Riah hummed happily as her favorite musical album played over her internal helmet speakers, her favorite blanket wrapped around her shoulders as she lovingly gazed at her bank account statement. Whatever else could be said about Santi, her relationship with him had resulted in amazing new heights of financial success. They'd made in a few sales what her mother would make in two years of work, and even after she'd shared her credits with her mother and paid off any of her remaining debt Riah still had a few thousand left for herself. Of that money Riah set aside most of those credits for tickets off of this station for her and her mother and a bit of cushion money to start a new life with.

After all that she still had a bit of spending money.

She idly thought about completely overhauling her omni-tool or even stocking up on the previous games she'd missed out on, but pushed those thoughts from her minds when she saw what time it was.

"I'm going out," she called to her mother as she got up and stretched, wiggling her toes as she did so.

"Mmh?" her mother seemed distracted, absentmindedly stirring her pot. "Be careful dear," she added. "Say hello to Santi for me."

"Sure," Riah responded, rolling her eyes at the affection her mother showed to the human. While she had begun to view him as tolerable, her mother showered much more affection on the two humans than was necessary. "Do you want me to pick up anything on the way back?" she asked before heading out the door.

She heard her mother's ladle continue clinking around the edges. "Get me some vanis root, Volera sells some, and it's on the way. Get around three bundles, Volera shouldn't charge you since I did a favor for her a few days ago."

"Vanis root, three bundles." Riah nodded, opening up her omni-tool and writing in a reminder for later. "Ok, I'm off to make us some money!"

Outside she saw Katja, who caught the tail end of her sentence and smiled at her. "Hello dearie," she said in her sweetly lyrical voice. "Santi already went up ahead, you could catch him on the way there."

As if I would. Riah thought while smiling, no reason to alienate her eezo mine's mother and potentially cause troubles with him.

"Is your mother in?" The woman asked as she opened her front door and set some bags directly inside her living unit, Riah nodded. "Oh good… by the way is this vanis root?" she asked, opening one of the several bags she had been carrying and revealing the slightly blue herbs.

"Yeah, that's it." Riah answered before frowning. If Kantja already had some vanis root then why had her mother asked her to pick up some? She debated going back in and asking her mother, but that would mean spending more time near the human woman, so decided against it. Instead she simply left the door open, the human woman smiling, saying something and taking a few of her bags with her as she walked past Riah and greeted her mother, their conversation becoming muffled as the front door closed behind her.

As she walked through the hallway she saw Saestzea, the bitch, hanging out in front of her apartment. They both made eye contact, but the asari went back to playing with some children that ran around her. Riah glanced down at them as she passed by, stepping away from one of the dirty looking turian children when started running around her, yelping when one of them poked her rear with an old stick. She turned and slapped the stick away, glaring at the child. She had to pick up the pace as the damn kids kept following her and chanted "Big butt! Big butt!' More stick pokes.

She glared at them as the elevator doors closed, rescuing her from the little ankle biters and put a hand over her rear, checking to see that they hadn't damaged the suit. Luckily only her pride has been injured.

The rest of the elevator ride was pretty uneventful, a turian couple boarded the elevator for a few floors, and once a volus family waddled in. She spent most of the ride thinking about her shop.

She'd managed to convince Santi, Katja and her mother that it'd be a great idea to rent one of the empty stores up on the market floors. They'd been very wary about the entire idea at first, mostly concerned about the costs of running a business, but Riah had managed to run some numbers through a financial program that Varlus had suggested and convinced them that there was really no way they could lose money. And so a quick trip to the upper floors, quick paper work and now she was owner of half of Santi and Riah's Robots. Santi insisted that his name be first, since he argued that he was the most important part of their partnership, Riah didn't insult him by arguing otherwise and denying something they both knew to be true.

The elevator came to a halt and the doors jolted open, opening up to the market sections of the station. Riah saw various neon signs, some of them flickering on and off, crowds of people passing through the streets and old vents spewing steam from several of the restaurants around. And there in the distance, she saw the sign for her shop.

Riah grinned as she jump out of her seat and pushed her way through the group of people who were boarding the elevator.

Time to make money.


"Bitch."

"Bitch."

Riah frowned at the two drones Santi had guarding the store, they had the odd habit of referring to her as "bitch", which Santi claimed was just a side effect of their customized construction and couldn't be changed. Riah knew otherwise but said nothing.

