The Redoubtable

According to the clocks, it was the small hours of the morning when Shepard woke up. As it had been before the news of the Geth attacks had reached them, sleep had failed to find her, but for other reasons this time. The Compact had discussed their next mission, and she had largely made the choice all by herself. She was hoping she had been right.

"Sombra identified three likely targets for Saren: Eden Prime, Feros and Tuchanka. Now, what could be of interest there for him?" Shepard had asked out loud. "As miss Lawson pointed out, I believe Eden Prime would be attractive for its shock value. Threatening the large civilian population there would keep us on our toes."

"And we know very little so far about the Prothean ruins there," Liara had added. "Saren could target them if he knew something about them that we don't."

"Reason for which I've given instructions to demolish the site if he approaches," Hackett had announced. "There are standing orders to evacuate the surrounding environs and detonate a low-yield fusion bomb if there is an attack on the place. If we cannot have it, then Saren won't either. Whatever he wants, he's not getting it."

The young T'Soni had paled: "But that would be—!"

Astrid had interrupted her as neutrally as she could: "A bit extreme, sir, if you ask me, but understandable."

"Let's move on, then. Tuchanka?" Shepard had eyed the Citadel personnel. "Considering all the assets you have in place, I think Saren's objective there has already been achieved."

"What are you talking about?" T'Perro had asked sharply.

"He knows that hinting about a threat of the Krogan following him en masse will have the Council in a fit. It's the perfect distraction."

"To do what… if only we knew," Garrus had mused.

"That leaves the last target: Feros. We have no idea at all about what could Saren want there." A pause for effect before she had decided: "So we're going there."

Looks had been exchanged as people sought arguments to question her.

"How reliable is this Sombra?" Surrakar had asked. "What if she's mistaken?"

"Then we fuck up," had been Shepard's crude reply. "Look, I see your point. She worked for the terrorist faction responsible for the Second Omnic Crisis, but we never heard a whisper about her. And honestly we don't know what her agenda is. But she's responsible for every breakthrough we've had: she warned us about the raid on Iera—" a glance at Rix "—and revealed to us the whereabouts of Jacqueline Nought—and as you know, trying to arrest Benezia without her help would have been a disaster. A real one," she added as she gazed at T'Perro. "If she's done that to set us up for a trap… well, it could be that, I agree it's a possibility. But I think it unlikely." She had not added that they were pressed for time, that each minute spent debating their course of action was a minute gained by Saren.

We need to appoint a field commander, Shepard realized as she reflected in the darkness, eyes wide open, sleep again eluding her, the soft whirring of the ship's machinery not relaxing her as it usually did. We cannot waste time arguing about what to do next.

"Stella," she whispered tiredly, "anyone up?"

"Nought is undergoing a rehabilitation session with Ziegler," the AI answered. "Lawson and Shimada are sparring on the hangar. The Quarians are working on the reactor spaces." After a brief pause, she added: "The former Talon agents are on the mess hall."

Aaliyah blinked a few times to clear her eyes. "All three of them?"

"Yes, colonel."

She sat up on her bed. "Not the best company, but… I'd rather check on them."

"You want a live feed, colonel?"

She shook her head. "There's some things you have to see yourself, Stella. Besides… I don't put it past Sombra to hack your cameras."

The screen on her desk turned on. The AI's avatar was on it. She looked miffed. "I find it disappointing that you have such little faith in my capabilities."

Again Aaliyah shook her head. "It's not your abilities that I don't trust. It's hers that I fear."

She put on a simple, plain navy blue marine uniform, and left her quarters. The mess hall was sited on the deck above the hangar, and had a long window looking out into space. It was by this window that she found Lacroix, Reyes and Sombra, all sitting by a table. Glasses and a bottle, still unopened, were set on it.

The moment they noticed her, they all stood up at attention. She was slightly taken aback at that. "At… ease," she said haltingly, surprised. "Anything I should know?"

Lacroix sat back on her chair. "I'm remembering."

Shepard stared at the sniper. The woman looked back but added nothing.

"She's mourning her husband", Sombra clarified eventually. Her voice was slightly off, as if her mind was somewhere else. She had an empty look to her face as her eyes stared sightlessly into space.

The Starwatch colonel understood — both that the hacker was analyzing something in her mind, and what motivated Amélie's gloom. "How many years ago today?"

"Fifty-five", was Reyes' curt answer. He did not look her way either.

