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Special header announcement-

Espa commissioned a yt person by the name of Apotheosis for a music video trailer on this story. Should be up around now for those interested. Link to follow for those interested if FF and AO3 allow it. Just remove the spaces.

yo ut /cf hc J Y

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Okeer's lab was set in what had once been an observation room for the large storage bay in front of it. Or rather, behind it, she supposed. Their approach to the ship wasn't the same now as when it had been spaceworthy, but from what ships she'd seen in her relatively short time, the cargo bay tended to be towards the back, near the engines. Regardless, on the side opposite the former airlock the door let out onto an old landing. To one side, a wall had been slapped up haphazardly, sealing the hole made when the deck and hall that way had been removed. Down the stairs they found another door, locked until they approached it and, presumably, Okeer unlocked it.

There they paused for a moment to collect themselves, check their equipment, and for the Commander to hand out her orders.

"Nikos, front and center. Focus on anything big." Shepard grunted at the door, rolling her shoulders and stepping back and behind them. Their usual formation, by now, with the lightly armored assassin of a woman at the rear. "I'll cloak and run along the back to secure a flank where I can't be seen. Zaeed, support Nikos by advancing to the center of the section straight out of the door. Vakarian has the door with his marksman rifle, pick off anything light you see to keep Nikos from getting bogged down."

"Aye, Ma'am." They chorused, even Pyrrha herself versed enough by now to know the proper response by heart.

"Nikos," the Commander asked after a pause, as though remembering something, "what's your, uh… Your special stamina-"

"Aura."

"Your Aura, yeah." The woman nodded, sounding distracted but seeming to file the information away again and tapping a foot anxiously. Like she was chiding herself for forgetting, and trying to force herself to remember better. "What's it at?"

"A bit under half." She answered, 'flexing' it and feeling it coalesce around her protectively. "I should be fine barring anything ludicrous, Commander."

"Good." The woman murmured from behind them as Pyrrha turned to face the door. "Stack up, we breach when Nikos is ready."

Without further discussion, Pyrrha stepped forward and hit the door release, the ancient mechanisms groaning but sliding aside to permit them regardless. A pair of mercenaries by the door flinched at their sudden arrival and she surged forward, spear dancing out in a powerful thrust that shattered the right merc's rifle as her shield snapped up and did much the same to the front of the left's helmet. The force needed to shatter ballistic glass and ceramic armor was plenty enough to send her careening into the wall to Pyrrha's left and knock her unconscious.

The disarmed man let the shards fall from his hands but quickly sought to fill them with his sidearm, blocky Predator swinging around towards her face. A slight duck to the side made the round fly high and a swift turn brought her shield across and into his arm with bone shattering speed. While he clutched his broken arm she swept his legs from under him and left him there, curled on his side in pain and fear.

Those dealt with the team surged forward and spread out, the head of a man at the end of the walkway popping before he could cry more than, "Intru-" As he fell, Zaeed surged towards his position and, behind him, Pyrrha saw a faint shimmer following.

Turning, Pyrrha focused on her own task. A very angry task, sprinting up the ramp to the right of the door and swinging a bloodied, clearly dead mercenary like a club. She managed to step back and out of the way of the swinging corpse, but the Krogan turned the swing into a shoulder charge and that caught her in the chest and carried her back and into the old decking. It groaned but held under the devastating blow, much like Pyrrha herself did, air forced out of her lungs as the alien shoulder struck.

But she survived, and that surprised the Krogan long enough to damn it, a burst of rifle fire boring into a knee and driving it down courtesy of Garrus' rifle. Seizing the moment she let her Semblance flare all along the armor he had rammed her with and forced it over, onto its back, before burying her spear in its throat. The beast, for that was what these poor creatures were, choked, one hand grabbing her leg and yanking her to a knee, but that only managed to carve his throat even more open. Yanking her spear free she grabbed his hand and, using her Semblance, yanked his arm back by the metal it wore and freed herself.

"Thanks." She grunted at the Turian as she sprinted by and down the ramp, barely hearing his 'welcome'.

