Chapter 5

The fateful meeting

Here it is part four! Where Shepard meets a Claymore and discovers that she is a bit more brutal than your average mass effect person. As always I am not gaining one penny from this. Just trying to improve my writing skills and to give something interesting to read for the community.

Good reading!

Normandy SR 2. 24 February 2185

Inside the mess hall of a particularly famous ship currently docked inside Omega's space station, a Turian covered head to toe in deep blue armour barring the helmet and shoving a white, scarred but jovial face, and a single human were having a good time. They shared stories, laughed and discussed pointless stuff like only great friends can do.

The scenery on itself was relatively common in the universe, but the people participating this time were not. One was the infamous Archangel, Turian vigilante and thorn in the sides of any mercenary group residing on Omega. The other was none less than Odin Shepard, the first human Spectre and saviour of the Council.

Quite an interesting couple to find, especially considering that both of them were believed to be dead by most of the galaxy!

Hallucination? Folly?

Nothing like that. Archangel, more known as Garrus or Calibrator by his friends, had been saved by the skin of his teeth from death thanks to the ship doctor's ministrations. About Shepard, well….let's just say that there was a very good reason for him to work for the Cerberus organization. After all, the self-proclaimed protectors of mankind had been so gentle to resurrect him and provide him resources and agents for saving the human colonies of Terminus while the Council and Alliance were busy moving their thumbs.

They were still a bunch of stupid racists though. And no, he would always refuse to join them, no matter what.

"Sure is a good idea?" asked Garrus between a sip or two of beer "Going back to that hellhole with me? As you have already noticed I am not very popular out here, despite my magnetic charm."

"I know that it is risky Garrus" replied Shepard with a smile "But, as you said few people have seen you without your helmet, besides stopping a missile with your face did one hell of make-up for you!"

"Ah, bloody ah Shepard" pouted Garrus with fake anger. Shepard smiled at this: he had missed good old Garrus: a bit hot-headed and impetuous yes, but also funny, loyal and totally capable to work well with most teammates, be they Council people or not. His open personality coupled with his C-Sec training made him one of the best soldier and friend in Shepard's book.

If only he would stop being so set on recalibrating everything in his path.

"There is another reason why I want you Garrus" continued Shepard this time in a more serious tone "I do not know If I can trust my others team-mates: Mordin seems obsessed only with research, Miranda is on the Illusive Man's strings, Zaeed is mercenary and Kasumi is a thief so both people without real personal connection with the mission; Jacob seems fine but is too early to say something. Right now you are the only person I truly trust, beside Joker and Karin."

"Really Shepard, I'm flattered. It almost sounds like a marriage proposal. Shall I prepare the white dress that you humans love so much?" Joked Garrus with a grin "Jokes aside Shepard you know that you can count on me. I will keep an eye on your back and if someone will try to stab you in the back, that someone will receive the third hole on his head." The scarred Turian took a moment to take another bottle of (dextro-amino) beer before continuing

"Now, just to know: why are we going back inside that hellhole?"

"Because the illusive man had just warned me through Kelly that there is another possible candidate to be recruited."

"So is another recruit? Who is he, or she?"

Shepard scrolled through a data-pad previously received by Kelly for a moment

"A female gladiator it seems. She is human and known only by her battle name as the Ripper. Three hundred victories inside the arena, three ties and no defeats. Apparently, she is some kind of unstoppable sword-mistress and an infallible grenade user. Cerberus' sources are surprisingly thin about her: they suspect she is the result of some kind of genetic manipulation but never managed to approach her. Aria loves to watch her fight and seem affectionate to her for some reason and no one wants to piss off Omega's queen."

Garrus's after hearing that particular description did something that left Shepard speechless. The scarred Turian spat all his beer in a surprising spray, almost choking himself and showering Shepard with alcohol.

"What the hell Garrus!?" asked Shepard barely avoiding the spray

"Spirit Shepard! Are we really trying to recruit that….thing?!" replied a dismayed and thoroughly surprised Garrus

"You know her?" Now Garrus had Shepard's attention

"Not personally" Garrus's voice was now low as if remembering something happened long ago "But I saw her fight once, one year ago. It was when I still had my old squad and kept myself busy killing scum inside that blasted station. Rumours of a single human gladiator being forced to fight against dozens of well-armed Vorcha and scores of rabid Varren armed only with a sword reached my ears and I decided to intervene. You know me, Shepard, I hate injustices and that looked more like an execution than a fight. The fact that most if not all gladiators of Omega are slaves only managed to strengthen my resolve. I and my squad infiltrated the arena and waited for her arrival, ready to make a mess and give to our infiltrator the chance to rescue the gladiator.

It was all ready; my squad was in position and I had found a sniper perch, one covering the entire arena, but in the end, she entered inside the arena and all of our work proved to be unnecessary."

Garrus stopped for a moment his tale, just for watering his throat

"She was genuinely disturbing Shepard: she was thinner than Tali, but far taller and wielded an enormous great-sword as if it was made of paper. Not a second later her entrance bodies were already flying. I kid you not Shepard: she was faster with her sword than the Vorcha with their guns.

After not even four minutes of brutal fighting, all the Vorcha and Varren lied dead on the floor, their bodies horribly mutilated and dismembered but she was without a scratch!

