A.N: Chapter 10! So glad I got to this point. I'm working on completing the rest of the story, which shouldn't be too hard, but I need to play more Mass Effect 3 to get in the zone again. Anyway, like always, read and review! Tell me what you think about the story, if you'd like something to happen or just anything at all.
Disclaimer: Since the last time I forgot some asshole got on my case, so I'm paranoid. Mass Effect and James Vega belong to Bioware and Bioware only. Brianna Dirce is my OC. Thank you for not giving me a lawsuit.
Chapter 10: Distressing Atomic Bombs
Bree eyes widened drastically. She took one step backwards, but a strong Hispanic hand prevented her from taking another thirty away from the bright lights of the club. The sign above the door said, "LUNAR ECLIPSE" and the bright blue and neon black made her head hurt. James almost chuckled when he felt her lean back against his hand in an attempt to retreat. "Come on, soldier, and show some spine."
"I think I left it on the ship. Maybe I should go back and get it, sir. OUCH!" Bree leapt forward at the sharp pinch on her butt. Turning, she glared at her commander, whose face was split in a toothy grin. "No 'sir's remember. You're not here as a squad member."
"I should be," Bree mumbled. "Then at least I wouldn't be so embarrassed."
James scoffed, taking her arm in a firm grip, before dragging her to the doors. "You'd be embarrassed no matter what I called you, chica. Just think of it as meeting a family member."
Like that made her feel any better. Bree gulped, but didn't try to escape from his grip.
When they stepped into the building, Bree was assaulted with a rush of sound. It brushed over her like a tidal wave, taking her breath away and setting her already stuttering heart thundering. It was loud, and techno. She resisted the urge to cover her ears, thinking that might be bad manners, and closed her eyes against the bright neon lights throbbing through the air. The air was thick with a mist of sweat and alcohol, but underneath there was something she had only just become familiar with. It made her nervous just thinking about it.
Bree looked over her shoulder to look at James, just to gauge his reaction, and wasn't surprised to find the happy grin all over his face. It figured this would be his kind of avenue.
"You hear, that," he said, having to press his lips to her ear so he could be heard. "I think its Pendulum playing right now. Haven't heard them since I was a kid."
So it was music? Bree could have sworn differently.
They pushed their way through the swarms of people bouncing up and down, making their way over to what looked like a light show parlor. James brought her in closer to his body as a rather rambunctious teen slammed into her, making her gasp and grip James' arm harder. He leaned down, and caught her whimper of distress when the teen turned to glare at the person 'ruining his style' but gaped at the intimidating form before him. Wisely, the kid smiled in apology before scrambling into the throne of bodies once more. James sighed, looking down at the bundle of nerves in his arms.
Bree's body tightened when another man bumped into her hip, causing her to jolt and almost leap into James' arms again. He leaned down, and she felt his lips gently kiss her ear. "Stick close, chica. Nobody will hurt, I promise."
She nodded. And continued, but stopped when another song started to play. The crowd went nuts, screaming with joy before bouncing with more fury than before. James grabbed her arm before tugging her into the safety of the bar. The bartender, a turian with red markings on his alien face gave what looked like a smirk at Bree's frightened look.
"Daft Punk's mix of Robot Rock/Oh Yeah. Gets you humans every time."
"Not me," Bree commented taking in gulps of air to gain her momentum again. James laughed, nudging her hip with his own, before leaning down to kiss her hair. Bree blushed but continued to look down at the bar table. He shook his head, before turning to glance up and down the bar. "I thought she said- Ah, there he is!"
Bree looked up, alerted for some sort of danger, but only saw James' face a joy as he brushed past her to step a few feet down. He yelled a greeting, lost somewhat in the noise level around them, but the voice reached the ears of another turian standing at the bar, waiting for some drinks. The turian turned, and with what could only be described as a victory yell, turned to meet James' hug. Bree blinked, trying to hear what they were saying, but couldn't. She saw them greet each other like brothers, before the turian lightly punched James in the arm and turned to grab his drinks. Bree's mouth ran dry when James stuck his thumb behind him, clearly pointing at her.
