Nyreen!? The Turian in front of her smirked before throwing her own biotics at the Cerberus behind Shepard. Now wasn't the time to question the Turian, they were still surrounded by at least six Cerberus soldiers, not that they were a match for any of them. Sending a shockwave to her right, the troops were scattered; some remaining lifted temporarily by her biotics. She turned a head in their direction but sees Aria making quick work of them with her pistol. Nyreen was pulling the two men away from the fight, sitting them both against the far wall. Shepard charged forward into the back of a guardian who was making his way towards the Asari, as he staggered towards the floor she shot him squarely in the head. Aria spun surprised at the noise behind her, then smirked and aimed a shot to the left of Shepard's head. There was a grunt close behind the human, who twisted in time to see the final Cerberus trooper fall. Shepard cocked her head at the Queen of Omega and gave her a lopsided grin, "nice shot". Now that the fight was over she took a moment to run her eyes down Aria's body, her breath was hardly laboured; the fight hadn't been hard. Satisfied that the Asari's barriers had held up against the attacking guardian, Shepard moved to question Nyreen.

The human's eyes had burned a hot trail down her body with their intense gaze. She saw a hunger in them, but also a flash of what seemed like concern. She almost scoffed at the thought of someone being concerned for her safety, she had been doing this for many years, and her biotics were one of the most powerful around, she didn't need to be looked after. But still, the thought that the human cared was nearly touching. Touching?! The Asari then sneered at her thoughts, she sounded soft and that would not do. She watched the human walk away from her, her shoulders back as she strode forward with determination. There was strength radiating from her, and as she knew from their earlier close encounter, underneath the woman's hard armor were powerful muscles under soft skin. The human was behind Nyreen now, her arms crossed and her foot tapping in impatience. Nyreen. Now that had been unexpected

She began to stride purposefully over to the Turian, "My, my. Nyreen aren't you full of surprises." Stopping next to the red head, she crosses her arms subconsciously mirroring the woman's posture, waiting for Nyreen to explain herself. Nyreen turned away from the two turian men once she was satisfied with their health. "Aria the deception was necessary; I needed to figure out what your plans were. The people on Omega depend on us. I couldn't risk compromising our operation." Shepard raised an eyebrow, "that's not exactly standard procedure for a street gang." Nyreen looked almost offended at the title, shaking her head she answered "When Cerberus invaded the Talons were a mess. I brought-" She paused with a twitch of her lips, "new direction. The general has been hunting us ever since. Right now he's attacking one of our outposts and that's where I need to be." Turning away from the couple she made her way towards the door. Looking over her should her added, "Aria, Commander Shepard, whatever you're here for the answer's no. Kindly escort yourselves off Talon territory." She then continued towards the exit, readying her pistol. Shepard wasn't in the mood to be dismissed so easily by the woman who seemed to think that she could handle everything without their help. She sent a small tendril of biotics outward, twisting the turian around not so gently. "We're coming with you; you get our help now in return for hearing us out later." Nyreen looked from the human to the Asari and smirked knowingly, "She has your charm Aria."

Aria had been staring at the Commander after her display, she hadn't heard of a human having such control over their biotics, most could only throw small spurts of energy around with hardly any proficiency. She wasn't as skilled as an Asari; but with a bit more training she would be damn close. She looked up at Nyreen after hearing her statement, and saw the smug look upon her face as if she had discovered something interesting. Aria ignored it adding only, "but not my patience." Nyreen sighed and turned away from the two, they were stubborn; and may just be what the other needed in a partner; but she would have to let them realize this themselves. Still, it would be interesting to watch. With a short nod, she reached the door and said begrudgingly, "Fine I don't have time to argue and we can use the extra guns, let's go"

Stepping into the elevator the trio made their way up in silence, Nyreen still had the insufferable look upon her face as she looked between the red head and Aria. Aria noticed this and shot her a warning glare, but this only caused the Turian to grin wider. Shepard, oblivious to the two behind her made her way quickly through the opening doors. They were met with a few dead Talon mercs scattered along the street. "Rampart Mechs, on our left!" They ducked behind cover as the mechs came through the force fields, these things were tough. Nyreen threw out an incinerate hitting the group of mechs, causing them to catch fire, but still they kept on moving. Shepard charged towards the group and threw out of barriers in an explosion, leaving her vulnerable but destroying the mechs in one. She turned and grinned at the two "that was easy" Then the ground shook, an atlas mech dropped from above landing directly behind her, and her barriers were still depleted. Aria felt as though she has been drenched in ice water as she watched the Atlas prepare to fire at the vulnerable commander. "Nyreen, incinerate that things armor!" throwing herself out of cover, she surrounded herself with blue energy, sprinting to the human's side she made it just in time to throw up a barrier in front of the two of them, absorbing the shots fired by the atlas. Once there was a cease in fire as the Atlas prepared to shoot out a grenade, she pushed the barrier away with tremendous force that toppled the Atlas over. Panting slightly she glared at the stunned human beside her, then walked up to the atlas shooting open its glass casing and shooting the Cerberus soldier within. The Asari kept walking away from the other two, towards the following room. Nyreen caught up with the still shocked commander, and nudged her shoulder, moving her out of her trance. Nyreen knew that the Asari would not be happy with showing such concern for another, and would ignore the implications. The red head however was in awe. Shepard knew how powerful Aria was, but to see her risk herself over the humans foolish cockiness was something else. And the barely masked fury she had witnessed in the bright blue eyes; was that concern or merely anger at her over confidence? Nyreen gave the commander a small smile and the two moved to catch up with the Asari.

