His brothers would describe him as the peace keeper. Virgil would argue that just meant he knew when to keep his mouth shut so that when he told someone they were being mighty stupid they'd actually listen to him. Looking out at the broken scenery around him where a small vessel had crash landed, he wasn't sure that was going to be enough.

Krogan. Somehow individually a more destructive force than all five Tracy boys combined. And he'd been around Gordon and Alan growing up. University had not been a safe enough distance.

Even so, he still jogged towards the three krogan ramming into a half buried and clearly damaged door in his exo-suit, the sound of the pneumatics oddly comforting by now. "What do you want, pyjack?" One of the krogan demanded as he got nearer, the one with a dark reddish brown headplate.

"I'm with International Rescue, we picked up your distress call, I came to offer any assistance."

"Leave. This doesn't concern you." The krogan retorted.

Virgil turned to where another krogan - with a tan brown headplate - was still trying to bash down the door. "Are you sure you don't want our help? I have gear that'll easily cut a hole in that."

The first krogan marched towards him, and he didn't even flinch, but before he got to him the third krogan - the largest of the three with a dark red headplate - stopped the first with a hand on his shoulder. "Quit wasting time." He ordered. "You there, got a name?"

"Virgil."

"You say you've got cutting equipment?"

"Yes."

"We don't need help from puny humans!" The first krogan objected.

"Quiet, Wreav." The red krogan warned, but when Wreav looked set to argue the larger krogan jerked his head and slammed it into Wreav's. Virgil's eyes went wide but he didn't say anything as the krogan who had been working on the door stopped to chuckle. Wreav slunk off to nurse his snout and the other one turned back to Virgil. "Sorry about that, sometimes the runt doesn't know what's best for him."

"Uh, that's okay." Virgil figured. "Is he -?"

"He'll be fine." The red krogan chuckled. "Take it you've never been around krogan before?"

Virgil considered that was an explanation that this was normal. "Who are you?"

"Wrex, leader of clan Urdnot and don't you forget it." Wrex warned, and Virgil nodded. "Show us what you got then." He added waving at the door.

With the whirring of the pneumatic joints in the exo-suit Virgil jogged over to the door and gave it a quick kick to get a feel of how thick it was so he had an idea of how high to set the intensity of his cutting laser. It didn't take him long to cut a hole big enough even for Wrex to get through and then punched it with the jaws to open it up. "Not bad, kid." Wrex figured as he inspected their way in. Virgil decided not to object to being called kid, it wasn't like he hadn't done it to Gordon and Alan before, even John once or twice. This was Wrex's domain, and he knew when not to start a pissing match for the sake of it. "Mind sticking around for a bit?"

"Sure, but can I ask what we're expecting?"

"Trouble." Wrex replied, and Virgil could've sworn he was grinning. He'd be lying if he denied a small part of him was too. More than one person had called him a thrill junkie in his life.

The crash had done a number on the small craft, and the angle at which it had landed made traversing the corridors tricky. The corridors had buckled in places despite the reinforcements, electronics and other machinery had come loose or punched right through the bulkheads and a couple of stretches of walkway had been torn away entirely. Eventually they managed to make their way to the centre of the ship where Wrex brought them to a stop in front of a badly damaged door. Wrex booted up his omni-tool. "This is Wrex, can anyone hear me?" It was more of a demand than a question.

"Yes, we can hear you." A softer but still deep voice replied. "We have injured, the worst is a broken arm."

"All right." He decided, looking around the ragtag group he'd brought down with him. "We've got some gear, we'll get you and the other females out in no time."

"I'll believe that when I see it." The woman retorted with a chuckle that had Wrex laughing.

"Right, Wreav, Dagg, help me with this debris. Once we've cleared the door Virgil can cut through."

"You sure you don't want my help with that?" Virgil checked.

Wrex scrutinised him for a moment and was about to point at a metal beam for Virgil to prove the capabilities of the exo-suit but Wreav interrupted. "We can't trust a puny human with the safety of the females!" He objected.

Apparently Wrex's headbutt hadn't been enough. Virgil decided to take matters into his own hands. "Wreav, right?" He checked as he walked over to the krogan in question.

"Yeah..." Wreav snarled, and Virgil shrugged out of the suit and brought his head down sharply onto the Krogan's.

