Chapter 7
The Turian didn't say much as he lead me away from my new boss. He just grunted at me to follow before turning around and walking off. We walked down into the room, and a rather interesting sight. The room was circular in nature and surrounded a holographic pillar around which many scantily dressed Asari danced. There were many others watching them around the room, and a bar people were drinking at.
The reasoning behind the dancing Asari was beyond me. I didn't mind the clothing, but it was the fact they were willingly dancing in such a way before the crowded room. Why would they let down their guard so much? It left me confused but I will admit they were at least pleasing to look at. Their movements were smooth, polished and their clothes were both tight and revealing. I'm not sure why, but the clothing strangely appealed to me.
Shaking away my surprise at the sight, I hurried after the Turian who had kept moving towards a guarded door that we walked through, what I assume is the staff only section. In short order he handed me off onto an amphibious looking alien.
"She needs a basic Omni-tool, and some guidance on how to use it. She is to be given an employee model." He spoke gruffly, before turning to me. "Stay here. I'll be back." Then he walked off. I was confused but turned back to the new Alien rummaging around beneath the counter.
"Ahah!" he cheered, popping back up into view with a technological bracelet in his hand. "Here we go, hold out your arm!" He spoke rapidly, but the command was easy enough to understand so I held out my left arm instinctively. I'm right-handed, so I'm not sure why I did, but it felt right.
The alien didn't ask before grabbing my sleeve and pulling it back. I tried to jerk my hand back at his touch, but he had a firm grip so I grit my teeth and tried to let him be. I can't start attacking people after I was just hired by their boss. Soon enough, he placed the bracelet around my forearm in a rather loose fit.
He tapped on a few buttons, and with a whirring noise the device on my arm both tightened and expanded, suddenly a tight fit that covered a third of my forearm. He let go of me right after though, so I pulled my arm back and waved my arm around a few times. The added weight is weird, but I know the guards of the facility had similar devices on their wrists, the ones they used to shoot lightning at me. Can I do that? I really hope I can do that.
"Now, here is how you work it." The alien spoke. "This button turns it on and off." He pressed the only button present, and an orange holographic interface appeared around my arm. It's … stunning. The devices interface was suddenly much larger, and I could interact with it. Unfortunately, the alien explaining it to me didn't waste any time in his explanation. Barely even pausing to breathe.
"Here's how you access the Extranet … this is how the fabrication function works … messages and calls will come through here …" my head spun at his words. It was too much, none of this was familiar to me and he spoke too fast, I wouldn't be able to remember much of what he said. My mind began to wander involuntarily after a while until something caught my ear. "… if you need reminders on how something works or desire a more in-depth explanation you can go here!" I had him repeat the process a few times and burned the method into my memory. If I could learn how to use it myself, I would be fine. This way, I only needed to remember one thing from his speech.
Soon enough, the alien finished and left me alone. Having nothing better to do I turned around to head back towards the main part of the club, but the Turian from before was standing behind me. I resisted the urge to jump and strike him and nodded my greeting. He nodded back and lead me further into the staff section of the club, showed me to what is apparently now 'my room,' and let me into the room while explaining how to use the door. After he finished that, he turned to face me directly.
"You will be provided food for the next week, after that, you will have to pay for your own supplies. You will begin work in another week as well. A medic will show up momentarily to check you over and see that you recover properly. Do not fail to show up to work. You will be dearly punished." He then walked out before I could protest the medic, which I intended to.
I didn't need to see any more doctors, I've seen enough for a lifetime. I was fully prepared to refuse any treatment when the door opened, admitting the medic. It was another Asari, and somehow she managed to convince me to do a scan, I'm not sure how. It was … fine. She only scanned me using a device that apparently reported my health to her. She gave me some sort of paste to put on my cuts and bruises, recommended I rest for the next week to recover from my exhaustion and left. It's a bit odd that she never commented on my foot, what with it being mechanical. Did she not know?
