Shepard rolled away from the light coming through the window with a groan. Her finger tips came into contact with something hard and warm. She smiled despite the pounding hang over headache, and moved closer to Nihlus. When he didn't roll towards her and pull her into an embrace she lifted her head and looked down at him. It was a rare spectacle that she woke up before him, but here he was still sleeping. He was on his back, the sheet tangled about his waist the only thing covering him, his head faced away from her with his arm over his eyes.

"You don't look like some big bad ass Spectre when you sleep." she said, leaning over to give his mandible a quick kiss. She slid out of the bed and stretched her arms high above her head until her back let out a crack. "Ugh, I'm getting so stiff lately." she groaned, rolling out her shoulders. "Alright, you sleep in for once, I'm going to go take a hot bath and work out these kinks." she ordered the sleeping turian. When he didn't respond she smiled and slid out of the room.

Joker, Kaidan, and Kolyat were all crowded around the TV asleep, Star Fighter sitting on a pause screen and bottles scattered about. She smiled again, softer than the ones she let people see. She turned off the TV, picked up the bottles, and covered each of them in a blanket.

"Mom…?" Kolyat muttered, waking up slightly as she pulled the blanket over him.

Shepard paused. Sometimes she forgot that Kolyat was still a little kid. "Hey…" she said, kneeling down beside him and cupped his cheek in her hand. "You get some sleep." she said softly, rubbing her thumb along the deep red skin around his cheek.

"Mk…" he muttered and rolled over, pulling the blanket tighter around him.

With him lulled back into sleep she stood back up and continued her path to the bathroom. 'I wonder how Kol's mom is doing with him being a run away.' she thought as she stripped. 'Funny how you don't think about these kind of things… I've been so focused on getting my crew back that I've been ignoring the crew I have now.' She turned on the water and settled herself down in the bottom of the tub, watching the water as it slowly rose up her body. 'And then there is the whole sort of relationship with Nihlus… If this was Alliance Brass it would be completely against regulation. Maybe there is a reason for that…' she thought, wiggling her toes as they were consumed by the water. She didn't want a personal relationship to put her crew at risk, but she couldn't selflessly give it up either. 'If I was still in gymnastics it would be even stricter about it.' she added. Olympic gymnast coaches were really strict about their trainees dating. It was an unneeded distraction and getting pregnant would be devastating to season.

She leaned back as the hot water pulled out her aches and thought more about her childhood.

"You need to get higher if you ever want to finish that last flip." her coach drilled.

She panted, taking a long drink from her water bottle and wiped the sweat off her brow. "If I try and fit in anymore flips I'm going to get hurt." she protested.

"Not if you get higher." he said and pointed to the start of the mat. "Now do it again."

She glared at him. "All the other girls have already left for the evening, if I stay any later I'm going to miss dinner." she spat at him.

He grabbed her by the upper arm and dragged her to the start of the mat. "They all accomplished their exercises." he said and let her go. "If you can do this maybe missing dinner will be good for you, teach you discipline and help you drop the extra weight."

"I am only one hundred ten pounds and nearly five foot four." she said, crossing her arms in protest.

"And you can't get high enough." her coach countered, matching her pose. "Maybe we need to call your parents, again?"

She flinched slightly, not needing to hear her father rant about how much money he was spending to let her go to this boarding school. "Fine," she muttered and turned to face the spring board at the end of the mat.

She took a deep breath before sprinting towards it. She jumped when she got to it, forcing her weight down as hard as she could so it would send her the highest possible. As the spring board pushed her up she jumped with all her might, forcing her high into the air. The flips were muscle memory. She could feel herself falling and instincts told her it was time to right herself, but she needed to get that last flip in, so she went for it. Her body spun one final time and she righted herself just in time to meet the ground with her feet, only her right foot landed sideways. She went down, her ankle rolling under her weight. She hit her head on the spring board, making her black out for a minute. When she came to her ankle was throbbing painfully and she was in her coach's arms.

