Nihlus knows something is wrong the moment he sees Archangel go still over the dead krogan brother. It's only a split second before Archangel jumps to his feet, nearly tripping over the krogan between his feet as he stumbles almost drunkenly towards the wall of the alley, leaning on both hands …

And promptly vomiting the entirety of his stomach's contents all over the pile of already damp trash that's been forced against the wall by passersby.

Nihlus' nose twitches as the harsh scent of old blood and stomach acid adds itself to the usual, pungent smell of Omega's dark and dirty corners. Hearing Archangel dry heaving, vocals raspy and disjointed in upset, Nihlus collapses his shotgun and reholsters it against his lower back. He moves to his own dropped target, looking over the krogan's bullet ridden corpse.

The brother didn't take too much more damage than any regular krogan - less even than the mercs Nihlus usually deals with - but the two being brothers, in a cramped alley, and Archangel barely able to hold a weapon added to the difficulty. Add to that some grenades and Nihlus is just surprised that the Nocturni decided to take it as a perfect time to test out his new body's capabilities. He's not complaining, not when it left only the single krogan to worry about, but a bit of a heads up would have been preferable just in case Nihlus didn't throw more of his own grenades into the fight because those could definitely do some damage.

They're meant for a Nocturni's denser plates and hide, and with Archangel wearing nothing but a disgustingly stained bed sheet, it wouldn't end well. Archangel would live, Nihlus is sure, but it'd take a good amount of time for him to get back on his feet. That, and a massive amount of blood to feed on to regain strength.

Crouching down, Nihlus begins to pat down the krogan brother previously holding the OSD, checking for pockets. He first checks the compartment from which the krogan originally pulled it out, but comes up empty. A continued check still finds nothing and Nihlus starts to growl in frustration until he hears Archangel approach.

"Here," he says, holding Nihlus' assault rifle. "Check under the body."

Archangel crouches down as Nihlus shifts enough to reholster his collapsed assault rifle onto his back. The Nocturni grabs the krogan's shoulder and hip, getting a good enough hold to flip and toss the body aside and out of the way. He leaves Nihlus to check among the trash and orange krogan blood for the small OSD, standing and moving to lean back against the wall. It's obvious Archangel's gizzard is still twisting and sure to have thrown anything up had there been anything left.

Nihlus doesn't care that the other male doesn't help. He figures it's probably for the best because he has a big suspicion that it's less the kill and more the scent and sight of blood getting to Archangel. If Nihlus has learned anything about Nocturni as a whole, it's that they're more sensitive to the smells of what they see as 'prey scents,' leaving Archangel in a position of knowing what his senses are picking up on is wrong to want and that predatory urge that hasn't completely been erased in normal turians.

Nothing like being forced to deal with his new life by being coated in the blood of a krogan he's killed with his bare hands. I just hope he sticks to his resolve, still sees being a Nocturni as a curse instead of gift.

It takes a bit, but Nihlus manages to find the OSD wedged into something slimy and clumped together from the krogan's blood. He plucks it out and uses the bottom edge of his chestplate to scrape off the pieces of unknown substance. Standing, he finishes cleaning it with his gloved palm before holding it up for Archangel to see.

"Think the blood damaged it?" Archangel asks as he approaches.

Shaking his head, Nihlus slips the OSD into a pouch on the belt on his thigh before motioning out of the alley with his hand. "These high grade OSDs usually come well equipped with physical protection as well as programming. It's dirty, but I doubt there's anything really wrong with it."

Archangel hums, looking down as the two make their way back down the district towards the quarian armorer's shop. Nihlus takes the silence and distracted Nocturni to take a good look at the massive male.

He certainly looks like any other Nocturni, with his jagged - almost unnaturally sharp - plates across his chest, back, and shoulders and even the smaller plates scattered across every turian's body have elongated, growing into spines at seem to flex easily enough not to constantly get in the way. Nihlus has never been able to see a Nocturni nude before, but he doubts Archangel looks more primal than the others - especially Cydian as the 'mother' - so being able to get a glance earlier of one as well as now under nothing but a sheet has been enlightening.

Seeing what lies beneath a Nocturni's clothes or armor gives Nihlus a sense of relief that he isn't going out and fighting them without armor of his own. He definitely wouldn't be able to cut it fighting a Nocturni nude and bare handed.

Archangel must feel Nihlus' attention because he looks up and to him, rumbling in question. He doesn't seem outright offended to catch Nihlus staring, but perhaps that has more to do with the obvious weight of exhaustion wrapped around the Nocturni.