Naturally, after seeing that spectacle I immediately dropped the mission."

Shepard raised both his eyebrows in surprise. Garrus appeared to be genuinely scared by the prospect of meeting the new possible agent, and he was a Turian who had followed him against Saren without breaking a sweat. Garrus noted Shepard's gaze and replied with a very preoccupied one on his own.

"Shepard, I know that you possess a silver tongue and could be able to convince a Krogan to become a pacifist if you truly wanted to, but right now I seriously hope that Cerberus implanted you with some kind of beast-taming devices because we are about to meet one."


Two hours later, after finishing the break with Garrus and preparing himself for the mission, Shepard was ready to come out from his ship, covered from head to toe in black-onyx heavy armor trimmed with gold, armed to the teeth with heavy pistol, sniper rifle, assault rifle, machine gun and shotgun and with both his companions chosen for this little mission already waiting for him next to the exit point, but for the first time after being revived the normally cool and collected commander was troubled. He was about to recruit a sword-user of all people and one directly under Aria's personal control after all. Of course, being an N7 trained as a soldier Shepard knew the value of a well trained close combat fighter, he himself was fairly good at using the shotgun. And by experience, Shepard knew that all the fancy tech and biotics in the universe were useless when a warp bullet hit you in the face, but a sword? That was a bit too close for his comfort. The fact that no one really knew anything about this mysterious woman, apart for the fact that she kept visiting a particular Quarian inside the station for some reason, the same Quarian helped by Shepard some days ago, and that she was human did nothing to ease the discomfort.

Shepard hated going on a mission blind, especially after Eden Prime.

Kelly, her secretary and would-be illusive man's spy (too candid for that last work) made some effort to scrounge more information about their target, but it was all for nought: an iron curtain kept this Ripper's past well sealed from prying eyes.

In the end, Shepard simply decided to deal with the situation the old way, meaning deciding on the moment if this potential recruit was worth his time.

Garrus and Mordin were the companions chosen for this mission and both of them were already waiting for him, armed and ready, one stoic and resolute inside his blue armour, the other over excited and talkative as always

"Ah Shepard, good to see you are ready. Ripper eh? Interesting choice saw some videos about her during my permanence at STG. Quite a formidable fighter. Always been curious about the source of her physical power. Grafting of Krogan tissues on the human body? Genetic alteration? Cannot wait to meet her, hoping for a fruitful conversation." said Mordin with an overly excited voice in less than ten seconds after seeing Shepard. How the old Salarian managed to not choke on his word every time he spoke was beyond Shepard at this point

"Yes yes Mordin, I am sure she will love talking to you. Let's go team." replied with a shrug Shepard "The fastest we go away from this hell hole the better."


Omega station. Lena's quarters. The same moment.

Another day, another victorious battle. Once again the arenas of Omega witnessed the Ripper's sword clashing against the most dangerous enemies of the galaxy. Once again the crowd cheered at the sight of their most beloved champion claiming victory from dozens of mangled corpses.

As always after a victory, the room outside the Ripper's apartment was a maelstrom of activity: dozens of frenzied fans and admirer pushed toward the doors like madmen, screaming and shouting the name of their heroine. Many held in their hands' small gifts and trinkets, all of them trying to leave them next to the door while others pushed and cursed at the security droids keeping the tide at bay.

Ripper! Ripper! Ripper! the crowd cheered, repeating the word like a mantra, hoping that this would evocate their champion. Hoping to be able to touch the flesh of the deadliest gladiator of the galaxy.

For Lena, all of this noise was only a distraction. A disgusting reminder of her situation.

Escorted by a small gang of bodyguard through a private passage, the Claymore was now busy cleaning her sword. An old habit of hers that often helped her in clearing the mind.

Often, but not today.

Two years. Two long years had already passed since that fateful day, the day when Aran stole her freedom and sold her to that horrible monster. And yet so many things had already happened

After the battle against Korgath, an exhausted Lena had been personally escorted by a jovial T' von to her new home, a small apartment made of a living room, a bathroom, a small kitchen and a studio. The place was all in all well furnished with mobiles and luxuries, it was even heated up by some kind of plumbing system, but Lena was not fooled by all of this: first of all the chocker now firmly lodged on her daughter's neck was a constant reminder of her actual position, and second of all well….


Two years ago

"And this is the house as promised, quite a beautiful little thing don't you think? Now"

"Ahhh mum!" it was Raina's voice and she was terrorized.

"Raina!" Lena's reaction was almost a blur and for a second T'Von lost her

What happened, after finding her once again, a second later left the crime lord forever speechless: the child Raina was covering behind a table while Lena snarled at the cause of such disruption, a bloody house-keeping drone!

"What the hell Is this witchcraft?!" snarled Lena at T'Von

"What do you mean with witchcraft?" answered a befuddled T'Von "Spirits woman, is just a house-keeping drone! Every house possess one!"

"Please specify the workload for bzzz" the poor drone was sent flying by Lena in one instinctive kick, destroying it in a messy pulp.

"Witchcraft!" simply said Lena with hate.


There were some….interesting problems to overcome.

