(A/N: Hey everybody, sorry again that this chapter is so late, I kind of forgot to do that yet again. I really am sorry for that. But hopefully you guys don't mind too much, not that this story is as popular as I would've liked it to be but at least some of you guys like it. Alright then let's get to it.)
Chapter 25: An offer you can't refuse
I was without any clue as to why she was here, other than my dad said she had something to offer me but as to what it was I had no clue as to what it was about. "Shakrimi, I didn't expect you to be here so soon. What's this about exactly?" I asked as I tried to sit up right in the bed without waking Jacob as I engaged in conversation with the speacture sitting right across from me.
"Well the first thing I wanted to talk about was your future like I'd just said, but first let me ask you something, do you know how I became a speacture?" She asked casually.
I answered a bit puzzled as to why she'd asked a question that I clearly had no way of answering. "Uh…no I don't, I assumed it was because you impressed someone high up in the government."
She just smiled as she folded her hands and leaned forward. "Exactly, that's how, you impress someone like the council and Bing bang boom you get the chance to be a speacture candidate and quite possibly even a full-fledged speacture like me."
I began to connect the dots in my head quickly, could she really be here to tell me…no of course not I'm only sixteen there's no way I'm eligible to be a speacture, is there? "Do…do you mean to say what I think your saying?" I asked already half knowing the answer to my own question.
She just kept on grinning that same shit eating grin. "After the battle of Eden prime I had to head back to the citadel to report to the council about every last existing detail, the part that they wanted conformation on the most was that you lead the charge to save the colony and that you took on the reaper and survived, of course we both know how that actually ended but you managed to leave your mark on him at least so that's close to a victory against him right? Any way kid the council asked me to float this message on to you." She booted up her omni-tool and sent me a message to mine, I opened it up and read it to myself.
Greetings and salutations Sargent Cody Lucas Blaze commanding officer of the first Eden prime militia, we the citadel council seek to extend to you an opportunity to which we believe you are worthy of without a doubt, it is the opportunity of a life time for a very rare and carefully selected few, over the decades mammals have had very few of their own brave service men and women selected to be given this chance, the ones who have received it usually take it, weather you choose to accept it is your choice to make, however despite your age we believe that beyond all doubt that you have the potential, capability and courage required to join the ranks of the speactures, for speactures aren't made they are born through the fires of war and tempered in the waters of focus, we believe that you are more than ready to serve as our right hand, as our sword and shield, as our first and last line of defense for this galaxy and all of her children, we expect an answer from you within the year Mr. Blaze, it is your choice and yours alone, if you accept you will be placed under the watchful eye of an already existing agent of the special tactics and reconnaissance division as your evaluator to decide whether or not you are ready to join the speactures, we look forward to our first meeting with you, Sincerely, the citadel council.
Ho-…lee…shit! Ho-ly…fucking…shit…holy fucking shit…this has to be a prank. "Is this a joke? Or is this legit?" I asked not believing for a second that this was for real, but Shakrimi just started to laugh then she looked at me and said.
"Wow, you looked just like your dad when I told him the news, yes kid this is legit, after I told the council about what you did and how well you lead your squad to victory I could hardly believe it myself when they gave me orders to head here and deliver the message myself."
I just sat there dumbstruck, I had been given a huge offer, one that doesn't come to just anyone. "So…if I'm catching what your throwing…the citadel council actually wants me to join the special tactics and reconnaissance division? But I'm just a kid I can't join the speactures, I'm not even old enough to join the alliance yet unless I get written consent from my parents first."
Shakrimi then said with honesty. "Kid listen to me, you did something that no one else but your dad could've done, you turned back the tides of chaos and almost without a scratch, that's something that very few people can do. So what do you say Cody, should I tell them that you want to join our ranks or not?"
Before I could answer her a certain someone who was sleeping on my lap I'd forgotten about began to stir, Jacob started to sit up as he out stretched his arms and let out a yawn. "Big brober…what time is it?" He asked as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, he then slowly took notice of the asari sitting right across from us, he then clung to me out of fear as he let out a yelp. "Who is that? Cody who is she, why is she here make her go away." He was terrified, like legitimately terrified of the strange woman sitting right across from us, I guessed he was still a bit shaken up from the events that transpired from the other day and he wasn't really trusting of new faces just yet like he normally would be.
I just gave him a reassuring smile and hug before explaining. "It's okay peanut calm down, this is Shakrimi she's dad's friend remember? She was the one he saved from getting eaten by the threshermaw?" This calmed him down a bit but he was still holding on to me with a death grip.
Shakrimi just let out a small laugh then said. "Ah yes, the whole threshermaw incident. Your dad really saved my ass that day." I then started to glare at her to which she questioned very innocently. "What? Did I say something?"
"You just swore in front of a four-year-old you stupid pyjack." I growled with a very obvious angry tone. I also use Krogan slang to make sure she knew I wasn't pleased, even though I still had no idea what a pyjack was.
"Oh, sorry about that, I'm not usually around kids so it's hard for me to remember to put a filter on my mouth, anyway you must be Jacob…" She got up and walked over to the bed and just knelt down right next to us, she gave a very soft and kind smile to my little brother to reassure him that she meant no harm. "Your daddy's told me a lot about you sweetie, though he did tell me a bit of a fib."
