AN: Information at the end of the chapter, I didn't want to spoil anything.
Chapter 40:
[POV: Jack]
"… I don't suppose you would know where to find her?" I asked Vassen, having just explained the situation to him about Morinth. I was sitting in his office in some regular clothes, taking the time to really enjoy how comfortable it was.
"Hm …., maybe." He scrolled through his data pad till he brought up a report. He then turned around the pad so I could read it. "In recent months, I've gotten more reports of missing persons than usual, ones that couldn't be explained by the usual violence." He leaned back into his chair. "But then again, I don't think those cases are generally reported."
"And you think that this could be Mornith?" So far he had told me nothing that led directly to her. Omega was the capital of the terminus system. People dying without explanation, while not common, wasn't exactly rare.
"I do, but mostly because our investigations managed to find a few of these people. They all died in the same way, a single massive stroke in the brain." He crossed his arms, tapping one finger in consideration. "I'd thought it to be some form of poison, as it was happening too frequently to be a coincidence, but the cases match up with an Ardat-Yakshi as well."
It certainly does.
"Anything point to a potential location?"
"Some hints, maybe." He sighed, looking weary all of a sudden. I'd never seen him like that before.
"You alright Vassen?"
"Hm?" his eye's refocused. "I'm fine, just tired. There's been plenty to do, but it seems like we're at the tail end of it. I should be able to rest properly soon. This was actually one of the last things I had to deal with." He gestured towards the report.
Was this because I've been absent from Omega? I know I'm considered a deterrent to Omega, but Vassen said he'd prepared for my absence after what happened last time. What happened to those preparations?
"The report has all the information we know, but I can summarise it. We've found and identified 8 different corpses who all died as explained. Of them, we were able to follow up on where 6 had been before they died, they were all meant to be at different night clubs across the station."
At the clubs. What, is she picking up a stranger for a real one-night stand? … she probably is. Morinth didn't target anyone at the Afterlife did she? I grimaced, knowing how some of our staff liked to sleep around. People I knew. People I liked.
"None of the dead were meant to be at the Afterlife, but guarantee we haven't found all of her victims, it's too easy to make a body disappear on the station." Vassen shook his head. "Those 8 I mentioned? We found them all in the last week."
A week? That was more than once a night. That seems … risky. Had she gotten cocky?
"5 were meant to be here." He tapped on the name of one of the clubs. I'd been there before with Rialle, … it was nice. It was also rather dark. You could get away with certain liberties while there. It would be a good place to go unnoticed.
"I think that's all I need from you Vassen, thanks for your help." I smiled at the Turian.
"My pleasure." He chuckled and stood up with a groan. I did so far more quietly. Although my metal foot did clank on the ground with each step it took. It wasn't exactly inconspicuous, but I hadn't felt like covering it up before coming to him.
"So how have you been?" Vassen asked as we left his office, walking around the enforcer facilities. It was something I knew he liked to do periodically, and I was more than happy to accompany him part of the way. I had to go in that direction anyway.
"It's been … interesting. I may need to commission another foot while I'm here though." I gestured down at the shiny prosthetic. Vassen looked down at it and hummed, having not noticed yet.
"What happened to the last one?"
"I'll send you a video." Aria already knew anyway, so I didn't see the harm in showing him as well. "Feel free to show Treena too."
"Of course. Do you need the foot urgently?"
"Within 2 weeks if you can. It doesn't have to be this fancy," I waved down at my foot, "but having a backup is important. This isn't something I'll be able to find just anywhere."
"I'll see what I can do." Vassen nodded, before we both paused where we would diverge. "It was nice to see you Jack." He stuck out his hand for me. I grabbed onto it firmly, then pulled him into a half-hug.
"You as well you old bastard. I'll be here for a few weeks, so we can talk some more before I return to the ship."
"Of course, brat. Have fun."
I waved as I left him behind, already formulating a message to Samara. We knew where Morinth should be, now we just had to find her.
[POV: Miranda]
The apartment Cerberus owned on Omega was at least comfortable. She sat in a plush leather couch that was positively sinful. The apartment was well stocked too, and I hummed in pleasure after taking a sip from the glass of wine in my hand.
Opulent is another way to describe it, but the opulence hid the darkness beneath it.
