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Reunited	By : Boompeew Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 25157 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I don't own the Mass Effect series or its characters. I do not make any money from this fic; it is purely for reader enjoyment.

Chapter List
- 48
- 49
Author’s notes: Sup everyone. I’m back with chapter 49 of Reunited just for you fanfic fanatics. Yep, we are nearing that inevitable end of this story. But hey, it’s been a great 3 years. If any of you have suggestions on what I could write in future chapters please don’t hesitate to PM me. As usual, here’s the link to my adultfanfiction.net account: http: //members. Adultfanfiction. Net/profile. Php? No=1296890817&view=story (just remove the spaces between the periods and you’ll get there).
Lieutenant Ashley Williams let out a grunt of frustration and exertion as she kicked the punching bag with a lot more force than necessary, imagining it to be Kai Leng. “You fucking piece of shit!”Ashley hissed as she hit the bag with a left elbow jab before following it up with a vicious kick, and finishing it off with 2 hard jabs. “Hey Ash. That was pretty vicious, so I’m guessing that you’re imagining it to be that fucking fuckstick right?”Jack said softly as she entered the Normandy gym, glancing at Jacob, who was in the middle of a killer leg work out that caused Ashley to wince slightly everytime she caught a glance of the ex-Cerberus operative. Ashley stopped taking her frustrations out on the bag, turning to her girlfriend. Everytime Jack called her Ash; she knew the teacher was serious.
“And I assume that ‘fuckstick’ is Kai Leng right? Yeah, this bag is a stand in for him. Shitface kills both Irissa and Udina, then goes on to doom the entire Milky Way galaxy by stealing the one thing that could possibly help us kill the Reapers, and hurts my friends. Oh yeah, fuckstick is something of an understatement.”The Latina soldier spat out as she took the bottle of water Jack offered, taking a large swig from it. “Heh. Well, Art’s taking it pretty goddamn hard in the sim room. I’ve never seen anyone slash through so many holograms that pissed before. I mean, shit! I know he’s good with a knife, but the kind of shit he’s doing in there right now with that knife of his? Holy fuck.”Jack shook her head.
“Well, he was the only one of us who tried to stop Kai Leng, so it’s only logical he’s taking it harder than the rest of us. Megan’s taking it pretty hard too. I mean, seeing a kid die horribly in your arms is probably one of the most fucked up things that could probably happen to anyone.”The brunette sighed as Jack nodded. “Yeah, I can relate. Hey, we’ll get that son of a bitch soon enough. By the way, have any ideas on where the hell we’re going to?” "We're headed to Horizon in some remote system due to a lead that Lawson Junior and Specialist Traynor dug up on where Kai Leng might've gone to after royally fucking us over on Thessia. That planet just can't catch a break, huh? 1st Collectors and now a Reaper indoctrinated assassin."Ashley replied.
"Yep. That's the place where I first saw you. I swear on my ass that you were a lot less curvy than now."Jack smirked, giving her lover's ass a firm smack as Ashley yelped, blushing slightly as Kirrahe walked in, narrowing his eyes in a typical salarian expression of 'I know what you're doing'. He walked over to the smaller punching bag and began striking fast, letting out his frustrations on the bag like Ashley had done. "Jack, now is really not the time."The soldier hissed softly. "Aw c'mon Ash. Let's fuck...I swear all our frustrations will be gone after that."The ex-convict smirked lecherously. "No. Really Jack, we just lost an entire planet and this whole damn war and you want to do the dirty. How the hell do you even have the mood?"Ashley sighed.
"Shit I dunno...I just hate seeing you so angry and helpless. Oh yeah, and you're really tense all at the same time. I wish I knew how to...y'know...help you."Jack said falteringly as Ashley smiled. "Aw Jackie, you're just so cute. While I appreciate that you're trying to help me, I'm fine. C'mere."The brunette laughed, kissing Jack on the lips as she turned on her heels. "I wish I was better with this fucking feelings shit. I suck varren balls at this, don't I?"Jack sighed. "Hey, you're pretty good at it already compared to when we first met. Don't keep putting yourself down Jack."Ashley said tenderly, holding her lover's shoulders. "I'm starving. Let's go grab something to eat, shall we?" "Whatever you say, boss lady."Jack smirked in reply, following Ashley closely.
Meanwhile, James and Reznov were busy venting their frustrations by cleaning guns as James blared metal tracks on his omnitool. James was putting in a lot more force than necessary in cleaning the barrel of Major Kirrahe's X90 sniper rifle, ramming the cleaning rod into the barrel savagely and yanking it out repeatedly. Reznov had just finished cleaning Susan's X7 Hurricane and he reassembled it with great force before slamming the gun back down on the table. "Whoa! Easy there with my gun Chief!"Susan cautioned as she walked into the armory. "Sorry. Probably shouldn't have slammed it down on the table."Viktor muttered as Susan took an empty seat, pulling out her S5 Phalanx, clearing it of rounds before stripping it. "It's alright. Guess we're all still feeling the effects of Thessia."She said.
"Da. There is not much I wouldn't do to wrap my hands around Kai Leng's neck and make him die slowly and painfully."Viktor agreed as James shook his head, reassembling Kirrahe's rifle. "Ah, that's too tame. I'd chop his legs off, break both his arms in multiple places, set him on fire, and kick him down a really long flight of stairs."The hulking Lieutenant smirked. "Oh please. That's a massage compared to what I'm gonna do to him."Susan laughed softly as both men turned to look at her. "So Lieutenant, what would you do to that mudak?"Viktor asked curiously. "Hmm…nothing much. I'll just break every toe and finger, then dislocate every joint, then break all his limbs in several places, and then gouge one of his eyeballs out. Finally, I'll use my biotics to disintegrate him really slowly and make him watch with his one eye."Susan said dreamily with a wicked grin.
