Scavengers

"This is the idea of you two explaining to me why a Primarch and a grease monkey are so closey with each other." A voice remarked from the other side if the room, apparently having been there the entire time.

Ceres murmured something that sounded like a protest, until the vibration of the metal being cut sent pain rocketing through her and she passed out cold.
"I'll get a message to her, but she may already be too far to get back in time." The doctor breathed, giving Ceres something that would keep her unconscious, and free from pain for now.

Orinia's chest began to hurt all over again. She strained to turn her head and see where the voice was coming from. "I was just letting him test drive the car." She said softly. "I was going with him to make sure there were no problems with the engine. Not like it's any concern to you though..." 

"She has to come back." Brutal said, lifting the quarian woman into his arms once the lower metal was cut. "I can't have yet another woman's death on my hands." He muttered, walking toward the doctor's clinic as if nothing was wrong with him at all.

"Would that mean you would be riding with him every time he drove the car? You know, just in case?" The voice snorted before stepping into a shaft of light. "You, mr Primarch, are going to explain to me why the soon to be councilwoman Vivica wants you dead. I do t believe it is simply because she wants that seat on the council so badly."

"You need to prepare yourself for the worst, boy." The doctor warned as she took a small sample of the blood that had soaked into the shirt Brutal had used to slow the bleeding.

"You're the one who helped us." Orinia said, smiling at the other Turian. "You're the one I saw walking toward accident. You reached in and pulled us out. I saw you. Thank you." 

"Story of my life." Brutal murmured, already beginning to feel the guilt creep over him. He missed the war. At least killing there had involved nothing organic. At least not after the reapers had gotten through with them.

The other Turian snorted with laughter and shook his head. "Massive mins understanding there, babe. I saved you because I think you may be worth something in ransom money." He informer Orinia.

The message had been sent to Tali, but doctor Chakwas was still testing Ceres blood, checking for infection, and perhaps a reason why exposure without her helmet hadn't killed her yet. "Brutal, did you remove her helmet after the accident?"

It was Orinia's turn to laugh. "Massive misunderstanding, dude. You're not getting anything off a grease monkey like me. I don't have any family at all. You won't get a single chip for me. The primarch on the other hand...there's a guy you better start making phone calls about." While she was speaking she was bending her wrist, all but breaking it to to try and get out of the restraints. 

"No." Brutal was sitting beside the cot, staring at the metal rod they had yet to remove. "Mimic took it off her months ago. I'll forward you his medic's notes if you want. She seemed to tolerate his ship's air fairly well and the bastard never let her have it back. I'm wondering if it had something to do with Lolly. They're discovering that she is doing more than changing minds. She can some how change genetic make up if given enough time." Brutal shoved a shaking hand through his hair. "My little girl here was on that torture ship for days with little memory of it. She thinks it was hours, Doc."

The other man smiled and simply watched Victus for a moment. "Funny how the mighty Primarch was moaning your name while unconscious then, isn't it?"

"You're little girl?" Chakwas asked, arching her brow slightly, though her eyes were gentle. "When did that happen?" She asked before returning to looking at Ceres' blood under the microscope.

This information made Orinia's head hurt though she didn't really understand why. It was made worse by the fact that she couldn't even rub the pain out of her temple like usual. "Didn't you ask him to explain something about some council woman named Vivica?" She asked, hoping to change the subject before her head got worse. 

"Mine until I fix what I've done to her anyway." Brutal said, sending another message through to Garrus and Talli's ship. Her fall no longer felt like an accident. Playing it over in his head had begun to seem like he'd pushed her. In a few more hours he'd be more than convinced that was exactly what had happened.

The other man laughed again. "Angel, you really have no idea what's going on here. My lady really hates your boyfriend here, and paid me good money to make him disappear."
Victus was discretely pulling at his own bindings now, though he kept his face rather neutral. "That woman is a viper in the grass, trusting her may well cost you your life."

The doctor grinned and cast a sideways glance at brutal. "I never thought you were to type to take in strays." She mused. "Are you sure it is only duty that has you acting this way? She is rather beautiful, and isn't like any other Quarian I know."

Orinia's wrist cracked and she bit her lip. She slid her talons through the rope trying not to alert the other Turian to the fact that the primarch was now free. At least one arm...

