Chapter 23

"Report!" I barked into my Omni-tool. On the screen was another Turian staring back at me, crouched behind something.

"These Fuckers are holed up tight! They - " an explosion interrupted him, throwing him to the side, the screen shaking wildly before he landed on the ground. From the direction the camera was facing you could see dead bodies littering what looked to be a battlefield.

"Ritak!" For a moment, he said nothing and I feared he was dead as well, coughs rejected that idea and the screen started moving, eventually settling on the Turian's face once more. Blood was dripping into one eye from an opened cut on his forehead though, and he wheezed as he moved, his eyes weren't focusing right either.

"This is a shit show," Ritak coughed sharply into one hand, some blood now dripping from one of his mandibles. "We won't be successful, I'm not even sure we will be able to escape. I don't know who else is alive, but both Miras and Shreed are down, probably dead. I … I might be dying as I speak. This isn't something the enforcers can deal with Vassen, they're too well equipped." Rirak closed his eyes, leaning his head back and groaning. Shit, don't you die on me too!

"Get out of there Ritak!" He chuckled wetly, before coughing up more blood.

"I don't think I can, I can already hear a few of them searching around, and my right leg may as well not be there for all the good it will do me." Ritak pointed his camera at the leg in question, the armour had been ripped apart, twisted and warped in a way that told me his leg may as well have been mush. No … I closed my eyes, seeing the truth in his earlier statement.

"What can you tell me, anything useful?" I won't let this be for nothing. No one else had been able to report to me.

"They have military grade gear, it's fucking better than mine, not that that says much. There's at least two dozen of the fuckers, probably more. The only good news I can give you is that they aren't moving. They've reinforced the building and surrounding area to high hell with turrets and stationary shields. At least we know they won't attack us," he chuckled, his voice raspy. I didn't join in, knowing we would have to attack it by Aria's orders. She wouldn't compromise on this and it would be a massacre. I'd already lost one squad, how many more would I lose?

"Thank you Ritak, for everything." I told him, sincere. He was one of my oldest friends, had been on Omega for almost as long as I had.

"Just do me one favour?" he asked.

"Anything." I wouldn't deny his last request.

"Send Fury after these fucker's, they deserve it. She's probably the only one who capable of succeeding under these conditions."

I couldn't reply verbally, so I nodded. Ritak stayed there for another minute, and I chatted with him, kept him company as best I could over the line. I knew it wouldn't be long, he had lost too much blood to make it out alive, and he had internal bleeding as well. There was no walking that off, not unless you were in a hospital.

"See you on the other side, my friend." Ritak rasped, before the feed cut off, leaving behind a black screen.

"Fuck!" I screamed, punching the wall next to me. I left a hole in it and ignored the pain in my fist that it caused as I began to pace. I will mourn him later, but I don't have the time.

"Vassen …, is something wrong?" Treena's voice caught my attention, along with the knock on my door. I stopped pacing, standing next to a large metal crate.

"Come in." I barked, in no mood for my normal pleasantries. Treena seemed to understand that, and noticeably didn't comment on the hole in the wall.

"Is there something wrong?"

Damn fucking right there is. I supressed the growl that wanted to come out of my throat, the anger that tried to cloud my thoughts. I couldn't afford to be emotional right now, I needed to decide on a course of action. Except I didn't because I already had.

"Yes. I need you to bring Jack to me immediately, and be discreet about it," I ordered. Treena nodded and left without a word, closing the door behind her. Letting my frustration show again, I walked over to my desk and withdrew a key from a hidden compartment, sitting in my desk to wait for Jack to come here.

I needed to plan some other things out, decide on who else to send with her. Jack wouldn't be able to do this alone, at least not without destroying everything in her vicinity, at this point I'm not sure what she couldn't do.

It had been 5 months since Aria demoted Jack, and it was one of the stupidest things she'd ever done. Aria may have been the one to give Jack her assignments, but they almost all came from me. In the last few years, the assignments for all employees had come from me, or my assistant. Aria had dumped too much work on me alone, most of it what she should have been doing. I don't care what the others said about Treena's presence, I needed her here. Her help was invaluable, and she was likely the second most valuable employee I had, after Jack.