Another Krogan emerged from a pod across from her as she descended the ramp and she grit her teeth to contend with it, only for its head to snap to its left and for the creature to tumble to the side. A mercenary who'd been moving away from the pod stumbled as he hesitated, liking the stack of crates that he'd been cowering behind but unsure about moving closer to Pyrrha. A burst of rifle fire into his side and head ended those deliberations, though. For her part she could only grimace and move forward, closing with another mercenary cowering behind the crates. Her body conveniently between her and the angry Zaeed behind her, Pyrrha stepped in, shield arm wrapping around the woman as hastily sprayed rounds sparked off her Aura.

With sheer strength of body and Semblance combined, she hurled the woman high, over Zaeed's head and into the wall. The force wasn't enough to kill her but it did knock her unconscious and send her weapon flying, the woman collapsing in a heap Pyrrha couldn't see beyond the raised, empty pods.

"Hey, bitch, heads up!" Pyrrha turned and looked up at the words, eyes widening at the sight of a missile pod aimed straight at her.

Jidore smiled and, without a word, sent the rocket hurtling the scant few feet towards her. Too close for her to dodge, without being bathed from behind in heat and shrapnel anyway at least, and so she sank to a knee and brought her shield up instead. The rocket punched into her shield and hurled her back, sprawling across the ground and hacking for the smoke in her lungs. Shield blackened by the heat of the explosion and arm throbbing and bruised, she staggered up and forward, waving the smoke away.

"Are you fucking serious?" Jidore shrieked, standing in the open and ignoring the burst of rounds that pockmarked her barriers while she reloaded her rocket launcher. "What the hell are you that you can take on a Krogan and eat a rocket?!"

A second explosive round was quickly sent her way but this time she expected it and was already moving, stepping to the side and turning to keep her shield between the explosion and her body. The heat and smoke swallowed her for a long second but she came out unscathed and with a quarter of her Aura left, turning to glare up at the shocked woman. A handful of mercenaries, seeing this flagrant disregard for what should kill a woman, began to panic and fall back. Some scurried up the ramps for cover, others hid low as though hoping to avoid being seen while their braver fellows kept up the fight, and one even threw down his weapons and ran outright, headed for a door at the end of the derelict bay to leave by.

Capitalizing on it and ignoring the stinging of her bruised arm, she straightened and spread her arms to either side, challenging, "Is that the best you have to throw against the Huntress? A couple noise makers and some weak Krogan? Hardly a proper challenge!"

The bait worked, Jidore snarling and slamming a fresh rocket into her launcher, "I'll show you a challenge you- Agh!" A spray of red and a loud crack sent the woman sprawling out of sight. Sounding pained, she ordered over the intercom, "Drop the gods damn heavy mech!"

"Red, move!" She reacted on instinct, leaping high and to the rent, towards the center of the room.

In her wake, something slammed into the ancient metal decking with the force of an artillery strike. Something big enough that the fighting around her finally fully stopped, even her own team and the more hardened mercenaires pausing. As the dust began to clear a hulking form straightened, bone white with eyes so red she almost flinched. The machine, black, white and red like a Grimm, lumbered towards her, arms turning at its sides as it acquired her and seemed to decide she was the best target.

"Nikos-!"

"It's mine!" She cut the woman off, heart hammering in her chest in an all to familiar kind of way.

Rushing towards the machine and flicking her hand along Milo's haft, the weapon shifting in her hand into its rifle form. Seeing her charge, the machine brought its heavy cannon to bear, mass accelerator rounds punching through the air. Grinning, she ducked and leapt, rolling towards it and then pushing off with her hands as hard as she could and vaulting the machine. Its head followed, tracking her as she sailed over it, but only to an extent before its head couldn't look further up.

Behind it, she brought her rifle to bear on a knee and let loose as it turned around, the rounds shredding into its shields with little other effect. Slipping by it she tapped her forearm against the knee, bending back to duck under a clumsily swung arm. In front of it once more she stretched her rifle arm out and punched the mech to little effect. It warbled, looking down on her, and she blanched.

Then its knee snapped up and out, and into her gut, launching her back and sending her tumbling in a heap she turned into a recovery. Raising her shield she sighed, "Less than twenty… It'll have to be enough."

