"So… She is like an asari government specific Spectre that doesn't answer to anyone, but a book full of rules?" Shepard asked from under her helmet and switching the bag of takeout food she carried to her left arm.
"Uh… sort of, technically not even the asari government controls them, just several thousand 'codes.'" Nihlus said, guiding them through the dimly lit, neglected streets. He lifted the bag of food he carried in his right hand to his nose and sniffed it, his face contorting in slight disgust from the smell. Levo food, it just was all around gross.
"So they could go kill someone and nothing would be done about it?" Shepard asked, her nose wrinkling at the thought of someone having that kind of power. Of course Nihlus could kill someone, but he'd have to justify it to the council. Though, she guessed that was still a lot of power and freedom for someone to hold too.
"No, theoretically. They would still be responsible for the murder, but from what I've read about it, their code doesn't allow them to be jailed and they would fight their way out." Nihlus put his free arm around her, pulling her closer as a pair of asari passed nearby, his hand on her pistol.
Once they turned the corner and the asari were out of sight they continued the conversation. "So what you're saying is no one can really do anything about them without even more bloodshed, and if one went rogue there isn't really anyone to stop them," she clarified.
"If one happened to go rogue I'd imagine they'd do the same thing Spectres do when one of us go rogue," he contemplated. "Send a Spectre to take out a Spectre. Doesn't happen often though, and can't really see it happening too much with justicar, seeing as it's basically sacrilegious to go against their code."
"So if you went rogue they'd send Saren after you?" she teased.
"Spirits, I hope not, that man has a frightening wrath." Nihlus shuddered.
They stopped in front of the grimy hotel and he held open the glass door for her. Together they went down the blue-gray hall towards their room, feet brushing discarded liter out of the way as they went. When they got to the door Nihlus took the bag of food from her, set it down with his own beside the door, and, before Shepard could question him, snaked an arm around her waist to pull her close. Their armor clanked as they collided together, making Shepard look around to make sure no one heard it. Nihlus was already working on the clasps to her helmet, pulling it off to reveal her messy red hair and bright red cheeks. He brushed his thumb across the rosy skin. "You're embarrassed?" he asked, his voice a purr.
"Sleezy hotel with my crew in the next room who wouldn't… I just don't think it would be the best time for them to find out about us given their only interactions with aliens so far have been…" she defended, looking away and down at an abounded candy wrapper on the floor.
She could feel a deep growl go through his chest as he leaned down so their foreheads pressed together. "That is why I stopped you before we went in."
She shuddered. Having him so close, feeling the primal, predatorily nature of his desires, it made her breathing hitch. God, there must be something wrong with her. This man wasn't even her species and he could make her feel things no other man ever had.
Nihlus felt something wet on his face and pulled back. "Are you crying?" he asked, looking at her wet cheeks and water filled eyes.
She quickly brought her hand up and feverishly rubbed her eyes on the armor mesh on her palms. "No," she said, too quickly, too short. He frowned at her and when she looked back up at him she adverted her gaze and sighed. "Yes… it's just… it's not you," she assured him first. "It's just that… we found the rest of my crew. Everyone is either dead with us. The next time is to find Earth, to go home."
"I thought you wanted to go home," he said, backing up a step to give her space now that the intimacy of the moment was gone.
"I do, but I…" she wrapped her arms around herself and slide down the wall to the floor. "They say that bringing a guy home to your family is hard," she gave a short laugh "I wouldn't know about that, but I'd wager that it has nothing on bringing him home to your species."
He moved and sat down beside her, making note to have his body block her from others. "I thought that was why we were keeping our relationship a secret to start with."