Over her years spent as an enforcer, and I don't care if Aria claimed her as a bodyguard, she was still an enforcer as well, Jack had become my top enforcer. That may be an understatement, Jack was my enforcer, the one I sent on the most dangerous missions, the one who I went to when I needed a problem fixed. She was always happy to do so, and she always had exemplary results. She was just so much more … capable than the other enforcers. Not to dismiss their skills, but Jack was just that good. She would have been the most dangerous enforcer even without her biotics, her close combat ability was off the charts and she was lethal with those Omni-blades of hers. Best purchase I ever made. When you combine close combat ability like that, the viscousness she was capable of and being the biotic equivalent of the Destiny Ascension, there was just no competition. Jack was just better. I'm not sure she even knew just how much better, and neither did I until she was demoted.

At first, it hadn't been so obvious. Sure, missions were sometime failed, and my enforcers sometimes got injured completing there missions, but Omega was a safer place then it once had been, or it had. The absence of Fury had been noticed after a few months, no-one had seen her for long enough that some people got brave enough to test themselves against us. We were able to deal with it for a while, but the aura of invincibility that Fury had given us was gone, and we had been fighting a losing battle ever since.

It wasn't that we were being attacked directly, most of the time, but it was the resurgence of banned goods and the violation of Aria's rules that were to be punished per Aria's decree. I don't know what happened between her and Jack, but she was now even harder to deal with.

I had seen the situation we were in months, and I had asked Aria repeatedly to reinstate Jack. Every time, Aria refused me. She refused to listen to my reasons, to my pleas, she just refused to listen. I. Was. Sick of it!

I could see we had grown dependent on Jack as well, how it never should have become that way. If we were ever to lose Jack, or she left Omega, we would have been in the same situation we are now. Jack also needed some time to relax, to decompress, and I was pleased with what the break had done for her, but at the same time I couldn't leave her be any longer. I hated that I had to, I liked Jack, and I knew she considered me a friend as well, but this had to be done. The best I can do is make sure we don't become so dependent on her again.

No one person should be so vital, and I had made motions to fix that. I had increased training for the enforcers, begun spending more on infrastructure and our armaments, but I needed time before my measures would be able to handle Fury's absence, time I had never been given. Well, enough is enough. I'm sick of Aria's tantrums', and she can go eat a dick for all I care. I need Fury, we need Fury.

The knock on my door was almost a relief, I didn't want to admit it but the stress was starting to get to me, and I was at my breaking point. Jack entered the room casually, waving goodbye to Treena who closed the door shortly after. Jack took a seat immediately, not greeting me first. Cheeky shit.

"Jack." I nodded, and she nodded back, smiling.

"Vassen, Treena said you needed to talk?"

She was at ease in a way she hadn't been before her forced vacation, the tension that her shoulders used to hold absent. She'd even gotten a proper haircut, having let her hair grow out to neck length.

"I do," well, no use beating around the bush, "I need your help."

Jack was instantly more alert, her eyes sharpening and her smile dropping.

"What do you need?"

"I need Fury." Her brow furrowed and Jack frowned, staring at me.

"Do you mean as a one off or…?"

"No," I shook my head, "I need you back as an Enforcer." Jack stilled at my words, her face still.

"I thought Aria was the one who decided who was an Enforcer."

"Fuck Aria. I need you. She doesn't have shit to do with them, I do. And I'm asking you, will you become an Enforcer again?"

Jack was startled by my words, opened her mouth to answer and hesitated. She was still so dependent on Aria, and I hated having to get between them like this. Just what did you even do Aria?

"Please." I was desperate at this point, and I wasn't afraid to show it. Jack stared at me for a moment longer, unsure, but finally nodded, looking conflicted.

"Thank you Jack. I hate to rush you, but I have a mission for you that needs to be done immediately."

"What do you need?" Jack snapped to attention, her hesitance gone.

"There's a group of traders that have renewed forbidden trade, among other things. They have violated Aria's rules, returning child slavery to Omega and despite our best efforts, we have been unable to stop them. I've already lost a squad trying to root them out, they've got military tech and have settled down for a siege in their building. I'm sending you and two other squads to take them out. Time wouldn't be so pressing if it wasn't such a slap in the face to Aria."

Jack nodded her acceptance, her eyes cold and her Jaw clenched. Good, that's a relief. She should be able to handle it, if not her, then no-one could.

"I'll take you to the squads you'll be working with, but first I have something I think you'll need." I stood up and moved over to the metal crate I had been standing next to earlier, inserting the key from the hidden compartment and unlocking the box. I opened it and turned towards Jack, showing her the contents, it contained. She reached a hand in and pulled out the reflective helmet almost reverently, staring at it for a minute.

"I thought it wasn't done?"

