02.12.02 - In little ways, when everything stays
Hey if you're reading this at work listen up!
The entire thread is NSFW by default, but maybe your work is more progressive!
The following content may be more explicit than your average update!
The next slide has trigger warnings for those who need them.
Vanilla Sex Scene

This is a sex scene, feel free to skip to 02.13 if that's uncomfy


Rebecca realised the importance of a question, of what she wanted to ask. Something deep about it hitting her, as the love Lisa felt for Rebecca finally made sense as she looked at Ras, "Ras, would you be mine?" She whispered it even lower, getting closer to the woman's ear. "Would you be mine ... Forever?"

"Y-yes, please." Ras begs, shuddering at the words, clinging onto Rebecca suddenly, arms wrapping around her, "Please, please, please, p--please" She keeps asking.

Rebecca kissed her, so the words would have to stop, not pulling away. In part just wanting to see how long she could hold her breath in the clean room as she let her tongue slide repeatedly along the roof of Ras's mouth, feeling odd ridging that makes it exotic, fun, alien, and her lips to repeatedly intertwine with hers.

"Then, my family is your family," Rebecca whispers, "And I'd like it if you moved in with me." It wasn't exactly romantic but she wasn't going to be able to get into the mood knowing that the Quarian was going to return to this hellhole. Ras nods, firmly, repeatedly like a pendulum, doing anything to keep this moment going.

Wait what else would she— Bad thoughts were dismissed immediately as Rebecca's inner demons were slain with prejudice. She continues to kiss the Quarian, letting the moment be slow and pleasant, before pulling away, and saying, "I think ... " She didn't really have a plan at this point, just trying to figure out what she wanted. Before saying, "I think I'd like you to take off the final ribbons."

Rebecca grabbed the Quarians hands, and moved them past the ribbons, "Where could they be?" She mused as she placed the soft hand between Rebeccas legs, moving it around in small circles as the loosening ribbon-laced micro-kini pulls aside easily. Ras gulps, and then goes for it, grabbing shakily at the ribbon and undoing it, not realizing much beyond that as her fingers whirl dexterously pressed against Rebecca.

As the final ribbon falls away, and Ras locks eyes with Rebecca's thighs, Rebecca starts humming very quietly, and runs her fingers through Ras's hair massaging her scalp. Letting the smell, and slight oils that made it shiny and soft fill the air. Finally, after a few minutes of staring, as Ras seemed fascinated with the slowly pooling liquid Rebecca said "I'm so proud of you, would you like a taste? As a reward?" It was low, sultry, and promised of further more intense rewards if she played along.

"P-please m-ma'am." Ras says, terrified, excited and having no idea what she's agreeing too, but happily falling into it anyways, "A-anything." She mumbles shakily.

Rebecca, who was now towering over Ras, giggling knowing that Ras couldn't possibly aware why Rebecca would suddenly seem so tall, gently put her hand on the back of Ras's head and pressed her inwards. She was gentle, not forceful, and stopped until the woman's mouth was just an inch from her sex, and waited looking directly into her eyes as she hovered there.

Instead of telling her what to do, she just stroked her hair idly, wondering how long this could go on before Ras would do something. Loving the small bits of apprehension and excitement.

"Well?" Rebecca asked quietly.

Ras thinks, and then reaches out to grip at the back of Rebecca's legs and sticks her tongue out, giving a nervous lick, and then another, and then a third, starting a strange rhythm as sensitive fingers can feel every miniscule shudder in Rebecca through the touch, feeding off the motions to push harder, if inexpertly.

"Oh god yes," Rebecca moaned, at the worship, at being treated as something strong that should be treated as something strong. At leading this way. "Little bit higher," she whispered, and sure enough Ras followed instructions well. Even as a thing of metal and light, she still felt herself undulating with greed. She pressed a little harder, enjoy the feeling of the Quarian being pressed against her. Finally after a little bit longer Rebecca whispered.

"Lay back, I'm going to destroy you." Rebecca whispered suddenly, pushing the Quarian away with a wild manic grin. Ras fell backwards, heart pounding luminescent blood through her as Lilith whispered to her an addition, "With love I mean." Rebecca allowed herself to shift size to better accomodate the smaller Quarian, and kissed the side of her leg, moving down to the panties. First, suckling on the sheer frabric, letting her mouth gently pull on it, before grasping it gently with her teeth. She gently pulled back.

"C-can y-you, uhm ... " Ras starts to as she shuddered at the touch, "N-not, uhm, b-b-e gentle?"

"Oh." Rebecca said nodding, her omnitool out and creating something very specific. A vibrating strapless strap-on, as she gently hooks it onto her self, and then lifts the Quarrians legs with one hand, and rips the panties off, while still being careful not to damage them. With the new found intensity, she pulled the woman's legs towards herself, letting her slip and drag along the edge of the bed, until she was at perfect waist height, watching the woman beneath shiver, muscles rippling with the anticipation and fear alike.

Rebecca leting the vibrating piece rub up and down Ras's entrance, before finding purchase and firmly pushing it home. She hoped, internally, that Ras meant what Rebecca meant when she asked that. With her legs firmly on her shoulders, and Rebecca's hands firmly on Ras's hips she started to move back and forth with an intensity meant for pistons. The vibrating buzz gets loud, then soft, then loud again. She's not fast, necessarily, just very, very firm.

Ras isn't quiet or still at all, giving a scream and writhing underneath Rebecca as she breathes hard and gasps harder with every motion, "Re-re-re-rebecca, re-b--" She repeats her lovers name constantly, not able to stop as a line of drool slips out of her mouth, rolling down her cheek and onto the pillow, staining it purple while her sex drips a similar colour onto the bed beneath.

Now, it was time to go fast, as she leaned forward a bit, and moved a pillow under the Quarian's waist. She loved this woman, Rebecca realised, she had finally figured out how that piece Lisa had shown her so long ago finally slotted into her life. Rebecca was rarely talkative, but she kept hearing her name, and she needed desperately more of it. She realised she could just demand, it.

"Say my name. Say you love me." She almost barked it out like a drill seargent as she slammed the warmed silicone-like material home over and over. She wanted to hear it, she wante dto be praised and no she was doing well. She wanted Ras to know how happy she made her.

"I-l-lo-lo-love y-y-ou, a-a-a-h!" Ras moans, "R-rebecca, I-I l-love y-you s-s-s-o n-ngh-much!" She begs for Rebecca's attention with her words, a mess already as makeup applied starts to run down her face and mixing with purple fluid.

Oh my god her mascara is running, Rebecca thinks to herself, now fully aware why Lisa wanted to do her make-up before these kind of things. She had this sudden impulse that felt wholly inappropriate, and she would bring it up later. Right now just delighting as the woman seemed to slowly become a wreck. The words had become unintelligible, just attempts at an order that must not even really be understood at this point.

Rebecca pulled out for a second making Ras scream in the sudden change of sensation, and flipped the Quarian over, getting her knees under her as she tried a new angle, now approaching her entrance from behind, appreciating the flexibility of modern day sex toys, and her own strength. She pulled Ras's arms behind her and continued, even firmer now, slamming her pelvis against the Quarian's back side, sending shocks up the other woman's spine, lewd noises coming from the contact and the woman as drips fell from the touch.

She wanted to pull her hair, she wanted to do more, a lot more, but she'd settle for having intense bursts of energy with domineering position switches. Rebecca no longer bothered asking, instead whispering "You're getting quiet," and slowing down when the muttering seemed like it too was slowing down. "Do you not want more."

Ras isn't quite aware what's being asked, and instead settles on a mangled, murmured, "p-please m-ma'am rebecca please anything please" repeated until its understood, and then repeated some more.

Rebecca lifted the Quarian easily onto herself, simply moving the woman's entire body at a slight angle, and feeling Ras's hands move through her curls, felt her chest slide across Rebecca's face as she continually, without any sign of stopping tried this as well. She realised the woman loved her so much, that she'd let her do anything, and the idea of anything was both scary and exciting. She wanted to hear the depravity that Ras could come up with.

Getting a view of Ras from the front is a sight, mouth hanging open, mascara running down her face, neck and starting to reach her chest from how long it'd been dripping. Saliva makes her chin sparkle in the light of computer screens as the bed beneath both of them groans and complains, threatening to break any second now. She's lost in the moment, feeling continuous shudders slam into her with the force of a corvette at full thrust, screaming and moaning and silently, open-mouthed gasping when air runs out in her lungs as hair sticks and unsticks from her body.

Rebecca while still feeling like Ras was a bag of feathers, gently put a hand on the woman's back to bend her forward, and latched onto a nipple starting to suckle at it, feeling it gently beneath her teeth, wondering just how out of it, Ras was as she grinned and said, "I ... hah ... Can bite right?"

The Quarian nods, though it takes Rebecca a few seconds to realize its a nod instead of just another bob of her head with the rhythmic, constant motion they've both settled into, falling and rising in sync Ras's heart beat like a bellows, while a sub-whoofer in Rebecca's chest immitated one along side it.

Wait was she serious? Rebecca realised with a small twing of fear. She gently rubbed her teeth around the peak of her breast, and waited for some sort of reaction, gently and slowly increasing pressure. She looked up at the woman expectantly. The only response she gets is a hand, roughly, shoving her head further onto the breast. Rebecca was a bit panicked feeling in over her head, but clearly starting it squeezed hard with her teeth, feeling the peak roll between them.

She kept increasing pressure, but Ras kept holding her firmer. Rebecca wasn't sure how much harder she could go without removing something. Instead of continuing with her teeth, she lifted Ras and moved her over again so that she was on top and twisted both nipples hard, holding her by them as she thrusted. Half in panic, half in wanting to keep in control.

A scream escapes Ras as she's overcome by a rough and sudden climax, shaking atop Rebecca but not stopping her own motions that the taller woman had barely noticed with how much stronger she was, bouncing atop Rebecca with a ripple of muscle and tension all through her, subconscious refusing to let this stop any time soon.

Rebecca realised, with both fear and delight, she had finally met someone who would keep up with her.

"I'm not stopping until you beg." Rebecca whispered, all she wanted to do was see how long Ras could go without a break.


★ ★ ★​


Ras is shivering on Rebecca's side, cold sweat overcoming her as she smiles deliriously. Marked with bites and handprints alike all over her body. "I love you i love you i love you." She murmurs quietly into Rebecca's ear.

Rebecca is clearly shell shocked, her eyes slightly widened as she stares at nothing, and squeezes the Quarian, "I love you too," Rebecca said with a dazed grin. "I'm so proud of you." She squeezed her tight. It was frightening, both the marathon, and the limits Ras wanted pushed. She was a hazmat suit bound woman, with an auto immune deficiency, and yet it seemed that she was uninterested in leaving almost any avenue unexplored that evening.

It was very cool. It was very scary.

"Can we do this again?" Ras asks shyly, looking up with absolutely destroyed makeup and a hazily obsessed look.

"Yes. Yes of course." Rebecca says, "Like ... Right now? Because ... " She could probably do it, but it was getting to the very end of her rope. She'd need a few dozen minutes at the very least. "We can do this every day Ras. For like. Our entire lives."

" ... " Ras seems to be considering Rebecca's offer, "I-if we do it again now, I ... I might not be able to do it for a long time. I'm really sore." She says, still considering it deeply despite that.

"Thank god," Rebecca whispered, "I had to like ... I'm also sore, I'm scared what'll happen when I try to hold something again."

Ras gives a giggle, its ... terrifying, "Maybe you'll break me~." She nuzzles into Rebecca's shoulder, trying to feel the reaction.

Wait what. Rebecca thinks as she gently strokes Ras's hair, The fuck did she just say?!

The giggle continues as Rebecca tries to understand, Ras's hand rubbing up and down the taller woman's thigh, curiously asking, "Since you're metal, do you feel this?" She moves her hand to flick at the member.

"What? No, that's a sex toy." Rebecca says, taking the silicone out and showing her the part that had been vibrating against her the entire time.

"Oh, I ... I thought it was a cybernetic-Oh. So when I was like, gagging on it, it wasn't making you feel good?" Ras asks with concern in her voice.

Rebecca looks at her, "No, it definitely was" She said, "Christ it was, I have the ability to um."

The bed beneath both of them is stained purple, and broken in from the ... last eternity of contact. There's a heady scent to the air, something drug like from Ras's fluids.

"Swap it out." She admitted, "It's ... I'm not sure entirely how happy I am with how invasive the surgery was, but the nerve ending are the same so like."

Rebecca admitted, "I ... Was a little scared what would happen if all of that was connected to me. You don't really seem ... To engender a lot of self control."

"Oh." Ras says, before starting to kiss at Rebecca's neck, letting her lips and tongue brush across it.

"Oh no," Rebecca whispered with a giggle as she returned the kiss, "Give me a second to ... Figure it out. There's not a manual to ... Genital switching."

"I am." Ras says, starting to rub at Rebecca's sternum, tracing its line up as she suckles on the taller woman's neck.

"Ok, but like, tap on my thighs twice if your ... Mouth is full and you want to stop." Rebecca knew she wasn't. That's what made this so fucking scary. Ras would just let herself die. Rebecca found some settings in the omnitool, and winced as the omnigel was running low. Why are there so many options? She wondered as she finally selected Turian.

Ras giggles, continuing to suckle and lick, watching Rebecca fondly before separating to lean down with a horrifyingly hungry look on her face.

The mechanics of hot swapping, was not nearly as involved as it felt like it should be, with far less squelching she was expecting. Though the wirring and shop drill noises were a little disconcerting, and when everything was back in place Rebecca immediately exhaled. It started to make sense, at least a little bit more, why men were like that.

Remember, be gentle. Rebecca whispered to herself, while positioning herself in a way where that would be physically impossible. "Uh." She said, looking Ras, "I have no clue what I do with this now." She loomed over her and there was an urge that she desperately had to fight. An urge to just ... Grab her head and go.

Ras has a mischievous look on her face, a thousand videos playing back in her head as she leans off the bed. Slowly rising to her knees, breathing in deeply and resting her chin on the edge of the ruined mattress before slowly opening her purple, luminescent mouth, letting her pointed tongue slip out and hand over her bottom lip, saliva dripping from it.

Almost immediately Rebecca groaned, and then said very seriously, as she placed her hand on the back of Ras's head to get her attention. "Um ... You remember two taps for like ... Stop." She wasn't going to really be able to control this much longer. Maybe something was just wired wrong.

"You better not." Ras giggles dangerously.

Rebecca lifted her hand "Ah, sorry, um."

There's an immediate regret in Ras's eyes, "No, please! I'm sorry! I'll--"

She didn't let Ras finish, which felt like a really shitty thing to do in retrospect, especially when the coughing and choking started. Rebecca tried to see if there was a gentle way to pull hair (there wasn't) and moved Ras with an aggressive intensity that was probably unrestrained in almost every aspect of it.

The inside of Ras's mouth feels warm and ridged, her tongue rubbing against and around the ribbed shape of Rebecca's staff, trying to keep up even as she gasps and sputters with the constant pace. Saliva spilling out as her mouth is kept open and strained. She doesn't stop looking up, purple eyes latching onto Rebecca's with the purest look of utter love and submission, there, on her knees with her hands desperately gripping at the taller woman's hips to keep steady.

"Sorry." Rebecca whispered, but not stopping. Now very very much needing to make Ras's mascara run. Watching bits of saliva pool around her lips from the constant back and forth, watching Ras's nose seem to get a bit clogged as her tear ducts fill. The purple eyes getting bloodshot with more darker purple. Do I? Rebecca didn't ... Know what would happen as the feeling grew. She knew she should warn her, what does ... Wow she kind of just went for this.

The itching heat builds as Ras starts to flutter her eyes, not stopping her motions while Rebecca pushes against an edge she has no experience with, slipping across it with the wet, lewd and hot feeling of her lovers mouth firmly in mind and senses. Her whole body tenses like a cracking whip, starting at the calves and spreading through everything else.

"Oh shit." Rebecca swore as she lifted her hand in a panic realising that she was drowning Ras.

Ras chokes as a wave of fluid spills out of her mouth, more covering her face in blue, glowing release, eyes bloodshot and dopey, a steady drip coming from her as she idly swallows what's on her tongue with a gulp that seems louder than a gunshot.

"Oh ... This is why Camlos likes this." Rebecca whispered looking at her, then almost out of her own control she said, "I'm not clean yet." It was a demand.

Ras takes a second to understand what was asked, but then moves, falling forwards and having to catch herself, her tongue moving along the bottom of Rebecca's member, licking the fluid off and swallowing it with those loud gulps, breathing in between, prioritizing her partner over oxygen. Moving up and down, pulling fluid from her breasts with her fingers and swallowing it inbetween breaths until Rebecca is wholly clean, resting her head with a heaving chest on the woman's thigh after, letting the rod rest on her cheek.

"Um." Rebecca says suddenly, "Ummmmm ... Do ... Marry me." She can't breathe or think, she just lays back.

"Huh ... I do? Uhm, yes? Ring?" Ras asks sluggishly.

"We'll ... Figure it out." Rebecca murmured. This is why Men are so easy to manipulate. It makes much more sense now. "Um. If we--when we do this again. I'm ... I might want to see if we can be rougher. Would that be okay?"

Ras laughs quietly, "Yes, anything." She answers, closing her eyes.

Rebecca tapped something on her omnitool before stopping, "Wait, did you say anything or anytime?"

"Sure." Ras answers, eyes closed.

"Um, then you may want your eyes open." Rebecca said as she gently shook Ras, "Now is also anytime."
 
02.13.01 - Go down to the ocean, the crystal tide is raising
There's a suspiciously long time where Rebecca is... left to her own devices. Aria doesn't check up on her, there's no encoded messages, there's....nothing. Nothing but her life, Ras finally coming to the condo, constructing a clean room with money she's liberated from many accounts. Lisa chuckling at Rebecca's new self (And showing a terrifying awareness of how to manipulate her by it), and even Camlos is home every now and then, though he's actually getting good work now, something about an organ smuggling ring.

He was far less enthused by the new attachment, especially as Rebecca assumed a surprise like that would be appropriate. Though luckily safety tools saved the day, and a long conversation about sexuality, size, lubricant, and common sense happened. With far less yelling on either side then normal as both were aware of the severity of the mistake.

Even Archangel was spotted as Rebecca tried to make his life miserable, though, in the last month he has been blackout, absolutely no contact after something went loudly wrong unrelated to Rebecca. Even Ras can't reach him, and the bodies have started falling in a tide, a hundred a week.

Rebecca tried one more time, she tried pretty much daily since scores of people started dropping like flies.

Direct Message with Bottom
Rebecca
Alright, alright, I'm sorry I pushed you so far.
You can have one blowjob.


There's no response as usual, even if independent press currently reports an Archangel attack resulting in four-dozen Blue Sun mercs dead, a high explosive planted on the bottom of one of their APC's. Blue Sun has reportedly pulled a full battalion back to crush this threat.

Direct Message with Bottom
Rebecca
I'm not going to stop texting you nutjob.
I could just go out and find you. Or fuck up that bar you like.
Stop ignoring me dick head.

Blood Pack has made a similar threat after they lost their leader, Garm. Archangel put a round into his head, splattering his brains across the space station hull. There's near a thousand Krogans on station now wearing blood pack colours trying to make a show of force.

Direct Message with Bottom
Rebecca
Is this a suicide run?
The redhead?
What?

Eclipse had a troop transport be detonated twenty three days ago, killing a quarter of their fighting force in one act of sabotage that computer techs describe as 'Impossible', their Mass Effect core turning on and increasing its mass until it turned into a singularity. Eclipse promises retaliation, and have moved mechs and drones onto the station in preparation.

Direct Message with Bottom
Rebecca
[img attached new-attachmetn.jpg 26.54 mb]

But the response doesn't come. However, breaking news does hit, as an independent reporter in the midst of a firefight starts shouting on screen. "We're here with the notorious criminal vigilante Archangel and assaulting Blue Sun, Eclipse and Blood Pack forces!" The Asari, still the same one from over a year ago now, points at a tall building that's serving as a snipers nest for what's, from projectile analysis, obviously Garrus taking heads off as Eclipse mechs, Blue Sun gunships and Blood Pack Krogan Biotics start to make the distance between the nearest cover and his nest, suffering casualties for every inch, blood pooled an inch high around the construction.

"Psychological analysis from experts say this is an obvious suicide attempt! But tactical analysis suggests its merely a failed ambush on the part of the notorious vigilante! We here at Omega News don't make assumptions like that however!" She says as a shot skims past her ear and takes the throat out of a vorcha with a rocket launcher of some kind.

"Fuck." Rebecca growled, "I don't want to deal with that." Holy shit she was turning into Vro as well. Getting old sucked. She'd aged so much over the last two years. Rebecca sighed as she went and got her gun, but tried to think of a smarter way to do this. What would that even look like.

Direct Message with Bottom
Rebecca
Your on the news, I'm coming to die with you.

Maybe emotional manipulation could work? She wondered.

Direct Message with Bottom
Bottom
Don't you dare.
Rebecca
Nah I know what this is about, and you're being fucking stupid.
Also, I hate being ignored.
Also, this i s the harmless way I can annoy you.
[app-request Where-I'm-@]
omw nerd.
Bottom
Fuck off, I'm fine.
Have an escape route
This is a trap.

Lisyris is hovering, suddenly, over Rebecca's shoulder and frowns, "He's not typing in long sentences. I think he's lying."

"Of course he's fucking lying," Rebecca said with a shake of her head, "This started when he thought his girlfriend might be back. He's making a fucking scene."

"Girlfriend?" Ras asks curiously from Rebecca's lap, laying her head on it while looking at her omnitool.

Rebecca gently pet the head of Ras's helmet, "That chick whose been tearing through Omega. Went to Afterlife and got Aria all frothy. I think she kind of just... Fucks her crew make them all like... weird."

"Are you going to go and help him?" Ras considers the situation, "That might get you killed. That's a lot of guns."

"No, well, I'm going to help him, but I'm not going to do it stupidly." Rebecca admitted, "If I run in there guns blazing I could get to him, I could get out, but I couldn't get to live here afterwards."

Lisyris hums, "If you're going to do anything, you should do it now. Before a gunship opens the building he's in up."

"Well, that was kind of the idea yeah." Rebecca admitted as she picks up the comm to call Kratt, "I'm just going to shell them from a parking lot three blocks away. Not get involved, no-one I care about gets involved, just a bunch of pissed off mercs."

Group Chat: Officer Chat
Rebecca
You know that Batarian military ship
with all the weird siege gear that was lowkey useless for us?
Can you get a team of some of the fists that want to prove themselves
and have them shell these coordinates?
X = 12415.151 Y = 1215111141.919 Z = 982.11383
Commander Sitrina
Firing on the target in four.
That ships gonna get ripped open by defense guns after it opens up.
Rebecca
No, the gear, it's the upper wards easy to arc shots
Just lob explosives over the sky scrapers
The gunship is a trophy mostly.
I send pictures of it to the batarian government
Commander Sitrina
Rgr, firing in three.

