Well here we are again, another chapter for all the little boys and girls, I know you are all excited. This is a big thing apparently, people like this story for some reason that I cannot fully understand. But who am I to judge, this is something people want to see and I am here to deliver.

Nothing much else to say right now so enjoy the chapter.

Are We Alone

Chapter 16: Big Gun Fight

Lower Wards, Block 43

It had taken quite a lot of shooting, looking and general arsing around, but Wrex had finally tracked Fist down. Now all that was left to do was confront that pyjack piece of shit in whatever hole he had tried to hide in and blow his fucking head off. After that, well it became rinse and repeat with bringing back the evidence of the kill, getting his payment, then looking for his next job.

Life is simple like that.

Wrex glared up at the long-abandoned processing plant that Fist had decided to hide in. The communication logs put this place as the only location that Fist communicated from, though if that wasn't enough, then maybe the IFF transmitter pinging four 'friendly' signatures within helped.

"Shit, just my luck that there are four Commandos in there." Wrex muttered, but at least now he was pretty sure that this was the place.

Facing four Commandos was not going to be easy, especially with a veteran like V'naria. That bitch was in the service for some three hundred years, and two hundred of those had been as a Commando. Length of service spoke volumes about what kind of soldier you were, and being a Commando meant you were always being thrown off the deep end and into some rough shit. If this Asari had survived two centuries, she was no pushover.

Her record all but confirmed she was a dangerous woman. From a hefty kill count to her skill with both rifles and potent biotic powers, she was a force to be reckoned with. Going against her and her personal squad was not going to be easy. He would need to actually be careful this time. Patience and an effective strategy was going to be the difference between if he survived or not.

But then again, where was the fun in being safe?

He trudged inside, going right through the front door and then scaling the floors until he was right outside a main processing center. He could see a few old metal processing foundries, used to heat and process metals and alloys, but nothing interesting otherwise. Just a few broken down machines, with conveyer belts and some scattered furniture- all uninteresting. Had he been the scavenging type Wrex might have nicked a few bits of scrap and try to sell it off, maybe even some of the equipment. But he wasn't nearly that stingy or pathetic in general. Because no matter what he could sell the unprocessed ore or machine parts for, it wasn't worth a fraction as much as the man who was pacing in the middle of the room.

"Where is she? It has been twenty minutes, she should have come back by now!" Fist said, rubbing his brow and wiping off a handful of sweat and wiping it on his already drenched shirt.

He looked like he was about to have a panic attack, what a pussy.

Wrex turned away and took cover by the door and quickly took in the layout of the room. There were only two ways in and out: one was the doorway he was hiding near and the second was an elevator on the opposite side of the room. He would have to cover both his exits himself the old fashioned Krogan way: block one himself and leave a nasty surprise at the other.

He reached into his pack and pulled out a breaching explosive, smirking a little. These things were used to blow out the reinforced steel of doorways but it also worked as a perfectly serviceable tripwire trap. Trap set, Wrex quietly made his way to the far side of the room, darting around the dark room as quietly as he could. Even if they had motion sensors, he was still using their IFF frequencies, so he wouldn't make so much as a bleep on their radar.

"Calm down." V'naria finally spat when Fist refused to do as such. Her words as stone cold as the look in her eyes, and he knew that this woman was a beast.

That would just make it all the more fun when he mounted her head on a wall.

"No! We need to leave now! Who cares if that girls knows anything; do you think that will mean shit in the long run?" Fist shouted. "Let's just leave! What's the point in silencing her?"

"She's a liability we're accountable for. If we silence her we don't run the risk of anything being exposed, and we do not know exactly what kind of information she has." V'naria said, her voice not shifting in the slightest. "Keeping influence within the Asari Government will help make sure we are not compromised and will make sure our investments are not tracked."

Wrex was already scouting out his targets, he had their positions and they were spread out in a loose formation- standard tactic for protecting an asset. He could charge in and take him out from where he was standing, however, if he did he would be surrounded on all side and killed. He would need to scatter them.

Scanning the room, he searched for something he could and spotted the broken smelting machines with bits of ore left in it towering tall.

"I did everything you wanted, I did more than what even Saren was willing to ask of me! And guess what? I painted a bullseye on my back for almost every race in the galaxy, do you fucking understand how bad this is for me?" Fist said, again he was losing his shit and Wrex was almost temped to just shoot him from where he was. If he wasn't sure that he would be gunned down, he would have done it.

"And you were compensated for your services. Despite your protests you still followed through with our deal. We are not to blame, you did this of your own accord." V'naria stated.

"What the hell do you want with what I gave you? What the hell do you want with all that? What is so important that you're willing to make so many enemies?" Fist asked. "The Shadow Broker is bad enough, but even he isn't as bad as some of the bastards that are after you now! You think you're the only one that's approached me?"

"What the Matriarch requested is not your concern." V'naria said, and Wrex could feel the sudden hostility in her voice, "And it is best you not get ideas on involving other parties in this venture."

Tuning out the rest of her veiled threats, Wrex decided to finalize his plan of attack and get on with it before Fist got himself shot by someone that wasn't him.

Drawing his assault rifle, he inspected it before he attacked since it was the only thing besides his sidearm that hadn't been lost of Jacobus' ship. Seeing it was in good order he followed up with fishing out two fragmentation grenades. Juggling them, he primed them, he primed them both and tossed them high up and into the remains of that smelting machine. There was a 'clunk' as both landed within the bowl that held a nice amount of unprocessed ore. With a smirk Wrex took cover and waited for the big boom. Frag grenades were good – but two frag grenades mixed in with fragile ore were even better.

They exploded, tearing apart the smelting forge around them and throwing shards of metal in all directions. He knew he hit something when he heard pained shouting, and from how whiny it was, it could only be Fist. But he didn't bother staying in cover longer than he had to and opened fire around the corner blindly as he charged the Asari closest to the elevator.

He peppered her with bullets, her barriers already gone and damaged emitters sparking in an attempt to get them back up. Those next few shots punched clean through her already damaged armor and left her staggered from the storm of bullets he nailed her with. But the real damage came when Wrex shoulder charged her, throwing her back and buckling a support beam. Even if her back was bent unnaturally, he still shot her again, just to be sure.

You could never tell with these Commandos.

