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MEFF: Project Darwin Chapter 21

A/N: Here's another long one.. they all seem to be long ones now :) I hope you all enjoy and please let me know what you think!

*FOR LOVE OF CHOCOLATE*

I fidgeted as we sat in the shuttle, waiting for it to be time to go. The four designated as 'ambush backup' – Dorian, Carver, Isis, and Josh – had gone ahead over an hour ago to stake out the warehouse landing site and be there in hiding in case anything went wrong.

Dorian had wanted to be part of Lordre's escort – me, Wes, Adria, and James – but the Salarian wanted us looking tough and scary, intimidating. With how beat up Dorian was, Lordre assumed others would see that as an easier target. But Lordre did want the four of us he'd first met to be involved in the job, so Dorian relented, especially since his Cellmate would be with him.

"Stop it Meg," Wes admonished quietly.

I frowned, then sighed, dropping my left arm. I hadn't even realized I'd been rubbing my right arm again. But I couldn't help it – it was itchy, and I felt weird without the bandages, self-conscious. Lordre had wanted to know what they were covering and since they were fairly healed already, I hadn't much minded showing him. His eyes had got real big and his blinking rapid as he looked over the severe slashes.

And Adria had declared that they were healed enough for me to lose the bandages, let them 'air out' as she put it. Lordre had been nice enough to provide us with some medical supplies for us to take back to the shuttle. It was good for everyone previously and recently injured to get some treatment. Adria handled the most serious injuries, having a medical background.

I actually kind of … hid while the others were treated… I don't do well with other people's hurts, at least not when it comes to really treating them. I get the heebie-jeebies seeing some of them, and blood still freaks me out a bit. Somehow I still manage to be an OCD germaphobe. Except with my Cell. They don't bother me, like my family didn't… luckily Wes is still fine and 'hid' with me, keeping an arm around my shoulders so I wouldn't feel too bad.

My puncture wound was also healing nicely, but still kept a square of bandage and wrap to avoid complications, like pulling on it and reopening it. My arm just got a light cleaning and fresh medigel. I looked at my arm again, twisting it around – the worst injuries I've had so far (along with my stomach of course - yeeg) – so even after everything I've seen it's a bit weird to look at.

Back home I'd never had any serious injury, just some super bruises, cat scratches, and burns from working fast food.

The slashes were red and scabbed over, the skin inflamed and puffy. Not nasty looking, but not pretty either. It would be quite tender to the touch if I didn't have it numbed, which is why I was able to rub it without thinking 'OW!'. But I could feel it just enough for it to itch. Ugh.

My own injuries have never bothered me – I actually find them rather fascinating, watching how they heal, how to make them stop bleeding, or at least slow it down, the progression of the hurt setting in… yeah, I'm odd, and I'm not sure when that particular trait got started. Having a high pain threshold helps too.

But my arm didn't hurt. It was clean, no infections, though it would definitely be leaving some scars. Just not sure how severe those will be, given our boosted healing capabilities.

Wes' cuff beeped three times and he stood, pulling me up with him, "Time to go."

Our group – the four of us plus Loran, who was tagging along to hang out at Lordre's shop – rechecked our equipment and headed out. Each of us now had two weapons, our extras scavenged from the streets of Omega. I still had my pistol and had taken a shotgun as my backup. That had gotten me some raised eyebrows, but I just shrugged:

"It's the only other gun I have any experience with." Very limited experience, mind you.

"And it's good for hitting people with." That they understood. I like hitting things.

"Greetings! Meisin is inside; I will retrieve him!" Lordre's partner – cousin, I think – greeted us as we arrived while he was closing up the front of the shop and ducked inside.

"He called him 'Meisin', I thought his name is 'Lordre'," Loran commented.

"Salarians go by either of two names, clan or given. 'Lordre' is his clan name, 'Meisin' is his given name," James explained, "I suppose members of the same clan would find it odd to call each other the same name."

