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"You okay?" said FG. "Y-yeah," said Leiah strained, "I-i'm fine." "You sound nervous." "I-i-i kinda am...do I look terrible in this?" "No no you look beautiful...seriously beautiful." "You're just saying that." "No really, I'm serious." "Are you really? I want your honest opinion." "Lemme ask you this, are you wearing something better than anything you've ever worn?" "Well...yeaaah?" "Then you look beautiful." "Thanks...really. I mean, you've been with me through so much and I..." She gently rustled in the darkness of backstage, the raptor barely able to see her against the piercing lights from outside which brought back uncomfortable memories. At least he wasn't wearing the dress this time as Leiah added: "I don't know what to say." "You don't have to, you're my friend. You know, I have to say I'm kinda surprised by you." "Yeah?" "Well, I mean, you've killed quite a few assholes since we first met, I didn't think you'd be so used to it." "I...learned not to think on it too much. When you're out on your pilgrimage in a galaxy that mostly wants to hate you, you either learn to hide really well, or shoot really fast." "Alright...I understand." "Can I ask you something?" "Sure." "...who was the first person you killed?" James contemplated this for a brief moment before he shook his head. "...it was a boxer." "Wha-...really?!" "Yeah. See I was young and stupid and went into a boxing ring, tried to get money cuz my uh, Sarah, told me to. Trained me all up a little, just amateur stuff. Didn't pan out, I got third place I think, but the guy I was facing got all shit-talking in my face out back, lording it over me and insulting everyone I knew. I was like a teenager and I just snapped. Like I beat him to a pulp and by the time I realised, he was already dead. First time wasn't really an accident but...it was still really bad. I kinda regret it now...no, I DO regret it." "Keelah..." "I was such an asshole back then...I'm glad you never knew me back then. I'm glad none of my friends did. What the hell are we talking about this for?" "I-i dunno, I just...I'm scared James. What if...what if they all hate me? What if this becomes the worst day of my life and they take one look at me and just do everything possible to me?" "This is what you wanted right?" "It is! But...when things go wrong I just run and hide or shoot even...I can't run from here. There's nowhere to hide now." "...Leiah." He grabbed her by the hand and felt along the smooth shimmering fabric of her clothes. "Think of this as the dance floor. We go out there, we show off our moves and we knock everybody else out of the fucking park." "Wh-what?" "You're not walking down a dark alley, you're not out on the wards or sneaking around warehouses. You're at the top of the Citadel, people paid to see this. And you are going to give them their money's worth." "O-okay...hhhhh...hoh, keelah I-" "You have LITERALLY been in worse than this, this is not a space station fucking exploding, this is a bunch of hoity-toity people that are too scared to say something is crap because then everybody'll shun them. THEY are going to be shunned, not YOU." "...you're right. No, you're right!" She swiped her hand away from him to stand fiercely. "I'm not gonna run from this dammit. This is my dream, this is my fantasy." "Damn right." "I'm not just some quarian, not some vagrant or suit rat anymore...I'm a princess."