Ignoring my confusion, I turned around to observe my room. It was basic, but it had all the proper amenities that were missing in my cell. I would perform a more thorough inspection, but all I want to do is lie down on my bed and sleep. I resist the urge though, I haven't bathed in more than a week. That was the one privilege I never lost while at the facility. The water was lukewarm at the best of times, but it was always available. Cleanliness was emphasised at the facility, and considering I remained in that room for weeks at a time it was required that it had bathing facilities of some description.
I took off my new device and placed it on the small table present before entering the bathroom. I didn't waste any time in removing my clothes, dropping them to the ground, and stepping into the shower, then I froze. The water was … warm. I'd never had a warm shower before. It was …, the feeling … it was indescribable. Soothing in a way I'd never known. My muscles were still sore, my head still ached, but none of that mattered when I had the warm stream flowing over my head. I closed my eyes and luxuriated in the feeling, I don't know for how long, I just know it wasn't long enough. The issue was, it was only exacerbating my drowsiness and I couldn't fall asleep quite yet no matter how much I wanted to, so with great reluctance I turned off the water. I had long since cleaned myself out of habit, I stalled afterwards to enjoy the experience.
Stepping out of the shower, I dried myself using one of the supplied towels before turning back to face the direction I came from and found a mirror. I had never been able to use one before, that I could remember. Yes, I could see a vague outline using the reflections in windows, but they were subpar at best.
I'd never … seen, what I looked like. I had short brown hair, the Scientists never let it get very long. I suppose I would consider my features attractive enough, ignoring the lack of expression I still held even now. I'd never realised how robotic I looked but I'd spent most of my life hiding what I felt, I don't know if I could even emote properly at this point. I tried smiling, but it not only felt wrong, but it also looked wrong. I'm not sure how, but it just did. Unnatural, and somehow brittle, I stopped trying shortly.
I knew I was shorter than most of the people I'd seen, slight too. I'm not sure if I'm naturally this way or if the years of missing meals influenced me, but even on my short frame, I was slight. More importantly, I looked hard. I had little excess fat on me, and I was covered in lean muscle. The other children looked soft in comparison, they lacked the hard edges I had. There was one other thing they lacked though. My body was covered in scars.
My arms were littered with countless scars, some from battles but more from the experiments I went through. They didn't end there though, my front was littered with them as well. They were ugly, looked painful. I turned around and looked at my back as best I could, it was even worse. The area around my spine was almost half scar tissue, so many of the procedures had been done on my back. They covered all the way up to include my neck, a macabre line that stood out even amongst all the other scars that littered my body.
I started to feel sick, looking at them. They brought back memories, the pain as I was cut open, the violation I felt when part of my insides were exposes to the world. I remember feeling the slightest puff of wind rush over my skin that delved further. The wrongness of it was indescribable, I flinched even just thinking about it. I … I couldn't look at these any longer. Clenching my fists, I close my eyes before leaving the bathroom to go collapse onto the bed.
The only reason I didn't shatter the mirror was because I was only a guest here, even if I was told otherwise.
I spent the next week largely holed up in my room, recovering. I hadn't been well-rested even before I fought my way through the facility. I then passed out from exhaustion twice with my only recuperation period being chained up to a wall. I needed time to recover, and a week while likely less than some would recommend was enough, especially with the paste the doctor gave me. I wasn't sure what was in it, but I applied it and my cuts were almost gone the next day, the bruises had faded. Within three days, there was no signs of any of them. It was a truly miraculous material, pity it didn't work so well for the rest of my ails.
My muscles were largely fine after a few days, most of the lingering soreness and stiffness quickly disappearing. It was the feeling of weakness that permeated me that was more persistent. I was not ready to exert myself with my biotics again. I have somewhat recovered in that regard now that I had a proper chance to, but I still felt strained. I'm not sure how long it will be until the feeling goes away, but a week wasn't enough. I could still throw down if a fight asked for it though.
While resting was required for my physical recovery, it wasn't the only reason I kept to myself for that week. I was so ignorant of the galaxy I now found myself in, even my own species was foreign to me. It took me a while to figure out how to operate the Omni-tool, but the instruction manual I was shown how to use was a godsend. I first practiced using the basic functionality of the device, money, calls, and settings for the device. I decided that the more advanced uses for the device, such as fabrication, could be left to a later time. I had more pressing needs, in the use of the 'Extranet'.
