A/N:

The final part of my tribute to Khorne is complete.

We never did get to see how, exactly, they managed to extract Archangel in the game. And, well...

As usual, thanks to the Editing Gang for their efforts, corrections, clarifications and fixes. They deserve more credit than I do.

Aberron put out a new chapter of Living an Indoctrinated Dream.


'...you have to be fucking shitting me!'

- Brent Raley, Blue Suns Acting CO, during the Archangel's Ascent Incident


Shepard watched impatiently as Mordin, Melenis and Jack - the latter using her biotics - carefully moved Garrus, still in the heavy SKYTALON suit, into the back of the second air-truck The first air-truck, with Miranda and Sedanya on board, was full of the most heavily injured, with the asari doctor already building hasty medical support brackets using her omni-tool.

She turned to face Zaeed, who stood on the edge of the roof, peering out via his scope at the entrance to the wide open area holding the warehouse. "Anything?"

He shook his head, lowering Jessie and tapping a control on the side, folding the weapon back up before replacing it on his back. "Nothing yet. I expected another charge by now. Or for this fancy-arse salarian assassin fuck to show up."

He grunted. "Just goes to show if you shoot them up enough they stop charging in like brain-damaged krogan. Still, the quicker we get out of here, the better - I'm always up for a good fight, but if the bosses have any sense they'll send in gunships to wipe this place off the guddamned map."

Shepard nodded, then jerked her thumb to the truck. "I agree - let's not wait around for more trouble than we need, old man." She turned to her right. "Tali, anything on your drones?"

The quarian was helping Sedanya with the medical equipment, and paused to check her omni. "Something is approaching, but it slowed down. At least one... maybe more? The drones are definitely picking up movement, but only bits and pieces. Strange. There's more movement beyond the secondary boundary, a lot of troops but none are moving forward."

Shepard nodded at Tali's words before glancing around in irritation. "Vigil, you've got the place rigged to blow?"

The sphere suddenly appeared over her shoulder. "Yes. We should leave now – the gunships I told you were incoming have slowed slightly - they had minor difficulties getting into the mainline air transport lane, but they are definitely on the way now."

She swung up into the cab of the truck, sliding behind the wheel, and Zaeed got in on the other side as Melenis shut the back hatch. Shepard paused to check the truck's control systems before tapping the controls and starting it up. The truck lifted smoothly, and she looked back over her shoulder into the cargo area.

Grunt was leaned against one wall, Jack sitting next to the still form of Garrus. Melenis knelt next to Garrus with Mordin, the latter doing something with his omni-tool slotted into the medical port on the SKYTALON armor. The two DACT were at the back, still clutching weapons and ready for trouble.

Shepard tapped her comm. "Miranda, take the lead. We'll follow." She half-turned in the seat. "Jack, when we get to the tunnel, I'll need you to use your biotics to drag the wreckage of one of those gunships after us, plug the hole and hide it."

The slender biotic nodded, fiddling with one of the rocket launchers she'd taken from the fight earlier. "That's gonna be rough, but I got it."

Miranda's truck lifted away smoothly, and Shepard triggered the controls, following. Behind them, the shape of the boxy MJOLNIR and the other black armored mechs left behind to keep the illusion that Archangel and the team were still inside took up defensive positions.

Shepard concentrated on driving carefully – she didn't want to jostle Garrus any more than the very minimum possible until Mordin finished working on him. The two trucks slowly glided past the burning gunship wrecks in the air access tunnel, and Jack opened the back hatch of their own air-truck, focusing and emitting a faint biotic sheen.

With a grunt, she extended a slender, finely boned hand, and blue radiance wrapped around the largest piece of wreckage, lifting it cleanly into the air. Trembling, Jack merely held it in place in relation to the truck as they moved, until it hit the side of the tunnel, blocking their entry breech.

With a pained gasp she collapsed and let it go, the quick hand of Montoya catching her arm before she fell out of the truck. The other DACT closed the hatch as Jack slumped to the deck, heaving for air and shaking.

"...Did it."

Shepard nodded curtly. "Very good work, Jack." She smiled, even as the small biotic made a rude gesture and fumbled unsteadily for an energy drink. Shepard concentrated on her driving, the access shaft walls uncomfortably close and tight.

Mordin made a satisfied sound. "Armor fragment removed. Bleeding stopped. Serious injury, but not life-threatening."

Melenis gave a sigh of relief, and Shepard did too. The asari folded her arms. "Can you wake him up, Doctor Solus?"

The salarian gave her a steady look. "Possible, not recommended. Still some hypovolemic shock from blood loss, impact. Also confused, possibly concussed."

Melenis nodded. "I know. But our original escape plan called for him to do a bounce transmit from the armor back to the base, to make the gangs think he was definitely inside. Even if he doesn't want to do that, he'll need to be awake to help figure out how to get out of here."

Mordin folded his arms, before making a swift nod. "As you wish. Wound not life-threatening. Better to rest, but if needed awake, should not harm him." He turned to the medical pack he'd brought with him, and injected the medical port in the armor with something a few seconds later.

Garrus's good eye fluttered and finally opened, the blue glare of his cybernetic one dimming as lenses snapped into focus. "Where..."

Melenis laid a hand on his armored chest. "Stay down. You're safe, Garrus. We're moving away from the base. The Butcher saved us."

Garrus blinked, and then grimaced and ground his fangs as he forced himself to sit up. "The Butcher….Shepard! I saw..."

Shepard tapped her armor, dropping her helmet. She glanced at Zaeed. "Take the wheel?"

He nodded, transferring the control haptic panel to his side, and she got out of her seat, walking into the cargo area to kneel in front of the turian. "...I thought you were dead, chicken." She managed to keep her voice steady, but seeing the turian she thought dead hit her a bit harder than she expected.

It was a curiously good feeling, as if a vast weight had been lessened as it bore down on her, and she wondered if he felt the same as she peered into his alien yet familiar features.

Garrus's expression, hard to read at the best of times, was made more difficult to interpret by the bloody, garish wound along the right side of his face, the heavy medigel bandages covering it, and the cybernetic eye frame. But his eye never left hers. "How in the spirits are you... alive?"

She gave a shaky exhale. "That's a really long story, Garrus. Short version – I got fucking reanimated by our most favorite group of mad scientists and the people who sent you guys to grab my body."

His good mandible flicked. "You... Cerberus brought you back from the dead? That..."

Mordin sniffed. "Science used highly experimental, dubious ethical constraints, financially ruinous. Much of Shepard replaced by tech. Distressing use of clones for testing and tissue replacement. Reckless genetic work." He paused. "Still, essentially correct. Resurrection from death possible."

The form of Vigil pulsed sullenly. "Spare me. Without my input the best they could have achieved is a mindless techno-zombie. Then again, considering her standard level of intellect, perhaps such a failure could have passed as the real thing."

Shepard glared at the sphere. "Can't you ever say anything nice about anyone?"

Vigil bobbed in midair. "Of course I can, herb-smoking jump monkey. I can say many nice things about myself."

She rolled her eyes, turning back to face Garrus. "Anyway. Cerberus rebuilt me. The Illusive Man, their leader, thinks the colony disappearances are connected to the Reapers – and based on what I've found and seen so far, he's right."

Garrus nodded slowly. "He may be right, but that doesn't change the sick garbage we saw on Edolus. The only reason we went along with the whole plan was that we weren't going to allow your body to be … looted and sold." He paused. "And I'll admit the Cerberus people we worked with weren't totally terrible."

He looked up. "But you're still dealing with the devil, Shepard. I hope you're being careful."

She shrugged. "I'm trying. And trust me, I don't like the situation... but there are very good reasons why I also don't trust the Alliance." She bit her lip. "They may have been involved in my... death. And the destruction of the Normandy. And recently we've found out some more things, things so fucked up I don't know what to do."

She blew out a breath. "But I'll deal with that, and the Reapers and Collectors, in good time. My first goal, ultimately, is to find the person who got me killed. The Shadow Broker."

Garrus gave a low, rumbling growl at the name, his good eye narrowing. "I figured out that much before Tetrimus murdered Tel and Liara and damn near killed me." He looked up at Shepard, inhaling her scent. He could smell other things on her, cybernetics, strange smells... but it was definitely her, at least to his senses.

