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Two turians stood opposite of James, framed against the white presidium space upon a lone balcony behind a dress store. Water and green flowed underneath, a distant view of peace now blurred beyond their vision. A younger female of sky-blue markings upon her cheeks was wrapped within the arm of the much older assassin, bare-faced with a submachine gun against her head. James almost thought he recognised the hostage, but he focused more on maintaining his breath and steady aim, pointing towards the assassin's head. "Don't do it," he said firstly. "There's no reason for this." "No," she said, "no there was not. Until you made it this reason." "There's no reason to bring anyone else into this! Just you and me, what the hell?!" "You made it other people's business the moment you refused to die back on the Verrana! Now, all this? This is because of you. Because I have to resort to such desperate methods to kill you and your friend, I have to do this. I will NOT let you interfere with my plans, I couldn't even get a shot off on that councilor I'd been meaning to kill for five months!" "Fine, FINE! You want me to stop, you want to just settle this to the death, bring it! But just let her go, alright?! We can fight each other, we can go somewhere else and settle this together, fight to the finish!" "No. Back away, and drop your weapon." "Huh?!" "Drop your weapon or else I'll add her to the eight other people who died because of you." "Seven." "What?" "Seven people...that asari cop's gonna make it." "Hmph...fine, then THIS one will be number eight on your sentence. Now drop your weapon!" "Don't do it!" cried Shara. "Shoot the bitch, she's got it coming, don't worry about me-AGH!" "STOP being a hero," snarled the assassin who grinded her gun against Shara's skin. "I despise heroes, they think the world is so simple between good and bad, I can't stand that sort of pathetic naivety." "People like you...make the world that way. You, shoot her, point at her head and shoot her in the damn face, don't worry about me! I won't blame you, I swear!" "Shut UP!" She slammed the pistol's barrel against Shara's head, forcing her to groan with a stinging pain. "That sickening reprieve of our species, to never back down is it? The only time you see a turian's back is when they're dead, well I'm sick of it! Too many good people died because of what our Hierarchy demands, and what do we get?! Filed away into some poxy little cabinet with a date and service number. Is that what you want?!" "I...had everything I wanted. Because I earned it." "Do you believe in the Hierarchy at all?" "No...but I don't go killing innocent people, you shot a human in that store, she was NOT a part of this!" "People who stand in my way are just as bad as the Hierarchy for their ignorance. That includes both of you." "MOMMY!"

The voice she had heard a few minutes ago from behind her in the store, now came from the side of her. Standing on the steps of the fire exit, was a young turian boy of around five years old, the same baby-blue markings of his mother on his cheeks. His darker-grey skin however was different from Shara's, offset by a chalk-white nose and mouth, which made the assassin blink briefly in surprise. Her hostage however started to shiver with fear and anxiety, struggling to speak clearly. "J-j-jarren...go back inside and hide." "M-mommy, whut's she doin'?!" "Get back inside Jarren, please!" "Well," said the assassin, "this just got even more interesting. Contestant number nine has shown up." "Don't you dare," said FG. "Don't. Don't, j-just don't even think-" "This all depends on you, James Robert Campbell. Walk away now...or else you're going to see how fast I can shoot. Or maybe..." She turned towards the young boy on the steps. "I'm fast enough to poison both of them." "N-no!" cried Shara. "I don't care what you do with me but don't you DARE hurt my baby!" "That's not up to you miss. That's James' problem now." "You cowardly-GUH!" The assassin forced Shara's head upwards firmly, making her quiet. "James here is the one that shall be deciding your fate. If anyone is the coward here it's him." "You're just a bully, a murderer." "A bully who can end your life within one shot if you stop trying to be so hardfaced and be a good little girl. Can you do that? Are you going to going to be good...or do I have to teach you some manners?" "HHGGK!" Shara choked suddenly from the arm tightening around her neck, briefly enough to hurt and cough before her son shrieked from the doorway: "STOP IT!" "What?!" The boy ran down towards the assassin with piercing fury in his eyes, almost unaware of the true danger of the situation as he screamed at her face. "YER A BAD LADY, LET GO OF MAH MOMMY!" "Don't push me boy or else!" "NO, YER A BAD LADY AN' IF YOU DON'T LET MAH MOMMY GO NOW AHLL...AH-AHLL HURT YOU!" She aimed her pistol swiftly at the young turian, his eyes blinking tight with a sudden mortal fear. He saw the same fear in his mother's eyes as well as he started trembling. "You, hurt me? I would call you brave but you're far too young to understand fear just yet...or is this fear I see now in your eyes for the first time in your life?" "I...a-a-a-ah...l-l-let her go." "What was that?" "Let...h-her...GO!" "Not unless that freak over there chooses to walk away. If he dares step closer or refuses to drop his gun, I will shoot your mommy, and it will be all his fault. Go and ask him. Ask him 'are you going to make me an orphan Mr. Campbell?' ...go on. Do it." "...n-no..." "I'm sorry, what was that?" "A-ah said...no. Ahm not doin' it, yer a bully, mah mommy's right, yer just a stupid BULLY!" "Listen boy, don't-" "NO! IF YOU HURT MAH MOMMY, THEN IT'S YER FAULT, 'CUZ YER EVIL! I'LL HATE YOU FER IT!" "Hmph...then you will be next unless YOU walk away." "DON'T DO IT!" cried James. "just...just don't okay?! For god's sake he has nothing to do with this, don't you have a heart?!" "Did you not know my name with Facinus?! My ONLY name, is that I am the Heartless. I lost my original name years ago, and I have no sympathy for those who side with the lecherous Turian Hierarchy, child or adult." "WHAT KIND OF PERSON EVEN THINKS THAT?!"

