Chapter 4: Sparks

Sword Art Online, it now seems strange to me just how pumped I was for this game. It was supposed to be a paradise, instead it turned into a nightmare, and all because of one man. Hard to believe that a single person could have so much power.

And as if to prove me wrong, I'm now trapped with Shepard, the hero of the galaxy herself, in here. Basically, the person who, above anyone else, proved just how much of a difference a single person can make. Got herself trapped to take care of her daughter. People may think what they want of her, but this out of all the things she's done, demands at the very least the respect of everyone.

I know, I know. I'm a fanboy and all, but still I feel safer with her around. Not sure if I could have kept my cool otherwise. Heh, kept my cool, I just didn't run around screaming, though I sure wanted to. Never expected to fight for my life, and certainly not in a goddamn video game. Seems like mom was right, these games are bad for the brain.

Still, I'm conflicted about my friends being here. On the one hand, I'm glad to have them with me, as someone I know I can trust and to give me even something remotely close to the normalcy that we all crave. But on the other hand, I feel guilty for having those thoughts, and for getting them into this in the first place. I wanted us all to buy this game so that we could hang out together. So that we could actually talk face to face with each other instead of the vid-calls we usually had to use. I may have meant well, but fact is I brought them into this mess.

I cannot help but wonder, do they hate me? I wouldn't blame them if they did. They never said anything to that effect, but I long since learned that most thoughts stay hidden for a long time, if not forever. Regardless whether they hate me or not, I brought them into this mess, and I'll make damn sure that they'll get out of it too.

Journal entry of N7NFG_WannaBe aka Scott Kristenson, founding member of the Black Legion

Town of Genesis, Floor One

November 9th, 2216

Sitting on the bed next to her eerily quiet daughter, Vivian reached out to rest a hand on Val's shoulder, only for the young asari to pull away from her worried father. "Easy, it's just me." Vivian whispered softly before scooting closer to her again.

"Just leave me alone... both of you. Yes, I can see you Lenn. You're creeping me out." As Val rolls her green eyes with a glance over her shoulder, the turian girl currently peeking her head in the room quickly darted back out of sight. Once the door was shut, only then did the asari sigh and pull her long, slender legs up to her chin on the edge of the bed before wrapping her arms around her knees, her head turned so her cheek rested against the top of her drawn up legs. "I just….wanted him to stop trying to hurt everyone. I've been angry before but….it almost felt like I had stepped outside myself or something….goddess what did I do?!" She moaned, horrified by what she'd done, and rightfully so even if they had no way to know for sure if Bratarc had simply been forcibly logged out or if his mind was truly gone now.

"You reacted to the situation at hand." Her father told her quietly, profound sadness clearly audible in her voice as she dared to get closer to Val. When she didn't flinch away a second time, Vivian gingerly slid next to the girl, one arm snaking around her trembling shoulders. "They attacked us first, and then he kept threatening us. You were scared, that doesn't make you a bad person. That you regret it at all says as much Val." She whispered, her green eyes never far from her daughter's head, her heart clenching a little when Val curled up tighter upon herself. Deciding to change tactics a bit, Vivian mentally sighed heavily, and let her hand fall to her daughter's back where she gently made soothing circles. "There's one story I never told you….one I don't like to remember, well...there's a few things I can name that fall under that category, but that's not the point. This one….happened when I was still an orphan living on the streets."

That got Val's attention as she slowly looked up, her cheeks damp from her tears as she met her father's gaze. Despite the decades between that time and now, and her own emotional turmoil, the asari could see this was not easy for Vivian to revisit, let alone to talk about. But talk about it she did as Vivian gently ran her fingers over Val's face, wiping away her tears as she went. "I was fourteen. I'd been….alone, for a long time, despite having joined with the T gang not long before. I was just a scout, a lookout, fast on my feet and quiet as a mouse, one of Thane's 'unseen' if you want to go that far, but despite having the security of a group, I wasn't stupid enough to trust any of them. I was never far from the hideout, but I preferred to keep to my own devices, especially since most of the older boys always made little lewd comments in my direction. I wasn't interested, but I'd seen what happened when girls my age told such kids no one too many times, so I didn't hang around more than I had to for that reason alone. The other involves some of them being involved with drugs, but that's another story in itself."