There was so little I knew, things people normally learned over years that anyone should know, yet I didn't. I knew so little, and I now had a chance to rectify that, I wouldn't waste it. It was a little tricky to navigate the Extranet, the instruction manual on my device held limited advice, so the first thing I looked up was a guide on how to use the Net. That was far more helpful, full of warnings of what not to do or what was a scam, and plenty of useful tips broken down bit by bit on how to use the Extranet efficiently.
Having grasped the basics on how to search for information, I started by looking up information about the different Alien races present. It had been bugging me that there were so many I didn't even know of, so that was the first thing I looked into.
There were more than I had expected, and my reading on them left me with only more questions. Apparently the Asari were a mono-gendered race, that looked overwhelmingly female and could read your minds. Turians had Iron in their skin and were a military focused people. The amphibian looking ones were Salarians, who were a race of scientists.
There was more, the Krogans with their enormous vitality, the Quarians with their overall lack of. The literally four-eyed Batarians and my race, Humans. Those and many more made up the galactic society, apparently ruled from the Citadel.
I couldn't wrap my head around the way the galaxy was governed, by three races that were somehow superior to the rest, with every race seemingly specialising to the extreme in what their role was in the Galaxy. Negotiators, warriors, scientists, bankers, why would a race limit itself so? At least with the humans, they were more diverse. Some were warriors, some scientists, some politicians, and some none of the above. It made more sense to me.
What I spent the most time on during the week, however, was researching biotics. Not on techniques, as there seemed to be an overwhelming lack of instruction provided, but on its existence. In any race other than the Asari, biotics were rare and unnatural. That was why the Asari all had the special collars on their necks, they were biotic restraints. They didn't put any on me firstly because odds were good I wasn't a biotic and the collars weren't cheap, and secondly because my biotics should have been weak.
In all the media I observed, it was a trend I noticed. The Asari were deemed the masters of the art, being naturally biotic when they were born, and everyone else was lesser than them. There were some exceptions in the form of the Krogans, whose long-life seemingly allowed them to match the similarly large experience of the Asari, but they were the only ones. Other races needed amplifiers implanted into their necks to be effective in combat. I didn't notice anything like what was described in the back of my neck, but I had gone through so many experiments that who knows what I have inside of me.
Ignoring the disturbing thought, I was seemingly an anomaly. A massive one. I couldn't get anything concrete even after more than a day of searching, but from reading personal accounts I had more biotic potential than nearly anyone. I couldn't be sure about some of the ancient Asari and Krogan, as the stories involving them seemed rather exaggerated, but I'll hold my doubts for now. With how censored the Extranet seems to be about this sort of thing, I couldn't be sure how accurate it was. And if humans could experiment on their biotics, other races could as well.
I also made sure to double check Aria's words on the people of the space station, and by all accounts she was correct. This was a place ruled by outlaws, with Aria as the 'Pirate Queen'. I was pretty certain she had been telling the truth, but I wanted to be sure.
Even at the end of the week, I was still ignorant of many things. I didn't have the time to look up anything more than general information about some topics, and even that sparse amount of information left my head spinning. I was still processing it even now. All I could do was persist though, like I have pushed through so many times before.
Working for Aria was a change, to say the least. In truth I didn't really work for her, but rather one of her assistants, at least most of the time. As far as I could tell, Aria did little work on a day-to-day basis, handing most of the normal administrative task over to others whose reports she looked over. From the few times I could observe her in my role, she always seemed to be reclining on her couch.
On my first day, I was taken to her to be informed of what I would be doing for her. She made me wait at least 15 minutes, not that I minded. It was a petty thing to do, and a petty thing to get annoyed at. I worked for her, if she wanted to make me wait then she could. For all the fanfare she made, my role was simple. I was a bodyguard of sorts.