He just tilted his head and asked. "Huh, what do you mean?"
"Well your daddy said that you were as cute as a button, apparently he needs glasses because you are so much cuter than a button." She reached under his armpits and started to tickle him, he just started to laugh as she proceeded with the attack. "Stop it, stop it I'm gonna pee." I just held his arms up and let her have her fun as she mildly tortured my brother, his playful shrieks filled the room as she continued her onslaught. "Cody let me go, I can't breathe." He pleaded in between laughs.
"Then say uncle." I demanded to which he abruptly responded.
"Uncle-uncle-uncle." I released him before saying to his tormenter.
"Okay I think he's had enough of that." Shakrimi halted her onslaught and said. "Fair enough, but just so you know I might get you again later you little cutie." She booped his nose and he just giggled.
"I like you." He said with a grin.
She just grinned back and said. "Well I like you too sweetie." Just then I heard the ranting of a very loud and angry sounding krogan coming down the hall, Shakrimi let out an exhausted sigh and said. "You've got to be kidding me."
"Get your grubby little hands off of me you little pyjack!" The voice and attitude was all too familiar with this krogan.
"Sir you can't go in there the patient needs his rest." The voice of Dr. Neeva sounded protesting Vohmeg as he made his way closer to my room.
Jacob then clung to me again and said in a nervous tone. "Cody it's a monster, he's coming to get us."
Shakrimi put her hand on his shoulder and said. "Technically no, he's not a monster, just a big and obnoxious krogan." She was right on that part, he was without a doubt obnoxious.
"Sir I must insist that you return to…" Dr. Neeva repeated only for Vohmeg to shout at her. "Bite me, I've got something for the kid and I'm not waiting any longer than I have to, I've got a schedule to keep and your making me late to keep it." Finally the form of Hohshall Vohmeg emerged from the hall and stood in the door way. "Hey kid, I was hoping you'd be awake finally when I…"
Before he was finished the Doctor came up from behind him and shrilled. "Sir for the last time, head back to the waiting area and stay there or I will call the security geth."
He just glared at her with hate and utter annoyance. "Oh go and shove a thermometer up your ass and take your temperature." He blasted in her face to which she retorted. "And why don't you go shoot a helpless creature in the face? That's all your good for it seems merc."
That's when he got up in her face and growled through gritted teeth. "Don't tempt me lady because I'm this close to…"
"HEY, knock it off Vohmeg or I'll rip off your quads!" That's when another familiar krogan voice came through, then from behind the doctor stepped Volmak Chergg trying to keep Vohmeg from doing something stupid, which I'm sure he did often being a merc and all. "Don't touch me Chergg or I'll gut you like the filthy pyjack you are!" That's when both krogan started to growl at one another which often meant one thing, they were about to start a fight, that's when Shakrimi stepped in and pushed them apart with her biotics.
"Okay both of you need a time out." She just held them next to a wall on opposite sides of the room in a blue aura.
The doctor then said to both of them. "This is a hospital not a fight club, if you don't want a criminal record I suggest that you both head back to the waiting area and stay there until your both cleared to actually be up here."
Vohmeg then fired back. "I already told you the kid and I know each other, and he also knows that quadless prick over there too." He nodded over to Chergg who retaliated by shouting. "Who you calling a quadless prick you ugly little sack of…"
Before he could finish Shakrimi then slammed them both on the floor and shouted. "ENOUGH, both of you will get a grip on your anger or so help me goddess I will rip you both a new one, WITH MY MIND!" I was so glad that I was never on her bad side. Oh wait never mind, but thankfully I was never anywhere near her while she was mad at the time. The two krogan then started to stand up and holding their heads due to the massive headache that they had most likely received from the swift ass kicking that Shakrimi gave them both, I would've thought that she'd cut Chergg some slack, I mean Vohmeg I get, he's kind of an ass but Chergg? He's cool in my book, but then again the krogan are unpredictable.
"Thank you agent Vonshah, I am very grateful that you were here to stop this inevitable conflict." The doctor thanked as she placed her hand on Shakrimi's shoulder.
"Oh come on baby we've been over this, just call me She-she." Shakrimi replied as she winked at her to which the doctor just cocked her head back and blushed before she said.
"Uh…anyway, I must insist that you two…" Before she finished I interrupted her and said. "It's okay doc, I know these guys, they fought alongside me on Eden prime, they won't hurt me."
"I told you ya dumb bitch." Vohmeg spat, then Shakrimi punched him in the face and said. "Put on a filter pyjack, there's a kid present."
"Yeah I know the kid's in the room so why the hell should I…" he then took notice of the four-year-old clinging to me then realized what she meant. "Son of a…sorry, didn't think your son was visiting."
Really? He thought Jacob was my kid? Wow what a twat. "He's not my son he's my kid brother, kind of a moot point though sense I would still appreciate it if you didn't swear in front of him." I growled with clear anger in my voice, I think he got the message.
The doctor then looked back to the two krogan and said. "Well if you vouch for them both Mr. Blaze then I suppose that it's alright, as long as you two don't cause any more trouble for me and my staff, is that clear you boshtets? Oh keela now you've got me swearing in front of a child, are you happy with yourselves?" I had no idea of what she said but if it was some kind of swear then hopefully Jacob wouldn't start saying…whatever boshtet even means.
