Phew! This one was a lot harder to write than I had imagined at first. But don't worry, I delivered – just hope it's good enough for you people. :) Contains some angsty stuff.

As usual, please review, it greatly helps me improve this story! Thank you!

Kirah woke up to an earpiercing noise of metal crashing together. Disoriented, she instinctively scrambled around in an attempt to get up and look around but was stopped by a severe pain spike quickly spreading throughout her entire body. It was strong enough to make her drop to the floor again with a startled yelp.

She had another one of those crushingly painful thumping headaches she hated so much. Her head felt like it would explode any second. She shuffled around a bit when she noticed a new source of hurt to add to the pot - her entire right side and arm. She felt a sharp burning sensation upon applying any pressure to these areas.

Hearing no other voices or footsteps, she decided it was safe to try and get up again. Somewhat successful, she slowly sat up and began cleaning the dust off her mask's crimson red visor, not that it helped much. The room was only dimly lit, piles of crates lying around seemingly at random. She needed a while to adjust. In the meantime, she attempted to access her suit's interface. All she got was corrupted data, which answered her previous question - a memory chip overload. Whoever did that must have been a skilled tech specialist. Even someone as good as Kenn would have trouble hacking through her defenses.

Wait... Kenn!

Kirah bolted up as if she'd been struck by lightning and looked in an attempt to identify the place but to no avail. The room was large with no windows. She began to panic. Her hands rapidly patted the outside of all of her suit's pockets, trying to find something that could help her. To her surprise, there was nothing at all. Even Zero was gone.

She'd been kidnapped. Just like that.

She should have felt terrified. Everyone would. But for some reason, she felt nothing at all. Only a strange sense of calm that almost seemed unnatural in some way.

And suddenly everything turned blue.

Whatever hope Kirah might have had of regaining her composure faded away like the flame of a spent candle when she realized she couldn't move an inch. She could possibly have held her own against a merc, had she been in a better state, but she never had to counter biotics. Keelah, she didn't even know how to.

She stayed suspended above the ground for a few seconds, her inner voice yelling at her to do something, anything. She was completely powerless to stop it. Then a powerful throw hit her with all its force, sending her flying towards the nearest wall.

Kirah's right shoulder hit the wall first. The pain of the burns reemerged in what felt like pure agony. She screamed and almost fainted again when she dropped to the floor.

The assault ended as abruptly as it had begun. Her headache was slowly becoming unbearable and she was still shaking from the immense pain surge.

She heard something. A voice maybe, but she couldn't understand the language. It kept getting closer and closer until the source was no more than a few metres away.

Oh, of course, my omnitool crashed, she mentally slapped herself and quickly tapped the translator switch. The language immediately became Khelish.

"...don't you move an inch, or I swear to God I'll warp your ass," a threatening female voice echoed throughout the room. It took Kirah a while to process.

Not an asari. So... it's a human?

"I won't... hurt you," Kirah breathed out as she attempted to get up, her head pulsing like crazy.

"Stay down!" the woman shouted harshly before she ran up to Kirah. "Who the hell are you?"

"Please, stop it," the quarian begged. "Can't you see-"

"I'm not moving until you prove you aren't hostile," she announced, completely ignoring Kirah's pleading. The strange feeling of absolute calm returned. Kirah made a mental note to look into it later. She pondered for a while. This strange encounter required a diplomatic solution. She faintly remembered reading an extranet article about human gestures.

She slowly raised her arms, her palms facing the furious human, and hoped it would work.

It did. The human stopped her assault and took a breath.

"Thank you for not killing me," Kirah mumbled, her voice thick with sarcasm.

"Look, I have no idea what you're saying," the woman said sharply. "I don't understand a single damn word. But you obviously understand me, so here's the deal. Stay out of my way and everything will be fine. Give me trouble and I'll make you regret it. Are we clear?"

Kirah nodded confusedly. What was wrong with that bosh'tet of a human? She had merely adjusted her hair and left without another word. Something didn't quite add up.

"Wait!"