"Well yeah, but I'm still bringing an alien and knowledge about an entire alien society back to them and my kind doesn't have the best track record of making the best first impressions." He went to say something, but she continued her nervous rant. "Hell, the only time in our history that we co-existed with another intelligent life form was another branch of the human evolution and we wiped them out. Granted that was a very, very long time ago, but you can also look at how my country in particular have treated anyone who looks different or thinks different than them. We have made strides ever since the formation of the Alliance, but, fuck, we are still at war with each other. Racism still exists in more force than most would like to admit, and-"
"What is that?" Nihlus made her pause to explain. It wasn't translating right, the omni-tool went static around the word and could only make it out to be against different skin.
"It is the dislike of someone because they are different, in this case it is based primarily off of their skin color and ethnicity." she explained, still stressing, but trying to remain calm enough to bypass this cultural barrier.
Nihlus looked at her, somewhat shocked, "Humans come in different colors?"
She smiled, "Yes, we can be white, like I am, and we can come in various variations of skin tone all the way to black."
"So you aren't every color, like there aren't blue humans like asari," Nihlus clarified.
She shook her head and wrapped her arms around her legs, resting her head on her knees. "No, just a lot of different kinds of… khaki is the best color I could attest it to."
Nihlus pondered this. He had noticed that Kaidan and Joker were both a slightly different shade than Shepard's fair pale skin, but he didn't have enough information to know why or that it could vary so widely. Turians' plates could be different shades, but it was a subtle difference in comparison to what Shepard was describing, and they surely didn't go to war over it. He put his arm around her and pulled her against him. "It will be an adjustment, it always is when a new species enters our society, but from what I have seen of humanity I think it will all work itself out." he tried to assure her.
She wiped newly formed tears away. "I want to think that, but so many things could go wrong and if they do… I just can't bring myself to hope that it will all be fine. Hell, I can't even tell you that… how I feel about you because it feels like if I do, it'll make all of this so much more real and if its real then I can lose it." She was sobbing quietly now, her shoulders shaking with every few words.
He took her face in his hands and brushed her tears away with his thumbs. "It is real, Samantha, and I am not going anywhere. You will not lose me, no matter what happens when your species is introduced, you will not lose me."
Her lip trembled and she flung herself on to him, their foreheads banging together painfully, but she didn't care, her lips found his mouth plates and they were kissing. It was not like when they normally kissed where their tongues where involved and their passion made them grip each other wherever they could. That wasn't what Shepard needed right now, and Nihlus knew that. She wrapped her arms tight around his neck and he in turn held her close. When she pulled away she buried her head into his neck and, trembling, she uttered the words he so badly wanted to hear.
"I love you."
xXx
Once Shepard composed herself as best as she could, her eyes dry but still red, they gathered the bags of food and went into the hotel room.
"Thank God, you guys were gone for a long time." Adams said, getting up from his spot beside the sleeping Presley. "We were getting worried that that… thing found you."
"She is an asari, she is basically a very moral bound vigilante." Shepard corrected, setting the bags down. "Eat up, it's different from what we are used to, but it tastes pretty good. You get used to it."
The three awake humans each grabbed a box of food and found a spot on the open bed to eat together. Nihlus grabbed his own food and sank down into a dirty plush chair in the corner.
"So what happened to you? We all thought you died on the ship." Chakwas asked, prodding the strange meat stew in front of her.
Shepard swallowed her mouthful of food before she answered, "I managed to fight off the batairans, that's what speices they were, and they shot down a beam that was above me. I guess they figured it killed me and left me there. Next thing I knew I was on Nihlus' ship as he was splintering my leg. He brought me to the Citadel, it's the capital of the more lawful space, and Doctor Mordin patched up what Nihlus couldn't fix. From there…" she shrugged "We managed to get the human language uploaded into their translating device and he has been helping me find the rest of the crew."
"There are more?" Adams asked, excitedly.
Shepard looked away, almost shamefully. "Only six including the three of you, everyone else died in fighting pits. We found Joker on a slave ship, he was deemed too weak for the pits, and we managed to save Kaidan before he lost in the pits."
"But… thirty people are all dead?" Adams said, sitting back and staring sullenly at his food.
