Subject Song seems to have quite a knack for tech. She managed to create the amp we've implanted in her from practically nothing and what's more, it responds to her music. With luck, this will have the desired effect. Imagine, if you will, controlling an army the way a Rachni Queen might have before their extinction. I am requisitioning more funding from The Illusive Man today, with luck, he will agree.
"I am so very proud of you, Song Bird." The gangly middle aged scientist offered a slightly unnerving smile as the small blonde girl who sat at the tool bench before her.
Jaime wrinkled her nose, he was all around unsettling to her with his shabby graying dishwater colored hair and dull brown eyes behind those out of style glasses. His lab coat was always askew and Jaime knew too well the frumpy nature of his clothes served a purpose. She didn't respond to him at once, and wouldn't have at all had he not gripped her shoulder too tightly and given her a reproachful look.
"Now, now, Song Bird, don't forget your manners!" He chuckled, but there was danger behind his eyes, the fluorescent lights obscured his eyes behind the glare of his glasses.
"Thank ya, Dr. 'iggins…" Jaime managed a monotone response, head lowered, messy blonde curls hanging in her face as she gripped her bruised arm. "I don't s'pose I might attend class with th othah kids?" Her voice was heavily drenched in cockney and her pale complexion and freckles lent themselves just as much to a British heritage back on earth.
"No, Song Bird, you're better than them, do you really want to tarnish yourself by spending time with such common children?" Higgins' grip tightened.
"It wouldn't tarnish me more than bein' around ya, sir." Jaime's eyes flashed with anger for a moment, Higgins ignored it and petted her hair.
"It hurts me when you say those things, Song Bird, aren't we a team? Aren't we bettering humanity together?" Higgins cooed as he slid his hand down to grip Jaime's upper arm.
"I….I'm sorry, sir, maybe I could walk through the halls, though? Even just behind the curtain, I'd like it." Jaime felt her stomach reel, but she placed a hand on Higgins' hand despite herself, knowing it would open him to the idea of allowing her out if she were affectionate.
"Of course, little Song Bird, I forget how fragile you are sometimes; you need a bit of air."
The halls were hardly fresh air, all flooded with fluorescent light, green tile, white walls, more like a clinic than a school, but Jaime supposed the other kids must not notice, after all, they had friends, and lives, and classes. Jaime had singing lessons, time to tinker with her amp designs, and those horrible nights with Higgins.
Jaime tensed at the thought of it, her amp flaring up as, responding to her thoughts, music filtered into her ears 'If he would just die, then I might be happy, mother...' As that thought, as that song echoed in her mind, Jaime twitched and stumbled, the words jumbled 'To your knees your daily passion, you..don't...feel anything...' 'You couldn't raise a knife across him' 'Would it ease this life a little to see him buried..' Her eyes widened with a violet biotic glow 'You're a pretty girl, honey...' Jaime, without thinking, ripped away the curtain they made her walk behind, trying to hold herself up.
As Higgins turned with a gasp and rushed to hide his little prodigy, it was too late. Jaime was face to face with a boy around her age. A pale, very thin young man with silvery blonde hair and crystal-blue eyes, dressed in the white, gold, and black jacket and black slacks with the Cerberus emblem that was the school uniform. He blushed, Jaime blushed, their eyes met and not a word was spoken, until Jaime tensed with the click of her amp switching the music again. 'I saw him once...then he was gone...', the song told her as Higgins roughly grabbed Jaime's arm and yanked her away.
Higgins kept a death grip on Jaime until they returned to her room where he tossed her to the ground roughly, glaring daggers at her. "What did I tell you, Songbird? They will only tarnish you. I have to erase him from your mind."
"Are you daft? You 'aven't got that sorta tech!" Jaime spat, feeling her amp flaring again with anger.
"You're mad at me, pet? After all I've done for you?" Higgins approached menacingly, removing his belt. "I may not have that sort of tech, but I can certainly take your mind off him, I'm the one you love, Songbird." He murmured and he was upon her.
Jaime didn't scream. She was beyond that. Silent tears welled in her eyes 'Don't let them scare you...when you're down on the floor bleeding, bastard! You'll be getting home real soon...and I'll pray for you..' Jaime closed her eyes tightly but instead of dimming, her amp only flared brighter, she didn't feel weaker...She felt stronger. The syringe! Higgins hadn't bothered with the injection to dampen her biotics today. "It's too late to find a bettah way outta this..." Jaime managed aloud along with the music that rang in her ears as she wrenched her arms free of Higgins' hands and gave a powerful biotically charged shove, throwing him back against the metal door.
Higgins was stunned and Jaime was glowing with biotic energy as she approached him slowly and carefully. It played out in her head so like what she imagined when she listened to those old twenty-first century songs through the amp she'd designed. 'La-aadies and broken gen-tle-men...the undisputed champ...of misery-e-e-e' Jaime stopped a moment to imagine herself as a punishing spirit or a galactic messiah...and that was when the door burst open and she was restrained, the injection was quick and its effects sudden. Jaime slumped to the floor in a heap as Higgins shooed the orderlies out, shutting and locking the door again.
"You've been quite naughty, little Songbird...Now we've got to start over..." He frowned.