Ch4 Biotic To Biotic

Leiada couldn't believe her eyes as she watched the two over the last few weeks. Painful, the only way to describe it, was painful. T.C had tried almost every method to get the ice princess to warm to him. He tried flirting, joking, and being clumsy, acting helpless and being overprotective. Watching him stand over her, helping her learn the tricks he picked up in his time with C-Sec was somewhat adorable. His tall height overshadowed her. She barely came up to his neck.

Every move in his Turian book of how to get someone to talk to you had been tried, tested and rejected. The Human didn't react to anything; she was so shut off from him. She reacted to others better. But only just.
But at this point, he'd given up altogether and just stood next to her as if she wasn't there. The most the two of them had ever said to each other was: 'Hey, there is this thing that needs investigating at some place' and then the other would say: 'Alright, let's move out.' They would then come back and fill out their individual paperwork and go home.

'Enough.'

The Huntress thought, they needed to communicate better than that. While they were walking the rookie routes it was ok. There was nothing out there, but a usual drunk or two. Or a lost tourist, if you were lucky. But once she got moved down to the nitty-gritty Zakera Ward they would both need someone to watch there six and T.C should have known better.

It was late; most had gone home. Just the odd few 'death shift' workers were left. Or those that didn't fill out their paperwork as soon as they got it. Wandering among the lines of desks, she spotted just the Turian she was just looking for. As ever she was invisible and started to sneak up on him. He was hunched over his desk, his forehead pressed into his smooth hand. Titus was thumping it lightly again and again against his frontal plates. Poor thing was clearly wracking his brain.

She perched herself on the edge of his desk, seemingly unnoticed and before she could shout 'BOO!',
He groaned and called her out.

"I know you're there, Leiada." His voiced was strained and seemingly tired. He turned his head and looked up at her face, met her in the eyes, despite not being able to see her.

Hmm, he had gotten pretty good at spotting her. Despite being as blind as he was of course.

Uncloaked, she rested her hands behind her and pouted a little. "Just because you're having a few bad days doesn't mean you have to spoil everyone else's fun." Being invisible and scaring the wits out of everyone was fun for her, Pallin as her favourite target, but only because he got so flustered. It was a distraction from her troubles, she was barely 340 and already her bones were tired from living...

Snorting, he turned away from her and resumed tapping his head. "I'm not in the mood for your shit tonight, okay?"

He looked so helpless; it was kinda heartbreaking to see him. Over six feet in height, the usual smooth talking Turian to be completely floored by a woman. And a human woman at that.

A woman who was just scared and a little out of her depth. Leiada could tell just by looking at the girl, seeing so many new recruits had its advantage. Tori had such a burning ambition and drive, but didn't quite know where to put it.

"Ice princess troubles?" Leiada enquired. She knew it was, what else could it be? She had spent the last two weeks watching them from the sidelines, but Titus didn't have to know that. He needed to vent and she was just the Asari for the job.

"Hmm something like that..." Titus grumbled. "She is on the brink of exploding. Frustrated mainly. Pallin has her still patrolling the Presidium. She wants to get down and get her hands dirty. From what I've observed, she wants so badly to prove herself, but she wouldn't share what it is she wants proven."

He finished with a sigh and turned his gaze to his Asari companion. His eyes, a pleasant and calm violet shade, telling her he was thankful she was there. The light grey skin around his eyes, that should have been black, but were pale because of his genetic condition. Were now dark with circles. He almost looked normal, like every other Turian.

"Well, I would just say your uncle is being his usual human-loving self." She trailed off, hinting at what everyone knew. Pallin didn't like humans. "But there is more too it, isn't there?" It wasn't unusual for Pallin to be harder on the human recruits, most quit when they realised they wouldn't get very far. Only the dedicated stuck around. And were eventually rewarded for their perseverance. Strangely they were all male.

