A/N: No, don't worry, you're not having a stroke! Chapter Six had a turnaround of less than eighteen hours! That's INSANE! Why? Part of a race.

That I won. Suck it, LogicalPremise.

The following work was beta'd by MeganD and that...other guy. Not BSG, the third guy. What's his name? Eh, it's probably not important.

Bioware owns all, etc.

No recap this time.

-(|)-

Vasir was not easily impressed. As she walked into the armory, following closely behind Shepard as the woman listed off the rather ridiculous amount of firepower that was in their possession, Vasir couldn't help but be more than a little amazed at the collection. A lot of it was discontinued Hierarchy gear, but perfectly maintained. Rifles, shotguns, heavy machine guns, sub machine guns, assault rifles, and pistols that were really just grenade launchers lined the walls in spotless condition.

One thing was clear: Shepard had been preparing for war out of pure paranoia. And all of that planning had just paid off.

"...most of those are just optimized, so there's no difference in how they're operated. Performance wise, though, they've got quite a bit more kick to them," said Shepard, her prideful voice booming through the armory, as if she were giving a tour through an art gallery. Clearly she was enjoying this. "Now, as for the more unique pieces, we've got an M-98 Widow, but I don't think any of us can fire that without breaking a shoulder. We also have these odd Mattocks that Miranda had in her car. They're automatic, and chew threw thermal clips like a machine gun, but they tear through the red vorcha twice that."

"They're called Harriers, actually," said Miranda.

"Okay, Harriers then. Then, in terms of heavy weapons, we've got a crate full of ML-77s, Firestorms, and M-100s. I wouldn't suggest using the Firestorms, because they're pretty much useless against some of the more rachni-like combatants." Shepard moved over to the back of the armory, the wall covered by a large tarp, and smiled wide. "Okay, so this is where things get really fun. Not that this situation is fun. At all. But…" She shrugged. "You know what I mean."

Vasir crossed her arms and inspected the Harrier a little more closely. The logo seemed oddly familiar. Cerberus. She slowly looked up at the rest of the group, hard eyes settling on the back of Miranda's head. What was one of the SA's best, brightest, and most deadly doing here on Omega? And following this random woman, no less. At the moment, she supposed it wasn't a top priority, but still. Miranda needed to be watched.

"Now, all of this is all well and good for taking down the odd red vorcha pack or merc squad, but what happens when we run into something we simply just can't fight conventionally?" asked Shepard, clearly not actually wanting an answer from the crowd.

"Blow it up," said Zaeed. "Burn it. Space it. Melt it."

"Those are all conventional, Zaeed."

"What's wrong with the classics?"

Shepard pinched her brow. "Nothing. Nothing is wrong with the classics. I'm just saying that-" She groaned and flopped her arms down at her sides. "Fuck it. You people have no appreciation for presentation or theatricality, you know that?"

Quarn adjusted his collar and clacked his mandibles against his cheeks. "That's not entirely accurate. If not for those two virtues, I'd be an absolute failure at what I do."

Ceres gave him a sidelong glance. "And what is it that you do, exactly?"

He laughed, the sound somehow disarming. "Please. That would be telling."

Shepard sighed and pulled off the tarp. The wall was covered in what was most likely the single largest collection of unorthodox weaponry Vasir had ever seen. A collapsable compound bow, heat knives, HEAT knives, the exploding variety, nerve gas canisters, an obscene amount of thermite, and biotic suppression equipment of literally every type of variety imaginable. Most interesting of all, though, was the slimmed down krogan warlord battlehammer mounted at the top of the wall.

A krogan warlord battlehammer. Adapted for human, and most likely asari, use. Vasir almost giggled.

"If you're wondering why the bow and arrow is there, it's because of one little simple fact," said Shepard, giddy. She poked Zaeed in the chest. "See? That got through his barrier because of the speed of my arm. That bow has kinetic dampers to ensure that it does not fire an arrow, with a monomolecularly sharpened head, fast enough to be deflected automatically by barriers." She folded her arms behind her back. "It is also, for all intents and purposes, a silent weapon. I've used it many times before, and if you aim for the neck, where the armor is typically the most thin, they'll go down. A great bonus is that you can just reuse the arrows." She picked one up out of the quiver and spun it around in her fingers. "This one alone has killed two krogan battlemasters and a YMIR mech. So who wants it?"

Quarn stepped forward. "A direct approach, I'm afraid, is beyond my capabilities. This, however, would compliment my work tremendously."

Shepard stared flatly at the turian. "You want it or not?"

"Yes."

Shepard handed it off to the turian. "There you go. There's spray paint in the cabinet over there if you want to use that Suns armor you have. Otherwise, I've got some personal kinetic barriers I can loan you. For your...tuxedo. Up to you."

Quan nodded. "Thank you."

"The hammer!" snapped Vasir, her urgency surprising even herself. "Who gets it?"