The crime lord was genuinely shocked by the girl's lack of understanding even the most basic of modern days devices and forced himself to postpone Lena's training for almost one month, one month used by Illish and some other of his underlings to teach the young Claymore and her daughter the basics of living inside a modern house and how to properly use an Omni-tool and other devices without looking at them as if they were the spawns of hell. The lessons were moderately successful, and after two weeks Lena finally stopped using her fist against the door controls and started utilizing a very basic Omni-tool; the latter was done by Lena with extreme slowness and fear as if the device was constantly on the verge of eating her but it was good enough for T'Von that ordered her to begin the training.

Yes, the training; because Lena, despite clearly being an incredibly strong and resourceful warrior was unaccustomed of fighting massed groups of ranged enemies, being them biotics or gunners, and knew nothing about the strong and weak points of all the creatures, sentients or not, of the universe. A true Gladiator needs to possess a flawless physique, perfect knowledge of his enemies and fearless resolve.

T'Von spared no expenses for this.

For three long months, Lena trained her body under the constant watch of four Batarian trainers inside a high-gravity room packed to the brim with barbels, cables, benches, fake weapons and various machines. Every day said trainers whipped her into shape with professional expertise. They decided what instruments to use, what she was allowed to eat and stuff like that all while a doctor constantly checked her for signs of improvements or muscular stress. Every session lasted at least five hours but that was not the end. After that struggle, Lena had to study, under a biologist's supervision, the anatomy of aliens creatures. All for the sake of learning where to hit an enemy and how to do it properly.

After the first month said workloads were increased by another kind of lessons, one about the proper functioning of armours and barriers and how to disrupt them.

Lena surprised everyone expectations: not once the girl complained about the excessive workload, always ready to do another exercise, always ready to challenge her limit. All her trainers were left speechless by this mysterious girl capable of running, training and fighting for hours inside the high gravity room without collapsing even once. No challenge was too difficult for her, no session too arduous; her strength increased tenfold, and her yoki with it.

Where an arrogant person would have basked in the glory of these achievements, she remained quiet and humble, and patiently learned how to efficiently kill her future enemies.

Where to hit them, where to hurt them.

Not once she tried to run away from Omega, always being obedient and cold, always remembering T'Von's words. The only black spot in an otherwise spotless regime was her ability to wield firearms. Not that she was unable to use them properly, on the contrary! Thanks to her improved strength and accuracy she was even able to use sniper rifle with only one hand, but the Claymore never managed to completely break that particular barrier. The only exception was the grenades; after all these strange metallic discs worked almost like a throwing knife: you throw it, the enemy dies. Of course, a trowing knife avoid making such a mess when hitting its target but ehh, details!

At the end of the fourth month, Lena was ready: her body strengthened and improved, her knowledge increased ten fold and her mind focused and ready. T'Von, pleased with her progress, decided to give her a peculiar weapon for the arena: her own giant sword, improved. The weapon itself was a remarkable piece of craftsmanship and T'Von almost decided to keep it for himself as a trophy but was too heavy and brittle for the enemies of the arena. The Crime lord so decided to have the sword reforged in a new alloy: a mix of titanium, iridium and copper, with a small sliver of 0 elements at his core for disrupting enemies barriers. After three days of work the giant, bone-coloured sword was now black as death and the thread of her sword now quietly hummed with blue power, thanks to the Eezo flowing inside it, making the already fearsome weapon even more deadly against any target and even able to parry bullets and biotic attacks! Surprisingly enough for T'Von, Lena showed no sign of happiness after receiving her old weapon back, but he could not know, he could not understand that a Claymore sword is more than a mere tool for the warrior wielding it and that seeing her old friend and comrade so changed almost killed what was left of Lena's soul. In the end, the girl simply accepted the gift without saying a word and buried the rage inside herself, vowing that one-day T'Von would have paid also for this.

Lena, despite her apparent obedience, had not been idle during her captivity: her ears always listened what her captors and handlers discussed during the training when they believed she was not listening; they love to discuss about everything and the girl learned a great deal about the universe thanks to them. The door of her new house was always open, T'Von knew that she would have never tried to escape without her daughter, and every night Lena slipped away from her home after making sure that Raina was sleeping, discovering this strange, new word and trying to find a way to send a message back home. What she discovered almost made her kill herself in despair: this place, this strange station where she was stranded, was far, far away from her home. More precisely beyond the known stars.

Lena in the beginning simply refused to believe it. One thing was flying inside the Aether like a bird but beyond the stars?! And the existence of dozens of different worlds scattered in the universe?!

Impossible.

Then, she saw the window in one of the many and nameless decks of the station. It was a normal window, one that you would find in every space station worth of its name, and trough it Lena saw something that will forever haunt her nightmare: it was the void, an empty void black as death dotted with myriads of small lights of various colours. Inside the void strange ships, similar to the one used by Aran but much, much bigger, floated like giant whales without a sound, braving the eternal darkness without fear.

After that day Lena seriously considered the idea of suicide and decided against it only because of Raina.