"That will be all for today." he said, his voice kinder than he normally talked to her or any of his charges. "You got the final flip in, we just need to work on that landing." She looked away from him, a glare on her face. She had told him she couldn't do it, she had been right and now she was hurt. "I'm proud of you." the coach continued. "I think that is one of the few times you have trusted your body and not your head."

"I got hurt." she muttered sourly.

"It's just a rolled ankle, we'll wrap it and keep you on easier exercises for a day or two, you'll be fine." he said as they walked the nearly empty halls of the boarding school.

"Wait… this is the way to the dorms, I haven't eaten dinner." she protested, trying to get out of his arms.

He held her tight, knowing if she got away she would hurt her ankle more. "Dinner is already over, you'll have to wait for breakfast." he said, keeping a firm grip on her.

She shook with anger, knowing if she called him the names on her tongue that her light exercises could start increasing in difficulty.

The coach dropped her off in her room. Once he left she grabbed her ankle wrap from her nightstand and started wrapping her ankle.

"You shouldn't be walking around on it." her roommate, whose name escaped her, lectured her.

"Shut up and keep quiet." Shepard said as she stood up, her ankle wrapped tight enough that it didn't hurt. She quickly changed out of her leotard and into casual clothes.

"You are not going out again." her roommate ordered, stomping her foot. "Whenever you sneak out I have to cover for you and if you're found out we will both get in trouble."

"Then don't let me be found out." Shepard said with a roll of her eyes and slipped out her window.

She snuck through the grounds until she came across a narrow alley blocked by a gate. Scaling the gate was easy, finally putting the training they gave her to a good use. From there all she had to do was walk down the alley and she was out on the streets of New York City.

She smiled wide as the lights and crowds surrounded her. She took a deep breath of the air, it wasn't clean like back home, but it was free. Her roommate would never understand why she snuck out, but her roommate didn't feel caged in that prison of a school. A member of the crowd bumped into her and she took the queue to start walking, keeping pace with the crowd. She stopped at a McDonalds, staring at all the fattening foods that looked amazingly delicious. Oh she wanted to go in, to eat as many fries as she could before she burst at the seams, but even in her freedom she had restrictions. Instead she went to a small health restaurant a block down, ordering herself a small tofu burger, a large helping of kale salad, and a small banana smoothie. It wasn't fries, but it was filling and still good. The shopkeeper knew her from her previous visits and even gave her an oatmeal cookie on her way out. Cookies were something she never got to do. The last time she had a cookie was nearly a year ago. The sweet, gooey cookie broke up on her tongue, filling her taste buds with a rare and treasured flavor. It was odd out much she valued that simple cookie, even in the present.

Now that she had food in her stomach she made her way to a movie theater, standing on her toes to see through the crowd of people gathering around the ticket booth. A boy around her age waved her over and she smiled, slipping through the crowd till she was by his side.

"You're late, babe." he said, slipping an arm around her waist to pull her into a kiss.

"Coach kept me over, again." she explained and followed him into the theater. He lead her past the theaters and into one of projector rooms. "What are we doing?" she asked as he shut the door behind them. "I thought we were seeing a movie."

"No, I promised you something special tonight. And access to the projector rooms is just one of the perks of working at the theater." he said, pulling her further into the room. On the other side of a shelf of movies there was a rolled out sleeping bag.

"What are we taking a nap?" she joked, giving a slight chuckle. She had a pretty good idea that isn't what he had in mind, but she had no clue how to handle a situation like this.

"Come on, you're not that dense." he said and pulled her to him, forcing his lips to hers.

"Donnie, hang on, I don't know if I want to…" she said, pushing him away.

"Come on, babe, we have been dating for a few months, most people have sex way before this point." he said, pressing her against his forming erection. "Besides you are always complaining about that school of yours and the rules. Why don't we break the biggest one? Really ruffle their pompous feathers."