"Don't worry doc, I'll keep this pyjack in check." Chergg said as he glared over at Vohmeg who just did the same as he growled slightly, then Shakrimi raised her fist and threatened. "Try anything and I'll put you threw that wall."
He then just looked away from her and said. "Whatever, I'll keep my distance from that pyjack." Oh for god sake seriously what the hell is a pyjack already?
The doctor just let out an exhausted sigh. "Good, now that that's settled I need to get back to my morning rounds, in the meantime Mr. Blaze I've scheduled you a therapy session for today, agent Vonshah has already agreed to be your escort to the facility. Good bye to you all and take care, Keela sahlye." She then turned toward the door and walked out, I caught Shakrimi staring at the doctor's…hind quarters as she walked out the door, this woman was just as big a perv as any man.
"I see that you still have wondering eye syndrome." I joked so Jacob wouldn't get what I was saying, I didn't want him to learn about sex just yet or anything related to it for obvious reasons.
"So sue me, if I see something I like I can't help but stare at it." She quickly parried.
"What was she staring at?" Jacob quickly asked in a whisper. It was too much to hope he wouldn't ask about it, so I quickly thought of something and said. "A picture…on the wall…in the hallway."
Then Chergg added with a chuckle. "Yeah, it's a real work of art."
"Isn't it just?" Shakrimi agreed with the much larger alien.
Vohmeg however just changed the subject by saying. "I still don't like that doctor, I mean if I wanted to kill the kid I'd have done it already."
"Cut her some slack Vohmeg, the kid was attacked by another phantom the other day they can't be too careful right now." Chergg quickly defended the doctor.
Shakrimi then glared at them both and added. "I thought I told you both to wait down stares until you were cleared, so why did you come up early?"
"I thought it was clear, I have a schedule to keep with a high priority client and I don't want to make the blood pack look bad, so if I'm gonna drop off this thing…" He justified right before Shakrimi interrupted him. "Which again I told you I could've given it to him." Then Vohmeg continued as he interrupted her in return. "And again I told YOU that it had to be me to give it to him sense I'm the one who fixed it for him."
I then asked the burning question. "Uh, hey guys? What exactly is it that you're talking about?" Vohmeg then walked over to the bed and reached around to his lower back then presented me with…my knife? "My knife, you fixed it." I took it in my paws and gave it a quick look over, the break were the reaper had made was gone, as if it was never even broken. "It looks just like new, thank you, thank you so much." I had never been so appreciative in all my life, even if it was just for a knife.
Vohmeg just smiled and said. "Oh I didn't just fix it, I modified it too, see that little switch just under the guard?" I inspected the knife in the place he'd recommended and saw the switch, it was small and matched the color of the pearl hilt.
"Yeah, what about it?" I asked curiously wanting to know what he'd done to my knife.
He then started to look around the room for something as he answered. "Aim it at uhhhhhh…this." He picked up an old pudding cup that I'd cleaned out and threw into the trash and set it up on a table next to the wall. "Then push the switch up toward the guard and just watch the magic happen."
I did as he instructed and leveled the knife at the cup and pushed the switch up with my thumb, just then the knife flew right off the handle, literally in this case, then imbedded itself in the wall after slicing through the cup, both Jacob and I just went slack jawed. I then just started to admire the new modification to my weapon. "Whoa, that is so freaking cool." I exclaimed while I tried to wrap my head around how awesome my knife was now.
Then Vohmeg quickly added. "That's not all, now pull it back." I proceeded to pull the switch back to its starting position, then the blade of my knife came flying back and landed back on the hilt, I tried a shake test to see that it was still holding on to the hilt, it was solid. "Oh my god, this is like the coolest thing I've ever seen." I just got even more excited.
I'd thought at that point there was no way he could've made it any cooler than he already had, until he said. "One last thing, now pull the switch all the way down, but aim the pommel away from you or you won't live long enough to regret it." I did as he instructed and pulled the switch down, a smooth and pointed shaft popped out of the pommel, it had to be at least five inches long.
"Whoa, a stealth shiv. That's so cool." The next thing he tells me is that it can send me back in time I'll bet.
Vohmeg patted my shoulder as he said. "I had a feeling you'd like it, after the reaper broke your knife I felt like I was obligated to fix it for you, but then it hit me, why just fix it when I can make it better? So I worked my magic and now you've got the best ballistics knife in the galaxy, and just for the heck of it I added a switch blade shiv in the handle as a backup weapon, you know in case the blade gets busted again."
I flipped the switch back to its starting position and the shiv just disappeared back into the hilt of my knife. "People can say what they will about you krogan you know how to build a weapon." I said complimenting him for his hard and generous work.
"Don't sweat it kid." The merc replied. Vohmeg then took notice of my brother once more who was no longer clinging to me out of fear but just staring at the large alien standing in front of him. "What, do I have something on my face?" He asked the little fox kit who just stared at him with wonder.
"Woooow, your big." Jacob said as he just eyed the krogan, he'd always been fascinated by creatures larger than him, even though most of them were.
"Well I'll take that as a compliment, so you got a name shorty?" Vohmeg asked as he knelt down to Jacob's level.
