Chapter 22

I had almost forgotten what it was like being a bouncer, largely boring was the answer. There was a lot of standing round in a crowed room filled with pounding music, keeping watch of the floor. I didn't remember it being so boring, but nothing seemed to ever happen. I've gone entire nights without having to break up fights, and even when I did most of the time a warning was enough to stop one. Needless to say, breaking up fights without subduing them myself was a major killjoy. Even when I did have to subdue someone physically, it ended too quickly. I would throw one punch and knock out whoever it was almost without fail. Each pathetic fight only reminded me of what I should be doing, not what I was.

Gazing around the room once more, a beep on my Omni-tool caught my attention. It was the signal a dancer needed help, which one? I glanced at the device, Lira. I rushed over to her area, finding her customer getting closer than he was meant to, Lira backing up as far as she could before the much larger Krogan who had a lecherous grin on his face. A Krogan, is he …? Glancing down at his armour, I found the symbol I was looking for. Yep, Blood Pack. Lira wouldn't be able to deal with him, many of the other bouncer's either, but they should try. I could see one watching what was happening and doing nothing. Coward, I'll deal with him later. Lira looked terrified of the Krogan, tears in the corners of her eyes as she stared up at him. This won't stand. Closing in on the Krogan, I slammed my hand down on his shoulder.

"You know the rules, leave her alone and get out!" I growled at him. This caught both of their attention, and I had the time to glance at Lira while he turned around. She looked relieved at the sight of me, and I gave her a small smile to try and calm her. Nothing would happen to her while I was here, I'll make sure of it.

"And who's going to make me, Pyjak?" he sneered.

Alright, so I guess we're doing this. Good.

I raised my fists and let some of my biotic energy surround me using just focus. I surrounded my arms in it and used it to enhance them as I struck my first blow against the Krogan, hitting him solidly in the cheek. This knocked his head back and sent him stumbling back a step, but that was all. He quickly regained his balance with a growl and raised his own fists, charging at me. My new ability to channel energy like that was handy, it allowed me to instantaneously enhance myself, unfortunately it wasn't perfect and I couldn't enhance my strength to the same degree. Then again, I didn't need to.

The Krogan showed no real technique, using just raw strength and his anger to punch out at me viscously. If any of those hit me they would hurt me greatly, the bouncers were only allowed some basic armour that could be worn over clothes and I didn't have the time to put up a shield. It was similar to a bullet proof vest the humans used as well as some other arm and shin guards and some reinforced gloves. Seeing as they weren't military tech, there was no shield and the parts of me unprotected by the armour were defenceless. That is, if he could hit me. One advantage this armour had was it was light, I could barely even tell I was wearing it as I danced around his attacks, throwing body blows into his ribs one after the other. Each hit shook the alien's massive body, the strength of my blows not to be underestimated even like this. He wasn't a biotic himself, which meant he only had his natural Krogan abilities to defend himself with. That basically meant he was a walking tank.

Dodging another grab for me, I gave the Krogan a truly massive uppercut, knocking him back and into the wall. My hands throbbed from hitting his hardened skin so many times, and my breath came heavily from the exertion, but there was a wide grin stretching across my face. I was having a great time. I wasn't using a whole lot of the Jia'nor techniques I knew, not needing them for this, but he was proving a great outlet for my frustration. I think the fight was just about done though, the Krogan looked a little shaky and all reason seemed to have left him as he charged at me with a roar, his face bloody and his eyes squinting. Taking a stance, I waited until the last moment to move into his arms, grabbing one and pulling on it. At the same time, I had pushed my left foot in front of his and bent my body around him, kicking him over the head with my right foot as I finished the sharp rotation I was doing, pulling his arm with him. This flipped him over, visibly gaining some height until he crashed straight onto his head, skidding along the floor before he rolled over onto his back.

I waited for a moment to see if he would get up, but no. He was out cold. I took the moment to regain my breath before turning back to Lira, finding her staring at me in awe.

"You alright?" She nodded, eyes still wide before what happened finally registered. She rushed towards me and wrapped her arms around me, squeezing tightly, her body trembling faintly.

"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I … I didn't know what he would have done with me. Trant was just watching it happen and he was getting closer and …" Lira rambled, burying her head into my shoulder as she shuddered. I let her remain there for a minute before stepping back and put my arms on her shoulders.