She bit her bottom lip, debating it. She thought over the events of early that day, of her ankle that was starting to throb despite the wrap. "Alright," she said, giving him the go ahead. He grinned started undoing the front of his pants.

She sighed, slipping further into the hot water. Losing her virginity in a movie theater projector room was far from romantic. The other times they did it there wasn't any more romantic, even when Donnie tried to help the mood one time with candles. She wondered what he was up to now a days, wondered if he was still mad that she had just disappeared when she was expelled from the boarding school a few months after that memory. Back then her relationship was solely to piss her coach and parents off. Her relationship with Nihlus would surely piss her parents off, they weren't very open to multi-race dating, let alone multi-species.

She laid in the hot water, letting it grow cold around her and her fingers get shriveled. She was debating getting up when there was a knock at the door. "You alive in there?" Nihlus voice carries through it.

"Yeah, just enjoying a hot bath." she said, sitting up.

"Well, I'm coming in, I have to pee." he said, overriding the lock on the door.

"Nihlus," she squealed, tripping over herself as she desperately reached for a towel. "I'm naked."

"I see that," he said, his eyes looking her up and down as she managed to hold the towel around her front, it gave her cover at least.

She sighed, running a hand over her face. "Of course you don't care." she muttered.

"Not true, I care about you being naked." he said, going to the toilet.

She turned around, a blush across her face, as he undid his pants. "What if anyone saw you come in here?" she tried a different path.

"They are all sleeping," he assured her.

"And if they wake up?" she asked, adjusting the towel so it was fully wrapped around her.

"It's around five in the morning, you all don't normally wake up until around nine." he said as he finished. "Which reminds me, why are you up?" he asked as he slipped behind her, his hands wandering over her hips.

She tensed a little as his fingers skirted the edge of the towel. "Couldn't sleep I guess," she said with a shrug.

Nihlus sighed at her unease of his advances. He thought back to last night, at how willing she was, how wanting. 'You never get like that sober.' he thought sadly. "I love you…" he said.

She didn't respond in words, instead she leaned back against him and put a hand over his. It was enough, having her relax in this situation; she even closed the distance between them.

xXx

They stayed in that hotel room for five days, and as far as Shepard is concerned it was three days too many. She had managed to keep herself busy for two days of sitting on her ass in a hotel room that as time went on seemed to get smaller. Finally Nihlus told them to suit up, the new ship was ready for them.

"We should go find some merc's to beat up, bring in the new girl in right." Shepard said, keeping pace with Nihlus, looking back to make sure the other three were following ok.

Nihlus chuckled, "Actually the Council contacted me about an intel mission they want me on." Nihlus filled her in.

"And when were you going to tell me we had a job?" she asked, bumping into him playfully.

He pushed her back a bit. "Don't get snippy, the mission didn't come in till this morning," he assured her. "There is a research base in the terminus rumored to be researching biotics with… less than moral means."

"Biotic? That's what I am right?" Kaidan asked, moving up beside Shepard.

"It is what you might be," Nihlus corrected. "Even people without biotic abilities can gain them with the use of red sand, but the amount you took and what you did with it don't match up."

"In short, you may be special, or you may be a druggie." Shepard said with a laugh.

Kaidan opened his mouth to respond, but he couldn't think of anything decently snarky reply to counter with. "Yeah… I hope for the former." he said, giving up trying to be clever, Shepard would win anyways with her silver tongue.

Shepard sighed and turned back to Nihlus. "So research lab, not as fun as beating up mercs, but it'll do, so long as I can stretch my legs." she said, smiling wide under her helmet when they reached the loading docks. She searched among the docks until she found one listed under Kryik, her omni-tool instantly translating the digital words for her to understand. She would never stop being amused by it. If she looked at the words from the corner of her eye they were foreign, in a script that she assumed on turian, or salarian, or asari; but when she looked at it head on it was in plain English. Come to think of it the language would probably just be called "human" in this new society, once humans knew about the new society, once the new society knew about them.

