A/N- This one may be a bit confusing due to Aaron fighting Delena and Tali telling a story with Aaron in it. So lucky him, he gets all the screen time this episode…
MASS MISCALCULATION
Episode 14- Anger, rage, and biotics
Tali sighed as she placed her fingered glove on her hand. This was going to be a long story.
"Alright" she said, looking at the group of people. It all started about a year back. A quarian was on pilgrimage…"
About a year back- Citadel
"Man, I'm gonna miss that apartment" Aaron sighed as he forlornly looked at the remains of his old apartment on the Citadel, standing at the edge of a high rooftop. Even though it had been quite some time since Cerberus blew it up, he still liked to look at it and relive the memories. He turned around and was about to head to the space port when he heard someone scream.
"Please! Don't hurt me!" a masculine yet garbled voice shouted.
"Eh?" Aaron grunted, walking over to the other side of the rooftop and looking down at an ally. What he saw was a quarian, male by the looks of it, with a white biosuit and red visor, cowering in said alley, back pressed against the wall as two C-sec officers, turian, slowly walked up to him. Aaron let out a sound of annoyance, muttering under his breath, "not this shit again…" as he vaulted over the side of the roof.
"Please, I don't want this…" the quarian whimpered as he laid in a fetal position, the officers nearing him.
"Get a load of this guy, no wonder Drak thought he was useless" one of the officers jeered.
"Yeah, he wants his money, quarian" the other said.
"I-I told you, I don't have it! I just wanted a few part for it, I didn't know he would want so much in return!"
"Yeah, well that's how he works. you owe him money and don't pay back in a week he gets pissed and doubles the amount each day until he's paid"
"But I don't have that kind of money! I doubt most of the people that live on this station do!"
both of the turians looked at eachother and smirked. "Well, that's where it gets fun. Shame, really. Random quarian found dead to a crack in his visor, died of a extremely slow and painful diseased death"
"Of course that's what we'll say after dumping your body. In actuality the suit puncture will come from us shooting you in the balls. A lot"
"Oh Keelah, pleas no!" the turian's sick smiles were beaming now as they reached for their pistols, but were interrupted as a cough hinted towards someone being behind them. They both turned their heads to see a human in antique clothing walk up behind them.
"So, dirty cops? Is this what the Council in all of it's greatness has come to? Ah well, bound to happen anyways" Aaron said dismissively, examining his fingernails, not looking at the two officers.
"And who are you?" one of them asked. Due to Aaron having his sunglasses, they didn't notice that in actuality he was looking at them with intense stares. He also noticed the one who spoke looked like he was trying to remember something.
"Meh, just a concerned citizen worried that the wellbeing of the Citadel is comprised of cops that are supposed to be protecting citizens, cops that swear to protect them yet are threatening to torture one via genital mutilation because he's not paying someone, that someone likely being a criminal" when he noticed they were still reaching for their pistols, he added, "also I'm a citizen with old cloths worth a fortune, that if I were to pawn them off I'm sure it'd be enough to compensate you for my troubles while being a token of good faith so you can believe me when I say that I'll look the other way"
"Yeah, you do that. Human scum…" the other officer muttered, turning back to the quarian. Unknown to them Aaron was still walking towards them.
"Okay, now than back to busine- wait…" the turian who had the thinking face on earlier said, eyes widening slightly. "I recognize you… your Aar-" the rest of what the officer was about to say was cut short when a blue plasma blade pierced through his chest, Aaron driving the hilt all the way to his back. Whistling, Aaron nonchalantly went to the side of the bisected turian as his mouth was open in a silent scream, his talons attempting to grasp the blade but being burnt.
Putting a arm around his shoulder, Aaron said, "Yeah, like I would have ever sold these cloths. Plus I don't think they come off…" while he was talking, the other turian was in a state of being dumbstruck, and as he dumbly fumbled for his own weapon Aaron formed a silenced pistol and shot him cleanly in the head, ending him. Holstering the weapon, Aaron looked back at the other turian he stabbed, still having his arm around him. "So, how's your day been?" he asked. For the turian, every moment was agony as he uselessly gripped the blade in him. His vision turned blurry as darkness started creeping into his peripherals.
"Hey buddy, you okay? You seem to have something stuck in your chest" Aaron jived, frowning as he poked the tip of the sword. With that, the turian died, Aaron pulling the katana out as the body hit the ground. "Well than, if you don't want to talk about it that's fine than mr. bird man. Hmm…?" Aaron glanced to the side to see the quarian rolled up in a ball on the ground, covering his visor with his hands. Tilting his head to the side, Aaron stepped in front of him and squatted down. "Hey, you okay?" he asked. the quarian's response was to whimper a unintelligible stream of words.
Aaron sighed mentally. "Great Aaron, you spooked the poor dude. Should probably dial back the sadistic death's when dealing with these situations from now on…" the virtual man thought to himself, than placed a hand on the quarians shoulder, causing him to whimper more in fear. "Hey man, I'm not gonna hurt you" the quarian continued whimpering, causing Aaron's head to tilt more. "Um, I'm trying to help you" more whimpering. "You know, just kind of saved you. Also I'm willing to help with the dude who's bribed these guys to kill you, so… you know, should probably stop now" yet even more whimpering. Why was it so hard for Aaron to talk to people sometimes? "Oh for the- WOULD YOU GET THE HELL UP AND STOP CRYING ALREADY!"
The quarian listened to that immediately, getting up on his feet and, still quivering, pressed his back against the wall. "Please don't hurt me…" he whispered.
"Oh for God's sake, why would I hurt you?" Aaron asked.
"Just take whatever… wait. Your not gonna hurt me?" he asked, taking a step forward.
"Nah, I just saved your life because I wanted to rob you. OF COURSE I'M NOT GOING TO HURT YOU!" the virtual man bellowed.