The turian looked and caught her eye, and Bree froze. That scar, the features, the commanding presence. It was Garrus Vakarian.
"Hey," the bartender asked. Bree turned to look at him. "You want anything?"
Bree nodded, "A big glass of water please."
He shook his head in disbelief but bent to get it. Bree jolted when a hand gripped her shoulder. She turned to see James and Garrus Vakarian had snuck back over to her.
"Bree," James started, keeping a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Meet, Garrus." The turian smiled, extending a hand to her. "Nice to meet you, Bree."
"Yeah."
There was a silence as she shook delicately at the hand extended, before James burst out laughing. Bree stared at him as if he was crazy. "Seriously, chica, he doesn't bite."
"Not much, Vega."
"So where is everybody?"
"Shepard managed to con a room on the top floor, one with less noise and better food."
"Lucky, she always gets the good perks."
"Yeah, well, you're the last one to get here, so everybody's upstairs already. I had just come down here to grab a few stronger drinks. Jack's here, with Wrex and Grunt, so I'm going to need it."
James laughed, wrapping a comfortable arm around Bree's shoulders. "Well then, I say we meet our amigos before the night ends. Whaddya say chica?"
Bree reached over, grabbed the water and to the amusement of James and Garrus, and surprise of the bartender, downed it in one go. She gulped, took a second to breath, and nodded.
"Sure."
They walked through the sea of bodies again, Garrus taking the lead. Bree's eyes were starting to sting and her head was hurting, pounding with the beat of the bass around them. Up on a small stage, or up on two small stages now that she got a better look-a group of skimpy dressed woman were shaking their asses back and forth with the beat, and dancing for the few of everyone who could see them. Bree felt both disgust and envy. Disgust because she'd lived too long with the sting of sexism and these girls were only advancing that, and envy that they had enough confidence to actually dance like that.
Bree didn't dance. Ever. At least, not while she was sober, which if she had her way would be all the time. The very thought of dancing in any way, let alone a "sexy way" frightened her more than a gun to her head. The three of them advanced to a staircase located to the far east of lighted dance floor, and climbed swiftly. James and Garrus were chatting, talking about this and that, yelling over the loud thumping of the music. Bree winced when the lights went from blues and greens to a nasty flashing of red and yellow. Her mind was on the fritz and a case of nerves in the stomach was making her sicker as they walked. When she stopped, just inches from the top of the stairs, she had to lean against the silver beamed railing to keep her from sinking on the floor.
Her halted motion alerted James who turned to look. His eyes frowned, and he patted Garrus' shoulder to stop him. He stepped down and leaned over to look Bree in the face. He hadn't noticed how pale she had been in the lights, but now that they were above the strobes he noticed her color was draining. He glanced briefly at Garrus, before crouching to look Bree in the eyes.
"Chica, are you alright?"
"No," she said softly, dulled by the music. "I'm so scared right now."
James smiled softly, shaking his head before reaching up to rub the back of her neck. "Don't be, chica. I promise you, there is nothing to be afraid of. And don't worry about a thing. If you do embarrass me, well, I'll just have to embarrass you right back, now won't I?"
Bree examined his smile; saw the truth behind it and the teasing light that said everything would be alright. While she wasn't quite sure about that, she still couldn't just leave now. She nodded, before rolling her shoulders and standing to walk back up.
"Well what do we have here?" A voice from above them called out. "Looks like Muscle-Head got a girlfriend."
Bree stared up at the woman before her and gaped. The woman was short, wearing a pair of orange pants and a black shirt that reveal far too much of her abdomen. Her hair was a Mohawk, black and tied in a ponytail that lay on the back of her neck. And she was tattooed everywhere.
James sighed, grabbing Bree's hand before she really bolted down the stairs. "Jack, watch the attitude."
"What, I didn't say anything rude. I was just making an observation. Shit, you see a guy again for the first time in fucking forever, and he jumps down your throat."
"Nice to see you too, Jack. Jack, this is Bree. Bree, this obnoxious foul mouth is Jack."