"Ah, okay. Kinda like Japanese people."

"Uh – yeah, sure, why not?"

While they talked I was flattening my hair again, or trying to, wanting it to at least be a little under control. I was afraid it was impossible without a good cleaning and a tough brush, but I could try –

"What are you doing back here?" an angry female voice demanded.

Crap. We turned from facing the shop to see an Asari headed for us. But not the same Asari as had been with Thoros earlier, though she was wearing the Nebula Nine armor and such. This one had a more intricate design across her forehead and cheeks and was a darker blue. And I got the feeling she's more important than the others Thoros had been patrolling with earlier. Like a sub-boss.

She reached us, continuing to glare suspiciously.

"You're not supposed to be here, Humans," she sneered.

"They are here per my request, Ashanu, not to bother you," came Lordre's answer as he joined us.

"And what do you want with them?" she demanded, facing him but keeping us in her peripheral.

"They're here to help me with that problem I kept coming to you about, and they were willing to do it for a much lower cost than you and Thoros wanted," Lordre snapped impatiently, "They will not be here long so there is no need for you to interfere."

The Asari's eyes moved over us as she considered, lingering on my talon-slashed arm before returning to Lordre, "Thoros will hear of this, but it can keep until I get back. But know, if they cause any trouble we will retaliate."

"But of course."

With that, Ashanu gave us one last glare and resumed her patrol, or whatever it was she was doing. Man, all the Asari here were so different than sweet little Mayla on Elysium…

"Uh, how'd she know who we are?" James asked.

"Our tattoos, I would assume, and our outfits," Wes answered with a shrug.

"We do kind of stand out," Adria added, "Even amongst all this… chaos."

"Quite," Lordre agreed, then looked to me and Adria, "Ah, I brought these out for you. Perhaps you could use them for your hair?"

He held out two red, wide cloth ribbons. Adria and I took them gratefully.

*He's giving you a hair ribbon?* Wes asked, his eyebrow slightly raised.

*I think he's worried the crazy mass will obstruct our view* I answered as I yanked my hair back and up a bit, and Wes actually tied the ribbon for me – no bow of course, just a crisscross with a knot thing – and Adria just tied hers loosely behind her neck.

Lordre nodded in approval and then we left the market, the Salarian leading the way with us four Subjects falling in behind and around him.

The pickup point was nearly on the opposite side of the asteroid and down a tier, so it was a good walk. And while we walked, we talked, Lordre asking us a bunch of questions: where'd we come from, who we were, how did we get our special abilities, our 'uniforms' as he called them, the cuffs, etc…

We were mostly honest, refusing to answer some, and didn't go into any real detail. Just that we were being experimented on and had recently escaped with absolutely nothing on us. We only gave him a general idea of what the experiments had been, or rather, the end results.

We didn't tell him how many Subjects there had been, that we weren't the only ones; the significance of our tattoos; the Arena; the 'Project Darwin' title; Saren; especially not about the link… that wasn't his business. None of it was really, but we didn't see any harm in merely confirming some of what he already suspected.

When he did keep asking questions, James was the first to snap at him to 'Butt out!'

I tried to jump in and say something more tactful, but the Salarian held his hands up, "Understand, understand. Is a touchy subject, I apologize."

He was so clearly regretful that James sighed, "Yeah, well, sorry for snapping. As you said, it's a touchy subject."

The topic moved to casual chatter about our surroundings, us Subjects still keeping our eyes and ears open – and our 'sense' for me and Wes.

*This is booooriiiing* Dorian groaned, Isis quickly following up with a swat – both physical and mental. *OW! Oh come on, you all know it is. All we've been doing since we got here is sit and do nothing.*

Isis' tone was exasperated *Yes, because scouting the area, blocking off multiple routes and positioning ourselves strategically is doing nothing.*

*Alright, sorry, I'm just getting antsy sitting here and waiting.*

*We know, but we should be almost there.* Wes answered.