Val remained silent, knowing there was a point to this little confession, and she was afraid she knew what her father was getting at. She held her tongue though, a good thing in this case since she saw Vivian visibly swallow and sigh audibly this time before letting her gaze fall to the floor between them. "Desperation makes animals of us all, Valara. I'd learned that already, but one of the other kids in my old stomping grounds, a new arrival, she hadn't gotten the memo, and it cost her everything. She was an idiot, getting hooked up with one of the rival gangs, one of the more violent ones, and it wasn't long before she was hooked on Red Sand, turning tricks for credits and her next fix, and stealing anything of value from anyone she caught alone. I'd seen her giving me the stink eye more than once, but I had a reputation already, proving to be smarter and faster than most of the kids on the block, and I knew my way around the area better than anyone else. The few times someone thought to chase me, they always wound up chasing a ghost. But even ghosts have to sleep."

"She didn't." Valara gasped, and she had her answer to her unspoken question when Vivian looked up, her green eyes, so much like her own, met hers once more. "Goddess…."

"There wasn't a goddess down there on the street for kids like me Val." Shepard whispered, and ignored the age old wound that ached from what had happened. "I woke up with this girl's hands wrapped around my throat. She knew I had credits stashed away, and she knew I'd have come after her with friends, which I would've because I was desperate to buy my way out of that place and a few people….at least two I trusted as much as I was able, knew that. I fought with a fury and strength I didn't know I had until that moment, and we ended up rolling around my little hideaway, among the trash and the forgotten, broken things I had surrounded myself with. I don't remember where the broken bottle came from…..how it wound up in my grasp, only that when the world started to go dark, I woke up sometime later. She was on her side, facing away from me, unmoving, but I knew what had happened…."

Turning her left hand over, and seeing the tiny little scars along her father's palm and fingers, Val knew she was telling the truth. She'd already suspected as much, but having the evidence there in front of her simply drove the point home. She understood, all too well, and she still regretted what she'd been forced to do even if the girl in question had tried to kill Vivian first. Grasping the scarred hand, Vivian smiled, her eyes glistening with unshed tears, as she put her free hand over the asari's own. "I was picked up by the police shortly afterward, and it was decided I needed a little time in juvie, more to get me off the streets than anything since it was clear it'd been self defense. The rest is what you've always been told, with me getting my shit together, pulling myself out of the dregs, but I never forgot where I came from….of being that scared and desperate." Or about the very first girl she'd killed, but that went without saying as Val crumbled against Vivian's side, both of them sharing their grief over their shared mistakes, their traumas.

Neither heard the pitter patter of feet as Scott walked away, having been guiltily listening to every word shared between them. Despite the information he was now privy to and the friendship that connected him with both Mike and Isaac, he resolved not to tell anyone about what he had heard. Fanboy that he was, his respect for Shepard hadn't wavered, if anything, it had only gone up further even as his heart went out to the pair. Scarred but never broken, right, the thought was laughable now in Scott's mind. Whoever had coined the phrase clearly didn't have a clue as to the real person behind the legend.

"-Nadola. You two doing alright?" Pausing as his eyes caught sight of Isaac, checking in on their new tagalongs, he smiled when they heard a muttered response from the other side of the door. "Just wanted to be sure. You two did good today." Scott watched, unseen for the moment, as the door opened, and Isaac stuck his head in on the two, his smile never wavering as they shared a quick exchange before Isaac gently shut the door once more, only then noting his presence. Frowning, Isaac closed the distance between them, his concern palpable even at a distance. "What's going on?"

"N-nothin' much. Just making the rounds." Scott replied lamely, and sighed when Isaac's visage didn't shift in the slightest. Deciding to go with a half truth, he said, "I guess there's much more about Shepard that we don't know."

"You heard something?" He asked, to which Scott could only nod.

"I shouldn't be surprised, but….let's just say listening at keyholes isn't the best idea." What he'd heard he wasn't about to say, but he doubted he needed to explain anything further to Isaac.

"I understand." His friend replied and his eyes softened, catching onto what Scott was hinting at. "I'll keep quiet then, you heard nothing if anyone asks. Today has been trying enough for us all as it is."

"Y-yeah, for some more so than others." Scott replied, and was once more glad Isaac had gotten the hint as he walked towards his own room, every step a chore as exhaustion pulled at his limbs. "Really need to go on a diet once we get out of here." Scott chuckled weakly, but the attempt at humor did nothing to ease the guilt from accidentally listening in on a conversation between a mother and her daughter as he had.

Isaac watched, a silent guardian as ever, as Scott disappeared into his room before turning his gaze towards the single window at the end of the hall. Despite knowing the bright, crescent moon that stared back wasn't real, Isaac still found the pale light a comforting sight as his own mind turned to a certain asari and his battle scarred mother. Tomorrow would be a new day, for all of them, and with it, a chance for new growth would hopefully spring forth. "Sleep well." He offered to the empty hall before he turned in for the night soon after.

