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Espacole and Spork

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"That's all you're taking?" Wrex grunted as Pyrrha came towards the Tomkah they were going to use, lined up at the end of five others that were being worked on to prepare them for the coming fight.

Pyrrha crossed her arms and cocked her head, "Milo and Akouo were enough to get through the Rite of Passage with Grunt, weren't they."

"One, not really, you had your fucking… 'Dark god of destruction' come in to give you a hand against the Maw." Wrex held up a finger, counting as he went on, "Two, this isn't the Rite. They'll shoot back. And three, I offered you access to our armory, because I figured you had a literal spear because you hadn't found anything else you liked."

"Where I come from, weapons are a part of who you are." She said, "Milo and Akouo are as much a part of me as your crest is. Why don't you carve it out, replace it with an armored plate?"

"Because it would hurt?" She rolled her eyes and Wrex waved her off, "Forget it. Your skin, not mine, and I heal a hell of a lot faster than you."

"Actually…"

"What, your 'god' heals you, too?"

"No, my Aura does." She shrugged, frowning, "You don't believe me, do you? About what happened in the Rite."

"I don't know what to believe." The Chieftain answered simply, shrugging his great armored shoulders and turning as a Krogan came up and handed him a data-pad. Skimming it, he nodded and handed it back, waving the Krogan away as he went on. "It's a pretty tall tale. But, well… I saw the vid. Feed was good, hardline from cam to recorder, so no chance of fakin' it."

"Right…" She was getting more and more tired of people treating her like a liar with every hour that passed, but she had to remind herself that he was right. It was a fairly tall tale. "So why honor our alliance then?"

"Benefit of the doubt." He shrugged, "Shepard's message when she sent you said I should trust you. So here I am, trusting you."

"Ah. I-I see…" She blinked and shook it off, refocusing before she could dwell on Shepard and all the complications at play there. "Regardless, yes, this will do me just fine. Do not worry about me, I'm perfectly capable of handling myself."

"Evidently…" He grunted, bobbing his head at the Tomkah's hatch and climbing up. "Come on then, zealot. We'll be leaving soon and I need to brief you and your Krogan on what we'll be doing."

"I presume you'll be in command then?"

"For the most part." He shrugged as he fell into one of the wide, industrial seats right across the door.

The Tomkah was lined on every wall at this level by them, with a ladder leading up to what she guessed to be the un turret, which was flanked by a steep set of stairs that lead up and towards the front of the truck, where she guessed the drivers would be. Small lockers had been crammed in under the seats and over them, and heavy handles were set to either side of the seats, presumably to hold onto while it rocked and rolled over the rubble-strewn paths of Tuchanka. And everywhere else it was a mess, cables and uplinks running across the floor and ceiling, and a mismatching series of plates from who even knew how many years of replacing and refitting.

"That's fine by me." She sighed as she took one of the too-large seats. "I'm not going to fight you for it, believe me."

"Not one for it?"

"Not particularly."

"That's odd, coming from a Battlemaster." He hummed, "Isn't it?"

"I do what I must." She answered with a shrug, flicking a hand and calling her weapons onto her arms while the Krogan watched. Playing her fingers along the handle of her sword, enjoying its comfortable texture and weight, she went on. "Leading, fighting, it doesn't matter. I do what I must because it is required of me, and that is all."

"Understandable." Wrex grunted, "We Krogan know plenty about that."

"Truly?"

"Look around you." He scoffed, "Every damn day is nothing but 'what you have to do'. To survive, to get ahead, to enjoy yourself- It's all the same hard, hard shit. Part of what I'm working to change around here."

"An admirable goal."

"Mhm." He grunted, laughing lowly and deeply. "Shepard suggested it. I believe her exact words were 'if it doesn't kill you then you can get around it'. So here I am, gettin' around the Genophage. And in you walk with a Krogan that's immune to it out and out. Isn't that a kick in the quad?"

"I… Suppose it would be." She chuckled, "Yeah."

"Mhm, mhm." Both turned as the Krogan they were talking about came in, thudding into the Tomkah and shooting each of them a look when they turned to him. Suddenly awkward, he shuffled over to a seat and fell into it. Smirking, Grunt tumbled, "Finally here, whelp? Find what you were looking for?"

"I did, yeah." He grunted, drawing another new, blocky shotgun from his waist and running a hand over it. "I owe you for it, Chieftain."

"Put the Pack down and call us square." He waved the man off, "Just don't lose that one in an acid bath, eh?"

"I'll… Try not to."

"Acid bath…?"

