Chapter 4
"What are you up to?" Davin said, seeing Vara jump. She turned her head, probably glaring at him, and said, "Making sure all of the research is here. If Cerberus got any of it, then it would be incomplete; I'd then have to redo the parts that were missing and record them again. I need all of this intact when I present it to the admiralty board, or they will just laugh and send me on my way."
"Ah, I see." Davin replied, understanding. It was a week later, and so far everything had calmed down, which made Davin suspect it wouldn't last long. As the saying goes, it's the calm before the storm. He knew the blood pack wouldn't let this go, and the fact that they haven't responded yet means they were plotting something, and Davin didn't like plots.
Vara had gotten all of her equipment set up within that week, making the spare room her personal lab with everything she wanted to have. She had spent the entire week setting it all up, barely sleeping or eating. She sighed, pulling him from his thoughts, and closed her omni-tool. "Looks like I recovered it all. Good, no more back pedaling; I can go forward from here." Then she sighed again. "It's gonna be hard without an assistant to help me."
Davin smirked, walking up next to her. "Well look no further, your assistant is here."
She laughed at that. "Oh sure, have the commander of the unit assisting me. That would make them all laugh."
Davin shrugged. "They laugh at everything I do anyway; might as well give them an actual reason."
She looked at him again, humor gone. "You're…serious?"
He nodded. "Dead serious. Out of my entire unit, I have the second highest I.Q. I wanted to be in intelligence, but as I said, my father didn't give me a choice. I know the basics, and I learn fast." He looked at her. "So yes, I'd have no problem being your assistant…if you'll have me."
She looked like she was pondering it, then chuckled. "Sure, why not. I'll have to teach you all about it first…but if you're up to the challenge, then let's do it."
Davin smiled, and got to work.
.
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He wasn't lying when he said he learned fast. Vara thought as she showed Davin her research. He absorbed it like a sponge, and when she asked him to repeat what she just said, or explain something she had already told him, he did it perfectly with no hesitation. He just kept surprising her again and again. "How do you remember this so perfectly?" She asked.
He shrugged. "I have an eidetic memory. I remember almost everything, even things I don't want to remember. Always been that way since I can remember. Though just remembering it doesn't mean I understand it. But this isn't too hard to comprehend, and I think I understand everything you've told me so far."
Vara just gawked at him. Eidetic memory? She had always been smart, ever since she was a child, but she might have met her match with this man. She looked at him, really looked at him, seeing him differently than before. He was human, but his body wasn't too much different than a Quarians. Her eyes traveled his body, seeing the muscles barely contained by the simple t-shirt he was wearing, and realized what was different; she was seeing him as a man instead of a human. And she actually liked what she saw.
He caught her gaze, finally noticing she was looking at him. "Is there something wrong Vara?"
She blushed heavily, feeling her entire face get hot. "N-nothing. I was just gazing off is all. More tired than I realized…"
He raised an eyebrow at her, and she bit her lip, hoping he didn't see through her. She almost sighed in relief when he said "If you're tired, you can go take a nap. I've learned enough for today."
She pretended to think about it, then nodded. "I think I will. But first, how are you and Han doing? Han looked pretty bad…"
Then she did something that surprised her; He literally poked her mask, where her forehead would be. "Don't worry about us. We are not soldiers for the hell of it. I barely feel mine anymore, and Han will be fully healed in another week."
She nodded, blushing a bit. "O-ok then. I'll head up to the room." With that she left, feeling his eyes on her as she left. He wasn't stupid; he suspected something was up. What was going on with her? She didn't like humans at all, and here she was checking one out…
She had gotten to their room, shutting the door behind her. She sat on the edge of the bed, remembering the first time they met. She clearly remembered what he said to her. Don't assume all humans are the same. I didn't go calling you a suit rat or any dumb racist shit like that; at least give me the same respect. She had received nothing but scorn from every race in the galaxy, and she had started to assume they were all the same. But these humans were…different. Sure, they were a little weird; Adam was an asshole, and Bennie was insane, but none of them treated her differently because she was Quarian. They teased her and talked to her as if she was just another human. And Davin…
She looked over at his side of the room. They had split the room in two, each receiving a side. She had expected his side to be a mess, him not only being a human but a male as well, but his side was almost cleaner than hers. She looked above the bed where his head goes and stared at the sword he had there. It fascinated her; she had never seen a sword like it. It was slightly curved, in a black sheath with red wrapping all along the hilt. She decided to question him about it next time she saw him; it was beautiful.
She yawned, stretching her arms towards the ceiling. She was more tired than she realized. She lay down and closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep with thoughts of Davin on her mind.
