FicWad

An unmarked transport ship dropped out of hyperspace on the outskirts of the star system before using it's sunlight engines for the remainder of the journey, not an uncommon sight in this region of space as Illium was still a busy hub for commerce and trade in the Federation despite being infamous for its ties to corruption and criminal activity.

Onboard the transport, in one of its waiting rooms there were a squad of soldiers wearing white and black armour. You couldn't tell who they were due to their faces being obscured by the visors of their helmets as they sat and held onto their weapons, but they looked similar to the Phantom class soldiers that the long absent MECH used to employ. Also there were three people standing at the far end of the room, one was wearing blue and white armour. Obviously female by the look of her athletic figure and light weight amour, but like the other soldiers was wearing a helmet. They next was a Drell, a omnivorous reptilian like alien that was wearing grey and black coloured clothes, he simply stood there with his hands behind his back and looked out of the window with a contemplative expression on his face. The last was a Chinese human male in black and white armour, he had a katana blade connected to his back and a holo-visor covering his eyes, he looked somewhat agitated as he stood there. Suddenly the female's holo-tool activated and a holo-screen appeared in front of the three, the image was unidentifiable due to the heavy static that was accompanying the footage.

"Agent Zero-One, report your status." a highly disguised voice spoke from the screen.

"Shadow Broker, our ship has just dropped out of hyperspace and will entering the orbit of Illium in a few minutes." the female Agent replied.

"Good, your target is Dr Liara T'Soni. She is being held at one of the higher tier buildings in the city of Nos Astra. The Doctor is to be retrieved and brought back to one of my safe-houses until we receive payment from our client." the Shadow Broker said back, earning a nod from the female agent before she turned her attention to the pair standing near her.

"Is there any reason why two assassins are with us, surely my squad and I will be sufficient enough to grab one Asari?"

"The Assassins are here as backup for you, since I have heard that there will be another player in the game...the Autobots." the Shadow Broker replied, earning a sigh from the Agent.

"I see, well I still believe that it will be unnecessary..."

"The Human is Kai Leng." the Broker interrupted, making the agent look over to the Human again.

"Kai Leng, the former Alliance marine turned Assassin?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yes, his volatile nature and distrust for anything not human was something that drove him out of the Alliance before the Reaper War began. He has been an merc and assassin ever since, happily killing any non-humans for profit. So just be sure not to remove your helmet at any point during the mission." the Broker said, warning a nod from the Agent.

"And who is the Drell?"

"The Drell is one Thane Krios." the Shadow Broker added, as though her face could not be seen behind her helmet's visor, her eyes still widened in surprise.

"I am sorry, I did not recognise him. All Drell look the same to me. But how did you get him on the payroll, because he has said no many times over the years."

"Let's just say I made him a deal that he could not refuse."

Zero-One looked back at the two assassins and saw a compact looking patch that was attached above both men's right eye.

"What is that device on their foreheads?"

"You recall the fall of MECH during the final days of the Reaper war, well I managed to acquire some of their possessions which were Cybertronian tech. One of which was a device called a 'Phase-Shifter', now I do not know how MECH managed to get their hands on that or any of the technology that came to be in my possession, but using my connections I have duplicated the phase-shifting tech for our own use. What you see on their foreheads is the main device which also contains a synaptic interface that allows the user to control the device mentally, negating the need for manual operation." the Broker replied.

"Impressive, so where's mine?" the Female asked in return.

"Patience, you will receive one for all your good work for me, but in the mean time I believe that your Biotics will suffice." the blurred and disjointed image on the screen replied before the intercom activated.

"We are entering the orbit of Illium, all hands prepare for descent." the transport's captain said.

"I will leave you now, just be sure to carry out your mission to the letter and bring me back Dr T'Soni, Shadow Broker out." the voice finished as the transmission ended. The female Agent then turned to the two assassins.

"I hope you are ready?"

Kai Leng gave her a suspicious stare.

"Just concentrate on your role, I know what I have to do." he replied with an aggressive tone at the black visor of the Agent's helmet, before looking away. Obviously wondering what this agent really looked like and why she would hide it. The female then turned her attention to the Drell who looked like he was praying as he stood I front of the window, his head bowed and hands clasped to together.