"Aria." I growled, and she frowned again, her hands clenching the helmet tightly, as was her right. She paid a lot of money for it. "There's no time to waste, get dressed and leave through the private exit, you should remember it. Meet me at the location I'll send to your Omni-tool. We can talk further after the mission." She nodded and I stepped towards the entrance myself, pausing for a moment.

"… and Fury?" she looked up to me. "It's good to have you back."

I then left the room and travelled to the enforcer headquarters, finding the two squads waiting for me. They all stood when I entered remaining silent. I didn't say anything to them, instead sending off the mission briefing to them and letting them read it.

"What happened to Ritak?" Taven asked quietly, the older of the two squad leaders and thus the spokesperson for the group.

"Dead, I assume his squad is as well. The slavers building was too reinforced." The room grew silent at my words.

"And why would it be any different for us?!" another voice asked, rightfully angry as he thought I was sending them on a suicide mission. I turned to stare him down, as well as the others, until they all grew silent. I received a notification in my eyepiece that I glanced at, before focusing on them once more.

"Because I said so, because I need you to … and because she's coming with you."

The door to the room opened, and Fury stalked into the room once more. The silence of the group was telling, as I caught a few staring at her. She stared back at them, fully armoured up in her sharp and angry looking armour. It was black with some red highlights and contained the best equipment I could give her.

"… Well shit, I'm in." Taven commented, leaning back into his chair. I though that might do the trick. I'm not sure if Fury noticed, but a few of the men were staring at her, and one Turian female, in awe. She might not know it, but Fury was practically worshipped by the enforcers. As soon as they realised just how much she was doing, having to take over her work, they quickly saw just how valuable she was.

They didn't know anything yet.

The armour fit me like a glove. It maintained the same look it had by the end, albeit with a darker colouring and a splash of red, it was a nice touch. As far as I could tell, the armour was even better than before protection wise. I would have to test it before I could say anything else.

I didn't know how to feel as I walked down the hallways towards the room Vassen indicated. Many who passed me took a second glance, some shying aways but most were just shocked. They hadn't seen me in a long time, so my re-emergence after over 5 months must have been shocking. While I didn't appreciate the fear this armour generated, I appreciated the sense of security it brought, the comfort. I didn't really need it like I once did, but I still enjoyed the sensation. What really left me conflicted was the way this came about. Vassen had fully admitted that he was disobeying Aria's orders doing this, that she had kept the armour from me, the armour I paid for. Admittedly, I had guessed that part as Vassen had put barely any effort into his excuses as to why it wasn't done yet, but I wanted confirmation all the same.

I had grown to enjoy my time as a bouncer again, but at the same time it didn't leave me satisfied in the same way as being an enforcer did. I could already feel the excitement stirring within me, but I supressed it as best I could to keep myself calm, ready to complete the mission.

I entered the room Vassen had told me to, finding him standing before a group of 10 heavily armed and armoured employees, who I could only assume were enforcers. The moment I did, Vassen sent me the mission briefing to look over, so I ignored everyone else to do so, returning my gaze to Vassen once I finished.

"The front approach will be dangerous." I commented, slightly surprised at the way my voice sounded, it was deeper than normal, distorted. The voice changer was new, but I could appreciate it. The front approach I was speaking off was basically the distraction for everyone else, drawing attention to themselves and most of the gunfire. I could tell I wasn't the only one who saw that, given the glances the others were shooting around amongst themselves. No one being able to see my face was certainly useful for looking around without notice, I just kept my face pointed towards Vassen and no-one would know otherwise.

"It is," Vassen nodded, "I would avoid doing so if I could, but there are no other options, these slavers are to well entrenched. It's why I requested your presence for this mission, as I would like you to take this role." Vassen spoke seriously, gazing at me intently.

I thought as much the moment I read the mission briefing. It wouldn't even be the first time either, so I nodded at Vassen, then leant back and crossed my arms, content to wait for the briefing to finish.

"Will you need assistance?" he asked, even if we both knew the answer.

"No."

He nodded and moved on to finish briefing the other squads. I let myself zone out as he continued talking, I already knew my bit, and mine didn't really depend on any of their actions, theirs depended on mine.

I was to approach from the most visible road, making sure to grab the attention of the guards and the people inside, then I was meant to raise hell with them and give one squad the time to infiltrate behind the barriers and turrets, thereby neutralising the slaver's defensive position. The other team was to maintain a perimeter and make sure no one escaped or came to assist them. How I distracted them was up to me, and I had ideas.