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I swear it looked like she was checking me out. Davin thought as he walked into the living room, drinking some water and sitting down. He shook his head, earning looks from everyone there. She couldn't have been checking him out; she hated humans.
"Everything alright Commander?" He heard Debra ask, pulling him from his thoughts. He looked at her. "Everything's fine. Just thinking."
"About Vara." Erik said from the other side of the room, earning a glare from Davin. "I saw you two in her little lab, flirting."
"We weren't flirting." Davin said, getting annoyed that everyone thought they did nothing but flirt. He might have, but he was awkward when it came to woman. "Besides, she certainly has no feelings for me."
"I wouldn't know about that." Debra said, making Davin raise his eyebrow at her. "What are you getting at Debra?"
She grinned. "Hello, she asked you to share rooms with her. When I told her that if you had to stay on the ship that Dr. Alere would take you for herself, I swear to god she got jealous. And now she's teaching you about the research that when Adam asked about it, she snapped. I know you're not that experienced with women, but damn Commander even you should be able to see all of the signs."
He sighed. They just wouldn't let up. "I'm not good with signs. Besides, don't forget who I am. No woman in her right mind would want to be with the hand of death." With that he got up and walked out of the room.
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"He can be more stubborn than Adam sometimes." Erik heard Debra said, fuming. Erik smiled, but what his best friend had said worried him. He was still letting that nickname get to him. Unlike everyone else, Erik had known Davin their whole lives; Erik knew that underneath his stubborn, hard ass exterior that Davin was an emotional mess. He still held hatred towards his father for forcing him into the military and for being a shitty father in general. He still felt guilt for all the lives he took at the battle of golden roses. Most of the people there were just misguided fools who didn't know what they were getting themselves into, and Davin was sent there to kill everyone; soldier, civilian, it didn't matter.
Vara, in Erik's opinion, was the solution. She was just as stubborn as he was, and from past experience, Erik considered all women emotional. Vara could fix his emotional problems, but only if two things happened. One, if they both finally admit that they obviously like each other. And two, if Davin let's her inside his head. The second one was the one that worried him; Davin isn't known for talking about his problems. Soldiers handled their emotions and opinions in two ways; they either vent it towards their enemies, or bottle it up inside and pretend it's not there. Davin was the latter, and a pro at it.
Erik sighed. "You have to understand; Davin doesn't think anyone can like him."
"And he's fucking stupid for thinking that." Debra said. "Has he looked in the mirror lately? The guys a fucking stud."
Erik laughed. "A stud huh. Not how I would put it, but-"
"That's because you're a guy." Debra said, cutting him off. "But Davin is a good looking bastard. His eyes alone are enough to make a woman melt, not adding his strong jaw and the fact that the guys built like a body builder."
Erik blinked, being surprised. "Do you…like Davin, Debra?"
She laughed loudly. "Like him? When I first saw him, I wanted to rip his clothes off right there. But I knew he wasn't into the whole dike look, as Adam puts it, so I kept my distance."
Erik just blinked again, feeling stupid. He had no idea Debra had once had a thing for Davin. Made him wonder what else he didn't know about his fellow team mates.
"But Vara, on the other hand." Debra continued, "Would be perfect for him; he just needs to see that for himself."
Erik didn't argue; pointless to argue with a woman. "Anyway, change of subject. Something else is worrying me."
"And that would be?"
"Blood Pack." Erik said simply. "We slaughtered a good number of them, yet no retaliation at all. It's as if they are going to let it go, and mercenaries don't do that."
"Do you think they are plotting something?" Debra asked.
Erik nodded. "I think they are, and I don't like plots." Not knowing that Davin had the same thought earlier.
Debra shrugged. "There isn't much we can do. If they attack, we will hold them off, kill them, or die. If they don't, then we will keep our guards up and hope they know better than to fuck with us. Either way, it's their move now."
Very blunt way of looking at things. Erik thought, agreeing with her nonetheless. He lay back in the chair. Maybe they would just let it go.
He should know better.
.
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The streets emptied out pretty fast. Vara thought as she walked down the street and saw no one. She couldn't get any sleep, so she decided to go out and get a few things. She saw that everybody was busy and couldn't find Davin, so she decided to go by herself. She didn't need someone holding her hand every time she went outside anyway.
But she was starting to regret it. This was Omega; there were plenty of people out on the street all day. So when they all just clear out at the same time, trouble was coming. She started to panic a bit, walking faster and making a horrible mistake.
She turned and went down an ally.
She regretted it the instant she did it, but she hurried along, hoping she was just being paranoid. She kept going, and was almost at the end when a big figure stepped out in front of her. She felt fear as she realized it was a Krogan, and turned around. She hadn't gone more than 10 steps when a smaller, slimmer figure stepped out. She saw only one way now, a turn that she passed before. She went down it, and was about to run when at the end a 3rd figure stepped out. She froze, realizing it too late.
