The skycar steadily slowed to a halt at the Alliance port after parting from the line of traffic that ran parallel to the docks. A compliment of soldiers was there to greet the tiny craft and all immediately saluted when the thin man hobbled out of the passenger seat and adjusted the cap on his head.

"Wing Commander Moreau, sir!" the nearest guard greeted, his face firm and chiseled.

"Don't, for god's sake," Joker waved off, causing all three men to lower their arms in surprise. "I've never enjoyed being saluted much, I hope you can understand. Never gotten used to it."

"Regulations, sir," one of the guards tried to explain. "Anyone of a higher rank should be treated as-"

"Yeah, well, you won't have to worry about me snitching on you if any of you have a momentary lapse of protocol." Joker tried to straighten up as best he could as he started to slowly walk along the gantry towards the parked Normandy. It was the only ship in the port at the moment, a sleek white vessel attended to with the utmost care by the best technicians stationed on the Citadel. For being almost six years old, it still looked like it came out of the showroom. At this rate, it could be put in a museum and still would look at home with the other relics. Not that the Normandy deserved that fate just yet for it still had a part to play.

Joker gave the ship a smile of pride before he looked at the guard flanking him. "So, do you want to tell me exactly why my shore leave was cut short? All I got was an urgent message to come to the dock but I haven't heard jack shit from you guys yet."

"Apologies, sir," the guard said as he took no notice of Joker's profanity. "The soldiers stationed at the Normandy alerted us to a potential breach of security. Apparently, three people of varying species were trying to force their way onto the ship. They never got inside but were loitering around as if they were expecting someone to admit them. When questioned, they asked for you specifically."

Joker frowned in concern. "Did you happen to get their names?"

"No, sir," the guard blanched.

"Is there anything else besides their request to see me that you have to tell?" Joker pressed. "That's all there is?"

"Not that I'm aware of. That's certainly all they're telling me at the moment."

"Jesus," Joker sighed. "So much for military intelligence. Where are the three now?"

"They're still waiting at the ship entrance. Did you want me to relocate them to a cell or possibly-?"

"No," Joker said brusquely. "Just take me to them now."

As ordered, the guard led Joker up a tiny lift that led to an access way that smelled like an antique rug store. The thin floor creaked from the weight being pressed on it and it almost seemed to Joker like the frail surface would snap from the weight of five pressing onto it, the thought not giving him much comfort. The footsteps rang hollowly along the narrow passageway up to a corner that led directly to the ship. As soon as Joker turned that corner, his jaw dropped in complete surprise.

"What the fu-"

"Hey, Joker!" Garrus waved, as did Liara and Tali. The three were leaning against the wall while a squad of five guards was keeping an eye on them. Joker was shocked at seeing three people that he could regard as friends so abruptly but more shocking was the fact that they appeared to be restrained at the moment, albeit passively.

"Go on, all of you," Joker waved at the guards. A few of them immediately complied while three of them lingered as their faces betrayed their confusion. "There's no threat," Joker persisted. "Just leave!"

They all took the hint after that.

Tali, Liara, and Garrus stood up from the wall and shuffled their feet sheepishly on the floor. Joker continued to watch the departing guards until they were no longer in his sight before he looked at his friends. "I really hope that you weren't planning on stealing the ship while I was away," Joker sighed lightly as he put his hands on his hips. "You do realize that they'll take out a policy if I report it missing, right?"

The three didn't know what to say until Joker cracked one of his signature smiles and simply waved them off. "Ah, what the hell. It's good to see you guys again."

"It's good to see you too," Tali said as she stepped forward to present her case. "Joker, we only came here because this was the first place we thought to find you."

"I'm on shore leave, why would I stay on the ship? I'm not that attached to my job, Tali."

"I know," Tali dipped her head. "But we figured that there would have been someone around that could put us in contact with you. You see, we need a ship and we figured that the Normandy would be the best option for all of us."

Joker snorted air from his nostrils. "Hell, Tali, I don't command the damn ship. I just pilot it." He blinked in curiosity. "Have any of you talked to Shepard at all? I thought that you would know where he is, Tali, considering that he only just saw you…or at least I think he did. Don't leave me hanging, he did, did he?"

