Chapter 5 – A bad influence
Back near the Citadel tower, Rebecca was now hidden behind one of the many planters again, still somewhat wet from falling into the water. She cursed herself for accidently nodding off to sleep while clung to the krogan statue.
Her thought process rapidly bounced to various places as she tried to control her breathing and shivering; 'Think I dreamt about killer vegetables. I wonder who hacked the security before me? Do guys like the wet-look? Do all asari have such big boobs? I can't compete with that. What if there's more than one assassin? Despite the time, surely someone else would have wandered around here. Someone close this area off? Will the soggy foot prints give my position away? Wonder how long they'll take to dry. I miss my omni-tool, I'm gonna get a back-up glove and sleeve combo and never take it off, well, except for bed and showers… Mine are nice and perky though, pert. I think he'd like them. Ugh. Why did I agree to try that drink?'
Her abstract babble suddenly stopped and dropped back into survival mode when she sensed a presence nearby. Dipping a hand in one of her dungaree pockets, she quietly pulled out and clutched a spanner tightly in her hands.
The drell's raspy voice calmly called out; "I doubt you expected that I'd double back."
Rebecca gritted her teeth and froze, sure that her location hadn't yet been discovered. She guessed that his call-out was simply to rattle her or to trick her into giving her position away.
The voice seemed closer now; "There aren't many hiding places here, I can make your death quick."
The human's heartbeat began to increase in pace and limited options began to rush to her mind. Stay? Flee? Do her penguin dance? Most of her scenarios ended with her getting shot dead. Even without her waterlogged dungarees now weighing her down, she heavily doubted any sort of escape at this point, it was just a matter of time.
Although silenced, Rebecca could hear light footsteps. The assassin would be on her position within twenty seconds, but much louder footsteps caused his to stop.
Across the way Rebecca gazed upon an unlikely but glorious sight and her mouth dropped open in disbelief.
A large elcor had entered the area, it's broad shoulders serving as a stable platform for a set of mounted cannons, and riding along right on top was Scott, sporting an excited grin.
The 'living tank' spoke to the assassin with it's droning voice; "Badassfully. Eat this cabbage-head."
###
"I told him to say that," beamed Scott to the C-Sec officer, breaking up his story, "it was AMAZING!"
###
Rebecca had seconds to react as the heavy cannons charged up and her analytical mind kicked into full gear. From the angle and sheer size of the upcoming attack, it was likely that the drell would be instantly killed. There was a chance however that the nimble assassin could dodge the blast and so something had to be done. Her job as a distraction was not over.
Rebecca suddenly stood up and yelled the first thing that came to her as she threw her spanner towards the drell's head; "Poppycock!"
His attention diverted for a second, he turned on instinct, just in time to avoid the tool making contact with his head and to aim his gun towards the female human.
Rebecca let her body go limp and allowed gravity to drop her body quickly to the floor.
The volley from the mounted cannons seared through the air, vaporising the drell instantly and causing large fiery scorch marks across the floor and walls.
There was silence for a few seconds as both humans looked over to the singed surfaces.
"That. Was. Amazing!" cried out Scott, patting the top of the elcor rapidly. He then waved at Rebecca; "Becky! Come over here and meet the Elcornator!"
Prottii turned slightly; "Confused. What is the Elcornator?"
Scott rubbed the elcor's back; "Your new badass name!"
Rebecca began to walk over towards them, a happily bemused look plastered across her face; "Scott… you are ridiculous."
"I know, right?" winked Scott.
"Freeze! Don't move!" called out a booming voice.
The three found themselves surrounded at all sides by eight C-Sec officers, consisting of humans and turians, who were training their omni-tools and guns on them.
"With great concern," began the elcor, "are we in trouble?"
Scott, still sat on top of the elcor, called out excitedly, despite their predicament; "Oh man, you guys are late! You saw all that right?! Right?!"
###
"And that's when you guys made me jump down to my knees and put my hands on my head," nodded Scott, clearly showing how relaxed and guilt-free he was feeling right now.
