Story: Birthed By Fire (chapter 4)

Authors: Shadowflame66

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Chapter 4

Title: Chapter 4: Alliance

[Author's notes: Disclaimer: I don’t own Mass Effect. If I did, Kai Leng would have died during the first confrontation with Shepard so no one would have to see him again.]

Chapter 4: Alliance

May 7th, 2174

Amber eyes opened. She was cuffed to a chair in a dark room, with a bright light shining directly in her face. How cliché, she thought as she blinked to clear her vision.

“Gunnery Chief Shepard,” a man said, drawing her attention as her eyes adjusted. He had dark hair and well-kept facial hair, and a pad that he set down on a desk between him and Shepard. He let out a low whistle. “You’re moving up the ranks pretty quickly, aren’t you? GC at the age of twenty… How do you do it?”

“I take out scum like you,” Shepard responded, testing out one of the cuffs a little.

“Of course,” the man said with a chuckle. “And lately, you’ve been going after our organization, haven’t you?”

“You’re working with the batarians.” Shepard’s eyes seemed to shine in the light. “You’re helping them to set up another attack, and that’s why I’m here.”

He raised an eyebrow. “To get yourself captured?”

“No,” she said as she glanced over his shoulder, “to get everything off your computers.”

He looked behind him as the screen mounted on the wall began flashing, showing an intrusion. “Shit!” He held a hand to his ear. “Get security together, there’s a-“ He was cut off as he was suddenly and violently yanked over the desk, his head hanging off the side that Shepard was on.

She smiled down at him as her biotics held him in place. “Thanks for bringing me to your office. I had no idea you’d be this helpful.” She threw a knee up into the back of his head, knocking him unconscious. She then used her biotics to drag his body into her lap and take his keys off his belt. After unlocking the cuffs she threw his body off of her and stood up, rubbing her wrists as she stepped around his desk and pressed a hand to the wall panel, causing the door to slide open.

Faith stepped through the doorway, smiling and kissing her. “I hope they weren’t too rough on you.”

“He didn’t even get to start,” Kira assured her as she stepped aside. “How long will it take?”

Faith moved past her and set her small laptop on the desk, plugging it into the man’s computer and beginning to access it. “Oh, not long – a couple minutes. Which I’m sure we have.”

“I take it that Roland’s in position, then?” Faith smiled, bringing up the comm chatter on the man’s computer, which was filled with confused men shouting about being trapped or down. Kira smirked. “Leon’s doing his thing, too.”

Faith nodded. “He and Garret are in the security hub. They’re causing all kinds of chaos. Honestly, I don’t think anyone here has a clue what’s going on.”

“Then everything’s following the plan.”

“It was risky, but it worked.”

“Where’s Rade?” Kira asked, before shutting her eyes and lifting a hand as an explosion in the hall nearly blinded her. “Nevermind.”

Janus Rade – the team’s soldier and heavy weapons expert for the past year – walked out of the smoke, brushing ash from her blonde hair. “I told him to get out of the way, I swear.” Considering Rade’s… fondness… for explosives, Shepard didn’t really believe her, and her look showed it as the blonde held up her hands. “Okay, maybe I wasn’t as convincing as I could have been.”

“I’m sure you tried your best,” Shepard said sarcastically, taking the earpiece that Faith handed her and inserting it. “Everyone doing alright?”

“If you mean all of us, yes,” Garret responded over the comm. “If you’re asking about them, then uh… not really.”

“Good to hear. Roland, are you holding position well?”

“They’re sitting ducks, ma’am. These splinter groups have no discipline.”

“To be fair,” Leon interjected, “neither do we. Personality-wise, anyway.”

“I’m not aiming for their personalities.”

“Point taken.”

“Done,” Faith announced, unplugging the cable and shutting her laptop. “Lot of data here.”

“Too much to transfer remotely?” Kira asked.

“Unless you want to stay here for an hour, yes.”

“Good call on bringing the laptop, then. We’ll bring the data to the Alliance the traditional way: by hand.”

Rade turned and drew the rifle from her back. “In that case, we need to punch our way out of here, then.”

“We’ve got the exit cleared as planned,” Garret responded. “Making our way there now.”

“I shut most of them in their barracks,” Leon added. “By the time they get reinforcements we should be gone.”

