A/N: Right, sorry for the long delay in getting this chapter out. I hit writers block hard and struggled for a long time to get things going again. I think it's starting to get back to me. I hope anyway! Also, I must thank everyone who's been waiting for this and those I'd been having discourses with in PM (Achronus especially, with the epic idea bouncing that took place a while ago now!).

I'm going to be concentrating on this for a while, due to losing a ton of info (including my plot notes – insert swearing here) on my solely ME story. Which is currently on the back foot, in terms of my writing, as I try to recover info and previous chapters. Anyway, onto the much-delayed chapter! Any errors are mine and all universes are owned by their respective companies!

I've also tried to add line-breaks to this, I'm unsure if this has actually worked though - I clicked save and it seemed to revert back to it's previous format...

Prologue – Part 2

Not long after this 'Hannah' left the gym, Mia realised that she was getting hungry and needed to talk to Anderson. Looking at the other people in the room, Anderson was still talking to the biotics; she unsure whether to approach him or not.

Have to get it over with sometime, she thought. "Anderson?"

He looked over at her. "Yes Mia?"

"Can I have a word when you're free?"

He frowned but nodded. "Sure, I'll just say goodbye here; are you okay?"

"I think so… I just need to talk."

"Okay, be with you in a minute."

She nodded and watched him for a moment before gathering up her things and stuffing them unceremoniously into her gym bag. It was then she noticed that Hannah had left her own bag in her rush.

No doubt thrown by her conversation with me, she thought to herself.

Of course Mia could understand the human woman's position, seeing she was herself a stranger to the people here. She grabbed it and took it with her; it would give her another excuse to talk to someone other than Karin and the doctors.

"You wanted to talk Mia?" It was Anderson; he had a look of worry on his face.

"Yeah, can we talk in my room?"

"Sure."

The walk took a short while in silence. She knew that Anderson was worried about what she had to say – even more so since she'd requested the relative privacy of her granted quarters.

When they arrived she flicked her hand over the lock and let Anderson enter first. Her gym bag was tossed onto the bed. The room was quite small but better furnished than her last one. To right was taken up by a three-seat sofa and the datapad that allowed her – restricted – access to the extranet. The wall straight ahead was a window, it didn't open, but it showed a view over part of the base and out onto the red of the planets surface. A single bed poked out into the room from the left wall, it had a wooden side table to one side and some medical equipment on the other. Next to the door was a tiny desk at which she ate most days. A few pictures graced the walls, though these were not her choices – they were there when she had moved in. And next to the desk was a tiny partitioned off washroom.

Mia wished that she could've changed the wall colour; the pale blue – to being almost off-white – had gotten dull. That said it was better than the cell and its even staler grey.

Mia gestured to the sofa, which she placed Hannah's bag next to, on which Anderson plonked himself down onto. "I have a problem Anderson."

"A problem?" His voice was testing; worried.

She sighed, unsure as how to proceed. "Damn it, this was easier in my head." He looked like he was about to speak, so she held up a hand. "It's just… I'm worried about my future."

"What do you mean?"

"Even though Karin has told me I'm safe…"

"You fear that you won't be in the future."

She nodded, perching on the end of her bed. "I'm mean, I know that Karin wouldn't let them – whoever 'them' is – take me without a fight; but she's just one woman."

"I… I understand your fear." Anderson folded his hands together. "I know that Admiral Hackett is here to make a decision about you." He had clearly seen her look of confusion-come-fear. "I doubt he would send you away Mia, he's seen the files we took from that station. He – and the rest of The Brass – they're more worried that you will become a danger to us than anything…" He trailed off slightly.

"I see their view… I don't like it; but I see it..." Mia ran a clawed hand through her tendrils. "Damn it. I still have trouble trusting people; even here."

"How so?"

"Well, I trust Karin, no question about that." She pushed of the bed and started to pace the room. "It's just… little things. The access to the extranet I have is clearly filtered – there're no dates on the news; even the information links, some are blocked. All the movies are the same; I request new ones and get stuff that seems old. I mean, what the hell is up with the film Star Wars? While that film was great, don't get me wrong, it just…"

"Mia, I have a confession to make."