Pablo was about to ask another question when a metallic knocking sound at the door interrupted him. He turned and opened it, revealing a human wearing a large ear-piece on the other side.
"Officer Lang?" questioned the turian, curious if the interruption was related to the current case.
The human C-Sec officer glanced to Scott for a second and then whispered a few sentences to his colleague.
Pablo turned back to Scott; "You, stay there. I'll be back in a few minutes."
Scott looked around the small plain room, knowing the only exit out would soon be locked; "Yeah sure, I'll just take in the scenery."
The C-Sec officers left, the door sliding back across, causing a red light to flicker up on the nearby panel to declare the lock-in.
Scott stared at the red light quietly for a few moments.
###
[Year: 2167]
[Location: Arcturus Station, Arcturus Stream]
A twelve-year-old Scott stared at the red light on the panel next to the locked library door. He continued silently composing himself, trying his best to ignore the pain in his ribs where his father had punched him.
"I'm going to join the navy," said Scott quietly to himself, "I'm going to be an operative and surpass him, I'm going to be the best and he'll have to salute me."
Unknown to him, Rebecca was still listening from her hiding place, clutching the book she had been reading tightly against her chest, silently cheering for him.
Scott wiped the last of his tears with his left hand before swiping his father's key-card against the panel to open the door. As he walked through, it closed behind him and locked again.
The boy paused on the other side, glaring at the key-card before throwing it at the floor. He guessed that the 'misplacement' of the card would earn himself another beating, but right now it was all he could think of to get back at his father. Maybe the actual 'active' members of the Alliance would find it and scold his father for losing it.
Carefully walking down the corridors ahead, he avoided eye-contact with various officers as he made his way back to his room.
After entering his living space, Scott let out a relaxed breath when he discovered his father was passed-out on the couch.
Although it was tempting to hurt the man in some way as he lay defenceless, Scott knew it was best to just quietly go to bed and forget about the day.
After changing and getting under the covers, Scott glared at the blank ceiling, determined that tomorrow he'd set himself along the path for a better future.
The next morning, Scott had got out of bed early to leave the living quarters before his father awoke to a hangover.
Opening the front door, the boy instantly spied his father's key-card on the floor as if someone had found it and placed it there.
He looked down both ends of the corridor but didn't find sign of anyone.
Picking it up, he decided it was probably best to place it next to his sleeping father to give him a hint that his boy had at least been back home last night. Avoiding another beating would be beneficial anyway.
Scott then walked down the corridor, ready to start asking questions and investigate what was needed to become a true member of the Alliance.
###
The red light turned green as Pablo returned to the small room.
There was a pause as they silently looked at each other before the turian waved an arm to the door; "You are free to go."
"For reals? No trolling?" asked Scott not wanting to get his hopes up.
"I am not sure what you just said, but yes," nodded the C-Sec officer.
Scott slowly stood up and canted his head; "So you believe me then?"
"The councillor just called in, she is safe and confirms the first part of your story, at least up until receiving a message to meet an informant near the lake and then your bumbling but fortunate interference."
"That's great," said the human as he walked towards the door, "I should thank her."
The turian shifted to temporally block the door; "I wouldn't recommend it, in fact, she expressly stated that she doesn't want to see you so don't go trying to visit either."
"Whhhaaa?"
"On the plus side for you, she says she won't press indecent assault charges against you."
Scott stood up straight and saluted; "I was very drunk sir, totally didn't mean to fondle her while saving her life."
"Or just before?"
"I tripped?" tried Scott, still slightly foggy over the exact details of what happened.
Pablo shook his head; "In any case, you'll also be paying for the damages caused to the area."
"Guess since we dusted the bad guy, you can't charge him right? Just notify Dodson and…"
The turian interrupted; "We have already contacted your superior. He said that due to you being on shore leave at the time, the payment for damages is your responsibility."
"Oh what?" slumped Scott, "Lame excuse."