One down, four to go, and Wrex planned to clean things up as quickly as he could. He forced them into cover with his rifle before kneeling behind his own cover when they returned fire. Fist was already up and being escorted towards the doorway by two Commandos, one acting as a shield and the other dragging him out of the room. Firing off quick bursts as they slowly retreated from the room, he didn't bother to stop them as he focused on their Captain instead. They were going exactly where he wanted them too, after all.

His only saving grace was that they were desperate to protect their asset instead of killing him, and lucky for him those idiots weren't checking their corners until it was too late. All he saw was one turning towards the right and trying to yell something, next thing he was a flash and then boom. One bitch was shredded to pieces while Fist and the other Commando were obviously caught in the explosion.

'Four down, one to go.' Wrex mused, smirking at the lucky break.

He heard a tiny 'thunk' against the machine he was pressed up against, the sound quickly chased by almost mute beeping. He didn't need half a brain to know that he was about to lose half his body if he didn't move. He leapt away just in time for the thing to explode, showering him with shrapnel.

Rolling back to his feet, he raised his weapon and growled when he was met with a smokescreen. Backing up slowly. he kept quiet as he waited for whatever move the Commando was about to make. Then he saw her, the shimmer of her biotic field giving her away only a half second before he saw her- hurtling towards him like a speeding sky cab. He aimed and fired, only managing a few shots before she was in his face, his gun pushed aside and the pistol in her hand jammed into his stomach.

He grunted as she unloaded the pistol into his gut until it screamed with overheating, before grabbing her wrist and pulling. He held tightly and swung at her exposed head. That was a mistake: she easily ducked the blow and tucked herself tight against him, a knife flashed a second later and lodged itself up into his arm. His grip on his weapon came loose, and she slipped his rifle away from his hand and clubbing his other arm with it. Hold broken on both her wrist and pistol, she decided to add insult to injury and did her damndest to shatter his jaw with the rifle. It didn't work, but he stumbled back, stunned.

Scoffing at him, she flipped the rifle forward to blow his head clean off. She really should have been quicker and she might have lived, because Wrex yanked the barrel to the side, the shots missing his body by a few inches. As she tried to raise up her pistol to his chin he seized it, trapping her with no way to retaliate. With a grunt he delivered a solid head butt, his crown plate connecting with her forehead with a sickening 'crack!'. She took several staggered steps away, the rifle and pistol slipping from her hands and into his.

"Never get up close and personal with a Krogan." Wrex growled, and blew her brains out with the rifle she had tried to brain him with. Sure that she was dead, he let himself sag and lightly touched the wounds in his abdomen. He hissed. His armor had soaked up most of the damage, but enough had gotten thought that he was starting to feel a steady throb of pain. It wasn't anything he couldn't heal from, but he was going to have to watch himself for a few days.

"Fucking hell. Well, time to collect my paycheck." Wrex muttered and stopped poking his injuries in favor of checking the trap that had detonated earlier by the doorway.

Walking towards the doorway he reached under his arm and pulled out that knife, giving it a once over and nodding. Not often you come across a good knife like that, it had gone right through the muscle and armour, that showed it was sharp. Should keep it, you never know when you might need something like that.

But first, he had to make sure he had the proof his job was completed.

He would need to find Fist's body (or whatever happened to be left of it) and then collect the data he stole. Sure, there wasn't really a point to that, but Wrex was nothing if not thorough, and that's what got him hired again and again. Plus, a little extra was promised if he reclaimed the lost data, and there hadn't be a clause that the offer was suddenly void if the data had been distributed.

Near the doorway he found the fried remains of one Commando- likely the one who had set off the trap in the first place. She was unrecognizable and missing more than a couple of limbs, but enough was left to tell him it wasn't Fist. In fact, a quick scan of the debris and ground told him something was wrong with this picture.

"Where the hell is he?" Wrex growled, unable to find Fist's body.

That explosion should have killed the bastard, and yet there wasn't a sign of him. he wasn't anywhere to be seen. He couldn't even see any mangled body parts that didn't belong to the Asari at his feet. As he recalled, there had been someone else with him, one last Commando he couldn't see either. She must have been able to save him somehow, a barrier or something like that. How she did it didn't matter, not when they were now loose in the wards.

"Shit." Wrex growled.

But he didn't have time to wallow in this fuck up, he had other problems literally yapping in his ears right now. Someone was trying to contact him.

"Wrex… are you there?" Barla Von was calling, and Wrex was not going to tell him he lost his target.

"What do you want?" Wrex growled.

"I received a communication… it is from the Quarian… she is going to be meeting Fist soon…" Barla Von spoke up, his words coming out in rushed whispers, or as rushed as a Volus could sound.

Wrex growled, but didn't complain when he had a perfect lead dropped in his lap. "Where is he?"

"The Upper Wards, near an alley behind Chora's Den. Get there now… I am sending backup…" Barla Von said, and Wrex cut the comms off.

He knew where he was going at least. It was a bit of a hike, but he could make it even with his hurt abdomen. Fist had four Commandos protecting him, the key word being 'had' there, and now he was down to only one. He was a dead man walking, and he had to know that. The only thing left up to chance was if Wrex collected his head before he killed the Quarian.

Upper Wards

Tali was pacing. That probably wasn't the best idea considering the trauma she had gone through today, but she couldn't help it, the wait was killing her!

Despite having survived a nearly-fatal assassination attempt down in the Wards, she insisted on staying on her feet, ready to bolt. A part of her realized she was tiring herself out, but she was too antsy to stay still anymore. This was by far the scariest part of her day, helpless to do more than wait and finally know if the information she had would buy her safety or not. There was nothing more terrifying than not knowing if all that you had suffered through would pay off in the end.

It had to get her the protection she needed, it just had to! She needed a ticket off this station and somewhere far from here, maybe even back to the Flotilla. The idea of fleeing back to her home didn't sit well with her to the point she even questioned going through with this plan. To return to the Flotilla without a Pilgrimage Gift was…. shameful to say the least. It would be even worse for her, what with the high expectation everyone for her.

"Calm down Tali, calm down." She muttered to herself, wringing her hands as she tried to follow her own instructions.

It wouldn't be long now, she only had to wait a few more minutes and then Fist would show up. From there he would get the biggest scoop in the galaxy and she would get the protection she needed. And after… well, she could figure that part out once she was finally safe.