"Now. This is the part where I get stupid." Rebecca announced to the room with a deep breath. "So I just need to not relax."

Direct Message with Bottom
Rebecca
I'm shelling those guys instead of showing up.
Because like... I think you're just throwing a tantrum.
And stealing suicide from you would be funny.
The blowjob is off the table btw. Soz.
[img attached ras-fun-attachment.jpg 26.12 mb]
My girlfriend stole it.

Two minutes later, the reporter has to take cover on screen, a shadow of biotic force passes in front of the camera and a manic laugh echoes on the TV as shotgun blasts echo out. "Is that N7 armour?!" The reporter says as the camera swings around to show a woman shoving a shotgun down a Krogan's throat, overpowering it with the glint of red cybernetics easily visible under cracked synthetic skin, eyes deadly and dead all the same.

A blast leaves no external injury except a spill of blood around the barrel as the rest of the mercs around her realize what she's doing, before one explodes, a Quarian taking cover and tapping at her omnitool rapidly, overloading the heatsinks on all his guns instantly.

Direct Message with Bottom
Rebecca
Oh my god she is literally just me.
You have so much self control.
I'm going to tell her we fucked either way.

The rest are easily handled by the crazed human, long red hair tied in a pony tail that's literally moving with the wind as blood covers more and more of her, before her gaze rests on the Asari reporter who seems terrified.

"Hey, you're cute." She says with a raspy, gritty voice and a dangerous grin, "Wanna meet up later? I have private quarters on my ship." The woman laughs, turning away and starting to stomp towards the skyscraper with an aggressively violent pace.

Group Message: Commander Chat
Rebecca
Can you switch to HE?

The shells scream across space and detonate in the sky, catching on buildings and making the maniacal laughter get louder as this commander starts to practically sprint towards the falling debris, followed by a Quarian that's obviously not used to this brutal pace and a Krogan who doesn't begin to notice it.

"Wow, she really is like you." Ras murmurs, staring at the TV intently.

"Don't say that." Rebecca mutters narrowing her eyes with some annoyance. "I'm not a boot licker."

"Pretty sure she makes other people lick her boot." Ras continues to murmur as the commander grabs a Turian and tears their face off in a show of cybernetic strength, blue blood spilling everywhere.

Rebecca rolled her eyes, but then looked at Ras. "I'm right here."



★ ★ ★​

"Nope, fuck that I'm going." Rebecca said over the omni-tool. "Obviously Garrus needs my help."

Rebecca, had not really spoken to Garrus much outside of the one or two chance meetings. Apparently, repeatedly and endlessly torturing a man was not the way into every Turians heart. There were more important things however, like... Ras not looking at some dumb bitch like that. She'd just go— What?
She'd go what exactly.

The firefight is loud, interspersed with the sounds of biotic charges that violently end lives and send mechs spiraling off the edge of ledges, a flash of red hair inbetween the blue and purple.

Rebecca whistled at the Asari to get the attention of the news agency with a grin as she leaped out of the car, doing her best to upstage this stupid fucking asshole. The autopilot had the car fly straight into a fucking gunship, because she was a mercenary captain not some dumb fuck with fancy armour and some cool synth. Though she tried not to notice that her 'ware was keeping her safe, and that her armor was next gen mil-spec from the Phoenix project.

She slammed down on a Turian's head before trying to get ahead of Shepherd. It wasn't really about saving Garrus, it was about showing up second, and getting there first. The omnitool buzzed with dangerous energy as she fired into the backs of mercenaries, not bothering with anything but forward. The screams of her polycule that she was being a fucking moron, were put away and muted. This wasn't about intelligence, this was about pride.

Intelligence had no place among the proud.

"Are you racing me!?" The raspy woman shouts to the other red head, eyes wide and glimmering red as she rushes alongside Rebecca, legs pumping against the steel as lungs breathe in and out, "I think that's hot!" She finishes her sentence, still staring as her ponytail bounces and well-fitted body armour moves in tune with a loping pace.

"Winner gets Archangel," Rebecca said with a grin, before whispering, "Acceleration ten, charge." Trying to speed off. She feels her curls get grabbed and she's whipped back by the head onto her back, feeling the cement crack against her cybernetic skull. "YOU ROTTEN BITCH!" Rebecca said, having to experience the entire fall at a tenth the speed of normal space-time.

"Not into that!?" Shepherd laughs, starting to run backwards as Rebecca leaps to her feet.

"Oh you're so fucking dead." Rebecca mutters, looking around for a way to beat this.

"That Turian ass is mine, Scarlet Angel!" The N7 laughs, running harder.

"That Turian's ass is everyone's, he puts it out like it's the sunday special." Rebecca yelled as she started piling grenades beneath her. Thinking very stupid now.

The firefight continues around the two of them, with Shepherd planting a gun in the chest of a merc, blasting out a chunk and slapping it onto the ground while another painful burst of mass accelerator fire spills blood from her shoulder, making more manic laughs spread.

She takes a deep breath, she hadn't really done much with the shields, but this would work. It worked in cartoons, probably works like this in real life too. Rebecca hissed quietly to herself, This'll work. This'll work. With a few quick slaps to the face, she puts out the barrier over the grenades, stands ontop of it, and then the detonators go off.

"No fucking way, you are so hot--" Shepherd starts to say.

She flies through the air, with no real way to guide herself, and having not really aimed herself. The fact she hadn't been instantly immolated was at this point a fucking miracle. The fact she didn't hit the wall? A double miracle. The fact that the window was so reinforced that she simply flattened against it with a loud thud however, was ... well more accurate to Rebecca's general odds in life. There was a small burst of red blood and blue hydraulic fluid that shot out of burst vessels, leaving a small person shaped imprint as she slid down slowly.

And then something strong slams into her back, manic laughter following it as a biotic madwoman uses her as a battering ram against a reinforced window, shattering it inwards in a spray of glass and poly-ceramic. Both women skid across the ground, red blood from cuts on Shepherds face and blue fluid from Rebecca's dripping as they stop sliding.

"I was on the window first, that meant I got in first." Rebecca said quickly.

"Nah, my face was on your shoulder, my nose is bigger." Shepherd says with a wicked grin, reaching out to prod at Rebecca's nose.

Rebecca considered going for the knife. Oh god you're losing it. Wait fuck you're losing like all of it now. Instead of answering she just sprinted deciding that no, it'd be touching the Turian that makes it a win.

Shepherd reaches out and grabs at Rebecca's heel, pulling her back as she tries to get ahead, a rasp of effort leaving her as she does.

"How are you so fucking strong!?" Rebecca says as she stumbles, "Christ."

"Revenant! I'm supernatural!" She answers, nearly stumbling from the strain.

There was a split second where Rebecca wondered if she'd forgive someone for what she was about to do. She decided that it was... fifty-fifty depending on how attractive they are. Now pulling her gun out, and trying to hamstring the fucker with bullets.

Rounds crack out and slam into a kinetic barrier as the pony-tailed bitch laughs, "I have a hardsuiiiiiit!~" She's ten steps from the intensely confused Archangel, Rebecca's mind races.

"Singularity." Rebecca says, pointing her hand out, and dropping the entire floor now. "Oh wait fuck this kills people."

"We're calling out our attacks!?" Shepherd screams with utter joy.

"NO, I just... Have too! My neuroscientist was a dweeb." Rebecca admitted as she watched in horror as everything in the office floats and starts to coalesce.

"WARP!" The other woman shoves an arm forwards, making the singularity flare out and explode with force, blasting out the glass and throwing furniture everywhere, including her and Archangel, both getting flung away from each other.

"DAMNIT SHEPHERD." The Turian shouts.

"Oh my god I'm going to murder you." Rebecca growled leaping for Shepherd as she goes flying for a window. "Fuck don't make me save you."

The Commander is caught at the edge of the window and pulled into Rebecca, held tight before they both fell out of the window, armoured chest to armoured chest with warm breath and cherry scent leaving Shepherd.

"Hey, I feel pretty safe right now--" She starts to say.

Rebecca pushed her gun past the barrier and shot Shepherd in the knee. Before sprinting off to grab the Turian, the game had suddenly become too much fun. It was too much, she couldn't handle this much fun and she had to win. Her manic giggling now overwhelming her every sense. She leaped for Archangel.

"I WASN'T DONE FLIRTING!" Shepherd roars, a biotic pulse latching onto Rebecca and throwing her back as the Commander starts to limp towards her, not Archangel, medigel filling in the injury but needing a few seconds to return functionality, "I said." As she catches the flying Rebecca from behind with a hug, "I was feeling pretty safe." She whispers with a dangerous grin.

"I am going to win this." Rebecca said completely unaware or uncaring about the flirting.

Shepherd taps Rebecca's shoulder as she speaks, "You'll learn to like losing to me." Before shoving her forwards and leaping over her to make the distance.

Rebecca stabbed a knife into the woman's back trying to pull her back, only managing an angry slash as she lost. "FUCK SHIT DAMNIT!" The Mercenary Captain roared in anger.

Shepherd tackles Archangel down, patting him on the cheek, "There's my favourite calibrator, why're you trynna get yourself killed? I need someone to....make sure my equipment's aligned right!" She teases with a chuckle.
 
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02.13.02 - Go down to the ocean, the crystal tide is raising
Finally, rubbing her eyes, Rebecca took a deep breath. "Argh. Fuck. Me." She was seconds away from a full blown temper tantrum.

"Right now? Like, here? In this place? At this time? Surrounded by mercenaries? With Garrus watching in the corner?" Shepherd asks with keen interest.

"No. Actually." Rebecca said suddenly, "Garrus, I just realized my harmless annoyance."

"No." He says, firmly.

"Oh yes." Rebecca nodded.

"I will kill you." The turian threatens.

Rebecca smiled, "So does she know how long you've been on a sucidal bender trying to get yourself killed?"

"Us redheads gotta stick together." Shepherd says, chuckling.

"Absolutely not." Rebecca said immediately, "I've got my own Shit going."

"I'll be on Omega for a little bit honeybuns, we can hang around eachother." She says, flicking Garrus annoyedly.

"The fuck did you call me?" Rebecca said snapping her head around, "Anyways, can you please manage your twink. He fucking threatened to kill my wife for like... Vague reasons."

"I was dead, like, for real, turned into a splatter on an ice moon." Shepherd says idly, breathing out a sigh of annoyance, "Sorry for his behaviour, I'll discipline him."

Rebecca looked at her, she just... Said crazy shit, and expected people to handle it. "Fuck it, no I'm going to just not even engage wtih ressurection."

"It apparently cost eight hundred billion credits." She giggles manically, "And they're worried I might have come out wrong. Isn't that scary?" The Commander pulls Garrus to his feet as her eyes move across the city scape, counting combatants quickly with a honed eye and paranoid instinct.

"The fuck happened to his face." Rebecca asked looking at Garrus, before turning on the comms. "Resume shelling please."

"He had a close encounter with a gunship, made him prettier I think." Shepherd explains, putting some medigel on Garrus's face.

Rebecca simply waited with a small pleased smile, posing at the window. Waiting. Where the fuck was her mortar fire.

"Be-tee-dubs, are you actually not into me? Cause, like, we can fling. Doesn't have to be a big deal." Shepherd explains.

Rebecca touched her eyes, "I..." She was interrupted by falling high explosive rounds

Explosions fill the streets around the building mercenaries duck for cover as large chunks of the surrounding infrastructure gets riddled with large holes. Continuous waves of rubble fell into the already ruined street. For a split second though Rebecca felt very pleased with herself. The small shockwaves blew her hair backwards, while the explosions made small shadows on her face, creating a sharp outline of herself that was unmistakably her. She waited until the surrounding block was decimated, and most of the mercenary troops fled.

"I haven't decided yet." Rebecca said not looking at Shepherd, admiring her own work. The thermal bloom of detonations fills the air, secondary fuel tanks and cars roaring to explosion with the influence of the high explosives.

"Yup, we still gotta get outta here." Shepherd chuckles, pointing down the road where a cavalcade of machines are nearing, YMIR mecha and lighter, bipedal assault drones alike. "They're pissed, and I have a bad hamstring."

Rebecca groaned, "I hate drones, they don't even bleed." She sighed before saying into her comms again, "Another round of shells please. Or... Actually, one... No get out of there, I'm tired of pushing my luck."

The hovering corvette above lifts off and away as Shepherd chuckles, "Normandy, take their place." Speaking into a wrist mounted radio, "Sorry ma'am, but mines bigger." She giggles.

"It is not." Rebecca growled as the normandy came into view, "Also, I have multiple platoons." It didn't look that great. He was just a ship.

The two hundred metre frigate is beautiful, smooth lines and humming engines keeping it as a hover above the open to space station. Its guns push out of emplacements along the spine of the ship while dozens of heavy duty laser turrets threaten literally everything that so much as breathes wrong. NORMANDY SR-2 is emblazoned on the side proudly as Shepherd looks up with the sort of look Rebecca has only given Ras. She loves that ship.

"Meh." Rebecca says looking up at it. God she fucking hated this woman.

"Meh? Meh!? That is the finest piece of engineering you have ever laid your eyes upon you mercenary fuck. It is two hundred meters of high technology and drive core that's unequalled in Citadel space, the finest fucking achievement of humanity and everyone else." Shepherd growls./

Rebecca can't help but smile at the reaction, finally she's flapped. The unflappable has been flapped.

"And it maintains teh heaviest set of guns a frigate of that size can hold, it can punch a hole in a city. Its disruptor torpedoes can open up a small moon! Its GARDIAN arrays can stop a barrage of over three-dozen separately manuevering objects!"

"What happened to the SR1?" Rebecca asks in the middle of her speech, now needling her with a grin.

"And its drive! Four anti-proton thrusters that can push it to half the speed of light if needed in real space! Backed up with the best Mass Effect Cores the galaxy has ever seen! It can do fifteen light years in a day unassisted by a Relay!"

"Right, so, what happened to the SR1?" Rebecca asked again, inspecting her nails having used her omnitool to make a nail file.

"Its armour is a nanocomposite of graphite and diamandoid! Its unbreakable, you'd need nukes to scratch the paint off! Its kinetic barrier is cruiser grade! Its the best ship to sail the void!" Shepherd finishes, red in the face, breathing hard.

"Right, so what happened to the SR-one then?" Rebecca asks for the third time.

"Oh aliens from a hidden chunk of the galaxy jumped out of FTL, ripped it open, killed half my crew and vented me into space, I died choking for like, thirty minutes before I hit atmo and burned."

"Thirty minutes?!" Rebecca stopped turning around to stare at the woman, "Thirty minutes?! You were without air for thirty minutes."

"So I was hoping that someone'd rescue me, so I cut my internal air supply down to like....brain function? And was feeling like I was choking the whole time, getting maybe a quarter of the needed O2." Shepherd rubs the back of her head annoyedly, "No one came."

"Oh, yeah that's why I have a vibrator in my hard-suit" Rebecca admitted, "If like, I ever get stuck somewhere and am gonna die just have one last go. Thirty-minutes without oxygen would have been the biggest bust nut in history."

"Decent idea but like, imagine if a hacker gets into that while you're in a firefight." Shepherd starts to say.

"Yeah, imagine." Rebecca said with a wide smile.

"And you're just like, killing people and ripping their hearts out while a buzz is on your button, god, It'd be so nice." Shepherd continues her track record of ignoring Rebecca's comments while she's on a tangent.

"If you keep talking over me I'm going to strap you down." Rebecca said narrowing her eyes.

"And then like, after the fight is done, you just sorta drop cause its been fifty minutes of the hacker modifying it and moving it up and down in intensity and its now stuck at max intensity, but you can't turn it off so now you're trapped forever with a vibe on your--"

Rebecca fires into the woman's kinetic barrier, she was not going to be ignored. "I don't like being talked over."

"I don't like being asked about SR1, so we're even now, mkay?" The Commander chuckles, leaning on the annoyed Garrus. She's about six foot one, and maybe twenty pounds lighter than Rebecca, but still muscled in the extreme for a woman.

"No! We're not even close to even." Rebecca growls, "I'm letting you take Garrus who was supposed to be my ticket to getting of Aria's shit list."

"You wanna come hit up Aria with me honeybuns?" Shepherd asks curiously, "She wants my help."

"I," Rebecca sighs, "I might as well, I can't see how this could get any worse. Wait. Why do you have that three-headed dog on your fucking ship. Are you kidding me?" Rebecca was going to kill everyone at that facility. "I was just a fucking test dummy."

"I wondered that too, you seemed pretty similar." Project Phoenix oh my god, it was right there, resurrection.

"I am going to kill you, then myself." Rebecca mumbled angrily. "I fucking hate this. I hate everything about this. Such bullshi—" There's a moment when she had to stop entirely. Really think about what being an experiment would have meant. "They... Would have had to kill me. To test ressurection. They fucking killed me!"

"Oh shit, welcome to the club. What was your death like?" Shepherd asks, turning to a gasping Quarian that just made it up the stairs. Taller and more shapely than Ras in many ways.

"I don't know." Rebecca growled angrily, "I just like... I was serial killing CSEC and selling Red Sand when I got clocked by a cop. Then they—"

"Tali! How did Scarlet Angel here die! Can you pull records?" Shepherd asks her companion.

"I'm so tired of being cut-off." Rebecca moaned, "Oh my god it's the worst on Earth."

The Quarian stares at the both of them, and grumbles cutely, "bosh'tet."

"I'm taller." Rebecca says immediately.

After fiddling with her omnitool, saying under her breath "Tali search this, Tali pull that record, Tali isn't your personal search engine, Commander!"

With a small twitch of her lip Rebecca said in Quarian, "If you're looking for a new job, I pay very well."

"Buzz off, she's mine." Shepherd answers with a glare as Tali sighs.

Rebecca shakes her head sadly, "I can't imagine saying I own people."

Shepherd looks amused, and somehow apologetic, "Damn, I can't imagine admitting to that." She pats Rebecca on the shoulder, looking up with a smile.

Rebecca shoots at Shepherd again, causing the kinetic barrier to bloom. It was very cathartic.

"She was killed resisting arrest by Citadel Security....awhile ago. Grenades in a room or something." Tali says.

"Oh. I w— No. No." Rebecca muttered, "No I won that fight. I bit out a cops neck." She looked at Tali crestfallen, "You're joking. What was the casualty count, if you've got it up I mean."

"One-two-three....Eight officers dead, couple more injured. Gunshots and explosives." Tali says.

"Okay, yes. That sounds right, it was probably a cover because that one Doni... Donimonke chick probably iced me."

"Oh no, I have an autopsy--" Tali is interrupted by Shepherd giving her a look. "Lets leave that for after, alright? When were not getting borne down on by a merc army."

"What? Are they still out there?" Rebecca suddenly remembered the bridge looking towards it.

A shuttle screams into the window, opening up its side, "Yeah, they are, get in." Shepherd jumps across the distance, pulling Garrus with her as Tali grimaces and starts to wheeze at the idea of jumping that.

Rebecca had prepped a nade to drop in the shuttle, and was now holding a live grenade as the shuttle was not an enemy. She picked up Tali without really thinking about it, and then leaps easily across the gap and gently puts the Quarian down. "Oh— Uh sorry. My partner is a— I get worried about the suits." She admits, realising she just lifted a woman without asking.

"Uhuh, thanks. Ask next time." Tali lets it go with a shrug.

Rebecca sighed already hating everything about being in this shuttle. She wondered if it was too late to just jump and go it on foot. She was trying to be smarter however. Oh. The Grenade. Rebecca very quickly tossed it back into the building, watching it explode moments away from them with a grimace.

"Fuck." She murmured.

"So, here's what I found." Tali shares the document over to Rebecca, making Shepherd hiss like an animal at her annoyed. Its an autopsy report, gunshot wounds to the torso and one to the right side of the head having been the kicker.

"Hah." Rebecca said happily, "Fucker lost her shit." She immediately started drafting an e-mail to the CSEC officer.

Donimakaerraska

Your ideals were weak. I still live. And I won. Eat shit you stupid bitch.

— Rebecca Dinozzo, the CSEC Slayer.


"Looks like they stole your body at some point. And then you got revived." Tali mumbles. "Though, uh, there's an officer tagged as having done the deed. Some C-SEC SR leader Turian. He looks scary."

"She." Rebecca corrected quickly.

"I can tell my Turians apart, fringe means male." Tali bites back with a stare through the helmet faceplate.

Rebecca looked at her with a raised eyebrow, "Did I fuck your mom or something?"

"You wish, I don't like mercs." Tali growls.

"Ma'am. You work for a human supremacist group, that's also the CIA of space." Rebecca laughed again.

"Get it right, I stole this ship from a human supremacist group, and they've send the worlds hottest woman to convince me to give it back. Like...look." Shepherd brings out her omnitool, showing images of a woman hanging around in a one piece black and white body suit with heels.

"Why is she wearing a body suit? Is that just like... Her dre— Ok, this shot of her ass is not somethign you should show random people." Rebecca added as one of the pictures seemed to have been taken from knee height.

"She shows it off to literally everyone on the ship." Shepherd complains, "Like, just, around, they want the ship back super bad. You have no idea. Apparently its as expensive as half of me."

"My instinct is to belittle the ship, but the idea of listening to another rant makes me actually want to die." Rebecca admitted.

Shepherd giggles, "I know, its why I do them. Trains people real quick!" The shuttle moves underneath the SR-2, and starts to dock slowly.

"Hah. Fuck you." Rebecca says angrily.

"Shepherd, you better use the noise suppression I installed in your cabin. I do not want to hear the hate sex." Tali grumbles again as the shuttle docks.

"I have standards." Rebecca said angrily, "And a clean room. For my FIANCE! FUCK YOU! What am I saying?!"

"Can I say I really like your angry face." Shepherd muses, "Yeah, I can. I really like your angry face. I can see the actual boiling rage behind it, its hot as fuck."

"Mercs are cool." Rebecca muttered to herself, "Instead of fascist, boot licking, government agents. Least they work for themselves."

"Excuse you? I'm a anarcho-communist. I believe that every planet should self-govern!" Shepherd stares with mild fretting to her voice.

"Oh fuck off," Rebecca said with an eye-roll. She points at the N7 on her chest rather pointedly.

"Yeah I made it through N7 training, sixty-two weeks of torment on the worst parts of Alliance space. What about it, bitch?" Shepherd hisses with a stare, not liking her pride.

"Oh you know what I'm saying." Rebecca shoots back immediately, "And I actually fucking served."

"So the fuck did I bitch!"

"You fought Batarians! You might as well be kicking kittens!"

"I fought a Hegemony assault, they killed half a million people!"

"I broke Fallujah. I was personally responsibly for four million lives."

"I cracked an assault force! I broke a ship out of the fucking sky with mortars and IED's!"