"Yes, Joker, we both met and had a wonderful time but something terrible just came up. You see, John has been captured."

A long silence passed between them, with Joker biting his lip and Tali wringing her hands expectedly. The bearded man passed his gaze over Garrus' anxious look and Liara's worry-filled eyes. Without another word, Joker turned to the door of the Normandy, which instantly registered his pilot status and opened, paving the way to the airlock access. Everyone followed him inside and squeezed into the tiny room while they waited for the airlock procedures to finish.

"Stand by, shore party," the usual synthesized voice said. "Decontamination in prog-"

"Personal override code 'You're wasting my time,' activate." Joker blurted with little patience in his tone.

"Override accepted," the VI said smoothly, not caring that it had been so rudely interrupted. "Welcome aboard, Wing Commander Moreau."

"Personal override code?" Garrus murmured in admiration. "Nice. Why doesn't Shepard have one of those? It could have saved us so much stress and time from having to languish in that damned room."

Joker smirked. "Shepard always had an access code, Garrus. He was very adamant at following protocol that he never felt that he needed to use it."

"Now you tell me," Garrus grumbled.

Joker limped over to his cushioned chair in the cockpit and gradually eased himself down onto it. After he was properly settled, he flicked a few buttons so that the ship could proceed with the automatic warm-up sequence in the background.

"So," he patted his hands on his legs. "Shepard's missing, you say? Well, if I had heard it from anyone else I wouldn't believe them. Who's got him?"

"Someone he pissed off in the past," Liara said.

"That's only a thousand possibilities," Joker sighed sarcastically. "There are the Reapers, Cerberus, Terminus gangs, krogan clans, and a bunch of others who would fit that bill nicely."

Liara glanced at Tali for a split second so that they could register with each other without having anyone catch the brief exchange. "I'm not familiar with the little details but we were all doing an assignment together when someone managed to grab him."

"Along with my own clone helping out," Tali added dryly.

Joker seemed to be teetering on complete acceptance or debilitating disbelief. "No shit?"

"Afraid so," Tali confirmed.

Joker let out a long, low whistle. "That's rough. I'm sorry, Tali."

"Yeah, well, I'll be sure to repay the favor once we meet up with them."

"That's the other thing I wanted to ask," Joker leaned forward. "Do you even know where he is?"

"We're headed to Xawin," Garrus answered. "We got a confirmation that Shepard was taken there on the cargo ship Osiris."

"How did you manage to come by that information?"

"By negotiating rather…aggressively," Garrus shrugged. "I have video proof of the exchange if you want to see it for yourself."

Joker was actually being a little facetious with his reluctance but sat still to watch whatever Garrus was pulling up. It seemed that the turian was a little eager to show something off so maybe it would be best to humor him for the time being.

Garrus' omni-tool opened up and he turned it so that Joker could see the image clearly. After a brief fuzz of static, the picture blared into existence. The point of view showed a huge room laden with cylindrical tubes and lines of railing that spiraled overhead. The details were a little hard to make out because the picture kept shifting from the hand-held movements. Based on the fact that Tali was leaning against a railing in the frame and that Garrus was standing over the edge, by process of elimination that meant that Liara was the one who was recording it.

As if on cue, the Garrus in the image spoke. "You recording?"

"Yeah," Liara said with no humor in her voice. "You can continue now."

"Excellent," Garrus said as he turned back around. The perspective of the image changed slightly to reveal that Garrus was standing over the edge of a cargo dock, the tube rails running just a few feet below. In his hands, he held the leg of an armored man, one who was wrapped in some military-style covering. He was clearly a mercenary from the looks of it and Garrus was visibly enjoying himself in the video.

"I have to say," Garrus huffed as he dangled the man over the rails. "You're a lot heavier than I thought with that armor on. Should've shed some of this in the beginning so it would have been easier, one would think."

"Please!" the man yelled. "I…I don't know where Grevel went!"

"Oh dear," Garrus yawned. "I'm getting rather tired. I'm afraid my fingers are starting to slip." Ordinarily this wouldn't have been that much of an issue but the dock happened to be suspended in the air and the tram rails ran over nothing. It would be a ten story fall from here on out.

