Cerys walked with trembling legs in front of Matt into the neon-lit club. She caught sight of the merc standing guard outside a room in Afterlife and walked up to him. "You hiring?" She yelled over the music, putting a hand on her hip in an attempt to look intimidating. In truth, she was terrified to look for Archangel. He could probably fold her in half if he wanted. The merc nodded his head toward the door, motioning for them to go on inside.
A batarian greeted them with a smug smile, focusing on Cerys, "Well aren't you a sweet thing. Sorry honey you've got the wrong place, stripper's corner's that way." The mercenary leaned uncomfortably close to her.
Rolling her eyes with disgust, Cerys snarled, "Flattering, but I'm here to fight."
"Really, now..." The merc snaked his arm around her waist, whispering in her ear, "I know a way better use for you." His hand began trailing down to her bum. He stopped his movements as Cerys pointed a gun at his crotch, giving him a mean glare as a warning.
"Honey," She felt like spitting in his face, "I'm here to fight. If I wanted to fuck someone I would not go to you." Cerys glared at him until he finally backed off with a frown. Behind her, Matt was about to laugh his ass off after her little performance. Matt knew she was nowhere as tough as she made herself up to be and he found it very amusing that a Blue Suns mercenary was feeling threatened by a woman who could be compared to a little puppy.
"500 credits each to enter. You get paid when you finish the job and if you die, your friends don't collect your pay." The merc muttered, typing on his Omni-tool. Matthew brought up his Omni-tool too and sent the merc 1000 credits for them both. "Next." The merc said with a sigh as they exited and went to hail the cab to the station where Archangel was holed up.
Once they were there, they were supposed to report to a Sergeant Cathka. Once they were out of earshot, Matt turned to her, "Okay so this is the plan, you go sabotage some of their mechs while I try to get Cathka out of the way. I'll use the comm to reach you when I've found Archangel."
Cerys nodded, tying her hair up in a ponytail, "I'll try not to fuck it up." Her lips parted hesitantly, "Who exactly is Archangel?" Matt shrugged
Matt shrugged, "I'm about to find out."
They continued walking until Matt saw a batarian working with a gunship. "Cathka?" Matt asked and caught the attention of the Batarian.
He removed his helmet and lit a cigarette, "Oh, you're the recruits Salkie talked about." His eyes moved to Cerys with a smirk, "But you don't look like a fighter."
Cerys sighed internally. Apparently, all races have disgusting men. She mustered up a smile, "Not my choice. I owe him." She nodded to Matt who chuckled quietly under his breath. It had been amusing for everyone seeing the young, small woman stomping through Omega, geared up for a fight.
Cathka took a long drag of his cigarette and blew the smoke into their faces. Cerys who was used to her mom smoking inside the house didn't mind, but Matt coughed and tried waving the smoke away. "Would be a real shame for such a pretty girl to die."
Fighting the urge to puke, she said, "I'll go get ready. I don't want to go in there unprepared." She glanced at Matt who nodded at her with an encouraging glint in his eyes
Finding her way around wasn't easy as the place seemed to be built like a maze. After coming to dead ends a few times, she finally found the inactive mech in a storage room. "Okay... here goes nothing." Cerys puffed out air from her lungs and bit her lip. Bringing up the Omni-Tool, she found it incredibly easy to hack the mech. She set it to hostile at activation so it would go into a frenzy and cause some chaos.
'And what do I do now then? Wait for Matt?' Cerys thought with a sigh. Now she would only need to find a hiding place and wait until Matt found this 'Archangel'.
Two hours later, Matt's voice boomed through Cerys' ears. He sounded out of breath as he spoke, "Alright, let's hurry on back to the Normandy before any more of them show up. Meet me at the exit."
Cerys clenched her jaw and scurried to where they had been dropped off. Matt was standing vigilantly by the cab with a rifle in his hands. He nodded at her as she approached him, giving her a pat on the shoulder, "You did great today."
She was just glad she didn't have to kill anyone with her own hands. The thought had bothered her since she found herself here. A thank you would have been nice, too, but Matt was a soldier and soldiers do not have time for thank you's in the midst of war.
Her gaze fell upon the Turian who stood leaned against the wall. Raising a brow at him, Cerys asked, "Are you Archangel?"
The Turian seemed to smirk at her, "Yep. Call me Garrus, though." He looked over to Matt, "So how'd Matt get you into this?"
Matt scoffed, "Hey now, I didn't get her into anything." Matt glanced at Cerys, his expression softening, "It's actually a long story."
Great, now she had to explain to yet another alien about her misfortune. Not only was she lost in space, but she also landed in the midst of a war. It was definitely not what Cerys had planned. She compared it to placing a cat in a boat and send it out to sea. Helpless, alone and confused.
Further introductions were put on hold as shouting was heard from around the corner. "I think that's our cue to leave." Garrus exchanged a nod with Matt as the three huddled up together in the cab, speeding off to the center of Omega.
Cerys felt like a pile of goo as she stumbled to the bridge, dropping down on the co-pilot's seat.
Joker was fast to crack a joke, "You look like you just ran all the way to the Citadel and back."
"The what?" Cerys bit her lip, trying to remember if she had read anything about it. She felt stupid not knowing anything anymore, it made her seem less intelligent.
Joker, who seemed to forget that she was a newcomer, apologized, "Oh, um... It's kind of a capital. It's kind of a big city for all races."
Humming, she clicked her tongue, "So it's an important, portable planet for politicians." She frowned. It seems you can't escape politics no matter where you go. She leaned back and stretched her arms, "Anyway, the debt is paid and I can finally sit back and enjoy space." She let out a yawn and closed her eyes. Thoughts about her cat came to mind. He was old but Cerys would have wanted to be with him until he died. "I had a cat once, ya know." a smile formed on her lips, "His name was Mr. Puffington and he was the best damn cat in the world. A normal tabby cat, but he was special. All cats are special." She sighed with sadness, "I haven't seen a single cat or dog here. I hate the future."
"I'm sorry, about what happened to you."
"Yes, I am too." She didn't meet his eyes, as her own were tear filled and ready to spill over. Bawling in front of an almost complete stranger was not on her to-do list.
