Destiny Lost

by Twisted Fate MK 2

The Gods left remnant together, with the statement they would never return to it or influence it. Only, that wasn't true, was it? The God of light, ever the hypocrite and liar, didn't abandon Remnant. Instead, he reincarnated someone to do his bidding and bring Remnant to them. Cue, the now dead Pyrrha Nikos and the God of Darkness' ideas. / Supporter Requested by Espacole

22. Burnt Bridges - Part I

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Beta(s) : Santo

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I knew I sold that scene well. I'm writing this the same day I posted and watching everyone react exactly as I hoped. However, I will respond pointedly to it all even though this chapter will do so.

Shepard did a very bad thing in the last chapter. I knew the parallels pointed out when I wrote it, too. That Pyrrha would view it as a horrifying level of violation is purposeful, as is Miranda and Shepard's complete apathy in the moment. I did add a note of regret on Shepard's part, at least, but that leads to the thing that I have alluded to and acted on numerous times in this story.

Commander Shepard is, in this story, a pure Renegade. Not a Paragade, not a Neutral, a hard Renegade. Everyone angry with her is completely justified. Playing Renegade means being the bad guy sometimes, and that often ruins your chances for good outcomes, but people still play that way.

This is just that.

And no, Penny will not let sleeping Grimm lie. I decided to do two chapters before moving through my update schedule for a reason. The second starts the short Arc before the Horizon arc, so enjoy.

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Life aboard an alien warship was a challenging experience even for experienced Salarians. Their metabolisms meant that they needed more frequent meals, five with small portions compared to a Turian, Asari or, most relevantly here, Human sets of three. They slept less too, four or five hours compared to an average of closer to eight. Every single thing about being a Salarian rubbed against the norm on a ship run by any race except Salarians. Adaptation and training prepared all Salarians for this eventuality, though, and Mordin had been no exception to that.

In fact, training under the Special Tasks Group had prepared him even further for these realities.

Waking up and cleaning his cot, he left the laboratory he used as his quarters after the briefest amount of time checking his data-processing and experiments. The halls were empty as always, and the two skeleton crewmen monitoring the CIC paid him little more than nods as he made his way to the elevator and down into the ship's bowels. Another guard waited beside the elevator door and, before he even saw him, he had paid the man a little nod of greeting that the man equally automatically returned.

Cerberus might have been a predominantly race oriented faction but exhaustion and drilled professionalism drowned those urges out, amusingly enough.

Preparing and consuming his food, and then cleaning up his meal went well as well, the aged Salarian working on the morning tasks with one hand while he ran needed preparatory calculations with the other. Fourteen minutes to wake up, proceed down the decks, eat and prepare for the day, and clean up after while his systems processed. Routine, calming, simple, productive. Comfortable as well, in the way that such things were, and as he stepped through the door into his lab it was with a smile. A smile and the expectation that his routine would continue for more than an hour of undisturbed work.

A smile that slopped on entering and finding Penny, up early and sitting in a chair, waiting for him. She turned to him as he entered and nodded, the girl murmuring, "Good morning, Doctor Solus."

"Good morning." He nodded, blinking away his surprise before moving past her to his main terminal to begin his day, standing across from where she was sitting.

"Good morning, Doctor." She nodded, turning to him and watching him work quietly. As usual she added, "Are you… Busy?"

"Yes." He nodded, fingers rapidly working even as he looked up to speak with her. Only as he turned to her, he noted, did she smile. A small, fragile, artificial thing that drew both his interest and concern. "Very early in the morning. Did not expect you. Many preparations to make before we reach the Citadel. Supplies needed to inoculate us all against the Collector swarms. Very important."

"I understand, Doctor." She nodded, her polite smile slipping away as he turned to face the terminal again.

He kept one eye on her, though, concerned and analytical even as he worked on his supply list. She neither smiled nor moved about the room as normal, looking at whatever he wasn't working at. She also didn't leave to get food, which he knew she hadn't had yet after having prepared his own below-decks. He'd have noticed a wet sink or drying dishes from her eating before him, but the sink had been dry and the drainer empty.

So she hadn't eaten. Did that explain how she was acting?

No. He'd seen her working on Omega without eating and she had still been bright and happy. Smiling, bouncing around the room, and talking animatedly. A lack of breakfast quite simply didn't explain her symptoms.