She looked over at the front desk where Santi was talking to an elderly turian, probably Old Erasnirus, who had been in here for a few days as he investigated which of Santi's drones would be best for his price range and needs. He caught her gaze and waved her over.

"Old Erasnirus," Riah addressed their customer, "Are you asking about guns again?" He nodded. "We've told you several times now, guns aren't allowed by the top floors."

"Those vorcha thugs that robbed my store a few days ago had guns!" he replied, as angry as ever, his cane shaking in his hand.

"That's because they are criminals," Riah replied, not unsympathetically, "We are a respectable business, and we barely managed to convince the top floors to allow us to open up. They wouldn't give us permission to sell guns here," Santi nodded beside her, remembering one of the so-called "investigators" that the top floors had sent to check over their merchandise for illegal AI usage. "So we can't put guns on our drones without them coming after us for breaking the rules."

"Plus," Santi stepped in, "I've already mentioned that my golems aren't really built to handle guns. Even if I did give one a rifle or a pistol or something, and I'm not saying I would, I can't guarantee they'll hit anything with it. Or that they won't accidentally hit an innocent person."

Old Erasnirus pointed at one of Santi's custom drones, the red one he had named Tila. "That ones' got a gun for a head!"

Riah glanced at the red machine, narrowing her eyes at it when it seemed to rev its internal engine in a low growl.

That's sounded like it was angry.

"The gun doesn't work," Santi explained as he walked over to Tila and patted her arm, "Lemme see." Again Riah glanced warily at the thing when it seemed to purr at his touch. "See? The investigator made sure of it, the metal ammo block is removed, along with all the firing components. I'm just using the gun because it has a bunch of sensors I used for Tila to see." He sighed as Old Erasnirus' shoulders slumped, "Sorry sir, but we just can't put guns on it."

"But look here," Riah stepped over to another one of the drones on display, a huge mean looking thing painted all black, with a human skull painted in white over its face. "This one's got a chainsaw that could cut through body armor, and it's got a jackhammer on the other arm that could crack a krogan's hide!"

"And we'll give you a discount." Santi added before Riah glared his way. Discounts were not allowed!

What the hell is he saying? Riah fumed before the old turian perked up. She bit her tongue, realizing that they could either let a drone go for less than their asking price or lose a potential sale. Ancestors, this boy has no business sense at all.

The turian appreciatively looked over the drone, eyeing the mean looking weapons on each arm. "Crack open a krogan you say? Shame there aren't many of those criminal thugs on these floors… I'd pay to see that."

"Well, for the low, low price of 8,000 credits you just might!" Riah chirped happily.

"6,000." Santi added, hitting her in the shoulder behind the turian's back, angrily muttering at her and gesturing at the turian's cane. "That's the discount price." He winced as Riah returned his punch, making a crying gesture and then putting her hands over his breast in a crying gesture. He scowled and raised his fist to give her another punch before she raised her own, her luminescent eyes burning with defiance. They both flinched as the turian turned around and nodded.

"I'm sold," he said before opening his omni-tool and stepping over to Riah.

"Great," Riah forced her smile as she thought about that lost 2,000. "Now, I'll charge you while my partner activates the drone, it'll only take a few minutes."

"This'll make those vorcha think twice about robbing me." Old Erasnirus said happily, looking over at the drone as Santi began "waking" it.

"Mmhmmh," Riah agreed as she set up the transaction, "A few of our customers have already come in and told us about their drones stopping or preventing robberies or assaults in their stores. The Beturil sisters' drone broke some salarian's arm when the damn lizard tried to lift some lingerie from their store."

"Lingerie? Asari sisters?" Santi said as he inspected the now "live" drone, before shaking his head, "Uh, nevermind." He stepped back as the machine followed him off of its podium before opening his own omni-tool. "So, I'm sending you the instruction manual for your golem… there, uh, really shouldn't be any major problems that'll ever arise. When you take it to your shop just make sure to point out any friends or family members, people you aren't worried about stealing, or who take things from your shop and pay you later or something like that. Basically anyone you don't want getting attacked understand?"

"I understand kid," the old turian agreed, "What do I gotta do to maintain this thing? Does it need fuel or something?"

