a naughty side," Noxis practically purred, making her cheeks burn brighter. The lockbox in her lap opened with a click, but that was overshadowed by Marie smacking Noxis with a pillow.

"Shut up! Also, who said I was innocent? Not that it's any of your business, I have been with someone so stop acting like I'm some pure virgin!" If her cheeks could burn any brighter, she'd be glowing. Noxis laughed, tossing the pillow out of her reach and grabbing one of her wrists to stop her from grabbing another pillow.

"Oh really? Was it a human?"

"We're not talking about this, Nox."

She tried to tug her hand away, but his grip held firm. What she wasn't expecting was him to suddenly sit up and pull her arm, making her fall onto his lap as the lockbox clattered onto the floor.

Before she could say anything, she let out a squeal as he poked her side.

"You were saying?" Noxis laughed, continuing his ticking. Marie couldn't stop herself from laughing as she tried to cover her side and wiggle from his grasp.

"I can do this all day, princess."

"Alright, fine! Just let me go!"

The room soon became silent save for their panting, along with a movie long forgotten playing in the background. Finally, Marie sat up and let out a sigh.

"His name was Markus; he was my childhood best friend. We were in college together; it was a stupid decision made by stupid teenagers. That's all it was."

When Marie looked over at Noxis, she could tell he was frowning.

"Princess, he didn't… you know..."

Her eyes widened when she understood what he was implying.

"No, no, he'd never do anything like that. It's just; I thought it was more than a quick fling between two stressed teens."

"Ah, I get it," Noxis said, his previous frown turning into a smirk. "You're one of those people that want a lover to treat you like a queen in bed. I knew I called you princess for a reason."

Marie was about to insult him when she paused, a sly smirk gracing her face. Leaning forward, she placed a hand on his bare chest.

"Oh, and if you know what I want so well, does that mean you're offering?"

If he wanted to play dirty, she'd have to do the same. It would be nice to wipe that smirk off his face for once.

She secretly enjoyed hearing the sharp inhale from Noxis as his eyes widened. At this distance, she couldn't help but notice how green his eyes were, like a pair of emeralds shining in the light. For a moment, both of them were silent until Noxis chuckled; the playful smile was gone as he looked at her with an expression she had never seen before on a turian.

"Princess, you're too good for scum like me."

Marie frowned, about to ask what he meant when he omni-tool alerted her to an incoming call. She looked between her omni-tool and Noxis before moving away to answer the call.

"Hello?"

"Marie! Where are you, girl?!"

Marie winced when Nisia's voice shouted through her omni-tool. Behind her, Noxis chuckled, and she heard him climb out of bed to enter the bathroom.

"I'm, uh, at a friend's place. What's up?"

"Did you forget you said you'd test my prototype today?"

Marie cursed; she had forgotten entirely she promised to Nisia that she'd test her sub-vocal translator today. She quickly stood up and grabbed her bag, promising Nisia she'd be home in a few minutes. After hanging up, she looked at the closed bathroom door for a moment before knocking lightly.

"Hey, Nox, I have to head out. Let me know if your program finds anything."

"Yeah, sure."

That was it, no teasing, no calling her princess. For once, she wanted to hear him call her it.

-----------------------------------------

"Okay, this is prototype svt dash five, test twelve, testing translation from turian subvocals to human," Nisia said into her recording. "Min, please say something aggressive."

"Fuck off," Minerva said, a growl coming from her subvocals.

"Good, hear anything, Marie?"

"No, it's still just growls to me," Marie said, watching Nisia sigh and shut off the recording. They had tried multiple emotions from Minerva, from happy to pissed off. Nisia even had Minerva flirt with Marie to see if she heard anything.

"I don't understand; I've had better results from my elcor translator than this." Nisia wrote down some notes on her datapad while Marie and Minerva shut off their prototypes.

"You'll figure it out eventually," Minerva encouraged her while Marie went to grab them some drinks from her fridge. "Would it cheer you up to know I'm pretty sure Marie was hanging out with a guy?"

Marie cursed, seeing Minerva smirking while Nisia grinned like mad.

"Oh really? Tell us all the details! What's his name? Where's he from? Do we know him?"