Illness, then?

No. Her hair's volume and her skin color were the same, ruling out fever, and she didn't sit in a way that spoke of stomach pains or anything else which could have told of illness. A flick of his fingers across his keys accessed the Med-Bay's records and found no records or mention of admission or supplies being requisitioned. Which ruled out disease and injury in one motion.

Finalizing his supply requisition he turned to her and asked, quietly, "What is bothering you? You are behaving oddly and I am concerned."

"I-I am?"

"You are." He nodded, for once entirely setting aside work while he turned his full attention on the young woman. "You are more quiet than normal. Also, you are not smiling. I do not believe that you have ever looked so… Downcast."

"Oh… I see. That does sound unlike me." She swallowed, looking at the floor and chewing her lip for a long time. She looked to him after a moment, lips parting to speak, but then she grimaced and looked back to the floor unsurely. Finally, and quietly, she murmured, "I… Have something that I wish to tell you, Doctor Solus. Something that may make you dislike me once you know it."

"Doubt that." He smiled, turning his attention to an alert on his terminal long enough to quickly punch the new data back into his running data-analysis stream. She gave him a look even he could read as searching and he explained congenially, "Enjoy your company. Enjoy you. Bright young woman. Both intellectually and emotionally."

"Ah. I… See." This smile was more genuine and warm, and somewhat eased Mordin's concern for her until it vanished again. "Thank you, Doctor Solus. Your words are very kind."

"You are welcome." He nodded, fingers snapping out once again to accept notifications, make notes of results and input them into his final analysis of the Collector data. While he worked, slower for his focus being on Penny rather than the data analytics but still with enough focus not to have to worry about making any mistakes, he prompted her, "What is it you have to tell me?"

"You…" She grimaced, looking around the room with the same kind of paranoia he had been trained to keep in mind. A new kind of paranoia, too, for her. Worrying. "I assume you have already swept for monitoring devices in the laboratory?"

"You assume correctly." He nodded, waving a hand around the room and smiling slightly. "Thoroughly swept the room upon my arrival. STG standard protocol. Some of my own tricks. Destroyed most of the bugs I found. Returned the more expensive ones to Miranda."

"That was… Strangely kind of you."

"Indeed." Destroying them would have been a waste, he didn't explain. He sensed something here that he needed to focus on. Old instincts as much drilled into him by the STG as born in, telling him to focus. "Why do you ask? Do you wish for me to do the same for you and Miss Nikos? I would not mind."

"No, that isn't what I meant, I just..." She blinked and then grimaced again, shaking her head and running fingers through her hair. A comfort mechanism he recognized easily, a lance of worry spiking in his stomach for it. That was new for her, too, and she continued running the fingers of a hand through her hair for a moment before she went on, "I would appreciate it, yes. That is not why I came to speak with you, though."

"Will run the sweep after, then." There was a day or so yet before they reached the Citadel, so he wouldn't lose anything in running one. And besides, Penny clearly had something more important, and thus interesting, she wanted to talk about. "Say what you need to say, Penny. I am here."

"Very well, then…" She murmured, clasping her hands in her lap and taking a deep breath. Finally, she turned to him bodily and said, simply and quietly, "I am not a real girl, Doctor. I-I am an… An android, I believe the best term is."

"Ah." He blinked, "Is that all?"

"C-Come again?" She blinked, eyes snapping to his and back straightening in a typical, very Human, fear response.

"I have been aware of what you are for several weeks." He explained simply, smiling in genuine amusement for her wide-eyed surprise. Chuckling when she only tensed more, he explained, "Suspected it on Omega. Rigged up the weapon's detector for a more intensive scan. Wanted to talk to you, but the plague incident occurred before I was able."

"Oh…"

"Based on behavior patterns, assume that the Commander is aware as well. Miranda too, most likely." The security measures and logs in the Normandy's systems had told him as much. And suddenly, everything clicked into place and he blinked, leaning back a bit with the realization. "They confronted you."

"They did…"

"I see. And are you in danger?" He asked quietly, eyes flicking to the doors and then to his desk and the Predator he kept mag-locked to its underside. Turning back to her he found surprised eyes and her mouth gaping. Shock, he could recognize it and quickly surmised why. "I'm STG. Trained to infiltrate, identify those acting oddly, and pursue why. Observed you, found no threat. Merely wanted to inform you I knew, not confront you."

