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Beta :

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"Three humans, military lookin' outfit. Narius cleared 'em, hold fire." One of the Turian guards, if they could be called that with their shoddy equipment and near complete lack of any sort of armor, called out when they stepped into the light. Standing atop a shoddy barricade, he waved her through a door on her right and added a parting, "Narius called over, you're clear. Make sure you got ammo and meds, we got a stock in the room there."

"Thank you-"

"And check your fire." The Turian grunted snappishly, a fact Shepard was quick to forgive given the situation. "Suns are policing the streets, trying to help civilians out of harm's way and prevent the Plague spreading."

"And how are they doing that, exactly?" She asked, resting a hand on her Predator comfortably and giving the man a look.

"Burning the bodies, sealing up buildings full of loot so looters don't get at 'em, helping the sick that can be helped to Doc Solus." The Turian shrugged then and kicked a seat she couldn't see around before plopping into it and sighing tiredly. "One that can't be helped, well… Bullets are faster than the plague is, and we don't want it spreading because they wandered off in a daze."

"Sounds pretty fucked out there, yeah. Seen kinda similar before myself, but… Yeah, I got it." She nodded, taking a deep breath and sighing, turning a gaze on Zaeed leaning against the wall by the way they'd come in. the man sighed and rolled his eyes, already knowing why she was staring at him even before she spoke the word, "So don't shoot the Suns, at least unless they shoot at us first. Got it."

"Channels with 'em are kinda fucked too. Lines are down, the Suns pressed for volunteers to bolster their numbers, and with the 'Pack running mad..." The guard nodded, leaning over and drawing a small, old looking walkie-talkie from behind the barricade and pitching it to her. "That is dialed into the channel they're all using out there, has an Omni link for you to run your line through."

"Thanks, it'll come in handy, I'm sure." Linking the lines was as easy as latching it to her hip and running a scan for nearby networks, then having her communication line link to it automatically. For safety, she ran a passive scan and then pinged EDI, to make certain it was secure. "Sure you don't mind us stocking up? I wouldn't want you to run any risks if they come this way…"

"Ammo's the Blue Suns' stuff, not ours." The Turian waved her off, reclining and flicking open an Omni-Tool display. "Mostly we pop shots at civvies with crummy little pistols, shoddy Predators and Shurikens and the like, to keep 'em on the other side of the border or in their homes. Nothing big enough to need as much stock as we got, and the Suns won't know any better."

"Stealin' anything from the Blue Suns tastes sweeter than any kind of pie this side of the grave." Zaeed grunted, already past her and through the door. She could hear him rifling through things and rolled her eyes when he shouted back, "I'm stealin' all their damn grenades!"

"Thanks for your help, we're going to get on our way." the Turian only nodded, clearly tired and just as clearly more than done with their conversation, distracted instead with whatever he was reading on his Scroll. Turning, she gave a jerk of her head and grunted, "Let's go, Miranda. And be ready to toss up a barrier-bubble if we need it, even if we can't shoot out of it I want to be able to get to cover."

"I can maintain a barrier that lets you shoot out." She assured her, following the woman past Zaeed and towards a sealed door with two more Turians guarding it.

One swiped a card over the door and it hummed, sliding open with a dull pneumatic hiss and chime. Inside was a set of stairs leading down into gloom and, distantly, a dull and ruddy orange color. Like fire or emergency lights like the station seemed to have, dull and orange and clearly made for different eyes than Humans. Humans thrived under a more red light than orange, but then, the station had existed for longer that Humanity had been space faring.

"Zaeed front, Miranda take the middle, barriers ready on you two." She ordered, lifting her Predator and sliding behind them fluidly and naturally, the way she'd always been trained to. "I have the rear and the range. Copy?"

"Clear copy." The woman grunted simply, sliding as naturally into military decorum as Shepard had. Together, their gazes landed on the mercenary between them and the man sighed.

"Yeah, I got the goddamn front." The man grunted, lacking any such military decorum as he strolled in and down the steps, Avenger hanging across his chest comfortably. "Try not to fall too far behind, ladies."

Together, they proceeded down into the gloom and, soon enough, the acrid smell of smoke, death and burning flesh. Together, they came out on a wide open courtyard, piles of bodies in old planters in the center burning while blue-armored men and women of several species watched. They had their backs to them and she saw Zaeed tense, Avenger half rising on some distant, compulsive instinct.

An instinct she wouldn't let him act on.