"I'm Jacob, what's your name?" He asked in a very polite reply.
"Name's Hohshall Vohmeg, blood pack commander of the hades gamma cluster, a name I'm sure you know well." He answered with a slight chuckle just before my brother shook his head.
"Nope."
Vohmeg cocked his head back out of surprise. "Really? You've never heard of me?" Vohmeg asked sounding very surprised and mildly upset.
"Nuh-ah." He just shook his head again.
"Are you sure you've never heard of me?" He asked one more time, I think he was getting a bit frustrated, and only because a four-year-old doesn't even know who he is.
"Sorry Mr. Hohshall, but I've never heard of you." Jacob replied honestly.
It's a good thing krogan are tough because I think his ego had just been shattered as krogan love to boast about all the stuff they've done. "My name is Vohmeg kid, Hohshall is my clan name." He corrected just before Chergg added.
"Too bad you didn't come from a worthwhile clan like Volmak, HA!" Vohmeg then got up and started toward Chergg and growled. "Do you want to leave this hospital on your feet or in a body bag?" Oh why do krogan have to do this every time one of them opens their mouth. I mean it's like a never ending dick measuring contest for them.
"Ooh, did I strike a nerve?" Chergg taunted right to Vohmeg's face.
"Didn't you hear what I said? I'm going to rip out your guts if you don't shut your trap!" Vohmeg hissed, in the attempt to sound more threatening I'd imagine.
"Guy's stop!" I blasted but I don't think either of them heard me as they just kept going.
"Oh please, you don't even have the plates to try." Chergg fired back with a smirk.
"Guy's seriously stop!" I shouted a bit louder.
"If I didn't give all my guns to the sentry at the door already I'd have killed you by now!" Vohmeg threatened, I'd finally gotten fed up with this crap and did the only thing I knew would work, even though I still didn't have full control over my new abilities I just sat there and focused on the two krogan in front of me, clenched my fists and shouted at the top of my lungs.
"I SAID STOP!" I let lose my biotics and both krogan went straight into the wall with both krogan leaving a sizable dent in the wall, both of them began to groan in pain as they struggled to their feet.
"Ugh…what…hit us?" Vohmeg asked rubbing the side of his massive head.
"I don't know…felt like I got smashed by my kids when we wrestle, except it's more like all of them at once." Chergg replied as he slowly began to stand up.
They both looked over to me and saw that I was still glowing with my yellow aura draped around my body, both just stared at me in awe as did Jacob, it seemed Shakrimi was the only one who wasn't surprised by this display of power, if anything she admired the display and grinned, Jacob was the first to break the silence. "Cody? How did you do that?" He asked sounding very timid and scared.
I quickly soothed over and said. "It's okay peanut, don't be scared…" I quickly powered down my biotics and continued. "See? Nothing to worry about." He just kept staring at me like he'd been scared stiff, he then began to ask. "Sense when can you do that?"
"Well…sense the other day actually, remember when that big mean turian came in here and tried to hurt us?" He just shuttered a bit, I guess he was still a bit shaken by the fact that he had been shot at.
"Yeah…I remember…I had a bad dream because of him." He replied as his bottom lip began to quiver as a tear rolled down his face.
I tilted his chin up then asked. "Is that why you wanted to sleep here last night?" He nodded his head yes. "Oh peanut, why didn't you just say so?" I guided him into a hug, I could feel the tension just melt away from him, I had a feeling though that he still wanted to know about my powers so I just told him the truth, not that I really had to lie I mean. He took it pretty well despite the fact that I almost died.
Then he just asked rather abruptly. "So you're a super hero now?" He seemed to still be a bit confused.
Then I chuckled a bit and said. "Yeah pretty much."
Then his face just lit up and he started jumping up and down on the bed and cheering out loud. "My brober is a super hero my brober is a super hero my brober is a super hero!" Clearly he was taking it very well, then out of nowhere Alice came into the room with a tray of food.
"Hey red I got you guys some…whoa. What happened in here?" She asked as she took notice of the two krogan sized dents in the wall.
"Alley Cody's a super hero now!" Jacob shouted as he hopped off the bed and ran over to her and trying to drag her over to me.
"Whoa-whoa hold on Jakee what are you talking about?" She asked with a slight chuckle, she must've thought that he was kidding but he was far from it.
"He's got super powers now, look what he did to them." Jacob replied as he pointed to the two krogan who were still in a bit of pain, then she just looked back at me and asked. "Is he for real or is this some little joke of yours?"
"Trust me babe, this is no joke, although technically I'm not a super hero I am a biotic now, thanks to the hyper eezo that is." I conjured up my aura and used my power to pull the tray out of Alice's paws and placed it in front of me.
She then gasped and whispered. "Sweet cheese and crackers, you really are a biotic, this is…" She had to sit down on the bed and process this for a minute. Jacob then tried to hop up on the bed to try and hug her, so I used my biotics and just lifted him up and placed him gently on the bed.
"Thank you big brober." He thanked as he crawled over to the dumb stricken bunny. "It's okay Alley, he's still my big brober and your boyfriend too." He soothed as she just sat there.
