If Wrex had eyebrows like the untamed Varren on his shoulder, they would have shot up in surprise as he rounded the corner; only to nearly get blasted in the chest with a bolt of Green lightning that the Shephard girl used so frequently.

"Hey! Friendly over here! Kinda don't want to get electrocuted, having cardiac arrest in one of my hearts is not fun." He exclaimed.

After a long pause, Nihlus shouted; "All good here Wrex, Shephard thought you were a… what's it called Cato? 'Antlion'."

Wrex grunted and shifted the weakly struggling girl on his shoulder. "I was just calling them 'Rach-nots'."

Garrus walked up to Wrex and peered at his shoulder. "Yeah, and uh, what do you call that?"

The Battlemaster glanced at his passenger. "I'm calling her Skreech, since that's the only thing she said before headbutting me."

Garrus sputtered in disbelief as Wrex rejoined the group.

He took in the now partially dressed and unmasked Quarian. "Huh. Well there's a sight I haven't seen in 200 years. Maybe there's something good to be said about this dump of a planet." He glanced at the tense female beside Cato. "Hey 'The Shephard'! I need you to translate for Skreech here."

His only response was a bolt of green lightning lashing towards his prisoner; a bolt he deftly deflected with a Singularity. "Alright girly, settle down. I'm not-" A second bolt came and met the same fate. By now the rest of the group was scurrying away, though Mordin was still recording everything. "I said settle down! I need her to-" A third bolt came, this time towards him.

He Pulled Ayita right into a headbutt. "I said knock it off! We can't interrogate her if you splatter her across the tunnel." He huffed at the stunned female as she held her head. "I know you're angry that she attacked us earlier, but-"

"What?!" The rest of the survivors almost said as one. Tali pointed accusingly at the female Wrex had brought back. "Wait; that's the Bosh'tet that tried to murder my brother!"

"Yeah, well kids do dumb things sometimes. You don't put a bullet in their head for it. Aha!" He grabbed a loose piece of metal off the floor. It was a matter of moments to biotically fashion it into a set of hand restraints. He quickly bound his first prisoner's hands, then stood up and faced Shephard. "I don't murder prisoners or children, and she's both. You want to throw your own childish tantrum that's your business, but she's my prisoner and my responsibility. So get over it."

A wave of emotion rolled off of Ayita; a mix of disgust, fear and anger.

"You're gonna need to use your words on this one girly." Wrex stood with his arms crossed.

Cato laid a hand on Ayita's shoulder, causing a shiver to run through both as their eyes flashed green for a second. Shephard crossed her arms across her stomach and glared between Wrex and his prisoner.

Cato rubbed his eyes, though the greenish silver glow persisted. "Whoa, that was, odd."

"Cato?" Tali came up to her brother, sending distrusting looks at both Ayita and the Prisoner.

"Sorry, she's," his eyes flashed for a moment, "It's sort of like a meld." Everyone felt a wave of indignation come off of Ayita.

He turned to look at her. "Well I don't know how else to describe it to them!" He turned back to the group as Ayita huffed and looked away. "She's got her own word for it; telepetting or something." There was another wave of annoyance. "Oh, telepathy. Anyway, it's more like Secure Ship-to-ship, where a Meld is like a Firewall Breach."

"Fascinating." Everyone glanced at Professor Mordin. "Reading Dark Energy resonating at nearly the same frequency, but with independent peaks! Would love to compare to records on Asari Melding and Drell Sensory Stimulation. Please continue."

Ayita shrank away slightly, and Tali took pity on the young woman. "I'd say don't worry, he's a Salarian and they're just like that, but..."

Wrex huffed. "But not worrying is what leads to the creation of the Genophage."

Nihilus gave the Krogan a sidelong glance. "No, waging a galaxy-spanning war of conquest is what led to the creation of the Genophage."