And he figured if Cerberus was making a fake Shepard for evil reasons, they didn't have much need to come rescue a turian. She'd never led him wrong before, and he owed her not only his life, but the lives of his team.

He swallowed and shook his head. "I... don't know what to say, sheep. This is coming a bit fast for me. One second I thought I was done for, the next..."

Melenis gave a gentle smile. "You were always telling us stories of Shepard charging in to save the day, Garrus. Is this any different?"

The turian shrugged. "Maybe. I don't know. Back then, things were very black and white. This whole mess..." He shook his head to clear it.

Shepard glanced between the two. "How... did you survive yourself, Garrus? Tali and Joker were pretty convinced you were dead, and they found … well, your leg and arm."

He glanced at Melenis, who shrugged. "We found him, unconscious and dying, in the aftermath of the Burning, and got him to Doctor Solus. We managed to save his life, but... when he found out his mate had died, he decided that there was no point in announcing his survival. Instead he joined us in protecting the weak of Omega."

She smiled. "You see where those tides have led us."

The turian gave an almost sheepish shake of the head. "I... just helped. The name stuck for some of my good deeds. I never expected it to turn out like this."

Shepard clucked. "I should hope not, Garrus. Pissing off gangs bad enough to go after you I can see. You managed to piss off an entire station and three PMCs into wanting to kill you."

Garrus shrugged. "You didn't see this station before we... cleaned it up, Sara. It was sickening. Living sentients, sold for food. Slavery of all kinds. Endless lines of the poor and starving, abused in the mines, shot on the streets. Entire families – entire blocks – living in fear, terror and sorrow."

He clenched his fist. "And no one did anything except watch and say 'oh, well'. No one cared. No one stood up for those people."

Shepard nodded, feeling something in her chest. "That's... how I used to feel. When I went after slavers, seeing little kids crying over the bodies of parents, or getting to a colony too late and seeing burning homes and sobbing relatives. Watching the broken fucked up wreckage of what used to be human beings after years of slavery get freed and kill themselves because they couldn't live with what they had done to them."

She placed a hand on his unwounded shoulder. "The whole galaxy is talking about you. Even your dad."

He flicked his mandible again, this time wryly. "Saw that." He exhaled. "Why... are you here? Did you know – "

She shook her head. "No. The Illusive Man felt you were gunning for the Broker yourself, based on some of your hits – and that you would be a powerful combatant. He wants me to build up a combat team capable of boarding a Collector vessel and capturing it – the Collectors are the ones vanishing the colonies. And they use Reaper technology."

Garrus shook his head. "I'd let myself forget about the Reapers."

Melenis looked confused. "What... are Reapers?"

Shepard opened her mouth to explain when her commlink chimed, Miranda's voice sounding low and urgent.. "Shepard, we have a serious complication. One of the explosions Archangel and his team set off triggered a hull breach in mid-Niftu. It looks like internal blast doors have cut off our exit point where we came into the tunnel system at, and we don't have enough explosives to blast through them."

Shepard paused. "Options?"

Miranda's voice was grim. "We'll have to drive the trucks through the shafts all the way into upper Gozu and then from there, across the Mids to the docks. If they buy that we're still at the warehouse when it explodes, we should be fine. If they don't..."

Shepard grimaced and looked at Garrus. "Any other ways you guys know about? Because driving directly into the docks sounds like … a bad idea."

Zaeed snorted. "Sounds like guddamned suicide. And the fact I keep having to say that phrase, Shepard, ought to make you fucking think a bit about maybe trying something different."

Garrus gave a weak laugh. "Lots, but none of them useful for air-trucks. There are secondary access tramways that lead from Gozu to the transit tunnels that connect the mids to the uppers, and from there you could probably make your way to the secure docking ring for rich types. Problem is, those are locked down by Aria's people."

Shepard grimaced. "Kasumi, any chance you can convince Aria to let us use those?"

The thief's voice sounded dubious over the commlink. "Unknown, Taicho. If we make a clean getaway and everyone thinks we're dead...maybe. But if they figure out we're running – it's one thing for Aria-dono to allow us in, claiming she had no idea who we were. To let us escape through docks she directly controls... would send a message I do not think she wants to give."

A pause. "Also, Taicho, I would like to remind you that the pinnace is unarmed? Even if you get here, it isn't going to be able to evade an entire fleet."

Shepard rubbed her chin. "Great. And there's no chance of getting these doors down?"

Miranda's voice was tired sounding. "Not that we have on us. They're eight feet thick, made of hardened durasteel. Even if we did, the blasts and discharge would basically scream 'here we are' to anyone nearby and would trigger all sorts of alarms."

"Double-fuck." Shepard glanced down at the deck, then back up. "For now take us towards that secondary tramway Garrus spoke of. Tali, drop a big spread of tech-mines behind us as we go, if something is chasing us I want it slowed the fuck down."

She turned to Vigil. "Can you hack the system and open the doors remotely?"

Vigil was silent for several seconds. "No. The system is based on pressure sensor interlocks. I can certainly deactivate some of the alarms, but given the size of the hull breach, I strongly doubt that single set of doors is the only one dropped – more likely, five or six." He bobbed. "I can, however, almost certainly hack whatever security is at these so-called secured docks."

Shepard nodded. "Let's see how things go, then." She turned back to face Garrus. "Once again, I seem to have fucked up part of the rescue."

He shrugged. "We could bypass the mids and most of the Uppers, try to come from the opposite direction of the docks...we'll have to see how the gangs deploy when we get closer. And as for fucking up the rescue...heh."

Garrus merely leaned back against the deck of the air-truck "You and me against a big pile of bad guys. If Wrex were here, it would be just like old times.."

She gave a thin smile. "Maybe." She glanced at the decking, and bit her lip. "When we get out of this shit...and we will, somehow - we'll talk about our next steps."

He sighed. "Shepard... the only next step there can be is finding the Broker and killing him and his flunkies."

Shepard's voice turned cold, and she gave a smile that made Melenis shiver. "That's the plan. Localize him, fuck up whatever he's planning, and after we turn Tetrimus into a fucking smear, kill him too. That bastard took everything from me."

Garrus gave a long exhalation and nodded weakly. "...Good. I had started to... give up on ever having justice for Tel. If you're going after him... I'm in, even if that means working with Cerberus."

O-TWCD-O

Shift winced at the comms chatter from the Blue Suns gunships as they closed on the base of the Archangel. "Incoming fire, from the rooftop. Evasive pattern five, scatter and suppress, and get ready to hot drop."

The nine gunships that stormed through the air access tunnel into the main area of the warehouse areal were less heavily armored and armed than the still smoldering wreckage they passed to get here, but were also more nimble. The Blue Suns pilots spread out, firing missiles at the turrets lining the top of the warehouse, while the ones in back swooped low over the bridge, dropping in fire-teams and a heavy salarian VADIS mech.

At the fringes of the entry archway to the open area, Shift paused, tucked behind scorched, badly melted wreckage for cover. The turrets atop the warehouse and inside the front entry, reported as taken down by the last wave, were firing, and had been augmented by additional omniturrets and placed kinetic barriers.

On the second level, black armored figures opened fire on the air-dropped Blue Suns troopers with murderous accuracy. He tapped his commlink, opening a channel to the asari strike team.

"Gunships and ground forces have engaged. Engage your cloaks and use grapple lines to reach the roof. I will go in on foot and provide distraction, and personally down the Butcher."

The asari lieutenant in charge of the six-person team gave a husky laugh. "Your funeral. We're off."

He waited almost a full minute. The gunships were losing badly, despite having blown several large holes in the warehouse – two were down, three more were smoking and losing control. The lead of the last three gunships placed a missile salvo right into the entryway, shredding the turrets there, and as smoke billowed out from the entrance, the heavy form of a human superheavy mech stomped into view, firing as it came at the salarian heavy mech.

The two behemoths traded heavy accelerator fire, and Shift moved, shifting into the variant of the kanquess he preferred, the shield kanquess. He erupted into a blue blur, and came out well within the obscuring smoke cloud generated by the explosions of missiles. The residual energy of the kanquess swirled around him, blocking any incoming fire for a few, precious seconds.

Behind him the mechs continued to clash, and Shift lifted his hands, blue light illuminating his shallow features as he gathered his focus. A moment later and he let go with a titanic lance of biotic energy, the kinetic strike hitting the MJOLNIR mech directly in the back and toppling it to the ground.

