Chapter 2: The Tutor
Disclaimer: In case you were wondering, Yes. Bioware still owns Mass Effect and all related content. Imagine that.
MEMEMEMEMEME
The week was gone and over before Shepard could fully prepare himself for the meeting his tutor. Of course he never would have been fully ready but this was the day that his tutor was arriving. The week had gone by quickly and had been uneventful, with the exception of his friends joking about the amount of food he was eating. Surprise. If you eat four sandwiches and a salad people notice. His teachers waved it off as a growth spurt, but the innocent teasing sent a cold shiver up his spine, constantly reminding him of what he was.
As the bus rounded the final corner, the familiar sight of home relieved some of his discomfort. Further scrutiny of the house, however revealed a parked hover-car. All the tension he had felt over the past week returned as he realized who must own the vehicle. His new tutor. One again, Shepard felt a shiver run up his spine.
Shepard took a deep breath, and stood up. He was walking slowly to the front of the bus. Finally the doors opened with a pneumatic whoosh, and he stepped down.
Shepard continued his rigid march, and finally opened the door. The room was exactly like it always was. Bare, metal, and dull. His father was sitting on the couch like he always did, but the purple asari demanded the attention of anyone in the room. She was sitting next to him, smiling and talking to John, who was chafing at being alone with an asari. The asari continued to smile and talk, obviously aware of his discomfort.
When she noticed him, the asari stood up and looked straight at him, her blue eyes piercing right through him. Satisfied, she nodded and said "You must be Kyler Shepard. I've heard a lot about you. My name is Sarona Callius. I was hired by the Alliance to tutor you in the basics of biotics." She put a small emphasis on 'the Alliance' but Shepard didn't notice.
Feeling the knot of unrest in his stomach begin to unravel itself, Shepard bowed as an asari would to their mentor, earning him a raised eyebrow from both his father and the asari. Shepard had done his homework, and unlike the other boys at school, he looked up more than just asari porn on the extranet.
MEMEMEMEMEME
Shepard and Sarona were in the woods surrounding his house. He was told that the ancient trees here resembled the old pine trees on Earth, but he didn't have anything to compare them to. To him, they were just the Nikata trees. In the many small clearings, Shepard could see the purple grass growing out of the red, iron rich soil.
Finally Sarona motioned for him to stop. "This is a good place for you to practice." The asari said curtly.
They were in a clearing devoid of plant life. The soil here was even rockier than his farm, and didn't have enough iron in the soil to sustain life. The soil here was an odd brown color, and looked very much like the bark of the Nikata trees. While most of the rocks were only the size of his fist, a couple rocks near the tree line were about half his height and had a flat top.
Taking a seat on one of the larger rocks, Sarona began to explain the intricacies of biotics, and the asari's philosophies behind them. Sarona talked nonstop for three minutes, but at first he didn't pay much attention. It wasn't that he was lazy or disrespectful, but he didn't really see how they related to biotics, or his proficiency in controlling them. Of course this view quickly changed when she looked down at him "Now. I want you to recite word-for-word what I said, and explain what it means in general, and how this effects you."
Kyler just stared at her, mouth agape "wa-wait... you want me to... no that's impossible, I can't... you can't..."
She raised a hand to silence him and shook her head "Because this is your first time, I will repeat everything I said. But don't make me do this again."
Since he wasn't really in a position to bargain, Shepard nodded his head. "Good. Now then when you use biotics you must remember to constantly breath..."
Shepard tried to repeat what Sarona had said, but after a few seconds, he found himself being lifted in the air, and tossed, skidding accross the rocks and dirt, and only coming to a stop when he hit a tree. He tried to sit up, but Sarona extended her arm, a blue caccoon surrounded Shepard, forcing him to stay down.
"What the hell are you doing?" Kyler shouted at her. He didn't even know what he had done or said, but asari just sighed at him.
"Consider this a physical lesson on the knowledge you have failed to grasp." Shepard has lifted in the air, and felt his body being pulled in all directions at once. Sarona kept her cold gaze on him, and demanded that he repeat the lecture.
MEMEMEME
Five days later
Despite what the Alliance rep had said, Sarona forced Shepard into the clearing every day since she had come to Mindoir. Although he was supposed to learn how to control his biotics, Sarona refused to teach him until she thought he was ready. So far, their sessions lasted three hours, in which Sarona would demand that he repeat the lecture on biotics or philosophies, and then expand on it. So far, all his attempts to do so had resulted with him flying through the air, being lifted, threatened, and then trying to please his tutor by repeating her words.