“Good,” Shepard replied, following Rade with Faith right behind her. “Roland?”

“Moving position, ma’am. It may take me a bit – they’ve got a mech.”

“Oooh,” Rade looked back at Shepard with wide eyes.

Shepard sighed. “We’re on our way. Garret, Leon – get to the exit and hold it, we need to get to extraction as fast as we can.”

“Understood.”

The three made their way to Roland’s position – he was holding the main hall of the building, having been preventing the main force from getting to any of the others. Now he himself was pinned down on a balcony as a soldier piloting a heavy mech was unloading a lot of ammunition in his direction. Exiting on to the same balcony, the three knelt down behind Roland’s cover with him. “Five hostiles with him,” he said, glancing over their cover. “Two to the left – one with a sniper and one assault – and three on the right, two assault, one heavy.”

Shepard nodded. “Alright – Faith, lock that mech’s weapons for a moment, then take out the two on the left with biotics. Rade, you’re going over with me and circling to the right – draw the attention of the three soldiers there. Roland, take out the heavy at the first opportunity, then get ready for your shot on the mech pilot. I’m on the mech. Everyone understand?” Receiving three nods, Shepard suddenly vaulted over the railing, with Rade right behind her. The mech targeted them, but its guns whirled without firing, beginning to smoke as Faith overheated them.

Though she had always been a loner, Shepard trusted her team, and so she took off running directly at the mech in full view of all hostiles. To her right, the heavy stepped forward with a launcher only for a heavy round to shatter his helmet and put him down. Rade split off from Shepard, moving to the right and opening fire on the two assault soldiers there, gunning one down and forcing the other into cover. To her left, the sniper who was lining up a bead on Shepard was interrupted by a sudden pulling sensation; a Singularity appeared between him and the soldier nearby, lifting them into the air and spinning them, disorienting them too much for them to do anything.

Shepard leapt into the mech with a yell, slamming it with such biotic force that it stumbled backwards. She landed in front of it, catching Faith’s warping ability detonating her own singularity and sending the two soldiers to her left flying in different directions, obviously down. To her right she caught Rade’s grenade landing at the foot of the remaining soldier, giving him only a moment before he was killed by the explosion. And in front of her, she saw the mech pilot’s eyes showing a hint of fear. He raised the mech’s guns, but Shepard was already raising her hands – and the mech was lifting into the air.

Pain shot through Kira’s body and every muscle strained, including her mind; an intense headache rushed into existence. But none of it stopped her as she lifted the mech above her and both hands visibly glowed. With a rising yell Shepard began to spread her hands apart and a crack split down the center of the mech’s viewport. The pilot was hitting every button in view, but none of them could stop what was happening. Sparks flew, metal groaned, and glass shattered as the front of the mech began to tear in half. The intense stress on it was finally too much – the center of the blast shield cracked apart, and the very moment that an opening presented itself, a heavy rifle round blasted in through the hole, shredding the pilot’s head.

Shepard released a growl and dropped the mech, an impact that caused the room to shake. Her breathing was heavy as she turned to find her team staring at her. “Exit,” she ordered, taking a step in that direction. Faith and Rade were at her side in no time, helping her go faster as Roland ran point for them. They met up with Garret and Leon at the exit, and all six were at the shuttle as it arrived. As it took off and made its way out of orbit, Rade gave Shepard an impressed look. “Remind me not to piss you off, boss.”

Faith grinned, sitting beside Shepard and taking her hand. “Your powers are getting kind of crazy, love.”

“I’m not the only one,” Shepard said with a smile. “You acted really quickly in both hacking and combat – and I noticed that singularity was even bigger than normal.”

Faith beamed. “I was hoping you’d notice! I’ve been working on taking out more people at once.”

Garret chuckled. “Considering how often we’re outnumbered, I’m thankful for that.”

“Combine that with your charging and we can take out a whole roomful at once,” Leon suggested.

“Everyone did well today,” Shepard said. “Roland held off a virtual army, Rade is better to have than a tank, Garret cleared paths in seconds, and you, Leon – is there anything tech-related that you can’t control?”

“I’m sure there’s something. No, nevermind – there’s not.”

Shepard chuckled. “Good. At the rate we’re improving, we’ll be the Alliance’s A-team within a few years.”

Leon raised his hand. “I call Mr. T!”