It immediately began to get up, but the salarian mech fired directly into the exposed heatsink interchanger pack on the back, and followed that up with a shot from the main gun. The human mech detonated violently.

Above, he heard explosions and saw the blue flare of warpfire, and smiled as he entered the warehouse proper, raising his barrier and staying low. His filter mask sealed away the smoke from his features as he rounded the first switchback.

Nine figures in heavy black armor were tucked into excellent cover. A body-bag lay on a table surrounded by medical detritus, while turian blood was splashed heavily in a puddle to one side. The inside had been shot up pretty badly, and smoke and flames could be seen in the doorway of an upper room.

He moved, throwing a pair of grenades, one smoke and one shield-stripper. As he rolled behind a low barricade the grenades went off, blanketing the area with thick smoke. Heavy fire lanced out in multiple directions, one string of machinegun fire barely missing his head.

He flung a lift field, following that up with a heavy push. The two overlapped and detonated, clearing the smoke but hurling the armored enemies in all directions, mostly slamming them against the walls. He wasted no time, throwing two quick bursts of warpfire at the nearest enemies before kanquessing to the pack at the back.

Even as the figures were getting to their feet he exploded from the kanquess and immediately into a flare, the blast washing over the entire lower floor. He kanquessed up to the second floor balcony as that detonated, smiling to himself at the flawless move even as he launched a flay field at the closest figures.

Oddly enough, he didn't hear any screaming from the figures it hit. Maybe they were already unconscious. They were definitely down, however.

He jerked at the sound of screaming, but frowned as he glanced up. The screams rang out from the room on the second floor – asari ones – and a smoking, charred corpse of one of the asari assault team was flung out of the doorway, falling to the ground in a splat of purplish blood and bits of burning flesh. He winced at the damage done to the Eclipse sister, even as movement on the lower floor caught his eye.

All nine of the figures hit by his flare and flay were standing up. Most of them had their armor melted and blown off, revealing smooth metal surfaces slowly flowing back together even as Shift watched in alarm.

This wasn't Archangel and his team. This was a group of war robots. Shift kanquessed down past them, running flat out towards the entrance and tapping his comm-link.

"Command, this is Shift. Archangel isn't -"

The words – and most of the warehouse – were wiped out by the detonation of sixty barrels of contained plasma and the eezo fuel air explosives planted long ago by Montague. This in turn set off the stacks of weapons, missiles and other gear not yet expended by Archangel and his team. The warehouse vaporized, the blast so strong it buckled the walls of the enclosure, causing more of the ceiling, already damaged, to collapse. Metal flashed and boiled.

Shift, less than sixteen feet from the epicenter of the blast, threw up his strongest barriers. He might as well have thrown up a shield of tissue paper. The salarian biotic master, the asari strike team, the Blue Suns drop team and all the gunships ceased to exist as the blast radiated outwards.

A heavy burst of white fire lashed through the entry archway, burning through for over six hundred feet before petering out, melting everything in its path. The air-tram entryway was obliterated, the entire tunnel collapsing for almost two hundred meters. The entire district shook as the blast punched yet another hole into the side of the station, setting off rad-safe and pressure alarms.

In mid-Niftu, Relli's Kiss and Durm watched the displays, and then the asari nodded. "And this is why I did not lead the charge, my dear krogan. I can guess what Shift was trying to say. Archangel isn't going to surrender. No shit."

Durm gave a low, rumbling laugh. "Shame about the salarian. You build up this badass rep, do crazy stunts, and get taken out by a bomb. No way for a warrior to die. Then again, he wasn't a warrior, he was a sneak and backstabber, so no big loss either way."

He folded his massive arms over his chest. "Now comes the hard part. What to do about Aria?"

Relli's Kiss gave a thoughtful nod. "We don't have a lot of time. Aria's going to surely insist we move as many forces off the station as soon as possible now that Archangel is dead." She paused, as the figure of the Blue Suns temporary CO, Brent Raley, walked up with a pair of engineers.

"Ma'am, we have a big fucking problem."

She smiled. "I hope this isn't some misguided issue about the demise of poor Tarek."

He shook his head. "Fuck no. Worse." He exhaled. "The last wave that went in reported getting hits on Archangel before the Butcher arrived. We got tactical video of the warehouse." He tapped his omni-tool, displaying a static image of the warehouse. Two large air-trucks were on the roof, along with several assorted figures working on the turrets, in various styles of armor.

"The gunships that attacked the site were transmitting video in real time, to allow us to plan for a second assault. One of my engineers noticed it." He put up the second image side by side, showing the same warehouse, the rooftop now occupied by black-armored figures of uniform size.

Durm shrugged. "I don't get it."

Relli's Kiss narrowed her eyes, glancing between the two, then cursed. "The air-trucks are gone."

Raley nodded. "Yeah. Also, the people on the roof are all exactly the same size and wearing exactly the same armor. Probably mechs. If we didn't have this video, it would look like we took him out. As it stands... I think Shift's last message was saying the Archangel wasn't there."

Relli's Kiss frowned. "The gunships came through the damned tunnel. There's no other way out!"

Durm shook his head. "The hole the Butcher blew through in the ceiling is still there. That comes out way up in upper Niftu."

She slapped her commlink. "All forces. Seal all exits from Niftu and Vefu immediately! Any remaining heavy units deploy to the mids at once." She slammed her fist into the side of the APC. "Fuck!"

Raley gave a sardonic smile. "There's one good thing. We don't have good telemetry on the trucks, or any decent images of their ID. But they are still just cargo trucks. They can't exactly go very fast, and there's only one way off the station – the docks. We'll either catch them in the mids, or if they're really smart, they'll go through the uppers and come into the docks from above while we're all looking down below."

The asari nodded, calming. "...Very smart. You're already more valuable than Tarek. And this gives us more time to reposition and reorganize after the beating we took to move on Aria. I trust you're still in if the warlords agree?"

The human nodded. "I don't see why not. If we use this right, we can parlay finding Archangel into moving most of our forces around the docks... which would let us secure them and have the warlord's troops be able to board without interference."

She turned to Durm. "Get your trackers at the entrances, and then find a good, fast aircar. I have to call Aria."

O-TWCD-O

In the high tower of Afterlife, Aria sat almost serenely on her leather couch, listening to the soft sounds of the music in the club below. Her face was set in a cool, dismissive smile as she received the report from her own agents about what happened in Niftu.

"Clever turian." She lifted a glass of pris para, sipping deeply, then turned back to the display, showing the leader of her huntress corps. "What do you expect him to do next?"

The asari huntress, a failed commando who'd served Aria over three hundred years, gave a casual shrug borne of long familiarity with her mistress. "I have no idea. The Butcher is never predictable, and is very dangerous. Archangel has surprised us again and again. Combined? Whatever they're up to, they wanted to make a clean getaway. That implies they've crested their wave in terms of being able to fight, in my opinion."

Aria smirked. "I would normally agree, given how less than twenty people just incinerated over two thousand. I figure Archangel and his people are probably badly wounded. The Butcher's people, however, are fresh – and based on the shit they pulled on that bridge, way more dangerous. If that fool Relli's Kiss had any brains left from all the red sand, she'd have held Shift in reserve – he could have at least matched the Butcher. Now, I doubt there's anyone on board the station who would survive going toe to toe with that Justicar wannabe."

The huntress gave a laugh. "You could, surely, my queen."

Aria rolled her eyes. "I haven't had nearly enough to drink to be looking forward to that fight." She sipped from her glass again. "As long as she contains her activities to killing off the idiots who think they can supplant me, we have no reason to conflict. And if she gets that vigilante lunatic off my station, all the better." She paused.

"Still, no need to tip my hand. Reach out to the PMCs and place your forces outside of the Black Concourse at their disposal. I'll have the warlords move to intercept positions around the station and at the relay." She killed the comm, before turning as Bray entered the room.

"Well?"

The big batarian lieutenant shrugged. "Warlords Thraken, Sianas, Bulok and Garrison are solidly behind you. Warlord Vrask and Warcaptain Ymoosk are indifferent. The rest are planning to storm the station if the Eclipse can give them an entry point and can take you down. If they can't, most of them will back off, except maybe Ellison. Humans are fucking stupid."

