Things always went as she wanted them to. This was unusual, irritatingly unusual. She wanted to punch a wall right now. But she couldn't. Why? She didn't know. It was all blurry. She was a mess. Spirits protect me, she prayed, please give me the strength to beat the shit out of these bastards again, and finally escape this hellhole.

FIRST SIGHT

Pain.

A stinging, sizzling pain would send waves of electricity through her spine. It did not feel like she was paralyzed, but rather, like she was ready to jump up in the air and make a mess out of everything around her. Sudden hyperactivity. This wasn't something uncommon to her ; but here, the need was even more... prominent. She batted her eyelashes rapidly. Her vision was bleary, and unfocused. She was lying on something hard and cold, like a... bathroom floor or something? She couldn't tell.

A pained grumble escaped her plated lips. Once more she tried to open her eyes, moving to sit up on the strange, cold surface.

"No moving. Bad for the bandages." A sharp voice sermonized her, making her start with surprise.

What in all the galaxy was that? Swiftly, the Turian turned her head, desperately trying to wake herself up from her numbness. She was still on the ship. She wasn't alone. Someone was talking to her. Who? What did they want? Were they one of those asshole mercs from earlier? Phoebe grunted, trying to wave her arms around to use her biotic abilities. A small, shiny blue light sparkled from the tip of her fingers, making a low-pitched sound, and she heard something clinging around, probably in reaction to the use of her biotics.

"Stop." The strange voice commanded again.

"Gnnhmr- gh..." Phoebe tried to reply, but only managed to mutter a few inaudible sounds.

Steps. Walking towards her. Suddenly, a sharp pain tingled her shoulder. A needle. One last attempt at sitting up. No luck again. Pitch black.

Gone.

Ouch. Again.

It seemed the pain had partially gone away. Her spine seemed to be fine again, and she was able to move her arms. And her eyes. Her vision wasn't blurry anymore.

"Hmpf!" The Turian rumbled, managing to open her eyes fully this time.

Immediately, she got blinded by a vivid white light. Ouch. And again. What was it? Last thing she remembered, she had punched a hole through this guy's head and then, nothing. But she could clearly see the pilot's cabin in her mind, and it was pitch black. No light. Nothing. The ship was on the verge of crashing. If only this bastard hadn't shot her...

...But what about those gun wounds, by the way? Phoebe wiggled around, turning her head towards her shoulder. Once her vision became a little clearer, she could see... bandages. Lots of them, circling around her shoulder and armpit, and going down to her forearm. Well well. Either one of those dickheads was a medic and had decided to play the kindness card with her, either... she wasn't on the Blue Suns ship anymore. Which seemed, strangely, more probable now.

Her eyes kept scouting her surroundings. No, she was definitely not on the ship anymore. She was seemingly sitting on a chair in some sort of... hospital bay or something. There were other chairs like this one, all of them were empty though.

But her inspection of the room was abruptly cut short, again.

"Ah. Awake. Good."

That voice... Oh, snap, she remembered it now. It was that voice who made her shut up before she fell unconscious again. Shit. The Turian tensed up, clenching her fists, ready to get into a fight again. It wasn't a bunch of antibiotics and painkillers that were going to make her weak.

But as she turned her head to her left... She could see it wasn't a Blue Suns merc.

It wasn't a human either, nor a soldier, apparently.

It was a Salarian.

"Checking blood pressure." The Salarian commented, not even looking at her but at a floating screen. "Good." He said again, typing on the screen.

What in the seven layers of the spirits' world was that.

Who the hell was he even? A Salarian, really? This guy wasn't a merc - or at least she thought, seeing as his attire was pretty casual and didn't sport any popular merc company's logo or insignia. A doctor, probably, or a scientist, for all she knew. They didn't have those guys on Invictus. You got a boo-boo? You go to the local pseudo-assigned medic and you get it stitched for half the normal price. Of course, the more you pay, the better you get treated.

But, anyway. Better be safe than sorry. No more monologuing chit-chat for this big guy. Phoebe extended her fingers, ready to stand up and throw a mass-effect field at him ; but... something prevented her from even moving her wrists.

Handcuffs.

Fuck.

"You gotta be kiddin' me!" She bursted loudly, shaking herself around angrily, trying to break the handcuffs. But she couldn't. Those pieces of shit were tight around her wrists and chained directly to the chair.

The sudden exclamation finally made the Salarian guy turn around to face her. He was tall - really tall, but probably on the average for a guy of his species. He had clear, tan-orange skin and big eyes. Those things were black and shiny and looked like two black holes had been glued to his face.