Town of Genesis, Floor One

November 10th, 2216

It seemed fitting, after yesterday's fiasco, that it'd be raining heavily when they stirred for the day. Making their slow way downstairs to the main hall of the inn, the fire in the stone hearth a few dull embers as the rest of the patrons meandered out to a late breakfast, Scott and Mike were happy to see Val was looking….better, if only slightly so, as she joined their table with Lenn and Vivian in tow. Isaac, Bradley, Nadola, and Grev were the last to arrive, but only by a few minutes as an NPC waiter moved to ask for their orders.

Once that'd been taken care of, only then did Isaac spread his hands before him and say, "I know you likely don't wish to think about what we do from here, but there is some business we need to take care of." He began hesitantly, and was immediately relieved when Val smiled and nodded for him to go on.

"I'm...okay." She assured the group at large, a less than subtle, knowing glance passing between her and Vivian as she said those two little words. "I doubt I'll ever forget what happened, but I'm here."

"That's reassurin'." Scott offered, a far more subtle glance passing between him and Isaac before he leaned back, his hands folded loosely over his slightly pudgy midriff. "We'd be useless without you three, after all."

"At least you admit it." Lenn chuckled dryly but smiled, just as glad that Val was on the mend even if it was too early to tell if it'd stick. She was willing to let it go at that though until such a time came that they needed to talk about yesterday further, even as images of yesterday's fight flashed behind the turian's gray eyes. She'd killed one of Bratarc's men, same as Val, but she hadn't thought twice about it, not when it came to the asari and her father. Instead of focusing on that further however, Lenn said, "So what's on your mind Isaac? More pearls of wisdom for this band of misfits we're fast becoming?"

"It's actually this very thing I wished to touch upon." Isaac replied, a little smile pulling at his lips as he ran a pale skinned hand across his clean shaven, equally pale face, his gaze falling on Shepard herself. "As much as I agree with the desire to save as many people as we can, we can't keep picking up strays without an idea of what we're doing with them in the long term. We've no way to feed and house them all, we've no guild hall, no army, and it's still fairly chaotic out there I imagine, meaning power will be in flux until such a time things begin to stabilize. Trying to rally people now will likely only backfire."

"As much as it sucks, you're right." Shepard agreed, but was quick to add, "that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to do something though. As for not being a guild yet, we can start to take steps in that direction. It was always my intent to start a guild anyway, although now it'd be more to protect as many people as we could than to have fun, taking down the occasional PK group and pirate guild. To do that, we need to be willing to take this to the front lines."

"Because by ending the death game as fast as possible, only then would we be able to free everyone." Mike agreed, one dark skinned hand going for the plate of food that'd been put in front of him while the other grasped towards one of the glasses of water they'd ordered. Taking a moment to savor the rich if simulated taste, Mike paused long enough to swallow before continuing on, "Mmm….but that raises its own problems doesn't it? The unknown out there, as we've already discovered, can be even more dangerous than what we've seen thus far."

"Not if we share the information we discover." Bradley offered, his little legs only just reaching the wooden floor. His unexpected comment was what had their attention as he blushed but beamed under their respective gazes.

"Thankfully, someone else has already started to do that." Isaac said as he put a simple little brown booklet in the center of the table. As Lenn picked it up to give it a once over, Isaac pressed onward without missing a beat, "it's being written by beta testers, and handed out to as many reliable information brokers as they can find. It's a first edition so what information they've found isn't much, but every little bit'll help in the long term. It's a free resource, so if someone tries to sell you one for any amount of money, don't bother paying."

"Good to know." Val intoned as she took the offered guide, nodding approvingly of what her eyes gleamed as she began to flip through the pages. "Looks legit from what I can see." She mused, remembering well most of what had already been shared during her own time in the beta before she handed the book over to Bradley's grasping hand. "You probably know more than any of us though." She chuckled softly as she handed it over. Bradley blushed again but grinned in response before Val returned to her meal. "But the front lines, you sure that's a good idea dad?"

"We don't have to be at the front all the time, not like other guilds that'll no doubt be out there, but it'd help speed things along to getting everyone out of this if we devoted some time to clearing the dungeons. Besides, being a beta tester will likely draw its own share of enemies once word gets out."

Nodding in agreement to Shepard's remarks, Isaac folded his hands beneath his chin before speaking further. "I'll try to get in contact with an information broker I met in the beta… Tell her how that miniboss unexpectedly appeared and to warn everyone that the information isn't one hundred percent accurate. The guide is just that, a guide."

