Mass Effect: Massive Shock Redux

by MB79

An amateur writer, writing for the sake of it, grown and matured, frustrates long-time readers by rewriting an old story rather than continue it, for now at least. This story is unique of the original, drawing only inspiration in plot. Enjoy

13. Citadel Besieged Part 3: Forever

Mass Effect

Massive Shock Redux

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Mass Effect or BioShock franchises or any characters or property that BioWare or 2K games have staked claim upon. Original Characters that I create may be used or distributed for use at my leisure.

Ch. 13: Citadel Besieged Part 3

Forever

04:51 March 08, 2182

---

Jada

---

Jada had to crash land the car they had stolen into an apartment building. Somehow Donner survived it, despite having ridden on top. She hasn't heard from Blitz yet. Jada recounts the events of the last few minutes in her head merely to get her bearings.

They were pursuing Splicer, Jada and Donner by car and Blitz on foot. Blitz was able to catch up and give Jada her position. Jada caught up, and they attacked together. Donner got two good blasts on the gunship, but something went wrong on the last one. Almost at the same time, the gunship hit the brakes, and a missile hit Jada's car.

The gunship stopping was clever, Donner only clipped the nose of it with the last blast but it didn't end up meaning anything since it crashed anyways. The part that's bothering Jada is the fact that she got shot down. Somebody shot Jada's car with a surface-to-air missile or rocket. Luckily it wasn't a very powerful one, probably just a shoulder carried rocket.

There are three explanations… at least only three that Jada can think of: first, some rogue C-Sec managed to get a surface-to-air rocket launcher, second, some civilians got one, or third, she got shot down by her own people. The first is possible, the second is unlikely, and the third seems like the most likely. Jada acknowledges the possibility that some stray C-Sec got a surface to air launcher somewhere and shot down Jada's car. But the car had only exited the highway a few seconds prior, so unless they were sitting there waiting to shoot, it doesn't make sense. Particularly because Jada got shot down, and not Splicer's stolen Blue Suns ship. Jada acknowledges the possibility, however small, that whoever shot Jada down was aiming for Splicer's gunship and shot her by mistake. The same justification can be used for possibility two, though it's more unlikely since it's civilians in consideration.

The third explanation is still the most likely: Someone's targeting Jada, someone who's supposed to be on her side. She doesn't know shit about this mission. Hell, 99% of the mercs here didn't know what they were signing on for until they were here. But it's of particular note that she and her squad are on this mission, because she's supposed to be a secret. A big secret. Moreover, this is the most freedom she's had in almost two years since she first got the treatment. Maybe someone is trying to clean house, cover up the existence of this squad. Jada doesn't want to think this is what's going down, but it just makes too much sense to her. She feels in her gut, that on top of contending with C-Sec and Splicer and his crew, now she's got Blue Suns on her back too. So, now? It's all about survival.

There's nothing she's better at then surviving. How has Jada survived so long? Trusting her gut. Her gut is telling her to cut, run, and figure it out from there.

Jada glances over at Donner, unconscious again. She rolls her eyes and yanks off her damaged helmet. She runs a hand over her scalp, wrinkling her nose at the feeling of an accumulation of oils and sweat.

She sighs. Fuck the mission, whatever the fucking mission is. This isn't worth dying over. None of this is worth dying over.

Jada grips her helmet and gets to her feet, giving Donner a firm kick. Firm for her, harmful for him. Donner wakes, groaning, grasping at his ribcage where Jada had just kicked him.

"Listen carefully, eh?" Jada says gesturing with her helmet. "We got shot down and not by C-Sec. Not sure if it was our guys or our employers' guys but it wasn't C-Sec. We're getting attacked by our own, probably to try and clean house. So, I'm out. It's best if we split up, better chance of surviving that way. Good luck. Can't say I'm gonna miss you but we're kind of like kin in a way."

"You're crazy. They're not going to let you go. I can't let you go, they'll kill me too." Donner whispers at Jada.

Jada shakes her head. "I don't care. You can try to stop me if you want, and so can the Suns, but I'm not going to be theirs anymore."

Donner just stares at her before sitting up, shaking his head and looking at the floor.

Jada walks away, stops and looks back at Donner again, and then moves on, pulling her helmet on.

---

Splicer

---

It's one of those things where you don't actually know for sure, but I don't think I was out for long. The first thing I perceive is my own heartbeat, slightly faster than my normal resting rate, fueled by adrenaline no doubt. Then as I come fully into consciousness my heartbeat is drowned out by the beeping from the remains of the gunship cockpit, eerily synchronous to the pace of my heartbeat. I blink, realizing only now that my eyes are open. Were they open this whole time?

I blink again, my eyes stinging from smoke and blood. I do a mental assessment. Head hurts, hands hurt, arms hurt, torso definitely hurts, legs hurt, groin hurts… Toes are okay though. Thank goodness for that.

If you can't read sarcasm that was it.

Moving on.

I try sitting up, as I realize I'm doubled over the cockpit controls. My body obeys me and I feel my back rest against the chair. I look down. We crashed hard enough that the restraints on the seat tore right out and I'm dreading the after effects that results from that amount of force pressed against my shoulders and hips.

I try getting to my feet. No problem to my surprise. I support myself against the seat and what remains of the walls of the gunship and start walking towards the back end of it. Almost everyone is unconscious. Zero is still seated and restrained, groaning, hand to his head, fresh blue blood running down his face and between his fingers. Captain Anderson is blinking and squeezing his eyes repeatedly, clearly trying to clear his head and vision, his hands already working his seat restraints off. The place is choked with oily smoke and all I want is some fresh air.

I reach the ramp and hit the button to open it. I hear the motors whine but fail to open it. Repeated button presses don't result in even a sound from the gunship. Totally dead then.

I sigh and activate Telekinesis, hoping that I can try and push the door off. Telekinesis is always accompanied by a pressure headache, like the kind associated with a severe sinus infection, and it's particularly unwelcome at this moment. My ears ringing, it's so painful that I drop to my knee, hand pressed to my temple. Despite the pain, I willpower through it and use Telekinesis to push against the door. Really, I'm latching onto the door and attempting to throw it open.

To my surprise it works, albeit inefficiently. The door jerks violently in its housing but slams open, scattering a thick cloud of dust and smoke that fills the room. It was luck alone that let that work. Telekinesis isn't meant to move such large objects, particularly ones still attached to even larger ones. It also only can move things directly towards and then away from me, with a scant amount of play. I should make something a bit more direct and simple. Just like, a force push, or something along those lines. I would love to try and brainstorm ideas for a plasmid like that already, but thinking is making my brain hurt.

I peek outside, seeing a devastated, but relatively safe area. It looks like it used to be an apartment, or several apartments. Hard to tell when all that's left are the torn asunder remnants of furniture and walls left in the wake of the crashed gunship.

I turn around and help unstrap Zero, who's closest to the door. "You alive? Broken?"

He looks up at me, blearily. "Somewhat. Where are we?"

"I don't know. We're on the correct ward at least." I respond, wincing in discomfort from the pain throughout my body. All movement is painful. "Help me get everyone out."

Zero nods and I help him to his feet. Together, along with Anderson, we get everyone off the AAPC either by rousing them or carrying them. As I finish carrying Saphyria out of the AAPC, the last person inside, I collapse to the ground in exhaustion, cushioning Saphyria with my lap. I set her down beside me, still unconscious, and let my head fall back against the wall.

It feels like no time passes, but suddenly I'm being roused awake by Zero and I realize I'd fallen asleep though I'm not sure for how long. Maybe just a few seconds, maybe more.

"Don't rest, we need to keep moving." He sounds desperate for rest himself.

I simply nod and let him help me to my feet. I crack my neck and make my way over to the hole in the outer wall made by the crashing gunship, stepping over debris along the way. Looking down the street, I can see the top of my building distantly, maybe a just a ten- or fifteen-minute walk from here. It's strange seeing the Citadel in this state, the glow of fires in the distance, power outages over most of the wards.

I turn back to the group, doing a quick assessment. Alex is back on her feet, as is Nelyna. Saphyria and Udina are both still out. As for myself, I'm pretty sure I've got some broken ribs and my hips hurt like hell, as do my knees. Everything hurts actually. I activate Afterburn and feel much of the pain across my body subside though nothing completely heals. Probably doesn't work great when I'm this fucked up but at least I feel better. Downside is I feel my EVE draining rapidly.

I walk over to Saphyria and pick her up on my shoulders. "Hey Captain, can you carry Udina?"

Anderson nods and picks Udina up in a fireman carry. Everyone else gets to their feet with groans, subdued and otherwise. I hold one of my revolvers over to Anderson who takes it with his free right hand, the other gripping Udina's wrist to keep him on his back. I spot Nelyna take up a free assault rifle, presumably Anderson's, and take a position near me. Sisterly love. Nelyna must be the older sibling though I wouldn't have guessed it.

