AN: I am still amazed at the response to this and would just like to thank everybody for their reviews. It's such a pleasure to hear from you. Thank you to all who are reading.
Caught
Abby stared at Jack, feeling as if she had been caught in bed with a boy by her mother. For the life of her, she couldn't think of one thing to say to the ex-convict, of one excuse to explain her actions. Asura didn't have the same problem as she purposefully turned, putting herself between Abby and Jack, her hands clenching into tight fists as she looked down on the petite young woman. Jack's eyes darted from Abby to Asura, her mouth twisting in a smile that Abby didn't like at all.
"We are not going to do that here," she said softly. "It would be a fucking stupid move and I think that there's been enough stupidity in this day to last us all a life time. Abby, come with me."
Hearing her name, Abby shook herself and carefully put a shaking hand on Asura's wrists, willing her to step back. "Jack," she breathed. "What are you doing here?"
Jack snorted and motioned to the two of them. "Breaking up what has been a lovely party," she said sarcastically. "I'm covering your ass Doc, in a big way. We're going back to the Normandy, the two of us. I think it's time you two end this meeting. You've said what you needed to say."
Abby swallowed, feeling giddy as she glanced at Asura who was still staring at Jack as if she was contemplating what to do with the young woman. Frightened suddenly, realising that the asari was still a killer, she pushed her way past her so that she could stand between the two biotics. "Is there anybody else here?" she queried, looking around the shop for Shepard or Samara.
Jack shook her head immediately. "Just me," she said. "EDI called me as soon as you got up. I had told her to do that. I followed you out and here." Her sentences were short and clipped as if she was struggling not to curse and there was a distinct look of gloating in her smile as she turned to the Ardat Yakshi. "You are not as good as you think you are."
"Jack," Abby warned her immediately, seeing Asura shift. "Please..." The convict glared at her and shook her head.
"I'm not here to be fucking nice Doc," she snapped. "I'm here to get you back to the Normandy before Shepard and the others lose it with you. You are on thinner ice than I am. I told EDI to tell them that we went out together, which was true technically because I was only a minute or two behind you. But, you can't trust that damned AI. We have to go. Now."
Asura's mouth thinned as Abby glanced at her. She had purposefully turned her indigo eyes away from Jack in an arrogant gesture which hinted that she didn't feel necessarily threatened by the young woman to merit keeping an eye on her the whole time. She looked different now that they weren't alone. Beautiful still and confident but very, very dangerous.
"Stay with me Abby," she said. "Please. You don't have to go back to the Normandy. You belong with me more than you do with them. Please."
The plea in her voice was undeniable.
For a moment Abby hesitated, ignoring the frustrated sound from Jack. Turning back to Asura, the vet made sure to give her a good look, taking in her frustrated features, her tired eyes and the allure of her presence. She bit her lip and realized that she was right in a strange way, that her place was beside her rather than back on the Normandy. But, life wasn't about getting what you wanted or even what you needed. It was about taking a road that would do the least damage and Abby suspected that she still had a purpose on the Normandy.
"I have to go Asura," she said. "I'm sorry."
The Ardat Yakshi looked shattered as she met her gaze, her features at a loss. "Why?" she asked. "Abby..."
The woman held up her hand, silencing her. "Because I have to make sure that I can," she whispered. "And I have things to do. I'm sorry Asura, I'll find you again and we'll sort this out. I promise."
She allowed Jack to take her arm and pull her forward, away from the asari. Asura didn't say anything as they left, but remained there, staring at her. She looked betrayed and hurt but there was nothing Abby could do about it. She knew without a doubt that she had to tell Shepard and Samara what she had learned about Lenelle and, more importantly, where she lived so that they could go and deal with the asari herself. Asura was not the one at fault here, she never had been. But Lenelle...
Abby had a feeling that she was a different matter entirely.
"We'll take a short cut," Jack said as she led them out onto the streets of Omega. "We're far away from those first elevators but I know the region. There's a service elevator here that leads to an alley way quite close to where the Normandy is. We can take that." She sniffed and looked around her. "All the fucking upper cream of Omega lives here. Your girlfriend is either fucking rich or fucking someone that is."
Abby had a headache and had to pinch the bridge of her nose to help her focus. For the life of her, she struggled to get Asura out of her mind and still couldn't understand why she had let the asari kiss her. "She's not my girlfriend," she muttered. "I don't know what happened there."