The C-Sec officer folded his arms; "We will forward the full details to you by the end of the day, for now, the three of you can leave. We're going to be busy searching for this salarian and finding out who hired the assassin in the first place..."
"Ah, yeah, sorry. Good luck with that," said Scott with only a minor tinge of guilt for disintegrating the perpetrator.
Pablo grunted and then stepped to one side to allow the human to leave, canting his head when Scott didn't move; "Why are you staring at me?"
Scott finally asked a question that had been bugging him since his arrest; "Is your name really Pablo?"
Not a stranger to such a question, the turian simply replied; "Please get out of here."
***
Scott, Rebecca and their new elcor friend slowly walked away from the C-Sec offices.
"Upset," stated the elcor, "I can't believe they confiscated my cannons. Annoyed. I will be having stern words."
"You'll get them back soon," said Rebecca gently patting Prottii's side, "we'll help."
"Right," agreed Scott, slamming a fist into his open palm.
The human female yawned and rubbed one eye; "I can't believe where the time went. Not long til we have to report in. We're bound to get another scolding, punishment detail again."
"Before that, I have a plan," announced Scott raising his right index finger.
"Where now?" asked Rebecca as they approached Prottii's shop.
Scott turned around to face her, a grin spread across his face; "We're going back to Flux, the casino in particular, and we're going to win many-much gambles to instantly pay off our debt… a few drinks while we're there can't hurt either."
"You're a bad influence on me Scott Lawton."
"You wouldn't have it any other way," winked Scott.
###
[Year: 2175]
[Location: Enlistment Hall 2, Arcturus Station, Arcturus Stream]
"See-see you," replied Rebecca in a dream-like daze as Scott walked away towards a handful of other trainees.
She had seen them around earlier, just before the initial introduction speeches, but had been unable to work up the confidence to talk to them herself.
"Ms Watkins."
She wondered how he made friends so easily. He seemed so handsome now, even with the goatee… that was probably one reason, that and his charming personality.
"Ms Watkins?"
He touched her shoulder and said 'catch you later'. That meant he wanted to talk to her again right? He'd probably 'have' to as they were going to be in the same regiment, but he said it like he 'wanted' to.
"Rebecca?"
Rebecca snapped out of her self-induced trance and squeaked, suddenly noticing the officer next to her.
"Sorry to startle you," said the smart middle-aged man, "dreaming up another invention no doubt."
A smile ran across the young woman's face as she recognized the officer as a close friend of her parents; "Mister Wilson!"
The man held out his hand for a handshake and he returned the smile as they shared the greeting; "You finally made it, we couldn't wait for you to come of age and begin this journey, we know you'll be a great asset to the Alliance."
"Thank you," blushed Rebecca, "I'll try my best."
"I must say though, requesting field work on top of research and development seems a dash unorthodox."
"I wanted to trail my programs and tools out in the field, who better to test them under genuine conditions than myself," said Rebecca nervously pushing up her glasses.
"Well," said Wilson dismissing his concerns, "you're not a little girl any more, and your results so far have been exceptional. I always knew you'd want to push yourself even more than what your parents anticipated."
Rebecca looked around; "Are they here?"
Wilson couldn't hide his frown; "I'm sorry my dear, they of course send their congratulations."
"Of… of course," replied Rebecca giving her best false smile.
"Rebecca…" started Wilson.
There were sudden loud cheers from three of the trainees behind the couple that instantly attracted their attention.
They were stood around Scott who took a bow after performing some missed, but surely entertaining, endeavour.
Wilson's face darkened as he leaned towards Rebecca to quietly talk to her; "The only advice I would give to a girl as bright as you, is to not be influenced by the likes of Scott Lawton. His father was the worst kind of scum kicked out of the navy, and as they say, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Try your best to avoid him."
Rebecca hummed a low confirmation and nodded, but she made a very conscious decision to decide such a thing for herself after getting to know him a little more.
###
Rebecca glanced to the side of Scott's face as they walked back towards Flux.
She found that she couldn't stop herself from smiling.