"I am sorry, I shouldn't have ordered everyone into the escape pods, you were all sitting ducks." Shepard said, fighting back tears.
"No," Chakwas said "If we weren't in the escape pods the only difference is that more people would have died upon capture, what you did gave us a chance to bid our time."
"She is right, Shepard," Nihlus said before biting into another fried tentacle.
She looked over at him and the two humans looked between the exchange. "How can you understand him?" Adams asked.
Shepard put her food down and lifted her left arm. Around her forearm the orange omni-tool came to life. "It is called an omni-tool. It is a small computer whose primary software is inside your arm, tapped into your nervous system for a thought based interface." she repeated what Nihlus was telling her, giving a more concise explanation of the machine. "It does a lot of different things, you can even get add ons for games, but most importantly it translates any uploaded language into your own… by sending sound vibrations into the bones by your ears… wait that is how it works?"
Nihlus chuckled, a deep rumbling sound that Chakwas and Adams didn't need an omni-tool to identify.
"Anyway, we have omni-tools ready for the three of you back on the ship." Shepard said, turning back to the two humans.
"And what if we don't want an alien implant?" Presley said from the other bed.
Shepard looked past Chakwas at him, she hadn't even realized that he had woken up. She didn't answer right away, choosing to mull over the question while she got up to get Presley his food. "Well… we wouldn't force it on you, of course," she said, handing the box of food as Presley sat up.
"Yes I would," Nihlus grumbled past a mouthful of food. Shepard ignored him. "I'm just saying, communication is kind of very important, and it's not like the omni-tool is going to explode if someone doesn't want to conform to something…" he looked up slightly like he was thinking. "Yeah, no it won't, not without it having some heavy mods in the actual implant."
That got Shepard to glare at him for a second. "The omni-tool is very helpful tool and no harm is intended by it." she tried to assure them. "I wouldn't let anyone be implanted with one if that wasn't the case."
"No offense, Commander," Presely said, sniffing the contents of the box before setting it down on the bedside table "but it seems like you have Stockholm syndrome."
"You have what?" Nihlus said, scratching where his ear was at from the static the word created.
The statement took Shepard by surprise. "Nihlus saved my life, has done nothing except help me find our crew and get us home. I am no one's prisoner," she defended.
"Wait, what?" Nihlus said, sitting upright in his chair now. And he thought Kaidan was difficult to adjust to, but this man was accusing him of mistreating Shepard?
"So you're honestly telling me that these… things would let you freely do whatever you wanted, go wherever you wanted?" Presely said, rolling his eyes. "I have seen how these aliens are."
"You have seen a very small, criminal portion of them. To try and lump all of them in with that is idiotically. And yes, I could have chosen not to stay with Nihlus, but unlike me, he has a ship and means to travel and search for you and our home." She crossed her arms, puffing out her chest and standing tall, trying to show her authority and power despite her shorter stature.
Nihlus' mandibles twitched slightly, knowing that she was lying, but not knowing if she knew it to the full extent. The Council would have never of let her wander about alone, even after she had the ability to understand them. They were too cautious of a new species.
He found himself wondering, as he sat there, unable to communicate a defense for himself, if this was similar to how Shepard felt before they got her language uploaded.
Presley crossed his arms, "I guess only time will tell, but I am not getting anything implanted inside of me."
'Yes, you are, you have to sleep sometime,' Nihlus thought, but kept quiet as he went back to his food.
"Presley, stop being rude, Nihlus can understand you and can't even defend himself," Chakwas said, able to notice the subtle physical irritation the turian was showing. At least that is what she assumed irritation looked like for his species.
Presley looked away, grumbling as he snatched up the box of food and started picking out what he deemed the most edible.
Shepard sighed, picking up her own box of food and sat on the edge of the bed, eating in awkward silence.
