Shepard looked around the warehouse warily, a hand on her pistol. Bourne had sent her a message telling her to come here so they could get better guns, but there was no sign of him or his contact...the place looked deserted, and she was glad she'd worn full armor.

And I'm glad the Cybernetics finally killed that headache...Bourne made me earn that "win".

She glanced at her omni-tool as she activated it, but there were no new messages, and he hadn't replied to the one she sent saying she was on her way.

"Jason? If you're here, but just trying to sneak up on me, I will beat you worse than I did earlier."

There was no reply- not that that meant much to her.

She looked at the radar in her visor. Bourne should have showed up if he was there, but it looked clean.

Maybe he just got held up doing something else...screw it, I'll wait for him outside. This place is starting to give me the creeps.

"Depressing place, isn't it." A voice said from behind her.

She glanced back, taking her hand off her gun a moment later. "A bit, yes."

She turned around to face the woman, who she noticed seemed a bit pale, though it might have just been the contrast with her pitch black clothes.

"I'm guessing you must be Commander Shepard?" She said, nodding at the N7 logo on her chest.

"Yes." She looked at the woman a moment. Nothing about her appearance suggested that she was a threat, but at the same time the Spectre's instincts were going nuts.

"Bourne said you would be here."

"So you're his contact?" Looks a little young for...then again, that might be the point.

"Is that what he said in the message? I wondered how he'd describe me."

Raptor's eyes narrowed.

"Let me put it this way- he and I go back a long ways."

Okay, I'm missing something obvious here… "How long?" She asked. If she says longer than two years, I'll know she's full of it, since he doesn't remember much before that.

"I knew him before you met him on Eden Prime." Biotics glowed around her before Shepard could react, and her guns went flying off her back into the air, her pistol ending up in the other woman's hands. She tossed it to the side casually.

Shepard flared her own biotics; if she could hold her own against Bourne… a biotic restraint suddenly flew onto her arm, shutting them down.

"If you didn't figure it out yet, the name's Jennifer."

"...Huh. I thought you'd be shorter."

"Went with heels today." She deadpanned, though she was obviously wearing boots of some sort.

"Good- they won't have to dress you up to bury you, assuming there's enough left to bury."

"...I'm curious how you think you could actually hurt me, given that I have biotics, while you don't, and you're unarmed, over there, out of reach...don't get me wrong, it'd be impressive if you could do that…"

"Something seemed off, so I called the rest of the squad. Think you can take all of them at once?" She bluffed.

"If they did show up, I'd just teleport out of here. I'm not here to fight you. *Jason* was the only one I bore any ill will towards."

"...I'm impressed. Even though I know you're full of it, I actually almost believed that. You and Jason are both really good liars it seems like."

"...Thank you?" She said, nonplussed. "But if I was lying, do you think I would've shown up without my armor, or even the chainblade?"
"No, you just showed up with the biotic restraint, and your own biotics."

"Well, I wasn't about to be in the same room as you without something. I mean, from what *Jason* said about how hard you can punch...yeah, pass on that."

"You realize that I'm never going to work with you, right? Considering you chopped off my best friend's arm and regularly have threatened my crew?...Hell, one of them blew up part of another friend's face with a gunship."

"Part of the reason I want to cut ties with them. Their methods have gotten a bit...extreme for my taste. I only wanted to take him down, and then take down the Reapers. The other two have forgotten that second part, and don't care about who else gets hurt."

"Is that right?" Shepard said skeptically, raising her hand to her chin. Her visor suddenly went flying off as she reached for it to get the others on the Radio. It tucked itself neatly onto her belt.

"Yes. You were on one of the Collector's ships, you saw what they can do. If I just let them do what they did to us- or worse- to innocent people, how does that make us better?...then again, who knows what The Illusive Man is doing on the sidelines while helping you."

How does she know about him? I thought that was somewhat… "What did you do to Jason?"

"I had him send this message so I could talk to you myself. He's unharmed."

"Aside from you cutting off his arm, if it's true."

