Chapter 24 – Now's not the time for tears

May 30th, 2186 – Location Unknown

Data Corruption… Automatic Reconstruction Failed…Data Corruption….Profile Reconstruction Required…

(Unknown User)

Twenty-Four Years Ago

It was loud outside and people were yelling.

"Mom? Mom! What's going on?" I asked.

I sat with my legs dangling off the edge of the bed and watched as my mom shoved a bunch of her clothes into a large, black bag. She had a big frown on her face that made me a bit nervous the more I looked. Outside the people were getting louder. I was starting to get a bit scared.

"Jack, we've got to leave! Now!" mom yelled.

Mom's friend, Uncle Jack, peeked his head into the bedroom with a big frown on his face. I'd been seeing him around the apartment a lot more recently. Sometimes he'd take me out to buy me snacks and even pick me up from pre-school sometimes. I was starting to like him. He looked worried too.

"I need another minute, I've got to—,"

"There's no time! We need to get to Parliament Square, that's where the shuttles will—"

"One minute, Martha!"

Mom gave an angry shout and punched the wall hard, startling me. I could feel myself begin to cry but I tried my best not to let mommy hear. She often teased me by saying that if I cried then she would start crying, because my crying upset her. I didn't want to upset her but it was hard. The shouting outside was getting louder and louder.

She whirled around as I began to sniffle and immediately rushed towards me. "Oh baby, I'm so, so sorry! Don't cry, mommy's here."

She picked me up and patted me on the back, humming softly. For a second I couldn't hear the shouting outside and I wasn't scared anymore.

Uncle Jack peeked back into the room, a large, black backpack slung over his shoulders. "Alright Martha, I'm ready, let's go."

Mom gently put me down, then grabbed my own backpack and helped me put it on my shoulders. It was very heavy and my mom had packed a lot of my clothes inside.

"Okay baby, we're going away on a little trip, okay? We're going on a spaceship! You love spaceship's right?"

I looked up and smiled at her. I loved spaceships, I wanted to pilot a big spaceship one day.

A loud horn blared outside and I jumped up in fear, looking frightfully out the window to try to spot the source of the noise, but I felt my mom gently cup my face and tilt my head back so that I was looking at her.

"Baby, I know you're scared, but I need you be brave, okay? Can you be brave for mommy?" she asked.

I wiped my nose on my sleeve and nodded. Of course I could. I watched as mom pulled out a big camera just like the one dad used to have and turn it on.

"I need you to stay close and hold onto my hand at all times, okay? And whatever happens, if I tell you to run, you run and you don't stop. You don't look back, understand?"

I nodded, getting a tiny bit scared once again. She took my hand and together we walked into the living room where Uncle Jack was tapping his foot impatiently outside. When he saw the camera in mommy's hand his eyes grew wide.

"Jesus, Martha! Why do you even—,"

Mom slid the camera beneath her jacket and rounded on him, she wasn't smiling and looked at him like she'd look at me when I did something bad.

"Shut it, Jack. You better not have grabbed anything I didn't tell you to grab, we're running late as it is," mom hissed.

Uncle Jack nodded and opened the door to our apartment. Outside I could see some of our neighbors standing over several large suitcases talking nervously to each other. There was Mr. and Mrs. Parker, sometimes I stayed at their place after school.

"Yeah, yeah, of course. Let's go, come on!"

Mom squeezed my hand and together the three of us left our apartment. I shot a worried glance at my room behind me. I hoped no one would steal my action figures.

The three of us moved down the corridor and towards the stairwell. I looked up. We were followed by many of our neighbors as well, also packed for a trip. Maybe they were going with us.

I was having a hard time keeping up, Mom and Uncle Jack were walking too fast and I was having trouble holding onto her hand.

I felt her let go, only for her to pick me up under my arms and carry me.

"Let's go, Martha! Move it!" Jack screamed.

I could hear another loud horn outside and feel the stairwell begin to shake. I wrapped my hands tighter around mom's neck while she gently rubbed my back. Mom was breathing heavily now, and above us I could see dust falling from the ceiling. Some of it landed in my hair but I quickly brushed it off, irritated.

We finally made it outside where a bunch of people were running and yelling. I looked up in the sky and saw a bunch of really cool spaceships making red lights.

"Oh God! Jack, they're here!" Mom cried.

Uncle Jack grabbed mom's arm and pulled her along the bustling crowd. "I know! Let's just keep moving, okay!?"

I could hear several large cracks coming from down the street, near my school, followed by more screaming. It sounded like people were scared. I clung tighter to my mom and buried my face deeper into her neck, willing the noises to disappear, but I was too frightened to say anything.