If people started getting too rowdy, I was to stop them. If the customers tried to get too friendly with the dancers, I would throw them out. If fights broke out between patrons, I was to finish them, and if someone got too drunk, I was to remove them. It was simple enough in theory, but we were on Omega, so things got a little tricky. Everyone was armed, most knew how to fight with their hands, and many were used to being feared. It made them cocky, arrogant. They thought they could do whatever they want, I disabused them of that. My being a teenage girl didn't help in that regard, as I wasn't exactly the largest person around.
The music was particularly grating today, some new song that had too much thumping involved. I don't dislike it, but the deep booming involved was a bit too familiar for my liking. It left me on edge, expecting an attack at any time. It also left my mind clouded with other thoughts. The memories still fresh, and even now I had to take a deep breath to try and reign in my temper. Then again, I am also expecting an attack at any time, which doesn't help.
I have to keep an eye on the crowds at all times, watching for any undesirable behaviour. It isn't a question of if, only when. I'm not the only person doing this, the club being far too large for just one person monitoring the crowds, but the frequency on which we had to intervene was startling. You would think the Afterlife, owned by the Queen of Omega, would be a place where you keep your peace, guess not.
Spotting an escalating argument between two of our patrons, a Turian and a Batarian, I made my way towards them. I have to shove my way through the throng of people between us, far too tightly packed to avoid, rushing to make it in time before someone throws a punch. Extricating myself from the final person in my way, I step up to the pair.
"Hey!" I shout at them, the only way to be properly heard with how loud the music was. "Break it up."
The two turn towards me, and unlike every other time, they don't shy away from me. The Turian shoves himself close to me, with what I think is the Turian equivalent to sneering.
"And why should we listen to you?!" he slurred his words, glaring down at me before turning back and throwing the first punch. He put a lot of force into it, perhaps too much. He missed the Batarian's head by a couple of handspans. He may have missed, but the Batarian certainly didn't. I can only assume he hadn't drunk as much as the Turian, as his fist connected solidly. I didn't really hear the impact, but my mind filled in the sound for me. The Turian being knocked onto his back was certainly a familiar sight. It would have been fine if the fight stopped there, but the Batarian mounted his opponent and begun to rain down blows. Other patrons had started to notice, I had to stop this.
Rushing forwards, I grabbed the Batarians still raised fist, clenching hard enough for the man to wince. He looked up at me, and any notion of peacefully resolving this left my mind as I saw the rage in his eyes. He punched his free arm towards me, twisting around awkwardly with the blow. I stepped to the side, easily dodging the blow. The man was both drunk, and in poor position to do so.
Glancing around one last time, I found a few more observers, but no one looked like they were rushing to help. Good, he had no friends to surprise me with. Looking back to the man below me, I glared down at him, raising my other hand.
I pulled the trigger within me, condensing the smallest amount of biotic aura around my raised fist and brought it down on his face. The blow cracked across his face brutally, the sound audible even over the music and the Batarian was thrown to the ground, collapsing on top of his foe. There was blood leaking from the side of his head, but he wouldn't notice. His eyes had rolled up into his head, losing their focus. He wasn't quite passed out, but it was a close thing. Might still happen.
The turian beneath him stared up at me, even as I stared back with my raised fist, tilting my head. He looked away quickly, and shoved the Batarian off of him before standing up with a stumble. He turned away from us, but I put my hand on his shoulder, gaining his attention. Once his attention was back on me, I nodded towards the Batarian on the floor, then pointed towards the exit with my still glowing fist. The glow gained his attention nicely, and he understood what I meant.
Leaning down, the Turian picked up the Batarian with a struggle, before shuffling along with his burden. It's good he took him with him. Looking around me, I found more than a few eyes on me, but none held my gaze for long. Satisfied, I moved back to my post near the wall, monitoring the now uncaring customers. It's a good thing their was two of them, and I knocked out the Batarian. Part of my current job involves physically throwing some of the unruly patrons out of the club, but hell if I know why. I 'm of average height for a woman at best, and a slight one at that. My frame hadn't finished filling in with muscle, leaving me rather gaunt in appearance. The bags under my eyes and the scars helped me look older than I was, thankfully, but I still got looked down on enough even still. As far as I can tell, humans are on the smaller side for most races.