"Good thinking, you have someone in mind?" Mike asked, breaking his silence at last.

"Maybe, she's a rat, but you can trust her to get things right." Isaac stated matter of factly.

"Wait, you talkin' about Argo?" Scott asked, and groaned when Isaac raised an eyebrow in equal parts agreement and puzzlement at his friend's obvious distaste. "Ugh….I owe her five hundred Cor from the beta test and she's bound to ask, and not in a nice way."

"Do I even want to ask?" Mike wondered, but didn't wait for a response. "Not important, but that'll be your mess to take care of Scotty." Scott stuck his tongue out at the obvious Star Trek reference, but the gesture went largely ignored by the rest of the group. "I know Isaac's going to ask so I'm just going to come out and say it. What do we do about your well earned infamy, Commander?"

"What do you mean?" Vivian asked, having a feeling she knew what he was getting at.

"You're not stupid, and as we discussed yesterday, many people still rightfully hold you in very high regard. So much so they thought it a good idea to make religions based around you and your achievements. That's gonna be a problem for the rest of us if it's not handled appropriately." Mike intoned gravely.

"Not to mention the fact that while many revere you," Isaac picked up where Mike left off, his tone just as grave, "others despise you in equal measure, blaming you for their losses, for their failings, for what could have been. Unjustly in some cases perhaps, but it can't be helped I suppose."

"Woah, back up a bit, what do you mean religions?" Vivianne asked and held up her hands, feeling a migraine coming at the mere thought. "Liara told me of widespread admiration, but this… is something different altogether."

"You were not aware?" Isaac asked her, more than a little surprised by the mere thought, only to receive an astonished head shake in return. "Oh… whoops. Uh….yeah by the way, you're revered as a goddess in certain circles, if not at the least a demigoddess." Shepard's exasperated groan as she thunked her head against the table was amusing, but as much as Isaac had to resist the urge to smile, he forced himself to continue forward. "But you see the problem."

"Yes….goddess damn it but I didn't save the galaxy to be revered." Shepard grumbled but sighed as she ran a hand across the back of her neck. "No wonder Liara never liked me watching the news."

"If it's any consolation, not all are as extreme in their reverence as those I mentioned previously… some merely view you as an admirable person, someone to emulate or at least follow the example you set, like always striving to better yourself. At least that is the philosophy I've encountered among the restored geth and quarians I've met." Isaac explained patiently, a sympathetic smile on his face.

"That's something I suppose," Vivian grumbled before turning her attention to Val and Lenn, who suspiciously looked away in a hurry. "Am I the last person to find this out?"

"Um….no?" Lenn lamely lied.

"Uh huh." Vivian deadpanned, not buying their attempt to gloss over the matter in the slightest. "See if I rescue your sorry butts in the future." Val rolled her eyes while Lenn sheepishly rubbed the back of her fringed skull. "So what would you three suggest?"

"A full helmet to cover your pretty face?" Scott chimed in, and held up a hand to forestall any followup from Mike or Isaac. "No seriously, a big helmet or a nice blacked out hood so you can move around without being swarmed everytime you step outside."

"Yeah, not the worst idea and probably would be best if you didn't march up to people and tell them that you're Commander motherfucking Shepard." Scott added with a grin before remembering Bradley was just a few seats away from him. He needn't have worried as the boy shrugged, before Scott continued, his cheeks a little red from his colorful outburst. "Just tell them you're Vivian… or ask them to call you sixtynine, you know, because of your name tag?"

"I'll make you eat your sword before letting anyone call me that." Shepard promised, while silently applauding Scott's gumption at mentioning Liara's playful hack of her gamer profile. "My wife's sense of humor aside, there's the other side of the argument to consider."

"Hope." Isaac stated simply, understanding all too well what Shepard was hinting at. "Names as even half as well known as yours inspire feelings across the spectrum, but yours is synonymous with hope and self sacrifice, of being better than we believe ourselves capable of being. You took a band of mercenaries, assassins, ex cons, marines, and more, and made them into something better, or as Scott is no doubt thinking, you simply showed them they could be better. Whatever the case might be, having word get out you're here could prove beneficial, despite the previously stated problems that same news might draw our way."

"I wouldn't have put it quite like that." Shepard pointed out with a good natured chuckle but nodded anyway. "But yeah, how can I help people if I'm supposed to hide?"

