Jack had never been as terrified in her life as in the moment d'Angelo clamped one hand over her mouth and nose, and the other around her throat, grip inexorably cutting off her air. She should have known: you couldn't trust anyone, and she'd been so stupid…so horribly, unforgivably stupid.
Her biotics flared, but the inability to breathe made things…difficult. It was hard to think about biotics when one couldn't breathe…
"You'll never forgive me for this, but that's all right," d'Angelo said quietly, those pale pink eyes focused on her face. "But she plans to send you back. To them."
Jack's inability to breath became a secondary concern. She understood what d'Angelo was saying, even if she didn't understand what he was doing.
'Rogers plans to send you back to Cerberus.'
"I'm not going to let that happen. I'm putting you out of their reach. Forever."
Some twisted sense of 'saving' someone! Jack lashed out blindly, with all the force she could muster.
The suffocating hands vanished as she bounced out of bed, heedless of being only half-dressed. It didn't matter—all that mattered was getting off this ship. Right now. She wasn't sure where she was, as she plugged in her amp, but it didn't matter.
Anywhere was better than here.
Part of her screamed in misery as she charged up the stairs. She'd trusted d'Angelo as she'd trusted no one else…and look where that had gotten her. Nearly suffocated. He'd played her like a fiddle—it was just as she thought: no one did something for nothing. No one did anything without some long-term aim.
She wasn't sure what d'Angelo's long-term aim was, but she knew Rogers would kill him if she hadn't: Rogers didn't take treachery well.
Jack wasn't sure if she wanted to come face-to-face with Rogers or not. Deep, deep down, the woman running the SSV Victoria scared her a little. She wouldn't admit it, not even to herself, but Rogers was the worst kind of unstable.
Rogers made Jack herself seem rock solid.
Jack burst onto the crew deck, where the nearest bank of escape pods reposed. It was empty except for Trey and Tonya. Definitely candidates for twincest, those two.
"Jack?" Tonya's eyes widened, surprised by Jack's sudden appearance and apparent distress.
Jack reached forward—they'd stop her if they could. This was just like escaping Teltin, escaping Purgatory. Biotic energy swirled around her, the twins flaring up in reaction.
They were strong when they were together, free to act in tandem. Jack knew that, and knew that they could slow her down long enough for others to come. She'd seen enough while working for Rogers: as soon as Rogers arrived, the fight for freedom was over.
Rogers plus the twins meant being back in a Cerberus facility.
And she'd never get out again.
With a savage roar, she sent every ounce of power she could muster into a push, the startled twins crashing into a bulkhead, one against the other. A loud crunch sounded as Tonya slammed into Trey, pinning him between herself and the bulkhead. Tonya cried out, clearly recognizing the sound as that of bones breaking.
From where she was, Jack could see that the damage was not life-threatening…but when she threw the twins across the room, again with Trey on the bottom, the landing—between the wall and the floor—the impact snapped Trey's neck. Something had to give, and between a biotic wave and a steady wall, human bones didn't have a chance.
Jack pulled back the panel accessing the evacuation pods, wrenched the pod open, threw herself in and dragged the door closed. It sealed and after a moment of shaky-handed work at the launch panel, the pod detached from the ship, spinning, falling, towards some station.
Jack sat on the floor, knees drawn up to her chest, trying to think clearly. The rage vanished with the freedom from immediate danger, leaving that cold, scared little girl feeling in its wake. She shivered, head to foot, swallowed hard.
Even the attempts to cuss herself back into a fighting set of mind failed. She knew she was in trouble, and was about to land herself in the middle of some Alliance station. How was she supposed to get out of that?
She still had her amp…but she had the disadvantage of not knowing where she could secure a shuttle capable of making a mass relay jump. And there were far more soldiers here than guards on the Purgatory. They could lock her down, pen her up…and then what?
She shuddered, wishing the hot, consuming anger would come back.
She didn't like the feelings of grief and loss that tried to invade her mind; they were worse than the scared little girl feeling.
She felt it when the Alliance 'caught' her pod, began reeling her in. Rogers had to know she was gone. Could Rogers sweet talk her way out of trouble? Could Rogers—even worse—convince the Alliance that she, Jack, was the dangerous one?
She was, of course, but what if Rogers' story, whatever it was, was enough to get her sent back? Going back to Rogers would be going directly to Cerberus…
No one would take the word of a cryo-con over the word of an Alliance officer—especially on an Alliance installation.
As she calculated this, tried to think of something she could do, some way out, a small part of her came to a grim conclusion.
D'Angelo really had tried to save her. Given his way, she wouldn't be caught between the Alliance and Cerberus.
It didn't mean she would have bellied up and let him kill her…but, strangely, she saw where he'd come from.
That made her feel more unsettled, because she knew he hadn't wanted to do it. It had been on his face, in his words.
She hated him for it.
Or she told herself she did, as the pod hit the floor of the hangar with a jarring thump.