Shepard laughed. "You, obviously. I don't have the endurance to be able to use that thing effectively. Trust me, I've tried." She snatched it off of the wall and placed it on a nearby table. "Before we get to that, though, we need to deal with this...armor situation." She said, looking over Ceres and Vasir.

"And whose fault is that, I wonder?" sneered Vasir.

"Hey, we brought the pieces back! It's completely junked, but...well, it's better than someone finding it."

"True."

Ceres cleared her throat. "What do you have in stock?" she said, teasingly.

Shepard bit her lip. "This is where things are going to be a little awkward. Ceres, I'm more than happy to let you use one of my back-up sets, since we're about the same build and shape." She looked over at Vasir with a nervous smile. "But, uh, you're going to get my...old set." Shepard frowned intensely and sighed. "It's the only set I have that's adaptable to different figures. Hoping I'd never have to see it again, but we don't really have any other options."

Vasir raised a brow. "Why? What's so damn horrible about it?"

Without a word, Shepard dragged a beaten and faded footlocker out of it's place and slid it over to Vasir. She knelt down to inspect the markings and closed her eyes the moment she saw them. The Systems Alliance logo, and in big bright lettering: LIEUTENANT COMMANDER KAREN G. SHEPARD. Below it, an embossed N7 insignia. She covered her face with one hand and smashed her fist against the locker with the other.

"...really?" grumbled Vasir. "This explains so much."

"Doesn't it, though?"

-(|)-

Shepard hauled her armor case over her shoulder and marched out of the armory, ignoring the confused questioning that followed her. She walked down the hall and entered her room, locking the door behind her. She disrobed, she wasn't going to do that in front of others unless absolutely necessary, slipped on her undersuit, and then began the delicate practice of assembling her armor. At that point, it may as well have been custom.

Initially, the moment she'd saved up enough credits to ditch her N7 armor for good, she'd bought the best 'medium' Hahne-Kedar model she could find, and for a time it served her well. Then she started getting ideas that were very much non-standard. Wrist mounted flamethrowers, mag-gloves, as well as mag-boots, a high voltage current in her gauntlets, forearm mounted rappel line cables, which weren't used for that, and even miniaturized shotguns placed just below the flamethrowers.

Those were just the first of many, many more ideas.

Most of those ideas didn't come to fruition on her Hahne-Kedar suit. The power supply simply couldn't accommodate all of that extra equipment all at once. Her pet project back in the armory could, it was retrofitted around the entire concept, but she had yet get the damn thing working at all. So, for the time being, Shepard had to settle for armaments that were a little more conventional.

She'd streamlined the design, making curves where there were edges, and had it repainted black and and dark blue. It fit her perfectly, and the moment she sealed her breastplate into place, she felt at home. She wasn't defenseless, or weak, outside of her armor, but she couldn't deny she felt much more comfortable within it than otherwise.

She hoped one day that would no longer be true.

Before leaving her room, Shepard flicked on her small UV lamp and watered the grass lily she'd been trying to grow for the past few months. It was always half dead, and she doubt she could afford to buy another one if it died. Importing specific plants from Earth, specifically to Omega, was not cheap.

Mindoir used to be filled with them because someone had actually managed to smuggle them in, despite the SA having incredibly strict restrictions on ecosystem development of garden worlds. Shepard really didn't care much about that, though. She just thought they were beautiful.

"Hang in there, little guy," she whispered.

Shepard returned to the armory and was glad to see that everyone had already armed themselves more than adequately. At the moment, they were all focused on Vasir practicing, carefully, with the hammer in the common area.

Shepard smirked. It was good that someone got some use out of that thing. She walked over to the back wall and, now nearly on automatic, gathered her gear.

Multiple heat knives, much like the ones she'd beaten Vasir with a few days earlier, lined her suit. One below each wrist, one above her heart, and two at her hips. The rappel lines, mag-gloves, and even the high voltage current had managed to squeeze their way into her arsenal as well. Other that, she had her M-11 Wraith, her trusty M-6 Carnifex, loaded with explosive rounds and a proximity safety, and a perfectly maintained Phaeston. Extra thermal clips were everywhere. Biotic suppression gear, ranging from 'boomerangs' to collars and nets, were locked onto her belt. Last, but certainly not least, she had her plethora of explosives. Thermite and remote detonated explosives, along with disk grenades, were slung over her bandoleer.

There was no telling as to what they'd be facing out in the badlands of Omega, so she prepared for war. Which, sad as it was, was something she was very good at.

Shepard cracked knuckles and went to join the others. Working with Vasir, as opposed to against her, was going to be very interesting. With so much on the line, she was grateful that Vasir was in charge.

If Shepard was, by some random act of God, she'd have no fucking clue what to do.

Which did not inspire confidence in her.

"How's the hammer suiting you, Vasir?" she asked, crossing her arms.

Vasir moved with grace and elegance, almost dancing, as she made faint biotic trails with each end of the hammer. She spun it between her hands and held it beside her as one would a staff. "The craftsmanship is...amazing. I'd heard that these ancient weapons were works of art, but I never imagined how true those rumors would be. It's not gonna be quiet, though, that's for sure."

