This Chapter is self-Beta, sorry if there're grammar errors.

Chapter 10: Family reunion

Far away from the Horizon main colony and its small villages of an upstart agricultural colony stood a large building complex in the middle of grassland, a single glass towers thirty stories tall pierced the sky overlooking rows of pristine white buildings and archway in-between which lead to its own private starport with white landing pads and guiding beacon a hundred meters away. Green of plant life dotted the rooftop of buildings providing visitors a pleasant sight as they enter one the most luxurious recreation facilities in the most backwater planet in the Terminus system.

Yet it also the most protected place on this planet; dozen, if not hundreds of GARDIAN turrets were hidden at almost every nooks and cranny not used for recreation comfort, Private Military Contractor – the CAT6 whose name infamous for being comprised only of former System Alliance soldiers – in charge of security throughout the facility. Security is protocol strict to prevent sabotage and infiltration, all of this made it not hard to see why this reputation was well-founded.

But now, all sign of that glory was gone, replaced with hellish picture straight from nightmare with craters littered the ground leading toward the tower. Many buildings are on fire, some has holes blew into, windows shattered and black sooth charred around where explosives hit, rubbles and debris on every inch of the place especially the once-defensive turrets that stood as stalwart. Vehicles wreckages – from simple air cars to trucks and shuttles littered this landscape of hell, some are still burning, some crashed into the building, and some exploded into bits of metal and burning skeletal frame scattered around. Parts and limbs of humanoid being which once belongs to either driver or passengers, not to mention corpses, blood and organs of civilian and armed men alike also scattered throughout.

And in the distance, sound and flashes of gunfire and explosion could be seen coming out of the grand tower; a sign of the still ongoing battle between occupants and the invaders.

Jondum lowered his binocular after observing the state of Sanctuary for full five minutes from the small agricultural garden a kilometer away from the main structure before making his way toward the truck they hijacked from the village earlier.

Looking at the vehicle, the SPECTRE could see the seemingly robotic butler Oberon at the driver seat, facial expression hidden under the mask (perhaps that's his actual face, but Jondum wasn't sure), at the side of the vehicle were mother and daughter pair – or what the two synthetics viewed each other as - standing still; the white one crossed arms over her chest with her eyes closed as if contemplating something while the petite brunette in red cover one side of her mechanical ear with hand – as if trying to listening to the sound that Salarian couldn't hear.

Jondum approached the pair, just in time to hear the smaller one's comment

"Anchor hope that Oriana is okay."

Seemingly innocent comment, yet when it came from the synthetic, especially one so life-like, made Jondum's mind wonder; just what kind of ignorant civilization could've conceived such advanced and sophisticated Artificial intelligence, and for what purpose?

After all, synthetics were created to serves the creator, sentience was unnecessary, developed only when the creators pushed the demand for the synthetic to do complex task a bit too far and the machine grew too smart – Quarian and Geth were the example of such occurrence.

Perhaps he was taking Eve's word a bit too literal; perhaps they're not synthetic at all but somehow make to think so?

As the SPECTRE's inwardly mused; the two 'synthetic' seem oblivious to his thought as they continue their conversation; this time Eve answers her daughter.

"We wouldn't know until we get to the bottom of this mystery Anchor. But I also hope that your friend is safe as well."

Anchor nodded before they noticed the arrival of the SPECTRE. Turning to the Salarian, the smallest one asks – rather timidly, yet also with a hint of worry "Is there anything new, Mister?"

Jondum decided to inform them "Judging from shuttles wreckages, it seems the assailant was Cerberus…" then he mutters to self "…this's alarming, terrorist organization has enough manpower to field such force…"

However, his word was lost upon looking at the smaller synthetic; her red eyes narrowed down, her face show both worry and anger - defying the wisdom of current galactic community, that synthetic doesn't feel emotion.

Before he could form a proper word, Eve spoke up "We ran into this 'Cerberus' a few days prior to coming here, inspector."

…Even this 'synthetic' seemingly emotionless voice was dripped with venom. Jondum decided to not ask them for details; as it already clear enough that there're no love lost with the organization. And beside; since this organization is a threat to galactic community at large, knowing that they share the same enemy made trusting them feels a bit easier on his mind.

But suddenly, Eve narrowed her eyes while glaring toward the Sanctuary in the distance, her face marred with frown as she seemingly looking at something Jondum couldn't see without binocular. And thus instead of wasting time looking around for the thing; he asks the synthetic "What do you see?"

"A few shuttles that bear no mark are descending on the far side of the facility..." Eve replied, still not taking eyes off of whatever she's looking at "…I think I see Batarian soldiers coming out of those shuttles, no mark, no emblem that I could see. And the Sanctuary's anti-air defenses are still operational; some of the shuttles getting shot down as we speak." She added.

Jondum feels that this operation is going downhill very quickly; it's not just Cerberus attacking Sanctuary, setting off whatever experiments they're doing down there resulting in the guinea pig that's the villagers in quarantined town driven to frenzy, now it seems some pirates has noticed the blood and join the fun…

"-Bzzt, what's going on out there? You mention pirate attack?-"

Sound of captured CAT6 rang out from Jondum's Omni-Tool reminding him of another 'asset' that he expected to get them inside Sanctuary. He ignored the voice and raised his binocular to scan the direction where Eve detected the pirate.

Several minutes passed as Jondum suppressed the urge to curse up storm while ordered the two synthetics "We have to move fast if we're to recover anything to save the colonists. The fighting between pirate, Cerberus and Sanctuary should give enough distraction for us."

'Perhaps they outing themselves as synthetic because I won't let them come along if I still assume they're civilian, or because to make me comfortable of ordering them around too?' Jondum mused as all of them rushed back into the truck and driving toward Sanctuary.

But no matter, having them around improved the odd for the SPECTRE greatly…

Soon enough, the truck came to a stop at the main entrance of the grand tower. Sound of gunfire still in the air, but faintly due to distance and obstructing landscape, which mean that the new arrival won't be in immediate danger yet. But Jondum won't put thing up to chance; they disembarked the vehicle and darted for the nearest chunk of debris - aircar wreckage - for cover in seconds, leaving almost no trails or signs that someone just came out of the truck…

"Hey release me! You can't seriously leave me here!"

…not to mention the distraction in form of a faint noise coming out of the truck once in a while, though too low for anyone but the sharpest ears to pick up.

Eve shot the truck a sympathy look as if she could pierce its metal hull and look directly at the man inside; but given she's a synthetic – or an extremely advanced alien that looked like human – Jondum could never be certain. Her child seems to look the same; worrying about a merc who signed up knowing the risk.

At least the two set their priority straight; they tore their sight away from the truck after a fraction of second and the group begins moving – with Eve volunteer to take the point ahead the rest for scouting.

The robot maid – Ophelia quickly protested, her eyes glared at the smaller form of Eve all the time "Milady, you shouldn't risk yourself like that, I or Oberon can do it."

Eve held out her hand, stopping the maid, and stated in a matter of fact which leave no room for argument "And you know as well that I'm best suit for forward scout, with Anchor second in such task. While you two aren't."

Ophelia relented and back down while bowing slightly "Understood milady, please take care."

Soft chuckle escaped Eve's lip as her form shimmered and vanished right in front of Jondum's eyes!

His well-trained eyes fell upon the floor immediately, hoping to track the invisible synthetic via footsteps and footprints, his ears tuned out other sound trying to find any indication of her presence. But to his dismay, it was like she literally disappeared from the face of the planet, even when he sprang up Omni-Tool and used the most advanced scanner on the surrounding – it still unable to detect her.