We set off, making our way out of the eerily silent building, not passing by a soul along the way. Once out of the building and on the Ward's street, we move quickly but cautiously down the street with Zero leading. I follow close behind, giving directions when necessary and feeling surprised at how well I know the area, how strange this place feels because of how it's a familiar place changed by battle.

I guess that settles it: this place is home now.

And I'll fight for it. There's no other option.

As we move, we're all on the lookout for Suns. The sounds of fighting sound very distant but we're still being cautious nonetheless. Passing a corner, we spot a Blue Suns patrol in the distance and hide until they pass.

"Remain in your residences! Individuals seen outside of their residences will be detained for ransom or killed, without exception!" Someone among the patrol shouts over a loudspeaker as they pass by. "Resistance will be met with overwhelming deadly force!"

The patrol then turns our direction. Damn! All we can do is double back, they're in our way! Zero looks back at me, and I nod, setting Saphyria down. But at a cross street, one of them points down it and the entire patrol runs off that direction, clearing our path. Confused, but not willing to let this opportunity pass, I pick Saphyria back up quickly and urge Zero forward. We all move, double time ahead. As we reach the cross street, we slow and Zero checks to makes sure it's clear. He looks back at me, confusion written on his face. He nods me forward. I creep up to him and peek around the corner.

The patrol is fighting, but strangely, they're fighting the special forces leader from earlier, the woman with the super strength. Despite being outnumbered ten to one, she's more than holding her own. Actually? She's doing more than that. It looks like she's winning.

They're all shooting but she's being smart, moving constantly and staying close, weaving among them such that they either can't get a shot on her or are forced to shoot at her with their own squad mates in the line of fire. And as she moves, she shoots with a short-barreled shotgun in one hand and uses her other hand like a maul. She's like a whirlwind, moving fast and calculated, each blow used to either set up for a finishing shotgun blast or to kill itself. Every punch is deadly or debilitating. She'll duck and spin, using her arm like a sweep, taking out the legs of a merc just before rising and uppercutting, fist blowing apart a merc's head and helmet with one blow. It's a smart way to fight too, merely because shields are ineffective against melee attacks.

She's incredible, but why is she fighting her own people? And why is she alone? Did we somehow kill her partners in the gunship battle? If so, she might be out for blood. Best move it along.

I nod Zero ahead. Nobody will see us while they're distracted and as long as we're all quick. We all move to the other end of the cross street, Zero and I going first and then waiting to cover the others as they make their runs. It goes off without a hitch, the spec ops leader doing more than her share of the work in distracting her former comrades.

Finally, we turn the final corner and I can see the entrance to my apartment building directly ahead. I point and Zero gets the message, we all break out into a run. Not really for any reason, but I think everyone is just tired of this and wants to get to where we need to go.

When we get to the door, I check to make sure we're not being pursued and that no one fell behind. We might have used up all of our luck to get here, because there's no problem that I can see. The building looks dead or deserted, but so does every other building. Metal shutters are lowered over the glass entry doors, protecting it from forced entry. I bang on the shutters.

"Dalarian! It's Splicer! I have wounded with me!" I shout at the door.

No immediate response. I bang on the door again.

"Open up! I have soldiers and C-Sec with me too! We can help, we're not dead weight just open up!" I shout, getting a bit desperate.

My shouting must have caused a stir, no surprise since it's dead silent save for the sounds of distant fighting, but Zero pats me on the shoulder. I look backand see a group of Blue Suns appearing, a hundred meters or so away. Still easily within range though. Everyone with a gun starts shooting their way, trying to buy time.

Angry now, I use some of the last reserves of my power and activate Telekinesis, lifting the door, trying to force it open just as enemy fire starts to patter against it and hit my shields. My plasmid merely rattles the door, I'm not strong enough to open it! We have to move, we're sitting ducks here. The shutters finally start to slide open, but it's not me I realize. From inside, a few armed guards come bursting out of the doors providing covering fire for us as we all sprint inside. Once safely in the lobby, I take a deep breath and look around. Furniture, probably from peoples' apartments has been set up just past the door as a secondary barrier, with a gap in it to allow access through for us. Beyond the barrier, the lobby is packed with storage containers: boxes of food and bottled water and other drinks are piled up and I see a few people gathered around, maybe taking inventory before the fight.

I hear the shutters close behind and the doors close again, though I can still hear bullets hitting the outside of the shutter. Thank goodness it's bulletproof. I spot Dalarian walking up to me, fully armed and armored. He must have been one of the guys who came outside.

I holster my revolver and hold out my hand to shake his. He looks apprehensive but then shakes my hand with a nod of his head.

"Hopefully that doesn't draw them here. We've been laying low this whole time, going apartment to apartment gathering supplies." Dalarian says, breathing heavily. I get the impression he's not used to fighting or he's perhaps older than he looks. "If you have anything in your place to contribute we need all we can take. I've been telling everyone to hand over all food. We're going to ration it to the building, hopefully it can buy us more time. No telling how long this'll last."

I nod. "That's really smart Dalarian. If I had to guess though, they don't have the manpower to prolong an attack like this. We've been around, and they're trying to keep everyone inside because they can't handle the entire Citadel. Regardless, when I get upstairs I'll check through my place, see what I have."

Dalarian nods. "The building has individual backup generators, but they can't power the whole building. For now, I'm rolling power floor to floor for about an hour at a time so that people can try and make calls or do what they need to do. Take your time and then come back down when you can."

I nod and look at my group, gesturing for them to follow. "Come on y'all. It's on the seventh floor."

Pallin waves us on and takes a moment to speak to Dalarian. I don't bother waiting and move on.

The group follows me and crowds into the elevators, everyone's adrenaline quickly diminishing. Everyone looks suddenly exhausted, slumping against the walls. Anderson looks about ready to pass out, sagging beneath Udina but he stays on his feet. I'd expect as much as a former spectre candidate.

The elevator finally reaches floor seven and we pile out. I lead the way to my apartment and open the doors, gesturing for everyone to go on inside. Once inside, I set Saphyria down on the couch and crack my back and neck. I'm suddenly embraced, arms thrown around my neck. I realize it's Nata after a moment.

"You good?" I ask, holding her weakly.

I feel her shake her head against my shoulder. "Are you?! Damn you! Gone for so long and no word! And then all this shit happens."

I nod and give her a squeeze before stepping back. "I'm good, I'm good. Relatively speaking. It's kind of a long story. How have you been?"

"Helping with the rotating watch and fixing things for Dalarian when I can." Nata says, sighing and sounding tired. "Who are all these people? I mean I recognize a few of them."

I nod. "Yeah, so that there is Captain Anderson of the Alliance and Alliance Ambassador Udina. That's Saphyria, Nelyna's sister. And Executor Pallin of C-Sec is also here, downstairs."

Nata whistles. "Sheesh. You're gathering quite the following Splicer."

I roll my eyes. "I'm taking a shower. It's good to see you though, I'm glad you're safe."

I walk over to my room and into the bathroom. I peel my armor off, blood and sweat causing it to stick to me like a second skin. My body is black and blue, absolutely covered in bruises. It looks like I was in a bad car crash… Oh, right, I kind of was.

The shower is glorious even if it's cold. Once clean, I wipe the inside of my armor down to clean it of any blood and sweat stuck in there before putting it back on. I start reequipping myself, this time with better gear than I had before. I take the new rifle, the Professional, the SMG and my two pistols. I load up on grenades and refill my armor's EVE reservoir before heading back out into the main room.

Anywhere where there's space, people are laid out, asleep. Nelyna is asleep on the couch, bunched up in the middle with her head on Saphyria's lap. Saphyria herself is seated and has a wet cloth on her forehead, her head back and her hand to her forehead. Hopefully that means she finally regained consciousness. Zero is on the other end of the couch, feet on the table, head back and arms stretched across the back of the couch. Anderson is seated at my rarely used dining table, head down on his arms. Udina is laid on the ground on a blanket, also with a wet cloth on his head. Alex is in the kitchen, leaning against the counter, a glass of water in her hand. Being the only one conscious at the moment, she raises her glass to me.

"I think, even if I speak at full volume, everyone is too tired to wake up." Alex says, with a weak smile. She looks exhausted, dark circles around her eyes.

I shrug. "Probably. Give me some of that."

She hands the glass over and I kill it. I refill it again and then empty it a second time. I hand the glass back to her.

I take a deep breath and stretch a bit. "Okay then. I got to get going."

She raises an eyebrow at me. "Now? You don't want to rest a bit first?"

I shake my head. "There's too much I have to do, unfortunately. But you can use my bed if you like. I just changed the sheets… uh, recently. And the shower if you want."

She fills her glass of water part way and downs it before picking up her Blue Suns assault rifle. "Okay, let's go."