Yesterday had been the first day Shepard was able to recite and expand on the oral lesson, Sarona nodded her head explained his first biotics exercise. "This will be difficult for you. Now, focus on a rock and try to throw it."
Shepard looked at the unrelenting asari in shock "b-but I don't even know how to use my biotics!" He was sure that his tutor must have false information on him. That or she had a terrible sense of humor.
His comment resulted in a biotic push that sent him reeling "No. You know how to do it, you just refuse to. You did it to that tractor. Your own reluctance to use biotics is the only thing that is holding you back." She stared him down with an intensity that could melt steel.
Rubbing his shoulder he thought about what Sarona had told him, and shook his head. And voiced his opinion "Of course I was able to do it then. I had to save my dad!"
"Ah so your biotics came to you through instinct, and were activated by a life-or-death situation?" She stated is at a fact rather than a question. Before he could fully process what she had said, he was nodding his head.
"Alright then. We will try a new exercise." She pulled out a gun and leveled it at Shepard "This gun is heavily modified. It wont kill you but it will hurt. Badly."
"What?" She fired three times. All of them hit him in the chest, taking him off his feet.
"Stand up and do it again." Shepard looked up Sarona, who was looking at him with a frown, unphased by his glare.
Finally he managed o struggle to his feet. Spitting out a wad of blood and spit at her feet, Shepard growled "Shoot."
MEMEMEME
One day later
Shepard had been given a day off of school because of his injuries. He thought that meant he got out of biotic training too, but the voices downstairs hinted otherwise.
"What do you mean? You expect him to get out of bed like that? He looks like a corpse. I'm sorry Ms. Callius, but he is not going today."
"It's not you place to decide. I'm his tutor, and he will go to practice today, tomorrow, and everyday I say he will."
Shepard groaned, but finally managed to stand up. There was no way he was going to show weakness in front of that asari bitch.
Shepard groaned, but finally managed to get out of bad, and stumbled down the stairs. "Dad, I'll go."
"Kyler..." John didn't get any further, as he noticed that both the tutor and pupil were staring him down "Fine. But do not attack him again. Do I make myself clear Ms. Callius?"
"I understand you Mr. Shepard, but I also hope that you understand that I will do whatever it takes to make your son a successful biotic." With that, Sarona turned around and left the house before John could say otherwise.
As Shepard limped past his father, John laid a hand on his son "be careful."
Shepard nodded and thanked his dad. Shepard smiled ruefully and said "if only they would reopen BAaT. I bet it would be much more humane than this." Shepard left the farmhouse to follow his tutor. Looking back, he thought that his dark joke had probably been very true. He shivered at that, and focused on getting to the clearing. It hurt enough just to try and stand.
Finally, he saw the clearing, still devoid of life, through the trees. Sarona hadn't noticed him, and was talking to someone through a comlink "Subject 42 is doing just fine. He..." She noticed him and quickly recovered "Is right here. Hi Kyler. I'm just talking to that Alliance rep. Anyway, sorry Mike, but I have to go. I'll give you the full update later." She terminated the call and turned to the human "Well what are you doing just standing there. Assume an adequate hand-to-hand stance."
Shepard bent his knees and brought his fists in front of his face. Sarona looked at him, and grumbled about graceless humans. She moved faster than Shepard could react. She swept his legs out from under him, letting his back fall on her knee, and punching him in the throat.
"Your stance looks like a brick wall without mortar to hold it up." She sighed and looked at Shepard, wheezing, and trying in vain to breath "now, assume the same stance I do."
As was beginning to become customary, Shepard struggled to stand up, and spit out blood and saliva at her feet.
