The journey continues for the Armada and its Commanders. NSFW like the lip tar from OCC.
Enjoy!
After what felt like an eternity of endless stagnation in the harbor, Shepard and Kaidan would finally venture into the city in which they had originally planned to settle once they had been honorably discharged from the Alliance. A pyrotechnic mausoleum had been crafted of Christie’s hands to ensure that no turning back was to be done. The cocoon and Armada eventually reached a mall parking garage in downtown Seattle where they planned the next phase of settlement.
Once out of the cocoon and the Armada would assume their roles as personal bodyguards, Catya began a meeting as to where they would take shelter by force. She looked to the Commanders and explained, “We’re known for turning hotels into extravagant yet intimidating bastions of combat.” Perplexed yet compliant, Shepard and Kaidan allowed the meeting to continue. Blyvy was relaying the finds she thought would take the least effort to take over. “There’s a Hilton and a Marriot nearby. Wi-Fi is pretty decent in both and both have a hot breakfast bar.” “Which one has the bigger honeymoon suite for the Commanders?” Violetta wondered. “Their last session together provided some entertainment and surprised us with Shepard having an upper body in terms of sex.”
He scolded her for her crass uttering of his intimate practices with Kaidan. “Must you be the type to give me a hard time for what I do with him?” She snarked back, “That’s his job, sweetheart. By now, I could have you do a party trick of holding a bedspread to your face and guessing the thread count and where it was bought.” The entire Armada was near speechless. “Damn, woman.” One Armada soldier said. “We’re in a parking garage and I’m wondering where the sun went because of that shade.” Another Armada soldier said. “That’s enough.” Christie began. “They’ve flip flopped at least once, so Shepard by default can’t guess a Popsicle flavor sitting down.” A flustered Shepard said, “Move on to the next point of order, post haste.” “Yes...” Blyvy continued. “Incidentally, if we act now we can overtake a Four Seasons not more than a drive up from here.” Kaidan inquired, “What does this Four Seasons have?” “It has complimentary dark truffles on the Honeymoon Suite pillows and marble floors in the bathroom.” Blyvy relayed. “What do you think, Shepard?” Kaidan began. “It isn’t quite the outdoor life we wanted, but it’s a start.” Shepard playfully replied from the cocoon, “What’s that, babe? I was just warming up the engine when I heard ‘dark truffles’.” “I guess there is something related to the bedroom Shepard’s quick in.” Violetta snided.
The Armada left the parking garage and made course for the Four Seasons. Minutes later, they began their barrage on the unsuspecting crowd. Tourists and businesspersons ran in horror from the Armada while the hotel staff made several erroneous choices in attempting to arm themselves against a bloodthirsty horde. It wouldn’t take more than two hours for the entire Four Seasons to be under Armada control. “A personal best in my book.” Christie noted. She then had the manager of this hotel hand over everything. “We’re going to need this for a while. Do fuck off, kindly...or we hunt you down.”
Once the last of the crowd was out, the Armada took over and transformed the Four Seasons into what would be another notch of intimidating skyline for the Co-Viceroys. “Fabulous work everyone!” Christie maniacally exclaimed to the Armada. “Everything but the high end suites is yours for the taking. Redecorate the fuck out of the levels we’re not on after you get settled.” The Armada complied as the Authority made their way to the elevator. As they traveled up to the highest floor, Nina tapped Christie on the shoulder to ask her about any extended role in the Armada. “I already know I’m kind of a human beacon, but I need to know right now if I’ll ever have to pick up a weapon while I’m here.” She answered, “You aren’t going to do more than you have to. I do that shit all the time.”
Shepard and Kaidan decided to gauge Angela to see exactly what she was about. A burst of logic was something that didn’t slip by the Authority let alone those two. Shepard queried, “How were you doing at the Wu Shi Academy before Kaidan and me came along?” She replied, “I was better off than I had been. Life wasn’t forgiving, but once I found out some martial arts background existed in my family’s history I decided to venture off to a place I could be happy.” Kaidan pressed, “How did you discover your adept skills with those daggers?” “The kaiken I use were the weapons I moved the quickest in once in the training grounds.” Angela replied. She told them both, “At the very least I can find solace in knowing my weapons didn’t lie to me. Thank you for helping to expose Raiden for what he was.”