"Go take a break Lira, I'll deal with this." I stared into her eyes and she nodded, too shocked to argue. I walked her over to the staff door and handed her off to one of the other dancers before returning to the Krogan still passed out on the floor. I shot off a message to Vassen and waited over the Krogan, making sure he wouldn't wake up and leave.

Lira was the newest dancer here, and she was young. She may be older than me, but she was so much more … innocent. She had only just entered the Asari version of adulthood and had wanted to experience the galaxy as much of her kind did. Unfortunately, she ended up on Omega for reasons unknown to me. Bari had asked me to watch out for her when I could, and I'm just glad I was working tonight. Krogan very rarely came here, as they didn't like being told no, but some still did and tried there luck. Krogans were always the worst to deal with, the toughest. Many of the other bouncers would struggle, but at least they would try! Blood Pack wasn't even meant to be allowed into the club anymore, they were always bad news.

"Jack. You called?" Vassen spoke up from behind me, but I kept my eyes on the Krogan.

"Yeah, we have an issue. He's Blood Pack." I kicked the Krogan in the side.

"Shit. This is going to be so much work," he groaned. "Weren't you on the other side of the club?" I grimaced at the reminder.

"I was but was notified by an App Treena made. Did she tell you about it?" he nodded. "Lira pressed the alert button, needing help. And the piece of shit bouncer over here was just watching it happen. Wasn't even getting help, Coward." I spat. Vassen's face immediately grew still, and he started frowning. He turned on his Omni-tool and opened a document.

"Do you know who?"

"Lira said he was Trant. I can't confirm as I haven't seen him before." Vassend made a note then turned off his device.

"Alright, thanks Jack. I'll look into it. Go back to your post." I nodded, leaving Vassen to deal with things.

While being a bouncer grated on me in so many ways, I was glad I was able to protect the dancers. It was the one part of this job I liked. While I was closest to my group of four, the other dancers were a friendly group and I liked them. None of them deserved the treatment they sometimes got.

I had never really been able to interact with them before, as for the most part any times I would encounter them was as Fury. It didn't matter how I treated them as Fury, as while they were grateful, they were scared of me. They, better than nearly anyone, knew what it meant to be capable of a barrier like I was, knew how dangerous my biotics could be. That didn't take into account the other rumours surrounding me, or the slaughterhouse many of the employees likely saw in the hallway. I didn't have any of those same rumours surrounding me as Jack though.

I didn't really know how to react when I first noticed. I hadn't considered what it would be like just being Jack again, people were more willing to talk to me, didn't just clam up at the sight of me. It was strange, but I did enjoy it. I didn't interact much differently, often only giving out polite nods, but walking around without that air of terror was freeing. I already had that with those close to me, but it was different when no-one was afraid of me. I wasn't particularly intimidating without my armour, being rather short and petite. I could do without the increased amount of attention some guys gave.

The thing that weirded me out most though, was Treena. I had seen her mostly as Fury, so she was always terrified in my presence, struggling just to speak. It was different as Jack, as while Treena was distant, she wasn't scared. She treated me professionally, and without any undue caution. The stark shift in personality made me chuckle a few times, Vassen too, much to Treena's confusion. I quite liked the girl, she was fun to chat to and had a pleasant manner. She was certainly handy when I needed help with technology, such as today. Come to think of it, I should probably tell her the app was a success.

"Hello Treena." The girl looked up from her Omni-tool, her glowing eyes blinking beneath the mask.

"Oh, hello Jack. How are you?"

"I'm just fine, I came here to thank you, actually."

"What for?" Treena asked tilting her head to the side, confusion apparent.

"The app you made, it was used for the first time today."

"The app …? Oh! The alert button from a month ago. You're welcome Jack. How was it used, if you don't mind me asking?" Her eyes were lidded in the way I knew happened when she smiled. Did she not remember why? I swear I told her at the time while she was typing something into her Omni-tool.

"A dancer needed help from a Krogan Blood Pack member that got handsy. She wouldn't have been able to handle him herself and the bouncer near her was just watching it happen until I got there to help. Who knows what would have happened to her if not for your app."

"Wait, you gave the app to the dancers in the club? As a … a panic button?" I nodded. Treena blinked a few times, thinking about something before her head snapped up to stare at me.

"Wait, why were you the one to deal with the Krogan, and for that matter, how?"