He was sure he could hear Wrex chuckling behind the dull ringing in his skull. Right, natural plate armour, not so good for his bones. "Let's get it clear, I am here to help, I am damn good at my job, and I'm not here to piss on your territory. So get to work and stop whining."

Wreav glared at him for a moment longer. "Are you going to let him talk to me that way, brother?"

"Yes." Wrex confirmed. "Unless you want me to smack you down too?"

If Krogan could skulk off with their tails between their legs, Wreav did so. Virgil climbed back into the exo-suit and the four of them set to work clearing the door. Virgil was also pretty sure that Wreav was watching him just so the krogan made sure every item he picked up was larger than the human's. Virgil rolled his eyes, he didn't need to do himself an injury to prove a point that had already been made. He had four brothers, he was well aware when to just sit back and let the other person do whatever it was they needed to do to convince themselves of some imagined higher ground.

They had almost cleared enough for Virgil to cut it open when all their scanners beeped. "Looks like we've got trouble on the lower decks." Wrex decided. "Wreav, with me. Dagg, Virgil, get the females to safety." He ordered. None of them argued though Wreav looked to be silently fuming at the idea of leaving the human helping with the females, but he fell into line. Virgil shrugged it off as he and Dagg finished clearing the way, he quickly tapped a few buttons on his wrist controller to quickly scan and open a comm link to warn them to stand as clear as they could, then reactived his cutting laser.

~-x-~

Virgil wasn't sure what he had expected of krogan females, but feistiness was expected, so when one of them instantly raised a shotgun to him as he removed the door he'd just cut open, he didn't even hesitate to raise his hands enough to show he had no intention of instigating a fight. "I'm with Wrex." He explained as calmly as one could with the barrel of a shotgun in their face.

A krogan in dark blue robes laid a firm hand on top of the gun. "Relax, sister, there's too many of us for him to be a threat." That soothing tone was familiar, she was the one Wrex had been talking too. Virgil was sure she found the whole situation vaguely amusing. "Where is the old mutant?"

"Wrex?" Virgil checked. "He and Wreav went to go check something out. Dagg's keeping lookout." He added, stepping back enough to allow the females to both see around him and leave through the hole he'd just made. She made a noise as if she found that unusual - or maybe amusing? - as if she had some insight that the rest of them didn't. Virgil decided krogan politics didn't concern him. "You said you had wounded?"

"Yes, if you please?" She added beckoning him after her now that a number of her fellows had left the room they'd been trapped in. Medicine wasn't his strongest skill, but he had enough knowhow and supplies to rig up an improvised splint and sling, and some antiseptic to clean out some of the larger scrapes that they had stopped bleeding with fabric torn from their robes. Krogan were many things, not all of them good, but practical was a trait Virgil could admire.

Virgil had just shouted to Dagg that they were ready to head topside when the lead female's head turned sharply, a second later Virgil heard the skittering, scratching sound too. It came unto view, only to be instantly shot by said female. "Rachni? Here?" She questioned confused, but calm.

Virgil, however, knew what it was. You don't forget something you trap in a VTOL engine to fly it home in almost impossible circumstances. That had been a dragonfly, but close enough. "It's a scorpion mecha." He corrected. "That means trouble."

"One puny little machine?" Dagg asked, unconvinced.

"They swarm." Virgil corrected. "Time to go." He added as a prompt. Dagg agreed and the group made their way back through the dubious walkways where Wreav caught up to them from a different direction. "Where's Wrex?"

"Got himself trapped and surrounded by those things." Wreav retorted. "He's a goner, so our priority is saving the females."

Virgil booted up his wrist controller. "John scan for lifesigns and send me Wrex's location." He requested and John confirmed just as Virgil signed off the line and looked up to find Wreav brandishing a pistol at him. "Really?" Virgil glared.

"If that fossil wants to get himself eaten that's his business." Wreav retorted. "You said you were to help, and it's more important to keep the females safe."

Virgil chanced a glance at said females, from what he could tell they were more than capable of keeping themselves safe. In a flash he used the grabber in his exo-suit to grip the pistol before freeing himself enough to headbutt Wreav again. The krogan forgot about the pistol as he reared back to hold his face again. Virgil stepped the rest of the way out of the suit. Just in case. "I am here to save lives, every life I can, and I will ignore your politics to do so. Now, help Dagg to escort the women to safety whilst I go help Wrex."