*Yeah, and it's not like there's anything going on with us either -* I started but cut off when the back of my neck prickled and I knew someone was watching me.

I stopped completely and looked around, trying to pinpoint where the feeling had come from. But while there were plenty of people around, I couldn't tell who it had been, if it was even anyone in eyesight. And the feeling was completely gone now. Dangit.

"What is it?" Adria asked, everyone scanning the area.

Lordre looked nervous and confused, "Did you see something?"

"Um – I'm not sure, no, I just… thought I felt someone watching me…" I trailed off, narrowing my eyes as I saw a young woman glance at our group from over her shoulder before disappearing into a shadowed alley.

"Okay, think I saw her, but she's gone. Have you ever had trouble before the pick up before?" I asked, frowning.

Lordre shook his head, "Never before, always after. Usually AT the delivery site. This is… unnerving."

"Maybe… a scout or something? Seeing where you are, following you?" Adria offered.

"Hmm – is possible; I may not have noticed before…"

"Actually, it may not be about him," James said thoughtfully.

Oh? Well that couldn't be good… "You mean watching the four of us?"

James nodded. There was silence for a moment.

"Unnerving indeed," Wes muttered, running a hand through his hair.

Lordre was ringing his hands nervously as we stood there, and he was clearly relieved when we told him we were ready to continue if he was. He nodded happily and we continued, though Wes and I continued to discuss the possibilities:

*Wes, do you think it was someone who… knows who we are?*

*There's no way to be sure. Did you recognize her at all?*

*No, and I didn't feel any hostility or anything, just that she was watching us.*

He frowned *You connected that much in such a short time?*

*Not so much 'connected', I think I just kinda look for that automatically. Though she may have been too far away for me to be real reliable.*

*Hmm… well we'll see I suppose. It is possible that she was watching us, but because of our association with Lordre, trying to figure out what kind of threat we could be.*

*Oh that's a good point. Let's hope that's it, and that we have sufficiently intimidated them into wariness so they'll leave us completely alone.*

Doubtful, but you never know. We were about to share this revelation when my neck prickled again.

*Shit – Wes, someone's watching us again, they're moving towards us, trying to hide, but it's someone else…*

"Guards up, there's someone following us," Wes ordered, and we pulled our guns out. Wes seemed surprised that I was already planning on using mine, but I still wasn't sure if my Biotics were okay or not, and better safe than sorry. I would use them only if I had to until I determine what was going on.

I couldn't see anyone obvious, so the person was definitely hiding from us. We moved around the Salarian to keep him safe in the middle and I held my pistol ready as I looked up, down and around, trying to find him…

There!

I darted forward and knocked the top crate off a stack, sticking my gun in his surprised face. Now I was surprised, holding a hand out to stop the others from attacking him as they came up and I exclaimed:

"You're the guy I sat on!"

And it was, the dork from Albi's gang. He looked both scared and sheepish as he looked up at me form where he had fallen backwards.

"What the heck are you doing following us?" Adria demanded, recognizing him as well.

Rolling my eyes I put my gun away and reached down to pull him to his feet as he stuttered and stammered over his answer:

"I – I wasn't – I mean I was, uh, following you, I mean, I j-just, uh…"

Wes sighed, "Why are you following us? It's already obvious that you have been, we just want to know why."

The young man flushed, "R-right, um… y-you guys are in trouble. I mean, there's this group of people, aliens too, they uh, are, um, waiting for you, I heard'em say it back, uh…"

Lord have mercy this guy is about to have a nervous breakdown… I tried to calm him:

"Just chill for a second, okay? None of us are going to hurt you -"

"Yet."

"James! Oi. So there's some kind of ambush, yes? You heard some people talk about it. Why tell us?"

He looked confused, "Well… I mean I figured someone should warn you. Ambushes tend to be, y'know… bad. And they were talking nasty so…"

"Kid, what's your name?" Wes jumped in when the guy trailed off again. 'Kid', hah, the guy's probably same age or older than us, and Wes is calling him 'Kid'. Though Wes is a bit more grown up than others, so I guess it works.