Miranda fiddled with her omni-tool, her hair pulled back into a tight bun. She was still in her armor, of course. "Then I wouldn't use it, if I were you. It will only attract the red vorcha."

Shepard screwed up her face. "Right. Yes. That would be bad. Unless we can lure them to attack something for us…" She shrugged and reached into her pack, picking out water, her pills, and a protein bar. She shoved it all down her throat. "We'd need to test that before actually attempting to use it strategically," she said, mouth full of food.

"Chew, swallow, then speak," said Ceres, now donning a her spare, and far less advanced, suit of armor. Slung on her back was one of the Harrier rifles, and at her hip was a Shuriken. "Didn't your parents ever teach that it's impolite to speak with your mouth full?"

"My parents are dead."

"Oh. I'm sorry for your loss."

Vasir slung the hammer over her shoulder and looked them all over. "Okay. Let's move out. We're not taking the Barracuda, that's my call. Why? Because it's loud and will only attract the red vorcha." She tapped her omni-tool. "Keep in radio contact, and routinely check whatever passes for a seismometer on this thing. If tremors move up in magnitude, you run. Understood?"

Everyone nodded, except for Mordin who was working diligently at his workstation.

"Good. We all know what we have to do, and what's gonna happen if we fuck it up, so I'm not going to reiterate. But, if we do fuck up, and somehow make it out alive, I will personally boil your organs from the inside out."

Quarn scoffed. "Charming."

-(|)-

Doctor Inaara Ceres was none too thrilled to be working with Miranda again. Yes, she'd saved her life, and yes, she wasn't entirely dumb as a bag of rocks, but frankly, Inaara found her incredibly annoying and overwhelmingly needy. It was as if she needed to be praised for every good thing she did.

"So...where did you go to medical school?" asked the needy human, her rifle sweeping the barren street. She looked up to the rooftops and motioned for them to continue moving forward. "An old friend of mine was considering the University of Serrice, but she ended up on...the Citadel, I think. It wasn't a human world, that much I remember."

Inaara shrugged and checked her omni-tool. Their targets were, thankfully, the closest to the bunker, so she wouldn't have to make that much small talk on the way. "Serrice, actually. I did my residency in one of the hospitals that the geth blew up, so you've probably never heard of it. It's a real shame, though. Very nice architecture for a hospital."

Miranda hummed and sprinted across the next intersection. She ducked down behind a dead skycar and pressed her back against the wall of a partially caved in building. "I'll bet. A good deal of the Citadel truly is beautiful. I've only been once." She sighed. "Hopefully I can again."

Inaara closed the distance between her and Miranda, crooking her lips to the side. "I liked you better when you were an overconfident kid who didn't know her place. Now, all you are is a depressing young woman with incredibly poor taste in partners"

Miranda huffed and turned to her. "Really? After one comment of self doubt, I'm suddenly depressing? I'm beginning to think you just really don't like humans." She furrowed her brow. "Wait, what did you mean by partners?"

"Sexual partners."

"Your point?"

Inaara rolled her eyes and continued along their preset path. Not much further now. "Well, from what I didn't hear, Shepard is quite the opposite of a generous lover."

Miranda bristled and stomped along with her, holding her rifle tighter and checking the rooftops once more. "Shut. Up. How do you even know about that?"

"I didn't. I just made a guess, and apparently I was right," she laughed. "Goddess, you're clearly an adult, by your standards, and yet you're still so emotionally vulnerable. Pull yourself together, Lawson."

Inaara didn't like playing psychologist, and that wasn't entirely because it was extremely illegal for her to practice that without a license. No, it was mostly because she much preferred the quantitative to the qualitative. In surgery, there were only so many ways to fix a problem. In life, a person's mind, there were an infinite number of things one had to consider before attempting to fix a brain. But, when she was bored, or with people she didn't really have anything interesting to talk about with, she just resorted to picking their brains.

Sometimes it was fun. Sometimes it ended in tears, which wasn't fun. Hopefully, Miranda wasn't as big of an emotionally stunted wreck as she thought. That wouldn't be fun. Then, of course, there were the times when it was actually necessary, and someone truly did need to vent their inner turmoil. Since Inaara rarely cared about the problems of the people she wasn't currently operating on, or would be soon, it never really fazed her.

Miranda grumbled something incoherent and kept on walking.

"Must have a lot of pent of frustration right now, eh? I know that feeling. Hanar don't do it for me, by damned if I didn't fall in love with one when I was younger. Not as young as you, of course, that's just wrong, but still-"

"Doctor. Please stop talking."

"Oh? Am I making you uncomfortable? Again? I'm sorry, I really am. It's just that I'm a little frustrated, too." She frowned. "All but one of my patients are dead, and I watched the murder of some of my closest friends literally yesterday. In fact, you watched that, too."

"I didn't just stand and watch," she growled. "I waited for an-I saved your life, damnit! Both of yours!"