Shara took this moment of distraction between them to make motions with her eyes towards Jarren, using her free hand to make a spreading blast motion whilst puffing out her mouth flaps, her other hand drawing towards her blade. The boy understood perfectly, but shook his head with fear and mouthed "no". Shara nodded silently, pleading with her eyes and mouthing "please...I love you". She then made the motion of one-two-three-ready so he understood, the boy nodding his head shakily as James pleaded with the assassin. "You have no reason to do this, you're a goddamn monster." "One species' monster is another's saviour," said the assassin. "Now walk away...or you are going to see this family die out before your very-AAAAGH!" "JARREN NOW!" The moment the assassin cried out, James panicked and was unable to shoot. What happened next was almost unreal to Jarren, as his eyes tried to register the sudden force of sights and sounds that came to him. The assassin's roar of pain as the knife sunk into her knee, the stumbling rush Shara made followed by the scream of his own name before his own voice cried out with a heart-rending shriek he almost didn't recognise as himself. Then there came a white light, his hands forced up before him as the smallest blue flicker shuddered through his vision, burning from inside his head. A single gunshot rang out across the Citadel. He felt a burning pain stab through his left hand, which terrified him more than anything in his young life. He barely understood death as it is, he had only heard the word but never knew of its actual meaning. But perhaps, this was it. This was what death felt like to a five-year old. He wanted to fall asleep, more than anything he wanted to stop the pain from hurting inside his head. But it wasn't until he heard the assassin's voice that he realised that he was still breathing. "Wh-...what?" He opened his eyes softly. His hands were brought up before him, shaking furiously with a force rifting through his fingertips, throbbing a deep blue. Blue was all around him, a shield-like bubble of pure energy. He couldn't bring his hands down even if he tried as if something glued them to the energy itself, his left hand hurting even more once he saw the single bullet wound shot through near his wrist. He wanted to cry badly, his tears streaked down his cheeks as he whimpered bitterly to himself. Just as he started to gulp back his sobs, he heard his mother's voice from behind him. "Don't cry Jarren." "Wh-whuh?" "You can do it...you're just like daddy now, protecting me from bad people." Jarren looked behind him briefly, his mom smiling at him with both relief and anxiety as she laid sheltered underneath the biotic field, the boy shaking all over with fierceful exertion. He turned towards the assassin on the other side shocked with fury, the boy gritting his teeth before snarling: "Mah daddy's gonna hurt you...an' he never lets ANY bad people go." "You...insolent little bastard."

