Love and War

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"Maggie, you were attacked." Kandros replied firmly, though he still didn't open his eyes. "I never hated you, only what that bastard did to you."

"Brave? That woman?" Quinn snorted. "I hardly think so. She was a brainless idiot who only cared what would make her dear husband happy."

Amus turned his gun on Tyros as well, just in case he tried anything. 
Tyros had his right hand behind his back, his fingers locked around his blade. "Your sister is dead. Now Kandros. Will you let your nephew die too? He's going blue. Betty can help him. As usual you can offer nothing."

"Bull, wake up. Connor's monitor is off. You need to find him." Lori pinged her lover's omni tool, trying to wake him. She was worried about the boy. Whatever Reegar had done was still filling her with worry.

"I've lost count of the number of times I should have just let you die, drell." Quinn remarked icily. "My nephew will be coming with me. You really think I'll let Betty carve him up like she did me?"

True to his word, Brutus hadn't gone to the intimidate rendezvous that Reegar had planned for him with Madame Rachel. He groaned and rolled over as he answered Lori's call. "How can it be off?" He asked, still somewhat groggy.

"I dont think you give a damn. I think you just don't want her to have him." Tyros said darkly. "Where is your merc king by the way? I'm surprised you're out from under him long enough to be here for this? Then again there is blood and death happening. You were always a fan of that." 
"Captain..." Amus wanted to shoot the drell. He would like nothing more in that moment.

"I think Reegar did it. I think he made Connor do something to Kandros. Bull...i think I got Kandros killed." Lori confessed softly.

"You have it all backwards, lovely." Quinn replied coolly. "The amount of blood and tears I shed for you? You're the junkie, not me." She added, well aware how badly her second wished to shoot Tyros. "Amus, take the boy back to the ship. I can handle this little mouse." Quinn breathed without turning her attention from her former lover. 

"Princess, you did nothing wrong." Brutus insisted, now very much awake a searching for his clothing as he crawled out of the hard bed. "Don't worry that cobalt little head of yours, Connor is just fine."

"No! I want to go with my grandmother!" Connor shouted. "I wont go with either of you!" His lips were a dangerous blue and he was starting to stumble. He could barely see to tap the distress signal to Brutus. 

"It's not Connor I'm worried about. It's Kandros. I should never have given Reegar that info." She sighed.

Quinn wasn't willing to turn her back on Tyros this time, no matter what resistance Connor was putting up. "Kid, if you think I won't shoot you, you have no fucking idea who I am, or that I'm shit out of patience right now."

"What info?"  Ruth's asked calmly, though he had finally located his pants. "Princess, I'll tell you again, none of this is your fault. You do what Reegar tells you because you're smart enough to want to keep that pretty head intact."

Connor shook his head. Memories were flashing through his mind if his parents. His mother singing to him, his father holding out the mask he refused to wear. The yelling matches the two of them were constantly in. He could do nothing but stare at the body that lay smiling on the floor. And then he threw up. All over the woman yelling at him. The distress signal went out and he was still throwing up.
Tyros wasn't really sure what to do. He hadn't prepared for this.

The distress signal kept Lori from saying more. She disagreed with Brutus. She wasn't smart at all. She was unlucky. She was surprised she hadn't gotten Brutus killed.

Quinn stumbled backwards as Connor threw up on her, causing her to stumble into Amus. Vomit was the one thing she couldn't handle, and she quickly had to remove her own helmet as she feared she too was going to throw up when she saw the chunks clinging to her armour.

It most likely wouldn't be long before he was dancing with death anyway. The large turian was dressed and out the the door now, intent on dragging the boy back to the ship by his ear.

Connor grabbed for her helmet and threw up in it, beginning to sob all over again. Tyros was gone, able to see Brutus coming long before Quinn. 
The young turian pulled his Captain away, trying to wipe at her face. He could see how green she'd gotten.