Shepard did not need to think much to remember the chilling tale of Gérard's death. Others would adamantly claim that the only place for such a ruthless murderess was inside a cell, but she could see that Amélie was already in one that went with her, and the burden of her guilt did not grow any lighter with time.

Aaliyah was forced to examine her feelings. The assassin that had gutted her squads on the Moon all those years back was sitting two steps away. Another assassin, one partly responsible for the downfall of Overwatch and the advent of the Second Omnic Crisis, also sat close by, and for all her vaunted coldness it was evident that she was grief-stricken. And, finally, a hacker she knew uncomfortably little about was obviously engaged into the shenanigans she was so superbly skilled at.

For the brown-skinned slicer she could not find any empathy, now that she had recovered from the blow to her ego that had represented being fooled by Saren.

But she felt moved to try and ease some of Amélie's pain.

"I won't insult you by pretending to know how you feel," she started. She was aware that if someone said to her what was on her mind it would hurt like hell, so she stumbled slightly: "I haven't even gotten anywhere near to—to what you were forced to do. Also I… I know you were frozen until very recently, so the pain… I don't know if I could bear it."

Widowmaker did not react. "I don't need your sympathy."

"Maybe, maybe not. Maybe you don't need mine, but you need someone's." She tried to grab the attention of those pitiless yellow eyes. "I didn't know Gérard. But he would hope that you found a way to make amends."

There were flickers of anger and pain on Amélie's face. "You don't simply move on after you kill your own spouse," was the icy reply.

"Okay, fine. What you were forced to do was monstrous. Happy now?" There was no answer, but the anger on the yellow eyes intensified. "But you did nothing to deserve your kidnapping, or being butchered at Talon's hands, or being turned into an assassin. I won't say a remorseless assassin. It's plain obvious that guilt is eating you alive."

Reyes was observing. A glimmer of curiosity colored his grim features. "I'm surprised that you care."

She turned to face him. "Me too, really," she admitted. "I'm surprised myself that I'm talking to you like this."

Understanding flashed briefly on Gabriel's mind. "When we had that one-on-one talk, back on that cell, I told you that what I wanted was some recognition for me and my men," he recollected. "I didn't expect it from you… especially because of what I did to you. But you went that extra mile anyway for us." The question came out after a few instants: "Why?"

The ghosts of Ricks, Akemi, Krauze and the others stared back at her as she tried to frame her answer.

"Because you regret it."

'It' could mean a lot of things, and it actually did, but neither Aaliyah nor Gabriel needed to clarify that.

Something cracked in Reyes. He did not make any overt gesture, but they both felt it.

"Yeah." The following words came out with difficulty: "I… owe you."

They looked into each other's eyes. "It's not me whom you have to make amends with," she said slowly and deliberately. I don't want your restitution anymore. I want your loyalty.

The assassin read her face and understood. He wanted to say a lot of things, but everything that came to his mind was trite, melodramatic or insufficient.

"So that's why you want to help her?" He gestured at Lacroix, who had witnessed the exchange with not a shred of emotion. "Because she regrets it?"

Her eyes turned towards the sniper. "No punishment could be worse than her own torment." She took a deep breath. "I… I wasn't there to see for myself the consequences of what she did. Maybe that colors my opinions a little. But if I had to bear a guilt that monstrous… hell, I couldn't. I know for sure that Gérard himself couldn't bear to see her like this either."

Sombra seemed to come out of her reverie then—or maybe she never had been really away either. "Who could have imagined you were that good at playing shrink?" she said mockingly with an irreverent grin.

Shepard sat on the table along with the rest of the Talon crew. "There's more to being a commander than giving orders."

Gabriel perked up slightly upon hearing those words. He silently nodded his agreement and watched as the Starwatch colonel poured drinks.

"To Gérard Lacroix", she toasted. "And to his wife, may she find peace."

Now it was Amélie's time to crack. She came out of her statue-like stillness to reach for the glass.

Her voice quivered as she softly spoke the word:

"Merci."

"I received a message from T'Perro," Stella informed seven hours later as they approached Feros. "She searched a safe haven of Benezia's on Thessia. Her journals were found and are being decoded. She expects to have news shortly."

Garrus clenched his fist. "Finally, a good one for us. Hopefully Saren doesn't know about either the place or the journal."

Shepard was not so sure. "Let's hope you're right."

"You think this is another trick."