Wrex and Nihilus were turning to kill each other when Mordin spoke up again. "Genophage developed as field expedient solution. Never intended for long term deployment. Post war council, elected to maintain until such time as Krogan no longer posed existential threat to the Citadel." There was a sharp gasp from Ayita which drew Mordin's attention, though he pressed on. "Meant to be periodic reviews, combined with cultural rehabilitation programs for eventual re-integration into broader galactic society."

Wrex kept one eye on Mordin and another on Nihilus. "Oh yeah? What happened to that part?"

Mordin was about to reply when Garrus snorted. "Smart money says budget cuts."

"This is all fascinating; it really is, but," Liara looked back at the restrained woman in tattered clothes, "perhaps we could focus on the more immediate issue?"

There was another flash between Cato and Ayita. "She says there's nothing to discuss because she," he nodded to the restrained female, "is an engineered Combine Weapon. I-" there was another flash, "she's showing me memories, I guess. This Combine apparently created her as a cloned assassin. There seem to be a great many of them. She wants to show us."

Everyone hesitantly gathered in a circle. Wrex and Garrus each grabbed one of Skreech's arms to link her in the circle.

Once Cato took his sisters hand and completed the circle, Ayita flared green. "She says she's trying this on her own this time, so it may take longer, and she won't be able to sustain it, but it should be long enough to show us the, 'Abomination's' true self."

Everyone but Skreech relaxed, and waited.

The mist seemed thicker this time as Cato looked around.

There was less definition in the environment. His eyes settled on Shephard, whose own eyes seemed glazed as she strained to maintain the construct around them. That strain manifested in her form being exposed; no shroud of shadow to hide her from anyone elses sight.

He tried to take off his coat and drape it over her, but instead his coat remained where it was and a soft brightly colored and patterned drape appeared in his hand. He hung it across her shoulders and returned to his examinations.

Everything else seemed to be the same, except for their newest member. He didn't know what he had expected, but it was not what he saw.

No woman stood where Skreech should have been, nor was the monstrosity that Ayita had implied.

Instead, a small child huddled on the ground between Wrex and Garrus; wailing in inarticulate fear. Her only clothes were the chains which bound her, and the wires and hoses which violated her body and trailed after into the mist.

Everyone could only stare in shock at the wretched child at their feet, until a ragged gasp came from Ayita. Cato looked back at his new teacher to see the same shock and horror on her face, just before the mist collapsed around them and...

Everyone staggered slightly as they were ejected from the Vortessence. They all looked at one another, before turning to the Assassin, the Abomination, curled into a ball and weeping inconsolably at Wrex's feet.

"What…" Garrus started to ask, but he didn't seem able to finish his sentence as he stared at Skreech.

Everyone could feel conflicting waves of emotion coming off of Ayita, though Cato was able to feel those waves as almost cyclic currents swinging from pity for Skreech, to uncertainty about her own actions; but underneath it all was a seething hatred for those that created the unfortunate woman-child.

It felt similar to his experiences around his father whenever he talked about the Geth and retaking Rannoch.

Those moments always filled him with a sense of dread, as if some dark fate awaited the Admiral if he followed that path. He rested a hand on her shoulder, closed his eyes and tried to give her some calm.

Once Ayita's shoulders stopped shaking, he looked at the rest of the group. It looked as if everyone was frozen like a historic hologram. Tali and Liara both looked at the distraught girl with pity and concern, while Wrex loomed protectively over her.

Garrus' face was pinched in anger, likely at the crimes committed on her and this world, but it was Nihilus and Mordin who drew most of his attention. Rather the bemused curiosity he expected for such a scientific marvel, Mordin was glancing at the older Turian with a look of mixed concern and determination.

Cato felt the two were somehow conspiring on Skreech's behalf.

"Those two are far more than they seem. Be cautious. Now let go of the Moment."

Cato glanced over at Ayita just as the green glow of her eyes faded. He took a calming breath and the world sped up. "What was that?!"

Ayita turned away from the group and looked down the tunnel. "Time has less meaning in the Vortessence. Our Mentor can see as easily back and forth through time as you or I can look left or right. For them, seeing potential divergences in timelines is as simple as looking around a corner."