"How many?" Rebecca says again, "Sounds like a lot of fucking cope, because I did all this shit before kinetic barriers, unlike your weak ass who needs a fucking force field."

Shepherd smirks, finding a way in, "I did this when I was fifteen."

"So did I." Rebecca says again angrily, pulling up her articles, showing them, "In an earth that wasn't so soft and egalitarian. Without parents."

"Welcome to the fucking orphan club! We got abandonment issues at the door, want a lollipop!?" Shepherd growls, pulling up her own articles of Torfan.

"Your just angry because I've done everything you've done, with half the tech, and twice the balls." Rebecca fired back.

"Or maybe you're angry 'cause you had a laser that brought down an airstrike anywhere you wanted! And just designated a target all day long!" Shepherd takes two steps closer to glare into Rebecca's eyes.

Rebecca said again. "You literally. Literally. Have no idea. I've seen your history books. Their dog shit."

"And you have no idea what Torfan was. So shut your mouth, and I'll shut mine." Shepherd snarls.

"No! I don't know how!" Though she realises she was more just like, admitting a flaw then saying something pertinent.

"Neither do I! I thought I'd win the argument with that!" The Commander has a similar realization with a glare.

"Ugh." Rebecca took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of her nose softly, before saying again, "Mercs are cool."

"Paramilitary spec ops are cool too." Shepherd adds with her own sigh.

"Yeah," Rebecca admits, "I'm being a hypocrite."

The Commander chuckles, moving from argument to affable smoothly, "Its alright, you can get away with it." She opens the door, unlatching it to reveal a docking bay, gesturing for everyone to get out first.

"Christ on a cross," she muttered stepping out. Fucking... Grah.
 
Yeah! they get along kinda sorta!

and Sorta Renegade Shepard, neat.
kinda hope she's paragade.
 
Post post read!
>Run. You have someone to give a shit about.
... this was bold and underlined when I quoted it. Leaving the quote here because you might have fixed it. Or it quoted badly. Formatting overran.
I coulda sworn I fixed that /. Did you put it back in?
I blame me for this one.

Anyway, loved working on this. I'm still making up my mind on this Shepard so I look forward to how others react.
 
a second round goes another direction, catching the engine of a hovercar full of Aria's goons, making the vehicle tumble and crash in a detonation, not one to care for collateral.
To be fair, the last innocent person on Omega is kept in a wildlife preserve as an endangered species.
The man stared at her with anger and disgust, "Hey fuckface, give me some goddamn medi-gel!"
This is Omega-ese for asking nicely.
Her entire family torn appart in seconds.
Too much p. (Maybe check with a doctor on that)
My opinion is I blew my entire life up and I'm piecing it back together. I can figure the rest out later."
'piecing' gets today's award for the correctly spelled word that looks the most like it should be misspelled.
I know one whose very angry as well."
Should be "who's".
"You're a shitty cop, worse vigilante, and your greatest achievement is being a leech to someone elses fame."
Needs an apostrophe in "else's".
You lasted like, a weekend, I've done this fo months."
Lost a letter from "for"
one what the boundaries are, and two, that actions have conseuqences."
Tyop on "consequences".
"You're not Ras." Rebecca whispered, leaning down low, gently cupping her face.
This really needs a comma in "You're not, Ras". I spent a solid 4 seconds staring at the screen and wondering why this was suddenly a doppelganger thing.
where Archangel put a round into Garm, splattering their leaders head across the space station hull.
Missing apostrophe in "leader's".
I think she kind of just... Fucks her crew make them all like... weird."
Self awareness, what's that? Is it something tasty?
 
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This wasn't about intelligence, this was about pride.

Intelligence had no place among the proud.
Well, she's not wrong?
"It apparently cost eight hundred billion credits." She giggles manically, "And they're worried I might have come out wrong.
I'm pretty sure she went in wrong.
"I haven't decided yet." Rebecca said not looking at Shepherd, admiring her own work.
Looking at explosions costs you cool points. You're supposed to walk slowly away from them.
"And it maintains teh heaviest set of guns a frigate of that size can hold, it can punch a hole in a city.
I choose to believe that Shepherd is so flustered that she actually says 'teh'.
Ok, this shot of her ass is not somethign you should show random people."
Tyop on "something".
Rebecca said again. "You literally. Literally. Have no idea. I've seen your history books. Their dog shit."
Wrong "They're".
 
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Thanks to the reactor that's where her heart should be she also contains a liquid core that should not be touched, inhaled, or looked at.
 
I wonder if Mobility aids can be created with an Omnitool?
Omni-Skates?
Omni-Orb?
Omni-Glider?
 
02.14.01 - Waters' gotten higher as the shore washes out
Rebecca entered the cafeteria with Shepherd already frustrated. Shepherd had made the "executive decision" to take off her armour in the shuttle, and was now wearing a thin tank-top and tight pants. She's in a cafeteria with about seven officers, besides Garrus they were all unfamiliar faces. A human woman in pink armour was glaring at her with a stern expression. Shepherd notices the woman's gaze and gestures towards her.

"Commander, what's she doing here?" Ashley asks, standing up from her seat. "You can't seriously be considering bringing her aboard. She's some Red Sand dealer from the citadel! A well known serial killer, drug dealer, and worse. For god's sake, the woman is a cannibal."

Rebecca rolled her eyes. "Fuck off, I don't even want to be here."

Shepherd raises a hand, trying to calm the situation. "I'm aware of Rebecca's history, Williams. But right now, she's a guest. Stand down."

"What possible use could some street filth be?" Ashley scoffs, shaking her head. "She's a criminal and a traitor to her own kind. Who knows what she might do?"

Rebecca rolls her eyes, already tired of Ashley's attitude. "Oh, I almost fucking forgot the human supremacist shit all over the ship. Thanks for reminding me why I can't stand humanity."

"You're a fucking disgrace," Ashley bristled, taking a step forward. "Y—"

Shepherd raises a hand, snapping at her immediately. "Stand down, Williams! You're dismissed."

Ashley hesitates for a moment before nodding stiffly. "Yes, ma'am." Then stormed off shoulder checking Dinozzo hard.

Rebecca snapped at her and said, "Touch me again and I'll mag dump your fucking skull." Then shook her head to get some fucking food.

The cafeteria is nice. They make fresh food here. It's not Lisyris's cooking, but it's the best chow Rebecca has had since that one time on that aircraft carrier, the USS Geraldine or something.

"So, how's Omega this time of year? Weathers good, I hope?" Shepherd starts spouting inane nonsense as she waits for Rebecca to catch up with her.

"I was under the impression I was getting like. Dropped off, Commander." Rebecca says with gritted teeth. "Why am I on the SR-2?"

"We got a beam from Aria that said, eahem." The Commander clears her throat, proceeding to mimic Aria terrifyingly well, "'Get your ship off my station, Shepherd.'"

"That very much doesn't answer my question, Shepherd." Rebecca said with gritted teeth as food is poured into a tray for her, and they both sit down. "You just blasted off into fucking space, with me on the goddamn shuttle!"

"And then!" Shepherd continues, "I got a warning from EDI. Our shuttle had a teensy tiny fuel leak. We would have been stuck on Omega without repairs. So unless you want us to airdrop you out of the Mako, it'll be a minute."

"Oh, wait, is that an option?" Rebecca asks, not really questioning it, "Like a HALO in the thing right?"

Shepherd's eyes widen as she grins, "Ye—" Then seven officers, from a variety of races including three humans, shout in unison, "NO!"

Rebecca couldn't help but snort. Ras. Ugh. I miss you.

It's not unnoticed by Shepherd, who is now speaking with a cool, reserved tone, slinking back to the familiar voice of a real commanding officer, the sort Rebecca only saw now and then. She lead with a compliment, "We just need to talk. See what you know. You're skilled, lethal, effective and intimidating." Then she shrugs, "It'll be about three hours before I get you planetside."

Rebecca's cyber ears can pick up muttering from the other officers. Garrus was talking to some chick with black hair. "This is a mistake. She's a liability. Why I didn't work with her."

Rebecca's skin crawled at the sound. *Fucking military. Fucking marines. Fucking... Whatever the fuck this horror show is.

"I'd like to put your skills to use , either in the short or long term." Shepherd finishes.

"Fuck that, fuck you. I have like, five no wait," Rebecca counted them off in her head, Ras, Lisa, Camlos, Kratt, Vro, "Yeah five. I have the biggest family I've ever had. I'm not abandoning them."

"This woman leads Krogan?" Now even the Krogan was giving her shit.

Rebecca fired back, "Fuck you, I'll rip out your quad asshole."

The tension in the room reaches a boiling point, and it becomes clear that Rebecca's presence is only going to cause more problems.

Shepard, sensing the need to defuse the situation, puts a hand on Rebecca's shoulder. "Let's take this conversation elsewhere, Rebecca. We have a lot to discuss."

Rebecca shrugs off Shepard's hand, glaring at the crew. "Fine by me. I'd rather not spend another second breathing the same air as these self-righteous pricks, anyway."

As Shepard and Rebecca leave the cafeteria, the crew's hostile stares follow them out the door. Rebecca gives them all the finger as she leaves.

"I know you care about your family," Shepherd says, moving past all of... That. "Which is why I'm gonna say this. I can convince you. There is something that'll do it. Do you want me to not? So you can stay with them without worrying." She asks with a frown of concern.

"You can't convince me. If there was a way you could, I'd be interested, but you can't. You don't have it in you." Rebecca said firmly, with another snort.

"Last chance to cleanly back out, Rebecca. Just tell me to stop, and we'll get you home in three hours." Shepherd says again.

The fuck is this?! Rebecca grit her teeth angrily. "No. I will not admit defeat over a thing you haven't even tried."

"There's an enemy coming. Colonies in the Skyllian Verge going dark, piece by piece, part by part, with no warning." Shepherd starts with a dark look at her, "Alliance military isn't quick enough to respond. They don't know what's doing it."

"I do." The Commander says with a confidence.

How is this supposed to convince me? Is she aware that I have like zero care for people in the Hyrulian sector? Wait no Hyrule is some other shit.

"You remember that super-capital that ripped the Citadel a new one? It had a name." Shepherd frowns at the memory distastefully. "Sovereign."

This is the stupidest sales pitch I've ever heard. Rebecca, however decided to lean in, really make sure Shepherd felt like she was selling her on this. I'll just leave.

Shepherd brings up her omnitool, tapping at the orange device and pulling up imagery of the massive beast. "This isn't some Geth assault, not some conventional war. They don't want territory or resources."

Fields of corpses on spikes, morphing into husks of every species. Cities burnt to the ground by beams from space. Bulbous, insectile aliens dragging away civilians and shoving them into the spikes or into cargo holds of cuttlefish like ships. "They don't care if we surrender, or if we fight. They want to kill every last thing that's still in space." Shepherd states.

"Every man, woman, and child. Their ships are better, faster. A single one took the Alliance fleet and the most advanced Dreadnought the Citadel has three hours to beat when it wasn't firing back." The Commander's voice is a quiet roar of authority. "Everyone you care about will die, everyone I care about will die. There'll be nothing left if we don't win."

"So, you gonna help us win?" Shepherd lays it bare, the whole situation presented with the sounds of blaring horns and beams of scarlet molten metal that rip across cities.

"You have to realise I don't take orders," Rebecca said, not answering the question.

"I don't really give them either." Shepherd laughs with an amused look, "I trust you, you're the best of the best. I tell you what has to be done. You get it done."

Rebecca stared at her with narrowed eyes. "So... I sit on your ship with you and your fuck buddies, one of which actively wants to stab me."

"I, uh, haven't actually done that. Bad look for a commander to, you know. Abuse authority." Shepherd says with a shrug.

Rebecca pauses suddenly nervous, "Uh. What is— I spent ten years as a popsicle, and have been learning society. Can you explain the uh bad-look thing."

"I gotcha, don't worry. I have a position of authority over my subordinates. I write their cheques and hand out their equipment. I tell them the tasks that need doing and assign them to them. If it looks like, I prioritize one over the other because, say, we're fucking. It'll hurt morale." Shepherd explains without concern or insult.

"Oh." Rebecca said, suddenly sweating a bit. Oh fuck, "But wait, how is that abusing authority?"

"They may feel if they say no, I'll retaliate. It doesn't need to be true, but the threat is inherent." Shepherd looks concerned.

"Nooooo." Rebecca says slowly, in dawning horror, "People don't think like that. No-one would do that." Then quickly is pulling out her comm to message her officers.

Group Message: Officer Chat
Rebecca
Does it hurt moral that I fuck Kratt and Camlos?
Also. Is it like... Abusing my authority?
Do you think I'd get you killed if you didn't fuck me? Or get you killed if like... It was you or one of my partners?!
Am I taking advantage of my people?!?!
Commander Sitrina
I think you're having a rather severe reaction. I believe you'd prioritize people, but not to the extent of having us run into a suicidal situation for them.
Rebecca
I wouldn't! Everything I do is like... Skill based.
Sitrina. You're the only one out of my eight officers that responds in this group chat.
Why would you think I'd prioritize them over my fucking best?????????!!!!!!!!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!
Commander Sitrina
Emotional connection, mostly. It doesn't bother me much.
Rebecca
The Company is my legacy. And everyone I promote to officer is at least like.
I don't really know what you call family you don't have sex with.
The word platonic is new to me. Anyways. The answer is no. I would not send Worthy Fists to fucking die for my family. Well. Maybe Ras tbh. But that's because she's a wilting flower and needs protecting.
No I pick my partners because they can handle themselves, and if they die or get hurt, I can't be responsible, because they were the best.
I hope everyone in this chat sees this. Because I don't know if you fucking people even read these things. Which is Sitrina makes 20% the rest of your salaries. Combined.
I just realized there might be worse ways to hurt morale.
 
02.14.02 - Waters' gotten higher as the shore washes out
"Having fun?" Shepherd asks, having been largely ignored by the woman for texting.

"No." Rebecca admits with a small grimace. "No, I'm still struggling with the idea of platonic relationships, and my merc company thinks I'd pick my partners over my highest earners."

"That's cause they think you're normal. I get it from my crew sometimes too. The mission, the goal's more important than what we feel." Shepherd agrees. "Whether that's doing your duty, making money or getting famous, it's....more important."

"I was actually thinking of getting in the 'war for Omega' game." Rebecca admits, "She went after my family, and it'd be a real good 'One step too far' kind of story. Ugh."

"Maybe, still, you gonna tag along with me for a little bit?" Shepherd smirks at the immediate reaction.

"Not if you phrase it like that!" Rebecca hissed.

"Alright alright. Sadly, though, this means you can't put me through my bed till you're not on the roster." Shepherd chuckles, brushing a lock of hair out of her face.

"You have to understand," Rebecca said very firmly, "That I was never Ever EVER interested. The only reason I competed at all was because -a- --id --mthi---" She mumbled the last part, trying to mostly avoid that this whole thing, started because Ras said something.

"Yeah, but I put my mascara on very, very thick." Shepherd leans backwards onto the wall in the hallway, giving her an enormous grin. "You have no idea."

"Do you stop hitting on me when I sign the contract? That might be the most convincing argument yet." Rebecca snorted, rolling her eyes.

"Absolutely not." Shepherd laughs, "And there's no contract, really, just, uhm."

"What's my pay!?" she asked, horrified.

"Loot mostly. We get a lot of loot." The shorter, slightly, woman says.

"Loot. Are you pirates!?" Rebecca took a few bites of her food. Realising she'd just be a fucking side-kick on someone else's much cooler mission. Completely overshadowed, constantly. The crew would hate her. The ship looked like shit. No-one here seemed any fun, and the only Turian was a cop with a stick up his ass and a fetish for arm bands.

"Weeeelll.....that's.....shit, it is pirates when you don't have a government." Shepherd admits, before her hand touched Rebecca's hand. "Hey, you'll do great here. I've seen you in action. When this is all said and done, we'll both be in the history books as heroes. We're professionals."

"I'm not." Rebecca admits, "I'm nowhere near a professional. I'm an enthusiast."

"You wanna be?" Shepherd considers, tilting her head, "Learn some tricks, N7 style shit that'll let you get one up on anyone."

No. Maybe. I don't know. This is stupid. She's stupid. Go back to Omega. Rebecca didn't answer, clearly wanting to huff more than anything. There was at least a Krogan here.

"If you're good, really good, I'll give you the patch." Shepherd promises.

Rebecca points to the tattoo, before realising that no-one can see it. "I earned my patch, ma'am. FORECON. I'm proud of it."

"Damnit. That's a shame." Shepherd says with a frown, "I got one of those Asari spine tats, but with everyone important I killed instead of fucked. And now you'll not get to see it."

"You have a tramp stamp?" Rebecca giggled suddenly, the idea ludicrous.

"Mhmm, you'll never see~." Shepherd giggles back, continuing to eat as the crew groans.

"I'm so okay with that, miss." Rebecca says again. "I need to make a fucking Phone Call I guess."

"Go ahead, I don't own your time Becky." Shepherd answers without concern, "If it's private, here, my quarters password." She forwards the four-digit code over.

"It's..." Rebecca sighs, "Yeah. Wait. Do... Do all these people just sleep in bunks?"

"Not the officers, no. The enlisted do." She answers.

"Christ." Rebecca says staring at her, "You're taking all these people to die and they don't get rooms."

"We're in a diamond can of air, outfitted with nukes and rail guns. Space is at a premium. Comfort or kinetic barriers, I'll wait." Shepherd smiles, looking over the crew, "You'll get a room though."

"Comfort!" Rebecca says, "If a shit ton of people are under my com— It's fine. It's fine. It's none of my business." She muttered, opening her comm and walking to stand in the corner of the landing bay. "I'm the stupidest motherfucker on the goddamn galaxy. Errr. In. Fucking. Grah. Fucking Reapers Fucking bug people Fucking Shepherd."

Shepherd waves at that, making Rebecca idly realise she has no idea what her first name is. Rebecca just wanted to be gone from this stupid bullshit.

She continued to pout, she would not do it. She refused to do it even. There was no point. It was a horrific, painful, stupid idea. She would just go home. She didn't need to save the galaxy. She didn't want to save the galaxy.

Direct Message With: [CORRUPTED]
[CORRUPTED]
If you don't stay on that ship we will turn off your body.
<3

She blinked at the message. Scrolling back and forth with the contact. Was she being threatened? Fuck that, fuck all of that. She'd rather die than be controlled.

Direct Message With: [CORRUPTED]
[CORRUPTED]
If you die your family will be crushed
Need every asset on this.
Do not make us kill you.

Mother-FUCKER! Rebecca yelled in her head, They fucked me. I can't do anything about this, they just fucked me. She sat down and gripped her curls angrily, a few tears spilling down her face. She made a group call very annoyed, but calming down quickly.

"Hello lover." Lisyris says from her bedroom, Ras in the same window as her, idly being petted through the suit as they both sit and watch a film.

Rebecca leads with, "Don't be mad," followed by a vast sigh that catches in her throat. Tears were already building. "Alright? Don't be mad."

"Calm down, lover, I won't. I promise," Lisyris says, tilting her head with a concerned quirk to her lips.

Rebecca doesn't believe that for a second, "The uh. There's this huge... Galaxy ending threat? I guess? I signed up to try and protect everyone. The things that attacked the Citadel, they were one ship of an army that basically wants too like... Do that husk shit to the entire galaxy, I think. I didn't follow well." She waited for them to respond.

"I see. And you're certain they're truthful?" Lisa asks as Ras looks up with concern in her faceplate, the look bleeding through, calmed by the touch of the Asari.

"I don't really see why they would lie about that." Rebecca admitted, "Seems a bit... Pointless? I saw the Reaper ship tear up the Citadel, I saw the husks. Garrus is a boot licking fasc, but he's not a liar."

"Alright, lover. Come back to me," Lisa says, wrestling with the emotions as Ras gives a tiny noise.

"Lisa, you know I love you," Rebecca whispered, "Ras, I love you so much. When I get back, we'll have that wedding alright? It'll be fine. Alright?"

She can't trust her voice, and just nods.

"And you have Lisa, Vro, Camlos, Kratt. You've got the Worthy Fists." Rebecca says quietly, "You've got a family. Lisa, you've both got a family. That's my real legacy, was pulling you all together. I'll be back, really easy."

"Okay." Ras shakes as she has to be away from Rebecca after so long together.

"I'm also just a comm call away." Rebecca says, "Just a single call, anytime you can see me and talk to me. I'll send e-mails and videos. Gifts and shit."

"O-okay." The Quarian shivers again, "P-please call me too." There's a sense of something in Rebecca, a vague familiarity. So this is what all the married guys felt?

Rebecca smiled, "Of course? Why wouldn't I? You're mine." She whispered, "You are everything to me. I wouldn't have done this over call. Aria kicked us off the planet. Oh, and like, if you ever feel like... Inviting someone else to your... Clean room, we never discussed that. It's fine with me. You should be happy."

"U-uhm. O-okay?" Ras says confusedly.

"Hey this is a little selfish after all this." Rebecca said, a bit upset, "Can um, can you say you love me? You're just saying okay."

"I love you, i-i'm j-just t-trying n-n-not to-to cry," Ras says shaking.

Rebecca smiled, crying already, "Why? Crying is fine. It's a thing people do. All the time."

"I-I have a mask, I j-just gotta k-keep quiet an-and you c-can't n-notice." Ras jokes, obviously breaking up.

"Then I'd be worried you were mad." Rebecca said, now very much crying, "This isn't goodbye, so I'm just saying you know, see you soon. See you later,"

"I love you, p-please come back." Ras shudders.

"I love you so much." Rebecca whispers back, "You're the best, you're so great. I love you all so much. Plus, we have the group chat, so like. Fuck it, right? Infranet keeps people together. Alright, I'm falling apart, so I'm gonna let you go."

Ras breaks and gives a sob at 'let you go,' making Lisa hum at her, calming her slowly.

"No, no, no," Rebecca said quickly, "It's just I could never. I... In the clean room. In the condo, there's a false panel in the top drawer, alright? I made something for you there. There's a ton of shit, because I prepare ahead. That's all for you."

She had whittled, as she does for every partner, a heart. She had sanded down wood, lacquered it, then hollowed it to make wedding bands. There were flowers, pressed to be kept forever in a notebook. Drawings, her wedding journal, and just general poems and songs she was writing for Ras. There was so much love in there. Hopefully, she'd know she would not be forgotten.

Ras is still crying, having latched onto Lisa, who's holding her with all the love she can muster. "We'll be here, lover." Lisa says to both of them.

Rebecca can't watch anymore. She nodded to Lisa after making eye contact and then "I love you, you fixed me. Well, you got me pretty close. We never solved the blood thirsty psychopath part." She can't help but laugh.

"I don't think that's something we need to fix, lover. Besides." Lisa's voice and touch keeps Ras from sobbing anymore even as she cries. "I love you how you are."

