Preview of WiSC 2 (A/N at bottom w/ details and general apology)

"Alright, so here's the deal." I had finished my scan of the alley and came up with a simple plan that would allow her to successfully make the deal on the small chance she wasn't going to be backstabbed but if they did try anything, I'd be right there to back her up. "I'm going to wait in this little corner right here where I can survey the entire thing. Whichever way they come, I'll have a great view of their approach and depending on their numbers will handle things accordingly."

For the situation, the young quarian woman was actually surprisingly calm. She's got some fucking spunk considering we're talking about her potentially being in immediate danger of being punctured by unfriendly bullets. I mean, I'm used to this kind of thing so this is same shit, different day but she's got no formal military training as far as I know. "Right. So I'll be conducting the meeting and if things start to go wrong…"

I pantomimed throwing an attack from the omni-tool. "You hit the fuckers with an Overload. Don't say anything out of the ordinary, just bam, nail 'em with the good stuff and I'll come in after that with a Bio-Cade to make sure you get into cover. Depending on how many men there are, we'll improvise from there." Before I pulled on the Recon Hood, I arched an eyebrow. "And you're sure you can handle this right? You won't freeze up or anything because if you don't wanna fight just tell me and I'll deal with these-"

"I can handle it." She declared almost fiercely. "Look, I appreciate you helping me with this but that doesn't mean I can't do anything."

"Alright, alright, I got it. You're a fucking badass." Raising my hands in defense, I pulled out my pistol and checked it for the twentieth time. "It's just, killing somebody's kind of a big deal whatever the circumstances are," I could see her silver orbs roll through the visor at my intentional understatement, "and I'd rather not put anyone through it who doesn't have to be."

She nodded slightly. "Well, I appreciate the thought but this is something I have to do. Part of the pilgrimage is proving you can be of worth to the Flotilla and that means defending it from hostile forces if necessary."

"Well no matter what happens, I respect your determination." The sounds of stomping feet indicated that the meeting was about to be underway. "Remember." She peeked out and I grabbed her shoulder, giving a few final words of advice. "Don't give away the fact that you're going to attack if you're sensing their motives aren't entirely honest. Hit them with the overload, I'll step out to get up a biotic wall and then we'll take care of business, we clear?"

"Got it."

She took a deep breath and resolutely stepped forward to meet the three oncoming men, who were very mercenary looking I might add. The turian leading the two other salarians was the first to speak. "Have you got the data?"

"Maybe." She glanced around as if looking for someone else. "Where's the Broker and Fist? I was told they'd be meeting with me here and I won't give the info to anyone else."

The leader sidled up next to her and of everything he could do, the pervy fuck traced his talon along her arm. I readied myself to jump in since I was honestly surprised Tali didn't just blast the bastard away right then, but instead she only slapped his hand away before taking a couple steps back. "Hey relax, they sent us instead. We'll take that data off you and make sure it gets right to 'em."

She reiterated her position and I could see her middle finger slowly flex, my estimation of her abilities going up almost instantly. Smart tech-based fighters programmed their attacks to simple hand gestures so they could make their move in the blink of an eye without needless button pressing. Granted, I wasn't one of those but I'd fought next to Woley long enough to understand the significance of the seemingly meaningless movement. "I'm giving the data to either Fist or the Shadow Broker and no one else, understand?"

The turian snarled in an almost feral manner at the quarian woman standing in defiance. "Stupid gutter rat bit-"

That was the only words he got out as the next instant, an arc of coursing energy slammed into his body, staggering him and dropping his shields. Well, that looks like my signal.

Announcing my presence, I pivoted off the wall and thrust my hands forward, a purple shield instantly separating us from the three attackers on the other side. "I'm in cover Nate."

"Dropping Bio-Cade!" Swiveling back behind a large dumpster, I pulled out my pistol and ventilated the chest of a salarian who stupidly decided to attack before his shields had recharged fully. It only took three shots to leave him a writhing mess on the ground with green blood spurting out of the holes in his armor. "One down. How you doing over there?"