"Blue!" She called, the three mercenaries spinning on their heels and snapping their own mish mash of rifles up, still and level on them as the two lither Humans spread out away from the sturdier Turian. Raised her hand, she stepped forward and nodded, "Blue. We're blue, cleared to come in."

"Three Humans, black armor and red hair, one looking like a dancer, and a guy with more scar than face." The Turian rumbled in a deep, warbling voice as its rifle came down. With a wave of his hand, the other two did the same, and one turned and walked towards the way out of the little courtyard on the opposite side stiffly. "Sorry about the guns, you startled us. And with how everything is, well… things are Tense."

"Yeah, I get that." She nodded, watching the Human kneel beside a distant Batarian and reach out for him, only to have the alien flail and shout at her. "What's up with him?"

"Ah, yeah, him." The Turian sighed, turning and nodding at the Human who, in spite of the Batarian's resistance, kept trying to get a hand on the alien. Shaking his head, the Turian shrugged, "Our job is to get the sick who can be treated to Mordin. Thing is, this racist fuck thinks since we've got Humans on our side, we just want to kill him."

"I'd think you could just shoot him if you did." Miranda commented, sarcastic and sardonic as she ever was. Not something she enjoyed about the woman, but then, she was Cerberus…

"Just knock him out then, if he already sees you as wanting to hurt him." Shepard shrugged, rolling her eyes when the Turian just stared at her and didn't respond. Instead of arguing, she simply walked by, striding towards the Human and the Batarian without a care in the world. Gently, she tugged the Human away by the arm and knelt, smiling, "Hey, so, uh, I hear you aren't being very cooperative with the nice boys in blue trying to take care of you. That right?"

"You Humans did this." The alien wheezed weakly, sweating far more than any Batarian had any right to and foggy in all four of his beady eyes. "Why would I-"

She didn't give him the chance to finish, fist slamming into his jaw and snapping his head to the side. As he sagged, she rose and gave the Blue Suns watching her a beaming smile. "There, no more struggling. Get him patched up, will you? We have to get going, but we'll hope to see you there."

"Well, Commander, gotta say it." Zaeed grunted as he slid by to take point again, Avenger still hanging lazily across his armored chest. "That was pretty goddamn intense, even for me."

"Lock it down, and take formation like before." The woman grunted simply, waiting until the two Humans moved ahead of her before sighing and rolling her shoulders. Following them, she grunted a simple aside, "Zaeed, double time alert march. We can't risk losing Mordin to this mess."

Stacked up in a column, they continued on their way through the slums, passing red-locked doors, boarded windows and piles of acrid smelling, smoldering bodies. They passed more Suns too, tired, some bleeding from bandaged wounds and others leaned against walls and far too still for anyone's comfort. Some turned to her as she passed them, offering nods of simultaneous greetings and farewell before turning back to tending to their own business, whatever it might be.

All the while, it was dead silent, without anything more than the crackling of fires, distant gunshots, and the occasional patter of hidden, harmless feet inside locked buildings for company.

When they reached the clinic, they knew they had as much for the sparking, intermittently glowing sign designating it on the wall above the clinic as for the entrenchments outside. Barricades had been erected to either side of the clinic's front entrance, made up of scattered furniture as much as sandbags and metal barricades. Gates large enough for a single Krogan to squeeze through had been set directly across from each other, to allow passage through from one side of the winding slum street to the other, with two Human guards in rattier looking Blue Suns armor standing to either side.

"Commander Shepard?" One asked as they approached, the other guard nervously checking her shoddy looking Vindicator as he stepped forward. Beaming a disarming smile for the young man, she slid past her two teammates and nodded, the man murmuring a surprised, "By the Spirits it is you…"

"Isn't that a Turian thing?" Miranda asked quietly, echoing Shepard's own surprise even if the Commander hadn't wanted the question broached.

"My parents died when I was little. 'Round five or so, I think, but it was a long time ago so I forget sometimes." The man shrugged, and then gestured at the woman behind and to the side of him. "Turian by the name of Vanius Acantius adopted us when the Suns found out. So… Yeah."

"Neat." She smiled, cocking her head to the side, "How do you know it's the real me, though?"

"H-He has a poster of you on his wall, from your N7 photoshoot back before you became a Spectre. He'd know you if he saw you." The woman offered, earning a low, embarrassed groan from the young man as he stepped aside and the young woman chuckled, waving her in. "Go on in, Commander. I'm sure you're, uh, you know. Busy. Places to be."

With a polite nod, and a grimace at just how young these literal guards were, she stepped by and made her way inside.