Will nudged Catya to ask advice on how to woo Christie. “Angela isn’t going to work out after all, so I wanted...” Catya interjected and told Will, “Listen and listen good you scumbag. You just admitted to calling Christie second place to some woman you just met. On top of that, you’re trying to buy a cat when you’re obviously a dog person.” He responded, “I’m not into guys, Catya. I happen to like the type of woman that could kill me in my sleep. This Authority I surround myself with is more or less like a dream come true.” She dejectedly entertained his rationale. “Well, Christie isn’t about love. Angela tried to kick your ass; Blyvy would rather eat her own foot before she even thought of you as attractive and Violetta would poison you into next week. Basically, you’ve offended every female here with your existence.”
“Well what about you?” he queried.
Catya reacted, “You don’t get it even with evidence in front of you...oh my God you are into women.”
“Like I asked what about you?”
“I’m only nice enough to tell you why you suck.”
After some minutes, the elevator opened and once all out, The Authority finally reached the penthouse suites. They each claimed their quarters; Shepard and Kaidan were assured the very dark truffles and marble floor honeymoon suite after an unusually zealous Blyvy guided them through. “Gentlemen...enjoy your stay.” she cooed. “Is she alright?” Kaidan understandably wondered. “If you’ve known her this long, the answer should always lean ‘no’.” Violetta snided.
Blyvy, Catya, Christie and Violetta each assumed unconventional ownership of their penthouse suites. Will and Nina roomed together as Will had become more or less the medical supervisor over Nina. Angela meanwhile settled into the seventh and last penthouse suite. The Commanders set their belongings as they saw fit and settled in to a version of the life they always wanted outside of the Alliance. “Dark truffle, Commander?” Kaidan offered. “Aren’t we a little past those titles?” he interrogatively countered. “We’ve been past a lot of things, Shepard.” Kaidan replied. They laughed as Kaidan chucked a truffle to his unusually perky love. “Jackass.” he purred. “Sorry. I couldn’t help myself.” Shepard replied.
Christie radioed the Commanders to head to the elevator as the Armada had finished revamping the Four Seasons into a new Foyer of Pending Bedlam. “They managed to do this in near record time. Get your asses over to the elevator ASAP.” Once the Commanders headed to the elevator, the Authority began their descent into what was to be another congregation of bloodlust. Angela rhetorically noted to Shepard, “Those ‘blues’ you and Kaidan donned never went away, did they?” He only responded with a facial expression that both confirmed her sentiments and conveyed a mild grimace at her rhetorical question.
Minutes later, the Authority members not including the Co-Viceroys, were amazed at the remnants of the Wu Shi Academy resulting in a decadent microcosm not yet familiar to the Commanders, Will, Nina or Angela. “What is all this?” Nina queried almost in a panic relating to excess visual stimuli. Will accessed Nina’s file to see if she was in early stages of a panic attack drawn on by the décor of the Foyer of Pending Bedlam. She ran to Kaidan and clenched onto him almost in tears. “Nina what’s wrong?” he asked. Will explained, “She’s undergoing some type of panic attack in seeing so many colors, patterns and décor and such.” Kaidan inquired, “Would something to the effect of sunglasses help her cope with this?” “The file doesn’t contain information like that.” Will replied. Shepard and Kaidan offered to contact Dr. Chakwas while everyone else was out but Catya negated the idea and had Will hand over the file on Nina. “I can fabricate a type of sunglasses that can aide her faster than that.” She then told everyone, “Start the meeting. Nina and I will be back soon. Don’t insist on us being there for even half of this.”
As she coddled a teary eyed Nina and had her with her in the elevator, the remaining members of the Authority proceeded as normal with the meeting. Having established fairly permanent grounds of operation, the meeting was called to arrange the next phase of plans in destroying the Jessie J fan-base and in turn the recording artist herself. Christie opened the floor to any Armada member for suggestions. She naturally prefaced this with, “The only rule is stupid questions result in a bullet going right between your eyes.” One Armada member cautiously suggested, “Can’t we just stalk them at the largest event and kill them all there?” Violetta responded, “Yes we could, but judging the scale of a popular Jessie J event that people actually care about is harder work than we imagined.” Blyvy noted, “We can’t attack the Video Music Awards again. Those sons of bitches wised up and have the place guarded to almost Fort Knox level.”