It seemed like Vassen had finally finished up, thankfully. He was a lot more relaxed about it with me, so it was interesting to see him in a different environment like this.

"Briefing over. Move out and good luck."

"Sir!" a few responded, the rest remaining silent as they left, all walking past me to the doorway. Most of them gave me a look as they did, some more subtlety than others.

"Sir, huh?" I asked him, smirking beneath my helmet. He shot me a look and sighed.

"Some people give me the respect I deserve around here."

"Mh-hm." I said, unconcerned.

"Just go, … and be careful." He waved his hand towards the door, shooing me.

"I'm not worried."

"I was talking about the clean-up after, I'm going to have to deal with it."

No promises.

While he wasn't lying about the collateral damage, that wasn't the entire truth. I let him be however, leaving the room and began travelling towards the battle sight to be. Travelling down the alleyways, moving stealthily along the streets, using the rooftops as vantage points … I'd missed this, I really had. Who knows what will happen after the mission, what Aria will say, so I'll make sure to savour the experience while I still can.

Soon enough, I climbed onto the final building directly facing my target, another warehouse two dozen metres away. I remained crouched as I moved towards the edge, observing the slavers for myself. When Vassen said they had reinforced it, they weren't kidding. There were energy shields covering every opening, and the walls themselves looked to have been reinforced. This wasn't a rush job either, no corners had been cut. Whoever was behind this, they hadn't done it on a whim, that's for sure. From my position I even counted 3 turrets on this side of the building alone. I could only see a few guards outside the building, keeping watch, but there was probably a few hidden and undoubtedly more inside.

I raised my hand to the side of my head, touching two fingers to it.

"Are both squads in position?"

"Affirmative ma'am, we're ready to begin on your signal." One of the enforcers replied to me, not sure which one, I should probably learn their names.

"Ready yourselves," I ordered, before cutting off contact. They would realise the signal when it happened, of that I'm sure. There we're a few ways I could go about this, some better than others. I was meant to be a distraction only, but that left room for interpretation. And quite frankly? I wanted to let loose, at least a little. I had never had to hold back like I have in the last six months, and after a while it got frustrating. I doubted I would truly be able to test myself, but at least I could do something that wasn't in my room or sparring with the girls. They've made improvements in the months I've been working with them, but they were far from my level.

Standing up, I stopped hiding myself and waited to see if anyone noticed. None did in the first few seconds, not that I really expected them to. My armour blended into the shadows well, of which there was many considering this space station didn't orbit a sun. Feeling the thrum of energy within me, I concentrated as I channelled it around me, surrounding myself in a glowing blue aura that immediately caught the eye of the guards. I didn't bother controlling it, so the energy around me was simply released into the atmosphere. While this may be useless for actual combat, it certainly looked impressive.

The guards had raised there guns and aiming at me, so I stopped wasting energy and created an actual barrier. I then began drawing energy towards my right arm. I didn't stop at a trickle either. No, I let energy flood into and around it, suffusing the entire limb with a near blinding amount of energy. I stopped once it began feeling hot, stopping shortly before it became damaging. It would have been hot enough to injure me in the past, before I learned how to properly perform a barrier to protect it.

Having charged enough energy into my arm and already feeling the small gunshots pinging off my shield, I decided to compete my actions before the turrets could be aimed. I ran towards the edge of the building and leaped off, charging my legs a bit before doing so to enhance the leap. I brought my fist back in the two seconds I was in the air, bringing down the crackling limb with a shout and slamming it into the ground. From this contact, a tidal wave of energy shot forward, rapidly gaining height and closing distance. It also spread out wider the closer it got, eventually encompassing the entire road.

The blue wave crashed straight into the building in a cataclysmic impact, a colossal bang echoing even as the guards that had been standing in front of it were splattered against the buildings unforgiving walls. The building itself shook from the impact, the front visibly taking damage. The shields cracked under the pressure, and one side of the front crumbled from the pressure. This was only visible for a moment before the rising dust cloud blocked my vision of the building.

Exhaling, I stood up and waited for the dust to clear, maintaining my shield in case I was fired upon. It's a good thing I did too, as it didn't take long for bullets to begin flying over my head and around me! I was only hit twice, but that was enough to knock me back, the impact making my shield shake wildly. Dammit, one of the turrets must be intact!