Cato tried to wrap his head around the concept. "I couldn't do that!"

"No, you couldn't." It was Shephard's turn to rest a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I don't know if even the strongest of Vortal Humans could. But like just now, we can look into the Moment. We can alter our sense of the Now and use it to try to make the best decision possible."

"That sounds like it would be really useful in a fight." Cato noted.

"It would be, but it's hard; especially when you're under stress. I can occasionally look at the Moment before a fight begins, but only if I'm calm and prepared." She glanced at him appraisingly. "The fact that you did it at all is impressive."

He smiled at the praise, and for a moment they were just two people connecting.

All at once, Ayita's cheeks tinted and she closed her emotions off and turned back to the group. "We need to leave; whatever she is or isn't, Skreech is still a tool of the Combine. They will come looking for her; tell the Wrex they are responsible for it." With that, she started down the tunnel without waiting.

Cato looked between her and the group for a moment in confusion, then huffed. It's not like I understand Quarian girls, why should this alien one be any different. "Guys?" He waited for everyone to look up. "We have to move; she says Skreech's people are likely to be looking for her."

Slowly and reluctantly, the motley band gathered themselves up and followed their now sullen guide deeper into the heart of the mountain.

Ayita was in a foul mood.

Even an idiot could tell that; and the rest of the group, with the exception of Cato, were making sure they steered clear of her even as they followed her through the tunnels. First, Ulysses just up and tells her that she would have to go and deal with one of her biggest regrets from her brief tenure as an Enforcer; and not just deal with it, she would have to spare them.

Adding to that, Wrex was making them spare that Abomination of Human and Combine.

Of course, getting headbutted didn't feel too great either. She was lucky that he had hit her forehead instead of her nose, because Ayita was quite sure he would have broken it if he had. But as it stood she had one hell of a headache; slowly being healed passively by her Vortal abilities.

As it stood however, and as much as she didn't want to admit it, the discovery that said Abomination was nothing more than a child stuck in a teenager's body had horrified her. It made her wonder if other Overwatch troopers were the same way; children forced to accelerate the growth of their bodies into something they were not prepared for.

To that end, Ayita found herself completely ignoring the Assassin; if only so she didn't have to restrain herself from killing it… her.

She wasn't really sure how she felt about… Skreech, She really needs a better name, perhaps one of the Rebels at the base can think of one. She mused.

On one hand Ayita felt sympathy for her; she clearly had been raised the way that she was, and seeing the girl's Vortal form had made Ayita feel like her heart was actually breaking. But on the other hand, she still couldn't bring herself to trust the Assassin like the others; they had all been enraptured by looking at her, barely past being a toddler.

"How can your sister find her cute when she almost killed you?" Ayita whined to Cato telepathically.

"I think it's less about the fact that she almost killed me, and more of the fact she doesn't want to think about the fact that the Combine grew her and trained her to be a killer from 'birth'." Cato replied, making sure to do so telepathically rather than out loud.

Ayita just growled and crossed her arms; spotting an Antlion, she quickly zapped it to relieve some of her pent up anger.

"Ah, those are Antlions; hard carapace, long talons, spear like legs. Similarities to Rachni disturbing; perhaps an offshoot species." Professor Solus rambled.

"He certainly talks a lot." Ayita noted, stumbling over her words slightly as she wasn't used to conversing with others.

"Most Salarians, his race, are like that. They're really intelligent and process things a lot faster than we do." Cato replied, shivering from the cold air that circulated through the mines.

He had no mask, the upper right side of his suit was in tatters, and he had cut his left arm free as well to allow him to fully utilize the Vortessence in his arms. They would need to find him something to replace his suit; since the Eezo was so thoroughly laced in the material that he wouldn't be able to use the Vortessence in any other parts of his body.

Plus, with its tattered state it was doing a poor job of keeping him warm.

She winced as he shivered again, feeling somewhat responsible for his current state of affairs; "I'm sorry about how cold it is; I'd give you my suit if I had worn something underneath it. The good news is that we'll be reaching one of the resting areas for the miners; they should have some leftover clothing laying about."