She then looked around at her companions when they remained silent. James looked quite aghast while even Viktor looked taken aback. "What? Can't a girl have revenge fantasies?"The petite biotic asked defensively. "You can do whatever you like, ma'am. I'm going to get a drink. You want anything?"The Russian offered as James shook his head politely while Susan considered the offer before declining it with a "Nah, but thanks though." "Okay. Suit yourselves then."Viktor shrugged, leaving the armory as James turned to Susan. "So are you really serious about the whole revenge idea?"He asked. "Duh, of course! Why is it so shocking for you to comprehend?"Susan replied, rolling her eyes. "Just...uh, never expected such savagery from you, Rizzi."James stammered.
Reznov exited the lift and entered the portside observation, where Megan, Thomas, Garrus, Verlus and Jade were seated at the bar, having drinks. Nyla was sprawled out on one of the couches, her head on Jentha’s lap as the engineer took care of the asari. Surrounding them was a large amount of empty alcohol bottles, providing some clues as to what knocked Nyla out. Oriana was curled up on another sofa, nodding off with headphones on while Jacob sat at the other end, contemplating something as he stared at the large bottle of Benning draft he was nursing. He saw that Megan and Jade were clearly sloshed, with the men not far behind them.
“I failed Thessia…I fucking failed…I’m sorry Nyla…sorry Samara…sorry Liara…”Megan moaned, her head hitting the bartop hard as Garrus lifted her back up. “Megan…you did not fail Thessia. You did everything you could…but…Kai Leng! Show yourself so I can rip your limbs apart!”Garrus roared drunkenly as Reznov took the empty seat next to Thomas, who was pouring himself a shot of liquor. The Russian reached over for a bottle of Terra Nova gin as Verlus turned to him. “Here’s a glass. Join us; we’re talking about all our failures tonight.”The turian Spectre mumbled as he slid a rocks glass over to Viktor. “Nyet, I do not need a glass for gin.”The Russian declined as he popped the top.
“So, I led a team of 3 other operatives to try and rescue a bunch of hostages in the Terminus. They were important corporate execs who were channeling funds to Cerberus, so we got sent in to try and rescue them. However, it was a clusterfuck.”Thomas slurred. “How so?”Reznov asked, taking a hearty swig out of the bottle of gin. “The Blood Pack had them. So we had to carve our way through literal fucking hordes of vorcha and varren, and then hose down some krogan. Unfortunately, the idiots thought that it was a better idea to kill the hostages instead of letting them get rescued. So it turns out that we lost 2 men for absolutely fucking nothing. Well, still can’t compare to that mission that made me quit from the Alliance.”Thomas spat out bitterly.
“What happened on that mission? You never told us.”Megan slurred. “So we were promised full support on this one extremely dirty black op on Adek to destroy this one particular Blue Suns pirate base on Chalkhos out in the Terminus that was indiscriminately attacking all shipping and assassinate their brutal bastard of a leader. So the asari and turians also had a share in the mission, but we were the ones stuck doing the actual shit. So we went in and got the job done, but I lost 6 out of the 15 others I went in with. And that’s before the fucking reinforcements that the commander we turned into a bullet bag land. So they land, and we’re well and truly fucked.”The Brit recounted as he downed his rum, slamming the rocks glass back down on the bartop.
“Let me guess, the promised full support never happened.”Garrus drawled, downing more turian brandy as he poured himself more. “Damn right. Lost another five people before the shuttle swoops in to exfil us almost half a day later. Wilmington, Donaghy, Lau, Singh, Wong, Petersen, Petrenko, Harris, Kojima and Diaz. All dead. All because there happened to be a batarian cruiser aggressively shadowing the SSV Ardennes and the brass pussied out about sending support or even extraction. All because I was stupid enough to trust the fucking brass. Those men trusted me. Diaz…she trusted me. Her first op and she bled to death while waiting for exfil. All because I was too bloody stupid to have a contingency plan.”Thomas snorted, downing another glass of rum.
“Fuck, that wasn’t your fault.”Verlus burped. “You couldn’t have anticipated that sort of shit. Besides, you managed to accomplish all objectives and get 5 guys out. It’s not perfect, but nobody can blame you.”Garrus sighed, slowly swirling his glass of turian brandy. “You got 5 people out and accomplished your objective. You did a fuckload better than I did.”Megan let out a bitter, drunken laugh as everyone turned to her. “So there was this one medium sized colony in the Traverse. Marshfield, it was called. They sent out a distress call that they were under attack by batarian pirates and we just so happened to be on patrol in the area at the time.”The redhead began, sipping her gin.
"We dropped in as fast as we could, but what we didn't know is that by the time we dropped in, the slavers had already captured all the civilians and they were just waiting for us. So the minute we jumped out of the shuttles, they opened fire and we were caught in the crossfire. I was the only one who survived. But I damn near died from the wounds I had.""And they got away with the colonists as well, I presume?"Viktor surmised, taking another gulp of gin right from the bottle. "Damn right. All those good people suffered because I failed spectacularly. Kids and men ending up as slaves in eezo mines or worse, and women..."Megan trailed off, smiling bitterly and drunkenly as she finished off her gin and topped up her glass with some tequila.

