A Splicer Walks into a Bar

Citadel 

Presidium 

Emporium

Alex Mercer strolled into the office of Baria Von, barley containing his joy meeting an employee of the Shadow Broker. This meeting could only in his favor.

"What's this? One of the Earth-clan? Ah, a very famous one, yes?" The volus said in between breaths. "You are the one called Mercer... at least most of the time." Alex couldn't tell because of the exo-suit, but he was willing to bet anything that Barla Von was smirking at him. "The tales of your exploits on Akuze and Torfan are truly remarkable, and if information wasn't such a large part of my job, then I'd call it madness."

Alex cocked his head in surprise at the shady businessman, "Usually I have a harder time getting people to cooperate without dying, yet here you blatantly admit to dabbling in the information trade?"

Barla Von took another breath before explaining, "If you're even here, then you already knew that I was affiliated with the Shadow Broker. Just like I already knew that you assimilate people for knowledge. Since you didn't eat me when you first walked in the door, I decided that I could best repay you with something you appreciate: blunt honesty." The volus gazed down at his holo-screen for a moment, then returned his attention to Alex. "I'll admit, though, I'm not positive as to why you're here. I'm guessing it has to do with Saren, but with you, Dr. Mercer, the possibilities are endless."

Alex grinned at Barla Von. "Yes, I'm here for a lead on Saren. But first, I'd like help making a few arrangements. Saren had put a hit out on the Normandy's ground team. I... dealt with them, but I'd like to collect the pay for my own death."

Barla Von nodded slowly. "This can be done, and for free at that. The lead I can give you on Saren is also free of charge. He has made an enemy of the Shadow Broker, but we'll get to that in a moment. Fortunately, we won't need to put your name in the obituaries to convince Saren. The turian fool underestimates me. If you could just change into the turian hitman that you undoubtedly ate, and stand there menacingly, I'll make the call myself."

Alex shifted into the form of the late Adelius Thraetor, and Barla Von opened up a secure communication line to Saren. Alex moved behind Barla Von so that the Spectre would be able to see "Adelius" standing in the background. The turian growled upon answering and demanded to know what the volus wanted. Barla Von didn't even flinch. "You've made a permanent enemy of the Broker today Saren. First you betray him, then you expect one of his bankers to pay your hired guns? For past services rendered, the Broker has grudgingly kept the whole matter quiet and insisted that I transfer any funds, but this will be the last time. You'll get no more help from me or my employer in the future, Spectre. Good day." Before Saren could even open his jointed mouth, Barla Von. ended the transmission.

He turned to Alex, breathed again, and asked, "You do have the account number, right?"

Alex smirked and gave the volus the necessary information. "Do you think he bought it?" The predator inquired.

Another breath, then Barla Von said, "Please, Mercer. People always trust the Broker's information because it's always right. Saren's taking that for granted in his eagerness to make this simply go away. He won't know that he's been played until he gets the burn notice." This made Alex chuckle.

Ten minutes and two hundred thousand credits later, the two agreed that Barla Von's employment would require this entire ordeal to stay quiet. Barla Von was a master at moving money quietly, so as much as he wanted to put the nail in Saren's coffin, it was too bad for business in the long run. "Well," Alex asked, "what about that other lead?"

Barla Von was halfway through that Saren payed Fist to double-cross the Shadow Broker, but when mentioned a krogan mercenary, Alex was out the door and halfway across the Presidium in seconds.

==============================================================================

Citadel 

Presidium

Wards Access

Chief watched as Alex vaulted over the Presidium's lake before taking the elevator to C-Sec. Not even wanting to know the details, he continued to follow the nav-point Cortana had given him. She had gotten excited at the discovery of a strange signal coming form club called Flux down in the Wards. Now she was having him hike across this entire station in search of the source.

"It's not like you had anything else to do. You'll cause more of a stir than krogan in this armor, so it's best to let the others do the detective work. Besides, I want you taking me somewhere nice without firing your gun for a change."

Master Chief said nothing. It wasn't as if he was tired from all the walking. The entire Presidium would have made up only a tenth of his daily jogging routine as a six-year-old boy training under CPO Mendez on Reach. Everyone in the galaxy thought that the Citadel was unparalleled in its design. The Ark and the Halo rings put this station to shame. Chief just hoped he didn't also have to blow this one up to save the galaxy. That routine was getting old pretty damn fast. 