"Hmm. So he stabs Tali in the gut, and he gets a pass? Why is that?"

How does she know about that?... "It was that mindreading thing, wasn't it. You got control of him and got him to send it, getting info from him in the process?"

"Hah! You think I could get control of a mind as stubborn as his when Iron and Hero had issues with it?...Assuming he's telling the truth there, I'm still not convinced."

"Trust me, Iron was very real." She deadpanned. "Considering he ended up in my head at one point."

"...What?" She looked around. "Why didn't you mention that earlier?"

"...He's hiding here in the shadows somewhere, isn't he." She sighed. "In fact, let me guess. You somehow convinced him of what you were saying, he set up this meeting so you could try to convince me, and he's hiding because he knows I'm going to kick his ass for being an idiot."

"...Well, now I'm definitely staying hidden." His voice came from somewhere. "Thanks for letting that slip out Jennifer. *Not.*"

"You're telling me you actually trust her?"

"No...maybe...uh, define trust."

Shepard sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Tell you what, if you come down here, she gives me back my weapons, and takes off this stupid thing...I'll at least hear her out."

"Just saying, Cerberus- you heard me out about them." Bourne said, floating down from somewhere and nodding to Jennifer.

Her weapons came back to her a moment later, and Bourne produced a remote to deactivate the restraint. He caught it with his own biotics as it fell to the ground.

"Okay, so- convince me why the hell this isn't the dumbest idea you've ever had Bourne?"

"Never said it might not be, but convincing you isn't my job." He said, looking pointedly at Jennifer. "She talked to me, and she made sense. That, and I read her mind...a bit more thoroughly than I meant to." His cheeks actually flushed slightly.

"What, did you find a memory of her and Mike in bed or something?"

"No." He said flatly. "I stumbled across several of them. Plus some dreams about-."

"Well, you told me not to resist what you were doing."

"For that you could've at least given me some fucking warning!...Pun not intended."

"Sure it wasn't." Both women said at once.

"...Okaaaaay, that was creepy."

Raptor rolled her eyes. "Jason, think this through. Even if, somehow, you managed to convince me I shouldn't just put a round through her head right now- how would you convince anyone in the crew?"

"I kinda expected you to have killed her by now, so I didn't really plan that far ahead."

Jennifer gave him an irritated look.

"But seeing as none of them have ever seen her sans the armor- and for that matter Miranda and Garrus are the only other ones to see actually her even in the armor...could just go for a lie."

Now both women were glaring at him.

"And how do we explain someone else as powerful as you coming out of nowhere?"

"As powerful as him? You're giving him too much credit." Jennifer scoffed.

"Funny, I was about to say the opposite." He responded flatly.. "And I dunno- an old N7 you knew? Someone else from the same program as- no, with the data from the ship that wouldn't fly…might be able to pass her off as also from the same facility as Jack, but that's kinda a stretch, and Cerberus would probably call us on our BS, especially if they...maybe she was brainwashed? Or this is a clone of the bitch who cut off my arm?"

"Okay, I get it, you don't have to point it out every ten seconds!"

His eyes blazed red at that, but he acted like she hadn't spoken. "Unless you got a better idea?"

"I do have a better idea. It involves her head, and my new Widow."

"Yeah, that's what you said about Cerberus."

"...No I didn't, and don't bullshit me, my memory isn't perfect, but I know I didn't say-"

"I was paraphrasing." He rolled his eyes. "Your exact quote was that if I didn't satisfy you with the proof, you'd take out every Cerberus agent you saw, and drag my ass back to the alliance in chains. Point is, I had reasons then, I've got reasons now."

"Yeah, you just admitted to seeing images of you in bed with her- how do I know your judgement isn't clouded by anything else from that? Or lingering feelings on her end, or even yours?"

"...I said I was willing to work with her to stop the Collectors and/or Reapers, not that I didn't still hate her guts for cutting my arm off." He said flatly. "'Keep your friends close and your enemies closer'."