"I hope this all blows over, maybe then I can continue my Pilgrimage." Tali thought aloud.

She didn't want to give up despite everything saying that she should. Her father held such high esteem for her that she couldn't very well come back empty handed- the shame alone of doing so would haunt her for the rest of her life and the life of any children she might have. But even that wouldn't be a fraction of the shame that would fall on her father's shoulder, burdened with the weight of knowing that his own daughter had been unable to bring back a single thing.

Tali knew that she couldn't let that happen, and so she would bring something important back! What that was, she didn't know, but it had to live up to the greatness of her father. She couldn't bring back the information she had now as that would just invite disaster to their door, but it had to be something just as important to the Quarian people. Maybe with her twisted luck she would find the information needed to get their Homeworld back.

But one thing at a time. She had to survive this first before she tried her luck at getting a pilgrimage gift. And as if the Ancestors had heard her thoughts, the very man who would decide her fate had finally arrived. Fist wasn't what she had expected: he was a rough and unshaven man with short hair wearing tattered and dirty clothes. Blood and dust coated him in equal parts, and she could see from his injured arms that at least some of it was his. Overall, he looked like he was having and even worse day (or possible year) than her.

"Are you Fist?" Tali asked, a little too quickly for her own liking. She didn't want to sound half as desperate as she actually was.

"Yeah, I am." He said, but where she had come off slightly rattled he was clearly unnerved by something.

He was twitching as if he had taken a few too many nasty zaps from exposed conducts, but that didn't worry her half as much as the frightened looks he kept casting around. Fist was scared, terrified that every shadow contained whatever had roughed him up, ready to finish the job this time.

"Do you have the data? All of it?" Fist asked, speaking so quickly Tali could barely understand him.

Tali knew that this was the moment of truth. She would have to negotiate the best possible deal now, and even that might not be enough. She had already doubted that she would be able to get away so easily, but seeing the state of the Broker meant to protect her only compounded those fears.

"I want to know what kind of protection you can offer me before I answer that." Tali asked, keeping her words firm and clear.

Her father taught her many things, the most basic of which was how to be strict and imposing when needed. It was a hard lesson to follow, she would not deny that her own shyness was a serious roadblock sometimes, but the many horrible things that she had suffered through had forced her to toughen up rather quickly.

"What? Oh, right, right. I have a few guards that will be assigned to protect you." Fist said, his hand held out again. "They're on their way now, so give me the data and we can wait for them together."

"A few guards?" Tali gaped. Was he serious? "I need protection, not a damn escort! I have a Spectre and a Matriarch after me! A whole team of Commandos! What are they going to do against even one of them?"

"This is only temporary, girl! We'll get you more at the earliest opportunity, so give me the damn data already! I can't help you if you don't help me first!" Fist reassured, or at least tried to do so. But all he did was make her even more suspicious that he was going to scam her.

"No. You want this? Then you have to prove you can protect me." Tali demanded, slowly backing away.

He didn't seem to like that and seized her by the arm. There was a crazed look in his eye that could only be born from one truly desperate. This was not someone she could negotiate with, especially with the way his free hand was twitching over the pistol at his hip.

If she made the wrong move then she was probably going to get shot. Again.

"Listen to me you goddamn little shit! I am not negotiating anymore, so give me the damn recordings!" Fist shouted in her face, his grip tight enough to bruise if she didn't have her suit.

"I want to know what you plan, now." Tali said much calmer than she actually felt. She had to at least try to get what she needed, because if she didn't then she was dead anyway.

He didn't respond at first, his teeth grinding together as his temper clearly threatened to boil over.

"I'll get you off the station, out of Citadel Space, anywhere you want! Just give me the damn recording!"

He was scrambling for any explanation that he thought he was going to convince her, while clearly having nothing to actually give. This was bad, he wasn't going to be any help to her. She was trapped on this forsaken station with Asari Commandos after her head and nothing to stop them! Well, maybe the Anomaly would incidentally stop them if it ended up blowing up the entire station for whatever had been done to draw it here.

"Give me the recording now!" Fist shouted, shaking her from her thoughts.

It was then that something occurred to her: he was asking her for a recording. But never once had she disclosed that the information she had was specifically a recording. Oh sure, she had told her contacts that she had data on a possible conspiracy that involved a Council Spectre, a Matriarch, and an unknown third individual, but that was it. The report she sent didn't detail what form it was in, so how could he know that?

"How did you…?" Tali started, but when she looked at him she saw his eyes shifting.

Being a Quarian and growing up in the migrant fleet meant that you needed to know a few things. First and foremost was how to repair a malfunctioning air intake and what to do when your suite ruptured. But the second was how to read individuals by body language and eye movement alone. Fist wasn't exactly being subtle about how scared he was, but he was trying to hide the fact that he wasn't looking at her anymore and was instead stealing glancing at something directly behind her. It was in that moment of realization that she felt the burning gaze of someone glaring into the back of her head.

She turned, and, to her horror, there was an Asari standing there, dressed in black Commando armor and heavily armed. Fist's eyes were filled with aggressive confidence now- he couldn't even pretend to look surprised. That could only mean one thing.

"Oh keelah." Tali rasped, realizing she had walked right into her own assassination.

She didn't think because that Commando could surely predict her, and instead simply reacted. Hysteric strength let her rip her hand free from Fist easily and turn to the bigger threat. The Asari's rifle had already started to rise and end her on the spot, but Tali was faster. She pushed past Fist and leaped towards the closest cover, dropping a grenade behind her as a distraction. It wasn't nearly as strong or specialized enough to even phase a Commando, but she would take whatever seconds she could scrounge up.

There was a bang that rattled the old crate she was behind, but she hadn't been shot full of holes, so that was a good start. That was step one of probably a hundred in how she was going to get out of this alive, but she wasn't give the time she needed to plan as Fist started yelling at the top of his lungs orders for her death-

"Kill that bitch!"

-along with several other slurs, though she couldn't hear much over the sound of shots pinging off the crate. Tali drew her pistol, armed and ready, but truthfully she had never used it in real combat. There were a few training exercises her father made her take, sure, but that was it. Taking another life? Never. But now she had no choice but to try.

"Let's hope I remember what you taught me."