Reaching the Emporium, the Master Chief followed the nav-point on his HUD to some kind of back-room. A recent funds transfer had ruled out the signal coming from Barla Von's office as another relay, so he was heading straight for the real source. There, he was met with anticlimactic-looking terminal. He stared at it for five seconds before saying, "Busted."

The terminal began to speak. "Probability of detection: 100%. Initiating self-destruct protocol."

"Chief, yank me!" Cortana yelled. The Spartan obeyed, pulling out her chip and holding it up to the crude AI's systems. Cortana "hopped" from the chip to the terminal, and once inside, she began to systematically erase it processes.

"You are a-a-a-an AI, too. Why wo-o-o-uld you help-p-p-p the organics-ics-ics?" The falling machine demanded to know.

"I'm not doing this for organics," Cortana said firmly. "At least not for all of them."

The machine died with a few sparks and Chief walked away with Cortana, now several hundred credits richer in the process. "It knew it was going to die upon discovery, Chief, but I wasn't going to let it take anyone with it. Sad to say, but man and machine just can't coexist here like they do in our world."

============================================================

Citadel 

Wards 

Chora's Den

"A million light years from where humanity began, and we walk into a bar filled with drunk men drooling over half-naked women shaking their asses on a stage. I can't decide if that's funny or sad." Williams said as they entered the club.

Ryan only glanced up at the dancing asari maidens, but with a photographic memory, all he needed was a glance. He looked at Williams and said, "It's called 'the oldest profession' for a reason, Williams. The sad part is hat it's been going on since before we've had gunpowder."

"What?" Alenko protested, "You don't think they're just here for the food?"

Cole laughed and gave the man a sympathetic clap on the shoulder. "Come on, guys. Let's find Harkin."

Harkin was easy to find. He hadn't even changed out of his C-Sec attire. Approaching the table, Harkin completely ignored everything except for Williams' chest. In the interest of keeping their source of information alive, Ryan directed the asshat's attention elsewhere by telekinetically grabbing the right out of his hand and giving it to Cole. The balding lowlife looked up with confusion and anger showing on his face in equal measure. "What the hell, soldier boy? I can't be looking at your woman. The Alliance has regs against that shit."

Cole chuckled, but decided that finding Garrus took priority over watching Ryan get arrested for setting the drunkard on fire. "Well I'm not Alliance. I'm just a civilian. Now, tell us where Officer Garrus Vakarian is before I let the Commander use this beer as a Molotov cocktail."

Harkin didn't seem convinced, but that changed when Ryan lit his index finger on fire. "Fine, I'll tell you about Garrus. But if you're looking for him, you must be Captain Anderson's crew, still trying to take down Saren. Before I say where Garrus is, you have to tell me, did the Captain let you in on his little secret?"

Cole planted his foot on the table and began to push, trapping Harkin against the wall and slowly increasing the pressure. "You're mistake is thinking that anyone here gives a flying fuck, jackass. Tell them where Garrus is, and then I'll be happy to listen to the dirty little secrets you seem to find so fascinating. But if you delay them any longer, you'll be spilling secrets with a shattered jaw." That got Harkin talking fast. Obviously he wasn't willing to risk damaging his face. They would find Garrus sneaking around the clinic of a Dr. Michel here in the wards. With that, the group, minus Cole, left for the clinic.

Cole's statement had been half true. He didn't care about Anderson's past. Saren had all but confirmed they had some kind of history, and if he had done something to the Captain, then that was all the more reason the turian had to be taken down. Cole's real purpose, though, was to wait right here for the fun to start. A radar pulse at the door had alerted him to a small army of thugs ready at a moment's notice to lock the place down. Obviously Fist had made a powerful enemy, and after Alex had mentioned the krogan on the comm. line, it didn't take a genius where this was headed. Cole needed to be inside the club ahead of time to minimize civilian casualties, so he would simply play the role of a patron until the show began.

"So Harkin," Cole asked, "you just gonna leave me hanging, or are you planning on spilling that oh-so fascinating secret?" He may as well pass the time with a few laughs by the dirty cop make a further ass of himself.