A few moments of waiting behind cover later, Omni-Tool communication went up as Eve informed them "-The entrance is clear, the fighting seem to be on the back side of the facility, no functional security camera or sensor as far as I can see.-"

It was only that brief moment that Jondum could detected the enigmatic synthetic via transmission coming from Eve's Omni-Tool, enough to confirm her location inside the main reception hall before vanished off his portable sensor again once the transmission ended.

Jondum didn't delved on it too much as he nodded at three other companions at his side and slowly working their way into the reception hall, pistol at the ready in his hands, the child-like synthetic seems slightly tense, while the two servants walking casually could be mistake them for inexperienced civilians – except that the maid's unnerving yellow eyes were telling a different story.

Not to mention that all three of them were so light on their feet that he almost couldn't hear their footstep at all despite they weren't made of flesh and blood, but given that the child – Anchor could glided through the air with no discernable equipment or Eezo discharge, it was already a clue that whatever material used to made her shouldn't be that heavy.

The SPECTRE stopped mulling over all the piling questions around these mysterious synthetics once he reached the reception hall, just a quick glance confirmed him that like the clearing outside – this place was also a battlefield; corpses, debris and wreckages as far as eyes can see with occasional explosion craters here and there, blood splattered on some surface adding to the ominousness of the scenery.

And on the far side opposite of the entrance was a gigantic blast door slid shut cutting them off from going inside; No wonder Eve told him that there's no security here, it seem that the Sanctuary's CAT6 has decided to abandon this place to concentrate their defense line inside the main tower.

That's what Jondum would do if he's the one in charge; concentrate their force, let two enemies fight each other and mop up the rest. After all, Cerberus were notorious for their hatred of non-human, and Batarian pirates were a constant torn in Humanity's side, he doubt they'd hesitate to kill each other as it is.

And if everything went well, they might not even need to fire a shot while making off with the cure, or some incriminating evidences before anyone know any wiser.

Of course, provided that he knows how to get inside the supposedly secret facility first - which to his dismay, it seem they have to fight their way inside should they couldn't locate any passageway other than through the main blast door.

But he's inspector for a reason, and thus Jondum decided to explore the wrecked reception, beginning with the still-functional computers to see if he could have it cough out some answers – even if it was far-fetched that anyone would keep incriminating information locked up in public place like this.

It became apparent soon enough that his method wasn't going to work; he shook his head as he closed final computer at the workstation. Jondum then turned to speak to his unlikely allies when he noticed that Anchor, Oberon and Ophelia didn't follow him and is nowhere to be seen.

'How could they escape my notice?' was what the Salarian thought, but when looking back at the counter he realized that three of them haven't moved from the spot near the reception desk at all, as if awaiting for their name to be called by the reception. And the fourth; well, she still haven't show up since she cloaked and do a forward scouting, and he still couldn't locate her.

Jondum walked closer to Oberon and Ophelia who stood guard around Anchor. The little girl knelt down with her armored hand touching the floor, eyes closed, seemingly oblivious to the world around her as blue holographic rings with intricate pattern unlike those generated by Omni-Tool spinning lazily around her.

The SPECTRE couldn't help but wonder what those holographic rings was for consider he saw the girl used Omni-Tool on her wrist before thus this couldn't be the same thing. But then his danger sense kicked in when he feel something creeping up from behind him while the Maid and the Butler were looking the other way so he know that he's unlikely to get help in time, Thus he spun around, pistol in his hand and prepare to face whoever behind…

Only for his pistol to be grabbed by Eve's dedicated hand which intercepted it before it could aim at her properly.

"Oh my, your sense is sharp…" Eve spoke up in her almost emotionless tone, while her eyebrows arched up a little to indicate that she was amused, but then her eyes narrowed down and explain what she finds "There's firefight between Cerberus and pirates on the other side of that blast door, soundproof." She added as an afterthought in case he wonders why he didn't hear anything.

Jondum pushed the thought that a synthetic could get a jump on him aside and analyzing the situation "So the CAT6 withdrawn and let these two terrorists fight each other."

"Indeed…" Eve agreed, but then she shook her head "…there also lots of unarmed guests there; mostly injured, dying or already dead, it seems they couldn't evacuate in time."

Anchor confirmed it solemnly from behind Jondum, make him turn back to look at her "Anchor sensed them too, mother…"

The petite synthetic stood up shakily, blue rings around her vanished. Her face expressed discomfort as she continues "it's… hard, knowing they're there, but we cannot help them."

Eve smiled mischievously "However, we have to go through that blast door anyway."

Jondum looked at her questioningly, and she noticed him too, but her words, while less cryptic, it still cryptic "You sensed it too right Anchor? There're humans in the lower level of this area - underground."

Anchor nodded almost immediately before clarify a bit more "There's thick layer of rocks between us and them, there's no access point in this area, but there's one hollowed shaft beyond the blast door where Anchor sense other people."

Eve nodded, before turning toward Jondum "Inspector, would it be alright for us to kill some terrorists and pirates on the other side?"

'How considerate of her…' Jondum mused inside his head as Eve staring blankly at him 'Perhaps synthetics are not that dangerous to organics as we once thought.'

Thinking it over, the SPECTRE answers the synthetic's question "I doubt pirates and Cerberus will give us the same courtesy from what we've seen. But spare them if you could, we need to adhere to the law regardless."

Eve nodded slowly, as if she approved of him somewhat - Jondum wasn't sure – before the two of them approached the blast door, and then, just like earlier, faint blue glow enveloped them and just one eye blink later, they're not there anymore.

Balak couldn't help but being giddy as his shots downed another Cerberus bastard in the head from across the garden hall before he duck down to let his gun cool off while shots pinged against the fountain that he used for cover.

Glancing to the side, he confirmed the whereabouts of his Batarian subordinates; they're moving from cover to cover to flank the Cerberus, some of his men got cut down by hails of gunfire, but the communication chatter made it obvious that his side have the advantage as the Cerberus gradually yielding their ground by the minute.

Normally he won't fight on the frontline like this, but this operation truly deserves his presence; to make sure it went off without a hitch, seeing those human scums suffer in the name of Hegemony by his own four eyes is a plus.

Understandable; as his group is now assaulting the most fortified place in this area of Terminus that reputed for beaten back every pirate attacks since its founding, and it showed by the current situation; even though weakened by Cerberus's attack, their chain of command still intact and organized a retreat, to have him and his pirate fight these Cerberus instead.

Of course, there still backwater human settlement a few clicks away which is much, much easier to raid and acquire slaves, but the impact toward System Alliance was minimal as they denied aids and responsibility in this region and will act as if this raid never happened, and Balak's true objective is anything but acquiring human slaves for the Hegemony.

And of course, Cerberus' men composed solely of human, so Balak didn't complain much; he still dishing out pain to their arch-nemesis species anyway.

'-This's 3rd squad, enemy suppressed, advancing to… what the?...zzzzz-'

Balak's returned to reality the moment report from his subordinates abruptly cut short before barking order into his own communication device "Squad 3, what's the situation?"

Nothing come up, only sound of gunfire and panicked yelling from Cerberus men in the distance out of his men's reach signifying that some third party joined the fray, though with so many debris and wreckages around the place, even when Balak poked his head out of cover to look, he could barely see anything other than flashes of gunfire and Biotic.

'So Sanctuary guard finally come to mop us all up…' Balak thought disdainfully at the dirty tactic the local employed, but who he was to judge when he'd be doing the same thing when putting in their shoes.

Still, it won't do if the rest his men get caught unprepared by this – even if they should noticed it by now, he's their boss for a reason and thus he instructs them through Omni-Tool communication "It seems our cowardly host finally returned! Everyone, prepare to welcome them and don't let your guard down!"