She brought up her gun ready to fire through the shield, even if she had to use a whole clip just to break the biotic barrier. But James snapped out from his state and fired straight for her head, forcing her to duck and turn hard with a rapid-fire blast. Just as she was about to focus back on the mother and child, a bellowing roar came from the fire exit stairwell. Right before there came the sudden slam of pure biotic force straight into her chest, forcing her to roll brutally across the street and slam against the side railing, propped up against the edge. "DADDYYY!" Standing in front of Jarren and Shara, stood a turian C-Sec officer in pure blue wielding a thick and heavy handgun, the sound of a tiny bell accompanying him from beneath his armoured chest. His face was as bare as the assassin's herself, his eyes tired and worn from what seemed like many sleepless nights. Yet through his bloodshot gaze he focused with pure intent, as he pointed his pistol dead-on snarling with restrained fury. "Get...away...from my family." "Wh-what," gasped the assassin with ears ringing, "what the...you...YOU!? You of all people?!" "You're under arrest. Now surrender your weapon or I will be forced to shoot!" "...what the hell is wrong with all of you?! You can't just lay down and understand what the hope for this galaxy is! Where it truly lies!" "I will not place my hopes upon a murderer such as you now stand. DOWN!" "...try and catch me then...just like you tried last time, Dahnus." She turned fast and struggled to vault over the railing, with Dahnus taking two shots at her that managed to wing at least one of her thighs before turning towards his son. Jarren had both the look of fear and relief upon his face, whimpering as he tried to speak with tears coming to his eyes with Shara curled up behind him inside the biotic shield. A brief moment wanted him to pursue the assassin, but seeing his son's face rendered him unable to move, staring down fretfully upon him as the boy cried: "D-d-daddy! Ahm sorry daddy, ahm sorry!" "Jarren, no it's okay, it's okay son, let's not worry, I'm-" "IS NOT DADDY, IS NOT OKAY! Ahm not normal...a-ahm a f-freak cuz ah can do dis stuff! M-mommy tol' me to ahm sorry daddy AHM SORRY-" "NO! That is not true, you are not a freak Jarren, you are NOT! I know this is scary, I know you're terrified of this power, I've known ever since that incident at school that you had this." "B-b-but...ah hurt people...dey wouldn' leave me alone, or mah friend...ahm sorry daddy...ah heard yous talk abouts it wif da doctor an'...ah didn' wanna be bad." "You have nothing to be sorry about. I'm the one that should be sorry." He placed his hands on the biotic shield and sighed calmly, placing them above where Jarren's hands were. He saw the bullet wound through his left hand and closed his eyes tight with fury, opening up towards a deeper regret. "I worried too much about you having the same powers as me, because..." "You...you has them too?" "Yes...you got them from me." "...d-d-daddy? Wh-whut? But...b-but-" "When I was your age, I grew up on Palaven, that was where daddy was born. When the Turian Hierarchy, the important people, found out I had biotics...they put me away in hiding into a special camp, separate from people. I grew up with people distrusting me, not liking me because of my abilities. I didn't want you to suffer the same life. But I forgot one thing." "Whu-...wh-wh-whuzzat?" "...this is not Palaven. This is your home Jarren, the people here are not the ones that I knew, they have different ways of doing things compared to back where I came from. I should have realised that but...I just...I was so scared that people would treat you the same way they treated me...I'm sorry Jarren. I'm so sorry. This was my fault. This is all my fault..." "It...i-i-it's okay daddy...ah don't hate you. You jus'...wanted people to like me." "Yes...because you are the most wonderful little boy I've ever known in my life, and I am proud of you every day. Can you turn this shield off?" "U-uh...a-ah can't." "Why not?" "Ahm scared...ah wanna protect mommy, whut if...wh-whut if other bad people show up?" "There is no one else, it's just that one lady." "B-but..." In that moment a small light of realisation came to young Jarren Drumarien. A light that forever changed him for the rest of his life as it slowly dawned on him what it meant to be like this. To be like his father, just as his mother said a few minutes ago. To become someone great, he placed his hands firmly upon the shield before replying back: "Daddy? ...ah wanna protect mommy, an' you too." "What?" "You go catch dat bad lady...you gots to stop her, o-o-or else, she migh' hurt other peoples...ahll stay here an' keep mommy safe." "...Jarren...are you sure you can handle this?" "Ah huh...mommy an' me have been doin' this without yous knowing." He looked towards his wife behind Jarren, who smiled sheepishly up at him saying: "You worry too much...I'll explain later but I found out and made him okay with using it...he'll be fine, he's a very strong boy. Now go, chase that perp like a real officer, we'll be fine here!" "...but...bu-" "DAT'S AN ORDER DADDY!" squawked Jarren firmly. "...hm...yes sir." With a chuckling salute, he headed off towards the direction of the assassin, the raptor following after as Jarren kept himself shielded with biotics, the glowing blue field pulsating around him and his mother. She smiled saying: "I told you daddy wouldn't be angry."