"Oh." She blinked and smiled, then, this one more genuine, if a bit anxious. "Do you… Trust me, then? Even though you know that I am an artificial person?"

"Real person." He argued quickly, "Artificial body." She blinked but he moved on before she could do more than open her mouth. "Never attempted to harm, collect untoward data, or infiltrate my systems. Only ever sought to help. When the clinic was threatened, continued helping. I trust you."

"...Thank you."

"Do not mention it." He smiled, "Extensive analysis and observation to base my trust on. Nothing to be concerned over. Artificial personhood is intriguing though. Would enjoy writing a paper if you would permit it."

"A paper on what, exactly?" She asked warily, adding another question and data-point that added to his fears.

She was anxious, here earlier than anyone else would be up but him in a clear search for privacy, upset at something recent, paranoid now, and her optimism seemed to have been capped...

"Your opinions and beliefs. Small things. Not very private or sensitive, I assure you. A matter for later, perhaps." He answered simply, smiling politely even as his mind raced to the only available conclusion that corresponded to all the data he'd observed. And he needed to know for certain and so asked, "If I may, how did the Commander's confrontation with you go?"

"She…" Penny frowned and, to Mordin's sincere surprise, he saw an edge enter her body. Her shoulders tense, a hand curled into a fist, and her brows knit down along with the edges of her mouth. As close to a snarl as Penny could ever reasonably be described to speak in, she answered, "She threatened to hand us over to Cerberus unless Friend Pyrrha unlocked Friend Garrus' Aura to prove that it wasn't Reaper technology, after he vouched for Legion's non-hostile intentions."

"I see." He nodded. He knew of the Geth, of course, and had long since submitted that data-point to his STG contacts for analysis. Her anger spoke of something he didn't understand, though, and so he spoke. "Don't understand the connotation of 'unlocking Aura' though. You sound upset."

"On Rem-" She cut herself off with a frown and then, after a heartbeat, started again as though nothing had happened, "Where we come from, all are capable of generating an Aura. It merely requires intense stress or, more often, someone close to you activating it at your behest. To activate someone's Aura is to bear your very soul to them, and give a piece of it to them."

"I see." He nodded, more to subtly reassure her he was listening than to do anything else. But then he blinked in understanding, his smile dipping into a frown. Then, it dipped further and, understanding the context of her fury and sharing some of it, he murmured, "She forced Miss Nikos to unlock Garrus'..."

"Yes." Penny nodded, "She did."

"I see." He let his eyes close, fighting an internal war of argument, rationalization and morality for a long second. Finally, he asked, coolly, "What else has she done?"

"She has told us we may not leave the ship's service." Or, presumably, Cerberus would be after them. Powerful they might be, but under volume of arms they would come down as surely as any powerful individual. "Friend Garrus doesn't understand why I am so angry, or why Friend Pyrrha won't come out to train and eat as usual. I… Hoped you would help me, Doctor, as I do not understand what to do in this situation."

"Very well." He nodded, stepping around his desk and bringing his Predator with him, attaching it to his hip. Just in case. "You and I should speak to Garrus. Explain to him the meaning around what was done. Then, Subject Zero."

"Jack?"

"Yes." He nodded, noting that he should probably use her name rather than her designation if he wanted to avoid a fight. "Doesn't know you well. But, hates Cerberus. If you are being threatened with Cerberus interrogation, experimentation, she will be on your side. Then we speak to Pyrrha. Lastly, when we dock at the Citadel, the Commander."

"You have a plan…?"

"Yes." He had dozens, in fact, but he simply smiled and gestured towards the door. "Now, we had best not tarry. There is much to do."

"Right. I will follow your lead, Friend Mordin." He nodded and stepped by her, heading towards the door to the CIC only to pause as she added from behind him, voice low and almost ominous. "I do not want a fight, but this cannot stand, Doctor. I… Feel things I have never felt before. Anger. But I don't want to tear this ship apart and let the Collectors hurt all those people."

"I understand." He nodded, half-turning to speak to her directly, smiling even now for her gentle nature. He could see and hear how angry she was, and rightly so, but even now she only wanted to protect people… "Would you be doing this had you been forced the way Miss Nikos was?"

