Scavengers

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Clean up was slow in the weeks after the battle for Earth had concluded. The rubble that remained of the citadel was still being picked over by many. Not all of them were the good guys. Commander Shepard's people had already come through and collected the body, leaving everything else as it was. They wanted no part of it. Not even to make it a memorial. 
At that moment a group of Salarians were poking through the rubble, scowling deeply. "No." One them said to the other. "This is not the area. It wouldn't have been here." 
"Quiet, fool." The other hissed. He was looking in the other direction, frowning deeply. "The Quarians are here. We don't want to tip them off. We can't afford to lose this to them. It's too much. Do you hear me?!"

"Orinia." The little Turian woman said cheerfully, holding out grease covered talons. "It's nice to meet you. You're the primarch right? Oh..." Her blush deepened. "Am I supposed to bow or something? I'm not good with protocol. My brother and I haven't lived on Palavan since we were small. I'm not sure how that all works..."

"Why are you leaving?" Brutal asked her, quick to get to his feet. "I only meant that you were safe from any lies from me."

Victus reached out and shook the hand offered to him like he was in a daze. "Nice to meet you... Orinia. Do you like it here on the citadel?"

"You're getting your nachos, does it matter if I'm here or not?" Ceres asked seriously.

"Oh sure. I get to so my favorite thing in the galaxy. I work on sky cars. Sometimes I even drive them." She said with a laugh. "Between you and me though I'd rather be doing this on Iilum. They have the most beautiful thunderstorms...are you all right?" She asked again, gently guiding him to a nearby chair. "Is there someone I can call for you? Your assistant seems to be busy flirting with an asari but a good tap with a wrench would get his attention." She teased. 

"I brought you here to talk to you, ma'am. I could care less about the nachos." Brutal dropped the goofy guy act in an instant, his green eyes blazing a warning for her to try and run away from him. "You're going to tell me why you're not wearing a suit and why you're shooting people for staters. We will not be leaving this spot until you do."

Victus shook his head, though he realised he was staring at Orinia. "I think the citadel is a safer place for a beautiful young woman such as yourself." He finally managed to breathe.

Ceres looked like she may actually give Brutal an answer, of course she that was before the small woman was out the door and sprinting through the lower wards of Omega.

"My brother is a merc, primarch. How dangerous could things get for me?" She laughed softly. "You know what? I think I have just the car for you." Again she held out her hand. "I bought it at an auction on Iilum. It's the fastest in the galaxy and the most beautiful thing you've ever seen. When I got it, if you can believe this, it had storm damage and rips in the seats." She laughed. "One can only imagine what people had done to it. I've restored it so there's no damage left or anything. I think it would be the perfect car for you. At least while you're here and...if you promise to take care of it. It's...a bit precious to me." 

"Oh really?!" Brutal groaned, getting a glimpse of the nachos that were coming out the the chef's door. He surged to his feet, cursing under his breath as he got up to follow her. "I swear you are going to pay for that, woman." He hissed, leaping over railing to try and keep up with her.

Victus allowed Krinia to guide him along, though he felt his chest grow tight when he saw the car. their car. "Miss, I couldn't possibly." He whispered, trying to mask the hurt it caused to both see this car, and hear her address him as 'Primarch' without that teasing tone in her voice.

Ceres was small, which made her rather nimble as she moved with the Grace if a dancer in between all the bodies that were packed into the wards. She was aiming to disappear, find a dark place and simple avoid this human.

"Why not?" Orinia asked him, looking disappointed. "It's a real beauty. It's very worthy of a Primarch." She paused and blushed yet again. "Sorry, that's a bit presumptuous of me. But it's a great car, sir." She ducked her head, now staring at her feet. 

Brutal wasn't having too much trouble keeping up. He was plowing through the throngs of people, shoving them aside like they were nothing but annoyances. He had yet to lose sight of the quarian woman, his teeth gritted until his jaw hurt.

"It's a true beauty, and bad things seem to follow me, lovely. I would hate for something I happen to something you hold so close to your heart." Victus whispered.

Ceres had burst out if the lower wards and was rushing up the staircase into Afterlife. She could hear the shouts behind her, which made her very much aware she had yet to lose Brutal.

"It's all right." Orinia rested her talons on his shoulder, not sure why her chest hurt so badly at the sight of this man looking so sad. "It will give me an excuse to work on it again. It's just sitting over there gathering dust right now. With my condition I can't drive the fast ones anyway." She said softly.