She whirled to face him, feeling her hair tendrils flare. "A confession?"

"Yes, there is no easy way to say this. We have been hiding your real age from you." He looked away for a moment. "You're not 16, not even close. They used some hyper-growth thing on you; you are only about four years old at most."

Mia felt her surprise grow; she could feel her eyes glowing. "WHAT?"

"I'm sorry; we felt it best to keep it from you until we knew how you'd react." His voice had shame in it.

That didn't stop her anger from spilling out. "What the hell Anderson!? You don't think I should have known about this?" She had to start pacing again, her anger had risen and she didn't want to hurt him. "Did Karin know?"

"Yes, but…"

"Karin knew!" She screamed in fury. "Oh god… It's happening again isn't it…"

"What is happening again?"

"You're all keeping things from me, keeping me contained…"

"No! Fuck no!" Anderson stood and approached her; even knowing that she could lash out. "Listen to me! We didn't know if we could trust you! We were worried that you might be able to call upon the Zerg; bring your kin crashing down upon us!"

"I…"

His voice lowered and had softened before he spoke again. "Look, I'm sorry and Karin only found out herself earlier today."

"I thought that she was in surgery today?"

"She was for most of the day. When you were talking with Hannah she'd been called into a meeting that… that you aren't meant to know about."

She took a step away from him. "What meeting? What is going on?"

"Hackett is here because the Council found out about you." She knew a few things about the Council from the data she had been provided, and her eyes widened in shock. "The Admiral is here to give the Alliance's 'judgement' on you." He made some funny air gestures with hands on the word judgement.

"Give judgement… I don't understand." Mia truly didn't, whilst she understood the words, the context was lost on her.

"Admiral Hackett is going to speak to you later; once he's spoken with all here who know you." He paused for a second. "Then he'll pass his findings onto the Council, who will then probably send someone else to get their own view."

Though her anger wasn't gone entirely, it had now been replaced mostly by fear yet again. "What do you mean by findings?"

"Well, when the Council found out about you – other than being annoyed we hadn't told them sooner – they wanted to know everything about you. They wanted to know if you are, or would be, a threat."

"What did you tell them?"

"I didn't tell them anything; it was Hackett who told our ambassador, Udina." He gestured at her datapad. "I'll get this unlocked for you; you need to know more about the way the galaxy works."

"What happens if this admiral doesn't like what he finds? What happens to me then?" Mia swiped a hand through the air. "I mean, I'm not human; I'm not part of the Alliance or any other species that is considered friendly. I'm Zerg!"

"Not entirely…"

"You think that will matter to some people? The people who made me were human; and they made me sentient – did that stop them from torturing me? Did that stop the Alliance from keeping something from me?"

"The honest answer is that I don't know Mia; I really do not know."

Things had gone downhill for her in less than an hour, Mia thought to herself. She'd had to ask Anderson to leave; her anger was getting the better of her and didn't want to hurt him by accident.

Part of her wanted to rend and tear; part of her was screaming! It took almost all of her will power to suppress this urge; which she knew came from the Zerg side of her.

Right now she had to calm down and for her the best way to do this was the gym. Normally she'd check that it was okay but, right now, she didn't care.

She did take out the dirty towels and threw them to one side, replacing them with new ones. Whilst she didn't sweat like humans, she did copy the gesture of wiping her brow off; she felt that it helped her to connect slightly; whether it actually did help was another matter entirely, and one she wasn't that bothered about. With Hannah's bag, she placed it on the sofa and sent a quick message to Karin about it – hoping that she'd be able to catch the other human and let her know.

She also let her know how she felt.

Not waiting for a reply, she dumped the pad next to the bag and left her room.

{Subject's name recorded as Mia Sal; hence forth in this meeting it – she – will be referenced as such.} Karin watched Admiral Hackett speak into the holographic recording tool on the table. The room was very… tense at the moment.