"Thanks…" He replied, looking away from her to Ayita's confusion; which only increased when she caught a glimpse of his face turning purple.

Turning her attention away from him; she stopped as she felt a familiar presence.

Everyone else stopped too and looked at her. "Shephard, what's wrong?" Cato asked, as they all felt her unease wash over them.

Everyone except Cato then stiffened as they felt her mind touch theirs; which told them it was serious if she wasn't having Cato relay it to them. "Prepare yourselves; Antlions approach, and there are a lot of them."

While the group pulled out the Combine Pulse SMG's and AR2's that she had given them; and Cato began channeling the Vortessence, Ayita considered her options. Her own Pulse SMG was only used in emergencies or if she wanted to remain discrete; and she still had no idea how to use the Winfield still strapped to her back, and something told her it was best used over long distances.

Which left her with the Vortessence; and the Pulse SMG.

As much as she wanted to give herself a rest and just pick the Antlions off as they approached, she knew this was likely the perfect opportunity to show Cato how to properly use his powers in combat.

"Cato, you will assist us in dealing with the Workers, you will watch and learn; the rest of you, use your weapons to kill the stragglers." She ordered, as green electricity sparked between her fingers.

"Right!" They all chorused.

"What about me? I need a gun!" Skreech whined.

Wrex just shoved her behind him while Ayita flashed her a dirty glare; "Don't worry, we'll protect you. Besides, I saw you fight these things earlier; you don't really need it I think."

He then looked at the group. "Something I noticed on my way here; these things love Biotics, and by that I mean if you use em' then these Rach-nots'll be on you like Volus on a Credit Chit. Tali, stick with your brother." He returned the terse stare he got from Ayita. "It'll keep her focused on the here and now, and he's still learning so the extra gun'll be a good safety-net. Mordin, Liara, you're here with me; we're the strongpoint and the bait. Kryik, Vakarian, tuck into that alcove over there and flank em' when they rush us."

Ayita fought down a huff of anger but didn't contradict him as the others rushed to carry out Wrex's orders. She and Cato charged up the Vortessence in their hands; as a loud shriek worked its way down from the tunnels.

The loud buzzing of the Antlions wings filled their ears as they filed out of several tunnels by the dozen.

Ayita quickly lashed out her hands at two workers, their ability to spit corrosive acid marking them as a priority. Simultaneously, they exploded as her lightning struck their Acid glands; quickly covering two Antlion soldiers that were unfortunate enough to be near them.

The two predators wailed in pain as the acid corroded their wings; before Cato put them out of their misery with an emerald lightning bolt for each.

The others of course didn't just sit around doing nothing; Wrex hefted the salvaged Combine Pulse Cannon from the dead Dropships container, and let it rip. The buzzsaw like sound filled the tunnels as at least a dozen Antlions were caught in the wave of Pulse fire.

Garrus still had his Sniper Rifle from his transport; and so began picking off the Antlions with expert precision. Nihlus used his new Combine AR2, quickly shooting some Antlions as they tried to fly up to the ceiling of the cave.

Turning his attention to one of the caves where they seemed to be spawning; he directed his fire towards that area instead.

Nihlus frowned as he caught sight of a button on the side of the foregrip; on instinct he pressed and held it, and both his and Garrus's eyes widened as the AR2 whirred loudly for a moment before spitting out an energy pellet towards the tunnel.

They watched as the pellet bounced around the tunnel, hitting and reflecting off of everything it touched; most of which just so happened to be Antlions. But what really drew their attention was the effect, any Antlion unfortunate enough to be hit by said Sphere of energy were immediately vaporised.

Both Turians shared a look of amazement, before going back to shooting the Antlions; with Nihlus vowing to be more careful until he knew everything his new rifle could do.

Liara for her part made sure to aim for the legs, as she had noted that her Pulse SMG did not have the same punch as her old Mass Effected weaponry. Or at least she assumed so since it seemed to take a lot of shots to kill these Rachni knockoffs if she was hitting their armored carapaces.

