Omega: Afterlife Nightclub.
Shepard, Miranda, Mordin, and Zaeed walked up to Aria's separate 'booth' and when Aria's men drew their weapons and reached for a scanner, Shepard shot them with her talon pistol. Aria said, "You always were a pain in the ass, Shepard. And even more so now."
Shepard replied, "Shut up, T'loak. I'm only here because I need information and you're the best person for information on Omega."
"And why should I help you? You've been killing my men since you arrived on Omega."
"Because," Shepard said with glowing red eyes, "if you don't I'll make an example of you to the rest of Omega. If you either get in my way or refuse to help me, you'll end up dead, or worse."
Miranda placed a hand on Shepard's shoulder and said, "Jessica, relax."
Shepard took a deep breath and said, "Right, where is it the Blue Suns, Eclipse, and Blood Pack trying to take out Archangel?"
"You have to do something for me before I'll give you your precious intel." Aria said.
"And what would that be?"
"The Patriarch's in danger. Some assassins are coming after him. I want you to move him into hiding."
"That's all?" Shepard asked.
"Yes, but if you kill the assassins, there'll be more." Aria said, Shepard nodded in response and left. When they reached the lower level of Afterlife, Shepard said, "Miri, if Aria tries anything I want you to restrain her with your biotics. Mordin, Zaeed, be ready to kill her if things get hairy."
"You trying to create total anarchy on Omega?" Zaeed asked.
"It's already there. Aria's just the most powerful merc here." Shepard said, before entering the Patriarch's den. She said, "Patriarch! What do you think of having me kill some assassins who are coming after you?"
The krogan replied, "Assassins don't come for me anymore. They all go after Aria."
"Probably trying to get at her through you. I don't care for that bitch, but she has some intel I need. What do you think?"
"It is not krogan to go to aliens for help." Patriarch said.
"Why not? Krogan are allowed to have a kraant. We could act as yours."
"Jessica, Aria said that if you killed the assassins you'd have to do more than just save the Patriarch." Miranda whispered.
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing." Shepard said, squeezing Miranda's hand before saying, "If you'll let us work as your kraant, we will kill all those who would kill you."
"If you are willing, then go kill them as my kraant." Patriarch said. When they reached the back alley where the assassins were, Shepard calmly threw an arc grenade into their midst, and shot the stunned krogan before they could recover. She sighed, and headed back to Patriarch and told him the news. In response to the news he roared and said, "I feel like a krogan again! Thank you, Shepard!"
"No problem, annoying Aria is the best thing about coming to Omega." Shepard said as they left, when they were at the base of the stairs to Aria's loft, she said, "Remember the plan." At the top, Aria was fuming. she shouted, "I told you not to kill the assassins, Shepard. Yet you did so anyways! Why do you insist on being a thorn in my side?"
"Because you hire batarians and let them murder humans as they please on this station. Maybe if you fired them all and shot them out the airlock I'd feel better about helping you."
"You aren't in a position to make demands, Shepard. Since you didn't do as you were told, you'll have to spend the night in bed with me before you get your information about Archangel. It should counteract the damage to my reputation you've caused by killing them."
"No." Shepard said, "I told you before, I'm not interested in asari, least of all you." Aria glared at Shepard and her biotics flared up. Miranda hit the asari with a stasis, and when she broke free and fired a warp at Shepard, the Commander responded by using a prothean biotic technique. Aria was stunned when she was hit by biotics and they started tearing her apart at an atomic level. She screamed before Shepard said, "I learned a few tricks back when I was hunting Saren. Give me the information and I'll let you live. Otherwise, I'll let the field keep doing its job."
Aria said, "Fine, they're recruiting in the private room on this floor. That's all I know, now get rid of this damned field!"
Shepard just laughed and walked away, before cutting the flow of dark energy to the field. Miranda asked, "What was that?"
"Prothean technique. The best translation from the original name for it would be Dark Channel. I'm surprised at how effective it was."
"That's a brutal use of biotics, it was tearing her apart."
"She deserved it."
"Are there any other prothean biotic tricks in the Cipher?"
"Yeah, but they are much less pleasant than it. I used the mellowest of their abilities."
"You're joking, right?" Miranda asked.
"No, there's this one ability which turns the victims organs into an ectremely dense mush, another that just stimulates the pain receptors in their bodies, and many others." Shepard said.
"And you've had all of this in your head ever since you got the Cipher. Why didn't you share it?" Miranda asked.
"Because, this stuff is monstrous. They'd learned how to efficiently manipulate eezo, to the point where one of their biotics could use their abilities for hours longer than ours. Some of the stuff in here is like our modern biotic attacks, but they do more damage, and they're designed to hurt like hell before they finish off their victims. And the reapers use biotics that the protheans found revolting. When they come, we'll have to be prepared for anything." Shepard said. "Using Dark Channel on someone, even a bitch like Aria, made me feel sick. All of their abilities are to make the enemy surrender just for fear of the pain that the attacks would cause."
