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[Redbelle]

Anika ran.

 

Her heart was pounding in her ears as she did. All those..... well, she hesitated to call them people. All those slimy, scaly, three fingered for the most part bulbous eyed..... Aliens!

 

A detached, rational part of her brain, was screaming at her that she was overreacting. That they meant no harm? That she was at a place where she would be safe but....

 

But they'd just.... refused.... to leave. Her. Alone! They pressed in. All sides and she'd found her breathing sharpening as a hand seemed to grip her guts and twisted them. Panic had begun to creep in and it had seized her and the primitive part of her brain was now fully in the driver's seat as fight or flight had taken over.

 

The rational, backseat part of her brain paused to consider what a genetically augmented soldier trained to fight a conflict against aliens that never came could have done to the group..... and then agreed whole heartedly with the crazed departure approach when Anika's eye's zeroed in on someone ahead.

 

It was a Turian by the looks of it. And seeing her he dropped to one knee and spread out his arms wide as Anika's blood fueled ears picked out the faint notes of what might have been a song?

 

The rational gripped the primitive and shook it violently as the primitive saw a threat and as Anika approached at full speed, she leapt......

 

The Turian was hitting a crescendo when his eye's widened and a moment later, the bottom of Anika's foot planted itself in his face. Coiling that leg under her, Anika extended violently and used the added height to reach up, hands reaching and seizing on the bottom rung of an escape ladder. The ladder began to fall and then stopped as it hit the ground and Anika's panic driven mind sent her body reaching up to climb.

 

Down on the ground, the Turian was cradling his face in both hands. He gingerly activated his omnitool. "Sneed deaded doward's aa oof". He managed to get out. Before pain caused him to clutch at his broken faceplate. "Pirit's! Deed dum hice"!

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

"Vayne, keep an eye on Frank," Irina said, "Something's wrong. I can't find Blondie. I'm going outside for a look."

[Redbelle]

Anika's hands were falling over themselves in her climb. She reached the first walkway. Hefted herself up. Then started climbing higher and higher to put as much distance between herself and those other people as she could. As she climbed though, she found herself slowing. The threat was receding and the rational was pulling control back from her base instincts. And as it did, she started to feel..... embarrassed at first, then a sense of anger at those who'd hounded her. And then..... just a small smattering of shame.

 

By the Goddess.... she was a soldier! She wasn't supposed to be acting like this! She was supposed to keep her cool and keep an eye open to protect.....

 

Oh, yes.... that again. Jess wasn't around to take care of.

 

the rational part of her brain then took that thought and developed a tangent that Anika could do nothing to ignore.

 

She and Jess had always been together since Jess had broken her out, or as Jess insisted, on kidnapping her from the complex. That same complex that had taught her to always distrust aliens. The one that had then given her an Asari combat instructor whom Anika had grown fond of. While she had learned to be comfortable around Asari though, and found the lessons as to why they should be regarded with suspicion insulting, she'd had no means to gauge other species beyond what she had been taught growing up. At the same time, she'd been taught to always focus on the mission. To put aside all other concerns and focus solely on the task at hand. Jess's well being for most of her life outside the complex had been her mission. A stable part of her life that hadn't ever changed and looked as if it never would......

 

Now though.... She was here among team mates she barely knew, with no real assignment she knew of and surrounded by aliens that she'd been taught to fear and regard with suspicion.....

 

Oh Goddess..... They'd done that her a lot.... So many lessons. Over the years she'd hardly thought of them or the effect they'd had on her but.....

 

But what if they had always been there in the back of her mind? Cycling. Never confronted. Gaining strength that now, when confronted by a mob of civilians who'd.... what? Just wanted a dance?

 

Well a dance was a dance and she could dance. Had been trained to infiltrate and seduce. Heck, she could show that spindly pencil necked toad a thing or two about..... And the moment she thought about dancing with him, the moment she thought about clasping hands with his unnatural finger's fingers, she could see in her minds eye her own self turning her head away. Closing her eye's. Trying to lessen the contact until the image in her mind of the Salarian faded to nothing and she was alone.

 

......

 

......