The Starwatch colonel scowled. "I've gotten my fingers burned already."

The Turian eyed her oddly, then glanced at her hands. "I don't see anyth—oh, it's another of those colorful expressions." He bowed his head. "I can't blame you."

The cockpit felt cool. Moreau and Oxton had traded barbs on their first meeting, but that incipient rivalry was set aside when it was time to get down to work. Tracer sat on the left seat, and her partner occupied the right one.

"Zhu's Hope tower, this is the Redoubtable, operated on behalf of the Alliance-Citadel joint task force," Moreau spoke on his mike. "We are on approach and can't see the status of your docking bays. Please advise, over."

Seconds ticked by without a response. Both pilots exchanged glances; Tracer needed no word to query their sensor suite for nearby contacts. Again she looked at her colleague, this time shaking her head.

"Remember what happened the last time we got no answer?" Astrid asked with a slight edge.

"Yeah, a sentient genocidal dreadnought came around to say hello," was Shepard's dry answer. "Now shut up. Don't tempt fate."

"Zhu's Hope tower…" Moreau repeated his call. Another few seconds waiting, then he shook his head. "They're not answering."

Aaliyah needed only a superficial glance to see that Oxton was already clad on the lightweight power armor the Starwatch workshop had put together with her unique needs and abilities in mind, her trusty machine pistols on twin holsters. "The team on the Montauk, now. That also means you, Tracer. Jeff, you got the wheel."

"Aye aye, ma'am."

Lena stood up. "Just try and do get us close enough in one piece, will you please?"

"Oh, count on it. Expect a few bumps along the way, though. And maybe a few panels will need a new paint job, too."

"That'll come out of your paycheck, Moreau," Shepard quipped, just seriously enough. She did not want to interfere too much. His rivalry with Tracer added some levity that was much welcome at that moment.

"Can I keep my bunk and chair, ma'am? You know, after they evict my ass."

"You hope to keep them, make sure Tracer doesn't kick you to the curb."

"Some vote of confidence," the pilot snarked, then turned his attention back to his instrument panel.

They arrived at the hangar in time to see their crew boarding the dropship. Lumiscant the omnic engineer handed her her loadout: a Locust submachine gun, a hardlight caster to supplement the one built into her left palm, and a satchel loaded with grenades and bubble shield projectors. She accepted it with a bow of her head and boarded the Montauk herself.

"Commanders on deck!" Layali Amari barked. The professional soldiers snapped salutes. The rest, including Sombra, Liara and the Quarians, raised their hands in greeting instead.

"At ease," she acknowledged them. "We have been trying to raise the local settlement. They aren't answering. So we're going in expecting the worst. Amari, we're dropping you ahead of us, but no feet on the ground yet. If there's Geth around, we have to tread lightly or we'll alert them all—hell, they'll hear us coming outright so I don't think there's surprising them." A hand shot up: "Yes, Park?"

"The Geth are all networked, is that correct?" The Quarians all nodded as one. "If I remember right, that means they have total awareness, isn't that right? Once one spots us, they'll all know where we are. If they concentrate firepower they can overwhelm us very easily."

Shepard looked at Shilu'Vael. "Well?"

The Quarian cyborg —just calling her a 'cyborg' felt blasphemous already— spoke up reluctantly: "Geth are not distinct entities, they are not individually sentient. They are a case of emergent intelligence: complex behaviors emerging from sets of simpler rules. The softwares that comprise them synergize to respond to directives and stimuli. That would usually make them extremely hard to hack or subvert by digital methods."

"You say 'usually'", Valena noted, "so what's changed this time?"

Tali'Zorah answered instead. "Occasionally we put together attack software that can throw Geth for a loop—I think the word would be 'viruses' or 'worms'. But they are very short lived. Geth are almost amorphous right now, they're evolving very quickly; as Jaenna pointed out, they can counteract them very fast. But Shilu and-and Agleia working together can continuously tailor and tweak their attacks so that the Geth cannot develop a response quickly enough."

"So we are on a first-name basis now?" Anika jabbed amicably.

"We don't have much of a choice," Jaenna grumbled. "We like it or not, Agleia is part of Shilu forever now. She's keeping her alive. Might as well try and get along with her."

"That's very much appreciated," the AI said through Shilu's omni-tool, then she added deadpan: "With a bit of hope we may even get to exchange presents on the holidays."

A few snickers punctuated Agleia's snark. "You just stick to your job," was the older Quarian's dry reply.