"Ah, Thresher Maw blood is acidic." Wrex explained for her, "He dropped his gun, enough blood got on his other one to melt through into its internals and ruin it. Sucks, but that's how it goes when you fight Maws."

"I suppose that makes sense." Fighting something like that and only losing your gun was probably a bigger win than he was letting on, frankly. But she wasn't about to argue, turning as the hatch was closed and locked from the outside and asking. "We're heading out?"

"Assuming you're ready to go, little prophet."

"I'm fine." She sighed, "And please, do not call me that. I am far from a prophet…"

"You do claim to speak for a god." Grunt offered, smirking when she turned to him. "Kind of fits the bill, doesn't it?"

"You aren't funny either."

"Hehe…"

"Alright, let's get this show on the road, then." Wrex grunted, raising his Omni-Tool and speaking into it. "Warriors of Clan Urdnot, whatever isn't loaded up already better not be important. Get your asses in your Tomkahs, we're rolling out right now. Your captains will brief you on your part of everything, but if any of you fuck up, you'll report to me. In. Private."

"You… Threaten your comrades often?

"Got to take a firm hand with Krogan, Nikos." Wrex grunted past a thin smile as he lowered his arm and the Tomkah groaned, a dull thrum echoing through it that she recognized as its engine - albeit a bit more violent than the Shaman's had been. "We're a turbulent lot. You should keep that in mind if you intend to deal with a lot of us."

"Which you will probably need to."

"Penny for your thoughts, Grunt?"

"I…" He flicked the Chieftain a look, then shook his head. "Nothing."

"Grunt…" A firm hand, Wrex had said, and her research agreed. So she took a breath and set her jaw, "Speak up, Grunt. You thought whatever it was important enough to speak. So it's important enough to hear, too."

"...It's politics." Grunt finally, well, grunted, for lack of a better term. "The Chieftain told me about it. My being immune to the Genophage makes me important. Us killing the Thresher Maw proves I'm powerful. Both make me valuable."

"Krogan across the galaxy will be watching." Wrex offered helpfully, rolling with the recoil of their Tomkah trundling over a large chunk of something, "Judging. Him. And you, too, as his Battlemaster. Battlemaster under my approval. If you look weak, he looks weak, I look weak - and Urdnot dies."

"I didn't know it was that dire…"

"Well, maybe we wouldn't die." Wrex rumbled a laugh, shaking his head and letting a sheet of thin Biotic static roll off of his shoulders meaningfully. "But some of us would. And a lot of other Krogan, too. It'd set me back decades, at least. I could get over it, of course, but…"

"Not before the Reapers come." She sighed, leaning forward and massaging her forehead as the headache from earlier threatened to come back. "Of course… Nothing can be simple."

"Hah." Grunt snorted, "The old man said something similar."

"With Krogan, 'simple' isn't in the deck, Nikos." Wrex explained, pointing a long, armored finger at her and frowning deeply. "But the politics is why you're here. Why I'm risking either of you at all. I want you and Grunt there when the Pack's presence on Tuchanka. It'll make a hell of a statement. Taking down the Collectors will make an even bigger one."

"Assuming we survive." Grunt offered, "We fail, Urdnot looks even weaker than if we hadn't even tried to save Solus. Or stop the Collectors."

"I got it." Stopping the Collectors and saving Mordin had already been something they couldn't dare risk failing at - this only made that even more clear. Even more pressing. As if that were possible at all. "What's our plan then? For this… Pack."

"The Blood Pack." Grunt clarified helpfully, "Off-world, they're mercenaries. On Tuchanka they're a lot of the same. The resources their mercenaryship out there brings in, and needs, make them formidable. Trained attack Varren, Vorcha support, modern weapons - even mechs, sometimes, and advanced armor composites from the Terminus systems."

"Dangerous…"

"Arrogant." Wrex corrected with a chuff, "They rely on their tech, their aliens. It's a strong advantage. Damn strong. But knowing that, they lean on it, which make's em stupid. Vorcha when they should send Krogan. Charge when they should hold, relying on shields and armor to keep them up. You see the pattern?"

"I do." She nodded, brows furrowing, "Wait, why are there only three of us?"

"She notices at last." Wrex laughed, "You owe me a jar of Ryncol, whelp."

"Damn it all…"

"We're going in alone?!"

"My forces will get there ahead of us, engage from the near side, draw the worst of them away from their old… Bunker." Wrex explained quietly, leaning back and crossing his arms. "Blood Pack and I don't get on, so they'll assume we're hittin' 'em."

"Rightly so."