Screech just sat there and watched; she evaluated this group's tactics and teamwork, their power dynamics and in some cases their outright power. It had been easy to dismiss their effectiveness by the river since technically, she had beaten them. She shook her head. I did beat them! Seeing them here and now though, she knew of units four times their size that would have been overrun by a swarm this size.

They were weak, inferior, and deserved to die. That was what the Overlords had always said about failures; failures like the dozens of imperfect Assassins like herself whom she and her kin had been made to execute in their growth tubes. The Inferior must give way to the Superior, if the Superior is to reach their potential.

The Beast that had bested her in the tunnel flared with power, summoning a dozen Warriors that had been heading towards the Abomination. Was that her now? Was she somehow, less than these? The tunnel filled with another wave of cannonfire and harsh laughter. The Overlords should be told about these aliens; they were powerful and dangerous. But would she even get the chance? The Overlords always knew when one of them failed, when they were inferior. She had been beaten twice: first by the Abomination, then by the Beast.

How could she be anything but Inferior?

Tali for her part was just trying to keep up with Shephard and Cato; or rather, she was trying to keep up with Cato, who in turn was trying to keep up with Shephard. Both Vortal's were shooting so much emerald lightning, it reminded her of some of those videos of planets that got lightning storms.

Shephard in particular telekinetically pulled an Antlion that had been about to clamp down on an unaware Cato, and threw it over her head into another Antlion; and promptly jumped up while doing a frontflip and channeling her weird green electricity through her feet she squashed both bugs, before zapping two more of the Acid spitting types that tried to fly up to the roof of the cave.

Tali noticed another Antlion fly down and try to ram into their guide; and Tali raised her Pulse SMG to shoot it, but before she could do so another bolt of Emerald Lightning struck its underbelly.

She gasped as she watched Cato in the tattered remains of his suit deftly gather more electricity into his Quarian hands, at least six Antlions swarming him; before he slammed his hands onto the ground, sending a shockwave of green energy into the air around him while knocking back the Antlions.

Seeing an opportunity, Tali quickly aimed the holo-sight at the exposed underbellies of the fake Rachni; noting with admiration that the sight seemed to highlight the weak spots of the animals. Shooting her gun, Tali noted that she hadn't seen Mordin since the shooting started; and wondered where he was.

Her question was answered by an explosion; and the Antlions shrieking intensified as three of the tunnels they had been using to enter were suddenly engulfed in fire. Many tried to fly through the fire, but only succeeded in turning themselves into flaming comets as their wings burnt up mid flight; causing them to fall to the ground and be left as easy pickings.

All the while, Ayita and Cato could feel that these antlions weren't acting normally; the two of them could sense that something was controlling them, and was using a beacon of sorts to do it.

"Cato! Tell the others! Find an Antlion! That looks different! From the others!" Ayita snapped, her normally quiet and small voice booming in his mind as she struggled to fend off the hoards of Antlions.

"Guys! Somethings controlling them; there's an Antlion that looks different than the others! Ayita says it's being used as a beacon; we need to find and kill it and the rest will run." Cato shouted, using his communicator to make sure the others understood.

Skreech, with her superior hearing, heard Cato's call from the Beast's headset; and after a moment's thought, decided to look around to see which of the Antlions could potentially be controlling them.

If only to see if they could kill it and survive.

She looked up and narrowed her eyes as she searched through the verifiable swarm of Antlions as they buzzed around in the air; after a moment, she spotted it. It was hanging from the ceiling, watching everything from above; several antennas sprund from its head, along with a few extra pairs of eyes.

And above all it was glowing Emerald Green.

"Up top." She growled, startling both Wrex, Liara, and Mordin who had rejoined them.

She didn't say anything else; but kept her eye on the controller Antlion as it scurried around the top of the cave. Wrex and Mordin followed her gaze, and spotted it immediately; "Shephard, it's up on top of the cave; extra armor and antennas, and it's glowing green." Wrex shouted, quickly blasting another Antlion as it got too close.

