MASS EFFECT
GRISSOM ACADEMY
CHAPTER 2 the dean's speech
Angel was sitting with Ashley on the floor in one of the school's many greenhouses. Ashley sat behind him with her arms and legs around Angel. Whilst Angel leaned back into her she watched him play a videogame and occasionally kissed his ears in fits. Angel was playing Galaxy of Fantasy: Magical Justice on a handheld system. He was searching for treasure with Ashley's ranger character in a dungeon that Ashley refused to play.
"You found another fucking holy sword?" Ashley gasped.
"I told you—you cannot skip this dungeon," Angel said.
"Whatever. I don't need every item in the game, Angel," Ashley said.
"Yeah, you do if you want to play player versus player," Angel noted.
"Rangers can't even use holy swords. The only useful thing you found me is boots, Shepard. Boots," Ashley reminded him.
"They're really good boots, though," Angel noted. "Besides, you can sell everything else I found—you're gonna be…kinda rich."
Ashley kissed his cheek. "I'm gonna sell those fuckin' boots too."
"Ashley, no! If you just wore the boots by themselves you'd have higher stats than all of your level 15 armor combined," Angel said.
"They're so ugly," Ashley complained. "My armor looks amazing on me. I'm like an Amazonian goddess. I'm not gonna ruin the look with those nasty fucking shoes."
"It doesn't matter if they're clown shoes—they're level 35 and rare as fuck," Angel insisted.
"I'm not wearing them," Ashley said as she rolled her eyes.
Angel rolled his eyes back at her and she kissed his nose.
"D'you think," Angel began. "That I'm like…a pussy, now?"
"I don't think you're a pussy," Ashley said tiredly.
"Not you. Like—Do you think to everyone else at the school, I'm a pussy?" Angel asked uneasily.
"Who cares," Ashley groaned. "Just because Saren runs his mouth—"
"And Jacob," Angel said. "And fucking Legion! Even fucking Legion thinks I'm lame!"
"Legion is weird and you shouldn't worry about him," Ashley said. "So is Saren—he's a creep. I like you, Garrus likes you, Joker likes you…that's gotta be good enough."
"Even Legion thinks I'm lame," Angel whispered.
"Legion's fucking lame too," Ashley insisted. "So, don't worry about it."
"Legion's gonna be the only one in hyper mathematics to pass that shitty exam," Angel said.
"I think some people are gonna cheat," Ashley said.
"That's impossible," Angel said. "How?"
"No, seriously! I heard Thane talk about cheating," Ashley said.
"Who's cheating?" a voice asked.
Ashley and Angel whipped their heads to the door of the greenhouse. By the entrance, holding a mop was a tall janitor. He was wearing a brown jumpsuit but his large broad muscles protruded through his outfit considerably. He seemed old, perhaps in his sixties. He had short silver hair in a military style buzzcut. The most remarkable thing about this janitor was his eyes. One eye was green, whilst the other was a pale white prosthetic eye. Around the prosthetic eye was a large moon shaped scar. The nametag of the janitor read 'Zaeed.'
Angel and Ashley both rushed to their feet. Silently, they began walking towards the door and hoping they could walk past the janitor without incident. They stopped in front of the door, as Zaeed refused to move and purposely blocked the entire exit with his broad body and mop.
"Uh, we have places to be, sir," Ashley said nervously.
"You know who gave me this job?" Zaeed asked.
"I—no, I don't know," Ashley stammered.
"The government?" offered Angel meekly.
"People who are very, very unhappy with cheating," Zaeed answered. "In fact—these people think cheating is just about as bad as stealing from them. You wouldn't steal from my employers would you?"
"We're good students," Ashley said. "We don't cheat."
"That's good to hear," Zaeed said. "Because I'd do just about goddamn anything to make sure you kids don't."
Ashley tried to smile. Zaeed gave her a wide yet hostile grin in return and then he stepped aside. Ashley and Angel walked out of the room as quickly as possible. They built up as much distance as they could between them and the strange janitor.
"Walk me to study hall in case he tries to murder me," Ashley said.
"His name is Zaeed," Angel said. "If he does anything weird we'll just file a complaint—get him fired."
The Grissom Academy cafeteria was full of activity. The entire freshman class was there, either sitting down at their tables or in line to get food. All around the room were posters advertising the upcoming events of the school or simply encouraging the students to do proactive things like turn their homework in on time or report cheating. At the front of the cafeteria was a large stage, where several staff members were preparing a speech by doing microphone tests, setting up a podium, and hanging up posters.
Kelly Daniels watched the stage. Though some of the other members of the journalism team were sitting with her, none of them looked at the stage with the piqued interest that Kelly had. As a member of the psychology academy at Grissom, Kelly ran a psychology article on the school paper. Since her first week at Grissom she had been developing an article on the pressures of being a student at Grissom and the unfairness of the hyper mathematics course. All she was missing was the school's side of the story, but none of the staff wanted to talk about the course with her. If the dean was giving a speech today she just might be able to muscle an answer out of him. She ruffled her short red hair in anticipation.