Zaeed said, "The protheans sound like my kind of alien, not the pacifistic bullshit the asari would have us believe."
Shepard didn't reply, but instead entered the recruitment office. The batarian recruiter was giving a lecture on how they were freelancers, not Blue Suns, Eclipse, or Blood Pack. When Shepard walked up he said, "Sorry, strippers quarters are that way."
Shepard replied, "Do I look like a stripper to you?" when he said, "Yes." Shepard put a pistol to his head and growled, "I'm not. I'm here to go after Archangel. If you have a problem with that, I'll pull the trigger, got it?"
"uh, yes, you'll receive five-hundred credits at the end of the job. If you die your friends don't collect your share. This doesn't make you a member of the Blue Suns, Eclipse, or Blood Pack, you are a freelancer, that's it."
"Got it, where's the job located?" Shepard asked.
"We've got a driver at the cab station who'll take you to Archangel's location." When they were about to leave a teenager walked in and asked, "Is this the place to signup for hunting Archangel?"
Shepard said, "Yes, but it would be for the best if you didn't sign up. A lot of people are going to die during this op."
"But I just got this pistol for five credits and I want to use it!" he said.
Shepard grabbed the pistol and popped out the thermal clip, she said, "Get your money back." Then in a quieter voice she said, "None of the mercs going after Archangel are going to survive."
"What?" He asked.
"I'm Commander Shepard, and I'm going in to rescue Archangel. If you go in after him, I'll have to kill you. If you try to warn the mercs about my plan, I'll have to kill you. If you in any way try to harm Archangel, I'll have to kill you." The kid looked shocked, before quietly leaving. Mordin said, "Well done, Shepard. Limiting their numbers will make the mission not as difficult."
"We've got work to do." Shepard said. When they reached the cab station, Miranda said, "Omega. What a pisshole. I've come here before on business, and always felt like I needed a shower afterwards, in addition to regular decontamination."
Shepard just laughed and asked the batarian, "You the one that takes the freelancers to the Archangel job?"
"Yeah, you more freelancers?"
"Yes," Shepard said, "we need to get their soon if we're to see any combat from what I've heard."
"Got it, get in the cab." the batarian said.
Omega: Archangel's hideout.
Shepard and Miranda hacked the heavy mechs while Zaeed and Mordin made sure that no one discovered them. When they met with Tarak, the leader of the Blue Suns, they were told to go talk to Sergeant Kathka. When they saw the batarian working on the gunship, Shepard asked, "Are you Kathka?"
"Sergeant Kathka." he said.
"Whatever." Shepard said, "When do we go after Archangel?"
"When you're told to." Kathka said. A few minutes later he said, "We've just received the order to attack. Go!" When most of the freelancers were gone, he also stated, "I've got to get this back in working condition before Tarak wants her out in the field again." Shepard quietly stabbed him with an electric rod, smirking as his body shook and he fell dead. When they moved to the the bridge, they opened fire on the freelancers. Shepard took point and hit several with a prothean version of throw which caused them to fly into the air and when they landed to just spas on the ground as pain racked their bodies. The others executed them before they could get to Archangel. Shepard ran up the stairs and when she reached the top, she saw two mercs trying to hack the door. She shot both in the head with her harrier, and knocked on the door. She said, "Archangel, open up! We're here to help." A few moments later the turian opened the door and said, "Shepard, didn't think I'd see you again after you were spaced on the Normandy."
"Garrus! How the hell'd you end up on Omega?"
"Long story, how are you still breathing?"
"Well, I have a very good friend that's a high ranking member of Cerberus, and she used her ties to get me brought back."
"Cerberus brought you back? Practically the last thing you did before you died was take out several of their bases and took down a cluster spanning operation."
"They were desperate, and needed someone who could get the job done."
"What would be so serious that they'd bring you back?"
"Human colonies are disappearing and the Alliance is focused on preventing the reapers from killing us all, so they can't act on it. But enough about me, how'd you let yourself get into this mess?" Shepard asked.
"I let my emotions get the better of me."
"That's not like you, Garrus." Miranda said.
"Already found Miranda again? You really are efficient." Garrus said.
Jessica laughed and said, "It wasn't too hard, she did do most of the work to bring me back."
"Ah, how'd you talk the Illusive Man into it?"
"He didn't need me to convince him. He wasn't too upset about Shepard's taking down that project. But I suspect that he'll be quite angry with me whenever Jessica decides to quit."
"Why?" Jessica asked.
"Later. This isn't the place to talk about it." Miranda said.
"Right," Garrus said, "let's see what they're up to now." After looking through the scope of his rifle he handed it to Jessica. She said, "Those look like more than scouts." before shooting the head off of one. She handed Garrus his weapon back before taking up a position beside Miranda. While they fought the horde of mechs, she said, "This is better than Saren's cloning facility, at least there isn't a reaper coming for us!" No one replied, so she concentrated on a prothean biotic technique which created a storm of lightning-like strikes of dark energy that rendered the mechs non-functional. When it was done, she was panting and said "That, was more draining than I expected."
