Shepard is acting strange around me. Minor things started out at first. Admiral Hackett requested our aid in dealing with the rogue AI on the moon. The lunar base was actually one of the first places Shepard had trained to become an N7. The team for this mission was myself, Shepard, Wrex, and Ashley. I manned the turret on top of the mako and had a blast. The design was very intuitive, it was however very annoying how long it took to cool down. During the drive, Wrex gave his approval for how I handled the salarian and wished he could have been there. Shepard verbally scolded him for supporting bad behavior. I noticed in between firing missiles of absolute doom, Shepard kept giving me these odd glances.
When I played this mission I had difficulties shooting at the flying droids. Maybe it was being there in person with a shotgun or my many years of experience, it was much easier than expected. Ashley went down for a minute until Shepard revived her. That's when I noticed he was sticking close by. This is weird. The mission went off without a hitch and hopefully I have proven myself capable to the maroon bipedal lizard. The AI that would later become EDI is no longer a threat. The normandy picked us up. Garrus and Tali wanted to stop and visit Earth. Sadly, for them there was no time.
"You are continuing to impress me, kid. There may be something in you after all' Wrex said.
"Does that mean what I think it means?" I asked excitedly.
"You really want to fight me?" Wrex asked.
"YES!" my voice saturates with youthful enthusiasm.
A commander's voice emanates from the walls of the room. "********* could you come to my office?" it asked.
"What did you do to piss off Shepard?" Wrex asked.
"Alot, although I do not know what this is about" I answer honestly. I enter the elevator, play catchy music inside my head and make my way to Shepard's space.
"I am not taking the fall for the dead body. Not again" I said.
"Would you take a seat?" Shepard waved his hand towards the chair in front of him. He didn't even react to my amazing humorous figure of speech. The thorn in my brain is prodding my rational mind for an explanation I can't not give. I sit on the small sturdy object of metal and plastic.
"What is this about?" I ask. I examine his face for any clues. I do not see any hint of anger. This helps me somewhat.
"Nothing is wrong. I want one-on-one time with you" Shepard said.
WAIT A… HOLD ON. It all clicks. Weird glances. Enjoying my awesome presence. Wanting to be alone with me. The spectre is in love with me. I DO NOT SWING THIS WAY. I may fill the room with sexy, but it is not for him. This is super uncomfortable. I am indifferent to how others enjoy affection; however, I like women. My eyes open wide. I feel pressure arise from my lower back and the urge in my throat to stop this conversation.
"WOAH. You are cool, I hate to disappoint, but I strictly like women." Quick, think of something to ease his broken heart. "Kaiden is single" I blurb out.
Shepard takes a moment to process what I said. He shuts his eyes, leans back and laughs. The heckles reveal the biggest smile I have seen on Shepard's face. His comical energy slowly dies down and his blue eyes slowly open and see my relieved expression.
"I'm straight. What the hell made you think I wanted your annoying ass?" Shepard attempted to ask, attempting to swallow any escaping laughs.
"I saw you looking at me and you stayed close to me while we were inside the base. Then you asked me to be alone and I… it was the first thought I had" I explained.
"Uh-huh" Shepard wears an expression rhetorically asking is this guy is serious?"
"Hey I am ridiculously adorable. Many women would want me. Well some. Ok a few. Maybe one when I am lucky" I said. "What is this about then?"
"I like to know who I am working with. I want one on one time with everybody. Also, the doc asked me to keep an eye on you and your arm. She said it healed quickly. Any erratic behaviors are to be observed and my notes sent to her. I have a whole filing cabinet full" Shepard said.
"You think of me that much. I am touched" I place my hands over my heart and smile, then throw a fit of faux rage. "Erratic behaviors!? Like what?"
"I am going to need another filing cabinet. An extra large one" Shepard said. We look at each other. We are pretending to be tough. The energy breaks our stoic demeanors and we laugh it off.
"Let's be real for a second. I know you had a troubled past and you aren't ready to talk about it. Just know, you can come talk to any of us. We need to be sound and healthy here so when we go out there, we will be strong. When you are ready to open up, a bottle of scotch has our name on it" Shepard said.
My eyelids lower and a small smirk arises in the right half of my face.
"Thanks Shepard. Yeah, it was. I would eventually like someone to know the full story. It is just too much to let it all out at once for me. HEY. Bribes are illegal. I need to confiscate your products" I said.