It wasn't absolute, as a few of the races are around the same height like the Asari, the Salarians and the odd Quarian I've spotted in the employee section, but some of the races were certainly bigger. The Krogan I've seen look monstrously big compared to me, and most Turians had at least a full head on me. It probably didn't help that there weren't many female customers, as the human male average matched many of the patrons, whereas my average female height certainly didn't. I often found myself the shortest one around.
Something must have been in the water tonight, because that was the first of four fights I had to break up, only one successfully with words. Dealing with them wasn't difficult though, it only took one or two punches with my coated hands to bring down any of them. That being said, I've yet to fight a Krogan.
It had been a month since I'd started working at The Afterlife, and I've found myself enjoying myself surprisingly enough. Yes, I get bored at times, and the music always leaves me a little on edge, but I have dealt with far worse before. Except now, after my night shifts ended, for the given word 'night', I was free to do as I wish. No-one could force me to do something I didn't want to, except maybe Aria but I rarely interacted with her. She spent most of her time up in that alcove of hers, whereas I stayed on the floor during my shifts, and kept to myself when free.
I hadn't done anything with my biotics in that time except create barriers around my fists. I figure I've recovered by now, but I want to be sure. I'm also not sure what the point would be, I have nowhere to practice. All I currently know how to do is throw explosions, create shockwaves and create barriers around my fists. The last I had no real way to improve, as I seemingly had a limit on what my supposedly 'different' technique could do, and the other two were far too strong to practice in my room.
Seeing as I currently had no way to improve with my biotics, I moved onto the other ways I could do. I researched, I studied and I learnt. About the galaxy, about the different races, about anything I could. I had been given free range to learn whatever I wanted, and I wasn't going to waste this chance. Who knows how long I will have access to the Extranet, and if I will get access again. So, I concentrated on the most important bits first. I had thankfully read the guide when I first started using the Extranet, and it had taught me how to filter out whatever 'porn' was. The guide didn't go into detail, aside from how it was a pointless distraction when trying to find information. There was a handy little setting to block it all, which I had been making good use of.
I researched as much on technology as I could, which was less than desired since anytime I looked for how things worked it flew over my head. I was missing the basics everyone was assumed to know and I had no way to fix that, at least in the short term. I'll look back into it once I have more time. What I focused the most on was weaponry, any, and every kind. I have a great deal of experience fighting against unarmed opponents, even my experience with biotics will somewhat translate, but I had little to no experience against armed opponents. I needed to know what to expect.
On a side note, during the time I researched technology I figured out how to use my Omni-tool to make things, which was neat. I hadn't really used it for anything, considering the cost of Omni gel.
I had just started going into more depth on the relations between races and some of the more basic policies and regulations I should know if I ever wished to travel to other worlds. Not terribly important while living on Omega, but it was good to know what was obviously illegal, what I would need to hide from the authorities.
I was on the floor again, watching the current patrons of the club, bored. At first, watching over the club like this had been interesting, all the new sights and people fascinating me. Unfortunately, it had quickly grown old. It always remained the same, the same customers and the same conversations. The fights were normally few and far between and they were my only source of entertainment. I'm beginning to realise just how much time I used to spend fighting, not doing so feels strange, leaves me restless. Exercise helps, but it's not the same.
I let my eyes wander, unable to keep my concentration, when a flash of light and an explosion of noise catches my attention. The sound was deafening, even when contending with the music, and the light was near blinding in the dimly lit club. I had to blink the black spots out of my eyes before I could head towards the explosion. I could only assume it was an attack against the club, this wasn't a normal fight. That blast had to be a conventional explosive, It wasn't the exotic blue my own blasts were but a fiery orange.
I was surrounded by screaming and panicking people, all jostling themselves trying to get away from the blast. That was unfortunate for me, considering I had to head towards it and now fight through the crowds. I shoved people out of my way left and right, ignoring the screaming and shouting, as well as the protests from those I shoved. I didn't have time for them, I had a job to do.
I rushed as fast as I could, but the crowd slowed me down enough that even though I was only halfway to the entrance of the club, I could hear the familiar bangs of gunfire. Struggling even harder, I sprinted towards the bar. I could see some of the other employees behind it as well, using it as cover to fire at the people currently shooting at us.