Other than herself and Admiral Hackett, there was also the human ambassador – who had come from the Citadel – Udina, Captain Hannah Shepard (who had met with Mia earlier it turned out) and two representatives from the Council.

Udina, she'd already decided, was an asshole, until she'd nearly swore at him he had refused to call Mia by her name; referring to her simply as "It" or "That". He seemed to only relent because if the impression he wanted to create in front of the Council's representatives.

The representatives themselves had arrived just after Hackett and Udina; one was a scary-looking Turian whose heavy armour ad guns looked quite imposing. She had been introduced to him briefly, his name was Nihlus – no clan-name was forthcoming – and he was a Spectre. The other was quite attractive asari, she wasn't armed or armoured that she could see, and in fact she was wearing a dress that could almost be called scandalous; if it had been on a human anyway. She had introduced herself as Doctor Risa L'Sar – which caused a start of recognition for Karin; Doctor L'Sar's work was on Zerg. Or more specifically, her work was on their genetic make-up and how this affected the "hive-mind" of the Swarm.

Karin had read some of it when trying to figure out how to deal with Mia.

As it turned out, most of it had been correct in terms of how Mia's DNA worked; though mentally she was quite different from a normal Zerg, so that was quite off.

{Let it be recorded that the first meeting between Alliance and Council representatives started at 4:47pm – galactic-standard time – to discuss the hybrid know as Mia Sal.} Hackett spoke again into the recorder. {The full date and time is as follows: 17th April 2170 CE, 4:48pm meeting begins.}

Whilst Karin understood the need for formality, she did not understand why they had to record everything.

"Okay, we have all read the briefing packet on Mia's origin; therefore the first thing that we should – as you humans say – clear up, is very simple – and yet probably the most important – does she have a mental connection to the other Zerg?" Doctor L'Sar asked, folding her arms under her – quite considerable – chest.

"I believe I can answer that Doctor." Karin leaned forward slightly. "Yes, she does have a connection to the rest of the Swarm; however she doesn't yet understand it and has actively been avoiding exploring it."

"Why is that?" Nihlus spoke, his flanged voice surprisingly soft.

"Well, quite frankly, Mia isn't sure of herself yet." Karin brought up a video file of Mia's first attempt at punching a training dummy; which turned into a clawing. "As you can see she reacts quite badly at first…" The video showed her stepping backwards, facing showing fear and surprise at her strength. "…that said she is mentally very stable. I think that the reason she is avoiding contacting – if that is the right word – the Swarm because she fears that she will like what she finds."

"I'm sorry; what the hell does that mean?" Udina was still fuming about their earlier argument it seemed.

"Well, simply put, Mia is between two worlds; part of her is human, part of her is Zerg. For her there is a conflict between the two." Karin sighed. "Mia is scared of both sides of herself – even if she won't admit it, I've gotten close enough to her to be able to figure her out a bit."

"You mean that, due to the torture she was put through, she doesn't know whether or not joining the rest of her kin is the right thing to do?" Dr L'Sar placed one hand on the table as Karin nodded. "I think that's quite understandable, given what she's had to endure." The hand swiped across the table. "Which could also lead to a few problems itself; what is she decides that she does, in fact, like the Zerg better?"

"While she certainly has an ingrained understanding of the Zerg, she is learning." Karin smiled slightly. "She wants to learn; to evolve as she put it."

Nihlus snorted, mandibles flared. "That is worrying, if she wants to evolve then how do we know she won't take what she needs from us and…"

"Because I trust her!" Karin cut in. "Sorry but she's still, basically, just a scared child. She might bit different from us but, to me at least, that means nothing."

Nihlus didn't mind the interruption. "I see that you care for her greatly and I personally feel – without speaking to her and forming my own impressions of course – that this could be used to keep her in check."