"You could have been faster."

Miranda scowled and stomped forward, her white armor blanketed in the vomit orange and brown of Omega's unnatural light. "Let's just keep moving you jaded, perverted, invasive…" She grunted, trailing off.

Ceres smirked. There it was. "No. Say it. I know you want to say it. You're just dying to call me that."

Miranda punched an actual hole in the wall beside her. "Fine," she seethed. "You're a filthy, arrogant, pretentious, elitist, blue slut! In fact, all of you people are! You walk around with your genetic elegance and your objective perfection, rubbing it all in everyone's faces, because, oh of course the asari can be with anyone!" she raged, her voice rising well above what was safe at the moment. "They can have children with a fucking sentient tree if they wanted to! They're all biotics! They live a thousand years and are the best at everything, didn't you hear, Miranda?! Didn't you hear that your life is automatically meaningless because the asari have already perfected literally everything you put your stupid, inferior mind to!" Miranda biotically flipped a car across the street with a roar. "Fuck your planet. Fuck your culture. Fuck your race. Fuck your perfection. I hope the red vorcha devour your daughters whole right in front of you."

Ceres stared at her blankly for a moment, processing all of the pent up rage and resentment Miranda had just launched at her in truly dramatic fashion. "Hm." She slung her rifle and wrapped Miranda in a tight hug. "Goddess, you really needed that, kid." She rubbed her back. "Feel better?"

Miranda's shoulders slacked as she returned the hug, and Ceres could actually feel the stress drain from her body. "I do. Yes. Very much." She let go and wiped her red eyes. "Thanks. I didn't know you practiced psychology."

Ceres shrugged and continued walking. "I don't. You're just fun to work up because you fluster so easily, and otherwise I'd be bored. We don't really have much to talk about."

Miranda grumbled and followed her. "Well, fine. I feel better. That's all that matters."

"Self centered."

"Will you please shut up?"

"Doctor Ceres! Lawson! Have relevant in-"

"Miranda is fine."

"Don't interrupt. Relevant intelligence. Realized that first target is old STG safe house. Could possibly still be in use."

"How would you even know that?" Miranda raised a brow. "And why would the STG be here?"

As they passed by an open, dilapidated apartment building, two long, high tensile strength wires shout out of the darkened interior and lashed their away around the duo, binding them instantly. Before they could even attempt to struggle, they were pulled inside and the door slid shut behind them. Ceres looked up to see a small group of salarians, dark eyes firmly centered on her.

One of them, with greenish skin that transitioned to a light yellow around the jaw, spoke. "A better question is why wouldn't we be here?""

Ceres scowled. "Yeah, STG alright. Good job, Doctor Solus."

"Really? External speakers."

"Doctor Solus? As in Mordin Solus?" asked the green salarian.

Ceres wasn't sure how Mordin was activating her omni-tool's speakers, but she decided not to question it. "This is Mordin Solus, whom am I speaking too?"

"Hah! I don't believe it. It's Major Kirrahe!"

"Major Kirrahe? Don't know anyone by that name and rank."

Kirrahe scoffed. "I got promoted, Mordin."

"Impossible. Speeches terrible, dalatrass must have demoted you without realizing it."

Kirrahe flattened his lips into a thin line. "Is there a particular reason as to why your associates are investigating the area, or do we have to shoot them on sight?"

"Ah! Yes, very important. Attempting to find mad prophet broadcast center! Threat level Lusia."

Kirrahe blinked and looked between his comrades. "Confirm last."

"Threat level Lusia."

The room went silent.

Miranda fidgeted in her bindings. "What the hell is threat level Lusia?"

Kirrahe sighed. "It means that we're under a clear and present threat of another krogan uprising. Which can only mean one thing. Someone found a cure."

"Outline! Rough concept-"

"No, not now, Mordin." Kirrahe shook his head. "Rentola, release these two. I'm sure they have a lot to say on the matter, and how they mean to stop it."

"Hm. New, superior approach now possible. Will inform others."

The salarian known as Rentola untied her bindings and Ceres got her feet. Miranda did the same, grumbling something about operational security.

Kirrahe motioned for them to follow him. "So. Why don't you two start from the beginning."

Miranda bowed her head. "Not again…"

-(|)-

Vasir lept from the rooftop to another across the street with Shepard following close behind. Instead of running around on the ground, where they were the most vulnerable, they decided to reenact their first encounter. Without all of the fighting, of course.

"You know, I've missed this. Urban warfare," said Shepard as she rolled to her feet. "Open fields are nice and all, and don't get me wrong, the kind of shit you can pull with biotics when you've got actual dirt beneath your feet is damned effective, but when you're in the city…" She peaked over the side of the building, rifle sighted. "...you've just got so many more options."

Vasir snickered. "Don't you live here? How could you miss urban warfare if you're living it?"

