This is a work of fan fiction from all Mass Effect games owned by EA and Bioware. I do not claim any ownership of the characters or the Mass Effect universe. My thanks to Bioware and EA for creating an amazing story with characters we have all come to know and love.

Chapter 12: Pragia Prerogative

Garrus sat patiently on the cold steel crate. He knew she would come. Pragia was waiting, but she never missed a lesson. The past week he'd spent every moment with her, taking in her laughter and playful tones. He'd watched her spend countless hours struggling to keep her footing. Her hand-to-hand was improving, but there is only so much you can do when someone lacks true skill.

The visor in his hands was lighter than most; definitely built by human standards. He could feel his mandibles shift with a smile as he recalled the way she worried it wouldn't be done in time. The sway of her hips when she'd crossed her arms and set her eyes on his. He knew when she meant business, but it was hard to take her seriously.

The elevator stopped, and his chest tightened. The muted steps of her feet carried her slender frame toward him as she waved and smiled in her quirky way. "Alright, Vakarian, what's your big lesson for today?"

He reached out and handed her the piece of equipment, trying not to indulge in her fragrance, watching as her frail fingers inspected it closely. "First, I brought back your visor. It's now synced up with mine. All I do is turn on the kill-timer and we can track just how many enemies we take down. I figured it would keep you honest about your numbers."

"That's actually really awesome. Though you're going to be sorely disappointed."

And there it was. The thing he loved most. That spark of challenge she always gave him. "By your kill shots? I doubt it."

"Ha. Ha. He thinks he's funny. Okay, Garrus. Enlighten me."

He relished the sound of her voice, every altered pitch. Finished with adjusting her boots, she jogged up, coming to a stop with an airy bounce. The sarcastic gesture of clasping her hands behind her back and stiffening her posture did not go unnoticed. "Today, Ms. Shepard, we will be learning how to properly block and break. Now then, your goal is not toget hit. That's it."

"I'll give it my best."

He knew she would.

Rolling and stretching his neck, he tried to loosen his nerves. With her concentration solely on him, she swayed with arms up, hands balled into fists. Finding humor in her stance, he kept his smile contained, knowing she'd catch it.

He swung, certain to be caught - to boost her confidence, he told himself. Unclenching his fists, he made sure the gloves covered his talons before swiping at her shoulder. She deflected, put her hand over her lips, and mockingly yawned.

Shaking his head in response, he said, "I can see you're bored with this. What do you say we step it up a notch?"

"Please do." She slipped a hand into her back pocket and pulled out a small circular band.

As she swept her hair back, tying it up off of her neck, he was unable to ignore it any longer. The scent of earthly wildflowers hit him. She had recently showered. There was no trace of sweat or outside influences on the sweet smell.

She steadied her arms in front of her again. The grey tones in her eyes alert. He crouched lower and set the rhythm. She was over thinking the moves of his upper body and ignoring her footing. He took the opportunity, exploiting her ankle, upsetting her balance.

Floor grates vibrated as she hit on her knee, he snagged back her forearm harsher than he'd intended and circled behind her, reaching to gather her other wrist. A sharp jab to his side from her elbow kicked him back.

Released, she slid forward, scrambled to her feet, and primed for another go.

Pushing back, he initiated the next spar and tried to move faster. Tried to get her brain working. He admired the way she was able to switch gears, evading anything he threw at her. With little progress, he panted, "How is it, you know exactly where I'm going before I do?"

"You're slightly predictable, Garrus."

"Okay then. Step up your pace and start taking shots."

"Don't have to ask me twice."

Her grin seemed almost sinister as she slipped past his right. Another hard jab nailed his side. Someone really liked using her elbows today, he thought.

Straight away, he established his protection as she kept at him, getting quicker with each move, scooting closer with every throw. He understood the shift of her hips. She was going to kick. He gripped her knee, clutching it tight before it caught him. His hand slid under her thigh, pulling her to him, and he pressed against her. "You're predictable yourself..."