"This the ship?" she asked, pointing to the dock as she looked back at Nihlus.

"Should be," Nihlus replied, a few paces behind her with Joker, Kaidan, and Kolyat bringing up the rear.

Shepard smiled wider and ran down the dock. Nihlus shook his head, about to run after her when he noticed a couple asari standing nearby, looking at the direction Shepard ran off in. "That's weird, I didn't understand that…" one of the ladies muttered.

"I know, it's not our omni-tools, she is an asari, right?" the other asked, pulling up her omni-tool to try and identify the problem.

Nihlus rushed the other three ahead, switching himself to the rear. They wouldn't be able to keep the new species under wraps for much longer and Nihlus feared the potential reaction on both ends. A new species wasn't always integrated easily, hell some were completely rejected, their mass relays shut down, like the yahg.

He tried to shake off the dread as he spotted his new ship. Beside it was Kaidan and Joker, waiting to be let in. Shepard and Kolyat stood a little ways away and she appeared to be trying to teach Kolyat to dance like her. His mandibles flared in a smile as he slowed his steps to watch her. She moved her body like it was water, starting a movement at one point and let it flow, evolve, as it rippled through her body. Even in the heavy armor she was graceful.

Kolyat watched her and shook his head, obviously saying he couldn't mimic what she did. He could picture her laugh, the smile across her face, knew that she was telling Kolyat that he could. She put his hands on her hips and moved slower, letting him feel the movement, and slowly he started to move with her, a smile on his face.

"Dancing lessons?" Nihlus asked, making Kolyat pull away too quick, the red skin on his neck darkening. "Why haven't you ever offered to teach me?" he asked Shepard, accusingly.

"Because you already know how to dance." she said, rolling her eyes. "Anyways, you going to let us in so we can get a move on?" she asked, going to the ship and tapping the outside of the airlock.

He chuckled and pulled out the electric key, hitting the button to open the airlock. "I think all of you will be pleasantly surprised." he said, sliding inside with the rest as the airlock opened fully.

The door shut behind them, allowing the humans to pull of their helmets. "Argh… how do I…" Joker grunted as he jerked at his helmet "this thing off?"

Shepard went to help him, but Kaidan beat her too it, helping Joker find the releases and slide the helmet off.

"Yeah… I'm done with tin suits and 'field work.'" he said, going to the pilot seat as soon as the door opened to the rest of the ship, the decontamination finished. He slid into the oversized leather chair, built for a turian obviously. "If you need me I'll be right here." he said, settling himself down with a sigh of relief, glad to be back at the helm.

"You don't even want to see the rest of the ship?" Nihlus asked, starting to walk after the other three who already went to investigate.

"Nope, I'll see it whenever I have to pee, for now I'm good right here." he said, pulling up the different systems in the ship, getting himself familiar with it as quick as possible.

"Suit yourself." he said, heading down the bridge and into the common area at the end of it.

"Hallways are more narrower, but other than that we have a lot more space." Shepard said, moving about the longue. "The full bar is a bit much, doesn't the council already think you are an uncontrollable alcoholic taking in strays?" she asked.

He shrugged, "If I had to upgrade I was going to do it right." he said simply.

"And the fish tank?" she asked, moving to the fish tank build into the wall over the wrap around couch.

"It's classy," he defended.

"They are going to die." she sighed, going into the kitchen area. The common area had an open concept, where there had to be walls there were large, thick glass letting you see to the other side, still Nihlus followed her.

"Plotting to kill my fish?" he asked, watching her look through the food storages, nodding in approval at how everything was better categorized by levo and dextro, even the dishware was color coated.

"What is going to happen when you go on a mission for a few days, they'll starve." she said, turning to look at him, leaning back against the counter, bracing herself with her hands on the edge.

"Well you'll have to feed them for me." he said simply, moving in closer to her.

She snorted a laugh, "You need a yeoman for that." she said.