The quarian covered the sides of his helmet in pain. "Alright, I'm sorry! Just don't scream like that!"
Taking a deep breath, Aaron clasped his hands together. "Fair enough. Now then, what's with corrupt cops gunning for you? And who's Drak?"
The quarian groaned upon hearing that name , covering his visor with his hand. "That name, I really don't like. He's this batarian, a war lord who loans people like me money, than raises the debt up to impossible levels, and than enslaves anyone who can't pay"
"Ouch"
"Yeah, and because I'm a quarian he said I wouldn't make a good slave, few if any batarians think of us as slaves, just trash, they say we're too delicate because of our immune systems"
"Alright, so he tried to clip you… why did you borrow money from him anyways?"
"I needed parts for a small ship, I've been working awhile on it, and I needed money for parts"
"Pilgrimage gift?"
"Yeah- wait, you know about our pilgrimage?"
"Yeah, I met a quarian a year back, her name was Tali"
"Zorah? the Admiral's daughter?"
"Admiral? Damn, she held out on me… yeah, you know her?"
"She's friends to a lot of quarians from what I heard, but that's not important. My ship's in a docking bay, but Drak has guards everywhere around it, in order to make sure I don't get away until I'm dead. After that he was gonna sell the ship"
"Hm, I see your problem. Well, come on, let's go" Aaron said dismissively, gesturing to the quarian as he walked away.
"Um…" the quarian stuttered, hesitantly stepping forward. "Where are we going?"
"To the docking bay so we can kill all the guards their and get your ship back so you can go back to the Migrant Fleet"
"Oh, okay. Wait, what!?" the quarian yelled, running in front of Aaron. "Are you crazy, that's suicide!"
"Suicide for you maybe, considering one suit puncture will kill you. I happen to be a little bit more resistant to gunfire and have super powers so I think I can handle a few guards"
"But… but why? Why would you help some random quarian like me?" he asked, utterly confused at this point.
"…You seemed like you needed help" Aaron said simply as he walked forward continuously.
"That's it, what, are you some kind of human Saint?" the quarian asked curiously.
"Actually, yeah. Plus I don't like batarians. This playa might not judge, but slavery ain't cool, and I don't really like them. Plus you know how high of a price they have on my head, apparently those idiots want me as a slave. Pfft, as if"
"So your doing this to get the batarians mad?"
"Yeah, sort of. Plus I'm bored. I was planning on attacking some human group that blew a apartment of mine up, but… nah, I'll save that for later. Maybe after this adventure. So, my quarian homie, what's your name?"
"Amer. Amer Chorie nar Florin"
"Florin?"
"Before we complete our pilgrimage we take the name of the ship we grew up on. Florin was a human ship we scavenged"
"Oh. Well come on, we got work to do"
"Never mind, this won't take long at all" Aaron sighed as he looked at the docking bay. It consisted of a small, shoddy space worthy ship, along with batarian guards. Five batarian guards. "You couldn't have taken five guards?"
"There used to be ten, but I guess they thought I was gonna die today so they let half off, but kept the other half incase something happened. Plus I'm a pacifist, I was going to be a doctor when I came back the fleet!"
"Oh. Than wouldn't a better gift have been medical supplies?"
"The gift doesn't exactly have to coronate with what occupation we take"
"But it helps?"
"Yeah, a little"
"Well, let's get crackin'" Aaron said, standing up and jumping into the docking bay. he was immediately surrounded by the five guards.
"You! Human! What are you doing here!?" one barked.
"…Not much. What's happening with you?" Aaron asked, smirking. Sighing angrily, one of the guards attempted to hit him with his rifle. Acting fast, Aaron swatted the rifle away and punched the batarian in the head, simultaneously forming a silenced pistol and shooting another one in the head. Aaron immediately whipped behind the one he punched, using his as a meat shield while shooting another guard dead. The one he used as a meat shield was riddled apart with bullets by his partners, and Aaron used that moment to throw the body, toppling over one of the guards as Aaron sprinted up to the last one and punched his head with enough force it actually flew off, landing behind the guard as the body hit the ground with a 'thud'. The final guard, the one that was toppled over by the body, crawled away from Aaron, forsaking his gun. He looked up at Aaron with all four eyes drenched in fear.
"What… what are you!?" he shrieked.
"You know who I am" Aaron dryly claimed, channeling fire into his hand.
The batarian's eye's widened. "I know you! Your Aaro- AAAGH!" whatever the batarian was going to say after that was drowned out as Aaron burned him alive with a fire blast.
"Too little, too late. Yo Amer, you can come out!" Aaron called, kicking the charred batarian's corpse away. Amer peeked his head out from behind a crate and eyed the corpses. "Did you- did you really have to kill them like that?" he asked meekly.
"Well how else was I supposed to get rid of them?" Aaron asked in a bemused voice.
"Well you didn't have to burn that one alive!"
"Look, Amer, I don't like burning people alive, I really don't. But it's a necessity"
"You could have just shot them!"
"Look man, I-" Aaron stopped and put a hand on his head, sighing. "Look, this isn't getting us anywhere. Let's just get in the damn ship"
Nodding, Amer briskly walked past him, going up a ramp into the cargo hold, Aaron wordlessly following him.
Seating themselves in the cockpit, they took off, leaving Citadel space. Aaron swivled in his chair and looked at Amer. "So, we're going back to the Migrant Fleet?"
"Yes. Although, I need to ask, why did you come with me?"
"Well Drak isn't going to exactly take this easy, most likely. You know his type, they'll probably try to hunt you down or something. So I'm just gonna stick around with you for a bit"
"And how will you get off the fleet?"
"I'll find a way"
"Alright…" he sighed, getting back to the controls. "Can I ask you something else though?"
