CHAPTER #1

Earth was a beautiful place.

You had so much variety: The green, wet, chaotic landscapes, the light brown, dry, hot deserts, the blue, vast, great oceans, the white, silent, unmoving freezing poles and mountain tops. The sickeningly rich mansions and dirt poor streets. Of course, not everyone appreciated all types of variety. She didn't. But a lot more did. Except, they wanted to look like they didn't, because if they didn't they couldn't be accused of causing it. So, they acted like they opposed it, in fact, they took actions to show that. When really, if they did not care, she would truly hate them less if they just let them be. Instead of sending their police to make an operation the day they happen to do theirs to keep up appearances for their politics, and thus, their money.

It had been an easy target, the old abandoned storage house was confirmed to have valuable things, we'd only been armed in case another gang got any ideas, but not for a police force. It was a bit into the country, so there was no hiding, and no running without giving ample opportunity to be shot in the back. She really wanted to punch the guy who had forbidden cars, but the logic had been sound at the time, traceability and suspicion. She, in fact, had supported their coming on foot. And the police had chosen, today of all days, to patrol the outskirts. They saw us and the inevitable happened. Now, they were shooting, would probably later say that we'd attacked first when really we wanted to save our ammunitions for the very possible, very probable gang war brewing under the surface. We had tried to sneak past them without violence, and she would be the first to admit, it was a really stupid plan, but for gods' sakes, the police were meant to be the good guys, use lethal force only if necessary, so the risk was supposed to be minimal- and she really should stop thinking about how outraging the situation was and begin planning a way to get out of it. Though a bit of ire, she considered, was justified when the only thing keeping you from sure death was a thin metal wall and bullets where buzzing over your head, bullets that came from abusing motherfucking surely-corrupt officers that didn't have the guts to confront them on even ground, instead deciding to shoot from their cars, making them hover over the open roofs of the storage.

"Jesus Christ- fuck!" Kein cursed loudly, almost shrieking. The thin guy made himself a ball while checking his ammunition. The man was the closest thing she could ever have to a friend in this den of wolves, she would even say that she trusted him. She would dub him mentor if she followed his teachings in the most minimal way; which she didn't. He looked rather weak, like the starved out idiot that was always left out. But he was smart. His appearance played against him when he wanted something to happen, so he took any ally he could get. And she was his strongest link. He betraying her was just not convenient. Right now, if she knew him at all, he was acting like a coward because he knew it was his best bet. Police don't like the dauntless; consider them unpredictable sons of bitches. So, seeming the contrary was hiding. Kein was incredible at hiding. And she would do the same, but neither her reputation, nor her abilities nor her pride would let her. All she could afford do was… heroics.

The spot she was on had greater cover than Kein's, she had more and bigger crates, but not much angle for fire, not much possibilities. The Boss, Johan, was shouting orders, some general, some specific. She didn't bother to listen, she had too much influence for him to harm her in any way, and she noted that Kein did not change his strategy either. It made sense, she supposed, in the off chance someone else noticed his disobedience, he could disappear later. Using the multiple distractive movements of the gang caused by Johan's authority, she jumped out of her hiding place, running directly towards Kein. The 20 meters between them were obstructed by various small crates, so she used it to her advantage. She rolled, slid, and crouched respectively to keep herself from the line of fire as much as possible, before dashing through an empty space of around 6 meters, she had calculated before this mess began, that she supposed was for the old-days' truck that was on the back of the storage house. She saw them before they reached her, the shots splashing on the wet, muddy ground as they made their way to intercept her. Automatically, she brought up her barrier.

There was something different about her barrier from other barriers. She could never do the typical barrier most biotics did, and she supposed it was because she had no amp whatsoever. But her information was pretty lacking. Movies did not help, they painted biotics as dangerous madmen, and she knew that wasn't the case because she was a biotic herself. She would not feed on the misinformation they offered. All she knew was that she could never stop the bullets, only deflect them. And she could never control where.

And her lack of control scared her, every time she brought the barrier up, she had a feeling it would flicker and fail in a minimal way that would be just enough for her end.

She never expected for one of the deflected bullets to shoot through one of the drivers' skulls, making the car lose control, flying out of her line of sight behind the storage walls to crash outside.

There was a startled pause, in which everyone took a moment to process what had happened.

And then, she had the policemen's full attention.

She threw herself down between two crates before the hail of bullets rained down on her. There was a limit to what a barrier could protect her against. She awkwardly tried to crawl through the mud, absently wondering if she would need another set of clothes before she came face to face with an equally muddy Kein. "I was just trying to reach you." She intoned over the fire, immediately getting into the familiar banter that she knew would get things moving. "I know, you think I would ruin my pristine presence just for anyone?" He retorted cheekily, smiling just enough to reveal one of his missing teeth. "I bet you need advice, don't you, Princess?" She nodded, not minding the alias. Kein was good back-up. If nothing occurred to her, she knew for a fact something must have to him.

"Look behind me sweet." He said. And she did. Three crates back, there was one busted open on the side, spilling oval metal rocks. "Are those…?" She wondered. "…Twentieth-one century grenades." He confirmed. "And every-one of those identical crates is filled with them."

Sometimes, she loved this guy.

They were small crates, heavy but still easy enough to manage. First, she biotically threw a bunch of the spilled grenades upwards, concentrating to keep them far from each other, and crushed them mid-air. That was enough distraction to stop the fire momentarily, but momentarily was enough. She got up, and rapidly, with her biotics, took one crate for each shuttle, and threw them all against the official idiots with little barriers to evade premature destruction. The explosions came soon after. Thinking there was no more danger, she leaned forward from exhaustion, her head suddenly throbbed, as each shuttle fell and got out of control, she only felt the strain from overuse, the blood trickling down her nose.

"Princess, shit!" She heard, but she didn't register it until she was pushed down to the mud again, an unexpected weight over her, and it was then, with her eyes facing the sky, did she realize enough to mirror the thought. "Shit!"

Author's note: Kinda-somewhat revised. I will not have a word minimum for this story and each chapter. I will just let it go. That way, it will hopefully flow better than "Well I Won't Stand Here Doing Nothing."