Nightfable wrote...
Happy N7 Day!!
I've uploaded five comic pages. Enjoy!
Page 19, page 20, page 21, page 22 and page 23.
EDIT!! LAST CHANCE TO VOTE WHO YOU WANT TO GET PUNCHED BY JACK!! --> here
The finalists are James, Ashley and Liara.
Modifié par DarkPrinceRevan, 15 novembre 2012 - 04:36 .
Modifié par Nightfable, 25 novembre 2012 - 03:25 .
Nightfable wrote...
My finished fanart of Jack showing off her N7 tattoo on DA. It's nsfw.
--> http://lovelymaiden....ttoo-339174634' class='bbc_url' title='Lien externe' rel='nofollow external'> http://lovelymaiden....attoo-339174634"> http://lovelymaiden....attoo-339174634">http://lovelymaiden.deviantart.com/art/Jack-s-N7-Tattoo-339174634
Enjoy!
This took a long time to do.. didn't think I'd be able to finish it.
DarkPrinceRevan wrote...
@nightfable
thats just plain awesome and to see Jack's tattoss done in such great care and detail, i salute you
Modifié par someone else, 30 novembre 2012 - 02:49 .
Modifié par fainmaca, 15 décembre 2012 - 12:03 .
HYR 2.0 wrote...
Such crap that ME3 character thread is locked for good.
Seriously, this site has some of the worst moderating I've ever seen. It's turrible.
Anyway, any active Jack group, or is this the place for discussion now?
spirosz wrote...
HYR 2.0 wrote...
Such crap that ME3 character thread is locked for good.
Seriously, this site has some of the worst moderating I've ever seen. It's turrible.
Anyway, any active Jack group, or is this the place for discussion now?
I don't think there is really an active Jack group, this thread is hardly active anymore
android654 wrote...
spirosz wrote...
HYR 2.0 wrote...
Such crap that ME3 character thread is locked for good.
Seriously, this site has some of the worst moderating I've ever seen. It's turrible.
Anyway, any active Jack group, or is this the place for discussion now?
I don't think there is really an active Jack group, this thread is hardly active anymore
The whole website is dead. The only reason to come back here is to see what interesting thing Nightfable has cooked up for the other Jackolytes.
spirosz wrote...
android654 wrote...
spirosz wrote...
HYR 2.0 wrote...
Such crap that ME3 character thread is locked for good.
Seriously, this site has some of the worst moderating I've ever seen. It's turrible.
Anyway, any active Jack group, or is this the place for discussion now?
I don't think there is really an active Jack group, this thread is hardly active anymore
The whole website is dead. The only reason to come back here is to see what interesting thing Nightfable has cooked up for the other Jackolytes.
And my music
Ahahaha.
android654 wrote...
spirosz wrote...
android654 wrote...
spirosz wrote...
HYR 2.0 wrote...
Such crap that ME3 character thread is locked for good.
Seriously, this site has some of the worst moderating I've ever seen. It's turrible.
Anyway, any active Jack group, or is this the place for discussion now?
I don't think there is really an active Jack group, this thread is hardly active anymore
The whole website is dead. The only reason to come back here is to see what interesting thing Nightfable has cooked up for the other Jackolytes.
And my music
Ahahaha.
Yeah, but when was the last time you posted new music?
android654 wrote...
The whole website is dead. The only reason to come back here is to see what interesting thing Nightfable has cooked up for the other Jackolytes.
Shepard chuckled as he slid out from behind the table, nodding to the Krogan before turning to leave. With expert precision, he lifted his empty bottle, lobbing it across the Mess Hall to clatter into one of Rupert's open recycling bins, hitting the target squarely even at such a distance. This done, he turned to leave the Crew Deck, striding into the corridor running across the width of the ship as he headed for the elevator.
"Oh-ho-ho! Did you see that?"
The Commander spun at the shout, looking to the Port Lounge, whose door was wide open. Inside, he could see a number of figures moving about. Curious, he moved closer.
A number of the Normandy crewmen had gathered in the Lounge, a handful of opened beers between them. Shepard recognised that they were members of the Night Shift to a man, presumably enjoying a little downtime before hitting their bunks. Among them was Crewman Hadley and Crewman Matthews, who cradled a datapad between them, a video display running on it. The Commander craned his neck from the doorway, but couldn't see the image. As he tried to shift to get a better view, the other assembled crewmen crowded in, blocking his view.
"Okay, ten credits says she breaks out a Shockwave next!" One of the crewmen, Roberts, called jovially.
"I'll take those odds." Matthews said. "She's going for a Charge, no two ways about it. She loves to make things personal."
"How is he still going?" Another crewman asked.
"Because he pissed her off." Hadley explained. "There's no way she's gonna let him off easy. Nah, she's gonna finish this nice and slow."
"Anyone want to fill me in on what's happening?" Shepard interrupted with a cough.