What does she mean, she knows I'm a bouncer as well, right? Then again, she clearly doesn't remember some things I've told her … come to think of it, did I ever tell her what I actually did? I haven't spoken to her that much.

"I am one of the bouncer's you know?"

"I thought you served drinks!" Treena exclaimed. Well, that answers that question then. "How do you even … you're the same size as me!"

I couldn't resist laughing at how flabbergasted she was, looking between my body and hers, comparing us. It was always so easy to read what she was feeling from her body movements and eyes, even with the full bodysuit she wore, she was just that expressive. I rather liked that about her in truth, it was refreshing to find someone so honest. It was rather rare here on Omega.

"I have a lot of experience fighting, and well …" I trailed off as I raised one hand, letting biotic energy suffuse it, making it glow softly.

"Oh."

"Yeah." I stopped channelling energy to my hand and placed it back down. "Anyway, I just wanted to thank you again for the app. It was really helpful, as it helped us see the bouncer was incompetent. I'm not sure why we didn't have a system in place already. It only took you like, an hour." I was still confused about that. When I had first shown Vassen the app, to say he was surprised was an understatement. Apparently, he's had a Salarian working on it for years, on and off, yet nothing was ever finished. Something about incompatible systems or something …? I tuned him out almost as soon as he started speaking about the reasons.

"Oh, I know the reason." Treena griped, her fists clenching. What does she mean by that? Is this meant be common knowledge or something? "I've been working for Aria for a few years, and I think I know who you're talking about. He refuses to even talk to me, let alone ask for help. No one else with any pull has asked for help either." The bitterness her voice contained was startling, I had never heard Treena speak like that before. At worst, her voice was cool, distant. Once I interacted with her a bit more, I found her friendly, cheerful.

"Why would they treat you like that?"

"You already know why."

"I'm actually asking you, as I really don't." I commented, annoyed at how short with me she was being. At my comment, Treena stilled and looked at me for a long moment, searchingly.

"Do you really not know?" I shook my head. "How do you …? No, I can tell you. It's not like it would be hard to find out," Treena rambled then at the end muttered "how you don't already know is the bigger question."

"Alright, how much do you know about Quarians?"

"Not a whole lot." I was kind of annoyed at that. Back when I did that first research binge of mine, I hadn't been too focused on any topics, looking for more general information. I knew Quarian's were a ship-faring species without a planet, and that they were the creators of the Geth. There was some other information about there biology, the reason they were in the suits as well. Weak immune systems, weak enough that they can't really leave the suits. I couldn't help the pity I felt for them at that, I know I would hate it. I tried looking into them again after I had started talking to Treena, curious as I didn't know a whole lot about Quarians, not like I knew of the other races. I hadn't been able to learn much more either, having found nothing much of substance on the extranet. There was plenty of vids and other media involving them, 'fleet and flotilla' bored me if I'm being honest, but any real information I had looked for just wasn't there. It made me suspicious, to say the least, but I hadn't wanted to ask Treena straight up about it. I bay be somewhat socially insensitive, but I figured the lack of information likely wasn't for a good reason.

"As a brief crash course, do you at least know that the Quarian live on ships?" I nodded. "Well at least that's something. Do you know why?" That one, I didn't know, so I shook my head. "Because we were exiled from our own planet by the Geth." Treena snarled the name, hatred in her voice. I knew that name though.

"The ones from the citadel?"

"Yes. They are sentient AI, machine life, the Quarian created them on our home world Rannoch 300 years ago."

"The Quarians created intelligent life? That's very impressive. I've never heard of that being done before." Treena let out a choked laugh at my words.

"It was our greatest mistake, one we are still paying for. Creating AI is illegal in the Galaxy, for good reason. The Geth repaid what we did for them by driving us off the planet. We lost our world to them and have since been restrained to the migrant fleet."

"That is tragic, but it still doesn't explain the original question."

"It does, actually. The galaxy at large didn't like that we broke the AI law, and they decided to punish us for it. We aren't allowed to settle another planet, any time we do the council shows up and starts attacking us. This leaves us confined to our ships, and we weren't designed for that, a race can't thrive without a planet, we can barely even survive. Some of our race have done less than illegal things to survive, and helped reinforce the bad image the Quarian's have. The council dragged our name through the mud because of the Geth, and our reputation still suffers to this day. 'Suit rat' is a popular name for us." Treena finished her rant, breathing heavily and full of frustration.