The moment she walked out a tiny part of her begged her to not go. But the sound of cameras snapping in her face and the blinding hot white of a catwalk temporarily drowned it in a loss of senses. Standing upon the resplendent white walkway, the velvet curtain shimmering behind, was a quarian wrapped in the most beautiful fabric imaginable. To James, it resembled a dark blue chador robe with a hood over the head, a long pleated skirt accompanying it that slithered down diagonally across her body, almost like a sari robe would. Her arms remained free, and despite looking quite tight, it breathed extremely well as what was essentially a second skin over her regular suit. It looked like it was to be wrapped around the body, but it could actually be worn like a two-piece blouse, the lower slanting dressing clutched to her leg like a petticoat. Where it hid underneath it a small satchel to hold useful items, the satchel itself was made like an accessory to the dress, blending in with its colours nicely. The upper part had gold gilded spirals all over the shoulders, back and hood, whereas the lower part around the legs spiralled in the opposite direction to create a mesmerising effect. Gold and dark blue complimented extremely well, and the crowds on both sides of the catwalk simply gasped with amazement from the moment they saw her. She steeled her nerves and walked down the aisle, striding the same way she had been shown a dozen times before this. Her dress had the oddest metallic shimmer to it, despite feeling as light as silk. She heard the mumblings of shock and approval, snatches of words that she knew rolling off the tongues of fashionistas. With every four words of praise she heard there came at least one of stern critique. But she let the positivity ride her out towards the end of the catwalk, the dress so easy to walk in and so smoothly flowing behind her by at least five inches to give the effect of drifting to her walk, stopping at the central dais of the catwalk before turning on her heel. Her boots had also been repainted for a darker blue to compliment. "The applique is marvellous." "The lack of a gaiter unnerves me." "The dress doesn't require that surely, it flows enough out the back." "It almost looks like it shimmers TOO well, is it perhaps something more mineral in it?" "I don't quite know, but spirits does it look fabulous." Over the next month, Leiah found herself in the midst of an uncomfortable amount of popularity, surrounded by photoshoots and flamboyant admirers from all corners of the galaxy. White rooms, wide-brimmed offices and the odd decommissioned ship should she ever have to do a more specialised shoot of the accessibility of the dress, one befitting everyday quarian needs. Over time she became more and more at ease with the fawning, the praise, the adoration simply by the very merit that none had ever been given to her this much before.

Once she had been treated like a vagrant, a castaway, living trash to be shooed away from certain places for disturbing their clientele's sensitive airs. Now she was that idol for that same clientele, showing them what they could wear, what they SHOULD wear if they want to be as beautiful as her. The unattainable art of perfection, the flavour of the week, the ideal that the world demanded you become for others to notice you, even if you were already beautiful enough. She had become that unattainable form. And she loved every minute of it. Even if they only saw her as the mannequin, even if they only saw her as the body that could be theirs in wearing that dress, Leiah lavished the attention with every flaunt she was allowed to utilise. Flexing her second suit, the barest of skintight coverings underneath showing as the smallest slivers of individuality that she still possessed just enough to break up the patterns. She made all the women envious, and made all the men perhaps become aware of some new feelings inside of them. Even when she was becoming said mannequin for a red and dark-green dress to be modified, standing with arms out as three other asari flustered and tweaked at little things, she felt more like a true princess than ever before, watching Oria T'Kina examine every inch. "The rear is a bit tight," added Leiah. "It's meant to be," said T'Kina, "gives a little extra for others to see." "A-alright, but-EEH, maybe at least widen it around the thighs?! I feel like I can't run in this." "Alright we will. Anything else?" "No it was just that really, you've kinda got everything else sorted. Look at this lettuce hem! And these welt pockets, are they IN the robe?!" "They are," said T'Kina, "we added those yesterday, we wanted to design a dress that is compact in space for holding small tools or vital essentials close to your person. Fashionable and operable for any emergency, you can wear it on a ship and it will not impede you in any way." "Keelah..." "We call it...Second Leyya." "...uhhhhh...really? That, that sounds-" "Terrible pun, I know, I'm sorry, I couldn't resist." "N-no no it's funny! But just, someone might not get the joke unless you're going for the Raheel-Leyya look you know." "Alright." "Um, I hope this washes well by the way, I mean all the stains you can get-" "That's where we thought ahead. Anti-fouling metals, the silk is actually bound against a galvanized metal form that has been softened to absolute pliability, with the silk having large enough holes that dirt or liquid completely slides off and through the bottom. Unable to attach itself." "You cannot be serious...are you serious?!" "Mmhmm..." "This has to be expensive for such a thing." "Let me handle that, miss Dahlael." For the first two weeks, she was on the pages of catalogues, vids were shown on fashion channels and Zara's received an "unexpected" boost of attention from certain admirers in the Far Rim of the galaxy. It wasn't exactly easy nor was it always enjoyable. Early morning shoots, infrequent meetings and constant luncheons that truly tested both her staying power and her stomach's limits. Thankfully T'Kina was not so cruel as to force restrictions upon her, but she did at least put down some guidelines that Leiah had to make sure to follow in her time as a model. Being civil and not disorderly was obvious, keeping a check on weight to a certain limit was another but thankfully it was well within her range. James smirked and wondered if the models of his world had to follow the same rules or they got even worse off than his friend. He followed along always as the bodyguard. just out of sight, making sure that she was alright and no one tried to assault her. One salarian almost did at a stage show, a particularly racist auteur and antagonist of Zara's work that Leiah gladly knocked down with a single rising kick to the face, graceful like a ballerina in that instant. James gladly gutpunched him to the ground whilst Leiah swung her leg out coquettishly enough to tease her admirers the absolute length of the clothes' flexibility. Needless to say, that only made her even more popular, and the designs sold out like hot cakes.

