"I don't understand why you don't want me to help?" Cass pouted, walking after her mother into the dining room, now set up as a makeshift tactical operation room.
"Well, firstly, you're still technically grounded-"
"I got that part." Cass rolled her eyes.
"Secondly." The commander paused to stare down her child. "I think it would be rather suspicious to bring an underage child into a casino."
"But I am so awesome at parties!"
"You're what?" The commander grunted, watching the girl pointedly.
"Um, half of Omega was a giant club. I spent like two years there, or did you forget." The girl spoke with sarcasm, hands settling on her hips.
"Cassandra." Shepard warned halfheartedly.
"So you should let me come with-"
"It's not going to happen, Cass."
"Please! You know I'm better than that ditzy staff analyst."
"Excuse me." Brooks squeaked, seemingly embarrassed and offended.
"I doubt she can even shoot a gun-"
"Excuse me!" Brooks repeated, this time more forcefully.
Shepard huffed and grabbed her daughter by the arm, leading her out of the room, the commander shooting the staff analyst an apologetic look. Shepard led them to the bar and sat her daughter down on the available couch. The commander stood over the girl, arms folded in authority.
"You're not coming with me on this; that is final." Shepard stated. "You are going to stay here at the apartment. Liara, Brooks and I are going in, the rest of the team is going to be here. You are apart of the team, thus you are staying here-"
"I got it, mom." Cass rolled her eyes.
"Are you sure? Because the last three times I said no, you didn't seem to understand."
"I get it." Cass grumbled petulantly.
"Good." Shepard spoke flatly. "Now stay here until I come get you."
"Seriously?" The teen groaned.
Shepard's glare gave the girl her answer.
"Pass." Cass pursed her lips, eyes falling down to her cards. James sat across the poker table, with Tali on his left, and Wrex to the right.
"I'm in." The Krogan boomed.
Cass rolled her eyes. Wrex's tell was completely obvious, he essentially would pound his chest every time he got a good hand. James' would rub his chin absentmindedly. But Cass couldn't figure out the Quarian, her face unreadable for obvious reasons.
"Any news yet?" Tali turned to Ashley. The previous gunnery chief leaned against the small bar, obviously watching the teen, as her earlier attempt at bartending was thwarted by the woman.
"Not yet." Ashely responded. "EDI and Joker are on the com with them, but Brooks it still working on disabling the sensors."
"I bet I could have been done with that already." Cass grumbled, still pouting.
"Sure you could have." Ashley rolled her eyes. "But you're still grounded-"
"Shut up." Cass stuck her tongue out.
"What did you do anyways?" Tali questioned.
"She went on crazy escapade with Aria T'loak." James responded happily, like a gleeful tattling child. "And they made out-"
"I didn't not! And that's not what happened!" Cass glared at the muscled man. "I helped liberate an entire station from Cerberus control- and she kissed me!"
"But you didn't tell anyone where you were going and disappeared without a word." Ashely added. "If one of my kid sisters ever-"
"Does it not count for anything that I liberated an entire station- anything!"
"Sounds like it was bad-ass!" Wrex boomed, pounding his chest.
"Damn right it was." Cass exclaimed, slamming her free hand down on the table. "I jumped through a fucking force field, it was awesome!"
Wrex laughed loudly, interrupting Ashley's "language" scolding.
"How did you jump through a force field?" Tali questioned.
Cass grinned and began a detailed retelling of the events that occurred. The girl gestured wildly while the rest of the team filed into the room.
"How was the T'loak Asari able to open a hole?" Javik questioned, eyes following the girl.
"No freaking clue." Cass shrugged. "I guess she used enough biotic energy or something to tear open the thing."
"That is impressive-" Javik hesitated. "For a primitive..."
"But what about the adjutants?" Garrus asked, he was settled against the wall near the bar. "Did you clear the rest out then?"
"No, there were still parts of the station that we didn't get to. Once we ki- took care of Petrovsky, my mom showed up…" Cass trailed off and paused thoughtfully. "I'm sure Aria's taken care of them by now."
"What did they look like?" James leaned forward, his poker hand was laid out on the table, the game forgotten by all players.
"Tentacle faces, and they were glowy blue." Cass' finger tapped against her chin thoughtfully and comically. "And huge! Like Krogan huge!"
"Sounds like a worthy opponent!" Wrex thundered.
Cass grinned.
"Well, I'm just surprised Shepard didn't kill Aria." Joker laughed. "Should of seen her when she came back, her face was red and it looked like she might blow up! Sent Cass straight to her cabin and told EDI to lock the door."
Cass rubbed the back of her head sheepishly while the current company laughed.