"Jessica! You've got to be more careful! You could have killed yourself again by doing that."
"Thought it would take less energy. Sorry, Miri." Jessica said with a weak smile. When she looked at Garrus she was surprised to see that the turian's mouth was hanging wide open. "If you keep standing like that you'll get flies in your mouth."
"But... you... How?" He asked.
"A bit of an upgrade from my restoration." she said. WhenJaroth approached, Garrus and Zaeed focused their snipers on him. When their rounds connected with his head, the salarian collapsed and Garrus said, "Boom! Headshot!". A couple minutes later, an explosion rocked the building. Garrus said, "Looks like they're trying to get in through the basement. Well, they had to get smart at some point." Shepard tried to get up, but Miranda said, "Jessica, you're in no condition to go running off."
"Someone has to make sure they don't get in. Might as well be me." Jessica replied.
"Jessica, we don't even know what to do to keep them from getting in."
"Right, Garrus, there any way to stop them without just killing them all?"
"There are several shutters that you could close. That should stop them, but Miranda's right, you need to rest Shepard."
Jessica said, "No time to rest. I'm a marine, being tired won't stop me from doing my job quickly and safely."
"You can barely stand, much less hold a rifle." Miranda said.
"There isn't time to argue. Someone needs to take care of it now."
"I'll handle it." Miranda said. Jessica took a deep breath and stood up, she was a bit off-balance for a second, but then was stable on her feet. She said, "I'm going too."
"Fine, but don't do anything reckless."
"Wouldn't dream of it." Jessica said as she took point. When they reached the lower level, there were several varren that Shepard shot with her eviscerator. Miranda focused on killing the vorcha, but there were too many for her smg to take out. Shepard fired a multi-frag grenade into the group of aliens, which quickly took them out. She said, "Really need to remember my omni-tool." Before she closed the shutter and blocked the mercs from getting to it with three turrets and two defense drones. She headed to the right where she was jumped by a vorcha pyro whose head she tore in half with a snarl. Miranda stood there gaping, and Shepard continued down the path, this time letting a combat drone take point. When they reached the shutter, there were no enemies near it, so Shepard closed it with ease. They then headed towards the left hand shutter where they were held at the far end of the room from the shutter by a group of krogan, vorcha, and varren whom's numbers just kept growing. When they finally managed to push forward thanks to Miranda creating a protective bubble from which they could advance while Shepard lobbed out grenades. When the final shutter closed, Garrus asked, "Shepard, can you hurry up? We've been pinned by ten krogan."
"We'll be there in a second." Jessica said as she and Miranda sprinted towards the main area. When they reached it, she opened fire with her harrier and killed three of the krogan before she had to pop in a new thermal clip. When they reached the top of the stairs, they saw that Zaeed had been thrown out the window, and Mordin was pinned by two krogan. Miranda killed the first one with a slam, and Shepard killed the other with a well-placed Harrier round. With only Garm remaining, Garrus having killed the ones Shepard and Miranda missed, the team pinned him against a wall, but before they could finish him off, Tarak showed up in his gunship and opened fire on Garrus. Shepard turned and overloaded the vehicle, but Garrus was already pinned on the ground. Luckily, Mordin had come to and he killed Garm. Then, with only Tarak remaining, they fired on his gunship until he retreated. Shepard ran over to Garrus to apply medi-gel to keep him alive, but was interupted by Tarak's return. She pulled out her grenade launcher and fired three rounds right into the ship's cockpit. The first round shattered the glass, the other two reduced Tarak into nothing more than a pile of gory meat. She said, "Joker, we need an evac now. Send the shuttle to our location."
He said, "Got it, do you want Chakwas onboard?"
"No, but have her prep the med-bay for surgery. Garrus is pretty badly hurt."
"Garrus? Right, Jacob will be getting their in a couple of minutes to get you out of their. He's also got a lot of medigel."
"Good. Hurry." Shepard said.
Fifteen minutes later.
Jacob arrived with the shuttle, but getting Garrus onboard was difficult due to his condition. Zaeed had recovered from his fall, but was still limping so he couldn't help. With four people moving the turian, it still took at least five minutes to safely get him onboard. On the ride back to the Normandy, Jessica asked, "Are you okay, Miri?"
"I'm just trying to figure something out." Miranda replied.
"What?"
"It's nothing, at least now. Just a hunch."
"What is it?"
"I don't want to say anything until I'm certain. I'll let you know when I find out more." Miranda said.
A\N: Some of the changes I have planned for the plot require Horizon to happen before Jack's acquisition, so Grunt's will be the only other recruitment mission before it. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed, and if you haven't, please review!