Tali shifted nervously as Wrex sat staring at the door. He didn't move, but he was tensing by the minute. He looked ready to tear something apart, and Tali hoped with everything that it wouldn't be something living. Or anything that would be difficult to repair.

"Where the hell are Shepard and Bourne?" He finally rumbled.

"Maybe he got caught in the elevator." Garrus joked. Wrex looked at him and glared.

"So does anybody know what's keeping them?" Tali asked, trying to avoid the fight clearly about to break out in front of her. Wrex and Garrus didn't get along well because of their species' history.

"He must still be working on his report. I doubt he'd be able to go without cursing them out in just one draft. It'd take at least three tries." Ashley said with a small smirk.

Liara shook her head. "Somehow, despite how much time I spend with Raptor, I still don't understand other species at all."

Tali stared at her in confusion. "Who's Raptor?"

Liara's face turned purple in embarrassment.

"It's Shepard's first name. Though hardly anyone ever uses it." Kaiden said, almost glaring at Liara.

"Shepard's first name is Raptor? Isn't that an extinct lizard or something?" Wrex asked.

"Maybe we should start calling her Shepardsaurus?" Garrus asked with a grin.

"You two aren't really in a position to talk." Ashley said with a small smirk.

"At least we don't look like overgrown Pyjaks." Wrex replied.

"Over grown…What?"

Tali put her head in her hands. I hope Bourne gets here soon.

"So what does she look like? A fish? "Kaiden said, still glaring at Liara. The asari turned to him in shock. Tali did the same. The Lt. was normally friendly, if not exactly open.

Even when Tali had gone with him and Shepard to rescue a political hostage while Bourne was recovering from the Cipher, he had never been as vicious in combat as the others. And Tali had never seen him lose his temper like this before.

"Is something wrong Lt. Alenko?" Liara asked nervously.

"Yes. But it can wait until it's less crowded in here."

"There's only 6 of us in here." Garrus said.

Kaiden turned to glare at him. "Not what I meant." He said, leaning forward in his chair.

The door slid open, and Tali fought back a sigh of relief as Bourne and Shepard finally walked in.

A few minutes earlier:

I lay on my bed, glaring at the report in my hands. Or rather, the blank datapad that was meant to be a report. Every time I'd tried to start writing it, either the pain in my head had increased to where I couldn't concentrate, or I'd started typing about things I only knew from my real world experience.

The one good thing was that I hadn't heard from Iron since then. He seemed to have retreated to some recess of my mind where he wouldn't feel the pain. It had decreased slightly, but there was still a constant dull pain at the back of my head that Chakwas was unable to do anything about.

I angrily threw the datapad at the door, right as it opened, and Shepard had to duck to avoid being hit.

"Alright, I'll knock next time, sheesh."

I got off the bed and went over to the mirror. I could see her, but with this angle she couldn't see me as much. "Sorry, bad timing. Let's just say writing reports isn't easy even when my head didn't just get a millennium's worth of genetic memory shoved into it."

"It's more than that bugging you." She said, half as a statement, half as a question. "When you got stabbed back on Therum, you took down a Krogan. And when you got shot when we were going after Doctor Wayne, you were able to down two Krogan, and several turians. And yet you stayed behind when we went to rescue that chairman from the biotic extremists a couple days ago." She leaned against the wall, concern in her glowing cybernetic eyes. "What's wrong?"

After a moment, I admitted she was right. I'd avoided talking to anyone else, had lost interest in the shooting range, and had even started tucking knives into my boots and pockets. "It's…I thought the mercs were like a family. But since I was resisting the merge so much, Shiala had to force herself in a little more. And a couple memories of her family slipped over, showed me what I'd missed." I pushed back from the mirror, not wanting to look at my altered face anymore. "And Fai Dan- if I had been a split second faster- a nanosecond faster-"

"You couldn't have known."

I laughed harshly. "So I've told myself. It didn't make me feel better about it then either."

She walked over and gently put a hand on my shoulder. "Can you handle the debriefing?"

"I've suffered through worse." I said, looking at the datapad where it'd landed on the other side of the door. I pulled it back to my hand, and looked at a moment before sighing. "Let's just say I didn't have anything to add to the report."

"I doubt they'll believe what I said anyway." She commented.

"No kidding." I said with a shake of the head.

"Come on. I told the others we'd be there soon, and I'd rather not keep Wrex waiting."

I walked past her out of the room, but she was right on my heels. "So, you were telling the truth about you being raised by mercs, huh?"

I stopped short and looked back at her over my shoulder. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, I did a bit of digging, and there was no trace of any gang named the 'Omegas.'"

I shrugged, managing to keep my face emotionless despite the worry trying to show on it. "With a name like that, no surprise info would be hard to find. Probably a pretty common term."

"Except that Omega is the human term for the station, so why would it have been what they called themselves? Or used that symbol as their logo?"

….Fuck I really could have thought through better.