"Are you ready Krios?" the Agent asked, but the Drell did not speak or even turn to acknowledge her. So she just walked over to her squad of soldiers and began final preparations as the transport began its descent into Illium's atmosphere.

PRIME EFFECT 4

Orion, Nightracer, Rodimus and Red-Alert stood in civilian clothing on the corner of a busy street in the middle of a large business center in the city of Nos Astra on Illium, they had been directed too in a message from Miranda Lawson's contact. The group had been waiting there for the last thirty minutes, with some of them starting to become impatient.

"I can't believe that we are working with a Thief, and how long does this Kasumi expect us to just wait here for?" Nightracer asked, not hiding her impatience from the rest of the group.

"Patience Nightracer, I'm sure we will hear something soon." Red-Alert replied, though the Femme looked like she didn't believe her own words as she looked over at the people walking by on the other side of the street. Orion meanwhile looked up at the sights surrounding them, with the skyscrapers that seemed to reach up into the heavens.

"Impressive isn't it." Rodimus said after noticing that Orion was looking more like an awe struck tourist at this very moment.

"Yes it is, never been to Illium before." the younger Bot replied.

"Well the architecture is very impressive, especially when you consider that we are much higher off the surface due to the temperature there being to high for anyone to live." the Spectre Leader replied as they both looked up and marveled at the buildings, as streams of sky-cars flew in-between them. Nightracer meanwhile had let her impatience get the better of her and walked over to the nearby advertisement booth.

"If I have to stand here for a while, I might as well see what kind of adverts they have running right now. The Femme said as she tapped the large screen. The booth came to life as the image of a Japanese woman appeared there, her face was partly obscured by the shadow created from the hood that she had covering her head.

"Commander Rodimus, speak the password and win a free prize." the image said, earning the attention of the group.

"Wait...what?" Nightracer replied as Rodimus stood beside her.

"I told you all earlier that the message included a password."

The Commander then looked at the booth.

"Silence is golden."

The image smiled back in response.

"Good to finally meet you Commander Rodimus, the photo on your Autobot profile doesn't do you justice." she replied coyly, almost making the Commander blush.

"...Thank you, what happens now?" he replied, trying to move forward and ignoring the Femmes who chuckled behind him.

"Well firstly..." Kasumi said back before stopping after her eyes fell on Orion.

"Wow...you look just like him."

The Bot suddenly felt not just the thief's but everyone's eyes on him, making him feel uncomfortable.

"...him? He managed to say while his cheeks started to go red.

"Why your Father of course and he is very handsome as well, I see the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree in that respect." Kasumi replied with a wink. And if Orion was feeling uncomfortable before, then it had just increased nearly ten fold in the space of a few seconds.

"You met Jackson Prime?" Rodimus asked, trying to regain the thief's attention away from the younger Bot.

"Yes..." she replied before looking back at Orion.

"I have a funny tale to tell you if you want to hear it later?" she asked, noticing by his posture that Orion wasn't really comfortable with this subject.

"Yeah, maybe later. So like Rodimus asked, what happens now?" he replied, making Kasumi's expression turn serious.

"Yes right...so let's take this indoors then, I am sending you the coordinates for a warehouse not far from your current position. I will meet you there."

The advert booth then deactivated just as Rodimus's holo-tool activated and pinged, gaining his attention.

"Okay, it's this way."

He then began following the directions as the others followed him. They walked down a block or two before stopping in front of what looked like a warehouse.

"This is the place." Rodimus stated as he deactivated his holo-tool.

"You sure?" Red-Alert asked a little unconvinced.

"Yeah this is the place." the Commander replied as he grabbed the door handle and opened the door.

"Inside."

The others obeyed and entered the warehouse to find that the place was deserted.

"So she had us wait at one place and didn't show up, then gave us another place to meet only for her to not appear again." Nightracer started again, this time with Red-Alert nodding in response.

"Even I am starting to think something isn't right with this picture."

Orion stepped ahead of the group and looked around the empty and dark interior of the warehouse, before looking back at them with a passive thoughtful expression.

"I bet she was there at that street corner the whole time, shadowing us so she would gain an insight into each of our personalities."

