Chapter 6: Something Breaks [Note: Long chapter ahead! & It's my favorite chapter!]
En route to the Citadel, during the FTL jump, from one side of the galaxy to the other...
Jane took Tali's advice – they decided to have a sparing competition. It took some convincing, largely on Eve and Tali's part, to persuade Liara and Cortez to participate, so they'd have enough matches.
EDI was voted the judge, and as soon as everyone gathered, Joker was the first to speak up, "Shepard, this is kinda ridiculous. What are we trying to accomplish here?"
Jane stood in the room's center, "We're boosting crew morale through some good-natured fighting." She smiled, "So, this is how it is going to go. First round matches are as follows: Myself vs. Liara, Anna vs. Eve, Garrus vs. Kaidan, James vs. Cortez. Then we'll go from there. The last match will be Man vs. Woman. The prize is 500 credits. No biotics. Any questions?"
Joker pipped up, "Yeah. Isn't this dangerous? I mean, who's going to kill stuff while all of you are in the med-bay? Cause I'm definitely not!"
…...
Liara was certainly nervous about going against Jane, but at least she knew she wouldn't purposely try to harm her – or would she? The match was over relatively quickly, Jane the victor. Liara walked away with only a few bruises, bruises she would be sure to complain about later.
The match between Anna and Eve lasted an excruciatingly long time. EDI was about to call a draw, before Anna kicked the wind out of Eve, and she crumbled to the ground.
"Yeah! Anita! Kick that ass!" Vega shouted, then wolf-whistled.
Anna bent over to help Eve up, "Sorry sis."
"Yeah, yeah. You only won cause I forgot to tie my hair up." She whispered, "This isn't over."
Kaidan looked painfully nervous when it came to his and Garrus' match. Garrus looked very intimidating, since he was out of his armor, and didn't have a shirt on. Garrus was pretty certain no one other than Jane, and that one incident with Eve, had seen him without clothing – even with strip poker he hadn't lost much clothing, turian outfits were surprisingly layered. He opted to strip as much as possible, as to not hurt the human crew members, since they weren't armored.
Kaidan, without the use of his biotics, didn't stand a chance against a turian with top ranks in hand-to-hand combat. He didn't suffer too much, mostly his ego was bruised.
Then it was James vs. Cortez, "Hey Esteban, you're going down."
And despite Steve's fairly surprising attempts to beat Vega, James still won in the end. Steve didn't have much combat experience though – it was still a good match.
…...
Jane announced, "Alright. Here's the second-round pairs: Myself vs. Anna and Garrus vs. James. The last two will go head-to-head, and the winner will take the credits."
After a short break, Anna and Jane were up. Anna had N6 training, though Jane didn't know why her eye would ever prevent her from being an N7 candidate. It was brutal. It was coming up on an hour when Jane finally pulled through.
After Anna failed to deliver an upper-cut, Jane side-kicked her, brought her down, pinned her arms over her head, and used the rest of her body to successfully pin her back and end the round.
"That was a cheap shot, Jane."
"Hey it worked." They helped each other off of the floor, "And that was a good match." Jane winked, "I may just have to recommend you for N7."
Garrus and James were up next.
"Hey Scars, I won't try to embarrass you too much in front of your lady there." He nodded at Jane.
Garrus chuckled, "Yeah. Neither will I."
Garrus was a natural predator, which gave him an edge against a human of comparable size. Although, where James was all brute force, Garrus had skill. Garrus was able to dodge many of his attacks, whereas James wasn't that lucky. But James sure knew how to take a beating. Black eye, bloody nose, and a plethora of bruises on his upper arms seemed not to stop him. Their match lasted a long time, though not nearly as long as Jane and Anna's. Garrus won the match by delivering a punch to the middle of James' chest, knocking the breath out of him, causing him to double-up backwards.
"Damn Scars..." He struggled with a breath, "Fuck, I'm out."
"Awe. Giving up there, Vega?" Garrus snickered.
Eve and Anna walked up, but Eve was the first to talk, "This is why I brought goodies." She smiled holding up a medical bag, and followed Anna over to James.