Yes Raina, her child and life….and now another big problem for her. The captivity was taking its toll on the poor child, especially considering the fact that the child constantly accused herself of being the reason for Lena's enslavement. Gone was her cheerful and happy behaviour, substituted by an apathetic and empty face. During the day she barely uttered a single word while at night small slivers of tears never stopped raining down from her cheeks. Her mind a perpetual cauldron of fear and rage, rage against the people that were hurting Lena, fear of her own weakness. Lena tried her best to cheer her daughter up in every way possible. Hell, for her she even braved this infamous invisible library called "Extranet", desperately searching for something that could help her in some way. Said researches proved to be fruitless for the poor Claymore: it was already impossibly strange for her the fact that a giant, invisible library existed everywhere in the air and was accessible thanks to this "Omni-tool" every one possessed, but seeing that after writing a word billions of results, all different, showed themselves proved to be too much for Lena. Thanks the goddesses a small miracle reached her in form of a young Quarian called Keen living inside a small one-room apartment rigorously cleaned, a good boy stranded like her in this disgusting station that accepted to teach Raina engineering in exchange of a small fee (and her protection); Raina showed to be at least interested and partially removed herself from her depression and gained some much-needed schooling. Lena would have cut her own limbs rather than not letting Raina have some kind of education.

Naturally, T'Von knew nothing about all this, not that he would have cared. All the Turian cared was that after her debut inside the Arena Lena had quickly become in less than six months the most famous gladiator in the entire sector.

The crowd loved her: they loved the way she fought armed only with a sword, some grenades and her body; they loved the showers of blood that come after every swing, the mutilated limbs that flew like bloody roses inside the arena. They roared when an enemy was mauled and decapitated by her black sword! When Lena entered the field, the crown always cheered and roared for her, crying her name in joy and frenzy waiting for the incoming slaughter!

Ripper, they called her. A fitting name, considering her fighting style.

After one year of fighting Lena's house ended up being literally assaulted by a relentless wave of gifts like flowers and jewellery and love letters, all coming from admirers from all the galaxy. Such attention left Lena negatively surprised: on her, planet Claymores were treated as monsters, but at least no one idolized violence in the way they were doing here! By the goddesses! She had been forced to kill dozens of people inside that blasted arena, and the crown cheered instead of being horrified? Batarian, Asari, Turian, Human, Elcor….so many people died under her blade. The fact that most of the said people were pirates and assassins lessened only slightly her disgust.

Unfortunately, this admiration brought a disgusting side effect: after one year of fightings and almost one hundred victories under her belt many people, very wealthy people, expressed to T'Von their desire to known the great Ripper in a more….intimate way. After paying a hefty sum naturally.

Lena fought a desperate battle against her owner, shouting, pleading and crying for days, asking him to not force upon her this final humiliation, but in the end, T'Von simply activated Raina's collar and almost killed her, breaking all her protests. The only concession that she received was the promise of receiving only Asari, Salarian and Human clients, not Turian, Krogan or worst, those disgusting Batarian.

Lena threw away in disgust the dirty rag, the simple memory enough to enrage her. She had been forced to….fornicate with dozens of people: mercenary leaders, daddies' boys, and Asari. A Claymore, a proud silver eyed warrior, forced to became an escort for foppish idiots! Most of the said clients were happy to simply parade her to their friends as some kind of trophy but the Asari, oooh, they were another matter entirely. All of them fucked her without hesitation, ravaging both her mind and body and leaving behind a crying Lena after the intercourse. Lena hated that race now, with a particular passion, and it showed every time one of her enemies was an Asari.

For a second Lena's mind wandered amidst the memories. So many things happened in two years, none of them happy, but giving up was not an option; she had to find a way to save herself and Raina and to receive her vengeance.

Slowly Lena stands up and went outside her house. It was time to pick Raina from Keen's abode.

During the walk she overheard some Salarian workers speaking about a human called Shepard but the Claymore paid them no heed. She had no interest in idle gossip.


Keen's abode, the same hour

"Commander! Glad to see you again! I have to say, I did not expect to meet you in such a short time!" said Keen with jovial expression. They were inside his small house now, one single room cut in two thanks to a small woollen curtain.

"Good to see you too boy. Is the Elcor still annoying you?" replied Shepard with a smile

"Keelah no! And all thanks to you. If things keep going like that I will still be able to escape from this gutter. I cannot thank you enough Shepard. What brings you here? You were quite vague with your message."

"Keen, I am here for the Ripper," said Shepard straight to the point. Keen's face dropped like a stone and the boy started nervously moving his hands

"I suspected it was something serious, but not this. What do you want from her?"

"Just talking to her and offering a place in my squad," said Shepard. Keen laughed at these words

"Shepard, she cannot leave, and even if she could I highly doubt that she would follow you. You may be the saviour of the Citadel but for her titles and fame are all useless. Ancestors! Sometimes she looks more like a Geth than a human. Raina is the only person than manage to rip a smile from her face."

"A who is this Raina? A friend?" asked Garrus bored "Must be quite the mad-woman if she tends to stay with a gladiator that can kill a Varren with her bare hands."

"I am Raina you disgusting Lizard!" cried an unknown voice. All the squad looked at the direction of the sound and saw a small figure coming out from the curtain; a child, no more than eleven years old and beautiful beyond belief. Dressed in simple robes, she possessed smooth porcelain skin, silver eyes, a cascade of blonde hairs and well-toned body. The only sour note in her was the slave collar attached to her neck.

