It's Called Cheating

Night had fallen hard and fast, so had my visibility. Inside of our house was dark—corners even darker. My eyes could not penetrate the sable shadows nor catch the ferocious glint of my adversary's eyes. In the grip of my slick fist, I clasped onto my firearm. My heart throbbed, breaths were wild, and adrenaline slowly breaching its dam in trickles. I knew I was being watched.

But where from?

Where was he?

Where was Shepard?

I pressed my back against the white kitchen cabinets where I had taken cover, near the sink which overlooks the dining room.

Keelah, I keep on forgetting how big our house is.

Tali, keep your thoughts on track! You can get shot!

"Right," I said, acknowledging myself.

I reasserted my grip on the pistol and through squinting eyes, I could see my reflection on the microwave's polished door. My heart took sumptuous strides towards a full out sprint, cartoonishly spinning from zero to light-speed in an instant. It's not that I was tranquilized with mute terror by my dim reflection, rather I saw yet another tactical disadvantage I had without my environment suit.

I was fighting Shepard in a blanket of darkness with eyes of glowing coal.

That's like... having a shoot me sticker on my back!

I panicked.

I saw my chest heaving in that wavy, distorted reflection. Cytoplasmic whispers passed through me—guiding my hand to reach over the counter and grab a deterrent for my handicap. I stared at my firearm to double check my ammunition count.

Four rubber and foam darts left. I lost three in an earlier exchange of fire near the French doors bordering the threshold to the library. If I run out of ammo, I can scramble to the glass doors and recycle the used ammunition. I know my three bullets are still sucking onto the glass. I can rescue those if need be.

Shepard.

Must.

Not.

Win.

With a Herculean breath, I inhaled much needed oxygen and bravery, forging an alloy of unbreakable determination and will that will take down my worthy adversary.

I knew he was watching my position from the darkness, but those whispers I heard earlier, those were vague memories pulsating in the back of my mind telling me that sunglasses are on the breakfast counter bordering the sink I'm hiding behind.

All I need to do is expose myself for a split second to grab them. Only then will I be as invisible as Shepard.

I licked my thumb and wet the from tip of my weapon's iron-sights and reared out of cover.

A shot whistled by my right ear.

He missed.

I returned fire in the general direction, trying to suppress him. My orange dart squeaked off the kitchen table and I heard him roll out of the way.

"I know where you are!" I screamed, blindly groping for my sunglasses and yanking on the slide of my plastic, yellow handgun, chambering another round.

He had almost got me.

I had almost got him.

Good.

Three shots left—I had to make them count.

Again, I found myself on my ass, trembling with jovial nerves and staring at my wicked reflection in the polished face of the microwave. Without my suit, life is more trivial and difficult, especially made apparent when in the middle of a firefight with my human lover.

Who in the hell would have thought this would happen in my lifetime?

Tali, you're wondering again! Snap out of it—sack his ass with a bullet.

"Okay," I said to myself, swallowing hard. He must have fallen back to a better, more fortified position. If I knew him as well as I think I do, he is be behind the couch. He has three different sectors of fire from there, coupled with an exit path if things get too hot.

Which they will.

"I'll make sure of it," I hissed with a sinister smile.

I brushed a black wing of hair out of my face. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention my hair grows really fast, according to Shepard, at least. Who knows it that's true or not? Do we even have records of how fast quarian hair grows?

Whatever.

I kept it shorter ever since my latest haircut debacle—longer in the front and shorter in the back. I hate the feeling of it on my neck, but love it when Shepard plays with it.

Tali, you're doing it again! He's your adversary!

"Right," I whispered and checked my right flank.

All clear.

I nodded and saluted my reflection, satisfied with my big, dark sunglasses. He won't see me coming now. I plucked at the spaghetti strap on my black tank top—sliding it up off my arm and onto my shoulder and kicked off my sandals. My next maneuver would depend on my vitality and reflexes, and I don't need pesky flip-flops getting in the way of my offensive on Shepard's position. My pajama pants were loose and easy to run in.

I think I had him.

Crawling on all fours, I pushed a pot out of the pantry to make noise on my right flank—to distract and disorient my foe.

An omelet pan flew off the shelf and clattered to the slate tile floor of the kitchen. In the still black, the crescendo of noise was thunderous, as loud as Reaper horns.

That's when I decided to make my move. I immediately moved opposite of the noise and rounded the left side of the breakfast bar, training the shinning tip of my sight on the back of the red sofa I hoped Shepard was prowling behind. If everything went as planned, I should be able to shoot him in the back.

I was wrong, however.

Just my luck, right?

Like a groundhog, he popped out of cover and fired a shot—his beady, glistening eyes sparking in the dark. I could see a sloppy, toothy white grin through the dark and took aim at his shtupid face.

I watched my orange dart arc towards his mouth but with insectile reflexes, he dodge my bullet and fired at me again.

"Keelah!"

I rolled and felt his dart bounce off my ankle—a graze that did not count.

One shot left.

Recovering from my most definitely embarrassingly desperate roll, I stood and held an isosceles shooting stance, pushing my pistol towards Shepard's last known position and fired, but felt something cold and wet sucker to my sternum—center of mass hit.

I had failed.

Or had I?

I watched my dart slingshot towards Shepard's face and spwock onto his forehead. He reeled away from me and fell to the ground like a heavy, wet board.

"You got me!" I screamed, tearing his dart off my skin with a wet pop and loaded it into my pistol's breach, prepared to fire another shot into the back of his head if need be.

"You shot me in the face! What in the hell are you upset about?" asked Shepard, face buried into the rug, arms limp at his side.

Juvenilely, I strutted towards him with a big L made of two fingers plastered on my forehead and taunted, "You weren't supposed to shoot me," I spat and shot him again.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Double tap."

I stood over his supine carcass. He glared at his pistol like it had malfunctioned in the heat of battle.

"Anyways, you weren't supposed to kill me. I'm Commander Shepard."

"Your point?"

"That is the point."

"Well, I'm Tali'Zorah vas Rannoch vas Normandy. I theenk. We still haven't figured that out yet."

With a fist, Shepard yanked the dart off his forehead and the one embedded in his neck.

"It looks like you have a ketchup stain on your forehead," I pointed out, laughing.

"It hurt when you shot me. Did you modify your gun?"

I rolled my eyes towards the ceiling and clapped my hands, activating a few ambient lights, and said, "Maybe."

"You cheated!"

"I did not! I... improvised."

"That sounds a lot like cheating. What'd you do to it?"

"Nothing," I moaned.

"Tali."

"I put a longer piston in so the air tank is able to suck in more air, rising the PSI so I'm able to get higher FPS. Eets a good design."

"That's cheating."

"Well..." I started, rising both fists angrily. "You..." I jabbed my finger into his chest as he stood. "You could see where I was the whole time with my glowing eyes and said nothing!"

"I like your glowing eyes. I didn't want you to feel self-conscious about them if I told you to cover 'em up."

"That's still cheating."

"Right, I'm sorry."

"No you aren't."

"I know," he smiled.

I completely wrote this on a whim when I felt that I need to write knot in my chest and had to untie it. I hope you all enjoyed it. Again, I feel the need to promote my new story I have been working on for over a year now that should be released sometime soon called The Aurora Prophecy. I have a link under my profile to the homepage on my BSN blog where you can read the synopsis and see a teaser of artwork that will go along with each chapter, Reckoning style. Thanks!

-RAGE