Thirst Unending: A Romp of Sugar and Stimulants from Omega to the Endless Hunt to the Mojave Desert. BOOK 3 Begins! Lets smooch a cleric beast!

[Princess Scribe]

Rebecca went back to the trap house the next day, and stomped around a bit, "Hello?" She was sad, and a little broken.

"Um, hi, take two steps forward, ten degree turn, step forward, go into the door, open it with more than two seconds of opening time or whatever, just make it take two seconds or more to fully open." Ras starts to babble, barely able to keep herself together.

Rebecca followed the instructions very carefully, though the last one was confusing. What does two seconds to open even mean. She hoped to get it meant holding the knob for two seconds. That didn't seem right, maybe it meant a two-count on opening it? Like ... Two seconds in transit? You could just ask. You could just sit on it and spin.

Ras adds, "It's, uh, a cleanroom."

"That ... " Rebecca takes a deep breath, "Oh, uh ... " She does as she's told and steps into a make shift airlock that's been built into the apartment. It made her a little sad, because she still wanted Ras to move into the condo that her mercenary pack had won from some local crimelord. Nothing bad seemed to happen as she let the door swing wide.

Rebecca wore something more alluring, trading a blood soaked hard-suit for a bathing suit that was sheer tucked into baggy camo-pants tucked further into boots. She had fingerless glovess, and let her curls spill out. A small beret finishing the assemble.

Another couple of steps, then she looked around the room. The door shut, the airlock hissed, a mist of some sort that internal sensors identify as disinfectant coating Rebecca in its cleansing touch, and then the second door opened. Running through her omni-tool, she breathed a sigh of relief. Caroline had thought of everything as she turned on clean mode. Internals heating up to somewhere north of a hundred centigrade for half a minute before venting the heat into a sink, to be dissipated later.

She took another step into what looked like a technophiles wet dream. Cords and computers were draped everywhere, with dozens of screens looming from every available surface, glass keyboards and touch screens laid around the room connected to different holo systems. Each clearly important, sandboxed, and recursive. Ras had been paranoid, very paranoid. It kept her alive.

"Ras?" Rebecca asked, looking around the bachelor apartment. "I'm ... I ... " She sees there's a bed and sits down on it, pushing her hands into her face. "God I missed you so much, please be in here. Nearby. Or just say something." She looked up fom her hands clearly haunted by the woman's appearance. It was clear this was what she was worried about the most. Rebecca hadn't expected Ras to be capable of surviving this long.

"I'm here." Ras says, a rippling optical cloak fading as she appears nearby, next to Rebecca with her face exposed. She's got a bruise that's purple and luminous on her face, and her suits got omnigel patches suspiciously shaped like bullet holes across it.

"No ... " Rebecca whispers as she looks at her, "I thought I bought you enough time." Her face falls, and she can barely hold her neck up. This was all worthless, she couldn't do it. She couldn't protect the people she cared about, she was a killer, not a defender.

"Hey, I got out." Ras says, eyes glimmering at Rebecca, she leans in close, letting the skinsuit touch at the other woman's arm. "I'm just a little roughed up, don't go crazy bosh'tet." She asks Rebecca with a cute, sweet tone, the smile on her face invitingly warm.

"I'm so sorry." Rebecca whispers, her voice and face becoming increasingly gaunt, "You deserved better than this." The weight, the enormity of the last week, the last month really started to settle on her. The world felt heavy, the world was heavy.

"I-uhm-you're disinfected," Ras starts to stutter as she thinks of how to reassure, cheer up Rebecca, "D-do you want me t-to take my suit off?" She can't meet Rebecca's eyes any longer, staring at the bed beside them despite hugging her.

"Oh! Oh uh." Rebecca froze suddenly, "Oh I guess, I just didn't want too, uh. You. I. You."

"C-can you help?" The Quarian shyly asks, looking down with a blush that's luminously bright.

"I wasn't expecting— Well there were a lot of ways this could have gone. Wasn't expecting — errr ... I thought you'd be angrier at me." Rebecca admitted her hands reaching out but her body starting to chicken out. "I thought you'd blame me."

Ras shakes her head, smiling finally, "I love you though." She whispers, guiding Rebecca's hands to seals and twistable locking mechanisms. The envirosuit hissing, clicking and crackling as its opened up. Sliding off. Her arms first, revealing extremely pale purple-hued skin. Then, the top of her torso, a sports-bra underneath in a similar purple and gold to the rest of her outfit. Her skin, other than the occasional scar, is utterly flawless, smooth and untouched by element or sun.

"Huh." Rebecca murmured, "I mean, I don't know why I was thinking you were naked under the suit but I always assumed."

"Everything has to be a l-little thin." She says, rising up on her legs to let Rebecca pull off her suits waist segment, revealing more skin, scars and a shapely, gorgeous figure that the suit bulked out a lot. Barely visible muscle under soft skin flexing nervously.

"I—" Rebecca gulped, "You're ... gorgeouser. prettious, uh I mean sexiful. Fuck."

Ras giggles, sliding off Rebecca, "I, uhm, d-did do some research." She reaches up to her hair, her hair is longer, its grown out a few inches in three months, now its sufficient to flare out behind her as she lays down on a pillow, raising a leg slowly to put it on Rebecca's shoulder, the tight suits last segment offered to her. Two clasps and a seal all that's keeping it on as the Quarian folds her arms over her abdomen with a shy smile, "T-this is supposed to be, uh-uhm, s-sexy?" She can barely look at Rebecca.

"I uh. You're not wrong love." Rebecca says, "It's ... Been a while since I've been the stuttering one." She fumbles with the clasps, no longer staring at Ras's face, just at ... Everything. The pants falling away meant that Ras would just be ... There. She'd be there, with the second woman. No third, ever. She was almost frightened.