Shepard shook her head as she cleared the next building, elegantly sliding into the hallway of an apartment building through the open window. It was chastely decorated, and showed many, many signs of looting. Otherwise, though, the structure appeared stable. "Well, most of my jobs aren't on Omega, actually. Bounty hunting, ground wars, assassinations, that kind of thing, mostly takes place in rural areas, or space stations, or on actual ships. It's rare I actually get to move like this."

Vasir landed gracefully behind her. "Hah. I'd never thought about it like that. I can't say I prefer one kind of environment over another, but...well, no that's not true. If I had to choose a favorite, I'd say jungle."

Shepard motioned for her to wait to do her little sonar pulse trick, which Vasir was determined in getting out of her before this was over. She gave the all clear, and they continued forward. "Jungle! Ugh, I've always wanted to do that one. Thick forests, darkness, green and wildlife everywhere. A challenge, but also beautiful."

Vasir smiled slightly. It was rare she met someone who actually understood that. She started sprinting up the stairs, three at a time, heading toward the roof. "Exactly. Just because it's war, doesn't mean it has to be ugly. Well, the environment, at least."

Shepard followed behind her. "Mhmm. Done a lot of work in the jungle, I presume?"

"No, actually. Very little. I grew up in one, though." Vasir kicked the door to the roof open and sprinted outside, sweeping her rifle over the windows around them. Everyone was hiding or bunkering down. Block after block, no signs of life or activity. Humans called it 'No Man's Land' for a reason, she supposed. "Harsh climate. Atmosphere has too much oxygen to breath normally, so it's toxic. Which also makes explosives quite a bit more potent. The wildlife, don't even get me started. If you think krogan are big, half of the shit on Niacal could swallow one whole."

Shepard opened her omni-tool and showed Vasir the map. They were about halfway to their target, and just about to enter Eclipse territory. "Humble beginnings, huh? That makes two of us. I grew up on a farm."

Vasir laughed. "You can't be serious!"

"No, really! Crop rotation, soil toxicity-look, I know everything you need to know about maintaining and running a family-sized farm. I could buy a shitty plot of land on any garden world and be making a profit in just under a year."

"That's really not impressive."

"It is if you're a farmer."

"Okay, I believe you, but you just really don't seem the type. I honestly had you pegged as a reformed felon. Execution, or join the military. Clawed your way up from nothing to become the best, but then you fucked up and ended up here."

Shepard looked at her as if she had just told her she was giving birth to a thresher maw. "That is the single stupidest thing I've ever heard."

Vasir shrugged. "I just think it seems more plausible than 'I grew up on a farm'."

"You grew up in a jungle."

"Yeah, but, I'm an asari. We're everywhere. You guys are new."

"Your balaclava looks stupid on you."

"Street rat."

Shepard rolled her eyes intensely. "You know what? Let's just drop it, okay?" She sighed. "We should probably travel from interior to interior from now on. That way we can try and catch some Eclipse sentries by surprise."

Vasir chuckled and decided to do as she asked. "Good idea. Okay, see those two buildings?" She pointed to two nearly identical high rises. One looked a bit more like a mall than the other, though. "That's the border for Eclipse. I can't see any guards or sentries through the windows, so they're either waiting for us to move, or they're further in and facing the interior of their territory."

Shepard furrowed her brow and looked between the buildings. "We'll need a distraction. Sounding the alarm on Eclipse is...bad."

Vasir nodded a few times. "I have a feeling this hammer would be more effective on the ground, so...do you have anything with explosive rounds?"

Shepard drew her pistol and flicked a secondary safety on and off. "Proximity safety, so I don't blow myself up. You want to cause a big enough boom that the red vorcha come running and give us time to move through the area unnoticed, right?"

"Exactly. Might as well test that theory now. There's a crashed tanker in the alleyway that hasn't been breached."

Shepard sighted the tanker. "They'll see us as soon as I shoot."

"Not if I take us down a floor the moment you fire."

Shepard gave her a sidelong glance and nodded. "Okay." She grounded her feet. "Ready when you are."

Vasir placed her hand on Shepard's shoulder and reached out with her biotics, grabbing hold of the floor beneath them. "Go."

Shepard fired, and no sooner did the ground beneath them evaporate. They fell to the ground, safely hidden from view, landing on their sides. A massive, ear shattering explosion knocked them backward, causing the entire building to creak and shudder. Shepard struggled to her feet, dragging Vasir up with her, as several more blasts echoes off in the distance.

"I think I blew up something a little more than just that tanker," chuckled Shepard.

The building creaked, shuddered and groaned. Vasir bit her lip. "It's going to come down, we need to jump to the next one and move. Fast."

Shepard nodded and charged back up to the roof. Vasir followed her. The duo launched themselves to an adjacent building and rolled to their feet. Shepard stopped in her tracks as she saw something particularly horrifying.

Vasir grabbed her arm, but then she saw it too. Below the buildings that Shepard had very gloriously exploded was a whirlpool made of steel, meat and red vorcha. It consumed the entire foundation of the two high rises as it they sunk into the ground. "Goddess…"

Shepard holstered her pistol and narrowed her eyes. "Look. Five more over there are going down," she said, pointing deep into Eclipse territory. "I think we may have fucked up. Again."