Titus remained silent for a moment, obviously milling over whether or not he should share his objective with her. He was so blatant when he was thinking things over. To her disappointment he decided against it. "I think he wants her to crack, blow up, get kicked off the force for misconduct. Seriously, Lei, she was a shred of willpower away from ripping this Earthling tourist limb from limb. For just harassing a keeper. I've never seen biotic power rip over a body like wildfire... I told her to go to the gym and burn off the excess energy."

"Ah" The huntress replied. While it was a noble gesture and the right advise. Leiada knew well the gym wasn't a challenge enough for biotics. She was certain the Human was not getting the burn-out she needed.
"Is she down there right now?"


Titus nodded, although it looked like he could barely move his head, using all his reserve energies to keep his body upward. Leiada wanted so badly to hug him, to cuddle him and tell him it would be all right. Instead, she petted him on the shoulder and hopped off his desk. "Come on T.C"

He frowned, mandibles bunched tight to his face, his multiple nasal bunched higher in protest. "Where are we going?" he scoffed, almost startled by the idea he would have to move.
Leiada grinned wide and nodded down the hall "To rescue a damsel in distress. Come on, you will want to watch this."

He followed a little reluctantly, although his steps were slow and heavy, as if he carried the fate of the Galaxy on his shoulders. The gym was almost quiet, apart from the exasperated gasps and grunts coming from the tiny woman in the corner - unleashing hell on an unfortunate bunching bag.
Titus suddenly stopped dead over the threshold. His gaze was, and he was determined not to continue any further. That was not a good sign, that not even Titus wanted to be close to the human woman presence... He was usually the most tolerant of Turians. This girl was heading to an early grave if she couldn't get him to watch her back. Criminals ate people like that for breakfast...

But Leiada did not push him, she knew better that to force it, although a little meddling from the resident Asari 'mother hen' wouldn't be unwarranted.
Leiada kept her distance as she watched Victoria land punches and kicks, but and she noticed the girl was doing something quite unusual. Occasionally, she would step away from the punching bag, lean down to rest her full body weight on one hand and, almost as if she was performing some sort of dance, make a twist with her body to land a kick on the bag.

Every time her feet were just about to connect with the bag, though, a biotic burst would shot from her feet, sweeping the bag away before it was touched. The human would then land back on her feet, ready to punch the bag with her fist, when it was coming at her.

That girl was applying biotics to human martial arts, therefore making it look almost like a traditional Asari technique... was that accidental? Were human biotics applying their skills to martial arts, because they were mimicking Asari or simply because they figured out it was the best use of their abilities?

She then, paused, take a deep breath; lowering her hands, palms facing outwards. She expelled that breath. Her right hand came across to her left; fingers extended; as she drew them across her arm and then chest, before making yet another fist to resume her assault.

Now that was definitely Asari martial arts... Where in the universe did she learn something like that? The long-lived matron knew they didn't teach that in Alliance boot camp. Victoria was quite graceful too, evidence that those moves had been practised for quite a time.

Victoria, was dressed in very little apart from a pair of tight-fitting leggings and a short sports bra. Her bronze-coloured skin shimmered with sweat, highlighting well-toned muscles beneath that velvet skin. Goddess, she was beautiful; but it wasn't the time to be distracted by pretty things that dangled in front of the Huntress. It was the time for action.

"Officer Shaw" Leiada called out firmly; Victoria paused for a moment to shoot her a look of acknowledgement. A few more kicks and punches were landed before the girl stopped, gripping the bag desperately to stop it from swinging on its antigravity bolt.
Her arms bent, as she pressed her forehead to the smooth fabric of the bag. She was trembling, T.C was right; the biotic energy in her was fit to burst. Telling mass effect field blue flicked along her arms.  Proved it.

The human took a deep breath to compose herself, her chest not rising and falling smoothly, but shuddering at each millimetre. She turned her attention to her disrupter; auroral eyes announcing that Leiada was definitely unwelcome. However, despite her displeasure, she was quite respectful to her superior, this time...