"Are you not my yeoman?" he teased, putting his hands on her waist.

"The hell I am." she said, pushing herself up towards him.

"Couldn't you feed them anyways?" he purred, leaning down as their bodies shifted closer.

"Hell no," she breathed, her eyes staring at his mouth, wanting.

"And why not?" he asked, shifting close enough to her that their armors clanked together. "Would you really let all my poor fish die?"

"I can't, because I'll be on that mission too, making sure you come back." she said and he let out a sub-harmonic noise that he would be embarrassed about if she could hear it, one of a deep, primal want the pitch of a teenager.

"Wouldn't have it any other way." he growled and pulled her too him, their armor clanking again. He went in for the kiss, but she pushed him back, quickly moving away. He was confused for a moment until he saw Kaidan out of the corner of his eye.

"Not a bad ship, a lot more room for us." he said, not seeing the couple's intimate moment. "There are eight beds in the crew's quarters, one for everyone."

"G-good," Shepard said, marching off to the quarters stiffly. "Which bunk is mine?" she asked, stepping inside.

"None," Nihlus said, cutting Kaidan off as he went to a bed that was adjacent to his.

"There are plenty of beds now, she doesn't have to share your room." Kaidan said, again going towards the bed.

"You're right, she gets her own quarters as my X.O., complete with its own bathroom." he said and she turned to smile at him. "I spoil you, don't I." he said, giving her one of his charming smiles. She shoved him on the way out of the crew's quarters and followed him to the officers' quarters on the upper deck.

"Wow, hallway is even more narrow up here." she commented as they walked down the tight corridor. There were two doors on the left, which she guessed where their rooms, and two doors on the right which she knew from the symbol on them that they was the bathrooms.

"Ever think that might be intentional?" he asked, putting an arm around her waist, his hand resting on her ass.

She let out a slight noise as he pulled her against him, the sound of metal colliding against metal echoing off the walls. She put her hand behind his cowl and pulled him down to her, their mouths meeting. His tongue was the first to make an appearance, seeking entrance past her lips. She stumbled back until she hit the wall, dragging him closer, her hands gripping at him, and finally after seconds that dragged out for much longer than they should have she let him in. He pulled her against him again, but their armor still clanked together, allowing nothing of her to be felt. Instead he ran his hands in her hair. His hands were still armored, so all feeling was muffled by the thick mess on his palms, but he still buried them in her beautiful red hair, angling her head back as his tongue explored her mouth. They pulled apart when they lungs refused to stop burning, each panting. He looked into her eyes and saw something foreign and familiar in the forest green. There was desire and need, just like their first night at the hotel, when she was drunk. The look sent a wave on desire through himself. He wanted it, wanted her, wanted to be bad and take her before he had fully convinced her. He remembered that night, the feel of her licking him, taking him into her mouth, the way her tongue rolled over his ridges. He shuddered and used all his will to pull himself back.

"Come on, let me show you your room." he said, taking her hand and pulling her to the first door on the left.

KaJ

"I don't like it," Kaidan said from his spot in the co-pilot seat.

"Don't like what? That they aren't sharing a bed?" Joker asked as he tweaked the drive cores.

"No that part is good, but it's like he is pulling her further away from us." Kaidan said, reading through the manual on this ship model on a datapad. "He is plotting something."

"Yeah, he is plotting to help us find the rest of the crew—whatever of them is still left alive—and then get us back to Earth." Joker said. "And in the meantime he has made us as much at home as humanly possible. Including letting me pilot ships with technology that humanity has barely dreamed up, let you freely insult him, let's Kolyat stay when from what I can gather is illegal seeing as he is a minor, and—oh yeah—made one of us his X.O."

There was a clank of metal from back in the main part of the ship that made us both turn. "Did that sound like it came from the officers' quarters?" Kaidan asked, starting to get up to investigate.

