Dash watched in horror as she looked at the holographic screen hovering in the middle of the balcony. Aria had put up privacy screens to make sure they were the only ones who could see the footage. The quality wasn't that good due to the person recording the video being quite a distance away.
There was a group of krogan, dressed in the red armor of the Blood Pack, standing around a kneeling turian. The Blood Pack’s leader, a krogan named Garm, was holding a speech of sorts that was too faint to be picked up to the obviously beaten turian...
And then he shot him.
It almost came out of nowhere, but one moment Garm had been talking and the next he had pulled his shotgun and brutally removed half the turian's head from existence.
And he was laughing about it.
Dash's blood boiled in her veins at the sight of such callous murder. To even be laughing about something like that!
“They fed his remains to their varren, and the beasts didn't leave much for my people to identify,” Aria said as she shut the screen down. “Though there have been rumors of them getting the wrong turian, I'm pretty positive they did not. What's left of the little group he had assembled completely shattered, killed or captured, and is now in various parts of the station. I can't see how that would have happened with Archangel still in play.”
“Well… Shit,” Shepard said as he leaned forward from his position on the couch. “Do you know any locations of his scattered squad members?”
Aria shook her head, “They might be scattered, but they're all very good at hiding, though the Blood Pack has been a prime target for all of them. Looks like they're seeking revenge to me… or they're looking for someone
Shepard raised an eyebrow. “Enlighten us.”
“One of his team members is rumoured to have been caught by the Blood Pack. If my sources are correct, the person they caught was the 'Angel of Death' herself.”
“Angel of Death?” Dash asked as she shuddered.
What do you have to do to earn that nickname?
“Though definitely not as lethal as Archangel or the rest of his team, whomever got on her list was as good as dead,” Aria explained.
“You seem to know a lot about her,” Shepard observed, Aria giving a nod and pulling something from a pocket in her jacket.
“That's because I had the pleasure to look her straight in the eyes…” Dash's eyes widened in shock as she took a step back. Between Aria's fingers was a pastel yellow feather, “…but considering your company, I'm sure you know more about her than I do.”
“Commander, we-” Dash croaked but was cut off by Shepard holding up a hand, telling her to be silent.
“Do you have any possible locations of where she's being held?” Shepard asked. Aria shook her head.
“The Blood Pack sent out a small fleet of their vessels about a day ago. If they had her, she's no longer on Omega.” Dash cursed below her breath as Aria told her that.
“I should go. We'll be in touch,” Shepard gruffly stated as he had heard enough, stood up, and marched down the stairs. Dash and the others following, though Dash's mood was severely worsened.
Fluttershy was here and we were too bucking late!
“Commander, what's our next step? Do we pursue one of Archangel's people which might as well be a complete unknown asset or do we find the salarian doctor first?” Miranda asked as they stepped out of Aria's earshot. Shepard just silently sat down at the bar and ordered a drink. “Commander?”
“There's only one turian I can think of that Fluttershy would do this for… If I'm right, then I might have just lost a good friend and have another abducted from under my nose,” Shepard gulped down the entire drink in one go and slammed the glass back onto the bar table. “We're going to find Mordin Solus and after that we're going to find out where the Blood Pack took our pegasus.”
The entrance to the virus contaminated section of the station was heavily barricaded, but just as Aria had promised they were let in without any resistance. The hallways were suspiciously empty of any life. Dash suddenly got into a coughing fit, feeling like there was something stuck in her throat.
“That's a bad sign,” Jacob murmured. “Let's hope the doc has a cure ready to go.”
“Couldn't agree more. Let's go find him.” Shepard said, taking the lead. They kept their weapons at the ready as they made their way through the internal passages of the station. Doors were locked as the sick and scared had barricaded themselves in. Gunshots and worse echoed from further down the section. Electing to avoid any contact, the group carefully chose their path, avoiding Blue Suns patrols and Blood Pack purification squads, right up until they came to a square at the entrance of the clinic where a squad of either criminal group was fighting the other.