"Shepard is on her way back." EDI interrupted the laughter.
"Were they successful?" Ashely spoke.
"Khan was dead." EDI responded. "They have recovered the external data drives from his com server."
"So it wasn't that successful." Cass spoke, deadpan.
"I will likely recover data from the drives."
"But the source of our answers is dead, but more importantly, how we get more of those awesome guns is dead."
"Is that what you care about?" Ashely spoke incredulously.
"What?" Cass shrugged, clearly unconcerned. "Those guns are awesome."
Ashely shot the girl a scolding look, the teen paid her no mind. "Now what are we going to do?"
"Brooks and EDI are hopefully going to retrieve the data we need." Shepard spoke confidently, arms folding as she stood in the doorway. The commander frowned slightly, just now noticing that her entire team was present. "Is there something I need to know?" Shepard asked, eyeing her squad and her daughter in particular.
"Nope." Cass answered, sauntering out of the room and pass the curious commander, before more questions could be asked, Shepard followed the girl, allowing the team to disperse.
"I trust you behaved yourself." Shepard laid a hand on the teen's shoulder, stopping Cass short of the stair.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Cass huffed.
"I think you know."
"Why don't you just ask Ashley," Cass grumbled. "She practically babysat me the entire time."
"Maybe I will." Shepard spoke playfully.
Cass stuck her tongue out at the mother. "So how was the party?" Cass paused. "Despite the dead guy, obviously."
"It was fine." Shepard shrugged. "I'm not much of one for parties."
"I know." Cass grinned cheekily. "You're a bit of a buzzkill."
"And you're a bit of a brat." Shepard reached to ruffle the teen's hair, Cass ducked under her arm swiftly, the commander went to grab at her again.
"Aren't you like, supposed to be commanding or something?" Cass asked, evading the commander's continued pursuit.
"I just want a hug." Shepard spoke mischievously.
"Fine." Cass whined as the older woman grabbed hold of her, squeezing her in a hug and kissing her head aggressively.
"Gross." The teen swiped at the mother, faux wiped at the place of the kiss upon release.
Shepard laughed and left the teen to her own devices. Cass watched her mother ascend the stairs two steps at a time, the teen turned on her heel and nearly collided with Liara.
"You look hot." Cass grinned, stepping back from the woman.
"Thank you." Liara blushed ever so slightly.
"How was the party?"
"It was fun, despite, well the obvious." Liara spoke. "I trust you behaved yourself?"
"Oh my god, seriously?" Cass rolled her eyes, trotting away from the Asari and yelling. "You need to stop spending so much time with her!"
"Commander." Brooks waved the Shepard over, Cass trotting in behind her. "I think we've got something if you're ready."
"Though the data's root structure was erased, the logic integrity remains viable." EDI explained.
"EDI has an incredible talent for this stuff, I know she's an AI, but still." Brooks spoke. "We've found an encrypted communication from a few days ago and need another minute to crack it."
"A whole minute?" Cass grinned, elbowing Joker gently. The rest of the team had gathered a moment ago.
"Yeah, EDI could shave it down to five seconds." Joker added.
"I thought it best for analyst Brooks that chance to improve her decryption skills." EDI pointed out, turning to Joker.
"But now you've lost your chance to show off." Joker shrugged.
"Like she needs it." Brooks replied. "You're the crew of the Normandy. Legend to the rest of the Alliance." Brooks gestured around the table.
"Legends can be good or bad." Shepard spoke thoughtfully. "Which kind are we?"
"The kind people look up to." Brooks answered. "The kind they owe their lives to."
"Then how come everyone's always shooting at us?" Wrex frowned, and seemingly pouted, or as close as a Krogan can get to actual pouting.
"I think it's mostly you, Wrex." Tali said, a playful tone in her voice. "The bigger the target… uh, the bigger the target."
"Are you saying I've gained weight?"
"It just means there's more of the legend to love." Liara smirked.
Cass snorted, trying to contain her amusement. Wrex growled and grumbled lowly, while Tali nodded with enthusiasm, and Liara contained a giggle.
"And the camaraderie and friendship." Brooks quickly added, "That's your secret weapon."
"Right." Shepard folded her arms, and spoke lightheartedly. "I taught this bunch everything they know."
"Right, ducking, running, and hitting the occasional button." Garrus shrugged and smiled.
"Not me." Cass grinned. "I've always been awesome. It's all character."
"It's all biology." Shepard corrected, ruffling the girl's hair, until the teen ducked away.
"Here we go." Brooks stated, the decryption finishing and the message appearing in the hologram. "Wow. Those mercs that were after you? They bought a lot of weapons, big ones."