Around Kelly sat her close friends. The other two journalists at the table were Diana Allers and Khalisah al-Jalani. Diana was a young woman with long black hair. Khalisah was an Indian girl with tan skin and short black hair. They were polar opposites. Diana loved upbeat stories that anybody could find interesting whilst Khalisah liked dark stories of corruption that would make anybody's eyes widen.
The non-journalists at Kelly's table were the other unusual thinkers at the school. Samantha Traynor sat next to Tali, looking at videos on the holonet. One seat to the left of them was Kasumi Goto.
"Okay. Please listen to me, Samantha," Kahlisah begged. "If you put a dog in your dorm room you will get expelled. I will never see you again, do you understand?"
"What you don't understand is that Corgi's aren't big dogs and they're extremely trainable," Samantha argued.
"Where's it gonna pee Samantha?" Khalisah asked skeptically.
"On the establishment," Samantha replied. She raised a fist.
"You're gonna get dragged out of here. I'm never going to see you again," Khalisah said.
"Yeah, you won't because I'll always be with my dog," Samantha retorted.
"Oh my god! Yo, Kelly!" Khalisah cried.
Kelly snapped back to attention and stopped looking at the stage. "What?"
"Talk some sense into Samantha, dude." Khalisah said.
"About the dog?" Kelly asked.
"Yes." Khalisah said.
Kelly shrugged. "I dunno, why don't you just get a hamster?"
"Hamsters eat their young, Kelly," Samantha said.
"Why don't you get a rat?" Diana asked.
Samantha said nothing to Diana but looked as skeptical as possible.
Miranda walked by their table and passed a note onto Kelly's lap.
"What's this, Miranda?" Kelly asked.
Miranda simply looked at Kelly and winked casually. She then walked away.
Kelly looked at the note. It was folded up. Over the top fold was a heart. Kelly, opened it up and looked at it. She read it once and breathed a sigh of relief. She then read it three more times. After she was done, she looked up at the table.
"So…Aria wants to cheat on the hyper mathematics test," Kelly said.
"How?" Kasumi asked, looking up from her datapad.
"She wants to gather the students and hold a meeting about it in the music club room tomorrow," Kelly answered. "She says which students are supposed to steal the test answers will be decided there. Everyone from the 12:30 hyper mathematics class is supposed to attend, but anyone who has hyper mathematics at a different hour can come."
"Everyone's taking hyper mathematics. How is the entire freshman class gonna fit inside the music club room?" Diana asked.
"Well, I would imagine that not everyone would come. You have to get a letter to know where it's happening in the first place. Besides, If they want someone to steal the answers I'd imagine that only students who did well on the physical exam would feel obligated to show up," Kelly said.
"Are you going Tali?" Khalisah asked.
"Yeah, I guess I should." Tali said. "I'm one of the best engineers in my academy. You guys are coming too right?"
"Why should we? You and Kasumi are the only ones that took the physical exam," Kelly reminded her.
"I'm not going," Kasumi said coolly.
"Well hold on there princess, I wasn't asking about you. I know you," Tali said. "I was asking about you guys. You're journalists and you don't want to come?"
"We can't write about this in the paper," Kelly said defensively.
Angel was in line waiting for food. He was starving and stood clutching himself in discomfort as he fantasized about potato chips. He progressed through the line all too slowly before finally reaching the front and standing across from the cafeteria worker. The worker behind the counter was a large orange krogan with a scar over his face. He smiled tiredly at Angel.
"I'll have the hamburger and chips, please," Angel said.
"Whatever, kid," The krogan said. He passed Shepard a plate with a hamburger and potato chips on it.
"Uh, could I have extra chips?" Angel asked timidly.
"What kid? You'll have to speak up. Why you talkin' so damn low?" the krogan asked.
"Could I have extra chips? Sorry, It's just kinda embarrassing for me to say," Angel said.
"Embarrassing?" the krogan howled. "Stand in the ashes of a thousand dead souls and ask if your embarrassment matters."
"A thousand isn't that much. More people than that die every day," Angel said unsurely.
"Not that much? You ever watch a man die, boy?" the krogan asked.
"No," Angel said. "Wait. Have you?"
"Uh…no," the krogan responded weakly.
The krogan scratched his head and dumped a bunch of chips onto Angel's plate and then said, "Go bother someone else!"
Angel was somewhat stunned but he made his way towards his table regardless. When the krogan had dumped the chips on his plate, Angel saw a red tattoo on the krogans arm. it was a skull, but the bottom jaw had been replaced by a fist. Angel was worried it was the symbol of the mercenary gang called the bloodpack. He didn't know much about the bloodpack, but he did remember his father once referring to them as 'red skulls.' He wondered long and hard about the conversation he just had as he walked through the cafeteria. Then he reached his table and found Garrus and Joker sitting with a new boy and talking abeout Galaxy of Fantasy.
"Hey, man. I'm Angel," Angel said to the new boy.
"Hey, I'm Tristan," the boy said.
"Hey guys, what's up?" Angel said.
"Hey, Angel," Joker said.