"You tried your best already. Besides, you have a shit ton of other successful hostage rescues, so that could be counted as recompense. Captain."Jade said drunkenly as she patted Megan on the back. "If only it were batarian slavers that attacked my colony...my family might still be alive."Viktor sighed wistfully as he swirled his gin in his glass. "If it wasn't pirates, then who attacked your colony?"Verlus asked. "Terrorists. They didn't want to take hostages; they merely wanted to watch the world burn. My greatest failure is not being able to protect my family from those animals."Reznov slammed a meaty fist down on the bar, nearly breaking it and causing all the glasses to visibly jump into the air.

"Easy there cowboy. Don't spill all that wonderful alcohol."Jade slurred. "And Chief Conagher, any failures you feel comfortable sharing with us?"Viktor turned to her, stumbling over the blonde's last name. "Well, my worst fuckup was when me and my team failed to stop a massive arms shipment from falling into the hands of turian extremists. That arms shipment had a fucking nuke on it. A nuke which they detonated on a medium sized colony world that killed my godparents."Jade's eyes teared up as Megan gently stroked her back. "Hey, that's their fault alright? You didn't kill your godparents."The redhead comforted the blonde as she just sighed and nodded. "In about 8 hours, we'll be able to correct our latest failure. We will."Garrus said resolutely as everyone toasted to that.