"Control, officer twelve-forty-seven," radioed Dahnus, "in pursuit of assassin, chasing her now towards a dead end in sector one-one-five, request cordon off and backup to stop her escaping!" "Control here," said HQ, "are you alone?" "Not quite, mercenary by the name of James Campbell now joining me, was originally in pursuit of target and chased her from sector one-two-five." "Confirm, you are not cleared to work with an unknown merc." "Take it up with me back at C-Sec, right now I've got an assassin to deal with once and for all. Also there's two civilians on the upper level of sector-one-one-four, a turian child and mother. Child is guarding his mother with biotics, harmless but do NOT confront him." "Acknowledged, are they unharmed?" "Child got shot in the hand but he's holding out, request medical aid and backup to watch over them if possible." "Acknowledged, your call Drumarien. All units in area converge towards sector one-one-five, one-one-four and cordon it off, assassin in the area, repeat, assassin has been trapped in one-one-five. Medical request assistance, repeat, possible wounded in the area, please acknowledge." James and Dahnus had hopped down over the railing to head directly underneath the upper level, seeing the spotmarks of blue blood from the assassin marking her way through. They leapt onto an arched roof covering a hallway and ran along it, not even questioning each other as they saw her off in the distance, an imperceptible brown speck against the clear backdrop of presidium white and crystal lake blue. There was nowhere left for her to run. Directly in front of them was a lone circular platform raised above the lake, large enough to hold twenty people with water falling from all angles underneath as a constant rushing noise brought with it serenity in the force of nature. A towering sculpture of modern art peered above the water beyond them, reminiscent of a mass effect relay pointing upwards. A curled spiralling arm with a singular blue aura softly radiating from its centre, an almighty eye of solemness peering towards the scene now unfolding. Standing at the other end of the dark blue trail of blood, was the turian assassin. "You have chased me long enough, worthless wretch." She turned snarling with a smile upon her bone-white features, her body bruised clearly by Dahnus' biotic attack previously. The Citadel's many waters poured from all around them, as both James and Dahnus slowly began to circle around her. "You gonna stop running now bitch?" said the raptor. "I never run...I pursue." "That makes two of us," said Dahnus. "Surrender yourself now, or I will shoot." "Hmph...go ahead. I've done my time already in this prison you call a galaxy. But I'll make you two nothing more than notches upon my wall before I pass from this world." "This is your last warning. Surrender. NOW." "You're just the same as me, officer. Barefaced, biotic...surely the Hierarchy would have nothing to do with you, would they?" "All that matters is I am an officer of C-Sec, and you are a murderer." "Hah...how childish of you, to see the world in black and white. This galaxy is far too big for such a thing, eventually all colours spiral into worthless GREY!" "Why are you doing this?!" demanded Dahnus. "Why are you so antagonistic against the Hierarchy?!" "How could you even ask me that?!" snarled the assassin. "You of all people should know what they did, what they've ordered upon others! I know who you are, I know what stains you carry, Dahnus Drumarien! Our species is nothing but a group of bureaucrats who write numbers in blood! At least the krogan are honest about it, but us?! We don't even care about the other side of a war, but if there's ten people less on that side than the one they pick, then they're doomed to extinction! Everyone thinks about the genophage but they don't stop to consider all their other failed little reports, do they? DO THEY?!"

Her neck pulsated with unbridled fury, her professionalism now gone as her cool exterior faded to reveal an aged anger. Dahnus, unintimidated, simply said: "I understand. You're just trying to seek revenge...that's why you joined Facinus isn't it?" "Why do you assume revenge? Plenty of people out there stand up for rights or issues that do not even concern their race, purely because they believe in what's right. Do I need a reason to understand the cold calculating cruelty of the Hierachy?! No, I don't. Now...I will give you one chance as a proposal against your last chance to me. Let me leave now, or else I will be forced to kill you." "Why should I believe that you will not kill me when you were so willing to kill a mother and child?" "Because I am not speaking to you now as an assassin...not in this moment. I give you one chance, to not interfere with me, I know you didn't stop me once before." "I know. ...but I will not let you leave this time. I wasn't...I wasn't acting the way I should have when I first saw you again. But not anymore." A brief moment of regret flickered in his harrowed face before tightening his grip, gun pointed still towards her. "I can't let you leave again...not after what you did." "Why?! Because you obey the Hierarchy?!" "No, because I am an officer of the law! Regardless of your actions or motives, you have murdered several innocent people and perhaps many more before this that had nothing to do with the Hierarchy! I act on behalf of the Citadel and galactic law, NOT the Turian Hierarchy! No one is above the law...not even those who are intangible. Am I right?" The turian cabal snarled with a smirk, feeling herself now cornered as she sighed gravely before chuckling. A deep sense of resignation now brought up to the surface, her hand slightly touching above her eye before speaking once more. "...you could have joined me. You could have always been with me, but you chose to stick with these foolish bureaucrats. Did you forget the pain I suffered? The pain after knowing the one I loved was condemned to his death, by THEIR orders?!" "No," said Dahnus. "I didn't forget. But he knew what he was asked to do, to fight for the galaxy, to save others when he took down that Geth ship that could well have attacked Earth, taking thousands more lives had he not stopped them."