"So if you still consider her an enemy-"

"I more than half-consider Miranda an enemy every time she talks about Cerberus, but I can still work with her on missions."

"What use would she even be? Between Jack, Samara, Miranda, Thane...Hell, even I was able to hold my own against you."

"Can any of them teleport?...Uh, Mike, none of them can teleport, right?"

"Call me that again, and you won't be able to teleport either, because you'll already be in two places at once." He said, eyes blazing red.

"...Was he this bad at threats before the memory loss?" Raptor asked.

"I think it's about the same."

"Make that several places. Part of you there, part of you there, and part of you way up there staining the ceiling."

"How does her saying something like that piss you off enough to make that threat after she already cut your arm off?"

"Uuuuuhhhh...I dunno." He shrugged.

"...Goddamnit, I cannot believe I'm almost considering this." She muttered. "What about Slade and Isaac then?"

"They've made it clear where they stand. Isaac was willing to fire on you guys with the Mech to get me outta cover, Slade pretty much said was done helping you. The odds of getting them on our side are pretty slim, even if I wanted their help, which I don't."

"So why hers?"

"Because I hate the collectors and Reapers more than him. Slade and Isaac are the other way around." Jennifer said hesitantly. "I won't fight them if they show up- but I won't help them either."

"You and Jack are kinda the same way with Cerberus." Bourne pointed out.

"...Son of a bitch, I am as crazy as him." Raptor said flatly.

"So, is that a yes?" Jennifer asked cautiously.

She ignored her, and turned to Bourne. "Just remember-" she said in prothean. "Your face is still scarred from the last maniac you decided to trust, and Tail almost died. If you're making that mistake again…"

"If I get so much as a nightmare about her turning on us, I'll rip her head clean off."

"...Uh, you guys know I'm right here, right?" Jennifer said.

"The hell? How can…we were speaking Prothean, right?"

"Pretty sure, yeah.." Bourne looked at her.

Jennifer shook her head. "It just sounded like you were speaking...shakespeare or something, but I understood it fine...picked up a lot of the collector's language; I guess it must be an evolved form of what the protheans spoke."

"Well, that'd make sense." Bourne shrugged. "That, or when we had our brain fight bits of the cipher leaked over...or both."

Raptor shook her head. "Whatever. If we're going to do this...we'll probably have to lie, or else come up with something really convincing, but I want at least Tali and Garrus in on it. Maybe even Miranda, if we can convince them."

"Yeah, that's a pretty big if."


"Are you insane?"

Well, he's taking this better than I expected. I mentally sighed. Almost would've made things simpler if Raptor had just shot her.

"I mean...Iron was bad enough, but this…" Garrus seemed at a loss for words. Tali's response was silent, but very clear; she was holding her shotgun, and had a drone deployed next to her, though neither were currently aimed.

I was somewhat impressed by how calm Jennifer nonetheless seemed...though she might've just had a built in poker face as well. Then again, she might've just gone 'death seeker' so she doesn't care about her own death... why does that bug me? Oh, yeah, because I'm not a complete dick. Stupid blue sliver in a mostly red bar...well, maybe half and half, I did get Miranda to talk to her sister…and I saved that dumbass on Omega...and didn't kill Balak...and saved the council...I should probably focus on the conversation again about now.

"You know Garrus, it's kinda weird that you were ticked at Iron for attacking you and Tali, yet you're more angry on my behalf now. I didn't realize we were such good buddies."

"...You know, I hate when he makes stupid jokes like that, yet they actually are valid points." Raptor said flatly, glaring.

"That's...different."

"How?" I looked around the warehouse we'd met Tali and Garrus in- I didn't know what Raptor had told them to get them here, but they'd been surprised when she 'introduced' Jennifer. "Iron was a maniac who took over my body- she was mislead by a pair of maniacs."

"So you wouldn't have have killed Iron if he had figure like hers?" Raptor deadpanned.

"Well, I didn't kill him when he was in your head, and-"

"Consider what you are saying very carefully." She said through grit teeth.