"You okay?" Nihlus asks, humming in legitimate concern for the other male. While Archangel is a Nocturni, it's not like he should be made to suffer. Especially when he's chosen to try and fight against everything that Nihlus thinks of Nocturni, to show that he has control over his now heightened hunger. Archangel's brows lower a moment and Nihlus adds "Back there" with a tilt of his head over his shoulder.

"Back …" Archangel pauses as understanding dawns and his mandibles pull tight to his jaw. "No. Not really." He sighs and his mandibles fall slack. "It's not like I can do anything about it though."

Mulling that over as they approached the closed again workshop, Nihlus nods softly. "Yeah … Jai seems to think she can provide you with enough supplies to feed. Might have to expedite her plans though after … that."

"She … told you her name?" Archangel seems stunned, even a bit confused, but cuts off any vocals beginning to take form with a snap of his mandibles to his jaw. "Okay …. Of course you'd need to know if we're working together," he says, seemingly more to himself than Nihlus, as he walks to the corrugated metal door and gives it the knocking pattern from before.

In the short silence after the knock and before the loud raising of the door, Nihlus rumbles softly. "Name's Nihlus, by the way."

"Yeah, I know," Archangel says as he looks towards Nihlus with a slight shrug. "You're a pretty recognizable Spectre." He huffs, obviously forcing a lighter tone to his voice. "But thanks for making it official."

"I take it you're not going to tell me your name beyond Archangel," Nihlus says more than asks, but he doesn't get a response as the door begins to rise with a piercing screeching. Nihlus winces and steps back just to try and put some more distance from the noise, but it doesn't help all that much.

"Well, well," the quarian armorer says, head jerking back and forth and he takes in the two turians and lowers his shotgun. "Decide saving some time wasn't worth the trouble?" He snorts, shaking his head once before stepping back and motioning Nihlus and Archangel to enter. "I don't blame you. Big and ugly as you are, I doubt you'd be takin on any krogan in that."

Archangel doesn't react to the insult - even as passing as it was - and tilts his head towards Nihlus, passing on the quarian's attention to him. The man's skeptical expectation is plain even without Nihlus being able to completely see through the stained glass of the man's helmet. Nihlus flicks his mandibles, humming at the man's pushy attitude - though not too surprised after all he's seen on Omega - and reaching to the pocket on his thigh with the OSD.

"I want to make sure the deal is still on," he says, retrieving the OSD, but holding it out of the quarian man's reach. "If this is the right OSD, then you're going to have the armor done by tomorrow."

"Yeah, yeah." Annoyance laces the man's tone and he snatches the OSD from Nihlus as soon as he lowers it within reach. "Got to make sure you're not conning me." He steps back into his workshop, stopping to look between Nihlus and Archangel. "Don't just stand there. I'm not leaving the damn door open, not in this district."

Nihlus nods in understanding, but doesn't respond as he follows Archangel into the cluttered, dark workshop. He steps over to a large machine that looks like it could be what manufactures the armor based off of the schematics on the OSD. He doesn't know much about armor making, but he's heard that smaller, freelance companies use setups like this. If it's fast enough to construct in hours, than it might have cost a fortune.

At least he hopes it's as good as the man's trying to make it seem.

The quarian drops his shotgun onto a workbench piled high with small parts and datapads with a loud bang, freeing his hands to move to a terminal in the corner of the shop behind the large machine Nihlus has found. Nihlus isn't all that surprised that the man would be skeptical and suspicious given the difficult odds they would have seemingly had with the krogan brothers, but he does drum his gloved talons on the machine when the man decides on more than a passing glance to check the authenticity of the OSD.

Finally, the quarian armorer huffs a disbelieving laugh as he continues to look through the contents of the OSD on his terminal. "I don't believe it …. You actually managed to get it back." He flicks off the terminal and slips the OSD into his suit before turning back to the turians, saying, "I don't know how you got it-"

"We killed the brothers," Archangel says, interrupting the man as he approaches from the other end of the small workshop. When the quarian cocks his head to the side, the Nocturni sighs and motions Nihlus with a hand. "He has really good weapons … and explosives."

Nihlus understands what Archangel is hinting at and nods. The last thing they want is to have the man spend all night questioning their methods and trying to use the possibility the krogan are alive to interfere with his job. "Lots of explosives. And they were drunk and unarmored, so it wasn't all that difficult."