Wreav snarled but the blue robed female interrupted. "Take what little pride you have left and do as he says before I headbutt you myself." She warned, causing a number of chuckles before Dagg retrieved the pistol from the exo-suit and ordered Wreav into position.

Virgil waited for them to be out of sight before rubbing the tender spot on his head. Then climbed back into the exo-suit and hurried to find Wrex.

~-x-~

Virgil had not expected to find Wrex laughing himself silly as he flung mechas around with biotics whilst blasting the rest with a shotgun. On reflection, it seemed par for the course. "Hi, kid!" Wrex greeted jovially. "Get the females to safety?"

"I had to headbutt Wreav again, but I left Dagg in charge with the women on his side." Virgil replied, crushing a mecha between the jaws as he searched for a way to reach Wrex.

Wrex laughed harder before roaring as he sent a whole bunch of mechas flying. "Can you believe that runt thought these would finish me off?"

After quickly calculating how many mechas the broken pieces around Wrex could make and how many were still standing Virgil wasn't sure he dared reply. "As someone who doesn't know you, yeah, kinda." He punched another out of his way. Sometimes he thought Kayo had a point about carrying some kind of weapons.

Apparently he had been diplomatic enough as Wrex chuckled again. "Well he's known me for more than a few centuries by now." Virgil couldn't deny that after a few hundred years living with his brothers, he might want to kill them. If Kayo didn't beat him too it.

Just then there was a low pitched roar so loud the structure seemed to shake with the resonance and the mechas deserted the area as if they had been called. Virgil instantly called John to start scanning. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that's a thresher maw." Wrex admitted nonchalantly.

"Do I want to know what a thresher maw is?" Virgil asked.

"Fun." Wrex explained with a chuckle.

Virgil knew he didn't want to know the krogan definition of the word fun. "I am picking up some seismic disturbances and an intense power signature." John suddenly piped up having finished his scans. "Whatever it is it's mechanical, and big, like really big."

"Yeah, I don't like the sound of that. We should get out of here. Is there a safe route?"

"Safe?" Wrex was incredulous. "I didn't get where am I today by being safe."

"You want to risk letting your brother win?" Virgil retorted.

Wrex was quiet for a moment. "Fine." He acquiesced. "But if we find danger I am not running away from it like some scared pyjack." He added firmly, Virgil knew those terms were as good as he was gonna get, so didn't argue the point.

"EOS and I can't calculate a safe route. Whatever that thing is it's too unpredictable. You're just going to have to hope your luck holds to avoid it." John admitted.

Wrex seemed to perk up considerably at that as he hefted his shotgun before picking a direction and marching off in it. "Gordon is not getting my room." Virgil muttered before jogging to catch up to the krogan as John chuckled worriedly.

Wrex seemed to have a pretty decent sense of direction as he led them through broken corridors, and Virgil was started to consider that the old krogan hadn't required rescuing at all, but John interrupted his thoughts before he could dwell on it too long. "Move! Now!"

Virgil reacted on instinct, raising the arm with the grapple, firing and then using it to pull him to the other end of the corridor, deliberately tackling Wrex on the way as they heard a horrendous rending sound. They collided with the far wall in a heap of krogan and metal. Wrex jumped back to his feet, enraged and about to demand an explanation at gunpoint until he saw the hole, forgetting his indignation instantly as he went to find out what could tear such a hole in a metal corridor.

Wrex had just let out an awed krogan epithet as Virgil finally found his feet again. "And I thought kalros was impressive."

"This is the part where I regret asking, isn't it?" Virgil half winced as he joined the krogan.

"Kalros is the mother of all thresher maws; huge, powerful creatures that tunnel through the earth and can spit poison. Krogan have to survive five minutes with one to reach adulthood, even better if they can kill it." Wrex explained, before pointing through the gaping hole. "That, my friend, is a mechanical thresher maw."

Virgil turned to follow his gaze. He was right, he regretted asking. "Actually, I believe it's some kind of mining apparatus." John corrected.

"Like a WRM?" Virgil asked.

"Yeah, but way more powerful and a lot more maneuverable." John confirmed. "Looks like the Mechanic has a new remote control toy."

"Great." Virgil muttered.