After they finished eating everyone laid down to sleep, all tired from the day's events. Nihlus let the humans take the beds, settling down in his chair, fiddling on his omni-tool. Shepard took the bed furthest from him, putting herself closest to the door for Security Theater, an attempt to put the noncombatants' minds at peace. Beside her was Chakwas and in the other bed Adams slept closest to Nihlus with Presley on the other side. He stayed up, not needing as much sleep as them, and continued working on his omni-tool.
Shepard tried to stay awake with him, but she fell asleep shortly after the other three. He got up once they were all surely asleep, went over to Shepard, and brushed her hair out of her face and behind her ear, a deep affectionate purr rumbling through his chest. She shifted and he, not wanting to wake her, moved away and back to his chair.
xXx
She took in ragged breaths as she tried to fight the binds around her. In front of her was a salarian, most of his face in shadow, but his smile was defined and clear. In his hand was a scapel, it's shine reflecting on her face. "You are so much potential," he said, the smile never fading as he moved behind her. "No," she screamed, jerking as hard as she could against the binds. She squeezed her eyes closed, trembling, knowing what was coming. There was a white-hot pain in the back of her neck and she snapped her eyes open with a scream.
Strong hands were around her wrists in seconds, a calming voice called her name, and as her eyes focused the man with the smile that haunted her faded and in his place there was Nihlus. She took several deep, sob filled breaths, closing her eyes and trying to focus on lessening her trembling.
Nihlus moved so he sat beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
"I'm fine," she muttered, her hands clinging to the ridge of his armor. "I… just had a bad dream, I'm fine."
"I know you are," he replied, rubbing her back, "And I am here for you need me." He went to pull away, figuring she didn't want him all over her in case her crew woke up, but she clung tighter to him, holding him in place. Without any more words needed he put a hand on hers and laid down to her on the edge of the bed, their armors clanking them together quietly.
Chakwas turned her eyes up at them, laying still as to not let them know she was awake. The scream had woken her up, but this exchange was privet, Shepard would let them know when they needed to know. To her surprise, Nihlus looked down at her, meeting her gaze. He looked away first, settling down beside Shepard and wrapping his arms around her in a loving way.
xXx
The night passed without incident. Nihlus was the first one up in the morning, carefully removing himself from Shepard's grip. He moved over to Presley, attempting to decide what to do about the man's leg by just observation. The way the leg was turned was similar, but not as bad as Shepard's had been, but he wasn't able to see the actual break through his pants leg. He let out a subharmonic murmur of apology for touching the man when he knew he wouldn't want it, and started to work on gently lifting the pants leg.
Once he saw what he was dealing with he went over to a cheap metal standalone lamp in the corner, laid it down on the floor, covered it with the cushion on the bed, and broke the shaft in as equal, foot long pieces as he could manage. Then he took a scavenged the hotel room for any cloth, finding a towel in the bathroom, and used his claws to cut it into strips. Then he went over to Shepard and shook her shoulder.
"Get up, we need to set that leg and I think after last night he'd prefer if it wasn't me." Nihlus said as she groaned in protest.
She sat up and rubbed her eyes with her palms. She turned to Chakwas and shook her awake too. "She is a doctor," Shepard told Nihlus as the older woman stirred and sat up too. "Come help us set Presley's leg. If we do it while he is sleeping at least he would see it coming."
Chakwas slid off the bed with a sigh and looked at the leg. While they were getting into position to reset the leg, Shepard and Nihlus moving and doing what she told her too, Adams woke up and looked at the people crowding his bed. He looked down at Presley's leg and cringed. "How can I help?"
"We've got enough hands, it is just a bad sprain, thankfully." Chakwas said, gently prodding the inflamed area around Presley's knee. "Ok, on three," she said to her two helpers "one… two….three." When she said three Nihlus and Shepard twisted the way to showed them and forced the knee back into socket. Presley woke up promptly, swinging down at the closest person and caught Shepard below her eye.