Getting closer, the pings of gunfire I had been ignoring suddenly became far more important, as a line of pain along my shoulder ignited in time with one of them, I hadn't though of it but I was now in the firing lines. Snapping my eyes up, I spotted at least two different guns aimed at me, without the time to waste I did the only thing I could think of and fell backwards, sliding forward on my back with the momentum I'd built up.
I crashed into the bar with a loud thud, my knees aching from absorbing the impact. I laid their for a moment, wheezing for the breath that had been knocked out of me, before clawing my way up to a seated position next to the man beside me, one of our Turian guards. He shot off a few bullets before looking back to me, his expression unreadable to me but I can't assume it was a good one.
"You're here, good. We're pinned down and have no way of finishing them easily. You need to make a distraction, it should be easy for you." He barked at me, before turning back to the gunfight. I frowned, unable to ask the question I wanted to. How was I meant to make a distraction, and for what?
I poked my head above the counter, as little as possible, to observe the situation. I could see 7 gunmen from my position, and by the sounds of it there were more. They were barricaded near the exit and unfortunately also held some hostages. They were surrounded with bodies bleeding out on the floor, but I could see a few still moving slightly, the gunshots non-lethal.
What am I supposed to do here? There's no cover for me to get up close which only leaves me with my more destructive methods. But would Aria want me to use them? So far the club had only suffered true damage near the door, but could I keep it that way? I … hesitated, unsure of what to do.
"I said make a distraction!" the Turian beside me shouted, snarling at me. Alright, enough time wasted, I'm going with my instincts. There will just have to be a few extra casualties. Let's see, I could take them out using a bigger blast, but the collateral damage would be greater. I'll go with the barrage approach, seeing as I only need to distract them. I closed my eyes, concentrating for a moment as I drew out my biotics, more than I had for the month, into an aura around me. I converged it around my arms in preparation for the initial attack, and snapped my eyes open, jumping up from behind the bar.
The moment I did, I threw the first two blasts forward at two of the gunmen before diving to the side, rolling along the ground to dodge the bullet fire while my first attack reached them. In the time it took me to finish my roll, I heard the sound of two explosions. Focusing my attention forward, I continued running at a slant as I launched the next two at the only gunmen still with their guns raised. The moment I did, I jerked myself to the side, hoping I could dodge their bullet fire before I began running full tilt towards my enemies. They were hiding behind a barrier they set up, so my attacks only did significant damage to a few of them, but it stopped their fire. That was all I needed.
I pumped my arms, running with all I had as I charged up an aura around me, condensing it towards my right arm. I ran forward until the moment they started moving from behind their barrier, but I was only five metres away at that point. They didn't know it, but that was close enough for me.
In an instant, I let the leg behind me fall and crash into the ground, I was suddenly kneeling as I slammed my right fist into the ground in front of me. At the same time, I released the charge within it, sending the shockwave shooting forward and into their barrier. The barrier shattered first, then the people behind it were thrown back into the wall behind them in a show of biotic might, unprepared for the sudden impact.
I wasted no time standing, my stride barely interrupted before I continued sprinting forward. I ran towards the most coherent enemy near me, he had been on the opposite edge of the barrier and had thus been largely unaffected by my shockwave. He was close enough to be off balance though, having fallen to his knees shaking his head. He finally raised his head, only to find my glowing blue fist impacting his nose. I didn't hold back this time, and a loud crack echoed through the air as the man's nose collapsed beneath my fist. I think his cheek might have done so as well. Regardless, he was out.
Looking around, I found the section of the floor destroyed, one of the windows on the wall shattered and cracks in the wall surrounding it. There were also a few more gunmen standing further away to the side, staring at me. They wouldn't for long, and I could see one of them already raising his gun. I flung a small blast his way as a distraction, before running for the broken window. I was too far away to reach the other gunmen in time, so I decided it was my best choice. I leaped through the window, using my right foot to steady myself on the broken glass and jumped out into the night. There was a short drop, but luckily there was one of the gunman beneath me where I would land. He must have been thrown through the window, breaking it. Fortunate for me. I lead with my right foot, slamming it into his sternum even as I bent my leg to absorb the impact. I more felt then heard the air rushing out of his lungs, alongside the shifting that the collapse of his ribcage brought.