Jack snorted and put a hand on her arm, guiding her towards a narrow alleyway. "Fuck me if I know," she said. "If I was a krogan I'd say you have quads for standing up to that. I thought you were going to tell me to fuck off. But I'm not so all I can say is..." She paused. "Nope, I don't have anything. You are out of your mind. What did you think, going off like that? Are you insane? Have you lost your mind? That asari is fucking... She's fucking nuts. Just as nuts as you are!"
Abby sighed tiredly and gave Jack a sideways look. "How long have you been listening?" She asked quietly, wondering what damage had been done in her relationship with the ex-convict. If she had heard the wrong things and interpreted it the wrong way... To her surprise though, Jack's features softened a little as she found another elevator and punched in a code, crossing her arms as she leaned against the wall to get some weight off of her injured leg.
"I heard what you said about trying to take your own life," she said softly, not looking at Abby. "I know what kind of desperation lies at the heart that. I tried myself..." Her mouth thinned and she briefly exposed her wrists to Abby, showing ugly marks underneath the dark tattoos. "Never managed. Don't think I had the guts for it, not completely." She looked up to meet Abby's gaze. "You think you managed? Do you think this is hell? Is where you come from so different? I think the others think that you're some kind of experiment."
Abby snorted and shrugged. "I don't know anything anymore," she said. "Experiment or not, illusion or hell, I've come to the conclusion while I'm here that I can't fix my life. That there's nothing that I can do to change it. But..." She met Jack's gaze. "We can change Asura's. Did you hear what she said about that other asari?"
Jack nodded immediately. "Fuck yeah," she said. "That Lenelle woman sounds like a bitch. I think you're right, she's being manipulated." Jack's mouth thinned. "Whoever that Lenelle is working for, they're turning her into a weapon by giving her what she wants – a reason to kill. I should know, they've done it to me." Bitter pleasure filtered over Jack's features. "They didn't kill my fucking family to get me to do it though. This is deep mind fuck shit Doc."
Relieved to hear it from Jack, Abby nodded and stepped into the elevator when it came. "I don't think Asura's bad," she confirmed. "I can't tell you exactly why Jack but… She's not the one at fault here. I know it's not just her presence that's telling me that, I can sense it. She's hurt and she's angry. But, she's not happy with what she's been doing either. Like you said, I think that she's really just being manipulated. We have to tell Shepard and Samara, maybe they can do something. This bigger than me, much bigger than what I think I can fix."
To her surprise, Jack laughed. "You're just as crazy as the rest of us," she said.
Blinking at her, still a little cautious by her easy attitude, Abby gave Jack a questioning look. "How so?" she queried to which Jack smiled slyly.
"You look to Shepard like the rest of us, trusting her to be your saviour. I heard you talk about her back there; you think that she can fix things. Fix this." She shook head and turned her gaze to the corner of the elevator. "You're just like me. Too fucking broken to have faith in yourself, but fixed just enough to have faith in her."
Abby blinked and crossed her arms involuntarily. "I'm not like you," she said. "You're... You're capable Jack. You can fix things yourself..." The convict smiled at her and shook her head.
"Not like Shepard can," she said. "I didn't get you in the beginning. Fuck, I still don't but I'm going to tell you now, you have guts and your heart is in the right place. I was scared that you'd fuck with us, but you didn't. You could've told that asari that you know where her friend lives, but you didn't because you wanted to keep the upper hand. That shows to me that you're not on her side but on ours." She smiled at Abby. "And that makes you alright in my books."
Realising that it was the closest to a peace offering that she would ever get from the young woman, Abby smiled and shrugged off the compliment. "How do you know that I know where Lenelle lives?"
Jack dug into her one back pocket as the elevator opened. "I found this in the airlock, you're little: 'In case I fuck things up' note to Shepard," she pointed out. "You can hand it to her yourself now..."
They didn't have any warning as a biotic force so strong it felt like a car, threw both of them back into the elevator. Abby slammed against the back wall, seconds before Jack, her head hitting the panelling with such a hard crack that she saw only black and flashes of light as she crumbled to the floor. Disorientated, she tried to open her eyes just in time to feel herself yanked up on her feet by a figure that looked like the goddess of vengeance herself.
There was something very dangerous in Lenelle's eyes as she looked at Abby, then glanced to the floor where the data pad was lying.
"I'll take that," she said but instead of picking it up she stomped on it with her heel before she turned her gaze back to Abby. "I should've known it would be you. Fedora had said that the human was quite insignificant. That you would never expect her to be who you thought she'd be. I should've known that you were here the moment you stepped into that bar, but I thought you were being cute and had heard an asari use that password and decided to see what's in the bar for yourself. A lot of humans do that – though most don't leave within five minutes." Her eyes narrowed. "Now I see that you were planning something a lot more sinister. And with Cerberus..."