With a loud whine it raised its other arm and went rigid, spitting out a rocket that sailed towards her. In answer she stepped in and turned, catching it at an angle and causing it to glance off and sail by her, blasting apart ancient decking a dozen feet away. Grunting for effort she spun on her heel and once again folded Semblance into physical power, hurling her shield as hard as she could. The improvised discus bit into the steel of its chest shallowly, kinetic barriers slowing it enough that it barely stuck in just below its head.

But it would be enough, she was sure.

Dropping her rifle she threw her hands up before herself, Aura surging through her. First she targeted its knees, crushing the joints as it brought its heavy mass accelerator cannon to bear on her. The handful of shots it managed to get off went wide, punching into old metal and little else. As one knee gave out and then the other, sparks and oil flowed like blood from a cut vein and it sank. Next she took a step forward and brought her arms across her chest, spreading her arms in another rush of Aura that sheared its heavy chest armor apart to the neck.

Sparking and without its barrier or legs, the machine still tried to fight, leaning on its rocket arm and barking a pair of heavy shots towards her again. Shots which once again went wide, though this time because she'd closed the distance. Sprinting up it she tagged a hand on its chest and leapt over it, kneeling behind the machine and wrenching its head up from feet away and below. With her other, she stretched a hand out, smiling viciously as she pulled her shield towards her.

And, wrenching apart soft circuits and conduits, it came. Through the machine's upper chest and throat, popping out the back of its neck covered in oil. Nearly decapitated, the machine sagged forward in a heap of steel and oil.

Calling her weapons back to her with the very last dregs of her Aura, and pouring sweat, she looked around the room and challenged, "Anyone else want to try their hands?"

The mercenaries hesitated and once again Jidore showed her face, one arm limp and bleeding and other pointing at her. "She's exhausted! Kill the bitch now or I'll-"

A loud crack split the air and the woman's head disappeared, her body pitched back by the force of the shot as Shepard appeared atop one of the pods. Kneeling there as sure footed as a goat would climb a mountain, she lowered her rifle and asked, "Who wants to drop their weapons and who wants to get shot?"

To no one's surprise, they dropped their arms and turned to flee, leaving behind their dead commander and ruined machine.

"Good work." The Commander grunted as she dropped from her perch and approached her, Pyrrha taking a knee and sucking in breath now that the fight was over. Echoing something dangerously close to concern, the woman asked, "Are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah, just..." She tried to focus and raise her Aura but it only winked, flashing and then dissolving as she stood. Or tried to, one leg nearly giving way and sending her to the floor before an arm gripped her own and a hand pressed to her stomach to hold her up. "I burnt out, Commander. Aura's spent."

"I see." She nodded and stepped closer, pressing their sides together and ducking under an arm, supporting the Mistralian as a soldier might their wounded fellow. Half-carrying Pyrrha but acting for the world like she wasn't carrying more than a rifle, she ordered, "All of you, to Okeer. Now. EDI is detecting internal alarms."

Being toted like little more than a sack of potatoes, Pyrrha let herself be dragged along while the commander called for Chakwas to prepare a medical screening.

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Penny had been excited when she found out Pyrrha was returning from her mission, both because that meant it had been a successful one and because she could ask about Korlus. She'd of course read about it when everyone else was busy and she needed something to do, but reading about a place and seeing it were wholly different. Pyrrha had seen it, smelt it, felt it, and she was so excited to ask about it. That excitement had died, though, when she found out that the Commander was ordering Chakwas to prepare a medical screening. That meant someone was hurt, and knowing Pyrrha, she'd have been at the fore of any fight…

When the team came up the elevator into the hall behind the cantina, her worries were substantiated. Pyrrha limped around the corner, half-carried in the soldier's way by the Commander and putting little to no weight one one of her legs. Her weapons had been handed off to Garrus, who shuffled behind her while Penny closed the distance, walking backwards and pawing the hair while she looked desperately for some way to help her dearest friend.

"I'm f-fine, Penny. Just worn out." Pyrrha forced out, smiling warmly at her display and lifting an arm so that she could slide under it and join the red-haired soldier in supporting her. Taking advantage of the closer proximity keeping her from being as easily overheard, Pyrrha explained, "My Aura faded, it didn't break."

"What's the difference?" The Commander asked, leaning in front of her to look up past her chest and hair to her eyes. Her own eyes hard behind her visor, she added, "I need to know if I'm deploying you, Nikos. That you kept such a danger from me isn't something I'm going to forgive either."