Aria was furious. But she couldn't tell if it was with the human or with herself. She had felt the dread wash over her as she watched the Atlas make its move to shoot the unprotected Commander, and had acted without thinking. She hasn't felt fear like that in centuries, and it wasn't something she thought she would feel again. The Queen of Omega prided herself in how she distanced herself from others, to need someone was to be weak, and she was most definitely not weak. However, that sudden display would not go unnoticed by Nyreen, and she could almost imagine the self-satisfied look that she would be met with when the two caught up with her. Shaking her head in an attempt to focus a mask of indifference upon her face, she opened the door to the elevator in front of her as she heard to pair closing in behind her.

The three once again stood in silence as they made their descent. Shepard looked guiltily ahead, while Nyreen gazed at Aria with concern. Aria simply stared ahead choosing not to address what had just occurred. Muffled Cerberus voiced came from their comms, they could just about make out the words "cut the power" when the elevator came to an abrupt halt, the lights cutting out leaving them in complete darkness. Shepard felt the Asari stumble to her right, and made to grab her around the waist. Aria gasped faintly as she fell and was encased in the strong arms of the Commander. She stayed for a moment longer than necessary, before moving back to her side of the lift. Shepard turned on the torch at the end of her shotgun, quickly shining it around the area making sure everyone was unharmed. Nyreen gave her another small smile as she rubbed her hip, letting her know she was fine. Satisfied, the red head looked around for a way out of the confined space they had found themselves in. Opening a latch to the side of the doors, she switched on the emergency access panel, opening the hatch above them and letting down a ladder. Climbing out of their temporary prison the trio found themselves climbing down several ladders and crawling through the tight tunnels that would hopefully lead them to an exit. "I hope no one is afraid of small spaces" Shepard joked as the squeezed through yet another tight gap. Nyreen gave Aria a confused look, and was met with a small shrug of her shoulders must be a human thing. After what could only have been 5 minutes they found themselves a few floors lower and at another door, sounds of gunfire evident from the other side. Getting their guns at the ready they took a breath before heading outward.

The door led them to a high catwalk where Talons were attempting to defend their tower from the Cerberus onslaught. "Hope you're not afraid of heights," Nyreen's voice sounded from behind the Commander. Shepard gulped as she looked over the edge of the narrow walkway and was met with a very long drop. Aria smirked and whispered something to the Turian next to her, Shepard merely heard "Oh" coming from the Turian, obviously Aria had taking it upon herself to inform Nyreen of the human's earlier incident involving a rather large ladder. Ignoring the two of them Shepard strode forward, careful to keep her gaze from wondering to the steep drop around her. The familiar dizziness threatened to overcome her but she pushed on, making her way to cover. Cerberus had seen them, and announced the arrival of 'Target Alpha'. Aria glowed and sent some of the troops flying over the edge, "Finally, some recognition." Nyreen smiled and interrupted the Asari's gloating, "Actually Aria, I'm Target Alpha." Shepard almost laughed at the look on the Queen of Omega's face, but remembered her earlier rage and decided against it.

Making use of the drop beneath them, they quickly made their way through the Cerberus troops, many being sent cruelly flying to their deaths below. Shepard shuddered at the thought of falling all that way, and moved further into the centre of the walkway. Nyreen jogged ahead and made to open the doors to her base, but the doors refused to budge. "Nyreen to base, I need an engineer at the doors." From behind them more Cerberus soldiers were landing, Aria got rid of them with a lazy sweep of her hand, sending them screaming over the edge of the catwalk. With Nyreen busy at the doors, Shepard approached the Asari with caution. "Aria…" The Asari in front of her froze visibly for a moment, before relaxing. "I just wanted to say thanks, you know, for earlier." Aria turned to speak, ready to reprimand the young, over confident human; but was interrupted. "I could have handled the Atlas myself, but it's always nice to see you using that power of yours, it's kind of a turn on." With another one of her lopsided grins, the Commander swept her eyes over the Asari before walking back to Nyreen without waiting for a reply. She knew she would pay for the remark later, but she also wanted to show her gratitude in some way, but knowing that the Asari would be uncomfortable with a reference to her saving her life, she thanked her in the only way she knew how, teasing the older woman. She hoped this would relieve the tension in Aria, and maybe they could go back to their banter without the Asari overthinking what it had meant when she had saved her earlier.

Aria hadn't moved since the human had walked away, that had not gone how she had thought it would have, but in a way she was relieved. Sarcasm she could handle. And the way the Commander had looked at her made her want to throw her against a wall and wipe that smug grin off of her face. She wasn't sure if she wanted to hit the human or kiss her. Either way, with the issue addressed without any awkwardness on the Commander's behalf, Aria felt a calm wash over her. Grateful in her own way that they wouldn't have to have a talk about what her actions had meant, she knew she would have lashed out in anger to cover her concern and she didn't want to hurt the human's feelings. Since when did she care about hurting anyone's feelings? Aria shook her head for what must have been the tenth time that day, and joined the other two at the door as it began to open. Rolling her eyes at the grin Shepard threw her way, unable to supress a small smile, she crossed through the doorway and into the Talon's base.