Abby swallowed as she tried to find her own feet so that she could stop dangling in the asari's grip. Her shirt was digging into her back painfully as it was the only thing keeping her from gravity's clutches but she could not make her legs take her own weight. With her ears still ringing from the blow, she hardly had the sense to think, much less talk her way out of what was going to be a very bad situation.
"I... don't know... what you're talking about," she said, daring to steal a glance at Jack. "I'm... just out with..." Again, those deadly blue flames enveloped her and this time Abby found herself hurled out of the elevator where she crashed into a pile of empty crates. One caught her on the side and she gasped in pain as she felt a rib either shift or break. Still, she didn't let it stop her from trying to scramble up and get away from the angry alien who was marching towards her, her back now turned towards Jack.
"Don't think I'm a fool!" She snapped. "I heard what you two spoke of! I've been following you ever since you left Asura! I will not see you..." A blast of biotics threw Lenelle off of her feet and if Abby had not found the strength to move the asari would've dropped on top of her. Jack had managed to push herself up and was standing in the doorway of the elevator with murder in her eyes.
"I'm a biotic too bitch!" she snapped. "Run Abby! Get out of the way!" She was already forming a ball of dark energy as she spoke, blood streaming down her face from a cut on her forehead. Scrambling up, ignoring the pain over her whole body, Abby managed to take two steps before Jack threw the energy towards Lenelle. The asari recovered quicker than Jack anticipated though, for she managed to turn around and deflect it with her own powers.
"Unexpected," she sneered even as Jack prepared a second attack. "But not enough." Her body ignited in dark energy and she threw what looked like a liquid fountain towards Jack. The convict grinned savagely as her own body flared with her biotics. It absorbed Lenelle's attack which clearly surprised the asari as she watched the glow around Jack intensify. Abby had the sense to scramble up and try to run away from the crates before Jack unleashed her second attack. She threw the same liquid force at Lenelle, who pulled her biotics around her and brought two of the crates up in front of her to shield herself from Jack's attack. The whole area felt as if it was crackling with energy as Jack stormed towards Lenelle and tried to knock her off of her feet as she dropped the crates. Abby made the mistake of looking back just in time to see Lenelle deflect Jack's physical blow and kick the convict in the stomach, her blow enhanced by her biotics. The sight of it made her stumble and loose her balance as she crashed down, just bringing her arms up in time to protect her face. Breathing deeply, she tried to push herself up again but heard another attack behind her. This time, both of the biotics had thrown their powers at each other, causing a field which seemed to destroy the very gravity to form around them.
It reminded her of Samara's attack on Morinth.
Abby had tried to move away but she too was caught in the force and felt herself pulled back, as if an ocean tide had caught her. She managed to pull against it, kicking in her heels and pushing herself forward like an athlete starting a race. It made Lenelle look towards her and she managed to divide her flows and throw some of her power at Abby. It struck her hard; contorting her body in a painful position which she thought was going to break her back. The break of attention gave Jack the upper hand and she managed to throw Lenelle away from her, her powers licking around the asari like lightening as it picked her up and threw her back against the wall. Her power around Abby faded and the vet was left gasping on the floor, tears streaming from her eyes even though she was in too much pain to cry. Seconds later Jack appeared by her side and tried to force her on her feet.
"Come on!" She yelled, the fear in her voice paralysing Abby as she didn't think that the young woman could be afraid of anything. "Let's go, we have to get out of here before she gets up! She's fucking strong!" When Abby didn't move immediately, her limbs refusing to work, Jack turned around to look at Lenelle and growled, quickly moving in between her and Abby again. The asari had managed to push herself up, her face now a picture of fury as she threw a crate at Jack, followed immediately by another. The petite woman managed to break both of them, punching them out of the way with her biotics, showering the alley way with bits of metal.
"I am not done with you," Lenelle hissed as she advanced towards Jack. "I will not see you ruin my plan. I have worked on this for years. Years. I will not see you take this from me. From us. We have worked too hard to find her." She threw her arms up without warning and a web of light sprang up around Jack's feet, trapping her and raising her off of the ground. She blinked surprised, clearly having not expected it. Her surprise didn't last long though as she sneered and started struggling to get out. The asari's eyes were black as she looked at Jack, a small smile playing in the corner of her mouth when she realized that Abby had once again crumbled to the floor. The vet was done, her body refusing to cooperate as she watched Jack withering in the air, trying to escape Lenelle's bonds. She fought like an animal, her body pulsing periodically as she tried to use her own biotics but, whatever the asari had done, it held her fast.