I had a data-pad on my lap, open on the report I'd just been browsing from the restricted Cerberus medical records. It was … a lot. I'd been reading through the database since I gave Fury the information she'd requested, looking for anything else I could give her to repay what she'd done for me.
I found nothing else useful on the Biotic facility, it was perhaps the most secretive project I held the records for. Maybe there was something even more private, but I shuddered to think what they thought deserving of more secrecy that the facility.
Because while I didn't find any more on the facility, I found plenty more. Cerberus has been around for a long time now, and they've done a lot. Almost none of it good.
Creating new addictive drugs? They'd done it. Develop new subtle poisons? Plenty. Develop new procedures and methods of torture? Half a dozen times. If you could imagine a fucked up medical experiment? They've probably done it.
It was … it was just so much. It wasn't worded that way, none of the records were. They were all written using non-descriptive technical language, but I was getting better at parsing what they said the longer I did it. Reviving Shepard was perhaps the most worthwhile thing the medical branch had ever done, something I was proud to have accomplished.
I was proud, and even that had been ruined. While rebuilding Shepard, I had used so many experimental techniques and procedures, ones that had been done in the past that Cerberus had discovered and brough to my attention. I hadn't realised it at the time, too busy to do so. Those 'experimental procedures'? Cerberus hadn't discovered previous data about them, they made it.
Whatever I was rebuilding on Shepard next? They took it out of captives and tested out the different theories on how to fix it. The wealth of data they had was bizarre to me, seemed almost incomprehensibly large. 'Why didn't they provide this data to the public?' I should have asked myself. It wasn't large, it was just specific.
Hundreds died for my work, brutally maimed and practically tortured. How could I be proud of that?
How could I not have seen it? I was so stupid.
I knew Cerberus did what they had to, to protect humanity. But at this point was it even for humanity? The poisons and drugs developed using human test subjects would be useless on alien biology. They wouldn't work on anything but humans.
Reading through all of this was like living a nightmare, one I could never wake up from. But I would do it for Fury. For Orianna. I would do anything for Orianna, so that Cerberus protected her. Except when she fucking needed it, they did nothing.
I had to save her! I asked for help and got nothing. It took asking the dangerous assassin aboard the ship for help to save my sister. Where was Cerberus? They didn't even alert me of the danger she was in for God's sake. I received the warning from one of my contacts.
If Cerberus wasn't going to hold up their end of the deal, then why should I?
I now knew why. Henry Lawson was one of Cerberus' main backers. It was in one of the funding reports attached as a note, but his name was clear as day. A hidden threat if I ever disobeyed, the illusive Man could just hand me over to my father. No wonder he allowed me so many liberties, he had me on a fucking Leash!
Thankfully I hid Orianna using my own resources this time. It had been a gut feeling when I did it, but I diverted her destination mid voyage. She'd been unhappy about it, but I did it for her safety, so I didn't care. I made sure their names were changed as well. It took explaining things in detail to Orianna's parents, but they'd accepted after the amount of compensation I'd given them.
Orianna was safe, but she could always be found again. She would never be safe, not while my father was still alive.
I was in even more danger, Cerberus could sell me out at any time.
Just … what do I do now?
I drained the rest of the glass of wine, before filling it up again from the bottle.
[POV: Jack]
Stakeouts are boring as fuck.
I had never really done them much before, not for long. If a longer stake-out was required, other people usually got the information for me which I would then act on. I can respect what the other enforcers have to go through a little more now, doesn't mean I'm doing this again.
It was the third night of watching this club, and neither Samara nor I had seen even a glimpse of Morinth.
"Is Morinth your only daughter?" I glanced to the side at Samara, the both of us lying on top of a building near the club we were staking out. Asking Samara this might be considered insensitive, but at this point I was running out of things to talk about. There was only so much I was willing to say about myself, and Samara wasn't exactly one for small talk.
"… no." Samara shook her head. "I have two more."
"… are they less troublesome than Morinth?"
"Yes. They are also cursed, but they willingly went into seclusion. It was only Morinth who took her path." Samara commented.
I'm sorry, the fuck? She has 3 daughters, and all of them are Ardat-Yakshi? Ouch. She didn't even seem to mind telling me, as if Samara didn't even care for her own privacy. Doesn't mean it didn't feel awkward for me.