She leaned out of cover and fired, two shots before she was forced to retreat. She nearly fell over as a barrage of bullets came right at her, curling protectively into a ball even with the crate protecting her. She had almost gotten shredded to pieces just from peaking out of her cover for two seconds, there was no way she would survive against those two! She was going to die here and the only question was how fast that would be. Would it be quick, or would she be left to bleed out?

"I can't die like this… I don't want to die like this!" Tali whispered, pressing the length of her pistol against her faceplate as she tried to draw on some inner strength to fight back.

"Contact front!"

The shout caught her off guard, but it was the barrage that came from the opposite end of the alley that really rattled her. Were there even more people coming to kill her? Fist did say that he had some guards coming, that could be them. Her odds were already dismal, but this was just plain overkill now! Just what had she done to deserve all this?!

But to her surprise she was able to spot two Turians moving forward, rifles in hand and laying down suppression fire. They weren't targeting her though, their guns pointed down the alley and likely towards where Fist and the Commando that had been trying to murder her were.

"Move up!"

Garrus aimed down the alley and fired another short burst, dropping back into cover behind a column along the wall. He steadied his breathing and ignored the throbbing of his body, he still felt sore after that beating he took back at Dr Michel's clinic. It certainly didn't help that he had to run all the way here, eighteen levels and what felt like a couple of lightyears, all on foot. Those were the hardest ten minutes of his life, but he had made it just in the nick of time.

"We got another commando!" Chellick said, firing his own assault rifle down the alley.

"I noticed! This one looks a little banged up, so maybe she won't be as hard to take down." Garrus chimed in, rising up and firing again.

"Yeah, let's hope so, don't feel like taking another ass kicking."

"Then let's take her out as quickly as possible." Garrus finished, putting aside his assault rifle and taking out his sniper rifle. "Cover fire."

Chellick rose up and started firing a continual stream of high-speed bullets towards the Asari's position. Garrus leaned out, levelling his rifle at the stack of crates that were being peppered by Chellick. He steadied his breathing to almost nothing and waited for Chellick to halt his assault. As soon as he did the Asari leaned out as expected. Her weapon was already up and her finger already pulling at the trigger, but Garrus was the one already firing. There was a loud 'crack!' and he watched as she staggered back, her weapon sparking as it took the hit. It wasn't the shot he wanted, but it at least sent her reeling.

Lowering his rifle, he leaned back into cover just to be safe. He had no way of knowing what kind of condition she was in, but he was certain she was at least still alive. That was proven a moment later when he saw a create levitate above the ground and come sailing right towards his position. He ducked down and further into cover, the metal crate smashing and warping as they hit the pillar.

Garrus would have tried to make another shot, but he heard a sudden boom and then cry of shock. Turning, he looked to see his partner on the ground, knocked down by the Asari Commando now bathed in biotic energy.

He turned and raised his rifle, but she was quick to turn her attention on him and raised her own rifle….and threw it at him. Garrus cursed and ducked, praying that the rifle wouldn't be set off when it hit the ground behind him as he focused on the Commando. It had only been a second of delay, but she had already formed her defense, a biotic barrier springing to life around her and deflecting his shot. Perfectly protected for a few key seconds while Garrus tried to adjust his aim, she reached for her pistol.

But luckily for him, Chellick was still coherent and he grabbed her legs slowly enough to not trigger the barrier and yanked her to the ground. The Asari tumbled, dropping to one knee and giving Chellick the chance to grapple her for the pistol. The two struggle for several seconds before the Commando landed a solid hit on Chellick that gave her the chance to rip free her weapon, but Garrus hadn't been idle in that time. He takes another shot just as her barrier wears off, scoring a hit to her shoulder. She screamed, high-pitched with pain and rage as her arm involuntarily goes limp and drops the gun. Cradling her wounded shoulder and with murder in her eyes, she charges Garrus, barrier renewing with desperate frenzy and deflecting the bullet Garrus tries to slow her with. He's pinned to the wall before he can so much as blink, slowly but surely being crushed into the steel as she tries to crush him into paste.

"Chellick! Help!" Garrus wheezed.

He could see beyond the thin sheet of biotic energy Chellick getting back to his feet, pistol in hand and aiming for the back of the Commando's head as he tried to move within her field. She wasn't so easily caught off guard however and turned sharply on her heels to knock the pistol aside, a sharp swing quick to follow. But she only had one functional arm left, and without direct contact, the biotic field that was slowly crushing him wavered with her attention. Garrus fell to the floor with a hacking cough, vision clearing just in time for him to see his partner getting beaten by a one-armed Commando.

As she tried to deliver an elbow to his face, Chellick caught it and retaliated with a kidney shot to her exposed side. A knee to her gut sent her staggering and Chellick followed through with a punch she blocked, still quick as a viper despite being winded and injured. But she was outnumbered, and Garrus charged in and finished the strike with his own closed fist. She stumbled almost drunkenly, and Chellick grabbed her arm and twisted it down, allowing Garrus to deliver a knee to her face.

Straightening back up, she tried to fight back but her clumsy and disorientated swings were only leading her towards more pain. She would swing and miss and get a punch to her face for her efforts. It wasn't long before she was dead on her feet with nothing keeping her standing but sheer will. Even that dried up and she succumbed, her last flimsy right hook missing Chellick by a mile, allowing him to kick in her leg and drop her to her knees. Garrus gave her a merciful hit to the back of the head with his trusty pistol and sent her into the realm of unconsciousness. Like a sack of bruised fruit, she fell to the floor face first and lay there, unmoving.

One moment, then two passed. Finally convinced that she wasn't going to get back up anytime soon, Chellick laughed, "That was surprisingly easy."

"Yeah, I expected her to be a lot harder. I guess we're getting better." Garrus said, shrugging at how he had taken out an Asari Commando with his buddy. Considering how poorly their last attempt went back at the clinic, he was surprised they had gotten out relatively unscathed.

"I don't think that's how it works." Chellick said, touching his mandible as he said that. "Still hurts like a bitch, though."

But their little talk had to end there, a scream grabbed their attention and forcing them to remember that they had two assailants to deal with. It was easy to spot the Quarian, dragged from behind the crate and held at gunpoint by an unknown man.

"Hold it!" Garrus shouted, raising his pistol and aiming right for the man.

He was quick to act and use the Quarian as a shield, hiding as much of his body behind her as he could. Garrus was a good shot, but Quarians were infamously fragile, what with their suits and horrendous immune systems. His visor quickly scanned his face and he got a hit. It was shocking to see the former owner of Chora's Den looking so ragged, eyes bloodshot and body one big bruise.