She then just looked at me and said. "I don't understand, it said on the extranet that you only had a one in five chance of becoming a biotic from eezo exposer, so how do you…"
Before she could finish I butted in. "Remember this is hyper eezo we're talking about, it's five times stronger, the odds of me becoming a biotic were increased to 100% Alice."
She then came to realize that I was right, then she looked up to everyone in the room and said. "Could you guys leave us for a minute?" Everyone else but Jacob left the room, it was clear that Alice was startled by this.
"Alice I promise you this isn't necessarily a bad thing, I mean I could probably benefit from this if I learn how to control it." I said trying to comfort her, then Jacob chimed in and said. "And the best part is that he's got super powers." He stood up throwing his fists into the air like some kind of super hero in flight, we both just chuckled at him, but Alice quickly returned to her state of silence, then I asked her straight up. "Alice, is there something wrong?"
She then looked up at me and said. "I've heard some bad things about biotics, things that usually end with some kind of medical problems, and that's usually from the regular stuff, but if it's hyper eezo then who knows how bad that this could turn out to be."
I then crawled over to her and sat next to her on the bed as I stroked her back and began to sooth her. "Alice relax, they told me that if I had any problems then I would've started to show signs of medical issues already and I'm just…"
"It's not just that…" She interrupted me, I had a feeling that she was getting even more scared than she was a second ago. "Cody, if you're as powerful from the hyper eezo as I think you are then people might try to take advantage of that, what if someone tries to kid nap you or worse, what if the government tries to experiment on you to try and make some crazy super soldier just for kicks?"
I reached over and took Alice's paws in mine. "It's okay, I promise I will learn how to control this gift and when I do assuming that anyone really does try to take me or experiment on me then they'll have a nasty surprise coming." I then pulled her in for a hug and just let her rest against my heart.
She nuzzled her face into my chest then whispered. "I love you red."
Then I whispered into her ear. "I love you more carrots." Then I put my paw under her chin and guided her into a kiss but before we could lock lips Jacob then childishly started singing. "Cody and Al-lee sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g. First comes love, second comes marriage, third comes a baby in a bay-bee OOF!" I just chucked a pillow at him to try and shut him up, it did the trick, we both chuckled a bit before returning to our tender moment of love. She moaned slightly, I guess I was doing a better job than I usually did, maybe a little too well as she then launched onto me and just held me down, she used the same level of passion that she did when we first became one in flesh.
I had a feeling where this was going so I had to stop her. "Alice wait…we can't do that while…what the…" I looked at myself and noticed my aura was active, but I hadn't even summoned it, but that wasn't all that was going on with my biotics as I looked around the room and saw that just about everything in the room was floating in air surrounded by the same biotic aura that I was, and oddly enough so was Jacob.
"Cody, can you please put me down now?" He asked sounding a bit confused and a tiny bit scared. Alice quickly grabbed him and pulled him down to the floor but he just floated back up into the air, I then realized that I had to be the one to release him from the effects of my power before he could touch the ground. I then focused and just put everything down. "Thank you." He said sounding a bit shaken by my power.
Alice then looked at me and asked the burning question of the moment. "How did you do that?"
"Hey I'm still trying to figure this out myself, but I think we need to get the doctor in on this."
I rang for the doc to come into my room, it didn't take long for her to return. "Is everything all-…keela, what happened in here?" She just looked around to see the mess that I'd unintentionally made.
Jacob quickly pointed at me and said way too fast. "He did it!"
She didn't seem too surprised that it was my fault but she did seem surprised that I did this by accident. "What exactly did you do to cause this?" She seemed to direct the question at me naturally.
"Uh…well I'm not sure how really other than we just started kissing, then the whole room just went all poltergeist on us." I half joked about this whole endeavor.
The doctor just rubbed her chin and voiced her opinion. "Hmm, it seems I'm going to have to get you that collar a little sooner than I expected, but please do me a favor and don't do…whatever it is you did before again, at least not until you have this whole thing under wraps."
"Can do doc, and sorry about the mess, and the wall." I said as I tried to apologize.
"Oh that's all…wait what happened to the wall?" She hadn't even noticed the two krogan sized dents that I'd put in the wall of the room until I mentioned it. "Let me guess, those two boshtets started another fight and you had to break it up?" She asked as she crossed her arms, still have no idea what boshtet means.
"Yeah something like that, by the way what's a boshtet?" I asked hoping it wasn't something that could be imitated by a four-year-old.
"Oh, well that's a bit of a mixed bag, you see when a quarrian calls you a boshtet that's usually the equivalent of a uh,…sweetie could you please cover your ears?" I had a feeling it was impressionable, Jacob did as instructed and covered his ears. "Anyway as I was saying, it's the equivalent of someone calling you a bastard or and asshole, or quite possibly a less harsh term like oh I don't know, I guess someone who's just genuinely annoying you. Okay you can uncover your ears now little one." She lightly signed over to Jacob and he uncovered his ears.
"Thanks, I don't suppose you know what a pyjack is too?" I didn't expect her to know that one as it was mostly used by the krogan from what I understood, but to my surprise she did.
"Oh a pyjack is a little animal not that uncommon to monkeys, except they have an elongated snout and no fur also dark beady eyes. The krogan don't like them too much either as they tend to steel food and other valuable supplies from them to try and make their nests more comfortable for their young."