About 7 hours later, Miranda was gearing up with the help of her wife. "Cassie, you should go sleep especially after the drinking binge you had just now."The raven haired woman said softly as redhead shook her head. "No. I want to make sure that you're all good to go before I even think about rest. Besides, I can't close my eyes..." "Hush Cassie; that was not your fault. It wasn't anyone's fault except for the Reapers. It's not your fault, okay? I don't want to hear you blaming yourself ever again."Miranda whispered reassuringly into Megan's skin as she hugged the Vanguard close. "I wish it wasn't my fault, but-" "Megan, hush. What did I just say?"Miranda said softly but sternly as Megan sighed. "I know. Here's your Hurricane."She conceded as she handed Miranda her submachine gun.

"Good girl. I love you."Miranda smiled as Megan gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I love you too. By the way, what was Ori and Traynor's reason for picking Horizon as a potential lead?"The Captain asked. "Sanctuary is a refugee camp for refugees fleeing the Reapers. However, actual details concerning the camp that we've managed to dig up are more than suspicious. Also, everyone who's fled to that camp has never been heard of since. But the biggest factor is that it used to be a Cerberus base studying the effects of Reaper tech and indoctrination. However, it was shutdown and abandoned around the time when you were busy destroying Cerberus cells on your hunt for Saren. The Illusive Man deemed it too risky for experiments to continue on a populated planet."Miranda answered.

"I see...so, you think we'll find any trace of that bastard there?"Megan asked, referring to Kai Leng. "Hard to say, but it's still better than nothing. Garrus, are you sure that you're at one hundred percent?"Miranda called across the armory as Garrus cursed loudly, having dropped his Krysae rifle on his foot. "Yeah I'm perfectly fine. Just trying to do too many things with just 3 fingers."Garrus called back as Miranda just rolled her eyes and nodded. "If you find Kai Leng, please do something for me. Kill the fucker in the most painful and slowest way possible."Megan requested as Miranda loaded her pistol and holstered it. "Don't worry dear; I'll do it for you. And the entire galaxy."Miranda kissed Megan before walking off.

"Right. So we're going into a well publicized refugee camp on the sole isolated continent with no idea what to expect based on a hunch. I don't like it."Michael muttered. "I don't like it either, but unless you've got a better idea, this is all we've got."Arthur shot back as the Cerberus sniper leaned back and sighed. "You're right, but this sucks ass. Can't wait to get my hands on that Kai Leng bastard and torture him to death." "Heh, you're going to have to get in a really long line before you get to do what you want to that fuckstick."Nicole commented as Miranda took a look around the shuttle. Besides Nicole, Arthur and Michael, Garrus, Jacob, Ashley, James, Susan, Verlus, Kirrahe and Jade were on the team.

The shuttle began its final descent, swooping down on the refugee haven that was Sanctuary. "Beginning final descent on Sanctuary LC. The place is really deserted. Gives me the creeps."Cortez commented as he surveyed Sanctuary from the shuttle. "Goddamn. It's a ghost town, that's what it is. I would've thought that a place like this would be a lot busier every hour of every day."Jade spoke as Jacob nodded. "Yeah, she's right. I expected a place like this to be flooded with people. But I don't even see a shadow here."The former Corsair agreed. "And there's no welcoming committee either. It feels like a trap somehow."Kirrahe added on. "Trap or not, this is the only lead we have on Kai Leng and the Prothean AI. Stay alert."Miranda cautioned as the shuttle landed and the door opened.

Everyone jumped out just as a platoon of Cerberus troopers, clad in the standard Cerberus issue assault armor, rushed out of the main entrance alongside Reaper troops. "Wait, what the fuck?"Nicole barely had time to say before the Cerberus troopers and Reapers opened fire on the Normandy squad. Miranda overloaded the shield on a Cerberus trooper with an antenna sticking out of the back of his armor before putting a 5 round burst into his chest, killing him instantly before training her X7 Valkyrie on some cannibals, gunning down 2 of them while her biotic warp ate away at the armor of a scion that was taken out by a shot from Michael's Black Widow.