James looked towards both of them, turning curious at this conversation as the assassin chuckled dryly. "Ha ha ha ha...you are such an ignorant little boy still. Did you never realise what the Verrana was truly up to? Did you not know the true nature of that mission, by order of the Hierarchy to spy and deceive the human race in the midst of war, a great and terrible weapon that could have changed everything?!" "I don't care. Unlike you I no longer concern myself with the past." "And yet you still follow them Dahnus. You're just the same as he was...so blinded by red tape, to the point that it'll kill you. All it is is just a blindfold, for when they point the gun at your head." "No. Both him and I understood our duty, as protectors of this realm." "Protectors? And what of Verrana? What about my DAUGHTER who he named his precious ship after?! Killed twice by the Hierarchy both in mind AND in body!" "She was a smuggler, a criminal. I know you want to believe she had good in her heart but the fact remains that she was nothing more than a drug runner, she fell in with a bad crowd far too deep and she paid the price herself! You don't think I feel shame for what she did? You don't think I don't understand what she went through?! She had every chance to give herself up and she didn't!" "Do you feel shame for me too Dahnus?" she asked. "Are you ashamed of me? How many of your little police friends know who your family truly is?" "My family now consists only of my wife and son, both of whom were strong enough to stand up against you, even after you threatened to kill them." "Wh-what?" "My wife, a former criminal who had more strength in her heart and enough reasoning in her mind to know when to stop. To know when to stand on the side of right and fight against injustice when it counted. My son, who is only five years old, had more courage in him than you EVER WILL! That...is who my family is now." "Your...your son? But that......hmph...so. That's why it felt familiar...that feeling when I saw him...he was just like you when you were that age." "You can take that knowledge to your grave," said Dahnus, "knowing you almost destroyed my family once again just like you did when you left me, leaving me nothing but an empty home to come back to and the scorn and distrust of an entire nation because of who you made me as. But I assure you...he will never know what you truly are to him, nor will he ever have to. Mr. Campbell." James looked up towards him, fascinated by the strange history between these two. "I request your assistance in taking down this fugitive. Will you help me?" "I will," said James. "I'm not letting her go after all she's done." "...you have one last chance. Surrender. ...please. I'm not letting you leave me again." The turian cabal simply brought her claws out before her. There would be no surrender. "Then you leave me no choice. You're under arrest for murder of the first degree on several counts, as well as acts of terrorism, arson, grand theft auto and attempted murder. If you do not surrender, then I am authorised to use deadly force." He peered down the sights of his gun without blinking, cold steel lining towards his eye as Dahnus spoke his last three words to her. "Forgive me...mother."

Dahnus immediately began firing as the assassin dodged, his gun much more brutal in its piercing strong shots compared to James' own more basic pistol which while smaller had a larger magazine and rate of fire. Striking out with her own gunfire, she formed a spraying arc of bullets from her geth submachine gun. The real danger of the gun was that the longer she held down the trigger, the more rapid and violent came out the shots until the clip was all used up, speeding up like a miniature gatling gun as both James and Dahnus dodged opposite of each other. The raptor reached her first, striking out from her right at the far left of the platform as she avoided his gutpunch, striking him across the face with her weapon before a biotic palm blasted him in the chest. Rolling back from the shock, he stumbled his way onto his feet through momentum before charging once more, firing off headshots that were blocked constantly by biotic barriers, the assassin readying her claws for a gutful of poison. Dahnus came flying in from her left the moment she turned, slamming with a biotic charge that would have crippled any non-biotic without armour. She almost fell from the platform, but stopped herself short and pumped energy from her aura deep into her heels, stopping her on the spot as she rebounded off to strike Dahnus deep. The claws came flying as the turian cop felt the heatening stomach wound of her biotic poison, her shrieking force drifting past him like a malevolent ghost as he staggered down onto the floor. James rushed to help him, but he brought up his hand showing that Dahnus had his own mix of the venomous antidote prepared. The two nodded to each other and applied it at the same time to their necks, steeling with ice-cold resolve as the assassin snarled furiously, charging towards the officer with claws out for his throat. He countered her strike with a charge of his own, ducking low and slamming his fist straight into her chest before hurling her over and past his body, a move James recognised as the one she performed on him. Dahnus doubled back, slamming down hard upon the platform with a fistful of biotic power glowing like a blue ball of lightning. The assassin rolled to one side just before he hit, slashing at his face to no venomous effect despite the furious stinging rage that went piercing deep inside his body. Had he not taken the antidote, it would surely have reached his brain within two minutes as he swung low with bending knee and charged up a violent biotic punch, slamming into her stomach with a hoarse croak of pain from her throat. In return she slammed her own biotic fist down the back of his head, knocking him down before FG came running up towards her left with blazing fist.

