...

Several Hours Later

My shuttle stuttered as I exited FTL, the asari's crown "jewel" of the Terminus appearing in front of me. Illium. As far as I was concerned, this place was just as much of a shithole as Omega, but instead of holding you at gunpoint and demanding you hand over all your money, they stole everything you had through contracts, fees, and business deals. Either way, both places were "unkind" to quarians, which didn't help my perceptions at all.

"Hopefully I don't run into any Eclipse ..." I remarked bitterly to myself, recalling what happened last time I was here in Illium. I had a run-in with a small detachment of their mercs while I was hunting a bounty though the loading docks of one of Nos Astra's many spaceports.

To say the least, I may or may not have a large bounty on my own head after that encounter.

I swooped through the atmosphere, my transponder automatically sending my registration to Nos Astra's air control. This club I was supposed to meet my contact in was located deeper in the city, so I would have to find a new place to land since my usual zone was too far away.

"Come on, come on, there must be another zone around here somewhere..." I said out loud, browsing the list of temporary landing zones. After three minutes of searching, I finally found one. It wasn't that far away from the club, but I'd have to cross through a market promenade to reach it.

I had some extra time before the meeting, so I figured I'd check out some of the shops beforehand.

My shuttle dropped down with a gentle thump, as I placed my helmet back on and armed up. I would wear the same thing I wore on Omega, I couldn't think of any reason not to.

The shuttle door opened with a loud hiss, exposing me to the background din of overhead speeders and other transports going by. There wasn't much to see in the spaceport, just dock workers loading packages and containers onto other ships. Considering how densely populated this city was, I was genuinely surprised there weren't more people here.

That thought changed quickly as I entered the promenade. There were a lot of people here, most of them crowding around large storefronts or looking at the large hologram show happening above the center fountain. It actually looked quite beautiful, and I didn't get to see beauty very much in my line of work. That is unless you consider a Black Widow rifle to be beautiful, which I very much did.

There was also an abundance of "missing persons" notifications posted around the place. There were easily ten unique ones in this area alone. That was an indication that either the Eclipse were having another "recruitment drive", or there was some serious criminal activity taking place. Luckily for me, it wasn't my problem.

I happened upon a store specifically targeting suited races like my own called "Suit, The Premiere Volus and Quarian Envirosuit Outlet." I had never heard of such a place before, I just had to check it out. After going through the store's own decon sequence, I went inside. Like I expected, it was mostly Volus, but surprisingly there were two quarians in the shop as well.

"Hello!" The volus shopkeeper greeted rather warmly, walking over to me with that characteristic volus "wobble". "Welcome to Suit, Ms…?"

"Evela'Zadie Nar Havvano." I answered quickly, causing the shopkeeper to pause.

"Ah. Well then, is there anything I can help you with, Ms. Evela?" He refocused, putting his little hands together.

Mannequins lined the walls, displaying a surprisingly wide variety of suits for both races. One the main floor there were shelves that were lined with filters, upgrades, mods, even clear suits. I was attracted to the shelves near the back that were lined with up-armored suits. That immediately caught my eye.

"Yeah… what kind of armored suits do you have back there?" I inquired, pointing to them.

"Ah, you are looking for protection." He said with another wheeze between statements. "Follow me."

I followed him to the display, looking over the suits on display. They all looked interesting, but I had close to no idea what each one did.

"What are you looking for in a defensive suit?" He asked, trying to gauge what to offer to me.

"Something with good armor, customizable and compatible with older suit components." I listed off, sending the shopkeeper into a sea of thought.

"I know just the thing for you." He announced after a few seconds, walking over to a mannequin covered by a sheet. "We just got this two days ago."

He yanked the sheet off to reveal a red, black and grey suit. It had a thick armor plating on the chest, neck and leg regions, barebone aesthetics, and even a few included utilities such as holsters, bandoliers, and even a survival pack. It was… beautiful.

"This is the Altal Mk. 3, a defense suit developed by Kassa Fabrications. Its armor is composed of a lightweight titanium-steel alloy, making it some of the best one can possibly have for most forms of combat." The shopkeeper explained, as I stared in awe at the suit. "It's fully customizable, includes full omni-tool support, and comes with several additional accessories."

"I'll take it." I said without a second thought, looking down at the shopkeeper. "How much is it?"

"It's on the pricey side, considering how state-of-the-art it is. It'll run you around $150,000 plus ta..." He answered, sounding rather surprised when I handed him the $175,000 credit chit. "Um… very well, I'll go ring this up then. The suit is yours, would you like to put it on now?"

"Yes." I answered, as he opened up a clean room for me to use. I took the suit into the room, eager to get it on.