Karin was about to spill over at Nihlus' words but Captain Shepard beat her to it. "Now hold on a moment! I may've only met her for a few minutes but she was very honest with me; I got to look her in the eye and see who she is."

"What does your firsthand experience tell you?" Nihlus asked.

"Well, firstly, she is finding this whole thing harder than she's letting on. Mia deflected a question about herself off onto her not understanding humour." The Captain had a smile on her face. "I'll admit I was quite scared of her a first but once I actually talked to her, well; she was quite friendly. Plus she hugged Anderson – I mean, Lt. Anderson – and complained about not hearing from him for a while! While I'm not saying let her have the run of the base – going by the files I've read, we still don't know enough about potential problems with bacteria that she might be carrying, and this is a medical facility – but to me she seemed like a nice girl."

"A nice girl – pah! – She's got tentacles for hair! Err, nor offence Doctor." Udina nearly spat. "You've both waxed lyrical about how nice she is, but you've avoided one thing; she ate people on that station."

To Karin's surprise, Doctor L'Sar spoke up first. "Of course she did; she's mostly Zerg!" When Udina looked at her blankly she continued. "Mia was badly injured during her attempt to escape that station; for her consuming the DNA – the essence – of some of those in her way would not only help her regenerate from the wounds; but it would also allow her to fulfil her desire to 'evolve'." She made quotation marks over the word evolve. "Zerg all have an innate… desire you could call it, to improve the Swarm. Now to us we simply see them attacking a destroying, while the simple truth is this; to them, they're improving – evolving – the Swarm for their greater good."

"That doesn't make it right." Udina grumped, he'd folded his arms.

"No it doesn't but she had no choice." Dr. L'Sar spoke again. "Under normal circumstances she would have been able to gorge herself on more… palatable… food sources. Though, as you saw in the reports, the mess hall and its stores had been blown into space; she did want she had to, to survive."

Karin partly stopped listening as it went backward and forwards for quite a long time; she had started to get a terrible headache and was also quite hungry, when Admiral Hackett called the meeting to a close.

Nihlus and Dr. L'Sar would be meeting with Mia tomorrow and then final discussions would take place soon after.

She knew that nothing had been decided, but she was getting worried for Mia and her potential reaction.

Karin left the meeting feeling a little down, absently turning on her omni-tool to check for messages as Anderson approached her. She had three messages; two were automated updates on her patient (neither of which contained anything that required her attention) and one from Mia.

Who seemed to be slightly angry going by the tone of message. {I hear that my future is being discussed without me? This is not what I hoped! Plus your people are keeping things from me! They didn't think that I needed to know that I'm only about 4 fucking years old! What the hell is going on!

I'm off to the gym to hit things until my head clears. It's probably best you keep your people away from me for a while with my current mood.

P.S. That Captain Hannah left her bag in the gym; I've put on the sofa.}

"Shit." She muttered to herself, Mia had found out about things at the worst possible time! Though she did agree with Mia that they shouldn't have been keeping from her; that was not the way to keep her on their side!

"Karin, look we might have a problem…" Anderson started to speak to her.

She clicked on how Mia how found some things out. "You spoke to her about this?" She gestured at the meeting room; the man nodded. "I agree with her message; she has every right to be angry!"

"I know Karin, I told her about her age and the meeting because I felt that going behind her back was not the way to go." Anderson rubbed the back of his neck. "She didn't take the news very well."

"Did you think she would thank you?" Karin snapped, and then shook her head. "I'm sorry, you didn't deserve that."

"It's okay Karin; I know how you're feeling."

"Come on, we need to find Captain Shepard and then get to the gym." Karin shut-down her omni-tool as she moved off.

"Why is she back at the gym?"

"She said that she's going to hit things until she cools down and to – I quote – 'keep your people away'." Karin glanced at Anderson. "She might do something stupid David and we need to be there to keep her from doing so!"

When Mia arrived at the gym it had been empty; The Prospect was currently still dealing with an influx of arrivals, so she wasn't that surprised.