We fell into silence once more, much to my regret. Samara's reticence might be related to the situation we found ourselves in, but it didn't make it any less annoying. I wasn't used to just sitting and waiting, and it had long since gotten to me.
At the very least Samara was nice to stare at, but it was also torturous. I had spent the last two nights in only her company, and most of this one as well. This was after our Jia'nor sessions. Samara's submission poses certainly reminded me of my time with the dancer's, it's why I 'hated' them so much.
I enjoyed fighting in general, but I'd spent too much time practising Jia'nor with the dancers. It normally led to a 'cooldown', which made it impossible not to grow a certain … associations. All these reminders plus the total lack of privacy to deal with them was leaving me very pent up.
I wasn't even being subtle at this point, trailing my eyes over her prone form instead of the club. Her armour was tight, clung to all the right places and gave a hell of a view. I wouldn't mind burying my face in –
"There!" Samara hissed.
I snapped my head forward, the previous thought put aside. But not forgotten.
It took me a moment to find what Samara was talking about. I wouldn't call the streets packed, they never are, but there was a small crowd surrounding the nightclub. Stepping out from within that crowd was a pair of Asari wrapped up in each other. One was wearing a skimpy black dress, the other a padded green jumpsuit.
The roof we were on was far enough that it was difficult to make out either of their features, not sure how Samara had done it so quickly. It likely didn't help that I didn't have the right angle though. The girl in the dress currently had her face pressed into the others neck. After a second though, the one in the jumpsuit turned her head to whisper something in the others ear, which made her lift her head back in laughter.
This is what finally revealed Morinth's face to me, the one in the jumpsuit.
"Agreed." It matches the pictures Samara gave me exactly. I do wonder why she doesn't alter her features in some way, surgery of some description, or tattoos, I was a big fan of that one. Was it out of pride? Arrogance? General apathy.
Samara started standing up beside me but I shot my hand out and caught her shoulder, pushing down on it. She turned to me with frost in her gaze. I didn't care.
"Wait." I ordered quietly.
"Why?" she hissed back.
"You will be seen almost instantly."
Honestly, things would have been much easier if she didn't wear the red jumpsuit of hers. It was stunning to look at, but it wasn't the most practical of armours. She left a glaring weak point at her chest, had no way of attaching a helmet and it made her a massive target.
"She will get away." Samara narrowed her eyes.
"No she won't." I was confident of that.
"What makes you so sure? I have been hunting her for years."
"This is Omega, I've lived here for years. I know where she will go." I refuted her, keeping the pressure on her shoulder. Samara stared at me cooly for a moment longer before finally settling down. Good, you would have been seen in an instant otherwise.
Morinth had been escaping you for years? I could believe that if this was your normal approach. Especially if you wore your red armour the entire time.
The key was how Morinth behaved. I could see the tension in her form, her movements too smooth, too practiced to be random. She was keeping an eye on her surroundings. How I knew? It was exactly what I did. Additionally, that shade of red wasn't a common colour on Omega, especially on clothes. I wouldn't be surprised if rumours of Samara were already starting to flood the station. It might be why Morinth looked so wary, but it may be unrelated.
Aria had zero tolerance for Ardat-Yakshi. I could understand wanting to be free of the cage she would be put in. If Morinth had wanted to just escape that fate then there is no way I would have supported this. She didn't leave it there though.
"She is out of sight at this point. She had escaped." Samara's face looked pinched as she watched me. I decided it had been long enough and stood up.
"No she hasn't." I turned around and walked over to the other side of the roof, then walked straight off it. I waited until I would be fully out of view before I called on my biotics. I reinforced my legs in the last moment before impact on the ground, bending my knees as I hit it. This cushioned the force nicely and meant the sound I made wasn't loud enough to startle anyone not in my close vicinity.
Samara fell down after me a second later.
"Follow me."
I jogged down the backstreets I had long ago memorised, Samara a silent shadow. She knew how to be quiet at least, I'll give her that.
I slowed down a few metres before the end of the last alleyway, halting before we would have rejoined the main thoroughfares of Omega.