She was stunned partially by the stomach blow to let her counter fast enough, receiving a burning strike of red clawed gauntlet against her face, scarring across her bare cheek in his rising uppercut. In her stumbling struggle to regain herself, she was set upon by the raptor, his fists now burning together once more as he beat her across the face repeatedly, roaring with a furious gleam in his eyes as both her cheeks began matching scars and burns. After several beatings to the face, she resisted against the rhythm of his punches with half-closed eyes and grabbed at his arms, one after the other. Locking them with her hands against the inside of his elbows, his arms were trapped from moving briefly before the assassin slammed straight into his crotch, biotic tremors channelling down to her feet to pound deep against him. His legs buckled as he cried out hard, crumpling down to the floor with a brutal throbbing pain from his cocksheath inside, gasping as the assassin stood up to kick him in the face. He went onto his back, clutching his groin despite the armoured protection as his jaw bled from a new bruise. A powerful shot came from his right as he laid in the middle of the platform, seeing Dahnus now back up with a bruised head as the assassin dodged once more, spinning her legs above herself as she fired back. The hail of bullets hit Dahnus only halfway, his own biotic shield resisting against the spreadfire before he lashed out with a biotic whip, catching the assassin in his grip before pulling her hard towards him. She fired upon him incessantly, piercing through his barrier as the shots ran screaming across his armour and into his lower body. He resisted the pain and roared with a violent crunch of his fist straight into his mother's jaw, sending her back across the plateau as she rolled violently, her jaw cracked with blood spitting blue from her mouth. Shrieking with pain, she strafed biotically as she faded out of existence, swiftly dodging back and forth to try and trick Dahnus into one way. He wasn't fooled, keeping his eye trained on where she would next appear before shooting at the next spot. She ducked right in that moment, her claws glistening from underneath as she razed past his legs, tearing through his thigh as her son roared and fell. James hurried to his side, swiftly dumping medi-gel into his system to bring him back up before pain could come further, the assassin turning fast and firing violently upon both of them. The raptor was ready, striking up a thick shield of his tetra-blockade almost immediately upon forming. The shots were too fast and wild to even slip through any holes, giving him enough time to bring Dahnus back up to speed as he boosted up biotically, slumping back on his feet with gun out and ready before firing. James kept up his own impenetrable shield and fired back alongside him. The assassin however noted that James' shield only covered so much of his body, as she rolled to one side in order to duck low and strike out a long-distance shot of poison, spearing James in the leg as he shrieked and fell. Dahnus covered him by standing in front, putting up his biotic barrier and firing back at her, the turian female charging towards him instead with another shifting fade of biotic prowess, fading from his view. But he knew exactly how she worked by now, focusing power on the front of his biotic shield before hearing the streak of claws upon it.

The very instant that he heard this, he slammed his elbow straight into the turian's face just before she shifted back into view, the striking blow sending her off reeling to the side more by surprise than anything else. James managed to recover from the poison wound thanks to Dahnus' medi-gel returning the favour, bringing both back up to speed as their wounds swiftly knit back together underneath their suits. Her clawed gauntlets readily glistened with more poison, bringing herself close to try and attack both of them simultaneously. A slashing strike to Dahnus was blocked hard by his wrist against her lower arm, the stabbing thrust towards James soon dodged with his arm sweeping it over past his shoulder. Swinging both arms low to strike their bellies, both of them swung back their lower waists with a step back before Dahnus slammed his pistol into her shoulder, whereas the raptor countered with a solid thrusting knee. She managed to block the knee however and pierced him in the waist, with one claw out of three upon her hand shanking halfway into his armour to scrape along his flesh. Groaning with pain as that familiar poison sting came burning up inside of him, he pulled her close and headbutted her viciously like a bucking horse, sending her back hard and stumbling before Dahnus followed up. He rushed forwards with a penetrating punch to the sternum, slamming his fist hard against her chest as she coughed and stumbled, wheezing hard before seeing his gun upon her. Shooting him in the foot with a poison shot, the officer went down almost buckling at the pain as he shot back a second late, the turian female running round the platform itself to come right up behind them. James however saw the way she circled them like a shark, turning round fast before Dahnus came charging past him with biotic force, roaring a bellow of pain and fury before slamming his entire body into her. She went rolling once more across the platform, the mass relay sculpture behind her glimmering as blue as her blood dripping upon the floor. James and Dahnus were in turn leaking slightly from their legs, and their heads swollen with bruises. Soon it was time for her to get serious, as she mustered up a deep energy from inside of her. Dahnus pushed James back defensively as he began to mimic the same, snarling towards his mother as she sneered back, the power of biotic strength now pure and unbridled force. A deepening violet glow transcended over both their bodies, glimmering like phantoms upon a stormlit sea as their muscles contracted, before swelling out slightly as they roared charging at each other. Mother and son soon locked themselves within brutal combat, eyes burning with a bright blue of unnatural furore. Her blows were now harder as well as much faster, slamming her fists into his face and stomach with a four-hit combo, before he blocked her fourth punch to slam his foot up towards her crotch and hammer his elbow down upon her back. Shrieking as she fell, the assassin swung her leg out hard to trip up Drumarien, before striking down with a biotic fist turned latent with rage. He rolled before she hit as the platform cracked slightly with her power, rippling steel shards very faintly before the officer lunged forwards with a brutal gutpunch, crushing her rib with a single energised fist.