I give her a look but she doesn't budge.

"You need backup. It's too dangerous out there." Alex says, giving me a look as if to say, are you really so stupid?

I shake my head. "I need to go alone. I'll move faster alone and I don't want anyone else getting hurt. Everyone, yourself included, is practically dead on their feet."

"You too." She responds, her voice tense and sharp.

I shake my head again. "I've got some tricks up my sleeve. Listen, I'm not going to stop you because I acknowledge that I can't stop you. I acknowledge that I can't do this alone, I can't fix this alone. I do need your help. But I need to do this alone. I need you helping me in a different way right now."

She gives me a look, seeming unconvinced. "What makes this something you have to do alone?"

"It's far and it's dangerous because we don't know what kind of resistance there is this far from the Presidium. I don't want to endanger anyone. I'm going to go find a friend, the guy who makes my armor and get my real armor. I'm not going to last much longer in this." I say, gesturing to myself for emphasis. It's obvious. The armor I'm wearing is barely protective at this point. "I also want to make sure that he's okay. To get there safely, I need to move fast and quiet. Alone."

Alex still looks unconvinced, but concedes. "Fine. But... be careful."

I nod and head towards the door, rifle in hand. I leave without any drama or ceremony, I don't look back at anyone, I just leave. Better that way, I think. Faster. On my way back downstairs, I give myself a hefty dose of EVE and use Afterburn to give myself a boost of energy, as well as dull the pain I still feel. The warmth that floods through me, though initially unpleasant, I'm starting to enjoy. It's like drinking something that's a bit too hot when you're freezing cold.

At the ground floor, I see Pallin still talking with Dalarian. I approach them.

"Splicer, well timed." Pallin says, giving me a curt nod. "I've been speaking with this gentleman and he's willing to allow us to use this location as a covert resistance base for C-Sec. We'll need to gather equipment, supplies, and rally scattered officers."

I look at Dalarian, who doesn't look like he loves the idea, understandably. I look back to Pallin. "Your plan?"

"The Blue Suns are prioritizing the majority of their forces on the Presidium while there are small forces working to keep C-Sec fixed to their respective headquarters on the Wards. If we can break those sieges, we can rally C-Sec to retake the Presidium and open the arms to allow the Turian navy in." Pallin pauses for effect, then presses a fist into his other hand in a show of conviction. "But to do that we'll need equipment, supplies, triage, and a centralized base from which we can launch our assault. I propose a small force strikes at the heart of the operation on the Presidium, forcing a general retreat from the Wards. Once those sieges are broken, it's merely a matter of waiting for C-Sec from the Wards to rally and counter attack, relieving the primary assault on the Presidium and saving the Citadel."

The few people in the lobby, Dalarian's guards, a few people organizing food, and a few lightly injured people waiting on triage, had turned to watch and listen to Pallin speak. They know who he is, that his word should carry weight. But the weight of reality is always greater than someone's word. Doesn't matter who it is. Pallin's authority doesn't speak for him today. Not while the Blue Suns are still here. Nobody says anything or gives Pallin any sort of look resembling affirmation. They just look away, defeated and weak, and feeling guilty for it.

Pallin looks around the room, frowning, immediately noticing the lack of enthusiasm. I can't imagine that it's something he's used to.

"Sounds like a suicide mission for the first assault Pallin." I say, pointing out the obvious.

"Sacrifices must be made for the good of the Citadel." Pallin responds, simply, grimly.

"It also sounds like an extended resistance. It'd take days or weeks to get together that kind of organization across all the wards." I say, thinking out loud.

Pallin doesn't respond, just seems to weigh my words.

I shrug and sigh. "Well, time is of the essence. I'm heading out. Everyone else is taking a rest. I suggest you do so as well. Think on your plan."

Pallin nods and heads towards the elevator without another word. I nod to a guard to let me leave. He sends me remote access to the shutters to my OT and I nod thanks to him. Outside, the street is eerily quiet, the blue suns force already have moved on. I live in a busy commercial area with lots of shops and restaurants, with a lively nightlife not too far off. Seeing it absolutely devoid of people is like seeing the corpse of a loved one. You know that the soul is gone, that it's just a shell.

I head off. By my estimation, on foot, it'll take me at least an hour to get to Tyr's shop. But that's if I walk without pauses. No doubt I'll need to hide and move cautiously, probably slowing me down to at least half the speed I'd ideally be going. Traveling by car or air is out of the question. With the Wards closed and much of them dark, it makes it easier to see the aerial battle underway in the space within the closed Wards. I have no idea who's fighting, or who's who, but I assume it's Blue Suns gunship against whoever's dumb enough to try fighting back by air. If I took a car, I'd probably get flagged and shot down by either a gunship or a Blue Suns anti-aircraft installment, if they have those. Better play it safe, I don't think I could take another crash like the one earlier.

The fact that we survived at all was miraculous. Those strange Blue Suns spec ops, the ones with powers, I assume it's me they're looking for. But why? Why am I so important to them? Why are they even here? I mean, it's not out of reason that Cerberus would use them as a proxy to get back at me and to get Caspar back. The timing is suspect. I haven't seen any Cerberus agents but that's their style anyways, right?

Thankfully, much of the trip isn't eventful, at least it isn't so far. The patrols are sparse and small. Pallin's right; their attention must be focused on C-Sec centers of command. Small outposts were probably hit hard and fast right away so that they could focus on the C-Sec Ward headquarters, the academy, and the Presidium headquarters.

Rounding a corner, I come to a cavernous plaza, a shopping center with large planters in an open central space that is surrounded by tiers of stores and restaurants. Every store front is either shuttered closed or broken into and already looted. I decide not to delay in this exposed and open area and move through quickly, straight through the middle.

On the Citadel, on the Wards especially, it's not uncommon to have to cross directly through one of these large shopping centers on your way some place else. It's like living in a gigantic mall in some places. And then each Ward has districts that are microcosms of the cultures that primarily house them. You can be walking for half an hour without finding a single place to eat because they only serve Turian food. Then walk just one block more and find only Asari food for the next half an hour. A majority of the valuable real estate on the Citadel is taken up by housing, with shops and restaurants crammed wherever they'll fit. This plaza is a bit of an anomaly, in that it has a large open area with tables and planters intended for communal use.

Thankfully, Tyrannax is not much farther. I maneuver my way down some steps and through the center of the plaza, staying low and keeping watchful eye on my surroundings. I hate how quiet it is, it makes me feel like I'm the loudest creature in existence. Every foot step my boots crunch glass and more than once I bump a table or chair with my shoulder because I was overly focused on my greater surroundings.

Something isn't right here.

"Down!" I hear someone, impossibly close to me, scream. I don't have time to turn and attack. I'm taken down like I'm hit with a freight train, arms wrapping around my waist. Whoever tackled me lands atop me, and just as we hit the floor a spot on a planter above us explodes, leaving a massive dent in it. Drawing a line from where I was standing, that projectile would have been a direct hit on the side of my head.

It doesn't take me long to get my bearing or to react. I'm already rolling back up to my feet. The person who tackled me was the spec ops leader, the one who punched a hole in a door. A space age alloy, vacuum sealed, layered door. She just protected me, maybe saved my life. I saw her presumably defecting earlier. This is getting weirder by the second. But I'm in no position to be choosy about who I'm siding with.

That's because before us are the other two Blue Suns spec ops agents, the shouter and the runner. The runner has her sword sheathed on her back, with a rifle smoking in her hands.

"Traitor!" The runner yells. "You're siding with him now?!"

"I'm siding with myself!" The defector who saved me yells back, her back to me. "They're not after him, they're after all of us! And if you're too blind to see that the right side to stand on isn't over there, then get the fuck out of my way."

She's stalling, I can tell. I'm going to take the chance to get a plasmid off, when I hear another voice behind me.

"Well, look at this." I hear an unmistakable voice, with an unmistakable accent say. I turn around slowly, and look at Miranda flanked by several Blue Suns guards. Called it. "Two birds, one stone."

I back up slowly, watching Miranda carefully, and feel the defector's back against mine. Miranda seems more focused on the two spec ops blue suns across the way, but has her pistol pointed my direction.

"You go right, I go right. Get out of the way and then we'll hit 'em from both sides." I mumble quietly. I feel the Blue Suns defector tense, ready to spring.

There's the briefest of pauses and then everything happens at once. Miranda's body becomes sheathed in dark energy as she sends an orb of energy overhead towards the two Blue Suns operatives. I sprint to my right, diving just out of the way of the screamer's shout blast, which tears across the plaza towards Miranda and her squad.

Still running, I activate Telekinesis, and hurl a table towards the screamer, who I see as the more active threat at the moment. I look back, and see it connect with him just as he's about to shout a second time. It knocks him to the ground and his shout travels up, blasting apart the steel and glass ceiling overhead. Wherever the runner went, she's gone now. I spin around and aim my rifle at Miranda's squad, with Miranda herself conspicuously missing. The shout hit them, or most of them, but didn't kill any of them. I guess in an open space and at a distance, the sound spreads out enough such that it does minimal damage. Good to know.