The man is quiet as he looks at Nihlus, eyes narrowing as he seems to think the story over. Just as he's sure Archangel is about to speak judging from the Nocturni's soft, yet annoyed growl, the man finally nods. "Alright, fine. If you say they're dead and not a problem, then they're not a problem." He shrugs and moves towards a second workbench with some fabric folded up on top of it. "I'll hear soon enough …."

"Is there anywhere I can get an undersuit? Or a few clothes?" Archangel hums as he looks around the workshop. "It doesn't look like you make anything but the armor itself."

"And you're right," the man says with a grunt, turning to lean his hip against the workbench, crossing his arms. "I have a guy …. I can get you undersuits from the scan I took of you. Might be able to make you some clothes, but he doesn't seem like he's into all that fancy fashion shit." He shrugs and adds, "If that's what you're after, you'd have to go someplace else."

"No," Archangel says. "I just need something basic to get around in. The least conspicuous, the better actually."

Snorting, the quarian opens his omni-tool. "Then he's who you're lookin for. I'll send him a ping, but he's not one to greet you personally." The man glances at Nihlus before looking back to Archangel. "You'd have to order through my terminal … but you better not break anything."

The Nocturni flicks a mandible in slight offense, but nods. "I won't take long."

"Good," the quarian says, walking back to his terminal. "Soon as you're out of here, I'll start up the machines. They're too loud and I'm not going to be responsible for you goin deaf." He looks at Archangel over his shoulder, hands pausing about the keyboard. "Already have enough trouble gettin your armor out without complaints about the noise."

When the quarian steps aside to let Archangel search through the terminal, he comes to Nihlus. "You gonna pay for his gear? Because I need to see some kind of guarantee you're going to pay." He scoffs and crosses his arms, turning to watch Archangel's back. "He's a big bosht …. Not too many people I can sell it to when you cheat me out of my credits."

"You'll get your credits," Nihlus says and though he doesn't really want to pay for Archangel's things, pulls a credit chit from a more hidden pocket on his armor. Archangel can always pay him back later. Nihlus is pretty damn sure the Nocturni has to have some kind of stash somewhere on this damn station. "But only half right now."

"You're going to have to pay me for Teret's work too. He won't deal in person."

"Teret you're 'guy?'" Nihlus rumbles in interest, lifting a brow plate, and watches as the quarian twitches enough to glance his way before back to Archangel.

"Yeah …." The quarian crosses his arms. "I'm not sayin anything more about him. He likes his privacy."

"Fair enough," Nihlus agrees, not really caring to know much more. He isn't out to buy clothes - on Omega, of all places - and if this arrangement cuts out one more person to have to deal with, then he's fine with it.

Archangel pauses at the terminal, his shoulders hunching before shifting with a deep breath. He types in one last command before stepping back and looking to the armorer and Nihlus.

"You finally done?" The man says loudly, though it hadn't truly been all that long. When Archangel nods and lets the man get to his terminal, the quarian jabs his fingers onto the keyboard before huffing. "Alright, so get out." He doesn't look to them as he hits another command and the door begins to open with that loud squeal. "Come back tomorrow."

"How long?" Archangel shouts over the noise, his voice barely audible to Nihlus.

Nihlus doesn't hear the response, but the Nocturni must because he gives a nod and leaves the man to meet Nihlus on the way out of the workshop.

There isn't much said between the two of them as they make the long journey back to where Archangel has taken Jai. Nihlus can tell just by the look of the district and ache in his neck that it's late. He's exhausted, sore, and needs a good stress relief to wash away the entire day. He also realizes that, after all that's happened today, he hasn't taken any steps towards finding Cydian.

He's actually gotten further from his goal with this new development, this new Nocturni.

When they reach Archangel's safehouse, it's becomes immediate that there's something wrong the moment the door slides open. He doesn't immediately know what as he steps into the apartment, but he suddenly picks up the soft, gasping sounds coming from the bed.

"Jai?" Archangel nearly hisses, trilling in confused panic as he shoves Nihlus aside and moves up the steps into the bedroom.

Unpacking and getting the apartment to any sort of semblance of a new home took less time than she'd have expected. She was still riding the high of adrenaline from the entire night, no real rest since Archangel first stumbled into the clinic half dead almost an entire day before, but she could feel that energy draining by the minute.

