Yet another endorsement

The nude trio were kicked out into the street, just in time to catch the latest vid advertisement:

Onscreen, footage of the trio played. Like Ashley, Shepard and Liara had their hands bound behind their backs. Worse still, Ashley’s right arm had been hooked through Shepard’s left, while Liara’s left arm had been hooked through Shepard’s right. The trio were effectively tethered together, with Shepard slap bang in the middle.

“Help us!” Liara shouted, “I feel so scared and helpless!”

It cut to b-roll of two Cerberus soldiers, with cartoonishly evil gloats and taunts dubbed over. “No one’s coming for you ladies! Your government is an apathetic shambles! And not even the mighty Shepard can withstand our military might!”

“Mmphhff!” Ashley protested through her ball gag (the mercenaries had deemed her an unconvincing actor).

Suddenly, the Asari mercenaries burst onto the scene. B-roll of a previous battle between Wxlipse and Cerberus played, before cutting back to the nude trio feigning amazement and awe.

“Thank you Eclipse. We would’ve been goners without you!” Shepard forced the fawning words through her lips, then turned to face the camera. “I’m Commander Shepard! And Eclipse are my favourite mercenary group!”

Shepard grumbled as the advert finished playing on the vid screen. This was all probably karmic payback for her insincere endorsements back on the Citadel. Why had she wanted a discount at every store in that ward?

But such self reflection would have to come later, for Shepard and her naked compatriots had a crowd to streak through.

To make matters worse, although the mercenaries had been merciful enough as to remove Ashley’s ball gag, they had decided against un-cuffing the trio, leaving all three of them still hooked together. Not only did they face streaking through a public crowd, but they faced doing so while unable to cover, and with the extra effort of moving as a coordinated unit.

After their recent incident, the squad were unwilling to risk the alleyways again, but would their problematic circumstances change their minds?