"Hello there!" A small girl dressed in green and grey crowed as soon as they stepped through the doorn, standing on the other side of a security partition and waving excitedly. Beaming a smile as they approached, she spoke quickly and exstatically, "I'm Penny Polendina, I run security. Which of you are dying, so I can warn the doctor?"

"Uh…" Shepard blinked, and then returned the smile brightly and warmly. Leaning down to more accurately get on the young girl's level, she smiled and spoke softly, trying to ease the girl into trusting her. "None of us, actually. We're here to ask Doctor Solus for help with something else. Can you tell him Commander Shepard is here to speak to him, please?"

"Did you say… Shepard?" The girl asked, head slowly cocking to the side when Shepard nodded. The girl blinked slowly, then, and nodded, waving a hand towards the door, "Go on in. He ought to be in room three. You should be able to find him readily enough."

Giving the odd girl a last smile, the commander turned and pushed through the door, putting thoughts of her aside and turning to ask an orderly, "Where is room three, if you don't mind?"

The tired old woman paused in her work just long enough to turn and point at a hallway across from the entrance, and Shepard smiled a thank you as she left. As she walked, she let her eyes rove the rundown, exhausted clinic. Wounded mercenaries and civilians both lined the benches, cradling injuries or sleeping, and she could see distant bodies stacked behind a row of crates, awaiting disposal. Many were hacking loudly, too, no doubt sick with the plague and waiting on their turn for a cure, judging from the hopeful, impatient glances they gave the waiting staff whenever they skirted by them.

"Well ain't this a shit hole…" She turned a scowl on Zaeed and he shrugged, rolling his eyes and grunting, "What? S'a goddamn shit hole, and everyone here knows it."

"That they have managed even this much in the grips of a plague, with no state apparatus to aid them, and left completely to their own devices is itself enough to earn respect." Shepard's eyebrows rose at Miranda, of all people, praising aliens and the woman grimaced. Hushed for obvious fears and stepping closer to the former Spectre, the woman grumbled, "Cerberus prioritizes Human achievement, Commander. We don't simply ignore the achievements of the other races."

"Can't steal 'em if you ignore 'em, so yeah." She heard Miranda huff and raised a hand, demanding silence as they rounded a corner and entered a treatment room that had been converted somewhat into a lab as well.

The room was cramped, even as wide as it was, with two gurneys sporting corpses to one side and a wall packed with terminals to the other. In the middle of the room was a large analyzer of sorts, if she had to guess. Whoever had built it, she could tell, had scrabbled it together around a much more high end Salarian analyzer. On closer inspection, though, she saw that most of the machine seemed to not be doing anything, instead more… Hiding the Salarian component inside it in a way even her trained eyes very nearly missed.

Something she filed away for later, whether or not it would ever actually be useful or not, and then made herself move on from in spite of her inherent paranoia about hidden things.

"Doctor Solus?" She asked after a moment, the Salarian turning from the suspect console to nod to her in greeting. "I'm Commander Shepard, Citadel Spectre and-"

"Not a Spectre anymore. Registered deceased on private Alliance registries." The alien gave her a once over and turned, clasping his hands behind his waist and raising his ridged eyebrows in challenge and dismissal. Like someone who knew she knew that he knew what he was saying had merit and truth. "Not the ones they would keep falsified information on. Even for deep-cover operatives."

"I-I don't-"

"Also, here with Cerberus agent Miranda Lawson. Known quantity. Been absent from normal notice since shortly after your death. Zaeed Massani… Less so, but still known. Terminus exclusive for eleven years." The Salarian smiled to show he didn't mind her deceptions, whatever they were, and he went one, "Only want you to know where I stand."

"Well, I see that Cerberus' dossier on you wasn't making anything up about your brilliance, doctor." She smiled, impressed at his insightfulness and somewhat relieved that he was who Cerberus had sent her to collect.

It of course made sense that cerberus wouldn't give her recruitment dossiers on anyone that wasn't fit for the job. But regardless, some validation helped her paranoia, to say the least.

"Look forward to reading it." He nodded, finally letting his smile slip and narrowing his eyes. Thinking, the alien folded his hands over his chest and raised his hand, tapping a ling finger against his chin in thought. "Commander Shepard working with Cerberus in the Terminus. Must have good reasons. But what? Plague too recent, too small scale. And Cerberus wouldn't care, Humans immune to the Plague."