Her chest rose and fell with her breaths while her eyes appraised his. She said nothing. Dropping his grip, he watched her square defensive, but the stance told him it was different somehow.

He mixed it up with a flurry of punches and swipes. Every go, she'd dodge back and encroach forward. She was close. Uncommonly close. The wall against his back was a chilling realization. He was pinned.

Five fingers grappled the thin white of his shirt. The pressure on the back of his neck pulled him down to her. This was definitely something new.

"So how do you like feeling trapped?" she whispered.

He shouldn't have been surprised by the return of his own mockery. He needed a witty response and quick. Startled by the soft brush of her lips against his mouth, he froze. What was this? He fought to regain focus or his body was going to escape him shortly.

Ellure wasn't sure what to expect. He was rigid under her touch. Apparently turians weren't big on kissing. She had expected his mouth to feel more like the texture of stone, yet she found it smoothly refined. It may even be more flexible, but she would never know. He wasn't contributing at all with this.

As she pulled back, she detected a hint of metallic as she tensely sucked in her bottom lip, tasting the foreign element of his scent she could never place. "Sorry... You look like a deer in the headlights here, Garrus. Don't tell me you've never been kissed before."

"Well... uh... not exactly."

Great. Good job, Ell. She watched him rub the back of his neck. A sure sign she had overstepped her bounds. Now she was forced to patch this up. Examining him, she noted his mandibles were tight, his entire body statuesque. Her face became heated.

Oh, good. Thank you, human reaction of blushing for betraying me in my hour of need. This is a good time to make an exit. She increased her own oxygen intake, trying to simmer her embarrassment. "Okay, that's probably enough for today then. I need to be sure Jack and Tali are ready to go."

"You're taking Tali?"

Crap. I already promised to take him. Think, Ell, think. She started walking backwards. "Yeah, I know you were going to go, but after thinking about it more, I decided I should take Tali. Her and Jack seem to be getting along really well lately and it seemed like a good idea... for moral support."

"Of course. Here, don't forget your visor."

She patted his shoulder and tried to behave as she normally would. He appeared shell-shocked and lost all at once. "Thanks. And for the record, I won that one." She winked and retreated to the elevator, swinging her visor in hand.

Searching through the local overgrowth on the roof as a downpour engulfed them, Ellure took a moment to savor the scent of the rain as she gathered her thoughts.

Jack called her over to a ladder that stretched to an entrance. They climbed down, and Tali hacked through the security system of the abandoned building. The power was off, aside from a few dimmed security lights. Dried blood sporadically smeared the walls while darker stains pooled across the floor. Fragments of glass amongst deep green vines weaved over the tiles.

"I can't believe how different it looks." Jack's voice quivered as her boots clinked on the flooring. "Fuck, this place smells like death. Let's get this shit over with."

Tali stopped short. "Varren. They died recently."

She readied her rifle, switching on the meager flashlight attached to the barrel and shining it down the stairwell. "Alright. Looks like we're going to have company. Keep your eyes peeled."

Tali said, "Sounds painful."

She raised her eyebrow with disbelief. "It's just an expression."

"I know." Tali giggled.

At the end of the stairs, they found another locked door and a console. Ellure provided visual while Tali set to work decoding an encrypted message. The hologram projector whined. "Bosh'tet," Tali muttered and slapped the side till a video feed of a Cerberus worker hovered to life.

Judging from the implications of the recording, the facility had gone rogue and hid their experiments from Cerberus and the Illusive Man. They were bringing in any human children exposed to Eezo they could get their hands on to pose as test subjects?

Tali finished breaking into the next door, and they warily proceeded through the long corridor. Jack paused, glancing in a few small cells branching off the passageway. "I don't remember this place."

Ellure was front and center as they reached the end of the hall. She scanned the area. Edged nerves held tight on her voice. "It's a morgue... How could anyone do this to children? What kind of sick individuals take innocent lives for nothing more than research?"