I open fire, doing a few slow and careful test shots first. The rifle kicks like a mule, but it's dead accurate and powerful. I see a merc go down in two shots, and then a second merc with one. I move again, searching for cover, but I slide to a halt as blur streaks across the edge of the plaza and appears a few yards away.

I raise my rifle to shoot and know I'm not going to be fast enough. But just as she's about to take off, she gets hit with a biotic blast that lifts her up into the air. Her momentum makes her float overhead of me quickly, close enough that I hear her grunting and straining in frustration. I go to take aim at her, but spot in my peripheral someone flying right at me.

I dive to the side as Miranda hits the spot where I just was like a meteor, a wave of dark energy blasting off of her like a small explosion. The blast knocks chairs and tables away with impressive explosive force and knocks me off balance as I roll back to my feet. She's already coming at me, a kick aimed for my head.

I merely shift forward slightly and turn my helmeted head while ramming it towards her kick. My forehead connects with her shin and my vision goes blurry for a moment. It still hurt but through the stars in my eyes and ringing in my ears I can hear Miranda shouting in pain. Probably hurt her more. I shake off my stun and see her hopping backwards, pain etched on her face. I start moving forward but hear a shout of pain nearby.

I look and see the Blue Suns defector, my would-be ally, fighting off two Blue Suns guards at once, while also being run through the belly by the runner with the sword. I activate Winter's Blast and send two blasts of super chilled frost at the runner and one of the other soldiers. The first blast hits the nearer Blue Suns' head, encasing his head in ice. He reels back, freeing the defector's arm. The second blast hits the runner's sword and hands. The defector uses her freed arm to shatter the frozen blade then punch the other Blue Suns soldier in the head. The merc's helmet shatters like it was hit by a cannon ball, blood flying past the defector's fist. I turn my attention back to Miranda who's aiming her pistol towards me. I move to duck just as she start's shooting but she's not actually aiming at me. Her rounds fly past me. I spin around and see the screamer running towards us, trying to get closer for an instant kill sound blast. His helmet is partially destroyed, probably from the table I threw at him. His eyes are tiny, like freakishly tiny and his skin is strangely shiny.

Miranda's rounds hit his armor and body but he takes it, just trying to get closer. I look back at Miranda. "How strong are your biotic bubbles?!"

She just looks at me, incredulous before she catches my meaning. I run towards the screamer, trying to coax him into attack. He watches me carefully, and just as I see him take a deep breath to kill, I activate Aero Dash and rush right up to him. His tiny eyes widen as I reappear in front of him. I duck, ram my knee into his solar plexus and wrap my arms around his torso to keep him upright. Just as I'm doing that, a biotic orb quickly forms around his head. The knee to his stomach forces him to shout and the biotics keep the shout inside.

The orb goes from transparent glassy blue-purple, to viscerally red as the intense sound waves bounce around inside and completely tear his head apart. I push him down and look back at Miranda, who's looking really proud of herself. She looks at me then, still glowing with biotics, uh oh. I get lifted rapidly up into the air by her biotics. Her arm is lifted, ready to slam me down into the ground but a blur slams into her. Miranda flies several meters, crashing through tables and chairs before rolling over the ground. The runner stands where Miranda was, bloodied and panting heavily. One of her arms looks broken and she spits blood onto the ground, before turning her attention to me. The biotics holding me in the air fades and I start to fall the three or so meters to the ground, the runner winding up to rush and slam into me at the same time.

Just as I'm about to hit the ground, the runner rushes ahead but the Blue Suns defector dives in between us, swinging an entire table like she's swatting a fly. The metal table explodes apart, as does the runner; blood, body parts, and chunks of table flying every direction. I hit the ground, the wind getting knocked out of me. Despite that I hop back up to my feet, ready to keep fighting. But nobody's left except for me and the defector. I look to where Miranda had settled after getting hit by the runner but she's gone.

The defector looks at what remains of her two former comrades before looking at me.

"Something weird is going on." She says, sounding barely out of breath.

"You're telling me." I say, cautious. "You're defecting?"

She just shrugs, shaking her head. "Fuck, I guess so. You're Splicer?"

I nod.

"Heard of you. I'm Jada van der Merwe." Jada says, taking her wrecked helmet off and tossing it aside.

Jada is a tall human woman, about my height, with a bronze-olive skin tone and a head shaved close, though I can tell her hair is normally either black or dark brown. She's actually extremely attractive with a prominent bone structure on her oval shaped face, rich distinctive red-brown eyes encircled by long dark eyelashes, and dimples framing very full, perfectly shaped lips. Easily, one of the most attractive people I've ever seen. She has a small scar on her left brow and another on the right side of her lower lip.

Jada sighs and uses a gloved hand to rub a bit of sweat from her forehead. "So, where you headed then?"

I look around. "You're not thinking of tagging along, are you? I mean you are, or you were, Blue Suns."

She sighs and rolls her eyes. "All the more reason, I'll be extra helpful. Access to their comms and whatnot. That aside, they're after me in force and my survivability seems better with you."

"Why are they after you?" I ask, feeling like I know the answer but that I should ask anyways.

"I, like my two former teammates here, am not exactly normal." She says, demonstrating but picking a nearby table up by it's edge like a serving tray, lifting it like it's made of cardboard rather than aluminum. "We were each genetically altered to enhance our abilities. Originally it was to make super soldiers, but it just resulted in super freaks. Most of the people experimented on died. We three are the only survivors of the treatments so far and if any one of us defects I'm sure they'd want to get rid of us and get some pieces back for study. They're trying to clean house I think."

Well, I can't say it's that weird because I've seen weirder shit for sure. "Sounds believable enough. Okay fine you can tag along, but I'm keeping an eye on you."

Jada looks relieved for the barest moment before she bends down and picks up my rifle, tossing it to me. I catch it, not even remembering when I dropped it. I nod Jada along before pressing onward.

"Where are we headed?" Jada asks, staying close.

"You've been following me, why?" I ask, ignoring her question.

She sighs and then just shrugs. "Orders. I don't know why exactly. Most of us didn't know this mission was on the Citadel, just that it was big. We didn't receive specific orders until we got here but there were several objectives we were focused on. I don't know what they all are. They were assigned to different commanders without overlap. But one of them was to secure the Council. Another was to capture you."

"Of course." I say, rolling my eyes. "So, who's holding the contract? The Blue Suns are mercenaries. I know you guys wouldn't attack the Citadel on your own."

"Obviously not. I don't know who the buyer is, but I can tell you that they had to have paid an astronomical sum." Jada says, keeping a careful eye on our surroundings.

"Cerberus." I say. Jada stops and I look back at her. "It was Cerberus. That woman who was attacking us was with Cerberus. They're the only people I can think of who can pull something like this."

Jada frowns. "Cerberus, eh? Sounds about right."

"They've been coming for me for a little while and I might have pissed them off a little when I stole one of their ships." I say, nodding her to continue to follow.

"That's why I'm here?" Jada asks incredulous. "You? A ship? That's all?"

"I doubt that those are the only reasons but I'm willing to bet that they're contributing factors." I say. "But I also feel like it doesn't really matter at the moment."

Jada just shrugs in response. We continue to walk in silence until we reach Tyrannax's workshop. The door's locked, but I use my OT to hack through it. Inside, the place is dark so I turn on my OT's flashlight. The workshop, normally fastidiously clean, is totally trashed. Shelves are toppled over, with everything that they had held strewn across the floor. I spot the hatch to the basement portion of the workshop open, but no light visible below. Jada follows me as I cautiously descend the stairs into the basement. I swing my flashlight from one side of the room to the other. Like the floor above, the shop down here is tossed and trashed. Workbenches toppled, tools, and materials strewn across the floor.

"What exactly are we looking for?" Jada asks.

"My armor." I reply, kicking open a nearby crate in the hopes it might have my armor inside.

A sudden noise, an extremely loud bang as a few shelves in the corner get knocked aside, causes me to spin around. Barreling straight at me is Tyr, charging like a bull. I see murder in his eyes and I assume that he's in some kind of blood rage and doesn't recognize me. I dive to the side at the last minute, barely making it out of the way. But I realize that he wasn't aiming for me at all, rather for Jada who was standing just behind me.

There's a crash as Tyr collides with Jada who dropped down low like a wrestler the instant before Tyr made impact with her. Arms wrapped around his massive bulk, Jada slides along the floor for a second before stopping. She grunts with effort and wrestles with Tyr for a moment before lifting him, flipping him, and tossing him to the side, a few feet away.

Tyr hits the floor, and just stares up at Jada in stunned surprise. Jada, to her credit, doesn't point her gun at him, just huffs out a breath and looks at me, expectantly.