"Nisia, calm down," Marie groaned, tossing a drink to her while purposely leaving Minerva's drink on the counter as she sat on the couch. "He's just someone that's helping me with a case. I can't say anything more."

"Is that why you smell like him? Because I could smell the turian on you as soon as you walked in," Minerva chuckled, grabbing her drink while Marie struggled to explain herself.

"H-he has to stay at a hotel; his scent is everywhere."

"Whatever you say," Nisia said with a wink. Marie sighed, knowing she'd never hear the end of it from her friends now.

"I don't blame you for going for turians; there's just something about them that makes me go wild," Nisia giggled. Whenever they went out to clubs, she constantly flirted with turians. It wasn't surprising if she went home with a couple of guys and girls' numbers.

"I don't have a thing for turians. At least, I don't think I do…." Marie admitted though she wasn't sure about it herself. Nisia took this as an invitation to open her omni-tool and shove a picture in her face. Marie immediately shut her eyes and tried to push Nisia away.

Nisia had done some crazy things before but showing Marie a turian dick was now the craziest.

"Remember our trip to the bar? I picked up this fine guy, and we've been messaging since. He just sent me this pic this morning."

"That's great. Now get it out of my face!" Marie felt like she would die of embarrassment; first, her talk with Noxis, now Nisia. She was granted mercy by Nisia's omni-tool receiving a new message.

"Ooh, speak of the devil; he just messaged me! I'll talk to you two later. I need to head home and freshen up." Nisia said, kissing Marie and Minerva on their cheeks before grabbing her gear and leaving. Minerva chuckled while Marie tried to stop impersonating a tomato.

"So, be honest," Minerva said, looking at Marie. "This guy, do you just want him as a friend?"

Her first response was to say yes, but she didn't know if she should say it aloud. Noxis could be annoying, using her head as an armrest when they waited in line to grab food, poking her cheek at random moments. But he also had his kind moments like the movies they would watch together or teaching her how to hack.

"I...I don't know," she finally admitted, looking at her hands resting on her lap. She felt Minerva sit down on the seat next to her.

"Maybe you should do a little research, see what you like and if you want something more or if you're having a Nisia moment."

Marie couldn't help but laugh at the comment and nodded. At least she lived alone so no one would know what she was searching for.

"Well then, I'll leave you to it; I have to finish this dress for a client but call me if you have any questions," Minerva said, hugging her before heading out herself.

Even though she agreed to do some research, it wouldn't be until the night cycle started, when she was lying in her bed with her c-sec branded shirt and pajama shorts, that Marie would finally open the extranet on her omni-tool.

I can't believe I'm doing this.

She could already feel her cheeks heating up as she looked through the site.

Get it together, Marie, you're a damn adult! You can watch a couple of porn videos without acting like a schoolgirl.

One video caught her eye, making her tap on it to play. It was a roleplay video with the human as a c-sec officer and the turian as a criminal. The dialogue was cheezy, and she couldn't help but laugh at the poor attempt to sound like an officer.

She could admit, the turian was attractive; tan plates with red colony markings swooping down his face. When he talked, his voice was deep, a lot deeper than Noxis.

She watched the woman begin to undress the turian. The more she watched, the more her mind began to wander. She imagined she was in the video, and instead of a turian with a deep voice and red markings, it was one with no markings and a playful voice pinning her to a table.

"Be a good girl princess, and I might just give you what you want."

She could imagine Noxis purring into her ear as he held her by her hips, talons lightly digging into her sides. Marie bit her lip, sliding one of her hands down to slip into her shorts. She let out a slight whine as she teased her fingers over her clit, imagining it was Noxis's rougher hand touching her instead of her own.

"That's right, princess, keep making those pretty noises for me."

She moaned, imagining it was his fingers entering her as the video continued to play in the background. Her back arched off the bed as her fingers pumped in and out of her faster while she thought of Noxis purring praises into her ear.

"Come on, princess, come for me."

"Noxis!" She moaned, toes curling as her orgasm rushed through her. She panted, shutting off the video to silence the over-dramatic moans before climbing out of her bed to take a shower.

I can't believe I just fantasized about Noxis.

Marie let out a sigh as the warm water hit her skin. She meant to see if she had a thing for turians, and yet, she ended up thinking about Noxis instead.

She groaned as she lightly hit her head against the tiled wall.

