A/N: This story started as a quick little tumblr prompt from my friend. It snowballed into this, a months long project that ended up being more of a collaboration than a piece strictly by me. I would love to thank the wonderful ex-commander for use of her Ronan Shepard. Ronan is a great foil to Io'ken, who I found can be a whiny baby when she doesn't get what she wants! I hope you enjoy this AU where two Shepards exist and no one really explains how or why.

Cover created by ex-commander herself!

"God, let's get off this boat," Io'ken Shepard grunted.

They had a few precious hours, a day perhaps, no more, before they would be forced to leave. It was the closest port of call, the one that would allow them to blow off the most steam in the most expedient way possible. Part of her hated it here, but the other part, the one that wanted a stiff drink and a night out didn't really give a damn.

The air hissed through the cracks around the door as the ship's airlock equalized its pressure against the docking bay on Omega. She cracked her knuckles and shifted her weight back and forth while waiting.

"Goddess, Io," Kasumi grinned, "calm down, we'll be inside soon enough."

The décor in Afterlife bordered on tacky, there was neon everywhere, and it was eye-searingly pink. However, all that mattered was that the drinks were strong and the music was loud. If anything, she'd embarrass herself in front of the crew when she inevitably got all touchy-feely with Kaidan or Kasumi. By now they had seen worse. Witnessing your commander enjoying the company of her significant others was nothing when you'd seen the Reapers tear through a city.

It smelled of sweaty bodies, smoke, and liquor. Asari maidens gyrated above the bar, careless in their youth, oblivious to the powerful matriarch that lorded above them all in the exclusive VIP booth overlooking the floor.

Breathing deeply she shuddered as tension left her body, "I need a drink, now."

Kaidan and Kasumi were pushed close to her against the throng of bodies that crowded the space in front of the serving area. Most of the crowd was made up of the crew and the rest consisted of shady ne'er-do-wells that were either visiting or slumming it up on Omega. It didn't really matter why any of them were there. All that mattered was that they were there for the same reason.

The major's height allowed him to navigate through the mob more quickly than either of the women and he had just made it back to them, drinks in hand, when he was jostled roughly causing him to spill most of the liquor onto Kasumi. The booze fizzled against the electronics in her suit.

"Shit!"

Io's eyes snapped over his shoulder as a tall, muscular blonde shoved past him, causing him to fumble. A strong cloud of cigar smoke encircled her head. Nothing and no one stood in her way. Clearly she had a mission. The telltale crackle of biotics jumped over her skin. From feel alone, Io could tell that she was about to start something. Interesting, considering Aria frowned upon any sort of shenanigans in her club.

Kaidan helped Kasumi brush the liquid off of her suit as best as he could, but the damage was done. It had shorted out and try as she might, the cloak wasn't holding for more than a few seconds. The problem could have been fixed easily but it meant that Kasumi would have to leave. That was definitely not part of tonight's plan.

The blonde had made her way past the bulk of the patrons and those that remained were either too drunk to move out of her way or didn't care when she shoved them aside. She made a beeline for the bartender. The salarian didn't even have a chance to react to her presence before she grabbed his collar and smacked his head against the bar.

"Where is he?" She growled, pulling her pistol out and putting it to his temple.

The salarian trembled and waved his hand feebly, "I don't know!"

"Stop lying!" She cocked the hammer to emphasize her point.

The crowd surrounding them was deadly silent and it was then that Io noticed the tall turian who was hovering near the edge. He looked strangely familiar and had some telling scars running up the right side of his face. Before she could mull it over too long though, the scene escalated, pulling her attention back to the duo in front of her.

"How'd you find me?" He tried to pull away, but his head was wedged between her gun and the bar.

"I ask the questions," she smirked, "and you better start answering them."

This was not how this evening was supposed to go. They were supposed to have fun, drink, make out and then get back to the Normandy for some alternative after hour activities.

Sure, the other woman was intimidating and armed, but she was freaking Commander Shepard and she just wanted her drink.

Her biotics cracked like a whip and ran over her skin. It was a threat. Any other biotic in the vicinity would be able to tell she meant business.

Kaidan sucked in his breath quickly, "Io, really? Now?"

She cocked an eyebrow and looked at Kasumi's smoking suit.

"Yes, now."

"Fine, just don't be stupid, or make this worse than it is," he sighed and grabbed Kasumi by the hand, leading her away from the inevitable war zone. The turian eyed them sharply, clearly noting his Alliance garb and Spectre dog tags.