They look like monkeys? I never would've guessed that. "Are they intelligent?"
She nodded and answered with. "In a sense yes, but they're not sentient if that's what you're asking, like I said they are just an animal that the krogan hate with a passion. Which is why they eat the poor things on a regular bassist."
All three of us mammals just went slack jawed. "They…eat them? Oh dear god." I suddenly felt sick.
"Oh that's disgusting." Alice covered her mouth, it looked like she was ready to puke, the thought of krogan eating lifeforms that looked like monkeys just made us nervous, and somewhat fearful too.
"Well it's not like their an intelligent lifeform like us, it's no different than from you predators eating a chicken or a fish, that's simply how life has worked for you and the same can be said for the krogan and pyjacks." She had a point, I still felt a bit freaked out but she still had a point.
"Well as long as they don't try to eat any of us I won't judge them too much, but still that is just nasty." Alice added, still quivering at the thought, Jacob didn't say a word the whole time which wasn't like him at all, he was usually so much chattier.
"You okay peanut?" I asked as I looked over to him. He just stood there not moving, he seemed to be in shock.
"Jakee? Are you alright sweetie?" Alice got up off the bed and went over to him, he just stood there, still processing everything.
"Doc, I think you may have broken my brother." I felt so bad for him, it wasn't even five minutes ago and he was just face to face with two krogan who weren't even trying to hurt him and then the doc drops a bombshell like this on him.
"Oh keela…" She said with an apologetic tone. "I'm sorry little one I didn't mean to scare you like this, I truly regret it." He didn't even respond to that, I think the shock may have been a little too much for him, then I got an idea, one that usually works wonders.
"Hey doc, I don't suppose there's some ice cream in your cafeteria for him? That usually helps him forget something this big." I suggested casually.
"Of course, you sure it'll work though?" She asked in return.
I just grinned and stated. "Trust me, it'll do the trick."
"Well if you say so, come on then sweetie, let's get you some ice cream, we have every single flavor that earth has ever made." The doctor took him by the paw and lead him out of the room, he then took one last look at me and said sounding a bit shaken.
"Bye-bye brober." Poor kid, he's been through so much in such a short amount of time, and all of it is stuff that no four-year-old should ever have to go through.
"Poor Jakee, this week has been the absolute worst for him, first he thinks your gonna die, then he gets shot at, and now he gets the absolute shit scared out of him again because of what the krogan consider food." Alice just sat down on the bed and crossed her legs.
"I can imagine that it was just as bad for you too." I added as I crawled over to her and wrapped her in a hug.
"It was pretty bad for everyone actually…" She announced to me. "The whole squad even thought that they'd seen the last of you, and I was afraid that I'd lose the first guy I'd ever truly loved." My heart just melted upon hearing those words, I just nuzzled her head with my face, then I got the same familiar smell as I did the other day, the sweet smell of peppermint perfume.
"Uh…Alice? Why are you wearing perfume?" I asked bluntly.
She looked up at me then said in a bit of an embarrassed tone of voice. "Oh…well I kinda…bought a bottle of perfume recently and I sort of used it."
"But why peppermint?" I had a feeling that she was lying but I was hoping she wasn't.
"It's…it's dumb…and a tiny bit complicated." She confessed trying to avoid eye contact.
I then guided her eyes back to meet mine and said. "It's okay, you can tell me anything, now please just tell me the truth." I didn't want to accuse her of anything so I just let it go, she then shed a small tear before admitting.
"I was afraid okay? I thought I was going to lose you forever, so I went out and got the perfume…as a substitute. But…it just wasn't the same as your sent, then I started to think that what we had that night was going to be the last time that I'd…" She just trailed off unable to finish.
I could sense no dishonesty in her words, she was being genuinely honest. "I see, it's okay though, you don't have to worry about that anymore." I decided right then and there that she was over stressed from the past few days, so I just gave her what she wanted from me yet again, and after the emotional hell she'd been through I think she needed it. I pulled her down on top of me and just started kissing her tenderly as I slipped off my hospital gown and threw it off to the side.
She then asked very innocently. "What are you doing?"
I just grinned a devilish grin at her and said. "I don't know, what do you think I'm doing?" Her confused look then turned into one of excitement. She then started to pull her shirt off over her head and threw it off to the side, I then rolled her over and started to remove her pants when I heard the door knob click and the door open, and in walked Shakrimi completely caught off guard from what was going on.
"Hey kid Chergg and Vohmeg just left so I thought that…oh, oh goddess…I am…so sorry…I didn't mean to intrude." She shied away blocking her eyes with her hand while I scrambled to get under the covers.
"You could knock you know." Alice said as she covered her chest with the blanket.
"Sorry, I just didn't expect you two to get busy so to speak in a hospital." Shakrimi defended to which I then stated. "Well could you please leave? Because this is really embarrassing for the two of us you know."
"Yeah sure, I'll just send what I wanted to say to you via omni-tool, okay bye now." She quickly shut the door, I could hear her just outside the door before she walked away. "Wow, kid has a really cute ass."
WHAT THE FUCK MAN, this woman needs help. "Well that killed the mood." I said covering my face with embarrassment, I just wanted the ground to open up and swallow me whole.