She'd managed to spend a few minutes warming up and then threw herself into a harsh training programme; one designed for high-level special forces. It was quite gruelling; 10k run, 10k bike-ride (which she had to be careful on), followed by short – but intense – holographic target run. In fact, she'd swapped the bike-ride to first; her claws could damage the bike and her feet (see had never worn shoes yet) also had slight claws to them, which could also cause some damage.

One thing she had noticed was that unlike humans, she didn't sweat. She got hot and tired but could recover quicker than humans and didn't need to drink water as often. This meant that, while this programme might be too advanced for at the moment, with a bit of training, she would be able to do it far quicker than probably everyone in the base.

Halfway into the bike-ride she could feel the burn in her legs. 'Maybe this was a mistake?' She thought to herself.

It was working to calm her down though, now instead of thinking if the humans were going to betray her, she was pushing her endurance; when she probably shouldn't thanks to nearly losing her leg only a few months ago.

Not that she cared at the moment.

She wasn't timing herself, though the programme itself would give her a time at the end. The bike beeped to let her know she had only a quarter-distance left to go. Mia felt the strain of the overuse of muscles but ignored it pushing on.

Without realising that she'd gotten that far, the bike beeped to let her know she was done. Getting of the bike turned her legs to jelly and she swayed on her feet for a moment. Once she had regained her balance, she jogged over to a treadmill. Before activating it she wondered momentarily if her clawed toes would damage it; before tapping it on – she was only allowed two minutes before the programme failed her automatically – and started the run.

It was soon apparent to her that doing this high-level task was most certainly a mistake.

The burn in her legs had been joined by a burn in her lungs; not to mention her entire left side twitched every so often.

And she still had just over 7k to go!

Digging deeper into her reserves of energy she felt something… shift.

A sudden flare of pain in the left-side of her chest made her stumble and fall, crashing into the treadmill as her own motion combined with the moving track, sent her slamming down onto her stomach.

Her face collided with the machines floor – the auto-stop was too slow and it sand-papered her cheek for a few seconds – and pushed herself backwards, yelling in pain. The agony flared again, this time on both sides.

Lifting her shirt to her eyes widen in utter horror.

Underneath her skin; something was moving!

Hannah was with Doctor Chakwas (who she knew was Mia's mother of a sort) and David. Both of them seemed to worried about Mia – which she understood after David had confessed that he'd mentioned some things that he'd been ordered not to, to the hybrid.

The trio had gone to Mia's room and retrieved her abandoned gym bag, which is when David had told her about what he'd done. She wasn't that surprised; the hybrid seemed to care for him, or at least, she trusted him. Doctor Chakwas – Karin s the woman keep saying – had convinced her to come with them to the gym; they intended to try and talk to the hybrid.

To get her to calm down before Admiral Hackett and the others tried to speak with her.

When they were just outside the gym, a crash and pained yell brought them all forward at a run.

Hannah's eyes widened when she saw Mia on the floor writhing in clear pain.

When she got closer, she had to stop in her tracks.

Mia's chest was moving.

Karin reacted first; she had darted forward and dropped to her knees next to Mia, while Hannah could only stand and watch.

Mia was clearly in pain, something was clearly not right; but she had no idea what to do!

"David, Captain; help me keep her still – and watch her claws!" Karin called to them.

David reacted slightly quicker, the both of them moving forward; her Mia's legs, gripping her ankles and trying to avoid the jerking, which would make her claws catch her arms. It was the same for David, her held Mia's wrists in one hand while trying to help keep the hybrid still with other.

It wasn't working; Mia was too strong for them and would soon break out of their grip. Karin didn't move from her side, whispering encouragement while running a scan.

While Hannah didn't understand the results that flashed up, Karin clearly didn't like what she saw. {Doctor L'Sar, please report to the gym immediately and bring some strong sedatives!} Karin practically shouted into her omni-tool as Mia groaned loudly in pain beside her.

