Author's Notes: And back in time for another update as promised! Hope I didn't keep you all waiting. Well then, I really have nothing much to say apart from the fact that I'm looking forward to see the extended DLC dropping 26 June. =)

Again, I don't own the Mass Effect series and IP in any way whatsoever, and is the sole property of Bioware. Except for my OCs.


MASS EFFECT: REMNANTS

Chapter 11 - Grand Theft Auto

The urgency of our flight from the Blue Suns has somehow instantly shifted into a tension-filled standoff between Ralak and Uncle Leo. The turian holds an unwavering gaze on Ralak, talons tight on the trigger of the pistol aimed at the krogan. Ralak responds in kind, shooting back the very same gaze at Uncle Leo. The tension and murderous intent of both parties becomes almost palpable in the air.

"Uncle Leo, I don't think now's the best time for this," I say slowly and deliberately, afraid that even the sound of my voice will cause the tension to erupt.

"Nate, you be quiet and let me do the talking. You have no idea of who this krogan really is," Uncle Leo replies, without so much as even taking his eyes off Ralak. "If I find out he lays so much as a hand on you, he's going to fucking regret it."

It takes a moment for Uncle Leo's words to register. I almost forgot about the injuries I sustained during those bouts in the ring. My bruised face and bloodied clothes must make me look as if I've been to hell and back. As soon as I start to remember them, all of the pain flares up again. I grit my teeth and it's all I can do from passing out from the pain "It's not what you think – "

"Oh yeah? And who exactly would you think I am?" Ralak cuts me off, talons already lingering uncomfortably close to his shotgun's trigger.

"Some Omega scum who's more than ready to murder this innocent boy here over a few measly credits," Uncle Leo vehemently retorts.

"Well then, the kid's still alive, isn't he? So what if you're wrong?"

"I don't intend to find out."

"Enough! The both of you!" I step in between the two, desperately trying to defuse the situation. God knows we've already got bigger problems on our hands. "Uncle Leo, just calm down for a second and listen to me!"

The turian doesn't show any sign of backing down nor does he lower his pistol. "Nate, step out of the way right now," Uncle Leo coolly orders albeit with a raised voice.

"No," I refuse to budge and lock eyes with him. "Uncle Leo look, I'd love to explain everything to you but right now, we've got some pissed-off mercs on our heels and needless to say, we need to get the hell out of here." I can already feel that every single second we waste on this pointless standoff here is another second that the Blue Suns start closing in on our position.

His expression softens somewhat, as does his grip on the gun. "Why's that? I don't suppose that it has something to do with him over here," he motions with his gun towards Ralak.

"Look turian, the kid's right! We can argue about this all day after we've dealt with the Blue Suns that are after us!" the krogan says exasperatedly. "Not much use pinning the blame on each other when we wind up dead, is there?"

As if on cue, the shouts of various voices no doubt belonging to the mercs are heard reverberating from all around us. For a short moment, conflicting emotions streak across his expression as he considers his options but I guess this turn of events is more than enough to convince Uncle Leo of our predicament. Thankfully, the turian finally relents in lowering his gun and I breathe a sigh of relief.

"Fine, I'll take your word for it," and then turning to Ralak, "but try anything funny and you'll get a bullet to the skull."

The krogan grunts noncommittally in response but the shotgun is still gripped firmly in his hands. "Whatever you say, turian."

"Quick, get in here. We'll stay low until they lose track of us," Uncle Leo gestures towards the shadowy alcove where he first emerged from. He opens up his ommni-tool's communications display. "Nazreil, get back here. I've found him."

Still cuffed together and in the narrow confines of the alley, Ralak and I shuffle awkwardly past Uncle Leo into what I now see is a backdoor into one of the buildings. Uncle Leo must have noticed the handcuffs because he adds, "Anything in that tool bag of yours that can help break open an Elanus T-500M Securilock?"

There is a short pause. "I don't know about that, but I'll try my best to get it off," comes Nazreil's reply from the other end of the line.