"Rightly so." Wrex agreed with a curt nod, "And they'll head out to meet us, because they're arrogant. While my people skirmish with them, we go in the back. Smash down the door, find your scientist, and get the hell out so my people can withdraw. We're strong already, but we can't take the Pack on head-on. Not without my allies, and we don't have time or cause, yet, to call them in."

"Will this help with that?"

"On my end?" He snorted, "No. But the Pack will hit us back. I'm going to leave a gap, let them hit our camp and make a play for me."

"That's… A big risk." Pyrrha murmured, eyes widening. If Wrex died, if he was killed in a war… What would that mean for the Krogan as a whole? Nothing good, she felt confident in saying. "I can't ask you to risk that for us, Wrex."

"Good thing you didn't." He rumbled, waving her off when she scowled. "This was always my plan, more or less. Minus the back-door raid, sure, but otherwise? Same plan, moved up… What, a few weeks, a few months? Something like that. Doesn't matter, really."

"You… Were already planning this?"

"I need their territory." He shrugged, "Solid buildings. Hold the edge of the desert for twenty miles, where plenty of Ancient scrap can be salvaged. Not good for a lot, aside from repurposing, but collectors buy 'em up. And our Shamans are always hungry for it, too."

"Also takes a large chunk of several Female territory borders and puts them by us." Grunt added, eyes almost twinkling, somehow, as he spoke, "We can supply them, encourage them to move closer, and protect them better. Naka, Morta and Gatatog territories will allows us to hold half the desert's border and a third of the female territory's."

"Gatatog." Her brows furrowed, "Uvenk?"

"He's dead." Wrex grunted, "Along with their best warriors. Gatatog is already offering to bend the knee. I'll swallow their territory up, give them land in it, and let them work for me."

"Cushy jobs, loyal clan." Grunt offered, "Less blood."

"That's always good, I suppose-" She was cut off by the distant sounds of explosions, and turned, looking around worriedly. "We're being fired on?"

"No." Grunt said, "The distractionary force is starting up. We were in their formation and-" Suddenly, their Tomkah pitched to the side, and Wrex laughed, voice booming, "And that'll be the shaped charge!"

"Shaped charged?" She blinked, hours of time spent talking with Nora coming back. "A shaped charge means- We didn't just get hit. You planted one on us? But why-"

"So we look damaged." Wrex cut her off, smiling toothily, ferally even, "No one will hit us now, while we pull away. They won't want to risk the salvage they expect because-"

"Because they're arrogant." Pyrrha realized, "They won't question you getting hit so fast, because they assume they can't lose. And they won't shoot us now, pulling off, because they believe they can take the Tomkah later and don't want to waste it."

"She is smart." Wrex laughed, turning to Grunt. "Now I just need to see her fight."

"Didn't you already?"

"Yeah, on film." He waved her off, "This'll be different, though. Seeing her up close? I hope she impresses me the way she did you, Urdnot Grunt."

"She will." Grunt said, turning to her and paying her a nod. "I'm more sure of it than anything."

She returned the gesture and leaned back, taking a deep, deep breath and letting it rush out of her along with all the anxiety. All the tension. When she leaned back forward, her eyes were set and face flat, Milo and Akouo steady and ready in her hands.

"I don't aim to disappoint." She said, "Chieftain."

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A bit shooter, and no action, but I A, wanted to set up some Krogan storyline stuff B, wanted to set up the plan for the next couple chapters so I don't have to fit it all in and B, wanted to let stuff breathe after two back to back action chapters, leading into more action. Tuchanka is very violent, lol.

Hope ya liked it.

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Captain Dick Scratcher :

Those are decent points on the Asari but as of now, got no plans. At least in the ME2 area of this. ME3 and in between 2 and 3, maybe I can do a little something - just depends.

This gets into the weeds a bit on interpretation… See, technically, I don't think she's using magnetism. We see her canonical use her Semblance on nonmagnetic metals. So it comes down to interpretation - mine is that she just interacts outright with metals, like Magneto in some continuities, as opposed to manipulating magnetism as a physical force, as opposed to… Magneto in some continuities. XD

Arguable Reader :

Numerous things-

I made this M a week ago, when I added Spork into the story desc and Penny to the character tags. And fuck isn't an M rated word. Neither is bitch. And regardless, unless FF is cutting you checks, you can get off my case, thanks.

A polite 'hey, heads up' would have been fine. But being rude? Nah.

Chimp Thrown Out a Plane :

He's alive everyone! We can all relax. Send the rescue choppers back to land, we're fine.