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Beta(s) :
Miimii~
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Beta : I suggest removing some italics. Over-exposure is starting to make the impact worse.
Me : Hey. Italics are a part of my religion.
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Requested by :
Espacole
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"How's this?" Pyrrha asked nervously, straightening her cuirass a bit more and tucking her shash more tightly around her waist.
"Armor's lookin' good, whoever picked it out definitely knew your legs were your strength." Pyrrha tried very, very hard not to flush at the compliment while Kasumi ran her fingers through her hair, using them as a rather wonderful feeling replacement for the brush that she'd forgotten to bring… Where every one of them had managed not to bring a brush. "Hair's kinda messed up, but eh, you're supposed to be a merc. Armor's one thing, but mercs don't care about hair."
"Really?"
"Course they don't, Battlemaster." Grunt growled, lying across several seats at the back of the shuttle. "Why else would the wrinkly prick be bald? Easier 'n caring for the hair."
"Oh that is why Friend Zaeed is bald." Penny murmured under her breath, almost like she was taking notes. "I will have to remember that for his birthday. Maybe a wig would be good for his needs?"
"I don't think birthday shopping is appropriate right now…" Pyrrha murmured with a little chuckle.
"I am not shopping, silly Friend!" Penny cheered brightly, waving her confusion off with a hand. "I am merely making a list of presents like any good friend should be doing! I make a list, I check it twice, and I give presents because I'm not naughty. I'm nice!"
Somehow, Pyrrha didn't think that was what the song she was fairly certain Penny was referencing was supposed to be about. But she didn't really have it in her to correct her smaller friend. Or the time, either, Kasumi's firm grip taking her by the shoulder to drag her around towards the shuttle door as the entire craft shuddered to a final landing.
"Now remember, Nikos, I'll be cloaked and with ya every step of the way." The thief reminded her quickly, hands flying along Pyrrha's body to check her armor mindlessly. "Just relax and mingle a bit. I'll handle security stuff while you do. When I signal, slip away and we can handle the heist part of the heist. Yeah?"
"I shall await your word, then, o' master thief." Pyrrha smiled, "Just do me a favor, and do not take too long? I… Don't fancy spending more time with these sorts than I must."
"Will do, Red. Will do." At her words, the thief nodded, sparks once again crawling along every inch of her body as she slipped into invisibility. Now Pyrrha knew she was there, she could just make out the faintest flicker… but she was certain no one would notice the wily woman in the party. "And at least try to look like a confident, badass merc, please?"
"I will certainly try…"
The landing pad she stepped out on was wide and beautifully decorated, ringed by flowered hedges and dark stone statues of a variety of races. She had no idea who any of them were, of course, but she got the distinct sense that commemoration wasn't the point. The fact some of their eyes were made of literal gemstones was no small proof of that, to her mind. A few guards and mercenaries were milling about around them, but no one paid her very much mind even when her Krogan 'bodyguard' and Penny joined her. When the shuttle left and she was still only paid curious glances, she shrugged and moved on, headed towards the massive mansion that adjoined the illustrious landing pad.
"Nice place they got here." Kasumi mused over their private comm-line as they approached the building, "Sure would be a shame if a master thief happened to it, huh?"
"It is very… Shiny!" Penny at least sort of agreed in her bright, energetic way, walking in near lock-step with Pyrrha and Grunt while Kasumi presumably trailed along behind them somewhere. "I do believe they could have done something more than white, gold and silver, however!"
"It's ugly." Grunt growled in agreement under his breath, "Huge windows, bright colors… Where are the greens and browns?"
"You prefer more earthy, natural tones, then?" Pyrrha asked curiously, one brow raised at the very… Un-Krogan like conversation.
"I… Think I do?" The young Krogan answered quietly before grunting more firmly, like he'd only just thought about it and formed an opinion. "I do."
As they got closer to the building, security understandably intensified rapidly. It started as little more than mercenaries milling about almost aimlessly and built up to lines of robots and mercenaries patrolling along heavy barricades to herd the party-goers to where they were meant to be. A heavily armored guard was waiting by the door and took her name, eyeing Penny confusedly before shrugging and making a note of her and the Krogan with her.
The place of the party itself was essentially a massive studio apartment design, with multiple rooms set to either side of a large hallway. At the end of it was a large bar and wide, glass windows that looked out on a beautiful view of the forest and, distantly, a city. Mercenaries were spaced out evenly along the walkway, dressed in the same black uniform as the ones outside. Others in brighter uniforms of varying styles and qualities milled about or waited against walls and corners, hawkishly watching their charges.