"We're investigating the disappearing Human colonies in the Terminus, Doctor." Shepard prompted, offering him a small and charming smile when his eyes met hers. "We believe the Collectors to be involved, using some kind of… Organic weapon that inflicts paralysis. We need your help, Doctor."

As if on cue, the clinic's walls seemed to vibrate and the lights dimmed to a dull ruddy orange. Outside the room, she could hear the panicked murmuring of the sick, wounded and guards all.

"That was the air systems shutting down, Commander." Miranda murmured. Whose benefit she was talking for, Shepard had no idea, since it was fairly obvious by the vents shutting down what the sound was. "We should take the good doctor and leave, Commander. Before the district suffocates, and us along with it.

"Ah." That explained why she'd mentioned it, actually, and made Shepard sigh tiredly as well. Turning at the waist, she gave the woman the single most 'disapproving mother' look she could manage and shook her head, "We're not leaving the district to suffocate and die, Miranda. And I'm disappointed in you for suggesting it."

"Heh." Zaeed sniggered, sounding and looking for all the world like a petulant sibling as he murmured a quiet, "You're in trouble."

"I can fire you." Miranda warned childishly, "It would be my pleasure to do so, as a matter of fact."

"I hate you both…" Shepard groaned, "I regret everything about bringing both of you."

"The air control unit is where I dispatched one of my guards with the airborne cure." Mordin interjected, still smiling pleasantly all the while, "Miss Nikos is a capable enough combatant. Watched her fight a Krogan Biotic in melee personally in fact. Most impressive, especially for a Human. She can handle whatever is there."

"Wait, she fought him one on one?" Shepard asked, genuinely stunned when the Salarian nodded. Turning to Miranda she asked, "You know anything about this, Lawson? A Human that can survive a firefight with a Krogan is-"

"It was melee, actually." Mordin pitched in, smiling pleasantly when, wide eyed and gaping like a fish, the woman turned to look at him again. "Fist to fist. I personally counted four separate, Biotic strikes that she received. Quite an interesting specimen, Nikos is. I have a video if you would like to see it. While we wait on the cure to be dispersed and the air system to be reinstated, I mean."

"And when they are?"

"I will accompany you, and leave the clinic in the hands of my trusted colleagues." The Salarian answered with a small, comforting smile. "But if you will permit it, I would like to suggest a couple of… Additions."

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"Die!" The Vorcha snarled, leaping at her for all the world like a feral, mad Grimm, arms spread and razor claws aiming for her throat.

They never met it, though, even if her Aura would have made sure it wouldn't matter. Instead, she dropped her shoulder and crouched, nearly kneeling and then catapulting forward into the creature. It snarled in pain and fury, and she heard bones crack as it was hurled away to slam into the railing at the edge of the environmental control room. She paid it enough mind to see it slump, dead or unconscious, before she moved on to the next.

This one was somewhat smarter, if the term applied here, and didn't leap into the air like a mad beast. Instead, it dove for her hips, aiming to tackle her down like a sports player. That proved just as failing a strategy, though, the woman stepping to the side and spinning on a heel the same way the alien was flying, hurling her shield into the back of its head when it landed and recalling it smoothly back to her arm.

Just in time to catch a rocket on its smooth surface, the force pitching her back into a pillar that smarted but otherwise doing her no harm. Winded but easily recovering, she let her spear snap out to the side and shift, leveling her rifle on the offending alien and firing twice. The first round punched into the creature's rocket launcher, ripping off a hunk of it and leaving it a sparking and useless mess. The second puncture its shoulder and sent it reeling, wounded but alive, into cover before it shrieked and ran for its life.

In the quiet that followed, she took a deep breath and sighed, returning her weapons to her back and drawing out the sturdy little cure cylinder.

"Please be automatic… Please be automatic…" The little thing slid perfectly into an input slot on the front, spinning and clicking into place like it had been designed that way. "Which, knowing Doctor Solus, it very likely is."

After a few seconds, the terminal lit up and a bright green holographic button flickered to life over the top of the cylinder. Gingerly, and sending a silent prayer to the Dark Brother that she was doing this right and wishing she'd asked for instructions, she pressed the button. Around her, lights blared to life and the great turbines began to turn, delivering the needed air - and the cure with it - to those throughout the district.

Pleased, she let out a breath and turned, picking her way around unconscious Vorcha and making a note to send the Blue Suns this way when she got to the clinic. The cure was dispersed, and that couldn't be changed, but there was no stopping the Vorcha turning the air off again.

For now, though, she was content to walk back and pray not to run into more wayward 'Pack members.