"Take all the time you need, newer suits, especially combat suits, can be a little uncomfortable at first." He told me as I sealed the room and activated the separate decon system.

Now in a completely private, clean, and soundproofed environment, I began to completely take my suit off for the first time since I put it on back in the Flotilla. It wasn't every day you got a brand new suit to wear, not to mention the suits were a big identifier in quarian society. But, considering my need for more protection in the line of work I lead, I would sacrifice that.

I was eventually down to nothing at all, and I looked at myself in the large mirror that was situated in the corner of the room. Though this didn't come as a surprise to me, I was still jolted at how pale I was. Being suited meant almost no sun for the rest of the body, and my face barely held any color either. It was a pale cross between purple and pink, which was standard for our race. Still, it was quite the contrast to the rest of my body. My shortened white hair was quite the rarity in quarian culture, and was supposed to signify a "peaceful and loving person."

That was obviously bullshit, but then again I wasn't the average quarian.

After I was done looking at myself, I began to put on the suit. The undersuit went of first, a state-of-the-art, almost gel-like layer that was supposed to help keep the body at a normal temperature, basic climate control. That would have been useful back on my last mission. The back of the undersuit had a built-in battery to help boost the shields. It also fit better than my old suit.

After that was on, the boots came next. They were certainly heavier than my old ones, but once they were firmly secured to the undersuit, they felt just as light as my old ones. The chest plate and armguards came next, going on without much trouble. The armguards were there for added protection, storage, and to bolster my shields with additional emitters. The chest plate was essentially a thick piece of metal meant to exclusively protect my vitals if the shield went down. It came with a detachable backpack, and was a good enough replacement for my old one.

The utility belts were up on the pecking order. They were easy enough to figure out, even with never having used them before. I tightened them so they wouldn't come loose. The belts held various utilities that I would sort through later, but the most interesting ones were two specially-made medi-gel injectors just for the suit. The helmet was last. While the suit did come with an armored-up helmet, I was going to stick with my old one. Changing suits was one thing, but changing faces? Even for me, that was too much. I was going to take the other helmet with me anyways, so no harm no foul.

With everything on and sealed, I did one last check of the suit. Moving around in it felt a lot better, I didn't feel a constant draft around the thinner parts of my suit, and everything was perfectly set to my body temperature. I looked down at my boots, thankful that I didn't have to risk suit tears when hitting the dirt anymore. Even with the added weight, I would be just as fast as I used to be, if not faster.

I looked down at my old suit, sitting in a heap on the table. It held a lot of memories, and of course I was going to keep it. Last thing I needed was for something to happen to this suit and not have a backup.

I depressurized the room, walking out with my old suit folded in my arm. The shopkeeper looked over to me, nodding in approval. I picked up a case of Yusai tubes for later, and walked over to the shopkeeper.

"It fits you well." He agreed, ringing up the tubes to the shit I had given him. "Thank you for shopping at Suit, I wish you good luck in the future, Ms. Evela."

"Thanks." I finished, walking back through the decon room. After one last cycle, I was back in the world.

With about half an hour left, I made my way back to the shuttle to drop off my things. I was fortunate that my cloak fit well over the new suit, and made it much less… attention-grabbing. Just because I felt more protected didn't mean I wanted to "look like a Christmas tree" as Calvin always described.

With my new suit and renewed optimism, I looked up the location of the Amitron and started walking.

…

Fifteen Minutes Later

Enter On Youtube: Perturbator – Miami Disco

(Play on repeat until this section of the chapter is finished.)

/watch?v=pRtxavxTmiY

I eventually found the Amitron Club, and all things considered it would have been hard to miss it. Amitron was a human-centric, "80's themed" nightclub with an energetic flair. It was at least four stories tall, blasting loud music similar to some of the stuff I had heard Calvin play around his apartment. Even as far as nightclubs go, this one was a mad house. Bright neon red, pink, purple, and orange flashed erratically around the club, making it nearly impossible to effectively identify anyone.

That could prove to be quite the advantage if push ever came to shove.

The place was filled to the brim with people, so much so that I was surprised I could even move. For someone like me, this was downright cozy. If it wasn't for the fact that none of these people were quarians, I think I could relax easy here.

The abundance of people also pinged another thought. If anything bad were to happen here, there would likely be a lot of civilian casualties. I may be a heartless bitch in other scenarios, but I wouldn't want some poor sod to end up dead because I happened to be near them at the time. It would be an unnecessary waste of life.

I walked over to the bar, ordering a tube of turian brandy, triple filtered. The asari bartender did look surprised, but that only amused me. It was always funny seeing people reacting to a quarian who didn't act "awkward or nervous" around other races.

"Hey barkeep, does the name Max Collins ring any bells?" I yelled over the music after she finished finding the tube.