I kept myself as low as possible as I sprinted to the side, trying to avoid any more shots from hitting me. While my barrier would hold up to turret fire, it couldn't handle much and with the rate those things could fire … they would quickly litter me with holes. Thankfully, they didn't know where I was, as the turret was just aiming where I had been. The dust cloud worked for both of us that way. It didn't hide me from everyone though, as the familiar feeling caught my attention. I had to wait for them to fire again to find them, the sharp crack of the bullet breaking the sound barrier drawing my attention. I would head over to deal with him myself, but I could see an enforcer standing right behind him.

I watched as a knife was drawn and the gunman's neck was slit from ear to ear. The enforcer let him drop over the side of the building and nodded towards me. I nodded back before turning my sight back towards the building, the dust cloud was finally clearing. It was still hazy, but I could make out the details well enough. They had another turret behind a shield, it must be modified as I've never seen that kind of shield before. The turret was clearly capable of firing through the shield, so was it one way? Only one way to find out.

I raised my hand, letting energy suffuse it as I targeted the turret. I pulled my arm back, but nothing else happened. What? Ignoring my confusion, I concentrated harder and used more energy to try again, and again nothing happened. Alright, that was more than enough energy to pull a Skycar, the barrier must be interfering somehow. That takes out the easy way …, fine.

Breathing in deeply, I turned towards where I hit the ground earlier and focused on the largest piece of debris left, prying it off the ground. My shockwave had shattered the ground at the point and left it in many pieces. The piece I picked up was roughly circular and 2 metres in diameter. More importantly, it was half a metre thick of some sort of reinforced concrete. The only reason it was even in pieces was because the entire shockwave was concentrated into one point at the centre of impact. Huh … that gives me an idea, a thought for later.

I enshrouded my makeshift shield in my biotic energy, pulling it closer to me and rushing behind it before the turret could target me. My hold on it was steady, but I could feel the gunfire hitting it almost immediately, likely eating away at the material. It wouldn't hold for long as a shield, but luckily it didn't have to. I had suffused myself with biotic energy, channelling into my muscles so that I could run faster. Holding this enhancement, my shield and a barrier was straining my control more than a little, using multiple techniques still not a strong point of mine. Luckily, both the barrier and the enhancement had some crossover and were the things I was best at, so I wasn't worried about dropping any of my techniques.

I was about three metres away from the turret when I decided I was close enough to throw my shield. It wouldn't have held much longer either, there was a glowing circle in the middle of it which had almost been broken through. I pushed a lot of force into the projectile, throwing it at the barrier as fast as I could. It hit with another bang, and while the shield did waver it didn't fall. While that wasn't good, I was close enough that it could no longer aim at me. I frowned as I searched for an entrance to the building from my side, not finding any.

The few I could find were mostly collapsed rumble, the only opening being the one the turret was currently in, so that was a no go. I need to keep them focused on me, so I couldn't just leave to try and find another entrance like I normally would, I guess I'll just have to make my own. I tapped a few inbuilt controls in the gauntlets and an Omni-blade flashed into existence on my right arm, which I immediately slashed at the wall in front of me. It only cut it slightly before shattering. What the hell is this made off? It didn't matter, I just needed to find a way through it. I didn't have enough Omni-blades to do so though, nor the time.

For lack of better options, I channelled as much energy as I could into enhancing my muscles, striking the wall at the same point. While the impact did create a loud bang, my ears slightly ringing, it didn't produce more than a dent. That didn't work either, is there really nothing I can do? I searched through my memories frantically, seeing if there was anything else I could try.

All that came to mind though, was way back when I had my foot cut off. The girl managed to cut off my limb purely with biotic energy, which while impressive wasn't enough for the current situation. The thing was though, Rimel had shown me the technique in question one time, shocked I didn't know it. Aria had never taught me it, I don't know if it's because she doesn't know it or not, but either way it could prove useful to me.

The actual technique was mainly about enhancing the edge of things, making it sharper, stronger, more durable. It could be used without a blade, but that drastically lowered the effectiveness of the technique. I'm actually astonished that the girl was able to cut off my leg like she did, even If any armour would have been impossible for her. I've played around with it a bit, but didn't see much use for it. I did now, specifically using an Omni-blade. I don't even need to enhance anything but the durability, you can't really make an Omni-blade better at cutting than it already is what with the mono-molecular edge, the issue was how fragile they were. Hopefully I can enhance it enough to help, I've never really tried this before on the fragile blade.