Jacob lifted a commissar with his biotics, throwing it into a pair on incoming Cerberus troops and flattening all 3 before he gunned them down with his X60. Kirrahe caused major havoc with his Scorpion pistol, the small sticky explosive rounds blowing up Cerberus and Reaper troops alike as James hosed down anyone stupid enough not to take cover with his Typhoon machine gun. Ashley and Verlus were firing in short and steady bursts, methodically taking out enemies as Garrus and Arthur picked off enemies that were trapped in Susan's singularity field with their sniper rifles. Jade was darting from cover to cover, bringing the lethal firepower of her X7 Hurricane to bear on enemies as they were riddled by her storm of bullets.

"Clear!"Garrus called out after the last commissar was blown apart by the explosive rounds from his Krysae. "Why the hell would Cerberus be working with the Reapers? They are our allies for now, at the very least."Ashley wondered as Jacob walked up to one of the Cerberus corpses and pulled off the helmet. "Goddamn. This son of a bitch looks like a fucking husk."He cursed as everyone tried to suppress their disgust at seeing a human extensively implanted with Reaper implants. Nicole gagged, fighting the urge to throw up as Miranda knelt down to inspect the corpse, suppressing her own gag reflex as she fought down the bile slowly rising up to her throat. "The Illusive Man is implanting operatives with Reaper tech now? That can't be...he's not stupid."Miranda muttered.

"I do NOT have any of that Reaper shit inside of me, alright? I would NEVER have any of that shit stuck into my body."Nicole said forcefully. "It's alright Nicole, no need to convince us. We believe you."Verlus chipped in as the squad nodded. "Yeah I can vouch for that. This girl has no Reaper tech inside her."James spoke up. "I completely believe you Nicole. Nevertheless, we have to keep moving."Miranda ordered as everyone moved forward, weapons at the ready. "It doesn't make a shred of sense man. Why the fuck would Illusive implant his own troops with Reaper tech? There's gotta be a good explanation for this shit."Michael wondered as they stalked forward into a deserted, expansive lobby. "Sis, Megan wants to confirm if you've been attacked by Cerberus troops."Oriana chimed in over the radio.

"Yes and no Ori. There were troopers wearing Cerberus armor shooting at us, but they all look like husks under that armor."Miranda replied. "Miri, what do you mean by that?"Megan asked. "All of them seem to be augmented by Reaper implants." "What the...all of them have Reaper implants? I'm gonna have a few words with Timmy boy about why he's shoving Reaper tech into his soldiers."The redhead muttered before Oriana came back on. "Reaper tech in their soldiers? But...why? Anyway, EDI attempted to scan the complex, but we couldn't pick up any heat signatures as there seem to be signals actively jamming our IR and X-ray scans. She's working around it, but for now we have no idea what's in there. Be careful guys."Oriana cautioned as the squad looked at each other.

"This doesn't make any sense. Why the hell would the Illusive Man implant his troops with Reaper tech? He's many things, but he sure as hell isn't stupid. And putting Reaper tech into his troops is beyond stupid."Michael pondered as the squad began moving into the complex. "None of this is making any sense. Why didn't the Reapers just throw these indoctrinated troops on the Dragon's Teeth instead of working with them? I've never seen Reapers sparing anyone, indoctrinated or not, from those Teeth."Ashley spoke up. "The sooner we find out what's going on here, the faster we get our answers. Let's take the service entrance."Miranda cut in, opening a door that led into the services hub that kept Sanctuary running. It was eerily quiet, so much so that the team began getting nervous.

"Is anyone else getting the feeling that it's too damn quiet?"Jacob piped up as they swept the corridor methodically, keeping their weapons at the ready. "I'm more worried about what's next...well, looks like we're going through here."Jade replied as they reached the end of the service corridor, where a huge blast door was standing. "Miss Conagher, it's all yours."Miranda gestured to the door as Jade went forward, hacking the door lock and the blast door slid open noisily after a few seconds. "Huh. Looks like the service corridor continues here...well what do you know. Got a nice blast door with Cerberus all over it."Susan said as they stopped before the aforementioned door. "50 credits says this leads to a Cerberus base of ultimate doom."Garrus wisecracked.