"I have an idea." All eyes turned to Nadola, and the salarian perked up as she and Grev shared a look. "We simply let the rumor out that you're here, rather than the fact."

"Rumors can be almost as motivating as the actual facts, depending on how they're spread." The quarian intoned with a nod of his head. "The hope of being proven justified in hoping for something in the first place….that can be its own motivation. I'd know Commander." Shepard nor Isaac didn't doubt it, given what she and Isaac knew about the quarians in their respective ways.

"The hope for hope's sake alone. Heh, I can get behind that Grev." Shepard nodded approvingly, liking where they were coming from.

"Heh, not a bad idea you two." Isaac admitted with a wry grin. "Now I just have to feed some info to Argo… though along with a few false leads to keep her from figuring out the truth too soon… she'll probably hate me for holding out on her."

"Join the club." Scott muttered morosely and sighed. "She already hates me, I don't even want to know what she'll charge me in the future."

"You could just pay her back." Mike casually pointed out with a shrug.

"I'm afraid to find out what kind of interests she puts on her prices." They were all surprised when Bradley chimed in, his cheeks turning a much brighter red when he realized he'd spoken aloud. "Uh….heh. I might have asked for a few hints when I first started and she was more than happy to help me and my friends out, for a price. She was nice about it though."

"Heh, well who'd have thought you had it in ya Brad." Val chuckled and ruffled the boy's hair before pushing her cleaned plate away, one hand falling to her slightly bulging stomach. "Ugh….and on that note, I think it's high time we got to work."

The Eastern Woods, Floor 1

"I hate him right now." Mike grumbled as he, and the rest of their group watched Scott openly flirt with a group of young asari maidens. Having helped them clear a group of annoying goblins, the shortly cropped head of brown locks sticking out like a sore thumb among the sea of blue and purple on every side as he happily added his shortsword to their cause.

"I'd find it hard to believe he was so charming as well with the way he carries on with you, Lenn." Isaac stated softly, smiling despite the sharp jab from the turian's elbow he got for his trouble.

"Bosh'tet." Lenn grumbled, but smirked despite her annoyance. "Still, gotta agree with you, and this plan might just work if we're this lucky with everyone we run into."

"Sorry ladies, but I gotta split." Scott, knowing he was being watched, smiled and backed away from the heavily armed group of 'women', having done what they'd set out to do in spreading the word Shepard was rumored to be about the game. "You ever need a hand though, don't hesitate to send a message my way." Just because he was on business didn't mean he couldn't play along though as he could just imagine the audible eye rolls and groans from his companions hiding among the trees and undergrowth. Walking away with his chest puffed out and his head held high, he waited just long enough for the group of asari to disappear deeper into the forest, a bright noonday sun high overhead after the earlier downpower, before rejoining his companions. "And the triumphant hero returns!"

"Hey triumphant hero, your fly's undone." Lenn droned, to which Scott gasped, looked down, and sighed when he remembered he was wearing armored leggings rather than a pair of pants with a zipper. "Made you look."

"Do you think they bought it?" Shepard asked, her face obscured by the confines of the matching black helmet that went well with the N7 replica armor she'd taken from Scott the other day.

"I'd be surprised if they even remember." Val grumbled moodily. "Looked to me like they had other things in mind."

"Oh ye who are of so little faith!" Scott declared dramatically as he clasped his hands over his armored chest. "Did you think I would so easily forget what I was sent to do? No! I did not, I told them that anyone who could give me concrete info would get a… reward." He trailed off, a sheepish chuckle escaping him at how that'd no doubt sounded.

"Seriously?" Lenn asked flatly and gritted her teeth. "That was your great idea?"

"Oh yeah, pretty genius huh?" Scott replied, either not seeing the disbelieving gleam in Lenn's gray eyes or he was choosing to ignore it completely.

"Genius, yes that is… a word." Val agreed dryly. "How is he still alive again?"

"That is a question I've asked myself a few times." Mike admitted but sighed before running an armored sleeve across his forehead. "But he has his uses, and he's one of my oldest friends, so there's that."

"One of your only friends you mean." Scott chimed in before he too sighed and let his head hang a little. "Not that I can talk much since you and Isaac are about the only two people I can name as such. Elysium's nice and all, but being one of the few fat kids in the neighborhood pretty much ensured I was never picked for the school volleyball team, and being a consummate gamer and unrepentant nerd didn't help."

"Meh, there're worse things." Val offered with a shrug of her shoulders before she and the rest heard the tromp of organized marching off in the distance. Only one race they knew of could move with a purpose no matter where they went. "Turians, I'd bet my last shiny Cor."