The rest, though, looked like simple civilians out for a party.
"Hock, our host, is at the bar." Kasumi spoke into her ear, the comm-line sparking slightly as she did. "His security system has a few locks on it that will keep us from accessing the lift down to the Vault. I'll handle the DNA aspect, but that means you will have to handle the voice sample."
"How do I do that?"
"Just talk to him for a while." The infiltrator answered simply, grunting with some sort of effort. "I have a VI running a suite program that will compile the audio. Once I find out the passphrase off his private terminal, I'll splice it and have that sorted. Getting the audio samples is the hard part, honestly."
"Well…" Pyrrha sighed, "I'll have to sort something out, then."
"Yep." Kasumi quipped back distractedly, "If you can't pull it by the time I get the DNA and phrase, I'll coach you. Try your best, keep your cover as the badass new merc on the frontier. I gotta focus up, though."
"Right." Pyrrha sighed, "Keep me updated."
"Will do." She answered, "Best of luck."
The gentle chime of the comm-line cutting sounded before Pyrrha could answer even if she had wanted to say something. So, with a sigh, Pyrrha looked over her shoulder and asked, "Do either of you know how to... Mingle in a party like this?"
"Do they have a bar?" She nodded and the Krogan grunted and waved a hand off towards it, "Start there then. Get a drink and wait. Someone'll approach you. And if not, you can scout out a way to do it yourself."
"Or you can simply look cool at the bar." Penny offered, explaining when Pyrrha raised an eyebrow, "Friend Zaeed loaned me movies. There's always a cool person that hangs out at bars by themselves!"
"Oh." Pyrrha blinked, "Well, alright then. That's… A fair enough suggestion."
The bar itself was a startlingly simple affair, at least compared to the rest of the building she could see and the walk up to it. There was the typical wall of drinks she didn't recognize, not being one that enjoyed that sort of thing or had much experience regardless of Mistral's legal age and the relation to Hunters. Her competition contracts all forbade her going drinking, or being seen doing it, so while she'd once snuck some wine from her parents, she didn't exactly have experience in the field.
But the wine hadn't tasted bad, so…
"A glass of wine, if you please." She ordered as she sat down at the end of the bar where the countertop met the wall, copying a movie she'd seen recently and adding, "Something sweet. Surprise me."
"Ryncol." Grunt added over her shoulder, leaning against the wall behind her and watching the crowd.
"Of course, Sir and Ma'am. A can of Krogan Krusader and a glass of blackberry out of Venice for the miss to try." The bartender answered brightly, smiling and turning a look on Penny as she hopped onto the empty stool beside Pyrrha and turned to watch the crowd curiously. "And for the young miss?"
Apparently, bars in parties run by very shady not-gentlemen didn't care about legal drinking ages.
"Water for her, please and thank you." Pyrrha answered, explaining with a smile, "She's my security. A Krogan can handle his alcohol easily, I'm more than certain of the fact. But she's my security for the event, and I do not wish to inhibit her performance."
Also, she was a robot and Pyrrha didn't know what alcohol would even do to her. And this seemed a poor time to test it...
"Of course, Ma'am." The older man nodded, paying Penny a curious, worried look but turning to get her order regardless. "Your drinks will be right out."
Less than two minutes passed before the dark violet drink was in her hand, and a rough looking can half the size of her head was in the Krogan's. The bartender didn't even ask for payment, which led her to assume Hock was covering everyone's drink personally. It was probably meant as part of the festivities but, just as likely, Pyrrha was sure Hock just wanted to flaunt his wealth in front of his acquaintances.
The rich were always the same, even in this galaxy…
"Shot for your thoughts?" Grunt growled under his breath while Penny bounced and hummed along to a quiet beat filtering across the bar. She raised her brow and he grunted, "Starin' at your drink. Should be drinkin' it. Starin' like that will make people curious all the ways we don't want.
"I'm quite alright. Just… Thinking about how to go about my part of our job, Grunt." Pyrrha sighed, smiling and raising her glass, "And you can keep your shot, thanks. This is more than enough for me even if we weren't trying to accomplish something."
"Hmph." He took a sip of his Ryncol, "Lightweight."
"Perhaps with drink I am." She smiled, "But I can still beat you down with my own two hands."
"That's one way to get some attention." The Krogan mused quietly, or at least his version of quietly, as he took another long sip and then sighed a long, rasping, gravelly breath. "But a brawl is just as likely to get you kicked out. Less than useful."