"I love you too. I know Vro, Camlos, and Kratt are on the call, even if they won't say shit because they're men," Rebecca growled into the mic, seeing that they both clearly picked up. "I'll forgive that because they're cute."

"I'm not saying shit 'cause you'll be back, idiot." Vro pipes in, having also answered the call. "The fuck do I care? You'll be sad for a month."

"Fuck you, next time you see me I'm going to be a fucking clan master. Bring home my own wife for me and Kratt from Tuchanka. Clan Worthy Fist." Rebecca bites out. She had never really said that part out loud.

Vro laughs wildly, "Go kill some genocidal aliens, we'll finally have something to bond over." The Krogan sounds excited and amused at the idea. "Rachni's a better name than Reapers though."

"Yeah, but Reapers got way bigger ships." She shot back. "Love you too. Now I'm hanging up. Kratt and Camlos."

She waited. She sighed. She ended the call.

Direct Message with: Birdy
Birdy
Love you, be safe.
Rebecca
When am I not safe?
It just looks unsafe because people underestimate me.
Birdy
Nerd, I'm trying to be comforting
Don't die
Who's gonna bully me
Rebecca
Oh you'll see in a week.
I've got that handled.
:)
>:)
>:3
Birdy
Ugh
Don't mind Kratt by the way.
He probably just doesn't know how to say anything
I barely do
Rebecca
I know, I'm going to just tell him I love him. That's fine.

She opened the chat, trying to figure out how she would say that. Staring at it with a deep chasm of fear as she tried to put the words together.

Direct Message with Kratt Name Here
Rebecca
I'm not actually mad. I just know you love bullying.
You don't have to say anything
I'm having drones shoot Camlos with Paint balls randomly.
It'll be great.
 
02.15.01 - Keep your eyes wide open, even when the sun is blazin'
"Why the fuck are you always like this?" Rebecca growled, "She was locked in Cryo, it's not even rehabilitation, it's just kicking the can down the road you heartless fuck."

Ashley, the fucking pet racist that Shepherd kept around for some ungodly fucking reason, had been pissing and moaning about the prison break for an hour now. Jack, some crazy ass biotic, had been hiding somewhere while Rebecca had tried her best to leave it the fuck alone. The woman's snide comments about how humans who fucked aliens couldn't be trusted, and her just constant knob gobbling about the Alliance had finally caused Rebecca to snap. She hadn't even meant to be around the woman; she tried to avoid the bitch at all costs.

"Fuckin futures problem. What prison can hold a biotic that strong!?" Ashley fires back with a glare as Shepherd held her nose in between her fingers, pinching the bridge with an incredible amount of patience.

"Damn, you don't like biotics, you don't like aliens, you don't like fucking anyone," Rebecca snapped back, "What do you like?"

"Not you. That's for fucking sure." Ashley growls.

"Oh nO I'm So UpSeT." Rebecca said in a mocking tone giving her the finger.

"Hey, ladies, ladies, let's calm down." Shepherd calmly smiles.

"Go fuck yourself scum, you wouldn't know anything if it slapped you in the fucking face." Ashley growls.

"Yeah, like I give a fuck ape," Rebecca shot back. "You're basically a fucking walking stereotype."

"Room, attention!" Shepherd shouts, making Ashley snap into attention, quieting.

"The fuck is that?" Rebecca said to her, actively disdainful of the attempt at controlling her.

"Rebecca, I understand you have a difference of opinion with Ashley. Let's have some professionalism if we can." Shepherd turns her gaze over to the other woman, glowing red eyes practically showing her annoyance. "Ashley, let's keep our bearings. You're a Marine, not a security guard. Don't get into stupid arguments." She snaps Ashley out of attention with a rapid fire. "At ease, dismissed."

Rebecca snorts at Ashley's fucking behaviour, with complete and utter disdain.

"You were like that once too Rebecca." Shepherd says calmly.

"Yeah, then I learned that my country and government only existed to fuck me." Rebecca said back, "I don't give a fuck what some ape-supremacist thinks. Piece of shit."

"You're an ape too, just like me. Let's cool it with the pejoratives in a room full of people." Shepherd starts to try to explain.

"I'm evolved, not some knuckle dragging piece of shit who can't stop screaming every five seconds about how everyone needs to drop—" Rebecca could hear Shepherd trying to talk over.

"Rebecca." Shepherd's voice is harsh, rough.

"Everything they're doing to go and oust the Alien menace—" Rebecca refused to be cowed this time.

"Rebecca." She tries again with a growl.

"Because the last time she got it wet was in boot."

"REBECCA." Shephard snarls.

Rebecca snapped back. "WHAT?"

The Commander grabs the taller woman by the arm and marches off to a side room. Pulling her with incredible strength and a hiss of pneumatics pushing against Rebecca's hydraulics until both were inside a day room, a barked, "Clear out." To the crew using it, making them scatter.

"This is my ship. These are men and women, suffering day in and day out with dwindling resources, under a threat that's going to, with all odds, kill all of them before we're done." Shepherd explained piece by piece in private, practicing good leadership and refusing to dress down another officer in public. "They are doing this, because they believe we. Me, you, everyone else I trust with the authority and rights of a crewmember has their backs."

"That we won't let them die if we can help it." The Commander is still keeping her voice even though her face is aggravated to be certain. Red glowing through the cracks.

Rebecca rolled her eyes. "We're human. Our entire fucking society is built on stabbing each other in the fucking back."

"No one gives a shit what everyone else did to you," Shepherd finally barks.

Rebecca muttered angrily, "Cool, then maybe I shouldn't have to listen to some bitch mutter about how I'm an alien fucker."

"And no one cares that your fee-fees got hurt. You're a grown ass woman, you've killed a small town worth of people, Rebecca. You're a fucking badass, you're a killer and a commander and a warrior." Shepherd leads off with a strong grit to her voice.

"That's how I've always handled shit like that." Rebecca calms down almost immediately, "And I don't get why they all fucking act like that."

"I know, and it works in Omega cause everyone there's pretty ill-socialised. And that's okay Rebecca, you're not used to this, you'll get these skills down, alright?" Shepherd sighs, calming down herself.

"I've worked with people. I've worked and lead my own platoons." Rebecca said.

Shepherd shakes her head, "You've worked with clients, now you're stuck with them in a metal can. Now, you gotta be nice. 'Cause these people? Ashley? Garrus? Tali? They're your brothers and sisters in arms. They'll fight, kill, and die with you."

"I'm so sure." Rebecca said, "I'm doing this under the assumption I was needed, not that I was expected to sit on a fucking ship eight hours a day being scoffed at. If I want that I'll go take two-hundred kay to Afterlife and Let Aria peg me."

"I get it, okay. I understand that it's a rough time with Ashley. I'm talking to her too, I promise." Shepherd sighs. "She was out of line as well. Jack is a crewmember, and a person besides that. Cryo's worse than the death penalty, in my opinion." She sits down at one of the comfortable faux-leather couches to keep having this conversation, stealing one of the beers that hasn't been cracked open and drinking it down.

"You're not innocent here either. You've got a hair-trigger and a short fuse after that." The Commander bluntly states.

"I've got literally only two buttons." Rebecca said simply, "And people just want to press those buttons. I've always defended myself on my family and my fucking work. I'm proud of both."

"I know, but if I reacted every time someone pushed my buttons, there'd be a whole lot more corpses, and a whole lot less getting things done." Shepherd smiles at Rebecca, "Sometimes you just eat a lick, smile, and ask for another."

Rebecca pulls out a pack of cigarettes and lights one, letting the strong taste of cloves hit her senses. Trying to calm herself. "This is so fucking stupid." She muttered angrily, mostly to herself. Rebecca didn't really want to calm down, but she'd have to. She walked over to the window. "I can't believe I'm in fucking space."

"I know, right?" Shepherd has a goofy smile on her face as she stares out the window, "It's so fucking cool."

She took a deep inhale, then exhaled again, "God, there's an entire galaxy, of people. Just... Anywhere, pick a random system with life and you see the same shit. The same people, all of them trying to get by in slightly different ways." She was trying to make a point, maybe to herself, trying to convince herself that she was doing something, or fighting for something.

The truth was, she tried to leave immediately, and got a very friendly reminder from Project Phoenix about the stipulations of her contract. Why she had to stay.

"It's not that." Shepherd says, having moved silently to the window, staring out into the stars, having them reflect in her eyes as the tank-top and pants combo that is her daily wear shines slightly in that polymer way under direct starlight. "It's not that they're similar to us, it's not that they're different either."

There's a look of odd joy on Shepherd's face as she watches the brightest points in space, supernova's, heralds of an annihilation so intense it shocks into the universe for millions of years as a light ghost. "It's because they're looking up for someone. They need someone to grab their hands, lift them up past the wall. Guide them a little. They need you, they need me, they need us."

The words were like acid, but she knew it wasn't what anyone was saying. Just old wounds that she wouldn't let go. Your country needs you. You're making a difference. This is what separates the true patriots. All bullshit platitudes. She hated all these people. Like. A lot. A lot. Though she hadn't got many chances to talk to everyone admittedly. She mostly sat in the corner with her family, typing away.

She kept saying ape, where did she even pick that up? "I guess I'll just go back to my corner then." She muttered quietly.

"Nah. I like you too much to let you rot." Shepherd chuckled, "We gotta get you used to being a hero." The Commander' chuckles increased.

"FUUUUuuuuUUUUUuuuuUUUUUUUUCK that." Rebecca said, making sure to put extra emphasis on the swear.

"Speaking of fucking," Shepherd smoothly moves into the next topic, "I'm gonna have you talk to people."

"That's... Fine I guess? Mordin seems... Fine." Rebecca shrugged.

"Human, people." Shepherd clarifies.

Rebecca sighed, angrily. "It's weird that you would use people and then only refer to humans."

"Its cause the racism is systemic, even linguistically, you wanna switch to Esperanto?" Shepherd makes a joke, chuckling.

"Switch to what? Ma'am, I didn't finish any education." Rebecca admitted. She hated that she used ma'am suddenly. It just slipped out at the worst times.

"Esperanto is a language made in the twentieth century. Basically a conlang, that's constructed language, made of every part of human language. It's without nation, origin, border, or ethnicity." Shepherd explains as always, never finding it annoying to break something down for Rebecca.

Rebecca sighs, "Well... Maybe that sounds cool." She didn't really understand why people had such a hard time learning new languages, "I already speak loosely trade tongues in Quarian, Krogan, Turian (which is really fucking hard without the weird bird bits,) and Asari. I can probably just pick up another."

"I can teach you, its pretty easy to pick up. Esperanto, that is." Shepherd offers, "And yeah, I know Asari, cause, like, have you seen them, and some Turian, cause, like, have you seen them!?"

"Have you seen the matriarchs?" Rebecca says back, "My god. She's so scary in the best way."

"Yeeeeessssssssss!" Shepherd excitedly whispers back.

She couldn't believe she was going to go on ape playdates. "Who are... The human officers? Like, Ashley is right fucking out."

"Well, if I put you and Ashley in a room for an extended period of time, either you two kill each other, or there's a suspiciously Ashley shaped dent in my walls." Shepherd says.

"Do I get air locked if the first happens?" Though Rebecca gave herself a quick snap with an electric rubber band, she got to deter 'bad behaviour,' "Fuck, not supposed to do that." She muttered.

"I can just smack you, you know?" Shepherd offers, not answering the question as she tilts her head, "Much less chance for damage, too. Electricity through wires is rough."

"That's the point. It's a deterrent. I used to slash at my Achilles with a talon knife, but people got very upset about it." Rebecca says quietly, "Right, so there's... Jack? Which, like, I don't even really know where to start. I feel awful, which would just piss her off."

"There's Jacob, poor guy, god, he's so.....Jacob." Shepherd sighs.

Rebecca snorted again but shook her head, "God no. I'm not socialised enough to talk to a wounded puppy."

"A human woobie yeah. You can talk to Joker, I guess." Shepherd looks suddenly incredibly interested in the idea.

"The... Pilot?" Rebecca said with a thought, "He ... Actually seems like a, not freak."

Shepherd shakes her head. "Oh no, you've not seen his search history. Here's a conversation starter. 'Commander Shepherd pulled your search history on the SR-1 the night before she died.'"

"That's a terrible conversation starter." Rebecca said, with shock at just how awful an idea could be. "I'll just... Stand there."

"If it doesn't work, use my idea. Ten creds, and a blowjob says I'm right." Shepherd chuckles.

"Oh, did they give you the quick release as well?" Rebecca asks.

"Quick release?" Shepherd asks with a tilt of her head.

Rebecca looks at Shepherd with a very, very tired sigh. "Ask... Garrus, he has a picture. Multiple pictures."

"I was offering a blowjob if it didn't—Nevermind, god, killed a good joke." Shepherd sighs.

"Nah, fuck it. They let me switch out my entire pelvis." Rebecca finally just came out with it. "There's like a plug. It just kind of... Drops."

"They fucking didn't give me what!?" The Commander was insensate, "I could have had a dick!? AND a fucking—GAH! Life hates me." She suddenly collapses into her couch with a ruined look on her face. "I need comfort, Rebecca, please."

Rebecca nods, pulling up her omni-tool. "Yeah, the quad is fucking weird."

Being ignored makes Shepherd cheer up quickly enough, though she still sprawls out on the couch, muscled stomach showing as her shirt rides up, cracks in the skin filled with glowing red cyber and scars.

"Christ." Rebecca said, looking at the woman, "I'm going to try to fuck the guy in a wheelchair."

"Why are you—No I get it, he's actually funny." Shepherd nods firmly, swirling to lie in between the arm-rests awkwardly.

"But uh yeah, if you or anyone else really catches me saying ape again, I think I need to be smacked." Rebecca says with a deep breath.

"I'll do it in private, but I'd be disrespecting you in public. I don't enjoy doing that." Shepherd says.

"That's so dumb," Rebecca muttered. "Being corrected is not disrespect. You throw bricks at a problem until they fix themselves."

"You want to figure out a verbal correction instead? Something to snap you into motion when you're doing wrong?" Shepherd asks, curiously pursing her lips.

"No, I just realised I miss my dad," Rebecca admitted with a sigh. "He would chuck metal hypos at me and it just... Was much simpler. Good man, over a thousand years old, but still funny."

"Ugh, fine. But only cause you're cute." Shepherd says, reaching down under the couch and grabbing something. Seconds later, a chunk of metal rockets towards Rebecca and bounces off her skull with a clang.

Rebecca nearly drops, but weirdly she did actually feel better.

"That was for being a little dumb about not just leading with 'I don't see it as disrespectful'." Shepherd explains, grabbing another metal chunk and weighing it in her hand.

Rebecca put her hands up, "Wait, A, are you tearing up the ship?! And B, what did I do for the second one?!"

"A, yes, B, you are using an electric rubber band, and potentially messing with your mission readiness." The chunk of floor tile races towards Rebecca, hitting her in the shoulder this time, clanging off with a dull pulse of pain from replica nerves.

Fuck. Shit. Rebecca rubbed her shoulder. She really wondered why everything she asked for was so terrible. "Thanks uh, Shepherd." She said before walking out the door.
 
02.15.02 - Keep your eyes wide open, even when the sun is blazin'
Rebecca had been standing there for nearly three hours as Joker got more and more uncomfortable. She's not close enough for conversation and not far enough to be out of his space. Merely looming. He's tugged at his clothes, tried to make idle conversation with crew mates, and even asked EDI what she's doing quietly, but hasn't actually made the leap to ask her anything.

She hadn't wanted to lead with this, and now felt so weird saying it after three hours of standing, before finally saying out loud, "So, Commander Shepherd pulled your search history the night before she died."

Joker is mid sip at his coffee, and chokes, spilling iced caffeinated water everywhere. Recovering in a few seconds, he says, "Well. Uh." The man trails off, trying to figure out how to follow that.

"Yeah, I was told to lead with that, but I thought you'd say hello, if I stood here." Rebecca said finally.

"You're like....nineteen feet away!" Joker points at Rebecca, "That's not conversational!"

"I didn't want to invade your space!" She said approaching, "It felt rude!"

"You wanna start up a conversation, you gotta invade their space a little!" Joker explains, sighing as he leans into his seat and just accepts this uniform is ruined. "Uh, hey. I'm Joker, your resident glass-bone-man."

"I'm Rebecca! The wicked witch of the west." Rebecca replied cheerily, "I'm supposed to talk to human beings to be more socialized."

"Wow, you're shit outta luck. I'm pretty much a goblin." Joker shrugs with an affable chuckle, "My day to day is try and exercise, get a hairline fracture, cry, watch videos and fly."

"Huh." Rebecca said looking at him, "I kind of forget you have a whole like thing going on."

"A Sisyphean struggle yeah, I know, I know." Joker chuckles, holding hands up as if to hold people back, "Its making you shake in excitement, the sheer strength of my will."

"There's a part of me that wants to see how close I could get you without breaking you. I assume some like, pulley system would be required where I descend down from above." Rebecca found this much easier than she thought it was going to be.

"I actually saw a video with a machine that, uh, picked you up in a field of mass effect." Joker casually describes, having spotted another deviant at a mile. "Then I assume a very skilled technician made it so they gently came down." He thinks on the logistics, then realizes there's a whole bridge crew around him.

"You know, I probably shouldn't have lead with that either, but this is the world we live in, and you gotta live life fully."

Rebecca tilted her head confused, "Why not?" She asked, "First time I met Garrus I sent him a picture of me fucking my girlfriend. Didn't even know who he was. Just like, a set of random symbols."

"Oh shit." Joker laughs, "I was thinking mostly of my coworkers realizing they work with me." He explains, gesturing to the people around, "And just so we're on the same page, if like, you and I even thought about sex, my pelvis might break and I'll instantly die."

"So like... Shepherd and I are fucked up cyborgs, why are you still a cripple?" Rebecca asks with a small nod to his whole... Deal.

"Alliance Navy disallows cyberware in its mission critical crew. And, uh, I'm not gonna let a disease make me cut bits off. Pride and regulations." Joker chuckles, "Besides, how would I pull girls like you without the cripple energy."

"Well, you'd do it by being funny," Rebecca proffered with a small smile, "Then like, I dunno, climb a wall? I jump off cars and shit. Carry people. Seems to work."

"Oh yeah, just like scream, 'I'm Spiderman!' And then slam into a wall at a full sprint." Joker says, smiling broadly.

"How the fuck did marvel survive two hundred years." Rebecca says for the second time in her life, "Oh god yeah there's security footage of me doing that exact thing. Through a gunshop door, a car, then fwip right into the Omega station wall."

"God, I'd literally jellify." Joker laughs, "You sound like a looney toons character to be honest. How's the TBI?" He taps the side of his head gently, very emotive for a cripple with glass bones.

I guess he'd have to be. Rebecca smiles, "Honestly? Didn't mess up anything that wasn't already extremely fucked to begin with. Have you seen my arena videos?" She asked with a big grin. "I am a legend on Omega. It's one of my favorite hobbies, though no-one wants to fight anymore."

"Shit, sorry, I don't really keep up with MMA and stuff." Joker apologizes.

"Can you like... Watch stuff while you're flying? I don't know how much of this demands a hundred-percent of your attention." Rebecca looked around the ship it looked like he mostly flew in a straight line.

"Well! Most pilots can't! EDI, tell 'em how many things I can do at once!" Joker asks, having a blue orb pop up and start speaking.

"Lieutenant Joker is an extremely capable pilot, able to multitask reliably between nine different complex tasks, or thirty simple tasks as defined by the Alliance Naval Pilots Handbook." The synthetic voice of the ship AI answers.

Rebecca looks at the blue orb, "He ever diddle your ports?"

"Lieutenant Joker's search history suggests he would---" She's cut off by Joker laughing and interrupting the voice.

"That's a very human like answer." Rebecca said with a small laugh, though didn't really think much more on it. "Anyways, I was going to share videos which is why I was asking. Fuck, no that's not how you talk to people. Uh I was going to offer to share videos. Apparently that's important that it sounds like a choice. Er. That it is a choice."

"You can show me your cool fight videos, its fine." Joker laughs at the offer.

Rebecca grins ear to ear, "This is where they named me the Scarlet Angel, it was my first fight, three to one." She says pulling up the video almost immediately. Holding her arm out. She doesn't look at Joker after that. Watching herself a year and a half ago disassembling vorcha, beating one to death with it's friend's skull. It was simpler then, everyone just wanted her better. Who knew how well she'd get. Even connecting with the people who betrayed her again.

"Well, that's certainly, uh. Damn." Joker says as the video finishes off.

Rebecca smiled, "Yeah! I fought three armed Turians with a spoon. They had assault rifles. There's also the leaked porn of me in the bar on the Krogan, splattering Vorcha."

"Was that the one with the--Aaaaaaaaaaaaand I'm stopping there." Joker controls himself with an effort of will.

"Ah, don't worry." Rebecca said with a laugh, before once again remembering, "Oh, right. Other people are weird about this stuff. Have I shown you my wives?"

"Well its just most women don't appreciate me knowing what they look like naked-no you have not."Joker refocuses the conversation with a drifting haze of humour.

Rebecca smiles leaning low, "Okay!" She pulls up her family photo, "Okay, so the matriarch, the quarian, I proposed before we left. Then my polycule also includes the green Krogan. His name is Kratt, and then the twink is Camlos. He's one of the most decorated snipers in the Turian military. Until he went ape shit. The Red Krogan is my dad of like a year and a half." She's beaming now so happy almost bouncing, "I love them so much. We have a group chat where we just bullshit all day. I'm normally hiding in the corner? Because everyone here thinks I'm a dead-eye'd psychopath. Which like definitely true. So I try not to bother people."

She looks back to Joker with a manic grin. "I also have a ton of videos I can send you since like..." She gestures again to the man's whole... Thing. "I'd ruin you if it was possible. Seems like the next best thing."

"I mean, if we were really careful-Stop Joker, you need your bones." Even this is made into a joke as he cracks a grin after his words, not keeping a straight face for a second.

"Huh," Rebecca thinks for a second, "I don't think I've ever met a funny human. What's your contact info? Oh wait there's just like, proximity file transfers."

Would you like to accept "Rebecca's Stash?" 1.2 TB
[Yes] [No]

"That's a lot of-what are those tags?!" Joker says with a terrified, at least on the face of it, look.

"Yeah, like six hours a day." Rebecca admits, "Apparently other people watch like, TV and shit for some reason." Then she looked over Joker's shoulder to see what he was pointing at, "Oh. Penis Trauma is exactly what it says. I shoot off the tip of Camlos' dick we use medi-gel after."

"I....huh. I've never considered that, and now don't know how I feel about it existing." Joker mutters, staring at the videos.

"Yeah, uh the safety ratings are very much real." Rebecca says with a nod, "I didn't really have them until I met Ras, and she like, got queasy, so I added them in with a VI. The VI deleted itself during, and I had to reinstall it."