"Not happening," Shepard said. With this I exit his office and feel happy. Knowing someone is there to just listen is a big relief. I doubt I will be needing it soon. I never really told anyone my entire past. Some universes I revealed to acquaintances my abilities, but never myself. I go about the rest of my day with the clenching hidden behind my chest, holding on a little looser.
Kaiden barges into Shepard's room, the doors are too slow to open as Kaiden seqeezes through. His breaths are deep and fast. His blood demands more oxygen, ignorant that lungs can only supply so much. Shepard looks at Kaiden with an intrigued look.
"********* and Wrex are fighting" Kaiden said with forceful exhales in his sentence.
Shepard's mouth opens slightly. Flabbergasted at what his ears are telling him. After everything that happened earlier, not even two hours later, ********* is fighting Wrex of all people?!
"What happened?!" Shepard stands up.
"What? Oh nothing. They are sparring. We are taking bets. I wanted to see if you wanted in. They start in five minutes" Kaiden explained.
A Light bulb illuminates over Shepard's head.
"You are going to get yourself hurt kid" Wrex said.
"Yeah, I'll heal though" I jump side to side then up and down to warm up. I can feel my adrenal glands squirting little droplets of epinephrine into my blood. This feels great, if more enters my bloodstream, it feels like warm lighting travels the entire highway of my cardiovascular system. Kaiden and Shepard exit the elevator. The spectre is crossing his arm and Kaiden is collecting money.
"We have quite an audience" I notice everyone from the main cast. Some faces I do not recognize. Pressley and Adams are here too.
"How do you want to do this? Three touches we're out or have you begging for uncle?" I cross my right arm against my chest and pull with the left to stretch the shoulder.
"On Tuchanka, fights usually end in death" Wrex chuckles and looks intimidating.
"It was good knowing you bud" If I do die, my body will unsolidify and become pure energy. The people around me start asking questions that are annoying then ask me to do stuff for them. Fix the world, end hunger, stuff like that. If I could I would. If I did, new problems would arise. There is no winning. No victory, until I defeat this krogan.
"Fight time!" Ashley yells.
I ball my fists, Stand straight and slowly walk over to Wrex. I maintain eye contact the entire time. A slight smile is worn. I am standing in front of this statue of muscle. I pretend to punch him. My fist stops centimeters from his face. Wrex doesn't flinch. I put my arm down. Wrex does the same. While I do not flinch, my muscles do slightly harden.
"We are putting on quite the show" Wrex hints. I see.
"Yes, we are" I turn around. My back faces his front. To display I am not afraid. If this was real, I would be a fool to expose myself. I walk to my starting position. I started fighting by beating up bandits in medieval fantasy universes I went to a very long time ago. I did well at first, until I got cocky and would die. This was early in my journey. I would always try to do as much in as little time as possible. I kept dying and going into new universes. Eventually I realized that I had as much time as I wanted. I had a literal eternity to fill. I decided to start slowly and never took on more than I could handle. After that, death is a rare experience. I inevitably became bored with humans and started to fight stronger and stronger animals. This too became boring as the lack of intelligence made them predictable. Strong and intelligent people are rare and always fun to fight.
Wrex is strong. He may be slow. I'll have to be quick and use my legs, the strongest part of my body, to beat him. I need to trick him to win. I will use my hands first to make it appear that is my winning fighting strategy. It will be difficult, in between my moves I can observe Wrex's style and tire him out. I lunge forward with great speed and attack his chest then retreat out of reach. He tries to attack. I evade his grapples and walk backwards in a figure eight fashion to keep the fighting in the center of the room. His style changes. Slow and strong to weaker but much faster, forcing me to keep my guard up. He favors his left side. I sneak in a few jabs under his right eye when given the opportunity. He retaliates by landing a blow on my right temple. His punch was strong. The initial force dulled the nerves. I froze.
Wrex ponders if he hit me too hard. His sharp scaly fingers dug a gash on my head. The blood runs down and mixes with the sweat. My nerves pulse twice a second. This time sending irritating and intense signals. This is a pain. True pain. I haven't felt this in a long time.
"YEEESSSSS!" My screech of rejoice astonishes the alien and the crowd.
"DO YOU Have any idea how long it has been since I felt this?" my breath hastens, and the adrenaline grows in intensity. I need more.