"Wait here." I ordered the Justicar, who just nodded, her eyes watching me all this time. I won't say they felt judging but …
I scaled the building on one side of the alleyway, using brief flares of my biotics to boost myself up with ease. It wasn't necessary, but it made things faster. At the top of my climb, I pulled myself up the lip of the roof with both hands into a forward roll, stopping myself straight after.
The last building had some cover, this one had none, so I was cautious when approaching the edge. I ended up lying on my front with my head just far forward enough to see over the edge into the street below.
And now we wait.
How did I know Morinth would take this path you say? Because there was nowhere else she could have gone to in that direction.
The pair had just left the club, with clear intentions between the two. Now, where would you go if you wanted to fuck? Would it be the alley beside the club? … Maybe, it does provide a certain thrill … but it would be too exposed for Morinth.
Ardat-Yakshi were the black mark on the species, almost universally despised by all races alike, at least to those aware of the badly-kept secret. They had a reputation, built purely by the ones who were willing to use their curse. The damage they had done over the centuries couldn't be understated, and so whenever one was discovered they were quickly reported to the authorities.
If Morinth was smart, and she was considering how long she'd lasted doing what she does, she wouldn't drain someone in public. More than that, she would want to rouse as little suspicion as possible. Taking someone home from a nightclub was a good cover for that, especially because melding was a part of it a lot of the time.
Her partner wouldn't know anything was wrong until it happened, so she would never scream for help, until she couldn't. Disposing of the bodies was another matter, but this is Omega, there were ways.
Getting back to the point, there was only one residential section out here. The rest of the area was occupied by decrepit buildings and mercenaries' hide-outs, mostly bars. Coincidently, the mercenaries had also knocked out all the security cameras. Aria had attempted to have them reinstalled a couple of times, but eventually let it be. So long as nothing major went down, she really didn't care.
That meant this was the place Morinth would go, and sure enough there she was. The still unnamed Asari was now dragging her down the street by the hand. Eager are we?
Still, that was all the confirmation I needed. Now, which building are you going to … ? You have to be shitting me.
There is no way she can afford that off the money she could access on Omega. It's not like she could keep a legal bank account. I can't afford a place there, and I think I might have the best paying job on the station.
You would think it would be because of Nepotism, but Vassen was actually the one who paid me. Something about managing Aria?
Morinth and her date entered the single most expensive apartment building on the station. How did she even get the money … was she robbing the people she killed? … I mean probably but that shouldn't be enough. Morinth could have stolen the apartment from someone she killed though. Hmm …
I stood up and rejoined Samara, before tapping away at my Omni-tool. Resident applications require photographs for this particular building, … I had been looking into it at one point. There should be a list somewhere that I had access to as one of the senior enforcers on the station. Let's see …, got it. Now if I just bring up the pictures of the victims we've discovered -
I found a close match. The face was a little brutalised, but it fit. I looked up to find Samara staring at me again. Calm your tits woman.
"She's in the Barlesh, floor 4, apartment C." Samara's eyes widened at the information. Don't act so surprised, I'm not incapable of more than violence … I'm just really good at it.
"Thank you." She nodded, steeling her eyes.
"Of course. Let's go before she claims another victim though." I started moving, but this time it was Samara's hand on my shoulder. I turned back to find her eyes awash with emotion.
"Let me deal with her." she requested. I could accept that, this was personal.
I'm surprised she didn't ask me to stay here, not that I would have.
We moved quickly towards the building. There aren't any actual guards around the building, instead the merc groups are paid to protect it. No-one made any move to stop us, I suppose they've learned. We continued to the door of the apartment in question, which was of course locked. We could be quiet …
Samara glowed with biotics as she stepped forward and kicked the door violently off its hinges. It crashed into the wall on the other side violently, revealing the living rom in the apartment. Inside, I found Morinth positioned over a naked Asari. Her eyes widened at our entry, before her face twisted into a dark scowl.
"Hello Mother. Nice to see you again." She growled, standing up and moving away from us, but Samara said nothing. The two started circling around the spacious room, which also let me see the face of the other Asari in question. It was one of the dancers from the Afterlife. She was about to …?
Her eyes were wide with terror as she looked between us all, before they settled on me and she shivered.
"Leave Kollen." I ordered her. She nodded up and down rapidly, standing up and started running towards the door. A sight that only distracted me a little.