"So it wasn't just the good looks that you inherited from your Father." a voice spoke out before Kasumi appeared within the middle of the group, smiling at young blue haired Bot.

"You also got his mind too." she added while the Femmes looked at her in wide eyed surprise. Orion once again felt his cheeks heating up as another unexpected bout of shyness crept its way up from his spark.

"So Kasumi, now that we are away from prying eyes and ears. Can you tell us what we are here to do?" Rodimus asked, wanting to get on with the mission, and not stall it with the Thief's obvious interest in Orion.

"Of course Rodimus." she replied before winking at the bot, and then stood before the group.

"Now as the Commander has probably already told you, Matriarch Benezia's daughter, Dr Liara T'Soni has been missing for the last month since the Icarus, the science cruiser she was on board disappeared around the suburbs of Cybertron."

As she spoke, Kasumi activated her holo-tool and brought up several holo-screens which showed various Intel to the group.

"Jackson Prime asked Miranda Lawson and 'Autobot Intelligence' to use all of their resources to find the Matriarch's daughter, and so she asked me to use my connections." the Thief added.

"What connections do you have?" Nightracer asked with a distrusting tone, which Orion put down to the fact that Kasumi was a Thief and quite possibly her interest in himself. As the Bot thought this, Kasumi gave the Femme a knowing look.

"Hello, I'm a professional Thief. How do you think I make a living? If someone wants something and can't get it legally, then they come to me and I get it for them for a modest fee." she replied sarcastically, which made the Femme narrow her eyes and stare daggers at her.

"...And don't you just steal for yourself too." Nightracer spat back.

"Okay so I am a kleptomaniac, shoot me." Kasumi replied with little care in her voice while throwing her hands in the air, this though was the final straw for the Femme who clenched her fist and went to punch the thief.

"You bitch!"

Orion saw it coming and managed to get in the way of the attack, stopping her and earning a surprised look from the others who could not believe what they just saw.

"Nightracer, go outside and clear your head now." the Commander replied with a firm tone.

"I'll go with her." Orion said back before looking at Kasumi, who gave him a grateful expression. The Bot then followed the Femme, who stormed out of the building.

Orion stepped outside to see the Femme kicking over the dustbins that has been left outside in a fit of rage, their contents spilling onto the ground.

"Well that went well." he said as Nightracer kicked over the last bin, before stopping and breathing heavily. After a moment she turned to face the Bot.

"I am sorry Orion, I didn't mean to embarrass you and the others."

The blue haired Spectre walked over to her and placed his hand on her shoulder in a comforting gesture.

"Its alright, Rodimus is the one you should apologise to."

"I know, and I will when we go back inside." she replied.

"So can I ask why?" Orion said back, earning a look of confusion from Nightracer.

"Why?"

"Why did you go all out on Kasumi just now?" the Bot asked, though he felt he already knew the answer...the real answer.

"Orion, I...my family has had some rough times because of people like her."

"What do you mean?" he asked back as the two sat down and leaned against the wall of the warehouse.

"Let's just say that no matter where we went, we always remained a target for those that would want to prey on us. You see my mother always had trouble wherever she went, mainly due to her being a former Decepticon, I guess there were just people that couldn't let go of the fact that she fought for the other side. Well you know what I mean Orion." the Femme said, gaining a subtle nod from the bot who was listening intently.

"After I was born, things just got worse. We had to move from place to place because no matter where we lived, after a few nights our home would be ransacked and all of our possessions stolen...every single time. So after this happened a number of times, I just tried to desensitize myself to it by not having any possessions." Nightracer added.

"That's why your bedroom always looked really basic, no attempt to decorate it or fill it with your own things." Orion replied, remembering the many times he had seen her room.

"It wasn't what you would call a girly room was it." The Femme said back.

"Did this continue to happen after we met?" the Bot asked.

"No, but the damage was done and I saw life quite differently to most kids my age at that time. You see one night when I was twelve...it was about a month before we first met, it seems that those who were stealing from us and making our lives hell had enough of just doing that and attacked us directly. My Father, who was a former Alliance marine managed to defend my Mother and I, until the police arrived and arrested the group. The assailants were a group of former Autobots and one had a brother who had been killed by my mother when she was a Con. They wanted to make her life as miserable as theirs had become." Nightracer said as she looked at the ground.