"Oh – Terris. Terris Meraine."

"Okay, Terris, we know there could be trouble on this trip – that's sort of why we're here. We appreciate the warning, but do you have any other information? Where, how many?"

"And why were you hiding from us? Couldn't you have just come up and said 'Hey!' before we left the district?" James asked.

Poor Lordre was just standing there, alternating looking at us and looking ahead at where we were supposed to be going.

*Wes we really should just go or we might get Lordre into trouble or something. Or at least make him not like us so much anymore.*

But Terris answered that question fairly quickly: "I do know where! Not exactly how many, but I know it's cuz they think you're 'fresh meat' as they called it and they're lookin' to nab whatever it is you're after. And I didn't come up right away cuz I had to make sure none of them were around, y'know, so they wouldn't just … shoot me."

"Talk while we walk," Wes answered, motioning for him to come with us.

Terris was surprised, and so were Lordre and James. But the Salarian was happy to be going again, even if there was an ambush waiting somewhere along the line. James just seemed to find this new guy annoying and didn't want him tagging along.

"They don't plan to come at you 'til you've got the stuff – ingredients and some tech wasn't it? I think they want some for drugs or whatnot. Anyway, they'll be dressed normal and just hanging around, then jump you, demand the stuff or they'll kill people. Basic mugging I guess, but I've seen their work before and it is nasty. They don't care who they plow through to get what they want."

Lordre was looking more worried now, "Does not sound like those I have dealt with before – they just wanted money, extra 'pay offs' to leave me alone. Never wanted it all, and were not overly violent. Tried to never give them cause to make too much fuss, but …"

"It may be you hiring us that got them to up their game. Or it's someone else. If this guy doesn't have anything else, we'll just have to wait and see," James said with a shrug.

Given the look the Salarian gave him, I don't think Lordre is overly fond of James and his bluntness.

Terris just flushed and looked nervous again, casting his eyes all around. I knew it was just from paranoia though – I hadn't detected a lie in anything he had said, so was currently inclined to believe him. With a pang I thought it would be nice to have Marvin there – he could tell us whether Terris was trying to hide something or not.

The four of us milled around while Lordre talked to the deliverymen, discussing payment and transport assistance – two of the Salarians would be joining us on the way back, as per usual.

Dorian and the others were still hidden, keeping an eye on the situation. We had told Terris to go back, thanking him for his help but that we could handle it. Especially given how we had seen him in action, and were worried it might be more difficult with him there. I had said this as tactfully as possible, and while he was clearly embarrassed he had nodded in agreement and went on his way.

Everything was unloaded from the shuttle and we started back, the hiding four sneaking around to leave through another door, intending to join us outside. We walked out into the hustle and bustle but before the others joined us, a very tall, rugged looking older man stepped out in front of us, hands hanging at his side.

"Good evening Lordre – I see you've brought a few tag-a-longs this time," he said, his voice was smooth and malicious.

The Salarian nodded brightly, "Indeed! Why, it was becoming quite frustrating not being able to make the trip safely."

"I know, this place can be so … inhospitable."

"Hm, quite. Very useful, having an escort."

"Yes… though I can't help but wonder how on earth you plan on paying these good people. I was under the impression your business wasn't booming quite yet."

So it was because we were here that they were going to be making a bigger presence. And though his tone was conversational, the threat in the man's voice was clear.

"How I pay people is no longer any of your business, Helms," Lordre said calmly.

The man smiled coldly and we drew our guns – and like, ten people of multiple races stepped out of the shadows or turned from whatever 'normal' stuff they'd been doing. Crap, I hadn't sensed that many being connected to this guy.

*Uh, yeah, you guys might want to make yourselves known sooner rather than later* I suggested to the others.

*On it!*Josh replied.