"Wait." She stopped at a standstill, trembling as she turned to me. I pulled her forgotten dress and handed it to her. It was the only thing she had apparently worn from the club, aside from her still worn shoes.
"Now go."
She left immediately, still uncaring of how she was baring everything to the world. I might have paid more attention to it, but now wasn't the time.
"How'd you even find me? I know Aria would never have let you on her station."
"Just like she would never let you?" Samara raised an eyebrow.
"I know how to be subtle." She snipped. Is that what you call the dead bodies? "I suppose you got some help." She jerked her head over at me, but never took her eyes off her mother. Huh, did she even look at me once? I leaned back against the wall and crossed my arms. Intrigued by the interaction.
"There are always those that will help the code."
"Fuck your code. It's probably because you're showing off your tits to the world to see." Samara growled at the insult and launched the first attack. It was only a small biotic blast, something that Morinth deflected to the side with her own glowing hand with ease. It made a small crater in the wall all the same.
"It's always the code this and the code that!" Morinth spat as she returned the favour. Samara decided to face it head on and threw her arm forward into the ground, launching a shockwave through the air that absorbed the blast and continued on to Morinth. She formed a barrier the moment before the shockwave hit, but it shattered shortly. Morinth was thrown back, sent tumbling along the ground. The wall behind her didn't fare quite so well either.
Fuck me, these two aren't joking around. I uncrossed my arms and stood up straight, just in case something came at me.
"aughh.." Morinth groaned on the floor before pushing herself up. "You always were a-" she coughed "- bitch."
Samara narrowed her eyes for a moment, looking at Morinth.
"… and you were always a disappointment." She sighed.
Ouch.
Morinth snarled back at her mother, her biotics cloaking her form in an instant. She raised her hands to do something, but I didn't know what as Samara was there before she could release it. She too was shrouded by her biotics, her palm striking Morinth directly in the stomach to interrupt whatever she planned.
Morinth's breath was forced out of her and she took a step back, but she was able to recover quickly. Quicker than I would have, had, that's for sure. She threw her own palm forward at her mother, something Samara easily saw coming. There was a clear gap in technique between the two, so Samara swung her arm to deflect it while she prepared another blow with the other.
That was, before the force behind Morinth's hand blew right through Samara's deflection, striking her on the side of her jaw. Samara reeled back, her head turning harshly as she stumbled away from Morinth. Morinth didn't waste the opportunity either, and she kicked forward with her back leg. It slammed into Samara's gut and the Justicar was thrown back with a cry. She crashed into the ground harshly.
Shit! I tensed up, ready to jump forward to stop Morinth's continued assault, but Samara managed to turn her fall into a roll! She returned to her feet in the next moment and I forced myself to untense, this wasn't my fight to finish.
"You've grown weak mother!" Morinth spat, before grinning viscously. "Maybe your code can bridge the gap?"
Samara grimaced, rubbing her face with the back of her hand and wiping away the blood on her lip.
"It isn't your own strength, it is what you stole from your victims!"
Morinth began glowing brighter, releasing more and more energy into her aura.
"This power is mine, because I wasn't weak. I took it because I deserved it." Morinth's aura was growing even brighter before my eyes, the shade visibly lightening. That can't be good.
"I was born with the power to take, so why shouldn't I use it? Why should I keep myself locked in that fucking cage!" She roared, the air around her beginning to spark. Alright, fuck not interfering.
Samara had enshrouded herself as well, but her aura didn't match up to the raw power Morinth was showing.
"What you've done was all the justification needed! You've proven why you couldn't be trusted." Samara steeled her face.
"Like you could be trusted?" Morinth laughed bitterly, almost hysterically. "You turned to your code when times got hard, when you discovered what all of us we're." she grit her teeth, before spitting out "No, you're just a coward, and you can't dictate my life anymore." Morinth's eyes started glowing blue from the biotic energy, her voice taking on a haunting quality as the biotics began to consume her.
This is what happened when you couldn't control the power you held, or specifically contain. I'd seen it before at the facility. It was … when more Eezo was added to our systems, it increased biotic reserves. Eezo was an unnatural substance for all but Asari, and we needed time to adjust to that increase in energy. The artificial inflation …? Sometimes the body couldn't keep up, and the energy would start radiating from the brain and nervous system. I'd seen it happen only twice in my time at the facility.