I decided silence was my best option, and bit my tongue.

Garrus shook his head. "Where would she even stay? Unless you're going to be stupid enough to give her free reign of the ship, someone's going to have to keep an eye on her until-"

"Look at it this way." Jennifer spoke up. "I waited two years to meet him on Horizon. If I can wait that long, a guard and me slowly earning your trust wouldn't be much of a preventative measure."

"Yeah, that's really going to help convince them." I said sarcastically.

"What I mean is, if I were going to betray you, there wouldn't be much you could do to stop me, so worrying about it is somewhat futile. Whereas if you don't keep me under guard, and I don't betray you- which I won't- you're not wasting either of our time."

"...I didn't think it was possible." Tali said. "You actually just sounded dumber than Bourne."

"How many degrees in eezo/biotic science do you have?" I responded. "But, yeah, that was terrible logic."

"Well, you've kinda got me grasping at straws since you're not helping me."

"I'm not shooting you- I count that as helping."

"If you're just going to be arguing with her like this constantly, wouldn't that nullify any good that'd come from having her?" Garrus pointed out.

"Yeah, because it's not like he ever argues with anyone else." Raptor deadpanned. "Me, Miranda, sometimes Jack, you-"

"When he argues with you, it's not with lethal intent or want behind it."

"...You mean on his end, right? Because there's been times- ah, never mind."

I knew she was probably joking, yet still found myself taking a step away from her.

"Well, there's basically three options here. You let me join you, you just let me walk away, or you kill me."

"Technically that last one can be subdivided into all the different methods we could kill you." Raptor glared at her.

"Not to mention adding in the part where she'd betray us." Tali agreed.

"Oh for crying out loud." I sighed in exasperation. "Do you guys really think I'm stupid enough to-

"Yes." "Yes." "Yes."

I glared at the three of them, even as I fought a smirk. "Okay, gotta give you credit for that one, that was actually well played...let's try this. What made you not kill me after-" I mimed throwing a knife at Tali, and her grip tightened on the shotgun.

"It...that wasn't you." Tali said. "It was-"

"Brainwashing, essentially. She was pretty much brainwashed into seeing me as a threat."

"That's-"

"What, is cutting off a limb where you draw the line? If she was walking around with a robo-arm right now, would you have gunned me down?" I gestured at Tali while looking at Garrus.

"...You know, when he puts it that way, I feel like we're insane for not having killed him back then."

"Yeah, no kidding."

Raptor bit her lip, obviously wanting to agree but not doing it.

"Okay, let's look at some positives here." I looked at Jennifer. "She's good enough of a biotic to match me."

"Uh, you do remember the 'novice' beating you like, not even five hours ago?" Raptor commented.

I gave her a flat look, flaring my biotics. "You didn't beat me, I stopped because I didn't want to kill you, or for you to kill yourself. It also was practice, not with lethal intent. Had I wanted to actually kill you, I wouldn't have held back, and I could've just stuck a singularity in your brain, crushed your heart, snapped your neck, or any other manner of things I didn't do. Whereas when she fought me on Horizon, she pretty much kicked my ass before putting the biotic restraint on me.

I saw her smirking slightly, and channeled some energy through the psychomancer towards her. )Don't get full of yourself- I'm exaggerating to try to convince them.(

If she was surprised by the contact, she hid it well. +How was it exaggerating? I kept just throwing you and teleporting and throwing you.+

)Yeah, because spamming one attack is a sign of video game skill.( I deadpanned. )Besides, I wasn't at full strength, I'd just got done taking down a possessed Pretorian basically solo...that's the giant bug thing.(

+I knew that.+

)Suuuuure you did.(

"What about Jack or Samara?"

I half opened my mouth, than closed it and thought it over. "To be honest, I don't know how they'd do against me. Samara obviously has the edge in experience by several centuries, but I know tricks she doesn't, and I think my non-biotic skills are at least somewhat superior to hers...And I think Jack's at least powerful as she is or more so, but since she doesn't have quite the skill, I think I'd beat her, say, seventy percent of the time. But that's theoritical- with Jennifer we have proof."