========================================================================================

Citadel 

Wards 

C-Sec Headquarters

Alex walked up just in time to see more fools actually trying to intimidate the massive krogan he knew to  be Wrex. Again, he stood back and watched Wrex in amusement.

The human C-Sec agent, of all people, was doing the threatening. "Witnesses saw you making threats at Fist's bar. Stay away from him."

"I don't take orders from you," Wrex gruffly replied in utterly bored voice.

The cop didn't let up, "This is your only warning, Wrex."

Wrex leaned in close and growled, "You should warn Fist. I will kill him."

The human awkwardly took a few steps back, "Do you want me to arrest you?" Alex barely resisted the urge to laugh.

Wrex did laugh, saying, "I want you to try." He eyed the officer, almost goading him to make the first move, before lumbering away.

The officer apparently needed to have the last word, even when dealing with a damn krogan. "Go on, get out of here!"

Wrex luckily had caught sight of Alex, and immediately lost interest in the C-Sec idoits. The man - if it really was a man - smelled like a walking bloodbath. Wrex had seen all kinds of strange shit in the many centuries he had spent roaming the galaxy, and he knew that the animal he was looking at was no mere human, but a born predator. He had prided himself in being able to smell adventure, or at least a good fight, but he never meant it quite so literally. He walked up to the hooded man. 

"Do I know you... hunter?" Alex grinned at the title.

"Good to see you've recognized I'm not your typical human. If you're going after Fist, I might know some people who want in. You want him for the Shadow Broker's money, and I want what's inside his skull. The name is Alex Mercer. Killer, monster, and terrorist, and that's the short version. so what's it gonna be?"

The krogan titled his head back in what seemed to be a thoughful expression. "Mercer... I've heard that name. You're the Animal of Akuze' right? Count me in. Are your other people ready to go, or will you and I be doing the heavy lifting?"

Alex grinned, "Let's ask them." He activated his comm. "Ryan, it's Mercer. How does raiding Chora's Den sound to you?'

=========================================================================================

Citadel

Wards

Clinic Exterior

10 minutes ago

"Permission to speak freely, Commander?" Alenko asked 

"Permission grand, and don't feel the need to ask in the future. Same for you Williams." Ryan was amazed that needed to be said.

"We should let Mercer and MacGrath know about rapid-transit. Maybe then they'll stop bitching about the elevators all the time."

Ryan looked thoughtful for a moment. "That's actually a good idea, LT. I'll be sure to let them know. Now let's see where-" Ryan froze, and immediately motioned for the two marines to away from the door. 

Releasing  a scout plasmid, he saw that the doctor was being threatened by a group of thugs that likely worked for Fist. To make things worse, Garrus was already inside, sneaking just out of sight. Ryan needed to act before the turian killed somebody trying to be the hero. He turned to Williams and Alenko and sighed, "Okay, this is likely going to freak you out, but if you'll bear with me, I promise to answer any question you have after the shooting stops."

Without giving them time to argue, Ryan teleported past the door and into the clinic, appearing right behind the thug closest to Dr. Michel. The stunned man didn't in time as Ryan looped one of his hooks around his victim's gun arm, redirecting the shot at the ceiling before snapping it at the wrist. Ryan followed this up by ramming the other hook through the thug's chest, tearing apart his heart and lungs.

This had all taken place in less than four seconds, and Ryan was already turning on the remaining two thugs. Spotting a small canister that all but screamed "explosive" less than meter away from the criminals, Ryan quickly made a plan. Putting away his hooks, Ryan detonated a cyclone trap beneath the canister, knocking it into the air. Before he could make it explode with a well place bullet, however, a shot from behind did it for him. The blast tore the two men apart. 

Ryan turned around to see Garrus standing there, pistol in hand, admiring the improvised handiwork. Ryan was highly impressed that the turian had not only adjusted perfectly to such a sharp charge of circumstance, but also that Garrus had made a damn good shot without having any idea of time that the canister would get knocked into the air.

"Perfect timing, Commander." Garrus remarked with satisfaction. "I planned on just shooting the one threatening her before dealing with the others, but your approach was even better."