Quinn had her weapon drawn the instant she saw what Connor had just done. "I'll kill him myself!" She howled, even as Amus was pulling her from the bar and into the cool night air.

"Calm down, Captain. It's just a helmet." Amus said gently, worried when he saw the hulking shadow entering the bar from the opposite way. "I'll got get it and the boy if you want." Anything to please her.

Connor had crawled into a corner and was staring at his father's remains, still holding the helmet. The voices were whispering again louder than ever. A new one had been added this time and he recognized it. Kandros deep commanding tones filled him with shame.

"Where did Tyros go?" Quinn asked as though she hadn't just threatened to kill a teenager because he threw up in her favourite helmet. She was oblivious to the lengths Amus would go to to keep her happy.

Brutus had found Loralie first, and the poor girl was cowering under her hands whilst muttering that this was not the life the captain had promised. He got little else from her, though it all made sense when he entered the bar and saw the blood. "Oh Connor..." He murmured, holstering his weapon as he crouched down before the boy. "These were your orders?"

"I don't know. I saw a hulking shadow heading in the opposite way and I figure he did too. He must have been avoiding it and headed back to his ship." Amus told her.

"We have to find my grandmother." Connor gasped, holding tightly to the disgusting helmet. "We can't go back to Reegar. Not now."

"I have to get back in there." Quinn told Amus firmly, not that she needed his permission. 

"Sorry, kid. That's not an option." Brutus replied, not willing to put Lori at risk by conceding to Connor's wish.

"I'll go with you." Amus said, his gun at the ready again. "Let's go."

"He'll end up making me kill her too." Connor said wearily. "But fine. Do what you think is best..."

Quinn hesitated as she looked up at her second. "No, you get the boy. I'll track Tyros."

"Yeah we will." Brutus replied gruffly as he hauled Connor back to his feet. "You need to get your girlfriend and we should leave. Don't want initiative drones buzzing around asking what we're doing here."

Amus nodded. He was truthfully a little shocked that she would trust him with this. Quinn didn't seem to trust anyone with even the remedial tasks.

With wooden movements Connor put on his breathing mask and moved to Loralie, holding out an ungloved hand to her.

Quinn didn't have time to be careful now. If she were in Tyros' position, she would sabotage her ship. That's where she was heading right then.

Loralie looked at the hand wide wide eyes, that Connor couldn't see. An unloved hand was extremely trusting of him. At least, that's how a quarian saw it. The young girl slipped her hand into his and let him pull her along behind Brutus.

Quinn had made the right choice. Tyros was in the inner workings of her ship, the wires already hanging lose. Several of her crew were lying dead where they had tried to stop him, leaving him to finish his job alone.

Connor was furious with Brutus. He couldn't go back to his grandfather's ship and he didn't understand why the large turian didn't see that. Was it that he didn't see or didn't care?
"You're not taking the boy." The doorway was blocked by yet another turian, this one with the same markings as his teacher. The effect was strange. And Brutus' reaction to a long lost little brother was strange as well.

"Here we are again. You're getting sloppy, assassin." Quinn commented, her gun again pressed to the back of her ex lover's head. 

 Ruth's stopped abruptly, able to feel the two younger aliens slam into the back of him. "Who's gonna stop me? You?" He sneered, once he had regained his stony composure.

"Just returning the favor on the ship." Tyros hissed, his fingers still on the wires. "You can't tell me you didn't deserve it."

"What are you going to do? Kill me again?" Amus snapped.

"You killed my crew." Quinn commented icily. "Tell me, what do you deserve for that?"

"I'll get it right this time." He growled. "Just look at you, all grown up and still following my shadow."

"You killed mine." Tyros countered. "All because you're pissed at your mother. It's over, Quinn. You made it clear how you felt about me so I found another. Maybe you should do the same."

"Screw your shadow." Amus hissed. "I'm not here to talk to you. I'm here for the boy. We're not family anymore. You made that clear."