"Not to mention that combat training is completely different for other races then humans because they have such different physiology. The Asari might be the only exception, but even then it's a lot different because they have longer to learn as they age."

"I thought I was the one with perfect memory." I commented. "How did you keep track of all this?"

She activated her omni-tool, and I saw text flying across the screen. "Special program to dictate conversations. I was looking over it to try and find something, and I started noticing things." There was an unspoken accusation her words, though there was little in her tone.

"And you admitted to having lied about how long you were with them. First you said you joined up very young, when your biotics started to show, then you said it was 'pretty much since day one.' And Alenko mentioned that you haven't been taking the biotic rations, you've been taking the normal ones. And said you'd implied that you'd gotten used to normal amounts from not having enough food on Omega."

I shrugged. "Genemods again. I can operate on less if I need to or want to."

"Another thing you weren't exactly forward about."

I had to fight the urge to cross my arms. It would be a sign of defensiveness, and that would make things far more obvious for her. "I seem to recall you saying something about it being a bad idea to keep Wrex waiting?"

"He'll be fine for a few more minutes." She said with a wave of a hand. "Bourne…what's so bad about your past you were willing to kill over its discovery?"

It took me a moment to realize what she meant. "Maybe you like having a hot alien chick rooting around in your head-"

"I'm serious." She said, face for once not changing hue at all. "Mercs rarely know hand to hand beyond the basics- they prefer guns. Yet you had no problems against me in the ring. You use biotic moves that humans wouldn't know, but most of those moves would be used only by special forces."

"You know how many mercs are ex-military?" I managed to ask calmly. Despite my outward calm- I was perfectly still, and my face was unreadable- my heart was gripped by cold fear. She was finding every flaw in my fake backstory and unraveling the threads that made it up. And if she figured out how much of it was lie, the only options would be a new lie that could be discovered just as easily…Or I tell her the truth, which would be an even greater disaster.

And the most dangerous thing of all: It might have been my reality warping powers coming into play, letting her find the flaws. Or Iron's doing it, and that's why he's been hiding so long.

"Bourne, I get it. You don't like talking about your past. We both know I don't either."

"Don't try to compare the two." I said icily.

She gave me a flat look. "All I'm asking is for a little more info. Real info this time."

"I was willing to slit Shiala's throat if she rooted around through my head." I stated.

"Why?"

"Because it's worth killing over. For both our sakes, please, drop it." I headed for the stairs, and she surprised me by sprinting up the other side and cutting me off.

I gave her a flat look. "I'll admit that's rather impressive, but it's also really irritating."

"Does anyone else know about whatever it is you did?" She asked.

"Nobody alive." Not outside my head.

"Sooner or later, it'll come out."

"If something about it does come out, I hereby promise to give you the whole story. But unless that happens, please, let it go."

She nodded after a tense minute. "I'm going to hold you to that."

"Noted. Now, can we please get in there before Wrex does something stupid?"

"Yeah. We don't need a second person doing that- you've got it more than covered."

I failed to think of a comeback as we walked into the com room. On edge, I immediately noticed the way Kaidan was looking at Liara with anger. He switched it to Shepard as she walked in, though it was mixed with regret in her case.

Well, more bad news. That plan seems to have worked perfectly.

Shepard walked to the far side near the holographic projectors, while I leaned against the wall near the door.

"Are you alright Lt?" Liara asked me. "You look a little pale."

I grimaced slightly. "The Cipher's faded to a dull roar at the back of my head. Not a pleasant sensation."

"Perhaps I could try to help you. I already helped Ra- Shepard with the Cipher, and even managed to decipher part of the vision."

"Part of it?" Garrus asked.

"It seems to be incomplete. And he might have the other half."

I fought back a curse, wishing I'd known beforehand that she'd already melded with Shepard. "More likely that the beacon was damaged. It did explode when it was used."

She agreed with a nod. "Perhaps. But it would be foolish to assume that is the case."

A thought sprung into my mind. For all intents and purposes, I do have the other half- the one I saw on a screen a few million times.

If I could somehow just show her that- without the rest, we could skip an entire mission. And Kaidan wouldn't have to die for Ashley to live.

"What, are you getting bored of merging with Shepard?" Kaidan asked scornfully, surprising me. Wasn't like that much in the game…then again, I did break his heart like it was a piñata.

"Sounds like you could stand to do some 'merging' of yourself." Wrex commented. "I can smell your hormones from here."

His voice instantly pointed out a flaw in the 'skip virmire plan'. Right. Army of Krogan. Has to be destroyed…I hope we can find time to find his armor. Bad enough that-

"That's not- you're kidding, right?" Alenko asked.

Yeah, bad enough that he's going to die without also killing Wrex.

"Why is it that non asari can never tell the difference between melding and joining?" Liara asked with a hint of irritation.

"Hundred credits says Shepard can." I deadpanned.