“Not what I meant…”

Faith smiled at her. “Should’ve seen it coming. You’re the only one here that takes everything seriously.”

Kira ran a hand through her hair. “As long as we keep performing this well, that’s alright with me.”

Mass Effect

Shepard yawned as she dropped into the chair, leaning her arms on her knees and grinning through her crimson hair at the officer that sat across the desk from her. He seemed unimpressed, and his expression was both stern… and reluctant. “Your methods,” he began, “are questionable at best.”

Kira cocked her head. “Buuuut…?”

He sighed, lifting a hand to rub his forehead. “But, your results speak for themselves. Nothing will change.”

“Uh-huh.” Shepard smirked, standing up.

“Don’t make me regret my decisions, Shepard.”

“No worries.” She paused at the door, glancing back over her shoulder. “Regret is my business; I don’t share it.” She opened the door and stepped out into the hall, and Faith pushed off the wall, smiling.

“That was quick.”

“I think he’s given up yelling.”

“Realized it’s no use, huh?”

“Yeah, I don’t really change.”

“For him, anyway.” Faith walked in front of her, turning to face her with a smile. “Lunch?”

The mess hall was crowded, because it was always crowded. Being on a major ground base wasn’t something Shepard really enjoyed; it was tolerated. She couldn’t wait until her team was sent out again, or stationed on another ship somewhere, or hell, even groundside on some colony. She liked being around people she knew and trusted, not strangers – even if they were all military. Still, she tended to go where Faith wanted to, even if it was the most crowded spot on the base.

Faith was the reason Shepard trusted anyone; they’d been together for around four years now, and in that time she’d shored up a lot of the damage Shepard’s heart and mind had taken. Her help and military life had enabled her to get a hold of her inner violence, and she only rarely broke down these days. Kira was growing stronger, and she was able to trust – and even like – her team, and Faith was the only reason. Rare was it that anyone saw them apart, but they weren’t given any grief about anything thanks to their reputation.

After following Faith through the food line, Shepard followed her to a table and sat, shutting out all the conversation around her. She noted that they’d sat with their team, and when she picked out her name she responded with a simple greeting, but she didn’t bother joining the discussion or looking up from her food. She just got like that sometimes, closing off from everything – it was another reason she preferred spending time with people she knew, as they had learned about this behavior and didn’t bother her whenever she did it. Instead they continued on normally, leaving her out – except for Faith’s hand on her knee, but Shepard didn’t mind that detail.

For her part, Faith didn’t mind or worry when Kira “shut off”, as she put it. She’d learned years ago that it had nothing to do with anything that was going on or anything being wrong; it was just something Shepard needed to do every so often. Faith doubted she’d ever be completely social, but it was something she liked. As usual, she kept an eye on Shepard (just in case she was needed), but mainly just talked with the others normally. “None of the officers really know how to react to us these days,” she said with a shrug, responding to something Garret had said.

“Right? But I’ve been thinking…” He leaned forward conspiratorially, forcing the others to do so as well in order to hear his lowered voice. “We’re different… So when do we get a unique name? I’ve got ideas.”

Faith rolled her eyes. “Do you really think that’s necessary?”

“It is if we wanna be cool. What do you think about ‘The Wild Cards’?”

“Do we each get named after a card?” Leon asked. “Because if so, I call Joker. And midnight toker.”

“That’s not a – fine. But I’m the Ace.”

Rade laughed as she joined the table with Roland. “You really think you’re our squad’s Ace?”

“Not likely,” Roland muttered gruffly.

Garret looked hurt. “Fine – who is our Ace, then?”

Faith raised an eyebrow. “You really have to ask?”

Garret glanced at Shepard, noticing she probably wasn’t even listening to the conversation. “Alright, Ace is taken then. So what are the rest of us?”

“You can be Jack,” Leon offered.

“If we’re doing this, I’m Six,” Roland said without pausing his eating.

“Why?”

“Reasons.”

“Right… Reasons,” Garret said, letting it go. “Rade?”

She thought for a moment before smiling. “Nine. It’s my brother’s jersey number back on Earth.”

“Makes sense.”

“Faith’s the Queen,” Shepard stated without looking up or pausing her eating, drawing everyone’s attention to her – which it wasn’t clear if she noticed.

Faith smiled, kissing her shoulder before nodding at the others. “Works for me. Any objections?”