Jack gaped at the medical tables and metallic rectangular boxes. "This is bullshit. I had the worst of it."

Tali said, "We know it wasn't easy for you Jack, but maybe there was more going on here than you realize. You were only a little girl."

Murmurs and hisses from the next entryway sparked her attention. She switched off her flashlight. "Cover."

Jack hunkered beside her as two vorcha entered the room, their feet two tiles away. Tali dropped across from them behind a coffin, and a purple engineering ball magically appeared on the other side of the room. The vorcha cautiously approached the illumination.

Breathe in. She sniped one in the back of the head. Jack and Tali shot down the second. Chiktikka dissipated and they held to their positions. With no other sounds to fill the dead of the air, they pressed forward down the next hall. The flashing glow of Jack's ear piece stopped beside her. "It's this way." Jack said.

Snaking their way through the hollowed maze, Ellure could make out the scant light of an entrance, two chairs with restraints in the center, a wall length mirror, and a window covered from more overgrowth. Jack halted and said, "That's it."

Tali knelt over another console till it forfeited a facility scientist, explaining of failed tests on several "subjects". Their primary goal was to enhance Subject Zero without risking any injury to her.

Jack stared at an arm restraint. "What? They weren't experimenting on the other children for my safety."

She said, "You can't help what they did to the others. You were just a kid yourself."

"You don't get it. I survived this place because I was tougher than the rest. That's who I am."

She watched the confusion in Jack's eyes. "Then you move on, harder and tougher."

Tali finished decoding a final message taken the day of Jack's breakout. Before the transmission was cut off, the man in the image suggested transportation to another facility.

"Shepard! They started up somewhere else." Jack's face expressed deep horror.

"Ascension is an Alliance program. It's just a school for biotic kids, they don't torture children there."

Jack relaxed her shoulders. "None of this is the way I remember it."

"You were very young and there was a lot going on."

"There's my old cell. Let's just blow this place to hell and get out of here."

Ellure said, "Ready, Jack?"

"Hell, yes."

Tali rigged the bomb and handed Jack the cylindrical detonator. She wrung her hands while glancing from her to Jack. "We should probably clear out of here."

"Let's move out." Backtracking to the morgue, they stumbled upon a krogan searching the bodies of vorcha on the other side of the room. Before she could reposition, his eye turned to the side.

He rumbled, "We've been breached."

Humming vibrations echoed the room, and Jack flung him to the wall. Tali raised her shotgun and blasted a hole through his breastplate. They sprinted back through the hall as shots ricocheted from behind.

Dashing up the stairs and jumping dead varren, Jack fell and streamlined through scraping glass. Ellure yanked the girl to her feet and clambered out the entrance while Tali circled, snapped her shotgun onto her lower back, and dropped by the door. She pushed Jack toward the ladder and halted. "Tali, there's no time. Just get on the Kodiak."

Tali was fervently typing into her Omni-tool. "Go."

"Tali! Now!"

The door lock flashed to red.

"Keelah!"

They scrambled up the ladder and rushed the rooftop, hurdling oversized vines. Jack extended her bloodied arm, pulling them up into the vessel, and she skidded into the cockpit to flip the ignition. The Kodiak revved to life as Tali buckled in while Jack slammed the side door down with her good hand and shrunk into the bench. The detonator lid flicked open and shut to the beat of her pulse.

Touring above the treetops, Ellure peered around the back of her chair, nodding to Tali, who brought up her Omni-tool. "Approaching max distance..." Tali paused. "Clear."

The detonator lid stopped.

The vessel rocked violently. Her hands rattled on the steering as she watched the blast radius on the radar beating closer. Never breaking away from the controls, she said, "What the hell did you put in that thing?"

Tali's voice chimed proudly. "Everything it needed to be effective."

The port observation opened, and Shepard crossed the threshold without speaking a word and started scavenging the bar. Kasumi wrapped her arms around her knees. Never being one to keep thoughts to herself, she chose to investigate. "Everything okay, Shep?"