"I… I do not know." She answered quietly, the Salarian able to see the confusion written across her body. An android, confessed to be, and yet so easy to read.

So like a young woman that he found even more reason to doubt his assumptions about life and sentience. Fascinating...

"Nevermind." He shook his head, turning and holding a single finger up. "Focus on the objectives. Secure you and Miss Nikos' safety. Do not destroy the mission. These are all which matter right now."

"Right." She nodded, "Let's do it."

Smiling once again he turned away, letting it return to the more natural frown where she couldn't see. Penny was a fascinating creature, to say the least. Innocent, kind and gentle, even now with plenty of reason to truly snap. She wanted peace and understanding, not vengeance, and had gone out of her way to consider what she was doing likely even before coming to speak to him. Sweet, kind, good-natured and pure even after what was even to him, as an outsider, a clear betrayal...

Fascinating.

And something he would protect as well as he could.

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"Fuckin' cot." Zaeed grumbled, rubbing the crick in his neck and straightening his shirt. He wasn't a morning person at the best of times, he knew, but the awkward bed didn't help that. He gave his old girl, still broken and in pieces where he'd been working on her, a look and sighed, shaking his melancholy off and heading for the door. "Some goddamn coffee and eggs and you'll be right, old bastard."

Instead of an empty elevator, though, the doors slid open to reveal the old Salarian and the little 'tot. The first of whom looked pissed, hands clasped behind his back and shoulders rigid enough that Zaeed paused. A Predator rested on his hip, which he knew the alien didn't wear normally since he'd seen him plenty of times around the ship. His eyes flicked to Zaeed's and he frowned, clearly going over something in his head.

Zaeed knew a man on a warpath when he saw one, and he knew when he was being weighed up too.

"You look like you're about fuck somethin' up." He murmured, hand falling from his aching neck when he crossed his arms over his chest. "Somethin' you wanna tell me about?"

"We are going to wake Jack up and speak with her." Penny answered, the man finally turning to look at her.

And then blinking at the hard eyes he found, boring into his own with a pain he understood.

"You okay kid?" Her hands curled into fists and she looked away, Zaeed clicking his tongue and flicking a look between the two of them. Neither answered and he swore quietly. He should just let them be, he knew. Let them walk on and head to get his breakfast while they did whatever they were up to. "What's goin' on, Doc? I didn't know Penny could not smile, but right now she looks about ready to fuck someone up."

"Do you care?" The tone from the girl, so low and aching, gave him pause. When he didn't respond, she frowned and looked away, "You do not need to force yourself, Frien- Zaeed. I know you do not like me as much as I would prefer. So I would forgive your disinterest."

Okay, that had him concerned. 'Shit, you're getting involved…'

"Say I do." He growled after a moment, looking between the girl and the alien, who seemed more than willing to let her do the talking. Penny gave him a look that was clearly asking what he meant and he coughed. "What happens if I care, kid?"

"I would… Have things to tell you." She answered quietly, watching him with the slightest of smiles stretching across her face. "Things about myself, and something done to Best Friend Pyrrha. Something… Awful. After, we would speak to Friend Garrus as well."

'Fuckin' getting soft old man…' He sighed, chewing on the inside of his cheek. 'Let it go, let it go… Not your fuckin' business.'

"Why waste time?" He asked, already kicking himself for it but stepping into the elevator. The Salarian stepped to the side to admit him, keeping him pointedly on his right side where the Predator was. A snap-draw would be easiest there, Zaeed knew. The fuck was he stepping into now…? "Les' just get the scaly bastard down here with us from the get n' go. And wakin' a Biotic bitch up without food n' somethin' to drink is as piss poor an idea as they come."

"Penny?" Mordin asked from across the man.

"He makes a valid point." She answered, stiffening when Zaeed growled and laid a hand on the top of her head. "Z-Zaeed?"

"I like you just fine, kid." He rumbled, crossing his arms after a second and turning a glare on the smiling Salarian beside him. "And you didn't see shit."

"Saw nothing." He confirmed, shoulders easing and his smile easing into something that looked a lot less like he wanted to murder something. "Nothing at all."

God damn it, why couldn't he just keep out of it…?