I had to take a minute just to process what she said. The Quarian's aren't allowed to settle anywhere? Why would they be punished so much for creating the Geth, when they are the ones who suffered for it? I know the Geth have started causing issues recently, what with the whole citadel attack, but this sanction against the Quarian's has been going on much longer than that. I likely don't understand the situation fully, lacking a fair bit of context, but from what it sounds like the Quarian's don't deserve this. It sounds so unfair, and I think I started hating the council, just a little bit, that they are responsible for it.

"I'm sorry Treena, I didn't know. For what it's worth, I think they're in the wrong." I placed my hand on her shoulder, knowing this topic would have been difficult for her. She shrugged though.

"It's fine Jack, you didn't know. If only everyone else thought as you did." She said wryly. "Is that all you needed?" Treena smiled at me I think, but it was definitely forced.

"Would you mind if I came to you again if I had questions again? About technology in general, or other things."

"Of course."

"Hey Jack, how's it going?" Peros waved from her seat.

"Pretty good actually, I managed to actually get a decent fight today." I grinned, pleased at the fact. Peros snorted though.

"If you call that a fight, I would personally call it a beat down."

"Is there a difference?" I widened my eyes in faux innocence.

"Not with a brute like you there isn't." Bari piped up from the other side of the room. We were in the sort of kitchen the group all had access to, the one attached to the workout room. I had always suspected they lived on the other side of the door I had never been in before, and I was right. The kitchen they all shared was nice, nicer than my own, the room about the same otherwise. I had been invited in after I finished healing my burns. I appreciated the trust this showed, as they had separate rooms purely for their safety.

"When you're this good, what can I say." I shrugged. That received a round of groans, a pillow thrown at my head and some more ribbing amongst us all. It was all light-hearted in nature, coming from the amount of time we'd spent together though. Admittedly, some were more involved with this then others, I'm looking at you Bari.

"As a side note, I just wanted to briefly talk about what happened today," Bari interrupted the light atmosphere, her voice serious. "I talked to Lira earlier, about what happened. She's grateful for your help Jack, as am I. This sort of thing was what she was afraid of in the first place, and she's grateful for your help. I think she might want to talk to you sometime later about that."

"Ah, I was happy to do it. I don't really need any thanks, just getting the fight was thanks enough." I waved my hands, a bit hesitant to accept her thanks when it was something I was happy to do. It benefited both me and the dancers in question anyway. Bari looked at me a little weirdly but accepted my response.

"She'll still want to talk to you anyway."

I sighed at that, not particularly wanting to talk with her. I liked the girl, but she was a little too … friendly for my liking. Too touchy as well, that was the part I mainly had issue with, even now I wasn't really comfortable with physical contact with those I didn't know. Lira fit that bill, and she was just so affectionate, so I didn't really know how to deal with it. She hugged me the first time she met me, and the only reason I didn't push her away was the sheer surprise at the act. That was when I first met her, I shudder to think what she would do now.

"Moving on from that. What are we doing today? Practicing or …?"

"Why it just so happens that Peros was able to borrow some proper armour for us, so I was hoping we could finally have that spar you've been promising us." What? How the hell did she … I gave that condition partially cause I knew how difficult it would be to fulfill. I turned to the smug looking Peros, finding her smirking at me with the other three grinning.

"How the hell did you manage that?"

"Favours. A lot of favours." Peros' winced. Military grade armour was not cheap, so I can imagine why. I only just found out how expensive it was, seeing as I have to replace it myself. If I've never explained what I mean by military grade armour, it's armour that has a tech shield on it. The shield's main purpose is to deal with gunfire, but it should help protect them from getting too injured in what amounts to a fistfight. Although, the actual material of the amour will probably do a better job than the shields will. The omni-gel facilities they hold will be of help as well. At a close range, the shields were alright at dealing with blunt blows, but couldn't really handle sharp ones, its why my Omni-blades were do deadly.

I didn't have too great a sense for money even still, but even to me the price Vassen quoted me seemed large. I could pay for it easily enough having amassed a large amount of savings, but as far as I could tell I was just about the best paid employee Aria had, or I had been. Enforcers in general are paid well, and the more dangerous missions are paid even better. With the amount of work I've had for years now, paying for the armour was no issue for me. It would be for the girls though, seeing as they were just dancers. That was ignoring the potential added costs because of how this sort of tech was controlled, not just anyone could get their hands on it. I was happy I could avoid that part entirely thanks to Vassen.