"No. I'm not adopting her. Tali will know what to do with her. If she even survives." Brutal said almost too quickly. "And she's not my type. She's just a quarian. There's nothing beautiful about it."

Victus didn't snow this either, though he smiled at the other man. "Whatever she is paying you, you do realise she will kill you rather than hand over money she could spend on herself, don't you?"
The other Turian scowled and fired a warning shot at the floor by the Primarch's feet. "She said you would smooth talk, and she called you a snake."

The doctor lifted her head and shot Brutak a rather stern glare. "I think you need to wait outside." She told him curtly. "I don't need talk like that in here, least of all from a Spectre!"

"Seems to me she is the one asking you to kill people." Orinia said gently, her other wrist popping as she managed to pull it free. Her talons remained locked around Victus' own to keep the illusion until he was ready. 

"I'm fine right here." Brutal said, waving her off. He ignored her completely as he sent his third message to Tali.

"The snake is the one who charms you and makes you believe he is righteous." The other man sneered. "Then he will turn on you the second it suits him. That's seems like a Primarch to me!"

"You know, all these messages will not make my ship move any faster!" Tali finally snapped as she opened up a voice channel with a Brutal.

"And nothing like the woman who asked you to hurt us?" Orinia asked gently. She fixed the other Turian with gentle brown eyes, offering him a timid smile. "You must feel it in your heart that we would not hurt you or anyone else. Our primarch saved the galaxy at the great cost of his son."

"Hello to you too." Brutal grunted, dropping the beginnings of another message. "At least you're finally bothering to answer me. How did you ever manage to stop playing with your Turian long enough for that?"

The other man smiled, though it wasn't pleasent in the least. "Propaganda at its best." He sneered. "Do you believe everything you hear? The councilwoman is ready to expose the Primarch as the selfish deserter he truly is."

Tali sighed heavily. "Aren't you just the perfect little ray of sunshine?"

"Expose him after she has him killed? What's the point in that?" Orinia countered. "Why bother? The man is dead. There is no need in making him look a fool when she would have everything she wanted. That makes little sense, sir. We both know that he did not desert our people. Primarch Victus fought at the head of the battle on Earth where the fighting was the worst. Release me and I will show you video from the Palaven archives." 

Brutal couldn't help the slight smile that had the corner of his lip twitching. "Haven't I always been?" He chuckled. "Seriously. I need your help and you're not answering my messages. I have and injured quarian here who is dying and she needs blood. She's got answers that I need. I can explain more when you get here. I just want to make sure you're coming."

Victus wasn't as easily able to shrug this off as Orinia was. His gaze met the other mans eyes, and it was clear he understood. "A Primarch's greatest gift to his people is his legacy... If my name is mud, even after my death, it will have a great impact on many things."

"Of course were coming, but I don't understand why." Tali replied in her usual soft tone. "If it is just blood you need, aren't there other Quarians nearer than I am?"

"Shepard's people will not stand for it." Orinia said firmly. "There are many who would argue it. She would not get away with it." Her chest was heaving wildly. It was becoming harder to hold the illusion as emotions got the better of her. 

"I don't trust anyone else." Brutal said and Tali would know this to be true. The well built human was extremely standoffish. Even Shepard had had a hard time getting through to him. "Besides, it's not like there's tons of you just floating around these days. Everyone else is trending toward Rannoch."

"You put too much faith in your Shepard." The other Turian sneered. "Just wait until Vivica joins the council, she will find a way to sully his name too."

"What kind of questions do you feel you need to ask her?" Tali asked curiously. "

Orinia burst out laughing. "Do you realize how stupid you sound? Is the sex that good? What's that human term? Pussy whipped? You really are a loser." She shook her head. "

"It's Spectre business." Brutal said, shaking his head. "I can't tell you that. Just...know that I want to help her because it's my fault she's hurt. Okay? Now let's talk about you and Garrus. How is he?"

Still not realising she was free, the other Turian surged forward and slammed his rifle against Orinia's forehead. "I think I'll peel your skin off before I kill you, princess."

Tali could be heard sighing heavily at Brutal's evasive answer. "He's annoyed you have called us back to that rock. We were supposed to be returning to Rannock, I wanted our child to be born there." She replied, quite obviously grinning as she broke this news to her human friend.