Like cockroaches scattering before a sudden light, the gaggle of crewmen suddenly split apart, each one becoming suddenly, intensely interested in something trivial around the room, crewman Roberts even finding himself suddenly hypnotised by a seam between two wall panels opposite the huge viewport. Soon, Matthews was left holding the datapad, sporting a guilty expression.
"Matthews?" Shepard advanced on the suddenly lonely crewman. "Want to give me an explanation?"
"Umm…" Matthews struggled to find his tongue. "Uh… just a little harmless betting on a sporting event. Nothing to be worried about."
"Oh yeah?" Shepard asked as he extended a hand to take the datapad. "Which one?"
Matthews hesitated to hand over the datapad, but under Shepard's determined gaze, he relented, sighing as he passed over the device.
"It's the sparring ring downstairs. We sometimes like to gather here, take a few drinks, place a few bets while we watch a live vid feed from the hangar bay." He looked away from his Commander, unable to meet his gaze. "This match in particular was one we didn't want to miss."
Shepard looked down at the datapad, watching the vid feed. He spotted a figure he recognised, brows rising in surprise.
"Is that Donnelly?"
"Yessir."
"I didn't know he used the ring."
"He doesn't. Well, he hasn't so far, but this fight is different."
"Why? Who's he fighting?" Shepard asked, eyebrows shifting to convey his confusion. "Wait, you were describing a fight with a biotic. Ken's not a biotic. Hell, biotics aren't even meant to be used in the ring. If he's fighting someone actively using their abilities, he's going to be horribly outclassed."
"We all thought so." Matthews agreed. "But they were both so insistent. I think it had something to do with that fight they had the other-"
The crewman trailed off as Shepard bolted from the room, the datapad clattering to the floor behind him. Matthews leaned forward to scoop it up, glancing at the vid feed just in time to see Jack grab Ken by the arm, swinging him about as though he weighed nothing. The engineer's face contorted in pain as he struck the floor, an impact certain to fracture bones at the very least. By the time Matthews looked back up, the Commander had vanished, the only clue to his location being the hiss of the elevator.
~o~0~o~
Ken groaned as he tried to roll over, the fiery pain racing through his ribcage causing his vision to darken with a multitude of dark spots. His brain still reeled from that last attack, the nausea of being put under so many conflicting gravitational forces threatening to rob him of the breakfast that lurked just below his gullet, waiting to make a reappearance.
"Hwawk-ptu!"
The gobbet of spittle struck him square in the back of the head, an expression of disgust from his opponent. He managed to turn in time to see Jack stalk by, pacing from side to side as she waited for him to stand. She sported a rapidly darkening eye from a lucky swing the Scot had got in early on in the fight, when she'd underestimated his ability to fight, but after that the sparring match had devolved into nothing more than a session between Subject Zero and the punching bag that had once been Ken Donnelly.
"Come on, Jack." Crewman Goldstein tried to reason from the sidelines. "He's done. Fight's over."
"O-ho-ho, we're not done here. Not by a long shot." Jack retorted maliciously. "He was the one who stepped into the ring, remember? That means I'm calling the shots now."
With feral speed, she lunged, straddling him in one motion, rolling him back onto his belly with another. His arms were pulled back, creaking painfully as the joints threatened to pop loose. Her teeth flashed dangerously close to his ear as her lips twisted around a few more snarled words.
"You shoulda just left things alone. I had no problem with you until you had one with me. Now, we're going to do this for as long as I feel like it because today, you're nothing but my ****. And I'm gonna make you squeal!"
"Jack, please!" Gabby begged from the edge of the ring, on the verge of tears. "Let him go!" Around her, other members of the crew expressed similar pleas for clemency, but none yet possessed the courage to take on the raging biotic face-to-face.
"Why? This is what he wanted, isn't it, Kenny?" She lifted the engineer's head by tangling her fingers in his hair and yanking hard. "What was it you said? Something about 'showing me once and for all' that you weren't afraid of me? I gotta say, I'm not seeing it."
She shoved the head down again, rewarded with the crack of splintering cartilage as his face slammed into the deck, summoning forth a stream of blood. This done, she stood, taking a few steps back.
Ken got back onto his shaking feet, turning dizzily to face her as he tasted the tang of his own blood mixed with mucus as it flowed into his mouth. Spitting, he raised his fists again.
"That… all you've got… ****?" He managed unsteadily.
Clucking with her tongue, Jack shook her head and raised a clenched fist, readying a biotic Charge. She tensed, about to launch the devastating attack. Opposite her, Ken flinched away from the impending impact.
"STOP!"
The thunderous shout bounced back off the hangar walls, reverberating through the hull of the ship powerfully. The small cluster of crewmen that had gathered to witness the bout parted, allowing Shepard to stride up to the ring with an expression that conveyed apocalyptic wrath. Jack's lip curled up at his approach, while Kenneth's pose faltered, partly out of exhaustion, but mostly out of fear of what kind of retribution his inspiring the situation might invoke.