She hadn't seen many Salarians in her life. She had heard many things about them, none of which she believed was true, though. This guy had a strangely comforting look in his big eyes, and, overall... didn't seem to want her any harm.

After a few seconds of awkwardly exchanging stares with him, Phoebe stopped shaking her arms and coughed, looking quite sulky, like a child caught trying to climb up on the counter to steal the cookie jar. The Salarian guy didn't seem any perturbed by her attitude, and walked towards her with quiet but rapid steps.

"Feeling better? Are the wounds itching? The wounds always itch. Bandages too tight? No, can't be. Blood pressure is fine. Pulse normal. Everything's good. Something else?" He spurted a flow of words, in the fastest and most incomprehensible way possible, grabbing a datapad on a nearby table.

Phoebe frowned, still unsure of what she was supposed to feel right now. She had no idea where she was and who this guy was. But he was a weirdo, that was for sure. "...Who are you?" She managed to reply, still frowning and looking completely taken aback.

"Mordin?" Another voice called from outside of the medical bay. Phoebe turned her head towards the glass windows, and saw a feminine figure coming by.

The door slided open, silent steps announcing the entry of a new weird ass stranger. This one wasn't Salarian. Long legs, sharp cheekbones and bulging biceps, shaved skull, dark skin ; it was a human, and oh boy. Wasn't that a surprise, a sight of wonder and rarity to Phoebe. It was merely impossible to cross one of those things on Invictus. Most of the population were Turians, though they also had Batarians and Vorcha. Salarians and Asari were more rare, and humans were mostly inexistent. This one was tall and arbored typically feminine qualities, such as ; breasts, curves, and large hips. To her standards, she was ugly, boring and weird, but it was probably because she wasn't attracted to... humans, Asari, and other aliens like that. Those sack of fat on their chest made them look like they had a nutsack tapped to their upper body. It was gross.

The newcomer approached so-called Mordin and his patient. "Ah, you're awake." She commented, resting a hand on her hips. "You've been sleeping for two days straight."

"Who are you?!" Phoebe asked again, this time to both 'Mordin' and the human female. "And where am I?"

"Commander Shepard, of... the Alliance Navy. This is professor Solus." The female replied, nodding her head towards Mordin. "And you are on the SSV Normandy. We found you on a Blue Suns ship the other day. You were one hell of a mess."

The Alliance navy... Oh, spirits. They weren't affiliated with the Blue Suns, that was for sure. Now she was feeling slightly better - but one thing remained. The damn handcuffs.

She tilted her head, looking at the shackles around her wrists, and making them tingle a little. "You think I work for the Blue Suns maybe?" That was the only logical explanation here. Beside, how did the Alliance even found this Blue Suns ship in the first place? And why did they decide to board it?

"No." Shepard replied, crossing her arms. "You don't work for them. Else you wouldn't have killed them all in cold-blood."

Oh, shit. How did they know that too?!

"...I was their prisoner. They started it!" Phoebe roared, moving her arms nervously.

"Gunshot wound. Internal bleeding. Concussions. Yet you killed them all. Impressive." The Salarian professor commented.

"Thanks, nerd-face. I didn't have much of a choice anyway. It was me or them. Now remove those fucking handcuffs. My wrists are itching me."

Shepard blinked a few times, switching her pose and resting on her other leg. She had a very serious and dour face, but gentle, green eyes. It was rather disconcerting. "And what tells me you aren't even more dangerous than the Blue Suns mercs? It isn't everyday that we meet someone who can kill a whole ship crew and only get shot twice in return." Her emerald pupils were staring right into Phoebe's tiny, glowing eyes. "Why were you captured by them?"

Now they were asking the real questions.

What what she supposed to reply? That she had a deal with those dickbags and didn't pay her deeds? That they captured her like a vulgar amateur when she was on a perfectly peaceful - for once - visit on Tuchanka? That was too much for her huge ego. But she couldn't lie either. She had been to the Purgatory way too often in her youth, and she didn't want those Alliance suckers to take her back there.

"Had business with them, didn't respect their stupid rules. 'Been months but they didn't forget. They outnumbered me and captured me. Those dumb bastards didn't have a single biotic in their whole crew. It was a damn pleasure taking them all down." The Turian explained in a rather reluctant tone ; her eyes shifted to stare at Mordin's tall figure, and she found herself surprisingly waiting for his reaction. This guy was a weirdo. But he was less of a weirdo than the Alliance sheep standing next to him. She wanted him to say something.

He did. Under the form of a half-suppressed smirk, hidden behind his three-digited hand.

"Mordin, stay here. I'm going to go get Zaeed ; see if he has anything useful to add to this."

They didn't trust her one bit. Good.

Now she was stuck in here with the nerd.

Another nice day ahead.