"Erm...hello little one!" began a surprised Shepard. Was the Ripper a mother? Why did no one tell him about that? "Raina right. You know the Ripper. Because I am here for" Raina stopped him with an annoyed gesture.

"Stop it! Just stop it. You are here for my mother and you will force her to fight against your enemies just like him, but mum and I only want to go back home! Do you think she fights inside that horrible arena because she desires it? Just leave us alone!"

The words were harsh and unforgiving, not suited inside such a young child, but very revealing. The slave chocker was another piece of the puzzle.

"Incorrect child" intervened Mordin "Shepard totally unable of coercive action against other people unless absolutely necessary for the mission. Psychological profile clear about it."

"Yes, besides a child like you should not mess with adult stuff." continued Garrus with a snort. Raina looked at them with a scornful look.

"I stopped being a child four years ago, lizard!"

For a long second no one dared to speak, the situation too strange and unexpected for all the participants. In the end, what released the situation was a sound, the sound of a doorbell.

"Oh no" commented Keen "It's her."

"Keen, speak with her." Asked Shepard "You know me, I am not here to force anyone. I just want to speak and if she decides to not follow me then I will go away, no strings attached."

Keen looked at Shepard first, then at Raina. In the end, he sighed loudly.

"Fine Shepard, wait here."

The young Quarian disappeared behind her door and started talking with someone; the voice was female, beautiful and musical. Similar to French in a way but different at the same time. Shepard heard the stranger's voice rise up in a high pitched tone, anger dripping from every word, followed by Keen's hushed speech. It took five minutes of intense negotiations, but in the end, Keen came back together with the famous Ripper.

She was surely majestic: two meters tall and possessing the same skin and eyes of Raina confirming that she was her mother, Shepard for a second wondered how old she was. She looked no older than him but the child was already eleven years old. No scars blemished her flawless skin, despite battling for two years God only knows what kind of insanity inside the arenas of Omega. Still, her eyes revealed to Shepard that she was a veteran of who knows how many battles. Her famous enormous great-sword was strapped on her back and ready to be used. Her hairs were tied in a very long ponytail reaching her backside.

"Keen said that you want to talk." said the Ripper with neutral voice "Very well then, let's talk."


Five minutes later

Lena was annoyed. She had just finished cleaning her sword and reached Keen's house with the sole intention of going back home with her daughter and trying to have some greatly needed family time with her, and instead she was stuck talking with an uber-armoured human that called himself Specter for some reason along with his merry band of misfits, rambling something about a very important mission in the Terminus system. The only could not know but the only reason both him and his squad were still alive was only that Keen guaranteed for them.

"Why should I accept your proposal, Specter?" asked Lena annoyed. The human spectre looked at her puzzled

"If it is a problem my thin affiliation of Cerberus, I can assure you"

"I do not care if you have a three-headed dog as friend Specter, and I also do not care if hundreds of humans die if I refuse to follow you."

Snarled Lena back, what left of her patience slipping away with each passing second.

"You do not care about the life of millions of people?" asked Garrus probing the terrain. For a second Lena remembered her days as Claymore and lost her temper

"And why should I?" angrily asked Lena to no one in particular "I saved hundreds of humans years ago, and how have they recompensed me? With hate, racism and contempt! Why should I go back to that road and fight for them? They can all die screaming for all I care!"

The Specter opened his mouth, closed it, and then deeply sighted. This was clearly not the answer he had expected.

"Listen, I do not know your past and this is neither the time nor the place for a philosophical debate, but it is clear to me that you do not like being here. I can help you escape if you want, and pay you handsomely. The people behind me are not short on cash or power."

Lena sighed and took a closer look at the human next to him. He was on his thirties and covered head to toe in black armour so he could only clearly see a full face partially covered with a barely visible red beard and short red cropped hair; he was clearly athletic and the way his weapon were strapped behind him, not counting two long red jagged scars next to his right cheek, showed to Lena that he was a capable warrior, but what really caught the Claymore attention were his eyes. Green, deep and powerful; the eyes of a warrior that fought against hell itself and somehow managed to survive and become stronger.

Lena had already seen this kind of eyes, once.

"You are good at speaking, just like Anastasia and that other bitch, but I am not easily swayed. What exactly can you offer me, spectre?"

"Whatever you desire." the answer had been quick and sure.

"Can you save Raina?" asked Lena.

"They use her against you, am I right?" observed Shepard "That slave collar speak for itself. I can have it removed if you want."

Lena chuckled humorlessly

"Very funny toying with me spectre. The only one who can remove that collar is the owner, and that bastard will never do it!"

This time it was Shepard's time to chuckle

"Mordin, do they teach at STG how to deactivate those death-traps?"

"Ah of course of course." chirped Mordin while activating his Omni-tool. "Many yearly operations carried out inside Batarian hegemony's territories. Freeing important personnel and other classified actions. Necessary to know how to use their technology. Slave collars annoying and difficult to break on occasion, but quite docile if you know how to crack them. This one is also an old model. Here, let me" The old doctor approached Raina with his Omni-tool ready. The girl instinctively stepped back but Lena took one of her hand and whispered something into her ears that calmed her.