I heard another loud horn noise, really close this time, and felt a wave of heat wash over my face. I heard my mom scream and I squeezed my eyes closed.

When I opened them again, all the people that had been running behind us – Mr. and Mrs. Parker included – were gone.

"Baby, it's going to be okay, it's going to be okay! Just don't look!" mom assured me.

"Shit! Martha, look out!" Jack cursed.

I felt one of mom's hands come off my back and I saw her take her camera out of her jacket. She pointed it at a bunch of lumpy, red, weird-looking aliens and made some weird lights at them. They didn't look like any of the aliens I'd ever seen in my picture books.

The aliens made some loud noises and then fell down.

Mom put me down and I began running alongside her. Up in the sky I could see more of those cool black spaceships fighting Alliance ones. They looked like giant squids!

My mouth dropped in awe as I saw a big ship – an Alliance Dreadnought, just like the ones in my books – fire its gun at one of the squid ships. It was so cool!

I watched in amazement. Suddenly the squid ship emitted a loud horn and a bright, red beam of light hit the Alliance Dreadnought. It exploded in a loud whoosh that knocked all three of us to our knees. The light from the ship was very bright and I couldn't stare directly at it without my eyes hurting. I didn't like this anymore.

We all got back up and watched as the broken pieces of the Alliance Dreadnought fell onto the city.

"Oh my god, that was the Fuji," mom gasped. I slipped my tiny hand back into hers and she gripped it hard.

Uncle Jack grabbed my mom by the shoulders and shook her gently. "Come on, we're almost at Parliament Square."

Mom nodded and quickly looked at me. I nodded back at her and gave her a small smile that she returned. I was scared, but when I was scared mom wasn't happy, and I didn't want her to be unhappy so I tried my best to smile so she wouldn't know.

We ran for a little while longer, following behind a couple of people who were running ahead of us.

All of us were running towards a big field beside a park that mom and Uncle Jack had taken me to a few times before. In the middle were a bunch of spaceships and several men in armor carrying large cameras, yelling and pointing at people and then at the ships.

Some distance away I could see more of those lumpy red aliens. They were pointing their cameras at the men in armor and making bright lights at them as the men in armor did the same with their own cameras.

I watched as one by one the spaceships took off, leaving just one. One of them was immediately hit by a big red beam of light that caused it to blow up with a big flash. I covered my eyes with my hands as the pieces fell to the ground and the men in armor began shouting and yelling at each other. I was really, really scared now.

The people in front of us got aboard the spaceship. It was filled with people who all looked scared, some of them were even crying. There wasn't much room left.

Mom and Uncle Jack ran toward the ship but a large man in armor held out an arm and stopped them.

"We only have room for one more! There's going to be more shuttles landing in about five minutes!" the man screamed.

Uncle Jack immediately ducked beneath the man's arm and put one leg up on the spaceship but mom pulled him back. "What the fuck do you think you're doing, Jack?"

"Getting the fuck out of here, Martha! I'm not dying here!"

He tried once more but mom pulled him back out harder this time. Uncle Jack fell onto his back and started screaming at my mom. I shrank away in fear and looked at him. I had never seen him so angry before.

"Fuck you, Jack! Lisa was fucking right about you, you're a fucking coward!" mom screamed. The man in the armor looked at them uncomfortably. A few of the people in the ship had begun asking loudly to leave.

"Fuck you, Martha! Look the fuck around you! You fucking think anyone gives a shit about anything except getting the fuck out of here?!"

"I have a fucking son!"

"Fuck your son—"

Mom and Uncle Jack had never screamed at each other like this before. Sometimes they talked loudly and mom would take me out for ice cream or pizza afterwards but I had never seen them scream at each other like this. It didn't help that the other people were yelling and screaming. I took my hand out of my moms and pressed both my hands against my ears, trying to make the noise go away.

One second Mom and Uncle Jack were screaming at each other, the next second Mom took her camera out and made a bright flash at him. I watched, terrified, as he fell to the ground with a hole in his head and the man in the armor started screaming at my mom to put something down.

I felt her scoop me up again and hold me out towards the man in the armor. Just then another loud horn noise cut through the air again, really close this time.

My ears rang and I couldn't hear anything. I looked back at my Mom and saw tears in her eyes. She was screaming something at the man in armor but I couldn't hear what she was saying. I wanted to hug her and tell her to stop crying, like she used to do to me, but the man in armor had already taken me and was currently placing me on the spaceship.

"Mum? Mum!" I screamed. I tried to struggle out of the man's grasp but he was too strong. I didn't want to go with him! Why was he not letting me go? He put me in the seat and clicked a belt around my chest. What was going on?