"Officer E'leust. How can I be of service?" Arms behind her back, as she stood at attention. 'Oh dear child', Leiada thought, 'you are not fit to be any use to me.' She raised her hand, the universal symbol of "at ease".
"Actually, Officer Shaw, I think I could be of more use to you... and please, call me Leiada"

The girl nodded curtly in appreciation of the gesture, but sadly, she didn't accept it. "I don't know what you mean, Officer E'leust."
Goddess! The child was so hard-headed, but Leiada pushed through the outright disregard for the wreath of friendship she has just offered. She grinned hard, showing more teeth than she planned, jaw clenched tight. 'She is just a frightened child, and so tense' Leiada had to remind herself.

"Well, I see you're carrying a little biotic tension" A little bit of an understatement. "That needs to be burnt off. I offer you my experience; feel like a little spar? Perhaps a little get-to-know-you chat at the same time, you know, biotic to biotic."

The human women rolled her neck and then her shoulders, before shaking out her arms, biotic flames included. She nodded in agreement "Sure, couldn't hurt."
There was an ounce of desperation in those auroral eyes, the human knew fully well she couldn't continue another day like this.

Smiling and bowing her head in acceptance, Leiada pushed down her hood and crossed the mat.  She stood opposite the trembling human in front of her.
"Rules?" Leiada offered generously. The Huntress saw a tiny sigh of appreciation expel from those shapely human lips.

"No tech, just outright biotics and contact to contact?" Victoria suggested before stretching out her legs and taking her position in front of Leiada.

Who was also crouching, legs stretched out one at a time, before stretching out her arms.
"Sounds good... So, ice princess, let's see what you've got." Leiada shot a glance in Titus' direction to see that down-founded, confused look that Turian's sometimes wore. It was hilarious the way their mandibles fluttered, noses tilted to the side, brow plates risen.

"Ice princess?" Victoria asked her, with a displeased hiss at the given nickname.
She came at Leiada like a bolt of lightning, fists glowing blue as she threw punches at the Asari. Little bits of blue flame flicked off the sweat that was dripping from her clenched hands. Leiada dodged them with ease, to the left then the right, catching the last one and pulling the girl forward, throwing her off balance a little and stepping to her side.

"Come on, ice princess, you can't be walking around like your shit doesn't stink, giving us all the cold shoulder- and not expect such a nickname in return!" She saw the girl dip down in that move Leiada had witnessed earlier, muscled leg alight with neon blue, looking for contact.

"But none of you know me!" Victoria protested, in more of whine than any other emotion.


Leiada jumped back a little, batting the foot, out the way and full circle. Victoria's leg round, watching the girl loose balance.  
Leiada felt the familiar tingle of someone else's biotics kiss her skin. She hopped back again, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet, laughing with anticipation. The ice princess looked less than pleased with the open mockery.

Leiada pointed her palms to the floor as she burst with biotic power, her blue eyes now stark white. Leiada; relied mostly on tech, but Asari had a natural affinity for biotics; despite her skills being incredibly rusty - they were strong, but only because of her age.

Victoria paused at that moment, eyes wide like a deer caught in headlights, waiting for what would happen next. "Well, whose fault is that, hmm?" Leiada teased a half-cocked smile on her face. Gracefully, Leiada turned her wrists, so her palms faced the ceiling and gestured towards her. A few medicine balls that were scared around jumped to life and floated towards the siren calling them. With a flick of Leiada's fingers, three shot in Victoria's direction.

The first Victoria rolled out the way of. The second slammed into her stomach, announcing its contact with a wet sounding slap.
Leiada winced; well that must have stung- Victoria was haunched over on all fours, her arm across where the blow had landed, gasping for breath, winded. The third and final ball hurtled towards her.

Victoria looked up still in pain, but her eyes held a little more determination. As the third ball came close to her, a biotic bubble appeared about her and stretched out. The ball ricocheted off and crashed into a stand of weights.

"You don't know my story" The hand cradling her stomach rested on the mat, with determination. "You don't know a thing about me!" Shaking, wary of the Huntress, no perhaps wary of herself, Victoria pushed her self upwards, forcing herself to stand.
"Who are you to judge me!" Victoria seethed as she got back into fighting stance, fist clenched so tightly her knuckles were turning pale; good she was starting to get worked up, her stoic mask cast aside. Leiada assumed what she had witnessed was months of pent up emotion and everything proved she was right. There was only one way for those feelings to go now and that was out.