"Most of, uh, Lisa and you is pretty low rating. She just not that extreme?" Joker asks with a look of interest.

Rebecca shook her head, "I'm just not really a bottom most of the time? Neither is she. Also we like, were way close on a familial-therapy level. So it felt weird slicing her up."

"That makes sense. She's like the dominant guiding figure of the relationship I guess. Then you're the like, aggressive domineering one that she holds in the palm of her hands with strings of silk and shit, and then there's, uh, the other two who're drawn into it." Joker says piece by piece. "I've read this VN."

"Yeah, she's like a... Wife or a mom." Rebecca nods, "And I was pretty fragile. Oh shit those still exist too? Have you read, this will interest you specifically, have you read Katawa Shoujo?"

"No. That's some ancient shit though, I can hear it from the name alone." Joker laughs, "Nowadays, you can get full dive VN's. Even first person if you can shell out the cash."

"Oh shit," Rebecca says looking through her omnitool, "They finished Ranma. I uh, pretty much all I had to do was read VNs and shit provided by the CIA. I was locked in my apartment otherwise."

"Well! We can relate there, I was crackling my ass to the classroom every day, and then crackling my ass back to my room to scream into my bed." Joker self-deprecates again, having long learned the dance of what's funny and too much.

"Jesus you're mean to yourself" Rebecca says with a small laugh, "Never been around someone who talks shit about themselves."

"I talk shit about everyone. I'm everyone!" Joker clarifies with a grin.

Rebecca shakes her head before whispering, "Poor baby, don't worry mommy will find a way to kiss it and make it better."

There's a cough from Joker, "Well." He says, "That's new."

"Yeah, I get that a lot." Rebecca giggles.

The conversation lasts for literally hours. For the first time since Rebecca had gotten there, they heard her very openly be a normal human being. Well... They heard her be herself, which was a fascimile of a human being. Jokes, laughs, horrific sudden traumatic stories, and stories so horny you could make a sea urchin out of them. She even returned the next day, in fact she hung around quite a bit.
 
Yeah! Rebecca makes a friend!!

and don't worry about Ashley, she actually stops with the racism and grows up.
 
02.16.01 - The moon controls the tide, it can cause you to drown
Thwip, a slug passes overhead. Shepherd is somewhere, making hell with blasts of shotguns, pistols heavier than anyone sane would wield, and biotics all the same. She's with Garrus and Grunt, who had decided she wasn't worthy of fighting. They were all punching into a secure Cerberus base.

Behind them, making sure they don't get encircled and murdered, wass Rebecca and Miranda Lawson, progeny of Cerberus and its favoured daughter. On gantry-ways of steel and with heavy blocks of alloy to take cover behind, they return fire.

"You know," Rebecca said as she lays down suppressive fire. "You never really think of the logistics, of these kinds of things." The large needles from her mass accelerator, an assault rifle with explosive alloys in the metal block, punch small holes in the surrounding cover, taking small parts of metal half-high barricades apart. "You see her on TV, you're like, 'oh wow war hero,' but you don't think about how the fuck no-one shoots her in the back."

"Quite, it's a-Damnit!" Miranda answers as a CAIN slug screams past her and detonates against a building a hundred metres away, sending a mushroom cloud into the air and a shockwave that hits both women, pushing them against their cover. Miranda pops up with a grit to her features and shoots the offending soldier thrice, twice to break the barrier and once more to put a heavy pistol slug through his head. "Rather prettier on screen!" She finishes.

Downrange, Rebecca could see more and more Cerberus troops dropping down. The Normandy crew had the benefit of a tight choke point, the front door of the facility, and long sight-lines with heavy cover. However, Cerberus had more personnel, more gear, and the lack of regard for life. Not for the first time, Rebecca missed having gun ships and artillery on hand.

"Rebecca! Marking a target on your HUD! Use the launcher!" Miranda shouts, directing the far more heavily armed woman to a chunk of a support pillar that's holding up the majority of the gantry ways that can fit more than one person at a time.

How incredibly convenient, Rebecca thought, and I thought construction was bad in Bosnia. She pulled the heavy launcher from her back, past the folded up sniper, assault rifle, two pistols, submachine gun, bandoliers of grenades, heavy armour, and multiple knives. Letting it rest gently on her shoulder as she flipped out the scope, took a second to aim, and fired.

The missiles streamed through the air, making a tiny helix as a blazing rocket-bell sent flaming fuel in a conical arc behind it, trailing off into smoke and smog before smashing into the pillar with a thunderclap of detonation and shrapnel, tearing a chunk the size of a refrigerator from the concrete and steel pillar, making it groan while dozens of Cerberus personnel start to shout and scream.

The Hammerhead they brought along is the first to go, sliding off a gantry-way and tumbling down to the sea beneath, before infantry follow it, falling in screaming starfishes, the rabid waters of this gas giant moon swallowing them and crushing them never to be seen again.

"Perfect! Good shot Rebecca!" Miranda compliments with a smirk, glaring at the Cerberus personnel on the side gantry remaining as biotic force starts to gather, "Throw your singularity!" She says, pointing at them with a glare as her own biotic force gathers.

I really don't like being micro-managed, Rebecca knew she'd just need to let it go, she pointed her hand and said "Singularity," Swallowing not only the gantry, but mulching the Cerberus forces on top in a shower of gore that quickly retreated into a dense ball. Just be calm.

Another deep breath as she looked at the building on the opposite side again. There had to be something she could do about it. "Hey how come the SR-two doesn't light half this shit up from space?" Rebecca asked.

"The Normandy's guns would turn us, the surrounding facility, most of the local geographic area and anything less than a hundred metres underground into mulch." Miranda explains with a smug tone, one she can't seem to get rid of outside of combat, walking out of cover with a wide sway of her hips and a smirk at the chaos and violence she directed, "I don't know about you, but I'm rather fond of me."

"I'm fond of most people," Rebecca lied. She used omnigel to make another couple of rockets, and winced as the last of it ran dry. She used omnigel for everything, probably too many things. It had gotten to a point where she didn't bother looking for things anymore, just hitting the magic printer button, and then dropping it on the floor, or losing it again.

She put the launcher back into the portable mode and swung it on her back. There was a lull in the combat, as the last of the choke points had been cut off. Now it was just maintenance, firing occasional shots to get Cerberus operatives to retreat when they consider approaching again. Rebecca pinched her eyes. She was frustrated that Shepherd seemed to think she needed to be on missions with primarily humans. She wasn't fond of humans. Humans weren't fond of her.

"Breathe ladies, breathe." Shepherd comes out chuckling, a shell-shocked duo following behind her as she's covered in sticky red blood, actually coated in it from head to toe, sticking her hair to her face and staining her eyes from where it splattered against the sclera. "We're done here. Get ready for evac, you don't need to breathe down each other's necks anymore."

"What? I didn't even say anything this time." Rebecca snapped before turning around and looking at Shepherd. "Jesus christ, lady. Did you try to eat your way through the enemy?"

"He tried to fist fight me!" Shepherd defends her appearance, "And after the first guy exploded over me, well, you know you can't just stop at one." She laughs wildly, angling her head back as a shuttle nears, blue fusion thrusters screaming down with a ripple of super-heated air.

Rebecca yawned and stretched, firing an out stretched middle finger to the building as she moves towards the shuttle. "God. This shit's so boring." She admitted.

"Yeah?" Shepherd says, prompting Garrus to stare with a glare at her.

"No one's calling you God, Shepherd." The turian states flatly as he collapses his rifle, making Shepherd grin.

Rebecca laughs, "Not yet anyways." She took out a handful of combat stims and tosses them into her mouth. The little blue scored pills tasted disgusting, but that didn't stop her from chewing on them.

Shepherd's eyes glint at the words, "I can make you scream it if you waaaaaaant!~" She giggles, laying down on her side of the shuttle, avoided by everyone who doesn't want to be coated in freshly spilled blood. Miranda, Garrus, and Grunt seem to be in that group.

Rebecca looked to her left, the only one sitting next to the blood splattered woman. "Did you know if turians turn purple around the fringe, they're all horned up?" Then she pointed at Garrus.

"I didn't. I just assumed that was a fear reaction." Shepherd giggles, suddenly moving and planting her head firmly on Rebecca's lap.

Rebecca shook her head. "Fuck or fight, apparently. The blood and gun smoke gets some of them all foamy. Or I only dated psychopaths." She didn't realise it, but she absent mindedly started stroking the woman's hair.

"Turian foamy's pretty hot to be honest, like someone set a water hose to high power." Shepherd makes a gesture to her face with a chuckle, "Humans disappointing after that, but, uh, I'll still take any comers I like."

"I haven't been with a human since I got to this like... Time zone and a couple of years before that even." She wasn't even really looking at Shepherd, mostly waiting for the stims to kick in and stave off some of the absolute boredom that was this mission.

"Jeez, woman, you hit me with that after I invite you to the crew? Do you have any idea how hot I am?" Shepherd groans.

Rebecca smirked, "Oh, yes, I'm quite aware of how badly this must suck for you." She couldn't help but laugh.

"The moment you're off, I'm gonna suck the pride out of you." Shepherd threatens, elbowing Rebecca in the side, not having much energy or force through a hard-suit.

"I might even let you try." Then she stopped talking for a second. "No. No, I won't. The only one here whose seen me naked is Garrus."

Garrus groans, looking down at the floor as Shepherd giggles, "Don't worry, falling for me's normal." As she closes her eyes when Rebecca's fingers find a particularly good spot, a soft sigh escaping the Commander. "That's it, right there. Oh my god the headaches going away."

"What?" Rebecca says suddenly looking at the commander, "Oh, wow. I guess I just like, pet anyone in my lap. I can't believe I'm picking up strays now."

"Oh, you want me to be your kitty now?" Shepherd's eyes open with mischief flaring in them. "Gonna make me purr?"

"Depends. How do you feel about a collar with a little bell on it?" Rebecca can't help but flirt back. She was lonely as fuck. None of these stupid fucking assholes talked to her, besides Joker, who at least hidden being terrified of her most of the time. Which is really what made him sweet and brave.

"Might solve the authority problem, to be honest." Shepherd muses, putting a bloody finger to her lip, "Hey, Garrus! Would me being collared, leashed and naked make it seem fine?" She asks, making Garrus groan again. Not answering.

Rebecca choked on her own saliva, the sudden intake of air shooting spit into her own lungs, causing her to cough. "Mother fucker." She muttered angrily. "Hey, I stole some shit from the Cerberus base, like designs and junk. Can I send that to my partner for her pilgrimage?"

"No-" Miranda says before Shepherd interrupts amusedly, "Sure, is it a collar and leash? That's on your mind, so I assumed."

Rebecca shook her head, pulling up her omnitool, "No, it's these prototype mass-effect cores that Cerberus is working on. Kind of like the first Normandy's where they pull twice their weight? The Flotilla would kill for something like that."

"Luckily for them, they just have a smoking hot chick fuck another one and get it instead." Shepherd chuckles, "I'm authorising it. Just use a secure line." She waves off any complaints and instead angles and shifts her body to be on her side, facing towards Rebecca.

Rebecca can't help but smile, though it falls for just a second. "Oh, right she'll uh. Go home after that, I guess." It was true, but it was also fine. She loved her, and if she wanted to come back to Omega, she would.

She continued to massage Shepherd's scalp as a second set of fingers stretched out of her arm. Fingers, was maybe understating what the manipulators looked like. They had four joints, each with close to a full three hundred and sixty degrees of movement at each joint, and were extremely thin, long. They moved on rotors that made almost no noise as she pulled up her comm-link.

Direct Message With: Fresh Air
Rebecca
Hey! I got you something :3

There wasn't an answer, there wasn't an answer throughout the entire flight, and then onto the Normandy. A full three hours.

Direct Message With: Doctor Girlfriend
Rebecca
Is Ras okay? She didn't answer for like ever, but she might just be sleeping or whatever.
Doctor Girlfriend
I think she's busy? I've been seeing her talk on her omnitool with someone fairly often, perhaps dating?
I can check if you want.
Rebecca
If she's safe, then that's fine. I'd like to know if she was dating just for like passive interest reasons
I'm not going to pry though, she may feel weird telling me.
Can you tell her I found something really great for her pilgrimmage?
Doctor Girlfriend
I will lover, don't worry. How long until you're back, you think?
My beds been rather cold :).
Rebecca
Same. People have not warmed up to me. At all.
Fucking despise me.
Which is fine. lol. I'm here to save the world not make friends.
Besides half the crew are human and kind of shitty anyways.
Doctor Girlfriend
You were talking about someone called Jack?
And this Commander Shepherd looks amazing in the propaganda shots, I'll admit.
Rebecca
Yes, but there's like... Commander Leadership things I don't understand.
Jack hasn't tried to be violent with me which is the closest to friendly I've seen her get so far.
They're making me talk to the apes because they think that my problem with humanity is prejudice
And not that the human government locked me in a fucking room from 13 → 26 before trying to give me the fucking chair.
Doctor Girlfriend
Lover, don't call humans apes. I know you've had bad experiences, but its not kind.
I'm sorry its so hard for you.
Rebecca
You should hear the shit they call me.
well no. It's mostly that I'm a rotten cunt
which is not exactly untrue. I'm also a violent psychopath as they say.
whatever. I'll just. Fucking kill some shit I guess. Later. Probbably varren on the ship.

"Whaaaaatcha typin'?" Shepherd asks, looking up into the omni-tool and staring at Rebecca's chats, reading it from beneath through the hard-light.

Rebecca groaned, "My... Partner is dating again, so she didn't answer."

Shepherd's brow furrows, "Hmmmmmmm."

"Polycule, it's fine, if she cares about me she'll come back." Rebecca says with a quick shrug.

"I don't think the not answering calls and texts is fine, Becky." Shepherd says firmly, interlocking an arm with Rebecca, "Lets go get a drink."

Again, Rebecca shrugs, "Look, Lisa says she's seen her, and she's not replied in like... three weeks. Really. Only on group calls, otherwise she's just... Busy with life. I'm not goi—"

"Lets get a drink, Becky. I'll pay for the good stuff." Shepherd says again, giving a tiny tug to direct Rebecca.

It was an order, even if she didn't say it was an order, Rebecca would just be miserable if she said no. "—\sigh\— Yeah. Sure."
 
02.16.02 - The moon controls the tide, it can cause you to drown
The Normandy has a bar, it's not massive, it's not luxury, and it certainly doesn't have a tender, but it has a bar, and the selection is immaculate and expensive. Shepherd opened up an Asari brandy that stings like the devil and tastes like wine all the same, drinking it by the glass straight.

Rebecca downed her first glass, but before Shepherd had been able to pour her a second, she already had found some rotgut they mostly used to clean the glasses with. It was 85% Alcohol, and was violently repulsive, which Rebecca improved with an approximation of Kool-aid packets she had made with her omnitool, pouring nearly a bucket of powdered red dye and sickly sweet sugars into the bottle.

"So what's going on at home, Becky?" Shepherd asks, drinking another glass of the brandy like water, flushed with ingesting nine glasses in short order and yet still intimidatingly sharp in eye and words. Though obviously nearing shitfaced.

The trashcan punch needed to be regularly shaken, as there was so much omnigel made sugar that it didn't dissolve properly. Rebecca had got through most of the bottle, but didn't feel good just... Bored. Distant still. "It happens. I read about it. Prepared for it." She said, having long since eschewn the glass for drinking out of the bottle. "People fall in love with the people around them, I'm not around them. I was her first. She was going to reach out to other people." You know you weren't her first. She just can't use you right now.

"I can hear your heart cracking. You wanna talk about how it makes you feel or nah?" Shepherd flatly states, staring with glimmering red eyes and a pursed lip. Tank-top and sweatpants hugging her figure even as Rebecca's eyes aren't focused on it.

Rebecca's hand went to her side to reach for a weapon, when she realised she had very purposefully, not taken a weapon with her. "It sucks. She's happy. I'll get over it." She said plainly, "I'm not going to cry over my partner finding a way to be happy."

"When you say shit like that, it just ignites this urge to pat you on the face and tell you it'll be alright." Shepherd chuckles, shaking her head, "You've got a right to feel bad, and more importantly, you've got a right to talk about it, cry about it, shout about it and shoot about it." She says.

"I mean, yeah, I feel bad, but I don't want to do all that, really." Rebecca admitted, feeling her heart bleeding, "I feel bad. It's not a thing that gets solved by throwing a tantrum. I've tried throwing the tantrum. I've tried waiting. Same amount of time, but a lot less property damage with waiting."

"Doesn't feel as good, though. Throwing a tantrum's not the only way to get it out. Punch a bag, shout about it. Fuck someone, plenty of crew here." Shepherd states, waving at the ship.

Rebecca sighed, "If I wanted to feel good." She said plainly, "I wouldn't be on a ship full of people who hate me. Trying to save a world that sucks dick. Lead by people who actively locked me in a room since I was fourteen."

"Its led by me. Not Cerberus, not the Alliance, not anyone." Shepherd shakes her head, taking another drink of brandy, "And I promise you, word as a Commander, woman, and hottest piece of ass on the ship, everyone doesn't hate you. You're just scary to 'em." She turns her gaze over to Rebecca properly, looking into her eyes with unnatural red glaring eyes that never stop drilling into whatever they face.

"I brought you here because you have drive, grit, and the willpower to push through problems as they come, but you don't gotta do it for every problem, Becky." She says, reaching out and placing her hand on the part of the bar just between them, liquor scent heavy in the air as bright lights send gleaming rays down to the room, shining off faux-hardwood at both their feet. "This is shitty, it's okay if it's shitty, you're off saving the world, the galaxy, giving it your all in fight after fight, and someone you care about isn't even giving you the courtesy of answering texts."

"I'm definitely not giving it my all. This is not requiring anywhere near my all." Rebecca pulls out more combat stims and downs them. She very much likes how simple the dextro-amphetamine chemical is to synthesise. Barely takes any omnigel.

"We haven't fought Collectors yet." Shephard grimaces at the combat stims, "But that changes nothing. You're a Marine on deployment, and the home fronts fucking you over." She says.

Rebecca snorted. "The second part of that is redundant. Deployment is only being fucked over by the home front."

"Doesn't have to be. Shouldn't be. Too often is, though." Shepherd nods, sighing, "I love this job. I love leading people, doing the great, dangerous, terrifying things. I hate the people I do it for sometimes. I hate that they're cowards sometimes, suicidally brave other times. I hate that they don't understand what it's like here, on the floor."

"But that's—" Shepherd is interrupted.

"Hey, I get what you're trying to do," Rebecca says as Shepherd starts another fucking speech. "This isn't really helping. I'm only here because it seems important to you to seem like you're helping. I'm coping. It's fine."

"I care about all of you, Rebecca. Just let me know if you want to talk, hug or shoot some shit in the VR sim." Shepherd says, nodding to Rebecca's wishes, "Or just drink quietly, that's fine too, okay?" She asks without asking, seeing if Rebecca wants her at all.

Jesus Christ, do I talk this much? Rebecca smiled, nodding and lied, "I'm just being pissy. You helped a lot. Thanks."

Shepherd shakes her head, smiling, "I'll fuck off, don't worry." She swings her legs off the stool and stands up, making her way out of the bar as the jukebox finally cycles, playing a string guitar or something similar.

Group Message With: Antacid Suger Spot - I don't get this one
Rebecca
I love you guys. Saving the galaxy is super easy.
Making tons of friends.
Miss you all.

She didn't check to see if they answered; it didn't really matter anymore. None of this shit matter. This whole idea was fucking stupid. She should have just stayed on Omega. Trying to upstage the galaxy's greatest hero was the most mind numbingly stupid thing in the world. She was miserable.

Email From PHOENIX PROJECT
Subject: Stop Asking!
Rebecca
For the last time. No. You can not leave the Normandy. This is your contract. We will turn off your cyberware. You will die. Stop asking.
--love
Caroline



★ ★ ★​


Stumbling into her quarters, Shepherd sighs, "Fuck." The swear comes out naturally once no ears are prying. The constant migraine ever since the resurrection coming back full force, white noise just behind her eyes, making even the dim lights of the quarters angry and painful, much less the painfully bright ones outside.

Joints crackle from reconstruction, organs feel like raw nerves whenever she gives them a chance to relax, untensing from the day by slamming into the bed and letting its cold that rapidly turns to warmth gives her a distraction.

"Fuck." Another stressor, Rebecca's relationship fraying. It's not unexpected, this is a long voyage, they might not come back, and she's in a polycule, but it'll make her angry, sad, sloppy or any mix of the above. And sad, especially that.

The omnitool comes to life with an ignored lance of pain in her cerebellum, bright light shining through the room as she taps through a dozen emails, a dozen more intercepted ones and various command software she's never used, the hell do I need to read their texts for.

Direct Message With: Rebecca Dinozzo

Shepherd thinks, staring at the incomplete contact field. It's not useful anyways. The woman's not in the mood to talk, or flirt, or dance or anything. It's not the civilian world either. This can't be handled with a kiss. "Fuck." She murmurs, thinking more.

"Fuck." Nothings easily accessible. She's violent, psychopathic, doesn't socialise well, and has half the crew practically spitting where she walks. I'm one of two people that talk to her. And she doesn't like me either.

Direct Message With: Rebecca Dinozzo
Sheepy
Message @Rebecca

What to send. There's a rattle of fingertips on her forearms to focus her mind, lips pursed past the pain as thoughts flow. "Fuck."

Direct Message With: Rebecca Dinozzo
Sheepy
Hey
You wanna see if we can swing by Omega?
There's a thing going on here that might need us to fuck around.

Stupid, you're getting attached. Shepherd's mind clearly shouts back at her, Stop it! Stop fucking caring.

Direct Message With: Rebecca Dinozzo
Rebecca
No, it's fine. I really do appreciate the thought
I'm not doing well, at all to be honest.
This shit's hard. It sucks. I don't really get why I'm even here.
My only two friends are fucking... You and Joker. And Joker is terrified of me.
It's sweet you care though.
text is way easier to talk btw.
Sheepy
I can tell.
You got any idea how I can make it easier?
I'm pretty willing to do most things. Have this weird, parasocial thing with my crew.
I'd die for you idiots.
Rebecca
Honestly? You were right. I'm not actually really trying to talk to people.
I can't sit all day in the corner of the docking bay muttering darkly and thing "oh yeah this is what fun looks like. Cant wait to talk to them"
I decided to just like... talk to someone.

Talk to me, Shut up brain. That's stupid.