I headbutt the beast Infront of me. I punch with everything. I use my pectoral to bring my arm forward, my triceps to extend my arm. My chest expands to provide room for immigrating air. I use muscles I forgot to put as much force into my sphere of muscle and bone onto the edge of my limb. I extend my leg as far as I can and land a costly blow. The crew watches. Those betting on Wrex are getting nervous. That is until…
"Training gloves off" Wrex said. He grabs my fists. His strength and weight force me down. My kneecaps kiss the cold metal flow. He eyes me. Those yellow irises demand submission. I refuse. I place my awareness on the first body generator. The most primal one. The place of power. I fuel it more and more and pump as much energy as I can out of it. A wicked smile forms as all the muscles in my face contract with the excess energy. My legs slowly start to straighten out and push back the stunned warrior. A growl crawls out of my chest as the muscles in my chest and upper back forcibly squeeze any remaining air outside. It has been so long since I produced this much raw energy. I let go of all this pent-up energy and guide into my limbs. I feel alive.
"Show is over. It is a draw" Shepard said.
"NO! We are just getting to the good part!" I am taken aback. The grotesque horror of one of the greatest feelings I can experience is being taken from me. "WHY?!"
"I need you both to save that for the geth. This is going somewhere I won't like" Shepard said.
"Awwww" I let out. I shake hands with Wrex and we take a seat. Doctor Chakwas is examining Wrex while Ashley, Garrus and Tali have a chat with me.
"That was amazing. Not many people would have the balls to fight a Krogan and even be able to put up a fight" Garrus said.
"I'll admit, I am impressed. I liked how you were monitoring how the fight flowed and how to combat your opponent. A useful skill in the field. That gash may leave a scar" Ashley said.
"I doubt it" I said. Ashley wipes off the bloodtrail.
"You might even be as strong as some battlemasters. Just don't get any ideas about fighting them" Wrex said.
"The match made me nervous to watch. Do you think you could have beaten him?" Tali asked.
"Oh no. Wrex wasn't using his biotics and I was almost starting to hit my limit. The boost would have given me the upperhand for a while until I lost my strength. Wrex's healing would have allowed him to outlast me" I confess.
"Smart. Maybe with some training you could best me, if you luck out" Wrex said.
"Hey why is the human doctor not examining her favorite patient?" I ask.
"This is my first chance to observe the krogan healing up close. It is remarkable how the bruises are fading already" she said.
"So, one doc is worth two Young nurses. Worth the trade" I said. A hard slap is bestowed. "OWW! You hit harder than Wrex."
"You asked for it. Tali can you stitch?" Ashley asked.
"Yes. A life of suit repairs taught me well. Let me take a look" Tali tilted my head to get a better view.
"You will need something to dull the pain" Ashley said.
"Have you seen how I reacted to pain? I'll be ok" I said.
"No you won't. Please don't do that again" Tali asked.
"I am strong. I can take it" I said.
"Just do not fight a krogan bare handed when we are on mission" Tali said.
"I won't try, but you never know" I said
"You shouldn't need to" Tali said.
"But it is fun. I like proving myself. It is worth the pain" I explained.
Tali uses both her hands, swiveling my head and locking my gaze upon her purple visor.
"I know you are strong, I know you oddly enjoy it, but I do not like watching you get hurt. Be careful, for me please."
.
.
.
"Ok" the sounds form before I can even process what I was feeling.
"So, there is an off switch" Wrex said. I remain silent and this catches the attention of Garrus who shoots a look at Ashley.
"Hey Tali, there is some emergency medigel in the repair bag next to the mako. Will you go get it?" Garrus asks.
"Sure" Tali walks over. My eyes are glued to this kind, wonderful person. She gracefully walks to the bag. Her legs remain straight, well elongated given her alien calves. She bends over and rummages through the bag and finds the medigel. I fail to control myself, in my bewilderment I momentarily catch a glance. My jaw is stiff, and my throat feels tight. Imaginary saliva is drinked.
Ashley and Garrus look at each other and remain silent. Shepard and Kaiden meet us. The commander emerges strangely gleeful.
"How are you feeling?" he asks the both of us.
"Alright. Feels good to get the fluids in the hump movin" Wrex said.
"I think Wrex hit me harder than I realized. I feel… odd" I admit.
"Are you ok?" Kaiden asks.
"I… do not know" I said. "Why do you seem so happy?"
"I bet the fight would end in a draw" Kaiden smiles. Shepard smirks.
.
..
….
"I want half"