"Mhm." She nodded, tapping her finger on the side of her drink and taking a sip. "A fight is a good idea, but besides the brawling over drink aspect, that you are my underling would only make them suspicious."
"Mhm." The krogan nodded, "You should enjoy your drink."
"I am. She smiled, "Only… slowly."
"Mhm." The alien nodded, "Do it quiet then. Need to think…"
She nodded and took another small sip of her fruity, earthy wine. Allowed it may have been, and Dark Brother was she tempted to take advantage of that fact, it did not make it moral. Or wise, ahead of a likely coming combat. It was only supposed to be a heist, of course, but… Well, she had enough experience in the ways of the worlds to know precisely how often things went how they were supposed to.
Had they for her, she'd perhaps have had a somewhat gangly blonde on her arm…
That brought a choking sensation to her throat she washed away in a long, deep drink of her wine, slamming the glass down and calling to the bartender, "Another, if you please."
"Of course, Miss-"
"Nikos!" A distantly, faintly familiar, baritone voice roared from somewhere behind her.
Instinct screamed at her and she leapt out of her seat and onto the bar, then higher to kick off the wall and sail over a couch as it crushed the stool she'd been sitting on. Grunt growled as stuffing, metal and wood showered him and downed his Ryncol with a murmured curse, pushing off the wall to step in the way of the larger Krogan storming towards them. Only as he reached the younger Krogan did the older begin to crackle with blue energy, hurling Grunt aside and through the wall separating the bar from the art room before he could react.
Pyrrha didn't hesitate to be the second to try and meet the Biotic's storming rush.
His fist snapped out as she landed and she brought an arm up to catch the blow, snarling as her Aura flared brightly under the impact. His other fist snapped up before she could react, punching like lightning into her chin and making her see stars. She felt a hand on her throat choking her for a moment and then hurling her to the side and into the wall next to the hole Grunt had left. She blinked the stars aside then, just in time to see his head bearing down on her face and turn it aside to save her nose.
They both smashed through the wall regardless, leaving her a heap on the floor amid the rubble of the wall as a heavy foot slammed down on her gut.
"Hehe…" Garm chuckled as she tried to force him off without her Semblance. "What's wrong, Human? No tricks for me this time?"
"I have a few." Penny said quietly, before a lance of green energy slammed into the Krogan's midsection, searing through his barrier in a moment. He staggered away and Penny followed, her swords spinning overhead in a single formation. "Please, do not hurt my friends."
"Heh, and why not?"
"I do not like it." Penny answered simply, "And I have been told that sometimes, I should show I do not like things with concentrated particle lasers."
The Krogan seemed to consider that for a moment as Pyrrha stood, but then he scowled and took a step towards her, Biotics crackling. His Barrier held up for a moment longer this time before cracking, and he snarled as the energy slammed into him, armor flecking off in super-heated drops as he was pushed back and into the hall. The pulse ended and the Krogan snarled, wrenching back a hand wreathed in blue fury.
"Garm, I think that's more than enough." A rich, amused sounding voice echoed from behind her, finally bringing the burnt and enraged Krogan to a stop.
His bloodshot eyes promised murder as Pyrrha straightened and wiped the running blood from her lip. Then she felt a hand on her shoulders and had to bite the inside of her cheek not to hurl its owner into the floor on sheer instinct. Instead, she caught her breath and let Hock step in front of her, folding his hands at the back of his waist as he surveyed the thoroughly enraged and burnt, blue-armored Krogan.
Hock was every part the rich dastard she'd assumed he was, with tanned skin and cold eyes. He wore a cream suit adorned and trimmed in what seemed to be literal silver, but didn't carry any weapons. Though she supposed he didn't really need any, really, given where they were. And the army that seemed to be on hand to handle as many weapons as he could possibly ever need to handle his problems.
"Hock." The Biotic spat, bright blood splashing on the armor of one of the Eclipse guards flanking him warily. The woman flinched, eyeing the dark splotch of orange coloring her breast before sighing and leveling her rifle at the amused alien. Turning back to Hock, he asked, "What do you want?"
"I believe I told you rather explicitly not to attack any of my guests." Hock said quietly, turning to give Pyrrha a too-long once over that lingered on every inch of skin he seemed able to find, all while she did her best not to recoil. Finally, he asked, "Are you alright, my dear?"
"I'm fine." She answered quietly, turning as Grunt rose and swore, shaking off the blow he'd taken while Penny moved to help him up. Finally, she turned back to the party's host, more than conscious of the entire gathering's attention on the three of them. "My bodyguards are fine as well, thank you."