"Shall we introduce ourselves?" Lenn asked, to which the rest of the group nodded their agreement before setting off.

"I'll take this one." Isaac offered, and when no one argued against the suggestion, the pale skinned young man stalked off, silent as a ghost despite the fact he was in full armor like the rest of them.

"Sure, let the squishy human talk to the turians, it's not like we got one here." Lenn muttered with an eyeroll and glared at the young man's back in annoyance. "I'm more than just eye candy you know."

"We know Lenn, but your clan markings aren't exactly easy to miss, and we're trying to keep a semi low profile." Val was quick to remind her turian companion before patting her on the back.

"Oh, right. I guess you have a point." She admitted, unable to blush but doing her best impression all the same as they soon lost sight of Isaac as he slipped through a thick patch of thorn bushes, unbothered by the grasping thorns and vines that blocked his path as he drew his sword in the same instant. The sound of fighting just ahead reached their ears, and the rest of the group approached cautiously, spotting the group of kobolds the turians had since engaged. "Should we lend a hand?"

"Not just yet." Shepard stated, nodding approvingly towards Isaac as he cut one kobold down before spinning like a top, his blade finding a new home in a second's stomach just as it'd been about to strike down one of the turians. The group's organized ranks closed up around their fellow in the next instant, with the surviving monsters falling in short order. Once it was over, Shepard crossed her arms and smirked widely as she leaned against a tree, obscured from the group's sight while appearing perfectly at ease. "Nah, I think we can just sit back and relax."

"Are you unhurt?" Isaac asked the gathered turians in the next moment. "I apologize if I stole some of your XP, but let me assure you that I did not do so to deny it to you, but rather to safeguard one of your own."

"There is no need to apologize, human." An older turian assured him with a grateful nod. "I thank you for protecting Quintus, the lad is still a bit green."

"Aren't we all?" Isaac retorted wryly but smiled as the group chuckled in turn. Holding out his right hand once he'd sheathed his blade, Isaac smiled a little wider as the turian commander returned the gesture. "I am Dirhael, it is an honor to make your acquaintance, and a relief to see a group that can already work together as well as yours. I fear we will have need of such discipline in the future."

"Too right, Dirhael. My own name's Festus, and you've proven yourself capable, perhaps you would be willing to join us?" Festus offered, a sentiment echoed by the rest of the man's group without a second thought.

"Unfortunately I can't. I'm looking for my friends, though I know that they're still alive, I cannot help but worry. They went to investigate the rumors about Commander Shepard's presence in this game, and I haven't seen them since."

"Then I wish you the best of luck in finding them though I must ask, Shepard? She's here? If so, why hasn't she rallied the other players to her cause?" Festus questioned quickly, eager to hear more.

"If she is present, I cannot speculate on her motives, though I'd guess it has something to do with the ire she'd cause some players. I very much doubt that everyone views her as a hero, and if she were to reveal herself, she could prevent the community from uniting if they're split about the issue." Isaac replied with a clueless shrug. "But who can say for certain but the woman in question?"

"Who indeed." The turian agreed even as his group members quietly talked to one another at the possible news and what it could mean if it was indeed true. "In that case, I hope you'll find your friends soon and in good health, so that we may meet again when it is time to kill the boss of this damn floor."

"I thank you, and may your people's indomitable spirit go with you."

"It's not often a human knows of our beliefs, even in this day and age. But with that in mind, good luck to you as well, Dirhael." Festus replied, pleasantly surprised by the offered remark as they parted ways.

Isaac was all subtle smiles, flush with his small victory in his own right as he soon joined the others. "Not bad kid." Shepard offered, before turning her gaze towards the right, where a just visible path out of the woods could be spotted. "Might as well continue to spread the good word and see if we can't find any info about any organized efforts to find the floor boss. The sooner we join the front after getting the rest of the group up to speed as far as levels and equipment's concerned, the better in my opinion."

"Sounds like a plan." Grev agreed, his silvery gray eyes alight with genuine hope now that they had a clear plan and a goal. The quarian had barely taken five steps towards the dirt path before an ear piercing scream reached their ears, and he stopped, turned, and drew a heavy looking hammer from his back, peering uncertainty at Shepard for direction.

"Go!" Shepard ordered, already charging towards the scream just as the all too distinctive sound of someone being deleted from existence reached their ears only seconds afterwards. Charging through the trees, she came to a stop on the edge of a large, spider web covered clearing, with a very large arachnid already in the process of charging a terrified group of drell on the far side. "Shit! We need to get that thing's attention!"