 

Okay..... So she had issues. Who didn't? Issues that had gone hidden for the longest of times..... And it wasn't as if she'd reacted to her team mates like this? She'd been told they were working together and she'd accepted that.... Simply took them in her stride. Back when things ahd seemed simple.... When Jess had been there to worry about.... When everything had been razy and she hadn't the time to think about herself.....

 

Anika pulled herself up the final ladder and emerged onto the roof space and breathed a huge sigh.

 

'Okay, first step of facing a problem is admitting you have a problem. And locking up around a mob of aliens? That's a problem that wasn't your fault! You didn't know! But now you do so how do you deal? Go back to Jess maybe? Noooooo, she sent you away to find yourself. to be someone I could be without her or the ship. And really this is your deal girlee. So let's just admit you have a problem.... and then we'll go back down, and you'll just..... stand around a bunch of aliens.... trying not to be noticed.....'

 

'Because really! It was only when they singled you out you panicked. Find your team mates and they'll have your back and we can work on getting through this..... It's not like I can't get by on my own after all.....'

 

At that point, the roof access door about halfway between the end of the roof and where she stood swung open and a motley assortment of those downstairs came out. All of them turned to Anika as a lumbering Krogan taking up the end of the filing line emerged through the door and as the dull thudding of the primitive bass reverberated under their feet, from the dance hall below, the group turned and one stepped forward.

 

"The King awaits you my queen! Come, attended his court that all may swear fealty to you this night"!

 

Anika's eye's flicked to the door behind them. Back over the side of the building she'd scaled and saw others climbing up after her. Rational and Primitive warred within her and as she turned back to the ones standing in front of her, they saw her eye's and the more nervous among them took a step back.

 

Anika took a step forward and said in a quiet, unassuming voice. "Just.... Leave.... Me.... Alone".

[Kel Riever]

Was that singing Molly heard in the distance?

Seriously?

It didn’t matter much as the sound was cut short.  But it did give both Molly and the drell she was pursuing a direction to run in.  Fortunately, the drell was single-minded enough to not notice he was being chased.

Come on, girl, you were a track star,  Molly said to herself to rally her effort, in high school…

Maybe you should just run as fast as you can…

Hagen prided herself on keeping herself in good shape with a regular run, but this chase boggled her mind.  She was catching up to the drell, who was in no uncertain terms quite lithe and quick.  But the woman who was at the front of the pack was still nowhere to be found.  Somewhere along the way, one of the jars in her raincoat pocket popped out.

“For crying out....!”

Molly looked over her shoulder after her exasperated shout and saw it was the container with the rough red texture.

Okay, at least it wasn’t the lip balm I like to use for myself.

The raincoat was slowing Molly down.  As much as she loved her things, in this race, she wasn’t going to win by staying attached to her gear.  Molly took off her raincoat as she ran, and when she passed an alley where it seemed nobody was around, she tossed the coat into a pile of boxes.  She did her best to try and remember where it was, then pushed to catch up to the drell.

Fortunately, the drell had slowed himself to check his omni-tool.  Molly was catching up fast and he wasn’t paying attention as she closed the distance.  The detective readied her heavy pistol.  The drell slowed to a stop and began to look up at the building tops.  Hagen stretched forward with the gun.

“No means no,” Molly said, rushing up.

The drell turned just in time for Hagen to jam the barrel into his back.  As it did, voltage shot through his body.  The drell gurgled something that sounded like, “Gghghghghgggghhghghggg!” and dropped to the ground unconscious.

Molly kept running past.  The melee stunner affixed to the bottom of her pistol’s barrel had done its job, though it would take a second or two to recharge.  In the meantime, she searched for any of the other chasers or the woman herself.  There was a sad, whining sound up ahead and Hagen realized that what she thought was a pile of refuse lying in the middle of the road was actually the turian who had offered the flower. 

When Hagen came up to the turian, she saw his mangled face.  The turian looked up at her pathetically.

“Whu arr du?!”

Molly heaved a breath as she bent over and held her knee with her free hand.  Then she checked the heavy pistol in her other hand to see if the charge came back.  It had.  So she smacked the barrel of the pistol on the top of the turians head.

“BLSGUUUH!!”

Two teeth flew up and out of the mouth of the turian as he was electrocuted and went out.