Once we're all through the doorway, Uncle Leo shuts it firmly behind us, leaving us in the relative dark of the building. The only source of illumination comes from a small window above us, letting in the murky, orange glow of Omega's night sky. Within the narrow shafts of light that the window lets in, I see dust floating freely about.

"Damn, I can't even see two feet in front of me," I mutter.

"Turn on the flashlight function on your omni-tool then," Uncle Leo says.

With my cuffed left hand punching away at the digital buttons, I struggle to bring up the omni-tool display and note the crapload of unread messages and missed calls from both Uncle Leo and Nazreil that starts to pile in. Right, I forgot that I'm now out of the range of the Blue Suns' communications scramblers. Browsing through the litany of functions, I come across the flashlight option and activate it. A dazzling beam of light emanates from the omni-tool and illuminates the entirety of the room.

We seem to be in a stairwell of some sort, and the room is little more than a sparse, squalid corner of walls that reeks of the foul stench typical of Omega. Uncle Leo does the same with his omni-tool and guided by the light, he makes his up the decrepit stairs at the corner of the room.

"Come on, we'll be safer up top," he motions for us to come on over.

I manage to limp along a few steps before my left arm snags on the cuffs. Ralak's apparently intent to stay put. "Why should I trust you, turian? For all I know, there could be another ambush waiting up there for me," he cocks a wary eyebrow.

Oh god, not now. "Look Ralak, I trust Uncle Leo. There's no way he's going to be leading us into another trap and if anything, he's definitely not the kind to be working with those damned mercs," I desperately plead.

"The way I see it, you're just going to have to take his word for it, krogan. Either stay here and get gunned down by the mercs or follow me if you want to make it out of here alive," comes Uncle Leo's steely reply.

There's a tense moment of silence as Ralak considers Uncle Leo's proposition. The mercs' shouts and footsteps draw closer now that I swear they're already right outside the building. My heart's hammering in my chest so hard because for all I know, they could be seconds away from kicking down the door. I expect a bullet to tear right through my back at any moment now.

"Fine, but you'd better not be lying to me, turian!" Ralak finally gives in.

"Then hurry the hell up! The mercs' are just outside!" I hiss.

We hurriedly clamber up the stairwell as fast as I can limp. Each step of the way is an agonizing struggle as I will my protesting body to move its limbs. By the third floor, I'm drenched from head to toe in cold sweat and I stop to catch my breath. Suddenly, a door on the stairwell's landing bursts open and in a flash, both Ralak and Uncle Leo already have their weapons trained on the newcomer.

Nazreil does a quick double take at the guns pointed at him before Uncle Leo lowers his upon acknowledging the quarian.

"Thank the spirits, you made it!" Uncle Leo turns to Ralak and motions for him to lower the shotgun, "It's okay, the quarian's with us."

Ralak gives an annoyed grunt in response. Nazreil lets out a sigh of relief, but his body language says otherwise. No doubt it must have something to do with being caught off guard by the sight of an intimidating krogan like Ralak.

"So, you think you can get those handcuffs off?" Uncle Leo asks anxiously.

I slump against the handrails of the stairs and just concentrate on trying to breathe. Nazreil gingerly picks up the cuff on my left wrist and carefully inspects it. "You sure you know what you're doing, Naz?" I absent-mindedly ask as I shut my eyes to drown out the pain.

"Well, we quarians typically know our way around machines. It's a trait that comes from years growing up and repairing our old ships on the Flotilla," Nazreil replies, his distracted tone suggesting that he's already focused on the task at hand.

"Your people make the best weapon and armor modders on Omega too," Ralak chimes in.

"…Uh…thanks, I guess?"

Nazreil already has his omni-tool out and is drawing up the blueprints of the handcuffs as we speak. The quarian works feverishly, his hands flying deftly between rummaging through the tools in his tool belt and tinkering with the handcuff. Uncle Leo steps into my vision and crouches down in front of me. He pulls out a medical vial and unscrews the top lid off before pouring out some of its contents onto his talons.