This was going to complicate things.

-----------------------------------------

Noxis listened as Marie left the apartment. He let out a shaky breath as he heard the door lock behind her. Out of all the things he expected her to do, he didn't expect her to flirt back.

Get a hold of yourself. She was messing with you; no one as sweet as her would want you

Noxis hissed in pain, looking down at his bloody talon and the cut he accidentally caused on his palm. He cursed and dug around for the hotel's medi-kit. He needed to distract himself from both Marie and his intrusive thoughts.

Noxis awoke with a start from an alert on his computer. He groaned when he felt the ache in his back from falling asleep at his desk. Checking the alert, he smirked when he saw it was from his tracking program; he got a hit. He hit the speed dial for Marie's number as he pulled up the retrieved information.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?"

He chuckled, imagining her glaring at her omni-tool. He wondered what she slept in. He could imagine her sleeping in an oversized shirt, like his, and shorts.

"Nox? You there?"

"Yeah, sorry, Princess."

Stop thinking about what you can't have.

"Just thought you'd like to know; I got a hit on the program. I'm collecting the data you need right now." He said as he added another file to a small OSD. He didn't trust sending this kind of information over the net.

"Really?! That's great!" He could hear her climb out of bed and dig through what he guessed was her closet. "I'll be right over to get it."

"Take your time; I'm not going anywhere." He hung up after hearing her curse, something about stubborn pants. By the time she gets here, he should have everything ready.

It was half an hour later when he heard a knock on his door. Stuffing the filled OSD in his pocket, he walked over to the door and opened it.

The smirk on his face fell when instead of Marie, a krogan stood at his door.

"Sorry pal, you got the wrong room," Noxis said, attempting to close the door until a foot in the doorway stopped him.

"I think I have the right room, Zero." The krogan said with a smirk.

"Never heard of him," he tried to close the door again, but the krogan just pushed his way into the room.

"Try that again, and I can't guarantee her safety," the krogan said, opening a video call on his omni-tool.

Noxis felt the world stop when he saw a woman walking ahead of the cameraman. He knew the jacket she wore well since Marie forgot it all the time at his place.

"If you lay a hand on her, I swear I'll-."

"You'll watch her die if you even try," the krogan chuckled, tossing him a pair of biotic dampening cuffs. "Now put these on. Do it, and the girl will stay unharmed.

Noxis looked between the krogan and the cuffs; he didn't trust the krogan would keep his word.

"Boss, what's the situation?" A voice called out from the video call. The krogan smirked, obviously about to give the order before Noxis interrupted.

"Alright, fine." He clicked the cuffs onto his wrist. He could feel his amp shutting down, not a feeling he wanted to get used to.

"Just so you know, your ass is mine as soon as these are off," Noxis said with a smirk.

"We'll see about that," the krogan growled, pressing a button on his omni-tool. "Take out the girl."

"What? No! You said she'd be unharmed!" Noxis tried to reach for his pistol, but the krogan grabbed him by the throat. He gasped, clawing at the arm as the krogan held the screen up to his face.

"Watch as she's killed; this is what happens when you cross us."

He watched as the cameraman approached the unaware Marie. When he was close enough to tap her shoulder, she turned around she gave the cameraman an innocent smile.

"Hi, can I help-" Marie asked, cut off as a pistol came into the screen, and she was shot in the stomach.

"No!" Noxis cried, struggling harder and making the krogan laugh. The last thing he saw was Marie collapsing to the ground before the feed was cut off.

"You bastard! I'll fucking kill you." Noxis's vision blurred as his struggling weakened. He could do nothing as a bag was thrown over his head, and a sharp pain sent him into unconsciousness

Chapter Text

28

29

30

"Not bad," Garrus chuckled when Shepard glared at him as she set down the rifle. "What? Last time you tried you got twelve out of a hundred."

"I don't know how you have the patience to wait for the perfect shot," Shepard grumbled, watching Garrus take position and easily score 20 points from two headshots.

"Well, not all of us charge into fights like a Krogan."

"You mention your best friend is a krogan once and everyone starts comparing you to one."

Garrus laughed as he finished his round, scoring 95/100 points. He set down the rifle and checked his omni-tool. Marie had messaged him earlier that she would meet them at the range after visiting Zero but had yet to reply to his recent message. It wasn't like her to leave a message unreplied.