"Yo, Shepard!" Garrus called. "Have a seat. You won't believe what happened. Joker has outdone himself.hihh"
"Is this a bone story?" Angel asked with concern.
"Yeah, it's a bone story," Garrus said with a smirk.
"What's a bone story?" Tristan wondered.
"Joker has brittle bone disease." Angel sighed dramatically and sat down. "So what did you do?"
"It's a long story," Joker replied.
Angel asked Joker to continue.
"Remember how I said Kelly Daniels kinda liked me?" Joker asked.
Angel nodded. "You guys were talking or whatever?"
"Well… She was in our dorm room while you were back home on Samara day," Joker said.
"Okay…and?" Angel asked.
"WELL, she tried to give me a lap dance and it hurt a little bit but it was pretty nice at first. Then she slipped on me cause she doesn't know how to wear heels and broke maybe, thirteen or fourteen of my bones. I had to be rushed to the emergency room at the school and dosed with enough liters of medigel for four grown men. Meanwhile Kelly had to run back to her dorm room in fucking lingerie. She just called the infirmary and then bolted. That was my Samara day," Jeff said.
"That's like a James Bond story," Angel said wondrously. "Just…the drama of it all."
Garrus laughed.
"So…" Angel wondered. "Are you guys like…still friends?"
"We're like friends who don't talk," Joker replied.
"Just like Angel's parents! Blam!" Garrus said as he pointed his index finger at Angel like a gun.
"Shut the fuck up, Garrus," Angel sang.
"Don't mean to interrupt, but there's something I kinda wanna talk about," Tristan said.
"Oh yeah?" Garrus asked.
"Yeah," Tristan began. "The reason I'm sitting with you guys today is that I'm curious about you, Angel. You led the highest scoring team on the Skyllian Blitz entrance exam right?"
"Uhuh," Angel said.
"and you built the gun called Beserker?" Tristan asked.
"Noo, Nihlus built Beserker," Angel said.
"What? That's not what he said," Tristan noted.
"Lemme clarify, then," Angel began. "I saw Nihlus fixing a broken concussion rifle during the exam and asked him what he was doing. He told me and I came up with how the gun could be modified so that 'Beserker' could be created. Nihlus tried it and as you may have heard, it fired like hell—that was how we made him."
"Our team needed that gun for Saren and his bullshit," Garrus added. "Angel really came through."
"He did—and from what I've heard, that wasn't the only time. Why don't you hang out with more people?" Tristan asked. "You should be so cool."
Angel frowned with impatience.
"Listen, sweetheart. Lemme show you something," Angel said. "You know Wrex? He's cool right?"
"Uh…yeah, Wrex is cool," Tristan agreed.
"Yo Wrex!" Angel called out.
Wrex was a young red krogan. He glanced at Angel and yelled out from a few tables away, "Oh shit, Paragon Sam is talking to me!"
Wrex was the sitting with the other varsity members of the biotiball team. It was Wrex, Jacob Taylor, Kaiden Alenko and five more boys. Jacob glanced at Angel and sneered as he put his middle finger up towards Angel's table.
"I guess you haven't heard," Angel said tiredly. "I cried when Jacob tried to fight me, so I'm Paragon Sam now. To a bunch of people. All the jocks—even the fucking basketball team—call me that. So does Saren's crew and also some people I don't even know."
"That sucks man," Tristan said. "Paragon Sam sucks. I hate that movie."
"Yeah," Angel agreed. "Everybody hates that movie."
"Why'd you cry?" Tristan asked.
"Because Jacob was like my fucking hero, dude." Angel said. "He's the one who helped me take down Saren. We sort of bonded trying to survive Saren and his team—before all this nonsense happened,"
"Weren't you on different teams during the exam?" Tristan asked.
"Attention! Attention! I'd like to announce the next dean of Grissom Academy," Dr. Tolan said.
Dr. Tolan was a rather tall dark green salarian. He was the original dean of Grissom Academy. He stood on the stage behind the podium, next to a middle aged man with black hair and glowing blue prosthetic eyes. They stood in front of large drapery of a varren. The large predator was the mascot of the school.
Dr. Tolan continued, "Most of the policies for this year of Grissom Academy have already been modified for the coming of our new dean. As you know, the second physical exam and the new hyper mathematics class are all his ideas. He has just been officially instated and I am happy to welcome to the school, Dean John Smith!"
The man with prosthetic eyes stepped forward onto the podium as Dr. Talon moved away from it. John Smith smiled at the crowd of students and began talking.
"That's the illusive man!" Jack cried.
"What are you talking about?" Thane asked.
"That guy is the illusive man!" Jack insisted.
"What makes him so elusive?" Grunt asked.
"No, dumbass. That guy is the head of Cerberus. That's what the illusive man is," Jack explained.
"You mean that criminal organization that kidnapped you as a child? No way, Jack. What makes you think that?" Thane asked.
"That's his face. Those are his eyes. They showed us him at the Cerberus facility I was raised at," Jack said almost angrily.
"So, anyways. New challenges are the reasons schools exist," John Smith continued. "So, it was with that in mind that I designed the hyper mathematics curriculum for you freshman students. I'm hoping you'll all be sufficiently challenged by this course."