However, it was too late for him to warn them; panicked yelling and gunfire now resounded over his communication network as his subordinates trying and failing to fight off the newcomers – which the victims couldn't get a good look at before they were swiftly taken out.

All this made the Batarian General nervous; whoever fighting both his men and Cerberus out there was good – way too good and way too dangerous… as he still unable to get a good idea of what they're up against yet despite almost everyone in his group were hand-picked by the General Balak himself thus he know that they're far away from incompetent goons as much as possible.

So, why are they dropping like flies at the moment? The pace also suggested this enemy has quite a bit of manpower considering the distance between each squad that's under attack - that or said enemy can move almost 50 meters in less than a second while ignoring every walls, wreckages, water pool and all sort of obstacles between him and Balak's team, because the last time he checked; Biotic Charge do not let users ignore solid object standing in their way!

Nevertheless, both Cerberus' and Balak's army continuously dwindling against this mysterious 'secret weapon' that the Sanctuary supposedly unleashed and it made the Batarian General more nervous by the minute; and once his hundred-strong army reduced to half that number, he began to convinced that it was indeed some sort of mad experiment bred from whatever they're doing in this place – as if those crazed human civilians he and his team has to killed along the way to this hall weren't enough to convince him that this place was more than meet the eye already.

Setting the matter of potential slaves already subjected to mad experiment that turned them into frenzied berserker that tried to kill his men aside, Balak focused on the situation at hand and decided on the best course of action "Fall back and regroup at point zero and fortify my position! Be careful for ambush!"

"Sir, yes sir!" echoed out of Balak's communicator confirmed the execution of his order, and soon enough – one of his squad approached his position, their eyes keep a lookout of enemy none of their comrades have seen with rear guard lagging behind.

When Balak thought about it; now everything became stranger; sound of fighting in immediate area ceased, replaced by a siren blaring from the main tower in the distance and occasional spark from electrical wires severed by collateral damage nearby. It's way too quiet…

Four eyes widen in alarm as he said "They're following you back here! Get ready men!"

Yet his realization came just a little too late…

Suddenly, the rearguards of the approaching squad suddenly flew into a wall and hit it so hard it formed a small crater, alerting everyone to the assailants' presence. The rest of the squad brought their guns to bear and fired on said assailant – now identified as two blurs, one red and one white which began approaching them after it dispatched their rear guard.

Despite their marksmanship; bullets keep plinking off the ground kicking up dust behind the attackers, and in seconds, it was upon them… and that squad started getting fling around like a ragdoll when they tried their hardest to fight them off…

The only thing good that came out of it was that Balak and elite troops around him was that they finally catch a glimpse of this mysterious enemy and it both baffled and anger him that all his squad out there fallen to just two unarmed human girls!

The white one gracefully and nimbly weaved around, dodging almost every bullets thrown her way – something that shouldn't be possible consider that said bullets were travelling at a tiny fraction of light speed – too fast to see, then she closed in and take out his men with a single palm strike to the chest – which for some reason also lethal enough to dropped them like a puppet with their strings cut despite everyone was wearing powered armor!

The red one, on the other hand, was very small, and like any annoying brat, her movement was a lot less graceful and less skilled at dodging bullets, but she still equally deadly as any shots that managed to land seems to harmlessly passed through her body, and just like the woman in white, her palm strike to the chest will drop anyone got hit by it without fail – even though her size means she has to jump to deliver it.

Of course, Balak's not in a cinema watching action movie; this's a raid! Thus he barked to his elite troops "What are you waiting for? Shoot those bitches down!"

Balak's men glanced at each other nervously – which is strange consider their upbringing, before one of them bring out the issue "Commander, we'll hit our comrades if we do that."

Balak's four eyes twitched, before he leveled his gun on that troop threateningly "Their sacrifice will be for the Hegemony's future, so do yours duty soldier! Before all of us get cut down!"

It took them another moment glancing at other Batarian squad – now with only three members left standing – that they finally realized the gravity of situation, and so Balak's fifteen elite troops leveled their rifles at their own squad mate – that they predicted was the next target of the woman in white, and unleashed on him!

Caught by surprise and from behind, that Batarian never stood a chance as hails of leads destroyed his kinetic barrier in seconds and turned him into beehive, but the woman who's about to hit him also caught in it as well! Her form instantly filled with countless holes from head to toe as she tried to whirl around to confront Balak's team.

The woman's form vanished – not in form of blood and gore – leaving only blue glowing silhouette behind. And before Balak – who thought that the woman was dead, could order them to turn to the red one, sound of something smashing against flesh came from the side, and Balak barely avoided being hit by one of his troop flying into nearby concrete slab thanks to his reflex and instinct.

Balak's elite men froze for a second as their mind registered the threat they thought eliminated amidst their rank, but at the same time, the little brunette in red already finished the last of approaching Batarian squad and turned to them.

Before any of them could back away or do anything, the white woman – who somehow survived the bullet barrage and appeared in the middle of their gathering area – resumed the onslaught, while the girl in red took that as a sign to join the fray in form of red blur shot toward the Batarian pirates.

In seconds, all around Balak was his men getting flung left and right haplessly while he himself struggle to dodge and shoot the two assailants, but no matter how many shots he fired, he couldn't really hit them, as if they were just ghosts or specters that couldn't be harmed by solid object.

Of course, Balak tried to shoot them when they attacked his men – rationalizing that since those bitches could hit them means they have taken solid state at that time – but the timing window was so brief that by the time he squeezed the trigger, they'd be either already went after the next target, or turn intangible again.

'What kind of monster are they?' Balak thought while spraying bullets from his rifle at the white blur that shot past him, seemingly oblivious to his attempt at her life while she dropped another of his men with a palm thrust to the chest and whisked away before he could get a bead on for tenth times since the fighting started.

But at that moment, Balak have to took a step to the side, barely avoided a palm strike delivered by the petite brunette in red. And as the girl overshoot him, Balak shot his hand forward, intended to grabbed her wrist and take her hostage…

Only for the girl to suddenly drop to the ground avoiding his grab, and it was Balak's turn that was overstretched with unbalanced footing, while the brunette kicked him in the stomach from below.

Balak doubled over from the force behind that little girl's kick as he was sent flying back and landed back-first on the ground. Losing rifle from his grip, the Commander of Batarian pirate tried to get up and look for his guns, but the only thing his four eyes find was a fast approaching silver armored greave filling up his vision!

But Balak hasn't done in yet, he rolled to the side, the armored greave clipped the side of his head, both hands shot forward and grabbed the girl by her foot before he pulled it. The brunette yelped in surprise as she lose balance and fell flat on the ground next to him.

Balak wasted no time, he quickly moved in to pin the girl down, figuring that should he hold one of them hostage it'd stop another's rampage and finally get the mission back on track.

Balak grabbed the girl by her throat, lifting her up while shouting to the woman in white – who just dispatched one of his last standing two minions a few dozen feet away "Stop right where you are, or this brat gonna get her neck crushed!"

Of course, his boast was no hyperbole; he was wearing powered armor that has strength augmentation, while the little girl in his grasp was wearing a pretty red dress - so did that woman in white, means he could easily do as he boast in no time at all.

Still, Balak couldn't help but irritated at these two; his elite troops got beat up by two unarmed little girls, and it's beyond humiliating.

As the last standing subordinate of his struggled back to stand beside him; that white woman stood where she dropped her last victim, her hands hidden inside those large sleeves while tilting her head slightly, watching them with bemused expression on her face.

Balak wanted to remind her who has the upper hand, but his sense tell him that this woman, or the child in his grip, didn't fear him at all despite the situation, and speaking of which, the child haven't struggle to get free at all since he get a hold of her.