"Ken, go to the Med Bay. Have the Doc patch you up, then hit your bunk. Consider yourself confined to your quarters until further notice."
The engineer's first instinct was to protest, but the Commander's stance and fiery mood brooked no argument. He sighed, staggering out of the ring. As he headed to the elevator, Gabby joined him, fussing over the many cuts and bruises he now sported. Once he was gone, Shepard turned his attention to the rest of the crew watching him warily.
"Get back to your work." He growled, his voice the tiny tremor that was soon followed by the violent eruption of a volcano.
With lightning speed, the crew dispersed, in a hurry to be out of the path of their Commander's displeasure. Grunting with distaste, Jack went to follow them, heading for the elevator.
"Not you, Jack." Shepard's voice was as solid as a rock. "You're staying here."
"Go **** yourself, Shepard." She didn't even turn to face him as she delivered the dismissal.
"I'll not have this kind of behaviour on my ship." The Commander said firmly. "Get back here."
"I'm not some dog to come running every time you shout 'heel'." She spat. "Why don't you hang with the Cerberus **** if you want that kind of thing?"
"Get back here, Subject Zero!"
The tattooed woman froze, her attention finally firmly in the commander's grasp. Her spine went as stiff as any of the metal girders lining the Hangar Bay, her hands clenching into tight fists at her sides. She turned, slowly. All around the hangar, crewmen paused as they realised what was going on. Some hastened to find something to hide behind, others found themselves unable to move as they watched the confrontation with the same horrified fascination they'd watch an ongoing traffic pileup.
"What did you just call me?" The tone would have made the wastes of Noveria feel like a tropical paradise in comparison. It wasn't the coarse response Shepard had expected, but it was all the more sinister for it. The Commander was undeterred.
"Subject Zero." Shepard said the words slowly, drawing out each syllable as he curved his lips around them.
"That's not my name anymore, and you damn well know it!" She spat.
"Really? I'm having a hard time telling who's standing in front of me." Shepard folded his arms across his chest. "I'm not so sure I'm not just talking to the Cerberus creation. Maybe there isn't a person in there after all."
At this, even the ones who had been hiding realised that the Hangar Bay would not be a safe place at all. One brief exodus later, the hangar was empty save for the Commander and the convict.
Jack was still glaring at the Commander, fists clenching and unclenching as her chest heaved with emotion, her eyes flashing as her teeth ground together. Around her, crates and gas cylinders rattled, caressed by a growing storm of biotic energy.
"You're just so full of ****. You come in here, spouting all of that crap about how you 'understand' what I went through, offering me your 'sympathy', but now the truth comes out. I'm just a tool, a weapon you can turn on the bad guys, and now that I'm becoming a problem you're done with me, is that it?"
"That's not how I work."
"Sure it is. You find people and use them, turn them into tools for whatever big noble cause you're going after at any one time. I used to think that what Cerberus did to me was bad, turning me into a weapon through pain and torture, but what you do is way more ****ed up. You do it through trust, making us think we're your friends, making us lo- making us care about what you're trying to do." Her voice lost its balance for a moment, but then recovered. "And then you stab us in the back! Like when I had my chance at the Illusive Man!"
"How long are you going to keep bringing this up?" Shepard asked with a measure of exasperation. "I'm sorry we let him go, okay? But I had to take a look at the big picture. Every decision I make affects billions, if not trillions of lives! Choosing to spare the Illusive Man was just the same as any other choice I have to make. Why do you have to fight me on this?"
"Because it wasn't billions of people holding the gun to his head, it was me!" She spat. "I know first hand what he's capable of, and I had a chance to stop him from ever doing it to anyone else, but then you got in my way. I trusted you! I wanted to think you were different, but when things didn't line up, you chose the other side over me. So you know what? I'm done. I've had it with your ****. Next port? I'm out of here."
"I'm not going to let you do that."
"I'd like to see you try." Jack swaggered forward a couple of steps, head tilted to one side insolently.
"If you force me to, I will stop you, Jack. Even if I have to beat some sense into you first."
"Oh, please! You have no idea what you're getting yourself into. Maybe I should show you…"
Shepard shifted his feet, balled fists coming up in a defensive pose as he squared off against the biotic.
~o~0~o~
The elevator had barely slid open before Ralston stormed out, racing through to the Mess Hall breathlessly. Those sitting around the tables within looked up at his sudden arrival, suspecting some kind of shipboard emergency, growing confused that no alert had been sounded.
"Guys! Shepard and Zero are duking it out in the Hangar Bay."
There was stunned silence for a moment, then the clatter of tumbling furniture as every chair was overturned, the crew vanishing in seconds in their rush to leave. Even the cool Miranda left her fresh cup of tea slowly cooling, abandoned on the table, in her haste to get to the lower decks. Moments later, the CIC had been similarly informed and evacuated.