"Kaidan, leave them be, they are probably just getting Shep out of that heavy armor before she overheats to death." Joker said with a sigh. "Look, Nihlus is a good guy, and the sooner you realize that the better. The last thing we need is to show up at Earth with an alien without everyone on board that he is the good guy."

"Yeah… I'll try…" Kaidan said, settling back down in the co-pilot's seat, but kept his hears trained to listen for anything else from Shepard's room.

Kaidan

The change from quietly waiting in the forest for Shepard and Nihlus to get back from their scouting mission and from rushing in for an emergency evac was disorienting. They were just about to go airborn when the signal sent from Nihlus went dark.

"So what do we do?" Kaidan asked, pacing behind Joker's chair.

"I… I don't know." he said, trying again to reach Nihlus of Shepard on the com, but got no response.

"Then we go after them." Kaidan said, as if it was simple.

"Even if we tried we have no idea where they are. That base is huge and it's not even the only building." Joker said, furiously pulling buttons. "If we approach it without knowing where to pick them up at we will be shot out of the sky."

Kaidan clenched and unclenched his fists. "Then we send in a ground team." he said.

"Of who? You and the cripple? The cripple and the kid?" Joker snapped at him.

Kaidan shook his head, "No, just me." he said, taking a deep breath to keep calm about the idea.

"That's suicide." Joker said, rejecting the idea.

"What other choice do we have? Shepard is out there. You know she would do it for one of us in a heartbeat." he countered.

Joker shook his head, but he couldn't deny that. They had no other option. "Alright, but be careful, we don't know what happened to them." he said.

Kaidan nodded and went to the cargo bay to get suited up. He had just finished suiting up when the bay door started to lower. He watched as Nihlus stumbled up the ramp and into the ship. Blue blood pooled out of his side, his hand held tight over it in an attempt to slow the bleeding. It wasn't his only injury. His head was bleeding above his forehead, running over his eye and forcing him to squint to see. "Med-kit." he crackled, managing to get himself to a crate before he collapsed.

Kaidan was a soldier, he knew not to ask questions until the patient was stable. He ripped the med-kit off the wall and threw it open, waiting for further instructions.

"Med-gel," Nihlus said, wincing as more blood pooled past his fingers.

Kaidan grabbed a handful of the packets and started ripping them open, pouring them onto the wound. He used his fingers to spread the med-gel around the wound through the tear in the mesh on Nihlus' armor. He was impressed, Nihlus didn't even flinch as Kaidan painfully stuck fingers into the wound.

Slowly the bleeding stopped. "Thanks," Nihlus muttered, leaning his arms on his legs.

Now that Nihlus wasn't in danger of dying came the questions. "Where is Shepard?" he asked, his voice shaking.

Nihlus locked his hands behind his head, clearly pained by the answer. "They took her." he said, his voice weak.

Shepard

Shepard groaned as she was slowly pulled back into consciousness. She expected to be in her bed, but even before she opened her eyes she knew that was wrong. Her body was strapped down to the stiff bed under her and the room smelled like a doctor's office, like blood masked with too much bleach.

She kept her eyes closed, going over what had happened in her head.

She was on a scouting mission with Nihlus. They had been watching the main building for a few hours, but the only activity they saw where a few trucks going in and out. She convinced Nihlus to move closer, convinced him that if they could intercept one of the trucks and find out what was in it they would have a lot more intel.

They has slowly crept down to the road that the trucks traveled and when the next one came by the ambushed it flawlessly. The driver was knocked out along with the couple of guards it had before any could radio for help. Nihlus hacked into the back of the truck and together they pulled out one of the crates. Another hack and they were in. Inside were dark red bricks wrapped up in plastic. Before he could stop her she had picked one up. As she reached her hand in there was a beep followed by an explosion. She let out a cry as the blast tore her hand apart and threw both her and Nihlus off their feet. Around them the bricks had been turned into powder, forming a dense cloud.

"Shepard, don't breath it!" Nihlus shouted at her through it, but it was too late.