Not only were quarian dignitaries buying their own variations for social dinner parties or presentations with formal guests, but other species started to demand the same sort of wear for their own needs and purposes. At first it was only the female variant that was available, something gorgeous but useful, technically-minded for a more modern-age female that worked out in the field, or on ships but still wanted to look classy by any means. Whether it was for visiting dignitaries or personal vestment, the designs would soon fit all. Leiah was present at every meeting concerning the dress, explaining her reason for why she loved it, why it was useful and why it was so important as a breaking frontier for quarians in modern society. She had no idea whether she was truly the first quarian model or not, but she was definitely planning to be one of the most well-known at the very least. When new designs came in for other species, Leiah was there still instructing alongside T'Kina on how to still retain the look, whilst making them fit the custom looks of every species. Turian, asari, human, even krogans and batarians got a look in concerning the new model look. Krogans especially were very lacking in formal wear, the raptor cackling once he saw some catalogues that showed krogans looking basically like giant toad penguins in what they wore as a tux. Clearly this had to change, and with Oria's ideas in mind with Leiah at her side, they planned out some greater innovations for all species to wear something sleek, accessible and above all, useful. This was not clothing for the sake of beauty alone. This was clothing with a purpose. It was a surprisingly short time that she got a taste of the fashion industry, and in turn Leiah realised that this could even become the perfect pilgrimage gift for her. Offering beauty with a purpose back to the Migrant Fleet, a perfect design blend for representing the Quarian race. Once she realised this her life turned better, more than ever did she finally succeed in all she wanted in life. James was happy for her, and even though that star shone bright but short, she was happy and had her chance at living it. And that was more than could ever be said for most.

Once the crowd had died out and the fashion eye ever fickle cast its gaze towards other looks for the short-term future, Leiah was finally able to relax in the peace and solitude of the Presidium. Neither her nor James had ever truly been up above the wards of the Citadel, the higher crust of society all living within the most heavenly place. White walls arching upwards like pristine whalebone stretching off eternally towards the sky, houses each with their own garden fronts in rows upon rows with a crystal clear lake stretching throughout the central forum. It certainly felt like heaven, the smell of purified air and the clearest of waters that any species could drink theoretically all whilst immaculate white stores, cafes and verandas crisscrossed around the place. It felt as if nothing terrible could ever happen here. Monuments of great artists, thinkers, and even one krogan that symbolised an ancient pyrrhic victory were all exhibitioned here. All they could see was white, green and blue. It felt as if the sky had become the earth, and the earth had become the walls and the water the sky itself. Unreal yet perfect in peace. James, Leiah and Councilor T'Kina found themselves at a high-class cafe that catered to every species with the richest, resplendent of foods, with white chalk walls like everywhere else and having large windows on two sides. The cafe's name was embossed upon the windows, reading out "Parnelli Sunset" as small round tables able to seat four at a time laid spread out all over, in the silver-white court big enough to hold forty people. They had earned their keep as a placement in society, and now they were going to damn well coast on it. Leiah found herself enjoying Nanusian Cream which was a naturally-occurring fungus cultivated from the moon of the Turian homeworld, moistening over thirty years to become perfectly-flavoured like fine cheese. Oria T'Kina had a delightful Thessian pastry that was lathered in asari-style honey, cultivated by a monastery. James was extremely happy to first experience a sweetening delight he had always wanted to try since he was a little kid. A baked dessert of whipped cream and Earth berries pasted into a fine jam between two spongy layers.