Hagen searched again, ignoring the stares of the passer bys who dared to satisfy their morbid curiosity.  Remembering what the drell was doing before she had incapacitated him, Molly’s gaze went upwards, and she spotted a fire escape ladder that had been pulled down.  Tracking to the height of the building, she saw more pursuers quietly making their way up the escape to the rooftop.

There.

The detective sprinted to the ladder, holstered her pistol and climbed.  Omega, despite being a station, had no shortage of tall building like structures either built into a support wall or simply standing free.  Up and up Molly went, determined to catch up to the woman who had fled.  At the speed she had gone, Molly could think only to push herself as hard as she could to catch up, without alerting those above her.

As she got within earshot of the roof, Molly heard voices.  One seemed rather full of brass and swagger.  “…that all may swear fealty to you this night!”

Then another voice answered.  Molly couldn’t make out the words, but she felt them.  They sounded like the woman’s and they sounded serious.

And dangerous.

I shouldn’t do this, Molly thought.  I should just let this go.  It isn’t my problem.

Molly drew her gun again and continued to climb.

[Redbelle]

They came forward one at a time, trailing one after the other. One reached into his pocket and pulled out a box of what looked like chocolates. "Have you ever been caught up in a quickste....". He began to say when the red mist finally descended and Anika pushed him aside so hard he was flung backwards.

 

"Playing hard to get...."? Began another, and was cut off as Anika's right hand took hold of his shoulder and punched him squarely in the gut. He doubled over and Anika flung him behind her, hearing him skid across the floor as another stepped up to take his place.

 

"We can work this out sweet siste.....". The tip of Anika's boot swung up, catching him in the stomach and he fell to the side as two more approached warily.

 

"Enjoy the company"? One asked before Anika's body flung itself in his direction and caught his neck in a clothes line that she used to spin herself around his body. Using the momentum to lift herself and snap kick his friend who spun around with a gout of blood flying through the air before she landed and used her new vantage to lift the Drell and throw him headfirst into another group who had tried to go around her. She felt a hand on her shoulder and brought her body around to deliver her elbow into a carapace that cracked under the impact before reversing the strike to drive her knuckles into the face of someone in front of her.

 

They kept coming. All of them. And Anika's fight response laid out every one until the roof was a pile of groaning bodies that clung to where skin was bruised and several bones and ribs shattered. Anika's eye's however simply fell on the last remaining standing Krogan who held up his hands. "Uh.... Yeah..... you know.... I don't think I want a piece of that. We'll find our queen elsewhere". She said taking a step backwards towards where the skylight pulsed in flashing color in time with the roof's muffled, rumbling beat. "So.... eh... See ya....". His words were cut off as Anika's sweat covered face contorted into a snarl and she charged him. Tilting to tackle him as she caught him around his middle and lifted him up as she drove him backwards before landing him squarely onto the glass pain. The combined weight of the impact and the two bodies caused the glass to groan, then crack, then a moment later it shattered and both went falling through the skylight in a rain of shards of glass. The Krogan first as Anika followed after.

 

There was shrieking and people under the skylight ran in all directions as both Krogan and Anika landed heavily in the open space that had opened for them. the Krogan lay, a small, wailing moan that began and went on without end as Anika got up and stepped back from her latest victim. She stared around the room that had gone quiet. Groggily taking in everyone till she raise her arms up and yelled. "WHERE IS YOUR KING NOW"!!!

[Kel Riever]

“Freeze!” Molly shouted as she popped up over the edge of the roof and took aim with her pistol.

Hagen was just in time to see the woman smash the krogan onto the skylight. She called out, “That’s not gonnna…!”

The glass shattered and the two fell through.

A huge smash.

Shrieking.

Distantly but still loud enough to hear, “Where is your king now!!!”

Molly stepped over body after body to get to the skylight and peer over its edge to see below. There, the woman stood, over the blacked out krogan, on the dance floor of the same club they’d come from, with her arms outstretched.

The detective collapsed to her knees, heaving. Fortunately she landed on one of the forms near the skylight which absorbed the shock.