"Okay, okay!" the mercenary screamed as his upside-down head traveled downward a few more inches. "Xawin! She's going to Xawin! She's on the ship Osiris leaving from the docks now. Can you please fucking pull me back up?"

In the real world, Garrus was chortling as his digital counterpart appeared to consider the information in a mocking manner. "Xawin, you say? How do I know you're not lying? You could be telling me something fake so that I'll save your skin. I'm afraid I'm going to need something to convince me otherwise."

"I swear! I worked in navigation and Xawin was our next inputted target! Check the public flight records! It'll be there, I swear!"

In a few seconds, Tali's voice emanated from the speakers. "He's telling the truth," she said off-screen as she undoubtedly was scouring the flight records to corroborate the mercenary's statement.

Just then, on the screen everyone reacted to a squealing noise as a faint light from an incoming tube began to make its way toward the dock. A few hundred tons of a hurtling metal cylinder was going to make mincemeat out of anyone who dared cross its path and it wasn't stopping anytime soon.

"Okay, I've answered your questions," the mercenary spoke rapidly. "Now can you please let me go?"

Nonchalantly, Garrus shrugged. "That sounds reasonable to me."

At the very last second, Garrus, instead of hauling the man back over the lip and onto relatively solid ground, kept the man situated over the tracks and released his fingers on the man's leg. The mercenary barely had time to fall before the oncoming metal cylinder struck him full on. Garrus stepped backward to avoid the splash of blood as the soldier's body burst apart, painting the nearby railings with red.

The last thing uttered before the footage ended was a final quip from Garrus. "To be fair, I did give him what he wanted."

Garrus disabled the video to smirk at Joker, his face as white as a sheet, aghast. The thin man's lips fumbled for a second before he managed to calm down and he breathed out very slowly, seeming to sink into his chair the more air he pushed out of his lungs.

"You know Garrus," Joker said numbly, "I'm just glad that you never had any reason to beat me to death with the stick that was shoved up your ass."

"There's still time to make an exception," Garrus said rather nonchalantly.

"Let's not," Joker shook his head frantically. "So…Xawin, eh? Well, that's all the way in the Horse Head Nebula so that'll be a few hours before we reach the system. Also, there's a tiny problem."

"Always a catch, huh?" Liara sighed.

"I'm just pointing out that everyone assigned on the ship are technically still on shore leave. I can fly the ship, but the rest of the personnel that manages all of the other systems are absent at the moment. I can call them back, but that might take an entire day for them to arrive, assuming they want to cut their shore leave short, that is."

"Don't bother," Tali said as she stepped forward. "I know this ship inside and out, better than anyone that has served here. You need an engineer, Joker? I'm your engineer." She crossed her arms to signify her determination.

"Good point," Joker shrugged. "Then seeing as that's the only area necessary for space travel, then I'd say that we're set to go. If any of you want to pick your stations then you've got free reign over the ship. Just try not to touch anything that could blow us up, okay?"

"Not so sure about that," Garrus smirked. "I'll head over to my old station in the main battery, a place where many things can almost assuredly explode. I'll be careful not to disrupt the calibrations too much-"

"Oh yeah," Joker said as he perked up in his chair. "No guns to calibrate for you, Vakarian."

Garrus had begun to turn around and froze mid-stride at Joker's words. "Wh-What?"

"Yep," Joker nodded. "Since the Normandy was declassified as a warship after the war, we donated the Thanix cannons to the heavy cruiser Montreal since we were restricted from participating in any more space battles. It was a decree that passed about two years ago. That cannon technology is quite expensive these days after the manufacturer got hit hard on Palaven, despite its Reaper origins. Sorry about that, buddy."

"Well…crap," Garrus sighed. "In that case, I'm assuming that you have at least an armory on board?"

"Right on the shuttle deck."

"Then that's where you'll find me," Garrus said as he wheeled back towards the elevator.

"I'll get to work on the engines straight away," Tali assured Joker as she too followed the turian, Liara trailing behind her.

The three did not exchange words as the tiny box traveled further down the ship. Tali's destination was the first stop, Garrus and Liara staying behind to take an accounting of the inventory over at the armory the next floor down. Tali retraced the familiar path that she had done for years, the same walk she had performed to get to her duty station once more. Upon entering engineering, the hum of the drive core resonated on her ears, the soundtrack to her work life and a welcome one at that.