Vega tried to laugh, "Well, at least I have two beautiful senoritas to take care of me." Eve stuck her tongue out at James. Anna remarked, "Charming," in response.
Joker came up, "It seems as though Jane and Garrus are going head-to-head..." He rolled his eyes, and added sarcastically, "Wonder who could have seen that one coming."
Tali replied, "I didn't! I bet on that scrappy looking boshtet over there." She pointed at Anna.
Jane came over, laid a hand on Garrus' upper arm, "Well, I think we'll need a break before the final match. How about in an hour we resume?" She looked up at him, he nodded once.
…...
Everyone had gathered in the mess, including EDI. And Karin and Eve had a bit of a line in the med-bay.
Joker sat over with Jane and Traynor at a table in the mess.
"Well, I guess you can't use the same technique with Garrus that you used on your sister. Can't really pin down a 6 foot-something turian with your arms and legs."
Jane took a drink from her water bottle, her injuries had already been looked at by Eve, and they were minor. "You're right there, Joker. Any ideas Traynor?"
Her eyes widened, "No, not really ma'am. Seems as though you're just going to have to out maneuver him. Have you two ever sparred before?"
Jane coughed into her hand, "Ah. Well, not like this..."
Joker pulled on his cap, "Let me stop you right there, Commander... So, what made you decide to turn the cargo-hold into a fighting ring?"
"Well, it was Tali's idea actually."
Joker sat back, "No way. Can't believe she has a dark side. Hmm... I'm gonna have to thank her. I've been recording everything, and I mean everything."
…...
Once the hour was up, everyone headed back down to the hold. Jane was making sure to tape up her hands well, Garrus was all hard plates and rough edges, when Garrus came up to her.
He put a hand lightly on her back, "Ready?"
"To kick your ass? Of course." She winked.
"Hmm... We'll see about that. And maybe later you can tell me why you've done all this."
She tied back her hair, and joined him in the middle of the room. She also ditched her t-shirt, and was just wearing a sport's bra and short yoga pants – no shoes, she just taped her feet too. She was hoping that the exposed skin would get to him; she wasn't above playing dirty.
And she was right, his eyes were trailing her body as EDI announced the start of the match. She got in the first punch, to his chest. He quickly retaliated however, with a punch to the side of her jaw.
Within a half hour, they were both sporting various injuries. Jane had a variety of bruises along her jawline and forearms. Even a bloody lip. Jane was merciless to the soft parts of Garrus' body – his waist and joints. She had agility, and kept attacking repeatedly with average hits at those weaker points. Garrus used his height, reach, and strength to his benefit – attacking with forceful hits whenever he had an opportunity. Neither talked much during their match, except for the occasional Fuck! or Dammit! EDI called for regular 2 minute breaks every 10 minutes, as she had been for the entire day.
Joker was baffled, "Wow. Who knew they could go at it for... Wait, how many rounds are we at EDI?"
"Seven, Jeff."
"God. You gonna call a draw yet?"
"As according to the Commander, I cannot until round 10."
Soon enough though, round 10 came along.
"Fuck. You gonna quit, Garrus? Or better yet, be a gentleman and let the lady win?" She walked into the center. She had a blackening eye and a fresh application of medi-gel to her lip.
He barked a laugh, "No way, Commander. It's the last round. We'll see how this ends."
Garrus got in the first punch. They both had been slowing down these past few rounds. The match was taking a toll on their bodies. As the ten minutes were nearing an end, Jane got a round-house kick in at Garrus' stomach. He quickly countered though, despite the pain it caused, and got a hit on her cheek and it broke open at the contact. They were both still standing when EDI called time.
"Dammit!" Jane tore out her hair tie, and ran her hands through her sweaty and bloody hair, "Fuck!" She let out a heavy breath, "That was, well that was just... great." She bent to put her hands on her knees, "Fucking damn tie!"
Garrus had a similar reaction to the end of the match, he brought his hands up to his face and was muttering explicatives that no one's omni-tool could translate.
Joker walked over to the center of the growing crowd around them, "Damn. Well I guess no one wins those bets."