Wrex stiffened as he felt Shephard's mind touch his; but was relieved when she just asked, "Where? Just think of it and I will see." She whispered in his mind; or at least that's how it felt to him.

Quickly thinking of the Antlion, he felt a measure of satisfaction and apprehension wash over him from Shephard, "My Thanks." was all she said before her presence left the edges of his mind.

Cato, who had hitched onto Shephard's 'Call' with Wrex, looked up and quickly spotted the Controller Antlion; "How do we get up there? Our bolts can't reach it, and it's armor is too thick for the SMG's." He asked.

"Garrus and Nihlus have the best guns, but they don't have an angle from their perch. The rest are too busy fending the others off… you're going to have to boost me." She decided.

"What?!" She quickly shared what she wanted him to do, and Cato agreed grudgingly; "Are you sure this will work?" He asked, backing up as Tali frantically tried to keep the Antlions away from him while screaming about spiders.

"I hope so." Ayita replied as she unslung her Winfeild from her shoulder; quickly loading the five rounds from the clip into the chamber, and adding the sixth for good measure. Working the bolt, Ayita took a deep breath; then sprinted forward, jumping up as Cato telekinetically lifted a rock to springboard her up.

Ayita sailed through the air, backflipping before quickly grabbing onto the Moment.

Time stopped for her, and everything froze; Ayita took a breath, only able to move small amounts without exhausting herself. But it was more than enough for her to bring the Winfeild to bear on the Antlion Controller, aiming for its brain in the kink of its armor.

She took a breath, steadied herself, and pulled the trigger.

She let go of the Moment as the .30-06 Springfeild bullet flew through the air, and buried itself into the Antlions brain. The Controller screamed and thrashed for a moment before falling out of the sky; the Emerald green light fading from its body.

Before she could even celebrate however; Cato screamed both Physically and Telepathically, "AYITA! LOOK OUT!"

Ayita turned as one Antlion slashed her across the stomach; it wasn't a deep cut, but was still enough to rip open her suit and do superficial damage to her abdomen.

Another Antlion slashed her left forearm from the elbow to her wrist; again superficial, but like her stomach it hurt like hell.

And then a third Antlion slashed her across the back; from just above her right shoulder, to just below her left hip. Like all the others, no muscle or bone damage; superficial at most, but that last one hurt most of all, and Ayita screamed in pain as she fell.

Pilot A/N: Link to the discord is: Pv2bv88

This is a rather short chapter, and as such I honestly don't have much to say for this chapter regarding development.

Among other choices, it was Ian's decision to have Wrex "Adopt" Miranda; aka M-91811441 and have the gang see what she truly was. That being... a Walking, Talking, Literal Woman Child.

Now people use that trope as comedy most of the time, but it's one that I rather dislike due to… personal experiences in my life; because I have dealt with this kind of issue before. Granted, examples of its use and our use of it is nothing like what I experienced; but that trope still hits home for me.

Now… the only reason Ayita, Tali and all the others don't kill Miranda is because of what they saw in The Room. Even Ayita, who hates anything to do with the Combine, won't go as far as to hurt a child.

This will become Important Later on.

Ian, would you like to give your thought process behind Miranda?

Ian A/N: As in the original Mass Effect universe, Miranda is the product of Dr. Lawson's vanity, not any real parental love. This is of course exacerbated by the machinations of the Combine vs. Henry Lawson's demonstrable sociopathy.

She is therefore, as in the ME games, created to reflect the physical perfection of the human form; devoid of any more ephemeral, human traits like empathy. As with the rest of the group, we will see Miranda grow as a person. It is our declaration of the subject of "Nature vs. Nurture", if you will.

She will also be the vehicle by which we grow Wrex's character through the story. With a cast as large and diverse as this, there is the real possibility of losing sight of the main characters, Cato and Ayita, so we will be catching dribs and drabs of their stories as we progress.