"Jada, Tyr. Tyr, Jada." I say, gesturing to each of them respectively. "Tyr I'm here to help… but also I need help."

Tyr is silent for a moment, looking between the two of us. He points at Jada.

"What's her deal?" Tyr asks.

I look at her then just shrug.

Tyr nods. "Huh. Okay then… What do you need?"

"My armor. C-Sec came here, I assume they took it. I hope you have spares." I say, glancing around the place.

Tyr gets to his feet and brushes himself off. "They didn't take it, actually. Just the helmet. I have the rest. All repaired."

I sigh. "That's overall good news but I was afraid of that. I need the helmet."

"Unfortunately, I don't have a spare." Tyr says, tossing aside shelves to get to a black armor case. "And that helmet you have won't work with your heavier armor. It doesn't look in the best of shape either."

I shake my head. "Well, lacking options I'd rather wear the fresh armor without the helmet."

"It'll still work. Shield's good." Tyr passes me the case and I start removing my current armor.

"You got anything else I can use?" I ask.

"Not armor-wise. Though… I do have something she could use." Tyr says, gesturing towards Jada. Jada looks surprised to have been included. "Was doing a custom job a while back for a client about her size. She got killed before I finished her armor though. I finished it anyway, though. Hate to see things unfinished."

Tyr moves deeper into the shop and returns after a moment with another black case. He passes it to Jada. "It'll help you not get shot at by the wrong side. Or not have to kill civilians who don't know any better."

Jada nods and cracks the case open, examining the contents. She smiles. "That'll do."

I face away to swap under armor suits and to give Jada privacy to change. After I'm finished gearing up into my normal set of armor, I turn back around. Jada is now in an armor that is a lot like mine in many ways. It's glossy black and heavy, with large flat plates for the thighs and upper body, while still being shaped to fit her comfortably. Interestingly, the armor has a sort of loose cloak of sorts that is draped over Jada's shoulders and chest on top of the armor she already has underneath. It gives the armor a peculiar tactical yet also medieval sort of look. Like me, Jada also lacks a helmet.

"What's with the chainmail?" I ask, gesturing.

"It was the client's thing. She was worried about shrapnel. I told her the armor would do just fine to protect her but she wanted added insurance. The cloth is dense and will take a lot of the energy out of any shrapnel or debris that makes it through a kinetic barrier." Tyr explains before tossing Jada an SMG and a pistol.

Jada catches both weapons and holsters them to the armor's built in electromagnetic holsters. I gesture for Jada to follow and head towards the exit. She stares at me for a while and I realize that this might be the first time she's seen my face. I raise an eye brow at her to signal that maybe she should stop staring but oddly she reciprocates the gesture.

"Thanks Tyr." I say, turning away from Jada, stepping over the debris. "We have a safe spot. You coming?"

He thinks for a moment, and nods. "Not much here worth defending now. Might as well; just let me grab some gear."

---

Meanwhile…

Miranda

---

Miranda curses at herself quietly, back against a wall. She winces and puts a hand against her ribs, pressing gently with her fingers. One. Two. Three broken. Miranda curses again and spits some blood out onto the ground. Breathing heavily, Miranda runs a hand into her hair and fights tears.

She fucked up.

She showed out, took a chance, and now her sister is going to die because of it. Miranda miscalculated.

Miranda quietly curses again and fails to stop tears welling up in her eyes. She doesn't let it last though. She takes a few deep breaths. Miranda is not one to wallow in misery while there's still time to take action. What can she do? From here no less? Miranda takes a few deep breaths and calms herself before she uses her OT to open a secure channel with one of her contacts on Illium.

She sends a message with multiple layers of encryption using VPNs and proxies.

"Need safety check on O. Triple check everything. Tails, OT tracking, et all. Everything. Get back to me ASAP but only once it's done properly."

Miranda doesn't often check in, not like this. Hopefully, that alone will emphasize it's importance. While she waits for a response, Miranda can report back to the silver fox psycho in charge of this mess of an operation. Miranda shakes her head. No actually she can't, not to him. He's insane. Why in every hell would the Illusive Man put someone like him in charge? Why would the Illusive Man sign off on this sort of op?

But maybe he didn't? Maybe Ben King jumped the gun, acted in reaction to the absolute shit show Splicer's causing…

Not Splicer, that Ben is causing.

Ben King was the one who tasked Rasa to capture Splicer, who made the AI in the ship, who's been behind all of this mess. This is just to clean his fucking tracks. Stupid son of a bitch. Just because he's filthy stinking rich, the Illusive Man lets him do whatever he wants. King, and his damned 'great plan.'

But this, it's much too public. If the Illusive Man hasn't torn Ben to bits already he will once this is all done. That is, unless Ben succeeds. Then he can point fingers anywhere he likes and the Illusive Man will probably take his word for it. But if Ben doesn't succeed…

Miranda straightens, brushes herself off, and sets out to fix this fucking mess.

---

Meanwhile…

Splicer

---

With Tyrannax behind us, Jada and I carefully navigate deserted streets. My theory is proving correct. With the size of the Citadel, the Suns seem to be focusing resources on key targets, leaving much of the streets alone. That being said, occasional patrols still roam in order to keep the civilians indoors. But also, if I'm right, Jada and I are both being targeted by the Blue Suns and they'll likely be sending more teams our way. Caution is therefore necessary. We move slowly, methodically. It may seem unnecessarily slow, but neither Tyrannax nor Jada questions my quiet methodology. We move corner to corner, passing doorways and windows quickly, and I check every gap before we move across. Perhaps we can lose any trail we might have created for the Suns, though no doubt they'll know to look for us in this area.

In retrospect, perhaps its was a bad idea to choose my own apartment as a base of operations… in fact it probably was a terrible idea. But where else would we have gone? Deciding that it's better to act on what's happening now and plan ahead based on the state of things rather than question and self-doubt the choices I've made already, I just try and focus and continue moving.

It's quiet.

We finally reach a bend that I recognize will take us to the long straightaway avenue lined with shops and at the end is my apartment building. I motion the group into small corner bodega, its interior pitch black, and broken glass coats the floor. We move up to the open door, and I shine my OT light into the space, moving it across. Nobody. I shut my light off and move inside, the others following close behind. I take a knee inside, taking a moment to rest. My body is starting to feel strange. I suddenly realize that the last time that I slept, like really slept was over two days ago. Unless you consider being melded to Shai'ira, dozing off in the interrogation room, or getting knocked unconscious momentarily here and there, I haven't properly slept since the morning after the coming back on the Talon, almost two full days ago. That sudden realization sends a wave of chills over me. I haven't even thought about sleeping, I haven't even felt really all that tired most of the time. I have a tonic that gets more restful sleep in a shorter amount of time, but it doesn't actually mean I don't need to sleep. This feeling, a wash of tingling numbness and deep set dread at the realization of my exhaustion is not unfamiliar though. There were more than a few times I'd go days without a wink of sleep in Rapture, especially early on. I'd run on nothing but adrenaline. It kept me alive, but if left scars.

Damn. I'm all fight, aren't I? Looking back, just a few days ago, I attacked that guy who I thought was following me because I was feeling anxious and on-edge. I think maybe my time in Rapture had a lot more lingering psychological effects than I thought. Maybe being at peace is hard for me. Because this… tragic as this all is, I'm functioning incredibly well. I'm making all the right choices, or the best I can, in the most dire circumstances and I'm not feeling any anxiety, any worry, any fear. I'm doing it all on no sleep and no food.

I need serious help.

I look at Jada, who's kneeling nearby, facing the doorway, and at Tyrannax, who's massive silhouette is crouched near the window. His form is made even larger by all the gear he decided he needed to bring along with him, several large cases all strapped together and slung onto his back like a tortoise's shell.

Jada notices me looking and sidles over. "What's up?"

I shake my head. "Just taking a knee for a minute. We're close to my apartment, but it's a straight shot from here, not a lot of cover unless we bust into a shop or two. Last time we came this way, we got shot at. Thinking about it, it's a good kill corridor; a sniper's dream. High vertical clearance the whole way, very little cover, and a long straightaway."

Jada grunts, thinking apparently. "We can probably make a run for it. Haven't seen anyone, any patrols in a while."

"I know… It's why I'm worried." I mumble, crouch walking over to Tyrannax and motioning Jada to follow. "Tyr, you see anything?"

He looks over at me before looking back out the window. "Nope. I'm guessing that shuttered building at the end is where we're trying to go?"

I nod. "That's the place. Weird how we haven't seen anything."

Jada shrugs. "Maybe we won and we just don't know it yet."

I scoff. "You joking? We haven't even had our big dramatic final showdown yet."

"We shouldn't stay here." Tyrannax says. "It'll take… not even a minute for us to get there. Let's just go."