Direct Message With: Rebecca Dinozzo
Rebecca
I'm super glad you give a shit.
Sheepy
Thanks, it's a soft point of mine. I feel like I don't care enough for you guys.
Rebecca
christ
that makes sense tho
i never understood tho - why do you need a dozen like specific officers
for a crew of a hundred and fifty
a hundred and fifty who never see any action
like, youve got your interesting people who get rooms and attention
and then a swarm of faces.
Sheepy
It's part of the whole thing
I meet people, like 'em
bring 'em along
Rebecca
Fucking mooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood.
Sheepy
Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuup
You sure there's nothing I can do? Can't get you like
hookers and blow
But I can be around more, or get Joker some hours off cockpit if you wanna see him like, not flying
He hates not flying though
Rebecca
Wait. what do you do when your not doing crew therapy
like yeah, probably full time job flitting around to be everyones friend
but not 18 hours a day
the fuck you do all day?
Sheepy
That. Pretty much
I stumble into my room after enough of it, slide off to the shower when I can
I make model spaceships and assemble them
and paint them too
but mostly sleep.
Rebecca
jesus fucking christ
what the fuck
jesus
no
ill
ill
ill come hang out, im feeling lonely.
Sheepy
Don't worry about me, Becky
I'm here to help you, not be a burden.
Rebecca
So. I say "please stop bothering me." You choose not too.
I say "I'm a bit lonely" you decide that's when too ignore me.
Are you fucking with me?
Sheepy
No, I'm just
uh
broken
Its fine tho
Rebecca
my quarian left me 😭😭😭😭😭
Sheepy
you wanna assemble a reaper spaceship with me?
 
02.16.03 - The moon controls the tide, it can cause you to drown
Rebecca looked at her omni-tool. No. God no, that sounded like the most boring fucking thing on the planet. That sounded so terrible. Maybe she could re-direct that. Maybe... Nah, fuck it, you've never even tried building a model so how would you know. Because it requires fine dexterity. You're a cyborg now, so maybe it'll be easy. Ugh.

Direct Message With: Needy
Rebecca
I definitely want to hang out. I'll be there in well now. I already started walking.

The door to the quarters slides open, Rebecca having been given access minutes aboard the ship. Shepherd is on her bed, legs crossed in shorts and a tank top, a tiny pile of model Reaper components on her lap.

"You don't think it's weird you give everyone access to your room?" Rebecca asks looking at the models. "Also, you meant literal Reapers. Not like a brand, or the spirit."

"I make 'em." Shepherd smiles, looking down at it, "Three-D print the components, put 'em together. This is my last run of these. Everything should fit." She puts together the central body of the thing, clicking things into each other and twisting in screws.

Rebecca watched and then walked in and stared at the fish tank. The room was spacious; it had a lot of things but none of it really seems personal. Small touches here and there that seem personable, but it was like a recreation of where someone would live. It was weird. Rebecca didn't like it or what it might mean. If it even meant anything, Shepherd could just be incredibly boring.

"Weird right?" Shepherd says from her cross-legged seat on the bed, "The room? Like a robot put together something that belonged to someone." She points at the walls, the fish-tank, everything except the models littering surfaces, near-indiscernible from the background unless you look.

"Yeah, I realised something was up when every book on the bookcase was the same size." Rebecca pointed at the shelves. "It's there to seem like someone reads, but books aren't that standardised."

"I'm tryin' to fix that. It's a bitch though. Not really.....don't do much that isn't the goal anymore." Shepherd admits, patting the bed as a seating option for Rebecca, looking up at her after the first parts of the Reaper click together, "You ever feel tired?" She asks. It sounds casual. She's giving no signs of being in distress, but there's a twinge in Rebecca at the question that tells her it's important.

"I've been chewing up dextro-amphetamines by the handful." Rebecca says with a small laugh, "I feel exhausted. Constantly." She walked over, stepping very carefully around the surrounding models and pieces sitting on the bed. "So. I'm going to ask you something, and it's going to be one of those questions where there's almost no answer that won't tell me what I want to know."

"Good setup, you've got me in the mind-state to answer truthfully. I like it," Shepherd says with a nod, smiling.

"Can I check your health monitor?" Rebecca asked plainly, raising an eyebrow at her.

Shepherd sighs, letting the model lay on the bed. "Can I ask why?" She plainly returns a question. Confirming suspicions anyways.

"You're touch starved. You spend eighteen hours a day playing therapist. Your only hobby is building model ships, you don't even read. I'm... Pretty dumb. Most days. It bugs me no-one's even asking about what is clearly a fucked up situation." Rebecca takes a deep breath, pinching the bridge of her nose a bit. "This is... There's no way this is healthy. I don't know what healthy is, but I know what it isn't."

"I'm Commander Shepherd," Shepherd starts with a wry smirk, "I don't bend or break, they don't notice 'cause I don't show it. If you hadn't gotten those texts from me, you'd keep thinking I had hobbies, fun times, regular sleep, the works." The woman sounds amused, her voice lilting with a silent laugh.

Rebecca pulls up her omnitool, and then a spreadsheet. Using the project feature to make it larger than both of them. She presses another button to activate the spreadsheets VI.

"Hey Valerie," Rebecca said, taking a small breath, "Whose used the bar in the last month or two?"

"Commander Shepherd was the only customer at the ship bar in the last sixty days."

"Hey Valerie," she said again, that being the command word, "Whose used the VR Sim? Least."

"Commander Shepherd is the least common user, with 1 use. At ship launch date."

"Hey Valerie," Rebecca rubs her eyes, "From the medical records I stole, who sees the doctor the least?"

"Commander Shepherd is the least common user of Normandy SR-2 Medical facilities, with one monthly visit, enforced by Doctor Mordin Solus."

"Hey Valerie," she is now looking directly at Commander Shepherd, "Have we ever seen Commander Shepherd on leave?"

"Commander Shepherd's last recorded leave is 2280, it is 2285."

"Hey Valerie, delete this question history, then run the spreadsheet by the point system I made up," Rebecca said, watching the numbers on the spreadsheet calculate. A weird little scoring system that Rebecca had created, mostly just adding times people did something that would destress then compared to how many missions they want on. It was a ratio, and it wasn't really mathematically accurate unless there was a huge outlier. Rebecca didn't need to look at it to know the answer.

She gestured "I mean... Like it's not corporate heuristics, but it's not something I'm unaware of."

"I'm aware, Rebecca." Shepherd sighs, "But what happens if I take a break? What happens if I flag?" She asks with a tilt to her head.

"Used to work at a clinic." Rebecca said. As she talked, she tapped her omnitool, printing out a bowl, a block of wood, and a knife. She started to carve it, which made it easier to talk. "So, I really cared about it. I'd get nervous, literally wake up the doctor and carry her if she was going to be a minute late, because if we weren't there, people would die. And that was where I met my dad."

The shape was easy now, used to be she couldn't figure out what she'd carve. Used to be a lot more confusing, now the knife just made things. "One day, we went to the clinic, and someone bled out waiting for us. I vowed to never let it happen again. I forced both of us to work overtime, because I'm kind of... Demanding. I used to shoot people when I didn't get my way."

This one wasn't a heart, but she had plenty of references around here. It'd be hard, but not impossible. "Well. Lisa had to do surgery, and we'd been running so ragged she nodded off. Just for a minute, and whoops there goes a Salarian's artery. Almost couldn't bring him back. Not only that, there were still people bleeding out, or dying of the plague, or god knows what when we weren't there."

They were actually a pretty simple shape, all things considered. Arms were very spindly, but that's why she started putting small files in the hands of the whittling knives. She blew on it, as in almost a dozen minutes she had finished the last touches. "The truth was, we didn't really save that many more people. No-one came during those extra hours, and the same people were dying, and even the people who showed up sometimes died."

Rebecca had made a wooden reaper, inspecting it, and digging out the eye with the tip of the knife, before handing it to Shepherd with a small sigh. "You don't save more people by killing yourself. You'll end up just fucking up at things that're supposed to be easy. You're not 'Talk Saren Into Suicide' Shepherd right now." She sighed again, "And you keep red-lining you won't even be, 'Shepherd,' who my girlfriend whispered wow about, so I singed Archangel.' You're just going to fuck up something simple because you're tired."

Shepherd chuckles, "I hadn't slept in four days when I got Saren to do it. I'll have you know." The smile's a tad bitter at that memory, not quite the glorious victory the news made it out to be. "Didn't even really get him to do it. I just...helped him realise he was being controlled."

"The dumbass Turian decided if he can't be the master of his soul, no one can." There's another chuckle at that.

Rebecca side-stepped the deflection. "That's not the take away here." Then it hit her, and she decided to maybe walk through that logic out loud. "Well, maybe it could be if you've never talked about that before. Which would be like, shocking, but not impossible, I'm realising."

"You'd be amazed at what I don't share. Little bundle of trauma in a six-foot-one hot chick body." The Commander stretches her legs after unfurling them from their criss-cross, a tattoo on her thigh commemorating some battle or another that was brutal. "What's the take away then?"

"You're not going to like it," Rebecca said with a small laugh. "Pick one of the crew—not me. And make that one your favourite. Be unprofessional. Grab a fuck buddy."

"Hah. Sorry, but, uh." Shepherd shakes her head, "If I do that, I crumble like a deck of cards, and spend the next month crying."

"Okay?" Rebecca said with an eyebrow raised. "Oh no, one month."

"We're losing a colony every sixteen hours." Shepherd answers.

Rebecca nods, well aware of the numbers. "You can crumble and go on murder rampages. It's very, veryy possible. But also like, it's a galaxy,* those are colonies. There's just a lot that—"

"You know that parasocial thing?" Shepherd chuckles, interrupting Rebecca, possibly by accident as she looks down at the bed, "It's, uh. Everyone. That I'm supposed to protect." She leans over the edge of her bed, sprawling her legs out to balance as she grabs a tablet, tapping at the holographic interface and bringing a crawl of Alliance Military Fatalities in the last four months. She wiggles it. "They're, yeah. It's not great."

"So. I don't know how to do things the gentle way. I'm going to apologise in advance for that." Rebecca says as she types in her omnitool. "Here's what's going to happen. You're going to take a day off. If you don't take a day off, I use the access codes you gave me (that I've just changed.) To lock you in your room. When your crew comes to save you, I'll use a shotgun to fight them off."

"Here's the funny thing, Rebecca." Shepherd raises a finger to point at her. "Now that you told me that, you're not leaving the room, either. Because then you'll be fighting my crew off with a shotgun." Her leg muscles tense, cords of thick synthetic and organic muscle intermixing as she flexes.

"Or. You could just take a break." Rebecca says, annoyed, her jaw setting.

"I got one terrible trait." Shepherd admits, "In the sea of all my good ones. I'm kind of a bitch. A stubborn one."

Rebecca sighed, as she stands, "You should put away your models before we do this then." the she pulled a shotgun out. "Because you're going to take a break."

"Usually." Shepherd slides off the bed, picking up the models gingerly and putting them in a metal locker, "When a woman racks a shotgun in my room, I'm drooling on the bed beforehand." She jokes, smiling even with the threat as one after another, nearly thirty models and then stares at a covered object.

Rebecca checks the safety with a sigh. "You know how bad this is going to make me look?"

Shepherd uncovers the cracked, slightly melted and chipped N7 helmet, brushing some dust off it with a grimace. "I think I landed on my head. I've had this migraine ever since I woke up. Or resurrected, I guess." Her reflection in the polarised glass.

Rebecca furrowed her brow. "I got... shot in the head. Ma'am. I have the same tech."

"I guess I was rotting for a year 'fore they found me," Shepherd answers.

"Did you... mother fucker did you rest after you got out?!" Rebecca said, now annoyed and furious.

"I woke up to a raid. My first thought was wrestling some Blue Sun assholes' gun into their mouth." Shepherd answers with a shrug, "Then I got to work."

"Then you got to work." Rebecca growled out, a very sharp, raspy steel getting in her voice. Now definitively deciding to turn the safety off, having made sure the weapon was loaded with concussive rounds.

"Well, I also had to kill everyone assaulting the station they put me back together on. Did you know they don't know if they brought me back? Or just a clone?" Shepherd's still staring at the N7 helmet, finding it interesting.

"It doesn't really matter. Because you're a living person, with thoughts. Feelings. You're a person who gives a fuck whether you're a copy or an original or whatever the fuck." Rebecca says truly truly confused.

"It matters to everyone who thinks they know me," Shepherd murmurs. "It matters if I'm not the person they knew. Just a xerox of 'em." The helmet goes into the locker, another second of staring before the locker closes. "I care a lot about people."

"Well, I can't imagine stun rounds are going to make your migraine feel much better than." Rebecca mutters to herself, "Shame. Respectfully. Fuck, anyone who doesn't accept you because you got hurt. Your migraine is because you're fucking exhausted."

"I woke up with it. And the joint pain. Muscle pain, organ pain, organs don't, uh, have nerves you know?" Shepherd's turned, staring at the armed Rebecca while in shorts and a tank-top, starting to stretch.

"Yes." Rebecca said, "Yes, that's because it's psychosomatic."

"By the way, you're, uh, not gonna win this fight. What's after that?" Shepherd calmly states, making her shoulder pop with a stretch before moving to the next one.

"In my entire time on Omega, I have consistently won fights against people who are better than me in every single way." Rebecca says with a sigh.

"The issue is, Becky, you fucked that up. I'm in shorts, you're in a hard-suit." Shepherd grins, looking dangerous again, bouncing from foot to foot as the glow in her eyes brightens, "I'm the underdog."

Rebecca sighs and nods, then taps something on her omnitool. Beeping start coming from the bed they were both sitting on. She then silently stared at Shepherd, pointing the gun.

"Explosive?" Shepherd asks calmly.

Rebecca responds with a wild grin, "EMP."

"We'll both go down." Shepherd says with a stare.

"I know, isn't it fun?" Rebecca replies, "Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock."

"Wow." Shepherd says, a grin spreading back across her face, "I'd ride you until you broke. I just want you to know."

"I know. I have the attachment for it and everything." Rebecca continues to grin.

"How longs the timer?" Shepherd's gathering information.

Rebecca is now wild in the eyes. "Oh, it's set-up to my head. When I go down, it goes off. Might kill me."

"Perfect." Shepherd answers with a kick off the ground, pulsing biotic fury coming off her skin, eating the immediate two slugs Rebecca fires on instinct is purple barriers as she enters hand to hand and then head to head with a clang of metal on metal, slamming the other cyborg against a wall, hurting herself just as much as Rebecca with the impact of flesh, metal and bone on hard-suit.

Fuck. Rebecca winced. There wasn't an EMP in the bed. She just wanted to shoot Shepherd in the back when she turned around. Now she'd actually have to use an EMP. It was going to hurt. So fucking bad. She pressed her hand to her back, and the actual beeping of a grenade went off. Instead of fighting, she leaned against the wall. It should spread through the floor. Hopefully.

"You know what's funny?" Shepherd grits out, wrestling with the arm pressed to her back, "I don't even know if that'll turn me off. I'm half meat!" She grins, laughing through the effort.

"I don't either," Rebecca says with a horrific giggle, "I'm a half a brain in a jar, pretty sure this kills me."

"It won't. I won't let it." Shepherd starts, with a hiss of effort, to peel Rebecca off the wall, her feet planted on it as Rebecca realises she's pulling with her arms and pushing with her legs. "You're mine." She growls.

"You have like, two seconds," Rebecca said back, keeping her feet in front of her to make sure her arm remains on the grenade, "Before it goes off. Just take a break."

"I can't." Shephard hisses, sweat beading down her face as the cyberware glows bright red, "I'm sorry 'bout this." She says, moments before a fist slams into Rebecca's only exposed soft part, her throat. It's a jackhammer, feels like a Krogan haymaker and slams her against the wall. Synthetic reinforcement makes it non-lethal, but the pain that arcs out of the point of impact is very real.

Rebecca groaned, and for a split second, thinks about taunting, maybe throwing the grenade, or really anything, instead through the pain, and the terror, and everything. She tried to think, which was hard as the second and third hit came in. It hurt so fucking bad. The smart thing was to not risk losing at this point. To not risk the one grenade from not going off. Her arm, the one not fighting Shepherd, reaches back and is jammed into her own chest. Ripping through Rebecca's chest plate to the core that powered her heart. The short circuit did two things.

First, and most importantly, it set off the grenade instantly.

Second, it sent an ungodly amount of voltage through them both.
 
02.16.04 - The moon controls the tide, it can cause you to drown
Waking up is a pain. Like suddenly returning to a fight after getting knocked out. A flicker-flash of pain that drags you to the reality, which is agony. Rebecca feels her jaw oddly click from getting punched by the pickup truck that was the other woman's right hand, but is otherwise breathing, alive, and staring at a cold medical ceiling.

God damnit, do I ever fucking win anything? What was the last win? It was the pirate ship, right? Rebecca groaned loudly, trying to get up. No, the Blue Suns on the Citadel.

Soft snoring from the left of her and a feel of silky hair brings Rebecca's attention to Shepherd, clocked out, face resting on the padding of the hospital bed with a thin line of drool coming out of her mouth.

"Oh, you stupid motherfucker." Rebecca said with a second, angrier groan.

"Huh, what fucking mothers where? " Shepherd snaps awake with a start, looking around wide eyed.

Rebecca said, "You're still going to take a break. This doesn't change anything."

"Just....gimme a sec. Fuck, that was a good dream." Shepherd complains, "I haven't dreamed in like, four months!"

"No." Rebecca growls. "I'm tired of losing to you. To everyone."

Shepherd slumps. "Fine, you win, fucking....fine. Just.....stop." There's a crash of weight on her. She looks like she ages a decade in a second as the woman breathes out.

"Good." Rebecca says quietly, "Can you carry me to your quarters please? The crew will kill me if they see me walking around."

"They already tried. I....gotcha." Shepherd murmurs in the empty clinic, "This is gonna look amazing." The Commander slips one arm under Rebecca's legs, putting the other one on her upper back and lifting her in a smooth motion.

"I normally get cuddles after getting hurt this bad," Rebecca muttered. "Strictly tectonic."

"Platonic. I gotcha." Shepherd repeats with a soft smile, still tired as she walks through the ship halls on the night-cycle.

"Fuck." Rebecca growls again, "You're going to put me in like... Some sort of pod or something."

Shepherd answers softly, "I don't have those. I have a bed. Is that okay?"

"I don't win these things, so I'm just preparing myself for how this all blows up in my face, because when I fucking care about people, it always blows up in my face." Rebecca pouts, now growling.

"Don't worry. I'm here for you." Shepherd shakes her head as the door to the quarters opens in a hiss, burns on one wall. "I'm just a little tired, Becky. I'll be better when I've rested." The voice is a little dull and disconcerting once the door shuts. Sounding soulless.

Rebecca rubs her eyes and sighs. "You opening up to me isn't what got me hurt, by the way. This was always my plan."

"It's not that." Shepherd lays Rebecca down on one side of the bed, laying beside her.

Rebecca latches on as the big spoon, pulling Shepherd into the bed with her, not bothering with waiting anymore. Still extremely frustrated.

"Is that your pistol, or are you just happy to see me?" Shepherd chuckles, the burst of humour sounding almost alive and keeping a smile on her face.

"More grenades. No-one seemed to have taken anything off me for some reason." Rebecca muttered.

"You're trusted to not detonate a grenade in the clinic." Shepherd answers with a shrug.

She squeezes her tighter. "That's... a terrible thing to trust me with."

"We trust you with your lives," Shepherd leans into the squeeze, deepening the touch for just a second, letting her head rest on Rebecca's chest, "Every time we go out with you. Easy leap to make."

"Yeah, but that's because I'll die for people." Rebecca continued to mutter angrily, now just a grumble that was deep, and made her feel calm. "I've long since stopped caring about anything else."

"I'm a little sad." Shepherd admits, pursing her lips.

Absentmindedly, and not entirely aware of herself Rebecca rubs her head. It was mostly just what Lisa taught her. She didn't know what to do anymore. Rebecca gave her a gentle kiss on the head, because well, that's what Asari normally did, and it seemed to work out for them.

"I do everything for everyone here, everything I can." She keeps musing, with a tremble fighting its way into her voice. A tiny shake at the very edges. "You know?"

"No. Not really. You don't take care of yourself and hide it. So you almost do everything." Rebecca grumbles again, in a blunt tone that seems to emanate more from her chest.

"Y-yeah. I can't be invincible. Can't pretend to be. Someone needs me to take a break." Shepherd sighs, the voice crack at the start like a gunshot in how she flinched. "I'll do it, it's for my people."

"Just makes me a little sad. I can't have a lie to myself." The Commander sighs, pulling herself together, its not a quick process.

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard." Rebecca said again angrily, "Why the fuck are you lying to yourself? Just cry if you need to cry. Be sad if you need to be sad. You're making everything worse by pitying a simple fact."

"I might cry now. I'm sorry." Shepherd apologises pre-emptively. "I died Rebecca. I died after I thought I had everything figured out. I won, and then I had my home torn to pieces, people I cared about killed, gone. And then I died."

Rebecca kissed her on the head again, stroking her head. "Yeah."

"And then they brought me back. Told me they needed me. But they don't need me, Sarah Shepherd. The need Commander Shepherd." Shepherd says with another tremble.

"What do you," Rebecca said with an enormous sigh, "Need? Why the fuck do you care? They let you die. They brought you back to collect your friends to die again."

"Because I care about people. In the really, really, huge, abstract way most people don't." Shepherd sighs, "Because me breaking was fine. I'll keep going anyways, won't lose an edge either." Another breath, then a sigh, controlling her heart-rate through it. "I needed everyone to be safe. I needed us to win."

She looked at Rebecca and admitted, "I don't think we can."

Rebecca says after having spent a long time reviewing the footage. "I know. It's why you just need to stop caring and do what makes you happy. It's all fucked, it's always been fucked."

"I traded happy away when I came back from the dead. I gotta win," Shepherd mutters, finding wells of strength in her, the ceaseless ones that keep her moving despite the odds.

"You didn't make that trade." Rebecca said, "How long until they get to the Citadel? Like a year? Two?"

"We think if we can stop them here. Their efforts out in the Verge, they might be delayed to....a couple months from now." Shepherd sighs again, looking tired.

"Right." Rebecca says again, plainly. "Why do you think I'm so pissed that I'm here instead of with my family?"

"If I say it, I'm gonna break." Shepherd calmly answers, pulling Rebecca's arm closer, tracing the scars with her own scarred hand.

Rebecca nods. "It was mostly rhetorical."

"I need to think we can win. I don't know how we can, but I didn't know how I was gonna beat Sovereign either." Shepherd murmurs into Rebecca's arm, lips moving across it in a way that comforts her, "I'll figure it out, given time, effort, and muscle."

Rebecca hugs her tighter and tries not to keep sighing and grumbling. Her entire family was going to die or move on, and she ran away so she didn't have to watch it. Ultimately, she was a piece of shit. Shepherd was falling apart, the Normandy crew were all emotionally stunted in varying levels of egregiousness. There wasn't hope, and she couldn't fucking leave. The only thing left at this point was to get this stupid bitch to have one night of fun. Rebecca was a moron. Nothing ever worked right for her, literaly literally every success was followed by a long string of failures. She won battles, not wars.