"Now this is what I call encryption."Jade smirked as she cracked her knuckles, getting to work on opening the blast door and it opened noisily after a minute. However, there were Cerberus and Reaper troops waiting for them on the other side of the door, and they opened fire the instant the door was open. "Fuck! I'm hit!"Jade cried out, clutching at her side as she tumbled onto her ass as Jacob, Miranda and Nicole threw up a biotic barrier in front of the squad as all their shields were depleted in less than 3 seconds. Susan created a singularity field right in the middle of the hostiles and the biotic vortex sucked in a good few enemies while the rest struggled to stay on their feet.

James, Ashley and Kirrahe took advantage of the lull in incoming gunfire and picked off the opponents floating around helplessly in Susan's singularity while the rest of the team gunned down the rest of the enemies. "That did it."Miranda exhaled loudly, tired from the strain of creating and maintaining the large biotic barrier. Susan tended to Jade, who soon stood up with help from both the biotic N7 and Michael. "Jade, are you in fighting shape?"Miranda asked, concerned for her squadmate and friend. "Hurts like a bitch, but I'm good to go LC."Jade assured her, raising her left hand to make an 'ok' gesture. "Alright, but if anything happens, sound out immediately."The brunette Sentinel ordered as Jade nodded in compliance.

"Alright then. Now, where are we supposed to go?"Jacob asked as Miranda checked her omnitool. "We head for the control room, wherever it may be. Stay alert, this place is probably infested with Reapers."The brunette replied as the squad moved deeper into the base in tactical formation. They passed through endless corridors, swiftly pumping any Reaper troops full of lead as they forged their path forward. Finally, they came to a huge hall that was full of Dragon's Teeth and had dried blood everywhere. However, there was not a single husk or corpse in sight. "Oh God. This refugee camp...it's a Reaper factory in disguise."Ashley choked out as the squad scanned the area. "Son of a bitch...so that's what was really going on here."Jacob cursed.

"My God. There were children here too."Miranda gasped in horror as she picked up a stuffed elcor which was lying on the floor. "Fucking Reapers...I swear that I'm gonna destroy them or die trying."Michael growled as he picked up an abandoned stuffed Earth cow which lay on the floor which somehow looked incredibly sad for an inanimate stuffed toy. Or maybe that was just because it was abandoned by its previous owner in the place where he or she was horrifically murdered. "We should probably keep moving. LC, what say you we grab any intel we can and then call in the Normandy to flatten this godforsaken hellhole?"Arthur spoke up, trying to keep his mind off the fact that innocent children were also turned into husks. "I agree with that plan. Move out, we have intel to find and a base to bomb."Miranda ordered, her jaw clenched tightly.

The squad then continued on into a warren of abandoned labs as they encountered heavy opposition there, including a slew of banshees. Miranda warped a scion into ash, taking vengeful pleasure as the Reaper monstrosity dissolved into ash while she kept firing upon a slowly advancing banshee. Arthur was hammering away with his Valiant sniper rifle, putting more lead into the opposing forces than actually needed as Nicole vented her wrath at the knowledge that defenseless children were turned into husks by slicing apart Reaper troops in the most brutal fashion possible. Even the banshees were not safe from the blonde's anger, one finding itself swiftly de-limbed before Nicole slashed open it's stomach and shoved a grenade inside, blowing the Reaperised asari to little giblets.

Finally, the labs were cleared with extreme prejudice and the ground was awash with Reaper blood. "That felt great. How does vengeance feel, motherfuckers?"James spat at the corpse of a brute that was slain by Susan's biotic warp and a hail of rounds from Kirrahe's sniper rifle. "What goes around comes around. It is unsettling to think that these creatures were once normal people."The STG Major commented as he put a quick burst into a commissar he thought was still twitching. "Like I said before, the Reapers kill two in one move. They kill the person being turned, and they kill the guy on the other side who can't pull the trigger on a former friend or loved one."Garrus spoke solemnly as Miranda spotted what looked like a control room at the far end of the building.