The man struggled to hold back my mom who was trying to move towards me. I yelled desperately at him to let her go but he wouldn't listen. I watched as my mom pulled a shiny necklace out from beneath her shirt and showed it to the man. After a second he let her through before grabbing his camera to go join the rest of his friends.

My mom grabbed my face with both her hands and smiled at me. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she planted a big kiss on my cheek. Outside the yelling and the horns were getting louder. I could hear a lot of loud snaps and crying.

"Mom, why are you crying?" I screamed at her. "You're coming with me, right?!"

My mom smiled as more tears slid down her face. "No baby, mommy can't come with you, okay? She has to wait for another spaceship."

I could feel my chest tighten. I didn't understand, why couldn't she go with me?

I violently shook my head. "No! No mom! You have to go with me! I don't want to go without you!"

She shook her head again. "I can't baby, I can't. I love you okay? I promise, I promise you that I'll find you!"

I shook my head, harder this time. I tried to hug her to get her to come with me but she merely grabbed my hands and put her forehead to my forehead.

"I need you to be brave, I need you to be brave, okay? You're mommy's little soldier, I love you…" she whispered.

I closed my eyes and cried. For a brief moment I couldn't hear the spaceship's engines or the yelling or the loud horn outside. I only felt my mother's hands around my own and her forehead against mine.

I felt her kiss me one last time on the top of my head and then I felt her hands leave mine. When I opened my eyes again the door was beginning to shut and she was starting to become farther and farther. I stretched my hand as far as I could towards her. Why did she let go?

"Mom? Mom?! Mom! No! No no no! Mom!" I screamed.

I watched as she smiled at me one last time and waved. Finally the doors closed shut and the noises stopped. Tears rolled down my cheeks and I began to cry.

March 9th, 2211 – Citadel, Presidium — Presidium Apartments, Unit N6

Data Corruption… Automatic Reconstruction Failed…Data Corruption….Profile Reconstruction Required…

(Spectre Operative 04272182-Cloud)

My eyes snapped open and I immediately sat up in my bed, gasping. I could feel cold beads of sweat dotting my forehead and the back of my neck, and a dampness to my palms. My torso and my legs felt like I had just come out of a cold shower. I let myself fall back onto my pillow, pressed both my hands to my eyes and groaned quietly

Beside my bed on the nightstand lay my alarm clock. It currently read 18:20 Galactic Standard Time, or roughly four-thirty in the morning if you were to go by the Terran Coordinated Universal time. At least I'd gotten roughly six hours of sleep, or five if you went by GST. I still used the TCU on my clocks out of habit, something that I had been trying to kick for a while now.

That meant that the day-cycle would begin soon on the Presidium.

My stomach growled, reminding me that I had skipped dinner the night before. I glanced down at my omni-tool, noting that Elektra had left me a couple of messages. I didn't bother to check them. I wasn't really in the mood to deal with her shit right now, especially considering the fact that since I'd left the Hippocrates I'd barely gotten a week's worth of uninterrupted sleep.

I decided to get dressed, find some breakfast, and pray that the Council would send us our new orders soon because I was getting really sick of waiting around.

Unlike some of the other Spectres, especially the veteran asari ones like Leliana, I didn't exactly have the patience, time, or inclination to formulate an extensive list of informants and contacts feeding me information. Percival had a few in the Systems Alliance military but otherwise I mainly depended on the Council and my fellow Spectres to hand me my missions.

I preferred to rely on consistently demonstrating my talents and my abilities to make me the Council's first-choice for missions, same as Cade. It was easier than entangling myself in the web of bribes, favors, and payouts that some Spectres relied on to pick up a decent assignment. That and I was lazy, not a people person, and couldn't charm someone if my life depended on it.

My stomach growled again, more loudly this time, reminding me that food was of the topmost priority. I sighed, there wasn't any point in lying around now. I got out of bed and made my way to the refresher.

The cold water washed away my sweat and dispelled some of the residual fatigue and lethargy, bringing me to a passable level of alertness. I shampooed my hair and used a razor to take off what little stubble had appeared overnight.

I stepped out, feeling rather refreshed, and slipped into a pair of jeans and a plain black T-shirt. My knife went across my lower back and my kinetic shield generator went on my left hip. I double-checked my omni-tool, threw on my dark-blue leather jacket and left my room.

By the looks of it Cade was still asleep. His gaming computer was still on and his desk was covered with candy bar wrappings and old soda cans. I could hear the turian snoring in his bedroom. After I had returned from the Connor residence last night he'd still been playing Galaxy of Fantasy, trying to level up his turian rogue. He'd probably gone to sleep less than three hours ago.

I sighed and scooped up a bunch of his trash, throwing it in the mini-compacter we had in our kitchen unit, then quietly slipped out the door.