"I-I'll explain to you and the doctor together." Pyrrha decided, smiling weakly as she was shuffled towards the medical bay. Shepard's eye only narrowed but Pyrrha wouldn't relent, explaining, "She'll need to know it just as much as you will, Shepard."

"...Fine." The Commander nodded, carrying her forward.

"Your entire back is bruised rather badly, you've suffered a slight fracture in your rib as well as torn muscles in your Right leg and a badly swollen ankle." Chakwas reported half an hour later after the Huntress had changed into the loose white pants and shirt kept in the medical bay. Shepard had stayed while she changed, leaning against the door with her arms crossed while Penny sat beside her friend. Chakwas, sitting in her chair and going over the scans on her terminal, only sighed, "That you only suffered these injuries after being shot twice with a rocket launcher is… Frankly ludicrous."

"The, uh, leg is probably not due to that." Pyrrha offered quietly while Penny held her off hand the way her father had taught her to a long time ago. Pyrrha had smiled when she took it, so Penny supposed that had been the correct course of action. A fact that had her smiling while Pyrrha went on, "When I leapt over the machine-"

"Ymir Mech." Shepard offered helpfully, if icily. "That's it's designation."

"Right." She nodded her gratitude, going on when the Commander waved a hand to prompt her to. "When I leapt over the Ymir, I didn't use my Aura to cushion the landing. I was afraid I wouldn't have enough Aura to disable it before it faded entirely. I… Probably injured my leg in that maneuver."

"Well, it's healing, so…" Chakwas shrugged and crossed her arms, seeming exhausted by something beyond Penny's understanding. "Catch less rockets? Vault over dangerous war machines a bit more carefully? I quite frankly don't know what kind of advice to give here, Commander. This… This is all far and away outside my knowledge of Human biology or medical matters."

"I know the feeling. Doctor." Shepard nodded, giving Pyrrha a look and reaching up to take her helmet off. Sighing as cool air began to blow on her face, the woman set the helmet on a table by the door and ordered quietly, "Why don't you start filling in the very specific gap here, Nikos?"

"Right…" Pyrrha paused and pursed her lips, thinking for a long minute and then sighing. "Right, well, Aura has a physical limit, as has been explained to you previously. A cap of usage, like stamina."

"Except that it makes you bulletproof…"

"That makes it sound like Biotics, in a sense." Chakwas offered in counter, drumming a finger on the arm of her chair and staring off into space like Penny had seen her father do. Processing the information so he could remember it later more easily. Quiet, and sounding like she was asking as much as explaining, she tried, "There's more going on here, of course, and Biotic barriers recover far faster than this but… But then again, they don't enable the specific abilities you two have shown either."

"In the end the matter is quite simple. I took an injury to maintain my Aura and defeat an opponent." She explained, sounding put out in a way that Penny understood. Having to explain the very basics of Aura was… Not something they were prepared for and it was surprising how difficult explaining something so basic could be. "The difference between Aura break and Aura fade is… Equally simple, but hard to put into words."

"It's like the difference between getting tired and falling asleep on your own terms, and being struck into unconsciousness." Penny tried, leaning forward to lend her help to her friend. She was no better for training, true, but she wanted to at least try and bridge the divide. "In this context, Pyrrha 'got tired' and 'fell asleep'. Simple replace the former with the effect of dropping a Biotic barrier for fatigue and the latter with having it broken down by enemy attack."

"It's quite painful as well." Pyrrha added, "When your Aura is broken, it's like an electric shock across your body. Coupled with the force of the attack which broke it. When it fads you just feel… Drained, and all your little aches rush to catch up to you."

"Like an adrenal response deadening pain responses and increasing physical abilities until it fades." Chakwas noted, adding with not a small amount of exasperation. "Of course, an adrenal response doesn't make you bullet proof or give you super powers, but regardless, this is a good analogy. At least, it's one that lets it make some semblance of sense to me."

"I'll keep a note of the information." Shepard promised, pushing off a door and rolling her neck to ease the tension out of it. "From now on, I want you to be more careful. But good work on dealing with the Ymir, whatever the case."