"Aria call off your goons." Brutal barked into his omni tool as he kept going. "Ill owe you one. This is my chase and I'm not losing her!" He roared, knowing the little quarian could hear him.

"What condition?" Victus breathed, forgetting himself for a moment and remembering that that wasn't a question one star her should be asking another.

Ceres as stowed herself in a dark corner as she paused to catch her breath. She honestly hadn't thought Brutal would give this much chase.
"Let us agree you owe me two, and the girl is all yours." Aria's voice purred in Brutal's ear. "I knew you couldn't resist her."

"I have a weak heart." Orinia said, shaking her head sadly. "I had an accident about six months ago. A piece of metal got jammed up under my chest and lodged in my heart. A piece of it is still in there. They tell me it will kill me to remove it. That being the case I can't get over excited or drive too fast. So you see? You'd be doing me a favor. Don't make me beg, Mr. Primarch. Please?"

"Add a plate of nachos and we'll make it three." Brutal said, honing in on the dark corner where Ceres had tucked herself away. "Come out, little one. I said I just wanted to talk. I don't get why you're running."

"What kind of accident?" Victus pressed, his mouth again betraying him. He shouldn't be asking these questions, it only risked Vivica finding out the truth.

Ceres had nowhere else to run. She was literally backed into a corner. "I warned you to leave me alone!' She shouted, a bullet flying from the shadows, against whizzing past Brutal's ear in warning.

"Just a sky car accident." Orinia said, again looking down at her feet. "I fell asleep and hit a building on Iilum. The impact was terrible. My brother says I nearly died...more than once. Why do you want to know? It won't effect the car. I promise!" 

"Put that gun down, little one." Brutal warned her. "Keep it up and we won't be talking anymore. It won't end well for you and that heap of junk you're trying to get flying. I can promise you that." He went on, his ear ringing.

"Your brother, is he... Treating you well?" Victus asked softly. "A beautiful young woman like yourself should be out having fun, not getting smeared with grease."

"And I'm supposed to believe the promise of a Bosh'tet human?" Ceres shouted back.

Orinia laughed at this question. "This is fun for me, Primarch. I'm not the kind of girl who goes to Purgatory and hunts for a mate. I'm right where I want to be." She fished the keys out of her pocket and held them out to him. "Hey...could I ask for a favor? Would you take me on a quick run in the car? The doc said I couldn't drive but he never said I couldn't ride...Please? I'd let you rent it for free..." She added, wiggling the keys to try and entice him. It didn't even cross her mind that this was not something that she should be asking the primarch of Palaven. 

"Not blonde haired. I thought we discussed that." Brutal stayed where he was. It was right in the open. All Ceres would have to do would be to turn and shoot him in the chest. It would be an easy kill. He held out his hands ever so slightly, lowering his gun to his side. "What I meant was that your little heap would be salvaged and junked if you don't make it back to it. That's a promise I can keep, right? I don't make them if I can't keep them, little one."

Victus wanted to say no. He wanted to remove himself from this painful situation. Orinia didn't remember him, and that was the best thing for her. "One ride. Once around the presidium." He agreed at last.

"I've not killed anyone, and everything I took was in the trash! You can't expect me to believe I'm suddenly the number one most wanted in a place like Omega!" Ceres shouted, all too tempted to indeed shoot Brutal.

"You make it sound like a kiddie ride, primarch." Orinia said, using his name in that teasing tone. She had no idea how badly it would hurt his own heart to hear her say it. "I want something dangerous." She purred.
"Orinia!" Derius angry roar shook the small garage. Six months seemed to have changed all of them, Quientus' son as well. He'd grown up, the kindness that had once brightened his eyes was gone. "Get away from him. "Never speak to the primarch unless spoken to and besides, we don't pay our taxes." He hissed. He jerked the keys from her and threw them at Victus. "Rent your sky car and leave." He turned Orinia away, shoving her toward the offices. 

"I didn't say our conversations had anything to do with Omega, did I?" Brutal asked, having taken more than one step forward as she was speaking. "And I also never said you'd killed anyone. Unless...maybe you did and you're afraid someone will find out?"

Victus was actually relieved when Derius removed Orinia from the situation. It was behind difficult to see her like this, with no memory of him. She was safe though, and far from her mother, that was all that mattered. The Primarch looked down at the keys in his hand, then turned away with heavy shoulders.

"I would be only too glad to confess to killing one of your kind!" Ceres hissed, backed all the way against the wall when she realised Brutal was much closer than he had been a second ago.