"God I am so glad I get to try this," murmured FG, "seriously you have to try this miss." "Gladly!" replied T'Kina taking a bite of cake from a spoon. "Mmmmmm...fruit and cream, what is this called?" "A Victorian Sponge Cake." "Mmmm...humans love putting fruit into their desserts don't they?" "Sure do...is there like some dextro-version of this cuz I bet we can get one for you Leiah." "No no thanks," said the quarian, "I'm enjoying this cream right here, it's like citrus cream but...something else in it." "Sounds uh...delightful." "I can't believe we got to be here, I mean after YEARS of being on the Citadel you never imagine being here." "I thought it appropriate," said the asari, "after the fashion period's now over and you've made your mark out here, why not celebrate with a little gathering for ourselves?" "Hehee! Still can't believe that it only lasted a few weeks, is it always like that?!" "Oh yes, very much, fashion is a very fickle mistress, it has nothing to do with you. It just chases after the next dress it sees." "Sounds more like a guy than a mistress then." "Hah! Perhaps he is then." "Where is your bodyguard by the way, isn't he always with you?" "He's been off for a few days, unfortunately he said he had some sort of stomachache...something disagreed with him." "Awww...hope he gets better, I like him. OH, did you see how I handled that maitre'd? He was all like 'ummm there appears to be an error in our database' and I'm like 'scuse me'." She put up a finger unerringly to emphasise her pointedness. "'My reservation is here, miss Leiah'Dahlael nar Guuha reservation M-zero-five-six-six-nine-three, Zara's, thank you'. And he's all like 'um, oh, I'm, terribly sorry miss Guuha' an-" "SNRRK!" Oria T'Kina snorted to herself a small giggle as she wiped a spot of honey from her lips. "KHA-fffffhhmmhmhahaha, ohhhh goddess that, that poor turian, he had no idea what to do." "I know, I felt so sorry for him when he did that like, 'it's Dahlael...Guuha is my ship name, not my surname', and he is just backpedalling away with 'sorry so sorry let me take you to your table miss'." "HHHhohohahaha...ohhh we have to put down how much good service we got down on our bill just to make them feel better." "Yeaaaaaah...mmmmaaaaaaaybe if they get me some more of this cream, keelah it's so good." "I might want another slice of sponge cake," said FG, "I mean we might as well fill up on all this while we're here." "Make that two slices," said T'Kina winking, "now you've got me interested!" "Kind of a shame our pals from the band couldn't be here though...I guess they got really busy huh?" "Jax emailed me actually!" said Leiah. "He said they got a big deal going on now thanks to the concert, they got a huge boost of interest back after showing up at the concert." "Wow awesome! That means new songs?" "Mmhmm, they even put that uhhh 'On the Run' song as a single so all its profits go straight to charity. Apparently, we never heard this from him we promise but, Arutulelan put in a LOT of money towards the Eden Prime charity, more than half of the bands did." "Seriously? Wow how much money does he have anyway? "That's wonderful to hear," said Oria, "I'm so happy to hear the band are doing well! I cannot believe you became friends with them." "Well it was a wild ride, and we still got other things to do elsewhere, like with that mercenary group right Leiah?" "Oh...yeah," said Leiah, "of course. I wonder if we'll get anymore news about that..." "Welp, until then we gotta arrange you to get back to the Migrant Fleet and clear up your pilgrimage right miss Dahlael?" "I can't believe it'll finally be over, I mean, I know it's not like some huge collection of data or something but it's at least SOMETHING, thank you so much for helping me with this miss T'Kina." "The pleasure is all mine," said Oria happily, "after all you and James have done, it is the very least I can do. But until then, it's time for cake so, waiter! We'd like two more slices of sponge cake please!"