Aria gave a laugh of amusement. "You already had your people plant the charges in the supplies we sent?"

He nodded "I even tossed in a few extra pallets of batarian ale as a gift. No one bothered to check the bulk omnigel stacks. Each one has two M/AM bottles and the omni-gel is an eezo suspension. You send the trigger, and that warlord's flagship turns into atoms. "

She nodded. "Very well. It seems the Archangel and the Butcher have slipped through the Relli's incompetent grasp, and are somewhere in the station – probably the secondary access shafts. Viena is moving her people to support the PMCs. I want your teams prepared to lock down the Black Concourse and the snipers under Gavorn to be ready to take out Relli and Durm on my order."

She paused as Bray tapped notes into his omni, then continued. "They are probably going to move most of their forces to surround the docks – ostensibly, to prevent escape. Indulge them. Don't make a fuss. But make sure the gas containment system and EMP burst fields are ready. If they make a move, gas and EMP the lot of them, then vent them into space."

Bray's mouth twitched into what might have been a small smile. "And the secure docking area? I have that on heavy lockdown right now."

She leaned back. "Mention it to Relli when you communicate with her. Imply the bulk of your heavy forces are there both to protect the dock and safeguard the entrance to the Concourse. She'll try to convince you to move them, do so. Make sure you get a recording of that. If the Butcher is smart enough to escape that way, I don't want anyone claiming I let her go."

Bray tilted his head to the left. "...Even though you basically are doing just that?"

She lifted her chin. "You have my orders, Bray."

O-TWCD-O

Miranda's voice was sour on the commlink. "Do you want the good news or the really bad news first, Shepard?"

She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Lay it on me."

"The warehouse detonated – it sounds like, based on what comms Vigil is intercepting, that the blast took out the gunships, sealed the air tramway, and took out the assassin Shift. With that done, there's no way for gunships to find our entry point and catch up to us from behind, or even know where we are."

Shepard nodded. "I take it that is the good news? What is the very bad news?"

"The Blue Suns had video of some kind, and know we escaped. They've rushed forces to seal off Niftu and to move to the area you drilled down into the warehouse area from. More are sealing off Vefu as we speak. And tons of soldiers and mechs are forming up around the docks."

Shepard nodded. "Alright. Get in touch with Kasumi. She's still on the pinnace. Have her go ahead and get it ready to move. We're going to have to fake them out."

Miranda's voice took on a dubious note. "Fake them out?"

Shepard smiled. "They are looking for the Butcher and the Archangel? We'll give them the Butcher and the Archangel. Your truck is full of the most heavily wounded, and they're in no shape for a fight or a chase. Melenis is just a little shaken up and while Garrus is hurt, he's a tough bastard."

Garrus emitted a groan. "This... this is going to end in tears."

She smothered a grin. "We split up. Team Fuck You will catch their attention and lead them on a merry chase, while you get to the pinnace and get out of here."

Miranda's tone became droll. "A brilliant plan. One, may I point out, that leaves you still trapped on a station with thousands of people who want to kill you and no way out."

Shepard shook her head. "Not so. Lateral thinking, Miranda." She tapped her commlink, opening a second channel. "Joker. How close can you get the Normandy to the station?"

The pilot's voice was wary. "...Pretty close. Jacob had the 'tramp light freighter' kit attached to the hull and as long as we're not making any crazy moves, there's a lot of ships just floating around out here, waiting for shipments to clear or whatever. Why?"

Shepard's grin widened. "Oh, no reason."

"Riiight. This better not turn into another clusterfuck like getting off of Virmire."

She sighed. "I really hope not, Joker. Make sure the ship... wait one." She turned to the floating form of Vigil. "I need a map of the station, as much detail as possible, of the area in the uppers where we'll be coming out at."

The sphere flashed, then expanded into flat sheet of shimmering silver. Bright white lines emerged on the smooth surface, forming into a complex map of the station's uppers, dominated by large towers. She examined it for almost ten seconds before nodding to herself.

"Bring the Normandy around to... bearing from base... let's call it bearing one-nine-four tac fifteen, and hold position until I contact you via comms. Oh, and make sure the cargo bay is clear."

"What the shit? Whatever, boss. I'll be there, if only to watch you fuck this up."

Garrus sat up, glancing at the displayed map. "Shepard... that's the main traffic lane that runs through the Uppers. Tight, confining buildings on all sides, heavy traffic, and lots of visibility from all sides."

She smiled. "I know."

His voice took on an edge. "There's a huge number of air-cars, and most of the traffic in the area is automated. Manual piloting in that region is dangerous."

Her smile only widened. "Know that too."

He glanced at the map. "...You're going to have them chase us... in air-cars... into the most busy, congested and dangerous to pilot region of the uppers. And... then?"

She turned to face him, even as Vigil collapsed back into a ball. "Use the traffic and buildings to evade them, then take the air-truck up this long sloped piece of hull material, which is next to open space. Have the Normandy blow a hole in the side, match velocity, and ramp up through the hole, landing the truck into the cargo bay. The Normandy blows disguise and chaff, drops into stealth, blows up anything in our way and escapes. While everyone is chasing the Normandy the pinnace quietly makes its own way out."

Jack gave her a sarcastic thumbs up. The two DACT laughed and cheered. Grunt looked impressed. Zaeed lit a cigar. "That's guddamned suicide. Let's do it."

Garrus traded a long look with Melenis, who stared back. "Your stories never made her sound... well, unhinged, Garrus. That's a worse plan than Montague's idea to blow up the Black Walk."

He muttered. "I think dying just made her crazier." He then got a horrified look on his face. "Wait, who's driving the truck in this lunatic plan of yours?"

Her smile suddenly became beaming and wide, and Garrus shuddered. "Spirits of fate and fortune, just what in the wastes did I do to piss you off this badly?"

The two DACT snorted in unison, and Montoya spoke. "And people say we're crazy for jumping out of shit. You're the ones who let her drive."

Mordin was occupied with his omni-tool, but muttered. "Suggest use of omni-gel to fabricate personal restraints and crash padding prior to ...event. Have seen video of purported driving skills in Citadel Tower assault. Results..." He paused, sniffing deeply. "...disturbing."

Shepard turned back to the controls, huffing. "Fuck all of you. I'm a great driver."

O-TWCD-O

The docks were a scene of confusion as Kasumi peered out the wide windows of the pinnace. Blocks of heavily armored Blue Suns centurions with mechs blocked every entrance, stopping every incoming aircar and vehicle and searching carefully. A dozen gunships buzzed angrily over the midline docking ring, as packs of vorcha and hunting varren prowled along the dockside itself.

More Suns infantry, as well as Eclipse sisters, were loading into air-cars, a few of them detaching the roofs and lugging heavy machine guns or rocket launchers. And three flat top cargo lifter trucks were lined up at the entrance, laden with vorcha in jump-packs.

It looked to Kasumi as if the gangs were getting ready to go after the team. That didn't bode very well. And it didn't look as if Aria planned on stopping such things. A quartet of Aria's green-suited commandos leaned lazily against the side of the scanning and traffic control tower, seemingly content to let the PMCs do all the hard work.

Kasumi scowled at that, and turned to the sensor and comms systems of the pinnace.

The pinnace, despite its shabby exterior, was supremely well equipped on the inside, and within a few minutes of hacking she was able to gain limited access to the public Omega networks. Pushing through the public layers towards a series of backdoors she'd set up years earlier, she tried to access some security cameras.

The cameras that were most easily accessed were those far from important areas, and that was fine for Kasumi's purposes. Shepard's rather haphazard escape plan, vague in its details, didn't exactly fill the thief with confidence, but every heist was always made better with a dash of obfuscating confusion.

It took her almost ten minutes to splice in footage of an air-truck like the one Shepard drove moving under a camera, the outline of the Butcher and the Archangel in full armor visible through the glass cab windows. A few minor tweaks and no one would know the difference.

She turned, tapping the comm system. "Taicho, let me know when you plan to perform your distraction. I have mocked up some fake video feeds that I'll feed to the Suns to lead them away from the getaway trucks. The docks are heavily guarded, but a lot of the PMC forces are moving into air-cars and trucks – they plan to come in after you, I think."