"What?"
"Is it true what they say? That you have all these powers, like flying and being able to run superfast?"
"It's not flying, it's slowly falling while being propelled forward. Although in space, yeah it's flying. Then again everything flies in space… but yeah, I do have powers"
"How did you get them? Is it something anyone could get?"
"No, the way I got my powers was a complete accident. Plus believe me, even if you could get them you wouldn't want them"
"Why not?"
"Well for one thing I can't eat or drink anything, it just gets stuck in me than I have to spend a hour getting it out. The point is I'm not human anymore, you just become this… I don't know, this virtual construct, whatever the hell you want to cal it"
"Virtual?"
"Yeah, it's… look you can ask Tali if you ever see her, I don't want to explain it"
"Fair enough" Amer sighed as he continued piloting the ship. "You know this trip is going to take a day or two, right?"
"Yeah, in that case I'm gonna go to sleep. One of the perks of having virtual powers, I can sleep for a really long time" with that, Aaron left, going through a door and wandering the ship until he found a pair of bunkbeds. Crashing into one, Aaron closed his eyes as he waited for the ship to arrive at it's destination.
Feeling someone shake him, Aaron opened his eyes to see Amer shaking him. "We here already?" he asked.
"Yes, come on" Amer said, walking off as Aaron got up from the bed. Amer led him to the airlock, the sealed door opening revealing a hallway into a much larger ship.
"By the way, you need to wear a breather mask" Amer instructed, holding up a clear mask to Aaron.
"Are you serious, I don't even breath that much anymore" Aaron protested.
"Well not everyone in the Migrant Fleet knows that you don't, and they'll be upset if they see you without it. So put it on"
Grumbling under his breath, Aaron complied, putting the mask on. They walked through the corridor and turned down the hall, seeing a group of quarians there to greet them.
"Amer!" one of them, a female quarian in a black suit and black visor said, running up and hugging Amer.
"Ghk! Mom!" Amer shouted, trying in vain to pull her off.
Aaron chuckled under his breath, seeing the two together brought back memories. He was pulled from his thoughts when he heard a familiar voice ask, "Aaron?"
"Yeah?" he asked, turning around. He saw a quarian in a black suit with many purple wrappings around it, and adorning a purple visor. "Tali?" he asked in shock.
"Yeah… what's wrong?" she asked, tilting her head to the side.
"Nothing, it's just… you look different. You get a haircut?"
She chuckled dryly. "Ha ha, no. When a quarian come's back from pilgrimage they get a new suit. I'll ask again, what are you doing here?"
"Oh, I'm with Amer. Helped him get back here"
"Really? How did that happen?"
Amer looked at Aaron and shook his head to the side, but Aaron ignored him. "Oh he owed a batarian slaver money for his pilgrimage gift and sent some thugs to try and kill him so I saved him and helped get his ship back"
Amer hung his head while Tali and Amer's Mother shouted "You what!?", the latter smacking Amer on the helmeted head.
"How many times did I tell you before you went off on your Pilgrimage not to interact with people like that!?" she shouted.
"Sorry Mom…" he murmured. As Amer's Mom yelled at him more, Tali stepped closer to Aaron.
"Why did you help him like that?" she asked.
"He seemed like he needed help" he said simply.
"…That's it?"
"I don't really need any other reason, do I?" he asked.
"No, it just seems… off character for you. In the short time I knew you, you just… talked about being in a gang"
"Street gang, there's a difference. And yeah, we never went around helping random people… most of the time, but I was just kind of bored, you know? So I decided to help him out"
"Well, in any case, thank you. I don't think he would have made it back alive without you"
"He wouldnt've, believe me. So, you mind if I stay on the ship for a say or two? You know, until I can get a ride somewhere?"
"I… don't think that's a good idea, Aaron" Tali muttered, fidgeting her hands.
"Aw come on, I don't even eat or drink anything, hell I don't even breath! Speaking of which, can I take this ridiculous thing off?" he asked, pointing to the breather mask.
"No, the others don't know that much about you and they would freak out if they saw you without it. Plus it's a matter of space, we don't exactly have a lot of it"
"So, you don't want me here, is that it?"
"No! Not at all! I mean, uh… it's just that I don't think the captain would be okay with it, you know?"
"Well can we at least ask him? Because I am kind of stuck here until I get a ride somewhere. I can't exactly fly at the speed of light"
"We can try, but I don't know if he'll agree…" she said, gesturing Aaron to follow her.
In a sense, she was right, as when they visited the captain he was reluctant to have him stay, mostly due to him being nervous of the virtual being, but in the end allowed it due to Aaron having earned his trust due to bringing Amer back safe. So with that, it was decided Aaron could temporarily stay on the ship. During that time Aaron had made friends with many of the quarians on the ship, albeit slowly due to them not trusting him at first. From time to time he would even help them with menial tasks, be it lifting heavy cargo or using his fire powers to weld things. It was actually after three days that Tali frantically ran to Aaron, seeing him finish welding a panel with his finger.
"I swear, that never gets old" looking behind him, he saw Tali panting from air, having run all the way from the other side of the ship. "Hey, Tals. Um, where's the fire?"
"Aaron, we need your help! Something horrible has happened"
"Why, what's going on?"
"We were planning on strip-mining a planet we were orbiting, the Admiralty Board sent down a ship full of marines to make sure it was clear, it's not a garden world but we detected life signs. We lost the signal but after a hour we only got one message" bringing up her omni-tool, a holographic projection of a batarian popping up.
"Quarians" he spoke. "You have someone that belongs to me, someone I want back. You will return the suit rat by the name of Amer to me, or the entirety of the marines I have captured will die a death by means of a shattered visor. Your call" with that, the message ended.