As if she read his thought, the woman spoke up for the first time since their fight started.

"That's not a good idea you know; shooting your own people like that…"

Balak's four eyes blinked, he expected her to demand release of the supposedly child of hers, not this rabbles of how he treated his subordinates, after all, Hegemony Caste system dictated that he could do whatever he wanted! And as if this stupid two-eyed human could understand.

"And what about it?" Balak sneered at the white-haired woman, his grip tightens around the girl's slim neck, and he pulled a pistol to point at her head for good measure "They're my underling; I can do whatever I wanted with them! And so do you, unless you want this kid to get hurt."

The woman in white however didn't paid any attention to him, instead she spoke to the little girl in his grip "Anchor, take this as a lesson to never underestimate your opponents again okay?"

The girl in Balak's hand moved for the first time- albeit just a slight nod to acknowledge her 'mother', and somehow that made Balak's blood boils.

'Did they have no common sense at all? How can they be so ignorant to the situation?'

However, another part of his mind told him that there must be something wrong here.

The woman in white glanced upward, but before Balak could inquire what she was staring at, suddenly, he felt the hostage moved, and before his reflex could crush her, he found himself hurled through the air slamming down on concrete floor. The last thing his four eyes registered was a rapidly approaching fist and then everything went dark.

Anchor stood up, her eyes lingered briefly at the still form of Batarian pirate leader, before she jogged toward her mother, and together they went back to the blast door that still blocking access for their other companions to open it.

As Anchor using her Omni-Tool to access the door control, Eve – who has been silent for quite a while - spoke up "Anchor, don't take that slip up earlier too seriously all right? Gap in experience still a factor that no one can close in just few months."

The petite brunette's fingers continue tapping away at holographic tool on her wrist while she looked up to her mother "Anchor didn't… but…" she paused, looking at the calm - assuring smile from Eve before decided to continue "Anchor feel that Anchor has a lot to learn. And that Anchor was abusing Nasod abilities to get by too much."

Eve nodded at that self-assessment; after all, if one were to pay attention, they'll notice too that Anchor took a lot more direct hits than Eve during the fight – not that those hits were capable of harming her anyway – but it still a sign that Anchor relied too much on intangibility – the High Class Nasod's ability, to win this fight.

Though it has been said that 'All is fair in love and war', concealing one's true ability and deception still important, as enemy will never know how to properly counter them. For Eve who dodged almost everything thrown her way, it'll be really hard to see all the stray shots that went through her when she couldn't dodge in time. While Anchor - on the other hand - will have a hard time convincing anyone who saw her fight that she didn't phased through hails of bullets to get close.

Still, revealing it to Jondum earlier today could be seen as careless; but given the situation and alternative of wasting time, there's not much Eve could do, and while Eve doubt that he'll sell them out as long as they pose no threat to community he serves, she also knew that there's absolutely nothing to force them to testify the SPECTRE's report; she had no ties to humanity or any galactic civilization of this dimension, and while Anchor may hold some loves toward her birth mother's species, she's not stupid enough to not know of repercussion that will befell humanity if she chose her words wrongly – her tutelage under Eve since gaining physical body make sure of that.

But to be optimistic; using palm strike to deliver resonance shockwave to inner organs and knock person unconscious without visible harm on their skin will left experts of this galaxy scratching their head for years to come – perhaps never figure out how she could do it at all given how complacent in technological advancement they've becomes.

Small 'Click' entered Eve's sound receptor, breaking her out of her thought to stare at massive blast door that begins to creak, and slide away slowly, opening the path for Oberon, Ophelia and Jondum to came through.

While her retainers went straight to check Eve for injuries, the Salarian SPECTRE took time to survey the scene and collecting visible weapons dropped by all parties before turn to question the Empress "How many casualties?"

Eve glanced toward the wrecked hall and replies neutrally "Sixty men incapacitated, half from Cerberus, half pirate, four of them fatal." She paused before bobbing her head at the carnage that was once pristine hall "And we're too late to help any bystanders here."

Anchor who was standing beside her nods solemnly in agreement. Then her and Eve kneel down to the floor, blue holographic rings sprung out around them as they closed their eyes and sharpen other senses to pinpoint the exact location of hidden entrance.

Less than ten seconds; the mother and daughter stood up again and wordlessly lead everyone toward a rather large room dug deep into the wall few dozen meters to the side, which judging from the empty weapon racks, control panels with broken monitors and several dead CAT6 mercenaries among wreckages, should be a guard room or armory.

Salarian SPECTRE wasted no time going toward the security panel. Using his expertise; he quickly wormed his way into the data files stored in this local computer – or what's left of it, and from it, he watched the event leading to this catastrophe unfolded on the last working monitor.

Meanwhile, Eve asked Oberon to begin removing debris piling at the back side of the room while Ophelia and Anchor are guarding at the broken door – or more accurately, peeking out once in a while to check that there're no hostiles closing in on them.

As Jondum finished upload recording – a rather unpleasant recording of berserk, unarmed civilians fighting Cerberus in the hall and other important records - into his Omni-Tool, he turned to ask Eve "By the way, should we leave those pirates and Cerberus unconscious out there? They may pursue us when they regain consciousness."

"They'll be distraction…" Eve replied while kneeling down next to the section of the floor previously covered by debris "…their ships still in orbit have they not? I think that should they send reinforcement, they'll have to mop up here first. Assuming they didn't know about this secret passage, it'll take a while…"

With that said, Eve push her hand forward and turning it upward, then - as if an invisible hand pulling it – the floor bent upward, noise of metal shearing echo loudly in futile protest, before it was pulled out of its frame revealing the elevator shaft concealed below it.

While surprised at the sudden revelation of strange ability which resemble Biotic from the 'synthetic' woman, Jondum composed himself and answer her question "From the communication record, their ships has already withdraw one hour ago after they damaged each other during the fight in orbit."

"Then the CAT6 will have to clean up, still a good distraction for us." Eve response almost immediately while surveying the elevator shaft which seems to went down so deep that they couldn't see the end of it. "But that doesn't mean we won't encounter any of them down there."

Though the suggestion seem amoral, Jondum couldn't help but agreed with her – they've no time or manpower to deal with the pirates and Cerberus, and it was his request that they spared these people in the first place thus partly his fault, and her opinion still sound and practical given the range of their objective here, thus he'll obliged.

"Shall we inquire Mr. Robert about their deployment tactic?" Anchor suggested.

But Eve shook her head "Let's not make him more uncomfortable than already is, Anchor. He made his loyalty to his organization clear, thus anything we get out of him regarding this matter still have to be taken with a grain of salt anyway."

"In other word, information we get from him still useless…" Ophelia added, while Oberon and Jondum silently agreed with them.

"-I hear that you know!-" Voice of the captive CAT6 sounded over the Omni-Tool's communicator "-But yeah, thanks for being considerate anyway… even though I don't know what you're talking about at all.-"

Jondum find himself at a loss of word, and others were not helping at all, thus he moved to look at the elevator shaft before glancing at Eve questioningly. And yet again that she made him suspect that she could read his thought, or predict future… or whatever along that line.

"Elevator is not working. We'll glide down there, hold tight Inspector…"

Five minutes of 'controlled free fall' later (with Oberon and Ophelia sealed the opening back with debris to make sure no one follow them), the group finally reached the bottom of the elevator shaft with its door closed, but a few seconds of hacking from Jondum, and it slid open.

The first thing that comes into their view was a dull grey corridor leading further inside. Human corpses wearing Cerberus uniform scattered around with small pool of blood littered the place. Broken security cameras and sentry guns send shower of sparks once in a while from their severed mounting in the corner – the latter which Jondum was thankful to the Cerberus for clearing it out at the cost of their lives.