"It's so easy for you, isn't it?" Quinn asked quietly. Without her crew, she had no reason to act so tough. Not that she didn't know Tyros saw right through that act anyway. "You tell me to find someone new... But I'll never love anyone the way I loved you." She confessed quietly. 

"The boy? Little young for even you, ain't he?" Brutus snorted. "Get out of the way, kid. Let the grown ups handle this."

"You loved me when I was a kett." Tyros said bitterly. "Now that I am nothing but a drell you have no use for me. Stop playing games with me. I am not that pathetic turian you brought with you."

Amus didn't move. In fact he didn't take a step back as his shot gun fired, the blast tearing into Brutus' mid-section. 
Connor lost his cool. He let go of Loralie and launched over his teacher, tearing into the other turian like he was nothing more than paper. 
"Kee'lah salia, Connor. Enough." Reegar spoke from the entrance of the bar. "Clean this up." He spoke to someone behind him and Connor simply sagged in place. "Take the turians and children to my ship. We're done here."

"And you wanted me once Betty carved me up and made me into this monster?" Quinn fired back. "You couldn't wait to knock her up! It's pretty fucking obvious you could never love someone who could never give you the child you clearly wanted!" 

Brutus had fallen to his knees, a hand pressed to his midsection as blood seeped through his fingers. Amus had been a good shot, knew exactly where to hit to cause the most damage. He could feel his vision blurring at the edges as he continued to lose blood.

"I wanted to be loved. Children do not matter. But...i can see why Betty is so desperate for a cerain kind. She believes it's the only way she will ever find true love. Females have failed her. She's hoping for a moldable male..." Tyros sighed heavily. "Why was it so hard for you to love me? Everything was perfect just me you and Qim. But you...left to play hero...like I wasn't enough...our world was gone that day. It was perfect for such a short time..."

Brutus would find himself in and out of consciousness for several days. He would remember very little. Flashes of Lori at his side, dressing his wounds, demanding crashing medigel and bedding from Reegar, and Connor gleefully showing her vids of the guards beating a prisoner for what had been done to her beloved. 
Lori didnt sleep more than an hour at a time. Most of her days and nights were spent doing all she could to help the man she loved. Reegar refused him medical attention of any sort, claiming that he'd been responsible for his fate. 
Once she did all she could, she would sit beside him and read him her favorite novel. It was an ancient book about a man who robbed from the rich and gave to the poor. It reminded her of her beloved bull. 
In the meantime, out of pure desperation, she'd contacted her mother's ship for help. She had no way of knowing Connor too had made good on his promise to contact her should he ever truly need his grandmother.

"I'm a soldier!" Quinn shouted, like it explained everything. "You were asking me to sit back and do nothing when someone I loved was in danger!" She added, her gun pulled away from Tyros' head as she simply sat down a few feet away. "You keep saying I never loved you... maybe you don't know me at all." 

"Well now..." Betty couldn't hide her smile when Lori contacted her. "Isn't this just a delicious turn of events. Whatever could the apple of her daddy's eye want with this foul witch?" She added, yellow eyes glittering as she imagined what was happening right then. Lori wasn't to know that Betty's ship was already close enough to see, thanks to Connor's contact.

Tyros got to his feet and left the ship, only to find that Betty had left him behind.

"Betty...I hate to ask...but I need your help..." Lori breathed. She was looking at Brutus out of the corner of her eye. His skin has gone grey and a shy. His breathing had become slow and labored. She remembered how her mother had done the same. 
She'd sat for hours with her while she'd died, lying at the bottom of the stairs. Lori had done everything she could to save her mother it it was not enough and no one came to help them.
"Please...he's dying and that damn Quarians just letting him...I'll do anything... I'll give you anything you ask for." Lori knew she sounded weak but she'd never loved anyone that way she loved Brutus.

Quinn quickly discovered that Amus was gone, and now she too was stuck here with a crippled ship.

"There is one tiny little thing you could do for me..." Betty mused. "I want your sister's head." She told Lori bluntly. It was something Tyros had yet to produce.