Aaron groaned and put a hand on his forehead. "I swear, evil guys like that are way too persistent. I think that's the batarian Amer owed money to, Drak"
"Him!? But how did he find us!?"
"Well, his goons were alone with his ship for a long time… son of a bitch, he must have put a tracker in it! Damn, we're dealing with someone who can plan contingency plans!"
"But why would he want Amer? didn't you say that he just wanted to kill him?"
"Yeah, but now that he ran off and made Drak come after him he probably wants to torture Amer to death now"
She made a high pitched squealing noise, immediately twiddling her hands. "We can't just give them Amer so they can do that!"
"Well, what do the Admirals want to do?"
"They don't know, they're torn between sending more marines, leaving them behind, or bombing them. Either way it will result in the death of quarians…"
"Yeah…" Aaron said sadly, but than perked up. "Unless…"
"Unless… what?" Tali asked, lost at this point.
"Unless I rescue them" he said in a obvious tone.
"You… you would do that?"
"Aw come on, how hard could it be? They're most likely run-of-the-mill mercs, nothing I haven't dealt with before, even before my powers"
"No, I don't doubt your skills, but just… why would you do it?"
"Well, I hate people like Drak, and- fuck it, I can't lie to you, truth is I did everything from saving Amer to helping around the ship to… -incoherent mumbling-"
"You what?"
"I said to -incoherent mumbling- you"
"…what?"
"I did it to impress you, okay!?" Aaron yelled, flinging his arms up in the air.
Tali was speechless for a minute than asked slowly, "Why?"
"Well it's just… I don't know, you were the first person I met when I came here, you showed me the fundamentals of the world, sort of, plus I kinda… I'm gonna go save those quarians now" he said suddenly, sprinting away before Tali could ask any more questions.
Amer was humming to himself as he messed with some circuitry on his ship when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He looked behind him to see Aaron. "Oh, hey. What's going on?"
"Right, so you know those bandits that are holding those marines captive?" Aaron asked, choosing his wording very carefully. It was likely Amer would freak out from this.
"Yeah, everyone's heard, why?"
"Well… it turns out they were lead by Drak. And he's after you"
"Oh, mkay" Amer said nonchalantly, getting back to work. It took a whole fifteen seconds for him to freeze and then whip around, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him violently. "What! Oh Keelah, no! Please be lying!" he frantically screamed.
"No! And stop shaking me!"
"Oh Keelah! Oh Keelah! Why does he want me!?"
"Likely to torture you to death" Aaron said dryly.
"OH KEELAH!"
"Hey!" Aaron shouted, smacking Amer's helmeted head. "Look, here's what's gonna happen. Your gonna calm the heck down. Than your going to position me over where Drak and his men are. Than I'm gonna murdalize them"
"Nononononono" Amer stuttered, shaking his head left and right. "Not happening, why me!?"
"Nobody else is going to save those marines man. Alright, think about it like this, you hate Drak, right?"
"A little, yeah"
"A little? This is the guy that almost killed you!"
"Yeah, I guess your right…"
"And now he has the balls to come after you even after escaping!?"
"hey, your right!"
"So how about some revenge to send a message that Amer ain't a dude to be messed with!?"
"Alright! Your right, I've been pushed around long enough! C'mon!" Amer yelled, dragging Aaron into the ship and having it take off. It flew out of the airlock and descended to the planet. During the descent, Amer threw a deadpan look at Aaron. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?"
"Oh yeah" Aaron chuckled. Amer sighed as he kept lowering the ship, and after five minutes pointed out the window.
"You see that?" he asked. Aaron craned his neck to see a small shoddy ship, likely the quarians, and two large frigates with batarian marking's, likely Drak's.
"-Whistle- wow, two frigates. What it that, like, two hundred guys? two twenty?"
"Something like that. What's the plan?" Amer asked.
"Drop down, kill batarians, simple"
"Simple!? Aaron, you don't honestly think you can take that many batarians, do you?"
"Yep" Aaron confirmed, getting out of his seat and walking over to the airlock.
"Aaron, this is crazy! Don't do this!" Amer pleaded, getting out of his seat and running over to Aaron.
"I can do this Amer. Tell you what, I make it out of this you owe me a favor" Aaron said, jumping out of the ship before Amer could reply. He groaned in frustration after a moment and closed the airlock, running back over to the cockpit to look out the window on the ground.
"What's taking those damn suit rat's so long?" a batarian grunt complained, looking at his partner. They, along with the majority of the batarians numbering at two-hundred and eight, were outside of the frigates, guarding the pathetic ship the quarians had. Drak, along with a dozen batarians, were in there along with the hostages, waiting for the quarian's. response.
"Hell if I know, but it's likely the they're bugging out, probably don't care about a few lost souls" the other grunt replied.
A third grunt grumbled, "Yeah, your probably right. The only reason we're even here in the first place is because Drak couldn't even kill one of those vermin. It'll be hell for the rodent once Drak get's his hands on him- ow!" he shouted as a object fell on his head, cluttering to the ground. He mumbled something and picked it up, than looked at it curiously. It appeared to be some kind of sword hilt, a dark blue in color with blue wrappings and a navy blue circular guard at the top, presumably where a blade would be?"
"What the hell is this thing?" he wondered. Unfortunately for him his thoughts were cut short as a object landed on his head feet first, the foot crushing his head as his body hit the floor. Two hundred batarians instantly raised their weapons as they saw a strange human stand up, holding the sword hilt.
"Man, can't believe I dropped this. Oh boy…" Aaron muttered, seeing he was surrounded.
The batarians conversed with themselves, one holding a finger to his ear. "Uh, Drak? A human just kind of… landed here, killed Jesh. Uh-huh. Yeah, alright" His finger left his head as he looked around. "Smoke him" he ordered, all the batarians firing their weapons. What they should have got was a dead body. But instead they got the human backflipping thirty feet in the air, a cyan plasma blade and a missile launcher forming in his hands. "What the…!" the batarian shouted as he and the rest opened fire in the air.