Vasir frowned. "Yeah, well, less Eclipse is always good. Wait…" She checked her map and looked back at the crumbling buildings. "...okay, the third one from the right over there was our target. Check the frequency."

Shepard nodded and tuned her omni-tool.

"-bright, pure light of annihilation will be upon us!"

She shut off her omni-tool. "Yeah, that wasn't it."

Vasir sighed. "At least there's that." She squinted at a bright blue speck of light igniting in the distance. "...what the hell is that?" The light only got brighter as it surged, flickered and then became almost blinding. Vasir covered her eyes with her forearm. "Are you seeing this?"

Shepard was shielding her eyes as well. "Yeah. It's not just you. Jesus, did I hit a gas main or something-"

-(|)-

Aria stared wide eyed at her display of Omega. Ten square blocks of Eclipse territory, centered around the border, had just covered itself in a thousand eezo spikes larger than a frigate's drive core, and then suddenly vanished. She rubbed her eyes with her wrist and shook her head.

"I really need to get these damn sensors fixed…"

-(|)-

"-because what the hell is that?" grunted Shepard, grounding her feet into the floor. Something had gone very, very wrong, but she wasn't sure exactly what that was. Yet. She'd know in the next few seconds, she assumed.

She was right.

The light exploded in magnificent fashion, scarring the sky blue and uprooting city block after city block with overwhelming force. The shockwave was visible. A dome of white energy approached them at a staggering rate. The ground beneath them shattered and crushed inward on itself.

Shepard and Vasir ran as fast as they possibly could in the other direction. No words were needed. Charging and leaping from rooftop to rooftop, but to no avail. The energy was just too fast. When it caught up to them, Shepard tried grounding herself into the floor on bended knee, but only that only held for a few more seconds than Vasir. She was sent hurtling off of the roof, Vasir already several floors below her.

Thinking quickly, and half blinded by the light, Shepard shot her rappel cables at Vasir, wrapping them around her waist while launching the other set up toward, what she hoped, was a wall and not an empty window. She had Vasir, and waited a heartbeat. Her second cable struck air. She cursed and attempted to lower her mass, and Vasir's, but she couldn't. The white light was overwhelming her biotics.

And just when she thought all was lost, she felt something tug on her second cable. Suddenly, she stopped falling, and her arm strained to support Vasir's weight. She retracted her second cable, sending the both of them hurtling upward toward whatever had caught them. She flew through a window, Vasir close behind her and rolled to a stop.

Shepard groaned and looked up to see what her cable had attached itself too. What she found was a myth. Someone who wasn't supposed to exist. A heavily armored turian in blue, golden eagle on both arms, the cable wrapped firmly around his waist, stared back at her.

"I think this is the part where you thank me for my act of good samaritanism, but then, I'm not really an expert on human culture," teased the turian, his head tilted curiously. No helmet. He'd figured enough about the red vorcha to know he couldn't wear one.

"Th-thank you." Shepard's jaw dropped. The resemblance was too uncanny to be a coincidence. "You...you're Archangel, aren't you? Aria said you were a myth. Something the people cooked up to...give them false hope." She retracted her cable, freeing him from her grasp.

"Oh, I'm sure she wishes that were true, but I have a feeling you're pretty happy it isn't right now." He rolled his shoulders laxly. "Clever cable design, by the way. I expected the magnetism, but not the reversal. Compressed air to fire and hydraulics to retract, right?

Shepard laughed nervously and shakily got to her feet. "Wow. Yeah, that's spot on." She moved to help Vasir up. "Thank you, really."

Vasir nodded at the turian. "Yes, you have our thanks, because once again…" She turned to Shepard. "You nearly inadvertently got me killed. Good job. Gonna for three?"

Shepard rolled her eyes. "Oh, fuck off."

The turian narrowed his eyes at them, taking a few steps closer. "You know, it's not every day that you see asari in N7 armor. Or wearing...whatever that torn up thing is on your face."

Vasir palmed her face and her eyes widened. "Oh, shit."

Shepard paled as it hit her. Vasir had fallen on her face when they had been pulled back up into the building. The balaclava was torn and her face was clearly visible. "Fuck…" She turned to glare at the turian. "You didn't see anything."

The turian tilted his head. "No. I did. I just saved a spectre's life, again. For around...the two hundredth time?"

"Stop bluffing. It's embarrassing." Vasir narrowed her eyes at him and scoffed. "Wait, I know you. You're that crazy detective who ran off to chase Saren with Kryik!" she laughed.

Shepard looked between them both. "He's...what? I never got around to seeing Citadel, so I don't really know what happened there."

"Well, big news for you, then. The geth attacked the Citadel-"

"No, I know that part! I meant the specifics!"

"Well, I got the kill shot on Saren." The turian chuckled. "There were a lot of other things that happened before that, but they're not that important."

