... It begins

[keep_hallways]

It’s dark when the Keep’s newest guests arrive. The cold night air has seeped into the stones of the barracks sending a chill throughout the rooms. No fire has been laid, no lamp lit to beat back the cold or dispel the dark. Each cell remains exactly as it has for months on end, almost as though no one were expecting the small rooms to be occupied

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[turian_honor]

One moment he's falling, barely holding on to Shepard's hand as the room collapses all around them. And the next...

... The next, the turian is tripping over furniture he can't see. His boots are scuffing on something covering the floor, and it's all he can do not to plow headlong into a wall. He puts a hand out to steady himself, leaning hard on the surface.

What... the hell just happened? He can't even hardly process the sudden change in scenery. And so, with nothing else to fall back on, Garrus slips the assault rifle from its holster on his back, and, keeping one hand on the wall, begins to make his way around the room. He finds the door, swinging it open with a careful hand.

Garrus steps into the hall, battered, dirty, and more than a little bloodied -- still high on adrenaline from taking down the incubating threat to all sentient life. Not to mention confused. His radio seems to be dead, which certainly doesn't help matters in the slightest.

[keep_hallways]

The halls are empty, quiet, and almost entirely dark. The only source of light is something just around the corner of the far hall.

A torch, perhaps?

But there is no sound of footsteps.

[turian_honor]

The lack of sound doesn't do anything for his nerves. Garrus starts forward, moving slowly, placing each foot carefully in front of the other. He holds his weapon steady, despite the fatigue slowly burying itself in his bones.

"Hello?"

It comes out as more of a demand than a question. His squad is nowhere to be seen -- he can't contact anyone. He can't reach Shepard. And his nerves are practically jangling with unspent adrenaline.

[blackantiquas]

It's a person.

Isn't it? It's shaped like a person. It has arms and legs, a head and a torso like a person.

It does not, however, have a face.

Specks of black and white float around the immaterial body, but they cast no shadows. This body, this cloud, is the source of the light.

[turian_honor]

Garrus jerks back out of reflex, his aim snapping to the dark figure with a low, snarled curse.

"What the hell-!"

[blackantiquas]

The specks suddenly pull together, cementing the figure, and then the light is snuffed.

Not a second later, it's back. The figure, now a man, is holding up his arm. Where his hand should be there is only light and the same specks as before. His skin is ashen, his hair is greyed, and his eyes... his eyes are entirely white.

He smiles. "My apologies," he says, amused.

[turian_honor]

Garrus' aim doesn't waver. His heart is hammering. What the hell just happened? Who is this? It's like nothing he's ever seen before.

And considering what he's just been through, that's saying something.

"Don't make any sudden movements," he snaps back. Every inch of him is tense, his stance rigid, ready for an attack. "Where the hell is this place? Where are the others?"

[blackantiquas]

The smile fades to a neutral expression and the man keeps entirely still.

"This is Holloway's Keep. The others are likely in the barracks, as you were." He pauses just a moment, and then asks, "I assume you did not find your journal?"

[turian_honor]

The stillness, the whiteness of the eyes, send his scales to itching. If they start glowing yellow, he's squeezing the trigger and not stopping until his heat sink explodes from the strain. Garrus doesn't move either, watching the... not-quite-human.

"Holloways... what?" There's a note of accusation in his voice that he can't hold back. "What's going on? How did you get us off the Collector base?"

He makes a stifled sound of dark amusement. "Couldn't afford optical implants. Seeing in the dark is a little beyond me. So no, I didn't."

[blackantiquas]

"I do apologize for the darkness," he says, and he actually sounds like he means it. "We did not expect your arrival at this time." He tilts his head just slightly, and then continues. "As for how you were brought here, it was Lord Deior's doing. This is his Keep."

[turian_honor]

His mandibles flick. The... whatever it is... sounds sincere enough. But how the hell is he supposed to know? Maybe his brain is shutting down. Maybe he hit his head and this is all some crazy hallucination. That sounds like a pretty good explanation, as far as he's concerned -- considering how good a long rest sounds right now.

"Why?" he asks, simply. "Is Cerberus funding this?"

[blackantiquas]

"Cerberus, whomever he or she may be, has nothing to do with this... change of scenery, as it were." He takes on a more somber tone: "It is possible that their arrival coincided with yours, but as of yet, I do not know."

[turian_honor]

"Whatever," he corrected. "Not whoever."

That... surprised him. Cerberus seemed as good a culprit as any for this particularly bad change of scenery. But if this... person... didn't even recognize the name as that of an organization...

Either that, or he was a damn good actor. He slowly lowered the barrel of the rifle, but kept it in hand. If he wasn't the only one who'd been brought here...

"Where's Shepard?"

Dammit, his thoughts were as jumbled as his questions, it seemed like.

[blackantiquas]

The lowering of the rifle didn't cause Rem to relax, but despite his stillness, he hadn't been tensed.

"This Shepard may also have arrived with you, but again, I do not know. But if you would come with me, I will take you to where Shepard would also be taken."

[turian_honor]

It could be a trap. He could be led right into an ambush, or worse. There were some ugly stories about what certain organizations did to nonhuman prisoners. And he wasn't entirely convinced this wasn't related to Cerberus.

But at the same time, if the rest of the crew is really here, he owes it to them to try and find them.

Garrus gestures with the rifle. "Fine. You walk ahead. Keep your hands where I can see them." Another gesture. "Take me to her."

[blackantiquas]

"First, you would do well to get your key and your journal. They truly are a necessity." Then, as he suspected Garrus wouldn't be pleased to hear that, he addded, "Worry not. If your Shepard is here, you will see her soon."