He hadn't been seen for the last few years, and from the looks of it, it was probably because he had been living on the streets the entire time. The man may have been running a very successful racketeering ring, but he was far from being the well-off criminal mastermind some people made him out to be. He looked like a damn duct rat mixed in with a hobo.

"It's over Fist, let her go and come in quietly." Garrus said, hoping to bring the bastard in and put an end to this.

"I won't, I'm not dead yet! I'm not a dead man, just you see! Just let me walk away! Give me the data! Give me that and you can all go!" Fist said, hyperventilating and trying to drag his prisoner back.

"Stay right there Fist. Come on, talk to us. Tell us who's out to get you and we can help." Garrus said, trying to calm him down.

If this idiot so much as twitched then the Quarian was dead, and their only real lead with her. They needed to either take him out or make him surrender. The former was going to be their only choice, but with how erratic he was being it was going to be a hard thing to pull off before the Quarian got hurt.

"You can't do anything! You can't stop them!" Fist yelled, and now Garrus was starting to worry. That was some fatalism right there, and every species started doing stupid things when they thought there were no options left for them, "Jacobus! V'naria! Where the fuck are you! Why aren't you here!"

"Get ready to take a shot, alright?" Garrus whispered into his comms, receiving a curt nod from Chellick.

When it came down to it, Fist was a low time thug that wasn't worth keeping around who just so happened to have gotten tangled into something bigger than himself. The same could be said for the Quarian, but she was a victim and not scum trying to profit off other's suffering. Plus she had information that sounded like it was going to turn everyone's lives upside down, and he wasn't going to lose that. If he had to put a bullet through Fist's head, then he wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

"Come in! Come in!" Fist yelled. "Anyone on this channel! Why the fuck aren't you here yet!?"

His shouts obviously when unanswered and he screamed in raging despair. The poor bastard was on the edge right now and Garrus didn't know if he was going to jump or not. It was best make sure that if he did he wasn't dragging that girl down with him.

"No! Nononononono! Where are you!? Where are you?!" Fist continued to rant. "Where the fuck are-!"

He never finished, a hand wrapped around the pistol and twisted it painfully away from the prisoner Fist was holding. Garrus was surprised by the sudden arrival, who was holding onto Fist with a death grip so tight it was crushing the gun (and hand).

It was a Krogan, the very one he had seen not two hours ago back at the plaza. He looked like hell, from the patches of missing armor and the dried blood, it was clear that he had been fighting.

"No one is coming to save you now asshole." The Krogan said, lifting up his shotgun and aiming it right for Fist's face.

He pulled the trigger without a single ounce of hesitation, blowing the man's head clean off his shoulders and leaving his corpse to dangle from his tight grip like a sick trophy. A quick check to confirm he was dead (Garrus would have called that overkill, but then he remembered exactly what was running around on the station with a very human-like form) before the Krogan gave a snort and carelessly tossed the corpse aside in favor of turning his attention to the Quarian.

"Hold up! Don't move!" Garrus yelled.

This had to be the Krogan Battlemaster Barla Von warned them about, the one who was after Fist and on strict orders from the Shadow Broker to kill him. He had just done his mission, yes, but they had no idea if that was the only thing he had been ordered to do. He might have orders to take the information and then silence the Quarian to tie up any loose ends.

"Calm down moron." The Krogan said, turning from the two detectives and back to the Quarian. "I overheard him saying something about you having data, would that happen to be data this moron stole from the Shadow Broker?"

"What? No! Do I look like an idiot? I have a damn Matriarch and Spectre after me, so why would I want that man chasing me?" Tali shouted. "I was trying to trade my own information for protection!"

"Fair enough, guess that means I leave this mess for C-Sec to clean up."

Garrus took a few steps forward, his gun still ready just in case the Krogan tried anything. He stepped up beside the Quarian, keeping his distance while also being very slow in his movements, just in case she was in shock. He had been accidentally punched by enough terrified colleagues and even civilians to know he had to take things slow sometimes.

"Ma'am? Ma'am, hey, look at me." Garrus said, gently talking so as to not spook her.

She flinched all the same, but at least she didn't scream and try to run.

"Miss, I am a C-Sec Detective, it's alright, you're safe now." Garrus said.

"I'm not safe! There are others on this station, other people who want me dead!" Tali said. "I have commandos and mercenaries after me, do you really think this is over?"

"Not anymore, took care of most of them just a few minutes ago, actually." Wrex said, crossing his arms and deciding to stick around to observe the little chit chat. He also may or may not have been stalling having to aggravate his injuries now that his job was done. But Garrus didn't miss the way he hovered near Fist's body, fiddling with his Omni-Tool and looking through it. Whatever he was doing, it likely involved the data that Barla Von wanted back.

"Miss, you need to come with us- we need to ask about who is after you." Garrus started. "We know you have information on Saren Arterus, you don't have to worry about him, he's already been detained."

"And you," Chellick snapped, leveling his gun at the Krogan Battlemaster with clear intent, "are coming in for questioning. Murder, kidnapping, assaulting a police officer, and who knows what else."

"Send me the bill, I'll pay the damages, like all the other times I caused millions of credits worth of damage." He said, giving a derisive laugh at his own joke and continued to fiddle with the Omni-tool. "Fucking idiot."

Garrus gave Chellick a look. There was no way they were going to take on a damn Krogan Battlemaster, not in the state they were in. Those guys were just as dangerous as an Asari Commando, only tougher, and, if he was telling the truth, he had likely killed the rest of the Commandos and mercs that had been after the Quarian. He was out of their league when they were at their peak, even more so with how battered they were.

Tali shook her head "I can't stay here! Even if they're gone, I am still being hunted! The information I have is too dangerous for me to hold onto anymore."

"What information?" Garrus asked, urging her to tell him. "What do you have? Is it on Saren?"

"That and more." She said. "Saren, Benezia, and someone who knows a lot about the Anomalies."

Consciousness returned slowly, her senses swimming into existence. A hard metal floor aggravated her injuries and for several moments she was confused. But Porova M'jaburo hadn't an Asari Commando for a solid century for nothing, and it was easy to recall what had happened. She had fought and been…subdued (not beaten, not yet) by two low-profile police officers. But by some luck and their stupidity she had been left alive and unrestrained, obviously forgotten.