"You're the one he's meeting with?" She said out loud unenthusiastically. "He's waiting for you on the fourth floor, lounge seven. I'll let the bouncer know you're coming."

With that out of the way, I made my way up the stairs. The turian bouncer there let me through without trouble. I walked into Lounge Seven, seeing a single human sitting there smoking a cigar.

"Ah, Evela. Welcome! Please take a seat." The man greeted, as I shut the door behind me. The music outside was immediately muffed, meaning this room was soundproofed. "How do you like my club?"

"You own this place?" I inquired, mildly surprised. I had expected to meet with some sort of informant, not the actual club owner.

"Yes, it took me three years to finally turn this place into a reality!" He said with a lot of energy, throwing his arms up in the air. "A place that brings all races of the galaxy back to a time where action stars, yuppies, and Ronald Reagan reigned supreme! The glory days of America?"

"America?" I asked, utterly lost at what he was talking about.

"Oh, um… never mind." He quickly corrected, sitting down behind the table. "Sorry, sometimes I get a little… excited."

"The package?" I redirected, staying perfectly still.

"Ah yes, the package." He repeated, his face dropping slightly. "What was the amount again?"

"1,000,000 CS." I answered, still sitting completely still.

Why was he asking this? He was my contact, he should have known exactly what he owed me.

"Um… are you sure that was the agreed amount?" He asked, finally pissing me off.

"Quit playing dumb with me!" I shouted with anger, standing up and looking down at him. "I've been after this thing for weeks, where is my fucking payment?"

"I would get back in your chair, Ms. Evela." He said, unmoving as his face hardened, frowning in an unamused fashion.

"Why should I?" I yelled, banging my fist on the table. "Give me the money you own me, and you'll get the information."

"Oh, we'll get the OSD, don't worry." He remarked blankly, as I felt the barrels of two rifles touch the back of my helmet. "Now please sit back down."

Fuck.

Without another word, I held up my hands and slowly returned to my seat. They took the rifle off my back and both of my pistols, throwing them to the ground. These guys must have been waiting in the room with active camouflage before I even got here. Whoever they were, they meant business.

"So… I suppose this just turned into a stick-up." I said with a bitter tone, lowering my hands.

Max leaned forward, brandishing a large, archaic six-shooter. Even with it being an older weapon, it looked powerful enough to shatter my faceplate if it were to connect.

"What did you see on that OSD?" He asked, pointing the revolver at my head. "We know you opened the container. What did you see?"

"Look, I just got a little curious, alright?" I pleaded, realizing how many options I had here. "The thing was encrypted, I couldn't view what was on it even if I tried."

"We can't take that chance." Max remarked with finality in his voice. He looked off to the side, aiming the revolver slightly to the left.

Before anything else could happen, I shoved the chair I was sitting in backwards, smacking the two men behind me in the knees. In the same motion, I leaped across the table, wrestling the revolver out of Max's hand. Despite him being slightly bigger than me, I managed to get the upper hand. Just as the other two were recovering, I retrieved the revolver and held Max at gunpoint.

"Back off, I said BACK OFF!" I threatened, pushing the barrel of the six shooter into his cranium. "Drop your weapons or this bosh'tet's brains are going all over the wall!"

"Do as she says." Max said with an obvious hint of fear in his voice.

I scooted around the men as they slowly lowered they weapons to the ground.

"Kick my pistols back over. NOW!" I yelled, as they did so.

"You really think you can get out of here alive?" Max mocked in an attempt to get into my head. "I have over forty armed men in this building."

I had to do this quickly, or else I would be dead within seconds.

I pushed Max forward, blowing the back of his head off with his own revolver. His body knocked the two men over with pure dead weight. I tossed the revolver and retrieved one of my pistols, putting them down before they could push the body off. Even with the room being soundproofed, I could see that more men were on their way, pushing people in a rush to reach me.

I grabbed the rest of my stuff, including one of the cloaking devices, and fired through the window, shattering it. The music flooded in instantly as I leapt through quickly scanning over my surroundings. There were armored men coming at me from both sides, so those were out of the question. The only other way out I could make out was down.

"Everyone out of the way!" I shouted, firing one of my pistols in the air to incite a panic. I readied myself, charging forward and grasping for the edge of a dancer's platform. I barely caught it, dangling by one hand.

"I should had accepted Aria's damn deal…" I muttered to myself, dropping down to the ground floor. Max's men tried to circle around me, but I killed two of them before I leapt behind the bar. Various bottles shattered above me as changed heat sinks, the guards firing wildly in an attempt to pin me down. They might have tossed grenades, but there were simply too many people around to do that. Two of the bouncers attempted to go around the bar to flank me, but I deployed a combat drone to distract them. That gave me my chance. I tossed a flash bang into the open, blinding and deafening the unarmored guards. I ran as fast as I could, disappearing into the crowd of people still trying to get out of the club.

