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Requested by :

Espacole

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Garrus laid Pyrrha out gently, looking up as the Commander sprinted across the open grass towards them with all the considerable speed her upgrades gave her. He raised a hand with his thumb out to one side and waggled it in an old, Turian gesture that he had taught her during their hunt for Saren. In simpler terms, it meant 'down but not dead', and impossibly, the woman sped up for seeing it.

"Williams to Commander Shep-"

"Break, break, break, I need the air, Ash." The Commander cut the woman off, pressing a hand to her helmet as she slid to a place at Pyrrha's shoulder. "Commander Shepard to Normandy, I repeat, Commander Shepard to Normandy. We have a woman down, order medical to prep for inbound, code yellow."

"Oh, God…" Ashley's voice crackled over the line.

"Normandy." Joker's voice answered, "We are preparing to come down. Assuming the skies are clear?"

"Ash-"

"Cannon shouldn't target anything broadcasting an Alliance IFF." The Alliance soldier assured her, "I'm sure Cerberus broadcasts those."

"And regardless, I am in control of its parameters. It will not target the Normandy." EDI added, synthetic voice quiet, almost meek. "Also, for possibly important future reference, we do broadcast as Alliance friendly."

"Normandy descending." Joker said as soon as the AI finished, "Commander, broadcast your location. I can be there in less than two minutes. Medical wants to know if they're prepping for Turian anatomy or not."

"No, Vakarian is…" She flicked him a look and Garrus nodded, "Vakarian is fine, and I am, too. It's just… Just Nikos."

"Code yellow for one person?" Joker muttered, "Damn… Medical is prepping for surgery. Inbound now."

He turned and looked down at the wounded woman while they waited, andibles pinching in displeasure. Most of her lighter under-armor had melted away around her heavier, bronze armor, hanging off her in strips around skin burnt a blistering red in most places. And a darker, more worryingly dry orange in others. She was breathing, thank the Spirits above and, hell, thank the ones below, too, but it was raspy and rough, and she coughed every time she tried to exhale.

The rush of wind ahead of the Normandy's approach drew him out of his thoughts and he leaned down to cover her from it and the flying debris as best he could. Even before the gale had ended, he could hear the Kodiak's whining engines. He slipped his arm under Pyrrha's legs and arms and stood, hefting her as gently as he could manage and striding towards the Kodiak while the Commander kept an eye out, rifle ready.

The Collector ship may have left, but there was no guarantee drones left behind wouldn't come after them.

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Pyrrha groaned as she rolled onto her side, cold stone and dirt under her irritating her into wakefulness. Pushing herself up on her knees she looked around at a familiar, but no less eerie, stretch of grey rock and soil. To one side, distantly, she could see a great structure, long and imposing and towering over the grey landscape that surrounded it. Even in the dark, she could see… Things crawling along the roof like insects, mottled in a familiar wite and black that put a chill in her stomach.

"And that is why we are out here." A familiar voice chuckled, putting her… A bit more at ease. Turning, she looked at the towering figure of Darkness, looking out on the planet he called his domain with his hands clasped behind him. "I figured my pets would frighten you, though you should know they would never harm you."

"Truly?"

"Their instincts tell them who and what to… Well, hunt." He explained, still watching the stars above them. "One of my acolytes? Oh, no, no, no, they would never harm you unless you tried to abuse them. To push them into a fight. At that point, they're like any dumb animal."

"I suppose that makes sense." Beyond their evil nature, a Beowolf was likely merely a wolf in instinct. She remembered reading that they behaved as such in observations in the wild, if they weren't aware of any Humans nearby. Grunting and staggering to her aching feet, she pursed her lips and asked, "So… Is this the time I…"

"Came to see me because you died?" Darkness asked, sparing her a lavender-eyed look and chuckling as he turned away. "No, no, you're still breathing, for now. Though, not for lack of trying when it comes to dying."

"Rhyming, are we?"

"Evading my point, are we?"

She shrugged and defended herself, "It was no bigger a creature than most of the Grimm I have faced before, so I felt I could handle it. And, to be clear, I did kill it."

"Sure." Darkness chuckled, "With a bit of help, but you managed."

"I'm aware, but such is the purpose of a team, to cover and defend you from enemies that you cannot quite face." She nodded, smirking, "Or, as Nora put it, to blow up whoever is so mean that they won't let you blow them up for you, and who you pay back in sweets."

"She did do that a lot…"

"Mhm." Pyrrha nodded sadly, folding her arms across her chest, "And until Ren told me to stop, I gave her plenty of sweets as well."