"I am sorry Ni." the blue haired Bot said as she gently leaned against him.

"You want to know the reason I joined Master Prowl's dojo, which lead to us meeting for the first time all those years ago." she said as her eyes started to fill up.

"Okay.."

"I wanted to learn how to fight so that I could protect my Mother when my Father wasn't around."

"Because your Mother's injury robbed her of the ability to protect herself." Orion replied, earning a nod from the Femme.

"You've seen her yourself Orion, my Mother is a shadow of who she used to be."

"I know, your Mother was considered a hero for her shuttle runs deep into Reaper held territory on Earth during the war, she evacuated many Civilians before they could be harvested by the Reapers. But on the last day of the war, her shuttle was brought down by one of the Reaper Harvesters." Orion said, remembering the story from the history lessons he had back at school.

"Yes, she managed to crash land in a safe area and all the passengers were fine. But my Mother's right leg was broken, now a wound like that on her Pretender body would have been no problem to repair if a Medic was on hand." Nightracer continued.

"But there was none, and then the Primus-wave enveloped her as it covered the planet." Orion said back, earning a nod from the Femme.

"It changed not only her body, but made the wound far more problematic. When a search and rescue team finally showed up after several hours, her leg was no longer capable of being healed and my Mother had to have the leg amputated."

As she said this, a tear ran down the Femme's cheek. This had not gone unnoticed by Orion who in response, put his arm around her and held her.

"I guess the Primus-wave changing our biology wasn't just all positives after all." she added as Orion looked at her with a solemn expression.

"I'm sorry Ni."

"You've got nothing to apologise for Orion, I just saw that Thief and it brought back all those memories. I should be apologising to you, we have a mission to do and..." the Femme replied as her eyes started to water, so Orion pulled her into a hug.

"It's okay...it's okay." he said softly as she rest her head on his neck and quietly sobbed. As the two remained lie this, the door opened and Red-Alert popped her head out and looked down to see them. Orion met her gaze and said nothing, but the Femme knew what he meant and nodded in response before going back inside and closing the door, leaving the two alone again. Another long moment passed before Nightracer broke the embrace and pulled away, wiping her eyes.

"Look at me, I'm never usually like this."

"How long you have been bottling this up inside Ni?" the Bot asked with a worried look.

"Too long...I guess." she said back in an honest with a sigh. Both then looked ahead before Orion took a breath.

"You going to be alright?"

"Yeah, I think I will be. It feels good to finally lay it out in front of me, you know." she replied, Orion then got to his feet and held his hand out to her.

"So, you ready to get back to work?"

Nightracer looked up into the blue haired bot's eyes and smiled back.

"Yeah, let's do it." she replied as she took his hand in her own, the Bot then helped the Femme to her feet before re-entering the warehouse.

Once inside, the pair noticed that only Rodimus and Red-Alert were now occupying the building's interior.

"Is everything alright?" the Commander asked as he looked at Nightracer, the Femme nodded in return.

"Yes, and I apologise for my behavior. It won't happen again."

"Good, though Red-Alert informed me that you were quite distressed when she went to check on the two of you." Rodimus replied, the Femme looked over to the Medic who gave her a friendly smile.

"You sure your okay?" she asked.

"Yes thank you, I'm more embarrassed than anything else right now." Nightracer replied with a sheepish tone.

"Well its in the past, so let's get on with the job we are here to do." The Commander said as Orion looked around them.

"Where did Kasumi go?"

"She went to make sure our hired transport out of here is still safe." Red-Alert replied, earning an annoyed look from the blue haired Bot.

"That bucket of bolts barely got us here in one piece, tell me again why we couldn't just use the Normandy..." Orion asked with a slightly aggravated tone.

"...I mean I wasn't even piloting it on the trip over here and even I could tell that it's handling was awful, if we need to get of here in a hurry...or if there is a fire-fight, I don't think it will hold up." he added while bringing up the plans of the mission on his hook-tool, while Rodimus crossed his arms and looked at the younger Darby.

"I still forget that you are also a pilot Orion...but even though I share your concerns, Kasumi said that the Normandy would be easily recognised by Hock's security as well as the rest of Illium's criminal element.