After ordering seconds for each of their desserts, they were soon winding down towards the end of their meal with only the last drinks to come, a digestif to help soothe the stomach. In this case it was three glasses of Serrice Ice Brandy with carminative herbs from Thessia, or in Leiah's case a Taetrus Sherry with dextro-specific herbs from the marshlands. As the people walked past to and fro outside the cafe window, James smiled at the various people and how even in high society they were still well-mixed. Bright-chested humans, formal salarians, turians with silver cloaks blending in alongside fairer-suited asari of pale fuchsia colours. Opposite of the cafe was a recreational area for people to sit down and catch their breath. He almost thought he recognised someone sitting down opposite at a bench, but his attention was distracted by a sudden striking scent, one that pierced into his nostrils deeply as he raised his wine glass up to take a first drink. A vile bitterness that was a little too beyond that of an ordinary herb for his liking. Even if this was an alien world with different various herbal mixtures, he recognised that exact kind of scent before as he stopped his two friends. A caustic smell minutely within the drink. "Wait wait!" "Wha-huh?!" "Um...we haven't made a toast yet!" "What?" asked Leiah. "Yeah we haven't...haven't made a toast yet to celebrate you accomplishing your dream Leiah, come on! It's for good luck." "Oh...w-well alright then um...a toast! To good futures and good friends, who help us all for realising our dreams, and in making them come true." "Wow that was on the fly, nice." "Hehee!" "I agree," said T'Kina, "let us toast this new friendship between us." As they slowly clinked their glasses together, James leaned in close and murmured between gritted teeth: "The drinks have been poisoned." "Whu-" "SHH, just smile, we're being watched." "B-but, are you sure?!" asked T'Kina. "Positive, I know that scent, I can tell." "What scent?!" "The smell of the drink, that's a poisonous bitterness." "...oh those are just the herbs James, really-" "No...I KNOW that's poison." "H-how do you even know?!" "...because I've smelt that scent before. Your assassin's come to us again." "Her?!" squawked Leiah. "And I think I know where she is...don't drink, just leave this up to me. Do you trust me? Nod and keep smiling if you do." Both of them nodded calmly despite Oria keeping a nervous wide grin upon her, which she checked just briefly enough to make it not look forced. It would be a bad sign of a politician to not know how to smile insincerely, as she added: "You saved my life once before, I'll trust your instincts now." "Okay...whu-AUUGH!"

Suddenly James keeled over clutching his right leg, stumbling as he pulled down all three drinks to the floor smashing around him. The other customers gasped and looked startled towards him, some of which even sneered haughtily at the insolence of this newcomer making a disturbance. Even if he was holding his leg tightly and groaning hard as he gasped with pain, a human waiter of pale skin came running over to him and knelt beside him saying: "S-sir are you alright?!" "AGH this...my leg, I'm sorry but my leg just sort of fell dead for no reason, it's an old war wound. Tends to just lose the nerve feeling in this." "Oh...o-oh I see, are you-" "I'm sorry, I just-I was about to go to the bathroom and I didn't realise it just went dead, stupid implants! You girls okay?" "Y-yes," said T'Kina. "We're fine James." "God I spilled the wine too I am so sorry." "N-no no it's alright, it was an accident, please." "Yes please don't worry," said the waiter, "can you walk?" "I...nnngh...can you just help me up a little, put me back in my seat at least?" "Of course, let me-" The waiter's life ended just before he even touched James' shoulders, the gunshot shattering the peace of the presidium only moments after James had weakened it. As the human fell back with a hole neatly carved in his forehead, the rest of the cafe ran screaming towards the opposite direction, stumbling over chairs and fleeing along with the waiting staff. James barely had a few seconds to look up before a silver-cloaked turian stared down upon him, from the other side of the cafe's window. Her face broke into a twisted sneer from behind the cracked glass. Even before he was able to fire back a shot of flames to either break the glass or force the assassin away, there came another explosion that burst blue and crackling with electricity before his eyes. He felt purple hands drag him away hard even further before that, as in the space of a few seconds perhaps no more than three, he had witnessed a human death, a violent small explosion, and a showering of glass come raining down upon him, shards tinkling across his suit-covered chest harmlessly like hailstones. The turian however had pulled back just in time the moment she saw Leiah pull out an arc grenade of all things from her dress, neatly out of a well-disguised welt pocket and breaking through the glass window entirely. The street was now ablaze with panic, the people running shrieking in both directions left and right of her, as Leiah ducked behind the table immediately. The assassin went firing off into the cafe with a rapid shot of her submachine pistol, an unusual design that James had never seen before that resembled the geth's weaponry.