“Hey, lady, it’s cool,” Molly said while catching her breath, “Why don’t you, you know, run around like you need help, at top speed, in a complete circle. Do your thing, there. I’ve got nothing better to do than to chase you, and lose my stuff.” Sweat was pouring down from Molly’s head and she tried to brush some aside with an armored hand. She stared at her pistol a moment before she holstered it.

The drell next to the form Molly fell on stirred. As he slowly came to, he looked up at the detective. The drell was groggy at first, then despite his pain, his expression changed to relief.

“Another queen!” The drell exclaimed.

Molly decked him with her armored fist full on, right across his face.

[Cknarf]

"Drip... drip... drip..."

 

Frank snickered as blood from his nose dripped onto the krogan's forehead.  He tore away pieces of his fancy clothes, and shoved them up each nostril, prompting an odd look from some other patrons.

 

"All better!" He threw up his hands, dropping his helmet in the process. "Aw, f***." He crawled over to where it had rolled, and plopped it back on his head, not bothering to latch it. He rose to his feet, and made his way over to Vayne and the man he appeared to be questioning.

 

"This guy givin' you trouble?" Frank asked, looking at the man as his helmet bobbled loosely upon his noggin. "'Cause I think I got a few left in me." He pointed a thumb at his helmet, and faked a headbutt in his direction. "'Cho punk ass."

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Irina had moved to the door when a thud landed on the dance floor. Anika was over the Krogan. "Who's your king now?!"

 

She turned around and walked back to Anika. "I was just about to go looking for you. I was concerned, but I see you gave 'em a hammering. Well done. But what exactly happened?"

[Cknarf]

The f***?

 

Frank shoved his way around the crowd that had gathered on the dance floor. 

 

"Awwwwwwwww sssssnaaaaaaaaaaap!" He shouted, while sliding past Anika and Irina. He leaned over the second krogan. "You also got knocked the f*** out!"

 

Frank looked up at the busted skylight, then to Anika, then back to the krogan, then back up to the skylight. "Daaaaaaaaaaaaaamn you guys came from there? Say whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?"

[Redbelle]

Breathing with elation, Anika was coming down from her latest high as she saw Irina's lips move, the blood in her ear's muffling the sound coming past them. "What"? She said as Frank, in an unlatched helmet, came swaying forward. More words that she only just heard as her combat frenzy. "What"? She repeated.

 

Anika reached back and made to tuck her hair back in place, only to find it was still fixed in place. Taking her nose instead, she exhaled lightly and her ears popped, allowing the muted whispers to reach her as she looked around, seeing the gazes of all those dancers fixed on her. "What"? She said a third time as she jabbed a finger at the Krogan. "Unwanted advances..... because of a King"? She added incredulously. At those words a mummer of understanding went around the dance floor and one of the women in the back raised a hand to catch her attention.

 

"Can you do Chip"?

 

"Whose Chip"?

 

"So called King"! Another piped up. "He's trying to dance with every woman in this club"!

 

"He wouldn't stop bugging me till we danced"! Said another

 

"It's embaressing"! Shouted another.

 

Anika's jaw set as a multitude of complaints poured out of the crowd. All directed at the so called King. Women from every species in the place fell around Anika's ear's and when it petered out, Anika rubbed her eye's. "Where is he"?

 

A path parted and finger's pointed down to the back of the hall where the lights were low.

[Cainhurst Crow]

Seeing the chaos going on in the club, vayne couldn't help but groan. It seemed big entrances were a thing in style for their group. Not that he could really complain, considering he'd kinda barged through and punched out a krogan himself.

 

"Well then...at least we know where Anika went..." Vayne commented as the man he held pinned tried to use the chance to squirm out of the krogans grip. Vayne pushed harder with his claw still planted on the mans chest, eliciting a stiffled cough from him, "don't even try it..." he said simply, the man seemingly resigned to his fate as he let out a mournful sigh.

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Essul waited for the batarain to be out of earshot before he looked to the others, "So...pills before a sermon, huh? I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds that more then a bit odd..." He said softly enough so that only those in earshot could hear, looking to griss.

 

"Any clue what they just handed us?" He asked, not being used to handling narcotics. He was more used to busting drug smugglers, not identifying their products.

[Kel Riever]

Molly didn’t know whether to feel pissed off or defeated.  Both, was her conclusion.