"Damn it, cock shit," she cursed in pain, grabbing his fist in one hand, forcing it to his side, while her other hand went to her busted cheek.
"Shepard? I'm sorry, but…" he cried in pain as Chakwas felt the kneecap, trying to see if everything had set correctly.
"It'll need more medical attention, but everything is relatively in the correct place, I need equipment to know more." she said, taking the length of metal and strips of cloth from Nihlus to splint the knee.
Then he turned his attention to Shepard, looking at the forming bruise. "He is lucky I don't punch in his teeth," Nihlus growled.
"I am fine, it was a reaction, I should have been more guarded," she stressed to both Nihlus and Presley. "Chakwas, get him on his feet, we need to leave as soon as possible. It's been luck that we haven't been found yet," Shepard ordered as she gathered her guns, checking their thermal clips, and slid them into their respected holsters.
Nihlus did the same, and then pulled up his omni-tool, going back to what he had been working on before he had fallen asleep.
With some effort on multiple fronts, Presley managed to get on his feet with Adams as a crutch, and they left the hotel room roughly twenty minutes later.
"So what is the plan?" she asked Nihlus over the coms in their helmets.
"Steal a small transit, go meet the ship, then run like hell," he said simply, moving his head from side to side as he kept an eye out for any threats. They attracted more attention than he liked with the three exposed humans.
"And if the Justicar finds us?" Shepard asked, keeping similar behavior at the back of the group.
"It won't matter, we'll all likely be dead."
"You have such faith," Shepard said with a roll of her eyes.
"Sam, Justicars are extremely powerful biotics, besting one is not going to be easy, fighting one would just be stupid," Nihlus said, letting her see just how bad he thought their odds were to escape this all alive. "Not only that, but the police force probably isn't happy about us raiding and killing a high influence 'civilian.' We are likely perceived as criminals right now, and that won't change until I get a chance to explain the situation, something I can't do until this Justicar is dealt with."
"Can't you just explain to her that the woman was a bad guy?"
"I doubt I will have the chance before she tries to shove a hand through my skull and even if I did, I don't know that I could get the proof to satisfy her quickly enough to pacify her."
They both went quiet, to keep an eye out and to mull over their own thoughts about the situation. Nihlus lead them into the factory district and to a large shipping warehouse.
"We can't just take a public transit; most aren't designed for travel into space and even if they were, they are equipped with a very difficult to disarm kill switch. Previously I was going to take us to a high altitude, and have Joker swoop down and catch us in the hull. Not going to work so well now that they know to watch for a fleeing transit, and bringing the ship down would make it a target." Nihlus explained to the group, knowing only Shepard could understand him, but he enjoyed showing off his genius. "A boring shipping transit, now that they aren't looking for. They aren't exactly designed for space travel either, but they are built very sturdy and should be able to withstand time in the vacuum. Not to mention they are easy to hack."
"You done stroking your own ego?" Shepard asked, trying to guide the three humans to keep to the shadows.
"Oh, but there is just so much to stroke, you know that personally," he purred the second part, clearly making an innuendo.
He hacked into a side door and slipped into the warehouse. They entered into a narrow hallway, just wide enough to fit two of them side by side. Nihlus held up his hand, signaling them to be still and quiet, pulling up his omni-tool with his other. He read something on it and after a pause motioned them to follow him forward.
Shepard moved silently beside him, her pistol out at her side and a shimmer of blue around her that made the other three humans extremely uneasy. But they were military, even if they weren't soldiers, and knew that now was not that time to ask questions.
"Non-lethal, let's keep civilian casualties at a low," Shepard muttered over the com.
"Yeah, means we'll have to be more careful than usual."
The way they moved made it clear that they had worked together for some time, something that did not go unnoticed by the humans. Together, the two sweeped down the hall, only coming across one worker, that Nihlus quickly put into a sleeper hold and slid the unconscious asari to the ground. A brisk pace was established and they quickly made it to the loading desk. It was a big, open space, and they were quickly spotted by the workers there. Several started pointing, a couple even shouted that they shouldn't be there. Nihlus sighed and lifted his gun into the air, letting off a couple shots that made some scream and everyone quiet.