"Excuse me!" Khalisah called out from Kelly's table.
"Ah, a question," Mr. Smith said happily. "Go ahead."
"My name is Khalisah Bint Sinan al-Jalani," Khalisah said. "I wanted to ask you about the hyper mathematics course. I've heard it's a new breed of mathematics only offered at select universities a few years ago. Why do you think it's important for a bunch of teenagers to learn this material?"
"Great question!" Mr. Smith laughed.
He began an unusually pro-human explanation about the meaning of excellence and the purpose of students.
"You can tell this guy regrets first contact," Joker said forlornly.
"He's really jerking off the human race," Garrus noted. "Nah, This guy loved first contact. Bet he wishes that war never ended."
"I bet he's wearing a toupee," Angel added.
Garrus said, "He is a toupee, dude."
Kelly Daniels spoke up, "Excuse me! Dean Smith, how are freshman students specifically supposed to deal with a class that is taught at top colleges in the galaxy? What effect do you believe it will have on the student body?"
"I think it will prove who really has a future in this academy, in the alliance, and in the milky way itself," Mr. Smith concluded.
Kelly protested, "But that doesn't answer my question—"
Mr. Smith said, "You're all extremely bright students. So there's really no reason to worry, I think. Of course, if you were to fail the exam no harm would come to the school. In fact—"
Kasumi piped up, "I've heard you got a failsafe plan for that."
"…Yes," Mr. Smith nodded as a smile built on his face.
"Could you…explain that plan," Kasumi asked.
"Absolutely." Mr. Smith began, "If the failure rates for these courses are too high, I will have to produce a disciplinary committee over the school. I would use a generous Vorcha company called the Flett Watchers. Just to keep the students of the school on track of course!"
"What the hell, man! The Flett Watchers are a surveillance company," Khalisah yelled.
"Surveillance companies provide many services. Well Anyways," Mr. Smith finished. "That's all for today. Lunch is dismissed!"
"This is totally insane.. I do not want a surveillance company up my ass for the rest of the year. This asshole can't do this," Jacob said to Wrex.
"This school is crushing my quads," Wrex agreed.
"Hey, Don't worry bro," Kaiden said. "Miranda's letter might be the answer to all our problems."
Kaiden combed his large black pompadour styled hair.
Aria T'loak swaggered through the cafeteria with a white jacket over her uniform. On the back of the jacket in black was the symbol Omega. She walked over to Kelly's table and put a foot down on one of the seats.
"One of you better come to the gathering to explain whatever the fuck a Flett Watcher is, alright?" Aria asked the group with partial charismastic bravado and partial anger.
"I'll go," Khalisah said.
"I'll go," Diana said.
"Just be there," Aria said. She threw up peace signs with both hands and walked away.
Miranda walked by Angel's table and stopped in front of Angel. She dropped a folded note down at him.
"It's from Aria," Miranda said. "Oh, and make sure you come. Me and Aria want to hear what you think, so don't spend the whole day crying in your room or whatever. I'm serious."
Angel opened up the heart sealed note. He read the note and the laughed.
"Oh thank god," Angel moaned. "You guys are never gonna believe this!"
"Try me," Garrus said as he crossed his arms defiantly.
Angel was walking through the massive locker room that was for the biotic students of the school. Biotics were a strange set of abilities used throughout the galaxy by special individuals. An amplifier in the brain enhanced the ability of the person to manipulate mass effect fields through focused thoughts combined with elaborate gestures. Mass effect fields were purple energy waves that could control gravity and destroy matter. Biotics, or the act of creating mass effect fields, were only possible in select individuals. Only those with chemical reserves of element zero throughout their body could benefit from a biotic amplifier. Angel was one of those people. So were the entire biotiball team. Biotiball, in fact, was a biotic sport.
Angel reached his locker. He opened it and began taking off his clothes. He looked around the massive lockeroom. Every student in the school had a locker in this extremely tall green complex of lockers, showers, and rooms. Angel put on his gym uniform. It was a red bodysuit that was cut at the upper arms and thighs. A black varren was on the chest. It looked like a fat wingless dragon with empty round eyes.
Angel pulled out a small electronic device. It was a training shield that would absorb kinetic force and energy impact on the user's body. He checked to make sure it was fully charged. He then attached it to his hip and turned it on.
A training shield, unlike an actual military shield, gave one pretty significant shielding but once it was ruptured it would render the user unconscious. It was used during the entrance exam, for training, and during biotiball matches. The shield generated a blanket of energy around the body of the user that would protect them. The shield could only take so much damage, and when weakened the shield's energy field would zap with electricity.
Angel opened his backpack and searched through it for a good minute. He pulled out the letter from Aria. He looked at the heart emblem and opened the letter. He read it again and laughed to himself.
"Is your shield charged?" a raspy voice called out.
Angel turned around. About fifteen feet away by the next locker was another student who was not in a gym uniform. He had short blonde hair and blue eyes with a cocky face. He wore an N7 bandana around his neck and wore the red Grissom uniform with a loose brown leather jacket over it.