"I think I just found the control room. Move out."Miranda ordered, reloading her rifle before moving up with the squad. They ran into light resistance since they had eliminated most of the Reapers in the facility in the labs, and the indoctrinated enemies were quickly cut down by the vengeful Normandy squad. They had to ascend a floor to get to the control room, and they brutally wiped out the remaining Reaper troops on the stairwell as they ascended to the control room. "Control room's locked. Hold on, I'm getting it open."Kirrahe motioned to the squad to wait as he hacked the door lock. It didn't take the Major long to get the door open, and to everyone's surprise, there was a turian female, a human female and a salarian male with a multitude of children of different species standing there.

"Thank God you're here! We were hiding here for the past 2 days and we thought we were all dead!"The human woman cried out in relief at seeing the Normandy squad, the 1st un-indoctrinated group of people she'd seen in days aside from her own group. "Well this is a pleasant surprise. How'd you guys manage to avoid getting caught by the Reapers?"Michael asked. "We evaded those...Reapers as they caught everyone else and stuck them on those things outside. Some of us snuck off from that place with all those spikes, like Holly and Aaron over here."The salarian explained, gesturing to 2 scared looking human children who clung on to the human female. "Are these all the children that were with you?"Miranda asked, mentally counting and numbering the 33 children.

"Yes. Some of the other children refused to leave their parents and they..."The turian female trailed off, her head hung low. "I understand, you already did your best in an impossible situation. Besides, you saved 33 children while staying hidden from the Reapers. But is there anyone else out there?"Miranda asked gently. "There's Paranus, but he stayed behind to delay the Reapers so we could get away..."The human woman said softly as the turian female closed her eyes and hung her head low, her hand squeezing the hands of the 2 turian children she was holding tighter. "There's nobody else? Are you absolutely certain?"Kirrahe asked. "Yes. I heard the Cerberus troops saying that there were more refugees coming in next week and they needed to sanitize the area."The human woman said, shuddering in revulsion.

"Speaking of Cerberus troops, how'd they not know you're in here?"Nicole asked. "They never even used this room before. According to what I heard from one of the Cerberus troopers, this control room is condemned for some reason and is off limits. They use a room further back for controlling this base. Even that Cerberus man with long black hair told them to never come in here."The salarian male explained as everyone perked up at the mention of the Cerberus man. "Did he carry a sword as well?"Miranda asked as one of the human children nodded. "Yes miss, that big Cerberus man carried a sword like her."The little boy said nervously as the Normandy squad looked at each other.

"Yep, that bastard was here alright. This room's clean; I have no idea why Kai Leng and all his indoctrinated goons stayed clear of this room."Garrus spoke up, having run a diagnostic on the room while the Normandy squad was talking to the survivors. "Right. Ashley, Arthur, Verlus and Nicole, go secure that room the refugees told us about. I have a stuffed elcor which I picked up just now. Whose is it?"Miranda asked gently, removing the stuffed toy from her utility pouch as the young girl named Holly stepped forward. "It's mine, I dropped Dinky when mommy ran with me and Aaron."She said as Miranda squatted down, gently handing the stuffed elcor back to the girl, who hugged the adorable stuffed elcor tightly as she retreated to her mother's side.

"Dinky? That's an interesting name. By the way, I've got someone's toy cow here. Did one of you kids drop her?"Michael said, barely finishing his sentence before a batarian boy rushed forward. "Moo Moo! I thought I lost her forever!"He all but yelled as Michael handed his beloved stuffed cow back to the batarian boy, who grabbed it, hugging it tightly while he kept thanking Michael. "No thanks needed kid. Yes?"The sniper asked an asari child who was tugging at his belt. "Mister, did you find Wrang?"She asked hopefully as Garrus turned to her. "Wrang? Is that one of your relatives?"He asked as she shook her head vigorously. "No mister, he's my favorite stuffed krogan." "I'm sorry kid, we didn't find him on the way here."Garrus shook his head slowly as the asari child began to sob.

"Hey, don't cry now, I'll get him for you. Where'd you last leave him?"Susan asked in a comforting tone, kneeling down in front of the young asari as Miranda tapped the N7's shoulder, signaling for her to step aside to talk. "Sorry cutie, but I need to talk with her first, ok?"The petite brunette smiled reassuringly as the asari just nodded, still sobbing. "We don't have time. We need to get whatever intel there is and get out fast."Miranda whispered to Susan just as Ashley radioed in. "We breached the room, no hostiles inside. But we hit the jackpot for intel and right now Verlus is working on cracking the encryption so we can extract the intel and bail. It's gonna take a hell of a long time though."The Lieutenant reported as Susan shrugged.