"Well, whatever it is, we aren't leaving without taking it down." Wrex cut in, and Virgil had to admit he was right. There were no safe ways of leaving the area without disabling it.

"We could use a distraction, is Kayo available?"

"I set off as soon as I heard the mechanic was involved, I'll be with you in ten minutes." Kayo confirmed.

"Okay, we'll work out a plan to disable it." Virgil confirmed.

"That's not exactly our remit..." John warned.

"If we ignore it many lives will be put in danger, and I don't think I can get Wrex to safety without him charging into the fray." Virgil corrected. John couldn't argue against either of those points.

"This is going to be fun." Wrex decided. "If we both survive I might make you an honorary krogan."

"As long as your plan isn't to headbutt it into submission." Virgil retorted with a grin.

"I can headbutt anything into submission." Wrex retorted with a chuckle. "Let's go!" He added, charging off into the broken, rough terrain where both a krogan ship and a mechanical mining device had been at play.

Virgil saw no choice but to follow. "How do we shut it down, John?"

"Smash it!" Wrex interrupted.

"I'm currently trying to break through some interference to get some kind of schematic."

"Maybe I should divert?" Kayo suggested. "I think I know a way to get hold of those plans, and that's probably more use right now."

"Do it, you're not much help until we know where to strike." Virgil agreed. "No offence." He added as he realised how that sounded.

Kayo - to his relief - chuckled. "None taken, just don't hog all the fun."

"No promises." Virgil replied, diving away from the thing as it hurtled towards them, Wrex did simulator nearby. He was going to have to lose the exo-suit, even for him it was too heavy and bulky for this situation.

"Incoming!" Wrex shouted, far too happily for the situation, and Virgil peeked out of his cover now he was free of the exo-suit. The scorpion mechas from earlier had reappeared and were scurrying towards them. With no traditional weapons Virgil simply improvised and raised a hand to the laser and took aim, frying the mechas within his range as Wrex happily flung the rest about. "Come on!" He added and charged forward now that they'd carved a way through the mechas. There was nothing Virgil could do about stopping the krogan from charging, so he had to follow, grabbing what was left of a railing on his way past.

Somehow they were able to make their way towards a better vantage point in the broken rocks and rubble without being taken out by either mechas or the mechanical monstrosity and Wrex had taken to happily shooting at it. Virgil was busy smashing and frying the mechas that were still attacking them. Even if Wrex took the ones he accidentally hurtled across the scenery as target practise. How many of these things did the Mechanic have to waste on them? Before they had to give up said vantage point as the huge machine hurtled towards them in a sea of debris and flying rocks.

The pair of them had got into a strange kind of system as they fought their way through the rubble, relying on each other, their strength and wits to say alive as they weaved between rubble, gorges, mechas and what Wrex still called a thresher maw. Virgil had taken to using Wrex's trick of flinging the mechas out of his way and - where possible - into each other, though he was using a pipe rather than biotics. It was times like this when he kind of wished he had biotics, only to realise that if he did, there was a high chance the rest of his brothers would too. The world was not ready for a biotically charged Gordon Tracy. "Kayo's got the schematics!" John suddenly piped up on his comm. "EOS and I are running simula - we've got it!" He added. "I'm sending the schematics to you, and I've highlighted the area you need to strike."

Virgil ducked out of the way of one of the mechas so he could check his wrist controller. "You've got to be kidding me!" He grumbled.

"Kayo will be with you soon, just hold out -"

"No time!" Wrex replied, as much as he loved a good fight, even he had to admit that they needed to finish this sooner rather than later. "Where do I need to hit?" He quickly reviewed the holographic schematics Virgil still had up, then nodded. "Okay then." He decided.

"Wrex!" Virgil shouted over the din of the mining maw. "Do you have a plan?"

"Climb up, shoot, rend and hit until it breaks."

Virgil didn't have time to roll his eyes as he quickly blasted another mecha with his laser. "I think I have a better plan, but I'll need my exo-suit." He admitted, Wrex considered him for a moment, pausing to shoot a mecha without even looking, before nodding. They made their way back to where Virgil had abandoned the suit, neither were surprised that it was in pieces.

"Got another plan, kid?" Wrex teased, keeping lookout as Virgil went to the suit.

Virgil however wasn't really listening, and quickly detached the grapple mechanism. "How do you feel about playing bait?" He asked instead as he stood up again.