The sounds of fabric ripping and a quarian scream from behind cover signified her rapid spread hit its mark, before James stood up and immediately fired back with handgun slipping from his holster. He shot towards her feet, not risking his bullets to go firing across the lake towards other buildings. But the assassin was not as kind, charging through the window with claws out and ready before James burned her up with both fists, grabbing her with burning hands in a bearhug-like tackle before hurling her at the second window, his gun falling from his grip in the split-second that he did. She didn't go out flying through, the glass strong enough to only crack hard with a spider-web pattern. It wasn't however strong enough for a second body to slam through, when James came charging down towards her until she ducked low and slammed upwards with a biotic fist. Pumped full with a violet energy, she grabbed his body for one brief second of force before hurling him out the window, a judo-style throw that sent glass flying out across his field of vision. Everything turned to crystal, worlds within worlds glinting like marbles revealing tiny facets of other colours. The world slowed down as he felt the hard crash of the street beneath him. Colliding hard against a plantholder made of steel, he saw briefly the assassin come running towards him before he heard a voice call out to his right, dull and fading as his head blurred with ache. Two figures in full blue armour, resplendent of Citadel Security with weapons out and ready. She stopped briefly, contemplating whether to run or kill as she heard a voice start murmuring from behind her. "You..." She turned briefly back towards the cafe. Leiah slowly started to get up off the floor, grabbing James' pistol beside Oria T'Kina laying on the floor as with each stagger onto her legs, there came the sight of red dripping off her heels. Glass covered her dress, now torn at the bottom hem with bullet holes to the point of uneven ruin. Each stumbling step of her feet until she was able to stand was punctuated by words of pain and fury, gritted between her teeth whilst raising her gun towards the assassin. "_You...ruined...MY... DREEEEEEESS! _" Leiah went firing off only half a clip before the assassin went after her, wielding her claws now fully out with murderous thick green. But the C-Sec officers went firing at her immediately upon seeing her raise her claws, forcing her to duck behind a partition between the glass windows as their weapons tore through her shields. The biotic barrier shuddered and almost faded off her body before needing to recharge, but Leiah wasn't even able to get a shot off when her enemy hid unguarded, the assassin rapid-firing a spread to either wound her or dissuade her.

The quarian ducked fast in panic, before the assassin felt the sudden slam of an armoured body come charging in from behind her, knocking her out of the first window as James tackled her hard before beating her across the face. The turian female shrieked with fury, as she slammed her fists into the ground underneath and blasted James off her body with a biotic force, pulsating a thick weighted energy that sent him flying backwards briefly. "DROP YOUR WEAPON!" roared the turian C-Sec outside. "SURRENDER NOW, DROP YOUR WEAPON!" One look at the scene behind her and the crowd of people start to gather nearby made her realise that she was too exposed. Too many people to fight all at once. Lethal as she may be, she knew her limits still, and an assassin in the middle of such chaos with at least three guns pointed at her face, made her feel as if she was a wasp in a spider's den. But she wasn't going without a fight still left in her, as she aimed herself towards the two turian officers on the outside of the cafe, charging up her energy as her claws glinted lethally. The last words they ever heard would be this. "The intangible...can never surrender." James and Leiah did not see the fatal blow, but they heard it plenty as the assassin faded out of existence briefly, teleporting as she passed through the steel partition like a ghost through some unknown force of nature. On the other side, the two officers screamed together as both felt a jagged set of claws come brutally driving through their armour, piercing into their hearts. They were practically dead on arrival, the poison sinking deep through their bodies with claws ripping through their throats, the shadow of the turian bare-faced and fading beyond their vision. The raptor quickly grabbed at his pistol as Leiah whimpered from the pain in her leg, sitting beside Councilor T'Kina who had kept herself hidden beneath the overturned tables. James turned to them as he reloaded his gun, saying: "You two alright?!" "N-no!" cried Leiah. "She shot my fucking foot, just-KEELAH IT HURTS! AANNNGH! My dress...f-fucking ruined-" "We can fix the dress!" said T'Kina. "We have to take care of your wound first!" "NNNNGH! ...James?" "Yeah?" he replied. "...find that bitch and fucking kill her." "Already planning on it. Miss T'Kina, look after her for me, alright?" "I will," said the councilor, "but please be careful! That turian...she murdered those two officers like they were-" "I know. I'll make her pay."