~o~0~o~
Prepared as he was, nothing Shepard could have done would have made him ready for the brutal attack Jack opened up with. The Commander was no rookie, nor had he been completely ignorant of the battle strategy of the woman he'd fought beside in so many battles across the Galaxy, but he'd never had to engage her in a toe-to-toe fight like this. It was more than a little unsettling to see her vanish from sight as she leapt into the blurring blue streak of a biotic Charge, moving too fast for him to dodge out of the way.
Two small fists struck him square in the chest, sending him tumbling backwards to strike the deck painfully. He was momentarily dazed, but soon recovered, rolling onto all fours to hoist himself up. As Jack lunged at him again, fist glowing with biotic blue, he spun to launch his own large fist into her gut from his kneeling position, the warmth of her flesh flowing around his fingers as he struck deep. She wheezed, but held onto her breath long enough to retreat while he stood.
The pair circled one another, two predators warily waiting for the other one to betray their next move. Eyes locked in steely conflict, neither one blinking. Jack's shoulders shifted in circular motions, like the shoulder-blades of a lioness making ready to pounce, while Shepard kept his body low, centred to block any attack.
Jack was the first to break the reprieve, leaping forward with a wild howl. One hand swung down in an overhand swipe, aimed directly at the Commander's head. Shepard's arm shot up to block it, catching the blow with his forearm. Jack, anticipating this, soon exploited the new opening this made by jabbing with her free hand, cracking one of Shepard's ribs. The Commander growled, his blocking arm twisting so he could grab her arm while his free hand caught the jabbing fist, securing both of her arms.
"I. Don't. Want. To fight you. Jack." Shepard gasped between breaths as he fought to keep her from breaking free of his grip.
"Tough… ****!" She retorted, the last word echoed by a sudden headbutt, biotics flaring around her body as she used the attack to fling the Commander away and free herself. Shepard fell backwards, but leapt to his feet immediately, the fuzziness in his head clearing fast even as an angry red mark on his forehead announced where the convict had made contact. His hands dropped to either side, open and ready to receive whatever the next attack was. Lips pulled taut over her teeth, Jack was quick to oblige, a Warp blast striking him in the chest.
~o~0~o~
The crew had gathered on the Engineering Deck, clustering around the windows that looked down on the Hangar Bay. At the last Warp blast, they all flinched back, the flash of violent biotics casting wild shadows across their faces. Every member of the Normandy crew and squad had gathered here, from Doctor Chakwas all the way through to Zaeed, crowding not just the corridor that ran across the ship, but also the windows in either Cargo Hold, every spare vantage point being occupied. Even Ken Donnelly was there, unwilling to miss something like this.
Miranda paced about anxiously, watching the fight with more than a little caution. She winced at every blow, taking each hit to the Commander as a blow to her, to her work. Nobody on the crew understood more than her just how much the Commander could take, her painstaking work to rebuild him and then further enhance him over two long years racing through her brain. As yet another biotic attack threw the Commander across the hangar, she cursed.
"Damn it, she's going to kill him!" She turned to her fellow crewmates. "Garrus, Jacob, Grunt, go to the armoury and fetch your gear. We're going in there to put an end to this."
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The gravelly tones of Zaeed rumbled out. The former Cerberus operative turned to the bounty hunter. "This is something those two have to do, trust me."
Unsure what to make of the mercenary's observation, Miranda turned back to the fight, still very much ill-at-ease.
~o~0~o~
A powerful Shockwave put the Commander on his back for the tenth time, eliciting a wince from him as he rolled over fresh bruises to create new ones. He doggedly got back to his feet, breathing heavily as he prepared for Jack to attack once more.
He knew it was stupid to take on a biotic when he himself was not one, the playing field being dangerously skewed in Jack's favour. But he had an edge over most normal soldiers, with cybernetic enhancements that altered the way he could fight down at his very core. Stronger bones, a tougher muscle structure, his thick skin, everything worked together to make him as good as he could be. Not to mention the chemical factories sitting over his vital organs.
As Jack charged in again, he activated the neural commands to set his adrenal implants to work, flooding his system. His reflexes sharpened, his perception of the world tightened to pinpoint accuracy, and his muscles swelled with renewed vigour. Moving like quicksilver, his hands darted out, catching and deflecting each and every one of Jack's punches and kicks with ease. In seconds, he'd allowed the biotic to exhaust her momentum, and went on the attack, barging into her with his shoulder and bearing her to the ground.
Jack kicked and screamed as the heavier man dropped on top of her, pressing down firmly on her chest to rob her of the proper deep breaths her tiring body wanted from her. The massive boots she wore dug into the Commander's side, bruising his kidneys and causing excruciating pain to blossom inside him even as he continued to pin her. Her body bucked, crushing against his as she fought to move out from underneath. She would not be held down like this, pinned like some helpless victim. Desperation flooded her synapses, making connections she was rarely able to form on her own. A blue field flared around her, suddenly lifting the Commander off and hurling him away as it expanded in every direction, throwing crates around as though they were dust before a storm. The Hangar shuddered from the blast, walls shivering as lights popped overhead, casting much of the Bay into darkness.