It took the detective a while to clamber down from the rooftop by the fire escape, which on closer inspection seemed like it was ready to fall off the back of the building.  In a few more minutes, she had her raincoat back, though she had to threaten off a street dweller who had just picked it up.  A quick check showed all of her belongings were there and not tampered with.  She took a moment to put on some more lip balm, comforting herself slightly from her ordeal, while she made a brief search for the red textured jar.  It was nowhere to be found.

Hagen ended up back outside the club.  She knew she’d be made by Frank if she went in, even though her curiosity was craning to be satisfied.  Still sweaty, Molly tried once again to brush her face off.  She wanted to sit down, too, and her eyes turned towards the club’s door one more time.  Maybe she was more pissed off after all.

Molly leaned against the dirty alleyway corner’s wall where she first started watching The Spoiled Princess and sighed.

[Kel Riever]

“I don’t hear anybody else saying anything,” Morgan chided the bridge.  “The Captain asked for ideas.  Speak up.”

Higgs looked slightly embarrassed.  “Maybe it’s a patrol ship?”

“Chasing a comet?”  Morgan creased his brow. “Stealing ice?”

“The geth,” Duncan blurted.  “They’re always doing things no one can understand.”

Morgan had forgotten to cut the channel to the GARDIAN control center where he had flipped it, knowing Babe was heading there.  From the other end, he heard her say, “Maybe we should just blow it up and not worry about it.”

Dahlia was on the bridge at her station and quiet.

Morgan looked at Jess helplessly.

[Redbelle]

Jess took a deep breath to clear her mind. "Not Geth. Wrong configuration and hull design. It's clearly an old design. As for communicating with them.... Couldn't hurt. Duncan get on that"! She ordered as Duncan bent down and started trying to raise the other vessel. "I don't think we'll get a response though..... Remember, we came here to something illegal at a point when the comet would be blind to the rest of the system. All for water..... But outside of military hauling water off a planet is expensive. Non military grade mass effect fields don't provide the same mass shift to make hauling water off world unless your hauling enough in one go to make the effort worthwhile".

 

Jess chewed her lip and spoke. "Okay luvs, how I see it is this..... We just happened on a group of people who had the same idea as us. Only we caught them in the act. And they know it, Since what they are doing is a crime officials could get involved and at best, they get fined. At worst, they lose their ship. But if they are desperate enough to take the comet's ice like this it implies they might be low on funds so getting a fine may be the same as losing the ship if they can't afford to pay for her maintenance and fuelling..... We're the only ones right now that could result in anyone else knowing what happened here. Witnesses.... And what do you do with the only witness to a crime being committed when your the crook"?

[Cknarf]

 Frank followed Anika through the clearing, but stopped at the edge of the crowd. He nudged the turian standing next to him. "Looks like sh*t is about to get real." He tapped at his omni-tool, planning to record what came next, but he forgot what he was doing and closed it. 

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

The Warehouse Pt 1 – Eteon, Essul, Arian, Griss (written by Terca and SGJ)

 

Taking a look at the glass holding the meds Eteon quirked a brow plate slightly, but said nothing. The plain capsules looked like generic plain brands, the type which you fill with whatever and let the opaque coloring keep the secret. It was similar what the dense mineral capsules used by Turians off-colonies used to keep up with dietary needs. It wouldn't be hard to move them through the station...

 

Then again Aria probably has ways of making sure the narcotics and the Exodine ((Tylenol)) don't get mixed up.

 

Looking into the crowd which was slowly filtering through the entranceway and through two broad doors into a larger partition of the warehouse it was easy to see that the members were being corralled. It didn't looked particularly dangerous but it did mean that causing too much of a ruckus might cause a bit of a problem on the escape.

 

While she cast her eyes over the clot of people someone stood out. A Turian was sliding through the crowd smoothly, mostly parallel to the entrance. It was obvious it was a Turian based on the silhouette, and even more prominent was the way she stood out. The way she was shifting through the crowd was often used by Cabals when they needed to neutralize someone in a crowd. During training a Cabalist had to learn to notice the stealthy movement so they always knew where their squadmates were without a HUD.