“Damnit. Everyone, take up a firing position,” Shepard ordered. They had arrived on an overhang with plenty of view of the square below. Dash tightly held onto the SMG and waited for the order to fire. Down below, the members of the two gangs were decimating each other, the vorcha of the Blood Pack wielding two flamethrowers to flush the Blue Suns out of cover.
“Target the Blood Pack's flamethrowers first. Now!”
Dash immediately peeked over the edge and lined up a shot. Her bullets tore through one of the gas-tanks on a vorcha's back, detonating the volatile compound within.
KABOOM!
“Suck on them apples!” Rainbow shouted as she picked a new target and fired another burst. Both weakened groups quickly fell under the intense fire from above, only a couple of krogan managing to return some fire before getting cut down too.
“Clear!” Shepard shouted.
“Clear!” everyone else echoed as there was no more movement below. They slowly advanced forward careful to not get shot by anyone they might have missed.
“There, clinic entrance! Go!” A quick order from Shepard later they were all safely within the clinic's doors. “Everyone good?”
“Never been better, Commander,” Jacob replied followed by Miranda and Dash. The clinic had a security station before one could enter the building proper, the guard giving a warning to behave or to get gunned down by the mechs. The inside of the clinic itself was filled with refugees, almost none looking to be sick and a couple of rooms had been repurposed to momentarily house them.
“...Use malanarin. Plenty on hand. Almost as good. Causes cramping in batarians. Supplement with butemerol,” a voice came from the only empty clinic room. There, a salarian standing over a plague victim was rambling off to his human assistant. Dash coughed once from her sore throat, immediately attracting the salarian’s attention who scanned her with his omni-tool. “Interesting. Body is aggressively fighting plague. DNA showing same signs as previous subject. Might be entire species. Need more data.” Dash just stared at the salarian in confusion at the barrage of words sent in her direction.
“Professor Mordin Solus I presume?” Shepard asked, prompting the salarian to study him for a moment while pacing around.
“Greetings, human. Curious. Don’t recognize you from area. Too well armed for refugees. No mercenary uniforms. Quarantine still in effect. Here for something else. Vorcha? No, unlikely. Pegasus presence might indicate-”
“CAN YOU STOP RAMBLING AND START MAKING SENSE?!” Dash exclaimed out loud as she couldn’t bear her growing headache any longer.
“Apologies. Your friend has more patience. Good assistant. Haven’t seen her in a while,” Mordin said as he stopped pacing and looked at Dash. It took the pegasus a moment for her to process the words.
“Wait, you know Fluttershy?!” Dash was almost immediately hovered in front of the professor’s face.
“Interesting. She never gave her name. Very good at appearing and disappearing. Useful for quie-” Mordin was again interrupted as a screeching metal sound came from the ventilation shafts. The professor immediately checked his omni-tool. “Problem. Vorcha have shut down environmental systems. Trying to suffocate entire district. Need to take environmental control. Can reactivate and distribute cure from there.”
“Give us the coordinates and consider it done, Professor. I need your help on my mission, and I can't have you dying in an assault on that control center,” Shepard immediately offered.
“Mission? Unimportant right now. Need to focus on controls and cure.” Mordin momentarily stopped and looked at Dash. “Actually have favour to ask. Tried tracking to her base of operations. Not reachable by foot. Need wings.”
Rainbow’s heartbeat accelerated some as she might get the opportunity to see a place where Fluttershy had stayed. Maybe her friend had even managed to leave clues to where she’d been shipped off to.
Wait, stop. You’re not going to just run off Rainbow. The commander still needs you with him.
“I’ll go take a look after we’ve gotten that cure sorted out.”
“Afraid that won't be possible. Vorcha burning down entire district sector. Fire will destroy everything,” Mordin stated, Dash cringing as she looked over at Shepard…
1. I want to investigate Sir. There might be hints.
2. I shouldn’t split off from you guys. Strength in numbers.