"I like you. I think." Shepherd says, before shaking her head, "I do. For real. If we weren't on a suicide cruise, I'd probably date you."

Rebecca said, "I'm yours, like you said." It was her fallback. Shepherd was family now. As much as she thought she was stubborn and stupid.

"Nah, I'm the one that dragged you into this mess. You should cuss me out." Shepherd chuckles.

Rebecca slapped Shepherd behind the head this time, hard. "Don't tell me how I should react to things when you can't even take care of yourself."

Shepherd puts on a slightly ditzy voice and says, "I put my socks on one toe at a time!" She's breaking down shaking her head, "I'm a grownup!"

Rebecca pulled up her omnitool quietly and checked how much of Shepherd was made of meat.

30% pure cyberware, 55% reconstructed organic-ware. Original tissue remaining minimal. The readout shows, with Rebecca's access to the projects files, that the recovered corpse was in tatters. The skull was crushed inwards from impact. Deoxygenation of brain cells leading to total brain death months before they found her.

The repeated phrase throughout the document is, Commander Shepherd's revivification may not be possible. This is looking more and more like a cloning attempt by the hour. From every Cerberus manager that looked at it.

"Shepherd," Rebecca said sadly, looking through the files, "Cerberus is really shitty at developing technology. They're good at using existing stuff..." She sighed again. "Your cyber-ware is out of sync with your brain and biology. Your meat keeps thinking that a piece is missing, so it's send out the 'hey, I'm broken!' signal."

"Yeah." Shepherd mutters, "I thought as much."

"You could just... Slow it down, maybe." Rebecca says quietly, "Have you considered... more ware? I mean, your brain fucking exploded. You don't come back without someone building a new brain. That new brain wouldn't be like... That's where your identity would be, yeah? Your memories? You build a new brain, and you're just making a copy. There's not really questions here unless you don't want to believe facts."

"Rebecca. You're really not making me feel better." Shepherd laughs, smiling broadly. "If you want me to flinch, you can just smack me again." She offers, rolling her eyes.

"No, I have something like... Eight million credits. Let's just get you wared out to the nines and see if replacing the broken meat will stop..." She gestures at everything. "We'll have less time, but we'll have a Sarah, who isn't in violent pain."

"I'll....I don't want to spend my last few weeks in a hospital." Sarah sighs, turning into Rebecca, starting to curl inwards, "And I don't want....more of me gone." She whispers in a vulnerable voice.

"Ah fuck," Rebecca said suddenly, comparing Shepherd's file to her own autopsy. "I just realised what a mass effect slug does to the brain." Then turning back to Sarah, she kisses her gently on the head again. "I can't tell you what to do. I have zero answers."

"Me neither." Sarah admits, looking up at Rebecca with the glowing red eyes that can't stop glaring. Even Rebecca's cyber could emote. It's like Shepherd has to fight hers to get anything across. "Goddamnit." She whispers again.

"Do you want to live like this?" Rebecca asks, the thought suddenly scary, trying to think what the step after that would be. No-one would believe her if she had to do it. She'd do it though. This was fucking... the thought couldn't finish itself, the health monitor read outs were fucking terrible.

"I think I want to win, more than I want to survive it." Shepherd admits again, locking her eyes onto Rebecca's. Rebecca's seen the posters, they used to be green eyes. "And if everyone else is effective, I'm just a commander. Any one of you can do a part of my job. Better usually." She explains her logic. "I'm the glue. It's gonna get done by you all. I'm just one person. You're all....a brotherhood? Fraternity? I dunno. You trust each other to fight, to win, to do the right thing by each other when it counts. I'm monologuing again nature's healing." She finishes the sentence with a laugh.

"I can't believe I'm going to die to give my family two more months, and she won't even pick up the phone." Rebecca finally whispers.

"Mines here." Shepherd murmurs.

Lucky you. Rebecca pet her head gently. Shepherd needed this. It'd make her better, hopefully, more capable. She wonders if there was an actual suicide mission Rebecca could be put on.

"And I'm gonna get to watch 'em die." Shepherd sighs out, long since accepting that fact.

Rebecca rolls her eyes, "No, you're not. You'll be right there with them when it happens. Probably like... Half? Before you doing something heroic that ultimately means nothing. It'll make people feel very inspired, though."

"I'm really starting to hate that I like you," Sara jokes, leaning onto the pillow with a curious look in her eyes.

"That's extremely common, yes." Rebecca says. This is what I spend my last days doing. Great.

"Do you really feel uncomfortable, for real, with the crew?" Shepherd-No, Sarah asks, it's noticeable when it's one or the other, a difference in tone, confidence, vulnerability.

Just lie. Rebecca rubs her own forehead. She could just deflect, instead of lying. "No, it's just the easiest way to steal all of Joker's attention. Guilt trip the cripple."

"I....you can go home, if you want," Shepherd explains, sighing.

Do I tell her? No. Rebecca doesn't. She has to do this for... everyone else. God and fucking Country and Trees of liberty and all that stupid bullshit. "Ras moved on. I can give her two more months by fighting here." Not a lie, not the point.

"Or if you want," Shepherd states, looking into Rebecca's eyes. "There's something I've been meaning to get to, but there's never enough time. A black site from Cerberus that's gone completely dark." It's definitely Shepherd now, grit and rasp and confidence flooding back in a heady haze, easy to get lost in, easier to follow.

"I don't follow," Rebecca says, clearly following.

"You like a couple people here. And you're stressing every other moment, Rebecca. You hate it here. You'd have left months ago if something wasn't keeping you here." Shepherd explains, "It's not me. You aren't a humanitarian either. And it's certainly not Garrus's new stunning good looks." A joke thrown in to avoid things getting too heavy, it must be instinct by now. "Whatever that something is, you can go on missions. Right? From me. Direct. Ordered. Missions."

"Yeah, but I'm not taking your crew from you." Rebecca says with a sigh, "Don't know what's there, but I'll go. Get ... out of everyone's hair for a bit." Rebecca was a clone. That was kind of funny to be honest. Why does Shepherd care so much?

"You know." Shepherd chuckles, trying to extricate herself from the embrace for just a second, slinking off to grab a bottle of water "This means you aren't crew anymore," then a second, tossing it to Rebecca before sliding back into bed, chuckling at the silly joke, not making any moves herself. "Since you're leaving the Normandy."

A pity fuck might make you feel better about yourself. It has been months. I hate it here so much. She pulls up the omni-tool, and says, "If you have omnigel, I'll let you pick." Holding up a menu.

"You don't like humans." Shepherd rolls her eyes, laying on the pillow with an amused look at the menu of options.

Rebecca twitches the corner of her lip. "Have you seen the other options?"

"True, it's a hard time going back to....whatever the fuck men taste like, and tangy when there's...." Shepherd leans up to the omnitool, "I'm sorry cinnabun? That's an option?" She's baffled.

"Yeah, honestly, that one isn't even like... Secret, advanced tech." Rebecca giggles, "It's made by Sitra. It's just like... A thing guys could get if they got a little less attached to their wang."

"Fiiiiiiine, fuck, one blowjob." Shepherd rolls her eyes, beaming, "But only 'cause you'll taste good."

"Yeah, it's really like Baskin Robins in this bitch." Rebecca said, still flicking through the menu. "Probably shouldn't do the Quad attachment then."

"Isn't that more, you know, fluid?" Shepherd asks.

"It's two pieces," Rebecca says, pointing to the double stack.

"If we get really, really creat-No, stop Shepherd, bad girl, bad." Sarah talks to herself, smacking her own hand.

Rebecca looks at her with a raised eyebrow. "We're going to die soon. Why wouldn't you just fucking go for some shit? Be crazy, who cares?"

"You just wanna be inside me twice, I get it. Lotsa people want that." Shepherd giggles, flicking through the options herself.

"I do not think lots of people want to attach a cream sicle rope blaster with two nozzles to DP you. That seems like an extremely specific thing." Rebecca says looking at her.
 
02.16.05 - The moon controls the tide, it can cause you to drown
# Part 5

Hey if you're reading this at work listen up!
The entire thread is NSFW by default, but maybe your work is more progressive!
The following content may be more explicit than your average update!
The next slide has trigger warnings for those who need them.
Vanilla Sex Scene
Hate sex

"So you admit you want to DP me." Sarah selects Quad, and then turns the size slider all the way right.

Rebecca nods firmly, "Yes, it was uh. Great. Like. Great. Krogans rule."

"I'm superb in bed, by the way. Like, really, really good." Shepherd chuckles again, scrolling through, "I made an Asari Matriarch faint."

"Wait, so have I." Rebecca said, looking at her with a bit of shock, "But also I can just like... Turn certain parts off. So... We may be here a while."

"Well Rebecca. You have a once in a lifetime opportunity here. A physical way to stop me from not following your instructions." Sarah observes her selections, confirming every slider is at maximum setting.

"Jesus christ." Rebecca says looking at the omnitool, "Are you insane?"

"You can make sure I can't walk for a day." Sarah gives a horrifyingly dangerous grin, "And I'll do the same." The red glow on her features stresses every single smile Sarah makes.

Fuck, I make that face. Rebecca smiles, "Is this a one-time thing? Or an application for a long-term position?"

"If we're both alive and meet back up because the world is saved, yes, Rebecca." Sarah's moving, resting herself atop Rebecca's breathing exercises already preparing, well experienced with every part of this. Hips rocking against Rebecca in slow, preparatory motions.

"Okay, well, jokes on you, the Quad is already attached." Rebecca says with a deep breath, "Mostly because like. Feels... Different? Good."

"You like having one? Huh, cool, more power to you." Sarah nods, leaning away to tug off her tank-top, revealing generous assets, a muscular stomach, and so many scars and old injuries they created a patchwork art-piece of violent history. Cut, bullets, burns, and explosions all marked with lines of red cyber glinting here or there.

Rebecca hadn't really thought about what that really meant. As the realisation came, it was quickly stuffed away for a time when she wasn't on a suicide mission. "Oh, pretty..." Rebecca said suddenly, reaching out almost immediately to touch the hyloids and abrasion patches. Her eyes were wide and smiling, staring at the wounds. "So pretty*."

"Thanks. I think you're pretty too," Shepherd answers, touching the ringlets on the pillow next to Rebecca, "Your hair's the prettiest I've ever seen." She smiles, lowering to face level, pursing her lips. "You like kissing?" Sarah whispers quietly, seeking permission.

"I like... Well everything but getting hurt. That shit, suuuuucks." Rebecca admits quietly, "Even when I do that with my partners, it's very light. I have an extremely low pain tolerance."

"Okay, I won't do any of that. Bitings off too then?" Sarah asks, lowering an inch more. Warm breath that smells like strawberry mint hitting Rebecca's nose.

"Biting is different." Rebecca whispered, "If we have medigel, you can tear my throat out." She moved her head up to catch Shepherd's lips. Gently letting them overlap. It's been awhile since Rebecca's kissed a human. Unfamiliarly familiar features and soft and hard spots trace on her tongue as Shepherd untied the back of Rebecca's hospital gown while Sarah's own bra clasp is worked at deftly in turn. The article of clothing fell away to reveal more scars.

She presses in once the gowns ties fall away, chest to chest with the kiss separating in a mix of flavours and smiles, saliva dripping between the two of them in long strings as Shepherd laughs, leaning back in with a press of her lips to Rebecca's neck, lapping, licking and suckling to leave a mark while her hips grind against the member between her legs, making it swell and grow to a size that'd be intimidating to anyone else, pulling groans from Rebecca with the constant, subtle pleasure.

Sarah's worshipping the taller woman's body, letting her tongue trace over every feature, every scar on her neck, down her sternum and onto a breast, nibbling at a peak, before moving onto the next as one hand strokes up and down Rebecca's side, practically whispering its touch up the pronounced muscles there.

Shepherd's painfully, enticingly, entrancingly slow, the room lights dimming with a barely visible omnitool command to let her nearly vanish into dark as her tongue laps down Rebecca's abdomen, drawing shivers from the warm, sensual contact. One hand moves low before the other follows, stroking down Rebecca's thighs with care to make sure every inch is touched, felt and appreciated. Truly exploring her new partner.

Rebecca can feel both tips brush against her and Shepherd's abdomens as the other woman lowers, staying tightly pressed. Can feel them get higher with an almost painful, anxious wait that creeps all the way up the woman's spine, heartbeat racing like a starfighter in a dogfight, pumping blood and hydraulic fluid all throughout her.

One hand wraps around the first staff with a confident grin stretching across Sarah's face revealed as Rebecca's eyes get used to the light. The other hand idly plays with the glans of the second, sending bursts of pleasure up. She rests her cheek against them, breathing in and out while slowly stroking up and down, easing into the rhythm while turning her face.

Lips brush against the first one, warm, wet and soft. She runs them up and down its length, smiling all the while until Sarah is now at the tip and grinning again. A tongue slowly lolls out, licking at the tip before tracing down the length again. Staring for a reaction of any kind, delighting in the twitches she can produce.

"What's your refractory like?" Sarah idly asks, letting herself drool over the member, making it glisten with her saliva even as it drips down her chin.

"Uh... It's just a button." Rebecca admits though she's finding it hard to be her normal chatty self, "I don't ngh. even really have to finish. Though hah. they won't let me have the finish button because apparently you just like... Use it until you die."

"Mhm, Imagine that." Sarah chuckles before opening her mouth and taking the tip into it with some difficulty. It's warm and wet, feeling astonishingly good as her tongue flicks and works, cheeks sucking in in a way that stimulates every part of Rebecca's member in her mouth. She breathes in and then pushes down. The staff slowly, filling her mouth fully and then making Rebecca gasp as she can see Sarah's throat start to shift and stretch with the length, tiny tremors passing through it in a way that makes her shiver.

Shepherd slowly raises up, letting the first one pop out of her mouth, the audible noise, and sensation of Rebecca's arousal being exposed to cold air powerful in its own right. "You like that?" Sarah rhetorically asks, going down to the second one, licking, suckling and intaking it slowly, luxuriously languishing in the feeling of fullness it gives her, the taste on her tongue making her smile despite an aching jaw as she finally separates out from them, seeming to consider something.

"On a scale of one to ten, how safe is it for you to cum in my mouth?" She asks, staring at the Quad with a significant, terrifying interest.

"I almost drowned a woman." Rebecca gasps, clutching the bedsheets. "But that was mostly because I forgot to let go. It's... All ingestible."

"Luckily for both of us," Sarah murmurs, grabbing one of Rebecca's arms and placing it firmly on the back of her head, "I don't die of that anymore. I just choke." There's a deranged look in her eye as she forces Rebecca's hand to tighten on her silky, smooth hair.

"Don't let me waste a drop." She whispers before diving, and then bobbing rapidly, gagging sounds and lewd wet noises emanating from her as she pushes Rebecca to the edge at a sprint, other hand greedily pumping at the second erection, pointing it to her chest, moving with a purpose and an excitement. Rebecca's hand tightens on her hair as her hips start to pump and buck, saliva spilling out as Sarah starts to cough but refuses to stop.

There's a precarious barrier they both slam though, a tidal wave of sparks ripping through Rebecca in a nigh-cosmic feeling, brightness appearing behind her eyelids as her eyes snap shut and a choked gasp escapes her, Sarah bottoming out as fluid in vast quantities coats her front in sweet blue gel that sticks and is warm. She gasps and chokes, shivering and staring into Rebecca's eyes throughout, open or not until, finally, with a strangled cry of release, a single panting gasp, the taller woman relaxes.

Sarah coughs as she moves off Rebecca's length, loudly swallowing what wasn't already down her throat, not one drop escaping her mouth as she grins. "You still with us?" She giggles, stroking Rebecca back to hardness.

"Marry me." Rebecca muttered, You have to stop saying that, Rebecca. Before quickly tapping the reset button on her omnitool.

"Date me first, Becky." Shepherd chuckles, biting her lip in excitement as she watches both staffs rise to life, breath accelerating again as she imagines the future.

Now very much aware that 'great' was a much higher ceiling than she had ever reached, asked, nervously "Uh. Can I... Later can I be. Up?" Oh, what the actual fuck Rebecca. All confidence had left her, truly.

"Yeah, you can right now if you want," Sarah says with a smile. Leaning on her side to let Rebecca get overtop of her, kicking off her shorts to reveal broadly muscled hips, and a fully shaved body.

Rebecca nods, and then struggles in the same way one might struggle with a phone charger in a power outlet, able to get half the prongs in, if only the other didn't keep getting in the way. Nerves got to her, and she gasped when she finally had got both lined up, being followed with a pleased chuckle by Sarah. Realizing again how great it was that other races seemed to handle lubrication by all genders. Once properly aligned, there was a kind of feral intensity in Rebecca.

She wanted something; she wanted to go and she didn't want to stop as she pressed a button. Rebecca was strong, and she found it quite easy to lift the speared woman. Quickly she reached out for a pillow and placed it under Shepherd, mostly following the instincts of what she'd prefer than any real experience. There was no buildup, just a sudden, ragged, raw intensity that made wet slaps and tiny moans escape Rebecca.

"Fuck," Shepherd lets out with a moan that drags and excitedly peaks as she tries to angle herself, feeling the shocks of impact ripple through her cybernetic body, rippling through visibly in a heaving chest and afterglow of cybernetic eyes.

There was no sense of stopping, and she realised she could do more, moving her hands from Sarah's waist to where her legs bent, getting a better grip and better handles to continue, her fingers pressing into the top of Sarah's thighs as she pulled her down onto hard sudden smacks. With a constant ever present rhythm that doesn't stop, there are multiple claps every second, it seems. Again and again and again she pushes. The sensation of dominance matches the physical pleasure.

Rebecca looked down at the other woman and felt strong, watching her body react and move because she was moving it. Her grip, her muscles, her stamina. In total control. Feeling the wet combined slick against her dual lengths made it hard to think, or speak, or really sense her surroundings outside of the need to push and pull. She wanted to reach out, but she couldn't without letting go. Eventually Rebecca switched to one hand on Sarah's abdomen, as she pressed another button and her entire pelvis buzzed with a roiling, heated, internal motor that's purpose seemed entirely to vibrate as hard as possible.

She was still nervous, however; she felt selfish in some ways. She hadn't really made any attempt to do much for Sarah, she just didn't have much more complex thoughts than seeing what being locked out at ninety-five percent edge meant. It was intense, but she didn't want to stop.

"There." Shepherd hisses as Rebecca's shifting hits a spot, "There, God, there!" Her back arches and her grip is iron as the vibration and length hits the right point over and over again. Latching onto Rebecca with a greedy fever of need.

Rebecca at least knew that there meant don't change a thing, and as a military woman knew rote repetition, as she continued, freezing all attempts at experimentation outside of what was asked. Her hands were free, however, which meant she could reach down and the feeling of her soft chest under her hand made her gasp slightly. She didn't want to let go. There was a darker urge to move the hand to her throat that had to desperately be beaten back.

She could probably ask. If she was brave. "Can I... Squeeze your... throat a little." Rebecca asked as she continued.

"Y-y-ngh." Sarah's trying to get the words out, and growls, grabbing Rebecca's hand instead and forcing it onto her -throat, making the other woman feel keloid and burn mark in an odd, fan shape facing downwards.

Ok, so this is a moment where you need self control. Rebecca also considered, however, that Shepherd said she didn't die from air deprivation. You could snap it. Anything was survivable with love.

She started light at least, until the colour in Shepherd's face got a little flush, and that quickly tightened, then she moved the other hand there and used both together to slam the woman down onto herself like a hammer with a stubborn nail. Rebecca was getting frustrated that she couldn't go harder or faster although bruises were appearing on both of them.

And like an angel, Shepherd gasps out, "I-I'm close, go, go, just go."The noise is choked and quiet, barely getting out past the grip as pale flesh met pale flesh, Sarah's red eyes gleaming in the dark as her mouth hung open from the treatment, the pleasure, and the joy.*

Oh no, this is go. This is all the go I have! Rebecca had a sharp moment where she knew she'd need to try something and hoped to god biotics could be used this way as she whispered under her breath. "charge?" The force is bone shaking. Shepherd loses it, clamping down and screaming out as a two dozen thrusts slam into her in a second of sped up motion. The limiter is agony at this point, feeling more like a vice on Rebecca's soul than anything physical as Shepherd rattles and flexes in tune with a hidden, ecstatic song.

Rebecca definitely recognised that tune as she whispered and made a low hum to turn off the limited setting. Completely unaware of what that would mean for her until it was too late. She thinks for a moment she might faint and can taste colours and hear smells.

It's a chaotic blur of touch as Rebecca comes back to life some few minutes later, wrapped in Sarah's arms, receiving kisses to her lips, jaw, and cheek as she says, "You did great Becky. That was fantastic. You're great at this." Idle compliments as she gently cares for her partner, showing an easy grasp of affection as she giggles with every shift and motion, wet all over both of their laps, the scent of sex and sweets heavy in the air.

Becky barely paid attention to the kisses as she reset everything. "Okay, twelve more times. Maybe twenty."

"Why not an even twenty-five?" Shepherd giggles, throwing her leg overtop Rebecca.

"Twenty-six is even." Rebecca grins back.
 
02.17.01 - AWOL
"The hell is this place?" A raspy feminine voice comes out of a fully enclosed N7 hard-suit, mass accelerator pistol raised at the surrounding misty mess of the black site. Everything's coated in a white, energised mist that is flickering and making sensors complain and fritz out.

Rebecca looks at Shepherd and then back to the misty room. She muttered to herself from the open door she was peering through. "I've... Been here before." She whispered, confused. Though she had to take a pot-shot once again for the fifteenth time in the last two hours, "I can't believe it was that good you had to come planet side with me."

"You're learning quick." Sarah chuckles, "Next time, we'll try turian. You could do a lot of good with ribs." She idly comments, staring at the environment with a concerned look as a corpse appears next to her, not there a second ago. "Fuck me." Shepherd whispers.

Rebecca's eyes narrowed, and she opened fire, once, on the corpse to make sure it wasn't a husk. Or some other creature. Also to make herself feel better about the jump scare. It was cathartic.

It looks human, grizzly chunks torn out of its chest by teeth and claws of some horrible alien monster. She's wearing, or was, a cloth tunic and pants that looked hand stitched. The bullets pass straight through and slam into the concrete behind as she vanishes in a ripple of white mist.

"Normandy, this is Shepherd. We're looking at a possible seal-penetrating hallucinogen. Do not send down support." Sarah is quick on the draw, covering her team in case this is her first assumption, while Rebecca has something odd play on her tongue, like a presence or an electricity* in the air. It tastes like a battery.

Rebecca quickly crosses the space to Shepherd, "I... Haven't felt like this since I killed Jeff Bezos." She muttered looking around. "You good? Did you see it too? Or was I just shooting at air to you?"

"Shooting at suspiciously person shaped air. Jeff who? I don't actually care that's just an interesting name." Shepherd says, turning a corner with her pistol, going deeper into the cold concrete, cracked with alien vines and plants growing through it.