"That sounds… Rather poor, as far as decisions go."

"Terrifying, as a matter of fact." Oh, when she'd found out Ren had done that… AND that she'd used up her favorite grenade, and couldn't replace it for a week she needed to order the materials in, but STILL didn't have cookies waiting? That had been a day and a half. Moving on, Pyrrha asked, quietly, "So… If I'm not dead, why am I here?"

"Oh, mainly to spare you feeling the absolute agony of having about half the skin of your body scorched off by high intensity lasers and then lathered in low-intensity acid, as well as having your lungs scorched by some kind of weird, alien vapor acid stuff." The Lord of Darkness answered frankly, turning to face her with a smile. "Oh, but you could handle it, right?"

"Oh." She blinked, "You are not very nice…"

"Oh, no, I'm just a bit distracted, you know how it is." He waved her off, "Being nice is so much harder when I'm busy sustaining your lungs from beyond the dark void right now."

"Oh, well… Thank you?"

"Mhm."

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Chakwas was waiting for them in the bay and was in the shuttle almost before the door had even opened all of the way, kneeling over Pyrrha's form on the shuttle-floor and scanning her as Grunt and Zaeed slipped around the doctor and knelt to heft Pyrrha up and allow Garrus to roll a small gurney under her. Its little engine whirred as it rose, lifting the battered woman up as Chakwas looked over her scans and followed, letting Grunt push it along behind her while Zaeed trailed behind, scowling and gnawing on an unlit cigar.

Shpard lingered, though.

And so did Garrus, standing beside her and growling under his breath, "Damn it…"

"She'll be alright." Shepard assured him, watching the door close and asking, quietly, "Aura… Heals, doesn't it?"

"Thinking of getting in on the club?"

"Getting in on the-" It took a second for her to register what the Turian had said, but when she had, she rounded on him and hissed, "Fuck you, Vakarian."

"Fuck me?" The Turian snapped and growled, shoving her away from him. "Fuck me?! For what? You did it once, coerced her into giving me Aura, so why not do it again? Who knows, it might be convenient!"

"Have I ever lied to you?" She demanded, shoving him against the hull of the Kodiak and stepping in, forcing him to stay there. Leaning forward, she met his eyes through her visor and asked, "In the entire time we've known each other, all the shit I've had to do, all the shit you've been there for. Have I ever, once, actually lied to you?"

"What does that have to-"

"Answer me, Vakarian." She demanded, heart pounding and aching in her chest. Quietly, she hissed, "Please."

"...No." He finally answered, eyes flicking between each of hers and mandibles perching anxiously. "You… You're a straight player, with the crew, at least. You don't lie to them. Us. But what-"

"Then you know that when I say this, I'm telling you the truth, so let it go." She hissed, voice low and cautious, afraid of letting everyone around her hear when her voice started to crack. "I fucked up, Vakarian. I know that, and fuck me, but I can't sleep some nights for it. So now I'm stuck, with shit spiraling around me, and I just hope I can stop the Collectors before the next god damn mutiny hits. But I will never let Nikos be put back in that position again, not even if it kills me."

"Shepard…"

"So please, Garrus, I…" She sucked in a breath and stepped away from him, turning away and collecting herself. Shoving the ache back into its box and turning to him, "Just lay off, okay? At least until the Collectors are dealt with."

She didn't wait for his answer, stalking away and slipping into the elevator and punching the command to go to her personal quarters. She needed a damn drink…

She was only two thirds of the way up when Joker chimed in over the elevator's speakers, "Uh, Commander, you… May want to get to the medical bay."

"Son of afucking whore- Why, Joker?"

"Uh, we have a bit of a… Geth... Problem?" That put a harsh chill down her spine and she snarled, flicking out a hand to hit the button for the medical bay's floor when it opened on her quarters. "Sorry, Commander, I know you… Well, yeah, anyway, what's weird is the Geth asked for you to come down?"

That was at least weird enough to take her out of her anger, and her frustration and… Well, other things she wasn't taking back out of the box.

Quirking an eyebrow, she asked, "It… Asked for me?

"Yeah, weird, right?" Joker chuckled, "Anyway, it's waiting for you, so, uh… Have fun, I guess? I don't know what to actually say here, sorry."

"Just…. Get us to Ilium, Joker." Their next two recruits were there, after all, and a decent enough place for her cew to get some proper leave besides. That would put her around ten team members… So just about twice her old team's size.

Surely that would be enough.