Her face went red as all eyes went to her. "Bourne, you do realize I've got a gun with me?"

I snapped my fingers, letting my hand be covered with biotics. "And you realize I mostly use a gun to give the other guy a fighting chance?"

"Calm down you two." Kaidan said. "We don't need a fight breaking out in here."

"Hello pot, my name is kettle." I said in reply.

"…What?" Several voices asked at once.

"It translates to 'don't be a hypocrite.' You've been staring daggers at Liara this entire time."

"No, I haven't." He said.

I glanced at the Asari, and an idea popped into my head. Well, this is either a brilliant strategy or one that'll blow up in my face.

"What, you're jealous because you aren't Shepard's type?" I 'let slip', immediately covering my mouth with my hand.

"…What?" Shepard's voice was a mix of shock and anger.

Liara paled slightly. "I'd hoped to avoid a situation like this."

Yeah, trust me, wasn't on my agenda either. But it'll give me time to think of a way out of melding with you.

"I may not know much about human relationships, but I do understand the concept of jealousy."

Kaidan turned to face her. "I'm not jealous, not anymore. I just didn't realize-"

"Alenko, "I cut him off "if you only listen to me once in your natural life, let it be now. Think very carefully about you phrase what you're about to say." No need to add injury to insult. I still don't know how she punches that hard.

"Well…" He hesitated. "She prefers other women."

"I am not exactly a woman. My species only has one gender."

I shook my head. "As I said to Shepard, you have high heels, lipstick, and everything - ow!" I rubbed my head where Shepard's thrown datapad had hit me. I should have just let her punch Kaidan. If baseball's still around, she'd have one hell of a Curveball.

Shepard's face was redder than usual. "As much as I wish I had something heavier on hand to throw at him, he's right."

"Can I get that in writing?"

She ignored me. "I like you, but as a friend. Liara's the one I really care about."

"So does that mean you can stop getting so ticked off because I'm stating the trut- Oh come on, where did you even get a second one of those?!" I asked, rubbing my head again.

"It's the only thing keeping me from using the pistol in my pocket." She said flatly.

"I get it Commander." He said reluctantly. "Am I really needed here? Because if not, I've got a few reports I need to file."

Well, that went…well? The looks I got made me realize I'd voiced the thought aloud.

"Yeah, you were right. Rub it in." Alenko muttered bitterly.

Something in his tone made me really want to hit him. "You want to repeat that?"

He stood up and wheeled around to face me. "I said, you were right. Even though I bet you've never even-"

He stopped as my biotics flared around me. "Never what? Never had someone I care about? Never lost someone I cared about?"

I stepped away from the wall towards him. "Go ahead, tell me how much more you know than me. I'd love to hear it. Really I would."

His own biotics appeared around him. "I was ripped away from my family to be 'trained' as a biotic. When I tried saving the girl I loved, I accidently killed someone. So I don't think you really have the right to judge me."

"Hey, both of you need to calm down." Shepard said firmly.

I glared at the L-2, ignoring her command. "And you think you have the right to judge me?" My voice was filled with rage- but it wasn't the typical burning hot rage, it was cool enough to freeze ice.

He swallowed, apparently at a loss for words.

"I have had to fight tooth and nail since day one. I've had to lie, cheat, and kill to make it this far." I walked towards him slowly, and he backed up against the wall.

"Bourne-" Shepard warned again.

"And you think you have the right to judge me over a few headaches and a single corpse? I was made for a singular purpose. As a weapon."

"Jason? Are you feeling okay?" Ashley's voice should have gotten me to back off, but it didn't.

"I could snap my fingers, and hit you with a warp field so strong that there wouldn't be enough left of you to fill a thimble. Hell, I could kill every person in this room without getting so much as a scratch."

"Why are your biotics red?" Ashley's voice sent a shiver down my spine, but I couldn't move my head to see if she was right.

I couldn't stop the words that came out of mouth either, in a harsh and almost unnatural voice. "The only thing that's stopped me from doing it before was my better half. My weaker half. But since he let his guard down-"

Iron's maniacal laugh filled the room as I fought to get back control of my body.

(Oh don't bother. You have no chance against me.)

)If you think I'll give up without a fight-(

(A fight is when both sides have a chance at winning. This is slaughter.) He twisted my lips into a cruel smile. (It's been a while since I got to kill a Krogan or Quarian. You know, after I wiped them out entirely.)

)That's why you agreed to hide when I got the Cipher! So it would weaken me!(

(Even better. Since we both have the vision, and now that, it fused our minds further together. Which means instead of me being a 'parasite', we're now two halves of the same mind.)

Even with my all but perfect control, my face would have paled if I still had control of it. Instead, my lips stretched into a cruel grin as red energy flowed around my body. "This is going to be fun!"

Me and my cliff hangers, huh? Don't you just love me for them? Come on, start clapping if you love me for them.

*Crickets.*

...Anyway, see you next week.

Fa