The man was apparently talking again, "So you can either walk away now or throw your lot in with the Salarians."

Well I'd missed something, but it didn't matter: A few blurs of movement and the other four dropped down around us, guns up and aiming, Carver already zapping sparks around his cuffs.

Helms laughed, "Ah, they know how to play! But do they know the rules?"

Adria snorted, "And just what will you do when we don't bugger off?"

Helms just smirked and flicked his right hand.

We waited – nothing happened. Helms frowned, as did many of those with him.

He flicked his hand again, apparently supposed to be giving some sort of signal. Still nothing happened.

"Problem, Helms?" Lordre asked, still in a cheery tone.

The man glared but his head snapped to look left as we all heard a holler and crashing thumps as someone was shoved out of the rafters and tumbled down a sloped portion of the wall, banging off pipes and protrusions and landing in a pile of garbage.

"Oh – someone you know?" Wes asked casually.

I was wondering who had taken out the sniper – all of us were here. It was a good thing he had been taken care of, too, cuz a sniper could've seriously screwed us over.

Two shots from the rafters made Helms dance back to avoid getting his feet shot. Of course there was retaliation as they assumed we'd done it, and I think they planned on shooting us all anyway, and everyone started shooting and whatnot.

And we got another new experience when both their Asari companions started using their Biotics. They threw their energy at us and me and Josh blocked them as best we could, jumping to the front to deal with them, keep Barriers up. And even with our Biotics acting up again, we were able to keep them at bay, especially thanks to the sniper-hijacker making random shots into the bad guys. Though if our Biotics would actually work how they were supposed to, we could've blown these suckers away by now!

But we were in a bad position to deal with this many enemies with such little cover and the three Salarians weren't there to fight. Carver had thought ahead and when the first shot was fired had jumped to the back.

A whoosh and bright tone behind us and Carver shouted for us to get through the door, the Salarians pushing their cargo in first while we provided cover. We backed through, alternating cover and I was one of the last with Wes, who clapped a sparking hand to the controls so the doors closed and locked as soon as we were through.

Okay, that didn't go so well.

"Alright, what's the plan? What do we do now?" Dorian asked.

"No idea," Wes muttered, looking around.

"We need to go ahead and draw them in here – there's plenty of cover and we can go to higher ground, right?" James offered.

"Lordre, how hard would it be to get these guys to talk instead of shoot?" Wes asked.

All three Salarians were clearly shaken and Lordre shook his head emphatically, "Don't talk, is why always paid them off before. They know -" he motioned at the other two – "Wants what he wants, will do whatever to get it, is his job. Doesn't care. None of them do. Small-time mercenaries like them, they just want their payment."

There was an uncomfortable silence.

"So… I guess this is where the 'kill or be killed' concept comes in?" Isis said hesitantly.

Dammit. Damn the damn mercs and their damn, greedy selves. Another reason why Omega was a stupid idea. Too much of this kinda crap – isn't this all Omega is? Crap? Stupid, thieving idiots really weren't leaving us much choice. I mean, we could beat them down and run them off. Or at least try. But they weren't just going to give up because we scare them off or give them a good fight.

They were clearly the bad guys here, and, well… did we not realize that this was how things were going to be here? Isn't this why some were worried about coming here? I should've known better. Yes we can do more, but so can everyone else. There are no rules to play by, because there are no rules here.

But we had to do our job here; we had to survive, and protect Lordre, and the two with him. We can't just let ourselves get killed now, not after all the crap we've already been through. And… it's not like we haven't killed people already. I'm sure some of those guards died on that station, the workers and scientists too. I – we hadn't let ourselves think about it, focus on it. We hadn't done it on purpose, we were just trying to stay alive.

So today, and tomorrow, we just had to try and stay alive. And, mercs know what they're signing up for, don't they? They choose to put their lives on the line for stuff like this. So it's not like we're going to be killing a bunch of innocent people.