She felt weird, giddy almost, but also sick. She rolled to her hands and knees, not even bothered by her injured right hand. She could see it, knew that she should be in pain from the red and black skin, all puffed up and angry, but instead she felt like she was pleasantly lost in the cloud of red, and that cloud was happiness and pleasure. And then she threw up. She threw up all over the ground between her hands; her normal one and her injured one. It made her laugh, though she couldn't fully understand why.

"Damn, they are still alive." a voice said, coming closer to them as the red cloud settled. "What the hell is that?" the man with the voice said, his gun lifted and pointed at her. He had four eyes, four of them right in the middle of his face. It was funny and she laughed again. "Well it's alive, but it is completely high off the red sand." the four eyed man said, and fired a shot at her. It hit her stomach, but she only laughed as red liquid bubbled out of the hole in her side and joined the red cloud that hugged the ground like sand. Red sand, that's what the guy called it. They should call it red cloud, it was prettier as a cloud.

The man went to shoot her again, but someone big grabbed the gun, trying to wrestle it away from him. "Nihlus…" she muttered, putting a name to him. Oh yeah, it was Nihlus, the guy she loved. Wait? She loved him? She pondered it before smiling again. Yeah, she loved him. She should tell him that after the black spots finished their dance. She watched as more and more joined in the dance about her eyes.

The four eyed funny man got his gun back and shot Nihlus like he had her. She watched as Nihlus fell back and to the ground, blue liquid pooling out of his side faster than her liquid had. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that it was a bad thing. Nihlus was hurt, and the four eyed man had hurt him. She growled and stood up.

"Holy shit, how are you standing?" the four eyed man said, raising his gun at her again. Shepard watched him and decided he wasn't a funny man, he was a dead man. "Ah crap, BIOTIC!" he shouted, trying to run away, but Shepard was too fast. She chased him down and slammed him into the side of the truck. There was a crunch as his bones broke. His eyes rolled back into their head like they were trying to look at her behind him, before his body went limp. She let him drop to the ground. There, not the funny man was a dead man. All of them that would hurt Nihlus would be dead men.

Other people started to circle her, all their guns raised. She'd kill them all, she'd stop Nihlus from getting hurt. A blue pulse emitted from her and stretched out like a bubble. It slammed into the dead men and they flew backwards. A few pushed back to their feet, but not many. Those left fired at her, but the blue bubble was still there, stopping the bullets.

"Wait," she heard one of their coms say. "Take it alive, it is a powerful biotic."

The merc's nodded and thus started the dance to take her down without taking her out.

She groaned from the stiff bed, pushing against the binds. The rest of it was a blur, but she remembered a salarian who told her that she was important with a deranged smile that even in her drugged state sent chills down her spine.

The sound of a door opening made her finally open her eyes. She craned her neck to see who had come in. It was a team of scientists, marked by their white lab coats. The one in the front was the salarian with the deranged smile. He wore it now, smiling down at her. "You're awake." he said checking the machines beeping away around her, showing her vitals. How did she not notice the machines. "We were starting to wonder if you would wake up or if the red sand had killed your brain. That would have been a shame."

"You fuckers, let me go." she growled, straining against the binds. The scientists didn't respond, obviously unable to understand her. 'Great,' she thought 'back to this.'

"Prep her for surgery; now that she is awake we can get started." the salarian said, turning and leaving without another glance at her.

She really started to struggle now. "Surgery for what?" she spat, trying with all her might to get loose.

The scientists ignored her as one grabbed the front of her bed, on wheels she figured out as they started to wheel her out of the room and into another that was scrubbed down and disinfected. The floor was tiled and had a drain in it. The tile around the drain was stained pink, in some places the pink had a purple hue and she nearly vomited. She wasn't queasy about blood, but the thought that they had lost enough 'patients' to stain the floor and she was about to be one of those 'patients' was enough to bring bile to the back of her throat.