“No, no,” Garret agreed with a glance between her and Shepard. “No arguments here.”

Rade snickered. “Bet you’d be scared of a rabbit.”

“Only if it can rip a mech in half with its mind.”

“The man’s got a point.”

Mass Effect

Miranda slammed the door shut and locked it before slumping against it, slowly sliding down to sit on the floor. She kept a hand pressed to her arm to stem the flow of blood and rested her head against the door, closing her eyes as she listened to footsteps outside rushing past. She’d broken the line of sight just in time – she wasn’t sure how much longer she could have kept running. Releasing her arm she reached up to the door handle and used it to pull herself up, stumbling to the bathroom and ripping a towel off the rack. She didn’t know whose apartment she was in, but that sort of thing rarely mattered at times like this.

She left the towel on the sink and moved into the kitchen, grabbing a knife, a bottle of the first alcoholic drink she found in the cabinet, a handful of napkins, and liquid soap. She went back into the bathroom and turned on the light and the faucet, using the knife to make a cut in her sleeve before tearing it off. She splashed water from the sink over her arm, cleaning the area. She then stuffed part of the towel in her mouth and held it in her teeth, sliding the point of the knife into her wound. She hissed into the towel, clenching her jaw tightly as she slowly worked out the metal round buried in her arm. It dropped into the sink, joining the blood there.

Miranda allowed herself a moment to collect herself to prevent blacking out, then poured the whiskey into and over the wound, thankful that the towel muffled her scream. Once that was done she used the knife to cut a strip from the towel, then wadded up the napkins, wet the top layer with whiskey, and pressed the wad of napkins tightly to the wound. She then tied the strip of the towel around her arm, pulling it tight by putting one end in her teeth. After she was finally done she looked in the mirror, taking in her haggard appearance.

Normally, she was a consummate professional – but no one had foreseen her father’s men finding her now, of all times, while she was in the middle of a Cerberus mission. She was twenty-four now, and had hoped the passing years meant her father had given up completely – but the thing with her sister seemed to have started it all over again. Everything had gone wrong this week, and now she was just trying to survive until she could contact The Illusive Man. She washed all of her blood down the drain and off the knife, then threw the part of the towel she’d bit down on under the faucet and left it running.

Her time was running out now – she left the bathroom and went into the bedroom, searching through the closet and grabbing a black trenchcoat to hide her outfit and injury. After putting it on she went back to the kitchen / living room area and crabbed a large carving knife, stabbing it into the largest bare wall. After a minute she’d finished carving: “TIM – Raven, Wounded Wing, Empty Nest.” She then dropped the knife and moved to the center of the room.

“Sorry,” she whispered to the apartment’s missing owner, closing her eyes and summoning her biotic power. Everything in the room shattered, flew around, scattered around the room and smashed against the walls, and even the windows were blown out. She desperately hoped that whoever owned the apartment was only out for the night. She opened the door and jammed it open, then took off.

Mass Effect

Faith stretched lazily, groaning as her joints popped. She sat up in bed, blinking in the early-morning sunlight and smiling – it wasn’t often that they were put in hotels, and she knew how to enjoy it. She looked over at the person she was sharing the bed with, who was of course already awake, sitting on her half of the bed absent-mindedly eating eggs as she watched the screen on the opposite wall. “Good morning,” she said with a smile, leaning across Kira and kissing her on the cheek as she took a plate from the tray beside the bed. “What are you watching?”

“Local news,” Kira answered, taking her eyes off the screen long enough to give her a faint smile.

“Anything interesting?” Faith asked as she bit down on a bagel. “Not bad for room service…”

“If weird is interesting,” Shepard said with a shrug. “Some sort of cult activity, they think.”

Faith raised an eyebrow. “What, like sacrifices and chanting monks?”

“Nothing that crazy. Just a weird break-in; the victim wasn’t home and is in protective custody since they were likely the target.”

“What’s so cult-y about a break-in?”

Kira rewound the broadcast to a specific part. “The strange message on the wall.”

Faith leaned forward as Kira paused it. “Wow, carved in – talk about dramatic.” She squinted at the screen. “Wounded wing…? Empty nest…? What kind of cult is bird-related?”

Shepard shrugged. “Never said I knew what it meant.”