Karin cupped Mia's face and looked into her eyes. "It's okay Mia, you are changing but don't worry, it is natural." Hannah didn't fail to notice that the hybrid's eyes were glowing brightly. "I need to sedate you; you're resisting the change and that is why it is hurting. You really need to calm down!"

Mia was clearly unable to calm down; she didn't know what the hell was happening to her!

Doctor L'Sar – followed by Nihlus, who had a weapon drawn – barrelled into the room.

The asari took one look at the readout on Karin's omni-tool. "Alright, she's adapting to something. It shouldn't be hurting her though, it's completely natural…" Confusion had arrived on the asari's face.

"I think she's resisting it subconsciously…" Karin started to reply but stopped when one of Mia's hands got free; she had to duck backwards to avoid getting clawed.

"I see why you asked for sedatives, while sedating her won't stop her subconscious mind; it will help." Dr. L'Sar passed the injector to Karin, and then flared with biotics to help keep Mia still.

Karin leans in when the biotics manage to pin the hybrid in place, though Hannah can hear the asari telling her to hurry.

It took a short while for the sedative to kick in; Mia clearly had a very strong system.

"Will she be alright?" Hannah asked as she pushed herself to her feet.

Dr L'Sar nodded. "Yes, but she clearly doesn't understand what is happening to her. This means that we'll need to keep a close eye on her."

"How close?" Karin asked; she had suspicion in her voice.

"Not that close Dr Chakwas, I want to make sure that she's okay just as much as you do." Hannah didn't quite believe that. "The simple fact is that she's unlike anything that we've encountered before – we have to be careful."

"I agree with being careful." Karin crossed her arms. "She is my responsibility, if anything happens that I don't like…"

"You will be with me all the time Doctor; you have nothing to worry about." Dr. L'Sar interrupted. "Now, let's get her to a medical bay."

Karin shook her head; she had a protective look on her face. "To her room, she'll feel safer there and we have medical equipment there already."

The asari did not reply, she just nodded and signalled for Nihlus to help them carry Mia.

"Captain, might I have a word please?" It was Admiral Hackett; Hannah was waiting outside Mia's room while the doctors worked.

She looked at him and nodded, following him out of ear-shot of the Turian, which was a fair way down the hall.

"What is it Sir?" She asked, standing to attention.

"At ease, Shepard." Hackett smiled at her when she dropped into parade-rest. "I'll get straight to the point – what do you think of this hybrid, this Mia?"

"Honestly sir, in the short time I spent talking to her, she came across as friendly – if a little scared."

Hackett nodded. "I see I have yet to speak to her face to face; though I have seen some footage of her." He waved a hand slightly. "Though from what I've read, she deserves a chance."

Hannah had thought the same but had been unsure about the Admirals stance. "I agree with you sir; she needs time and care…"

"Udina doesn't agree with that." Hackett cut in. "He thinks we should either kill her or experiment on her."

Hannah gasped. "But he's never even met her!"

"Like that means anything to that snake…" The Admiral muttered, and then louder. "I can keep him away; he's on his own on this one so far. The rest of the Brass was wary when news of her reached them; until the reports of what she'd been through and her rapport with Dr. Chakwas came in. The relationship between them is, quite frankly, amazing – especially in such a short time."

"Well, I think I understand why that is, sir." Hannah started; Hackett had nodded for her to continue. "Karin was the first one to treat her like a human – well, maybe not human, but a person."

"That was how I viewed it as well." Hackett smiled slightly. "When Mia is up to talking, please let me know."

"I will do sir." Hannah saluted, which was returned, and Hackett moved off down the corridor away from Mia's room – likely to go meet with Udina about the situation.

She walked back to Mia's room and she must have looked worried as Nihlus spoke. "Are you alright Captain?"

She looked up at him in surprise; he was tall even for a Turian. "Yes, I'm fine. I'm just worried about Mia."

His mandibles twitched slightly. "She has gained quite a few peoples loyalty in quite a short time." It wasn't said was any malicious intent that she could hear.