"Everything alright Garrus?"

He didn't realize he was giving off a worried trill until Shepard spoke. With a shake of his head, Garrus called Marie's omni-tool.

"Marie hasn't messaged me back. I'm starting to get a little worried."

Shepard frowned when she saw Garrus's call wouldn't connect. "Do you know where she was going? Nihlus should be still at the spectre office, he could track her omni-tool ID."

Before Garrus could answer, the c-sec dispatch radio went off on his tool.

"Reports of shots fired have been alerted in Sector Six. The assailant is described as a salarian wearing a brown suit and has shot one human female."

Garrus and Shepard looked at each other, both not wanting to say what the other was thinking as another voice responded.

"This is officer Braun, I'm on the scene. Suspect has fled the scene. I need a medi-cruiser to my location immediately, the victim is an officer. Repeat, officer down at my location."

Garrus had already broken into a run before the officer could give a description.

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If it wasn't for Shepard dragging Garrus into a cruiser, he would have ran all the way to Huerta. As the cruiser came to a stop, she watched Garrus jump out and run into the hospital. She quickly followed behind, entering just as the receptionist explained to Garrus that the injured officer was Marie and she was taken in for emergency surgery.

She took Garrus's trembling hand and led him to the waiting room and helped him sit down. She continued to hold his hand as he slowly worked to calm his rapid breathing.

"She's going to be fine Garrus, Huerta has the best doctors on the Citadel."

"I know, I just-" he let out the breath he had been holding. "I can't lose her. I already almost lost someone I care about. I can't lose her."

She gave his hand a squeeze as she pulled him into a hug. She could feel him trembling as he let out a low trill. She didn't need to understand subvocals to know what it meant. Shepard stayed by his side for hours only leaving his side to grab them some food and making sure he was hydrated. She felt his hand on her leg tighten when a human doctor stepped out of the hallway to the operating rooms and called his name. She could see he was having difficulty speaking and waved the doctor over to them.

“I assume you're Mr. Vakarian? Ms. Hitomi has you down as her emergency contact,” the doctor said as he pulled up a chair to sit across from them and handed Garrus a holopad which showed an x-ray of Marie and a list of injuries she sustained.

“It took some time picking out the shrapnel from the bullet but we were able to clear the wound. Her liver and stomach sustained damage but luckily it was minor tearing which we were able to patch up. We've moved her into a room to recover. She should be waking up from the anesthesia soon.”

“Can I see her?”

The doctor hesitated as he took back the holopad. “Usually we only prefer spouses and immediate family to visit post surgery but seeing as she didn't provide a contact number for them, I suppose I can allow you two to see her. I just need you to sign in on our visitor form.”

After they signed in they followed the doctor down the hall until he stopped at one of the rooms. She could hear Garrus take a sharp breath when he stepped inside. When Shepard stepped in she understood why. Marie was laying in a hospital bed surrounded by tubes and wires which were monitoring her vitals. For a moment she couldn't move as the beeping of the monitors forced her to remember her own time in the hospital, the constant beeps of the monitors being her only company for almost two years until she could walk out of that hospital with scars as her only reminder. She was about ready to run out of the room when Marie suddenly sat up and started struggling to get out of her bed. It took her holding Marie down and Garrus calling out her name to get her to settle down but once she did she clung to Garrus like a lifeline.

“Garrus! What happened? Where am I?” Marie questioned as Garrus continued to calm her down and explain where she was. He was so gentle and patient with her, giving her time to process before he questioned her about what happened. She wished he had someone like him after her accident.

She knew exactly how Marie was feeling; scared, confused, in pain and wondering how long she was unconscious. Unlike Marie, she didn't have a Garrus to ground her and was thrown from her bed into the spotlight as people questioned what happened to her and asked for any information from before the incident. Instead of a considerant hand or sympathy she was questioned about her mental state and if she should be discharged when she went into shock when she heard her entire unit had been killed.

“Shepard?”

When had Garrus moved from Marie’s side to stand next to her? Even without his close proximity she could already feel the familiar suffocating feeling that began to leave her short of breath.

“Sorry I should go, I need some air.”