"I'd rather not talk about it." Shepard downed her concoction and plopped her head on the bar, tapping her glass.

"Talk about what?" Kasumi's interest was on the rise.

"If I told you that, it would be me talking about it." Shepard grabbed two bottles of liquor and a glass and promptly left.

She followed her for a moment, stopped to lean against the doorway, and watched her to the letter. As Shepard disappeared into the elevator, Thane stepped out of life support and followed her gaze. "What is wrong with Shepard?" he said attentively.

Kasumi laid her fingers to rest under her bottom lip. "I'm not sure. She never said anything. That's unusual for her. She's generally very open with me, almost like a sister."

"Sometimes even sisters have their secrets."

Ellure kicked off her boots and stripped down to her boyshorts. "EDI, lock the door."

"Yes, Commander."

She walked over to the fish tank and bumped her forehead against the glass. What the hell was I thinking?

After feeding the aquatics, she slipped Vermin out of his cage, turned her music up excessively loud, and sat on the floor with her back against the base of the couch. She tried to shake the images of day; the hauntingly dark aura of Pragia, and the image of Garrus' rattled expression.

How was she going to fix this one? The last thing she wanted to do was make him uncomfortable with her. No, it was obvious that he was only interested in their friendship now. This was nuts to even consider. She had a job to do, and here she was worrying about her lack of a love life. Pathetic. No one wants to be alone, but some of us are meant to be, she thought.

The hamster scampered over her thigh while she began mixing the red and blue liquids on her coffee table. Tonight it was going to be her personal mini bar. She was planning on staying here for a while. "Thank you, Vermin. You're the quietest company I've had in some time." She stroked his silky brown fur and savored the bite of her drink.

Time was a thief of epic proportions, but she picked herself up off the floor, rubbing at the throb in her head. Ellure gathered up her half diminished bottles and placed them on the desk as she checked her terminal. For the first time since her drunken visit with Chakwas, EDI hadn't woken her up. Although, she did turn off the music.

She glanced over her shoulder at the shelf in the back corner above her desk. "Crap. Where did he go?"

She crawled on her hands and knees and began the search. With no luck around the desk, she trekked down the steps and checked under the couch. Digging her elbows into the carpet, she scuttled the corner and peeked under the second half of the couch.

"Am I... interrupting something?"

She looked behind her to find Thane leaning against the wall at the top of the stairs. Quickly remembering she was almost completely naked, she scrambled to grab a sheet off the bed and bundle up. "Yes." she said, combing her hair out of her eyes. "Vermin is missing. I fell asleep and forgot to put him back in his cage."

"Perhaps I can be of help. I did promise you I'd keep an eye on your space hamster. However, I expected it would be keeping Grunt from having a late night snack." He smirked roguishly while he tilted his head as though evaluating her sanity from head to toe.

She pointed toward the back wall. "You can start on that side and I'll meet you in the middle... Oh, right... I'll be back in one second." She grabbed fresh clothes from her locker and slinked into the bathroom.

She brushed her hair, washed her face, and polished her teeth. Looking at her reflection, she realized there was no point in fixing herself up. No matter what, she was going to look like she was up all night drinking. Probably because she did.

Pushing the door open, she watched Thane stalking beside her armor locker. He held a finger up to his lips as he looked at her. Soundlessly, he crouched low to the ground and slipped his green hands behind the nightstand. Cupping them together, he walked over and handed her the renegade hamster.

With astonished relief, she said, "Thank you, Krios. You just saved me a lot of time spent searching." She immediately placed Vermin back into his cage.

Thane watched her replace the white bed sheet and straighten it painstakingly. "I ran into Goto."

"Ah. So that's why you're here." She sat on the edge of the bed and sharpened her gaze at him. "Look. I don't know what she said, but it's none of your business either."