March 9th, 2211. The Citadel, Presidium — Serenity

Six weeks after the events aboard the SSV Hippocrates

I dug the heels of my hands into my eyes and slowly counted to ten.

The feeling of alertness I'd garnered from my cold shower had slowly evaporated as I'd made my way down to the Serenity. Sure, there were tons of places I could technically get breakfast, but few places I could get a drink along with it. And I'm not talking about fruit smoothies.

"Here you go, darling," smiled Callie. The young asari waitress set down a plate of scrambled eggs mixed with egg-whites, some roast vegetables, and a few slices of toast alongside a giant mug of steaming black coffee.

"Thanks Callie, give Ramsay my compliments," I nodded lightly. I tapped my credit chit against her omni-tool, adding a nice, big, tip. She had been in Steven's employ for about two years now and I was a frequent-enough customer that we both probably considered each other "acquaintances" rather than strangers.

Callie smiled again, then set down a second mug filled with kahlua, baileys, and two shots of expresso over ice. Beautiful, cold, and sweet, just the way I liked it.

The asari waitress gestured at my breakfast, then at my choice of morning beverage. "You know, that's quite the way to start your day. Rough night?"

I shrugged and took a large gulp of black coffee followed by a small sip of the alcoholic, sugary concoction. The sudden influx of caffeine began to pick up the slack that my cold shower had dropped.

"Something like that," I admitted.

Callie handed me some cutlery as I doused my food with pepper and salt. "I saw you the finish an entire bottle the other night. If you ever need to talk about it, you can always talk to me you know. Might do you a lot more good than drinking yourself blind."

I shoveled a bit of eggs in my mouth and tried to fight off a yawn that threatened to expose my half-chewed breakfast. "Thanks for the offer Cal, but I've got a handle on it, at least for now."

Callie shrugged and gently touched my shoulder before heading back towards the kitchen. "Suit yourself, love. The offer always stands."

The Serenity was actually relatively packed, even now. Most of the patrons were here for the food, I could see a couple of dock workers from various species seated together and even a few embassy workers chatting over breakfast. Light music drifted from an old jukebox and the room was filled with casual chatter. It was nice, easy to disappear in.

I finished my food and my coffee in about three minutes flat and then sipped tentatively at my drink. I had considered just ordering a whiskey on the rocks but I had been craving something a bit sweeter.

These nightmares were getting to be a bit too much for me to handle. I'd lost dozens of hours of sleep over the last six weeks to them and I was honestly starting to get a bit pissed. It was one thing to have to deal with those weird, new visions, but to have my old ones thrown in the mix as well? That just wasn't cool.

Maybe Callie was right. Maybe I should talk to someone, but the last person I'd tried to talk to had given me a list of names and had asked me to reach out to their kin in an attempt to both assuage my grief and help me work through my alleged guilt. Honestly, I think that I would have had a better time slamming my balls into a door. I wasn't too keen on doing anything like that again.

"There you are!" A familiar voice called out.

I turned my head and in walked Cade, Percival and Elektra. Cade had his standard hoodie over some wrinkled old T-shirt depicting the image of a popular band on Palaven while Percival had on some light-brown slacks and a garishly pink button-up.

Elektra looked as immaculate as ever. Her make-up looked professionally done and she was wearing a fashionable summer dress. Her long, brown hair was done up in a complex braid and she had what looked like an expensive handbag draped in the crook of an elbow. We four stuck out like sore thumbs amidst the sea of coveralls, company uniforms, and professional suits.

I dropped my head into my hands and groaned as all three of them slid into the seats beside me.

Percival picked up my finished mug of kahlua, baileys, and expresso and sniffed it. He wrinkled his brow and gingerly set it down. "A bit early for that, don't you think?" he asked admonishingly.

"Do they have a dextro-friendly version? It smells great," Cade asked. Like me he too had somewhat of a sweet tooth.

The big, blonde Spectre made a hushing movement with his hand and looked back at me.

"Is everything okay, man?"

I nodded and raised my hand to Callie, indicating that I wanted a refill for my diabetic harbinger and for her to bring Cade a dextro-friendly version. She smiled and moved to the kitchen as I clasped my hands together and starred at the bar, silently counting down the seconds until my drink would arrive.

Callie brought out another pair of mugs and set one down in front of me and the other in front of Cade. Before I could grab it Percival took it first and chugged half of it before I could even blink.

"Hey!" I complained. I grabbed the mug out of my friend's hand. "You can get your own you know."

Percival grimaced and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. "Nah, that thing is way too sweet. I don't know how you stay in shape drinking that shit."

"What are you talking about? It's perfect," Cade said as he took a sip. The turian sighed, then grabbed three more packs of dextro-sugar and added them to the drink.