"Well, anything you can do could help. Field reports say that most Geth combat platforms are about as perceptive as front-line soldiers." Shepard turned on a screen and showed a few pictures in quick succession.

"They look like walking lamp posts," Park observed.

"'Lampheads', that's how our troops dubbed them," Astrid pointed out. "Whatever that thing is for, it doesn't stop them from being effective. They maneuver, lay suppressing fire, deploy in fire teams, call in support, flank, snipe, and do most things well-trained combatants do. And they're ridiculously accurate to boot."

"Anything about their guns that I haven't read already?" Layali asked.

"Their weapons are about as good as those from the Haliat armories," Garrus answered. "Linear accelerator rifles, plasma shotguns, lasers. By themselves they're dangerous enough already, but as Martinsson said, they're very sharp shots."

The cool Lacroix asked a question of the Quarians: "Can you interfere with that?"

Uneasily, Tali replied: "We can't guarantee that. Each try yields different results."

"Then let me help, chica," Sombra cut in. She got apprehensive looks in response.

"This is very specific tech," Tali'Zorah tried to object. "We would have to brief you extensively on this—"

"So get started now." Reyes had used the deep, almost frightful voice that had characterized him while he had embodied his Reaper persona. "These tin cans seem better coordinated and communicated than what we could ever be, and they are dead shots. We get down there unprepared, it's going to get ugly."

No one tried to question Gabriel. Genji, Lena, and even Layali stood in silent support. Cornered, the Quarians shot one last glance at Shepard and Vakarian, who as commanders would have the last word.

"You heard the man," Garrus said simply.

"Vulture one-dash-one, this is the Redoubtable," they heard Moreau speak over the radio. "You're cleared for launch. Good luck out there."

"Redoubtable, this is Vulture flight," Tracer replied. "Thank you. Stay sharp."

The distant Theseus star shone one last time behind Feros as Lena dove towards the surface, drone fighters in escort. This side of the planet was blanketed in darkness, with not a single artificial light in view.

"Such situations remind me just how far away from home I am," Shimada said quietly.

"Certainly Hanamura is a ways off," Tracer commented from the cockpit.

The mention of his birthplace caused the ninja to grow only more solemn: "I don't belong there anymore."

A lot of people here don't belong anywhere anymore, Shepard thought as her eyes shifted between faces. Not Liara, not Shilu, not Jaenna, not Wrex, not Valena, not Miranda, not Jacqueline, not Genji, not Lena… not Lacroix, not Sombra, not Reyes.

Except here, maybe?

"You belong with us," Aaliyah told Genji.

The ride became jittery as the dropship initiated its descent. The air was clear of clouds, but thick and heavy with a sooty and dusty haze. As they approached the surface, the towers jutting out from the wreckage that blanketed the planet became more prominent and noticeable under the pale light of the two Ferosian moons.

"Wow, look at those towers…" Astrid breathed.

"They didn't seem as impressive on the pictures," Genji observed.

"Building these skyways can't have been easy… not even for Protheans," Anika commented.

"At the apex of their power, the Protheans had built across Feros so extensively that over two-thirds of its surface were covered by a giant city," Liara detailed.

"Then the Reapers came," Shepard added quietly.

"Before it was a part of your territory, this was a popular place with looters and scavengers," the young Asari archaeologist continued, if anything to try and shake off the dread of Aaliyah's comment. "The rubble is between ten to fifteen meters deep, thickening to over thirty in a few places. Lots of chambers and structures are thought to remain untouched beneath the debris."

"Yes," Anika acknowledged her. "There's a very strict policy regarding looting, especially since Vishkar was granted a settlement and exploration contract."

"Vishkar?" Reyes asked with a sliver of interest. "Who's in charge here?"

"An old friend of my mom's," Ziegler answered.

One of the Prothean towers, after having been extensively evaluated and tested for integrity, had been selected as the place for the outpost. Tracer held station a kilometer away, while the drone fighters and the airborne Amari circled twice around it, cautiously looking for signs of ambushers. For this one mission, the jumpjet trooper had ditched part of her arsenal in favor of additional shield generators and an active point defense system not unlike that of a hardsuit, reasoning that she would need them if the enemy boasted superior accuracy.

"No hostiles on the LZ," she informed at last. "I have a visual on the docking bays. I see only one ship docked, a freighter. The other two are empty."