I glanced over to see her slam the leader with a Carnage round in the legs that knocked him to the ground, before finishing him off with a burst from her own pistol. "Fine over here. Just one more left."

Ducking back behind the metal surface to avoid a burst of assault rifle fire, I looked back to Tali. "You got an Incinerate module set up on there." She quickly nodded. "Hit that wall where he's hiding to force him out and I'll finish him on three. One, two, three."

A ball of flame smashed into the side of the alleyway as I sprang forward, closing the gap with a Charge. Using my own momentum to my advantage, I grabbed the salarian's helmeted head and crashed it into the ground to stun him before finishing the fight with a Palm Crush to his skull which was still locked very firmly in my grasp.

The short but brutal fight now over, I surveyed the scene only to see the first salarian that I had put three rounds into still moving around. "Might wanna look the other way for a sec Tali." As she craned her neck, I pulled my pistol out slammed a single bullet into the head of the struggling salarian, putting him out of his extremely pained state while making sure that he wouldn't be able to fire at us while we were distracted. "Well, so much for that I guess. Not gonna say I told you so but…"

"Bosh'tet." She didn't even really hear what I was saying, did she? "I can't believe Fist set me up!"

"Hey look," I grabbed her by the shoulders to indicate how serious I was about this "I don't know what the hell you got a hold of that's got hitmen lining up to kill you but you seem like a really nice girl and I'd hate to see something happen to you. After tonight I won't be able to physically help you since I have no fucking clue where I'll be so please just listen and take my advice on this." Staring right into her silvery eyes, I spoke slowly to try and stress the seriousness of what I was saying. "Go to the Alliance. I've got friends that are high up in the ranks, I'll call them then they'll make sure that stuff gets into the right hands and that you're protected from any more attackers." Once again, loud running alerted the two of us to new challengers. "Provided we get through this next fight of course. From the sounds of it, there's a little more than three coming after us."

"Same strategy?"

"Yeah, same deal." As the first helmeted head peeked into view, I threw up a barricade. "If I tell you to run, then fucking do it though. I'll hold them off."

"I'm not going to leave someone who's helping me to just die you bosh'tet." Wow, I'm already getting, 'bosh'teted.' I really should have asked Lia exactly what that means because with as many times as she mumbled it under her breath at me I feel like I should have asked for some clarification.

"Relax, I don't plan on dying anytime soon. Takes more than a couple cheap rent-a-thugs to get me worried." I gave an eager grin. "Besides, I fight better solo, no one to get in the way of my biotic maneuvering." Also, I could just Charge out of there once I bought her enough time to get lost in the backalleys of the Citadel so I wasn't feeling too worried about things if it got a bit hot for me.

By now, the half-dozen oncoming fighters were only about forty feet away. Seeing me standing defiantly in the way however, they stopped and I took in the opportunity to see what I was facing…

A/N: Hey…so…it's been a while and I feel like I've got just a bit of explaining to do. First off, sorry for not letting you guys know what's been going on but basically since Finals started last December things have been absolutely insane. To sum things up in order, our basement flooded and I started staying with my aunt while things got fixed, I got an amazing girlfriend who unfortunately lives two hours away which takes up quite a bit of my weekend time as we've been making the trip to see each other pretty frequently, my two-year old baby sister went to the ER with seizures and was hospitalized for almost a week although she's thankfully doing great now and then there's just been the usual work/school schedule on top of all that stuff.

I'm not trying to make a bunch of excuses, just telling you guys that I've basically been slammed but I am now officially back on the horse. My Beta RSC and I have cranked out the summary, the preview you see here and the first eight or so chapters of WiSC 2 in rough draft form. With things not really looking to calm back down in the near future, I unfortunately don't think I'll be able to post every week which makes me more than a little sad but this is just the way it has to be for now. If anything changes though I will most definitely be getting back to the every Friday thing I did for most of WiSC 1.

Think that's just about it so I will see you lovelies in WiSC 2 with the first full chapter which is now up as well!

TL;DR: Stuff's been crazy but I'm gonna post every other week starting today as WiSC 2 is now live on my profile!