"Mechs?" Ashley frowned, leaning in and looking at the invoice. "What do they need that kind of fire power for?"
Just then, Glyph flew in while flashing red. "It appears this drone is preparing to rebel." Javik spoke.
"I have just monitored the Commander's Specter access code in use at the citadels archives." Glyph reported.
"Punch it up." Shepard commanded. The archive outline appeared on the holo-table.
"The archives go into emergency lockdown." Brook's voice laced with concern. "Who's ever accessing those records is there right now!"
"What are the archives anyways?" Cass frowned.
"The council keeps sensitive historical information there. Real hush-hush. Not even my C-sec clearance never got me in." Garrus answered.
"Then we'll find our own way in, gear up and-" Shepard spoke while turning on her heel, but then stopping dead in her tracks. A red and white clad Volus at her feet. The commander turned back to her team with a frown. "What's with the Volus?"
"Uh, pizza guy." James frowned. "I got the-"
"Finally!" Cass exclaimed. "Double pepperoni!" The girl fisted the air excitedly, and took the pizza back to the table.
Brooks coughed drawing attention back to the matter at hand. "The Archives are huge. Shame we can't bring everyone."
"Who says we can't?" Shepard spoke. "All hands on deck for this one."
"Hell yeah." James replied. "But who gets to take point with you?"
"Ahem." Liara coughed expectantly.
"Ahem." Wrex followed suit.
Then Garrus, James, Ashley, Javik, and Tali.
Cass looked up with pizza hanging from her mouth, Shepard only rolled her eyes.
"Ahem." The Volus breathed heavily. "Who's going to pay the bill?"
Cass pointed to James.
"I don't get why I have to go with you." Cass pouted. "I could have led my own team."
Shepard snorted and turned in the sky car chair. "You're 17, I'm not going to give you command of your own team, Cassandra." Shepard then mock pouted. "Besides, don't you want to spend time with mommy?"
"Nope."
"You wound me." Shepard sighed dramatically.
"Commander?" Brook's voice came in on the com.
"Brooks." Shepard responded promptly. "What's the best way to the Archives?"
"It's beneath the wards." The staff analyst replied. "Maybe a direct breach for maximum surprise?"
"I like it." The commander praised. "Sounds like you're learning the ropes."
"Hell." Cortez spoke from the driver's seat. "Hang out with us long enough, you'll learn ropes, knives, bombs, thresher maws…"
"But don't hang out too long-" Wrex interrupted. "Pretty soon you'll be making friends with Asari."
"I heard that." Liara grumbled from behind the Commander.
As the sky cars landed, the crew assembled on a platform in the wards. Brooks spoke first. "The Archives are somewhere beneath us, could be tricky to get in."
"Not really." James held up an explosive device before planting in on the ground. The crew backed away as the beeping increased and loud explosion blowing out a portion of metal beneath them.
"Krogan first!" Wrex boomed, jumping down into the makeshift entrance. "See you at the party princesses."
The rest of the crew followed suit and broke into teams. Cass went with her mother, Liara and Ashley. Garrus, Wrex and Tali were together, and EDI, James, and Javik went as a team too. As the teams went their prospective ways, Shepard's team scaled downward onto the main floor of the archives. Desks and files cluttered the area with walkways and scaffolding above them, all likely leading to different areas. The lighting was dim, and the air seemed a bit musky.
As Shepard's feet hit the floor and her team followed suit, lasers spotted little red lights on their chests. "Not this again." Shepard sighed as she dropped into cover, the rest of the team doing the same. "Scatter and take cover!" Shepard boomed.
"Before we at least had five minutes before a mission went south!" Wrex boomed from one of the walkways above.
Cass rolled her eyes and continued to fire her weapon, throwing up a biotic shield around her. The girl had yet to really remove herself from cover and play on the offensive, they were boxing them in.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" A familiar sounding voice boomed. "Drop you weapons or this won't end well for her!" The shadow on one of the above platforms had an arm wrapped around Brook's neck, and a handgun pointed to her head.
Shepard lowered her weapon to the floor and stood. "Alright." The commander put her hands up in surrender.
Cass grimaced as the shadowy figure shoved Brooks off the walkway, and the staff analyst his the floor with a loud thump. That had to hurt.
"Whatever you think you're getting away with." Shepard glared up at the figure. "There's no where you can run and nowhere can you hide that we can't find you."
"Huh?" The figure's clearly amused. "Hide? Why?" The figure stepped forward revealing them self. "I'm Commander Shepard. I never hide."
"What the fuck?"
Cass' jaw dropped, it was going to be a long day.