"Hock?" Nightracer asked with a slightly confused expression.

"Donovan Hock, he is a weapons dealer, smuggler and patron of the arts." Rodimus answered as he brought up several holo-screens with his holo-tool.

"He is also the person that according to Kasumi, purchased Liara T'Soni from some Slavers who found her in an escape pod." Red-Alert added, making Orion look confused now.

"Purchased?"

"Yes, Hock used to be a client of Kasumi's but apparently there is now bad blood between the two of them. But she still has contacts on the inside of his operation. They told her that he had bought Liara from some Slavers only a few days ago after they had spent a month trying to re-educate her. I only hope that the psychological...let alone the physical damage is reversible." the Medic replied with a worried expression, Orion shook his head in agreement before looking back at the Commander.

"So what's the plan, we get in...grab Liara and get out."

"Not quite, you see Kasumi told us that Hock's security is extremely tight at the best of times. His usual hangout is the planet Bekenstien, but while he is at his penthouse...which he also owns the skyscraper that it is part of, his security is over the top." Rodimus said back as the holo-screens showed blueprints of the building's layout.

"I guess that is because this is a Federation world, and yet he is still allowed to reside here. I guess the reputation of Illium is deserved, it's just Omega with a fancy makeover." Nightracer replied.

"The Federation has been trying to change that, but it is a continual struggle." Red-Alert said back.

"So what's the plan?" Orion asked.

"Well tonight, Hock will be holding a party for all his friends. Basically all the liars, cheats and scumbags you can imagine." the Medic continued.

"We are to infiltrate the party under the guise of guests, locate Liara and extract her." the Commander added as Red-Alert gestured to the clothes rack next to her.

"Also dress code is 'black-tie'." she said as both Orion and Nightracer looked at the two black tuxedos and two dresses in the rack.

"It would appear that Kasumi has a good eye, these look they are our sizes." The Femme spoke as she studied the dark purple dress.

"This one's mine." she stated with a smile before unhooking it from the rack, and walking off to find someplace to change in private. Rodimus then picked up his tux and looked back at Orion and Red-Alert.

"Better get yourselves ready, our sky-cars will be waiting outside for us in a few hours."

"We aren't heading all together?" the Medic asked as Orion picked up his tux.

"No, we will split up into pairings and entering the party as couples. Kasumi has already created and uploaded our fake identities to the guest list. Red-Alert, you will be with me, Nightracer will be with Orion."

The Bot nodded as he looked back to the Commander.

"Okay, I guess that makes sense. Ni and I have had a lot of practice in that regard." he said as both the Medic and Rodimus smiled back. Then the three turned around and walked in opposite directions, looking for a place to change.

PRIME EFFECT 4

The sun was starting its descent beyond the horizon on Illium, giving off an orangy-red color to the evening sky. A blue sky-car could be seen weaving it's way through the traffic in one of the many sky-ways that filled up the air-space above the city of Nos Astra, the only real obstacles to the traffic being the skyscrapers that carried on towering over them and the city. Inside the said vehicle, Orion wearing his black tuxedo was piloting with Nightracer sitting in the passenger seat. She was wearing the purple dress and holding a small purse on her lap.

"You look great Ni, it's been a long time since I last saw you like that." the Bot said as he gave the Femme a quick glance and smile, before returning his attention to the traffic ahead of them. Nightracer smiled back and looked him up and down, before running a hand through her black hair.

"You scrub up nicely too Orion, and wasn't it for our last Prom dances that we last dressed like this."

"Yeah, there weren't many kids I knew of that had the chance to go to two dances." the Bot replied.

"Well that was only because we both went to different schools, didn't let that stop us from dating though did it." the Femme said back while looking out of the side window at the setting sun.

"Hell no, there were a lot of obstacles that we had in our way, which we ignored. My parents among them." Orion said as he pulled their vehicle alongside one of the much larger refueling transports as they continued down the sky-way.

"I remember your Mother's disapproval about me because of my own family, so why did she give up in the end?" the Femme asked, a curious tone in her voice as she looked back at Orion.

"Because in the end, my parents wanted me to be happy. And when they saw that I was happy with you, they let us be." the Bot replied.

"Yeah, we had a good run didn't we, but 'all good things'..."