"Dude…" both Percival and I said simultaneously. Elektra didn't say anything, she merely wrinkled her nose in disgust.

We all sat in relative silence as we watched Cade attempt to give himself type-2 diabetes. I suspected the turian wasn't too far off from his goal, considering the fact that I had cleaned five empty soda cans off his desk this morning.

I crossed my arms and waited for Percival to begin lecturing me like he always did for last nights shenanigans. Cade and Elektra must have both been thinking the same thing because Cade was looking at the two of us expectantly while sipping his drink while Elektra's brown eyes flitted back and forth between me and Percival. Percival and I?

Eventually the staring wore me down and I broke first. "How did you know where I was?"

Percival jerked his head at Cade. "Cade said you came home late last night, plus you weren't responding to any of our calls or texts. We pulled up your skycars navigational data and looked up where you were and where you'd been."

I inwardly cursed. That was a no-win situation, either I scrubbed the data and they noticed that I'd scrubbed it and get suspicious, or I didn't scrub the data and they could track me wherever I went on the Citadel. I heavily regretted linking my skycar computer with theirs, but in my defense it had seemed a good safety idea at the time. Cade had painted this awesome picture of him getting kidnapped by his political enemies and Percival and I tracking down the perps who'd mistakenly taken his car. Together we'd go in guns blazing and have a grand old time.

"We also pulled up the security footage from the Van Holt Apartments as well. Your striking is still pretty good but your grappling was sloppy, want some help with that?" Cade added.

I inwardly cursed again.

Percival shot Cade a dirty look before sighing and rubbing his eyes. "Cloud, we ID'ed all the perps there, including one Richard Reddinger. We also know you were in the Connor residence for over three hours."

My throat tightened up and I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. Why couldn't they just leave me the fuck alone sometimes? Why couldn't they take off the goddamn detective hats for one goddamn minute? The doctor gave me a list and now that list was finished, I didn't need any more psychoanalyzing. I just wanted to be alone.

My friend looked around to ensure that no one else was eavesdropping, then leaned in so that he could whisper. "Look, two of perps that cornered you are still in medically-induced comas and the rest of them are going to need anywhere between three weeks to three months to recover from their wounds, Surprisingly, Mr. Reddinger was in the best shape despite the obvious unwanted connection he shares with a certain individual."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes, the incessant mothering was really getting to me. It wasn't like six nobodies were going to take me down without heavy weapons, I hadn't even needed to use my biotics.

"They're fine, who gives a shit. They're all lowlife scum—."

"I don't give a shit about them, Cloud," Percival snapped. "As far as I'm concerned you did the Citadel a favor, but I am concerned about how you're goddamn coping with Sarah's death and how you're goddamn coping with these nightmares."

I narrowed my eyes at my friend. "How did you know about that?" I asked accusingly.

Percival and Cade both looked at Elektra. She bit her lip and looked away guiltily. "You talk in your sleep…" she admitted.

I scoffed again and shook my head. "Did Percival pay you to mother me when he's too busy to? Did he pay you to spy on me?"

Elektra instantly adopted a look of hurt on her face and I immediately felt a bit bad. That feeling went away almost as fast as it had arrived. She was only trying to help, sure, but it's not like she hadn't screwed me over before.

"No one paid anyone anything, you doofus. She's the one who asked us to come here this morning, Cloud. She's worried about you, as hard as that might be to believe," Percival explained.

Cade nodded vigorously beside him. "Yeah, I mean I don't know what the harpy's angle is, but Percival and I are definitely worried about you. Why didn't you tell us about how bad these nightmares had gotten?"

I sighed and hung my head in my hands for a few moments before resurfacing to face my friends.

"Because they're nothing, okay? Because they're stupid and annoying and idiotic and I don't need to make them a bigger deal than they are," I ranted. "Look Percival, she was just a name on my list and I promised I'd take care of her kid just like she asked, okay? I had to spend a few hours discussing it with the kid's current guardians and I'm sorry if I had to kick the asses of a couple of lowlifes on my way out."

I turned to my turian friend next. It felt like an out-of-body experience for me, to be saying so much so fast. I had a tendency to be a bit tight-lipped, and so for my friends to see me break that paradigm it had put them in a state of semi-shock, buying me the time I needed to say what I felt like I had to say.

"And Cade, on the ship you told me to get help. Well I got help. I did what you and the doctor asked and I got through the list, even if you thought that the list was stupid. I got through the list and I don't feel as if I need any more help, so I didn't say anything about these nightmares because honestly? I can handle them myself."

The words just came spilling out in. Some of what I was saying didn't make sense when I said it all out loud but it had made sense in my head. All three of them stared at me in silence for ten more seconds. God, I wanted to hit something so badly right now.