But the sight of Cerberus in this supposedly secret passage also alarming; it means they know something in here and come specifically for it.

Without the need of word, Eve turned transparent before completely disappeared once more, while the rest slowly advance forward whenever Eve told them that everything ahead was clear.

And once more the SPECTRE couldn't be gladder to have these people on his side as this corridor was filled to the brim with deathtraps! It range from the typical one like pop-up sentry guns around the corner, motion sensor and murder holes, to the silly-yet-equally-lethal one like fake floor that drop people into a tank full of sharks! And he's quite sure that Venus Fly Trap the size of air car or flower that spit poisoned pollen must broke a few laws in genetic engineering as well! [1]

Of course, all of them were either disabled or exposed by Eve if all those metal grinding noise that prelude her go-ahead signal were any indication, though regrettably, Jondum couldn't see how she did it or have any idea how she detected them at all.

However, all that thoughts were put on a backburner the moment he rounded another corner to find a large room with bullet-proof windows overlooking a dark hallway below, and next to the windows also has several monitors and control panels - most of which still active - present.

'Chance to find out what's happening here!' the SPECTRE quickly get to work on the control panel, and to his surprise; it wasn't that well-defended as he first thought. But when factored in the deathtraps corridor previously, perhaps the owner never expected any unwelcomed guest to get past that place at all.

Once he cracked the security, the Salarian SPECTRE begins reviewing the security records.

First thing he found was that his group's current location; they're close to the main tower, separated by just another hidden elevator at the other side of the hall this room's overlooking. Second was the record made mere hour ago - which made him feel chill down his spine as it showed that the same outbreak they've encountered at that small village also happened in this secret lab as well, and that also explained the lack of personnel in this level as most of them either retreated, infected, or dead.

Unfortunately that this's just security checkpoint, thus there're no useful information regarding the reason of outbreak in this computer at all.

Before he could formulate next course of action, a loud growl came from the door opposite of where they came in…

Oberon rushed to cover his charge, arms raised just in time to block a slash from a human that suddenly leapt out of the shadow, the man failed to do anything to the butler – perhaps because he's using just his bare-hand and nails to claw him instead of other sharp object, before Oberon simply batted the man into the wall, sound of something broken can be heard and the attacker collapsed.

"Sorry milady, it was reflex…" the masked butler apologized while Ophelia moved up to the unconscious man together with Anchor.

As the maid rolled the man face-up, they were surprised that he wasn't a Cerberus, or affiliated to Sanctuary at all judging from his normal, civilian clothing.

"A test subject…" muttered Ophelia, despite her voice kept low, there was a tint of hatred and disgust – not at the unfortunate man - as she carefully stowed the man to the side once checked him up while Oberon and Anchor took forward position at the side of the door leading inside in case something unpleasant show up again.

Eve then spoke up "I'll scout ahead, we cannot waste time here." And then she vanished.

Without further ado, the group moved forward with Jondum and Ophelia acting as rear guard while Anchor and Oberon moved forward and silently incapacitates any infected test subjects roaming the recently abandoned facility. Which yet again, the SPECTRE was being thankful of, as using his gun will attract the mob to swarm them and he's not expert in close combat either.

They leap frogged from one room to another, using any containers, boxes, or any object scattered as cover, when they found computer terminal, Jondum will try accessing it to find any potential evidences to incriminate Sanctuary, but alas, after they're halfway across the vast hallway, searching every rooms they came across, all was in vain as most terminals were damaged or destroyed…

…Until the final room which contained not only computer terminal, but also several metallic cylinders – the same one that installed on the truck outside, and glass capsules containing strange green gelatinous substance in it, with ventilation on top connected to the machines as well.

By now, everyone in this little group mostly know their duty to heart; Oberon, Ophelia and Anchor swiftly swept the area clean of hostilities with Eve be their forward observer marking target for them and the Salarian SPECTRE get the data in computer or any storage device in the area.

After double-check that the room's speakers volume set to lowest possible that still allow everyone to hear what it say; Jondum replay the file. Monitor near the capsule control panel flared to life in the dimly lit room showing image of people in lab coats – scientists, fidgeting around instruments, and though the camera's angle blocking view on the content of said capsule, the recorded voice of someone made clear what this place was doing… initially at least…

"First batch of Spore-like organism collected from Zhau's Hope colony on Feros arrived today, preliminary examination showed that it's in perfect condition, we'll soon begin testing its effect on animals..."

Before he play the next recording, Jondum glanced to the side, finding that the little girl Anchor has sneaked up on him and listening in, leaving Oberon and Ophelia guarding the entrance. Yet when he glanced over them to have them take the girl back, the maid nodded slightly in acknowledgement and resume their sentry.

A poke on his wrist brought the Salarian SPECTRE to confront with the little brunette who has a determined look on her face as she gets to the point "Anchor want to know. Perhaps it'll contain information how to cure everyone back there."

"So am I…" Eve's voice then entered his earshot, making the SPECTRE nearly jumped – again – at her sudden presence, the Empress stands behind Anchor, with her hands behind her back while watching the screen "…and before you ask, there're no hostiles in the area – those that still conscious at the least. Power outrage disabled all surveillance devices long before we arrived, so we're safe for now." Then she adds "…all this computer are running on auxiliary power. I guess they prioritize preserving research data more than security."

Jondum didn't find that odd, after all; illegal experiment mostly didn't care about safety, so cutting corner in security in the lab is quite a given. [2]

He then played the next recording…

"First test result; the spore didn't get purge by antibody of the subject. It seems to form parasitic relationship by interacting with host's nervous system – either inside respiratory system or digestive system. But judging from the result coming in from Feros colony, it seems that without species 37 to control it, the spore will remain dormant."

Jondum blinking his eyes rapidly while repeat what he just heard "Species 37?" and then he quickly issue search command on the computer. And as a result, the picture of said species along with notes from the colony manager – Exogeni Corporation – showed up on screen.

Eve's eyes narrowed at the description of this 'Species 37' and how it operate, she leaned toward the screen and study the picture of bloated mass of plant-like tendrils hanging in some sort of underground cavern with great interest.

It reminded her of something she encountered in the past, back on Elrios, and it wasn't a pleasant experience at all…

"Alterasia…" Eve muttered softly as the image shifted again to a sickly green skinned corpse-like humanoid creature with description as a spawn of said 'Species 37' with apparent purpose of defending its master. [3]

Salarian SPECTRE glanced at the white haired woman, puzzled at what she let slip, yet he set that aside in favor of playing the rest of the record first.

The more the record played forward, the more Jondum wanted to simply shoot the man behind all this experiment the moment they meet, as the 'research' they did was anything but humane.

"We theorized that the creature 'Species 37' code name 'Thorian' use some kind of signal to communicate with sentient being infected by its spore. The signal only transmitted across the entire Feros and up to approximately 10 kilometer from the surface. If we could replicate this signal, we can take control of any people infected with the spore."

If this record didn't count as incriminating evidence, then the next one certainly would…

"Experiment with human subject showed promising result, this signal type could stimulate action from the spore, yet it couldn't compel host to do anything but creating intense cranial pain and weakening host's immune system over time, and sometime result in host's allergic reaction..."

Sure enough, the video playing on-screen was of a man clutching his head while thrashing about the medical bed with two human in lab coats holding him down until one of them tapping his Omni-Tool to shut down something in the background that the 'guinea pig' dropped down on bed, unmoving, before other workers come to carried him away. And then the voice recording resumes explanation.