If they've gone to all that effort, just for this, then I shouldn't refuse them.

"Fine, go get armoured up, I'll wait." I sighed, leaning back into my chair as the others all rushed off to change, cheering.

I've been spending more time with the girls in these last few months in general, and not all of it was for training purposes. Not most of it, if I'm being honest. I was never able to interact much outside of practice before, not having the time, but that had since changed. Seeing this free time, Bari had wasted no time in dragging me into their shenanigans. We'd gone drinking more then a few times, and they'd dragged me out for 'girl's nights' more times than I'd care to admit. Not that a lot of what they did made a whole lot of sense, but I sort of just went along with things and let what happen, happen. I could only spend so long training on my own or with them, so I didn't see the harm. The main issue was that I didn't have anywhere to train, that wouldn't be missed that is. Much of what I had been working on before my fight with Aria was extremely destructive, my annihilation for the most part. I still practiced the basic techniques I had, but I had long since run into a wall with most of those, improvement being sparse. Come to think of it, we probably shouldn't have our fight here. I raised my arm and opened my Omni-tool, calling Vassen. He picked up after only a moment, to my surprise.

"Jack," he nodded, "was there something you needed?"

"A place to spar actually."

"Really? I thought you used Aria's dockyard."

"Not at the moment, no." I grimaced.

"There's nowhere else that could handle your level of practice, I'm sad to say."

"It's not for me." I shook my head. "I have a few friends that want to test themselves against me, which I only agreed to providing they wore armour. Problem is that the area we normally use wouldn't really be up to that."

"… and are these friends of yours considered, strong? Let's say."

"Not really, no. Just some Asari maidens." Vassen hummed, looking away at something for the moment.

"I have a place that will work then, it's currently free if you would like to use it."

"Thank you, Vassen." I nodded.

"Just don't wreck this one, please?" He must be thinking of the last time I used one of the training areas.

"That wasn't my fault." I protested.

"I'm sure, goodbye Jack."

With that, Vassen hung up. Looking up, I found no-one there, to my surprise. They'd had more than long enough. Just then, the door to Bari's room opened and her head poked out.

"I don't suppose we could get some help?" she requested sheepishly, so I stood up and began moving towards her room, moving past her to find the others in various states of dress.

"Didn't you have instructions?" Peros' head shot up.

"Should we have?" My look seemed to say enough. "Then how do we do this exactly."

I held up a finger to her, looking over the armour they were partially wearing. It looked serviceable enough, a bit weak compared to my own, but good enough. It did look tight though, very tight. I had them first change into the clothes we normally worked out it. Even then, it was still very snug and I think this armour might meant to go over underwear, or less. Not telling them that though, they don't need the encouragement. It took about 15 minutes to get them all suited up, but soon enough it was over.

"Aren't you going to wear armour?" Rialle asked me as we left their private rooms and began heading for the area Vassen had sent me the location of.

"Nah, this is partially to help even the playing field a bit. I'll be using a barrier anyway, as will you all. And when I say I have mastered the technique, I'm not kidding, so I wouldn't be too worried about me."

And with that ominous statement, we kept moving until we got there. It was another abandoned factory, Omega had a lot of those now that I think about it, with a wide-open floor free of any debris. There were signs of battle damage, fortunately. Vassen shouldn't complain if it gets a little more damaged.

"Alright, just before we begin you three are going to be putting up the best barrier you can hold for 10 minutes or so. Can you all do that?" I'm guessing how long the fight will last.

Rialle shuffled a bit in front of me, and I turned my attention to her.

"I, ah … can't actually hold one for 10 minutes. Sorry!" she squeaked. Really? What about the others? I turned to face Rimel and Bari, an eyebrow raised.

"I can't hold for much longer than 10 minutes myself, and that would be a weak barrier." Bari commented, shrugging.

"Same." Peros said.

"I can manage about 14 minutes." Rimel answered, pleased with herself. I really don't know what's considered normal, do I.

"How long do your barrier's normally last? Or your strongest one"

"Strongest one?" Rialle asked, confused. Bari saw how we were both confused and chose to interject.