They let her out of the binds, but kept hands on her, stopping her from being able to fight, being able to slip away. With practiced ease they stripped her out of her clothes and forced her to lie down on an operating table. She struggled, managing to get back up to her knees twice, but they had the numbers and she still felt weak after whatever the red sand had done to her. Finally they managed to strap her down, her head cradled in a hole at the top of the table, and then even that was strapped down. She shook in fear as they shifted about her, the only view she had them were the occasional foot.

"Alright, let's get started," the voice of the deranged smile man said and his feet came into view above her head.

Her shaking got worse. "What are you going to do to me?" she asked, her voice cracking from the sob in her throat. They didn't answer her. She started crying, tears streaming down her cheeks and falling to the ground. "Nihlus…" she whispered. She felt something cold touch the back of her neck followed by pain. "Nihlus." she said louder. She repeated his name, each one getting louder as blood dripped down her neck, followed the trail of her shoulder blades to the small of her back. She could feel them poking and prodding at her spin with their fingers and instruments and it hurt. It hurt worse than anything she ever felt. She had heard people talk about nerve damage being the worse kind of pain, but she had never experienced it before. With each prod it sent pain down her back, down her arms, made her legs spasm. It went on for hours. She almost passed out a few times, but when she was close they would stop and inject her with what she assumed was adrenaline. After it would speed her heart up, she'd feel awake, alert, and then the pain started back as they continued.

"Nihlus," she said, her voice hoarse from her screams, her pleas for Nihlus to come save her. They sealed her back up with med-gel, wrapped her in a hospital dress, and strapped her back down to the first stretcher. Without a word they took her back to the first room, hooked her back up to the machines, and left her alone.

Time was distorted on the stretcher. She didn't know how long she would sleep, only that when she woke up she was either in this room or in the operating room. She lost count how many times they had cut into different parts of her spine. It was always the same, only now they could understand her. The virus program Nihlus had created had infected their omni-tools and installed. Not that it mattered; they still ignored all her questions. After a while she stopped asking questions, instead she requested something, only one thing.

"Let me die…" she cried as they cut into her lower back and started prodding. "Just kill me… Let me die…"

That was her last session in the operating room for a period of time. She had grown hopeful that they were getting bored, that they would just kill her. She found herself wondering how they would do it, how she would like them to do it. Finally she settled on lethal injection, something that would put her to sleep. No more prodding, no more pain.

But they didn't kill her, instead they would come in what she guessed was every few days to check her blood pressure. It was probably crap without often they cut into her. She didn't know how much blood she had lost, but it was probably enough to… It clicked and she started thrashing against the binds. They weren't done, they were waiting for her to heal so they could keep going without killing her. The asari taking her blood pressure stepped back as she thrashed hard enough to make the stretcher move.

"You fucking sick people, just kill me." she spat, rocking herself from side to side until the stretcher fell to its side. "Kill me!" she screamed at the asari. "I know you can understand me. If you have any sort of humanity then slit my throat. Don't let them keep torturing me, you fucking whore." she screamed.

"No," she said and lifted the stretcher back up, reattaching all the wires and IV's that came out. "I don't know how we can understand you, but you are no more than an animal, our test subject." she said before she left.

Shepard watched her go before she started laughing. Finally one of them spoke to her. With everything happening she could at least take victory in that. "You talked to me, you stupid whore." she screamed at the walls, laughter thick in her voice. "Know this: this animal is going to kill you, I'll kill all of you." She couldn't stop the laughter any more than she could stop the tears that streamed down her cheeks.

A/N: Tada. I actually enjoyed writing this chapter. Does that make me a sick person? It also has a large part to do with this being one of the milestones in the plot I wanted to get to. Anywho, thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it, and please review and tell me what you guys think.

By the way I meant to do this earlier but this story has hit over 215 followers! That is a record for my stories and I would like to thank all of you that have read this story, even those that aren't following.

Fun fact: Anyone notice yet that I keep avoiding Shepard's first name? There is reason for that.