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Her eyes cracked open as the door opened and shut, long enough for her to see Penny's back vanish beyond the sealed metal door, and Pyrrha sighed. She was off to start training with Garrus, or eat before, Pyrrha figured. But as she had no such duties, and frankly enough didn't want to be out and about, she simply rolled over to rest her head against the cool of the bulkhead and close her eyes again. Sooner or later, she'd have duties to tend to and thus be forced to go out and deal with everyone, but for now she didn't.

And for once, she wanted nothing more than to be left alone.

A chill, familiar wind on her brow told her that wouldn't be a wish which was granted, though. Well, if duty called, she supposed she had to answer…

"Good morning, Dark Lord." She sighed, sitting up on her cot and turning, blinking through a morning yawn she couldn't fight down. She could hear him breathing and turned towards it, murmuring around her fist, "I was worried that something had… Happened… To you..."

"Your concern is touching, child of mine." The God answered quietly, elbows on his knees and hands laced together, his chin resting on top of them. "I am well enough, though as you can see, much has happened."

Around them both, his hall had been reduced to rubble, piled in the barest hint of its shape. Even his throne, though intact, looked new and thus had been destroyed. Standing, she looked around them both to find his lunar world and the planets around it. Instead, she found them floating on what looked like a chunk of that world, drifting in the void and surrounded by the remains of the planets it had drifted alongside.

This… This wasn't his kind of destruction and devastation, it lacked any artistic meaning. And method to the madness.

"What happened…?"

"My brother and I warred." He answered simply, shrugging his dark shoulders and waving a hand at their surroundings. "Did you think a battle between the gods themselves would not devastate all? Our fight destroyed his world and then we came here and continued."

"Is it…"

"Over? No, I should think not." The god laughed and rose, the sound cruel and tired in a way that she never thought she'd hear from a god. The way he stood, he looked for the first time in her entire time of knowing him like nothing more than an exhausted person. "No, we have signed a… Truce, for the moment, while I speak to you."

"Speak to me?" She asked, "About what?"

"I saw what happened down there." He answered, making his way down his throne towards her, slowly shrinking down to a form that while still towering over her, fit a far more human size. Gently, he laid a hand on her shoulder and knelt, pulling her into a hug.

"O-Oh…" She murmured, arms coming up in surprise, unsure of what to do now with such sudden affection being heaped onto her from such an unexpectable source.

"I believe this is how Humans comfort each other. If I'm doing it wrong… Well, don't blame me." He murmured, unsurely patting her hair where it trailed down her back. She smiled and returned it, pressing her head into his chest and shaking her head. "I wanted to make sure you were alright, and my brother agreed to a truce while I did."

"I see." The God of Light wasn't evil or cruel, then, and even cared in some odd kind of way. "I'm upset," she spoke into his chest, "but all will be well. There are far greater concerns to deal with than Shepard's ignorant missteps."

"I suppose." He rumbled, rising and stepping back, sitting on the broken stairs that lead up to his throne and giving her a once-over. Quietly, and smiling, he offered, "I could erase her, if you like."

"No, Lord." She smiled, knowing precisely what he was doing, albeit in his own, paternal and strange way. "I don't want you to erase her, Lord. She made a mistake, and is needed to face the Reapers besides."

"Are you quite sure?" He asked, snapping his fingers to make a point. "Just like that and she'd be gone. Or perhaps I could give her cancer? A chronic disease of some kind? I could make sure it wouldn't kick in until well after the Reapers invade. A decade or so. Two if you prefer."

"No, thank you." She laughed, sitting on her cot and letting her smile thin. "To be honest, I… Simply want it to be left alone. We've bigger things to worry about, with the Reapers and you and your brother fighting. Which I don't like, by the way…"

"It happens." He shrugged, reaching up to play a finger along his horn idly. "Soon we will come to an understanding and move on. I… Suppose you face the same, don't you?"

"Yes." She nodded, smiling and moving to sit beside him instead of on her cot. He blinked as she settled in but said, and did, nothing about it. Smiling for his comfort with her, she spoke, "I suspect that there will be some time before all is well again, but… Priorities, as I said. And while ignorance does not beget innocence, I will explain what happened when Shepard has time and seek a better peace."

"Hm." He snorted, "I suppose I must do the same, then. I can't have my worshipper outdo me after all?"