"As you can see, we have yet to figure out how to duplicate the signal that the 'Thorian' uses to control its slaves, but the potential is promising."

It was the next video that finally shown the face of the speaker, the face that made Anchor grasped in surprise while pointing at the screen "That's Mr. Lawson!"

Jondum paused the recording before asking in hush tone "Lawson? Successful Human Businessman, owner of multiple companies?"

Anchor nodded in confirmation, while the blank stare from Eve was all that he needed to know their answer.

Filing that up, the SPECTRE continues the final recording, which Mr. Lawson himself narrating what transpired about months earlier.

"Breakthrough! We finally found a way to control host via signal to some extent! But the side effect is that they couldn't distinguish allies from enemies and will attack anyone without the spore inside them. It'll require bigger samples to find the proper signal transmitter. Removing the spore is tricky; four of our personnel accidentally exposed to the spore died due to an attempt to remove them. On the other note, we also discovered a drug derived from Red Sand that could suppress the spore temporarily, but addiction effect of Red Sand and the short duration of effect still a problem. All in all, we'll begin spreading the spore on nearby colony to begin the next phase of experiment soon."

As on cue; Jondum quickly bring out the file containing said 'suppressant' formula. But that doesn't matter; what worried him was the lack of 'true cure' and the chance that this research falling into wrong hands such as Cerberus who may try using it to mind control not just System Alliance government, but also other galactic community as well.

Not to mention what other unsavory organizations will do should they get their hand on it. At worst, he might already too late, Cerberus and Batarian pirates descending down on here already a bad sign that there might be a leak…

"Inspector…"

Eve's voice snapped him out of his thought, the Salarian looked at her and surprised to see her completely calm and composed despite all the truth revealed just now.

Seeing his worried look, Eve gives him a small – assuring smile "I think I can work out a more permanent cure given appropriate equipment and materials…" she stated neutrally with slight undertone of confidence "…the more pressing concern is to make sure the one responsible didn't get away with this."

Jondum still not convinced, he crossed his arms and asks "How can you be so confident that this cure of yours will work?"

Eve contemplated her answer for a moment and decided to share the SPECTRE partial truth "Similar creature existed back at my homeworld… and we were able to find a cure to people enslaved by it."

Anchor looked at her mother questioningly, which Eve responded by glancing at her, and that's enough for Anchor to understand and looked at the SPECTRE instead.

For Jondum who's oblivious to the hidden message between the two, he grumpily decided "We've to arrest Henry Lawson first; the evidences here are too damning to let him slip away…"

Eve and Anchor looked at each other, before the Empress reminds the SPECTRE "We should disable signal transmitter first, so people in this lab won't wake up berserk again…"

Ah, there's that too…

Henry Lawson tapping his foot impatiently while scowling at the image of one masked mercenary on screen in front of him as the merc reported situation on the outside. All the joy of finally found what was his that was lost long ago vaporized by the sudden turn of event on his property and the lack of efficiency of his employees to stop it.

"So you're saying that my personal shuttle was damaged despite hidden deep underground away from all the fighting!?" The billionaire snarled at the CAT6 on screen, all cultivated gentlemanly mask completely shattered as his face contorted with anger at the mercenary leader.

"I'm sorry sir…" despite the mask obscured his facial expression, the way he shifted uncomfortably was more than make up for it. "-…from what our engineer told us, part of the hangar doors collapsed on top of the ship due to outside explosion - and by stroke of luck – falling debris damaged the fuel tank we removed for maintenance.-"

Mr. Lawson cut sharply "I don't have time for your excuse! Make sure that no one touch that transport and get it running ASAP!"

The mercenary leader saluted him, but Mr. Lawson hasn't done yet "And cleans up those dogs Cerberus and four-eye pirates loitering around my property as well! Without reinforcement and their ships in orbit that should be an easy task for your force…"

With that said, the billionaire shut down the communicator. The room darkens considerably since there're not many lights in it. He calmed himself before turning to the other side of the room and speaks in placating manner "Sorry for such display my dear. But sometime smooth talk just won't cut it for a brute like that you see…"

The woman who was tied to a chair on the other side didn't reply as she struggled to break free. The sight of futile act made the man sighed "Really? You should know that this's the safest place to be on this planet, dear Oriana, and we'll be completely safe once we get off this backwater place... oh and removing that spore from your lungs too!"

Orinana paused her struggle and glare poison across the room at the billionaire, if only the look could kill, Mr. Lawson would be dead by now. Contrast to her normally easygoing nature, the teen was furious as she pieced the puzzle together "So you're the one behind that outbreak in Horizon!"

Henry Lawson raised an eyebrow and insisted "A controlled experiment, my dear. I'm a model citizen of humanity. I'll never resort to wanton destruction and suffering without the betterment of mankind in mind."

"Hard to see how turning people crazy can make mankind better…" Oriana sarcastically remarked.

Mr. Lawson's eyes twitched slightly as he walked to his personal beverage bar and pour himself a drink. One sip from glass of wine in his hand later, he turned to address the captive with a much calmer manner "I should've knows… raised in that sort of 'substandard' environment would done that to you… perfect descendant or not…"

Oriana at first was angry at the audacity of the man to belittle her family, but replaced with confusion after the last part "What do you mean?"

The billionaire downed his drink in one go, slammed the glass down on the table loud enough to make Oriana jump. The man breathed in hard trying to calm his nerves, before he turned to address her with slight edge "I guess there's no helping it but tell you the truth; that is, your so-called family isn't your true parents…"

"Old news, I already know that…" Oriana quipped before adding "So, are you going to sprout cheesy line like 'I am your father' or something?"

"Oh, so you're smarter than I thought, as expected…" Mr. Lawson compliment, though it was lost on Oriana who was too angry at him to care. "Yes, I'm your biological father; your sister spirited you away from me when you were just a baby, I've been searching for you for many years…"

Oriana looked at the man with disbelief in her eyes, and seems the man saw it too as he lamented "I hope that we'd meet under better circumstances, but alas, it's irreverent, fate finally brought us together once again, and now my future is secured."

The man came closer as he reached for Oriana's chin, but she shake her head away from his hand and snarled "I'll never count someone who callously disregard people's life as father! You're nothing but a mad man, Mr. Henry Lawson!" she emphasized his name, to symbolize that she see him as stranger, not family.

"Such spirit…" Mr. Lawson frowned and retracted his hand before replies softly yet slightly disappointed "…but spirit alone won't change future, my actions may seems mad, but alas, common folk always regard pioneers as mad, we have to move forward in search for eternal achievement that when the future generations look back, they'll thank and worship me for that. And you, my dear, will soon come to support me on this endeavor when we have time to discuss…"

"Pioneers are always called insane, but being insane doesn't always make you a pioneer Mr. Lawson!" the brunette retorted hotly.

"Enough!" Mr. Lawson slapped Oriana across her cheek before using a napkin to wipe his hand – as if the act of touching her soiled his hand - and walked back to sit on the couch near the big screen on the wall "We'll discuss it once we get off this forsaken planet."

"You think you can get away with this?"

The billionaire turned and responds to Oriana's defiance with smug smile "Of course I can. Even the SPECTRE in town won't get a clue... especially when he's busy dead."

Seeing her confused look, Mr. Lawson chuckled "Oh, yes, there's a SPECTRE in town today, but my CAT6 friends already take care of him. And don't worry about pirates or Cerberus, if our hired guns could kill the Citadel Council's finest, then they won't pose a threat to this place."

Suddenly, siren blared from speaker, startled Mr. Lawson as he quickly tapped Omni-Tool and asks the captain "What's happened?"