“This kind of thing happened all the time on Earth,” Faith said as she leaned back. “There are crazy people everywhere. I bet it doesn’t mean anything at all.”

Mass Effect

Faith sighed, leaning against a wall and looking up at the night sky from between the buildings. The alley she was in was slightly cleaner than average, so that was a plus – but she was as bored as could be. Everyone had split up, searching for some guy. She hadn’t really listened too closely – she knew what he looked like and knew he was bad news, and that was enough. Mostly things consisted of walking around in boredom and asking people if they’d seen him. It was supposed to be a training exercise that improved certain non-combat skills; instead, it was nothing.

She missed Kira’s company. She wondered what her girlfriend was doing at the moment; if she was having any more luck, or if Kira was as bored as she was. But Kira was far more serious, and was probably taking her duties seriously at the moment; she rarely let that drop unless she was being cocky or, sometimes, when they were alone. Faith snickered, wondering what the rest of their team would think if they knew how their leader could be behind closed doors. She was about to give in and contact Kira when she heard someone stumble into the alley. She pushed off the wall and pulled out her pistol. “Who’s there?”

In front of her stood a woman around her age with dark hair, wrapped in a too-large trenchcoat and obviously injured. Faith lowered her gun and hurried to her, supporting her. “Are you okay?”

“After me…” the woman said, looking back over her shoulder.

Faith looked up and narrowed her eyes, watching a group of armed men enter the end of the alley. “Hide someplace safe.”

“I can still fight!” The woman straightened up and Faith helped her lean against a building, looking her over.

“Alright, well, do you have a weapon?”

“Biotics.”

Faith smiled. “Then let’s do this.” Without warning she raised her pistol and fired, sending a round straight into the head of the first guy. The other four immediately spread out as much as they could and returned fire, but they had little room to maneuver in the alley and no cover. Faith and the woman, however, were behind a thick dumpster, safe whenever they ducked behind it. “I’m Faith, by the way,” Faith said with a smile, leaning out to use biotics to lift one of the men into the air.

The woman stood and used her own biotics to slam the man back down into the street. She then ducked back behind cover and looked at the other girl for a short time; she was obviously Alliance military, but she didn’t seem like she’d be a threat to the mission. “Miranda,” she responded.

“Really? I had a friend with that name back on Earth. But… let’s hope this doesn’t end the way that did.” She slid out into the open, overheating all of the enemies’ weapons. She then created a singularity that drew all three into it and suspended them together in the air, allowing her to unload until her own pistol overheated from the stress. Miranda then stepped out and performed a biotic push that threw all three out of the alley; it wasn’t likely that any of them would be coming back.

Miranda then leaned against the wall again, checking her injuries for renewed bleeding as she caught her breath. Satisfied that she wasn’t currently dying, she looked back at Faith. “Thank you. You didn’t have to do that.”

“I’m Alliance,” Faith said with a wink. “It’s what I’m supposed to do.”

Miranda considered the statement. “Do you really think that’s where you can benefit humanity the most?”

Faith shrugged. “It’s the big one, right? I mean, I’m not into politics.”

“But there are other organizations. Other options.”

“Yes, but my girlfriend picked this one.”

“Ah…” Miranda smirked. “Sounds like you have your priorities figured out.”

Faith smiled. “I know what’s important. I enjoy this work, I find it fun, and most importantly, it allows me to work with Kira.”

Alliance unit, Faith and Kira… “Shepard?” Miranda asked, drawing a look of surprise from Faith.

“You’ve heard of her?”

“I’ve… heard of your unit,” Miranda responded, deciding not to tell her that Cerberus kept tabs on all Alliance Military personnel that were candidates for recruitment. Both Faith Victus and Kira Shepard were on that list of candidates… “What if I said I had a job opportunity for both of you?”

Faith raised an eyebrow. “Really? Well, I suppose if we’re both invited… What is it?”

“It’s the greatest opportunity for advancing humanity’s place in the galaxy, and protecting humans and human interests.”

“Human-focused?” Faith gave her a cautious look. “Sounds a bit bigoted.”

“Humans are behind in the galactic game,” Miranda countered. “We aren’t anti-alien, we’re pro-human; there’s a difference. We just want to help humanity achieve its potential. Surely you’ve noticed how the other races ignore humanity’s needs? Not allowing a place on the Council, no human Spectres, limiting our military, leaving our outer colonies to fend for themselves and not helping when they’re attacked? Some of the races even attack us specifically.”