She let her biotics trail off of her in waves, parting the sea of people with her power instead of her body like the other woman had. The salarian was trembling and drooling. He was terrified and nearly passed out from fear.

A broad expanse of shoulders blocked most of her view. The other woman was taller and bulkier than she was by a lot. The cigar smoke hung around her, stinky and strong. Io wrinkled her nose against it before she let out a powerful biotic burst.

It hit the woman squarely in the back, causing her hips hit the bar counter roughly.

If she had expected anything, it wasn't for the other woman to drop the pistol on the counter.

When the fist came screaming around to clock her in the face, she had mere seconds to react. She ducked and stepped away quickly, dodging backwards. It was the only way she was going to get out of extended reach of the larger woman.

Io saw the salarian finally pass out from his heightened stress, his body sliding slowly down and off of the counter. A soft whumpf indicated that he had landed as inelegantly as one could in these circumstances.

Clearly her challenge had been answered. The blonde had forgotten about her prey, at least temporarily, and she stood, chest heaving in frustration before Io. Brown eyes narrowed as the other woman rolled her shoulders in anticipation of a fight.

There was something oddly familiar about her and it threw Io for a bit. Perhaps it was the way she stood, or the air around her, there was just something in her that reminded Io of herself.

"Listen, I don't mean to start anything," Io began, trying her hand at diplomacy first, "but I think I'm not the only one here that would rather just have a good time than deal with this right now."

A slow, sly grin spread over the other woman's face. She sucked on her cigar in one long drag before she exhaled, blowing smoke into Io's face, "Good. Then be smart and stay outta my way."

"Listen, lady, I'd love to do that but-"

Io was nearly pulled off of her feet as she was grabbed by her collar, bringing her nose to nose with the other woman. Her eyes darted to the scars that marred the face in front of her. There was one near her right eye that ran down her cheek, and another shorter, but just as violent, one that hit over her left eye. Both were angry and red and little had been done to heal them smoothly, from what she could tell. Slowly, she swiveled her vision and met the sight of the eyes under those scars.

There was fire in there. It burned into Io and she could see just how far this woman would go. She could almost see how far she had gone. It scared her a bit. There was something in them that told her this woman would never stop, couldn't actually, until she had fulfilled her own, self-imposed, objective.

She was shoved roughly away as the other woman let her go, turning to peer over the counter at the slumped salarian.

"Well, you've gone and done it. He won't tell me anything now."

"Me?" Io laughed, "You're the one who pulled a gun on him."

"Yes, you. He was about to give me what I wanted when you decided that you had to intervene."

"Well," Io decided to say what she was really feeling, "You ruined my night out. I could give a flying fuck about him," her biotics sparked at the ends of her fingers, "but no one, and I mean no one, gets to spoil one of the few fun times I have with the people that I love."

A quick snort and the other women's lip pulled up into a sneer, "Ah well," she said as she pulled a glass out from behind the bar and balanced her still smoking cigar over the top, "I don't give a shit. So stop wasting my time."

To emphasize her point she rolled her shoulders before stretching her arms out in front of her body, locking her fingers together. Her joints snapped and popped in anticipation of an impending altercation.

"Oh, it's going to be like that, then?"

Io began circling the other woman, the crowd backing up and away as she took measure of her opponent. Sure, the other woman had height and build, but Io was fast and her biotics were nothing to shy away from. There was a growing static between them and it was like she could tell that regardless of the other woman's intended goal this evening, she was relishing the thought of fighting someone.

"Wasting your time?" Io was insulted, clearly it wasn't apparent that the shipped docked just outside was hers, that she and her crew had been fighting the good fight against the reapers for weeks now. The N7 on her chest and the Spectre tags that clanked around her neck should have been the clearest indication of who she was. She was tired, she was fed up, she was sick of fighting, but the challenge in front of her was too great.

The anger she felt made her mad, bitterer than she would have thought. Couldn't she just have one night out as a normal person? It was just so frustrating. The fact that her opponent hadn't backed down, didn't seem as if she even WANTED to back down was lost on her in her indignant haze.

It didn't matter. She let a tangle of her biotics trail down her right arm, the power pooling in her hand as their path around each other widened. Looking up, she saw Kaidan kneeling in front of Kasumi, his lip between his teeth as he fumbled with her suit, trying to fix it. The thief looked over, and she saw worry as her vision tracked them.