Elektra looked at me and I locked eyes with her. I'm sorry, she mouthed.

She wasn't sorry about ratting me out to Percival and Cade, that much I knew. Stuff like that had never bothered her before. However, she'd seen the security footage of me at the Van Holt apartments and had likely filled in the blanks herself. I'd known her for a long time, I knew exactly what she was apologizing about, or who.

I'd never talked to her about Sarah the other night. She had likely connected the dots after she'd taken her suspicions to my two friends.

Sure she was a backstabbing bitch but in her own weird, twisted way I knew she cared. She was technically my oldest friend, even though she had trampled on our friendship like a horde of angry krogan from time to time.

Biting back the anger and the rage welling up inside me, I forced myself to nod lightly to her, a subtle sign to indicate that all was good between us. She smiled at me.

The door to the bar suddenly slammed open and an immediate hush settled over the room as all the patrons stopped what they were doing and turned to look at the newcomer. The sudden loss of ambient sound caught the attention of all four of us and we turned look at the newcomer as well.

A massive, hulking krogan in a pitted and scarred suit of brilliantly red armor and black trim stomped menacingly into the bar, a freaking Geth Spitfire hanging from his back. From the looks of his headplate and the size of his hump he was old, probably approaching his sixth or seventh century of life. That was bad news, an old krogan meant only one thing – he'd successfully killed everything that had tried to kill him.

His headplate was a lighter shade of red and his one good eye was a brilliant shade of amber. His other eye was white and dead and sat unmoving in its socket as his good eye took in the room around him. He had a massive crack running diagonally across his headplate and the rim of his collar armor was covered in scorch marks.

He lightly pulled the Spitfire from his back and dropped it to the ground with a heavy thud. Those things weighed nearly thirty-five kilograms and were designed to be used by twelve-foot tall Geth Primes.

When the krogan spoke it was like listening to an earthquake. You felt it more than you heard it, not unlike the flanging of a turian's voice. It was deep, deeper than anything I'd ever heard before, quite possibly the deepest voice that I had ever heard in my life. If you were to anthropomorphize a goddamn mountain, I'd suppose it'd sound like that.

"Which one of you is the Spectre? Comes to this bar a lot," he asked.

I immediately got up out of my chair. Percival made to grab my arm but I shrugged it off violently. Cade's scaly face lit up with the biggest smile I'd ever seen and set his omni-tool to record while Elektra simply stared at the hulking behemoth with wide eyes. He was probably eight freaking feet tall and if I had to say, weighed five-hundred pounds, maybe five-sixty in full armor.

I whirled towards my friends. "If any of you do anything to try and fucking stop me or interfere in any way, I will fucking hunt you down. Let me have this," I whispered harshly.

"Fine," Percival hissed in irritation. "Get it out of your system, but if it looks like he's going to kill you we're stepping in."

Elektra merely nodded while Cade laughed merrily. The turian was basically rubbing his hands together in glee. I pulled both my arms above my shoulders and stretched, then twisted my upper torso side to side a few times to loosen up. It had been a long, long while since my last bar-fight.

I marched towards the krogan until I was maybe two feet away. I barely came up to his chest.

"That'd be me," I told him. Nice, I congratulated myself. Short, simple, and sweet, no need for some shitty, badass quip to establish me as some kind of fucking suicidal idiot, the kind that talks a bigger game than he brings and then gets his ass handed to him on the floor of some dirty, rundown bar.

"Blue eyes, pale, though I wouldn't exactly describe you as gray," the krogan grumbled deeply. I furrowed my brow in confusion at his cryptic response.

"What are you—"

Alas, I didn't get to question finish questioning him about his awkwardly-worded characterization of me because he immediately shot his head forward in an attempt to headbutt me.

Fortunately I had anticipated that and slipped aside just in time. A successful headbutt would have probably but me in a coma a hundred times worse than what I'd done to Reddinger's henchmen last night, but I'd fought krogan before. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred if their target was standing within headbutting distance, they'd go for the headbutt.

Unfortunately for me the headbutt was a feint, leaving me unprepared for the heavy, armored hand that struck me palm-first directly in the chest.

It felt like I'd been hit by a battering ram. It knocked the air out of me and slammed me into a table currently occupied by a pair of quarians. I groaned in pain and struggled to catch my breath, the motherfucker had probably fractured my sternum. What a motherfucker.

Percival and Elektra both looked at me in stunned horror but otherwise respected my wishes not to interfere. They knew that I could handle myself, plus a heavily-armored krogan versus a Spectre clad in nothing but jeans and a T-shirt was definitely something you didn't get to see every day.