Leiada flicked her fingers again and the heavy balls began an assault on the bubble, shuddering down into it repetitively, testing its strength.

"Well, you can't blame people for their assumptions with the way you carrying on at work, disregarding your mentor and partner? Disrespecting those more experienced that you? Respect isn't given on a plate, it's earned!" Leiada said again, calmer now, her frustrations with the girl coming out as the balls hit down harder. Victoria had to hold out too [both] arms just to keep her biotic shield going. She had stamina; credit had to be given – that stamina would prove useful in coming assignments.
"What's so wrong, with me coming here doing my job and going home? I came here to make a difference, not to make friends!" The girl cried back, her voice weakening; a little desperation tinged it.

Ok that did it! Leiada was again angry now; her arm shot out to the weight stand that had been knocked over. Outstretched fingers clenched into a fist, before she flung that same fist in Victoria's direction. The weights, the metal stand, everything, flung themselves towards the human. There was no way her shield could stand such an impact. "What! You want to be another Harkin!?" Leiada hissed as her collective barrage came closer to making its neck-breaking speed connection.

Victoria's arms crossed at her chest, eyes closed tight, as she gathered up all her feelings in that moment. The Huntress was almost certain that the human was not too pleased about being compared to C-Sec biggest walking disgrace. Before the weights had a change to smash into Victoria, it happened.

An explosion of all that bottled emotion and stored biotic energy; it was beautiful and somewhat terrifying. It burst around the room like a star gone supernova, pushing Leiada back and flinging her telekinetic weapons around the room. A few of the weights smashed into the plastered walls, imbedding there. But that's not what caught Leiada's attention; no, it was the screaming of the women she was fighting. "So just because I come here, work and don't want to play in happy families... Tha-that makes me another Harkin!" Her breath was ragged; everything she had was in the blast, good. The time to strike was now.

Leiada pushed her weight to her back foot, the starting position for a biotic's favourite move for getting in nice and close. The Asari Huntress had neglected her biotics over the years. But this was like biotic class 101 all over again.

Leiada whipped across the distance between them in a trailing blue flash, slamming into Victoria, who had nothing more to give, biotically or physically, to defend herself. But the human had unexpectedly made a grab for the Huntress and they went tumbling across the floor, fighting for dominance.

Leiada won, her knees pinning down Victoria's outstretched arms, her hands pressed into the soft mats on either side of Victoria's head. Both breathing heavily, staring each other down.

But the girl wasn't done; she wasn't going down without a fight. She raised her knee and kicked hard, partly in Leiada's back, partly in her waist. Without thinking, the Asari swung her hand up and around smacking the girl in her forehead with stunning blow, like she was telling off a child. It surprised her as much as it surprised Victoria; the human's face was dazed, working out what had just happened.

Leiada was just as confused; why she didn't [WO] just plant a fist in the human's pointed nose...? But Victoria must have gathered her thoughts before the huntress did. Her legs flipped up to grab Leiada by the throat and get her off. It was one last ditch attempt for a win, but Leiada had decided long before she got here, that this girl needed to learn a lesson, one that her life counted on. The Asari grabbed her legs and lifted, holding her pinned in a wrestling grapple.

"Listen carefully. It's more than just a job to some of us; duty, honour, all that crap." Leiada hissed as she felt Victoria tense every muscle, trying to find a weakness in the hold and get out of it. "No, princess, your not going anywhere!" A malicious smile, if they're ever was one, but her command didn't stop the girl from trying to thrash below her.  

"We are brothers and sisters in arms. Fighting the good fight. We eat, live and die together. And if you can't trust anyone to watch your six, how do you expect any of use to trust you to do the same?" Leiada finished, ending on a softer note. Victoria seemed to stop struggling now, finally stunned into submission. She turned her head to look at Titus, who was watching with an impressed look on his face. He had moved from his earlier position, avoiding the obstacles that had been scattered to the four winds.