There was no image, only sound responded to the billionaire's call which accompanied by shooting noise in the background "We're engaging Cerberus and pirate remnant sir, but we have reason to believe that there's Cerberus infiltrator already in the inner section. I've alerted bodyguards outside your sanctum but I think you'd need to know…"

Henry Lawson frowned, but didn't reprimand the merc "I see, thanks for the warning. And get back to your duty, those four eyes and Cerberus won't move themselves out of my property on their own."

"Yes Sir!"

Once the communication went silent, Henry Lawson eyed his inner sanctum warily, especially at ventilation duct on velvet ceiling, reminding himself that it was too small to support a person inside, thus he walked to his desk, pulled out a pistol then returned to the side of his daughter.

Oriana eyed the gun in his hand with fear, but Henry paid her no mind as he stood behind her chair "Do not worry…" he whispered in the teen's ear, then swung his free hand around the room decorated with velvet carpet, gold lining and all sort of luxury and artworks fitting billionaire status [4] "my personal sanctum was built to last, nothing short of dreadnought orbital bombardment will put a dent in it… and elite CAT6 at the door…" he gestured toward the armored composite door – which by all rights should belongs to bank vault – as if to emphasis his confidence "we should be safe until everything clear…"

As if to challenge his boast; there was a loud 'thump' sound echoed from the armored door which startled the young woman, but Henry quickly lifted her out of the chair while her hands still tied… his gun pointed at her temple as a precaution...

Just in time before the door hissed opened and armored form of CAT6 that guarded said door fall down in heap next to it with his sidearm missing…

Mr. Lawson narrowed his eyes, mildly surprised as a woman in white and black skintight 'cat suit' which leaves nothing on her finely-toned body to imagination came into view. Her gaze laid on the woman in his clutch and eyes widen in surprise.

"Don't come any closer!" yelled Mr. Lawson, as his gun pressed against Oriana as the intruder froze on the spot, with gun pointing at him in return "Hmph… so you show up! I should've known you'll come after me one day."

The woman said nothing for a moment, both hands clutched her pistol, index finger twitched irritably as if wanted nothing more than putting a bullet into his skull.

After a minute of silent, the woman spoke as she came closer, accidentally putting her face into the light which made hostage in Henry's grip widen her eyes as she stared at her older lookalike face of the intruder. "Release Oriana now!"

"So you can kill me? Not a chance!" Mr. Lawson smirked as he knows he's having an upper hand, but quickly adds when his traitorous daughter begin glowing blue "And don't you even think about it! I've rigged Sanctuary's foundation with bombs…" his smirk turned into toothy grin as he saw the blue glow around the woman subsided "…smart one, yes, if I died, then the bombs went off, along whatever your Illusive man sent you to retrieve as well!"

"Like I care about whatever you cooked up here…"

Before the woman could finish, the door slid opened once more and the lean figure of Salarian along with a butler and a maid in white uniform stormed into the room. The alien's large black eyes took just a second to register the scene and point his gun toward the standoff "Freeze!"

"Ah, SPECTRE, your timing is impeccable!" Mr. Lawson took this moment of distraction lowered his gun from Oriana's temple without his other daughter taking advantage, but still holding firm grip on her just in case while trying to persuade the Inspector despite he tried to have the Salarian killed back at the village "…You must save me and Oriana! This woman is Cerberus associate that lead the assault here!"

The billionaire then glared at the woman in cat suit who took a small step back from both Henry and the Salarian, her gun lowered and not pointing at anyone as if trying to convince the SPECTRE of her innocence.

Meanwhile, Oberon and Ophelia slowly circling the billionaire and 'Cerberus operative' to get on a position that's best react to anything both parties might try.

SPECTRE, however, firmly pointing his gun at Mr. Lawson as if he never heard his pledge earlier while calmly states "I'm here to arrest you, Mr. Henry Lawson! In the name of Citadel Council and SPECTRE, You're charged with illegal experimentation upon sentient being! Terrorism and attempt murder! Drop your weapon and release hostage now! Or I'll use lethal force!"

Mr. Lawson pointed his pistol back at Oriana's head the moment word 'arrest' escape the Salarian's lips "Damn you, Citadel Council dog!" he realized that this SPECTRE – who he tried to have the CAT6 murdered back at village – is too smart to be fooled and seem to have a vendetta against him.

His eyes twitched, as his grip tightened around Oriana's neck; he's not stupid, he knew that SPECTRE has – for all intent and purpose - license to kill, and could care less about civilian casualties as long as they completed their objective; having Oriana as human shield is 50-50 chance to stop him from shooting at best, and that's not counting what his traitorous daughter going to do!

'I have to… what the?!'

Mr. Lawson's train of thought came to a halt when pistol in his hand suddenly yanked upward with such force that almost pulling him up with it! In that moment of confusion, Oriana pulled free and rushed toward her lookalike who seemingly forgot her gun as she embraced the girl with open arms instead.

As Mr. Lawson tried to get his gun, the ventilation duct on top of him shattered, raining pieces of metal on him along with rapidly approaching metallic foot that planted squarely on his face before the impact send him sprawling on the ground with broken nose, and then the figure quickly make a blackflip down like a cat, then rushed up and slammed the billionaire face-first to the floor and tied up his arms in quick succession.

The Salarian moved forward; seemingly do not want to interrupt the reunion between the twins. As the SPECTRE moved closer to the floating gun, a figure of white haired woman in regal white dress slowly faded into view, her hand held out the pistol seized from Mr. Lawson to the Salarian SPECTRE who quietly accepted it.

Oriana-lookalike watched it with surprise evident in her eyes; Cerberus have some of the best equipment for covert operation in the galaxy – second only to Salarian – but still, for the SPECTRE to let an obvious civilian uses one and assisted him means that they're desperate or really essential to this mission and perhaps she could convince the girl to share her experience using one…

The brunette shook her head; this's not what she's here for, she has no idea what item her 'father' talked about that The Illusive man wanted. She's not even aware of this so-called Cerberus mission! She just take a break, coming here to check on her little sister out of worry that she'll be found by her 'father' during her volunteer trip and get abducted by her father – which is what happened.

Still, the presence of Cerberus here was troubling; was The Illusive man strike a deal with her father behind her back? What are they trying to cook up that – by SPECTRE's word, involved illegal experiment on innocent civilian?

"Miss Oriana, are you all right?"

That broke the twin out of her thought as she realized that her 'younger sister' somehow broke away from her without her noticing and now conversing with the little girl in red – or to be more accurate - scolding "Anchor? Miss Eve? What are you doing here?"

The girl in red dress rubbed the back of her head with her prosthetic arm nervously and replies "Anchor and mother come here to save you! Mr. SPECTRE helped us get here…" to which the white haired woman next to her simply nods in confirm of her story.

Yet the Salarian SPECTRE smiled wryly before correcting the child – apparently he's not the type to stole other's achievement, or it was all deception from the Salarian, the Oriana twin couldn't be sure "Actually it was you and your mother that we could come all the way here… now then…"

He turned his attention to where Mr. Lawson has been held down by the masked man in butler suit with the maid standing sentry nearby and stated in crisp militaristic tone "Now, Mr. Lawson, you're under arrest. Anything you say will…"

The SPECTRE never gets to finish his tirades as the ground shook violently, enough that even Orinana nearly falls flat on her back had not because quick reaction from the little girl. Then the dimly lit light replaced with red klaxon along with siren and robotic sound of VI overseeing this facility.

"-Emergency in Sector 3! Emergency in Sector 3! [5]-"

"What the… that's area where the main Fusion Rector located!" Mr. Lawson – who was now held up by the butler with both hands tied behind his back - sputtered out, eyes widen in horror.