I generated another blade, then focused intently on it. I didn't have a mnemonic prepared for this, the technique was quite rudimentary in practice. It was likely one of the first uses for biotics discovered as it's quite easy to produce a sharp edge with them, this is basically an application of warp. The tricky bit is sustaining the edge, and I can understand why Aria never really taught me this, it requires almost the exact opposite of what I'm predisposed to, little power and a lot of control.

Channelling a smidge of biotic energy through my arm, I let it extend over the blade with a swipe of my other hand over it as a pseudo-mnemonic. I kept control of the energy with an iron will, focusing on locking the blade in place. I just needed to make it stronger, to reinforce the already existing structure. It didn't take long for the blade to be covered in a glowing blue edge, and it wasn't that difficult to maintain, to my surprise. It was a bit like when I used to channel my proto barrier around my forearms, a similar enough concept that my experience with that was helping here. It was a good thing I only needed to strengthen the blade, as that was something I'd done plenty of. The only point of difficulty was extending the same proto barrier around the entire blade, the further it extended from my hand the harder it was. I don't know if this is the right way to do it, but it seems good enough.

I took a stance in front of the wall and swiped at it again, this time with the enshrouded sword. I felt when the blade contacted the wall, an unfamiliar sensation as normally an Omni-blade passes straight through something, or it shatters. This time, I felt the edge drag, it was for little more than an instant, but it did drag. The barrier and blade then broke immediately after, so much for that. Did it at least do any damage?

I looked at the wall, and thankfully there was now a long scar on the wall a few centimetres deep that started near my head and made it halfway down my body. Not ideal, but I think I can work with this. I generated another blade then took little more than a second to strengthen it before striking the wall once more. It broke as well, but I didn't stop. I generated blade after blade, striking the wall again and again until I began making progress. It took me almost a minute and most of my Omni-blade reserves, but I managed to carve out a sort of arch. Now that there was a weak point for me to target, I returned once more to what I was good at, brute force. Stepping back, I brought forth my biotic energy, surrounding my entire body with it. I let an aura build around me as I enhanced myself as much as possible, before kicking forward viscously with my metal foot. It met the damaged wall with an echoing bang, the impact travelling through my entire leg, but I also heard a screech. A small gap had opened in the wall as I pushed back the cut part. It wasn't big enough for me to fit, so I repeated the kick a few times until there was a small gap I could squeeze through. I rested for a moment after I made sure I was alone, letting all my biotic energy fade, just for a moment, easing the strain I could already feel. It's been a while since I was under such strain, I had almost forgotten the feeling.

It was dusty inside, the damage my shockwave had caused easy to spot. It was also empty, no-one was there. I could still hear battle, they must have covered up my less than subtle entrance. That, or there was no-one free enough to go check. I'm not going to waste this chance either way, and I know exactly what I'm doing first.

Looking around, I made my way the best I could towards where I remembered the turret to be located. I had to pick my footing carefully at times, stepping over debris and the occasional body, but I found myself behind the turret in question soon enough. It was manned by a human looking desperately around the area, likely searching for me. Sitting behind him was what I could only assume to be the barrier generator, some smoke coming out of it. There was a second one that had basically exploded, sitting next to it. They must have been damaged by my shockwave, and by the looks of it wouldn't have been able to handle a second one, but then again neither would the building.

I didn't bother hiding my approach, my footsteps audible as I generated one of my final omni-blades, using it to stab into the generator which let out a soft whine at the damage, the barrier in front of us flickering out of existence shortly.

"Oh shit." The man turned around, only to find me standing in front of him with my last blade stretched out in front of me, something her ran straight into, the blade cutting through his chest and extending out through his back. He didn't have a chance to say anything, the only thing coming out of his throat a bloody gurgle. He dropped down to the floor the moment the blade shattered, and I let myself stand there for a minute to regain my breath. The constant reinforcing of the blades wasn't easy by any means, neither was the pace I was doing so at. That was after my grand entrance, so needless to say I was out of breath. Still, I didn't really have the time to waste, so I turned around and made my way further into the building.

I stepped carefully, keeping mindful of my surroundings, but I found no one. All I saw was bodies littering the floor and bullet scars littering the walls. Listening carefully, I could still hear gunfire which I headed towards. It wasn't until I entered the main room of the building that I found someone alive. There were a few of the slavers behind some barricades firing upon what I could see were the other enforcers. Evidently, they had dealt with everyone else already. Unfortunately for the slavers, none of them were facing my direction. Maybe they did at first, I could see a few more of them on the ground, but they didn't have enough people left. May as well finish this then.