I remained there, crouching over the likely corpse for a moment, before launching myself off him towards the currently in pieces entrance to the club. The usual bouncers were nowhere to be seen, either killed or cowards, but there was plenty of evidence of the earlier bomb. The ground was scorched in many places, and the windows closer to the door were shattered, the walls around them littered with holes and scars. Even as I approached, I saw a dozen more enemies surrounding it, turning towards me having heard the glass breaking.
Now having the time and no reservations about damaging the building, I quickly charged up a bigger blast and threw it forward towards the centre of the group. They were too close together, evidently gazing into the club through the broken doorway. The brief explosion of light and noise barely affected me, having grown used to my own, even as it left three of them splattered and even more of them dead, not all though.
Once more sprinting towards the downed gunman, my breath starting to come heavier from my exertion, I coated both fists in my barriers in preparation to fight the few standing up. There was at least 6 of them still in fighting condition, albeit stunned and winded, but only for so long. I reached them shortly and opened with a punch to the gut of the one closest to me. This knocked the wind out of him, as well as knocking him over, but I didn't have the time to waste on finishing him. Another of the men was swinging a punch at me from my left, I swivel around, ducking beneath the blow, before launching an uppercut that lifted him off the ground, before he came crashing back down. This one wasn't getting back up.
I turned back around to face the rest of the group, only for a fist to catch me across the cheek. It threw my head to the side, rattling my skull with pain blooming on that cheek, but I didn't fall. I was used to taking a punch, and I had just enough time to brace myself properly so that I kept my balance. Ignoring the pain, I quickly threw my right hand into his own face, knocking him back, before finding one more standing in front of me. I raised my left hand, still close to my chest, to block his punch. I raised my fist to face-level, absorbing the punch with my shielded forearm even as I ducked below my fist to make sure the momentum wouldn't slam my own fist into my face. I both saw and felt the knuckles and hand of the Batarian who punched my forearm crumble against the impenetrable barrier, the alien screaming and stumbling away from me.
I was about to go finish him off but I heard movement behind me, feet pounding against the ground as someone charged towards me. They were close, too close, I didn't have time to see where they were, but I could hear it. I knew exactly where they were, and where they would be. Tensing my core, I shifted my weight to my left leg even as I swivelled around, my right leg extended and gaining momentum. I raised the leg as I turned, anticipating the right height as I fully turned around at the last moment. My foot clashed against the extended arm of my opponent, the metal limb crashing into and through the arm. The man fell to my side, holding onto his mangled limb, but I wasn't feeling generous at this point. Too many had tried to attack me. I stepped towards him, and raised my right foot, slamming it down onto the widened eyes of the Salarian. I didn't hold back, and my foot broke through his head, crushing his soft head into the ground, his brains splattering around my foot.
I had to look closer at my foot, surprised at how easily it penetrated. My shoe was basically non-existent on the bottom, shredded up by the glass and ripped off from the impacts. All that was left of the sole was my foot, my solid metal foot. I could worry about that later, as the fight was still ongoing. I turned back around and walked amongst the fallen enemies, crashing my glowing fists down onto each of them until they stopped responding, with one extra punch just to be sure.
Having finished with the men outside the club, I turned my attention inwards and rushed inside. I took the time to hide, observing for any hidden dangers, but there were none. All I could see was two remaining gunmen firing furiously into the club, surrounded by the corpses of their comrades. I can see the other guards didn't waste my distraction, but the remaining two were settled it behind a strong barrier, only cautiously exposing as little as possible to fire back. Can't have that. I walked up behind them, taking care to slowly lower my right foot otherwise the sound of the metal on the hard floor would have given me away. I walked up behind them as close as I could, holding my breath for the last metre perhaps superfluously, and raised my hands to each side. I hadn't used my barrier so as to not reveal myself, but it didn't matter. I reached my hands around both sided of their heads, grasping them tightly and slammed my hands together, crashing the heads together with a satisfying crack. I crouched down, making sure they were both out for good, before standing.