"Well It doesn't matter, because I feel lucky that we are still close friends. Not many people can say that about their exes." Orion said with a smile, earning a similar look from the Femme.

"I feel the same way Orion." before the Bot pointed to the fall skyscraper just aways ahead of them.

"There it is, so what our cover names again?" he said as Nightracer brought up the information on her holo-tool.

"Our names are John and Jessica Shepard, despite our young age, we run a very successful smuggling operation out of Omega though we are based on Thessia. Apparently we we good friends with Aria T'Loak." she said as Orion brought their sky-car out of the sky-way and flew it over to one of the landing pads on the skyscraper that connected to the large windowed penthouse that over looked the Nost Astra skyline. A security Mech stood on the platform and waved them down, Orion nodded and slowly and easily landed the vehicle before opening it's canopy which lifted up and allowed them to exit it. The bot then got up and adjusted his tux before walking over to Nightracer's side and offering her his hand. The Femme smiled and took his hand, Orion helped her up from her seat and revealed the dress she was wearing more fully. It was a backless dark purple one piece that showed off her athletic physique.

"Thank you." she said with a smile before the Mech walked up to them.

"Please show your invitations and identify yourselves." it asked in a toneless and mechanized voice.

"The name is Shepard, John Shepard. And this is my wife Jessica." Orion replied with a calm and charismatic tone, which would have been lost on the Mech who looked at the invitations that Nightracer handed to it from her purse.

"These are the correct invitations, I will let Mr Hock know of your arrival. Have a good evening."

The Mech then walked away, toward another sky-car that was hovering above the next landing pad. Orion then offered his arm to Nightracer who slipped hers around his, before they walked over to the penthouse entrance. The doorway was guarded by two mercenaries, one at either side as the doors opened and a medium built Caucasian man in a flashy white suit walked over toward the couple, he also had a finely cut mustache. Orion recognised him from the images shown during the mission briefing earlier as the arms dealer that now 'owned' Liara T'Soni, the woman they were here to rescue.

"John Shepard, welcome to my home away from home." the Man said as the two males shook hands.

"Donovan Hock, pleasure to meet you. This is my wife Jessica." the bot said while gesturing to Nightracer, Hock looked the Femme up and down and smiled before taking her hand and kissing it gently.

"It is a pleasure, you look absolutely beautiful my dear. Your presence here is greatly appreciated."

Nightracer feigned a smile before taking her hand back.

"Thank you, the pleasure is mine." she said back, though really this guy made her skin crawl.

"Well I have more guests to meet and greet so please, enjoy the party." Hock replied before the couple walked into the penthouse.

"Well so far so good, I take it Rodimus and Red-Alert are already inside?" Orion asked as they walked down a corridor that separated the entrance from the rest of the penthouse.

"Yes, they arrived several minutes ago. Though we can't make contact with them physically, so that we don't blow our cover. We should be able to communicate with the com-links hidden just inside our ear canals." the Femme replied as Orion began messing with his ear.

"Stop touching your ear." she said softly but firmly, not wanting to gain the attention of the mercs guarding the door ahead of them.

"But it's itching." the bot replied as he continued to mess with his ear. Nightracer noticed the mercs were looking at them, so she turned to Orion and pulled him into a kiss while also moving his hand away from his ear, out of view of the mercs. After a moment she pulled away slightly, their faces only an inch apart, her smile faded slightly as the bot looked at her with a surprised expression.

"What was th..." he started to say before she interrupted him.

"Don't touch your ear, or else the mercs here will be the least of your worries...understand."

"So you kiss me and then you threaten me... this is turning into a real marriage." he replied gently as he felt the mercs eyes on them still.

"Well how else do I maintain our cov..." she said before he pulled her back into another kiss, this time surprising the Femme who quickly adapted and returned the kiss.

"What?" she replied with a confused tone after they pulled away.

"Just playing my role, you taste nice by the way. Is that a flavored lipstick your wearing?" he asked, earning an eye roll from Nightracer before they carried on towards the door. Both mercs now resigned to the fact that the pair were a married couple.

"Men!" the Femme sighed as the doors opened and revealed the party that was being held in the massive ball room in front of them.

"Here we go." Orion said as the couple then entered the room.