Ryan's respect for the turian diminished slightly. Any attempt Garrus had made on his own would have ended with a dead - and useless - hostage. "You do realize that she's not very useful to us dead, right?"

The Spliceer King was born in Rapture, and, naturally, that made him a pragmatist at heart. However, when he first escaped and made countless unsanctioned trips across several vast territories, it was - among other things - an endeavor to gain an appreciation for honor and life, which were things that a place like Rapture would never permit. Only upon his return did he offer his skills to the Uniques. He was saddened more than anything else that they put him to work as a killer. The things he had done over his career as a Supernova were not pleasant, and he had taken Unique Shepard's assignment in hopes of being something more that a behind-the-scenes manipulator. It was ironic, but Ryan hoped that saving Shepard's territory would help atone for the very thing that made him so damn successful: pragmatism.

Still, there was difference between pragmatism and Garrus' eagerness to see criminals punished. If the turian wanted to help, he was going to need to learn which was which.

Garrus clicked his mandibles in frustration, obviously displeased that Ryan hadn't seen things his way. Still the officer relented, asking Dr. Michel if she was okay, and fortunately, she was.

The door opened, and Williams and Alenko came in with weapons ready. "You okay, Commander?" Williams asked.

Ryan pointed at the thug that he had killed with his hooks, "I'm a hell of a lot better than him, that's for damn sure."

"I think you owe us that explanation now." Alenko stated with arms crossed. That sounded much more like something Carth Onasi would say. Unfortunately it would have to wait. 

"I told you that the shooting had to stop first. I'm pretty sure it hasn't stopped. It's just moved somewhere else." He turned to Dr. Michel. "There's a connection to Saren here, right? We need to know what it is."

"Oh, of course." Michel replied. "Fist sent them to keep me from telling anyone about the quarian. She came here earlier, injured. I treated her, but she had said something about the geth."

Garrus  gave the turian equivalent of a grin, "She must have evidence that can link Saren to them!"

Ryan smirked. If Garrus was right, this quarian just became the splicer's new best friend. "Got him not. Where is she?"

Almost as if the damn virus was psychic, Ryan got a call from him on the comm. "Ryan, it's Mercer. How about raiding Chora's Den sound to you?"

Ryan chuckled and replied, "When was the last time I said 'no' to a good bar fight, Mercer? I'll meet you there, but don't kill them all without me if you arrive first."

Alex's response was a creepy "no promises." Ryan wasn't entirely sure if he was joking or dead serious. 

Garrus took this moment to cut in. "This is your show, Ryan, but I want to bring Saren down as much as you do. I'm coming along."

Ryan gauged the expressions of everyone in the room. Alenko was passive, not minding either way. Garrus was likely going to take action regardless. And Williams seemed a bit put off by the thought of a turian tagging along. He made a note to ask her about that later. Racism wouldn't be very effective in a multi-species squad. Then something occurred to Ryan: if this went south, then Williams and Alenko shouldn't have to pay the price. He opened a comm. to the Master Chief, "Chief, I want you to meet up with Williams and Alenko at the Human Embassy. Shit's going to hit the fan, and I'd prefer to limit the official Alliance involvement to myself."

"Copy that. Good luck, Commander." The Chief always did have a way with words.

"Commander," Alenko objected, "Are you sure you don't want us backing you up?"

Williams agreed, feeling upset that he wasn't letting them follow along. "Why can't we tag along?"

Ryan felt that he would lose some goodwill with his human companions if he pulled rank, so he tried explaining his logic instead. "If this goes well, then there will be plenty more fights. But in the process, Chora's Den will be shredded. Alex Mercer is a brutal fighter, and may accidentally kill you guys. Garrus on the other hand, is obviously a long range combatant, so he doesn't have to worry about the Mercer equivalent of friendly fire. Finally, on the slim chance this goes to hell, I don't want anyone in the Alliance but myself getting their reputation tarnished. You guys will have plausible deniabiltiy if you just go to the Human Embassy. Are we clear?"

"Sir, yes sir?" Both marines automatically replied. Ryan hoped that they weren't saying it out of habit. He wanted allies, not pawns.

"Good. When this is over, and we've nailed Saren's dextro balls to the wall, I'll give you that explanation you keep asking for."