Holding my hands up, I held them together before spiralling my arms out, generating a small ball of energy within them. I channelled a decent amount of energy into this sphere before throwing it at the centre of the resistance, capturing all four of them in its grasp. Seeing my singularity worked, I raised my hand to my head and contacted the others.

"Hold your fire, Vassen will want to speak to them." The enforcers I could see all saluted in my direction before separating to check for any lingering resistance. I stayed with my captives, walking closer to them, taking the time to disarm them with a focused pull. In about a minute, one of the enforcers appeared again, walking over to me. I was thankful for that, my singularity was about to expire.

"Do you have the means to restrain them?"

"I do." He nodded, not questioning it as he pulled out a bundle from his storage compartment. He then used it to begin tying them up. I had never actually had to capture more than one person before, so I didn't really have anything prepared. I normally just killed them. Speaking of …

"We're their any that tried to escape?" I asked into my comms.

"A few Fury, we took care of them."

Good, seems like the mission's over then. Looking around the building and surrounding area, I did find quite a bit of damage though, mostly due to me. Oops.

[POV: Vassen]

"Thank you for your help Fury, I don't know how many we would have lost if you weren't there." Jack nodded to him. "Now I said we'd talk after, but there's not much to say other than, do you want to be an enforcer again?"

I needed to know, as I wouldn't do this without knowing she actually wanted to. I was going to have to deal with Aria either way, but I wanted to get this out of the way first. Jack didn't say anything for a minute, her form still as she thought things over.

"I won't deny that I have enjoyed my time away from the role, but I found myself unsatisfied as a bouncer, bored I suppose." Jack nodded to herself, before her helmet turned to me directly. "I do want to be an enforcer again, but I was doing too much before, I can see that now. So, I will accept only If I will be sent only on important missions, not like I was before."

That even she noticed it tells you something about how overworked Jack had been, and I was more than happy with her condition. I was going to do so already.

"That's fine, if that's the case I'm glad to have you back." I smiled at the woman, pleased. "Anything else you want to know?"

"What about Aria?" Jack spoke as if uncaring, but she didn't hide her worry nearly as well as she thought she did.

"I'll handle it. If that's all you can go, I'll get one of the other enforcers to give me a report. I'll contact you if I need any details from you." Jack nodded and left without a word, leaving me alone. My talk with Aria is going to be a real headache, and unfortunately not something I can put off. She will know soon if she doesn't already. A knock on the door caught my attention, that would be Taven. He was the one giving me the mission report, and I didn't ask for Fury's for one reason. She was an excellent operative, but her reports were a pain in the arse to deal with. She often left stuff out that she didn't deem important, was light on details at the best of times and she was clear in her dislike for them. I normally found it easier to have her give a verbal report after her solo missions, but this time there were others that could do it for her.

"Vassen." He nodded, stepping inside, and taking a seat across from me.

"How'd it go, any casualties?" Taven sighed in response, which didn't reassure me.

"There were no casualties, on our side at least," he muttered, "but I can't say this was an ordinary mission. The building was more reinforced than we thought. They had stationary barriers more powerful than I've ever seen at that size covering all entrances, and there were at least a dozen turrets loaded with high explosive rounds. They also numbered closer to 60. All in all, it was a shitshow."

That's … worrying. How were we so unprepared for them? We should have noticed that level of equipment being brought in. The fact that we didn't even notice anything until the building was already set up is concerning. That being said …

"Then how were their no casualties?" I asked, but I think I already knew the answer.

"Fury, who else?" Taven shook his head, almost in disbelief. "I know there are stories about her, but … damn."

"That good?" I chuckled.

"She's incredible, I know she was meant to be a distraction for the most part, but she did more than that. One moment she said to be ready, the next she was surrounded by a shining aura that would have been visible to anyone within a kilometre. Not that it was there long, as she leaped from the top of a building and released the mother of all shockwaves when she hit." Taven's eyes unfocused as he spoke, recalling the event. "I've never seen such power from one shockwave, the amount of energy required would be insane. It hit the building like an avalanche, breaking nearly all of the barriers and half of the turrets."

Taven shook his head, returning his focus to me.

"I can say without shame that I will never fight her if I can avoid it, she would destroy me, she would destroy my entire squad, the entire bloody force. No wonder she was able to complete all of those missions on her own."

"She is certainly impressive, but that competence was the problem. We relied on her too much, and a few months without her was enough to see how screwed we would be if she left permanently."