~o~0~o~
"God damn it! He can't take much more of this." Miranda snapped, turning back to her comrades. "Get those weapons, now! We're taking her down, one way or another."
"I'm telling you, girl, don't interfere." Zaeed warned sternly. "Shepard will never forgive you for it. Trust me. If you let them fight like Krogan right now, they'll be rutting like Varren by the evening."
"What would you know about it?" Miranda dismissed scornfully. "I'm not entrusting the life of our Commander to the romantic advice of a mercenary."
"I know more than you'd believe, girl." Massani grumbled. "And I know girls like Jack. Trust me when I say that this'll sort itself out, but only if you leave 'em to it. You interrupt this, it'll only resurface later on, when we can't afford for it to happen."
Miranda glanced down to the Hangar just in time to see the emergency lighting flare into life, bathing the hangar in red light and casting more shadows than it eliminated. Jack could be seen, surrounded by a bright glow that shone out like a beacon in the night. Shepard was nowhere to been seen in the gloom. Miranda sighed.
"Fine. But I still want those weapons ready to go."
~o~0~o~
Shepard shuffled through the dim red light, keeping a wary eye on the glowing biotic. The darkness added an extra level of complexity to the fight, but he could adapt. At least his attacks wouldn't have the same glowing tell as Jack's.
"Slinking about in the shadows instead of fighting me straight up, huh?" Jack challenged. "I always knew you were a ****ing ****. Now I've got the proof."
Shepard bit his tongue, realising a response would betray his position.
"Not feeling talkative?" Jack taunted. "That's okay." She picked up a piece of debris at her feet, a torn piece of piping. "I'm sure my friend here can do enough talking for the both of us."
Her biotics vanished, allowing her to fade into blackness. In moments, the Commander had lost her shadowy silhouette in the gloomy red glow of the emergency lighting.
~o~0~o~
"Where did she go?" Delexia asked, a note of panic in her voice as she gazed down on the darkened hangar.
"EDI!" Miranda called for the AI's attention. "Can you see Jack?"
"All sensors in the Hangar Bay are equipped with infra-red functionality, as well as night vision capabilities. Jack is currently fifteen metres from Shepard's position, drawing closer at a rate of point four metres every second. Neither party appears to be aware of the location of the other." EDI answered.
"We can't follow the fight via audio description." Jacob complained. "EDI, see about getting your sensor feeds projected onto these windows."
Moments later, the images appeared on the windows, full infra-red imagery appearing alongside images that had had their visual intensity increased to the point where the Human crew could see the two combatants. They could see Shepard crouching behind a crate while Jack moved about, hefting some unidentified object in her hand. Neither looked directly at the other, making it clear that they were unaware of one another.
"She's got a weapon!" Miranda exclaimed with alarm.
"Shepard's handled a lot worse unarmed." Garrus said confidently. "I think he can take on a pissed-off woman with a stick."
~o~0~o~
Realising that vision would be almost useless, Shepard closed his eyes, trying to tune into his other senses more acutely. His ears twitched, listening for any noise that stood out from the rustles of settling debris and the hum of a ship underway. Listening for Jack's footsteps would be futile, given her long life of being on the run. She'd managed to get silent movement down to an art, almost. But maybe she'd be at the same disadvantage as he was with the darkness, and she was far more likely to be reckless, probably moving around a lot faster than he was.
The tinkle of metal tapping against metal was almost as quiet as a pin dropping, but it was in a location Shepard had just moved through. Everything there had settled down and stopped moving, so this was an out-of-place noise. The Commander spun, sticking close to the crate he crouched beside as he hoped its shadow would hide him. He squinted into the gloom, finally picking out a shape shifting across his field of vision. Jack's predatory gait was hard to miss, as was the long shape she now carried in one hand. Tensing, Shepard shuffled closer, praying his elevated heartbeat wouldn't betray him.
The omega symbol shifted before his view, bobbing from side to side in time with the slight body. Swallowing to quell his nervousness, Shepard tensed to attack.
His foot only touched the metal shard on the floor, but it was enough. Jack didn't even look for the source of the noise, simply reacting to his presence. The pipe swung out, catching him across the upper arm with a powerful crack. There was a flash of light, then a biotically enhanced punch struck him in the shoulder, making the joint grind painfully as he was knocked to the side. He only just managed to get his other arm up in time to block the downward slash with the pipe with his forearm, wincing as this impact sent icy pain racing through his skeleton. The impact had cracked the bones, at the very least. He stumbled back, falling on his ass amidst the debris.
Jack leapt at him, seeking to straddle him so that she could go to work with the pipe, but his feet darted up, catching her in the belly. A powerful kick launched her up and over him, her headlong lunge turning into a chaotic tumble as she struggled to regain control. She struck one of the few remaining intact crates, smashing it under her body. The pipe clattered to the floor, lost in the murk. Growling, she leapt up again, body aglow as she sought her opponent. Looking down at where she had last seen Shepard, she was not surprised to see that he was gone.