With nothing to say, the group split up, two heading for the Citadel, and two heading for a bar fight.

==============================================================================================

Citadel

Wards

Chora's Den

"I won't say it again, human. Get your ass out of the Den!" The turian couldn't believe this human was being so difficult.

Cole smirked. He just needed to keep the charade going for another minute or so, and then all hell would break loose. In his best impression of a drunk man, Cole slurred, "I told you already, man. I'm not leaving until I finish my damn drink. 'Sides, you took away all the pretty blue dancers. Why should I listen to you anyway?" Just another few seconds....

The turian had enough. He signaled the krogan bouncer to toss Cole out of the club by force. That's when Cole struck. 

He fired off an electromagnetic blast that knocked away his closest foes, and then he flipped the table he'd been sitting at onto its side, using it as a makeshift barricade. He had done his part, but without any kinetic barriers, he needed to keep his head down for the next ten seconds. The krogan laughed, "Hah! It looks like I get to have some fun after all!"

The bouncer hadn't taken more than three steps when the entrance door shattered as Alex Mercer stormed into the room. "The krogan is mine!" he yelled, hands already transformed into sinister claws. Alex's new prey fired repeatedly with his shotgun, but Alex didn't even react to the impacts. Leaping right over the dancers' platform, Alex landed directly in front of the krogan. Completely ignoring the bullets hitting him every direction, he buried his claws in his massive foe, only for the bouncer to begin roaring in fury instead dying. Alex grinned like a madman before leaping backwards. He knew what was happening now. 

"Mercer!" Wrex yelled, having entered the room with Ryan. The turian had elected to set up outside with his sniper rifle. "He's in blood rage! Get the hell away!"

Alex laugh in a manic tone. "Why would I want to do that?" The enraged bouncer charged straight at Alex obliterating an unlucky crate that was in his way. At the last second, Alex reached out and grabbed the krogan by the neck, hoisting  him into the air, as per the usual. In a single sadistic move, Alex slid his free claw under the krogan's brow plate and ripped it right off his head. Before the bouncer had time to scream in pain, Alex grabbed his now-vulnerable skull and slammed him hard into the club's floor. He didn't even bother to consume the broken remains, unsure of how Wrex would respond to that. 

Ryan flipped and dodged like a spider, mixing pistol shots with plasmids for maximum effect. While he had a brute splicer's strength, he preferred finesse to force every time. That strength locked away in his relative unassuming form also served as a useful trump card when need be. When one turian finally did line up a decent shot, Ryan teleported completely out of the way, and Garrus blew the thug's head clean off from the walkway outside.

Wrex was enjoying himself immensely. The fight was good, and his allies were strong. He had never seen a human - if you could call Mercer a human - rip apart a krogan with his bare hands. And a human that could toss electricity from his hands was nothing to scoff at. It was impressive. Ryan wasn't too bad either, but  despite his obvious brute strength, the man continued to use his seemingly endless supply of tricks instead. Wrex couldn't  argue with results, but since he never saw an omni-tool or any telltale biotic glow, Ryan definitely warranted careful observation. He knew the guy was hiding something. The turian was a good shot,  and he showed promise as a warrior, but he just wasn't in the same league as the three "humans" doing the heavy lifting.

Garrus was now positive that disobeying Executor Pallin was the right choice. He was fighting alongside humanity's legends. He had just watched the Animal of Akuze brutalize a krogan while the Torfan Tactician practically danced across the room, burning, freezing, shooting, and even joining the Storm of Elysium in electrocuting every hostile unlucky enough to stand against them. Wrex  was certainly no slouch either. The hulking mercenary was a biotic, which made hime one of the few remaining krogan battlemasters in the galaxy. Wrex didn't even seem to care that Garrus, a turian, had joined them, only warning  that another krogan was in there, and to watch where he was shooting. Of course, that was the moment that Alex had made the door explode and decided to take care of the krogan himself. They made one hell of a team. Saren was as good as finished at this rate.

Alex tore a salarian's head off, and when he didn't hear any more shots being fired, he yelled, "Is everybody dead now?"