"You may leave or stay, I don't care, just leave us alone and let us do what we came here to do," he said loudly, his voice carrying in an echoing boom.
The civilian workers quickly filed out of the room, not wanting any part of this. Three security guards started towards them, weapons drawn. Nihlus shot two of them with concussive rounds, staggering them as their shields fizzled out. Shepard glowed bright blue and lifted the third one off the ground, moving her to the closest door and setting her down gently. One of the guards that Nihlus shot looked at them, angrily, shimmering blue herself, but the other one grabbed her arm, shook her head, and with one last hateful look they both followed the third one out.
Both Nihlus and Shepard sheathed their weapons and removed their helmets. "Well then," he said, his mandibles flaring into a smile. "Shall we get started?"
She motioned towards the closest transit and they walked towards it. Nihlus popped open the back within a few minutes and then helped Shepard get the three human into it.
"What is going on?" Adams asked as he set Presley down on a crate.
"We need to get off planet, currently we are not in the best situation to do that with a Justicar and the police both gunning for us. So Nihlus is going to hack this transit and we are going to more or less steal it," Shepard filled them in.
"I thought Nihlus was some government agent," Chakwas asked.
"Yeah, but not this local government and though he technically has a license to kill, he has to give valid reasoning to do so, and it wouldn't be that much of a problem to deal with the police, the Justicar doesn't care about any of that, she only cares that he shot a hostage," she explained. "So… just sit tight, we'll be in the air in a bit."
She hopped out of the back and went to join Nihlus up near the cab. "How long is this going to take?"
"No idea, never hacked into this model. I made a program for it last night, but I will probably have to edit it and do a lot of stuff manually," he answered, not looking at her from his bent over position, head down near the floorboards as he meddled in the mess of wires protruding from a removed cover near the steering wheel.
She sighed and leaned against the transit beside him, her hand resting on her gun, to keep watch.
Barely half an hour in the sound of heels hitting the floor echoed through the otherwise silent warehouse. Shepard pushed herself off the truck, moving a couple steps ahead, and drew her pistol. "Nihlus, go faster," she called over her shoulder as an asari in a tight red jumpsuit came into view. "Hey, Samara, can you understand me?" she asked, pointing her pistol at her.
Samara came to a slow stop two hundred feet out, her head cocking to the side. "Yes," she answered.
Shepard nodded, "Good." She lowered her pistol, but kept it out and at the ready. "I wanted to talk. You have some beef… sorry, you have a problem with us because of that woman Nihlus killed."
"I do not have an issue with you, only with the turian," she corrected.
"Yeah, but he is with us, that means you have a problem with us."
"Then, if you do not stand aside, I will be forced to dispose of you as well. The code demands his death, if you interview with that then the code demands your death too."
She took a step forward and Shepard raised up her pistol again, "That woman was not someone your code would want to avenge. She was a criminal, had several ties to the galaxies biggest gangs, she held several members of my crew as slaved in horrible conditions," Shepard tried to reason.
"Do you have proof?" Samara asked, continuing her progress closer.
"We can get it, if you let us go now, we can get it."
"I cannot allow that,"
"Damnit," Shepard muttered and pulled the trigger. She emptied the clip, all shots aimed for her head.
Samara raised her shimmering blue hand, effortlessly deflecting all the bullets. Nimble fingers quickly slammed another thermal clip into her pistol and she emptied it again, to the same effect. She went for a third, but before she could Samara rushed at her, twisting her hand that held the pistol. The weapon clattered to the ground and Shepard winced in pain. Samara lifted her up and threw her clear of the transit. She soared through the air, her flight meeting its abrupt end against a large metal crate. With a grimace, she pulled herself to her feet, gathering her biotics around her in a blue shimmering wave swirling around her.