"Hold still, Nate. It's gonna sting a bit but it'll help with the wounds," he lightly rubs some of the gel onto the cuts and bruises on my face. I find instant relief the moment the substance touches my skin.

"I've already given him a shot of medi-gel back in the Blue Suns' base," Ralak says from where he's leaning against the handrail, no doubt keeping an eye out on the door below.

"Well, it seems to be wearing off. Can't you see that he's in pain?" Uncle Leo must have replied a tad bit too harshly, because he later adds, "In any case, thanks for sparing some of your medi-gel for him." Ralak just grunts in response.

Uncle Leo turns to me, wearing a softer expression reminding me more of the Uncle Leo I knew and loved, "We get you patched up, and you wander off just to get yourself hurt again. What am I ever going to do with you and your stubbornness," he grins a little at that. Once he's done administering the medi-gel onto most of my external wounds, he injects whatever that's left in the vial onto my arm. Just like back in the base's cellar, a wave of euphoria sweeps over me as the painkillers in the medi-gel course through my blood and kick into effect.

Nazreil's better than I thought because sparks soon start leaping off the cufflinks in conjunction with jarring electronic beeps that must signify a malfunction in the device. A few more current overloads from Nazreil's omnitool and several incisions from his hand-held plasma torch later, smoke starts sizzling out and the three of us look on with wide-eyed anticipation.

"Okay, I almost got it –" BOOM. The quarian's words are cut off as the malfunctioning handcuffs erupt in a loud and smoky conflagration.

Everyone's coughing from the haze of smoke billowing out from the cuffs while I try to wave the smoke away. Sure enough, despite the little mishap, I can hear the locks disengaging with a soft hiss of pneumatics and the bulky cuffs clatter harmlessly onto the floor.

"Well, that's one way to unlock those things," Ralak mutters amusedly as he rubs his wrists.

"Whoa, good job there, Naz," I lend a helping hand to the quarian and scoop him up off the floor.

Nazreil unsteadily rises to his feet and shakes his head to reorient himself. "Keelah, Nazreil you bosh'tet, you should have bypassed the plexus capacitors first before cutting the locks."

"Not to cut our little celebration short, but we've got company!" Ralak calls out as he peers down the stairwell.

Uncle Leo rushes over to the krogan's side and a look of alarm crosses his features. "Shit! They must have heard the cuffs malfunctioning." No sooner than he says that, I can hear the door below forcibly kicked open and the frantic voices of the mercs stream into the stairwell.

"I swear I heard something coming from inside here. Even my scans picked something up," a rough voice belonging to one of the mercs can be heard below.

"Guys, up there! Look, there they are!" another one of the mercs shouts.

Uncle Leo ducks behind the handrails as bullets pepper the landing that we're on. I even wince at the shrapnels of debris that's being chipped off the walls all around us.

"Ralak, was it? You take Nate and help him get up to the roof. I'll cover you guys from the rear. Nazreil, take point!" Uncle Leo orders.

"What? Why am I saddled with the kid?" the krogan asks incredulously.

"You two have gotten this far together, right? What's the harm in sticking around with him for just a bit longer?" Uncle Leo retorts without as so much as a glance at Ralak. "Now, move!"

Sighing in frustration, the krogan wraps his left arm underneath my right shoulder and bodily lifts me off the ground with little effort. "Come on, you heard the turian, let's get going." Then, he takes off after Nazreil who's already bolting up the stairs.

I turn behind to see Uncle Leo exchange a few potshots with the mercs below, trying to delay their advance. I crane my neck for a better view of the stairwell below and note that half a dozen mercs are already shooting their way up to the first floor landing. Thank God that Ralak's carrying me along, I'd just slow the rest down if I insisted on limping up the stairs.

With blood pounding in my ears and the hail of bullets flying all over the place, I don't even realize that we've reached the eighth and top floor of the stairwell. I see Nazreil on the landing above trying to hack the rooftop access door. The access panel lights up green and the door slides open.