 

That's too distinct to be a coincidence. Eteon thought as she searched for someone else in the crowd which was following the same patterns. If this person was a member of the 'congregation' then they were a threat, but if they weren't...

 

The hooded Turian moved quickly like she was belonged but didn't belong. She ducked behind a group of people and Eteon lost sight of her.

 

Griss continued to lead his group through the crowd oblivious to what was going on.

 

The hooded Turian bumped into Eteon. "Excuse me!" she said, and then continued in a whisper. "I know you. You're new here. They're watching us. Meet me in the far corner near the stage. They never watch near the stage."

 

She vanished as quickly as she appeared.

 

Glancing in the direction of the Turian but losing sight Eteon made a low hum in her chest. Definitely.

 

Being careful to not draw too much attention to herself she barely tapped on Griss' shoulder and nodded her head towards the edge of the room to let him know she would be moving out further into the throng. Stepping into the current of people she kept her gaze focused inwards as she let the natural filling of the room pull her towards the opposite side of the building.

 

People naturally wanted to be centered and close to the front so it was easy to maneuver to the edge of the stage a fair distance from the middle. She moved towards a crease in the wall and leaned back, keeping an eye on the raised platform as if she was skeptical in being there, but willing to listen for now.

 

Griss saw the Turian in the corner as they approached. She looks very familiar. he thought.

 

The corner was sheltered from the stage lights. Griss bent over and whispered. "Nyreen Kandros?"

 

"Griss. I should have known that Aria would send of her goons to investigate," Nyreen said, "Eteon Draikan, it's been a long time. What are you doing slumming for Aria?"

 

"Slumming is a bit harsh." Eteon replied, sounding mock-offended once she recognized Nyreen. "Hired without pay sounds nicer. I'm on loan from my commander, she has some sort of prior social engagement in the rapidly overheating core of the station. Now I get to go with one of Aria's guards to go prod fanatics."

 

Placing a hand on her hip Eteon nodded to Nyreen. "Speaking of slums, what are you doing in Omega's deep pits? The Cabals didn't suit you?"

 

"No. I left the Turian military and came to Omega," she replied and then turned away from Eteon. "I met Aria. We... had a relationship... and later a falling out. I run the Talon mercs now. But enough of that."

 

She looked over the group. "Then I'd heard what had happened. The reactor. Aria's missing squads. So I took it upon myself to come here and investigate. Do you want to know what happened to the squads?" Nyreen asked, and she pointed into the crowd. "They're in there. Part of the converts because they were foolish. Do not take the pills or drink anything given to you."

 

Nyreen shook her head and looked at the floor. "The poor people of this station...."

 

This was very bizarre and Nyreen knew this was going to be difficult to explain. "Something strange is going on. They didn't become members overnight. They thought this was a party like everyone else. Free drugs. What could go wrong?" she said shaking her head. "After I'd heard the second group was missing for two weeks I decided to investigate. That was when I saw them try to leave; then about the time of the 'sermon' I saw them turn around. I followed them and they came here.

 

"When I was handed the drugs at the door, I made an assumption that the two behaviors were connected somehow. You'll see. The show will begin shortly. What did you notice when you arrived?"

 

"They were stupid enough to party when there was sh*t that needed doing?" Eteon asked rhetorically under her breath. That's... Incredibly Omega-y.

 

"Drugs and a sealed bottle." Eteon shrugged. "It's for both protein types, which is bizarre because unless they're simple water capsules they would be rather disagreeable with any Turians. If the drugs are some sort of psychotic the timing issue makes sense, even if the chemistry part of it doesn't." She motioned back towards the entrance with a hand, "Our friends running the show look like they're mostly Batarian, the number of people who want to get a good look at whoever is giving this 'sermon' is want to see him in person."

 

“You didn’t eat anything on your way here, did you?” Nyreen asked.

 

“No. Why do you ask?” Eteon replied.

 

“I don’t know. It’s just a hunch. Something about this whole area gets under my nape,” Nyreen said, looking up at Eteon.

 

"Someone at the door mentioned other warehouses and 'widescreen'," Griss said. "They were sending people down there."

 

Nyreen looked worried. "It's spreading."

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

The Nightclub - Anika, Frank, Vayne, & Irina.