"I'll be more careful, Commander." Pyrrha promised, giving Penny a look. "And Penny will, too. We are neither of us in a rush to break down or suffer worse consequences."

"I will endeavour not to exhaust myself in the field! And I will make sure to watch Friend Pyrrha when we are out, too, so she does not either." She promised brightly, smiling and earning a little chuckle from Pyrrha for it. Shepard wouldn't know, but Pyrrha knew Penny could monitor her Aura, so the promise was somewhat more serious than otherwise would be expected.

"For now, see that she gets her rest." Shepard ordered, smiling and turning to leave. Over her shoulder she added in parting, "I've got a meeting with Miranda to get to. Doc, make sure she eats and rests up for the day."

"Will do, Commander." When the woman left Chakwas turned to give her a look, both brows raised high and a smile spreading across her face. To Penny she spoke, "Would you be a dear and fetch our reckless friend something to eat, Penny? I'm afraid she'll do something else silly if I take my eyes off of her."

"Of course, Doctor." She gave Pyrrha's hand a small squeeze and stood to leave, smiling and calling back. "I shall bring you something as well, Doctor!"

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"How'd she do on the mission?" Miranda asked as soon as the door closed behind her, not even looking up from the terminal. Before Shepard could respond she added, distractedly, "Studies conducted in the field during the Saren Incident show that indoctrinated persons serving under him functioned with notably less cohesion when separated and paired with non-indoctrinated fellows. Those observed were Asari, mainly, but still."

"She fought as well as I've seen her yet." Shepard answered, tossing her helmet onto the desk and ignoring the scowl Miranda shot her for it. Easing into the chair across from her, she went on, "She was a bit too reckless at the end, but that looked more 'honest mistake' than 'indoctrinated agent' to me."

"How can you be sure?"

"I can't." Shepard answered simply, watching with amusement while Miranda brushed the dirt from her helmet off of her desk. "But we have another stop, don't we?"

"The prison, yes."

"Then we can test Penny there, then. See how competently she performs without Pyrrha there." It was possible that one served as a sort of 'head' for the other, and Pyrrha was that one. The Husks obeyed the Geth after all, and she remembered them performing better under their direction as well. "If there's no change then we'll just do things the old fashioned way and confront them both after the mission."

"While Penny is fatigued from whatever happens." Shepard nodded and Miranda smiled, amused. "You realize we are meant to simply pick up Subject Zero from Purgatory, right? There ought not be any fighting involved."

"Yeah, but…" Shepard shrugged, as resigned as she was amused, and went on. "It's me we're talking about. There'll be a prison riot, or a gang takeover, or something there to shoot at me. Just how things go around me."

"Well, I suppose you're right about that at least." Miranda sighed, staring daggers at her dirty helmet until Shepard removed it from her otherwise spotless desk. Grimacing at the smudges and dirt left behind, she sighed, "I have Cerberus poring over scans of Penny and working to acquire Geth samples. With luck, we'll have conclusive enough evidence for our confrontation, when it comes to that."

"You mean if."

"When." Miranda repeated, smiling, "It's you, remember? Something will go wrong, so there'll be a confrontation one way or another."

"Whatever, Miranda. I'm getting a shower and some sleep, now." She chuckled, though, and stood to leave. Over her shoulder, she ordered, "Get us underway to Purgatory. Once we finish there, the Citadel. Keep observation on the girls."

"Aye, Ma'am." Miranda answered mechanically, "Enjoy your shower."

"Enjoy your shower, Ma'am." Shepard corrected coolly as she stepped through the door, smiling as it closed before Miranda could answer.

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Troll in the Reviews :

So like Couer, I have a troll in my reviews. Ignore them, report them, drown out their prattle with good reviews. All is welcome. Thanks for reading.

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Guest-Questioner :

I am aware of Rana, yeah.

The Prime Cronos :

Could be neat, yeah, but not for this story. Maybe in future.

Dr Killinger :

You shall find out eventually~!

Ecoolasice :

She was, in context, choking the hiccup down. Thus, the effect.

Lord Anime :

Sparing Garm is one example of me already making changes to the timeline. More will come, but I don't wanna blow my number of changes early on.

Black Magic 99 :

Not a bad idea. I can't confirm whether it will happen or not, though.