Mordin's Omni-tool flared into life and complex equations in binary filled the screen. The chocker lightly hummed into life, prompting Lena to quietly prepare to strike in case the accursed object activates itself and….five tense seconds later it opened, slipping away from Raina's neck and clattering on the floor with a soft sound.

Lena was flabbergasted: that accursed thing, cause of so much suffering and constant reminder of her slavery….had been destroyed like that?! Was this some kind of joke?

"See? Done!" smiled Shepard. Lena's surprised face looked at him, then became marred with suspects.

"Now do you expect me to follow you?" asked Lena

"Of course not. I am not a slaver; I hate slavers and slavery in general and I would have helped you regardless to get free. I am here to offer you a job, no strings attached. If now you still decide to not follow me, opting instead for going on a rampage against who has enslaved you then I will not stop you. Hell, I might even decide to give you a hand. I actually find killing slavers quite therapeutical."

Lena looked at the spectre with an astonished face and gazed right into Shepard's eyes, searching any signs of treachery.

She found none.

"You are….an interesting person spectre. I am still not sure about this, but you certainly managed to catch my attention. I am willing to discuss it further, but not here. We have already abused too much of Keen's hospitality." said Lena at the end. Shepard inwardly smiled. It was not a yes, but still something.

Shepard and his squad moved near the exit after thanking Keen for the hospitality, shortly followed by Lena and Raina and right at that moment, disaster struck.

Maybe because she was a veteran of the arena, maybe a simple glimpse caught by her supernatural eyes, the important fact is that when Lena noticed a strange glimmer in the distance the Claymore reacted in an instant by grabbing Shepard's shoulder and dragging him inside the house, just a second before a sniper bullet hit the place where he was a second ago, destroying the door in the process.

"What the fuck?" cursed Shepard loudly but when he noticed the sniper bullet he, along with Mordin and Garrus, instinct kicked in and sought for cover all while Lena shielded Raina whit her own body. Garrus slowly unholstered his sniper rifle and started scanning the surrounding area.

"Mercenaries" stated Garrus darkly "Blue Suns. Dozens of soldiers, a sniper and a centurion. With them, there is a Turian dressed in formal clothing."

Lena's blood was frozen for an instant. Could it be?

"This Turian, describe it to me," said Lena

"Lena, I know you are inside." An icy and very familiar voice called her, confirming her fear in the process. It was T'Von

"T'Von, what the hell are you doing?" Asked Lena trying to make a sense of this mess. Had he already noticed the destruction of the collar?

"Sorry honey, you were not supposed to be involved in this mess, but alas it happened. Now I have no idea why your guest wants to speak with you and frankly, I do not care. What I do care is that your new human friend is nothing less than Odin Shepard, first human Spectre, saviour of the Council and a lot of other hogwash, but most important of all, a human with an enormous bounty on his head, a bounty that I and my blue suns friends want to take." His voice stopped for a moment

"Now that I think of it, you can be quite helpful. Kill him, Lena, you know the consequences if you defy me, do you not?"

For a second Lena's hand automatically went to her sword, so used was to obey T'Von's words, but she immediately stopped. This was her occasion: Raina was free, she was armed with her sword and thanks to that bastard she was more than capable to defeat dozens of mercenaries by herself now. She knew how they fought. She could open her way with the sword, kill T'Von and….and then what? Follow Shepard? He seemed a decent human being but was she really ready to throw herself to him? Was she really ready to trust him to that degree?

Shepard looked at Lena but remained silent. It was her choice and he had no right to sway her in any way. He could only hope for the best and be ready with his gun.

"Leena?" it was T'Von once again and it appeared irritated "Why are you not obeying? You do not want your spawn to die no?"

The bastard didn't know that Raina was with her and free from the slave collar. Lena bit her lips, wracked by indecision

What to do? What to do?

"Mum," said Raina while grabbing one of her arms "This is your chance. Please do not obey him. These people cannot be worse than him. Fight him, mum!"

Lena bitterly smiled. Someone had already decided

"Lena" intervened Keen also "I know that you are unsure about Shepard's offer, but Raina is right: it cannot be worse than here on Omega. Shepard is a good man, you can trust me in this. I am sure that he will treat you honourably, you just need to give him the chance."

Lena's shoulders slumped in mock defeat

"A righteous cause to follow, inhuman enemies to kill and a giant sum of money to receive." A small smile crept on her face "Just like old times on the island. Fine spectre, I am in! I am expecting a good payment, and we will iron out the kinks later, but Raina stay with me and I will not accept objections."

"Fine." replied Shepard happily "Now about the immediate problem." Lena interrupted him with a wave of her hand

"Do not worry about it. Just watch." a feral smile crept on her face "Take it as a….checking of the goods." Before he could reply Lena straightened up and went out, a sword in one hand and the now useless collar in the other.

-Time for a reckoning T'Von!- she thought with a savage grin. Her mind was already thinking at the dozens of different way she could kill T' von. Ooh, she could not wait.


T'Von saw Lena coming out from the Quarian's house with the sword unsheathed but not bloodied. Many triggers almost went out in surprise but the crime lord stopped them.

-Is she disobeying?-mused T'von worried -No It cannot be! She knows the consequences.-

"Orders?" asked the sniper

"Lena? What are you doing my dear? You do not want to see your daughter suffer, am I right." asked T'von with honey voice.