Faith looked at the ground, thinking about what had happened to Kira’s family. “You make sense…”

“It’s not just that, either – this organization is secret, but exciting. And the amount of freedom you get is incredible; very few times do you get direct orders.”

Faith smiled a little. “She’d like that part, for sure… Maybe I’ll bring it up.”

“I’ll get in touch with you at some point,” Miranda assured her. “Right now I need to get out of here before more of those guys show up.”

“Oh, right,” Faith said as she snapped out of her thoughts. “Do you need help?”

“You’ve helped me enough.” Miranda pushed off the wall, continuing down the alleyway and glancing back over her shoulder. “Think about what I said.”

Faith watched her until she disappeared around the corner, and then sighed, contacting Shepard to report what had just happened and the men she’d killed. Humanity’s interests…

Mass Effect

Miranda grunted as she climbed into the transport, falling into her seat with a sigh – finally, she’d be able to get some rest.

“You’re pretty creative,” her pilot said as the shuttle took off. “Still, TIM isn’t exactly elated about you sending a message over the news.”

“It’ll be fine,” she assured the man as she leaned her head back and closed her eyes. “People only see what they want to see.”

“I guess that’s how Cerberus works.”

“Working from behind the scenes to do what must be done,” Miranda said, parroting something TIM had said to her once. “It doesn’t matter; he was going to be angry either way.”

“Since you’re the only one I’m picking up, I could guess that your mission didn’t go as well as hoped; unless it was solo.”

“It wasn’t solo,” Miranda said, staring out the window. “The mission was a failure. Everything that could have gone wrong did.”

“What happened?”

“You know better than to ask about others’ missions,” Miranda reprimanded, getting a chuckle and a ‘backing off’ gesture from the pilot. “He will debrief me, and he’s the only one that need know.”

“Man, you’re Cerberus to the bone, aren’t you?”

Miranda didn’t bother replying, instead going back to looking out the window. Cerberus to the bone. She sighed. Part of her did wish she was in the Alliance with people like Faith; their work was full of passion, emotion and investment. Cerberus felt so cold most of the time, so clinical. It was all about statistics and duty. Faith was a soldier – Miranda was a tool. Still, TIM gave her a great amount of freedom, and he rarely gave her orders – he usually told her what outcome he wanted and she made it happen. She couldn’t get that kind of freedom within the Alliance military.

They also couldn’t protect her from her father, hide her from his grasp – or keep her sister hidden. No, she’d made the right choice – the only problem was that, sometimes, she wasn’t so sure that it was a choice.

Mass Effect

Faith sat in the hotel room watching Shepard out of the corner of her eyes. Their team had managed to get their target, though Faith had never seen him – she still had the most action. However, her thoughts were currently on the moments following said action, and now seemed like the perfect time to bring it up. “Kira? Have you ever thought about… leaving the Alliance military?”

Shepard paused in her packing, straightening up and frowning at Faith. “You want to leave?”

“Well…” Faith sat up on the bed. “I don’t know. That girl, Miranda, said she worked for some secret organization. Apparently they’re really pro-human and they do a lot of exciting secret missions, with a lot of freedom.”

Kira folded her arms and leaned a shoulder against the wall. “Does that sound like something you want to do?”

Faith sighed. “I don’t know. I guess I like having it as an option. The Alliance is… it’s fun, you know? And I like our team. But this is something I like to think about.”

“If it’s what you want to do, I’ll do it,” Kira said, drawing a smile from Faith. “I just think the Alliance needs us. And people need us – people like you and I were.”

“You’re right.” Faith got off the bed and walked over, sliding her hands over Kira’s shoulders and smiling as she felt the arms encircling her waist. “I like that you’d be willing to come with me, though.”

Kira kissed her softly. “Of course I would. You’re my top priority.”

“That’s what I said…” Faith caught her lips again, pulling her into another kiss that grew deeper the longer it lasted. After a full minute she slowly pulled back, looking at Shepard with half-lidded eyes. “Mmm… How long until we have to go?”

Kira smirked. “One hour.”

“We can pack in two minutes, right?” Faith said, smiling as she pulled Shepard towards the bed.

“If not, they can wait.”

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