"Yeah, my shield is charged," Angel said cautiously.
"Good," the boy said. "I won't be worried if I miss."
The boy pulled out a huge curved knife from his jacket and with a finger gesture he flung the knife forth with biotic power. Angel slammed his locker shut and quickly put up his backlash. Backlash was a circular shield of biotic energy that manifested over the user's arm like a traditional shield. The knife hit it and ricocheted off harmlessly. The boy gestured with his hand and the knife flew back to him.
"How long does that shield last?" the boy asked as he balanced the tip of the knife on his finger with a flow of energy.
"A good minute," Angel answered as he held up the backlash. "Why, you got somewhere to go?"
"Nowhere," the boy said.
"What's your name?" Angel asked.
"Conrad," the boy replied. "Conrad Verner."
"Nice to meet you. My name is Angel," Angel said.
"I hear people call you Paragon Sam," Conrad said with a smile.
"Yeah, well, people do a lot of things," Angel replied tiredly.
"How much longer can you keep that shield up?" Conrad asked.
"As long as I need to," Angel lied.
"That's a strong shield…I bet you can't keep it up forever though, your brain would explode," Conrad noted. "How long before you're ready to summon it again? Thirty seconds? A minute?"
"Find out," Angel replied with aggravation.
Suddenly Angel's backlash dissipated. Conrad gave Angel a brief mocking look before gesturing with his finger and throwing the knife straight at Angel. Angel spun around in panic and narrowly avoided the knife as it flew past him and lodged itself in the locker. He then dove away from Conrad. He focused his mind on creating a lash. From his hand he flung a thick string of biotic energy that grew and wrapped around one of the arches hanging above them. Hanging onto the arch with his lash, he swung across the room, and launched himself far away from Conrad. He landed and hit the ground running.
Conrad muttered to himself, "He has to wrap his lash to use it?"
Conrad used his lash. A long string of energy came out and grew much like Angel's but the end of it simply clung to the arch with biotic magnetism. He attached it to the arch and then swung across the locker room at Shepard. He landed and ran around some lockers. He quickly found Angel running and looking over his shoulder. Conrad chased after him through the locker rooms. They ran past lockers and through showers and swerved around corners. Conrad slowly but surely began to lose proximity to Angel—he was getting away. Conrad used his lash again. He threw the biotic string towards Angel and it attached onto him. Conrad pulled the string and pulled Angel back with it. Angel was yanked all the way across the room and past Conrad. Angel smashed into the ground a several yards behind Conrad. Angel's shields zapped around his body. He let go of the letter.
Conrad began walking over to Angel. Suddenly, Angel turned over, stood up, and threw his own lash out at Conrad. The string wrapped around Conrad's leg. Angel jerked it back and Conrad hit the ground. Angel picked up the letter as Conrad groaned.
"Whatever. You gotta wrap your lash to use it, and you can only wrap your lash around people when you're close enough to people to see it happen," Conrad noted as he stood up.
"What do you want?" Angel asked impatiently.
"I want your letter, Paragon," Conrad said.
"Really?" Angel said. "You could've just asked…Are you wearing a shield?"
"Yeah," Conrad said curiously.
"Good, cause even though we're fellow students, I'm not gonna give it to you. You'll have to beat it out of me," Angel said angrily. He put up his middle finger.
Conrad gestured with his hand and biotically threw his large knife at the letter. Angel shielded it with backlash and began running away towards the gym door.
"No!" Conrad cried.
Conrad began running after Angel and throwing his knife at him from alternate directions. The knife swooped in from the right and then from the left on but was matched by Angel who blocked each hit with his backlash. Suddenly, Angel stopped in his tracks, turned and sprinted to the left down a lane of lockers. Conrad couldn't see him, so he floated his knife back into his hand. Conran ran forward and stopped as he reached the lane Angel ran through.
Immediately he was bashed by Angel. With his backlash in front of him, Angel crashed into Conrad. The backlash dissipated as the shields around Conrad's body zapped.
Angel fumbled over Conrad's body and then stood up. He took a step backwards.
"Get close enough I'll lash you," Angel said between labored breaths. "But guess what I do…if you get really close?"
"You'll cry?" Conrad asked as he shakily stood up.
"Whatever," Angel sighed. "Play Intensity,"
Angel's golden gauge earrings began whirring with life. They began to play one of Angel's favorite songs: the proton rock ballad "Intensity."
Intensity had an extremely special meaning to Angel. Long ago it was his biotics teacher's favorite song. Angel spent many months training with his krogan teacher on a hot and sandy moon called Draone. They trained viciously—harder than any course Angel had taken before or after, all in order to teach him a krogan biotic technique called hammer. Angel lifted weights with every muscle from his bicep to his abdomen. He biotically punched almost every metal he'd heard of when he wasn't sparring with his teacher. They trained hard, but however rigorously they happened to be training, they were either listening to some kind of metal music or to the song Intensity.