He followed up by grabbing her shoulders and slamming his knee right up her chest, her dry heave only causing her to lash out with biting sharp fangs as she tore at his hand, her son crying out before slamming his fist into her cheek. She went down hard enough to crack more of the platform underneath herself, pulsating a blast of biotic energy to slam herself back onto her feet, leaping with a flying kick that spun once in the air, both her feet striking Dahnus with the force of a dull blade being swung by a warrior. Dahnus went spiralling into a fall, rolling across the platform towards the exit of the area as James readily fired at the assassin, but her biotic aura was too much for the bullets to even bother hurting her. She charged forwards as he was about to attack with a burning fist, but she in turn had her own fist of pure energy locked so powerfully inside her, that James went crumpling across the ground and was briefly concussed, knocked out fully for a while. Now she focused on Dahnus, who slowly got up as their biotic auras soon de-energised, their focus now dwindling from their eyes back to their normal state. The two ran at each other, exhausted but furious as they striked at each other. Thrusting jabs countered by rock-hard elbows, driving gutblows blocked by knees and slammed down by hands, turning kicks from the assassin guarded by both fists from the officer slamming them back down away from his side. She tried to plunge her poison blades, he dodged to one side in a half-turn before elbowing her in the face perfectly. She made a rising uppercut, he kicked her in the stomach and shut her down. She ducked low to make a sweeping kick, he stumbled hard but countered back with a bullrushing shove to rebalance himself. He tried to slam his fist from above, she dodged round to his side and knee'd him violently in the chest. He tried to pistol-whip her hard, she blocked with a jabbing tip of her blades into his shoulder to wound him and shut his arm down briefly. He tried to headbutt by bringing her close, she tried to headbutt back to absorb the damage but fail against the larger male's skull. Their final conflict resulted in them locking arms against each other, when she went driving towards him shrieking with both arms out and ready to stab straight into his chest. In return he swung out his arms and slammed hers against his, clamping her hands tightly against his armpits and bending his arms upwards with enough reach to punch her in the face. Over and over again, like a boxer as he drove his fists into his mother's face. Once, twice, three, four, five, six, seven, eight as each grind of his fist sent cracking teeth and skin flying off in miniscule slivers. Then came the last blow, a vicious charged fist potent in blue, surging with his biotic might as he roared with fury, rearing back as the assassin's dazed eyes struggled to fight back the concussion. Right before her face broke itself in two with a bone-shattering crack as she went flying backwards, sliding across the platform towards the other end, the modern sculpture framed far beyond her. Her arms laid spread out with exhaustion, her face dripping with blood almost completely broken through, the cracks almost resembling her wrinkles as she sputtered and coughed.

The blood choked her from where she now laid, welling up in her throat as she slathered some out of her mouth, trying not to drown with it as Dahnus stumbled forwards into her view. Her eyes were swollen and crushed inwards, her mouth cracked and uneven along with her teeth as she struggled to not speak. His face was bruised and swollen with poison as his eyes pulsated thick with fraying nerves. Her son pulled out his handgun without a moment's hesitation. No last words. No second speech. The sound of a single gunshot soon drowned out by the waterfalls around them. Dahnus Drumarien sighed to himself, fingers now rubbing against his face. He shook deeply in his breaths, more exhausted than upset as he slowly breathed out his relief, holstering his gun and bending down to check that she was indeed now deceased. Just another criminal, he said to himself. That was it. Nothing more than that. Even if he knew that was a complete lie on himself. He saw her omni-tool and decided to make a copy of all data on it, before calling up HQ. "Control this is officer Drumarien, code...one-two-four-seven. Suspect is down, I repeat, suspect is dead." "Control, can you confirm suspect is down?" "Yes. Signs have stopped. She won't be bothering anyone else again." "Acknowledged, we'll send the boys down to take the body. Is Mr. Campbell still with you?" "...he's looking a bit concussed and just as bad as me, but I think he'll live. He was a great help, I'm grateful to him." "Acknowledged, control out." He walked over towards FG who soon stumbled back up looking shaky all over, his head rattling with bloody pain as he fell into Dahnus' arms, the officer replying: "Looks like you're going to hospital along with me." "Hhhheh...wh-where is she?" He pointed him towards her body sprawled out with blood pooling around her head. The raptor tried not to smirk, realising the severity of this. "...I'm sorry." "Hm?" "She...she was-" "No." Dahnus turned towards the raptor. "She was not my mother." "Huh? But you said-" "My mother died when I was twenty years old, when she disappeared from my home and never came back. I wanted to find her, I spent so long trying to find a trace of her with nowhere to go but here. Partly why I even joined C-Sec was just to see if she ever passed through these gates. By the time I found her, she was something else. A demon. A ghost clinging onto the past and vowing vengeance upon all. That was not the mother I knew. Whatever that thing was, blinded by hatred and sorrow after calling me blinded by red tape...that was an assassin. A murderer, and nothing more." "But, even after all that she-" "She chose her path. I chose mine. She didn't even register her name after all." "What?" "Her name...it's not registered anywhere...and now it never will be." James immediately understood and said nothing more, nodding solemnly as the turian walked away from the scene of the crime. But then he started hurrying in his steps, suddenly remembering someone else that demanded his attention. He stumbled in his gait, running up towards the cordon of police that came for backup a few minutes earlier.