Although she wants to wait up for the other two to get back, sure they won't be gone all night, Jai gets into something more comfortable and climbs into the bed. Jimmu is not far behind, taking full advantage of the larger bed to be choosey of his sleeping spot. He lays at the foot of her bed, attention on the door, but she can still feels his warmth against her side, so she doesn't urge him to move.

Once she lowers the lights and pulls the blankets up to her chest, her limbs fall limp on the bed with a sudden weight from the long day. She takes what must be her first deep breath of the day as she looks up at the ceiling, watching the ambient light of the apartment's appliances reflected on it. She closes her eyes in attempt to lose track of the differences of this place from her old apartment.

This is your apartment now, Jai ….

She'd be the first to admit that her apartment was cramped and full of its fair share of maintenance problems, but it was hers. She had worked hard to find and provide a home for herself and Jimmu. On Omega, that wasn't always an easy thing to do, but she stuck to it, kept focused on her goals, and worked hard at the clinic to afford that little apartment of hers. Even the furniture, sparse as it was, had come from her own credits, her hard earned money.

And now it's gone …. I can never go back there ….

Jai's brows furrow and she exhales a heavy sigh, reminding herself she's trying to calm down, not work herself up with thinking what ifs and what could have beens. Forcing her expression to relax, she forces herself to just imagine nothing and not listen for outside noise. She notices the apartment smells nicer than her old one, but quickly squashes down that thought because it's not going to help her calm the few remaining nerves.

Instead, she focuses her thoughts on deep, calming breaths and imagining nothing but the color black behind her closed eyelids. If she doesn't let her mind wander, than she won't be stuck awake lamenting the facts of today that she will never be able to go back and change.

Part of her doesn't even want to go back and change things. She doesn't regret anything that she did today, is honored that Archangel trusted her to come for help, and she knows she wouldn't have wanted it to happen differently just to save her from the stress. The whole reason she came to Omega was to get to a life where she could bury herself in helping others because she couldn't help herself.

A sudden sound snaps her out of her forced mental concentration and she jumps, gasping lightly as her eyes open. She sits up and looks around the apartment, heart pounding for fear that someone has found her, but when she looks to Jimmu, he seems more interested in her reaction than any possible sound. His calm demeanor relaxes her enough that she lets out a deep breath she'd been holding and reaches out to pet his back.

"Okay … I'm just jumpy," she says more to herself than him as she rubs her eyes and yawns.

Then she hears it again … a murmur of sound that might as well be blared through stadium sized speakers with how it sends an icy spear through her veins because she knows it shouldn't be here.

Her eyes widen at the sound of whispered groans and wordless, hushed talking. Dropping her hands to ball at the sheets, Jai looks around the apartment, heart pounding as her chest clenches. Jimmu must notice the desperate shift because she feels him shift and move to her side, shoving himself in her lap, but she can't stop staring at the walls and ceiling, entranced by the nightmarish shadows playing across the surfaces of the apartment.

"Oh God …" she whispers, throat constricting as she pants for air that won't fill her lungs.

Screams echo through the room and Jai throws her hands to her ears, eyes burning with hot tears as she pulls her knees closer. She gasps a sob as she feels an urgent nipping at her hands, followed by the rough but insistent pawing of Jimmu's feet at her arms. Shivering, Jai drops her arms and immediately wraps them around Jimmu, clinging to him to keep from drowning.

She's too weak from the day to fight the things she knows aren't there, the horrors that are just in her head and not griping at her clothes or hair, and can only hold onto Jimmu, her strength. She's losing against the demons in her mind and she clings to him, crying into his fur as she trembles and flinches from each wordless hiss or growl from the monsters in her head.

"Jai?" A panicked voice cuts through the torrent of noise and she can almost imagine some of those inner demons scampering from something new, their numbers lessening though not freeing her completely.

She feels more than hears Jimmu growl in her arms and she whimpers in shock. Jimmu has never reacted to the things she hears and sees, but if he has now ….

There's something about the soft rumbling of thunder around her that calms the storm of voices and shadows, of grasping claws and gnashing teeth. She soothes Jimmu, not wanting him to scare away that sense of comfort and control breaking through the raging thoughts. Jimmu takes a moment, but he relaxes in her arms, pressing himself into her hug.

She gasps, tensing in fear when warmth wraps itself around her, but it's different this time and that difference calms her. That comforting sound floods her mind and she can feel life around her instead of that overwhelming death. Someone guides her back down into bed, Jimmu held close and burrowed under the blankets, but she grasps at them when they try to leave her.

They may have helped fight back the horrors, but she still wants them near for when her demons return.