But of course, there was her other plan to get to… Maybe Ilium could help her get started on that, too, somehow. Nothing came to mind at the moment, but it had to be one of the better jumping off points. Only an army would be able to stop the Reapers, after all, and the Terminus was one of the best places for building up personal armies.

The moment the elevator door clicked open, she was confronted by Penny, who glared up at her and asked, "What happened?"

"Nikos fought something three times her size with a spear." Shepard answered candidly, stepping past her and turning towards the medical bay. The young Krogan and the old mercenary were loitering outside, glaring at the tinted glass like it had tried to stab them. Both turned as she approached and she sighed, "Here we go…"

"Shepard."

"Commander."

"Nikos went up against a Collector monster." She preempted them, flicking a look to either side and grimacing, "Where's the drone?"

"In there." Zaeed grumbled, jerking a thumb over his shoulder at the tinted window. "Fuck kinda thing did that?"

"And are there more?" Grunt growled, slamming his fists against each other and snarling lowly, like a feral animal. "My blood is roiling in my veins… I need something to kill. Soon. Preferably whatever did that."

"It's dead already, and I don't know what it was. It was… Something special, though, from the looks of it. And the way it acted." She answered both their questions, paying Grunt a moment of consideration.

He certainly looked like he was already in a fight, skin dark and eyes narrowed and searching the room. As if something to fight was about to spring out from behind a table to try and eat him. His fingers curled and uncurled, and he shuffled side to side on his feet, too. Reaching for his weapon and then stopping short and relaxing like he was forcing himself to.

Was he that concerned over Pyrrha's injuries? She hadn't expected that… Not of a Krogan, and certainly not from one that had known her for such a short time.

"I'm sure there'll be more of them out there." It hadn't looked malformed in any way, so it wasn't a prototype. Which meant the Collectors must have had plenty of them out there, just waiting. Slipping around the Krogan, she gave his arm a little pat and added, "Just try and hold on for a bit. Where we're going, I'm sure we'll get into some brawls."

"Where are we headin'?"

"Ilium."

"Oh, fuck me sideways." Zaeed sighed, shaking his head and gnawing at his cigar some more while he sauntered over to drop into a chair. "Fuckin' Ilium… 'Course it's fuckin' Ilium."

And apparently that was a thing, but it was one she was going to deal with later. Right now, she had something of a Geth problem.

The moment the door to the med-bay opened, Chakwas was in her face, "Commander, I swear to God, I am about to steal one of the marines' sidearms and shoot this thing if it doesn't get out of my way."

"Shepard-Commander." The machine greeted from beyond the doctor, standing over Pyrrha's unconscious form. Penny slipped by her and Chakwas both, joining the machine beside the bed and turning to look at her. "Chakwas-Doctor wishes to perform unneeded surgery on Pyrrha-"

"How do you know any of that?!" Chakwas snapped loudly, turning and waving hand at the two synthetics, "Neither of you were here when I decided to do surgery! And how do you know it's unnecessary?"

"During her time on our ship, we gathered data on her physiology, in case she was ever injured." Legion explained simply, its fringe-plates twitching almost anxiously as it spoke. "She was injured numerous times during her stay. Only minor injuries, but she never treated them properly. Only cleaned them, and allowed her natural healing ability to do the rest."

"Setting aside you spying on her-"

"We presume you are monitoring every member of your crew as well, for security reasons presumably, but also for health." The machine cut her off, swiftly adding, "Further, we presume you monitor our every maintenance cycle. It is acceptable to us."

Well.

It certainly had her there. Even the Alliance monitored the crew in almost every place except the bathrooms and bedrooms, and she was certain Cerberus didn't offer those exceptions. Which reminded her, she should ask Mordin to sweep her bathroom once or twice. Just in case.

But trusting a Geth's word…

It made her sick to her stomach, and conjured up images of long, blue spikes, running red. And mottled blue skin, mouths open and howling rage and dull, distant hunger. But Pyrrha trusted it, and had given up far too much trying to make Shepard trust her for Shepard to just reject it out of hand. So…

"Fine." She growled, forcing the words out around a tongue that felt like cotton. "What do you suggest, Ge- Legion?"

"Minimal treatment." It answered after a moment of pause, and an almost surprised flick of its flange plates.

Or… What she thought might be surprise. The Geth didn't have a face, after all, so even she was having trouble reading it. Turning away from her, it stepped over to Pyrrha's bed and looked down on her, reaching out to tuck a strand of hair out of her face. It was a strangely intimate gesture, for a machine, and it made Shepard think of a whole host of questions she didn't really want to consider about Geth psychology.

Which was a phrase she hadn't ever thought would occur to her.