"No offense, but I wasn't going to ask. I just wanted to check in on you to be sure that you did not drown." He nodded toward the bottles on her desk.

"I'll be fine. How did you get in here?"

"The quarian lent me her assistance."

Ellure sighed and slipped on her boots. "Well, thanks for coming to check on me. I'm overdue for my rounds." Walking with Thane to the elevator, she swallowed hard. It was time to face the day, whether she wanted to or not.

Ellure hesitated against the kitchen counter. She wasn't sure what to tell Garrus about the day before. He was obviously unsettled by her actions, because she had horribly misread his behavior. You know what assuming does, she told herself.

Kelly and Jacob eyed her as they ate their lunch. The longer she stood there, the more suspicious people would be. Her palms began sweating as she reached the end of the hall. It was time to wing it. She opened the door. "How's it going, Garrus?"

He turned around and leaned back on the console. "Same as always." His eyes were piercing as he stepped closer. Unreservedly, his hand reached for her chin, and he turned her face to one side and then the other. "You look like hell. Have you been drinking?"

She scoffed as he let go. "What would make you think that?"

"Your eyes are all red, and you're late."

She fidgeted her hands before shifting her stance and crossing her arms with a defensive shrug. "So what if I was?"

"Well you wouldn't drink alone, unless you were upset about something."

"I'm fine. I wanted to apologize for yesterday. What I did was cheating."

Garrus rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, I guessed you were up to something. Don't worry about it."

"Okay… Well, I need to get down to engineering still... I'll see you later." She tensed a smile.

"I'll be here if you need me."

Gracing the drive core with her presence, she found Gabby and Donnelly bickering away and stopped to see Tali, not wanting to interrupt the unknown squabble. She propped an elbow on the back corner of the control panel and curiously watched six fingers typing away. "I hear you're my mischievous hacker today. It's bad enough Joker and EDI are always meddling, but you, Tali? Really?"

Tali wrung her hands. "When Thane came by and asked, I couldn't help myself."

"Yes, he can be rather convincing I suppose."

"Yeah, that's what it was..."

Donnelly said, "I hope he doesn't stop by here too often. Gabby and Tali can't seem to focus on their duties."

Gabby's eyes shot daggers at Donnelly. "Oh? When exactly are you so busy? I'm pretty sure you spend most of your time gawking over Tali all day."

Tali touched her fingers to the top of her helmet anxiously. "Yes that does get a bit disturbing sometimes."

Donnelly gave Gabby an impish grin. "I enjoy watching her work. She's very good. I'm always impressed by her skills with the drive core."

She shook her head. "You three need to focus. I don't want us bursting into a ball of flames with Garrus' upgrades to our weapon systems." Turning back to Tali, she continued, "Promise me you won't be so easily swayed next time. I am impressed that you managed to get around EDI. Save those talents for other times though." She patted Tali's shoulder and left to see Jack.

At the bottom of the ship, she found the girl lying on her cot, under the deck, in the darkest corner.

"Hey, Shepard."

Ellure hitched her hip on the table across from her. "How's the arm?"

Jack lifted it up to reveal the bandages wrapped tightly from wrist to elbow. "The arm is fine. Chakwas already fussed over it."

"Feeling any better about things? No bugs crawling around in there I hope?"

"Yeah... no... I don't know."

She rubbed her eyes with her thumb and index finger. "Jack. We need you to pull it together. Don't let anything you discovered down there linger on your conscience. Instead, take what you've learned and find a way to turn it around for the better. You are meant for greater things. Things that are more remarkable than pirating, gangs, and vandalism."

"What would you know about any of that? And why the fuck do you care?" Jack sat upright and leaned on her knee.

"I know more about it than you think. I care about you, Jack - whether you like it or not - you're stuck with me. You may not be happy with having someone in your corner, but it's time you got used to the idea. You have more friends on this ship than you know. Don't shut them out."

Jack's eyes hardened as she looked away. "Yeah. Maybe you're right. It's just something that takes getting used to."