"Iron was able to kick your ass in Saren's body, but that doesn't mean we'd want him on our side." Garrus responded.

"Kick my- No, he kicked your collective asses while holding back. I killed him. Twice! About all he did in a straight up fight was give me a few scratches."

"..."

"I didn't say they didn't leave ugly ass scars," I rolled my eyes, "Just that they weren't exactly mortal wounds. And even if you do call that an ass kicking, I still won, and that was before I had all the tricks I have now, like when she beat me."

"So she's a bigger threat than Iron."

I sighed. "You know, it's like I'm talking, but you guys are only hearing the parts you wanna hear...and psychologically speaking, she's way less of a threat. Iron was a psychopath, or sociopath, something like that, just out to kill anyone and everyone."

"Whereas I'm only out to kill Reapers, Collectors…" +And maybe you, when all is said and done.+ She initiated the contact this time.

)How do you do that anyway? I have a cybernetic implant to do the mind stuff, but I don't see it on you.(

+...You know all the scars everywhere?+

)They were a little hard to miss with your sleeve up.(

+They basically implanted extra nerves and eezo to try and increase my power...they took a few cues from how the asari are natural biotics when they did it, and, well...this is a side effect...but wasn't that...sex-vampire asari chick able to do something similar?+

)Sex-vampire asari chick?(

+There's another name...something yaksi?+

)Ardat Yakshi...Yeah, I guess. And Shepard could get it as a bonus power in the game...don't the extra nerves make you more sensitive to pain or something though?(

+Slightly, but my pain tolerance is even higher than yours, probably because I'm female.+

)That still hasn't been proven- there's different sources that say different things.(

+Mythbusters said females have the higher pain tolerance, that's good enough for me.+

)...Okay, yeah, kinda hard to argue with that.(

"I let a goddamn Rachni queen go free on Noveria cause there was a chance she'd be an ally." I said aloud. "And you two weren't arguing about that."

"Actually, I said we should've let the council decide her fate."

Raptor actually laughed. "Yeah, when we told them he let her go free, Sparatus was all pissed at him for letting him live. Then Bourne said he actually caused the Rachni's extinction, and he went off on him for committing Genocide, then Bourne said he'd actually...well, I guess you kinda had to be there. Anyway, point is that that's a bad argument Garrus."

" I said we didn't have the objectivity to judge her since she was the last of her kind." Tali said. "Doesn't apply here."

+So, um...hypothetical question...if they start shooting at me-+

)Unlikely to happen, but if they do there'd be plenty of warning.(

+...You and I could just brainwash-+ She visibly recoiled at what I sent at her from that, which wasn't so much words as just pure rage at the idea. +Okay, bad suggestion.+

I crossed my arms. "So far neither side of the argument is convincing the other side."

"You're making sense, sorta," Garrus admitted. "But at the same time I think you might just be overcompensating for how you feel about her."

I have him a blank look. "What?"

"You hate her, but she could be useful, so you're trying to be objective but instead only focusing on the positives."

My answer was simply to detach the prosthetic and wave it pointedly. "Kinda hard to ignore the negatives." I reattached it as I continued to speak. "And you're not much better Garrus- seems like revenge is your driving motivation. Doctor Saleon, Iron, now Sidonius. Not to mention your ways of killing people on Omega."

"What do you-"

"Killed a sabotaging Volus with a suit malfunction, killed a red sand dealer with an overdose of the stuff- to all four eyes, which even I think is overkill- killed a weapons smuggler with a smuggled weapon...then you killed that Quarian serial killer who used viral attacks by coughing on him... Though that one I actually kinda liked the irony." I admitted.

"How do you even know all of that?"

"I wanted to know ahead of time what sorta person 'Archangel.' was, had some of my contacts look into it."