"What did she mean by 'that other thing she wanted to talk about', is there something going on that I should know about?" Alice asked with curiosity, I wasn't going to lie to her so I just came clean.
"You're probably going to freak out when I tell you this so just try and brace yourself." She just sat there, she didn't even blink before I told her. "Okay, so Shakrimi just told me not too long ago that the council had given her an order to deliver a message to me, and this is the message." I pulled up the message from the council on my omni-tool an she just read it to herself, the next thing I know she starts squealing with joy and hugging me, this was not the reaction I was expecting.
"Oh my gosh Cody I'm so happy for you." She said as she just held me tight.
"Really? I would've thought that…" She cut me off before I could finish. "What, that I would say you can't join the speactures? Cody, this is an opportunity of a life time, you'll forever be known as a legend of Eden prime if you except this." She just encouraged me to go for it, but I still wasn't so sure if I wanted to be a speacture.
"But…what if I don't want to be a speacture? What if I'm no good at it even? Hell what if I screw up and then someone gets hurt or worse, what if someone…" She then pulled my head down and just kissed me to shut me up, I guess that meant she was going to try an convince me somehow.
she pulled away from the kiss then said in a calm soothing voice. "You are good enough, hell if I had to say it I'd say that your even better than your dad when it comes to being a soldier, I mean your dad is an alliance admiral and he's one of the most famous ones in the alliance, and if I'm not mistaken he was never offered this chance even before he made it big let alone after, the point is Cody is that you're the best of the best and your being given recognition for that, this is an offer you can't refuse, but I understand if your too scared to do it, but no matter what you decide I promise you that I'll support you no matter what." She hugged me tight, it felt nice that I had her approval no matter what I chose, I still didn't know what I wanted to do, like she said this was the biggest opportunity for me and one that I knew would never come my way again, on one hand I thought maybe I should do it to keep the galaxy safe from evil forces like the reaper and the black hearts and with my new found power I'd be unstoppable, but on the other hand too much power for one person is just too dangerous, it doesn't happen often but speactures have been known to go rogue, one of which comes to mind, one that caused my colony hell with the geth over eighty years ago, his name was Saren Octurius and he was a rogue speacture who allied himself with the reapers and tried to help them wipe out all life in the galaxy, but thankfully there was one person who could stop him and that was the hero of the citadel, the one and only commander Shepard, if it wasn't for Shepard then Saren's plan would've succeeded and we'd all be screwed for sure. It was for that reason that I hesitated at this chance of a lifetime, because for years Saren was hailed as a hero and the council's top agent before he went rogue, no one knows why he turned evil other than he was the reapers puppet, either way it wasn't going to be easy to make this decision.
But I chose not to worry about it at the time, I was a little more…preoccupied at the moment. I then returned Alice to a laying position and proceeded to strip her of her remaining clothes, but before I could begin my task properly I received a ping on my omni-tool. "Oh for fuck sake what now?" I groaned, I looked at my omni-tool and read that it was a message from Shakrimi. "Ah, I see she's sent you the message she wanted you to read." Alice said as we both read the I.D. of the sender. "You should go ahead and read it, I've waited this long to nail you again I can wait a little longer." She licked my cheek, rather seductively, I just chuckled as I kissed her cheek in return before reading the message.
Hey kid, sorry again about walking in on you and your girlfriend, you've got a cute ass by the way, too bad your taken, and only sixteen otherwise I'd fuck the hell out of you, granted I already wanted to do that with you so that's no surprise to me…
Why god, why does this woman have to torment me?
Anyway what I wanted to tell you was that I'll be the one to teach you how to control your biotics until you get the hang of it, as a favor to your dad that is, so get ready for that because if you thought Tanner was a hard ass as a drill instructor than your about to find out that he was a saint compared to me, so don't expect any mercy, talk to you soon, sincerely, Agent Shakrimi Vonshah. P.S. Just so you know you can use your biotics while you and your girl are banging each other senseless, I'm going to tell you how we asari do it which is a gentle melding of nervous systems, just focus on her and get ready for the experience of a lifetime kid because your about to lose your damn minds.
I'm not sure if I should slap her right now or shake her hand, either way we had something to look forward to in a few minutes, which I gave a clear signal to when I perked my ears up and just smiled a devilish smile.
"Well, what does it say?" Alice asked rather curiously.
I then closed the message and said as I turned my attention back to her. "Oh she just wanted to apologize for what just happened a minute ago again, also to inform me that she'll be the one to teach me how to control my biotics, and as luck would have it she just gave me my first lesson."
She raised an eye brow and smiled. "Oh really, and what did she teach you, red?"
"You'll see, but first…" I crawled back on top of her. She started to giggle as I started to lick her neck. I just kept on trying to arouse her for about fifteen minutes until I felt that she'd waited long enough. "You ready for this carrots?" I asked looming over her.
She nodded with a very surly grin. "So…what was it that Shakrimi wanted you to try out?" Alice asked as she just laid their ready for me to pounce on her.
I then snaked my arms around her as I answered her ready to surprise her with what I knew. "Apparently the asari use their biotics like a sex toy almost, something about joining our nervous systems together, like this." I began to focus on Alice and nothing else, then my aura started to show through, somehow it managed to flow through Alice's body and lighting her up with the same aura as me, it was like nothing I'd ever felt before, not only did it feel amazing but it also felt like I could feel everything she felt, excited, pleasured and even warm, I loved every single second of it.