"Set her fractures before her Aura begins healing them in the wrong shape. As a priority." The machine finally started to rattle, as if reading from - or maybe even compiling - a list. "Approximately forty percent of her skin is badly burned where her inadequate armor was melted away, but the burns are already healing. We would recommend surgically removing any dead or dying skin ahead of the healing, as well as a sanitization spread. Further, Pyrrha informed us that she intakes more calories than is the norm for female Humans of her age and weight demographics. Was this accounted for in her nutrient supply?"

"Chakwas." Shepard prompted, when the doctor only pursed her lips and eyed the machine warily.

"No." She finally answered, "She'd on Biotic rations, but I thought that was due to combat and training. Biotics don't need more than an initially high nutrient drip when they go in for long term treatments."

"Huntresses have Aura." Penny stepped in to offer from Pyrrha's other side, smiling thinly, pleasedly, at the fact that they were listening to her. Or, more likely, that they were listening to Legion. "Aura never stops working unless we consciously make it stop, or it breaks. In the latter case, even more nutrients than normal for us are required to rebuild that energy reserve."

"We would recommend Krogan ration levels, lowered by eleven point four percent, for the next twenty four hours." Legion offered quietly, "After twenty four hours, lower by an additional seven point four percent."

"That's…" Chakwas blinked, "A lot."

"Acknowledged, Chakwas-Doctor, but we are working off of estimates." Legion answered, turning back to them and bowing its head. "We would prefer to over-provide than not prove enough."

"Fine, I'll get the drip started right after setting her fractured shoulder and ribs. And I'll put a cleansing stimulant through her in a drip, too, to deal with the mild damage to her throat and lungs." Chakwas sighed when Shepard nodded at her seeking look. Frowning, she shrugged, "I suppose I should just consider her an alien..."

"It may aid your thinking process, yes."

"Now, both of you, out." Chakwas snapped, "Let me work."

Chakwas hadn't mentioned Shepard there, so she stepped to the side to let the other two leave. Penny went first, but Legion hesitated, stopping next to her and offering a quiet, "We are grateful, Shepard-Commander."

"Mhm." She nodded, jerking her head towards the door. The Geth got the message and left without another word, and she raised an eyebrow, "Doctor?"

"That thing was called a Praetorian." Chakwas explained, pressing a button on the terminal next to her that sent her a ping on her Omni-Tool. Then she bent over the woman, going to work as she said she would, and added, "Wear respirators when you fight the Collectors, going forward."

"I'll pass out the word." And equipment, too. Flicking the file open she skimmed and raised an eyebrow, "One of these killed everyone in an entire base?"

"Mhm." She nodded, already busy working on the sleeping woman. "It's toxic to breathe in whatever they put off."

"I'll leave you to it." Shepard nodded, turning to leave with a frown.

Now, about that drink...

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Guest Questioner :

I… Know all of that? That explains her racism and xenophobia - Turians did that to her family, after all - but it doesn't excuse it. One can understand the source of someone's bigotry and it would still be bigotry. She's also otherwise a decent enough person, but that's fairly normal, too, for this particular vein of bigot.

G119 :

Yeah, I miss it.

Merendino Miliano :

Thanks!

Simply Christian :

Yeah, it's just a colloquialism of mine and people near me. Like, I would say, "What's Geoff doing?" And my mom, who doesn't grill, would say, "Eh, just grilling nonsense." It's an expression of ignorance, not animosity.

As for the Praetorian…. You wanna talk rite of passage? My first run-through of the series was on Insanity. As an infiltrator. The Tela Vasir fight was the only one that gave me the same kind of spacing problem and massive, continuous damage fuckery.

See, though, I'm legitimately related - distantly, thankfully - to someone that thinks the same about white people. So, like, they're in an 'aryan militia'. He assumes and pushes that 'the coloreds' and other titles I would get TOS'ed into hell for saying will only look after themselves first, so white people should too. It's still racism.

Also, I interpret ME3 as a 'Sorry, Shepard, I can't spare Turian soldiers for Tuchanka because Palaven is on fire right now but if you can help there, I'll send over whatever you need.' The Turian military factually is responsible for their own colonies first. But notable, not their own race. How many Humans, Salarians, Hanar, Volus, etc, do you think were on any of their colonies?

Ashley doesn't ever argue 'the Alliance should defend ALLIANCE SPACE first' she argues that 'Humans should defend HUMANS'. The former is just pragmatism about the job of associated governments. The latters is… well, to me, racism.

And finally, if you notice, Shepard only mentions Thane and Samara in this chapter… XD