"You go girl!" crowed Cade. He laughed and whooped out loud and before I knew it the bar began to slowly erupt in slight cheers. Now this was bar-fighting.

The quarian girls scurried away as the krogan stomped towards me, each footstep causing the floor to reverberate loudly. My mind flew into overdrive and I started to look around for anything that would even the odds. I immediately grabbed one of the mugs and threw it at his one good eye.

The mug shattered into a thousand pieces on his face and he was forced to cover it with his one arm as he continued towards me. I threw another one that shattered against his armored vambrace but that failed to halt his advance.

He made his way over to where I'd landed with one hand covering his good eye and then immediately brought his other fist down on the table, splintering the thing in half like it was made of matchsticks. The cheers from the patrons around the bar had begun to morph into shouts of terror and fear as the krogan roared in anger. The room trembled as he roared and I could feel the soundwaves shake my very bones.

But I had already slipped away before he'd landed his blow, having used the mugs to limit his vision as I made my escape.

I was behind him by the time his fist destroyed the table, allowing me the opportunity to stomp as hard as I could on the back of his knee.

I stifled a curse as the krogan barely buckled, the armor was too damn thick. I'd need a better tactic if I wanted to kick his fucking ass.

His arm swung around again and I just barely managed to duck beneath it. The motherfucker was goddamn fast.

"Stop this, man!" Percival called out. "It's getting out of hand!"

"Stay the fuck out of this, Perc!" I yelled at him. "I can take this fucker!"

I threw another mug but this time the krogan merely tucked his head down instead of covering his one good eye, causing my mug to shatter harmlessly on his headplate. He growled and I could feel the harmonics behind it reverberate through my bruised chest.

I was half-tempted with the idea of using my knife to even the odds, but since the krogan hadn't simply decided to unload into a crowded bar with his Geth Spitfire, I decided to be a bit lenient. I'd let him off with a light warning, this time at least.

I raised my hand, blue energy coiling around my fingers, and hit him with a powerful biotic Throw.

The wave of cobalt energy slammed into the krogan and hurled him into a wall, where he collapsed to his knees amidst a pair of broken tables and a couple of broken chairs. A couple of the waitresses screamed in alarm, I'd have to pay for that.

"I'll pay for that!" Elektra called out.

"Hell, I'll be able to buy Steve a new bar once I upload this to the extranet," Cade grinned and whooped. Fucking comedian.

I watched as the krogan struggled to his feet, threw back his head, and laughed uproariously.

"Ha! They didn't say you were a biotic!" he chuckled.

I stood with my feet planted and my arms covered in whispy blue tendrils of biotic power. "And they didn't say I'd be kicking some old toad's ass first thing in the morning but here I am."

That was cheesy, but I was really getting into it.

The krogan laughed again, then picked up a broken chair and hurled it at me like it was a child's toy. I managed to erect a barrier just in time to stop it from colliding with my face. He picked up another chair and sent it spinning into my barrier where it also smashed into pieces against it. Whatever, the furniture was ugly anyways, that's why I always sat at the bar.

"What's the matter, kid? You don't wanna fight anymore?" the krogan jeered at me.

He threw another broken chair, then a piece of the broken table, all of it impacting uselessly on my barrier.

The krogan chuckled again. "Fine, if that's how you wanna play."

He grabbed a salarian that had been cowering nearby and threw him at me, screaming. To clarify the salarian was screaming because the krogan picked him up and threw him like he weighed nothing more than a basketball. I really want to hammer in exactly how strong you'd have to be to pick up a one hundred and twenty pound, man-sized object and throw it across a room.

I cursed and dropped my barrier to catch the salarian. He collided bodily with me and knocked me on my ass onto a pile of broken glass. Fucking ouch.

I tossed the salarian aside just in time to roll out of the way of a heavy, booted foot aimed straight at my head. The tiles where my head had been just moments before cracked in two, exposing the polysteel foundation beneath. I'd have to pay for that too.

From where I was laying I brought my left hand up in a gripping gesture that hit the krogan in the side, freezing him in place and buying me the time I needed to scramble to my feet and regain my footing. I had to end this fight soon, but I couldn't throw a Singularity in here without endangering the patrons and I doubted a Warp would do the job.

I stared at the krogan in surprise as he began to slowly move in place, the old toad was fighting off my stasis.

Before I could come up with a plan he had already tore himself out of it. He aimed a flurry of heavy-handed strikes that I dodged as I desperately backpedaled in an attempt to put some distance between it and myself.

"Stop dancing and fight already," grumbled the krogan.

"Yeah! Stop being a girl and fight him!" cheered Cade. Elektra shot him a vicious look that the turian ignored as he continued to gleefully film the fight.