That was it, she didn't even warn the other woman, instead she let the crack of biotics go, hitting her square in the chest.

The result was a tad disheartening. It barely fazed her. Anyone else would have been knocked to their ass.

Instead she grinned.

She grinned.

The inability to intimidate the other woman was infuriating. She ran at her, blue sparking off of her skin in waves.

She should have known better. The fist came whistling through the air hitting her shoulder with a thick and powerful shock. It hurt. A lot. Physical punches were something entirely different that biotic ones.

Sure, there was the dull pain of taking bullets to armor or the disorienting dizziness that came with a powerful blast from a banshee, but hand-to-hand combat without armor was something she hadn't taken part in seriously, for years. She wasn't without skill though. Life in the Reds had taught her many things.

She ducked before another punch could land and curled her hand into a fist, jabbing quickly at the woman's side. The grunt alone told her that she had finally made some sort of impression. Spinning around and sidestepping, she went for another on the opposite side with her weaker left fist. Before she made contact, though, she saw a knee arching up quickly in her periphery. She managed to dodge most of the blow, but it tagged her in the side and she faltered.

Their height difference was something she had to manage, along with the other woman's strength. Her reach wasn't nearly as good which meant that to make any sort of impact, she had to get in close. A few quick steps, jab, and then back out. Each time she was a little more daring, but each time the other woman was taking note of her ingrained fighting pattern and style. The last time she darted in, the fist caught her square in her stomach and she doubled over, gasping.

"Fuck," she croaked as she caught her breath.

At least the other woman had the grace to stumble backwards a bit before she commented, "Yes. Wasting," she cocked her head to the side before continuing with a sigh, "my time."

"Well, I have to say, I've usually knocked out, or seriously fucked up most opponents by now. Honestly I expected this be a lot quicker," Io straightened her back and let her biotics gather. It peeved her, having to call on them. There was never a doubt in her mind that she was a good fighter, but her lack of practice was showing. She was going to need a little more oompf if this was going to end anytime soon.

The other woman quirked an eyebrow. She must have been able to feel it. Fortunately, she didn't have time to brace for what was coming.

Io attacked, the force behind her biotic punch snapping the bigger woman's head back. This time, she was staggered. There was a huge sense of satisfaction as the woman reached up to touch her bloodied lip. She sent another crack of power to hit her and the blonde shook her head.

Io felt her stomach sink as she felt the gathering of biotic power from the person across the bar. She had briefly felt those biotics earlier, but now that they were building and going to be directed at her, she realized just how powerful her opponent was.

Her head spun and her vision blurred when a strong biotic punch hit her in the face. The sound her nose made as it broke immediately brought back memories of the Reds. The last time she fought with them, she almost died and she promised herself that the next time something like that happened she wouldn't hold back.

A glance over her shoulder showed her that Kasumi's suit was still damaged but Kaidan had stopped trying to help her. Instead, they stood next to the turian. Kaidan was shaking his head and Kasumi looked positively perplexed.

"Let's finish this," she spat through the blood running down her chin, the metallic taste filling her mouth.

There was no answer from the other woman, just a biotic flare.

When she let the charge fly, she was expecting it to feel just like any other charge she performed in battle. What she got was an equally powerful charge that met hers. They collided in a blast of biotics. The shockwave spread fast and the sound from it was deafening. Glasses and bottles shattered along the parabola of their combined charge and someone definitely screamed.

She quickly rolled backwards to get out of the reach of her opponent, instinct taking over, and thankfully out of the reach of her challenger.

It was a happy moment when she saw the blood that dotted the woman's shirt along with the bruise that was already spreading under her eye.

"You done yet? I need to get this jackass out of here," the woman motioned over her shoulder to where the salarian was presumably still passed out.

"Not even close," Io said as she prepped for another charge.

She let it fly, felt the equally powerful charge heading towards her when she heard it, a booming voice over the sound roaring in her ears.

"SHEPARD!"

Blue flickered at the edge of her vision and try as she might, she couldn't move. A strong biotic field had her trapped. Then it suddenly let go and she landed inelegantly on her ass.

"Ouch!"

When she looked up, her breath faltered. Aria had finally decided to intervene and was standing above her. The asari's millennia of power rolled off her like a thick cloak.

Io groaned, "Aria, I-"

"Shut it, Shepard," Aria snapped.