Do I even want to talk to her?

"Wait up!"

Of course I do. I don't even know where I am. I don't know about Kenn. She's the only one who can help me.

"I need your help," Kirah huffed when she finally caught up. The human was physically strong to the point where she looked almost intimidating, and the biotic attack didn't seem to have tired her out at all.

"What do you want?" she snapped, making a rapid turn. Kirah flinched instinctively, her arms reaching up to cover her face. The expected hit never came. Great, now I look like an even bigger idiot. "I told you I can't understand your language, whatever it is."

Most quarians would have been offended, but not Kirah. She was thinking. If the human couldn't understand her, then she must have been hearing actual Khelish. And that could only mean her translator wasn't working. Got it!

Kirah brought up her own omnitool, tilting her arm so the controls faced the woman. She pointed at the large translator icon and nodded. Hopefully the woman was going to trust her. If not, things could get complicated.

After a while, she looked Kirah right in the eyes, almost as if she was studying the glow. "What? What does this do?"

Kirah carefully tapped the icon and nodded again.

She brought up her omnitool as well, clearly not very experienced. After finding the icon, she gave Kirah one last look, then pressed it.

"Did it work?" Kirah asked warily after turning her translator back on. Either she had just made an ally or a very dangerous enemy.

"Whatever it was that you just did, thanks. I'm Natasha Milyukova. Sorry for that, I'm reluctant to trust people. Let's have a talk." She gestured at Kirah to follow, then ventured into the dark.

Kirah stood in place as if she were frozen. The human didn't seem hostile anymore but it was risky trusting a complete stranger, especially one that had acted hostile a minute ago. She knew better than that.

"Where are you going?" she asked after a moment.

"Patience," Natasha grumbled. "Just follow me. You'll like it." The words sounded like a bad holo-ad. Against her most basic instincts, Kirah decided to see for herself, and began walking quietly. It wasn't like she had a choice in the matter. She had no idea where she was anyway, or how she got there. The thought was depressing, to say the least.

She spotted a faint light behind a barrier of tall crates. Natasha was obviously heading that way. The human's biotics flared as she lifted the smallest of the containers, revealing a tidy looking hiding spot.

"Go on in," Natasha said lazily. Kirah delved into her thoughts again.

"Come on," she repeated with a hint of frustration in her voice. Kirah decided not to push it and squeezed through the small opening.

The only noteworthy objects were two crates to sit on, between which lay a sturdy empty box serving as a makeshift table.

"Take a seat if you want to," Natasha murmured, carefully releasing her biotic hold on the container that now again looked like it had never been touched. Kirah pretty much dropped herself onto one of the crates, stretching her arms. Her headache was already much better, but not her burned shoulder.

Natasha casually wiped some dust off her shirt, as if everything was okay, and sat down on the opposite side of the "table," clearing her throat as she leaned towards Kirah.

"So," she began. "Natasha Milyukova. I usually avoid wasting time, so let's cut to the chase. What's your name?"

"Kirah'Zan nar Hastra," the quarian answered, wringing her hands nervously.

"Right." Natasha paused and checked some small metallic device strapped to her right wrist. "Kirah, try not to think about the outside world or anything that happened before you got here. You've been pumped full of some crazy shit that completely changes your way of thinking and your reactions to stressful situations. You mustn't let it screw with your memories. You can't lose hope, okay?"

Kirah stuttered. "Y-Yes. But how do you..."

"They did it to me too," she stated matter-of-factly, as if she were talking about the weather. "I've been trying to find out how they do it, and I know it's not permanent, so they have to sustain the effect through the poisoned water they give me. I don't drink that crap unless my life depends on it." She glared at a plastic bottle in the corner with a hint of anger in her eyes. "Haven't had any for almost a day now, but I'm afraid I won't last much longer. I'm no tech expert either. Hence the warm welcome I gave you." A chuckle escaped her lips. "Sorry about that, I was really mad and ready to kill some Suns."