"Keelah, they're gaining on us! Hurry up!" Nazreil peers down the stairwell and fires off several suppressing shots from his pistol to keep the mercs pinned down.

"I'm going as fast as I can! Krogans aren't exactly the most lithe and agile beings out there in the galaxy, just thought I'd let you know!" Ralak sarcastically quips.

Uncle Leo's the last to make it through the doorway onto the rooftops and Nazreil seals the access door shut behind him with several commands from his omni-tool.

I turn my attention away from the door to the rooftop we're now on. Oh my god. The view from up here is a lot to take in. Omega's skyline has an almost beautifully…..perverse quality to it – the night sky is tinged a perpetual orange haze and towering buildings haphazardly emerge from the thick veil of smog that chokes the air. The buildings stretch as far as my eyes can see, although the more distant ones are framed only by the silhouette of the lights that snake skywards across their exterior. Omega truly is the embodiment of all the vices of galactic civilization.

Ralak's deep, guttural voice snaps me out of my reverie and brings me back into the present. "So what's the plan now, turian?"

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking! I never expected that the mercs would chase us all the way up here!"

"May I suggest that we make our across the rooftops instead? The buildings are built close enough that we should be able to jump across the gaps," Ralak smirks smugly, knowing that he's the only one among us familiar with the layout of Omega.

Uncle Leo is silent for just a fraction of a second before hastily agreeing to the plan. "Fine, just so long as we get the hell away from these mercs. I've still got my eyes on you so don't get any funny ideas," Uncle Leo's quick to add.

"Hey, I'm on the run from them just like you are. The least you can do is show me a little appreciation," the krogan grunts. "Come on, follow me! I know a place where our quarian friend here can help us hijack a skycar to make our escape."

"Uh….I don't think I want to do that –" Nazreil manages to get out before Ralak interrupts.

"Well, our life depends on it, so you don't get to have a say in the matter," the krogan fixes his eyes sternly on the quarian to which Nazreil gulps.

"O…okay."

"Kid, you think you're good enough to walk on your own again? If I carry you, I might have to throw you over the ledges. I'm heavy enough to barely make the jump as it is," Ralak turns to me.

"I… I guess so."

He relinquishes his arm around me and I gingerly take a step forward and then two. Both the medi-gel and adrenaline's already kicking in, so I'm able to move around with a tolerable degree of pain now. "Yeah, I think I'm good to go."

"Good, I don't need you slowing me down again," the krogan replies sardonically but laces it with – is that what I think it is? – just a touch of light humor. "Now, let's get going before the mercs figure out to hack the door open."

Ralak gets a running start and with a mighty grunt of effort, he leaps off the edge of the building. He clears the gap and lands on the adjacent building with a heavy thud.

"Nate, Nazreil, you two go on ahead. I'll hang back to cover you guys," Uncle Leo calls out over his shoulder, his back to us as he trains his pistol on the access door.

Nazreil motions with his head towards the gap, prompting me to go first. I take a deep breath, back up a few paces and get a running start. The edge comes rushing up to me, and I push off on my right foot. Time slows as I feel myself sailing through the air before touching down on the other side. My whole body screams out in protest as I land, but the medi-gel's numbed the pain enough for me to grit my teeth through it. Nazreil makes the jump with ease and Uncle Leo does too.

We've managed to get two rooftops away before the mercs emerge from the stairwell and start opening fire. In any case, that's still not far enough. We huddle down behind some coolant pipes and return fire. I hand my pistol over to Ralak who unsurprisingly shoots with excellent marksmanship. We manage to take one of them down before the mercs scramble for cover.

"You know, this is precisely the kind of things I make a point to avoid on my Pilgrimage," Nazreil comments aloud.

"Well then, I'm sorry to have dragged you into all of this," Uncle Leo apologetically replies.

"No, no, it's a good thing, really. Thanks to you guys, I have a roof over my head and enough to eat. What's more, I would be stuck on the Citadel for the rest of my Pilgrimage if it wasn't for running into you guys! It's the least I can do to return the favor. Plus, I guess a little adventure wouldn't hurt."