Before he could reply she turned and quickly left the room. Through the ringing in her ears she could faintly hear Garrus call her name as the elevator doors closed. As soon as she was out of the hospital she sat down on a nearby bench and clutched her head. Memories of that day ringing through her head. She could hear Patterson trying to put out the fire, Martinez trying to resuscitate Garvey who was killed in one of the explosions. Then there was Ashley who pushed her into one of the escape pods. She could still see the sad smile she gave her just before the ship completely blew up.

A taloned hand wiping a tear from her cheek pulled her from her thoughts and once again she saw Garrus right next to her.

“Garrus? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Marie?”

“Now that Marie is awake the doctors are moving her out of observation and into a proper room,” Garrus explained, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Besides, we were both worried about you when you suddenly ran off.”

“I’m fine,” she immediately replied. She wasn't but Garrus already had enough on his plate with Marie in the hospital. She had spent enough time with Nihilus to know the look he was giving her said he wasn't even going to humor her by playing dumb. She sighed and covered his hand with her own.

“Hospitals put me on edge. Something happened a few years ago that I tried to repress but sometimes it comes back and being in the hospital triggered it. Maybe sometime I’ll tell you about it but right now. I just need some time alone and I'll be fine.”

She could tell he didn't want to leave her alone but reluctantly nodded, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze before he stood up.

“Alright. Marie gave me the hotel Zero is staying at and asked me to check on him for her since he's not answering her calls. If you need anything you got my number.”

She nodded, watching him walk off before she sighed and sent a message to Wrex letting him know she was coming over. If she doesn't, she might just end up calling Garrus before he could even leave the district.

--------------------------------------------------------

Noxis choked as another bucket of water was dumped over him. The krogan holding his head back by his fringe just chuckled as he tried to breathe before the next round could start.

“This'll all be over if you just tell us where you sent the backup files,” the krogan growled, making Noxis let out a weak laugh.

“Or what? You'll promise not to shoot someone else and do it anyway? Listen, with this next attempted drowning could you get behind my fringe? I needed a shower anyway.”

The force from the punch to his stomach knocked him off his chair and landed on his back. He could feel one of his wrists dislocate from the impact of the landing. The krogan spat in his direction as he walked out of the cell and slammed the door behind him. Noxis could feel the biotic dampener around his cell turn on before he could attempt to break his cuffs. With a sigh he maneuvered himself onto his knees, wincing when he moved his dislocated wrist wrong. Once he climbed onto the pile of dirty and torn cloth that was his bed he laid his back against the wall. Between his cuffed arms and sore ribs from an earlier beating he wasn't planning on sleeping anytime soon.

“I'm sorry Marie,” he whispered softly. He could see Marie getting shot over and over every time he closed his eyes as if his own mind was helping his torturers. He lost count after 3 hours but assumed it had been at least 6 hours by now. The encrypted message he prepared for Zani with a copy of the data should have been sent to her by now. He could only hope it could get to Marie's partner. It won't make up for getting her killed but it should at least help take these cocky bastards down.

He doesn't know when he ended up passing out but he soon woke up to the sound of someone loudly cursing.

“Jesus Ezor, what the fuck happened to you? You look like you lost a fight with an angry cat.”

“What do you think happened to me?! That c-sec bitch did this! She tried to claw my eyes out before I could shoot her again!” He could hear the salarian groan in pain. “I should have risked getting caught just to put a bullet between her eyes. I can barely see out of my right one, I think she scratched it.”

Noxis sat up straight when the door was suddenly kicked open and a furious salarian stormed into the room and up to his barred cell. When he was close enough Noxis could see a fine film had built up over the right eye and he could barely keep it open without rapidly blinking. Even in the dim light of the room he could see his face was covered in scratches. Was that a limp he could see as he yanked open the cell door and walked over to grab him by the throat? He hoped Marie blew out his kneecap.

“You better hope your little bitch died from that bullet because if she didn't, I'm gonna make her pay for what she did.”

Marie did that? Spirits, my girl is a wildcat.

Noxis let out a wheezy laugh, standing up just to remind the furious salarian who was the bigger person between them. The salarian tried to hide his fear but it was obvious when Noxis noticed him take a few steps back.

“You better hope she survives. What I'm gonna do to all of you pales in comparison to what her partner will do when he finds you.”