Meanwhile in Catya’s penthouse suite, she had managed to alleviate Nina of her earlier panicked state. Using the file on her, Catya began crafting eyewear that she hoped would protect Nina from future panic attacks caused by excess visual stimuli. “Don’t worry Nina.” she assured. “I’m going to do my best to make sure you’re alright for the remainder of your time here.” She diligently crafted the frame and had Nina test each of the iterations. The first version of framework had Nina respond, “They feel a bit too overwhelming.” The second framework was, “...a bit too tight and constricting...” for her. For all of Catya’s uncharacteristic generosity, Nina wanted to have her know she isn’t trying to be difficult. “I can’t explain why I was like this only when I saw the foyer, but I’m sorry Catya.” Catya replied, “Don’t apologize for shit you know you can’t control. Extenuating circumstances are just a group of bitches that get everyone down once in a while.” Once the frames were perfected on the fourth try, the lenses had become secondary once Nina screamed in horror in the bathroom.
“Catya! My eyes!”
“What’s happening?!”
“They have no color!”
Catya saw that Nina’s eyes had turned from blue to silver. Despite the almost freakish color change, Catya was determined to finish crafting the eyewear. “Close your eyes. The lenses aren’t going to take much time at all.”
Back in the Foyer of Pending Bedlam, the Armada and Authority were in the middle debating tactical approaches of when to strike the fan-base of Jessie J. One Armada member suggested, “What about attacking the iHeartRadio Music Festival? It’s bound to be like flies on garbage in terms of when to attack.” Christie countered, “Great in theory but even they limit how much shit is actually emitted. Besides, we risk killing more innocents than need be.” Another Armada member suggested, “What about the Coachella Music Festival? She might be invited by another lesser act and give us reason to kill another worthless sack of crap.” Violetta snided, “Coachella crowds are already dead on the inside. Besides, even their lax standards wouldn’t allow our target or any inane fan of hers within the premises.” All the while, Blyvy had been researching any upcoming concerts of Jessie J’s that concerned the Pacific Northwest. “In terms of record label sanctioned events, we’re screwed as no Pacific Northwest dates have made her North American tour.” Angela yet again would end up displaying a burst of logic. “What about looking up her social media accounts for any ‘unusual activity’/PR stunt like a pop-up concert?”
The Armada’s sentiments came to just as Nina’s eyewear was completed. Catya asked her, “What do you think?” She replied, “I’m OK now. Let’s get to the meeting and attempt to chip in while we can.” The two made it to the elevator and once in, Catya radioed Shepard to let the others know that Nina’s conditioned had dramatically improved. “She and I are headed to the foyer. How far along are you?” He replied, “We’re starting to make sense of a potential plan. You two are in time to dissect and contribute thoughts to it.” Catya reacted, “Thank God. We’ll be there in about three minutes. End transmission.” Shepard turned to Christie and told her about Nina’s improvements. “They’ll be here in any second now.” She breathed out of relief, “Thank God. I can’t even imagine how long it could’ve taken had we risked calling Dr. Chakwas.”
Catya and Nina were able to exit the elevator and go through the foyer to the conference hall where the meeting was without further complications. “Nina; Catya...” Blyvy began. “Thank goodness you’re alright. You can help make sense of a new theory raised by Angela.” Angela explained, “We might be able to attack Jessie J fans and her at an impromptu concert/PR stunt type of bullshit.” Catya was pleasantly surprised at the fact Angela had become something of an asset to the Armada. “I have to admit, once you do get on board and speak brilliance comes out and pretty much owns shit.” Angela was appreciative but knew Catya was not the type to speak with pure optimism. She continued, “However, I would like to see this brilliance demonstrated earlier than it has been. No bullshit like this goes on forgiven for long.” Angela understood Catya’s comment and replied, “It’s something I’ve yet to be told in such direct context.” “At least you know of said context now.” Catya sternly but caringly assured her.
Once Blyvy was showing Nina what Angela had been talking about in full, a find on a possible chance of attack in Seattle was used to plan the inevitable demise of Jessie J and her fan-base. “Show this right now.” Nina demanded. “This could be the only chance we get.” Blyvy had the supercomputer display an entertainment and pop culture report that had just brought up Jessie J. “Naima Bettencourt-Stolz chiming in for a Pop Mentality exclusive! Singer Jessie J is giving props to Taylor Swift for performing a pop-up concert for environmental activists working to save the sexy algae in Eugene, Oregon.” An Armada member interjected, “PR stunt and a half with this one.” Christie shushed the Armada member saying, “Shut the hell up. I might not care about these people until I kill at least one of them in the near future.”