"Good to know….and hey, we could always use the extra gun," Uncle Leo shifts his attention to Ralak, "Take Nate and get going while we keep them pinned down."

Ralak makes good on the lull in fire and jumps across to next rooftop. He waves for me to do the same. I get up from behind cover while Uncle Leo and Nazreil pop out to trade another barrage of shots at the mercs. The light cracks in pistol fire are interspersed with the rapid thrum of assault rifle fire before dying down completely. The mercs must be returning fire and driving Uncle Leo and Nazreil back into cover. Too late to stop the jump though, I've already built up too much momentum to stop in my tracks. Distracted by the fact that my back's wholly exposed to the enemy, I mistime my jump and push off far earlier than I intended to.

"Shit!"

"Nate!" I can hear Uncle Leo's alarmed voice calling from somewhere behind me.

I'm only halfway across the gaping chasm in between buildings and already, I feel myself plummeting. The ledge of the rooftop rises above me and disappears from my sight. I reach my arm out in a vain attempt to scrabble for any purchase on the walls but there's nothing I see that I can hold on to. A cold feeling of dread drops like a dead weight into the pits of my stomach. I'm so fucking screwed.

"Got you!"

There's a visceral sensation of coming to a stop mid-plummet. I look up and peer down the beefy, scaly trunk of an arm as Ralak catches my outstretched hand. The krogan grunts with effort as he tries to pull me up from where he's precariously lying down over the rooftop's ledge. "Hold on tight now!"

I clamp onto his arm with both hands as he lifts me back up onto the hard floor of the rooftop. I roll onto my back and try to get my rapid breathing under control. Holy crap, that was way too close. "Oh my God, thanks for the save!" I manage to gasp out.

"What did I say about slowing us down again?" the krogan smirks. "The kid's alright! You just concentrate on trying to avoid catching a bullet in the back, turian!" Ralak hollers over to Uncle Leo.

A look of immense relief crosses the old turian's facial expression. Boy, I really need to stop scaring him like that. Can turians even get heart attacks? In any case, heart attacks or no, we're still not out of the woods yet. Ralak covers Uncle Leo and Nazreil's advance while I stay low and inch my way towards the other side of the roof.

"Come on, we're not far now – just a couple more rooftops to go. Think you're still able to keep up, turian?" Ralak jeers amusedly.

"Shut up and lead the way," Uncle Leo retorts, already winded from the exertion.

We alternate the pattern of jumping across rooftops while the other provides covering fire – thankfully, everything goes smoothly this time around – and before we know it, we've reached the end of our stretch of rooftops. I peer around and note that the front of us is blocked off by one of those towering buildings while a sheer eight-storey drop to the streets below awaits us on the left.

That only leaves the right side which Ralak is already making his way over to. He drops off the side of the ledge and clambers down a series of rooftops that vertically descends onto a flat expanse of space that serves as an elevated parking lot of some kind. Then I see the numerous parked skycars that Ralak was talking about earlier. Huh, guess we can trust him after all.

"I'm still not too sure about the whole grand theft auto part of Ralak's plans though," Nazreil reluctantly mutters, just out of the krogan's earshot.

"We'll worry about the owner of the car later. Quite frankly, chances are that you'd be hijacking a car that was already stolen from its original owner. Gathering from what I've seen of Omega, I wouldn't be surprised," I reply.

"Humph, I guess we could return it to the original owner once we're done with it."

"Yeah….whatever helps you sleep at night, dude."

From out of the corner of my vision, I can see Uncle Leo rolling his eyes and shaking his head at us.

We slide down the last step of the way down an inclined slope of a building onto the parking lot. Even down here, there's no order and pattern as to how the skycars are parked. They look as though they're just strewn around all over the place, taking up whatever space is available – typical of the lawlessness in Omega. Down the streets away from the lot is what seems to be the entrance to another nightclub, judging by the raucous laughter of the crowds and the bright signs emblazoned across every available inch of the front walls. I guess these cars must belong to the patrons.