Riah tuned them out as the payment went through, a little squeal of happiness escaping her lips as those credits came rolling in. "Thank you for shopping with us," she began before walking away, leaving the human to talk to the old angry turian. As far as she was concerned the sale had already gone through and therefore, as the main salesgirl, didn't need to continue talking to him. Santi could buy the "old and crippled" sob story all he wanted; if rumors were true Old Erasnirus was a C-Sec reject that shot a few civilians during some incident on the Citadel and needed the cane when someone fought back in self-defense and shot off his kneecap.

So not only was he an insufferable old man, he was a dirty cop too.

And we let him go with a damn discount! A 25% one at that!

"You," she pointed as Santi came back, the turian and his new drone having left the store, "Are you going to cut into our profits every single time someone gives you an old sob story? What next, going to give discounts to pretty girls is flash you a nice smile?"

"Fuck off Riah," Santi had significantly less patience with her as time went on, something she secretly preferred over his previously shy attitude, "I'll give discounts to whoever I want. What are you going to do about it?"

He's got me there. She fumed, realizing once again that this entire partnership hinged on staying in his good graces. Nothing really stopped him from taking half of his money and leaving, starting a new business by himself except his relationship to her mother.

"You're costing us money." She said, turning away from him.

They stayed that way for around half an hour, their silent argument broken up only when a few people walked in and asked some questions, one of them promising to return tomorrow after he talked with his wife about buying one of their drones. After that, it was another long stretch of silence.

It was irritating, so Riah decided to speak up.

"So can all Gaians do that blood magic crap?"

Santi didn't answer, just tinkered away on some mechanical arm he had been working on all day.

"Huh?" she asked again.

"No," he answered gruffly, "Well, if the Gaian has blood they could use blood magic. Otherwise no."

"What?" Riah asked, "What in Rannoch's name does that even mean? If it the Gaian has blood," she repeated in a bad imitation of Santi. "Everything has blood in it."

She heard him sigh heavily, "Not everything on Gaia has blood. Faeries and other spirits don't have blood, natural golems don't have blood either… well, depending on the type. I'd guess flesh golems-"

Riah saw Santi look at her face, before shrugging.

"Yes. Gaians can. You just have to learn how to use it, like any other skills."

"Does it hurt?" she asked, remembering the sight of Santi's wrists exploding in violent gore.

"At first it did. When I was first learning I mean. That's the sign that you're learning it wrong, it's not supposed to hurt. Actually, like all Anima use, it feels good."

Riah scoffed, looking at his arms as she did so. "Are you telling me something that makes you feel good leave you exhaust-Oh, nevermind. I should have known. Typical of men."

An old rag hit her face, oil smearing across her visor.

"From what I hear from Saestzea you wouldn't know." Santi shot back.

"Are you hanging around with that slut?" Riah asked, worried that he was. She was trouble, sexual escapades aside, and could lead Santi into some bad roads through the men and women she sometimes associated herself with. One of the Turians she hung out with, Knives, was very territorial about her and since Saestzea lived near the two of them it could spell trouble for them if he decided to flex his territorial brute muscle.

"I notice that's not a denial."

"You didn't deny it either," she responded. "Didn't your mother teach you not to associate with those types of girls?"

"I agree, girls like Saestzea are nothing but trouble."

They both jumped at the new voice in the room, turning to see a very well dressed attractive young asari standing in their store, flanked by two other asari that scanned the room.

"Hello miss." Santi said in that tone of his that told Riah he wasn't thinking with his head. Riah went back to looking at the three women before she noticed that the two other asari had their hands in their pocket. Guns. She reached behind the counter and grabbed Santi's hand, causing him to momentarily glance her way. Luckily he wasn't as dense as he looked and immediately noticed something was off about the girls. Riah retracted her hand from his when she felt a trickle of blood touch her hands, sparing a quick look down showed a thin stream of blood floating around his hand. She also noticed that Tila and Fila were focused on the two asari. She suddenly wished she had a gun of her own. Damn mother wouldn't let her buy one.

"I'd listen to Riah if I were you Santi." The pretty asari said, slowly walking over to their counter in the most seductive way possible. Riah could smell her perfume and see her perfectly applied makeup, and up close Riah noticed a tattoo along her neck that marked her as one of the Upper Families. "In fact, it is quite fortuitous that you chose to associate yourself with Miss nar Moreh instead of Miss Edoix. Your mutual asari neighbor's known associates include several members of the Sylgatus Revelers."