Tali walked over to her console and booted it up, using her old login info and password to access the core diagnostics. The system still accepted the inputs and allowed her full access to engineering. Now free to do whatever she wanted, Tali began typing dutifully at the keyboard to get an idea of the status of the Normandy's performance. Much to her satisfaction, everything was running at optimal levels for there was little radiation bleed, a sufficient energy conversion, and an adequate eezo consumption rate. In short, there was nothing that she could do drastically at the moment, so she figured she could use this time to do a little preparation for the upcoming mission.

Someone had installed a workbench since she had last been here and it was conveniently located next to her desk. Tali pulled up a chair and scooted herself in, finding herself at home with the array of tools displayed in front of her. She reached into her pocket and withdrew Shepard's gauntlet and glove, a little scuffed but still completely functional. She set it on the table gently and grabbed a screwdriver as she turned the glove over so that it was facing palm up.

To her frustration, there were no screws for the screwdriver to work on, but there were tiny holes that bolted the interior mechanisms in place. Tali noticed that there was a little tool with a very thin shaft that looked like it was made for the exact purpose that she had in mind. She grabbed the tool and gently pushed it into the tiny hole until there was a click; one of the locking pins had been pushed out of place.

It was easy for Tali to work on the other seven pins after she depressed them in their slots. She turned over the gauntlet and the thin paneling clattered onto the bench. Lifting it back up, Tali returned to the screwdriver and quickly unscrewed the electrodes embedded in the material, watching each screw tumble down one after another.

Once the electrodes had been removed, with dexterous fingers Tali lifted them out of the gauntlet's case, five little circles all connected by wires. She set the tangled mess down on the table as she gravitated towards a pair of wire cutters. Before she went any further with her work, she glanced over to the display at her desk. The readout currently indicated that the heat suppression system was operating at a ninety seven percent threshold. The cutoff was ninety five, so Tali decided to give herself twenty more minutes with this project before she adjusted the tiny quibbles that engineering had to offer.

She held the electrodes up and matched them to points on her own left hand. Memorizing where she wanted them to be attached, she grabbed a battery pack, a soldering gun, and went to work.

You know I will never leave you, John. I will not stop until I kill that bitch. Just stay alive, John.

Deadly quiet, Tali stared into the glow of the tools, finding the blinding brightness beautiful. The room hissed with a few crackles of metal while the humming core accompanied it. In ten minutes, Tali held up her hand and watched it crackle as electricity surrounded it. The blue light from the electrodes sparkled and the lightning danced around her fingers.

She stared at the wondrous sight for a few minutes, imagining that she was holding Grevel's throat in her fingers, watching the lightning char and melt the turian's face. Tali replayed that death over and over in her mind until her fears were replaced by cold rage. There was a chill running down her spine, though, one last indication that it was not going to be as easy as her subconscious was leading her to believe.

But what realistic choice did she have at the moment?

Tali shut the electrodes off and numbly pushed her chair in after moving back over to her workstation. Her left hand felt heavier but it was a small price to pay for the power she now exuded. She just hoped that she could withstand the pain this time.

You've been in my thoughts this whole time, doing nothing but tormenting me. You think that you've been able to control me with my fears. But what if I have nothing to fear anymore except you? I will show you who is truly stronger. I will show you that we are nothing alike. You took something of mine, something that you had no right to claim.

And I will bring him back. Keelah, I swear I will bring him back.

Four soldiers quickly walked down the hallway as they wheeled the table that Shepard was strapped onto down it. Behind them, Grevel shook the snow off her coat as the clone did the same behind her. They followed at a much leisurely pace, only watching to see if Shepard would be placed right where Grevel wanted him to be.

Grevel hated Xawin. Not only was it a lifeless rock, it also happened to be a cold, lifeless rock. The pestilence of thresher maws roamed the frozen deserts and the temperature dropped below negative twenty after sundown. Used to much warmer climates, Grevel was prepared to call this place hell rather than any of the more spiritual people she had met in her life. Most seemed to think that hell embodied a deep pit wreathed in lava and flame. If Grevel had to guess, she would say that an icy and frozen plain would suffice as a better version of hell.