Hopping over the field of glass now before him, he charged through the dispersing crowd in the direction the assassin went, trailing off around an S-shaped bend in the road around a building to his right. He just caught sight of her the moment he turned, with gun in hand as he vaulted over a bench, slamming feet hard upon the white walkway as the silver cloak soon slipped from her shoulders. Running ahead with furious speed was the pale-brown lean armour of the turian Cabal, the crowds of citizens dodging out the way of both of them. "STOP HER!" roared FG. "SHE'S A MURDERER, SHE KILLED THREE PEOPLE!" C-Sec officers heard the commotion as they began to hone in, the raptor seeing the boys in blue start to converge from various paths both above and below him. The presidium had at least three levels, with him on the middle section as rampways and stairways laid beyond his left, framed against the tranquil lake. To his right were storefronts for fashion, upgrades, travel planning and general wares, the assassin running past them and anyone too slow to get out of her way, was dead in an instant. One pale human female was unlucky enough to panic, as the claws of the assassin ripped past her throat in a killing shove, poison sinking into her neck as she screamed and fell. James became only more motivated with fury to chase after her, struggling to get a shot off on her that wouldn't potentially harm a civilian. C-Sec however were on the way and were much better trained at such, so for now all he focused on was taking her down with his own strength. The turian assassin ran through a closed cobalt corridor, advertisements for biotic treatments and sexy drinks plastered in hot red and green to their right as she fired psychotically in front of her. The crowd screamed as gunfire ran shattering through eardrums in the closed space as glass partitions cracked and decayed within seconds of being shot. At least two asari were wounded, winged in the shoulder and arm as they fell and cowered. One panicked brown salarian desperately tried to tackle her from the side, but she dodged and rewarded him with a violent spray of shots upwards to the head. Green blood burst briefly from the top of his skull as he staggered to his death, the raptor roaring after her with each new kill or wound she had made. Occasionally she would fire back at him, causing him to dodge and pray that none of her shots hurt more people behind him. Eventually, at the end of the hallway, were two C-Sec officers ready to fight her, a tanned human and blue asari with James crying: "WATCH OUT SHE'S AN ASSASSIN, SHE'S GOT BIOTICS!" The officers nodded and readied their own biotic force, the asari striking out a pulling force towards her like an energy whip whilst the other aimed his rifle. But the assassin managed to dodge the biotic stream that lashed out before jumping onto the wall beside them, spider-like for but a brief second before charging her own biotic energy. A sickening green as the coming shriek of venomous fury tore through the asari, the officer falling and screaming before her human ally could react. The turian grabbed his rifle and twisted it from his hand in disarming, viciously shoving her claws through his throat as he gargled and screamed. As the turian ran off towards a stairway behind them, James stopped briefly to see the asari was not dead, quickly pulling out the vial of antidote he still had and jamming it into the officer's neck, as she gasped with an ice-cold pain. "Just hold on I got this! It's alright it'll counteract her poison!" "HUUUGHK!" "I know, I'm sorry, just stay there and you'll survive, use some medi-gel or something, you won't die yet!" "I...wh-who was that?!" "An assassin, look don't worry, don't ask how I got this antidote, is your bleeding bad?" "N-n-no...I got medi-gel to fix that, I'll...thank you." "Alright, call more of your buddies and tell them to be careful, this assassin's got biotics and is very fast but I don't think she can handle a whole force of you guys. Don't die on me alright!?" He dashed off up the stairway as the sounds of screaming and gunfire alerted him to where the assassin was, heading up towards a veranda where several tables laid overturned out in the open air. A balcony now strewn with crouching bodies in a half-circular walkway, the various stores all riddled with bullet holes in the glass making James wonder where she was now hiding. For now there was a lull in the chaos, a brief moment in time where he could walk slowly, pistol out and ready as he hoped for more C-Sec to show up.