Nothing on this scale … but Morinth had been draining victims for what sounded like years. Absorbing their energy into her own. She was largely untrained, didn't know the true danger she was putting herself in. Even if she won here, the damage she would do to herself would be … catastrophic.
"Taking your power will be justice."
Biotic energy condensed over one of her arms, a staggering amount of it, enough to turn white. Samara saw the danger in it, and threw up a forcefield of some sort, an advanced form of barrier? It wouldn't be enough.
I opened the floodgates, drawing on the well within me for all the energy I could as I ran towards Samara. I was almost too late, as Morinth threw her arm forward at the barrier, flooding my vison with the blue-white energy. Samara's arms started buckling in an instant, her shield vibrating itself apart. I rushed to her side, and just as Samara's arms fell I slammed my fists together.
My self-stasis orb exploded out of me!
It surrounded the both of us in its embrace as Morinth's shockwave blasted through. It nearly wasn't enough, my own mind screaming at the strain of holding up the orb, but I pushed through and started channelling even more energy into it. It was dangerous, something I'd never attempted to do with this technique, but I needed it.
Thankfully, the shield held, and we didn't get blown up. I can't say the same for the apartment.
"Fury." Samara nodded, sweat dripping down her brow with some relief in her eyes.
"The fuck!" Morinth screeched when she saw we were still standing, her aura noticeably dimmer and blue veins spreading around her eyes. Her clothes were beginning to flake away as well.
I don't know if I could take another one of those, and Samara seemed to agree because we simultaneously charged at the stunned Asari. I renewed the barrier around me as I did, having lost it to the stasis.
Morinth's aura started growing brighter again, but I reinforced my body and threw an enhanced palm strike at her other arm. Energy had charged up rapidly in it just before I did, and the blast intended for me shot over my head. I was successful at the diversion but even still by arm noticeably started heating up from the brief contact. Even my barrier flicker violently The sheer amount of energy around her made her a danger to even touch!
Morinth's eyes narrowed at my action, but she was soon distracted by Samara attempting to strike her once more. She was successful, but had to pull her hand back with a hiss as the barrier around her shattered. The energy around Morinth was too much for her!
Morinth seemed to realise this as well, looking between the two of us.
"Are you another fool she'd dragged into her obsession with me?" she raised her hand towards Samara once more, focused on defeating her. I deflected it once more and my barrier wavered dangerously, but still remained intact. It wouldn't last a third moment of contact.
"We would have met soon enough." I retorted, taking a deep breath before slamming my fists together again. Morinth's question had given me enough time to build up the energy required, as I had an idea. I let my current barrier shatter, then slammed by fists together again, a blazing barrier forming around me.
My barrier isn't strong enough to handle the strain? … make it stronger.
"Then you will suffer the same fate." Morinth placed her hands together, building up a massive charge. I kicked forward the moment she did, enhancing the blow with my biotics, and slammed my foot into her hands. This forced them back into her stomach and made her stagger back.
"Fuck off!" she screamed at me as energy burst from her form, exploding out in a weak shockwave in all directions. I ignored her words now, focused on the fight. Giving into her anger, Morinth charged towards me. A blast of biotic energy came from behind me, but she bulldozed right through it. Samara would need to charge up something bigger than that. I'll give her that time.
I met her charge with my own, pulling up my fists. She threw her hand out, trying to claw at me, but I ducked under it and slammed my fist into her stomach. I didn't enhance the blow in any way, relying solely on physical force. It still staggered her.
Morinth tried again, but I deflected it away with my left hand then struck her twice, once in the stomach and once in the face. She reeled back with blood streaming from her nose, but she didn't give up. Energy flowed up her arm and into her fist, but I just twisted myself around on my back-foot and kicked the hand away.
This was all the time Samara needed before a singularity shot out and captured Morinth's form. Seeing that the technique worked, I stepped back to leave it to Samara. I shouldn't have done that.
Morinth screamed as energy burst from her once more, even more violently than before. It blew away the Singularity and she dropped down to the ground. Her face was half-covered in the glowing blue veins, and not even a hint of her pupils was left in her eyes. They were a solid blue-white.