The walk itself was quiet enough, those Vorcha left on the streets scattering when they saw her or easily beaten down for the second time around. The Krogan glared weakly, but luckily for her the Cure hadn't sunk in wholly yet, and so that was all they could do.

"Nikos." A Suns soldiers grunted when she reached their border again, or near enough now they were pushing the weakened Blood Pack back thanks to her breaking through their lines. With the Turian were a dozen other fresh looking soldiers, but they stopped for her and he asked, "I take it the fans comin' back on was you?"

"It was, yes." She nodded, stepping aside and nodding back the way she had come. The Turian's visored eyes followed her gaze and, quietly, she went on, "The way is clear, aside from sick Krogan and frightened Vorcha. You can move to secure it without a problem, and I wish you well in doing so."

"Thanks." The Turian jerked his head in a silent order and his men moved ahead, headed towards the environmental control unit. "The little tater tot was askin' us to send you her way when we left Mordin's."

"She was?" Pyrrha blinked, confused, "Why? Do you know?"

"Nah, I didn't ask and she didn't say. Figured it might be private, sorry, Nikos." The Turian shook its head and turned, waving a hand for his men to move ahead down the street of the slum. Raising his voice, he barked, "Take back what the 'Pack stole, resecure the environmental control sector, and get the Blood Pack out of our territory!"

"Good luck." She said, offering a farewell nod, "I should be going, to see what my friends needs of me."

"She said to hurry, too." The Turian offered, adding a final, "A bunch of soldiers were there earlier, and left with Doctor Solus. That probably has something to do with it."

It wouldn't take long to get to the clinic now she knew, with the way clear of hindrances and secured by wandering Blue Suns patrols. Checkpoints had been set up atop similar barricades as what had defended the clinic, but no one stopped her. Whether because they were checking for any traces of left over disease and didn't need to check a Human or because they knew her and weren't about to slow her, she couldn't be sure.

No sooner than she had stepped through the rear entrance did she feel a dense, small missile slam into her midsection with a cry of, "Friend Pyrrha! You are back and well. I am happy to see you again."

"Of course I am well, and I am glad to see you are as well." She chuckled, returning the automaton girl's hug and smiling as she stepped away and beamed up at her. Walking further into the clinic, she asked warily, "Where did Mordin go, Penny? I was told soldiers came and took him away. Is Aria up to something untoward?"

"Oh no!" Penny assured her brightly, "If she had been, then I would have beaten those soldiers into the ground. No one hurts my friends. Or your friends, because your friends are my friends too."

"Then what…?"

"Commander Shepard came and asked for his help, and as the clinic is running well enough now and the plague cured, he agreed to help her." The girl answered simply, giving Pyrrha a knowing look when wide, green eyes turned on her. Smiling still, the girl bounced excitedly on her heels, "Oh, I knew you would be excited! They escorted him to their ship, and said they would wait before moving to recruit their next target when we joined them."

"Such good luck…"

"We do have a god to thank for that, I believe." Penny smiled, looking up at the taller woman and adding, "But we should hurry. I don't want to keep them waiting."

Neither did the Mistralian Huntress and so, together and knowing that the clinic was safe now, they made their way out the front door and on their way. There was little time to dally, after all, though Pyrrha was already concerned with how to get in touch with Legion. The sad irony was that he had left barely a month past and now she had what he was looking for… Which meant that she needed to protect Shepard for him, then, and serve as a bridge when they finally did meet.

She had to pay him back, after all.

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Everyone wish a big happy birthday to Espa, he's the commissioner for this story and a Supporter besides.

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Arch Angel 319 :

Glad to have it on offer for you!

Amerdism :

Excluding romance stories, I don't set pairings in stone. I find it constricting to do that, and don't feel it particularly makes for good stories when the romance would be a subplot instead of a main plot. It could be interesting, though, so while I won't confirm it I won't discount it either.

The Prime Cronos :

I agree completely. What people often forget is how plastic and utilitarian our moralities truly are.

That One Random Dude :

Why? This Shepard is an infiltrator type. A spy. Ninety percent of spy-work is piecing together what random people say to you, and employing a bit of charm to get more if need be. All she did was pause to chat up a guard and get information out of him.

Omega Ultima :

Canon doesn't seem to imply Aura can help against illnesses, but it also doesn't state it does. I'll read on it and think about it.

Steel Rain 66 :

Glad you're enjoying it!

The Last Battalion :

Spoiler alert, probably not well.