Looking over her shoulder she saw them, including that Krogan that had attacked the hideout in the Wards. If he was here then Captain V'naria was almost surely dead, along with the rest of her squad. She was the last one, no backup, and no hope.

Except one: She could still kill the Quarian. It wouldn't solve the problem, but it would at least stall the reveal of the data, possible even long enough for more backup to arrive depending on how encrypted it was.

The detectives may be a little harder, but she could still take them out with a few well-placed shots. The Krogan will likely kill her, but as long as the majority end up dead, then she had at least accomplished the as much of the mission as she was able to. It wasn't much, but it would have to do.

Her hand reached for her gun, yet another act of stupidity on their part, leaving her unattended and with a weapon nearby. Truly they were idiots if they thought she was done and dusted after that short scuffle. She wasn't even sure how she had lost to them, morons.

Someone grabbed her hand, stopping it with a grip like iron. By her side was a blond human male she hadn't even heard approach, dressed in some dull green jacket and baggy trousers and topped with a ridiculous striped bucket hat.

"You should really know when to stay down, it might have all worked out for you in the long run if you had." He said, easily holding her down and eyeing her gun.

He may have looked human, may have sounded it, but his eyes were empty.

Presidium, Academy of Science and Technology

Ichigo felt guilty ever since he had stopped stepping in to halt any crimes he happened across. It felt weird, wrong even, to ignore other's suffering when he could do something, but he really couldn't lollygag any longer. Reclaiming his Zanpakuto was his top priority at the moment, if only to move onto his next plan in dealing with this spreading chaos.

It was why he was here, glaring at the big sign that sat above the entrance of the equally big building like some sort of disgruntled tourist. He raised a brow as he regarded the massive structure and the surrounding plaza. The Presidium was, to his surprise at least, and actual torus, or a massive cylindrical ring that spun on itself to generate gravity. He could look up either of the main strips of the place and see the ground curving upwards, faux blue sky bending as well, all the way until the fake horizon was reached. It was a nice touch so that you weren't constantly staring at the uncaring void (Ichigo shivered) and he had never seen anything quite like it outside of the science fiction books Orihime used to read.

But that was a passing thought, a minor detail not worth delving into as he faced the academy that was holding and likely studying his Zanpakuto. The building itself was a five-story tall complex with multiple wings, while the very area it sat in was a spacious and seemingly barren plaza that held little besides a few statues and garden beds. Yet even somewhere as seemingly pristine as this place wasn't entirely safe form the chaos of the Wards below, half-cleaned graffiti dotting the place.

Granted, he probably wasn't helping things.

'Everyone is running for their lives.'

True to his thoughts, all around him he could see people, of all races and ages, running for the hills to get away from him. People were screaming, barely heard above the rumbling thunder that was the sound of hundreds of feet doing their best to run in the exact opposite direct of him.

'If I was Kenpachi I would get it, but what the hell have I done lately that makes everyone so scared?' Ichigo mused, wondering if everyone was still hung up about Elysium and his role there.

With a sigh, he decided to put it out of his mind for the time being and just focus on getting Zangetsu back. He stepped into the building and began his long walk to find his Zanpakuto, passing scared-stiff staff as he closed in on his weapon's location. Most stood frozen on the spot, staring at him with wide eyes, while others just high tailed it out of there.

A select few started recording him, and one even giving him a flattering comment about his abs.

He ignored them all.

Yet as he drew closer to his Zanpakuto he wondered about his next move. Obviously, he would return to the Shoten, but after that was what? Ichigo knew he couldn't just up and leave without first thinking about how to handle this situation he had landed himself in. Saying nothing about his imprisonment, or the theft of his Zanpakuto and his attempts to stop petty crime across the Wards, it was about what the damage that has been caused by the Shinigami. Ichigo knew he was mostly to blame: Rukia would have remained an unknown little secret in the Alliance's basement and Kenpachi likely wouldn't have gone off the deep end and exposed himself when Torfan started going up in smoke without his precedent. Well, he probably would have still done something, but probably not enough to blow the lid on the Shinigami secret.

Probably.

But he wasn't going to try, no point in shifting blame when it was all clearly his fault.

There was no point in saying it would have happened sooner or later (no matter how true that was), it was on his head and now he had to deal with the fallout. But he wouldn't allow it to weigh on him, no, this was a mess he planned to clean up. And unlike some who favored letting it get swept under the rug, he was not going to ignore the problem until it simply didn't exist anymore.

Turning towards the door, he was met with a large solid slab of metal- definitely where his Zanpakuto was being kept. He didn't even need to sense for his blade to know it is in there, the fact there was a huge fucking door with restricted signs on it was enough of a hint. It was almost cliché. And sad that they thought that would do anything knowing what they did.

But still he lingered for a moment, his mind still trying to think of a way to go about this without creating even more problems. The damage was done, and it was only going to get worse, sure, but he didn't need to throw gasoline on a burning oil rig. It was going to explode anyway with or without his help, but he didn't want to be the final push. Raising monuments that try to impose peace and cooperation won't work, not when they would be overshadowed by the fear and mistrust that had been festering for some time now. The only way to fix this was to fix the one thing everyone had in common: Ignorance. They were ignorant and thus afraid of the unknown, much like Ichigo had once been, and that fear had only been growing.

All he had to do was not reinforce any more misconceptions they had about him and appear to be the opposite and things would naturally change. By doing that he would be able to bridge the gap and make everything right, or at least that was the plan. No more chaos and violence, no more pain and suffering, and he would need to be the exemplar of that change.

But first he needed through this door.

Without really thinking about it, he went with the simplest solution he could think of.

He punched it.

It buckled under the hit, warping and collapsing around his fist like thin cardboard. With a heave, he ripped the two frames out of the wall and looked within the lab, where several people were hard at work trying to discern the nature of his Zanpakuto. Happy, he raised his hand to greet them as friendly as he could and they…

… Screamed and even started begging for mercy.

Okay, so maybe bashing in the door was a stupid move, but he was most certainly not going to knock and ask them to let him in. That would be silly, and he wasn't Urahara, who might have done it just to fuck with them.