"Hmm, and what interesting bodyguards you have, too." Hock answered, turning a leer on Penny that really made Pyrrha want to stab him.
Okay, maybe she was spending too much time with Zaeed…
"It doesn't seem you need guards, Miss Nikos." The man smiled, finally deigning to meet her eyes again. "Now, would you mind telling me what the hell you did to make my overgrown pet so agitated?"
"Pet…?"
"Ah, right, I nearly forgot." Hock sighed, turning to face Garm as his eyes widened, watching the man fish a little disk the size of his palm out of a pocket. The Biotic staggered back a step warily as the man raised it and then bellowed in pain, clutching at his stomach as his muscles spasmed and he fell. While the fallen warrior cried out, Hock explained in a bored tone, "I bought him off the Blood Pack after you left him on Omega."
"You…" Her mouth felt like it had been stuffed with cotton but she forced the words out anyway, "Bought him?"
"Yes. A biotic Krogan on a leash is quite rare, but…" Hock turned a smile on her and chuckled dryly, "Well, we have you to thank for bringing him to me. No?"
"Then…" She swallowed and turned an eye on the Krogan that had tried to murder her twice, now. Forcing her breathing to slow and standing straighter, she tried her best to act like Weiss Schnee at her haughtiest. "Then do me a favor and put him in his, um, kennel?"
"Oh?" Hock hummed, turning a look on her and finally letting up on the poor alien. "Why?"
"He's spoiling the party." She explained simply as the Krogan came up on a knee. Waving the matter off she added with a stiff, fake smile, like she used back on Remnant for so many events, "Besides, I'm the wounded party here, not you. Why should you get to enjoy yourself when I would rather go back to my wine?"
"You're right." He mused after a moment, turning and offering her the little piece of silver. Her brows furrowed in confusion, looking from it to him, and he explained, "You are the wounded party, after all."
"I…"
"What the hell is going on?" Kasumi's voice finally said over their comms, "I stopped paying attention to you for what, five minutes?"
"I'd rather simply go back to my drink, if it pleases you." She smiled, waving the man off with a forced laugh. "Really, I'd prefer to put this all behind-"
"I'd insist, but you do seem to want to get back to your drink. In fact… I have an idea in mind." The man smiled, taking her hand and all but forcing the little device into her hands. Spreading his arms as he danced back, past the fuming Krogan no less, he explained, "My gift to you! At least until the party ends."
"O-Oh, I don't-"
"Enjoy!" He laughed, turning to saunter off around the corner, "I'm off to peruse the wine myself now, after seeing how eager you were to get back to it, I must admit to having grown curious!"
And with that he was gone, vanishing back into a cluster of his sycophants while Kasumi murmured, "Well, at least we got the audio sample…"
"Mhm." Pyrrha sighed as she crossed the room and offered the Krogan a hand up. He looked at it like it was it might rear up and bite him. Snarling for it, he staggered upright on his own. Scowling, she asked, "Why did you even attack me? I did nothing to you!"
"Human." He snarled, turning and sauntering away stiffly, "I'll kill you later. For now, I need a drink."
"You know him?" Grunt asked as he approached her and she turned to meet his curious gaze.
"We fought on Omega, a… Significant while ago, now." She explained quietly, straightening her hair and then her armor as she rounded the corner. Garm was in her spot, now, and only scowled when their eyes met. So she shrugged and headed for the other corner, past the bend and to the other juncture between bar and wall. "I defeated him and left him bound when the fight ended."
"You shamed him, then."
"I spared him!" She argued hotly as she fell onto the stool and accepted the glass of wine the barman wisely put in front of her. And the bottle beside it, not that she in any way intended to drink all of that.
"Same thing." Grunt said simply, shrugging when she gave him a confused look. "You beat him, but did not fear him enough to bother killing him. That is a grave insult among the Krogan."
"Okay, but why though?"
"Krogan are weird." Kasumi said in her ear, this time whispering the words from beside her. Pyrrha paid the space between her and the wall a glance and saw the shimmer before she turned back, smiling. "But hey, we have what we need. So once everyone isn't watching you like starving hawks with a mouse tossed in front of them we're good to go."
Now all there was to do was wait.
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Dr Killinger :
Hope you enjoy it! And that sounds like a 'Mama Bear' Shepard to me. Mean and ruthless to everyone but her family- I mean, crew! XD
Joe Cola :
I felt the same, and think you're right, it's because it's one long scene on the shuttle with no cuts to different scenes. It feels like less. Dunno why, though. Probs will just avoid doing that where i can, moving forward. And glad you liked it, as always!