At first the song haunted Angel, but after two tireless months, strangely enough, it began to fill him with excitement. He loved it more and more every day as he began to learn the different wavelengths of power used to break different types of metal. He grew to love fighting his teacher as well. During their downtime, the krogan would talk about many things, including the history of the band that wrote Intensity. They were called Asteroid Blackout. The bandmates were all uniquely flamboyant weirdos that Angel fell in love with, in no small part due to his teacher's fanboyish descriptions and stories.
After his training was over Angel still couldn't use hammer. Despite the kind parting words of his teacher, he left saddened and ashamed. The loss had surprised him. Though it was a technique mostly used by krogan biotics, Angel believed he could master it. His failure rocked him for a very long time on a very emotional level. Because of his shame, listening to Intensity only filled him with pain.
The failure chewed at him until the day before his entrance exam. Lying in bed in and listening to Intensity, he found that his training had not been entirely in vain. As Angel heard the electric bridge to Intensity's chorus, that strange krogan power came to life in his right hand as he lay in bed listening to the song. After that, once a day and as long as he hadn't heard the song that same day, hearing intensity would charge the power he had trained so long to use.
Angel smiled at Conrad. The guitars and quasi-drums played a dark melody that eventually shifted into a rich melodic tune and then back to the dark sound. Conrad jumped back and threw his lash at Angel. The string clung onto Angel and Conrad slammed him into a locker with it. Just as Angel smashed into the locker, extremely rapid guitar riffs with a lively sound played throughout his ears. As Angel's shield zapped and wavered for a moment his shield battery began ringing to signal danger.
Just as Angel picked himself up the all too asari base line in Intensity began picking up. He smiled and rushed forward. He grappled onto Conrad's shoulders and held him in place. As the massive krogan string instrument called the urknat began playing its roaring tune in Angel's ear, His left fist began shimmering with a biotic film. It glowed with an alien irradiance so bright that it lit up their section of the locker room. Angel punched Conrad with his fist and the biotic film around it exploded into brilliant light on contact. Conrad was sent flying across the locker room as his shield burst and he was knocked unconscious. He crashed into a locker.
"Well, there's the proof I'm still cool, I guess," Angel said to himself before leaving for the gymnasium.
Samara was the hero of the Skyllian Blitz event that Grissom academy's entrance exam was based off. The Skyllian Blitz itself was a great battle she fought with slave seeking batarian pirates. The asari warrior lived by a strict code that demanded she help the human colony of Elysium deal with those pirate bands that invaded it. She had been pursuing these pirates for the previous six months and knew she had to finish the job before they did real damage. Only trying to do her duty, she was surprised by the fame that later came with her actions. The battle became one of the most iconic examples of positive inter species relations with humans and Samara became a galactic celebrity.
Eventually, she quit her duty as an asari justicar and became a biotics teacher at Grissom Academy. Teaching her biotic skills to the same students that fought each other on a map modelled after her greatest battle was too tempting for the old warrior. She watched the recorded performances from the exam of all of her best pupils, but made sure to watch the recordings of her problem students—these she found strangely more exciting. She was fascinated, passionate, and energetic about her work. Additionally, even the meaner students seemed to respect her. Most of the time, she was on top of the world.
Not today. Today she was reviewing the basics of biotics because almost half of the class had gotten fifty percent or less on the written biotics pop-quiz. Today as she spoke her eyes darted between the problem students that held up her class, as well as any student that had ever spoken out of turn. There was sorrowful vindication in her eyes. She looked at Saren, always trying to bully humans or make PDAs with his asari girlfriend Rana.
She looked, a little bit more angrily, at her daughter, Morinth. Morinth was insufferable, always flirting with Miranda as Samara tried to teach, dancing for Miranda when she should have been practicing, proclaiming herself to be an asari goddess to her attache of friends. As a teacher Samara hated her daughter, though as a mother she was—to her own embarassment—oozing with joy at the boldness with which Morinth interacted with the other children. She was entranced by her, just like Morinth's fellow students, but not surprised.
Samara also looked to Jacob and Wrex. They were great students when separated, but together they were a dreadful riot. They were always yelling at each other or talking at the wrong time. Wrex would boo unbearably loudly when Jacob was losing practice fights. Additionally, At some point in the school year Jacob had introduced Wrex to Terminus rap and now rapping was most of what they did during practice. Samara told them they were at a military school not a music school, however their only response was Wrex rapping about how she looked like a varren and smelled like milk.
Finally she looked at Jack. Jack was a different sort of problem entirely. She had found Jack snorting the drug 'red sand' seven times this semester. Every time she told Jack she wouldn't report it so long as Jack stopped and every time Jack thanked her and said she would. Then she would find Jack a week or so later sucking fatter and fatter lines of red sand up her nose while her friend Grunt watched. If Jack hadn't been the most talented student in the class, she would have reported her by now just out of spite.
Samara continued the lesson, "The cooldown is a phenomenon that all biotics experienced with any C level—or higher—technique. Complex biotic techniques are too difficult for the brain to consistently create, so when you use an advanced technique you have to wait for your brain to 'cool down' so you can use it again. Can anyone name a technique that's D level or lower—in other words, can anyone name a technique they like to use that doesn't have a cooldown?"