Smirking, Aaron flipped in midair and fired off two missiles, the explosions killing fifteen of the batarians. Activating fire buffer, he aimed his foot to the ground as he seemingly dropped instantly on it, a shockwave blowing away twenty batarians and killing them, ten being set on fire and dying. twirling his katana-shaped plasma sword, he got to work at sprinting to individual batarians, cutting them down in a show of impressive swordsmanship as the remaining panicking batarians fired blindly at him. He ended his sword spree as he hopped on the shoulders of a lone batarian, plunging the blade in his forehead and than driving it out, hopping off onto the top of one of the frigates, looking at the carnage wrought by his sword as the blood instantly vaporized, rendering the blade clean. Sixty were killed from the sword alone.
A hundred and five down, a hundred and three to go.
The batarian from before frantically put his finger back on the comm. "Drak, this human is slaughtering us, I'm pretty sure he's Aa- no, what is he doing now?" he asked as black and blue electricity arced over his arms, the dark eezo being expunged into the sky. Bringing his arms down, Aaron summoned lighting that obliterated fifty more batarians, the rest at this point scurrying for cover. Not done yet, Aaron channeled dark eezo to his feet, the boost of power allowing him to jump hundreds of feet in the air. When he reached the pique of his jump, his body twisted, Aaron hovering in the air as he aimed his fist on the ground. Nodding, he flew towards the ground, the batarians panicking upon seeing a purple cone of energy surrounding him. Upon hitting the ground, the equivalent of a small nuclear explosion resulted, decimating the remaining batarians. Getting up, the Saint saw that there were only three survivors of the explosion, the one that kept calling Drak on the comm and two stranglers. Forming a kalash assault rifle and wielding it in one hand and sideways, he killed the two unimportant ones, each with a three round burst, crippling the comm batarian by shooting him in both kneecaps. Holstering the O.M.G., Aaron held the razor under the batarian's head, dangerously close to his jaw.
"I'll ask once, and only once. Where. Are. The. Quarians?" Aaron asked, a hint of darkness in his voice. The reason for the hate was because of the hatred Aaron had towards the slavery the batarians employed. Aaron was never a fan of slavery, but when ever he caught batarians in the act of it hate exploded inside of him. He didn't know what instilled this hate, but at the moment he didn't care, it was welcome at this point.
"I'm not saying anything, you freak" the hostage groaned, attempting to spit a glob of blood at Aaron's shoe but missing by a few inches. Without even a hint of annoyance Aaron dragged the blade under the jaw of the batarian, said person groaning in pain as the underside of his mouth was scorched.
"Tell me" commanded Aaron.
"Alright, alright fine! He and dozen others are in the quarian ship! The hostages are there! Please stop!" Wordlessly, and in one swift motion, the batarians head was cut clean off, Aaron fluidly turning around and channeling dark eezo to his hand, a black ball with a blue outline forming. The 'dark warp', as he liked to call it, was flung towards the quarian ship, the ball hitting the side and a hole being formed, a eight-foot portion of the wall disintegrating. When two batarians approached the hole to investigate, they were met with a freeze blast, Aaron jumping up to both of the frozen men, both fists snapping out as batarasickles were shattered. He heard nine sets of footsteps running towards him and scoffed, a shotgun forming. The tight hallway he was walking down from the hole proved to be a bottleneck for both him and the batarians, forcing them to form a line, Aaron gunning them down one by one.
"Thank you quarian engineering" Aaron whispered. He prowled the ship afterwards, looking for any hinting clue as to where the prisoners were, when he heard voices all of a sudden. Placing his ear to the wall, he heard muffled voices beyond the wall.
Drak was furious at this point. How? How hand one single human bested over two hundred batarians? It was impossible! The humans were inferior to the batarian race! Well, no matter. Soon he would either get Amer or these quarian marines. Either way, he'd be satisfied. Tired of waiting for answers pertaining to their forces, he turned to the only other batarian in the room, and was about to speak when the wall next to the guard seemingly disintegrated, a pair of hands coming from nowhere and snapping the neck of the guard. Walking in, all four of Drak's eyes widened when he realized the human who had decimated his forces wasn't human at all: It was Aaron, that virtual freak that had been causing problems for everyone in the galaxy.
"You! Don- don't come any closer!" Drak shouted in a panicky voice, grabbing one of the hostages from the ground, pointing a pistol to his head.
"You really want to go that rout?" Aaron growled. "Because it's just going to lead to a more painful death"
"Shut up! J-just let me think… what do you want!?"
Aaron's eyes narrowed. "What do I want. Is that seriously what you just said?"
"Yes! What do you want, money, mercs, protection from the Hegemony, women… men?" he asked sheepishly.
"To answer all those questions, no, nada, nah, hell no, and fuck no"
"Than what do you want!?"
"You. More specifically your head" with that, he telekinetically wrenched the pistol from his hand, crushing it and tossing it on the ground. Lifting the quivering batarian up, all four of the alien's limbs sprang out as he groaned in pain.
"Please! Not like this!" he pleaded, a light popping noise emanating from his limbs.
"Please? You really said please?" Aaron asked. "Tell me something, how many people have you enslaved due to your ridiculous debts? How many of them pleaded not to be put in cages only to be some fat fuck's fuck buddy on some batarian colony, away from their families? How many batarian slaves in general plead, never for those pleas to be noticed?"
"It's not my fault the batarians have slavery in our culture! I don't even like it!"
"Lying won't get you anywhere, if you didn't like it why do you do it anyway? And while we're at it, why did you come for Amer anyway? We both know you just kill quarians"
"Agh, alright, fine! Yes, I was going to kill him! I was mad, but I'll leave him alone, I swear! Just please, don't break my limbs!"