Shepard's voice was cool and clear. "Good idea, Goto. Not to insult your skill, but be very sure you don't get traced back – I need that pinnace to be clear for Miranda's team."

Kasumi snorted. "Please, Taicho. Trust me."

O-TWCD-O

Centurion Valtha Kathorn was, by turian standards, something of a failure. Born to separatist parents, most of his colony was ravaged by the Troubles, and he and most of his family were discommendated and formally cast out from the meritocracy and the Hierarchy.

Given that he was only six when the event happened, it galled him that the Hierarchy threw him away like trash. He gravitated to mercenary work as he grew up, eventually ending up as a mid-rank centurion leader of a Blue Suns heavy fireteam. By all rights, he should have been patrolling some dead-end fueling station or rock in the Traverse.

Instead, due to dumb luck and swapping patrol duties with an old friend, he was cruising in an open-top aircar through the lower sections of the Towers, the poorest part of the Uppers. Two of his heavy gunners clutched LMGs while he scanned around with his drone array for things out of place.

A series of air-trucks floated past, three gray and one white. He pointed and the car soared down lower, the gunners training their weapons on the trucks. As he was about to order them to the tramside, a blaring transmission erupted across his commlinks, a growling, familiar voice that made his stomachs clench around his gullet stones.

"People of Omega. This is the Archangel. Right now, the cowards who went up against me with five hundred to one odds in their favor are picking up their dead and attempting to find their spirits-damned dignity after having their asses handed to them. Too stupid to prevent my escape, too cowardly to face me in the open, now they try to hunt me down in the sky. Frankly, killing you clowns is beginning to get boring."

A second voice, female, purring with amused violence and almost playful overtones, spoke. "Happily, my good friend Archangel isn't done playing with the walking trash on this station yet. Instead he invited me along to play, your friendly neighborhood Butcher. And since you criminal filth are clearly too stupid to figure out the rules of this little game, let me share them with you."

"You see, we are not trapped in here with you. You are trapped in here with us. And the only reason we're even leaving this station intact, much less killing the lot of you, is that frankly you suck. Then again, you're following someone trampier than the Consort and crazier than Jona Sederis, so that isn't surprising."

Panicked comms transmissions suddenly blared on a dozen channels, as a blazing white air-truck soared overhead a truly breakneck speeds. The back hatch was open, a pair of heavily armored figures with what looked like some heavy weapons firing at a now smoking and sinking aircar full of Eclipse. Between them, gleaming in white omni radiance, was the unmistakable figure of the Archangel.

The Butcher's mocking voice sounded again. "You couldn't even kill Archangel. But if you're stupid enough to think you can take the both of us? Come and get it, boys."

With a grimace he flash-framed the truck in his omni and transmitted it. "Vehicle ID confirmed. I can see the sirefucking Archangel. They just shot down an Eclipse car, I need backup!"

The snarling voice of Relli's Kiss spoke. "All units, move to Towers sector one! Durm, shift your people out of Niftu and into Gozu, get them moving up station! The fuckers got right past us, if she gets through the Uppers she'll be at the far end of the docks!"

Kathorn steadied his nerves. "Vask, take us in high and steady. Get ready to rake the truck with fire."

They sped under a pair of haptic signboards, pulling up in a sharp left and coming out over a flat, low-topped building to the truck's right side. The two soldiers were lifting their weapons when a flash of light erupted from the truck and the head of the driver of the aircar just exploded.

Kathorn's last act was to stare at the truck in disbelief that someone could make a shot like that, before a second shot impacted his skull and blew him right out of his aircar.

Swarms of air-cars dropped out of the traffic lanes, firing wildly. Bright blue biotic barriers sprang up around the air-truck as it swooped and dived, a constant stream of BRKR blasts, missiles, and terrible sprays of high energy plasma flak from the barrel of Jessie joining with the steady, unerring fire of the Archangel's sniper rifle.

A pair of Eclipse sisters on skybikes roared off the top of an office building, warp swords alight. Driving with one hand, Shepard casually pulled out her Harrier and put a burst into each one of them with only a glance, sniffing dismissively as their corpses and burning bikes fell to crash into fireballs far below.

Melenis was doing what she could with her limited biotics to provide protection, but Jack's barriers were turning away most of the incoming fire. Mordin was deploying a stream of missile firing omnidrones and an ECM field to throw off Incoming ordinance, while the DACT were firing on full auto, screaming out the kamikaze battle cry and howling in exaltation whenever they blew a lightly armored air car apart.

Vorcha jump-troops were a constant threat - some strapped with bombs, others with rapid-firing light shotguns that harried them constantly. Most missed badly when they launched themselves at the truck, only to eat a snapshot from the driver's window as Shepard fired her Harrier one handed, or to catch sniper fire from Garrus.

But one vorcha was lucky enough to get a shot off, blowing a hole in the side of the drive unit that reduced their speed slightly. Zaeed shot it to pieces, but the damage was done - and it allowed more of their pursuers to get into range.

Shepard kept her eyes on the glide-path projected by the onboard VI. The engines were already red-lined, and she couldn't really go much faster. Her main advantage was her cybernetic reflexes which allowed her to make split second adjustments and turns no living being could calculate, as she tore through a gap between two buildings with literally inches to either side of the truck.

An overlay of the map Vigil had produced was recorded by her graybox and displayed in one corner of her HUD, even as her commlink lit up. "Shepard, this is Miranda. The Suns forces that had stopped our truck lane pulled off. We are now pulling into the docks and... it looks like nobody's bothering to check vehicles. We're going to board the pinnace as soon as possible by just driving the truck right up to it and moving the injured in cargo boxes into the pinnace itself."

Shepard nodded, leaning as she turned into the wheel, dodging an oncoming truck by feet and smiling grimly as it haplessly smashed an aircar full of wildly firing vorcha out of the sky. "Sounds good. Pull out the second the Normandy blows the gig, and keep your guard up – they may figure out sooner or later that we had two trucks."

She clicked off and called out. "You guys handling our guests alright?"

Garrus cursed. "Fucking gunship. Bouncing my rounds. Can you get it with the BRKR?"

Montoya shook his head. "Damned thing is hopping around like a grasshopper on crack. Pilot's good."

Zaeed gave a sneer. "Fuck that noise." He pulled out a heavy canister from the drop pack he'd stowed under his seat, slotting the stock of Jessie into it and connecting a heavy linked tube. "Level four."

The barrel of the seemingly normal Avenger rifle split into threes, attaching to a circular rail attachment that slid forward as the under-stick moved back, sliding into the canister. The red-lit haptics shifted from a dull glow to bright, and Zaeed attached a heavy launch rail on the top, clipping it securely inside the circular guide-rail. "Guddamned amateurs. I hate gunships."

The handle of the gun and the firing trigger slide to one side, and Zaeed grabbed it, aiming the Avenger-turned-minigun and pulling. A stream of hypervelocity destabilized particle rounds erupted with a terrible, grinding firing noise, a streak of fell reddish light that tore across the space between the truck and the gunship. The gunship dodged but the stream of fire followed it, smashing into the port side and tearing a gaping hole in the airship as the rounds detonated in blasts of radiation and heat.

Garrus merely stared at the weapon as Zaeed gave a hard laugh. "How do I not have one of those?"

Zaeed readjusted his aim, dragging his firing pattern in a line and almost sawing two air-cars in half with the firepower. "Ha. There is no other weapon like Jessie in the entire guddamned galaxy, boy. This old bitch has killed more people than the Sao Paulo death squads."

Shepard angled the truck under a low bridge. "Keep the fire up. This is a cargo truck - if they get past Jack's barrier, we're not going to last long under any kind of fire. If they get a good shot at us we're fucked."

Even as she spoke, a missile flashed by, barely missing. Shepard threw the truck into a steep dive, sending Zaeed stumbling back, then wrenched it to the left to avoid a spray of more missiles fired from the ground by a trio of Blue Suns engineers. "Ground units, missile fires. Jesus fuck, this is getting worse. What I wouldn't give for some good old fashioned chaff."

Mordin brightened. "Excellent idea." He tapped a series of controls on his omni-tool before grabbing a canister of omni-gel from his bag. "Not perfect. Should suffice, though." Moving steadily to the back of the craft, he launched yet another drone, this one soaring high above the truck before coming apart in a flare of crackling bits of metal. "EMP discharge cloud. Kills missiles, aircar engines, and ground acquisition sensors."