The report continued, “Swift’s actions have inspired a series of ‘cryptic’ posts to Jessie’s Twitter that feature Seattle landmarks with the caption ‘soon we will be higher than the Space Needle on LYFE babies!’ Despite no Seattle dates in the immediate future, she has also been making posts as to why 3 is her favorite number...that’s all for now, Naima Bettencourt-Stolz reporting for Pop Mentality.” Violetta shut the report off commenting, “Such a shame to end up on that considering there’s CNN blood in her.” Shepard turned to Blyvy and pressed, “Were you able to get anything from the...well...’report’?” She replied, “Oh yes I did and I’ve already written it down for you to present.”
Shepard was given the floor and after reviewing Blyvy’s writing, he relayed to the Armada, “Our chance to attack Jessie J and her fan-base in one fell-swoop will be on the 3rd of this upcoming month. That’s four days away from now. Until then, we will have to find ways to quell any excess rage building up in you. I open the floor to suggestions as to what we can do.”
The Armada was stumped as to what should come next if the coup wasn’t due for another four days. Shepard sensed the dissonance and adjourned the meeting by having the Armada resume all training. “It seems counterintuitive of me to ask you to almost repeat your lives from the academy, but no soldier without consistency is effective in my book.” An Armada member arose and replied, “We harbor no ill will against you or the Authority.”
The meeting was adjourned without much of the dejected sentiment Shepard feared. Kaidan cautiously assured him, “At least we’re making larger strides towards a goal for the Armada.” His response didn’t contain the pragmatism Kaidan was used to which partially stunned him. “You’re right. All we can give them is hope and a fighting chance.”
“Shepard...”
“What? You’ve heard me say something like that before.”
“True, but I’m used to being the idealistic one.”
“I’m used to you and you’re used to me. Since we’re not in the Alliance anymore...”
“...the only thing we can do is adapt.”
It was a sweet moment before the first visit from “The ‘Ferry’ Godmother” nobody but them knew about. Before reading the note, Kaidan rested his head on Shepard’s chest and wanted nothing but to have him feel like himself after the uneasiness had subsided for the first time. The reminiscing echoed and reverberated in their heads before reality set back in. “Commanders!” an Armada member exclaimed. “Someone is here insisting they talk to you both at once.” Fearing an attack, they armed themselves with the weapons nearest to them.
Shepard was now equipped with a Zhua and Kaidan was now wielding a Valkyrie sword and shield. They had the Armada member provide backup if the attack were to ever turn violent. They made their way to the holding area where Dr. Chakwas was awaiting the Commanders. “Dr...this is an unexpected at best visit.” Kaidan said. “Unexpected, but not with any malicious relaying.” she replied. “Give it to us in plain English, Dr. Why are you here and how did you track us down?” Shepard pressed. Dr. Chakwas began to explain, “As for how I tracked you down, I checked the port I last saw you in. Once I saw the ferry had been set ablaze to the depths of hell, I had to check around the city.” Kaidan interjected, “Did you arrive here on the same watercraft that you used to take Silas and Therese back to San Francisco?” She responded, “Not this time. I flew in from San Francisco and remembered the port’s location from the watercraft GPS. Once I realized the port was no longer your base, I got here by taxi after word of mouth by locals warned me of this place.”
“I’m guessing your tenure at Huerta Memorial had you see worse than what the locals were saying.” Shepard coyly chirped. “Indeed, but back to why I’m here.” she insisted. “I’ve been receiving information from a character in this group named Catya.” Shepard rhetorically pressed, “It’s about Nina’s recent string of panic attack related activity, isn’t it?” “Right as always.” she said. “Well, I don’t know how Catya was able to contact you.” Kaidan began. “We considered calling you once Nina started having the breakdown, but she insisted on crafting her protective eyewear and it seemed to work.” “She must’ve done it when she sent me messages about the eye color change she had.” Dr. Chakwas replied.
Shepard radioed Catya, “Co-Viceroy Catya, this is Commander Shepard; do you read?” She replied, “Catya, loud and clear Commander.” “Dr. Chakwas is here.” he began. “My first question to you is when did you attempt contacting her?” Dr. Chakwas interjected, “Shepard, please don’t be outraged. It was a phone call out of the blue; pardon the pun and nothing more.” Catya chimed in, “That’s what it was, Shepard. When I was starting principle construction of the lenses, Nina’s eye color changed and I called her out of concern. That’s it.” Dr. Chakwas explained further, “The medical file even I kept of Nina mentioned no previous optical disorders or any genetic mutations like excess visual stimuli leading to a change in eye color.” He apologized for his actions before asking Catya what to do with Dr. Chakwas here. “We can have her visit with you and Nina in your suite or we can have an Armada member escort you down to the lounge; you pick.” Catya replied, “Have her visit me and Nina in my suite. I still have her file on me in here.” “We’ll be there in a minute. End transmission.” Shepard responded.