 

The light show changed, and the people stopped dancing and looked up toward the main stage and a holoscreen descended. And the music changed

 

 

The patrons began swaying in unison with the beat, as a light show began on the holo-screen. Everyone in the club felt a low rumbling in their feet, and Frank noticed his omni-tool wasn't working properly. Irina's being military grade, registered an electromagnetic field.

 

A Batarian voice with a delay effect and reverb spoke the following words with the music. The effect was hypnotic for those in the crowd. Frank felt slightly drawn toward it.

 

"Humans are blight on the galaxy!"

 

"The Protheans cast off the lesser races: the Krogan, the Vorcha, and the Humans!"

 

"And so they dwelled in filth on worlds made of dirt and feces and there they lay until they stumbled into the skies!"

 

"The lesser races will be our downfall! The Word is clear!"

 

"Let none in my sight continue to live lest their impurity displease me!"

 

......

 

"But you! You can make a difference! You made a difference by embracing the Word!"

 

"Rejoice my friends! Rejoice! For the end times will be upon us soon, and we will be ascended!"

 

The music ended and the crowd erupted in a cheer. The normal light show and dancing resumed.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

The Warehouse - Pt 2 (Terca, JB, Maj0nese, SGJ)

 

At that moment the sound system turned on, and a low rumble was felt throughout the warehouse. It went dark. Then music with pounding dark rhythms began to play.

 

 

The light show started and the preacher entered the stage to deliver his sermon, and did so with the rhythm of the music with his voice on a delay effect so that each message repeated and decayed.

 

"Humans are blight on the galaxy!"

 

"The Protheans cast off the lesser races: the Krogan, the Vorcha, and the Humans!"

 

"And so they dwelled in filth on worlds made of dirt and feces and there they lay until they stumbled into the skies!"

 

"The lesser races will be our downfall! The Word is clear!"

 

"Let none in my sight continue to live lest their impurity displease me!"

 

..... Everyone felt low rumbling in their feet. The crowd swayed and appeared to be captivated by the light show and every word spoken.

 

The moment the preachers voice echoed into the beat, Essul could tell something was very wrong. The crowd’s body language had completely changed, like the flip of a switch. It was like one minute there was a million differences in how people held themselves, the conversations they had, the attitudes they carried, and all of it suddenly just stopped. They moved in synch more than Essul would have thought any non-trained crowd could.

 

Drugs wouldn't do this, giving these people a level of coordination and apparent synchronized reactions. You could break a mind with drugs, but it took handling to mold it.

 

Essul didn't have his helmet on, feeling it would have made him look too suspicious. Now thought, he really, really, wished he'd brought it along.

 

Since he was unavoidably attracting the attention of anyone who was observing the movements of the crowd Arian didn't follow Eteon and Griss and instead remained near the entrance.

 

He had a perfect view of the stage and the preacher when the Batarian began to speak. There was no doubt that it was the same preacher Arian had already met next to Harrot's but it was startling to see how the crowd now reacted to his words. It was like they were following every word of his with such focus that they forgot everything around them. The music and the light show only increased this effect and after a few moments Arian felt an unpleasant and increasing pain in his head.

 

He could only imagine how the people perceived the preacher's sermon under the influence of drugs.

 

Griss tapped Eteon on her shoulder and pointed to his omni-tool. It was malfunctioning. Eteon's was military grade and was not. There was an electromagnetic field generated in the warehouse somehow.

 

"But you! You can make a difference! You made a difference by embracing the Word!"

 

"Rejoice my friends! Rejoice! For the end times will be upon us soon, and we will be ascended!"

 

The crowd burst in a thunderous cheer. The lights went off, the music stopped and then the house lights came on.

[Cainhurst Crow]

Vayne felt himself grit his teeth anxiously as he looked around the club, "What the hell was that?" He asked as the people around seemed to be rejoicing, all vayne had was a headache from whatever that rumble had been.

 

The man he had pinned seemed to be celebrating as well, even as he was pinned against the wall. Vayne could only stare at him in bafflement, wasn't that message just an insult? He sure as hell knew he felt damn well insulted, even if tuchanka was a **** hole, and that wasn't even calling him a blight.