Shepard smirked as a pair of air cars hit the glittering cloud and stalled, occupants screaming as they slammed full speed into a heavy retaining wall below a tower complex. "Heh. Good idea, Mordin. For a doctor, you come with a lot of nasty tricks."

The salarian paused to trigger an overload routine on yet another closing airbike, then shrugged. "Problems require various solutions. Sometimes healing. Sometimes killing. Sometimes awesome. Am good at all three."

Jack smirked. "Modest too." She gritted her teeth as more machinegun fire blasted the truck, her barriers flickering as she tried to hold them together. "Can't... keep this up much longer, Shepard."

Melenis managed to use a push to knock away a missile, panting. "You must... be incredibly strong to resist so much incoming fire. And so young. How?"

Jack panted, but Shepard answered, a warm tone in her voice. "She's the strongest biotic humanity has ever produced. She can hold these fuckers off for days."

The words made a complex set of emotions flicker across Jack's face, before she tightened her jaw and slugged down a gulp of energy drink. "Fuck yeah I can. Just... shit's boring, you know?"

Shepard's soft laughter was nearly drowned out by the howl of the DACT as Montoya's BRKR cannon fired again. The glowing green blast missed its original target by inches, which was still enough to cook the passengers inside to charred meat. The globe traveled on, hitting a support pylon and blasting it to bits, with part of the decking and building above it tumbling down.

Florez's plasma mortar was trickier to target in such chaotic movements, but more than once it vomited out white-hot blasts of plasma that incinerated two or three aircars at once, often times reducing the passengers to screaming agony as molten metal or super-hot plasma splashed over them.

Another one of Florez's plasma blasts crashed into an adjacent tower, and swatted half a dozen air cars and a gunship out of the sky in the collapse, as clouds of choking smoke rose and a rain of debris pattered down in all directions. Garrus scowled. "Can we keep the collateral damage down? Granted this is the Upper District, so most of these people are scum, but some of them are innocent."

Zaeed snorted. "The Archangel, a moralist? Next you'll tell me the guddamned Sisters of Vengeance turn out to be romantics. Nothing much innocent on Omega, turian."

Garrus shook his head, wincing at the pain as he did so, his voice slurred very slightly. "There's always innocence. I have to believe that, believe that the people who died in this fight did so for a reason, a cause."

The mercenary sneered. "Causes and that kind of poppycock only gets you killed. Who needs it?"

Shepard barely avoided a head on collision with a charging aircar, and a vorcha, wearing a jetpack, took advantage of the swerving move to launch, managing to drop onto the truck's rooftop. It immediately unslung its SMG, firing wildly into the cargo area. Several rounds struck Melenis, skittering off her battered armor but still drawing blood.

Garrus angrily tapped his visor, outlining the creature, and fired his sniper rifle through the roof, blowing its head off. As the blasted corpse tumbled off the top of the truck, he flicked a mandible. "No ticket, no ride." He turned to Melenis. "You okay, Mel?"

She winced but nodded, pulling out a medigel packet. "Just a small wound in the calf. I'm fine, Garrus." Still, he noted she was unable to stand up fully, leaning against the wall, the torn armor on her thigh still slowly seeping purple blood.

Vigil's voice spoke. "The only access path to where you want to go is the tunnel straight ahead. All other paths will lead you through an open section of the Uppers where gunships are already in place."

Shepard cursed. "A tunnel? We'll be shot to fucking pieces!"

The sphere pulsed. "Well, to be accurate, you very well may be. However, I do not think you would like to hear the odds of us surviving a gauntlet of twenty-plus gunships with no cover, do you?"

She cursed, and gritted her teeth as she angled the truck down, entered the broad access tunnel. Shepard tensed. "Alright, get ready gang. This is going to be... really ugly."

Even as they entered, the chasers sped up, a pair of fast moving air-cars dropping in behind them, Blue Suns troopers firing with heavy machine guns.

In the tight confines of the tunnel, the ability of Shepard to move and dodge past obstacles and avoid fire was constricted. The DACT, Garrus and Zaeed were firing as fast as they could, but more incoming fire began to hammer Jack's now battered barrier field. The slender biotic sagged against the side of the truck, shaking and covered in sweat as she struggled to maintain her defenses.

A pack of vorcha at the far end of the tunnel lifted missile launchers, and Shepard grimaced. She tapped in a quick command to the autopilot and flung up her own barrier in front of the cab, barely in time before six missiles struck it. The impact shattered her field like glass, and she grunted in agony.

Jack screamed as more fire poured in from behind, collapsing to the floor after coughing up blood, and the barrier faded. A stream of LMG fire tore through the truck's right side, most of it bouncing harmlessly off of Montoya's strong armor, drawing curses in Spanish from the man.

Garrus aimed carefully at the driver of the closest aircar and fired, killing the batarian and sending that car skidding and tumbling into another pair of pursuers. As the cars behind them slowed to maneuver around the wreck, Shepard lowered the truck almost to the very bottom of the tunnel, taking manual control again and slamming it into the pack of vorcha that were almost done reloading their missile launchers.

A half dozen meaty thuds and screams of agony, along with the shuddering of the truck, brought a grim smile to Shepard's face, but she glanced back over her shoulder. "Mordin, help Jack."

He was already doing so, turning the slender biotic over as she gave a groan of pain. "Heart rate erratic. Some internal bleeding." He frowned as she levered herself up with shaky arms and managed to get to her knees, a thin trickle of blood leaking from her nose.

Garrus shot at a skybike that had gotten past the pileup. "You okay?"

She spat blood, giving a scowl as she wiped her mouth. "Just... great. Hey, grandma. Any chance you can... hurry this shit up?"

Mordin knelt next to her, scanning. "Limbic system compromised. Bio-amp is over-extended and nervous system voltages failing. You cannot go on."

Jack gritted her teeth. "Have to."

The salarian sighed, injecting her with something. "Parasympathetic regulator, norepinephrine concentrate. Will not work long." He turned his head to face Shepard. "Needs rest, soon."

Shepard gave a nod, even as Jack raised badly shaking hands and put up her barrier field again. "Doing my best, doc. Hang on, coming up on the end of the tunnel."

Even as she spoke a pair of aircars burst through the smoking debris of the wreck behind them, accelerating rapidly. One was full of vorcha wearing jump-packs, the other driven by an Eclipse ganger with the more heavily armored form of an Eclipse Sunfire, a failed war priestess.

Both DACT fired immediately at the pair of cars, but the older Eclipse asari batted away the plasma and BRKR blast with her own barrier. Garrus yelled. "Problems!"

Even as he did so, vorcha screamed, triggering the jump packs and leaping toward the back of the truck. Zaeed shot one out of the air, a stream of projectiles tearing the creature apart in midair before detonating the pack. Two others landed on the top of the truck, and two crashed directly into the cargo area, bowling over Florez with the impact and lifting shotguns to fire.

One blast hit Jack squarely, sending her back to the deck screaming, the armor vest buckled and burning in places. The other turned to fire on Melenis, who lifted her pistol faster and shot the vorcha in the face, blowing it right back out of the truck.

Garrus whirled, extending his omni-claws on his right arm, cutting into the vorcha's firing arm and chest, killing the miserable thing. But as he did so, the vorcha on the roof began firing into the cargo cabin from above. Both Melenis and Montoya were hit, the latter badly enough that he was knocked to his knees, part of his thick armor breached in places.

Shepard jammed the accelerator and brought the truck upwards, and the vorcha atop the truck barely had time to scream as they impacted the ceiling of the tunnel and were reduced to broken, tumbling corpses. Two more aircars managed to get past the wreckage, speeding up and firing as they came, the bullets tearing into the truck's frame, with no barrier to stop them.

Mordin was working on Jack, having removed the vest. "Armor blocked most of shot." He applied medigel to the narrow, bleeding wound carved by one of the shotgun flechettes, and the biotic girl groaned.

They burst free from the tunnel, but not before Florez tossed his belt of grenades backwards. The explosion blew both chasing air-cars apart, even as the air-truck climbed. Ahead was the vast complex of the Uppers, towers reaching downwards from the vast arch of rock that supported the Black Concourse, and far below the rocky boundary of the mids.