Jennifer glanced at me. +Wasn't that stuff from one of the DLC things?+

)Yeah, but being as they don't know that...also, I do have a network of contacts for other stuff, mostly weapons acquisitions.(

"...How is it you're paranoid enough to do that, yet the person standing five feet away who's responsible for-"

"Okay, we get it! He gets it, I get it, can we stop pointing it out every five seconds?!" Jennifer exclaimed in annoyance.

"Yeah, it's even starting to bug me." I agreed. "I mean, it's not like I point out your face got hit with a missile everytime we see a gunship."

"You mean like the gunship her friend brought in?"

"...I may not have thought that comparison through." I muttered.

"Did you think this through?"

"Do you think I'd be spending this much time and energy trying to convince you guys if I hadn't? Or that if I wasn't sure, she'd still be alive right now? I mean, seriously, I've had like, ten chances to kill her in the last half-hour where she wouldn't have seen it coming at all...no, I take it back, probably closer to fifteen or twenty."

"And how many chances have there been where she could've killed you?"

"I counted thirty four." Jennifer said with a shrug.

"...Okay, is that a good argument, or a really shitty one? I honestly can't decide." Raptor said, glancing at the other two.

"...I say we do this, but keep a close eye on her." Garrus finally said.

Tali gave him a surprised look.

"Well, even Bourne's not dumb enough to pull something like this without a damn good reason. And I'd rather have her on our side than not."

"...If anything happens, it's on your head Bourne."

"Yeah, I know the drill."

"No, you don't." Raptor said, getting close enough in front of me that I could see the hairline scars that still remained across her face. "Because the only thing I can think of to make sure you've thought this through, is this. If something happens because of her, she goes out the airlock...and I'll throw you off my ship."

+Well, no pressure or anything.+

)Not if you don't fuck up.( "Deal. As long as I get to be the one to throw her out the airlock."

"We'll see...What are we going to do about your armor?" She addressed her. "It's distinctive enough the crew would recognize it instantly. Just off the description."

"And Miranda might even recognize her voice." Tali commented.

"Yeah, probably." Garrus agreed.

"Well, at this point, I'd rather not tell them the truth. Not until she's proven herself. Cause convincing just you three even this far was hard enough, I'm not doing it with another dozen people."

Raptor paused, and counted on her fingers a moment. "There's only 9 other people on the squad."

"Yeah, plus EDI, Joker, Chakwas, Kelly, and Timmy."

"So that puts it to 14, not 12."

I glared at her, then looked back at Jennifer. "Do you even have your gear with you?"

"Stashed at the hotel room I rented under an alias...unless someone stole it, but that's kinda the risk I had to take."

"Anything besides the armor?"

"...Just a chainblade and a change of clothes...wasn't really much else I had that I could bring."

"Probably worth grabbing it then. If nothing else, I have a guy that can hang onto the armor until you could use it without everyone freaking out. Or we could repaint it and...actually, I probably could take whatever tech it has and put it in a different suit that's not all insectoid. Or upgrade it so it looks different, or something."

"So, we've barely established that we're willing to trust her for ten seconds, and you're offering to give her better tech than what she has?" Tali said flatly.

"Yeah, and I might put in some other features, like a self destruct for if she does go rogue, a tracking chip...actually, that's not a bad idea."

"Let's go then. It's a bit of a walk." Jennifer said, turning towards the door.

"Don't want her going solo, don't want her with just Bourne either though." Garrus muttered.

"And if Shepard goes with her, she could just-"

I ignored the conversation, looking at Jennifer. )They'd be pissed off later, but if we just teleported out and met them later, not like they could do much about it.(

+That's...okay, yeah, let's do that before I end up with an explosive collar or something.+

)That was an option I've considered.(

+Do you really think I'd…+

)...No, not really. Even if you managed to hide something from me when I was scanning your brain- which I guess could be possible, given that I was looking for pretty specific things, not doing a general dig-into-past-memories-thing- what I did see convinced me you meant what you said.( My eyes flashed red. )That said, if you do something to betray me, and you survive, I suggest you slit your own throat. It would be far quicker than what I would do to you.(

+You really are melodramatic with the threats, aren't you.+

)Let's just go.( I snapped, teleporting outside. She was next to me a moment later, and we headed for the skycar.