"Most biotics only really use the same strength for their barrier every time, Jack. And before you ask, the standard length is 5 minutes."

"Then 5 minutes it is. I'll set an alarm to go off after it's elapsed. The reason I'm asking is that your barrier breaking will be considered your defeat. Now, are we all ready to begin?" I received a round of nods and eager grins. All of them, even Bari had been curious about this fight for a long time now.

"Form your barriers, then we'll begin." I commanded.

They all began their techniques, and Rimel was done first by a mile. It took her only 2 seconds to do so, which was quite impressive. That's as fast as Asari huntresses are required, and I'm kind of wondering about her past now. She doesn't speak much about it, but neither do I so I don't begrudge it.

The others all took between 5 and 10 seconds, Rialle finishing last, painfully slow. Seeing they were all prepared, I pressed the start of the timer.

"Begin!"

I then slammed my fists together, channelling my biotic energy and my barrier forming almost instantaneously. I don't know how long it takes, but it was basically as fast as I could get it. I didn't form my strongest barrier though, this was my normal strength barrier. It was the one I used when I didn't want to worry about my barrier failing due to time, as I could hold this barrier for more than 20 minutes the last time I tested it. That was years ago, and I had been increasing the strength I could put into my quick barrier as time went on. As of right now, I could form a barrier with about a third of my full-strength barrier, what I considered it to be anyway. I'm not really counting the ones that I lose control of after a few seconds, as they are largely unusable in combat, only really meant for emergencies. It's one of the only things I can reliably work on, as it doesn't require a target so I can even do it in my room. I'd been making good progress on it these last few months, for lack of anything better to work on.

The barrier formed around me in a flash of blue light that radiated briefly, illuminating the entire room and the four ladies looking stunned.

"So … are we going to do this?"

That knocked them out of the surprise and in short order, Rimel and Rialle were charging toward me ahead of the other two. Rialle angled to the side as she sped ahead of Rimel, who was coming straight at me. I raised my arms and settled into a stance, tilting my head to the side to at least keep Rialle in the corner of my eye.

Rimel lead with a palm strike, planting her feet before me to help grant it further strength. I raised my forearm in the way, letting her land the strike as I channelled energy into the limb. It was one of Rimel's strongest strikes, but to her surprise my arm didn't budge. I used that surprise to shift to the side, pushing up with my legs that I had enhanced as well. This let me jump over Rimel and use her as a shield against Rialle who had been approaching from behind me. I let the two be, tangled up where they were, as there was still Peros and Bari coming from the front.

Darting my eyes around, I found nothing of interest in the environment, nothing that could trip me up, so I could now ignore my footing, confident it wouldn't be unsteady. That's all the chance I had, as Peros and Bari were coming at me in step, Peros with another palm strike and Bari with her arm stretched out. They were both glowing more than before, so they must have used their own enhancements with the time Rialle and Rimel gave them. I didn't need the same amount of time as them to do so, being able to channel it when I needed without thought. I would like to say I dodged both of them, but I wasn't good enough for that. Luckily, I didn't need to be when I was using biotic enhancement. I ignored Bari entirely, instead planting my feet and striking Peros palm with my own, our hands clapping together viscously as I channelled more energy into that hand, pushing past her own enhancement.

Peros pulled her hand back with a cry while Bari tried to pull me off balance, unsuccessful. I decided to return the favour, grabbing her outstretched arm with my other one and flooding it with as much energy as I dared use against my friends. I twisted myself around, pulling Bari over my shoulder and launching her towards the once again charging Rialle. I couldn't help but wince at the pop I felt in Bari's arm though, I think that move dislocated her shoulder.

Rialle was caught by surprise by the person shaped projectile that was Bari, knocking both of them onto the ground, and for the moment I had no one attacking me, the two currently standing around both watching me warily. Well, if they aren't going to attack me …

"Just know, you asked for this." My voice almost reverberated in the wide-open space we were in, an otherwise silent building.

My message given, I coiled my legs and charged up biotic energy into them, as much as they could. I used this energy in an explosive burst, mainly channeled through my bionic foot that could handle the strain, cracking the ground while at the same time launching myself forward at a ridiculous speed towards Rimel. I kept low as I moved forward, having leaned forward so that I didn't jump into the ceiling, and proceeded to plant my outstretched fist into Rimel's gut before she even had the time to react. My speed was too great for her to, and instead she folded herself over my arm before skidding across the ground for a few metre, the distinctive sound of a barrier failing filling the sudden silence.