After disarming themselves of their exotic weaponry, the Commanders and the Dr. were on the elevator where Kaidan queried about the current states of Silas and Therese. “How have they been, Dr?” “We at the Safeguard haven’t known since they were put and eventually placed in homes through the foster system.” she replied. “As far as we know, they’re closer to normalcy then we’ve been in the past few weeks and months.” Shepard added. “We can hope so.” she whimsically responded. Minutes later, Catya was just having Nina enter the suite as the Commanders and Dr. made their way to them.
“Dr. Chakwas!” Nina said waving to her. “Hello Nina.” she said with great warmth. Once inside Catya’s suite, the Dr. had Nina remove her eyewear to examine what exactly happened. She hesitated but the Dr. assured her she was only helping. “Don’t be scared of me now, young lady.” When her eyes opened, the Dr. was mystified by the shade of silver Nina’s eyes had become. “It’s more jarring than I thought, but it shouldn’t be more than a stress induced disease.” she diagnosed. “How do you reach such a conclusion, Dr?” Kaidan queried. Dr. Chakwas replied, “Once I saw that shade of silver, I remembered a condition from Huerta Memorial about an Asari woman having been exposed to too much of a certain visual pattern that resulted in a temporary color dilution.” Shepard told her about the Foyer of Pending Bedlam’s recent renovation. “It was something she saw in that moment that had her act up like this.”
“I feel it necessary to examine the foyer a bit closer than I had.” she insisted. The Commanders, the Dr., Catya and Nina made their way to the elevator and in turn, the Foyer of Pending Bedlam. After examining the foyer in question, Dr. Chakwas stumbled onto what may have caused Nina’s near hyperventilation. “The fact she only exuded some symptoms of a panic attack and nothing worse is quite surprising.” “How do you mean?” Kaidan asked. The Dr. deduced, “Every etching on these vases, plates and contributing décor all have elements of violent conquest mixed with opulence. Nina simply couldn’t process the two being in the same immediate place on top of the already austere locale of the Four Seasons.”
“How come the file we have never hinted at any psychological or neurological problems like this?” Shepard queried. “Something like that should’ve been able to make a Safeguard file.” Dr. Chakwas replied, “It should have indeed, but most of Nina’s medical records were sporadic and unorganized. It’s the same reason the eye condition somewhat caught me off guard.” Catya interjected, “Well now that we have that aside, can you check the eyewear to see if it meets medical standards or some crap like that?” The Dr. replied, “From the diligence and ability to get Nina’s prescription number right on the first try without much medical training and using top notch eyeglass material, there isn’t much for me to examine.”
Shepard said to her, “If there’s nothing else Catya wanted, you might want to head back to the Safeguard.” She replied, “I probably should, but believe me Shepard...I wouldn’t go through so much to ambush you in any way.” He cautiously had Dr. Chakwas escorted from the Armada base from nearby members. “Travel safe.” He said to her. As they were heading outside, the nearby members and Dr. were jumped by irate children who looked no more than 15 years of age each. The Commanders were stunned and radioed for any nearby Authority or other Armada members to head to the front to deal with the irate children. Christie, Blyvy, Violetta and Angela were on the scene along with other Armada members that assisted Shepard, Kaidan, Catya, Will and Nina in saving Dr. Chakwas. On sight, the irate children were unidentifiable cretins with not much hand to hand combat skill. Yet once they were screaming “The 3rd! The 3rd!” the Armada had realized they had seen Jessie J fans for the first time.