She looked back to the Asari, tears filling her eyes. They were soft, the fear was gone - all that was left was guilt. She didn't cry however. Hoarsely, Victoria replied "I-I'm sorry..."
Leiada let go of her legs and rolled off, laying next to her on the mat. "It's not me you should be apologising too." She said nodding in Titus' direction.

The Asari sat up abruptly, realising how much her side hurt. She put her hand into the groove of her waist, wincing. "You got me good, kid." Playfulness returned to her voice, the lesson over. Standing up, shaking the pain off. She would deal with that injury later. Victoria seemed to be imbedded into the mat; her arms still spread out like a cross hair, trying to catch her breath.

A strange expression was painted on her face, like she wanted the ground to open up and swallow her whole.

"It's been a while that I've been worked that hard" Leiada continued with a wink, it brought a genuine smile to the girl's face. "I'm guessing from how worn out you are, it's been a while for you too." The huntress teased, which just made a little colour kiss Victoria's cheeks and the tip of her nose. The Asari stretched out her hand to the girl offering to help her up, but it was also a token of friendship.

"Come on, Officer Shaw, let's go get shit faced drunk. I think we've earned it. Also it's the best painkiller; the problem is, you have to keep drunk till you heal."

The girl nodded and laughed, before grabbing her stomach and wincing. Victoria took the hand offered to her. She rose to her feet like a newborn animal, shaky and unsure. This was new territory for her, clearly.

"Please, Leiada, call me Tori. Do you think we could get something to eat? I'm so hungry I could eat a Yahg"
This made the Asari laugh hard, but she hissed, stopping as the pain ripped through her, gripping her side with her free hand. "I know the Citadel is good at having all kinds of foods, but I'm sure that's not on the menu." Who knew it, the Ice Princess had a sense of humour, most likely a personality under the 'perfect solider' mask she wore also. Masks have a habit of falling off when those that wore them were drunk.

The girl pouted and flicked her head, the bun that held her long tresses coming loose; she looked a hot mess. "Damn, I sure had a craving."

The Asari Huntress let go of her hand and pointed to the showers, "Well with how you smell, you might be mistaken for one. Go get cleaned up" As commanded the girl limped off, her hand nursing the red circle on her stomach. But before she slipped away, she stopped to stare at Titus. She looked unsure and a little afraid of the tall creature before her. Titus did have an intimidating appearance about him.

Leiada couldn't hear what was said, but she had gotten pretty good at reading lips over the years.

"I'm sorry, I've made a horrible impression," Tori's lips said, her head hanging down a little, eyes cast to the floor remorsefully.

Titus just shook his head "No harm done, Victoria; let's just start again. Titus Cato, at your service." his hand jut out towards her. Without any hesitation, she beamed up at him, eyes taking a new light, no longer clouded by her thoughts, and shook it firmly, five fingers in his three. They fumbled a little bit, as they worked out how they would fit together. It was cute.

"Officer Victoria Shaw, but you may call me Tori"
"Alright, Tori it is" his voice seemed to vibrate all over her name, which made that little blood-rushed colour hit her face again. Victoria scampered off to the showers. Titus' gaze lingered after her before he turned it back to his friend, the tiredness washed away from his face. His eyes closed and he bowed his head slowly in utter respect for the Asari before him. "Thank you" he mouthed before turning to exit.

"Hey T.C! Where, in the Goddess' name, do you think your going! You're paying!" Leiada teased, shouting after him. Titus turned to face her, his expression puzzled.
"But we have work tomorrow?" he called back.

"Phft! Screw that shit; tell Pallin it was my order and if has a problem, he can take it up with me... it's been a while since I've told him to fuck off" and with that Titus laughed, shaking his head.
"Well I'm never one to reject an order. I'll meet you both outside then," Titus said, turning on those pointed Turian feet and left.

Everything was gonna be all right now between them. The meddling mother hen has taken care of her clutch, again. Even if it did come at a cost. How, in the Galaxy, did she get in to this role…?