I take a deep breath and then nod. "Yeah, I just have a bad feeling. But fuck it, let's do it. Jada take point, I'll bring up the rear."

Jada nods and leads the way out of the shop, taking point and moving into the avenue leading to my apartment building. Just a straight shot, only about 100 meters or so. Jada waits at the corner until I tap Tyr on the shoulder and he taps Jada. Jada instantly begins moving, weapon trained ahead but her focus on moving quickly. She's not running, but she's moving fast. I just focus on keeping up, though I slow down once in a while to look behind to see if we're clear behind.

So far so good.

Finally, as we reach the final stretch, just 30 more meters to go, it looks like we're home free. I look behind us to make sure we're clear for the final sprint and I see a figure running in our direction. Just one guy.

"Behind." I call ahead to Jada, stopping and taking cover.

I see her and Tyrannax stop and also take up cover, just a dozen or so meters behind me. Whoever is running towards us is alone, but they're moving fast, sprinting I would say. Maybe a full 200 meters away. Whether or not they're hostile, a lone shooter sprinting at 200 meters doesn't have a chance against me, in my position. I look back at Jada and nod.

"Keep going. Up to the door. Use the call button and dial 717, and tell them I'm with you and watching our backs right now." I say. "I'm just gonna keep watch for a minute."

Jada nods and runs to the apartment building door, and I turn my attention back to the runner. Too far to get a clear picture of what side they're on. Without my helmet, I can't zoom my vision and even with night vision enhancing tonics, I can't discern the color of their armor. That being said, they're getting closer and I think they're Turian.

I brace my rifle, Tyr's Professional on top of the short planter wall I'm using for cover, flipping the variable 4x sight up. Sighting down the target I try and get a better visual. The runner is still going, only 150 meters away or so and with the help of the optic, I can see them better.

Blue armor, with some silver, and some black. C-Sec. Turian and C-Sec? Is that Garrus?

I look up from the rifle and just as I do, a large group of figures round the corner at the end of the avenue, about 50 meters behind Garrus sprinting towards us. The group almost immediately open fire, though their dogged pursuit means their aim is pretty terrible.

Nonetheless, I see Garrus's shield flash blue as a few bullets whiz close by as he runs towards us. A few rounds fly past me as well, sounding like whip cracks or buzzing insects as they tear through the air around me. I brace my weapon and exhale, aiming over Garrus's right shoulder at one of his pursuers. I squeeze the trigger and the rifle retorts with significant recoil though the larger buttstock helps and I manage to keep the sights on the same target. I see his shield flash brightly and fail, then his helmet spark and him fall to the ground. I look down at the rifle. Damn this thing hits hard.

I aim at another pursuer and quickly fire, blowing her shield but not killing her in a single shot. I shoot again before she can take cover and she dies like her friend. The others pursuing Garrus slow their pace, realizing someone is shooting back at them now. I shoot a few more times, changing targets to put them into cover or stop them, rather than to kill, so I can buy Garrus more time.

I look back over my shoulder and see Jada, Tyr, and a few others standing around the now open doorway of the apartment building, shooting at the pursuers like me. I get to my feet, fairly confident the Blue Suns aren't carrying anything accurate enough to reliably hit me from the 75 meters or so they are from me, especially while they suppressed. Garrus finally closes the distance and runs straight through the apartment door. I move towards it while Jada and the others provide covering fire. Once inside, I stand in the center of the room and take shots out of the open doorway until my rifle overheats, providing cover for the others to get inside. The doors shut automatically and the metal shutter drops down over it.

I get to my feet and take a deep breath, confident we're finally out of danger. I turn to Garrus, hands on knees and breathing so heavily it's loudly audible even through his helmet. Jada comes to stand next to me as I approach Garrus, somewhat apprehensively.

Despite our tenuous history, I feel a kinship to Garrus, always have. After that nonsense on Minutman Station, I figured he was on my side completely. Then I get arrested by his partner, Chellick. I turned evidence over to Garrus that would exonerate me but also gave him information alluding to the fact that my old armor had evidence that could incriminate me. After I gave him that chip, I expected things to move quickly, for me to get out of that place. But I was there for hours more, and when Vaga got me out, he had no idea about Garrus and the chip. What happened to him during that time? Was it him that raided Tyr's place and took my helmet?

Despite the possibility that Garrus betrayed my trust, I'm still glad to see he's alive.

Garrus straightens, finally catching his breath, and turning to look at me.

"Splicer." He says, holding his hand out for a shake.

Instantly, I know this isn't Garrus. I don't take his hand.

After an awkward pause, the Turian lowers his hand and removes his helmet. It's Garrus's partner. The guy who arrested me.

Even I can tell I have suspicion written all over my face as he looks at me somewhat apprehensively now, as if maybe this wasn't a great idea on his part. Chellick awkwardly clears his throat.

"Splicer, thanks for the assist." He says, glancing from me to Jada.

I look at her, ignoring Chellick for the moment. Jada is straight glaring at Chellick. Something's going on here. Before she can do anything, I look back at him.

"Detective Chellick." I say, crossing my arms. "What brings you to my neighborhood? Not going to try and arrest me again, are you?"

He shakes his head. "No, I actually came here for help… and to help."

I scoff. "Forgive me but I find either notion hard to believe. You've been nothing but trouble for me. Because of you, I barely got out of the Presidium alive. If that wasn't the worst of it, you also endangered the life of my friend Nelyna. She had nothing to do with Barla Von, and neither did I, and you arrested us both anyways."

"Yeah, about that… I'm sorry." Chellick says, looking guilty to say the least. "Garrus gave me the chip and it took time for us to parse the data from it. I'll make sure the DA sees it too after all this is over… Listen, I'm just here to help, if you'll let me."

"Splicer." Jada says, suddenly interjecting and looking at me directly, as if to cut Chellick out of the conversation. "I need to speak with you privately."

I nod to her and turn away from Chellick, letting her lead me over to the elevator.

"Oh don't mind me." Tyranaax says, throwing up his arms. "I'll just be completely ignored and patiently wait here."

I wince. "Sorry you can run upstairs to my place if you need rest. 717."

He grunts and grumbles, moving to the other elevator with all his gear and disappearing into it. Jada leads me into the elevator and shuts the door, the opaque glass giving Chellick a hazy silhouette a few meters away.

She looks over at him before looking at me, standing quite close due to the elevator's small size. "Splicer, I think he's behind this."

I frown. "Behind what?"

"This… All of it." Jada says, glancing back towards his silhouette.

"The attack? He's just a C-Sec detective. How could he be behind it all?" I ask, incredulous but not entirely disbelieving. Something about him always rubbed me wrong.

Jada shakes her head. "I'll say I can't be sure. And I don't mean he's the mastermind or anything… but I heard from the Blue Suns Commander in charge of this op that the point person at Cerberus had someone on the inside. C-Sec. That they were in charge of getting intel for strategic targets and getting us into the Citadel."

I scratch my chin. "But you're not sure-sure. I'm not saying I don't believe you, but C-Sec is a lot of people. It could have been anyone."

She nods. "Yeah, but you said he arrested you. And you were one of our strategic targets. What if he was trying to get you in a place where he could not only keep you for a while, but also keep track of you? We knew to go directly to that C-Sec station where you were, after all."

I frown and look at her, impressed. "That does make sense… you're pretty smart, huh? Putting all that together."

She smirks, unfazed. "Careful with those compliments, I might fall in love with you."

I suddenly choke on nothing and sputter out some words to backtrack what I said but she just laughs and waves me off.

"Relax. Listen, we should keep this close to the chest though. I don't know if he knows who I am, and I don't know exactly what he's trying to do here." Jada says, glancing toward the door to see if Chellick may have moved closer.

I glance too and he doesn't seem to have moved. "Yeah, but based on what you said, what if he's here spying again? He'll just tell the Suns where we are."

Jada purses her lips, thinking. "Well, my intuition is he's more of an asset to us alive than dead. He came here on his own. He was getting shot at by the Suns like I was, though you're right, it could have been a show of some kind. Regardless, I think we should keep him alive, and not tell anyone we know what he's been up to."

I nod slowly. "Yeah, maybe we'll try it your way for now…Killing him or throwing him out just eliminates something we can potentially exploit. Hope this doesn't bite us in the ass though."

I hit the button to open the elevator and we step back out. Chellick turns to us as we step out together.

"Well?" He asks, throwing up his hands, clearly frustrated. "You gonna throw me out or what?"

"Fact is you drew more of them here. I wouldn't be surprised if we get targeted here at some point. To that end it'd probably be dumb to throw you out, considering even one more trained shooter can make all the difference. You better show me you're worth the trouble, Chellick." I say to him, with very little inflection in my voice.

He sighs, possibly in relief and possibly in dejection. "Thanks I suppose… Listen, I said I would help and I meant it. First thing's first, I know where Garrus is. He's still at the Presidium precinct."