~o~0~o~
"How can she keep this up?" Kaidan asked, leaning forward to glare at the displays. "If this had been any other biotic, she'd have passed out from exhaustion by now with the constant energy output."
"Jack's energy reserves go far beyond pure food consumption." Miranda explained. "As far as we can see, the project centred around her tired to unlock her power through emotional stimuli, specifically anger, fear and emotional imbalance."
~o~0~o~
"Come out, come out, wherever you are!"
Jack's taunt reached Shepard's ears, but he ignored it, continuing to scramble for an advantage.
Jack heard a muffled grunt, but it was distant, unclear. In the echoing cavern of the hangar, it was nearly impossible for her to determine the angle of origin. Shrugging, she began to stalk through the hangar in the hopes of finding her prey.
~o~0~o~
"What the hell is he doing?"
Everyone leaned closer to the displays at Miranda's question, trying to get a better view of the image of their Commander.
"Is he…" Delexia's eyes squinted. "Is he climbing?"
"Up one of the wall supports to get on top of the Nathak." Garrus surmised. "A good place to launch a surprise attack from."
On-screen, the image of Shepard scrambled across the roof of the shuttle, vanishing inside.
"What's he doing now?" Kelly asked.
"Emergency survival kit." Garrus explained. "There's a spare pistol in there."
"He's not going to-"
"Shepard knows how to neutralise a target without inflicting lethal injuries." The Turian said firmly. "He'll knock her out, nothing worse than that."
~o~0~o~
Jack walked past one of the boxy devices fixed into the floor of the hangar, a massive fan unit that blasted cold air throughout the massive room. Above, the Hammerhead hung silently, the Normandy's skycar waiting next to it. She had no idea where the Commander was. Perhaps it was time for another attempt to goad him into a mistake.
"Guess you've run off." She grunted out loud. "Shame. I was hoping to beat your ass before you pussied out."
She heard a click, a quiet sound that could have been a button being pushed, a switch being flipped, or a gun being cocked.
She spun, looking for the source of the noise. A moment too late, she looked up.
There was a bang, then a brilliant flash. Jack reeled back, her brain roaring in painful protest as her retinas burned.
~o~0~o~
The crew turned away quickly from the screens as they flared, awash with bright colours.
"Gaagh!" Hadley shouted. "What was that?"
"Emergency flare." Garrus was holding his arm up to block out the brilliant flash. "If she had her eyes open, there's no way she's seeing anything right now."
~o~0~o~
Shepard was careful to avoid being blinded by the flare he had left off, standing up carefully as he discarded the flare gun. He strode across the shuttle roof, glancing to the area beyond the bright light where he could see Jack clutching at her face as she howled in protest. The biotic staggered around, blinded. Blue fire raced up her arms, but Shepard only realised the danger after it was too late. A titanic Shockwave blasted through the hangar, knocking the Nathak loose from its moorings. Shepard staggered as the craft swung from side to side, attached to the roof by a few remaining tenuous connections. Seconds before it broke loose, he leapt free.
The shuttle dropped to the floor, the clatter and crash terrible in the confined space. Shepard plummeted to the deck, rolling as he landed.
Jack, already blinded by the flare, was further deafened by the cacophony of the crashing shuttle. In this dazed state, she was completely unaware as Shepard charged at her.
The Commander struck her squarely in the midsection, bearing her to the ground. Even robbed of her vital senses as she was, the young woman still fought back ferociously, punches and kicks pummelling the Commander's legs and gut viciously. Shepard wrestled with her, trying to get purchase to pin her down. His fists delivered a couple of devastating blows that drove the breath from her lungs, a third striking her across the jaw as she tried to wriggle out from under him. Stars wheeling in her eyes, Jack lunged forward, body curving to bring her shaved scalp up to strike the Commander square on the nose, breaking it. Shepard reeled back, releasing the biotic as he clutched at the profusely bleeding feature.
The duo rolled apart, staggering to their feet wearily. Shepard felt one leg starting to stray from under him, a symptom of one powerful punch to a nerve cluster in that limb. Jack, on the other hand, was holding her body very low, weakness in both legs revealing her exhaustion. She tried to lift her arms, the limbs moving slowly, as though they were made of lead. She grinned, spitting out a mouthful of blood with a dislodged tooth in it.
"What's wrong, Shepard?" She asked, eyes fluttering tauntingly. "Wearing out already?"
"I can go for as long as you want to." Shepard pinched his nostrils, gathering a gob of blood and mucus between his fingertips before flinging it away. Jack cackled.
"Good. 'Cuz playtime's just started."