"Well LC, now we have time. I'm not going to let this poor girl go out of here sad, so I'm going in."The fury said resolutely as Miranda just sighed internally. "Alright. But at the very least, take someone with you." "I'll go with her and cover her."Michael volunteered as Garrus waggled his brow plates, getting snickers from some of the squad. "So where did you leave Wrang?"Susan asked the little asari gently. "He's still in my room. I used to live in house number 8203."The asari sniffled. "Okie dokie. Be back with him before you know it."Susan laughed as she activated her tactical cloak as did Michael before they stalked off. "Whoa! How did they do that?"A turian boy exclaimed excitedly as Garrus turned to him with a big grin.

"Magic, kid. If you're a good enough shot when you enlist, you might just be able to do that too."Garrus chuckled at the young turian's awe at seeing two figures just disappear. "Hack's at 31 percent and is slowing down a little. Maybe you guys should get comfortable and break out the drinks cause the ETA stands at about 10 more minutes."Verlus informed everyone. "According to EDI's scans, the living quarters are completely clear of hostiles. We've got no resistance here."Michael reported in. "Well, then let's test it shall we?"Susan mused as Michael started to panic. "Wait, what the hell-"The sniper began to say, but was cut off by an almighty crash in the background. "What the bloody hell was that?"Miranda demanded over the radio.

"Just threw a Tupari vending machine into a wall, nothing big really. Now we'll see if there are any Reapers around hiding in a dark corner."The biotic fury reported back. "You what now?!"James choked out in shock as Miranda pressed the bridge of her nose tightly, exhaling slowly. "Lieutenant Susan Rizzi, you and I are going to have an EXTREMELY long talk about obeying orders and excessive risk taking once we're aboard the Normandy."The brunette Sentinel growled into her radio. "Yes ma'am."Susan's grin could be heard on the radio, and she sounded as if she would've been disappointed if Miranda had said anything else. "Great. So did you manage to flush out any Reapers?"Miranda asked impatiently.

"Hold tight LC, now me and Michael are playing the waiting game. We'll let you know when you see one."The biotic N7 radioed back. After approximately 10 minutes of waiting and the hack being completed, Rizzi finally reported in. "Yep, still no Reapers. Guess this place is a hundred percent Reaper free!"Susan reported as if though she were doing a commercial for antibacterial soap. After a few more minutes, Susan and Michael reached apartment 8203 and got Wrang. "Got the stuffed toy. Who knew that krogan could be this fluffy?"Michael chuckled as the human woman approached Miranda. "Ma'am, could we go back to our apartments to take our belongings? Since your soldiers have reported that there are no more Reapers around and all..."The brown haired woman asked apprehensively.

"Well LC, we do have time. And besides, if Su says it's clear after throwing that vending machine into a wall, I believe her. Plus EDI's also done a few thorough scans of the place and come up clear."Jade spoke up, making a show of looking at her omnitool. "Alright then, stick close to us and don't wander off. I can't believe I'm doing this..."Miranda called out, softly mumbling the past part to herself. And so it was, the civilians obediently following the Normandy squad from house to house to grab all their stuff. The squad was amazed at how many stuffed toys there were; each child having at least one each. Soon, everyone was boarding the shuttles, ready to leave the godforsaken place at long last.

As Miranda gazed at the batarian boy still tightly hugging his Moo Moo close, she swore that the stuffed cow looked positively ecstatic at being in the arms of the boy, a far cry from the forlorn look it had when Michael first found the cow.
Final notes: Well, Merry Christmas to all my dear readers out there. Sorry this one took forever to go up, but military training just sucked the life and motivation outta me. With that being said, please review. It could be just words of encouragement, or a concrit, or even a glowing review of my fic. I got zero reviews over the last 2 chapters, and it is one of the worst feelings ever as a writer. So please, just spend a little effort and time to drop a review for my story. It really does mean a lot.
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