A flurry of bullets fired from several storeys above sends us scrambling into cover behind the cars. "I'm starting to think that either Vido or Tarak considers us more trouble than we're actually worth. So far, the mercs don't seem to be doing too good a job of trying to capture us alive," Ralak quips.

"No shit, Ralak! Given what we've done to them back in the base, it's no wonder they want us dead," I look at Ralak incredulously from where all four of us are huddled behind one of the cars.

Uncle Leo and Ralak blind fires over the car before Ralak shouts to be heard over the din of flying bullets. "Get going further down the lot!"

"What's wrong with this car right here?" I ask, puzzled.

"Knowing the crap that most people drive on Omega, I doubt if this one's gonna even be able to stay afloat given the damage done to it –" a bullet pinging off the car's already bullet-ridden roof cuts Ralak off and illustrates his point clearly enough. "Now go!"

Nazreil and I stay low, ducking from car to car. "So what the hell kinda car does he want, anyway?" I wonder aloud to Nazreil.

"Preferably something that can stand a lot of abuse? It wouldn't hurt to be bulletproof too, I guess," Nazreil replies, matter-of-factly.

"Well then, you keep an eye out for anything that fits the bill. I'm absolutely clueless when it comes to cars."

I turn back and note that Uncle Leo and Ralak's right on our heels, pausing occasionally to slide behind cover and trade back a few shots at the mercs.

"Over there!" Nazreil exclaims, pointing to a corner of the lot.

I follow his line of sight and stop at the sight of a luxurious-looking, steel-gray sedan. "You sure about that?" I raise my eyes skeptically at the quarian.

"Positive. The Cord-Hislop Taurus's built to even withstand an anti-materiel sniper round. You know how the rich get paranoid over their safety sometimes."

"You two found something we can use yet?" Uncle Leo sidles up to us.

I nod and point to the Taurus. I swear I see a glint of excitement flashing across the turian's weary eyes. "So what are we still sitting around here and waiting for? Let's go."

We make a dash for the car and slide into cover behind it. At least the knowledge of it being bulletproof is reassuring….somewhat. I slump against the hull of the car to try to catch my breath. Beads of perspiration drop off my forehead from the pain and exertion, and I'm already starting to see patches of black swimming in my vision. I'm really going to need some serious medical attention after this.

"Okay, I'll need you guys to buy me some time to bypass the locks on this," Nazreil pops his omni-tool open and immediately starts bypassing the skycar's security.

Uncle Leo grabs Nazreil's discarded pistol and pops out of cover to let loose a rapid volley of shots from the two pistols. He ducks back behind the car just as more bullets rain down on us and the car, setting off the car's alarm system. Ralak joins us behind the car moments later. "The Taurus, huh? Looks like somebody's got good tastes," he adds.

"Hey, Nazreil here deserves the credit. I don't know a single thing about cars," I pant.

I peer over the hood of the car and see that the two of the mercs are already down on the parking lot while the rest of their squad is already joining them from the rooftops above. They're starting to gain on us, despite Uncle Leo and Ralak's best efforts at holding them back.

The blaring car alarm's starting to grate on my nerves and Ralak's too because the krogan huffs in annoyance and just smashes open the side windshield of the car. "So much for being able to withstand an anti-materiel sniper round," he scoffs. "Sorry little guy, the hacking's going a bit too slow for my liking."

"But I…I was just moments away –" Nazreil sputters before Ralak's already forcing the doors open from the interior. The corners of his mouth grin in triumph as the locks give way and the doors swing open in a metallic squeal of protest. "Now get in there and get the engines running!" he growls at Nazreil.

"S..sure thing!" the quarian stutters out and hops into the driver's seat. Nazreil perches himself awkwardly below the steering controls and starts work on kick-starting the engine. The controls light up intermittently, followed by the revving of the engines. Nerve-wracking seconds tick by as the car revs up once…twice…and third time's the charm. The engine comes to life and maintains a steady thrum, as does the holographic control display.