She watched Shepard on the gurney get wheeled into an empty room on her left and waited for the soldiers to leave. The human had fallen unconscious from the pain his broken leg was bringing to him. It had been a few hours since painkillers had been applied and as a result he was paying the consequences right now. Grevel ordered for a medic to attend to the stricken man via her omni-tool. Things were just not as fun when the subject was unconscious. The lack of physical reactions would just result in frustration for the captor while the captive would remain oblivious.

Grevel figured that she could wait a few more hours until she got back to tormenting Shepard. If nothing else happened within that timeframe, that is. It was not like she wanted to torture Shepard for information this time; it would be purely for sport which would only make it more fun for Grevel. Timetables, although necessary, always hampered the rush of the moment and impeded total progress.

Hands clasped behind her, Grevel walked forward and the doors parted to reveal the area where the base's power generator was housed. The climate of Xawin was too fierce to allow any power source to remain above ground, and so an enormous excavation project had been undertaken to house the necessary components underneath the dirt and within the base itself. It was simply the best option to seal vital mechanical components away from the debilitating cold.

All of this had been accomplished before Grevel's lifetime, actually. Xawin was home to one of the Broker's many hideouts and it was officially off the books in terms of its existence. The Broker had always been careful when it came to his assets and he had known that he could trust that leaving any sort of trail, paper or electronic, only increased the riskiness of discovery. Sometimes Grevel wondered how many other secrets the Broker had taken to the grave when Shepard and that asari vaporized him years ago. It was a good thing that the Broker had taken care to supply Grevel with this knowledge before his passing, knowing that this would ensure that the damnable T'Soni would not have the first clue as to where they would have gone. Not immediately at least, Grevel didn't want to make things too easy for her to find.

Standing on a gantry several stories above the generator, Grevel could hear the transformers hum as they coursed with invisible energy. The voltage sang as it melded with the metal, occasionally sparking to the tiny element zero core housed in the center of the base. Grevel glanced down to see several more stories of walkways reach across the room below her like a tight mesh, the bright white lighting illuminating the bare-bones structure of the facility.

Grevel could smell ozone, even through the filters in her mask. The acrid stink made her curl her nose in disgust but she did not move to a place where she could escape the scent. Rather, she stayed put as she took more time to examine the glinting jewel that sat below her, somewhat entranced by the knowledge that she stood atop power in its purest form.

"You seem apprehensive," she said out loud, knowing that the clone was standing close by. Grevel turned her head to see the quarian fidget in place, unsure of exactly how to respond to the statement.

"How is it that you can tell?" the clone asked.

"I have my ways," Grevel said as she turned away from the side, now fully invested in conversing. "I've been around enough people to read their body language, an aspect that you have yet to control. I know that you're having some misgivings right now and I want to hear your opinion on the matter."

"My opinion?" came the skeptical reply.

"Yes, your opinion," Grevel repeated. "Specifically about…Shepard."

"What about him?"

"Well," Grevel shrugged, "Our goal is within reach and your entire existence hinged on this human in question. I suppose I'm just curious about what he means to you, specifically."

The clone with Tali's voice lifted her head in confusion. "I'm not sure that I understand the question presented."

Grevel stepped forward, her boots clanking on the metal grating. "Shepard is a unique specimen, you must understand. There are a lot of variables that I have pondered regarding this encounter, but I must admit that there are a few that I am not fully confident that I'm aware of. I just want to know what you feel when you think of Shepard. What is it that drives you to hate him like me?"

The clone looked up, then she looked down, and finally she looked at Grevel as she considered the implications of the question itself. "I have no idea or opinion on the matter," she said with confidence. "I am not sure why I hate him, but something within me is the driver that pushes me toward that objective. That…that's the extent that I can rationalize my behavior."

Grevel had been expecting such an answer but she was disappointed nonetheless. When the Broker had begun the cloning process of Tali'Zorah, he had supplanted the clone with experimental chemicals, ones that altered the quarian's cortex to implant a notion for total obedience and emotional control. It was all for the aspect of maintaining dominance, but it appeared to have sacrificed more than expected in reality. Unfortunately, while the idea sounded good on paper, Grevel was finding herself more and more displeased with the clone the more she got to know it.