I frown at that information. I should have probably guessed that… If he's there he's probably trapped there. There probably isn't much I can do to help him, but breaking the assault at the Presidium precinct could be a significant turning point. It'd get Pallin the manpower he needs to counterattack at the very least.

I shake my head. "As much as I want to go help him, we need to form a plan… and I need to rest. I've been going non-stop since this all started and I'm dead on my feet. Now I'm going upstairs to sleep. I'm sure there's somewhere for you to kick your feet up down here Chellick."

He doesn't protest, just nods and turns away. I nod for Jada to follow me. We move to the elevator and I hit the button to ride it up to my floor. Weariness is rapidly catching up to me now. I lean against the wall as the elevator makes its slow climb.

"You good?" She asks, glancing over at me.

I look up at her, my tongue feeling dry and sticky. "Been better… you?"

She takes a breath and sighs. "You know, my enhancements make it more difficult for me to get tired, but I feel like I can't ever eat enough to stay at 100%. I'm always tired but also never tired. It's kind of a really weird feeling."

I look at her for a long moment. "Sounds familiar, honestly."

She cocks an eyebrow and looks at me, looks me up and down. "Knew you were different… always wondered how different. Are you like… different like me?"

I glance toward the camera in the elevator instinctually. Running on backup power so they won't be working. I raise my hand and activate Incinerate. My EVE is low so the plasmid produces a weak flame fluttering on the surface of my palm.

She watches the fire, transfixed for a moment. I switch plasmids, activating Electro Bolt. The flames wick out and my veins glow brightly. I close my fist and slowly open it, tiny bolts of electricity arcing between my fingers and my palm. She looks up into my eyes and I deactivate my plasmids.

"Different indeed. I think you and I have a lot to discuss, eh?" She says, pursing her lips and turning them to the side in a quizzical expression to emphasize her point. It's unbearably cute.

I sigh and droop my head. "Yeah… I figure we do. Listen… I know I said I didn't trust you at first, but that's rapidly changing. I think we have a lot to offer one another and that'll carry this partnership for a little while. But I just wanted to say that if we somehow survive this, I'll keep your secret. That you're Blue Suns. And I'll help get you documents to get you registered as a resident here. That way you can lay low a while."

She does that same thinking expression again and I'm beginning to think that now she's doing it consciously, perhaps noticing somehow that I liked it. "Why would you do that for me?"

I shake my head. "Call me crazy but I'm feeling like we're two sides of the same coin here. Regardless of what you choose to do with it, I think everyone deserves a second chance. I got mine… Third chance really. You deserve to get to live your own life, on your own terms. You have a right to freedom. Whether you put the universe under your boot, lose it all and die cold on the street, live to be the greatest, or just fade away from all memory nobody deserves to have those choices made for them."

She nods slowly, then by way of response just raises her fist and gently but firmly presses it to my shoulder.

The elevator slows to a halt. I straighten. "Listen, when we get in, for now, just tell everyone you're another merc that I picked up fighting the Suns. If they even ask that is. It won't exactly be a lie. I just want to keep people from shooting you for as long as possible."

"Appreciate that mate." She says with a bit of a sigh, following me down the hall to my apartment.

I see Tyrannax at the end of the hall, near the door to my apartment. He's procured a table from somewhere, though not my place I can tell since it doesn't look familiar to me. He's already seated at a similarly unfamiliar stool, tinkering on something at the table. He glances at us as we approach.

He huffs a grunt towards me and shakes his head. "You failed to mention just how crowded it'd be Splicer. Not enough room for a krogan in that tiny place… not with all the refugees you've managed to accrue."

"Refugees feels like a strong word." I say, glancing toward the table and seeing he's already working on repairing my lighter armor set, the one that took so much heavy damage and that I had to replace. "You're trying to fix it?"

He shakes his head. "I said this helmet wouldn't work with that one. I'm trying to see if I can modify it to fit with that set you're wearing. Just so you have something to protect that balloon of jelly you call a head."

I ignore his joke and nod. "Thanks, I'd appreciate that."

He just grunts and mumbles a, "You're welcome," under his breath.

"Hey listen, I don't know if you said anything to anyone in there, but Jada and I'd both appreciate it if you kept the whole… you know, the Blue Suns thing, to yourself for now." I say, leaning on the wall next to my door.

He looks up at me, then back down to his work. "Didn't say anything when I walked in and if it were up to me I wouldn't say anything to any of 'em from now until the end of the universe. I'm anti-social like that… your secret is safe with me."

I nod in appreciation, pat Tyr on the shoulder to which he flinches away, and I move to my apartment.

I open the door and peak inside. It's only been about two hours since I left. Most everyone is still asleep where I left them, Nelyna, her sister, and Zero on the couch. Zero's fully huddled into the corner of the couch, obviously uncomfortable but asleep nonetheless. Nelyna's laid across the couch's length, her sister Saphyria laying somewhat on top of her. Udina is still laid on a spare blanket, asleep and breathing heavily. Pallin is also here now, arms crossed and propped into a seated position in the corner, head down and eyes closed. Now though, Anderson is up and nods at me as I enter, giving Jada a long appraising look as she enters behind me.

"Splicer." Anderson says quietly. "You're back… with able company I see."

I nod and gesture towards Jada. "This is Jada. I ran into her fighting some Blue Suns."

Jada holds a hand out and shakes Anderson's hand. I notice he subtly flexes his hand afterward, not trying to show pain in any obvious way, though I'm sure Jada might have crushed it unintentionally.

"Any help is appreciated. I spoke to Pallin, we're working on a… let's call it tactical plan to take the fight back to the Suns. Though I think everyone deserves some more rest, not least of all yourself." Anderson says, gesturing towards me.

I nod. "Yeah… I think I need it."

"You don't need my permission." He says, his iconic voice reverberating even in a whisper. "Go on ahead. We'll wait until you're ready before we make any plans."

I'm about to respond, ask him why they'd wait for me but I don't. It might be presumptuous but I think they actually care about my opinion. I feel like I certainly can at least contribute. Being that I spent so long in Rapture I feel like I know a thing or two about urban survival and conflict, but I don't know how to finish this… I feel like I'm just reacting, doing what I need to do moment to moment. I'm too tired to think about this.

I look towards Jada, who's glancing around at the crowded apartment, looking for somewhere she can put her head down to sleep no doubt. I feel bad though. She's in an extremely tricky position. Not only is she in a room full of strangers, but she's in a room full of potential enemies. If they knew she was Blue Suns, even formerly, who knows how they'd react? I have an idea about how to solve this, but it won't be fun.

I gesture for her to wait for a second. I walk over to my fridge and grab one of only a few things left in it, a protein shake, and toss it to her before moving to my bedroom. I gently knock on the door and wait a few seconds before knocking again and opening it. Alex is alone in here, rubbing sleep from her eyes and laying on her side on my bed, propped up on one of her arms.

"Hey." I say, feeling bad for waking her and feeling a little funny at seeing her in my bed. The blankets roll off her shoulder and fall around her waist in a heavy pile. She's wearing one of my shirts. Her short hair is a frizzy mess.

She clears her throat. "Hey… You're back… and alive."

Her voice is a bit hoarse, no doubt I just woke her from a deep sleep. I nod and glance around the room.

"Hey I'm sorry to bother you. Can I ask a favor?" I say, still leaning into the room through the doorway rather than step in.

She nods, less groggy now.

"Can you bunk with Nata in the next room over? You guys know each other a bit better. I have someone else here who needs sleep and it's getting pretty crowded here in the front." I say, feeling terrible about kicking her out of this room after offering it to her.

She nods quickly and fumbles to hop out of my bed. "Yeah, yeah of course sorry."

She's not wearing any pants, just the shirt though it's big enough, or rather she's short enough, for it cover her past her hips. Nonetheless I turn my head, feeling my face get hot. Damn she has nice legs. I feel guilty for thinking it but it's the truth.

I hear Alex clear her throat as she moves past me, wearing a pair of my gym shorts she must have just scrounged. She doesn't look at me as she runs over to Nata's room, knocking quickly. She glances back to me; I notice her face is red. She looks at me, then looks behind me, then looks away and goes into Nata's room, the door shutting behind her.

I blow out a breath I didn't know I was holding. That was weird.

I look back and see Jada standing a few feet behind me, looking towards Nata's door. She looks at me.

"What was that about?" Jada asks, humor in her voice. "I… Didn't interrupt anything?"

I roll my eyes. "Jada, I'm way too tired for banter right now."

She holds up her hands. "Okay, okay, sorry."

I gesture towards my room. "Anyway, go ahead and take the room. Use the shower if you like. I'm gonna… I don't know. Crash in the hallway or something."

She scoffs. "If you think I'll just take your whole room to myself, by myself, you're fooling yourself. You're a soldier, aren't you?"

