//------------------------------// // Control center // Story: Mass Effect: Element of Kindness // by CommanderApplejack //------------------------------// Chapter 82 Control center Boiling with anger Dash strode towards the passage where the retreating Blood Pack had gone into, stretching her wings in anticipation of use. “Dash, what are you…” Shepard didn't get to finish his sentence as Rainbow flapped her wings once. For any other pegasus this might have got them off of the ground and, for those already athletes, maybe gain a bit of speed to boot, but for Dash… for Dash this one flap immediately propelled her to very high speeds. A second flap only added to this as she screamed through the air after the Blood Pack and into the control center. She was laser focused as she ended up in the middle of the offending aliens, her heartbeat only slightly accelerated by the exertion of flying. A stunned vorcha was the first to suffer Rainbow's wrath as he got his face kicked in by the pegasus. The second unfortunate alien was a krogan, receiving multiple slugs to the head killing him nearly instantly. With these two kills the element of shock that had paralyzed the gang members had also vanished. A roar of gunfire went through the large chamber as they opened fire on the multicolor haired pegasus who was tearing into their ranks. Duck. Fire. Kick. Roll. Dash was completely focused on her self imposed task, no surface level thoughts coming up to mess with her rhythm of attacks. Behind her, more gunfire erupted as the three members of Archangel's team had followed and engaged the Blood Pack as well. Cover. Reload. Move. A krogan charged Dash from the side, thinking that he'd caught her off guard… He was wrong. Switching around, Rainbow fell flat against the floor to avoid a slug before jumping up and sending one of her own at the krogan. A couple of shots from the turian's sniper downing the krogan, but the resilient alien was still breathing. Execute. BANG! “RAINBOW!” The shout pulled the pegasus back to reality, her shotgun still stuck in the remaining mess of the krogan's head. The ground from the entrance to the position Dash was standing in now was littered with corpses, Dash looking around in horror at what she'd just done.  “W-what!? I-I didn't… nononono, so not cool.” Dash looked back at the turian who'd called out to her, feeling her stomach churn and black spots form in her vision while a wave of fatigue and dizziness rolled over her. Said black spots swiftly overtook her vision and without warning Rainbow dropped into unconsciousness. “I think she's waking up doctor.” Dash groaned as a splitting headache made her head feel like it had just been bucked by Applejack. “Good. Please step aside for a moment so I can work.” Ugh, that was the doctor's voice. Of course I had to land in the med-bay again… Rainbow carefully opened her eyes only to swiftly close them again as Chakwas shined a bright light into them. “Pupils seem to respond normally and her brain activity has also reverted back to its usual state.” Dash groaned and pawed at the light, trying to get it out of her face. “I'm fine Doc,” she grunted, pushing herself into a sitting position. Shining and the turian who'd accompanied her on Omega were both sound asleep on the benches placed against the far wall. The salarian doctor from Omega on the other hoof was rapidly moving between medical instruments and assaulting his datapad with furious typing. “Definitely not 'fine'. Unusual brain activity detected and accompanying bodily response. Fascinating. Maybe engineered aggression response? Corresponds with data collected from Fluttershy. Still! Need more data!” A headache immediately bore into Dash's head at the assault of words from doctor Solus. Sympathising, Chakwas elaborated on what the salarian had said. “What Mordin is saying is that he's found evidence that your DNA has been altered by someone,” she tried explaining, but the actual theory was clearly above her paygrade. “Current theory is that without various epigenetic influences effects remain dormant. Subject Armor lacks these genetic adaptions. Data still inconclusive due to lack of more test subjects,” Mordin continued to ramble on. Meanwhile Shining and the turian had woken up and approached the bed. “Please get me out of here,” Dash begged the fellow pony who just smirked and shook his head. Turning to the turian, Rainbow eyed him curiously. Now that he wasn't wearing a helmet she could study his face. Blue paint, slightly scarred carapace, holographic visor over his left eye… “What are you doing here?” “Just checking up on the best friend of my marefriend,” he casually answered, and Dash's jaw dropped to the ground. “Garrus Vakarian. It's a pleasure to meet you. Fluttershy's told me good things about you, and you weren't very talkative when I dragged you out of that control center,” Garrus said and held out his hand. “The cure was distributed and the center secured after you went ballistic and knocked yourself out,” he quickly added after. Dash shakily shook it with her hoof. Rainbow's astonishment quickly faded and turned into a feeling of failure. “I should have immediately followed two years ago... I shouldn't have left her alone like that…” “She wasn't alone, Rainbow. She has made a lot of friends around the galaxy. She doesn't resent you or any of your friends for not following immediately after either,” Garrus comforted, his expression turning grim as well. “If anyone failed her it was me, with her and Sidonis out of the picture everything just collapsed… I couldn't keep her out of blood Pack's claws…” Shining took this moment to break into the conversation and hopefully cheer the two up a bit. “I found a lead on her yesterday. An information broker on Illium contacted me while you were out and asked if I could come and see her in person,” Shining explained, taking Dash by surprise. This seemed to come as a surprise to Garrus as well. “We're currently on route to the Citadel to get Jacob to a hospital, and I'll be getting off to board a transport to Illium.” Buck, how badly was Jacob hurt? And if I join Shining, is Shepard going to have enough people to continue his mission? “I'm coming with you,” Garrus immediately said. “You're not getting rid of me if you got a lead to where Shy is.” Not that this was surprising to Dash as he'd just said that Shy was his marefriend. Buck, Shepard is going to be low on squad members at this rate. 1. I'm here to find Fluttershy first. We can hook back up with the commander later. 2. Without Jacob, Shepard is going to be really low on squad members, and it's better to be split up to cover more ground. 3. We're low on people and experience in this search, maybe Shepard knows someone who can help us? [Vote link]