Yeah, trying to rationalize doesn't make me feel any less sick to my stomach at the thought of just… killing people. I don't like it. It makes me sad.

"You can handle them, yes?" one of the other Salarians asked expectantly.

We looked at each other, "Well, yes, but…"

"You are mercenaries as well, are you not? You have fought before?" the second other asked in confusion.

The first was still ringing his hands and Lordre appeared uncertain and uncomfortable with the questions, as he knew how new we are to the field. They watched us, waiting for an answer.

My brain was whirring again – are we mercenaries? Again, not the specific purpose of what we planned, but I guess that is what we are, hiring ourselves out like this. What else would we be? Bodyguards? Still mercenaries, in a way. Unintentional as it might have been, we put ourselves out there…

But we can be good mercs, right? Not like these guys, or the other scumbags running around the galaxy. We could be good guys, yes we could. Help people, only fight with the bad guys.

Right?

"Yes, I suppose we are," Wes finally answered. I don't know how much he felt from me or the others, but what I could feel was fairly the same to my own doubts and hopes.

None of us felt real happy about our new reality, but not much we could do about it. Life's what you make it. So we just had to make it like we wanted it. If we could get back up after Cerberus knocked us down, we could keep our feet here. We got this.

"They're trying to get through the doors," Isis growled in warning.

Great. Wes took charge, first addressing the Salarians:

"Unless you plan on participating in this fight, find a secure place to hole up and wait. Hopefully it won't take too long to get this over with."

The second Salarian raised his hand excitedly, "I have a gun! I can -"

His companion smacked him across the back of his head, "Not a chance, you're coming with me."

Lordre gave us a grateful nod as the three headed into the stacks of crates and storage sheds.

*You can join in anytime, Meg* Wes said quietly, only to me.

I suppressed a grin: *Nah, you got this! Have at it!*

*Gee, thanks*

His wry tone did make me grin that time – he didn't much care for being the one in charge either.

Then he ordered the others around:

"Everyone up on the wares – get as high as you can and still be safe. Make sure you can duck into cover and have decent maneuverability. Meg, Josh, I need you two doing what you can with your Biotics for support. Adria and Carver, zap'em while you shoot, try and charge your shots to have more impact. Isis, Dorian, James – if they get too close we'll need you to engage hand to hand. Work together and let's hope to God that's all of them."

A few minutes later I was thanking God that that was all of them – once we set ourselves up and let them through the door (that's right, let them in, they never would've hacked it on their own) they came at us strategically, using their Biotics as cover and trying to draw us out.

We weren't stupid though, so it didn't work. We didn't just coop up and pick them off (though we probably should have) but tried to give them a chance to leave. They never took that chance.

They weren't wearing real armor – tougher clothing, but no suits – so they were easier to hit and more susceptible to the Biotic and Tech energies. But once we realized that minor wounds, electric shocks, and being knocked off their feet truly wouldn't dissuade them, we just let them have it. They still dodged and shot and tried to keep Barriers up, but we definitely had the advantage.

I used mostly my pistol at first, then switched to Biotics. Dorian took care of Helms rather quickly after we got serious – shot him three times and down he went. Carver actually went for one of the Asari and they ended up getting into hand-to-hand for a minute before his electric pulse put her down and then when a Turian was about to get Carver, James charged and snapped his neck. Half of them were down before we realized we had lost track of some of them – only three were still in sight.

Kinda freaking I tried to sense where they were and nearly jumped out of my skin when a human man landed on a crate behind me, throwing something at me that I dodged – a knife? Seriously?! – and I hit him with a blast that smacked him against the wall. A gunshot made me duck and spin to shove a Salarian off the stack and to the floor but the man came up behind me, grabbing my shirt and yanking me to the side, his rifle came up and I shot him in the leg ad used another blast to knock his gun out of his hands.