"Yeah, yeah, nice to meet ya. Garrus did you get me my Splitter?"
Garrus waved the drink in front of Jack's face, and gave what could only be described as a 'right here' face. Jack snarled well naturedly, before she swiped the drink and downed half the contents.
"Well," she started after she'd finished, giving Bree a once over. "Now that everybody's here, this party can really get started."
Bree stood still as Jack smirked, before turning around and walking up the rest of stairs. The hand pushing her forward was accompanied by a sigh, and Bree was forced to follow the hand, as her legs had once again turned to jelly.
"That," she whispered. "Was Jack?"
"Yeah, don't let her foul language bug you much. She's actually gotten a bit better since she started training the biotic students. Every now and then though, she does tend to revert to typical Jack nature."
Garrus chuckled, sending Bree a confident smile. "We choose to ignore it most of the time. That or fight back with more foul language, which doesn't seem to deter her one bit."
"Oh," was all Bree could manage as they ascended the rest of the way up. When they reached the top, Bree froze in her tracks for what seemed like the eighteenth time this evening. Standing before her, or sitting if you wanted to get technical, was the crew of the Normandy. All sitting, or standing around, talking and chatting at once, drinking and enjoying the evening. Bree saw everything, Krogans, Asari, Humans, Quarians and Turians. Seeing them all together in a comforting atmosphere was a first for her.
Garrus lifted his arms, patted James' shoulder and announced quite loudly. "Guess who finally showed up!"
All eyes shifted towards them, and Bree felt like sinking into the plush blue carpet below her. A chorus of greetings erupted from the mass, as one by one, they all came up to hug, punch, or shake James' hand. Eyes trained to her, but quickly moved back to James as he took each greeting in stride. When a woman walked up, James' grin became a smile larger than any other.
The woman was tall, built like an Amazon, and beautiful as sin. Her blonde hair was short, trimmed to her shoulders, and flipped to tilt just a little bit over her deep blue eyes. It covered the scar that stretched across her chin, and flew down her neck to disappear beneath the collar of her dark red shirt. The tight blue jeans showed off hips and legs that made Bree envious, and the smile that stretched over bright pink lips and tanned skin made her jealous. The woman walked over, limping just slightly as she walked, but her body showed power and confidence. And when she stood in front of James, that smirk went friendly.
"Commander Vega."
James laughed, and hugged the woman tightly. Bree almost smiled. It was cute, seeing James act like a kid. Still, that little ball of jealousy rooted in her gut. She ignored it when the woman turned to meet her eyes.
"And who it this?"
Jack snorted loudly, and the rest of the crew all turned to look at Bree in unison. Some with suspicion, some with friendly appraisal, others with disinterest.
Never in her life had Bree felt so self conscious. A dozen thoughts raced through her head, many of which were ridiculous at best.
Do I look funny? Does this dress seem too formal? Am I wearing my lipstick right? Do I have something in my hair? Why are they staring at me?
James turned, noticing that Bree's eyes were wide with terror, like the scared mouse he had seen so many times before. His heart ached, and he wished he didn't have to see that look on her face. Before he could open his mouth, Jack waved a hand.
"She's his girlfriend."
There was a silence, a pause, before voices erupted into each other. James shook his head at the questions, as one by one they bounced off, and flung themselves at Bree, who shrank every second.
"Hey," the woman shouted, and everybody quieted instantly.
She turned back to Bree before extending her hand. Her smile turned friendly.
"My name's Sarah Shepard? What's yours?"
Bree looked up at Shepard, before darting her eyes to James'. He nodded, giving an encouraging smile.
Gulping, the little mouse reached her hand out, and it shook just slightly.
"My name's Bree Dirce."
A.N: After note, I tried to get some of the characters in there, but it's hard to do so many at one time. Sorry about that, it might seem a little off. Next time I'll get a few more familiar faces in me promise. Alright, so it will be some time before the next chapter comes out as I am moving in two weeks time. When I'm settled in, which could take another month, I will complete Mi Chica! Okay, readers, okay! See you next time!