Rebecca nods, walking along with her. Staying close, "That was the trigger for me coming here. I thought it was a dissociative episode. I uh... I killed ten cops fled the courthouse and ran over the richest man in the world" Rebecca was recapping fast, trying to stop any possible questions, "Then a giant orb tentacle fucked me, I woke up in a room of concrete, mist, and vines. Then Kicked a door, passed out, and woke up face down, ass up in front of a Turian who I domme'd by being insanely unhinged and broken." I knew it wasn't cryo, I fucking knew it. No-one believed me but I knew it.

"You know, if you woke up in front of me like that, we coulda skipped a lot of things." Shepherd chuckles as her helmet looks around now, having made it through a doorway, punching in Cerberus access codes to see a much denser fog.

"Wait," Rebecca said, "Look into the room because when the last door opened I didn't have a choice once I crossed the threshold."

Shepherd stops, staring at the threshold with a concerned tilt of her helmet, "Seems like a doorway. I can see furniture in the other room. A sign that says reactor chamber. Or maybe reaction chamber. Fogs thick, type fonts small."

Rebecca shrugged suddenly. "Sorry. I'm being stupid then. Forget the crazy Bezos shit." She sounded crazy. This made little sense, at all. It was just petrichor.

Rebecca shoots her gun behind them. Pumping a round into the ground where a corpse is laying, Shepherd snaps her attention to it as Rebecca does as well. The Shepherd and Rebecca behind them stare back, meeting eyes and raising weapons.

"So." Rebecca near the door said, "So... We're not going to shoot each other, right?"

The Rebecca near the corpse keeps pointing her gun however, "I don't know, are we? You shot at us!"

There's a thickening of mist, and the two others disappear. Shepherd gasps suddenly. "Shit, that feels weird. Fucking hell." Shaking her head with aggravation as a flicker of biotic energies pulse out of her. "Its like...everything's stretchy. Fucking, ugh. Taffy world." She's not making much sense to anyone but herself as it stands.

"Sorry, did you see and aim your gun at clones of us in the past or some shit?" Rebecca asked quickly.

"I did fucking see that. My helmet camera saw that. The Normandy saw that." Sarah grits her teeth behind the helmet, controlling her breathing.

That made Rebecca look back to Sarah, "What uh... Does Tali or... Whose our science people?! What does anyone make of that?!" Though she also reaches out a reassuring hand and gently pats Shepherd's back. "For whatever reason, they never patched me into the comms."

"They...nevermind. Let's reach the end of this before I decide to have Normandy tear it in half." Shepherd sighs, "Mordin's looking at it. Tali's feeding him sensor data with Garrus. They'll figure it out." She assures Rebecca while her pistol raises to point into the thickly fogged room.

Under her breath in a quiet shitty tone, Rebecca mutters, "Yes, I'm sure they'll take care of you. I'll probably get... Left behind or something."

"Shhh, I'll take care of you." Sarah chuckles, tossing a glance behind her and winking through the helmets polarised visor, before pushing into the room, turning a corner hard to clear one half.

"Wait, wait." Rebecca says quickly, tossing out a rope from her omnitool, printing it out and hooking it into her hard-suit. "Shepherd? Sarah?!"

"What." A second later, a helmet pops out from around the corner.

Rebecca is "I just. Feel nervous." She said quickly, paranoid, handing her the rope. Then taking it back. "That's stupid. This is stupid."

"Yeah, we've got better ways of doing that. Get close." Shepherd says, flicking on a magnetic latch on her suit on.

Rebecca blushed a little. She had chose to simply hug Shepherd, before realising she meant something much different as the magnetic latch took hold. "Ah. Ah. Fug."

The Commander moves ahead into the room again, pulling Rebecca with her, finding nothing but a heavily misted cafeteria nearby a room called "Reaction Chamber" that Shepherd immediately focuses on, using that instinct of hers to always find the right way. "I've got a bad feel-That's stupid, I'm getting paranoid." Sarah cuts herself off, staring at the heavy steel door, reinforced with alloys and lead as well as a heavy kinetic barrier.

"I mean." Rebecca says looking at the door and then back to Shepherd, "You ever heard of the Elephant's foot? Big hunk of melted slag off of Chernobyl. People went to clean it up, but it was so radioactive, they all died in the hour."

"Yeah, covered it in Marine RHSC, radiation hazard safety classes. They buried them in concrete 'cause the bodies would have emptied neighbourhoods." Shephard answers with a grit of her voice.

Rebecca nodded. "And we're in a concrete building. That's a reactor room."

"And if it's radioactive, we'd have seen it from space. Or we're dead. Either way, though." Shepherd moves to the door, typing in the primary override code. "I'm curious."

"Curiosity killed the cat," Rebecca muttered darkly, and she kneeled behind some cover, with her weapon at the ready.

Shepherd replied, "Finding out brought her back..."

The door opens with a hiss of metal releasing air. The fog is thick, thicker still there. The room is massive, a living thing the centrepiece of the colossal chamber. It's gelatinously built, like a living foam of undulating pustules and tumours stretching out of a white void-black hole that aches to stare at and hurts to even imagine.

It's pulsing out more of the mist every second, the creature respiring it to live, nearly thirty feet tall and broad, a limpet onto the reactor chamber that's long since torn open.

"Well. This is pleasant." Rebecca said, looking at the gross pimples. There's a universe where Rebecca had, through her many trials, became hyper aware of danger and used keen observation, with cunning intelligence to navigate and investigate any issues. In that universe, she most likely would have gone a very different path. One that didn't land her on a pimple farm in a Cerberus reactor.

Sadly, this Rebecca, only really had three ways of investigating something. Looking at it. Flirting with it, or extreme violence. Seeing that the creature looked like a dangerous pustule, that meant it wouldn't respond to flirting. It only made sense, at least in Rebecca's mind, that there was only one more way to investigate the problem.

She lifted her gun, and open fired on one of the pustules.

"Damnnit Rebecca!" Shephard shouts as the gunshots rattle out, detonating fragmentary pellets on the pustule and ripping it apart.

"What?" Rebecca says to Shephard, "That was the most logical course of action."

The horror moves. Thirty feet of flesh shifting and coming off the reactor, a flat, empty eyed face on the underneath with no mouth staring dangerously, or dully at Rebecca as more fog flows out. Sparking and rippling out from the monster's mouthless body like an emanation.

"Oh, sorry." Rebecca said quickly to the empty eyed face. "I thought it was like..." She didn't really know what she thought would happen.

It creeps off the reactor silently, the entire mass of easily over ten thousand pounds moving quieter than a mouse as Shepherd raises her own accelerator pistol, "Damnit Rebecca!" She hisses as the monster nears.

"Wait, it hasn't done anything aggressive yet." Rebecca said quickly, "It might just be like... On a stroll."

"I don't think it's on a STROLL!" Sarah shouts as the creature's entire centre opens up into a lightless space, two blinking globes of attraction flaring in its cavity.

"Uh, hello?" Rebecca asked the globes, "Hi?" Oh. This is how I die.

Shephard tackles Rebecca as beams of light escape the orbs, silently tearing a furrow up the concrete, nothingness made light, destroying everything in their path as it vibrates without a sound. "Start shooting!" Shepherd barks.

Rebecca put her mass accelerator away and pulls out her launcher. Firing multiple rockets at the remaining flesh. She kneels low as she fires ready to leap out of the way, nerves racked. "Most shit with a face talks." Rebecca tried to explain away the stupidity.

The detonations of the rockets are oddly muted, shrapnel silently spilling out of the explosions and ripping at its flesh while heavy slugs bark out of Shepherds' own pistol, taking ball sized chunks out of the monster with each shot. It turns and makes a noise.

A horrid, mind numbing, eye screeching and soul-crushing wail that makes Rebecca flash to a car crash, then a room, then every living, breathing moment she's had in this place in a horrid instant memory, the events no matter how large or small burn into short-term memory all at once.

"Oh, I fucking hate you." Rebecca growled, "Singularity, Lash." She stuck her hand out to shatter it with biotics.

A point of black-light appears in the creatures gullet, pulling it inwards as the wail itself is silenced by infinite gravity, and a second later, a biotic whip sets it off in a detonation of incoherent physics, dark energy spilling out to make the creature shape oddly, achieving an oblong structure though still not dying. If it can even die.

It starts to silently move backwards, sticky, horrid tumorous things that look like the beginnings to an appendage dragging it along the floor like a legless lizard or mudskipper, moving towards the white point in space deathly silent, trailing purple ichor that flickers with odd light.

"Oh no fuck that," Rebecca shouted, as she fired more missiles into its backside, before dropping the launcher and opening fire on the pustules with assault rifle fire. The biotics were still charging, but she felt like that was what made it run.

Shepherd shouts, having pulled out of a memory of her own with a gasp and screams with effort, a stasis hitting the creature, biotic force grabbing at its hulking mass and freezing it to let Rebecca's rounds and missiles build up, slowed to a crawl two feet from the thing, as a cloud of pellets and three rockets loom nearer and nearer.

Then, with another noise of effort, a biotic warp is flung, twisting gravity sent out and made into a thousand flensing blades, striking the frozen spacetime and making it groan in a horrific agony, the stasis giving way to detonation as missiles, dark energy, and mass accelerator rounds mix in a gloriously violent injury of the horror.

It stumbles aside, bottom half coming off and sloughing away into nothing but skin and deathly bone before the top half tries to escape one more time. "Biotics! Its weak to dark energy! End it!" Sarah roars to Rebecca as capacitors come online for Singularity, Lash, Charge, a pleasant VI voice informing her of it.

"Acceleration ten, Singularity, Lash, Charge" Then she flash forged a blade as well. This was time for something old and reliable. Knives. She rushed forward covered in dark energy, time slowing down as the singularity started to pick, prick, and shape the fleshy, undulating mass. Exploding it with a whip crack as another lash comes out, more huge chunks appear on the top and near the spine. Then she leaps through the air to stomp through it, her omni blade coming down to carve and tear and rip.

It falls apart; the creature comeing undone as Rebecca stabs it, and then. A second later. There's a flash, something technical sounding, like a whirring of wires moving.

A ball hits the ground nearby, smooth, metallic, and silvery, more like an egg really. It rolls towards Rebecca.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, RUN." Rebecca screams, sprinting away from the egg. "No no no no."

Sarah breaks into a sprint, not needing a reason to trust her subordinates. But the object-Creature really doesn't slow down, and every time Rebecca looks over her shoulder as they pound through concrete hallways at a cyborgs pace, it seems closer, and closer, and closer. Wires spilling out.

"Stay close to me," Rebecca yelled, looking at the wires in abject terror. "Maybe it can't take two people."

"What!?" Sarah shouts back as the wires spread and wrap around her legs, "Fuck!" She shouts, pulled down and towards the egg fast.

Rebecca yells "Charge, Acceleration ten!" Causing the weak capacitors to sputter with an incomplete charge as she leaps backwards to land on the wire ball. It was better if Shepherd stayed. Rebecca had done this before. It was... Easy really. She tried to leap past into the egg.

"No!" Shepherd impacts Rebecca, having leapt for her when the wires pulled off her leg and turned to Rebecca, the little thing clever enough to go for a softer target. They both tumble away, and then pain creeps in. Rebecca looks over and sees wires hooking into Shepherd's thigh and her hip. The squirming mass once again finding its way through every inch.

"Told you. Tentacle fucked." Rebecca moaned as it started to carve and scrape and tear, "Fuck this hurt really bad last time."

"I can tell!" Shepherd hisses, grabbing onto Rebecca while three shoved through her ribs.

Rebecca groaned as one hit her neck, the only remaining task to just hold on to Shepherd, "It gets worse."

There's a point where the light gets too bright. Rebecca grabs on despite the flaring pain, pushing Sarah to her chest and covering the nape of Shepherd's neck with her hands, feeling building sensations. Pain, light. Twisting undulating shapes of which no one could describe reached out to the two of them, one of their number gone.
 
02.17.02 - AWOL
Concrete floor surrounds Rebecca and Shepherd. Aged, cracked and yet not grown through with any life. Dust hanging and falling from them in repeating images that are only now seemingly identical. Like a looped video in three-dimensional space.

"Damnit! Where is this!?" Sarah's on her feet in a second, pointing a gun at four doors of white wood and brass hinges.

"Some sorta like, do not touch anything." Rebecca says as Shepherd moves towards a door. "It's like a... Crossroad. Or some shit. This is all the shit I told you about. The tentacle fuck egg. The doors. The mist."

"So which door'd you take?" Sarah immediately asks. Looking around at four unmarked, featureless doors.

"Uh, this is a different room." Rebecca says pointing, "There was moss and shit everywhere. I also kicked the fuck out of the door so it would have been all dirty and shit."

"Fuck!" Shepherd shouts, collapsing to the ground with a gasp of exertion, biotic use, and pain catching up with her suddenly.

"Yeah," Rebecca says sadly, sitting next to her. It was a refrain she used a lot lately, "Yeah..." She pulled out a clove from her omnitool, and hands one to Shepard while lighting her own. "Good news is. We can get back, and it's time travel, so we got all the time to get back."

"Oh. That's less bad." Shephard takes the clove, unlocking her helmet and smoking it.

Rebecca nods, "I went from two-thousand-something. This it was the tens. Locked in a room for a long time." Rebecca admitted, "Also didn't super care. Might have been the twenties, to twenty-two hundred. All my newspapers and shit were still in the archives. Might be prothean time travel tech. Maybe that's how they escaped the reapers."

"They didn't. Collectors are prothean husks." Shephard sighs, staring at the ceiling as the cigarette smoke rises from her mouth and ember.

"Ah." Rebecca says pretending to tug on her hard suit's collar, sticking her index finger into the rubber. "The way the chairs are facing, that was the way that lead to, uh. Your time."

Shepherd slinks up and moves to the door, trying the handle. It doesn't budge an inch. She growls and kicks it; it doesn't budge.

"Stop!" Rebecca says running to be next to her. "I don't want to be locked in here because you're running around doing shit without me next to you. Now, you can continue to kick the door. It took like, five? A shitton I was throwing a temper tantrum."

"Damnit. The door isn't opening." Shepherd rips at it with cybernetic strength, gives it a shoulder and even shoots at it, resulting in a pellet dangerously bouncing around the room. "Why! Won't! It! OPEN!" She kicks it one last time and only succeeds in sprawling herself.

It seemed stupid, at least to Rebecca, but she felt she should also try the handle, just in case. That's what normally happened in the cartoons she watched. Well, some of them, most of them involved tentacles. She gently reached out to the door handle and tried to twist it gently.

The door doesn't budge.

"Ah well, thought I might be a chosen one or some shit." Rebecca admits taking another puff of her cigarette, gently touching other door handles, just a quarter turn if that.

The first one she touches creaks open. Slowly revealing a blinding white interior.

"No, no," Rebecca shouts immediately, slamming the door shut. "Okay! Not all the doors are locked!"

"Where do they lead?" Shepherd asks with a grit to her voice.

"I don't know!" Rebecca admits with a dejected sigh, "But... We've got time to just think. Before we open a door. We don't need to just... Rush... Look, I woke up in Omega."

Was it so bad, though? Sure, it was a violent criminal pirate station, but within seconds of waking up, she found someone who loved her until the day she left. She found companionship, a family, healing, new skills, new abilities. Opening the door wasn't bad for Rebecca. She was just scared of something new. A lot of times that kept happening. It was the real reason she didn't try to get along with the Normandy crew.

Well, that and the communications thing. "Why did you tell Ashley I wasn't allowed on Normandy comms?"

"I did not say that." Shepherd sounds insulted.

"Sick." Rebecca said with a snort, "At least my pure, unadulterated, despise wasn't unfounded." She inhaled her cigarette again. And again. Slowly letting it finish before dropping it to the ground. "My launcher is empty. I think it's better to recycle it for omnigel, right?"

"Yeah, I hope we land somewhere fucking populated." Shepherd says with a calming breath, "Yeah, okay. New plan, get home, easy, just another hurdle." The woman clarifies to herself the future, sets it in stone.

Rebecca nods turning the empty and useless gear she had into omnigel quickly, letting it be recycled. Then looking around the room and picking up one of the steel chairs, turns that into omnigel, or at least tries to. "You got anything to recycle?"

"Not really. I don't haul around heavy ordinance." Sarah says, sighing as she cracks her neck, limbering up again.

"Puuuuuusssssssss." Rebecca says back with a small smile. "Alright, fuck it Alphonse zee or whatever."

"You do realise I have an omnitool too? One of these days I'm gonna pin you to the bed," Sarah retorts with an amused stare.

Rebecca nods with a knowing smile, "Yeah, I know, you'll need to. You'd get crazed without knowing where I was."

"My sweet summer child." Sarah chuckles.

"Wait, that made it to the future? The last season sucked." Rebecca said with a small touch of her chin.

"Its just something my parents said. It stuck." Sarah shrugs, "anyway, as I was saying, I've already put the tracker in." She shows her omnitool, REBECCA TRACKER 01-03 listed on it.

"Oh. I put mine in on Omega when I stabbed you." Rebecca admitted, showing ROTTEN BITCH 01.

"God, why didn't I fuck you earlier?" Sarah mutters, finding the tracker exquisite for some reason, biting her bottom lip hard.

Rebecca was confused, but nodded. "Well, for one I said no once, but I didn't really think you were serious. Which helped to say no."

"If I just dropped to my knees and threw my shirt off, you'd probably have done it." Sarah says, starting to randomly stare between the doors.

"Wanna a roll dice? I could make a d-four?" Rebecca offered, "God I was so jealous of you, but you're just me like... Worse."

"Excuse you? I distinctly remember kicking your ass." Sarah bites back. "Miss suicide charge."

"I kicked my ass," Rebecca corrected, "I was going for the goal, not the kill."

Shepherd grins, "You were struggling and gasping underneath me, and went for an EMP when you realised you were losing."

"I didn't hit you once." Rebecca said, "Because I didn't want to hurt you."

"Swing like a bitch." Shepherd chuckles.

She wants you to swing. If you swing, you lose. Don't lose. Rebecca took a calming breath.

"This is just gonna be like the choking, isn't it. Can't manage it." Shepherd grins wildly.

Rebecca looked at her with more terror than shock. "Your neck snapped sideways. I vomited! It was scary."

"I didn't cum, did I?" Sarah fires back with a crazed look.

Rebecca was falling into the game again. "Oh, I distinctly remember that not being true."

Shepherd finds the new avenue immediately. "Couple weeks with cocks and you already can't tell a fake orgasm apart. Tsk tsk tsk."

"Why would you fake that?" Rebecca said suddenly, "Why would anyone fake that??!"

"Tsk, tsk tsk." Shepherd continues.

Rebecca looked at her, "That's not really a thing, right?"

"Uh. What? Fake orgasms? Yeah." Sarah suddenly frowns with an amused quirk to her lips.

"Why?!" Rebecca asks, though now realises that neither of them have talked about the... Bad thing. "Oh... Did we talk about my lack of world knowledge, and vast gaps in... Everything?"

"Also, uh. You know I'm nearly thirty-two, right?" Shepherd says with a concerned look.

"No." Rebecca said, looking her up and down, "Do you know I'm twenty-six?"

"Oh thank god." Sarah breathes out.

"What does that mean?!" Rebecca is incensed now.

"I was terrified you were like twenty!" Sarah explains, "I'd have felt so bad."

"What's wrong with?" Rebecca touched on half of her face and then sat on the ground. Why were there so many fucking rules about anything? "Ras was twenty-something?"

"Its fine for you. But like." Sarah starts.

"Okay, but like the matriarch was eight hundred, the fucking krogan was a hundred and twenty. I think Camlos the Twink, I mean turian, was in his forties or something," Rebecca says waving her hands around gesturing.

"That's so weird to me," Shepherd mutters, "Like, consciously, I get different species age differently, and a fling's a fling, but for relationships? Like us? God, I can't imagine a difference that big."

"That's so like... Something-ist. I'm not sure what. Once you're like... Some age, it shouldn't matter." Rebecca mutters angrily.

"Oh yeah, sure, like, I can fuck a fifty year old. But if you do it, it's weird. Cause you're not thirty yet," Sarah explains.

"I'm two-hundred something." Rebecca says very much lying, as time travel would never count.

"Nah, you're twenty six, literally a human, just now, like, this year. You made human this year." Sarah grins.

"I'm... I think I'm going to shoot you now. Do we have medigel?" Rebecca growled. "I'm not hu—" Then she touched her eyes again. What the fuck Rebecca.

"We have a limited supply of medigel. And I heard that." Sarah sits down next to Rebecca. "Okay, I don't like the doors. Imma be a hundred with you. The doors freak me out."

"No, yeah, doors give me the creeps, but we can't sit here until we starve. I want to hold hands though." Rebecca says immediately. If there was one benefit of her odd detention filled awkward life, it was the way she had been built up by Lisa to immediately state her wants in a relationship.

"Definitely. I'll be a big handhold spoon. I was considering like kissing, but I dunno if the air's breathable." Sarah says with a concerned look, "Maybe a BJ if you go small." She considers.

"Maybe oxygen is one of the omnitool settings." Rebecca snorted.

"You wanna cum oxygenated liquid down my throat?" Sarah looks both impressed and interested at the innovative idea, staring at Rebecca.

"... No. Not right this second, not ever. Well... maybe not ever." Rebecca takes a deep breath.

"We should do it in uniform at some point. Gimme your hand." Sarah reaches out.

Rebecca grabbed her hand immediately, and then said, "Oh my god yes. I talk big shit about the authority thing. Have you seen yourself in the hard suit? It's like a microkini fucked a latex gimp-suit."

"And armour-plated the kid, yeah. It's sexy." Sarah looks between the doors one more time, picking the second one, counting clockwise from the door that leads home. "Lets go with that one. If it's a bad one, I'll apologise." She says, staring at it with apprehension.

"Ok. Uh. Just in case. I love you." Rebecca says, regretting it instantly knowing that it makes everything more intense.

"Oh, uh, wow. That's fast. Uh." Sarah is a little baffled.

"Oh, holy shit, is that fast? No, I take it back. Shut up. Shut up." Rebecca thinks about reaching for her gun.

"I mean, I guess not for like, chicks, but you have a penis-Well, you are still a chick. Let's go on some more dates and try that again, yeah?" Shepherd offers.

"I didn't mean it," Rebecca groans quietly to herself, "Shut up. Shut up."

"You're cool, Rebecca, don't worry about it." Shepherd offers a compliment.

"I'm so dumb," Rebecca said, grabbing the door handle and slowly turning it.. "Fucking god I hope I die."

"Who's gonna break my pelvis if you do?" Shepherd's hand tightens on Rebecca's with a grin through the helmet.

"Shut up." Rebecca kicked the door open in her normal, impulsive way.

Then, there was a bright flash of light.
 
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