Frickin' jerk still came at me as I got to my feet and he made another grab for me, grimacing in pain and anger and pulling another knife. I grabbed his wrist to keep it away from me, feeling suddenly lightheaded and unable to organize my thoughts to bring out my Biotics. We struggled and he was immensely surprised that I was stronger than him, forcing him back, trying to wedge my shoulder against his chest to get some leverage…

He made one last desperate move, shoving forward with a yell, making me unsteady and twisting his arm the other way so his knife hand pulled free and before he could stab me I shot him in the chest.

I remember when I first started playing video games, the ones with 'real' killing. The first was Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. At first you just run around killing giant rats, spiders and creatures, but then you get to where humans are the bad guys. Killing those fake people bothered me. I didn't like it. But I kept playing games, deciding 'They're not real – they're not really dying, they don't really feel that pain'. So yes, violent video games can desensitize you to violence in video games. Death. Killing. But it doesn't in any way desensitize you to violence in real life. I don't care what crap psychologists spew, killing fake people is nothing like killing real ones.

I felt his breath catch, watched the light fade from his wide, disbelieving eyes, felt the heavy, solid dead weight as the body slumped towards me and hit the ground. I was completely frozen, gun still clutched tightly in my hand, feeling very cold and sick, shaking and staring as the blood seeped out. My mind blanked out and I was getting dizzier.

"Look out!"

Isis' voice jerked me back and I saw one of the mercs – the other Salarian - about to shoot down Wes.

I tried to move, but was only able to lurch to the edge and barely caught myself from falling and sagged in relief when someone shot the merc in the back and Wes jumped down safely to the floor. I looked around; who had shot the merc? Everyone else was either back to ground or on the opposite side of the shot's direction.

All the mercs were down though. Dead. Not a single one had let themselves run away or give up. Probably the only survivor was that sniper.

Keeping my eyes solely where I was going, I climbed down and stood there, scared to meet the others because I would have to walk past more bodies. Thankfully they came to me after surveying the area.

"Everybody okay?" Wes asked, his voice hoarse.

There were nods and murmurs, but no happy 'Yeps!' from anyone.

"Alright, I'm gonna go get the Salarians," Wes muttered, walking away. He paused, "Meg, you come with me."

"M'kay." I barely heard myself mumble and I stumbled after him.

Lordre and the other two were fine, and relieved that none of us had been hurt. The merchant kept looking at me funny though, which made me wonder what I looked like. We were going back – they had hidden well, way back from the fight area – when a sound from above us made Wes bring us to a halt.

Then a head poked out from the top of a stacked trailer and Terris stared down at us with wide eyes:

"You guys okay? They didn't get anyone, did they?"

"You – what are you doing here? I thought you went back," Wes said in bewilderment.

Terris clambered down to us and shuffled his feet, "Well, I just thought y'all might not be A-Okay with all of'em and I'm a pretty good sneaker, so -"

"You took that sniper down," I said in realization.

Wes raised his eyebrows and Terris flushed.

"Well, yeah…"

"And you shot the guy who was gonna shoot Wes." This I posed as a sorta-question, not entirely positive as I was trying very hard to not think too much right then.

Terris was embarrassed, "Crawled through the ducts to get in through the ceiling."

Wes gripped his thin shoulder in gratitude, "You have my thanks. Did you leave the gun?"

"Yeah, I wasn't sure if you might take it to be a threat or somethin' if I came down with it."

"It's alright – go on and grab it and meet us at the door."

The young man nodded and climbed back up the storage containers, disappearing from sight.

"You believe you can trust that one?" Lordre asked.

"He's been honest so far, and he did save my life a few minutes ago. So for now, yes."

Terris actually joined us right before we got back to the others and he hung around the back, half hiding so he wouldn't be seen first.

We walked in to see that they had moved all the bodies to one area and were trying to figure out what to do with them. Hadn't thought of that either; that was never addressed in the games or anything, and Cerberus did their own clean-up back at the station.