Wrex glanced at the human, then the grapple in his hand, then the mechanical thresher maw, then back to the human. "I don't suppose you have a tank?" He asked. Virgil briefly considered asking John to remote pilot a pod for Wrex, but he didn't think the krogan would fit.

"Just keep it busy." Virgil retorted, pointing a thumb at the laser. "This is the most powerful weapon we have."

Wrex had to concede that point. "If I die, kid, there'll be a blood debt on your hands!"

"Is that even a thing?"

"I'll make it a thing!" Wrex retorted before he starting running with a loud roar. Meanwhile Virgil ran in a different direction to get into a good position to be able to take the shot he needed with the grapple. He was pretty certain this was the kind of crazy plan he was usually trying to talk his brothers out of. He climbed high enough that he could use the grapple to land on the thing's back, kicking a mecha out of his way as he hoped Wrex wouldn't be too long in bringing it close enough.

Wrex didn't let him down, the krogan was fast for his size, and still laughing manically as if he was indestructible as he used his biotics to slow down the maw, either directly or by blasting huge chunks of rock at it, before rushing in a relatively straight line within easy targeting distance for Virgil. He didn't waste his shot, and fired, relieved that the hooks locked before reeling himself in as fast as he dared, bracing himself for some kind of impact. Thankfully he didn't hit any stray boulders, but his landing on the machine almost knocked the wind out of him as he landed at the top of it's side, not quite catching his feet on it first. His grip tight on the grapple as he forced himself to climb the last few feet onto the machine's back. Staying in a low crouch as it rocked sharply beneath his feet. "How far, John?" He asked.

"Ahead of you, about ten feet." John replied, and Virgil started moving, swiftly but carefully. He was within a foot of the panel he needed when they turned sharply, catching himself on... anything! Whatever he'd snagged hold of cut against his fingers, but he refused to let go as he hauled himself back up.

"Wrex! What are you doing?" He asked.

"Hurry it up, will you? I'm running out of ground to run across!" Wrex replied gruffly, sounding tired but Virgil knew he'd never admit to that.

Virgil spared Wrex a retort and focused on getting to that panel. "There." John suddenly came in again. "The one on your left, it's a power control junction."

Virgil didn't bother wasting time looking for a release for the panel, and just cut it away with the laser, not caring where it fell as it slipped down the machine. He quickly took in the series of equipment and wires in front of him, aware of John explaining something to him, then glanced at the ground around them and Wrex's situation. They didn't have time for the procedure John was outlining. Well, there was always plan B. He reached in and started yanking out wires - Brains would be horrified, and in another life he would be too - to disrupt whatever power flow this junction controlled, ignoring the warning systems before tossing the relay he'd detached somewhere behind him.

"Whatever you're doing, keep doing it!" Wrex shouted. "It's stopped following me, I think you knocked out it's targeting or nav system or something..."

"Virgil, what are you doing?" John asked.

"The sledgehammer approach." Virgil replied, reaching further in to yank out another relay. "How long till it blows?"

"Oh, you know about that, do you?" John pretended to sound surprised, but knowing he shouldn't. He could feel the glare Virgil would be levelling at him. "Assuming nothing else you rip out of that thing changes, you need to start moving in five minutes." Plenty of time for him to do more damage, he could no longer reach components in that panel, so he powered up the laser and fired. The machine juddered to a halt under him. "I stand corrected, start running." John added firmly, trying to hide his exasperation. Just once could his brothers do the sensible thing?

"Or grab hold!" Kayo suddenly interrupted, causing Virgil to look up to see Thunderbird Shadow zooming across the landscape. At first he couldn't quite work out why it didn't look right, then he almost broke out laughing as he realised Wrex was holding onto one of Shadow's claws. He moved back from the damage he'd been causing, as Kayo slowed down enough for him to jump to grab hold of the other claw before she evacuated them towards where he'd parked Thunderbird 2.

She hovered enough to let them jump down before she moved off to land, whilst Virgil and Wrex turned back to the broken machine. Kayo had just opened her cockpit to climb out to join them when it blew. The ground rumbled beneath them as the sky lit up with fire, before the wreckage collapsed in on itself in smoke and dust. Wrex chuckled to himself. "Now that is the sign of a good day." He decided with a chuckle.