Vasir snickered. "Kyrik mentioned that, actually. He was pretty pissed at you."

The turian shrugged. "Oh, that's just his way."

"No, not really. I've worked with him before. You're just a pain in his ass," she smiled. "Which means you and I are gonna get along just fine."

Shepard raised a brow. "Wait, what? You're not going to kill him?"

"Of course I'm not. Garrus Vakarian is a galactic hero. And were you not listening? He killed Saren Arterius. I know that's a bit above your pay grade, but he was the best. I don't say that lightly."

The turian cleared his throat. "Do I get a say in...whatever it is you're doing, Vasir?"

"You've seen my face. Refuse and I kill you."

"Yeah…that sounds about right."

"Shepard! Vasir! New plan of approach!"

Shepard tapped her ear piece. "Is it a good one?"

"Yes, much better. Miranda and Ceres ran into old STG contacts. Willing to help! Suggest gathering forces, forming alliances against red vorcha threat, and assault on Omega's defense systems."

Vasir looked at Shepard and nodded. "If it's possible, we'll do it. We probably won't be able to get Eclipse, though. Their entire border just sort of...exploded."

"Not surprising. Volatile group. Still, save time. Need you to go back to clinic! Require more surgical tools for...surgery. Doctor-Patient confidentiality."

Vasir rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. We're on our way. Oh, and we picked up Archangel. So there's that."

"Excellent! Vigilante should be of great assistance."

Vasir broke out into loud, raucous laughter. "Vigilante?! On Omega? Are you fucking insane? Oh, this is just, too good. Way too good." She clutched her stomach and motioned for them to follow. "Goddess, you really are crazy. C'mon, we're going to the Gozu Clinic to pick up some random surgical instruments for our insane salarian doctor to use on some random pet project involving Shepard here." Vasir put on her spare balaclava, hiding her face once again.

Shepard frowned and followed Vasir. She looked up at Garrus. "For the record, I don't think it's entirely crazy. Just...sort of crazy."

Garrus shrugged. "Well, that makes one of us."

"Why were you even here, anyway? Not that I'm complaining."

"Scouting Eclipse movements and activities, which is now pretty much pointless because everything just exploded."

"Right."

-(|)-

Zaeed laughed like a maniac as he literally burned his way through the pitiful defenses the Blue Suns had set before him. The firestorm was one of his favorite weapons. It made everything burn. Everything. Fucking everything.

He reloaded the flamethrower with a fresh canister of napalm slurry as no less than a dozen bodies burned and writhed around him, screaming for mercy and death. Zaeed was not exactly the person to ask about that.

Quarn had wanted to sneak into their lines and sabotage everything before the Suns could even put up a fight. Zaeed thought that was an utterly stupid idea. Why should he fight defenseless soldiers? There wasn't any fun in that. It was just boring and stupid.

Still, that barefaced idiot had gone and made himself a shadow, with the odd arrow-in-throat Blue Sun popping up on Zaeed's battleground. More than a few of their battlements were already disabled by time he'd gotten to them, too. He wasn't angry at Quarn, not exactly, but he would've appreciated it if he stayed out of his way. Just for this one battle, though. Just this one.

Zaeed blew open a door, and an entire wall, with a well placed grenade launcher shot, incinerating several mercs inside of the room. He whipped out his assault rifle, his eternal Jessie, and began mowing down the 'top ranks' of the Blue Suns, their heads popping off like bubble wrap.

It took him maybe five minutes to hack, slash, incinerate, and gun down his way to the inner sanctum of the base. He kicked down the door and found the man he'd been searching over twenty years for.

Vido Santiago. Hiding behind his desk, detonator in his hand. The entire room lined with explosives. "Zaeed Massani. Did you come all the way here so I can put you down like the mad dog you are?" he said, grinning as twirled the detonator in his hands. "You make one move, and I'll blow us both straight to hell, Zaeed! Don't test me!"

Zaeed scoffed and began walking over to him. "Nah. You won't do that. You're too much of a goddamn coward."

"Don't test me, Zaeed!"

"Vido. Look at me." He gestured to himself, and the Firestorm he was currently loading. "I came in here guns blazing, and I have not been hit once. Not goddamn once. Not even a near miss. Not even a graze. I coulda turned off my kinetic barrier, walked in here with a steak knife, and slaughtered all of you with my eyes closed, and it wouldn't have made any fucking difference." He smashed the desk with his boot. "So, tell me, you fucking traitor. Do you really believe that all of those fancy bombs will kill me? You shot me in the face, and that didn't do it. You marooned me, with no water or food, and that didn't do it either. I've fought off red vorcha, dozens of battlemasters, the best the hierarchy has to offer, and you think that a bunch of fucking bombs is going to be the thing to do me in?!"

"Zaeed!" cried Vido, tears running down his puffy cheeks as he shivered in his seat. "Please, for the love of God, don't kill me! I'll do anything! I'll give you control of the Suns! I'll give you everything, just please don't kill me!"