"I'm— I don't really know what I'm doing," Rebecca admitted quietly, "I normally don't ... Lead? I didn't even know that like— I didn't know I liked gi— women until like. Very recently, and." She's fumbling with the last clasp, trying to figure out how to get it done.

"That's, uh-uhm, I-I don't know either ... Y-you're my f-fi-first, uhm, e-ever." Ras stutters, her blushing flaring through every inch of skin with soft luminescence as the pants slipped off, revealing purple and gold panties that are indeed thin, practically painted on.

"Oh ... " Rebecca said with a little laugh, "Oh good, then I'll uh ... Just say that I'm the best and you'll believe me. Good god you're pretty."

Ras, in an effort of will, lets her arms outstretch to her sides, biting her bottom lip shyly.

"Do you ... Want me to be. I should I thought this was going to be mask off time, I have a um. I'll just." Rebecca took a step back and undid her laces, stepping out of the boots, then then sliding out of the cargo pants to reveal that the bathing suit was thin, the tiniest strip of cloth taped over to cover modesty as fishnets rode from her feet to her thighs with little bows on them. The Bathing suit had some new-age velcro type material, and she peeled it off to reveal more netting strung between extremely thin pieces of ribbon, making her pale skin look darker with all the bright, eye catching red.

"I uh." Rebecca felt like a clown.

"Y-you're a-amazing, uhm, pr-pretty-uuhm, b-beautiful?" It comes out as a question, Ras having no idea what to say, eyes locked onto Rebecca, unable to move anywhere else, "I-I m-might be r-rambling, I-I've, uhm, I, wow, uhm."

"I like all those things." Rebecca admitted, "I errr ... We're. Go ... Team us. I should." Then she pointed at all the ribbons, "The ... Bows undo ... Things, everything. The idea was man I thought I'd be more confident."

"O-oh." Ras says, staring for another couple seconds as she tries to find the will to get up. Its not being found.

Rebecca then looks at the blushing woman, and seems to regain her senses first as the shuddering mess makes her want to bite. "Oh. I can ... I can bite you now right? Can I? Not right now, I just mean. Me want bite."

"Y-yeah." Ras gets out, swallowing heavily at the thought.

Rebecca reached out to Ras, and pulled her towards herself. "I could get dressed if we're moving too fast ... " She was threatening just a bit, trying to spur confidence. She moved Ras's hand towards one of the many bows.

"I-I, uhm, n-no ma'am." Ras falls back on something reliable that, near half a year ago, she said she'd never say. Pulling at the ribbons shakily with excited terror in her eyes, lips suddenly very dry, watching the first one slip off.

Oh. Oh god I love that. The clever knots had only a small bit of the lingeried come away, a single ribbon unfurling being held up by increasingly complicated knots that Rebecca had spent months with Lisa learning. The next one came off, and another, it was unclear if Ras had a plan, or if she was just going to the closest ones, but soon her chest was revealed, and as Ras reached for her waist, Rebecca stopped her with a gentle hand on the chin.

"Say, 'you're perfect Rebecca.' To me before continuing." She held the Quarians chin lightly, but still firm enough she couldn't avoid her gaze, her chest was on display, but Rebecca had cruelly held her so she couldn't see.

The first attempt at words come out as a mess of nothing in Quarian that the translator can't even attempt to parse, sounding light, airy and adorable before she gets herself together enough to breathe and follow instruction, "Y-you're p-perfect Re-rebecca. I-I l-love you." Her hands seem to have no idea where to stay, brushing against Rebecca's skin, three fingers dextrously moving overtop it in a nervous gesture.

"I love you too," Rebecca whispered, as she leans forward and lets her lips touch Ras's with a gentle pressure. The taller of the two gently slid her tongue in Ras's mouth. The lack of apprehension, self control, or worry about harm on Ras's part made Rebecca feel like a protector. She wasn't just in control, she had this person she needed to take care of, this person who was happy she existed in a way the others couldn't be.

Rebecca knew what she wanted, and gently, moved the Quarian's hands upwards, for now, to her chest letting the delicate fingers prod, massage, and pull. She came in for another kiss, enjoying everything about Ras. The smell, the taste, her little stutter. "You're so good Ras." She whispered. "You're my world, nothing makes me happy the same way you do."

"o-oh" Ras quietly says, freezing with the words, and slowly coming back to reality as her brain understands what she was just told, "I-I ... I c-couldn't s-stop t-thinking a-about you." She murmurs quietly, stuttering all throughout, "Y-you m-make m-me f-feel l-like I-i'm not alone a-anymore. L-like so-someone cares."

"You're not alone, Ras." Rebecca whispered, leaning down low, gently cupping her face.

Rebecca ignored the smudged make-up from the painted on bruise. Hard-light skin turning off momentarily, leaving the make-up to a dry oil that disperses into the atmosphere. She clicked the skin back on once the material had been removed from her hands.

Ras didn't say anything looking at the skin for just a second with a worried expression.

Rebecca chose to ignore it, simply saying, "It cost me a lot more than a pound of flesh." Then she pushed forward, past it, to something more important. "Can I ask you something? Honestly?"

"Of course," Ras lied, "I'd never lie to you."

 

[Princess Scribe]

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."

 

[Princess Scribe]

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.

 

[Princess Scribe]

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.

 

[Princess Scribe]

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.

 

[Princess Scribe]

"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.

 

[Princess Scribe]

"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.

 

[Princess Scribe]

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.

 

[Princess Scribe]

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."

 

[Princess Scribe]

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?