The pair clashed again, feet dancing as they traded vicious jab after wild lunge, alternating between traditional boxing, a little wrestling and some good old-fashioned bar-room brawling. In minutes, their upper torsos were covered in reddening bruises. Barely a square inch of Shepard's exposed arms or the skin beneath Jack's inks remained their natural colours.
As the pair squared off against each other, Shepard couldn't help but admire the way Jack just kept fighting, no matter how much hurt Shepard laid on her. And for every hit Shepard handed out, he got back just as much. Neither one was proving any better than the other.
Suddenly, Jack dodged to the side, ducking Shepard's powerful right cross. She spun, her body twisting like a snake's. One heavy boot came up, connecting with a certain vital part of the Commander's anatomy, doubling him over. Two tattooed hands clasped his shoulders, and suddenly he was propelled across the hangar, thrown to the deck. He rolled, colliding with a stack of gas containers that tumbled over his prone form, further pummelling his body as he struggled to extract himself from the cascade. He got back to his feet, turning to face Jack once more. The biotic glowed with blue-white light, readying some kind of attack. Realising he needed some kind of defence, Shepard bent over and picked up one of the canisters, hefting it like a bat.
~o~0~o~
"No, no, no!" Garrus said earnestly. "If she uses any biotics around those canisters, they'll go up like a Klixen getting hit by an Incinerate!"
"This has gone far enough." Miranda said firmly. "Get down there now, and take a medical team with you! Get Shepard out of there, no matter what."
Garrus nodded, vanishing into the elevator with almost half of the squad in tow. Anxious, Kelly turned from the displays.
"They're not going to kill her, are they?"
"If they have to." Miranda grunted, glaring at the displays.
Seconds later, before the elevator had finished its journey down to the Hangar Bay, the screens erupted with light once more.
~o~0~o~
Jack snarled, flinging a hand out to launch a Warp blast at the Commander. In the same instant, Shepard flung the canister. The two attacks collided in mid-air, midway between the battling pair.
The explosion was more powerful than Shepard had expected, amplified by Jack's biotic power. The blast of rapidly expanding air stuck Shepard like the kick of a stallion, flooring him as the flames blinded him. Jack was similarly cast to the deck.
Shepard's perception faded and brightened, his brain barely clinging to consciousness. In the background of his mind, he felt more than saw the lights flicker back into being overhead, the muffled voice of EDI muttering something about restoring power to the Hangar Deck, although it all sounded like it was coming through a thick layer of wool or something. The Commander made a mental note to talk to Legion about getting EDI's shipboard speakers fixed.
Through the fuzziness of his mind, Shepard sensed movement. He managed to lift the lead weight that was his head, eyes rolling about painfully to lock onto the source of the movement.
Jack was on her belly, dragging herself towards the Commander. Her lip curled as she strained to move, her skin bruised, split open in places, burned in others. The leather harness she wore for the sakes of modesty had slipped off one shoulder, threatening a serious wardrobe malfunction if she wasn't careful.
The closer she got, the clearer Shepard's brain became, his implants working double-time to fix him up. Eventually, his hearing returned, allowing him to pick up on the scraping noise she made as she crawled across the deck, leaving a smear of blood behind her.
Finally, she managed to reach the Commander. One hand lifted up and reached out, hovering over the Commander for a second before dropping down with a weak slapping noise. Shepard tensed, unsure of her intent as he felt the fingers curl, grasping at him. Finally, he looked up, gazing down in confusion at her hand. Or rather, the part of his anatomy she'd grabbed a hold of, either by intent or accident.
"I've…" She began weakly, her head slumping. She swallowed, trying to get her words together. "I've…" Her head lifted up, eyes locking with his. "I've… got… you."
She chuckled, finding a little more strength somewhere.
"I've got you by the balls, ****!"
Shepard stared at her, absolutely at a loss as to what was going on in this woman's brain. He had no idea what made her tick, but that was part of why he cared for her so much, his complete inability to fathom her inner workings. He just kept staring, eyes almost crossing with confusion. Then, like a dam breaking, laughter spilled from his lips, ripping free of his chest in convulsions that pained him. Even as every shake sent shafts of pain shooting through his brain, he relished each bark. Staring into his face, Jack began laughing, too. In seconds, the pair were in fits, Jack pushing her face into Shepard's thigh, her hand still where it had fallen. Shepard allowed his head to drop back onto the deck, closing his eyes as he sighed.
The elevator hissed open, allowing a small army to flood into the Hangar Bay. Moments later, a ring of armed soldiers surrounded the pair, rifles all pointed at Jack. Not that it mattered, of course. Both combatants had slipped into the blissful darkness of unconsciousness. Garrus kept his gun trained on the biotic for a second, then relaxed, sure that they'd both passed out.
"Let Chakwas know she's got two patients." He said. "She might want to get out the biotic suppression fields, too."