"What was that about?" Derius followed Victus out into the hall once his sister was busy doing something inside the office. "Why did you stay and speak to her? You should have taken one look and walked away! It's not like you don't know how!" He hissed. "You could have screwed up everything!" 

"It's not just humans that you're suspected of killing, little one." Brutal said, this time remaining where he was. Though he looked to be rather tame at the moment, he was anything but. His fingers were not far from his gun.

"She had no idea who I was, Derius! Five minutes wasn't going to change that!" Victus growled, jabbing a talon at the younger man's chest.

"And just who do you think I killed? Let me guess, a ship full of Elcor females?" Ceres snorted, thinking back to the last ship she had seen Jared on.

Derius slapped the other man's talon away and bared his teeth. "You don't know that. The chip that I had them put in was the best that I could afford. It's shit. Anything could jar her memory and then I'd have to tell her the truth about my mother and about you." He spat. "Don't come back here. When you're done with the car just leave it. I'll find it." 

Brutal raised an eyebrow at her words, making it clear that she was not helping herself in the slightest. "Those nachos are probably still warm." He said, one more step closer to her. "We still have time to talk. It's in your best interest that we talk."

"You could have gotten a message to me, you know I would have paid for anything you thought she needed!" Victus snarled, doing his best to keep from shouting.

Ceres had her gun pointed at Brutal once more. "I am through doing what you people tell me!" She hissed, shooting the large man in the leg before laughing out of her hiding spot.

"We don't need anything from you, Victus. You've given us more than enough. Don't you think?" Derius growled, his fists balled at his sides. "We are done here. You are not my primarch. I owe you nothing. Leave my store." 

"Now you've pissed me off." Brutal muttered under his breath, shaking his head. He watched her as she made another run for it. "She actually tried to shoot me." He grunted, looking down at the mass effect field that had kept his leg in one piece. "And after I was so nice."

Victus watched Derius for a moment, then simply nodded his head. "You act like I am the reason for all this pain. Try aiming some of your hatred at your mother, just for once." He whispered before leaving the store as requested.

Ceres was again mingling with the crowd, keeping her head bowed in the hopes that a quick glance from the back my have her mistaken as a human. She had shaken her dark hair loose, hoping it would help.

When Victus climbed into the sky car, he would find that he was not alone. Orinia was hunched low in the passenger seat, trying to avoid being seen. "Just once around the Citadel, right?" She asked, unable to hide her impish grin. 

Brutal was taking this hunt slow. His good mood fading rather quickly. He was watching the dark hair as it bobbed in and out of the crowd. She was heading back toward the junkyards, taking a different route. He wondered what good this did her. Did she really think he wouldn't find her there? What kind of idiot did the little quarian take him for?

Victus was trying his very best not to laugh. "You know, if your brother finds out about this, room arch or not he will have my head."

Ceres had indeed returned to the junkyard. The young woman was sat on one of hand high ledges where the drop alone would kill her if she slipped. Dark hair hid her face where she stared down at the broken part of a computer core in her lap.

"I saw him yelling at you." Orinia said, frowning ever so slightly at something that was faintly playing in the back of her mind. "I can't believe he had the guts to do that. I'm surprised you didn't have him jailed or whatever it is the primarch is supposed to do." She rested her talons over his without thinking, trying to suggest he get the car moving. The electric shock it brought her had her yanking it away instead. "Sorry...I know I'm not supposed to touch you..." 

"You know, I could take you in for taking a pot shot at a Spectre." Brutal said softly. He sat down beside her, though not close enough to touch. "Good thing I stand by what I said when I told you I just want to talk."

Victus nodded his head, thinking it best she believe it was a taboo. In truth he was simply protecting himself, as he had felt the electricity too. "So, am I permitted to ask why you chose this car?" He asked as they finally got moving.

"You could just push me off here, no one would care... Or notice." Ceres breathed without lifting her head. "I've got nothing to talk about."

"Have you taken a good look at it?" Orinia asked him. "This car is amazing! It's got the engine of a starship and..." She paused, another frown playing on her face. "Something about it...when I saw it I felt like it was important to me."

"Not even about Mimic?" Brutal asked, raising an eyebrow. "There's got to be a reason you're shooting at people, sweetheart."

"It's just a car... Lovely." Victus breathed, longing to tell her it was special to him too.

Ceres' grip on the computer core suddenly grew impossibly to ght, though she still didn't look up at Brutal. "Why do you think I know anything about him?"