I piloted it into the air just as Shepard and the others ran out of the warehouse, and I saw Raptor's purple eyes glaring even at that distance.

"She is so going to kick my ass for this later." I sighed. "Where are we headed?"

"You know, I could've just driven."

"Do you even know how to drive one of these things?"

"Of course I do." She said, bringing up her omni-tool. "It's on this arm of the Citadel, section...30."

I pulled into traffic.

"What, no comment about me leading you into a trap with Isaac and Slade?"

I turned to glare at her.

"Okay, shouldn't joke about stuff like that, noted."

"And if you make any cracks or puns about the arm, it's going clean through your stomach, grabbing the spine, and then ripping part of it out and stabbing you with it."

"...Kinda went without saying, but also noted."

"And if you call me Mike, I'll stab you in each lung and put a singularity in your heart."

"Also noted...Michael."

I wanted to be angry, but had to smirk. "Heh, well played, wiseass. But now I'm adding that to the list of things I'll kill you for."

"...So, then, uh, Jason, what are you planning on doing next?"

"Yet to be determined." Since Garrus hasn't heard from his contact, and Thane hasn't spoken with Shepard or I...probably should head for Tuchanka next though, so Grunt doesn't tear the place apart, and we kill Mordin's thing too. Unless Jack asks for help too...Huh. I meant for that to be mostly true but partially lie, but I really don't have a clue what we're doing next.

"...So...Never mind." She said, shaking her head. "Mind if I turn on the radio so we're not just sitting her in silence?"
"Whatever."

She reached for it, then paused. "Something just occurred to me. This is the year...2183, right?"

"Yeah?"

"...We're in the future from when we got zapped out, so does that mean stuff is out that wasn't yet? Like, the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe is complete now? Or the Disney Star Wars Stuff?"

"Among other things...apparently there was a remake of Inception back in 2095."

"...Really?"

"First of a trilogy, actually."

"...Huh." She looked out the window as I drove in silence.

"...So, random question the Inception thing somehow reminded me of."

She glanced back at me. "Shoot."

"Did *Mike* know anyone named Ty before all this started?"

"...Not that I know of. Why?"

"Eh, it's probably not important then." I shook my head.


(...So, uh, does this mean-)

New user connecting.

(Ah fuck.)

)When did we agree to this?(

T117: Since when do I care about what you guys want to agree to?

Blue-eyes3000 has connected.

+Uh, hello? Is this thing on?+

(Really glad we didn't invite Spike for this one.)

*You always say that.*

(Let me be more specific then- I'm glad the other crazy chick ain't here...I mean the other other crazy chick, since we all know you're also kinda nuts. Hell, the only female that hasn't been nuts here is CTHI!)

...I am almost tempted to take that as a compliment, but will not given its source.

+So, what are we supposed to do for these things? I kinda read the message about it, but didn't really get it?+

They mostly just argue and or hurt Iron.

(Yeah, great, now there's three people to regularly beat the hell out of me instead of just two.)

)I admit, I was opposed to having her in here earlier, but putting it like that I'm far happier about the decision.(

+Gee, thanks...wow, this thing doesn't transfer sarcasm very well, does it?+

*Nope.*

+So, what now? Do we answer questions or something?+

)Uh...yeah, we would, but there aren't any this go around.(

(So in other words, we basically are going to banter back and forth until Trebor gets bored and ends it, or I say something they beat me up for. Or both.)

*...So, should we welcome her in with an inaugural Iron beatdown?*

(Uh, hey, Trebor, how about that weather, huh?)

)Are you trying to bore him into ending it early?(

(...No?)

+To be fair, if he's as crazy and stupid as I've heard, he could've genuinely been asking about the weather.+

*She's got a point.*

)Meh, let's beat him up anyway.(

+Okeedoke.+

*Works for me.*

T117: You guys have fun with that. Sayonara.