Santi glanced at Riah. "They're a pro-turian speciests."

"Miss nar Moreh, on the other hand…" the asari trailed off as she walked over near Santi, her slender fingers gliding across the counter before coming to rest over the machine parts that Santi had been working on. She smiled, "Well, Miss nar Moreh is selfish and greedy, she sees you as a resource to exploit. And that's good and safe for you," she added. "That means she'll try to keep you as safe as possible so she can get as much money as she can out of you."

"What do you want?" Riah asked much more forcefully than she should from someone she was terrified of.

The asari locked eyes with Santi, "There are many things that I want, Miss nar Moreh, and many things that I'll get to enjoy… not today however. Today is all business." She reached into her coat, exposing more of her breasts than needed as she pulled out an old fashioned business card and handed it to Santi. "I'm here on behalf of the Upper Families, all of the Upper Families. I'm just here to deliver a message to you, Mister Santiago."

Riah saw Santi tense up beside her.

The asari held up a hand, "The Upper Families know who you are, or at least we know enough. But we've built up a reputation on this station; people come here when they want to disappear. When they want to hide from the outside world. We respect this. We wouldn't dream of ruining our hard earned reputation by selling you out. However, we do ask something of you in return. We want you to please refrain from selling your machines to certain unsavory elements aboard this station."

There was a silence after she spoke, Santi nodded and was about to open his mouth when Riah squeezed his hand again. "We weren't planning on selling anything to gangs, if that's what you mean. Or you."

"I'm both pleased and disappointed," she asari said. "Pleased that you won't sell to the undesirables aboard the station. The Upper Families have a hard enough time keeping them to manageable levels, and we've noticed sharp decreases in crime in shops that sport your mechanical sentinels. Disappointed that you've bought into the… misguided ideas Miss nar Moreh has about the Upper Families."

Riah's hands formed into fists, uncaring that she was hurting Santi in the process.

"Despite what you may have heard," she continued, "We are not monsters; we are not shadowy oppressors unsympathetic to those who live onboard our little home. We simply have a larger view; we see the bigger picture so that everyone on the lower floors doesn't have to." The asari looked Riah dead in the eyes as she spoke. "We worry so that they don't have to."

"I've heard similar stories," Santi surprised her with his harsh voice. "It didn't turn up good."

"As I said, I am disappointed. Hopefully you will grow to trust us in the future and we'll be able to negotiate a more intimate relationship." The asari replied smoothly before turning to leave. Riah felt her body relax before tensing up again as the asari abruptly turned around. "I forgot to mention… Miss nar Moreh. We are aware that you've been searching for a ticket away from our humble abode and would be sad to see you go. You are, after all, half the reason Mister Santiago and Miss Katja stay aboard the station. We'll remind you that many on the upper floors reached the heights they did due to… service to our community. You two, and your families, are always welcomed to join us. You have my card, Mister Santiago, you can call me if you have any problems that arise or if you simply want some company that truly appreciates you."

She turned away and walked out of the store, her hips swaying with each step. Her two asari bodyguards followed her out, their gazes locked with the large machines looming over the entrance. The only thing that they left behind was the smell of expensive perfume and danger.

Santi let out the breath he'd been holding, falling backwards into a nearby couch they'd dragged behind the counter, Riah followed him, collapsing in exhausting alongside him.

"Oh sweet Jesus," Santi muttered. "I don't think I've ever been as terrified without being threatened before."

Riah brought a hand up to her head as she tried to massage the headache away. "Keelah, believe me, we were threatened even if she didn't say it. I'm glad I'm wearing a portable restroom with me." She muttered.

Santi must have heard her, because he snorted and began laughing and making sounds of disgust. "Awww, you're right. You shit and piss in your clothing all day long don't you? Fuck." He stood up and made his way to the restroom.

Riah laughed at him.

Santi laughed through the closed door.

Riah waved her hand over the store, her omni-tool lighting up and shutting off the store's lights and switching the sign outside to read "Closed". Tila and Fila's eyes glowed in the darkness, the rumble of their engines calming her slightly.

"How fucked are we?" Santi said from behind the restroom door.

"Very." Riah said with no humor. "We're in deep now."

Riah shuddered, sinking into the couch and reaching for one of the blankets she'd brought from home, wrapping it around herself.

Fuck.