"-Chuckle- break? Why stop at breaking?" with these words, a sick tearing noise was heard, Drak wailing in pain as all four of his limbs were ripped off, the severed appendages being tosses aside. Aaron swore he saw tears in Drak's eyes as his hovering torso quivered in agony. "I'm not usually mad like this, but your species just has this way of royally pissing me off. I don't know why the idea of slavery makes me so mad, but it just does. You know what, I'm done with you, you don't have to hear this rant" Drak didn't even register these words as blue electricity arced along his torso, slowly frying him, some of the electricity going in through his limb wounds and cooking him from the inside out. He was dead in a mere five seconds. Sighing in irritation, Aaron flung the corpse on the wall, the fried torso settling on the ground, a bloodstain forming around it and a smear being on the wall. What happened after that was a breeze. Aaron, having calmed down, freed the quarian captives, most being extremely overthankfull, much to Aaron chagrin, but some being afraid of him after seeing how he killed Drak. Waving down Amer, he instructed the quarian to relay to everyone up top that the batarians were dead and the quarians saved. And also he even said they could keep the two frigates as a good faith gift.
A shuttle was planetside now, the quarian captives being escorted onboard, the original ship having holes in it to Aaron's antics. Hands in his pockets, he was approached by Tali and Amer.
"Aaron, I can't even tell you how gracious the quarion people is for this, not only did you save the captives without a single quarian loss, but you managed to give us two frigates, not to mention the ships being full of supplies! Mostly guns and armor, we can't eat the food, but the ships themselves are amazing"
"Eh, it was nothing" Aaron said, waving a dismissal hand.
"Aaron, I would just like to say thanks as well. Without you I wouldn't have ever survived my pilgrimage, or ever have seen my family again. Not only that but you killed Drak and his men, so they'll never be hunting me again! Can I ever repay you?" the meek quarian asked.
"Just add a favor on top of the one you already owe me for losing the bet and we'll call it even"
"Heh, sure thing"
"Aaron, I've been meaning to ask you, why did you want to impress me so much that you went to this many great lengths?" Tali asked.
Aaron sighed. "I don't know. It's just… I would have been completely lost, I mean if you didn't find me arguing with that salarian I would have probably lost my nerve and killed everyone on the station"
"So… you feel indebted to me?"
"More than that…" he muttered under his breath, quiet enough for no-one to hear. He clasped his hands together. "Well, I guess I should be on my way now"
"Wait, your leaving? Don't you want to stay, a lot of the quarians want to thank you for what you did" Amer pointed out.
"Nah, I'm not the 'bask in your heroics' type, I'm a gangster. A very charitable gangster as of late, I might add…" he mumbled.
"So, your just going to leave?" Tali asked.
"Yeah, tell you what, because of what I did do I officially have a good look for the quarians?"
"If you should ever cross us again you'll be considered one of us. I'll be sure to pass the message" she assured.
"That's all I need. Oh, and also could you get a crew of quarians to pilot one of these frigates and get me to Illium? I might as well"
"Sure Aaron" under her mask, Tali smiled warmly, and gestured for the two to follow her as she walked to the dropship.
Normandy- present time
"And that's it" Tali sighed, sitting down on one of the beds. After telling a story that long, she needed a brake.
Shepard just sighed. "So we learned what we already knew, that Aaron's a damn murdering psychopath. What was the point of this?" he coldly asked. (A/N- Shepard you dick)
Tali groaned tiredly at this. "He has a heart, you know. He just never shows it"
"Yeah, and I'm sure the countless Alliance marines he's killed agree" he countered.
"Well it's in his nature. He was into that kind of life as a child"
"Tali, the point remains the same" Shepard said in a cold voice. A cold enough voice that everyone in the room. "He's a menace to all Council space. When the time comes, his number will be up. I don't care if I have to drop a nuke on him, hell, I'll drop a damn asteroid on him if I have to. Mark my words I will be the one that kills Aaron, and his Saints"
Tuchanka
Pressing the button on his sunglasses, Aaron's modified zero-Saints thirty armor formed, all the while saying, "Here's the deal Delena: ya can either run away right here right now or you can fight me and die. The choice is yours"
The spectre chuckled darkly, bearing her biotic longsword. "I have no choice Aaron, I must bring you in. Filth like you don't deserve to live in the galaxy"
"That's something you should say to all the slavers and pirates out there, not some lowly overpowered guy like me"
"That power is what makes you so dangerous. I can't tell you how much the salarian STG wants a hold of your body"
"That means the Dalatrass put you up to this, doesn't it?"
"The Council gave me the mission, but yes, she did have a side deal with me. Your body and I can retire early. Plus I get the satisfaction of bringing down a vagrant like you. Really, your no worse than the quarians"
Noticeably Aaron's body twitched after that comment. Not only that but she saw that at the base of where the dark eezo arced off of him the electricity was more chaotic and red, but it was barely noticeable.
"…Say that again" Aaron growled. His voice had gotten noticeably darker.
Delena scoffed. "What, you actually sympathize with that lot? The quarians are nothing more than trash, but when you look at it you aren't really different from them, are you?"
Black energy gathered under Aaron's feet as he crouched down. "Yeah, I though that's what you said. Just wanted to make sure" with that he moved so fast towards her he seemingly teleported right in front of her, clashing swords with her and pushing her back. "Just so you know, a lot of idiot spectres fight me 'cause they think they can take me on. Usually they can't" before the asari could reply he teleported in front of her again, the two trading blows with their blades, following a pattern of her being pushed back and Aaron teleporting at her from different angles. She got tired of this and sent powerful biotic attacks at him, but they didn't do anything to harm Aaron. As a last ditch effort she attempted to biotically launch Aaron in the air. This worked against her however as he teleported hundreds of feet in the air, twisting around and aiming his fist at her.