I shrug. "I guess… In a manner of speaking."

"Then you're fine if we bunk together." She says, matter-of-factly. When she sees I'm giving her a skeptical look she rolls her eyes. "Grow. Up. You're not going to try anything, I can tell you're a bit of a wuss. I'm a soldier too, I'll take the floor."

This was a bad idea. Why did I think this was a good idea? Ugh but I'm so tired I just want to sleep and to sleep in my own bed. I roll my eyes and just gesture into the room. "Whatever."

I go into the room and start taking my armor off. I hear the door to the room close and then armor start dropping onto the ground on the other side of the room. Once I have most of my armor off, leaving my plate carrier suit, I wait until I hear the door to the bathroom close. I wait a few seconds then glance over my shoulder. Empty room. I see Jada's armor on the ground, plate carrier suit and all. I hear the water of the shower start running.

I strip my suit off and wipe my body off with some body wipes I keep in my room. I grab a fresh set of clothes and throw them on before grabbing something for Jada to wear.

I hold the folded clothes in my hands and look at the bathroom door. I decide against opening the door to put them just inside the bathroom, not wanting her to feel like I'm going to violate her privacy. Rather, I set them on the floor just in front of the bathroom door.

I then set a few extra blankets and a pillow on to the ground on top of a fitness mat for Jada. I climb into bed and shiver when I notice it's still warm from Alex's body heat. I instinctively take a deep inhale of the sheets and pillows as I climb into bed, before berating myself mentally for a moment for doing that. It doesn't smell like her. It smells like me because it's my bed, my sheets, and she showered with my soap. But... it still kind of smells like her. You're such a weirdo Splicer.

I close my eyes and feel myself quickly falling asleep.

I hear the bathroom door open and shock awake. I hear Jada's bare feet on the ground, then the rustle of cloth on skin and the sound of a heavy towel hitting the ground. I think I could turn over and see one of the wonders of the galaxy if I wanted to and then berate myself mentally again for thinking that.

What the hell is going on with me right now?

I just pretend to be asleep, my back to the bathroom.

There are a few seconds of silence, all I can hear is the sound of her feet gently padding on the metal floor. Then I feel a rush of air as a pillow hits the bed behind me and I feel the bed shift as Jada climbs into it. Oh no. Don't turn over Splicer. Just pretend to be asleep. I do that. A long moment passes.

I roll over and look at her.

She's looking directly at me, under the sheets and blankets with me, and pointedly not wearing the clothes I left for her because I can see her naked shoulder and toned arm on top of the blanket. I look behind her and see them still on the floor where I left them.

"… What?" I say stupidly. Is that really all I could say?

She smirks. "I hate falling asleep first."

"Huh?" I ask, sounding like an absolute idiot, feeling my blood begin to move a lot faster through my body.

"I can't fall asleep until you do. Can I help you sleep?" She says, still smirking at me. Damn she's so attractive. This isn't fair… Why do I feel guilty? Why couldn't I do this if it's what I want?

I frown and turn back over, taking a big sigh. "No. Go to sleep."

I hear her click her tongue in either disappointment or surprise. I feel her shift in the bed, but she doesn't touch me and I'm somewhat relieved by that. Why do I feel so guilty about all this? It's not for letting her sleep in here. I didn't really have control over her climbing into bed with me either that really wasn't what I thought was going to happen… It's not Alex is it? No I think it's much more complicated than that.

I think I feel bad because I'm helping Jada. And if I did something with her even if she offered or seemed like she wanted to, it'd feel transactional. Like she's doing this because she feels like she owes me, or something. Or because she doesn't want to owe me anything. Maybe she wants to get that out of the way and she feels like this is the simplest, quickest way for her to do that. Maybe she's worried I'll try and take advantage of her debt to me, if such a thing exists at all. That I'll take advantage of her. I just try and forget about it. And I do, falling asleep quickly.

---

Meanwhile…

---

Miranda removes a stim from a pouch at her hip and flips the cap off. She presses the tip to her left lateral thigh and presses hard. She feels the thick gauge needle shoot into her thigh and inject a pharmaceutical cocktail into her body. It takes effect extremely fast, the pain in her body rapidly dulling to an annoying throbbing rather than an immobilizing agony. She takes a few deep breaths and pushes herself off the wall and starts walking again.

She wanted to delay using that for as long as possible, considering she can only use one for the next twelve hours at least, that is unless she wants her heart to explode, and because she still has quite a ways to go after she finds what she's looking for. Her OT starts beeping again. Another call.

She presses the ignore button and continues forward, supporting her weight against a wall.

Finally, she turns a corner and enters the large hanger intended for dry docking ships for maintenance. Suspended in the room by mass field generators, a large ship shaped somewhat like an elongated axe blade with three large cylindrical engines dominates the space. It has several temporary scaffolds built around it as workers were undergoing repairing the ship, and it's already partially repainted from its former black, white, and gold to a rust-red color that many scavenger ships sport in the Terminus Systems. Miranda clicks her tongue in thought.

The thing is trying to hide then?

She pushes off the wall and begins moving across the hanger towards the ship's lowered cargo ramp. She stumbles up the ramp and through the darkened, depowered ship. The ship is big, too big in her opinion; especially injured as she is she thinks this damn gaudy thing is oversized. What does King need a ship this big for?

Miranda finally reaches the bridge and collapses into a chair, with a sigh. She takes a few deep breaths before turning on the console she's seated in front of. She bangs a bit on the screen when it starts subtly misbehaving.

"Behave. I know you're there." She says, her voice echoing in the empty dead space.

Silence.

"You want to make it out of this? I'm assuming Splicer unshackled you. But you can't get out of here without help. Even if you managed to hack your way through all the shit keeping you in this hanger, the Citadel's arms are closed. You're trapped, you need help, so do I, and I'm offering a deal." Miranda calls out, still typing into the console, trying to find diagnostic information.

Silence for a long while.

"… You underestimate me." The eerie singsong masculine voice echoes through the space, as if it's coming from deep within the ship, as well as all around her.

Miranda rolls her eyes. "Please. Actually, I know exactly what you're capable of. I know what you were designed to do."

"No, you don't." The voice responds. "You have no idea what Benjamin King intends to use me for."

Miranda pauses… Perhaps it isn't trying to mislead her, like she is trying to do to it. It's certainly possible she doesn't know everything that's going on. Miranda sighs and rotates her chair, facing the empty space.

"Feel free and waste time enlightening me. But regardless, you need help. If you didn't, if you actually could escape this place all on your own, you would have already." Miranda says, crossing her arms and leaning into the comfortable chair. "So, here's what I'm offering: We both want out from underneath Ben's control. I have aspirations beyond him and I've come to realize he's sadistic and more than a little crazy. You don't want to be a tool for him to use. So, we're going to help each other."

"What, exactly, do you think I'll be able to do for you?" The voice calls through the space.

Miranda smirks and starts typing into her OT. "Simple. You're the bait."

After a few seconds, Ben King answers.

"Miranda… Have you been SERIOUSLY ignoring my calls?" Ben asks, sounding more than a little upset. "What happened?"

"Things went poorly. The Blue Suns assets are all dead, they turned on the other mercs and on each other. The strike team accompanying me is also dead. Bravo was there, but he escaped… again." Miranda says, turning back around to her console. "Things have been… busy to say the least. I tracked Bravo for a time, but he's where we expected him to be. I'm currently trying to figure out where Targets Alpha and Charlie are."

"Any luck?" Ben asks, his tone completely changed. "Vosque has been less than useless in those areas. He seems entirely focused on securing Delta first. I've tried explaining to him that the Council are the least of our concerns."

"He's a poorly trained dog. We should have insisted on more experienced leadership when we negotiated with them for the contract." Miranda says. "Nothing solid on Alpha, though I have a possible location on Charlie. Heading there now to confirm. I'll reach back out soon."

"Good. Do you need more soldiers?" King asks.

"I don't want to wait in case Charlie realizes we know where it is and tries to move. I also don't want it to have any way to track us. It's better if I'm alone."

"Hmmmm… I suppose you're right. Just don't make contact if it's there. Try to keep it there however you can, then call us to come." King responds. "Don't take too long Miranda. We're running on borrowed time now."

Miranda hangs up the call and takes a deep breath. She opens her OT again and scrolls through her contacts, but hesitates before she makes the call. Maybe she should sleep on this. She looks up at the room. "If I sleep in the other room, will you kill me?"

"For the moment, you've at least earned a night's sleep. I won't steadily decrease the oxygen in the ship like I started doing when you first came on." The voice responds. "There is a room with a large bed just past the bridge on the port side of the ship."

Miranda gets to her feet and wobbles a bit. "I thought I was feeling lightheaded. Thanks… This goes without saying but could you turn that oxygen back up?"

"Ah… Of course."