The Commanders had everyone but himself and Kaidan fend off and kill fans while they took it on themselves to save Dr. Chakwas. Armed again with the Zhua, Shepard swiped and decapitated an attacking fan making sure the blood splattered and freaked out nearby fans. “Their blood is amazingly not the most repugnant thing I’ve seen in my days.” he snided. Armed with a combat shotgun, Kaidan blew the heads off of the remaining fans that were attacking Dr. Chakwas. Kaidan instructed his paramour, “Shepard! Commandeer us a car right away! We can’t risk harming the cocoon on these facial wasters.” “I’m on it.” he replied.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Authority were each having their bloodlust be temporarily satiated by the irate children present. Christie and Catya teamed up in twisted games of “Look! A bullet!” and vivisecting the irate children with Catya’s infamous ring blade. Christie kicked one irate child in the air just as Catya turned the asphalt into a makeshift buzz-saw station and set her ring blade in a loosely perpetual motion. The “Croatian Buzzsaw” would claim another victim.
Will, Nina and Blyvy each used an unfounded subtlety to draw targets to their deserved demise. Will had unleashed his mix of shadowboxing and Shaolin training on the skulls, sternums and spines of opponents inane enough to approach him. Nina used the environment to her advantage. Her agility resulted in some of the most subtle blood spilled on the ground. After breaking beer bottles in a nearby alley and tossing the shards in an opponent’s eyes, she’d shank them with the rest of the bottle knowing the stress and pressure would overwhelm them until death. Blyvy simply cracked temples and shattered spines in a fashion both sadistic and seemingly mundane compared to her colleagues.
Violetta had her bloodlust fed through lacerations and disembowelment. She would add to her psychosis by exclaiming to each opponent, “You ain’t shit!”, “You’re up shit creek without a paddle!”, “Shit happens!” and other fecal related facetious and sadistically cheerful remarks. One Armada member said to the other, “What happened to a simple bashing in of someone’s head?” The other member added, “A simple ‘Russian Mouthwash’ would be just as tasteful here, but all that toilet humor ruins this kind of thing.”
Angela on the other hand had inadvertently revealed something she never meant to. As she was slitting the throat of an irate child, a distorted gurgling she had heard as “Baraka!” had her lose her grip. Her mouth had turned into a minefield of razor sharp, horrifying teeth. Before long, her bloodlust accelerated to levels not even Christie had seen in her days of battle. Angela bum rushed an irate child and bit her head off from the neck and dumping it on the ground. The crowd was stunned. “What the hell did she just do with her bare hands?” Christie wondered. Violetta questioned, “Why is she rubbing herself like the blood is lotion...in public?” The act was enough to repel the rest of the irate children from the Four Seasons base.
All this while, Shepard had struggled initially to commandeer a vehicle. Most of the cars on the side of the streets had long since been abandoned after the Armada’s arrival and were rendered of no efficient use. “There has to a car with enough fuel to get Dr. Chakwas out of here.” he thought. His luck changed for the better once he spotted and successfully commandeered a Scion FR-S from a negligent owner who had been moronic enough to leave the engine running across the street. “Hope the Dr. can overlook the austere find.” he thought. The speed helped Shepard arrive back just as he saw the Authority crowd around Angela. Once out of the car, he called on Kaidan and Dr. Chakwas. “Here’s your new ride, Dr.” he said. Kaidan noted, “This is kind of an austere find considering it’s you and all.” “It was last minute as most if not all of the other cars on the streets had been abandoned and unfit since our arrival.” Shepard defended. Dr. Chakwas responded, “It could be a gold plated hearse and I’d be pleased with you both. You two saved me from a certain degrading death and I’m forever grateful.” She took the wheel from the Commander and told him and Kaidan, “Whatever you’re fighting, I have nothing but upmost faith in your legion of bloodthirsty psychopaths.” As they thanked her, Dr. Chakwas drove off from sight in a matter of seconds.
Shepard then turned his attention to the crowd around Angela. “Now to figure out what the hell is up with the crowd.” As he called Angela’s name he was met with an attempted bum rush. Underestimating his reflexes would be the rare non-lethal last mistake an attacker would ever make. He was able to reverse her energy into an arm-bar and he demanded answers. “Who are you and what the hell do you want with this Armada?” She replied, “I’m Mileena of Outworld by way of Edenia. I was supposed to ambush you once Raiden and the rest of you were to enter the tournament.” He pressed, “Edenia; as in that treacherous Kitana’s home realm of Edenia that she nearly sold us out for in hopes of assuming the throne there?” “The very same realm...” Mileena began. “...but I’m not her sister. I’m a creation of Shang Tsung meant to kill Kitana in order to rule Edenia.” He queried with the arm-bar unwavering, “If you saw her death, then why did you stay here in the Armada? Why did you pretend to be a student at the Wu Shi Academy?”