I looked around the broken floor, observing the corpses of both my enemies and some of our customers. I waited for a moment, but no-one was coming to check on the sudden halt to the fight, so it seems I must let them know myself. Damn.
"Everyone's down!" I shouted over the still going music. Would it kill them to stop it? Anyhow, I got the attention I needed as I saw the Turian who ordered a distraction poke his head up, see me, and stand up. Seeing as everyone now knew, I walked over towards them.
"That wasn't what I meant when I asked for a distraction, but it worked well enough." He commented, gazing down at a data pad. What do I do now? I looked around, but the customers were long gone. I saw a few people I knew gathering the enemies and binding them up, so I should probably help them. I turned to do just that, the conversation seemingly over when I felt the hand on my shoulder. Tensing up, I looked back towards the Turian with a neutral look on my face.
"Aria wants to see you. Is there anything we should know?" he asked.
"There's about a dozen downed enemies outside the building. Most are dead. There's also one outside of the broken window further down." I reported even as I turned away to walk up towards Aria's alcove. My gait was unsteady, my right shoe basically disintegrating at this point leaving me with uneven height. And I was covered in blood. My fists and foot coated in it, with some dripping down the side of my face from the wound on my cheek and one or two grazes with bullets. I stopped just outside of the alcove, Aria's guards still there. She was sitting on her couch, seemingly unconcerned about the violence, but there was some tension in her frame that I only saw the first time I met her.
The Asari waved me forward before the guards could stop me, so I continued forward until I was before her and stopped, staring at the woman. She just stared at me for a minute, even as I met her gaze. The longer I remained there, the more annoying the shoe got though.
"That was quite a fight down there. You've had an eventful night." She commented, continuing to stare at me, looking over my body. She paused when she came to my feet, seeing the splattered blood on them and my ruined shoe. She turned back towards me and raised an 'eyebrow'.
I sighed, the shoe really starting to irritate me. To hell with it, they were bound to find out eventually if they didn't already know. I ripped the ruined shoe off my right foot, discarding the remains behind me. I took off the left for good measure, the height difference having bother me the most. Aria continued to stare at me, her brows raised at the sight of my foot.
"It's rather effective at stomping." I offer, finally answering the question. It took her a moment to drag her eyes back to mine, seemingly fascinated.
"We're coming back to your foot later, but for now I want to know what happened. You dealt with most of them yourself. Report." She commanded. Seeing nothing to hide, I did.
I spoke softly and concisely with sparse details, but I left nothing important out. Aria stared at me all the while and continued staring at me for a while after.
"Why did you not use a barrier?" she gestured towards the parts of herself that mirrored where I was bleeding.
"I don't know how to cover more than my forearms." She frowned at that.
"Could you not have created a less destructive distraction, you caused half the damage to the club." She scowled at me. I wasn't exactly given the time to.
"No."
Aria grit her teeth at my response, glaring at me until suddenly she stopped, her eyes narrowing in thought.
"Do you know how to use your biotics for more than explosions and your rudimentary barriers?"
"No." why bother hiding it, it was rather obvious. Aria's eyes narrowed even more.
"Why did the facility that experimented on you not teach you more than what they did?" This time I grit my teeth. I learnt everything on my own, through hard work and trial and brutal error.
"They taught me nothing!" I hissed, my fists clenched. This took Aria aback, here eyes widening.
"You figured out how to create explosions and shockwaves yourself?" she asked, double checking. I did, why is that so important? I nodded towards her. Aria said nothing in response, staring at me for a moment before opening her mouth again.
"How did you get that anyway?" she asked, curiosity in her tone.
"I lost it in a fight. I was given a new one. This one is more resistant to damage." Aria tsked at my lack of response, but let it go without a fight.
"You need a teacher for your biotics Fury. I can't have you destroy my club again." She stared at me until I nodded, I wasn't opposed to a teacher. Having received my affirmation, she dismissed me, and I returned to my room to clean off.
The next day, I was given a new pair of shoes, a bonus, and the name of my new teacher.