Shouting, he said, "Bitch, here be a move I like to call 'death from above!'"
Getting back to the tomkah for the two was easy enough. Pierce panted as he rested a hand on the vehicle, Mordin admiring the fight going on between the two forces on the roof of the hospital.
"Man, -pant- how are you not -pant- tired?" Pierce gasped as he struggled for breath. They had run from the hospital as fast as they could for fear of Aaron leveling the place.
"Salarians not as easily tired as other species" the salarian scientist answered simply.
"Alright fine, but can you at least answer me why it looks like your being turned on from that fight?" he asked.
"Interesting opportunity to examine Aaron while fighting at a large capacity, haven't had much opportunity to observe -breath- should be enlightening"
"Um… damn, your really weird, lizard-bro. Wait, is Aaron doing what I think he's doing?" pointing up in the sky, Mordin followed his gaze and saw Aaron hovering in the sky, aiming his fist on the roof. Pierce had seen Boss do this move in the simulation many times, having acquired it after saving Gat. "-Sigh- Boss never shut up about the damn power once he got enough of those data clusters that he could nuke things with his own body" Pierce thought. Flying downwards, Aaron hit the hospital roof. However, Pierce noticed this explosion, instead of purple was black in color. And the force of the explosion caused the entire hospital roof the collapse.
"Well good thing he hoofed it out of there when we did" Pierce said as he and Mordin gazed on the roof. Suddenly, the impossible happened as all the roof debris was suspended in the air in the form of dozens of concrete platforms, the concrete being held aloft by biotic energy.
"Damn, how powerful is that blue bitch?" the Saint asked.
"More powerful than usual asari, displaying high-level power rarely ever recorded in asari biology. -Breath- problematic" Mordin stated grimly.
"Your persistent, I'll give you that much!" Aaron yelled as he formed and fired a uzi, Delena biotically hopping from concrete platform to platform, dodging the virtual bullets. "But I'm a Saint! We're not your typical run-of-the-mill gangsters, we're the best, so if you think a li'l blue bitch like you can bring one of us down you got another thing comin'!"
"Oh, sure! I've hunted a lot of criminals like you, thinking your so high and mighty! You all die just the same!" at this point the biotic was throwing warps at the platform Aaron was on, forcing him to hop to different one's like Delena, all the while still shooting at her.
"And I've killed a lot of cops like you that thought they could kill some small time punk like me! And that was before I got the powers, lady! Although I guess you guys aren't even cops, are you? Just psychos not held back by red tape"
"The spectres are the solution to the galaxy! We do what normal law cannot and keep the galaxy stable! You just do whatever you want if it got you profit, killing everyone which-way! You're a mass murder who killed civilians!"
"That's a lie made by the Council, I never killed innocents! Just everyone else! Besides, you spectres aren't that different, you kill just as much as I do, admit it!"
"We never just randomly harm civilians!"
"Sure, but let me ask you, does the name 'Saren' ring a bell to ya?"
At this Delena roared in fury, biotically floating in the air as dozens of warps were thrown at him. Aaron's eyes widened behind his helmet as he frantically dodged the warps. "Jesus, who is this chick!?" he thought as he teleported next to her. Plasma and biotics collided as the two blades met, Delena gritting her teeth in rage as she threw Aaron to a faraway platform. She was about to destroy it with a warp when she heard beeping under her feet. Looking down, she saw a ancient-looking bomb of some sorts, with a red light flashing. Looking at Aaron, her eyes widened as she saw him hold up a detonator. She'd been so blinded by rage she hadn't noticed him place it under her. Before she could act Aaron detonated the C-4, destroying her current platform and causing her to be propelled into the air. Mouth open in a silent scream, she watched helplessly as Aaron teleported above her, a black ball at his fingertips as he discharged a dark stream, the force causing her to be instantly slammed down onto the ground floor of the ruined hospital. Not done, Aaron telekinetically grasped now falling platforms and threw them at her motionless body, a dozen platforms slamming into her. Finished. Aaron landed on the ground, looking at the wreckage which contained the late asari before wordlessly turning around and walking away.
He was about to do his trademark whistle when he heard rumbling. "Oh, there is no way…" Aaron said exasperatedly as he turned around, the concrete slabs being flung away to reveal a angry asari. Her armor was scorched and falling apart at this point, with dark purple blood leaking out at multiple points. Screaming in rage, Delena threw a basketball-sized concrete chunk at Aaron faster than he could react, the debris hitting him in the head and causing his helmet t fly off. Gritting his teeth in rage, Aaron growled, "Your starting to get on my nerves"
screaming in rage yet again, she sent a massive spire of biotic energy at Aaron. To any biotic, this display of power would be frightening. To Aaron however, it was nothing. He was pissed off at how long this fight was going, and how determined the asari was to get him. So, with no grace whatsoever, he merely absorbed the biotic energy into his palm, deflecting it back at her and causing her to go to her knees.
"Tell me something, is the only thing keeping you alive at this point those biotics? Is so, one would think the sane thing would be to leave while you can" the spectre paused briefly, tilting her head slightly. "Look, I'm giving you a chance here, your only chance; leave. Now" she considered these words. But they were nothing to him. He was a pirate, no, worse than that… some petty serial murder who thought he was better than everyone else due to his power. She wouldn't let the likes of him make a mockery of one of the Council's finest! With renewed vigor, she sent another biotic spire at him, this one twice as big as the last one. Aaron yelled in rage as he simply held his sword out, the blade actually cutting through the spire. Delena gasped in shock when she saw Aaron was unharmed.