MEMEMEME
Six Weeks later
It had been six weeks of brutal exercise after brutal exercise, but it was finally paying off. Shepard was able to memorize long lectures after hearing them once. His body had been battered, and beaten, but Sarona had never actually broken his body or did any lasting damage. As a result of full contact sparring, Shepard was able to disarm, incapacitate, and even kill efficiently with his hands. However, for all his training and conditioning, he still had difficulty mastering biotics. While hand-to-hand and weapons training came naturally, Shepard still had a block in his biotics. Sarona had tried to farce him to use his biotics by putting him in dangerous situations, and he did really well for that exercise. However, once he was no longer in danger, his biotics seem to become weaker, and he had trouble using even the most basic techniques. Or, at least that was what Sarona had said. In his off time, Shepard had looked up human biotics on the extranet. New biotics had to train for years to reach his proficiency, and even then, they suffered headaches, and worse. Ironically, the only time Shepard had got a headache from biotics was when he hadn't used them.
Shepard was in the clearing that had been designated for their practice. The clearing now had a small shed made from a metal frame with a blue tarp draped over the top. Inside were all manor of training devices. Mercifully, none of the colonists came to this part of the forests, because they were all afraid of the rumors about crazed biotics that haunted the clearings. He had laughed when he had heard that, because he realized that he was the crazed biotics in the story.
He was practicing control by lifting a tree branch, and slowly ripping off the limbs, and, keeping all the limbs levitating, pulling off each leaf. Despite the small amount of respect Sarona had shown him, she still was not against corporal punishment. In fact, he could have sworn that he sometimes caught her revealing in his pain. It was frightening, but at the same time, it encouraged him to fry harder, if only to deny his tutor the pleasure of seeing him in pain.
"Alright that's enough training for today." Shepard could only stare at Sarona. His tutor had never given him a day off. "Don't look at me like that. I'm only giving you the rest of the day off because you'll need all your strength for tomorrow. I've got somtheing extra fun planned for the sparing match." She grinned. That couldn't be good.
As Shepard was leaving the clearing, he decided to ask Sarona about something that had been bothering him for a while. "Why haven't I been given an amp yet? I know most biotics get their interface as soon as their abilities are discovered."
The asari seemed to think this over, and reaching a conclusion, simply shrugged. " True, but unlike them, you show potential as a biotic even without an amp. You are strong for a human biotic, not as strong as even the weakest asari youngling, but strong nonetheless. The Alliance wants to see if they can make a soldier capable of using biotics, even if his amp has been dampened or overheated. After getting your amp, you will use your amp as your primary source but will still be capable of falling back on your natural biotics." Silently she added 'and forcing you to use biotics without an amp will make using biotics with an amp easier', but she didn't want her pupil to be lazy because he thought he wouldn't need thins training once he got an amp.
Despite the compliment, Shepard was outraged "I'm not going to be a soldier!" He remembered a story his mother had told him about his grandfather, who had fought in the First Contact War at Sanxi. He shivered as he remembered the details. No he could never be a soldier. His father wouldn't approve even if he wanted to.
Sarona shrugged again "I don't care what you or the Alliance does, but I think they are, as you humans say, using you as a gerbil for future biotic soldiers."
MEMEMEME
"Saorna."
"Ya I'm here."
"How is our Subject doing?"
Sarona winced, not wanting to tell him about her failure. Subject 42 had not been unable to increase his biotic output for some time. "He is starting to fall behind. It's not that he is a weak biotic, his latent abilities rival those of an asari, but he seems unwilling to fully embrace his biotics." She prepared for the verbal abuse she was about to endure. This black ops wasn't known for being understanding or compassionate.
She heard the man on the other end of the comlink sigh, but what he said surprised her. "He has made astounding progress so far. He was ahead of schedule anyway, but he must make progress soon. He may be making less progress because he feels he has other options. He believes he can find a job that wont require his biotics. That is unacceptable. You must find a way to expose him to the colony, but in a way so that he doesn't know about your involvement. Watch him, and wait for the opertune moment, then, when he is most vulnerable, you will offer him a way out, and he will come to us."
"I have already begun to do so. I've spread rumors of a biotic in the woods. Once he is exposed, he will truly have no where else to go."
The comlink was terminated. At first Sarona had been hesitant to join a pro-human group, but this organization was right up her alley.
MEMEMEME
Ooh development of plot... Three guesses as to who Sarona is working for =p. Anyway, I have begun to go back and edit published chapter, so make sure to skim or reread old chapters. Sorry, I just felt that my story was a little dry by the end, and so I added some subplot. Remember to review, and tell me anything you want to see in the coming chapters.
P.S. for anyone who thinks Sarona is acting like two different people, remember that she is a spy, and is trying to act like somebody else around Shepard.