"That's one." I said, turning to face Peros.

"Ah shit." She cursed, even as I ran towards her. Peros put up her guard, watching me intently. I let the energy around my left arm flare as I pulled it up. Seeing the glow, Peros made every effort to avoid it. This let me use my other hand and one leg to flip her over and throw her onto the unyielding ground with great force. Her barrier shattered as well.

"That makes two …"

I turned to face the remaining pair, both holding themselves warily, Bari cradling her injure shoulder. Instead of charging towards the two like they expected, I raised myself out of my stance and began walking towards them at a leisurely pace. I could see Rialle's barrier already flickering before I began my walk, she must have taken too many blows to hold it much longer. Her face scrunched up with the concentration needed to maintain it, but soon enough her barrier too shattered.

I paused long enough to wave my hand at her in a shooing motion, and while she slumped she did willingly walk over to the side the other two were waiting at.

"And then there was one." Bari grimaced at the statement, looked over to the side consideringly before signing, dropped her stance and let her barrier fail, now fully cradling her arm.

"I know when I'm beat." She shrugged, and I nodded, turning back to find the others walking over to us. Nothing was said for the moment, and I watched the sheer disbelief on their faces, amongst the other emotions.

"What the actual fuck Jack," Rimel piped up, cradling her stomach. "That fucking hurt." I'd never seen her lose her cool like that.

"Why do you think I requested you use armour?" I chuckled. "You asked me to use my enhancement as much as I could, that leap was me doing so."

"You mean you held back when you struck my palm?!" Peros squawked, massaging the hand in question.

"I did, or I would have broken it." Shattered, probably.

"I didn't even get to do anything." Rialle sulked, then she switched gears and chirped at me. "That was awesome though! I didn't know you were so strong!"

"What part of pull a spaceship do you not understand?" Peros muttered.

"So, do you see why I am perhaps reluctant to spar like this?"

"Yeah," Rimel sighed, obviously disheartened at how crushingly they lost. I couldn't really help with that, so I'll just ignore it. There really wasn't anything I think they could have done, none of them really have combat experience. Rimel is better than the others, hence why I used my fastest attack, but Liara was already miles better than her let alone Aria. The difference is strength was too great to cross, and even more than that the others don't train like me. I enjoy the process and as much as it frustrates me, I find it relaxing in a weird way. I know that's something only I feel among us five, so I don't blame them. Doesn't change the fact they can't really beat me when our biotics aren't so restrained.

"I think I speak for all of us when I say we're good." Peros moaned, rubbing at her side, the others emphatically nodding. I nodded, walking over to Bari and gesturing at her arm, she held it out to me and using a quick burst of enhancement I popped it back in. Bari only grunted at the pain but nodded her thanks. Dislocated joints was about the only thing I really knew how to deal with, I had received too many myself from Aria not to.

"That's fine, we can go back to when we're mostly on even ground, but that said I do have a small bit of advice for you all."

The others all suddenly looked more alert.

"And what's that Jack?"

"You all need to improve your barrier. Rimel, yours is actually pretty good, but you could always improve its strength. The rest of you though? You need work." I said bluntly, both Peros and Bari took it in stride, but Rialle flinched at looked down at my chiding. I couldn't leave her like that, so I reached out with my hand and lifted her chin up. "It's fine Rialle, I don't blame you, but you need to realise that in a battle, 10 seconds is too long. A barrier can be the difference between life and death, so try to improve the speed at which you form it. Omega's a dangerous place, and I don't want to see any of you hurt." I made sure to look at everyone as I spoke, making sure they could see how serious I was.

"You know, aside from what you just did to us."

"Please," I waved a harmed at her, "those we're barely love taps."

"I will have bruises Woman!" Peros shouted. Good, she could use a few, particularly on her ego.

I know I made light of it, for the most part, but how easily they lost worried me. Maybe I had grown a bit disillusioned, but many of the fights I've had on Omega would be too much for them to handle, even together. I didn't want that to happen, I cared about them too much. It wasn't just their barrier, their reaction were slow, their decisions off, their teamwork atrocious. Their planning was the worst bit, they had wanted this fight for almost a year, but they didn't even work out something?

I should maybe .. help them with that.