Mileena’s resistance banks had been tapped dry. “Unhand me from this damn arm-bar and I’ll explain myself in full.” Shepard countered, “Inside the meeting hall with the entire Armada in the room and I’ll allow it.” “Agreed, damn you.” she replied in pain. He dragged her and had the Authority and Armada follow him to the meeting hall. Once congregated, Shepard had Mileena on stage and then released the arm-bar. Given a combat shotgun, he pointed it to her head and said, “Get to explaining yourself in how you fit into the original tournament plan.” She explained, “Shao Kahn and Shang Tsung each wanted me to attempt and prevent the earthborn warriors from excelling at the tournament and had me provide services to kill most if not all the Wu Shi Academy students and allies present that day.” “What prevented you from reverting to your true form once Raiden was revealed to be a lecherous cretin?” Shepard queried. She replied, “It was from Christie’s revelatory moment that I realized that Raiden was bound to self-destruct. I secretly communicated with Shao and Shang in one of the gardens as things looked to unravel. They were glad for my information, but as a result of extenuating circumstances, I was expelled from Outworld and Edenia and had to settle for Earth.”
Kaidan wondered, “So what was the trigger that had you revert back from ‘Angela’ to you?” Mileena responded, “I thought I had heard the name of my most bitter rival, Baraka. His name was the original code for ‘Angela’ to dissipate and have most of you made into bloody pulps.” She then grabbed a pair of Sais from an Armada member and demonstrated their proficiency. “These are my true weapons.” she began. “The kaiken were mere covers for maintaining ‘Angela’.” Shepard asked her one last question. “What made you stay here even after we had the likes of Liu Kang, Kenshi, Jade and Johnny Cage killed along with Kitana?” She explained, “Once I had nowhere to return to, no one to target and essentially no reason to continue existence on my own I ended up staying here due to it providing stability.”
Christie called Shepard off of her and offered to gauge her on his behalf. “Take a breather. You’re about a phrase out of context from blowing this chick’s head off.” She looked Mileena in the eyes and asked her, “What are you to do next? If you want to stay, we’re going to have to search you up and down and round and round to make sure you’re not fucking with us.” Mileena stripped bare in that moment and cockily assured, “Search everywhere on me. You’re not finding any beacon, any wire or even a surveillance camera of any kind.” Will was more than willing than to call her out on her presumed bluff. “Do you mind if I search you?” She lunged at Will and began a search based in consummation. “What are you finding in me?”
“I’m looking in every nook and cranny I can...” he said in braggart tones.
“Search deep...”
“Oddly enough, it’s not that deep...but I’ll keep at it.”
“No need to search the back...”
“Maybe I’ll ask this man in a boat...”
The crowd was appalled at the pun. “Have some respect for yourself! Using a pun that sophomoric...the gall!” they shouted. Blyvy had provided and end result to Mileena’s showcase. “I x-rayed her thoroughly and she isn’t hiding any communication devices through technological or sorcery based means. She couldn’t be in this deep with communications to outside parties.” “Kind of like Shepard being under too much surveillance to have kept in contact with Cerberus.” Kaidan noted. “That’s precisely the principal based for my assertion that minus the blood and sex with Will, Mileena is indeed clean.” Blyvy responded.
Christie offered Mileena a chance to be in the Authority in pure terms. “Side with us now, don’t fuck with our authority and you shall be rewarded handsomely.” She accepted the offer on the spot. “I have no one to return to and in turn, nobody to answer to in an attempt to prevent me from taking this offer up and running with it.” She offered Will a chance to bunk with her. Before he could ponder Nina’s comfort level she told Mileena, “He’s all yours. That and something tells me you might kill him in his sleep if he crosses you, so you might be cool after all.” “Well don’t I feel valued?” Will snided in a defeatist attitude. Shepard adjourned the emergency meeting and had apologized to Mileena for his actions. “I’m sorry for the stunt I pulled. I’m not exactly supposed to be maligned for any presumptions I make regarding soldiers who turn out to be bloodthirsty psychopaths who rub themselves sexually when blood saturates their body. However, that doesn’t make what I did justified.” She replied, “Relax. Hell, I’ll consider this a way to get revenge on Will.”