Two huge arches of metal braced the hollow cavern in the asteroid, each of one forming a long, slender ramp towards the sides of the heavy bracing. Eezo-supported floating platforms linked by omni-energy bridges dominated the center, and a crawling nimbus of air-cars in thick streams moved in and out of the area in multiple directions.

Jack's eyes widened. "You're driving into that? Fuck, let me off."

A small alarm began to flash on the control panel of the truck. Shepard winced. "Dammit, some of those shots got through when your barrier fell. Damaged the lift drive, and the engines will start overheating soon. We only have one shot at this, so... hang on."

The bulk of the pursuit had fallen back, but Jack struggled to raise her barrier again and could not. "Fuck!"

Shepard glanced up at Vigil, nodding, then set her fingers into a mnemonic and began generating her own barrier field. "Rest, Jack. I'm not as good as you are with this, but I can keep a barrier up at least for a while. The rest of you… get ready and keep the fuckers off of us, it's reactor run on the Death Star time."

Garrus groaned. "This vakar shit again?"

O-TWCD-O

Omega citizens watched in awe as the Archangel's truck dodged incoming traffic and streams of fire with inhuman speed, gasping as Archangel killed a soaring gangster on a jump-pack with a ricochet shot from over a thousand yards that sent him splattering across the gleaming white surface of a nearby office tower.

Live video of the car-chase began streaming onto the extranet in mere minutes, with tens of thousands, than hundred of thousands and finally millions watching. On Palaven, savage cheers rang out from the hastatim camps and many of the more aggressive of the Archangel's fans. Alliance space watched the video feed keenly, covering their eyes or shouting out whoops whenever the truck barely dodged past oncoming traffic.

Although where the truck was headed remained a mystery, all sorts of conjecture immediately began on the extranet. As the chase grew wilder, people began to see what the Butcher was actually planning on doing. And of course, the extranet cheered this on.

Popular DJ and technospinner MC Varout on Earth ran a livestream bounce of the video overdubbed with popular music such as the electronic-slideshift remake of 'Danger Zone'. Other commentators and aircar enthusiasts pointed out the truck model appeared to be a conversion of a Ford/Eldfell G2500 heavy hauler, and wondered how long the engines would hold out.

More than one post suggested mods to the truck. 'See? This is the shit you get when you put a Dodge engine into a damned Ford. Chaos!'.

When Shepard flung the truck into a sliding drift move, a biotic glow lashing to a wall and allowing it to make a turn that the four cars behind it couldn't make, people snickered, watching the pursuing air-cars smash haplessly into – and through – a nearby bank.

'Every bank has a drive-through if you're going fast enough, ya know'.

More and more air-cars joined in, but now Vigil was busy finding vulnerabilities in the software, hacking two or three at a time and crashing the hapless vehicles into one another. Zaeed's minigun conversion and the green-lit flare of BRKR rounds lit up the darkened buildings as the truck sped directly toward the nexus interchange, increasing speed as it did so. Florez's plasma mortar blasted chunks off of buildings, crushing unwary aircars, and rained death on those still trying to shoot at the ship from below.

And on millions of haptic screens and omni-tools, the galaxy watched the Butcher and Archangel defy all odds and death.

On Ilium, tucked in their hidden apartment, Liara and Telanya watched, if for no other reasons than to take their mind off recent events, unaware of the true identity of the truck's occupants. Liara found herself comparing the wild, reckless method of driving to how Shepard would drive, while Tel grudgingly admitted to herself that this Archangel could have even out shot Garrus on his best day.

Aboard the Citadel, in his office, Udina watched the video as one would observe an ongoing train derailment. He muttered to himself. "Ah, Shepard, if you could only see this asari memorialize you. It's like they cloned you and stuck you in an asari body, but with even less tact than you had." He lifted the glass of scotch and sipped it, wondering if he would be called to attend the hearing on David Anderson and his possible release from psych adjustment.

On Tuchanka, in the Hall of the Urdnot, Wrex paused in his mediating arguments between two clan lords to watch the chase, muzzle curling in faint mockery. "Butcher sure is good at running away. Maybe she's not that tough after all, without backup."

The emaciated figure of Jackson next to him snorted. "Sure, Turtle. Because beating the ever loving fuck out of Okeer is totally something you could have done yourself."

Wrex glared back at the man. "I liked you better when you were a berserker, I think."

In the penthouse of an elegant tower on Terra Nova, the Illusive Man watched the chase with narrowed eyes, Trellani leaning against the wall. "I would have hoped for a more... elegant and quiet withdrawal, to be honest."

Trellani shrugged at the man's words, swirling wine in the glass in her hand before drinking. "One who expects the tides to act other than they always have is bound to find only disappointment."

Harper gave a short laugh, picking up his own drink. "In other words, what did I really expect, given it is Shepard? Fair enough." He glanced at the video display again, frowning slightly. "But how exactly does she plan to get out of this... mess?"

The asari matriarch gave an amused smirk. "Based on her history, I would suggest something violent and crazy."

Harper paused, then sipped his drink. "Perhaps. Although there is a certain irony about you, of all people, pointing this out."

Trellani merely laughed softly.

O-TWCD-O

Relli's Kiss gritted her teeth as she raced the engine of the Kasris 5550 turbocharged racing aircar across the rooftops and into the pursuit path. The trail of the chase was easy to follow, littered by the burning wreckage of air-cars, the smashed impact sites where more had been blasted into walls, and the occasional pack of corpses far below on the ground level, where Blue Suns troopers gamely kept firing missiles at the truck.

The once brightly glowing biotic shields that protected the truck were fading and flickering now, but they were running out of things to chase the Archangel with. Gunships were being moved up through the mids even now, but it would be another ten minutes before they'd get into weapons range. The chaos in the tunnel had slowed the rest of the pursuit force down, but they were clearing it rapidly, and there were five Eclipse Sunfires and a hundred vorcha jump infantry incoming.

It was only a matter of time, as soon as they could catch up to the truck - the game was over. All she had to do was keep track of the thing. And yet, as she watched it arc higher and higher, her stomach sank.

The asari's eyes widened as she realized the truck was heading into the main traffic junction, a whirling and complex mess of air cars, trucks, and transports managed by a series of haphazard and often poorly programmed VI's, and moving at maximum speed in chaotic patterns.

Surely the Butcher wasn't crazy enough to dive into that.

Without even a hesitation the air-truck accelerated up the ramping side of an overpass and launched out into the air, heading straight for it at top speed, the gunners in the back of the truck firing wildly to dissuade pursuit.

The voice of Durm came across the commlink. "There's not a chance she can make it through that."

The asari bit her lip. If she backed off the chase now, they would be almost impossible to pick up again, and the failure would be laid on her. And if they actually escaped... the Warlords would probably not go through with the plan. The Suns would probably turn on her, and Durm was never fully trustworthy in any case. She shook her head and took another hit of red sand, grinning fiercely behind her mask. "Only one way to make sure."

The air truck plunged into the morass, and Relli's Kiss raced the engines, following.

O-TWCD-O

Shepard stared aghast at the mint-green sports aircar catching up to them. "I'll give that bitch credit for having a spine."

Zaeed chuckled. "Yeah, but no brain." He lifted his weapon and fired a long blast at the sports car, but a barrier deflected even his heavy firepower. "...okay, maybe she's not an idiot."

Florez and Montoya both fired. The BRKR blast merely bounced off the barrier, while the asari flung up a hand and actually managed to push the plasma mortar blast back at them. The energy blast hit the truck hard, making it skid for a few seconds, melting the left side of the truck slightly as Shepard's barrier couldn't stop it entirely.

"FUCK!" Shepard's voice was laced with pain. "Don't do whatever the fuck that was again."

Florez grimaced, lowering the mortar, and Garrus lifted his sniper. "Bitch is a good driver if she can dodge traffic and manage a barrier. I should have killed her a long time ago." He glanced at the damaged walls, wind whistling through them. "We're sitting ducks with no barrier."

Jack sat up more fully, rubbing the back of her neck where her bio-amp was implanted, the bleeding from her nose now stopped. "I … can try to bring up … my barrier…."

She watched as Shepard stepped away from the controls, laying her arm on Jack's shoulder.

"Rest. We're fine.."

Jack's voice came out painfully slurred and her vision was clearly blurry. "Oh... okay, grandma. But... hey! Who's driving?"