"JARREN! JARREN!" "What's wrong?" asked one asari officer. "There was a turian boy and a female, the boy had biotics, he was protecting her, where is he?!" "He's still there. He said he wasn't going to lower the shield until you came back, he's safe still." "...JARREN!" He ran up back towards the upper level, struggling through the pain of his injuries despite constant protests of officers around him begging him to go seek medical aid, the medi-gel subduing enough pain to keep him going. Jarren soon saw his father return to him, guarded by Citadel Security all around him making sure that none would harm them, staggering up towards him with blood dripping and face swollen badly with vile cuts, poisonous lesions and septic bruises making both him and his mom gasp with horror at his face. But he replied simply with: "Don't worry...it's just a new look I'm trying out." The two giggled nervously at his attempt of a joke, the father walking up to his son before kneeling softly beside him, the shield still holding between them. Jarren however was looking tired, his mental energy slowly losing the will to keep holding it up as Dahnus placed his hands on the shield, smiling. "You did a good job protecting her Jarren. I'm proud of you." "D-did ah...nnnngh..." "Are you tired son?" "Uhhh huhhhh...ah wanna go home daddy." "Alright, we'll go home. Put your hands against mine...and let your mind become blank." "Whuh?" "Let your mind become completely blank...think of nothing else." "Ah...a-ah can't daddy, ahm tired..." "Alright...think of the most boring mind-numbing thing you've ever had to do. Can you do that?" "Mmmmmmmhhhh...wh-why?" "It'll help, now trust me son...think. What is the most boring thing you had to do?" "...listenin' to Mrs. Suna." "Hmhmhm...now think of her voice...think of her dull voice...and let your mind slip." "Oh...kaaaay.......mmmnnnuuuh..." His mind through exhaustion and a blank state of numbness, slowly dropped his shield, the boy falling into his arms gladly as he barely laid awake, with Dahnus and Shara hugging him tightly. They slowly got up carrying their son between them, the officer carrying himself a few paces before eventually the ambulance crew came to take them all together, as well as to deal with nearby cases of people wounded in the crossfire.

About half an hour later, Dahnus, Shara, James and Jarren rode together to the hospital in the back of a fortified shuttlecar, marked red and white to pass through the traffic with ease. The turian mother turned to the raptor as both him and her husband were attached by a set of drips, saying: "Thank you." "Huh?" "For trying to stop her. Thank you." "H-heh...s-s'alright...no need to thank me, the officer here took her down, I'm just glad you two are okay." "I appreciate the help," said Dahnus, "you chased her down knowing she could have killed you, normally I wouldn't allow you to assist me...but circumstances at the time." "I gotcha, she almost did anyway...I was her original target. I feel a part of me's to blame for all this, all that happened." "No. She was an assassin, she had every choice not to attack other people and focus only on you. But she didn't, she was so consumed by hatred that she no longer cared who she hurt. You're not like that, aren't you?" "Well...no. Not anymore maybe." "Hmm?" "I mean, no, no I'm not." "Good. Thank you James." "No problem...officer." "Now uh Shara?" He turned towards his wife with a wry smirk. "Why did you have a seven-inch blade on your possession in a clothing store?" "Weeeell," began Shara, "you remember how I turned my gun to scrap to make those bells we have?" "Mmhmm?" "...there was more than I thought left afterwards." "And you didn't tell me why?" "Well...a girl's gotta have SOME secrets right? Hmhmhahaha." "Uuugh...hhhha ha ha ha...before we get ourselves healed, Mr. Campbell." "Yeah?" replied James. "I may have something of interest to you concerning our assassin. We'll talk later once we're recuperating." "Really? What exactly?" "Something that'll help you end this business once and for all."