Garrus was unconvinced and thoughtful. "Something isn't right here. If I held that colony and wanted to defend it against newcomers, I'd make sure to give them a proper welcome. And I refuse to believe they don't know we're here."

"Maybe our air cover scared them off," Astrid guessed. "Half a dozen drone fighters is no small thing. And considering that Tracer and our omnic girls are on the controls…"

"Still, he has a point," Shepard recognized. "I don't like it, but we have to go. Let's get in there."

The bays themselves were not the crisp, clean facilities of a starport. Instead, it was a cavernous hall on the side of the tower that had been cleared to make room for the docking braces, cranes and walkways necessary to service landing ships. The walls were naked masonry, pitted and worn by thousands of years of exposure to the elements.

"It's amazing that these towers still stand," Liara breathed.

"Let's just hope they hold together when the explosions start," Aaliyah said dryly. "Mercy, deploy a Bulwark to secure the docks. The other one is coming with us. You got the wheel until we come back."

"Yes, Shepard."

"Tali? Shilu? Jaenna?"

Tali'Zorah was looking intently at the readouts on her omni-tool. "There are Geth signals all over this place," she said warily. "I guess we know why nobody was answering our hails."

"It will take a few minutes, but I can pinpoint their locations in our map," Shilu'Vael offered.

"That would help. Park, you got point. Let's go."

The hallways leading out of the docks and into the main tower structure were spacious enough for three hardsuits to march side by side. Reyes, Oxton and Shimada scouted ahead of the rest, and as they exited the passageways into the main settlement square proper they came upon the first Geth:

"I see movement… lampheads, foot soldiers, six of them, plus two heavies and a four-legged walker," Tracer informed quietly.

"Any civilians in sight, over."

"None. No bodies, either. But we're late to the show, luv." Clearly, a battle had been fought there. Scorch marks, bullet holes and wrecked vehicles and omnic frames littered the place.

"Another group approaching from an exit to the north," Shimada whispered. "Half a dozen troopers plus another walker."

"They're fortifying the square," Garrus observed. "We let any more of them in, it's going to cost us."

Shepard tapped her omni-tool to bring up a schematic of the area. The Geth already on the square were hunkered down near the western exit, about two hundred meters from the entrance to their tunnel, the hulk of the enormous quadrupedal walker looming over its lesser brethren.

Lawson approached her. "Too large for an Armature," she dictamined. "A Colossus."

"A primary target for our Bulwark," Astrid thought.

"That's going to leave an awful lot of troopers to deal with," Garrus objected. "The moment we shoot at the big one, they'll scatter and dig in. We won't have a better opportunity."

"And that walker can't take cover," Shepard decided, sounding more confident than she felt. "Valena, Miranda and Jacqueline, I want you on defense duty. Liara, you too. That thing is going to pound us while our Bulwark reloads."

There was movement by the Geth strongpoint as the foot soldiers milled about, deploying some contraptions on the open street and powering them up. Hexagonal barriers popped into existence, then the walker started advancing.

"You've been spotted," Reyes alerted grimly.

"Engage!" Aaliyah ordered automatically.

The Bulwark loosed a single shot. The anti-personnel ordnance was a combination of high explosive and incendiary compounds, mixed right before firing with a package of molten metal that scythed mercilessly through body armor and soft matter alike. The Geth were no sturdier than omnics, and Bulwark weapons had been designed for effectiveness against heavy armor, organics and synthetics alike. As a result, when the round went off in the middle of the clustered troopers, the few not reduced to bits were blown away half-ablaze.

But to the Colossus that shower of blazing shrapnel was not even worthy of noticing. The enemies firing at his fellows, though, were. The weapon port on its forehead glowed fiercely before spitting a toroid of plasma at them, twin chainguns mounted on its chest spinning up as well. Liara, Valena and Miranda raised barriers to intercept the shot, but Jacqueline instead tried to deflect it — and was surprised by how difficult it was to affect the blazing toroid by means of biotics. The attack exploded against the multilayered defense, knocking almost everyone prone:

"Liara!" Ziegler screamed, then she warned: "Both T'Soni and Lawson are incapacitated!"

There was another shockwave in their midst as Jacqueline erupted in blue fire, now surrounded by a bubble of light so bright it hurt the eyes, and let out a guttural, enraged cry as she charged forward:

"Nought, don't!" Shepard bellowed, even though she knew it was a futile gesture. "Cover her, cover her!"