Jane stood up at that, "You were betting on us?" She took a step forward, "Who was favored?"
"Uhh..." He lifted his cap and smoothed his hair, "Garrus."
Garrus starting laughing at that, and Jane in retaliation started cursing so much she would have made Jack look saintly.
Once she calmed down, she walked over to Garrus and grabbed his upper arm, "We're going to Chakwas, now." She turned around, "The rest of you, get ready for our arrival to the Citadel. What's our ETA, EDI?"
"Approximately three hours twelve minutes."
Jane dragged Garrus over to the elevator, and closed it before anyone else could enter. She hit the display for her cabin, Garrus noticed.
He quirked a turian brow, "Thought we were heading to the med-bay?"
She snorted, "I have plenty of medi-gel in my quarters." She suddenly turned to him, pinned him against the wall with her hands and hips. She smirked devilishly, "We're holding a tie breaker rather you like it or not."
His voice dropped an octave, "Oh? Is this why you held a sparring competition? We could have skipped right to the tie-breaker."
"But this is so much better."
…...
They were on the Citadel for a mere three days before heading to Thessia.
Jane was prepping down in the cargo-hold.
Garrus leaned against the work bench, "Are you sure you don't want me to go?"
She sighed, "I'm sure. You need the break. Besides, Liara volunteered to go. I'm also taking Javik and Eve along." She walked up to him, kissed his un-scared mandible, stood on her tip-toes to reach his forehead in a turain kiss, "No worries. We'll be fine."
What happened on Thessia was far worse than anything Jane could have thought. She really, really wanted to kill Kai Leng now. She had imagined every possible scenario for ripping him to shreds on the ride back to the Normandy. She was angry – angry at everything and everyone.
But, she had things to deal with too. First and foremost was Javik.
…...
After Jane spoke with Javik, she headed up to the crew deck – she wanted to check in on Liara. She was stopped by Tali, who expressed her concern. Tali was talking to Garrus over the comm, he seemed to be concerned about Liara too.
When she entered Liara's quarters, she was crying, hands covering her face. Eve was there sitting on her bed with her, gently rubbing her back. Her face was an odd mixture of worry and furry as she greeted her sister with a short nod. Jane knew she was being a bit of an ass when she was talking to Liara, but Liara needed tough love, so to speak. Liara had significantly calmed by the time she was standing in front of her console, and declared she would help the refugees.
Eve walked over to Liara, and asked her, while talking to her back, "Do you want me to stay?"
Liara softly sniffled, "No. That's quite alright Eve. You've done enough. Thank you."
Eve nodded, even-though Liara couldn't see her, "Alright. Let me know if you need anything."
Eve walked out from her quarters with Jane. She turned to Jane, "I'm going to kill Javik."
"Eve, he apologized, more or less. I've spoken with him you don't..."
Eve wasn't listening, she was walking away from Jane, fists clenched. Jane grabbed her shoulder, perhaps a bit too roughly, "Eve, that's an order." She said in her commanding voice.
Eve whirled around, her fist coming within centimeters of Jane's face before Jane grabbed her wrist, spun her around, and pinned her against the hall's wall. Tali turned around from the memorial wall– with a full view of the situation, the crew in the mess gasped and murmured. Tali must have told Garrus what had happened, because Garrus had rushed out of the main battery, and was standing at the top of the steps watching; Jane didn't even know he was there. Kaidan had just come out of the elevator and turned to see what Tali was looking at, Jane noticed him.
"Major Alenko. Please detain Doctor Shepard in life support, until I indicate otherwise."
He obeyed, gently took Eve by the elbow and led her to life support. The door blinked red once it closed.
What the hell was that? Jane was fairly certain that Eve and Liara were just platonic, but why was she acting like that? She almost never let her temper get the better of her, that was Anna. What had gotten into her?
…...
Once in life support, Eve walked over to the chair on the far side of the table, and sat in it backwards, legs straddling the back of the chair. Kaidan could see the sweat that had started to pool between her shoulders, beneath her red-and-white medical uniform.