"That's because we feel for her, for what she's suffered." Hannah leaned on the wall next to the big Turian. "She tries very hard not to show it, but she's haunted by what they did to her."

"Yes, she does appear to be trying very hard to fit in; it is very admirable." Nihlus glanced at her. "What do you think of her?"

She cannot help the small laugh, which causes Nihlus to tilt his head. "Sorry, it's just that I've been asked that question more times that I can count today!"

To her surprise Nihlus laughs back. "I guess you have. I don't need you to answer; I already know your feelings on this matter."

"When you report to the Council, what do you think you'll say?"

"I cannot tell you I'm afraid; though so far my impression of her is quite… positive."

Hannah smiled mostly to herself. "That's good news."

"What of the Alliance do you intend to make her a citizen?" Nihlus asked, with his flanged voice it was hard to tell if there was any greater meaning behind the question.

"I don't know I'm not high up enough to know that sort of thing; though personally, I hope they do."

At that moment, the door opened and Karin signalled that it was okay for them to come in.

The world was fuzzy again, Mia thought to herself. Then the memories came flooding back, the pain… her chest!

She tried to move but everything was heavy and slow, the room was blurred; she knew enough to know that she was coming out of being sedated. She had been held down by the asari, one she didn't know, and Karin had injected her with some really strong sedatives. Beyond that, her memory was a bit off.

Someone must have seen her try to move as a cool hand touched her arm. "Slowly Mia, slowly." She didn't know the voice.

Looking around a blue blur came into focus – it was that asari; where was Karin?!

"It's okay my dear, you are fine." Karin spoke from the other side of the bed, she was nearer the door. "Do you know what happened?"

She shook her head, which made it throb. "No, I don't. One moment I was on the treadmill, the next… pain flared up; so much so that I fell."

"Mia, the reason for that pain was that your mind was resisting changes occurring…"

She cut in, interrupting Karin. "Changes? What do you mean?"

"You're mostly Zerg my dear, in DNA terms anyway." Karin smiled warmly. "The exercise that you were doing was too much for your previous lung-capacity. So your body… evolved to meet these requirements."

She had a blank look on her face, and the asari spoke. "Now, normally such changes don't happen so quickly, they take a few days. But I think that you were pushing yourself and forced the changes to occur rapidly; which your mind got… confused about and resisted; which caused you physical pain."

"I can change my body?" Surprise laced her voice.

"Yes, as a hybrid, you have the Zerg ability to mutate to fit a situation." The asari spoke again. "This ability is quite powerful as you potentially could "evolve" pretty much anything."

"Like an extra limb?" Mia understood what she was getting at, she didn't why, but she did – it must be ingrained in me… genetic memory or something.

Karin laughs. "Yes, even that if you put your mind to it! Though you will need to have access to certain DNA sources, or samples, to evolve certain things – like the extra limb."

"This might sound odd but I know what you're talking about… I don't know why, I just do."

The asari nods. "Unsurprising, the need and ability to evolve is built into the genetic memory of all Zerg. If you didn't have the urge then I'd be worried."

Mia tilted her head slightly. "So, how do I get these changes to happen? And how do I control them?"

Karin smiled and patted her arm. "Well, the best we can figure out is that you are able to 'view' DNA. Not in a literal sense of course, just able to sense what is useful and what isn't. With this you should be able to alter your body by integrating this new DNA – or biomass, the best sources would be meat; or hair; or nail clippings for example." She looked at the asari, who continued.

"As for controlling it… well, you already can. It is normally something that happens in your subconscious. You can force changes to happen – like with your exercising incident – but you must not resist these changes. The pain, as you know, will be very intense."

Mia nodded and looked down at herself. "I don't really feel any different for it."

"You won't notice most of the changes that occur." The asari moved and brought up a graph on her omni-tool. "Your lung capacity has increased threefold, which you might not notice as your body will simply keep going during the changes." She switched off her omni-tool and looked at Karin.