"I'm going to enjoy killing you." She hissed. The air around her started wavering, the excess heat coming from Morinth's aura growing even larger. Why did this have to be in an apartment. I couldn't cut loose here, Fuck!
I ran forward again, but started channelling energy into my barrier as I did to keep it up. I didn't have much use for this barrier strength normally, but the situation called for it. My form started glowing white, the air sparking around me as I got in close and personal with Morinth.
She swatted her hand at me, and even with my arms blocking it I skid back a meter. An unfamiliar technique struck her glowing form, and actually got through the aura! It shredded the front of her tattered clothes and a little into Morinths' skin. She cried out from this.
I used the chance Samara brought me and ran forward again. Morinth tried to swat me once more, but I knew how strong she now was, so I sidestepped it and threw a blow into her stomach. She growled at this and tried to kick me. I jumped over it and punched her again. Over and over, this continued until one particularly viscous blow made her bend over. The entire time I had been channelling energy into my barrier so it didn't shatter from the glancing blows, but now was the true test.
I grabbed a hold of her arm tightly, tight enough to bruise, then I twisted around her. Once I was behind Morinth, I jerked my hand to the side, pulling her hand out straight. As I did this, I let biotic energy pool into my back leg, flooded the limb with energy until it could hold no more, then I let it burst.
My knee rocketed forward, right into the back of Morinth's arm. At first it flexed, the natural range of the arm resisting my knee, but my knee continued forward. The joint gave way with a crunching noise, and I swear I could feel as each tendon snapped. As the skin and tissue tore and bone poked through the front of her arm.
Morinth gasped, freezing at the sensation, but I didn't stop there. Using the still gripped arm as leverage I placed the foot of my still raised leg on her shoulder, then pushed down with all I could while pulling back on her arm. I slammed the shoulder into the ground, and a pop echoed through the room while her elbow twisted around even more.
It took her a second to process what happened, before Morinth screamed out as her aura escaped her control. It exploded in all directions, and I was close enough to take the full brunt of it. My barrier finally shattered from the impact, the wash of heat an uncomfortable reminder, but the shields in my armour were thankfully enough to resist the remaining force.
I still flinched back from the heat, stumbling a little at the sudden weakness, but it didn't matter. It was over. We stood there in silence as Morinth gasped for breath, as she whimpered and tried to roll over, reaching out to touch her injured arm before pulling her hand back.
I stood there watching her, and made no move either way. Morinth was down, so it was up to Samara now. Morinth seem to realise my inaction as well, as she looked up at me with tears streaming down her glowing cheeks.
"Please help me!" Morinth cried out. "I don't know what she told you, but she lied!" I winced at how genuine she sounded. The desperation in her voice, the helplessness.
"I've … I've never hurt anyone, I was just looking to forget for a while when, when she ambushed me. She just follows the code because the law demonises my kind, you have to believe me!" Morinth pleaded.
My stomach twisted at her cry, but I pushed it down. She may sound genuine, sound so honest, but I knew what she'd done. How many she killed, so I remained silent.
Samara finally walked up to Morinth.
"She won't help you Morinth. She knows what you've done, what you're capable of." Samara spat at the woman. Morinth's face suddenly twisted up, the previous terror seemingly forgotten. In its place was anger.
"I just wanted to be free!" she cradled her injured arm and struggled to stand up before her mother.
"You did more than that." Samara glowered down at Morinth stonily.
"How many?" she asked. "How many did you lie to. Steal from. How many did you kill?"
Samara reached out her hand, cupping Morinth's face with it as she leaned down. "You we're right to be angry at me. But you took that anger out on others. Spread so much pain, so much sorrow." Samara stared deeply into Morinth's eyes. "I tracked you the entire way, noted down every credit you stole, every person you killed. Do you even know how many?"
Morinth said nothing.
"I said, do you know how many?" Samara hissed, glaring down at her daughter.
"…No." Morinth finally answered, shrinking into herself.
"No, you don't." Samara shook her head. "But I do." She sighed, suddenly looking so tired as she lifted her other hand up to cradle Morinth's face.