No better than a mindless drone, she thought sourly. The Broker went too far in trying to create a psychological weapon. This…thing cannot even integrate itself in a societal manner, therefore it isn't a complete person. What a waste.

"So you're telling me that the notion to hate Shepard is engrained in you, a sensation that you cannot escape? That's…understandable."

"I know it was what I was designed to feel," the clone said sharply. "The memory implants, the constant briefings, all of it was meant to enhance my hatred for the man in an experiment to prove that you can control someone like me. Do you feel like you've succeeded?"

Grevel frowned, the mask's mandibles making a tiny clack in thought. This was starting to get dangerous. If the clone was more aware than she had thought, then this could result in a deadly psychological imbalance. Biologically, the clone operated on a reduced level of brain activity due to its fixation on the objective that it was programmed to accomplish. Now that it was starting to show tiny signs of self-awareness, Grevel wondered exactly what this would mean with regards to any future development. She might have to take steps in order to suppress this line of thinking.

She took another step forward. "In terms of your creation and purpose," Grevel began carefully, "then you were a success. You had a part to play and you performed it to the letter. Any potential development with regards to cognitive operation, however, was not considered."

"So you just created me to be a servant?" the clone asked with a hint of spite. "Was hating Shepard all I am meant to accomplish? If so, then why have you still not terminated the human, or his companions for that matter? You've had the opportunity ever since the Citadel but I do not know why you have chosen to bring him to this place if all you plan to do is kill him anyway."

Grevel took several more steps until she was inches away from the clone. The quarian's back was up against the guardrail and leaning timidly backward while Grevel towered over her. Grevel's heavy breathing hissed through her mask's filter in a slow tempo, seething with anger.

"It is not your place to question my actions," Grevel said dangerously as the clone cowered, fearful that she would be struck again. "Your continued participation, although necessary, is nothing more than a hindrance now. As to your question, keeping Shepard and his friends alive is all part of the endgame that I have in place. There are several ways to destroy a person and while doing damage to the physical vessel is the most obvious solution, there are more refined ways of accomplishing such an action that you are undoubtedly unaware of."

The clone's eyes were wide with no understanding, so Grevel continued. "The psychological aspects of letting Shepard linger in pain are accomplishing several things. One, the possibility that he might die is front and center in his mind at the moment, but since he knows that his friends are still alive, there is still the hope for him that he could possibly be rescued. That hope is what we have to destroy before we destroy him so that he can accept that he has finally lost."

"And…" the clone breathed. "And how will we do that?"

"Why," Grevel sneered, "When his friends escape from their confinement, and they will escape, they will certainly track us to this place and attempt to free their friend in a futile attempt. After they have failed and we present their corpses to Shepard, he will finally realize the futility of it all and will beg us to end his life. Only then will I grant his request."

"Are you insane?" the clone blurted out as she found a reserve of courage, standing up straighter that she almost head butted Grevel. "You knew that they could escape and you knew that we could be tracked to Xawin? We need to kill Shepard now before- ugh!"

Grevel held out her arm and pressed the clone back against the guardrail, her hand around the quarian's neck as she pushed her upper torso so that it was leaning precariously off the edge. "Shepard's fate is not yours to decide, little quarian. I don't need to run my thought process by you because you are not my equal. You are not even Tali'Zorah's equal, do you get that? Compared to all the things that quarian has done, you do not deserve to hold yourself up to her standards."

Releasing the clone, the quarian began to hack as Grevel stepped back to allow her some room to breathe. "You've…never…given me…the chance!" the clone spluttered. "You created me, knowing that I am stronger than her! I am not weak!"

"You'll have your chance to prove it soon enough!" Grevel barked loudly. "You will pit yourself against them eventually and only then will you be able to show me your true worth. But do you think that you deserve to stand up against a woman who has faced down Reapers, escaped death countless times, and even survived me? Do you think you'll last long against the real Tali'Zorah?"

"Her accomplishments mean nothing to me," the clone hissed. "I can do anything she can. And when I kill her, you will have no choice but to accept my true strength!"

"Wrong!" Grevel screamed. "Tali'Zorah is not yours to kill! You will not lay a finger on her when the time comes. She is mine, and mine alone, to deal with."