"Yes!" Nazreil whoops.

"Now let's get the hell out of here! Quarian, get into the back seat, I'll be the one driving," Ralak orders.

Nazreil scrambles into the backseat, making it a point to keep his head low as shots relentlessly impact the glass windshield on his side of the car. Ralak scoots over to the driver's seat with some difficulty, owing to his large stature.

"Come on, Nate. Up you go!" Uncle Leo helps me onto my feet and gets me into the back seat of the car together with Nazreil before hopping in. "And stay down!" I comply and lean myself as far back into the seat as possible.

"Gah!" Nazreil exclaims, holding up a hand to shield his face. The windshield gives way under the hail of bullets and shatters, spraying stray shards of glass into the car. "Nazreil, you okay?" I ask. "I'm fine, the glass just bounced off my environment suit," comes his reply as he inspects himself.

I feel a sudden jerk beneath me as the thrusters roar to life, sending the skycar shooting upward. Despite that, I can still hear the rattle of bullets bouncing harmlessly off the bottom of the car. Ralak has one hand on the steering controls while the other hand effortlessly fires off the shotgun through the open window. I see one or two of the mercs out of cover who go down under the shotgun's mighty barrage. They must be getting a lot more desperate now, seeing as how they're lingering out of cover for longer periods of time to fire at us.

"Come on! Turn this car around and let's get the hell out of here, krogan!" Uncle Leo yells from where he's leaning out of the car and over the roof to get a clear shot at our pursuers.

"We'll go in just a bit, after I get a little payback on these Blue Suns bastards," Ralak lets off two more shots from his shotgun, wielding it like an oversized pistol. Two more of the mercs crumple to the floor as Ralak smiles in satisfaction, "And now, we go!"

With several taps of the holographic control panel, Ralak turns the car around and guns the engine, just in time for Uncle Leo to duck back into the car. The car rockets skywards and clears the low-lying buildings by mere inches, leaving the mercs on the parking lot below to eat our dust.

All of us breathe out a collective sigh of relief but Ralak's insistent on maintaining the car's death-defying speed. I take a glimpse at the speedometer's readout but instantly decide against it – I'm better off not knowing the ungodly speed we're travelling at. The krogan swings the car out from a labyrinthine network of buildings onto what looks like one of the main skyways of Omega. Dilapidated buildings and the insect-like streams of people milling about Omega's many streets and avenues fly past me as I peer downwards.

"You have a place in mind, turian?" Ralak asks almost casually, apparently unfazed by what just transpired with the mercs.

"Get us to a hospital, or whatever passes for one here in this hellhole. Nate needs immediate medical attention," Uncle Leo anxiously replies, the urgency in his voice already starting to give way to weariness.

"What, the kid? He's going to be fine! Anyone who's lasted that long in the ring like he did is a lot tougher than they look."

"Just get us someplace where we can patch him up….please," all the fight's gone out of Uncle Leo's tone now that we're safe.

"Fine, I know just the place."

"Ralak, one more thing," Uncle Leo pauses mid-sentence.

"What?"

"….thanks for saving Nate back there. And for keeping him safe until I got to you two."

Ralak only grunts in response and an awkward silence hangs in the air. I'm barely registering all of this as I slowly slip in and out of consciousness. Now that the adrenaline's wearing off, I'm starting to feel the anesthetic effects of the medi-gel. Coupled with the sheer exhaustion and physical abuse that my body's endured in the past couple of hours, I'm content to just sleep all the pain from my aching limbs away.

The last thing I remember is Nazreil's raspy pants for air through his voice modulator and the stream of traffic against the backdrop of Omega before nodding off.


Author's notes: More action sequences, but in case you're starting to get tired of the constant running, shooting and dodging bullets, I can promise you that the next few chapters are going to be more toned-down, so look forward to it.

Once again, thanks for reading and if you would like to, feel free to drop your comments. I more than appreciate constructive criticisms! Until then, see you guys and gals next week!