"My daughter is safe inside the house, away from you!" snarled Lena "And your chocker is here" the girl raised one of her arms showing the slave collar. A burst of Yoki and the collar was shattered under her iron hand.

T'Von's eyes almost bulged out from their sockets. How the hell?….No, this is impossible!

"You know" continued Lena imperterred "For two years I have been your slave. I had nowhere else to go after all, and you had Raina's life in your hand." The grin became a savage laughter

"But now I have a righteous cause to follow and you have lost your leverage against me." The sword glinted dangerously

"Die slaver!"

"Kill her!" cried T'Von losing his mind. A storm of bullets answered his call, an immense volume of fire that riddled the poor house with bullet-holes and destroyed everything that touched. But Lena had already disappeared.

-Where is she?! Where?!- asked T'Von in fear. The answer came when the sniper next to him launched a blood curling scream, his back now a bloody mess of broken bones and armour pieces. After that things went from bad to worse: Lena had been trained well, too well. Lena was a deadly blur, a shadow armed with sword impossible to hit. All the mercenaries desperately tried to hit the inhumanly fast Claymore but their bullet managed only to graze the furious Claymore while every time Lena's sword flashed someone died, his body horribly mauled. Not even the centurion managed to escape, his shied destroyed in one single thrust that skewered him like a shish kebab. After only one minute of fighting half the mercenaries were lying dead in the floor and the others totally panicked, but Lena did not relent and killed them one by one in particularly excruciating ways, giving free rein to her vengeance and filling the air with the screams of the dyings.

When Shepard looked at the carnage his eyes refused to believe at what they were seeing.

"Sweet God," he said going out from Keen's house and looking at the bodies. "Now I understand the pen-name. Are you always so brutal?"

No one answered him

"Lena?" still no answer and Shepard noticed that T'Von's body was missing. Quickly Shepard activated his Omni-tool and noticed immediately two people running; one a Turian, the other unknown."

"What the hell is she doing?" cursed Garrus

"Having her vengeance," answered Raina for them not bothered in the slightest by the carnage. All faces turned on her, waiting for an explanation

"Mum has been enslaved, beaten, raped, and humiliated, all because of him. Now she has the chance to have her vengeance and will not lose it. She will flay him alive." explained Raina with a neutral voice.

"For fuck's sake, she cannot be serious!" cursed Shepard "We risk a diplomatic disaster with Aria! Stealing a gladiator, I can deal with her but killing one of her most trusted subordinates? Hell no!" He immediately raced toward Lena, hoping to reach her in time.


T'Von was running for his life, his usually icy demeanour completely evaporated. The ambush was busted, Lena was free and his life was on the line! Not even in the worst possible outcome, he could have imagined such a situation!

-I need to reach Aria inside the VIP station!- kept repeating his panicked brain -Here I will be safe! Not even Lena is so insane to attack the Queen of Omega! Then I will find a way to deal with this mess! Yes, I will!-

T'Von raced with all the speed that his race possessed at running and all the various passersby let him pass, understanding that something wasn't right. The doors of the VIP rooms were near, just a minute, a couple of seconds….

Excruciating pain gripped T' von with an iron grip. The Turian screamed as he had never done before and jerked back, his left leg slashed by Lena's sword.

"Going somewhere, slaver?" said Lena's voice behind him. The cruel, sadistic edge resting inside her lips was unmistakable.

"Lena, please!" begged T' von while clutching the wounded legs

"I have not been so bad with you. I trained you, made you stronger than ever. Transformed you into one of the best that the galaxy can offer. That is why Shepard is here no? You can fight alongside a fucking legend! Have mercy!"

"Oh, but I will." snickered Lena. "I will be so merciful that I shall let you see just how much I have improved."

The Claymore raised her sword, ready to begin

"And you shall be the training dummy. Ready?"

"Ripper, stop immediately!" shouted a voice next to

her. Lena quickly turned and saw some guards aiming their guns at her. Only now Lena noticed that, in her mad chase, she reached the entrance of the Afterlife. These six fools were the guards on duty right now. Of various races, they all possessed Aria's symbol emblazoned on their armour and looked more than ready to fire.

"Go back to your quarter or"

Lena charged them without wasting a second, killing two guards with a single strike and chopping the remaining ones with quick, precise slashes.

They screamed and wailed as their flesh died under a storm of slashes, not understanding just what was happening. If only they had known the reality of the situation, they would have never tried to stop her.

"All done." happily chirped Lena, uncaring about the slaughter just committed "Now, about what I was saying, I think we" Lena's words died under her mouth when she noticed that T' von was gone, a small flash of blue blood the only sign left.

Lena's eyes darted like arrows, looking frantically for her prey. She quickly found him: battered, broken, leaking blue blood from his wound and dragging his miserable body toward the Afterlife's door.

"No!" roared Lena. She pumped her body with all the Yoki she could muster, sprinting toward T' von like a beast. She was close, so so close.

Lena's sword hit the door of the Afterlife like a thunder, just a second too late. His target was gone.

Lena roared at the door. She slashed, jabbed and hit the door with her sword with all the strength she possessed. Sparks flew like small birds and the metal groaned under the pressure.