 

Vayne snagged one of the bottles from the man before he decided to take care of things the old fashion way. He smacked the man hard on the head, and his eyes crossed a moment as he slumped down, sliding to the floor in a heap as vayne walked over to the others. "I'm not...I'm not the only one who heard that, right?" He asked as he looked to the others, hoping for confirmation that he hadn't had a senile moment.

[Cknarf]

"Nobody calls me a blight and gets away with it!" Frank shook his fist.

 

Whatever that is...

 

He opened his omni-tool and looked up the definition of 'blight'.

 

"That guy sounded like a real chode. I say we find him, and kick his ass as soon as possible." He punched his fists together.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

A Salarian who was part of the crowd walked back to the bar saw Frank punch his fists together. "Don't get riled up, friend. He's talking about the coming ascension. Not right now. It will be clear when the time comes. The prophet has seen the future."

[Cknarf]

"He's seen the future, huh?"

 

Frank punched the salarian square in the face.

 

"Then why didn't he warn you about that?"

 

He looked down at the salarian on the floor, then back to his group.

 

"I've had about enough of this place."

[Cainhurst Crow]

"Eli, what the hell!?" Vayne said as he blinked, surprised that he'd punched anyone, let alone some random nobody, square in the face, "Warn me next time before you go do that."

[Redbelle]

Anika stopped looking in the direction of where the crowd had parted. Stopped looking at the crowd whose nervous looks had given way to dead, cold stares, and instead looked in the direction of where the Batarian preacher face and voice on the big screen had once been.

 

Her hands were curled into fists as she growled. "Who does that.... Jackass.... think he is? Calling for racial intolerance"? She blanched as she realized what she said after it passed her lips, and had the good grace to blanch a little. "Okay... I'm probably not the best person to...... but I'm not.... I mean....". She sighed. "I don't want to actively attack people on a whim. But that's exactly what he just put out there"! She paused as his exact words rose in her mind.

 

"Protheans? Why Protheans? No one really knows that much about them. Sure there's some evidence of their past behaviors but nothing to suggest they actively hurt others.... Or that they did so on  a racially motivated basis! And why did he lump humans in with the Vorcha and Krogan..... No offense Vayne....". She added quickly inclining her head towards him. "...I personally admire your.... um.... arse....nal. And that big gun you.... huh.... pack". Anika's face grew red as she realized how her word could be interpreted and slapped her lips together as she turned away. "I mean.... Vorcha and Krogan.... they are really.... really hard to kill.... which is good. Sure culturally your a little.... behind.... but that's not your fault and.... erm.... I mean how do humans and..... Ooooh, I get it. He's picking on the downtrodden. The easy targets! Humans are the new guys. Krogan are the ones who nearly took over the galaxy and Vorcha are pretty much seen as vermin.....". She crossed her arms and laughed. "Man, I'd hate to see anyone who buys what that guys selling if they try and get into a fight with any of them.... except my people. that is....".

 

She was cut off from digging herself deeper into the hole she was digging for herself when, from the parted sea of dancers, a figure walked stiffly, though stiff somehow managing to make the shambling, jerky motions look.... almost kinda funky.

 

The bell bottomed slacks and frilled, open shirt with the dangling #1 medallion came into view as the King of the Dance Floor crossed a pool of light. His eye's were narrowed and those around him seemed transfixed. He raised his arm high into the air, a single finger extended. He drew in a deep, long breath, as if an aroma was wafting past he wanted to savoir, then, releasing it slowly, his finger drew a line down to where Anika, Irina, Vayne, and the rest of the group stood.

 

"If.... the queen.... is a human.... then....". His eye's unfocused slightly, as if searching for words he couldn't quite find. ".... then.... the queen must abdicate.... the hall". He drew his hands down to his belt and hooked his thumbs through the belt loops as he stepped forward with his other leg, swinging himself around and managing a little wiggle of his hips as he did so. Then he called out in a loud voice. "The Queen must die so the King can reign ya'll. OFF WITH ALL THEIR HEADS"!!!

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

"Let's get the hell out of here!" Irina shouted. She grabbed Anika and pulled her toward the door. "Frank, Vayne, Come on! Back to the car!"