I gave Adria a curious look when I saw her expression – she looked like she felt guilty about something, or uncertain, nervous. She noticed my look and bit her lower lip, glancing back at the bodies, and then to me and Wes:

"We, um, is it bad that we… took some of their stuff? Nothing… personal, just weapons and such, and …"

"We took their credit chits, too," Josh finished, also looking uncomfortable.

Wes sighed, "I wouldn't say it's a bad thing – we took stuff from the people we just knocked out, so … and it isn't like they're going to need them anymore."

Crap. I couldn't fight it anymore and dashed to throw up behind a crate, my head spinning horribly.

Terris got to me before Wes did and helped keep my hair back while Wes kept a grip on my shoulder; one of the other Salarians let me take a drink from the water bottle he pulled from his belt.

I felt extremely embarrassed and gross until Isis nodded gravely, "I had to do that just a few minutes ago."

Turned out most everyone had got sick at least a little – I was just the one fighting it hardest.

We left the warehouse a few minutes later, after James went out and dragged the still-groggy sniper in so he could be the one to deal with the bodies. Lordre had said there was a garbage pick-up that would probably get them in a few hours, but that made us feel like crap so left it up to the other guy to decide.

About halfway back to the market district, Lordre reassured us that we would still receive our payment – but that he thought it best if we hold off a little longer on the chocolates. We readily agreed. None of us were hungry now anyway, and it would just feel… wrong.

We helped the Salarians get the merchandise put up and were getting ready to go back to our shuttle when one of Lordre's partners came into the back looking worried.

"What's wrong Heilder?" Lordre asked.

"Thoros wants to talk to them."

Now? Really? I thought we were done taking crap tonight… I didn't want to have to deal with anything else, I was too worn out, and I know the others were too. But we didn't want the Turian to feel the need to come in after us, so we met him right outside the shop.

The Turian was barely visible in the dark with his smoky gray skin and dark armor, but the lights around made his silver eyes and light blue tattoos almost glow. I know he was planning on saying something, and it probably wouldn't be nice, and I was tired so once I saw him the words just tumbled out:

"Please leave us alone, we didn't do anything wrong and if you give us more crap I might just throw up on you this time."

It wasn't an empty threat either; I still felt really sick and woozy.

I was surprised when he just laughed, "Oh please, anything but that. Stupid human, I'm merely here to make certain you receive my warning to keep yourselves out of my territory. Don't think to try anything by culling favor with the residents, too many owe me for that to work."

"We were just doing a job, Thoros. We have no interest in taking over, or making people owe us anything," Wes answered, "But you should know, we're not just going away either. We have no means to go anywhere else right now, and we will do what we have to, to survive. If you want to hash out the details, we can do it later. We're leaving for now, and will only be back for another job or … regular reasons, no plans to 'overthrow' you. We are not a threat, so relax."

The Turian didn't answer immediately, just studied us, mainly me and Wes. I vaguely noticed the bandage wrapped around his throat and had to suppress a smirk. Ha ha. Definitely feeling loopy now.

"So you're the leader of your little band, then?" he finally asked.

"Me and her, yes."

No, don't include me in that! I'm a follower! Lead and I shall follow, not the other way around!

His eyes settled on me again and he seemed to scoff as he jerked his head, "Fine then – if you are true to your word, we will talk later. But if you are like most of the humans I have interacted with, we will settle matters differently."

And again he just walked away, turning his back and disappearing into the streets.

"Come on, let's go," Isis urged, so we said our farewells – for now – to the Salarians and gratefully accepted from Lordre a bag with the supplies we – they – had… gathered.

We pretty much trudged back to the shuttle, too exhausted to move quickly. The others were waiting with food and water ready, as well as medical stuff in case we needed it. Luckily those were fairly unnecessary and after introducing Terris to them, we ate a little bit before collapsing into restless sleep.

If I ever end up meeting whoever Commander Shepard is in this universe and joining him or her on their quest to save the galaxy, I was never, ever coming back to this damned asteroid.