"No, you mustn't." She laughed, again able to see him seeking a reason to be forced to do what was best. Quietly, she looked up at a large section of rock and smiled, asking, "That rock… Would you mind?"

"Hm?"

"It would be cathartic if it were to… You know…" With her hand she made a little 'explosion' gesture and smiled awkwardly, unsure of what to say. "If, um, you don't mind, I mean."

"What do you…? Oh!" His eyes widened, the figure shuddering with a small laugh and adjusting in his seat, pointing a single long finger up at it.

From the tip, a lance of bright violet shot forward and up, carving into and through the stone and detonating it with an unbridled, unmatched fury. Fury and beauty, exploding outward like a blooming flower with his purple light flowing between each shard. Then he turned his hand and that light lanced out again, each hunk of stone detonating once more into a bouquet of shattered rock, stone and purple power.

It was beauty through destruction and, for once, she could see it in all its uncontrolled, natural chaos.

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RR warning-

I have some longer Responses in here since last chapter was a doozy, and I wanted to address them. Sorry, unique situation and won't normally do it, but I made sure to hit the minimum word count in the story stuff not counting the ANs and stuff.

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Hamilton and York :

Why? And I mean this question genuinely, too, for future stories I make crossing these universes.

Insofar as the RWBY lore is concerned anything with a soul can have an Aura. Some headcanon that it's leftover magic, which I buy, but in this instance I am using the context of 'souls make Aura'. I don't intend on making Aura a super common thing for characters, but I see no reason that they can't have it.

Frosty Chops :

Glad you enjoyed it!

Glrasshopper :

Penny is very justified in being angry, and I hope this chapter - and arc - make that shit as clear as a well-polished window.

Angry Santo :

The precise reading I was hoping for when I wrote it. I mostly addressed the reasons why in the AN.

Torrent AB :

Yeah, this arc is called 'Burned Bridges' for a reason, lol.

Shokanabo :

It will not get swept under any rugs, this I promise you.

Steelrain :

Indeed! She's a sharp, hard and frigid Renegade, doing whatever she believes needed to guarantee the greater good. Such people can still do grave wrongs, though. As is the case here.

Indecisive Bob :

We have three instances of the Reapers getting involved. One is Sovereign and Saren, who only opt for subtlety at all to open the Citadel Relay and flood the galaxy with Reapers. The second example I will make is the ME3 invasion, but that is different for obvious reasons. The third, in ME2, is where the Reapers are confirmed to be abducting entire colonies. Further they are also confirmed to have been using the Collectors to do precisely this kind of esoteric experimentation for centuries.

They're not really that subtle at all is my point.

Penny was detected because a passive security scan detected massive quantities of some kind of cybernetics inside her. THAT is what caught their attention, a simple passive scan for bugs and monitoring programs going off. And without better knowledge of Geth and Reaper technology, of which they only have the former since Saren was upgraded with Geth bits tweaked by Sovereign, all they have to go on is that she's cybernetic at all.

And yeah, they have the Husk tech, but that's one type of tech. Compare your phone to your car and you will understand why that example of Reaper technology isn't useful here. Instead, they suspect augmentations or cybernetics, though even they aren't sure what they suspect.

Scans of Penny would have shown that she isn't using Geth technology. But they'd be forced to trust her when she says it isn't Reaper technology for the previous reasons. I actually had a long scene where they do just that, scanning her and being forced into the Aura question anyways since they wouldn't be able to identify this technology.

Seemed unneeded to me to add that, I guess.

As you say, the only other option is the weird secret colony or project run by the Alliance. Which Cerberus would know about due to their origin. Since they don't, though, that means that either magic soul powers exist or tech is doing it. And tech already lets people float shit with their minds, so...

Pyrrha proving that Souls power Aura since there can not be any tech in Garrus and there could conceivably be something in Pyrrha they can't detect concretely disproves that tech is involved. With Garrus' own word regarding Legion's seemingly non-hostile intent, they only have Penny's internals which while mysterious, everyone involved accepts aren't grounds to do anything but monitor them and let them prove what they say.

You and I have perfect information and thus know the Reapers lack the ability to make tech that could do these things. Shepard and Miranda, though, don't have that.

Whoo, holy shit but that was a long RR. I hope I addressed everything and if you have more questions, please DM me. I don't wanna pad the word-count too much with RRs.