After putting a few hundred yards between myself and the club, I looked back at it to see Police converging on it. They could deal with what was left of that place.

I escaped for now, but after the display they just put on they would certainly be on my tail again soon.

…

Thirty Minutes Later

I was still trying to figure out what happened back there. Everything "went to shit" so quickly, as Calvin would often say. The stupid container or the OSD must have been bugged, they somehow knew that I had taken a look at one of them. I would think harder about this after I had gotten clear of any more mercenaries.

I reached my shuttle after avoiding anyone and everybody in my path. There didn't seem to be anyone following me, but I wasn't taking any chances after what just happened.

I was just about to go inside when I heard engines revving up beneath me.

Two white, black and orange Mantis gunships appeared, aiming all their weapons at me. Those were Cerberus markings, I should have known they would be behind something like this. The info came from an old base of theirs, they obviously would have wanted it back. I had to do something quickly, or else they would blow me to smithereens.

"You are in possession of Cerberus property!" A loudspeaker shouted at me from one of the gunships. "Drop your weapons and equipment, or we will open fire!"

"YOU WANT THIS?!" I shouted, holding the storage container up in the air. "COME AND GET IT!"

"Open fire!" They shouted, as I leaped off of the platform, landing behind a pile of crates.

I activated my new cloaking device, running back into the guts of the spaceport as mass accelerator rounds ripped everything to shreds behind me. I fled into the warehouse, thankful that no one was working shifts this time of night. I locked the doors behind me, frying the controls to slow them down. I came in here knowing there would only be three more options for them. They would either deploy troops to go inside, blow the roof and attempt to find me that way, or both.

Either way, I still had the advantage. This place was a maze, and had great positions for me to pick off targets with my Widow. If they wanted that OSD, they'd have to pry it from my cold, dead hands.

"Come on, you fuckers…" I muttered, climbing on top a large stack of cargo containers and setting up my Widow. "Backstabbing bosh'tets…"

About thirty seconds later, I could hear the front door to the warehouse being blown open by explosives. Fortunately, since warehouse was devoid of workers, I could pull this off any way I wanted to.

A squad of heavily armored commandos entered the warehouse, looking in every direction. I actually found it quite funny that none of them looked up, they would have seen me bright as day.

I cooked a grenade, throwing it right into the middle of the squad. It killed six of them in an instant, leaving four incapacitated and three unharmed. Four loud bangs rang out and only two of the commandos were dead. The last one called for reinforcements before I put a hole in his chest.

I like I predicted, not even five seconds later one of the gunships blew a hole in the top of the warehouse, knocking out the lights inside. All the dumb bastards did was give me cover and a clear shot at their stabilizers. One armor-piercing incendiary, and those things were scrap.

Commandos trying to rappel down through the hole were turned into ragdolls as the gunship spun out of control, sending them careening off into the distance. The gunship itself smashed right through the ceiling it blew a hole in, crashing into a large stack of crates waiting to be shipped out across Nos Astra. It was still intact, but the fire inside ensured anyone left would be burnt to a crisp.

The other gunship decided to bug out, likely due to excessive losses. They fled off towards the north, leaving me with the wounded. I jumped down and walked over to them, the one in the best condition attempting to crawl away.

He meekly tried to pull a pistol on me, but I easily knocked it out of his hands. He gave into weakness, letting himself go limp.

"So… where are your friends going?" I asked, kneeling next to him and taking off his helmet.

"What… is it to you… suit rat?" He gasped out, blood dripping out the corner of his mouth. It was obvious he wasn't going to last much longer. I didn't care in the slightest, but I needed to find out something.

"If you tell me where your friends are going, I might give you some medi-gel." I offered, holding up my omni-tool. He looked at it the same way a starving animal would look at food.

"They're going… to a base… we… have hidden near… their north… pole. Coords… on omni-tool…" He said slowly through bursts of pain. "Please… that's all… I know… I don't want to die."

I took out one of my pistols and put a round through his head. His wounds were too bad for him to be saved anyways, it was a mercy killing at that point. I took the information off his omni-tool, finding the coords of this "northern base" of theirs.

This just kept on getting more and more complicated. If I had any chance of pulling off a heist in a military compound, I would need backup.

…

A/N: Well, there is the second chapter of Blood Ties, I hope all of you liked it. By this point, I have developed a synopsis of where this story is going to go, something I neglected to do when I still wrote The Odd Ones Out.

Please fav and review my story, It really does help! This is GIR, signing off.