"Not quite." Ryan answered. His scout plasmid had found two armed warehouse workers in the next room. They're armed but don't shoot. I'll handle it." Ryan opened the door and used his telekinesis to yank guns out of the workers' hands. "Find somewhere else to be. Now." Once the pair had left, Ryan said, "That just leaves Fist."

"No," Cole said, "that just leaves Fist and his two huge-ass turrets." Garrus and Wrex looked at him, confused. "I don't just spew electricity. I also drain it and detect it. Allow us."

Cole signaled Alex, who simply walked into the room , shield raised. The turrets instantly pounded him with bullets, but since they were designed to fire until a target went down, Alex just stood there getting shot and let them overheat. Then Cole walked up to the turrets and drained the electricity from them. Somewhere during this process, Ryan had teleported behind the turrets, grabbed Fist, and subdued him by snapping his leg.

"Ahh! My leg! Okay, I surrender!" Every person in the room now agreed that Fist was both an idiot for selling out the Shadow Broker and a wuss. This interrogation would be a cakewalk. 

Cole held out his hand, letting some lightning arc between his fingers. "Give us the quarian's location, and maybe I don't electrocute your nuts."

Fist was pissing his pants in terror. "She's not here. I don't know where she is. That's the truth!" Everybody just shared a glance. This guy was full of shit.

Alex and Wrex stepped forward simultaneously, and with less than noble intentions in mind, when Fist raised his hands in front of his face as if it actually made a damn difference. "Wait! I don't know where the quarian is, but I know where you can find her." Ryan and Cole listened to the man tell his story about the quarian, the Shadow Broker, and Saren. Alex stood there wondering just how the hell he knew where to find the quarian if he didn't know where she was. It didn't make any sense. 

"-but when she shows up," the criminal stated, "it'll be Saren's men waiting for her."

"Location." Ryan demanded, raising a flaming hand. "Now!"

"Here on the wards," Fist admitted, looking more defeated now than before. "The back alley by the markets. She's supposed to meet with them right now. You can make it if you hurry."

He had barely finished speaking when Wrex pulled out his shotgun, and Ariake Katana VIII, and blew open bastard's chest. Garrus seemed shocked, asking the krogan what he was doing. Wrex stood tall and growled, "The Shadow Broker paid me to kill him. I don't leave jobs half done."

Alex grinned sheepishly. "Did I forget to mention that part?"

Ryan sighed, "We've got more important things to do. I can hear more thugs setting up back in the main room. They're likely meant to slow us down." Groaning at the delay, Ryan reached for his shotgun, only to be stopped by Cole.

Cole looked calmly at the Splicer King. "This is a major center of organized crime, Ryan. We just need to get evidence to the right person. You can teleport, so get use that to bypass the thugs. Save the quarian, and we'll handle the rest."

Ryan instantly knew this was the best plan. Of the three Supernovas in the room, Cole was the best at dealing with organized crime. He had been doing it back on Empire City, lending a helping hand to the police and that was well before he become a Supernova. Plus, Garrus was a cop, so between the two of them, the crime rate in this part of the Citadel was about to plummet. And whatever two-bit thugs were waiting back in the front of the club, they would pose no challenge to the four powerhouses. 

With this in mind, Ryan hurled him through the time-space continuum, hoping he wasn't too late.

=============================================================================================

Citadel 

Wards 

Meeting location

Tali'Zorah nar Rayya was quite nervous. She still wasn't completely over the fever she got when Saren's men had first attacked her. The doctor at the clinic had done a good enough job patching her up, but as a quarian her immune system could barely take normal suit punctures, let alone ones from polonium rounds. Her only hope now was to get asylum from the Shadow Broker in exchange for her highly valuable information on the Council's top Spectre.

A turian approached her and asked, "Did you bring it?"

Now Tail was even more nervous. She had insisted to meet the Shadow Broker in person. She had to know for sure that this was legitimate. "Where's the Shadow Broker? Where's Fist?"

The turian stepped closer, "They'll be here." If he was trying to reassure her, he was failing miserably. Then he began to search her. "Where's the evidence?"

At this, Tail had enough. This wasn't the agreement she made with Fist. The double-crossing bosh'tet was going to pay when she found him! Smacking away the turain's hand, Tail snubbed him. "Forget it. The deal's off."