Zaeed scratched his chin. "Okay. Yeah. I want the Suns and one other thing. All you've gotta do is one other thing for me. That's it."

"They're yours! What's the other thing? I'll do anything, just tell me what to do."

Zaeed grinned. "Burn, you sonuvabitch." He emptied the Firestorm's entire tank, two full gallons of napalm, directly into Vido's face. The man shrieked and writhed in pain and began running around the room. Vido dropped the Firestorm and drew Jessie. He rushed the man and crushed the rifle butt against his skull, caving it in completely.

Vido was dead. Zaeed smiled.

"Zaeed! Possible new approach!"

Zaeed raised a brow and poked his ear piece. "Yeah, what do you mean? Like, assaulting the Suns, 'cause I already finished that."

"Impressive."

"Thanks. Probably some of my best work, honestly," he whistled, basking in the sheer carnage he had wrought.

"New approach on red vorcha threat and assault on Aria's defenses! Form alliances! Ceres and Miranda already found old STG contacts! Vasir and Shepard apparently found Archangel."

"No shit? Archangel? Thought he was a myth. Well, what if I told you that, as of a minute ago, I now own the Blue Suns?"

"Excellent! Can take it from here, yes?"

"Yeah, I've got this." He turned toward the shattered doorway. "TARAK!" he screamed.

A barrel chested batarian wearing heavy Suns armor came sprinting in the room. "Zaeed! What-"

"I'm in charge."

Tarak looked over at the dead body of Vido and nodded. "Yeah. I really don't have a problem with that. He was an ass."

"Heh. Okay, until I get back, here's your orders. Minimize casualties, and see if you can't scrounge up some better equipment for the men. Also, send me all the information you can on the best soldiers we have on the station. Clear?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Great. Bareface, get the knife away from his throat."

The stupid turian materialized behind Tarak, his knife very much next to the batarian's throat. He sheathed it and nodded. "A simple precaution."

Tarak sprinted out of the room. He looked like a dumbass.

The barefaced turian looked up at the ceiling, at all the blinking bombs. "How did you know I disabled the explosives?"

"I didn't."

The turian nodded. "I'm honored that you trust me-"

Zaeed laughed. "No, no, no stupid, that's not what I meant. I didn't think anyone was disabling those bombs because I thought they were armed, and were gonna stay that way. Vido was a fucking coward." He kicked the dead body. Hard. "He never even tried to press the button."

"I suppose I can't fault that logic…"

"Goddamn right you can't."

-(|)-

Sederis fell to one knee, breathing heavily. Her body was covered in flop sweat, and her eyes were flickering wildly. Her unbalanced eyes flicked across the obliteration she had wrought. It was the only thing she could to trim the tide of the red vorcha against her people.

Somehow, a tanker had exploded on her border, and ignited a chain reaction which had decimated several of her encampments. It was only seconds later that the red vorcha had arrived and began consuming entire buildings. They were no longer hungry for flesh. They wanted destruction, so she had given it to them.

It was not the first time she had been forced to unleash such devastating biotic power, but hopefully it would be the last. Scorched earth was not something she liked, as it made her feel incredibly sick and weakened. She'd mostly have to feed, in both terms, almost constantly for the next few hours just so she wouldn't pass out from exhaustion.

Sederis gasped for breath as she wobbly got to her feet, nearly stumbling over herself. She clicked on her comm. "Jaroth. Southern border has been cleansed," she said, softly. "The red vorcha are becoming more aggressive. We may have to consider taking up Aria's offer for our own survival."

"Understood. How are you faring?"

"I'll be alright. I'll need tribute and lots of varren kebabs, but I'll be fine in a few hours." She panted. "Goddess. Have you found her or the broadcast center? Any leads?"

"No leads on the target or the center, ma'am. We'll keep working on it. Our techs have a few new ideas, so hopefully that will lead to something."

Sederis slowly walked over to a piece of debris shaped like a bench. She sat down on it, still breathing heavy. "Good. That's something. Update me if any progress is made."

"Will do."

Sederis shut off her comm and buried her head in her hands. "Why are you making this so difficult for me, Vasir?" Her eyes flickered, and then stabilized back to white. "I just want to see you safe."

-(|)-

A/N: Fuck yeah, Garrus! He was not even supposed to be in this chapter, but he just snuck his way in. Seriously. I mean, he was gonna be here later, but hey, guess he couldn't wait to get in on the action.

Yes. That's some Lin Bei Fong badassery right there, in case you weren't sure.

For those that are curious, the reason that Vasir, Shepard and Garrus weren't killed by the blast was because they were on the fringe of the actual area of effect. They just got hit by the shockwave itself, not the biotic-kills-everything-energy.

There's a friendly jab at a certain author in here that most of you hopefully caught. Let me know if you did.

Oh, and 'Lusia' was actually the first colony annexed by the krogan in canon. So yeah, shit just got real on a GALACTIC level.

Reviews are always appreciated, no matter how scathing or minor! :D