He ignored them since apologizing for breaking down their reinforced steel door would be awkward and took his Zanpakuto from the pedestal it was on for study. There wasn't much point in sticking around and left them to get over their shock in peace. He had his property back and now he could get off the streets and figure out what to do. Until then he had to make he didn't get involved with anything too chaotic and rack up even more bad press for Shinigami.

Once upon a time, he wouldn't have cared about appearances, and yet now he was trying to play basic politics and public relations. Oh, how times had changed.

Executor Pallin was nervous, though he didn't show it in either his posture or voice and stood as tall as ever. It was a posture and stance he had perfected in his twenty years serving as an Executor in C-Sec, and even in this dire moment he would not allow himself to falter. Personal pride, or even racial pride, demanded that he not show weakness in the face of impending conflict. His hands might have been clasped a bit tight behind his back to the point he was losing feeling in them, but whether or not that was true was known only to himself. And none would blame him even if they knew. Because here, just outside the Academy of Science and Technology, was going to be a monumental moment in his life.

Why, you ask?

Because he was going to die here. At least that was the thought that went through his head the moment he was ordered to come here. So he may as well wear his best suit, clad himself in the pride of his entire race, and wait for the inevitable death that would claim him. Although, what truly made him despair was that so many of his men would likely be following him into the great beyond very soon.

"Get those Tanks and Turrets set up now!"

A feeling of indignation shot through him when he heard that shout, but he pressed it down. He had known the one speaking for only an hour, and already he hated her more than any other person he had ever met. That person was the Spectre that had all but stolen his position, and her name was Tela Vasir, and she was going to be the death of them all.

He had lost his official position not a hour ago, right after meeting with the Council and in the middle of attempting to evacuate the Citadel in light of the Anomaly's presence. In the thirty minutes he had to plan out an evacuation strategy and put a spin on it to make it sell to the Council, and he had come up with something on the fly that was reasonably brilliant.

Pallin had detailed it to them as quickly and simply as possible. He planned on getting every single C-Sec operative on duty to clear the Wards. They would corner off ever block from one another, to prevent the spread of knowledge of the Anomaly and to control the population's movements as they evacuated the people from the station. It was all planned out, and he had been compiling the information and sending it off to his detectives and officers that had been quick to mobilize. They were sealing off the blocks on every arm of the Citadel, corralling the population into one spot and then herding them from one block to the next until they got to the Spaceports where ships would be waiting to evacuate them. That had been the plan, a slow, methodical, and clean evacuation. But it wasn't to be.

His plans had been halted mid-explanation, the Council deeply concerned with the welfare of the Station and insisting they couldn't just assume it was lost. They feared that the Citadel was on the verge of exploding- there was arguing about that actually -but they didn't want to risk it happening at all. They wanted to handle this threat, to contain it and possibly even neutralize it.

'How the hell did they think this was a good idea?' Pallin thought quietly to himself, casting a look over the army that had been brought to bear to carry out the Council's foolhardy plan.

Nearly ten thousand strong, all armed with the best equipment they had and backed up with gunships, tanks, and even mobile turrets. There were two hundred thousand C-Sec personnel on the Citadel at any given time, and this major chunk was being used to try and take on one man. It seemed ridiculous, and it was. That one man that would utterly annihilate them without needing to blink, and everyone knew it.

"Are those snipers set up along the boulevards?" Tela Vasir spoke over the comms.

Pallin had heard they had exactly eight hundred snipers lined up along the walkways that circled the presidium ring. Dozens of floors and all of them manned to bursting with a skilled marksman, and every single one of them aiming at the entrance of the Academy of Science and Technology.

Ridiculous. Did they think the Anomaly was a raid boss who's shields they could take down if they just hit it enough?

She had not bothered to make him take part in this as she knew he had his reservations and did not want to go through with this. He was here out of courtesy, to make it look like he was still in command when in reality he was nothing more than a damn pet on a leash meant to look pretty while the real master did all the work. It was insulting really, but what could he do? The Council ordered this and put someone in charge who would make sure it happened.

"Good, now make sure that the men are spread out. I don't want them too clustered together in case we need to fire on friendlies." Vasir said, closing the comms.

This was a mistake; the Council was doing the stupidest thing possible by getting in a pissing contest with this monster. They couldn't stop it, and his attempts to remind them of that didn't seem to register to them. Not when they were so caught up in the Citadel's possible destruction.

For all their attempts to keep things as business as usual, by keeping a lid on the Anomaly's presence and trying to corner off and evacuate locations he had been in and was moving towards. The Council was overlooking one damn key detail, they didn't possess the means to actually harm him. He may have been wounded when he had been captured, but from reports he was still very much combat-ready and unbelievably deadly even without his blades. He had been mostly peaceful and despite strutting through a heavily populated Ward his death count was basically zero, ignoring the one mercenary they were still finding pieces of on Block 233.

Immediately they started jumping the gun and theorizing that the exposure to vacuum, along with previous injuries, had weakened him and that he was not as strong as he was. They even clung to the fact that he was without his weapons and thus defenseless…were they even listening to themselves?

"Executor, I want you to see about getting more squads up here." Vasir ordered, but he didn't bother to listen.

There was no point in bringing them up here, no point in listening to the Council as they desperately clung to control that they didn't have. It didn't hit him until now just how much chaos there was on this station, just how wild and uncontrolled it was. Everything had been falling apart for years now, getting worse with each passing day, and it was about time that something ended it all. If an Anomaly was that thing, then who was he to question a demigod?

The Council had all but ignored the galactic scene since the Anomalies had turned up. No longer was most of their attention of keeping the peace, promoting cooperating, and bringing races under their thumb of Council law and control. Now it was about beating down on a race that they thought was getting too big to stay on the playground unchecked.

Honestly, ever since the Anomalies had shown up, humans had been getting an undeserved level of scorn. It was probably because they had given his people a hard time during the First Contact War, and they were taking it out on them. But what was happening now? It was honestly a travesty he didn't want to stomach. It was just a prime example of how vindictive the Council could be when a race catches their attention. You had the Batarian's with their slavery, the Hanar using the Drell as soldiers, and even the damn Terminus regularly raiding their borders. But instead the Council had turned their entire attention and wrath down on the humans for nothing else than these Anomalies popping up.

Humanity wasn't even the first to suffer at the hands of the Council- the Krogan and Quarians were prime examples.