As the others set about putting the hangar to rights or getting the medics in to help their Commander and their… unusual comrade, Garrus knelt next to the pair. He ignored jack's left hand, lying on top of a part of the Commander's he'd rather not think about, but instead turned his attention to her right hand. Carefully, making sure not to draw the attention of his fellows, he reached down and took the convict's hand, uncurling it to release the Commander's left hand. The finger's twitched, resisting as he forced them to release Shepard's, but soon he hand the hands apart. He then turned his attention to the rapidly approaching Doctor Chakwas, two stretchers close behind her.
~o~0~o~
Shepard shook his head, breaking free of the restrictive vines of unconsciousness. Pain was the first thing to greet him, soon followed by the sounds that he quickly recognised to be those of the Med Bay. He opened his eyes, sitting up and looking about.
Chakwas picked up on the movement, striding over to stand next to his bed.
"Commander. How are you feeling?"
"Like I just got run over by a Tomkah." He grunted, reaching up to rub at the back of his neck. "Did I really get into a sparring match with Jack?"
"Indeed you did, Shepard." Chakwas smiled. "And I would advise against such action in the future. I think I'd have preferred to patch you up after the Collector mission again. I don't think I've ever seen such a brutal fight. Frankly, you'd have died without medical attention."
"I'll bear that in mind." Shepard answered. "Where is she?"
"Still under sedation." Chakwas nodded over her shoulder at another bed. "We figured it'd be safer until you woke up. Plus, she's not entirely healed yet, so we wanted to make sure she sits still long enough to get back to full strength."
"What about me?"
"You're good to go whenever you want, Commander, but make sure to take it easy. You'll be a little fragile for the next day or so."
"Fine by me."
Shepard rolled out of bed, standing on shaky feet with the help of the doctor. He shuffled over to Jack's bedside.
The tattooed convict was out cold, her features surprisingly peaceful beneath the biotic suppression field that created a blue shell around her. Even so, the injuries she'd sustained were all too visible. Shepard winced as he scanned them, knowing that each one had come from him.
"Wake her up."
Chakwas flinched at the words.
"A-are you sure, Commander? She was trying to kill you."
"No, she was angry and needed to vent. We're past that." Shepard assured her. "It'll be fine."
"Alright, but if she so much as twitches funny I'll shoot her so full of morphine she'll be able to move through time."
"So be it. I accept all responsibility and blame."
The doctor shrugged, moving to her desk. A moment later, there was a hiss of chemicals being injected, then Jack stirred sluggishly. A second later, her eyes snapped open, looking about with a measure of panic. Her pulse, recorded on the monitors above her bed, spiked sharply to indicate her alarm.
"Jack. Jack!" Shepard raised his voice a little to get her attention. "It's okay. We had you sedated while the medics fixed you up. We just thought it best to keep you sedated until we were sure you wouldn't wake up in a bad mood."
"I'm always in a bad mood." Jack grumbled.
"I'm not going to argue about that." Shepard chuckled. "I don't think I'd have you any other way."
"You don't have me." She opened her eyes, glancing sidelong at him. "I've got you, remember? By the balls."
"Do you now?" Shepard laughed loudly at that. "I'm not so sure I remember anything like that being agreed upon."
"You really gonna make me get up and show you again?" Jack shot back. "This time, I won't go easy on you."
"You were going easy before?" Shepard humoured her.
"Sure I was. A big old **** hero like you, you've got an ego to keep up. I was only thinking about the damn downcast look you'd be carrying around if I won. It makes you look like a puppy that's been kicked. I didn't want to have to deal with that, so I took a fall there."
"If you say so." Shepard laughed. "Alright, Jack. No need for Round Two. You win."
"Damn straight." The biotic shifted under her sheets, swallowing the dryness that coated her mouth. "Now, how am I gonna carry your balls around? Should I ask the Cheerleader for one of her classy little silk purses?"
"I'm just glad to have you talking to me again."
"Well, I was halfway through handing your ass to you when what you said to me before really hit home. Didn't matter what I threw at you, you kept on coming. You never gave up. And you never shot to kill. "She stared straight at him as he opened his mouth. "I know what you did, Shepard, rooting around in the shuttle's survival kit. There was a perfectly good gun in there, but you went for the flare." Her eyes rolled away from his gaze, staring straight up at the ceiling. "I was wrong to give you so much **** over sparing the Illusive Man. And to accuse you of just using the people on your team. Of using me."
"Is that an apology I'm hearing?"
"**** no!" She snapped. "I'm just saying… I was wrong. I won't do it again."
"Sounds like an apology to me." Shepard smirked.
"It's not!" Jack protested. "Say that again, and I'll get serious about the silk purse."
"Get better, Jack." Shepard chuckled as he stood up straight, turning to leave. "I need you fit and healthy and at my side."
"Aw… ****. You talk like such a ****, Commander." She growled to his retreating back.
"Bye, Jack."
Unseen by the Commander, Jack settled back into her cushions, a smile on her lips as she watched Shepard leave.
Modifié par DarkPrinceRevan, 19 décembre 2012 - 04:35 .
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