Nihlus had turned around and with his free hand he emptied his pistol at the approaching Justicar. She deflected the bullets and reached for him.
"Don't you touch him," Shepard spat, charging towards her, slamming her shoulder into her midsection. On impact the biotics raged around her, adding to the size and sheer force of the blow. The force slammed Nihlus against the truck, and slid it a foot.
Adams poked his head out from the back, wanting to see what was happening. Seeing the scene, he quickly tucked back in and pulled Presley into the far corner. "That woman is here," he told the other two. "Keep your heads down, this is not something we can handle."
Samara, surprised by the blow, slid fifty feet sideways, but managed to stay on her feet. "I'm impressed, that was a fairly powerful blast," she commented calmly, eyes narrowing as she took in a bead of blood that leaked from Shepard's nose. "But you lack control. If you keep up that pace you will not last long."
Shepard brushed away the bleed on her palm. "Long enough," she said, moving in with a fist raised for a punch.
Samara blocked it, gripping Shepard's fist in her own, and tossed her again. This time ready, Shepard flipped to her feet and landed in a crouch position. Samara cocked her head to the side, giving a very slight smile.
Shepard charged her again, but the repeated tactic was easy for Samara to get out of the way off. Skidding to a halt, Shepard used the momentum to swing her leg around, releasing the built up biotic force to slam Samara sideways. The more experienced woman raised her arms to brace for the impact, but did slam against the wall from the blast. Shepard smiled as she swayed on her feet. Her vision was getting blurry and she could taste the blood that was dripping down freely from her nose.
"Enough," Samara said, rushing to Shepard and gripping her by her throat. Shepard clawed at the hand, but she didn't have the strength to get free. Samara slammed her against the ground, making Shepard's vision go black and the air force its way out of her lungs. She felt the asari's hands move into position to snap her neck, one on the top of her head and the other on her chin. She struggled, brought her knee up to Samara's stomach, trying to force her off, but she had used the extent of her amp and her lungs were still having trouble regaining air.
Samara tensed her muscles, but before she could bring a swift end to this strange creature bullets riddled her kinetic barrier. She looked up and jumped back just in time to avoid Nihlus swinging down the butt of his gun into her skull.
"She is not part of this," he growled, keeping his gun trained on Samara as he gathered Shepard's barely conscious body over his shoulder.
Samara tried to move to him, but a large crate released from a crane overhead, crashing into the space between them. She looked up in shock to discover that in the time they had been fighting every crane in the warehouse has a similar large crate and were all positioned in the middle of the warehouse. One after another the crates fell, further and further clogging up her path to Nihlus.
Not even reacting to the dropping crates, he did program it to do that, he shut the back of the truck, giving the humans a reassuring glance, slid Shepard into the front seat, and then moved to climb in beside her. Before he could, though, he felt himself be pick up by biotics, his body shimmering in an outline of blue. "Damn it," he growled, bringing up his omni-tool. With a few swift clicks the program he installed in the truck kicked in. It lifted off the ground and drove itself out of the building and started climbing in altitude. Seeing the program work so well was a relief to him. He had figured that Samara wouldn't let him leave so easily, and given that situation he wanted to have a backup plan to get them out. The shipping truck would drive items up to a high altitude, signal the ship and hover until Joker got to them.
With the humans heading towards safety he turned his focus to getting away from the Justicar himself. He signaled his kinetic barrier to go overdrive, the burst of energy it created counteracting the biotic field around him and he dropped to the floor, rolling to his feet. "Now that the civilians are out of the way we can get to business," he growled at her.
A/N: I have no excuse for why I haven't updated in forever. I did start college in Cali, but it was mainly just me not wanting to write this chapter. Not sure why, I had been looking forward to it before I actually started writing it. Any who, thanks guys for sticking with me and I promise I won't go MIA like this in the near future again.