Eventually fate caught up with me and I slipped on a plate, landing on my ass. The krogan picked me up with one hand and hurled me over the bar, right past a shocked Percival, a mortified Elektra, and a scaly fucking asshole with a highly punchable grin on his face.

I got up immediately, shoved the recording omni-tool out of my face and vaulted over the bar back into the fight with an angry snarl, my biotics flaring up and down my arms, only to be forced to duck beneath another blow aimed at my chest. I wreathed my whole body in biotics, increasing my mass, and dove low for his legs, ducking beneath his attack, wrapping my arms around them and using my increased bodyweight to bring the hulking krogan to the floor.

He went down with a grunt and I proceeded to straddle him and rain a series of blows into the softer plates around his eyes, careful to avoid cutting my knuckles on his headplate ridges. With the heavy armor he was wearing, I couldn't strike anywhere else. Arm bars were pointless against a creature that big and I wasn't willing to use my knife just yet. I had to tire him out.

I then did the cheap thing and spat in his good eye, forcing him to blink to try and clear it and allowing me to avoid a few of his retaliatory strikes. Thankfully that expresso, baileys and kahlua mix had gotten me really phlegmy, and I was able to buy a good three or four seconds with that maneuver.

"That is disgusting!" Elektra shuddered.

"Fighting dirty, respect!" Cade cheered.

Eventually the krogan decided he'd had enough. With a loud roar he grabbed me by the neck, peeled me off, then got to his feet with his hand still wrapped around my neck, lifting me like I weighed no more than a child.

I'd had enough too. I pulled the Talon combat knife from behind my back and sliced it across his fingers, causing him to roar in pain and drop me.

Instead of dropping to my knees and gasping for my breath, I ignored the lactic acid in my limbs and backpedaled immediately into a fighting stance with the knife held before me, warily awaiting his next move.

But the krogan didn't attack again. Instead he stood there, sucking away blood from the knuckles on his injured hand while his one good eye stared menacingly into mine. He wasn't even breathing hard.

Around us the patrons had all fallen into a quiet hush, including my friends. They kept as close to the walls and as far away from us as possible but so far none of them had left, not even the salarian he'd picked up and thrown at me. All of them were fully invested into watching this showdown, even the bar's employees. Nearly a third of the bar and its furniture lay in ruins around us and not one of them had deigned to interfere. To be fair, the krogan bouncers usually didn't get in until the night shift.

To the audiences' dismay, the tension in the old krogan's shoulders disappeared and he dropped his arms to his sides in a cessation of hostilities. Thank god, fighting to subdue wasn't my strong suit. I suspected I'd accrued at least a dozen hairline fractures in my cheek and would probably need a scan of my chest to ensure that he somehow hadn't driven my ribs into my lungs. I'd be feeling this for days, even with treatment.

"Is this the part where you tell me I've got a quad?" I asked.

His chuckle could be felt throughout the room, like an earthquake or the shifting of a mountain. "No, this is the part where I tell you that if we go any further one of us is going to end up dead, and my daughter will kill whichever one survives," he said.

I sheathed my knife and spat out a wad of blood onto the ground. Everywhere hurt, and I think I'd need to get some stitches on my ass after this from the broken glass I'd fallen on. "Fine, I'd hate to have to die to a girl anyways."

The krogan gave a bellied laugh and wiped a tear from his one good eye. "You do have a quad, Spectre, that much I'll give you."

"Oh, come on!" Cade groaned. "That's it? Lame!"

Percival cuffed the turian on the back of his fringe. "Cade, shut it!" he hissed.

I tensed up involuntarily as the krogan marched towards me and I could feel the entire bar tense up too, but I relaxed as he brushed past me to pick up the Geth Spitfire he'd set down upon entering the bar and clipped it to his back.

The old krogan turned back towards me, his one good eye glinting promisingly while his dead one sat lifelessly in its socket.

"Maybe you'll be good for my little girl after all. But if you hurt my daughter, I promise you I'll rip it out and shove it up your pyjack ass. Then I'll reach down into your throat and shake your hand," he grumbled.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I spat, confused.

The krogan didn't deign to answer. Instead he shoved open the door and turned to leave, but before he did he looked at me one last time. He raised a meaty arm and jabbed an armored finger in my chest.

"Don't you break Camilla's heart, Cade," he said before he stomped out of the ruined bar.

As one, my friends, then the whole bar all looked at the turian. Percival wearily buried his face in one hand while Elektra glanced between Cade and I in utter confusion, her mouth utterly agape. The grin had evaporated from Cade's face and his mouth was slightly open in abject surprise. The red recording light on his omni-tool continued to blink stubbornly.

I glared angrily at my friend and sighed. God fucking damn it.