He sat down in the opposite chair. She bent down and pulled a knife from her boot, and for a second he was afraid that he'd have to disarm her, he tensed. But with her back still towards him, she dropped the knife on the table.
"Here. Since I'm in the mood to stab someone, probably best you have this."
He leaned over grabbing the knife, he briefly looked at it. It was long and slender, all metal, there was a kanji he didn't recognize near the handle, he made a mental note to ask her about it later.
"Want to tell me what happened? Why'd I come up to see Jane restraining you?"
She snorted a breath, "Damn Javik. I was there on Thessia, you know? I probably should be more pissed at this Kai Leng bitch, but I'm not." She turned her head to look over her shoulder, "He hurt Liara."
There was something in her expression that betrayed her words, "I'm sensing there's something else going on here."
She shook her head, stood to sit in the chair properly, "Javik was acting just like this asshole I punched at a bar on the Citadel, about eight or nine months ago." She sat down, "He was saying all this crap about Jane. At the time, I didn't know for certain if she was alive or not. I had heard the rumors though... I was a bit drunk, I'll admit. But he was saying something along the lines of how she'd betrayed the Alliance, working for Cerberus, and was betraying mankind. That she had lost who she was, that she's changed. Blah, blah, blah. Even if she wasn't alive, I wasn't going to stand having him disrespect her memory, who she was... Just like Javik was to Liara. He was disrespecting her entire race – the living, dying, and dead. Doesn't matter if he's right or not, you can't do that."
As she was explaining herself, Kaidan had a vague flashback of a drunken bar fight he had gotten into with some brunette woman. Did I get into a fight with Eve?
"Wait, a sec. What did this guy look like?"
She raised an eyebrow, curious now, far less furious, "Black hair, tall. Don't remember too much, I was about six shots in..." Realization dawned on her face, "Wait! I punched you didn't I? That was you!"
He blushed, "I, I don't remember exactly. I was a bit far gone then... But it sounds right. It would have been right after I got back from Horizon..." He didn't know what to do, he adverted his eyes from her gaze.
She let out a shockingly loud, full laugh, "Kaidan! I kicked your ass!" She gathered herself, "You sooo deserved it then... But, I know you don't feel that way anymore, it's okay."
He coughed into his fist, "You still want to kick Javik's ass?"
She shrugged, "No... Not really. I feel better now, thanks."
…...
Once Jane tore her eyes away from the door to life support, she looked at Tali, who nodded her head to a place to the left of Jane. She turned to see Garrus, looking at her with an undiscernable expression on his face.
She walked up to him. He asked, "Do you want to talk?" She nodded, and followed him to the main battery. She ignored the looks from her crew, she'd deal with them later if need be.
"Want to tell me why Tali practically yelled at me to get my spiky ass out of the main battery, because she thought you were going to break your sister's arm?"
She straightened herself, gripped her wrist behind her back, "I wasn't going to break her arm. I was just restraining her. She tried to punch me..." She relaxed as Garrus' gaze softened on her, she ran a hand through her hair, "She wasn't acting like herself. I think I need to give her some time to cool down... I think we all need a breather, things, well things are getting bad." She shook her head. Traynor went on comm, informing her of an incoming call from Anderson.
Once she'd informed Anderson of the situation, Jane headed to life support to deal with Eve. As the door opened, Kaidan stood and turned to face the Commander. "Ma'am."
She nodded, "Major. What seems to be the situation with our detainee?"
"Don't talk about me like I'm not here, Jane."
"Eve. Don't take the situation lightly. You've struck out against your commanding officer, irregardless if we're sisters – that is a direct violation..."
"I know, Commander. And as for trying to punch you, I'm sorry. Really. I'll do what ever work you'll put me to for punishment. I'm fine now. I'm sure the Major here can confirm that."
Kaidan nodded. EDI added, "Yes, Shepard. It seems as though her outburst was not intended to harm you. She is in a better state of mind now."
Jane slowly let out a breath, "Fine. You're free to go, Eve. And you'll be on kitchen duty until further notice. Three meals a day." All three left life support, and immediately disbursed. Shepard called out to her, "And I want to know what that was about!"
…...