Abby closed her eyes and tried to push herself up again, forcing her limbs to work despite the pain that seemed to radiate from every cell in her body. Her arms shook as she straightened them but she couldn't make herself move in more than small increments. Lenelle didn't seem to be worried about her at all as her full attention was on Jack. She studied the petite woman, her mouth thin as she looked up to meet Jack's eyes.
"You're impressive," she said. "I know who you are now. I should've realized the moment you managed to deflect my attack. Subject Zero. Also a Cerberus pet."
Jack growled at her as the glow around her intensified and she threw every ounce of strength that she had against Lenelle's powers. "I am not with Cerberus!" she snapped. "I'm with Commander Shepard you fucking bitch and I can fucking tell you that if you don't let us fucking go now she's going to show up here and fuck you up."
The asari snorted and shook her head. "Nobody can fuck with me," she said in a low voice. "You don't know what I am. What I am capable of. But," she smiled. "I will show you. So that she knows what happens if you try and be smart with me." She glanced at Abby who had managed to press herself into an upright position against the wall. "The more you move pet," she said smoothly. "The more it will hurt. So just sit tight, I'll be with you in a moment. When I'm done with your friend."
Abby hesitated, exhausted by her efforts to get up but she couldn't help but feel that the asari was wrong. She didn't hurt any more than she did moments before. And she was still mobile. None the less, she allowed the pain that she was feeling to show on her face and slumped back against the wall – giving the asari the reaction that she wanted. Lenelle smiled at her and then turned her attention back to Jack who was still hovering a few feet in the air.
"Let me show you what real power is," she said and slowly began to open her hand. "Let me show you what it's like to be able to tear someone limb from limb."
As she began to move her hand, Jack's body went taunt, her arms pulled out from her sides as her limbs were spread like a star. For a blind second, Abby hoped that Jack would be able to escape, that she'd wrench herself free from Lenelle's grip but it dawned on the vet that if she had not managed now, she wouldn't later. Silently praying for help, Abby dared to glance towards the streets outside the alleyway but – if their display was visible from outside, nobody had bothered looking towards them.
Nobody cared who died in Omega, as long as it wasn't them.
There was no help coming from them, not now. Nauseous, her head still spinning, Abby slowly forced herself to try and get up, winching when she heard Jack cry out in pain as her body was stretched by the immense power of the Matriarch. Breathing deeply, willing her limbs to continue moving, Abby pushed herself upright again and stood up slowly. Having bitten her tongue to keep herself from crying out, Jack saw Abby's movement and looked at her with a strange desperation, a hope that made Abby sick. She was expecting her to do something, to get her out of this mess. She winked at Abby, slowly and deliberately and seemed to come to some sort of decision. Realising she only had seconds to prepare for whatever Jack planned, Abby held her breath. Without warning, Jack threw her head back and started screaming. To Abby's ears, it was raw anger that gave birth to the sound but the asari didn't know Jack well and laughed.
"Screaming won't dull the pain," she said as she spread her hand wider. "Fighting me won't either. This is real power, Subject Zero. This is something that you'll never have. That your pitiful species will never comprehend for all your tinkering. Feel this..." She straightened out her pinkie and there was a sickening pop as one of Jack's shoulders slipped out of its socket. Abby wanted to throw up, she wanted to lose her balance and fall to the floor so that she could cover up her ears and block out the sound but she knew that she had only one chance. Upright now, she lunged at the asari from behind, ignoring the burning sensation that spread across her body as she touched the dark power that swirled around her. The woman gasped surprised and for a moment the light around Jack dispelled a little. Abby made a grab for the asari's neck and tried to drag her to the ground, kicking at her knees to make her loose her balance but her own legs betrayed her on the last moment and she lost her footing. Still, she held on for dear life, squeezing with as much force as she could, barely managing to regain her footing. Lenelle struggled against her, growling as she struggled to keep a hold of Jack who had stopped screaming as suddenly as she began and had resumed her struggle against the asari. It was as if the pain that she had just experienced had let loose a demon inside her. In an inspired moment, Abby brought her hand up and clawed at Lenelle's eyes, knowing that the asari would have to let go of Jack then, but a field of power suddenly pulsed from her, throwing Jack back against the wall with a back breaking force. Abby too was wrenched free of her and thrown back on the remnants of the crates. Still, she tried to push herself up immediately her hand brushing over the small omni-tool she still wore. She didn't know what she pushed but she heard a crackle from the radio speaker.