The rest of people there quickly looked around the room to find console to find where the Sector 3 was, before the screen on the wall lit up, showing holographic projection of VI overseeing mundane task in Sanctuary, along with map of the Sanctuary with one area glowing red.

"-Warning, Reactor cooling system offline, auxiliary system offline, emergency shutdown malfunction, remote access malfunction… Pressure in Fusion chamber rising… Explosion will cause chain reaction with Fuel Cell that could destroy entire Sanctuary... Six minutes to Prompt Critical Explosion. [6]-"

Just a glance at the map confirmed everyone in the room that they won't make it to the main Reactor in time, not even with Eve and Anchor's 'special ability'.

However, as they were focusing on the screen; Mr. Lawson ducks down out of Oberon's grip before the butler could react. The billionaire rolled on the ground toward one section of floor before a 'click' sound was heard and the floor gave way to a man-sized hole that swallowed him down and closed up with a parting laughter.

Oberon turned to his charge while bowing his head in shame "I'm sorry Milady…"

Eve frowned, yet didn't reprimand him – verbally at least, as there's more pressing crisis to worry about. A single nod from Eve to the SPECTRE was all that need for him to snap out of stupor and issue order "Let's get out of here!"

It was a logical action; they doubt that the 'villain stage exit' that Mr. Lawson used will lead to the Reactor room, and they do not want to gamble whether it'll lead them out of detonation radius or not, thus the good old way is to go out where you came in.

No one dared to question said order, not even Oriana-lookalike that Mr. Lawson claimed to be Cerberus operative, as whatever the Cerberus want, it's going down in flame soon and nothing can prevent it.

'Perhaps it's for the best.' Thought Eve as she speeding through corridors with everyone toward the elevator shaft connected to the surface. 'Hopefully that Mr. Lawson won't get any data out…'

"-Five minutes to Prompt Critical Explosion-"

They reached the elevator shaft in record time despite it was hundreds of meters away from Mr. Lawson's sanctum, but when Oriana and her twin looked around, they gasp in horror "The elevator is not working!"

The reason they panic was that they're hundreds of meters underground, not just one or two stories from surface, there's no way they could climb service ladder fast enough to get away from the imminent explosion unless they climb at superhuman speed, which they couldn't, not even with Biotic ability of the older girl, it still too late.

Salarian SPECTRE glanced meaningfully at Eve, which she replied by motioned Oberon to carry him up his shoulder like a sack of potato. While she and Anchor paired up near Oriana, their arms wrapped around her waist before Eve warns her "We're going up fast, hang on tight Oriana…"

For her lookalike, she was approached by Ophelia. The woman got a clue quickly and allowed the maid to carry her. Indeed that she didn't know what to expect, but seeing that the SPECTRE did it, she opt to think that this's his escape plan.

And it was indeed an escape plan…

When everyone has their 'partners', the synthetics begins ascending the elevator shaft, their legs kicked off from one side of the wall to another, leapfrogging their way upward at speed unmatched by even the best athletes, the repeat inertia of sudden high-speed ascend and small pause between jumps made the 'passengers' almost pass out due to sheer trauma, yet no one allow themselves to pass out just yet – not until they're out of danger.

Though it felt like hours, the climbing session lasted only 15 seconds before they finally on the surface – specifically the wrecked main garden hall of Sanctuary.

No one had time to catch their breath however, as the haunting sound of the Sanctuary VI reminds them of the approaching final minutes of Sanctuary's life again…

"-Four minutes to Prompt Critical Explosion-"

Without bothering to drop their passengers off, Eve, Anchor, Oberon and Ophelia dashed through the place at fastest speed possible that their passengers could theoretically tolerate. They went passed one of the pirates still fighting against Cerberus without stopping. And before they know it, the truck that they used to get here was in front of them.

Four synthetics dropped their passengers down on the ground as Eve noticed Oriana's face turned green from the high-speed rush. The teen sprawled on the ground before get up and puke the content in her stomach out, and she wasn't the only one who suffered from this endeavor; while the Oriana-lookalike and the SPECTRE came out better, they still lying flat on the ground, panting…

…but not for long…

"-Three minutes to Prompt Critical Explosion-"

The magic word did wonder; all three organics stumbled to their feet despite the nausea and filed into the truck; Oberon went to the driver seat leaving Ophelia, Anchor and Eve to look after the sick passengers. Ignoring shouts from the tied-up Robert in the same compartment, the masked butler started the engine and drives the truck out toward the main road, trying to get as far away from Sanctuary as possible…

"-One minutes to Prompt Critical Explosion-"

"No, No, No!"

Desperate yell filled the cockpit of the shuttle parked in the underground hangar. Mr. Henry Lawson, the billionaire, the mastermind who wanted to use Species 37 spore to further his glory and legend, the man who secretly supported Cerberus' cause for human supremacy and all the titles he know or not know about fidgeting at the command console trying his hardest to make the shuttle fly to escape his doomed investment.

Well, not all was doomed per se, as the data of Species 37 and researches about its mind control power was inside the databank Mr. Lawson wasted time bringing aboard his personal craft, but it'll soon be lost if he couldn't take off soon.

Worse; all the staffs manning the hangar seems to scared off their wit and ran off elsewhere – or have been busy dead by falling debris. The only hope spot he has was that his shuttle was prepared – albeit missing half the fuel, it can still theoretically fly…

…if only he could open the hangar…

"-50 seconds to Prompt Critical Explosion-"

Sound of metal grinding came through the speaker in cockpit as the dorsal-mounted camera on the shuttle captured the sight of hangar doors – or what's left of it, parting way, one layer by one layer, until the small ray of sunlight shining through.

"Yes!" Mr. Lawson almost pumped his fist into the air had he's not in pilot seat to control this shuttle; the engine roared, responding to his command as the shuttle began to lift…

But at the moment of triumph, loud explosions rocked the hangar, walls cracked and buckled under pressure from the other side before crumbled and let steam of fire surged inside engulfing all viewports of the shuttle as the sound of VI blared for the last time.

"-Warning, Reactor Prompt Critical Imminent! Seek shelter immediately! Warning...-"

Mr. Lawson nearly threw off his seat, he watched the raging firestorm outside of cockpit with wide eyes before screaming to the heaven "D… Damn it all! Why? My legacy… My future…! Why? Why it come to this?!"

And the white light engulfing his vision becomes the last thing he sees…

Author's Note

[1] This Chapter, although has basic idea from Mass Effect 3, was slightly influenced by videogame Evil Genius, though that game a bit old and slightly buggy, you should try it, just to get a feel of being in Cerberus' shoes (or any 60s super villain for that matter) for once, heh, heh.

[2] Perhaps the partial explanation of why creation of Cerberus (or this case; former Cerberus associate) almost always got loose and try to kill their guys so often.

[3] This thing has been shipped off-world even in Mass Effect 1, but you can only encounter it in a side quest. (Not counting Feros)

[4] Yet again, another reference to Evil Genius game.

[5] Reference to Metroid; specifically how the series always handle the finale in each game. Better open that music to go with the flow.

[6] Prompt Critical is the correct term for when Nuclear Reactor is reaching limit and about to blow up.

Palm strike is something I thought up from watching Lie Ren fought in RWBY Volume one, plus some of my father's old book collection about fictional Chinese Wushu – most of them about 50 years old by now. If anything; those fancy palm strike from certain clan with white eyes in Naruto has inspiration from these old Chinese fictions, not the other way around.

I hope that this chapter is up to standard. I rarely write fight scenes. And even if this's getting old and not an excuse; this fanfic come from weird idea popping up in my head.

Constructive criticism is always welcome. Hope you all enjoy the chapter.