"On it!" Lenn called out as two throwing daggers left her taloned fingers in rapid succession, one finding a new home in the black, pulsating thorax of the giant beast, while the other seared right through its back left leg, cutting through its segmented joint. When it took another step, the leg buckled and shattered into pixels as it stopped, turned, and glared balefully at the charging group. Seven red eyes, one of which having already been cut, stared malicious intent in their direction, but Lenn simply spread her taloned hands wide and said, "Come and get it ugly!"

"It's stronger than us, but we can take it!" Bradley called out, his little mace in hand as he ducked beneath its grasping mandibles that dripped with some kind of acidic drool before regaining his feet in the same instant. Shattering a second leg as he went past, the boy spun the other way, his second strike buckling a third leg as he went before he was forced to get out from under the spider, which he saw had a red hourglass on its underbelly. "It's a black widow!"

"Poisonous then. Don't let it bite you!" Shepard shouted as the rest of the group spread out, surrounding it as best they could while the drell group watched on, unable to move. Daring a quick glance in their direction, she saw that most of them were either webbed up against the trees at the edge of the clearing, or they'd been paralyzed, bitten by the spider as indicated by the 'missing' pieces from their characters, indicated by red grid like 'wounds'. "Definitely poisonous." Shepard grunted as she used her halberd's long length to parry aside the spider's gnashing fangs and mandibles. Never staying still for long as she darted to and fro, she kept her bladed weapon always moving, landing the occasional glancing strike, but hers was a dance of distraction rather than elimination. That task fell to the rest of the group.

A task they were more than up for as Mike planted his shield into the ground, giving Val all the incentive she needed to land on the spider's armored back, rapier's point leading. She didn't disappoint as, at the same time, Isaac and Bradley continued to dance among the spider's remaining legs, sword and mace carving through the creature's underbelly while Scott, Grev, and Nadola did as much damage to its legs as they could. It wasn't until the spider jumped backwards before its remaining legs could be severed that things took an unexpected turn.

"Gah!" Val cried out as she, instead of jamming her sword into the spot between its neck and body, had to grab hold of the creature with one hand while the other gripped her rapier's hilt as the spider landed some distance away, almost jarring her from its back when it did. Feeling it tense beneath her, she cried, "It's preparing to charge!"

"Scatter!" Isaac called out, already on the move while Bradley and Grev'Koris dove to either side of the spider's path as far as they could as its skittering legs began to propel it forward at a blinding clip. Mike was battered aside by one trailing leg, but his shield took the brunt of the assault while Scott managed to slip between its legs at the last second, one a hair's breath from driving through the side of his neck as it passed.

Nadola wasn't so lucky though as she gave a cry, the creature's grasping jaws digging into her right shoulder and the side of her neck as it kept going, dragging her several feet before she rolled out from behind it, unmoving as her life bar began to plummet fast.

"Nadola!" Grev shouted, hefting his hammer with a furious scream as he charged as the spider shook its abdomen before disgorging a thick stream of silver at his chest. Ducking beneath the webbing, he brought the hammer down, leaving a web of pixelated cracks in its thorax as its large orb like rear end hit the ground with a dull boom.

"Should we tell him she's fine?" Scott asked once he and Bradley had skid to a stop next to the downed salarian, a healing potion in the boy's hand.

Taking one look at the rampaging quarian and the damage he was doing to the spider, Bradley was quick to shake his head. "Do you really want to get between them?" He asked fearfully as he upended the bottle into Nadola's open mouth, a flashing, sickly green lightning bolt next to her life bar, indicating she was paralyzed.

Breathing a little easier now that Nadola wasn't about to be destroyed, Scott took one look at Koris and visibly shuddered at the sight. "Meh, on second thought, nevermind."

The quarian in question was doing his best to pound the spider into the ground, quite literally as his blows shattered yet another of its legs, and pushed it into the ground hard enough for an 'immortal object' message to appear everytime he smashed the spider into the grass.

Val for her part did her best to push her rapier into what passed for a brain for this creature, somewhat hindered by both its armor like hide and the fact that she couldn't keep her balance with the hammer blows raining down on it. But soon enough it didn't matter as the spider gave a lurch, and fell limp, its remaining legs spread out from its ruined body before she jumped backwards, her feet touching the grass as the monster exploded in a brilliant pixelated storm. Not that that stopped Grev from smashing the head of his hammer into the ground one last time before collapsing against the metallic handle, panted heavily as his blind rage ran its course. "She alright?" Val called out, loud enough for the quarian to hear.