The silvery form of Vigil hovered in the front of the truck, a half dozen pseudopods sunk into the controls. "The primitive is not completely brainless, after all. She cannot hold a barrier and concentrate on driving for very long, while I can hack and interpret the VI piloting flow of traffic while reacting faster than any organic. This is perfectly safe... for us."

Zaeed gave a nasty laugh. "Gunna be a short ride for old Relli's Kiss, I'm guessing."

Shepard nodded. "The rest of them broke off... but we need to lose this bitch fast. Vigil, do it."

The sphere pulsed, rerouting the VI direction command for a heavy airhauler truck to adjust its course few degrees. By the time the salarian driver – or Relli's Kiss – realized they were going to collide, it was far too late.

The aircar was struck dead on, a shell of blue light shattering a second later as the impact was far beyond the ability of the asari's barrier to handle. The broken wreckage of the car spiraled and tumbled towards the ground, the torn and crushed form of Relli's Kiss trapped inside the mangled wreck.

A second later, the eezo whip still on her arm malfunctioned and activated, and the car detonated violently, scattering a spray of scrap and chunks of burning flesh in a gory rain on the hard pavement far below.

Vigil eased the truck into a path behind another truck similar to it. "Aria's people and Blue Suns hackers are rerouting the VI streams even now, primitive. It's now or never, the main force will exit the tunnel access in less than a minute, and a second force of gunships will be coming from the tunnel ahead in less than forty seconds. Between them, we will be overwhelmed and destroyed in seconds once they catch up."

Shepard nodded, taking a deep breath. "Here we go. Shut the back hatch, and everyone strap in tight." She sat back down at the controls, and as the black gaping mouth of the tunnel entry to the Mids swelled in size, tapped the controls and tore the truck out of the traffic pattern, diving sharply for the rim of metal that ran along the edge of the artificial cavern.

The truck landed with a thud, shaking everyone inside, even as Shepard accelerated hard, racing up the slender path provided by the bracing spar. Higher and higher they rose, even as a dozen air-cars managed to pick their way through the traffic nexus to pursue.

Shepard grinned. "Ha, too fucking slow." She tapped her commlink. "Joker, timing on this is going to be tight – there's probably going to be a kinetic barrier system setup to seal hull breaches. Slow your acceleration to … sixteen meters per second."

"Copy that. I'm lined up with the wall of the station... ready to fire on your order, crazy lady."

Garrus looked at the blank expanse of wall ahead and finally realized what Shepard was planning to do in its totality. "You... you need help, sheep. This is worse than you driving up the Citadel Tower."

Shepard only grinned as she gunned the engine, the damaged lift drive starting to struggle, as the truck continued screaming ahead. As impact with the wall was imminent, she tapped her commlink. "Now, Joker!"

She tapped the autopilot - no time to wait on Vigil to link into the car - and flung all her strength into a defensive barrier covering the front of the truck, even as the wall of the station exploded from a single mass driver round, blowing a hole four times as wide as the truck.

Hovering in space barely fifty feet from the station was the darkened bulk of the Normandy, her lines obscured by boxy attachments and a haptic disguise projection field. The cargo bay doors were open and the ramp angled all the way down, and a handful of crewmen stood at the sides of the bay, in environmental suits and holding fire extinguishers.

The air-truck roared through the breach, the eezo lift systems flailing for anything to repulse against, and the truck tumbled slightly, landing awkwardly at the front of the cargo bay and tipping onto one side as it skidded forward. It slammed hard into the blocking wall that separated the bay from the deployment section, the front of the trunk crumpling.

The omni-gel restraints and padding Mordin rigged up held for most of the occupants, although the two DACT tore free and slammed into Garrus's armored bulk. Even as the truck stopped, the bay doors were closing, closing out the sight of the hole in the station and what looked like dozens of gunships pouring into the open area of the Uppers in frustrated pursuit.

A few managed to fire rockets or mass accelerators, all of which pinged impotently off the now raised kinetic barriers of the Normandy as she pulled away.

Pressly's voice rang across the 1MC. "All hands, set battle condition 1SQ. All hands stand by to repel boarders, secure for high speed maneuvering."

Joker immediately dropped the ship into a full powered dive, blowing the bolts on the disguise kit and dropping the haptic field. The black, gold and white lines of the SR2 Normandy, its name blazing white on black, erupted into view, pausing long enough to plant two torpedoes directly into the nearest GTS towers jutting from the edge of the station.

The ship nosed out and away, engines sliding back and flaring with power as the ship roared forward. GARDIAN laser towers spun and tracked, but Vigil was already working the ECM suites of the ship while jamming the targeting VI with junk acquisition data, and the white hot lasers missed cleanly.

The ships of the various warlords, so carefully arranged to make sure nothing could break free of the docks, and Aria's own ships, neatly placed to shoot down any warlords who tried to storm said docks, were completely out of position to chase the Normandy. Nevertheless, they tried, the blockade breaking up as ship after ship vainly strained their engines to get into firing range.

In the CIC, Pressly glanced at the sensor console, as the two ECM techs worked furiously. "Acquisition LADAR locking us up, those mass rail cannons are coming on line."

Pressly nodded tersely. "Joker, full evasive."

The pilot in the cockpit pulled his hat down slightly and nodded, bringing down additional panels. "Vigil, handle weapons and secondaries, I gotta concentrate."

The copy of the sphere floating in the cockpit gave a long suffering sigh. "Vigil, hack everything. Vigil, stop the bad guys. Vigil, fly the fucking ship. What am I, a slave?"

Joker snickered. "Just very vigilant?"

"You aren't funny, meatbag, despite your nickname. Stop. Trying."

Hundreds of missiles were launched at the raptor of black and gold that angled up higher and higher, racing for the relay. And then a powerful ECM burst jammed their sensors, as the heat image of the Normandy simply vanished and the surface of the ship rippled in haptic patterns before fading to absolute, non-reflective black.

O-TWCD-O

In her penthouse, Aria stood, watching the haptic displays of the Normandy's escape, and the streams of ships fleeing the Docks or vainly scanning around for evidence of the ship.

Bray nervously watched her expression, wondering if she would take this failure out on the gangs or the warlords. And then Aria did something he'd not seen in a very long time. She burst out laughing.

It wasn't the hard, cool, mocking laughter she gave to victims, or the sultry amused laughter to her guests. This was... girlish giggling. He shuddered just hearing it – seeing her double over and crack up was completely unnatural.

A couple of her other bodyguards shifted uneasily, as Aria finally recovered her aplomb, still chuckling. She turned off the haptic screen with a smile and flopped down onto her couch, holding her stomach and snickering.

After several long seconds, Bray stepped forward hesitantly. "Aria...?"

"Oh, Bray. Allow me one moment of normal mirth before dragging me back to the real world."

Her smile faded a bit, but there was an unusual crinkle in her eyes that bespoke of her amusement. "That... was the most insanely brilliant stunt I have seen in a very long time. Surrounded by an entire army of PMCs on a hostile station and she not only manages to escape with the Archangel and his entire team unscathed, but blows up Relli's Kiss and breaks the main strength of the PMC's."

She laughed again. "Oh, what a day. Order me up some steak and drishana leaves on pathi from Vicords, and have Captain Gavorn put a hi-ex incendiary round or ten into Durm's skull. And have the Warlords dock – and attend to me, alone, with one guard each. It's time to put an end to this stupidity."

Bray nodded. "What about the PMC's?"

Aria's lips quirked. "After the tragic demise of Durm, inform whoever is running each one they have six hours to get the bulk of their forces off my station... or else I declare a Hunt on them. Imply I have evidence from Archangel that they were on the take from P. If they get violent, EMP and gas the docks like I said earlier."

Bray bowed and walked out to carry out his orders, and another of her bodyguards, a female turian with white and gray face-paint, spoke. "Milady... the Blue Suns recording showed two trucks, not one. Should we continue the search?"

Aria shot her a look. "Are you stupid? Clearly this entire melodramatic exit was cover for the other truck to escape. Probably on the same damned pinnace they arrived in. No, don't bother. Get the salvage and repair teams going ASAP and draft up as many vorcha from the pits as needed to dig out the wreckage in Niftu."

Aria leaned back once more, smiling. "Very well played. Now what, Butcher?"