The Authority and Armada each retired to their quarters. Once all the members of the Authority were on the elevator, Violetta decided to find out more about Mileena’s real self. “So what are other talents you have in terms of reducing people into puddles of blood?” She replied, “I can swallow the contents of a nail jar and unleash a Tommy Gun level of hell on the poor bastard in front of me.” “Well damn.” Violetta began. “Any talents outside of beating people to their deaths you want to share?” Mileena cheekily responded, “I also know how to crochet and make works of pointillism that rival Georges Seurat.” Blyvy snided, “...and apparently you think you’ve mastered dry wit.” Christie interjected, “She opened herself quite literally to the likes of Will. The fact she thinks she’s funny is the fifth thing wrong with her.” Mileena re-established the fear she liked people to have with only one more revelation. “I can also swallow a person whole and vomit up their bones.” Christie in turn snarked, “Her diarrhea of the mouth tendencies is in turn still lower in rank than her mating selection.”
Once out of the elevator, the Authority members were each in their own suites lulling themselves to sleep. Will had moved into Mileena’s suite, Nina was content to be in her own improved world, Catya, Violetta, Blyvy and Christie each had slept in their original clothing. As for Shepard and Kaidan, the latter noticed the former’s fatigue doing a number on him and grew concerned. “You’re making yourself crazy over a mission that’s simpler than any mission you’ve had to lead on.” Shepard replied, “I know. If I could deal with bigger threats to the galaxy, then this group of fans should be nothing.” Kaidan assured him, “It’s not as if the man who destroyed the Collectors and Reapers alike is slowly succumbing to an unknown atrophy.” Shepard pointed out, “The uneasiness I had seems to be staying in the past tense. It may have been nothing more than stress I was putting on myself.” “As much as I’m glad to see your uneasiness subside, I wouldn’t chance on thinking it will have subsided from you forever.” Kaidan countered.
He went on to wonder, “Could this uneasiness be a result of the Prothean beacon from Eden Prime?” Shepard responded, “I never considered the beacon’s effects after warning me of the Reapers. Maybe some traits of pre-cognition were a subtle aftermath of that beacon all those years ago.” However, Shepard pointed out again “As much as I think about it, I’d be having more vivid dreams instead of collapsing to the ground and being out of breath if the beacon’s aftermath was responsible for the uneasiness.” Kaidan understandably countered, “Whatever the root of these near premonitions is, they’re tricky to rock around even with this Armada. I’ll be twice as careful defending you.” They nuzzled and then kissed each other as they lulled themselves to a seven hour sleep.
Once the morning came, Shepard’s uneasiness took subtle form in expecting a radio call from near the entrance. He woke Kaidan up and told him what was happening. They were next to the radio the minute an Armada soldier said, “Commanders! Come in Commanders! Do either of you read?” Shepard answered, “Commander Shepard here. What’s going on?” The Armada soldier responded, “Someone in a Scion FR-S just pulled up to the base.” He thought to himself, “Who hurt Dr. Chakwas and what the hell do they want with me?” Kaidan resumed the call, “We and the other members of the Authority will be down there in a few minutes. End transmission.” They quickly dressed in casual looks for them; Shepard’s N7 jacket and jeans and Kaidan’s Alliance casual blues and rounded up the other Authority members to the entry. Christie locked eyes with Kaidan and came to know that Shepard had been closer to attaining full on pre-cognition. Once on the elevator, the Authority members each wondered what was happening to the Commander. “What’s happening to you?” Blyvy began. “You seem too pragmatic to be plagued with an impulsive man’s disease.” Kaidan replied, “It could be after-effects of a Prothean beacon he accidently triggered. It gave him the warning of the Reapers impending invasion attempt.” Catya queried, “Could he be having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?” Shepard responded, “It isn’t PTSD...it’s just a new found case of visions coming to me. Most of the time my uneasiness just sensed danger with no visions.”
Kaidan realized he forgot to ask, “What vision did you have other than the radio call coming in?” The Commander only replied, “I only saw the text ‘Alliance Refugee Safeguard’ but in red.” Speculative time ended once the elevator doors opened. Once all out, they were armed with their signature weapons. Shepard and Kaidan each had shotguns while the others had their Sais, ring blade, legs, gauntlets and standard swords readied for the unexpected and assumedly unwanted visitor. The Scion FR-S driver door opened and revealed Dr. Chakwas holding a white flag and a double bladed axe. “I’m here to fight with you.” she said.
Shepard turned to Kaidan and said, “What the hell happened at the Safeguard?”
Kaidan replied, “Whatever happened it has to encompass something bigger.”
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