She was surrounded.
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Davin walked into the living room, stretching. He had accidently fallen asleep in Erik's room, and slept longer than he wanted to. He started towards his room, deciding to see if Vara was feeling better. But when he opened the door, the room was empty. Puzzled, he went back into the living room, seeing the usual three chilling there; Erik, Debra, and Levie.
"Hey, have any of you seen Vara?"
They all turned towards him. Erik smiled. "No, I haven't seen your little girlfriend lately. Thought you two were getting it on in your room." He glared at Erik, and then turned to Debra, who shook her head. He was about to leave when he heard Levie say "She left about an hour ago"
He turned back, surprised. Levie rarely talked. "Was she with someone?"
Levie shook her head.
Ah shit. Davin knew that Vara was a magnet for trouble. He went to his room, strapping on his pistol and throwing on his trench coat, which his entire team told him was out of style.
Might as well make sure she didn't piss the wrong person off.
.
They had started closing in on her. They were close enough for Vara to see that the smaller ones were Vorcha. Davin was right; the blood pack wasn't done with them yet. They were just waiting for the right moment, which she stupidly provided them. She pulled a block off of her hip, seeing it transform into a SMG. This was all she had. She was terrified; she had never been trained how to use a gun, or any self defense for that matter. She didn't see herself making it out of this unscathed.
She saw the other 2 come from 1 side, while the 3rd one was blocking her other exit. She made a split decision and aimed her gun, shooting at the lone Vorcha. Maybe if she took him down, she could escape the other 2.
Her aim was horrible, and it wasn't until the end of her thermo clip that she actually hit him, seeing him collapse. She started to run, but didn't realize how long it took her to shoot the Vorcha; the other 2 caught up to her. She turned to shoot the Krogan, but he caught her gun before she could raise it. She felt her heart freeze as he roared, picking her up and slamming her, hard. She felt the air rush out of her lungs as she hit the ground, her gun flying out of her hand to land 10 feet away from her; it might as well have been a mile.
She groaned, trying to push herself up, and felt pain explode in her gut as the Krogan kicked her in the stomach. She curled up, but the Krogan wasn't done. He grabbed her shoulders, forcing her up, then slammed her against the wall, pushing his arm against her throat, making it hard to breathe. He got really close to her, smiling.
"We have been waiting for you. I wanted to go straight for your Commander, but my leader said it would be better to catch you; using you as bait, the others would come quickly enough." The Krogan got even closer, and for the first time she was glad she had her mask on. "You're lucky; I'd usually have some fun with you, but I won't try anything with a suit rat. Don't know what kind of nasty shit you have."
She had never been more scared in her life, but she still got angry at that last remark, and said "Fuck you bosh'tet."
He laughed, then punched her right in the rib, and she could feel it crack as pain shot through her body. She groaned, and he hit her again, making her fall to the ground. There wasn't anything she could do; she closed her eyes and waited for the next blow.
Then she heard a grunt, followed by the sound of a bone breaking. She opened one eye and almost sighed in relief, seeing Davin there. The Vorcha lay on the ground, whether alive or dead she didn't care. The Krogan was standing there, unmoving, and when she looked at Davin she understood why.
Davin looked…scary. He was glaring, his eyebrows making a V shape, but it was his eyes that did it; cold, but glowing as if on fire at the same time. The Krogan shook it off and roared, charging at Davin. Davin didn't even flinch; He simply waited until the last second and stepped out of the way. The Krogan started to turn around, but Davin was quicker. He grabbed the Krogans head and slammed it against the wall. He lifted the Krogans head back up, and slammed it against the wall 3 more times, and she saw the Krogan slump down, head bleeding heavily. Davin pulled out his pistol and placed it to the Krogans head.
"Stop Davin." She said, forcing herself to her feet. He turned to her, and for a second she was scared; his eyes were the same. But she saw them soften. "Why?"
"Because, if you kill him, more will come. Let him live and serve as an example of what happens if someone crosses you."
He looked back at the Krogan, and for a second she thought he was going to shoot anyway. But he stepped back, putting his pistol back into its holster. She sighed, relieved. She went to move and fell, felling pain shoot up her body. She suddenly felt herself being lifted up, and almost cried out when she realized that Davin had picked her up.
"WH-what are you doing?"
"What does it look like?" He responded. "You fell. I'll carry you home, no arguments. Besides, you're really light."
She grunted, glad he couldn't see how much she was blushing. But as they were on their way, she decided it wasn't all bad being carried by a man.