"That's it! I'm sick of you! You and everyone else throwing their lives away in a vain attempt to kill me, or the Saints! Fuck it! You're a complete waste!" teleporting in front of her, Aaron viciously sliced at her chest, cutting through her armor and one of her breast and right through her ribs. Wailing in pain, she retracted from Aaron and attempted to limp away, but he roughly grabbed her shoulder and tossed her ten feet away. "You think you can get away from this? No, I already gave you chance, and you blew it" she turned on her back and attempted another biotic attack, but was too weak to even generate a aura. Whimpering, she was lifted off the ground by her throat, Aaron the one holding it.
"You people. Even before I came to this world, got my powers, you always hunted me and Boss. Even after we joined the Saints" she winced in confusion. What did he mean other world? "So no more games, no more chances. Boss was done with that shit after he moved on, so I guess I will too" he held the point on his sword at her stomach. "Goodbye, Delena. Hopefully if something doesn't eat you on this planet and your body'll be sent to any family you have. Knowing the Council though they won't even bother to retrieve it. So, seeya. Oh, and say 'hi' to any guys I've ever killed if you see them" with that he thrust, the sword going through her, tearing through her stomach. Between the blood loss, trauma, and most of her organs failing, Delena couldn't take it anymore, and watched as her world dimmed, than went black.
Unceremoniously, Aaron dumped her body on the ground, cancelling off the dark eezo and sheathing his weapons. Footsteps made him turn around to see Mordin and Pierce run up to him.
"Holy hell, da fuq happened here?" Pierce asked.
"Eh, you know, badass boss fight and all that. We're done here, let's get back to Urdnot" they both nodded and turned around to leave, Aaron stopping briefly when he glanced at Delena's body. Unknown to the other two, he turned her body around and got two items that were strapped to her back.
"Huh. Nice guns" he muttered to no-one in particular.
After the hospital fiasco, the trio had ridden back to Urdnot, Wrex saying his thanks for getting the scout back, but otherwise was indifferent in his grudge for Aaron, which prompted him to leave. However, before he did, he saw a krogan merchant with a strange looking varren next to him. The virtual Saint noticed it looked sad. Walking up to the merchant, Aaron asked, "What's the deal with the varren?"
"Who, Urz?" the merchant asked. "His old handler died, so I've been looking after him. Can't really spend much time on him though"
"Huh. Hey, can I buy some meat from you for a second?" shrugging, the krogan nodded as Aaron handed him a chit for twenty-five credits, the krogan giving him a slab of meat, Aaron tossed it at the varren, the alien canine snatching it out of the air and eating it immediately. His tongue lolling to the side, Urz nuzzled Aaron's leg.
"Hah! Never seen Urz that affectionate since he had his old handler. Guess he smells the warriors blood in you. Even though you did blow all that ryncol…" he muttered under his breath.
"Cool. Hey, uh… you mind if I… keep him? He looks kin of bored here"
"Sure. No-one else will take him and he needs the adventure, young varren are like that, besides, you look like you travel to dangerous places. Just don't coop him up in a cage or something, varren can't stand that"
"Sure thing, thanks man. C'mon Urz" Aaron said, Urz following the Saint. Walking to the dropship, Pierce crossed his arms upon seeing the varren.
"I have a soft spot for animals" Aaron admitted.
"Boss ain't gonna be happy about this, Aaron. You remember how much he hated your old cat"
"Hey it's not my fault she tore his porn apart. If anything the magazines were paper mache' by the time she got to them"
"Whatever man, let's just go"
With the mission being a success, the trio returned to the Normandy victorious. After much pleading Shepard allowed Aaron to keep Urz (much to Boss's chagrin) and was now resting comfortably in Aaron's room. Only one thing was left.
Aaron walked into Mordin's lab to talk to the mad scientist, but to his surprise instead of a sad Mordin he saw a gleeful Mordin happily working. He was even singing to himself.
"And here I though you'd be more sad with Maelon's death" Aaron remarked.
"Salarians have adapted to short lives, made it so we cope with things easier. Sadness, shock, grief, all goes away in matter of hours. -Breath- Only thing left now is collectors"
"Your one cold motherfucker, you know that?"
Mordin shrugged. "Have been called worse. But have ways to cope. Work on collector technology, even singing to myself. Sing Gilbert and Sullivan"
That stopped Aaron dead in his tracks. "Hold up. You sing?"
Mordin just simply smiled. "I am the very model of a scientist salarian, I've studied species turian, asari, and batarian.
I'm quite good at genetics (as a subset of biology) because I am an expert (which I know is a tautology)
My xenoscience studies range from urban to agrarian, I am the very model of a scientis salariaaaaan" coughing, Mordin looked at Aaron for a response.
For his part, Aaron was dumstruck. It was actually pretty good. "Okay, I'll admit, you got skills. Just tell me if you ever challenge Boss to a rap battle"
"Duly noted, glad you liked song" getting back to his work, Mordin asked, "Where is the ships next destination?"
"Well, Shepard gave the greenlight for the next mission, I just have to ask someone for some help"
"Hey Gat, want to go with me, screwy commander and a convict to a abandoned research station?"
A/N- I know I said I'd get Pragia this chapter, but the word count is already at over nine-thousand, so we'll leave that for next time. Anyway, you know what happens next chapter, basically we lay some Gat down on Pragia, which means… basically the nuke is the least of the stations problem.
Also, I saw this thing online for this new Saint thing their doing, 'Gat out of hell'. Basically Gat gets sucked into hell one gamenight and unleashed whupass on demons. I'm only saying this 'cause rumor is there's a floating chair he sits in that shoots lasers. So I'll see if I can do something with that in the future…
And on a last note, the reference from last chapter was 47 from the 'Hitman' games. You guys could have at least guessed, you know. Sheesh…
Alright, I leave it here, cya.