"You may, however, notice an increase in your appetite during these changes." Karin spoke again, it seemed almost rehearsed. "This is nothing to worry about. It's simply your body taking on extra fuel for the changes."

She looked at Karin and smiled. "Well, with you around to help, I shouldn't have much to worry about."

Karin chuckled. "Let's hope it stays that way my dear!"

Mia forced herself to become a bit more serious. "What about this meeting I heard about…"

"Oh that." To her surprise it was that Turian she didn't know that spoke up. "To be honest, after reviewing things here my report is going to be very positive. That said though, I do still need to talk you in private."

"What about now?" She replied, looking at Karin; who nodded.

"Nothing stopping you Mia, we only sedated you for the pain at the time." Karin rubbed her arm gently. "Don't over do it though; you are powerful but not invincible."

Mia nodded. "I know. The way my leg was when you found me is testament to this."

Karin signalled for the others to follow her out, though Hannah holds back a moment.

"Mia, I just want to say thanks for taking care of my gear."

"Don't worry about it. I guess meeting me was a bit of a shock."

"Ha! Yes, it was! Even so, thank you. Hybrid or no, I owe you one." Seeing Mia's blank look she tried to explain. "You did a little something for me, so in the future I will return the favour."

Mia gasped and nodded. "I see, so if I forgot my bag you'd bring it to me."

"Close enough!" Hannah surprised her slightly by hugging her. "Speak to you soon."

After Hannah had also left the room, Nihlus moved and stood by her. Mia swung her legs around, pushing herself upright; she was a little stiff but nothing serious.

"Well Mia, the simple fact is that my report to The Council will determine their reaction to you. By this I mean what sanctions they will take against either you, or the Alliance." He crossed his arms as he looked at her; his eyes seemed to be looking at her "hair".

"How much impact would this have on my life?"

"Potentially a massive amount, if my report was negative they might demand you be handed over to them; what whatever reason." The Turian gestured at her. "That said, based on my first impressions of you, you seem quite… grounded."

It took her a few moments to figure out what he meant. "Oh, well that is thanks to Karin… Dr Chakwas. Without her I would be less grounded, as you say." She brushed her hair tendrils back. "I won't lie… it hurts like hell here and here." She pointed to her head, and then her heart. "I know I'm not human. I never will be anything like Karin. I still don't know what to make of some… things."

"Understandable. Given your nature and past experiences, you are within your rights to be angry with humans." Nihlus sounded more serious than before, it was a subtle shift in his sub-harmonics; something that humans couldn't hear but she could.

"Yes, I could be that is true. Yet what would that gain me?" She jerked her head at him. "Not every human was involved, so why should I tarnish them all with the same brush? It's hard not to think that way at times…" She drifted off; her voice had become laced with pain; which didn't go unnoticed.

"I'm not trying to upset you Mia; I'm trying to figure you out." His mandibles twitched. "I cannot judge you in the wrong for fighting back; if it had been a Turian in your position you can be damn sure that we'd burn that place to the ground."

She couldn't help the snort of laughter. "Anderson said pretty much the same thing to me, as did Karin – many times."

"My first report will be sent in a few days. I'll be following you closely until then." Nihlus turned to leave; apparently he had what he needed in their short exchange.

"What happens then?"

Nihlus looked back at her. "Then Mia, the Council will either approve or deny my suggestions. I cannot say more."

"And what of the Alliance; what do they plan on doing?" She was terrified and it was clear.

"I don't know Mia, I really don't. You have made some powerful friends though, so you should be safe." He nodded at her before taking his leave.

When he was gone Mia sunk down onto the floor next to her bed. Though it sounded positive… she was still terrified of what was to come. Tears came to her eyes as she held up her clawed hands, viewing them carefully.

"I'm not going to run… not unless I really have to." She spoke to herself, placing her head in her hands.

Things had to get better. They just had to.

A/N2: The next chapter has yet to get underway but I'm planning to work on it tomorrow and some of next week. It might take a while for it to get sorted, so it could be a few weeks until it's posted.

Thanks again for the support!