"Blue Suns?" Kirah almost shouted, mouth agape. The calm feeling was gone. For a second, she wondered if that was the drug Natasha had been talking about. If so, she was only glad it disappeared. "This is their handiwork? I know they really hate me, but..." She shook her head. "What do I... what..." Different emotions surged inside her mind, impossible for her to put into words. The headache made it all worse.

"Stay with me, girl," Natasha said, placing a hand onto Kirah's healthy shoulder. "I'll help you. But first, I need you to help me with the water. Could you use your omnitool to try and figure something out? Please." Kirah simply nodded, tears forming in her silver eyes.

Keelah, what have I gotten myself into?

She walked up to the bottle, opened it and prepared her omnitool's chemical scanner. The device produced a long beep as her hand neared the opening. A holographic screen blinked into existence with the result data.

"I don't know what it is," Kirah confessed when she read it. "I'm so sorry. All I know is that the water's badly contaminated."

Natasha simply shrugged as if she didn't care at all. "Then I'll take the hit. I assume you have some emergency reserves in that pretty suit of yours. Now would be a good time to get ready to use them."

"I think I do," Kirah tapped away at her omnitool, projecting the data onto her visor. The human's unending courage baffled her. She'd never met anyone like that. "My suit has toxin filters. Maybe that's why it didn't really do much to me. And to think I almost wasted them all drinking..." For the first time in her life, she felt rather guilty about it.

"You're a quarian, right?" Natasha responded. "I thought quarians were unable to drink alcohol at all."

"T-Technically, we are." She continued wringing her hands together unconsciously, as she always did when nervous. This wasn't a subject she'd like to pursue. "The toxin filters make it somewhat safe. Within limits, of course. I'm by no means an alcoholic – at least I think so – but, er..."

Natasha let out a short hearty laugh. "I get it. Don't worry."

Kirah decided it was time to ask the question she'd wanted answered ever since the woman appeared.

"Why are you so kind to me?" It sounded much bolder than it did in her head. She suddenly regretted asking.

"What do you mean?" To Kirah's surprise, Natasha didn't budge.

"When you first saw me, you attacked me. And now you're suddenly so nice and... keelah, I don't even know anything about you." She abruptly cut the sentence off when she realized she had nothing more to say.

"I'm sorry about the unfortunate way we met," the human replied, hanging her head down and letting out a loud sigh. "Damn it, I really am. I'm terribly sorry, okay? It's just that... I have anger management problems. It's not usually serious but the Blue Suns did the exact same to me as they did to you. I hope you don't think I came here voluntarily." She paused. "I don't know where we are either, but I can promise you one thing – if you help me, we're getting out."

"How? I want to trust you, Natasha, but I don't know if it's a good idea."

"The enemy of your enemy is your friend."

The crazy bosh'tet of a woman couldn't have made it any more clear. Kirah took a deep breath. She was on the verge of crying again. Last time she had felt this bad was before meeting Kenn on Omega.

Kenn.

All her thoughts eventually led back to him. She was scared. What if Natasha was right? What if thinking back was really dangerous?

"What do you want from me?" she sobbed, barely listening.

"Kirah?" The woman stood up and walked toward her slowly. "Do you hear me? Kirah?"

The words were little more than gibberish to the quarian's ears. She was lost in a flood of emotions. She threw away her barriers and let it happen. Her hands twitched and tears trickled down her violet skin, hidden away behind the mask. She let her grief pour forth like a tidal wave, making no attempt to stop it. Her breathing became faster and more erratic. Her very soul hurt like never before.

This was the end, she knew it. She'd never see home again. Not the Citadel, not the Migrant Fleet, not Kenn nor her family. She was done for. Any doubt had escaped her mind, replaced by terror and despair.

"Kirah! Are you..."

Natasha crouched to face her, placing a hand around her shoulders and pulling her into an embrace. The quarian was just sitting there, hands covering her already masked face, shaking, crying. Whatever was happening, she couldn't stand the sight.

"Shh. Calm down. It'll be alright." She ran her hand along Kirah's spine, barely aware of what she was doing. "It's okay... I'm right here."