"Are you listening to me?" Vasir inquired, glancing towards him and waiting for confirmation.

Pallin did nothing more than open his Omni-Tool and send a message to any remaining officers and constables there were out there. He wouldn't bring them here, there was no point after all, not when this was going to end in only one way. All he could do was make sure they saved as many people as possible.

"Ma'am! We have movement!"

Pallin looked up, freezing for just a moment as he looked upon the one that they had come to take down with a force of nearly ten thousand. It was shocking how a single person could warrant so much firepower and have it all count for nothing in the end.

It was strange to see him in person, let alone without a shirt on. He might have seemed underwhelming if he hadn't looked only vaguely surprised by the literal army waiting for him outside the door. He might not have expected them, but there was no fear, none at all, and instead he just looked at them as if he couldn't believe that they were trying this. It was like they were unruly children trying to gang up on an adult with their toy guns and sticks.

"All guns take aim!" Vasir ordered.

Pallin heard the chorus of guns unfolding and cannons turning, he could even hear the missile pods of the gunships preparing to fire. All that pomp and power and it wasn't going to make a single dent. Pallin knew, deep down he knew, exactly how this was going to end.

"I am Spectre Tela Vasir, and on the authority of the Council, I demand you surrender immediately!" Her words were clear, concise, and useless.

He was standing there, completely unfazed by the army before him, and why wouldn't he be? Most thought him a god, and if the rumors of what he could do were true, than Pallin wasn't about to argue with that.

Pallin looked to the man to his right, the Salarian was not a rookie but a decorated officer of six years. But he was shaking regardless, afraid of what would happen next, and honestly, he didn't blame anyone here who was afraid.

"If you do not surrender you will be fired upon! And I promise you, we will blow you to bits!" Tela said, and Pallin had to wonder if she actually knew what she was dealing right now. Had the Council briefed her, had she seen the videos, or did she think them all fake? Did she see herself as something special, as the hero in this story?

Pallin was snapped from his musings when the Anomaly did exactly what he feared: he walked towards them. He didn't run or even rush, and instead his gait was slow and relaxed, as if this was a simple stroll. Pallin would have thought it arrogant, but he knew better. They were leaves in the wind, easily ignored. One might fall in his face and obscure his sight for a moment, but he would remove it with a swipe of his hand.

"All guns on the ready!" Tela called out.

Pallin didn't tense, he knew what was coming. He had served in C-Sec for years and he knew a good deal about the people in it. He knew many of their dreams, more than a few faces, and eactly what kind of people they were. He had no doubts in his mind what was going to happen next. But none the less, he closed his eyes and waited for it to happen.

"Open fire!" Tela yelled.

There was silence, and not a single person, gunship, or tank fired.

He knew that would happen.

"I said open fire!" Tela roared, slamming her fist into the side of the tank beside her. "What are you doing? Fire now!"

Pallin opened his eyes and looked to his men, not a single one of them had a finger near their trigger. They had aimed and were poised to shoot, but didn't. All the while, the Anomaly approached, drawing ever closer to their front line, and not a single person had it in them to open fire.

"Executor! Get these men firing now!" The Spectre yelled, grinding her teeth together as she made the demand. It seemed that fear was only now starting to show beneath that boastful exterior.

Pallin said nothing, only keeping his eyes ahead of him as the Anomaly strolled within reaching distance and passed the Spectre without even a glance. He ignored her entire existence in such a way that even Pallin found envious with how disinterested he appeared in her.

It was then that everyone else started to lower their guns, some even outright dropping them as they parted before the Anomaly as he walked. No one said a thing as he passed the heavily armed C-Sec officers. Yes, this was how it was always going to go, for none of his men were stupid enough to start a pointless fight like that. Their job was to keep this station in one piece, and if they started a battle with Ichigo then they would be failing that duty. It was likely that everyone on this station would die, and it would be all on their heads. No one wanted that, and so no one shot.

"Fucking cowards!" Tela Vasir hissed, barging past Pallin and drawing her personal pistol.

For the first time since coming here he felt terror wrack its way through him, his own horror reflected on the faces of his men. Vasir was aiming right for the Anomaly's back, her gun ready to release the bullet that would ignite the explosion that would consume everything on this station.

"Vasir! Don't!" Pallin yelled, trying to reach for her and stop her.

"Die you son of a…" Tela started, pulling the trigger of her weapon.

But there was no shot, no bang that signaled their own annihilation, only a whine of some mechanism within the gun. For a moment he wondered if it had jammed, but, as she pulled it around to inspect, he saw that the barrel was outright missing. A large chunk of the gun had, seemingly, been cut away cleanly, leaving a smooth opening just past the handle.

Pallin looked towards the Anomaly that had halted just in time to see him casually tossed something over his shoulder. The missing barrel of the Spectre's gun bounced off the ground and landed right next to her feet, a piece that had only seconds ago still been attached to her weapon.

A horrifying reminder of what kind of power they possess, and what it meant to face it. Pallin hadn't even seen him move.

"Do these men's lives really mean that little to you? That you would sacrifice them all because of pride?" Ichigo asked, turning to glare at her over his shoulder. "They are better soldiers than you. They know when to fight and when to live."

The Spectre seemed frozen in place, unable to move as he stared her right in the eye and held her in a trance, like a predator with its prey. But he turned away from her without striking, and Vasir collapsed to her knees coughing as if she had just remembered to breathe. Pallin didn't take his eyes off Ichigo however, watching as he faced forward again, and continued to walk away.

"These men, they came ready to fight, but had the strength to sheath their swords when battle came. There is more honor in that than to fight for a hopeless cause at the whims of others. Take pride in that, and know that what you did here today will be the moment you will look back upon and know you made the right choice."

Then he was gone, a single breath of air settling the only sound of his departure. He left behind the ten thousand C-Sec officers sent to kill him who hadn't fired a single shot and yet still saved this station from oblivion. Pallin knew that, and it seemed that the Anomaly did as well. Tela continued to take in ragged breaths, a cold sweat upon her brow, and Pallin had to wonder if she would see that she had made a mistake.

Perhaps the Council would realize as well. But as soon as he thought of it, he came to a simple conclusion.

Probably not.

There you have it, wasn't that exciting? Bet you thought there was going to be a massive gun fight or something, or a massive explosion that would blow the Citadel apart. Hah! No way man, no way!