"Why?" she looked deep into Morinth's face, searching for an answer. She found none, as Mornith just looked down in shame. All the anger and resentment had suddenly left her, all of the energy, all of the fight, gone.
"I … I don't know. I just … I …" She whispered, then looked back up. "I'll come with you now. I'll stop fighting. I … I'm sorry."
Samara didn't reply, instead she leaned down further and pulled her daughter into her embrace, wrapping her arms around Morinth. She held her close for a few seconds, and Morinth seemed to almost sink into the hug.
"No," Samara whispered hoarsely, " … I'm sorry."
Samara's arms lifted up and wrapped tightly around Morinth's head and neck, and all Morinth could do was gasp before Samar wrenched her arms to the side. The snap echoed in the silence, before Morinth gurgling and gasping filled it for a few seconds. Then nothing.
Did … did she just …? After Morinth surrendered? After all that?
Samara laid Morinth down on the floor gently, and I could now see just how much damage had been done to her. I'd brutalised her arm, and I'm not sure it could have been saved even if we tried. The damage from the uncontrolled biotic energy was almost worse. Her face was coated in glowing blue veins, the surrounding skin flaking off around it. Her eyes were glowing even still, and I could see a small pinprick of light coming out of her ear hole as she stared up at nothing.
The eyes made her look almost alive, … but she wasn't.
I would have killed Morinth myself if it was just me. Aria had very few laws, but her decision on Ardat-Yakshi was clear. Their existence was a death sentence. I would have been uncomfortable with that, if it didn't take a few reoccurrences of the ability for confirmation. Some people can have biotic seizures, not Asari, but it does happen in other species. Normally something has to cause it, but melding inherently stimulated the brain and nervous system, so there is a small chance of melding setting off a seizure.
The chances are small enough that if it happens twice, it is the Asari's fault. Morinth had many victims, far more than 2, so death was all she could expect from me. But for her mother to do it?
I thought Samara had asked for my help to capture her daughter alive, how … why did she, … why?
"Samara?"
She was still staring down at her daughter's unstaring eyes. I knelt down to close them, but Samara's hand stopped me.
"I'll do it." Her voice gave nothing away, but her hand was shaking in the air. She was still the gentlest person I'd ever seen as she closed Morinth's eyes.
"Very well." I stood up. "… will you require transport for her?" This was all too familiar for me. I didn't want to think back to … that day. She had looked peaceful as well.
"… Yes. Have her shipped back to her, … to her sisters." Samara, tapped away at her Omni-tool and sent me the address. If she fumbled the action a few times, I didn't say anything.
"Leave me." She told me immediately after, still staring down at her daughter as she knelt before her. I said nothing else as I let Samara be.
This … this didn't sit right with me. Morinth was …, she was a monster, no question about it. But it wasn't entirely her fault. Her condition, it was something she was born with through no fault of her own. And because of it? Morinth was locked up, restrained to a monastery and a life of solitude.
Ardat-Yakshi … they we're dealt a horrible hand in life. I can understand wanting to be free, it is something I would gladly have assisted her with. No-one should be locked up like that, but it's what she did with her freedom that damned her. It's why they are called cursed, why they are locked up prematurely.
Our circumstances we're so similar, the parallels startling. I had committed many wrongs in my life, arguably more than Morinth, I knew that. I would be shocked if she had killed more than I, but the number of innocents that were dead because of me?
It was something I regretted every day, and even knowing the pressures that forced me to do so provided little comfort.
Morinth didn't have those pressures, and she would have continued her murder spree across the galaxy if she could. Did some fault lay with Samara's treatment of her daughter? … I didn't know, and it was best not to think about it. It wasn't my place.
If this was what Samara thought best … then, then I would choose to trust in her decision. I didn't know the full history between the pair, and I never will.
I hope you have the freedom you were looking for Morinth.
AN: I'm evil. I didn't go into this chapter with much of a plan about how Morinth would be dealt with, but this is what came of it. It felt right? ... take from that what you will.
I'm pleased with the result, but I swear I rewrote almost the entire chapter before I was. It likely didn't help I got distracted by reading Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir. I think I enjoyed his other work, The Martian, better but this one was still an amazing novel.
Anywho, did I stretch the concept of an Ardat-Yakshi a little bit? Maybe, but they do drain their victims so ... eh?