Taven sent me his finished report shortly after he left, leaving me to my thoughts. There was no clear backer for this, but they did have one. The kind of tech they were using was too good to be otherwise, but the question was who? It concerned me that there wasn't really anything I could use to find out. This could happen again, and until we found the root cause there was nothing I could do about it. Still, I had other things to worry about, such as my meeting with Aria.

I was currently heading towards her 'office', and getting ready for a viscous argument, there was no way this was going to be civil. I stopped outside of her door, seeing the two bodyguards she now had. They were bodyguards in name only, and didn't hold Aria's trust like Fury did, so they had to remain outside.

"Do me a favour, go wait at the base of the stairs and don't let anyone up. I don't care who it is, we aren't to be disturbed." Neither of them questioned me, they were two of my most trusted after all. I only opened the door after they were no longer in hearing distance. Inside, I found a glaring Asari.

"Hello Aria."

"Vassen." She hissed. Before she could say anything else, I made sure to shut the door. I had a feeling this was going to get loud.

"I thought I was clear, Jack was to remain a bouncer, that was final. Yet I just heard Fury was seen walking through the halls. You disobeyed a direct order!" Aria growled, keeping her voice down for the most part till the end.

"I needed her help for the mission you ordered."

"You have other enforcers, use them!"

"I did. Four of my men died just trying to gather information. I didn't want to see even more do so."

"I don't care, let them die." Aria ordered apathetically. Aria's apathy was getting to me and I was beginning to struggle to contain my anger.

"You don't have the right to say that." I growled.

"I have every right!" Aria slammed her hand into the armrest of her couch, snarling at me. "Omega is mine! Mine to rule, mine to command!"

"Except it's not! The enforcers don't work for you, they work for me. I organise them, I ensure they have supplies, I arm them. They report to me, most of your employees report to me, because reporting to you doesn't get anywhere."

Aria stilled, her eyes practically acidic when she looked at me.

"Leave."

"Not until I'm done talking to you."

"No, leave Omega. You're fired, and I will have you shot if you're not off the station in the next 24 hours."

What? She wants to fire me because of what I said? What a joke. I couldn't help the snort that came out of me, and Aria didn't seem to appreciate it.

"That's the thing Pirate Queen, you may be the ruler here, but you don't rule. The moment you demoted Fury was the moment where you became a figurehead. A petty tyrant who throws tantrums whenever you don't get what you want. If you want me gone, so be it. But I guarantee this station will no longer be yours within the month. You instilled yourself as the ruler of Omega, so you have to damn well rule it." I sighed, suddenly done with this conversation. I used to respect Aria, even with how frustrating she was to work for. To see what has become of her is infuriating. No one other than me knows just how bad it is, I've started signing things on her behalf just to make sure things get done for once. Her apathy to it all is the real issue, she just doesn't seem to care, and I can tell its because she's hurting. She didn't like the rift between her and Jack, and before anything else gets done it will have to be fixed.

Aria wasn't saying anything to me, but her having psionic powers is now somewhat concerning.

"I'm going to be frank with you. You need to get your act together, and to do that you need to fix this rift with Jack. She did something dangerous, sure it was foolish, but not worth all of this. She was overworked, yes, but that doesn't mean she needed to be demoted."

"It was the only way she would have agreed." Aria sounded detached now, mask firmly on.

"No, it wasn't. And it's not sustainable. Jack feels restless, trapped. She can't train properly without that dockyard of hers. She's been able to distract herself somewhat successfully with her friends, but it won't last forever. The only reason she has obeyed your order was because of her love for you, but the longer this goes on the lesser it will become. She already requested she only be sent on important missions to me, she can see she was overworked, she's learnt what she needs to. As long as we can keep an eye on her, she'll be fine."

I turned around to leave, my piece said, but I paused just before I left the room.

"Keeping her as a bouncer is a waste, for both her and us. But even more than that, she misses you. Whatever your intentions were, Jack doesn't see them, only your actions. Those actions hurt her, and even more than that your separation has hurt her. She misses her mother, she misses you. You could fix that. If for nothing else, do it for her."

I hope my words get through to her. If only for Jack's sake. Aria's is old enough to know better, to suffer any consequences her actions may bring. Jack though, Jack is young and hasn't had a good life. I don't really understand how their relationship came to be, but Jack seemed happy with it. I'd like to see her regain that happiness. Pity that only Aria could give it, she didn't have a great track record.