"My charge," Wrex said.
"My abs," Jacob added.
"Jacob, please," Samara groaned. "And no, Wrex. Your charge does have a cooldown, it just has a very short cooldown compared to other people. A good answer would've been a biotic punch, or perhaps a biotic jump. Something simple, like that."
The lesson continued for some time. Samara made sure to review all of the basics thoroughly before dispersing the students for independent practice time. As the students all began moving to their preferred sections of the large gymnasium, Samara put a hand on Angel's shoulder.
"Dear, we have to talk," Samara said.
Angel looked at her with disappointment riddled on his face. "We do?" he asked fearfully.
"Listen, Angel. I know you've been working very hard for the past few weeks, and you've progressed quite a bit. However, I told you at the beginning of the semester that you would have to be able to use your biotics to move something if you want to get a C or higher on the exam."
"I can move stuff. I have a lash," Angel said defensively.
"Sweetheart, your lash is incomplete. It doesn't have a gravitational pull, you're just wrapping it around things and pulling with your arms."
"That's the same thing, isn't it? It's still useful," Angel argued.
"Angel, you have to manipulate the lash too much for it to be useful. In the heat of real battle you can't be looking at the shape of things and trying to fit your lash around them. You need it to stick and pull with gravitation. What did I say on the first day?"
"Uh…gravity is one of the two essential manifestations of biotics," Angel repeated.
"Right. What is the second kind of biotic manifestation?"
"Uh…fire?" Angel said unsurely.
"No. Not fire, disruption. It works similarly to fire, but it's only rapidly shifting fields of disruption. Do you know why I asked you that?" Samara asked.
Angel sighed. "Because I can't do either."
"Exactly. How am I supposed to design an exam for someone like that?" Samara pointed out.
"What do you want me to do? You know I've been trying," Angel protested.
"Evidently, you'll have to try harder," Samara said resolutely.
"If I fail this class my parents are gonna, like—they're gonna hate me, ma'am! They know I got the highest score on the entrance exam, I can't fail my first semester now!" Angel moaned.
"Don't worry about your parents, dear. Worry about yourself," Samara said.
"I can't do that!" Angel said with frustration.
Samara rolled her eyes. "Jack! Come here please!" she beckoned with a hand.
Jack was bragging about something to Thane. She stopped talking and looked wearily over to Samara before motioning for Thane to wait. She walked over towards Samara and Angel and put a hand on her hips.
"What?" she asked.
"I want you to help Angel with his biotics," Samara said.
"Why me?" Jack protested.
"Because your so talented, Jack. You're ahead of the class, aren't you?" Samara cooed.
"Your daughter said the only reason I'm so good is 'cause I was tortured at a Cerberus facility since I was little," Jack spat. "Maybe she's right, you know? You want me to torture angel?"
"I don't care if you have waterboard him, just help him pass this class." Samara insisted sharply.
"Fine," Jack agreed morosely. "C'mon Shepard."
"Uh, just…call me Angel," Angel said.
"Don't tell me what to do Shepard," Jack said haughtily.
Angel followed Jack as she led him towards the levitation room inside of the gym. As they walked, Jack looked at Thane and raised a brow, to which Thane gave her a wide grin two thumbs up. Jack put a finger in her mouth and pretended to gag.
"I can see you, Jack," Angel said.
"Whatever, man. It's not about you," Jack lied.
"It's obviously about me," Angel said with irritation.
"Relax, we're not talking shit," Jack said quickly. "At least Thanes not—he likes you," Jack said.
"He likes me?" Angel said skeptically.
"Really," Jack said.
"…Really?" Angel asked.
"Uhuh," Jack said. "He thinks you're a genius. You know everybody does."
"Yeah? Have someone tell that to my parents," Angel said. "Cause after they see my grades, they're gonna climb so far up my ass you'll think I have three heads. You're gonna be calling me Cerberus."
"Oh, Shepard, I'm adopted. My parents are far deeper up my ass than yours are," Jack said. "They feel legally obligated to not leave me the fuck alone. Seriously—If they don't know how my day was they start yanking out their hair."
Angel said, "That sounds kinda nice. I'd kill to have mine pay attention to me with literally anything besides school."
"Is that why you try so hard?" Jack asked mockingly. "You have to impress mommy and daddy?"
She chuckled but when she looked at Angel to give him a wry smile she noticed how sad he looked.
"Oh shit dude," Jack said. "Did I touch a nerve?"
Angel tried to look like he thought what she was saying was stupid.
"You look like you're pooping," Jack said. "Look don't…don't worry about your parents, man. It's like Will Smith says—parents just don't understand."
"Who's Will Smith?" Angel asked.
"He's dead…but he's um…eh, he's basically a prince," Jack answered.
Jack opened a door and they entered the levitation room. Inside, all throughout the room, were an assortment of different weights as well as a large amount of large cargo containers. There were signs on the walls around the room about pacing yourself and some of the effects of overstraining one's biotic powers.
"Alright, Shepard. Step back," Jack said.
Angel stepped away from Jack.