"Y-yes. I'm fine." Nadola herself answered as she struggled to sit up, her body refusing to move despite her best efforts to do just that. "Apologies...for making everyone worried."

"We're all alive, that's all that matters." Isaac replied as he helped Scott to his feet before nodding approvingly at the sight of the group assembling, a little dinged up, but otherwise none of them had taken a direct hit save for Nadola. "We did better." He noted.

"Still not up to snuff, but we're getting there." Shepard agreed as Grev ran to Nadola's side, an antidote crystal in hand which he promptly used to cure the salarian's paralysis. "Nice call out on that thing's charge though Val."

"Kinda hard not to notice from my perch." Val replied before nodding her head towards the drell group as Mike and Bradley moved to assist them. "How many….did you guys lose?" She asked hesitantly.

The leader, or at least who they believed to be the one in charge, stepped forward once she was freed from the webbing, her amphibian like face turned into a sorrowful frown. "Three, may Kalahari forgive me. I led them into this mess, thinking we were strong enough, but even our strength paled in the face of...that thing." She shuddered, unable to help the tremor in her voice as she blinked large, lizard like eyes, both eyelids shutting one after the other before she let her arms fall to her sides. "My name is Shira Krios." How Shepard didn't react to that, Val, Lenn, and Vivian herself didn't know, only that the soft, sharp inhale went unnoticed as Shira turned to help the survivors of her group. "I had heard of Earth spiders before from my late uncle Thane, but this was the first time I've ever seen one, that any of us had."

"You're a niece to the famous assassin?" Lenn asked, taking up the role of messenger before anyone else could do it themselves this time around.

Shira stepped forward, her soft brown eyes finding the turian's gray orbs in the same instant, missing the quietly amused glances the others shared between them. "Y-yes, although he was a far better man than most would've believed. I suspect you know more than most."

"You could say that. I have a….friend, that knows a lot about the old crew." Lenn replied, her gaze unwavering despite feeling Val's gaze on her back. "They didn't have to convince me though, the simple fact he worked with Shepard was good enough." Shira's earlier sorrowful frown flickered, turning into a smile at the honest praise as Lenn took a step forward. "Speaking of Shepard though, rumors are going around that she's come to the game." As before, that got most of the group talking in excited whispers.

Shira though didn't seemed surprised as she visibly perked up. "I see. If that's true, maybe there's hope this game will end soon after all. Even if it's not, simply knowing she's trying to help us will be a weight off my mind. There's no way someone like her could ignore a situation like this."

"Not just her." Mike was quick to point out, drawing everyone's eyes towards him when he did, "but you're right. She or her crew won't let this continue for long, not if they can help it."

"My apologies," Shira offered before letting her head fall, one hand over her light steel breastplate, "it's….been a trying day, and I just led three of my friends to their deaths."

"It's as much our fault as anyone's Shira." Another of her companions offered. "We let fear win long before that….creature started picking us off."

"But you looked to me to lead, and I failed when it mattered." Shira countered hotly, not about to be persuaded to the contrary.

"So what do you plan to do about it?" Vivian's question caught Shira off guard, her head jerking up so quick the human wondered if she'd given herself whiplash. "A leader's job is to take care of his or her people, that's true, but it's when things fall apart that a person's character is tested. So I ask again, what do you plan to do now that you've tasted defeat and loss?" It was a question every marine had to be prepared to answer, but it went doubly so for people like her, who'd been in a position of authority for years. Just because Shira wasn't a soldier by trade, a fact made obvious with how she carried herself alone, didn't matter, only how she responded now did.

"W-what do you propose I do?"

"That's easy kid. You can either go to the nearest town and hide until someone else fixes the problem, beating yourself over what's happened until you drive yourself insane, or you can try and do better next time and press onward despite the losses you've endured. The second choice is harder, but would you really let their sacrifice be in vain by not at least trying?" Shepard asked, and while Shira didn't have an immediate reply, she was sure she'd figure it out. "Talk it out among your friends once you get back to town, Shira Krios, but I have a feeling you'll do alright if you're able to get past this."

"Th-thank you. Let's….let's return to Genesis." Shira threw towards her companions, who all nodded with grim determination before filing after the pale green drell at their front. Pausing though, Shira looked over one pauldron covered shoulder and nodded her head, once, in gratitude for Shepard's advice. "If we ever do see the Commander, we'll be sure to repay her no doubt selfless efforts somehow."

"I have a feeling she'll be glad just to have you around." Lenn replied before Vivian could give in and simply tell Shira then and there.