"That's not fa-"

"I gave you an order!" Grevel yelled and the clone quickly stiffened, rigid as a plank at the fierce words. Grevel chuckled as she watched the quarian quit her protesting and straightened out her long coat. "Oh yes, this is why you will never be as strong as Tali'Zorah. You are a clone programmed to carry out my orders. Your misguided sense of free will is but an illusion for I have the power to control you with my commands. Even now, you cannot disobey me and will never be able to disobey me. You are permanently damaged by my own hands, clone, and I am the only one who can give you direction. Your existence is symbiotically tied to mine and you cannot survive without me. If I die, then you die. Simple as that."

Grevel now leaned her head down at the clone's unflinching head. She examined the quarian for a few seconds before she gave a small smile underneath her mask, ensuring that the mandibles would relay her pleasure externally. "But…there is one aspect that does give you strength over your progenitor. Do you want to know what that is?"

The clone trembled for a second, as if fighting to wrench free from an invisible hand that clenched around her body. "What?" she whispered.

"First, tell me, did you notice anything between Shepard and Tali'Zorah when you met them in that restaurant? Did you spot anything out of the ordinary?"

"You mean besides the fact that they were eating together? What's so significant about that?"

"I'm sure you can figure out the answer. There is a good reason for why they chose to spend time alone together. It's up to you to connect the dots."

The clone's head finally turned in Grevel's direction, having thrown off her paralysis. "She's romantically linked with the human?"

"Exactly," Grevel nodded, noting that the clone had reacted a bit more fiercely than she would have anticipated. "In a sense, it's fascinating to assume that there is a strong possibility that your genes carry the impulse to further a relationship with the human. It is something that Tali'Zorah had been driven to do so tell me, do you feel the same way?"

"I feel nothing for him!" the clone nearly screamed, only making Grevel smile wider. "The very notion that she could mate with him is…is disgusting!"

How interesting, Grevel thought. This sort of reaction could be from the genetic environment or even from the result of the suppressed hormones. The intensity of the reaction alone is intriguing.

Grevel laughed as the clone shook from her outburst. "Then you are most assuredly stronger for not limiting yourself by succumbing to those urges. But you will still not kill Tali'Zorah. That is my duty, not yours. Am I understood?"

"Yes," the clone sighed. "You are."

"Go and guard Shepard's room, then. I'll be back with more instructions later."

The clone hastily departed, leaving Grevel standing alone on the catwalk. The huge turian snorted as she braced her arms against the guardrail, letting the hum of electricity surround herself with the ambiance. She patted herself down, feeling the array of weapons strapped around her to confirm that they were still attached to her body. Her combat knife, pistols, and grenades were all in the same spot, a soothing method to confirm their tangibility.

The more she thought, however, the more concerned she was with the clone overall. This sort of discussion was not anticipated and it showed an alarming level of awareness from a thing that should have been a blank slate, an empty shell. Yet, the clone could sum up its existence, question orders, and even show bursts of extreme emotion all in a single conversation. It had been fascinating to see the quarian shake as Grevel revealed the extent of Tali'Zorah's relationship with Shepard. It was almost like the thought truly shocked her to her core.

This was a problem that could be easily fixed, but Grevel didn't want to resort to her absolute last failsafe until she could determine with beyond a doubt that it would be necessary. The clone should not have been able to react so violently but the evidence provided within the last fifteen minutes had shown Grevel the extent of how much she had underestimated the nature of the quarian.

Actually, that final failsafe was sounding to start more and more appealing with each passing minute, now that she had time to consider the consequences. With that, she could definitely wipe the slate clean and start anew. The thought that neural damage could occur only imparted on Grevel's mind for a fleeting second before it was brutally crushed. Cognitive resets were risky maneuvers to be sure, but the clone most likely had not accumulated enough information to be permanently disabled from the procedure that was being considered. It was just an option to think about.

Mulling over her conflicted thoughts, Grevel didn't notice that she had drawn her knife and had begun to scrape it across the guardrail, the high pitched squeals not reaching her ears as the blade made rough gouges in the thin paint.

It would only be a matter of time before everything started to unravel.

A/N: Got a bout of traveling coming up in a couple weeks so hopefully I can write the climax to this story before then.

Guess that means that I'm going to have to write like hell to get that accomplished. It should definitely be worth it, though.