"YOU-" Io watched as Aria pointed at the other woman, who stood at the edge of the blast area, hip cocked with a look of disgust haunting her features, "get over here," she growled.

"You're not going to get off that easy either."

"You don't say," the blonde uttered sarcastically as Aria's guards closed in, one of them poking at her with the barrel of his gun.

Instead of moving, she pulled a worm leather pouch out of a deep pocket, fished a lighter out of another, and lit a new cigar before crossing her arms. The smoke and smell begain to circle her once again and she leaned coolly against the wall, clearly indifferent to the guard or gun behind her.

The side of Aria's mouth quirked with apparent amusement, but her eyes flashed dangerously.

"Aria, listen-" Io started.

"No. I don't know what the fuck is going on here, but this is unacceptable. First of all, you come in here, accost one of my employees, then you scare away most of the clientele, and now you cause a biotic shockwave that damages at least 40% of the place."

"Secondly, how in the hell are there two of you here? I can barely stand the one."

"What are you talking about?" Io asked as she pinched the bridge of her broken nose in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

"You didn't know?" Aria seemed confused, "Shepard," she sighed, "this is Shepard…"

"What?" Io said as the blonde shrugged, unconcerned.

"Listen, you two figure it out, I don't care. We'll take care of this," she waved a hand at the mess they had left, "some other time. Believe me. I'll be cashing in several favors at some point in order for me to forget about what happened tonight."

She sauntered away, clearly enjoying the situation she had left them in.

Io looked at the other woman, "Your name is Shepard?"

"Yeah, Ronan."

"Io'ken. What of the salarian?"

"Piece of trash smuggles salarian clutches out in the Verge and sells them. I need him to find the location of the slaver he works for so I can put him down."

Io bowed her head. She was ashamed that things had gotten out of control, "Oh."

"Yeah."

"Were you actually going to shoot him?" Io asked.

"Can't get any info out of a dead guy."

"Right," Io sighed. She had been too caught up in her own night's pursuits, she didn't even realize.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Kasumi, Kaidan, and the turian came over to them. Kaidan handed them both a packet of medigel, but he moved quickly away when the other woman glared at him.

Io immediately ripped into her packet and started applying it. Ronan glanced at the packet with disdain and then raised an eyebrow at the turian. They both smiled at some sort of shared secret.

"What? My medigel not good enough for you?" Io said her voice high and nasally through the blood. Her cheek felt tender too, and she wondered if it had also broken.

Ronan snorted and then shrugged, "Don't need it." Her words were muffled through her busted and puffy lip.

She tossed the packet at Kasumi who nabbed it out of the air with one hand before bending over to pick up the remains of the old cigar, which was now partially soggy with spilled liquor. She rolled a small portion of the dried leaves between her fingers before sniffing them, "Cohiba, huh?"

Ronan nodded and raised an eyebrow.

"I uh, have an interest in expensive, hard-to-get things," Kasumi grinned as she helped Io to stand, her suit flickering lightly.

Io watched as the turian knelt behind the bar and the before hefting the salarian over his shoulder.

Ronan stood, "You gonna be a thorn in my side?"

"Nope. That ass deserves whatever you have for him. I hope he leads you to your quarry."

"Him, or someone else."

Kasumi came to her and put her arm around her waist, Kaidan handed the turian his rifle, which he had set down momentarily.

The four of them slowly followed him out of Afterlife, the salarian swinging back and forth with the turian's gait.

When they got to the docks, Ronan's ship caught her eye. It had a very distinct shape, but it was battered. The paint on the call sign was nearly non-existent.

Ronan turned to her and nodded as the airlock hissed, the cloud of cigar smoke circling her head once again.

On a whim, Io called out, "Hey, Vakarian," before the doors shut. She was pleased to see his mandibles flare in surprise.

"Io, what on Earth?" Kaidan turned to her, shocked at her assumption.

"That was Ronan Shepard," she said, "I think it's me, maybe. Perhaps who I could have been in a different time and place."

"What are they going to do to him?" Kasumi asked.

"I don't know and I don't care. I just know he deserves it. I won't stop her. She has her own mission and I have mine."

They stood and watched the ship disengage from Omega's port.

It was sometime before Io said, "So what do you say about spending a night in? The Normandy's not so bad."

Kaidan and Kasumi looked at one another, smiling behind her back.

"Sure," he said before Kasumi continued, "It's not like Aria's going to let us back in there for a while."