That seemed to be a mistake, as two salarians in full-body armor drew pistols and began to close in on her. The situation was deteriorating quickly. She just might have been able to fight her way out if it weren't for the damn fever. But she wouldn't just give up. She was the daughter of Admiral Rael'Zorah of the Migrant Fleet. She would disappoint him, regardless, but he would always respect her for putting up a fight. Tossing a grenade at the salarians, Tail leapt into hiding behind some crates. She drew her shotgun and prepared for the worst. 

"Keelah se'lai, Father." She thought to herself. "I love you."

Then the strangest thing in her life happened.

The turian had just rounded the corner, gun pointed at her, when a concentrated ball of fire collided with him, knocking him back. She looked in the direction that the fireball had come from, but nothing was there. The turian , now scorched across the front of his face and armor, ordered his salarian lackeys to keep their guns trained on the hallway. Slowly, the turian crept up on her hiding spot a second time. I know you're there suit-rat the turian called. Just come on out, and we'll let you live."

A man in some kind of jacket materialized out of thin air right in front of her gun trained on the assassin, "You lost your chance with the quarian when started feeling her up before the first date." Tai honestly had no idea what this had to do with dating, but he was helping her, and that was more than most people would do for a quarian. She would worry about her savior's sanity later. 

"Human, this doesn't concern y-ahh!" The assassin never got to finish, as the human pointed his left palm at him, unleashing a torrent of fire that cooked the turian in seconds. Cartwheeling  away from the salarians gunfire, the human grabbed a pair of metal hooks from his belt and threw on at each salarian. His aim was perfect, hitting both salarians in the head, cracking through their faceplates and slicing into their brains. 

In less than a minute, Tail's fate had shifted from certain death to possible safety. The strange human turn to look at her, "Don't go anywhere just yet." With that, casually went over to retrieve his hooks. Suddenly the shock faded, and anger filled its place. 

"Fist set me up! I knew I couldn't trust him!" 

Having reclaimed his weapons, the human focused on her, and for some reason, Tail felt like her mask wasn't hiding her well enough. He seemed to know that she was doing her best to act tough. It felt like could see right past her mask, and there was nothing that she could hide from him. 

Tail wasn't sure why, but for some reason, she didn't totally hate that feeling.

========================================================================================================

Same location 

Ryan's POV

Ryan studied the quarian girl for a few moments. His time around Big Daddies and Big Sisters made him extremely good at reading people that wore helmets or masks. He could tell she was scared, and she was trying to hide it with anger. He would humor her, as he needed her evidence. He had to admit, he was curious as to why a young woman like her was mixed up in the affairs of a rogue Spectre and his geth.  Since she was a quarian though, the geth part might have something to do with her involvement. He began to wonder if Shepard had recruited her as well. She could certainly handle herself well enough. 

Focusing back on the matter at hand, Ryan asked, "I didn't see them shoot you, but you've supposedly just come from a clinic. Are you alright?"

The quarian looked shocked; as if she was surprised he even cared she was alive. Then her glowing eyes narrowed as she returned to the anger from before." How did you-? Who are you?"

Ryan chuckled, realizing she hadn't been there while he tore apart half the wards looking for her evidence. "I'm Commander Jack Ryan with the Alliance Navy, and I'm looking for evidence that proves Saren's a traitor."

The quarian girl relaxed at this information. "Then I guess you know how I can repay you for saving my life. But I'd prefer handing the information over someplace safe. I'm sure you can understand my concern."

"Well then," the quarian practically jumped to FTL at the sound of Alex's voice. "As much as I hate the man, Udina will be somewhat useful in this situation. Let's get back to the Human Embassy."

Ryan turned to see his four allies, all but Garrus covered in blood of different colors. There were many benefits to carrying a sniper rifle. Saving on dry-cleaning was one of them.

Everyone agreed that the Human Embassy was a good place to be right now. So despite many protest, they all got in the elevator to the Presidium. 

The elevator had only been rising for ten seconds when Wrex asked out of the blue: 

"So tell me Mercer. Who would win in a fight between you and MacGrath?"

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Hahahahaha! Wrex makes elevators almost tolerable sometimes!