Orinia's vision swam and it took her a moment to keep from throwing up. She swallowed hard then suddenly launched herself forward grabbing the other Turian's gun away from him. She turned it on him, the butt of it connecting with his jaw. The audible crack filled the sudden silence. "It will be hard to do that with your brains scattered on the floor." She snarled. "On your belly, filth." 

"Mother fucker." Brutal's mood took a turn for the worst at this news. "Return to your fucking course and screw yourselves. I hope you feel good about betraying Shephard by the way. He loved you and you run off with his best friend after he's dead. Good for you." He snapped, cutting communication. Angry he slammed a fist into the wall, shouting obscenities when he broke a bone of two.

The other man had already fallen to the floor and was holding his jaw as ice blue eyes glared up at Orinia. He wouldn't get the chance to react as Victus calmly took the rifle from Orinia and shot the other man in the shoulder.
"Thank you for the rescue, lovely." He told her gently, shouldering June weapon to inspect her wrists. "We need to get you someplace safe. Your born tennis just going to kill me..."

"That was a bit of an over reaction, don't you think?" Doctor Chakwas asked as she calmly steered a brutal away from the wall and sat him down again. "Why are you so angry? They both loved him, I loved him. Is it such a bad thing that thye found comfort in each other?"

Orinia shook her head, her chest on fire. "Derius will understand..." She was having a hard time concentrating, her world was beginning to grow dark at the edges. "Victus, I'm so sorry..." She stumbled slightly and fell, her body falling toward the other Turian. 

"She's pregnant. I can't use her blood to help the little one." Brutal growled, throwing up his hands. He was once again trying to hide an injury from the doc. "I don't have time to go scouring the station or anywhere nearby for other Quarians. She's going to die for sure."

Victus caught Orinia with ease and lifted her into his arms. He left the body of the other man, actually wanting him to go running back to Vivica. This was more than a step too far. The Primarch took Orinia to one of the rented apartments on the citadel, using a false name, and laid her in the plush bed. He cared for her injuries himself, trying to decide his next move.

"Perhaps not." The doctor breathed. "Did Ceres ever perhaps tell you she wasn't like other Quarians?" She asked gently. "I've been taking a look at her blood... She's mixed species."

Orinia woke up buried beneath plush covers. She was warm and her wounds from the sky car accident were bandaged. She felt safe here and didn't yet want to reveal that she was awake. It would probably mean she would be sent back to her brother and he would yell at her for being so stupid. 

"Her name is Ceres?" Brutal asked, rubbing at his hand. "And you say she's not just quarian? How the hell does that happen? What else could she be? Is that even possible?"

Victus had promised himself he would keep vigil over Orinia while she was sleeping, but his own injuries had drained a lot from him after getting them here. The Primarch had fallen asleep in a chair beside the bed where he had left the young woman sleeping.

"I took a scan of her omni tool." The doctor told Brutal gently. "And I checked her blood three times... It has Quarian and human DNA. It could explain how Lolly was so easily able to alter her genetics so this little one could breathe without purified air." The doctor glanced away at this point to watch Ceres. "I never thought human and Quarian DNA was this compatible... I still think it isn't, not outside of a lab, anyway."

Orinia found the bandaged lying next to the bed and began using them to return the favor. Though his were mostly healed, his blood was caked all over his body. Gently she cleaned where she thought was appropriate, sighing softly when she saw there was a deep wound in a place near his inner thigh. She was going to have to get to it. Appropriate or not. Gently she began to remove his pants. 

"Damn." Brutal muttered. "The Alliance will be all over her if I let that get out. Tell you what. Give her some of my blood, just to get her out of the woods and then I'll leave and pretend I didn't hear any of that. I think it would be for the best."

Victus murmured quietly and shifted in his seat as slender talons began removing his pants. "Orinia... The storm... We should get home, or I would be a very good husband..." He muttered in his sleep.

Doctor Chakwas seemed somewhat uncertain. "So you chase her across Omega until she falls down a chasm, and all of a sudden you get scared and run away? I thought you wanted answers from your little girl?"

Orinia's head hurt as his words began to borrow deep into her heart. They brought back memories that made her insides ache. All she could think of to do in that moment was kiss him. So that was exactly what she did.

"If she wants to live it will have to be this way." Brutal said gruffly. "Besides, I now owe Aria a slew of favors an I don't have time for questions."