"Farther back, dumbass," Jack said.
Angel threw his hands up and walked to the other side of the room.
"Are you gonna make an Annihilation field?" Angel asked as he crossed his arms.
"Yep," Jack said. "I'm only going to use it for a few seconds because it destroys matter and I don't wanna break any equipment. By the way, mine is different from Saren's. His only destroys stuff—but mine…"
Jack stretched out her hands and her body became engulfed in purple energy waves. A purple biotic field arose and surrounded Jack in a six foot radius around her and reached the ceiling. As the purple mass effect fields consumed the weights and containers around Jack they all began rising from the ground and floating. Jack suddenly pulled her hands back in towards her stomach and breathed out and the field dispersed. All of the objects dropped to the ground and made a collective crashing sound.
"That's fuckin' amazing!" Angel shouted. "Even your annihilation field has gravitational power. Where was that when you were doing the entrance exam?"
Jack grinned bashfully.
"I just learned it recently from copying Saren—but mine's a little bit better though, isn't it?" Jack gloated excitedly.
"Yeah," Angel agreed. "That's really cool. I haven't learned any new stuff all year."
"Shepard—Never compare yourself to me," Jack said. "Cerberus tried to torture my biotic power into me—but I didn't need it. I got the power for days, man. That's why I escaped."
"So…you don't think they made you a stronger biotic?" Angel said.
"Fuck no, Shepard. It's all me," Jack insisted.
"Are you sure they? I mean…you're really, really good. You know, most people at this school think it's 'cause of Cerberus. I mean…they have a lot of money…and technology," Angel ventured.
"Fuck their money!" Jack shouted angrily. "Thane knows—and fucking Grunt knows. It's all my brain Shepard, I don't care what you or anyone else fucking thinks. None of the other kids that were in that facility were half as good as me. If Cerberus could just make me then why am I the only one like me? Huh?"
"You're right—Sorry," Angel said as he scratched his head. "You're the only one like you—that's for sure…So what do you think about when you lift stuff? How do you do it?"
"You have to—dominate the object. Not in aggressive way, you know—nothing macho," Jack said. "But you gotta—own it. Like a tattoo or a kid, maybe. Think to yourself, and say 'your mine.' Beckon it."
Angel flicked his hand and his lash formed and stretched out towards a cargo container. The biotic string caressed itself around the container as Angel tried to focus on what Jack said. He poked the container repeatedly with his lash, getting more frustrated with every poke.
"Fuck it!" Angel whined.
Gripping the lash in his hand, he whipped the container as hard as he could. The container slid back and slammed into the container behind it.
"Jesus!" Jack said. "There was a lot of power in that lash."
"I'm not feeling very good about myself right now," Angel responded somewhat flatly.
"No, dude," Jack said. "You couldn't move that thing with just the strength from your arm—that's all the lash—it's loaded up with kinetic energy!"
"Seriously?" Angel asked.
"If you can figure out how to pull people with that thing you can trash them!" Jack insisted excitedly.
"But I can't," Angel said bitterly.
"Don't worry," Jack said. "I've got an idea."
She shoved her hand up the sleeve of her uniform and reached into her armpit. Her hand fiddled around in her space-bra for a second and then finally pulled out a bag of red sand. She looked at Angel with an evil grin.
"You wanna try some o' this?" Jack asked experimentally.
"Is that red sand, Jack?" Angel said hoarsely.
"Yeah, dude. Chill out. It enhances biotics—it's made out of Eezo," Jack said.
"Jack, I'm not snorting illegal drugs in gym class," Angel argued. "Can you imagine the consequences? At this school of all places?"
"Samara…heheheh…caught me like six times," Jack said as she burst into a fit of laughter.
"You're…you're making that up," Angel ventured.
"Angel, I swear," Jack promised through her laughter. "I swear."
"You're supposed to be helping me, Jack," Angel said.
"OH, I am dude!" Jack said. "Nothing like intense euphoria and enhanced biotics to change up your learning style."
"Jack that's not…" Angel began.
"What? True? It's how I learned the 'lance.'" Jack said coyly.
Angel scratched his head and looked at Jack with a smirk. "And you swear?"
Angel had his Backlash up. The circular biotic shield was massive from the effects of the red sand and protected his entire body. Jack was lifting up weights and containers at random with her biotics and throwing them all at Angel's backlash. Each one bounced off harmlessly as Angel and Jack both laughed hysterically. Jack and Angel both had nostrils coated in red sand and eyes that were bloodshot.
"Jack—I feel like I'm flying! I know I'm not but—holy shit!" Angel drawled.
"You are flying. You're a star, Shepard!" Jack cried as she hurled another cargo container at him.
"You're a shining star!" Angel sang. "No matter who you are! Shining bright to see! Who you can truly—"
The door opened and Samara marched in.
"What is this racket?" Samara snarled. "What…"
Samara looked at Jack and saw the red powder on her nose and her bloodshot eyes. Then she looked at Angel and saw the red powder on his nose and his bloodshot eyes. Samara's eyes bulged hideously and her blue face t
"Oh shit," Jack whimpered.