The Colossus took note of this singly approaching enemy and opened up with its chainguns, but it was clearly not enough to stop her, and the Geth learned of this fact too late to do anything about it. The berserk Jacqueline slammed her right fist dead center on the robot's chest—or, more properly, into the robot's chest. There was a lightning pulse as, an instant later, the hulking automaton exploded into bits.

The approaching element of six troopers and another Colossus sped forward to eliminate this threat; the foot soldiers laid down a thick curtain of suppressive fire, pinning down Nought and forcing her to take cover among the wreckage of the automaton she had just destroyed, while the other towering four-legged mech moved into position for a clear shot. It was then when the assault element of the Compact sprang into action, with Valena dashing forward to shield Jacqueline, and Oxton and Reyes showing themselves to draw enemy fire while Shimada seized the distraction to get up close, quickly dispatch half the troopers, and stick a pulse bomb on the side of the Colossus. The resulting detonation tore off layers of armor and forced it to retreat.

"Move in! Secure the square!" Shepard ordered, then ran forward to join Jacqueline and Valena and threw up a bubble shield around them. "How is she?" she asked of the Asari commando.

"A bit winded, but otherwise unscathed."

"Reckless thing to do," she muttered through gritted teeth. "Impressive, but reckless."

Jacqueline scowled and almost told Shepard where she could stick it, but got ahold of herself and thought better of it. "Saw red for a moment. Sorry."

Aaliyah took a moment to evaluate her position. To their left, the street turned west, yawning into a hallway that led to the administrative section. A prefabricated building to her right concealed them from the retreating Colossus. Behind them she heard the pounding steps of the Bulwark as it hastened towards their position. Somewhere to her east echoed the chainguns of Park's hardsuit, no doubt supporting Oxton, Reyes and Shimada as they harassed the retreating enemy.

Astrid and Wrex took position by the wall before the threshold to the western passage. "I guess I should call someone else 'Doomfist' now," Martinsson said deadpan.

"Be my guest," Shepard replied curtly. "How are Liara and Miranda?"

"Stunned. Biotic backlash," Ziegler informed.

"Lampheads to the west!" Wrex bellowed in warning. His alert was punctuated by sniper fire: Vakarian and Widowmaker had perched atop the building facing the hallway and were using the vantage point to keep the Geth at bay.

"Don't stay there for long," Shepard warned, just as return fire started peppering her bubble. At once she deployed her squadshield to protect Valena and Jacqueline. The Bulwark shifted into its sentry configuration and unleashed a hailstorm of tracers, forcing the approaching troopers to stay in cover.

"They're pulling back," Shilu'Vael reported. "They are retreating."

"What?" Astrid looked back in surprise. "Oh. That means… holding this place is secondary for them."

"But just cede the ground to us?" Garrus thought out loud. "And a port where we can receive reinforcements?"

Wrex lowered his rifle, but still kept his eyes on the hallway. "They have other concerns. They may have taken the colony by surprise and kept the attack a secret, but now that there are regular troops here they don't gain anything by holding this place. Whatever they came here to do, it wasn't slaughtering everyone."

"Come to think of it," the arriving Shimada pondered, Oxton and Reyes in tow and the bulk of Park's hardsuit behind them, "where are all the people?"

"Most likely holed up on the company quarters," Shepard guessed. "Let's try to reach them out now, if they don't contact us first now that the Geth are retreating."

The latter happened indeed a few seconds later: "Incoming troops, this is chief officer Satya Vaswani, representing the interests of Vishkar Corporation here in Feros," a commanding female voice spoke on the radio. "You have our gratitude for driving out the Geth invaders. On whose authority are you here?"

Oxton smiled tiredly. "Symmetra. It's been ages."

The hologram projector in Tracer's omni-tool fired up to draw the three-dimensional visage of a woman. She was raven-haired, her brown skin smooth and unblemished. "As expected. You haven't aged one day."

"You're the picture of youth yourself. How much of it is synthetic?"

It was an impolite question, almost rude, but Vaswani simply replied, "All of it." She then looked around, as if she could see through the rendered eyes. "I see you have brought some acquaintances with you."

"Yeah, we're all here for the high school reunion," Reyes snarked sardonically.

Symmetra did not react. "My staff and I are entrenched on the main administration offices. Please meet us there."

Author's note: kudos to kyro2009 and BrokenLifeCycle for their proofreading and their suggestions.