T' Von had to die! Nothing would stop her for this. Not the guards, not their weapons, not this cursed door! Not even hell itself!

She wanted to tear him apart! To make him beg for his miserable life and

"Lena, enough!" stated Shepard's voice behind her. Lena tried to ignore him and kept hitting the door. In response to this Shepard placed a hand on her shoulders and gently forced her to stop

"It is over. I know that you desire vengeance, and I understand why. But right now that Turian is inside Aria's personal throne chamber. You have lost him."

"Never!" snarled Lena back, escaping from Shepard's hands "I will have my vengeance! He will"

A pleading sound, coming from inside the Afterlife, caught Lena's ears. It was T' von's voice, it was unmistakable for Lena. Curious, the girl stopped speaking and opened her ears, trying to understand what she was saying.

A second later, she heard the sound of a gun firing.

"You heard it?" asked Lena to Shepard. The commander nodded but could not give her an answer.

Then, all of a sudden, the damaged door of the Afterlife slowly cranked into life, opening itself despite the heavy damage with a plaintive sound, revealing two people.

One was Aria, the queen of Omega. Dressed in her usual clothing, one hand gripped a small machine gun and her usually stoic face was twisted with rage.

Next to her was T' von, dead. His body slumped on the floor like a doll without its strings. The reason for the death, a massive hole resting between his eyes.

The last thing both Shepard and Lena had expected to see.

"Lena." snarled Aria to the Claymore, her voice blazing with restrained fury "Are you done with your temper tantrum?"

"Glad to see you too, Aria, " replied Lena with equal fury. The Claymore pointed her sword at T' von's body "You did it?"

"I had ordered to leave Shepard and his cronies alone, and he disobeyed." replied Aria "I have only one way of dealing with disobedience."

Lena replied by looking at Aria with a hateful look, reciprocated by the crime lady.

"Aria," Shepard tried to defuse the situation "we,"

"Spare it, Shepard!" Snapped Aria back "I should kill where you stand for daring to not inform me about your little stunt inside MY REIGN! You are alive only because you warned me about that conspiracy you discovered being aimed at me! Don't push your luck! About you, Lena..."

Lena gripped the pommel of her sword even harder, ready to pounce at Aria with all her strength. Right at that moment, Shepard noticed many small dots of light dancing around the Claymore's body. Laser tracers. At least five snipers were ready to fire at Lena, and Aria herself was no pushover either.

This was not good, at all.

Fear and excitement chocked the air, Shepard could feel it. He quietly opened a secluded pouch placed inside his armour, one where he kept some grenades, just in case.

If push comes to shove, he was more than ready to pre-

"Do whatever you want. You are free."

This phrase disoriented both Shepard and Lena for a second. They both blinked more than once, not believing in what they were hearing.

"Aria, you" began Shepard

"What else should I do at this point?!" snapped back angrily the queen of Omega "I know her, Shepard. T' von could command her only because her little spawn was in her hands. Now? Now she is untamable! And I have no need of a rabid Varren inside my reign!"

Saying that Shepard had expected this would have been the lie of the century. The Commander was speechless right now: Aria, the queen of Omega and one of the most dangerous criminals of the galaxy was giving up? Were his ears playing with his brain or something?

"Maybe I should end you here and now, Aria." spat Lena with venom "After all, T' von enslaved me because you wanted a new pet for your arena."

Slivers of biotic energies immediately appeared inside Aria's hands. Her entire body trembled with power and the queen of Omega looked at Lena right into the eyes now harder than steel

"You are welcome to try, stripling." The air itself started shimmering in front of the Asari, each word laced with such power that many of the people now witnessing this standoff instinctively backed away, but not Lena.

Two predators of immense strength and power battled against each other, both ready to pounce at the other and end this charade in blood. Everyone around her, from Shepard to Aria's bodyguards were sweating bullets right now. The winner in such a clash was impossible to determine, but they all knew that such monsters would have destroyed half the station if they decided to fight.

Thankfully, after some tense seconds, Lena relented.

"No, Aria." she said to the queen in the end "I am satisfied, for now. Shepard," the girl turned toward the Commander

"I am now ready to follow you if you still accept me."

"I do" answered Shepard, happy that it was finally over "Let's go for my ship. Sorry for the mess Aria."

"Just get out of my sight!" snarled Aria back

And so they left, the Spectre and the Claymore. Followed for hours by hundreds of eyes and even more guns, but no one dared to molest her.

Such a story would be sung inside the station for years: the day when someone managed to strike almost at the heart of the queen and were still allowed to escape. Many wondered just why the queen allowed to simply escape, who were these people capable of such a feat. Many others thought that the Aria was going soft, that it was time to replace her.

In the following days, many idiots died alone and forgotten in the darkest corners of Omega.

If only they could have noticed the small sliver of sadness residing inside the queen's eyes, a sliver quickly quashed, when she saw Lena disappearing from her sight. Or hearing the words she muttered to herself when she was finally alone.

"I will miss you, my beautiful tiger."

But no one was close enough.

So here is part four. A bit long but I hope acceptable. For whoever is wondering this Shepard is a spacer, war hero mostly Paragon but not full paladin-mode. Class soldier

As always please comment and tell me if you like it

Have good day boys and girls!