"Oh god, Cody…this feels…" She couldn't even finish her sentence because of how good it felt, I could hardly focus on anything else but how good it felt, Shakrimi was right, we were losing our damn minds. We lasted for about two hours before we finally finished, and I was worried that our second time together wouldn't measure up to the first, as far as I'm concerned that was just a warm up. I would've loved to just stay in bed with Alice all day and just rest with her by my side but I had to get some radiation therapy as the doctor had described to me earlier, I got my gown back on and got ready for my therapy, but not before I gave a good-bye kiss to a very tired and satisfied bunny, who I left to sleep under the covers of my blanket. "Sweet…cheese…and crackers that was amazing." She willed herself to speak, despite being so tired.
"Guess we've found our new favorite aphrodisiac." I replied with a cheeky smile.
"When you get back, that is…if I'm rested enough…you'd better give me more of that." She tried to sound demanding but her exhaustion betrayed her.
I sat down for a second and just patted her head before saying. "I don't think you'll be up for another round just yet like usual babe, but I promise you when you get your strength back I'm all yours." She grinned just before blowing me a kiss, to which I returned with a real kiss, then I was off. Shakrimi was waiting for me outside the door with a surly grin on her face.
"Had fun didn't ya?" She smirked as she just looked down at my very tired expression, however I wasn't nearly as tired as Alice seemed to be.
"You were right, that whole thing you were talking about with the whole joining of nervous systems was even better than when we first did it." I responded with honesty.
She just laughed then said. "Well I hoped so on your behalf at least, so how was it on her end?" She asked with a very sly grin.
"Well she's still in there and she's unable to stand on her own two feet with a grin that stretches ear to ear, how does that sound?" I asked as we simply stood in the doorway.
"You were that good huh? Well she's certainly a lucky…hey what's that smell?" Oh come on not this shit again, well at least she's not trying to smell me directly. She leaned over to the door and inhaled the air in the room, she returned her focus to me then asked. "Okay I recognize the scent of stank anywhere but how does the room smell like peppermint?" This was a new look for her, utter confusion, to which I found most amusing.
"Oh that, that would be my natural fox musk, it's the scent of peppermint, long story short some mammals like to mark each other with their scent as a little extra bond between each other, it's also a way for other guys to know that she's my girl and if they try to touch her I'll know about it. But it's mostly for love and pleasure, it's an animal thing you wouldn't understand." I said kinda smugly.
She just gave me a weird look and said. "Pheromones, so what did you pee on her or something?" UGH, why won't this just go smoothly for me just once, is that too much to ask?
I then facepalmed and stated with annoyance. "Oh for…no I didn't pee on her and she didn't pee on me if that's what you're thinking okay, we have sent glands that secrete these pheromones when were in love, like I said it's a very special bond, one that can never be broken."
She then seemed to get what I was saying. "Well in that case good for you, now then lets head over to get your treatment done, by the way have you considered the offer from the council yet?" She asked looking down at me as we walked down the hall way.
"You mean the one where I'm the first fox ever to be made a speacture? I haven't really decided just yet, I will think about it though." I replied hoping that this would be enough for her for now.
"That's the spirit, I'm glad you're at least thinking about it, when I brought this offer to your dad years ago he just said no right out of the gate." She said casually.
My ears perked up upon hearing that. "Wait, my dad…had a chance to be a speacture?"
"Not surprised he didn't tell you, he's never really been much of a bragger, anyway yes I brought this offer to your dad years ago only to have him turn it down." She laminated, I had just been dumbstruck again, if there's a record for how many times you can be dumbstruck in one day then I think I've just set a new one.
"I knew it, I just knew you had to have offered him this chance he's too good of a soldier to not get this chance. But why didn't he take it?" I asked simply wondering why my dad would turn down the opportunity of a lifetime.
"Well that's mostly because…and don't take this personal kid, but it was kinda your fault." She said with a half apologetic tone.
"My fault, what do you mean my fault?" I had no idea what she meant until she cleared it up.
"He got the offer right after you were born, I brought it to him thinking he'd jump at the chance to do this, but quickly said no right after I gave it to him, I tried my best to convince him but he said his duty to his family was more important than running around the galaxy with even fewer chances to see his family than he already had, I knew what he meant, he was talking about you, and I respected that, I couldn't encourage him to leave his family for that long after his wife just had a baby, so I just told the council that he said no, but maybe you'll take the chance that he turned down."
I didn't know what to say, my dad turned down the chance of a lifetime, all because of me, I felt guilty for a bit, but then I realized that he did it out of love, and for that I loved him even more than ever, but it also helped me realize something else, that your loved ones are worth more than some stupid job offer.
(A/N: And that's it for this chapter everybody I hope you all liked it, I'll try to get another chapter out tomorrow if I can sense I try to make up for being late by putting up multiple chapters at once, anyway time for the spoiler. In the next chapter of ZME, Shakrimi keeps her promise and turns into an absolute hard ass on poor Cody, Cody meets a few friends he wasn't expecting at the hospital, and Cody learns something about his mother that he never thought was possible. Okay that's all for now everybody see you guys later.)