"We're closing in! We're almost there! Where's this alley..."
It was Shepard. She didn't know how, but Shepard had found them, she knew that they were in trouble. All they needed was time…
Lenelle looked at her bewildered, then at Jack who had still not moved from where she had fallen. She made to step towards the young woman but Abby forced herself to stand up, throwing a piece of metal at the asari to get her attention. She didn't know how far Shepard was, but she couldn't risk believing that they were close. That belief might just kill both her and Jack. They needed time, time for Shepard to find them, time for the rest of the crew to save them. Abby knew that she could not fight Lenelle, she could not best her or match her power. All she could do was give Shepard and the others enough time to reach them. She had to give herself hope that Jack at least would make it out of here alive. She had put the young woman here and it was time to try and correct the mistake that she had made in thinking that she could deal with this alone.
"You don't have time to kill us both!" she snapped. "Shepard's coming! You heard her yourself! Jack was right!"
Lenelle growled and turned back towards Abby, her face savage and bleeding from where she had managed to draw blood below her eyes. "I don't need to kill her, I just need to take you!" she snapped and marched towards Abby, seizing her by her shirt. Abby pulled against her but didn't fight, daring to look into the asari's black eyes.
"You won't get away fast enough carrying me," she hissed. "And for all you know, they can track us. What good would it do then? And if Asura sees you? With me? What would she think?"
Lenelle hesitated, though the look of murder did not leave her eyes. Her pause gave Abby hope that she might still be able to outplay the asari, that she had not thought of everything. Although she wanted to, she didn't close her eyes as she looked at Lenelle, remembering that Asura thought she was an Ardat Yakshi. A part of Abby didn't doubt it. Now that she was this close to her, she could sense the alien's hunger. She had felt it in Asura the first day they met, seconds before she tried to kill Abby. That day felt like a life time ago – and perhaps it was. Abby had certainly changed from then. Facing Lenelle, Abby allowed herself to feel the void in the woman's eyes as if it had been formed by the souls of her victims when they died. She was a weapon and Abby was going to use that.
How many could one kill in a thousand years?
Abby took a deep breath to speak, to challenge the woman, but her first words froze in her mouth. Fear filled her. More than she had ever felt before, more than she suspected she would ever feel again. Every breath became difficult, every thought frozen in place. But, she didn't want to lose. Not this time, not this battle.
"You'll have to take me if you want to know what I know," Abby hissed, steeling herself. "Now."
There was a second in which the world stood still and then the asari started laughing as if Abby had just told ehr the biggest joke in the world. "Of course," she whispered and pulled Abby towards the elevator. "Not what I had in mind as I had actually wanted to spare your life." She pushed Abby into the elevator even as the woman tried to pull against her. "You might have proven to be useful later..." Abby stumbled when Lenelle let go of her and barely managed to save herself from falling by moving to the wall. She tried to turn around quickly but did so just in time to see the Ardat Yakshi close them in. She thought she heard Jack cry out but she couldn't be sure. Perhaps it was just blind hope that she would not have to face this on her own.
Lenelle hit a button on the panel then turned to her, her eyes black as sin as the elevator started moving.
"You will not enjoy this," she said as she stepped up to Abby, pressing her against the wall. Terrified, Abby wanted to step back but there was nowhere for her to go. Lenelle grinned savagely as she put her hand over Abby's neck, her black eyes studying her features. She could tell immediately that the asari loved her fear, that she wasn't going to feel that rush of calm that she had felt with Asura. Still, Lenelle took the time to bring her one hand up and caress Abby's cheek before she pressed her body against her and put her mouth close to her ear.
"Embrace eternity."
Abby wanted to prepare herself, to bring up some mental barrier against the force she knew would come with Lenelle's melding. She had thought that - as with Asura, the sensation would increase gradually as all the nerves in her body was stimulated by the asari's intimate touch but she had been wrong. The force of Lenelle's power took her by surprise and she cried out first in shock and then in pain as the torturing pleasure spread through her body. She became alive even as she felt her body die. And she could feel her life and memories taken by the asari as their bodies and beings became one. She tried to fight, to resist, but the power burned her last shred of strength and will from her. When a familiar darkness washed over her she embraced it and felt herself slipping from Lenelle's grasp. She could feel the woman's breath against hers as soft lips pressed against hers as Lenelle guided her to the floor and the darkness enfolded her completely.
"There," the Ardat Yakshi whispered. "It is done."
The End of Chapter 38