//------------------------------// // Collector attack // Story: Mass Effect: Element of Kindness // by CommanderApplejack //------------------------------// Chapter 150 Collector attack Take back the feather. 52% Fluttershy slowly stepped forward off of the couch, the surrounding guards keeping their weapons trained on her as she approached Aria. Neither the pegasus nor asari flinched as they faced off with each other, Fluttershy slowly holding out her hoof for Aria to place the feather on which she carefully did, a quick inspection revealed the feather itself was still almost completely flawless. Fluttershy took the feather and stashed it in a pocket under her cloak. “So you're doing something you've never done and let a target go?” Aria asked, extremely suspicious of Fluttershy's supposed withdrawal. “Priorities change,” Fluttershy replied, taking a step back from the Queen of Omega. “And I'm supposed to believe that?” “Believe whatever you want Aria, I'm not planning to ever go back to this place after leaving this time. We worked nearly around the clock taking down the worst criminal this place could provide and most of the time they were replaced within a week.” The step Fluttershy had taken back she took forward again, her wings lighting up with biotics as she ripped every rifle pointed at her out of their handlers' hands and crumpled them into balls. “You can have your little empire and sit on your pretty throne for all I care. I'm done here.” Aria had her own biotics ready incase Fluttershy tried something, the two facing off with each other. “If I ever see you back here again I'll take that feather, will pluck all of the others, and make a dress out of them while using your pelt as a rug,” She said in an ice-cold tone. “Clear,” Fluttershy replied, turning around and looking at Garrus. “We're going.” None of the guards dared to stand in the way of the two leaving. Not like they had the guns to do so anymore anyway. The rest of the squad looked at the two leaving and got up themselves too, following after the pair. “What happened up there?” Rainbow asked as she was the first to catch up with the two. “Some things I did here coming back to bite me in the flank. Don’t worry about it, Rainbow, I wasn’t planning on going back here ever again regardless,” Fluttershy said as they left the club. The entire teams omni-tool beeped simultaneously, everyone checking what was up. A small report from EDI had been sent to all of the team’s members’ tool describing how the Collectors had attacked the Normandy itself and the ship had only barely escaped.   “Oh, that isn’t good...” Garrus muttered, “Let’s get to the docks immediately.” “Agreed,” Miranda said as everyone ran over to transport shuttles. “I’ll contact Shepard,” The row of shuttles moved down through the station to the docks, Fluttershy impatiently tapped her hoof onto the seat as the vehicles took their sweet time to arrive at their destination, Shepard was already waiting there with Samara as they came to a halt at the docks. “Is the Normandy here yet?” Miranda asked as she made a beeline to the commander. “On approach, give joker and EDI fifteen to come here,” Shepard replied as everyone tok a seat to wait for the ship to return. “Think Joker is okay?” Rainbow asked Fluttershy as she sat down next to her along with Garrus and Tali. “To be honest? Probably not,” Fluttershy replied, “Also, there’s something in this report that caught my eyes… It says EDI jumped the Normandy out of the collector’s reach before heading back over here.” “And?” Rainbow questioned with a raised eyebrow. “EDI is a shackled AI Dash, she does not have access to any of the Normandy’s systems,” Tali explained. “EDI jumping the ship herself means she’s no longer shackled.” Rainbow’s eyes widened as she understood the point Tali was making. “Oh.” “Well, from our interaction with her I’m pretty sure she isn’t going to take over Humanity or anything,” Garrus chuckled. “I guess not...” Tali murmured, falling silent as she leaned against a support beam. The four patiently waited for the Normandy to dock at the station, everyone making their way into the stealth corvette as it arrived and then took off again. Joker, Shepard, Miranda, and Mordin separated from the rest to discuss what had happened in the briefing room while the rest went around the ship to check all the systems. The walls were pockmarked from fire impacts, there were even some blotches of blood in places.  Fluttershy had gone to check out the med-bay, Garrus having split off to check the Thanix while Tali had gone down to engineering. Rainbow peaked into medical to see if Fluttershy was fine, finding Shy on one of the medical beds propped against the wall with her rifle on her lap. “Hey Shy, are you-” “I’m going to murder them all,” Fluttershy whispered, her voice icy cold. “I don’t care what it’ll take, but they’re going to die.” Rainbow shivered as she was reminded once again how radically her friend had changed. “This about Doctor Chakwas?” “Yeah,” Fluttershy said bitterly. “She’s been there for me since the start… If they did anything to that woman Tartarus will look like a pleasure resort.” Rainbow hopped onto the bed pulling Fluttershy up into a hug. “We’ll get them back, Shy, all of them. Ken, Gabriella, Chakwas, and all the rest, no way the Commander is going to let them hang.” “I know, but I worry...” “All hands, man your pre-designated stations. Estimated time of arrival to the Omega four relay is sixty minutes. We’ll get our crew back from those bastards,” Shepard’s called out through the intercom, his voice clearly having hints of anger as well. “See?” Rainbow smirked slightly. “Oh shush you,” Fluttershy smiled back before letting it drop again. “Go down to see Tali, Rainbow. You never know when it might be the last time you see each other.” “Yeah, I guess so… See you after passing the relay.” “You too.”