In the two minutes before James had gotten up the staircase, the assassin had gone firing into the crowd to cause them to start hiding in panic, ducking into a fashion clothing store and seeing no one had saw her. One dark human clerk screamed for a half-second before a gunshot to the face ended her, the turian shouting: "Anyone who screams next will be DEAD, so keep quiet and you will survive." She hid herself against a turning rack of white clothing, keeping low behind the window full of holes as she looked for another way out, the clerks and customers making up seven people inside the store. The front entrance opened out to where she had been through, but she grabbed one asari clerk of pale indigo and clutched her mouth shut, gun to her head whilst out of view of the window. As she gripped the clerk tightly, she didn't notice one of the customers shooing someone much smaller into a dressing room for safekeeping, the sound of footsteps silenced by the smooth carpeting against another turian's feet. "Is there a back entrance through here? Scream and I kill you, just nod if there is." The asari nodded shakily. A body began moving through the clothes racks with something silver inbetween. "Where is it?" She pointed to the opposite wall at a doorway marked as a fire exit. The turian threw her to the side unharmed right before someone shanked violently into her back, the blade forcing through her armour partway to stop halfway into her body as she screamed. A hand grabbed at her gun-wielding arm to try and restrain her, shrieking as she turned hard towards a mirror to try and see her attacker. Another turian female, with baby-blue paintmarks upon her cheeks, perhaps half her age. "Who the hell are you-GUH!" "Just a concerned citizen," said the unknown twisting her arm, "and wife to a C-Sec officer. You're under arrest, bitch." "SHARA NO!" screamed a clerk hiding. "CARRIE GET DOWN I GOT THIS!" "...do you?" said the assassin darkly. Right as she said this, she rolled herself forwards and at the same time used her biotic aura to pulsate a violent shock, forcing the other turian off of her and slamming straight against the back door. Shara fell hard, breaking the door with her back as she stumbled herself back onto her feet, wielding a vicious-looking knife of about seven inches long, the blade glistening in the form of pure gunmetal. The assassin would have fired back, but Shara swiftly grabbed a clothesrack and whirled it straight towards her face. The several crimpled shirts flew in her face like howling banshees, briefly obscuring her view before the younger turian came flying, shanking through the clothes with her knife that the assassin dodged. Slamming her geth-styled submachine gun against Shara's face, she readily striked with her other hand with claws out, gleaming acid dripping from the torn clothes as Shara backed off and deflected with her knife. The two briefly fenced each other off, knife against claws before Shara grabbed a scarf. With a surprising feint of a weaker knife-block, she forced the assassin to turn one way before wrapping a scarf around her neck, turning her completely around and choking her violently with the smooth silk. The older cabal however bent her head low, breathing in a deep breath before elbowing Shara brutally in the ribs, turning hard to pull her by the scarf down onto the floor and stomp on her head. Shara shrieked, but the assassin suddenly felt someone small charge at her knee and knock her down, tripping over the younger turian as a voice behind her shrieked: "MOMMY NO!" "GUH! Wh-what the-DAAAGH!" She barely had time to see who it was when Shara leapt up and slammed into the assassin's stomach with a bullrush attack, forcing her out of the now-broken fire exit as both went tumbling out onto the street. The glistening pure white blinded them briefly, the assassin recovering faster than Shara who forced all her strength into the one single charge, before being grabbed by the older turian and forced into a vicious chokehold. "Stupid girl, you could have just hid away like a coward and things would be alright." "I...won't...let killers go free." "Too bad...because now you'll never be free again." "DROP IT BITCH!" A voice screamed from around the corner of the building. The raptor had now caught up and was standing right in front of both turians. The assassin smiled at this turn of events, shifting her stance towards James fully with one arm around Shara's neck, the other holding a gun firmly to the side of her head. The presidium's beauty framed behind her, with soft green trees and a balcony railing towards lower levels of verdant serenity. The eye of the storm before chaos could start anew, as she replied: "Well now...this got interesting."