Rain had swallowed the city whole. As every inch was wet, cold, and reflected the lights in the near distance. Streetlights glowed across wet asphalt, neon reflections and reflected off of puddles like a dark mirror. The air smelled of ozone and metal. Vancouver at night was beautiful in a sort of cold, indifferent way.
Jane and I moved through it with ease. We moved liked ghosts. We sprinted at full pace down the streets and alleyways, our shoes splashing through water, our hoodies clung to us snuggly as the wind hit our bodies.
My breathing was steady. My heart rate was controlled and steady. My mind narrowed to a single directive: I will end this tonight.
Jane matched me step for step, her stride was fast and efficient despite the rain-slick pavement. It's still surprising to find someone who can keep up with me. I'm just glad she wasn't asking questions anymore. She'd had chosen her side, which is good, I would hate if I had to kill her. She's been very reliable these past two months.
As we approached a street we needed to get on the other side of. The traffic light was green. But we didn't slow our pace. We actually increased it. A stream of cars tore through the intersection. Headlights cut through the rain—
"Now," I muttered.
We leapt just right before reaching the curve of the street. Then the world slowed.
Jane cleared the hood of a moving truck, palm pressing briefly to metal before she vaulted. I twisted midair, one foot planting on a delivery truck's roof, pushing off into another arc. Tires screeched beneath us. As horns blared.
We landed on the opposite sidewalk without softly, and without breaking stride. We kept running Behind us, someone shouted. I could tell some people were using their omni tools to record and that.
But we were already gone.
"Follow me," I said, veering into an alley.
We jumped over a fence with ease, cut between a dumpster, and rusted piping, and scaled a fire escape without pausing. Jane climbed like gravity was a suggestion. While I vaulted the last ladder rung and rolled onto the rooftop.
The rain was hitting harder up here. I could see from over the building. Across the train tracks stood the warehouse. It looked abandoned. Corrugated metal siding. Broken windows patched with plastic. Floodlights jury-rigged on poles. Train yard behind it, skeletal railcars rotting in the dark.
Jane stepped beside me. "That's it. Now we just need to get in there without dying."
I crouched at the edge of the building and let my senses expand. My eyes focused across the yard. I managed to pick up kinetic signature in my perception. Their were a few inside but none were around the warehouse or behind it.
Five men outside the front entrance. They looked like grown men and might have some experience. Four by a railcar in the front, it looked like they were drinking.
On the inside, my vision picked up ten. Five of them had smaller and lighter frames. Those must be Finch and the other Kids. I should assume everyone here is armed.
I turned slightly. " I can see nineteen in total. We should assume their all armed."
Jane exhaled slowly. "Good eyes. I only counted thirteen."
"Well I know you Trust me," I said quietly. "There are nineteen and they are armed, but not dangerous. To us at least."
Her jaw tightened. "Thirteen. I don't know about you but normal people get hurt or die when they are shot at."
She's right. I keep holding back my abilities. I know I don't want Cerberus to get wind of me, but whose to say they haven't. I don't know what Kline, or the illusive man might have planned for me. I just know if I keep holding back to much it will weaken me.
I know in order to send a message I must make these people respect and fear me. That's always a tricky balance. I guess tonight I will figure out or just be ready to start bringing a shovel with me everywhere I go.
Then I looked at Jane. "Jane. I need you to something."
"What?"
"Jane. What you're about to see tonight… it stays between me and you. Ok!" The rain ran down her face, but she didn't blink. "Thirteen, what are you about to—"
I stepped off the roof.
Jane lunged forward. "Thirteen!"
But I wasn't falling. A purple glow ignited around me midair.
A mass effect fields snapped into alignment. Eezo flared and radiated off my skin like a secondary nervous system. The descent slowed, my body wrapped in violet distortion as gravity bent around me. I touched down softly in the gravel lot outside the warehouse.
It felt nice to use my abilities again.
The rain hissed against the biotic field before fading. Jane landed seconds later with a grunt.
She stared at me. "You're a biotic."
I glanced at her. "Is that a problem?"
She shook her head immediately. "No. But why did you hide this ?"
"Good. and I hid it because I'm like to lay low, but tonight going forward. That might be a little harder. And Victoria doesn't know about me being a biotic. So keep it a secret."
"Why tell me but not her. You've know her alot longer?"
"Have my reason's for hiding my abilities, just like you do. And if I'm being honest, I've only known her for a slightly longer time then I've known you."
Jane looked surprised. "She treats you like a best friend. Are you you don't feel the same, not even a little."
I stopped walking and looked at her with a cold deadpan expression.
"Jane. I know next to nothing about her or you. She has followed me on what seemed like a whim. How can I trust someone that I know nothing about."
"But I don't know either of you well. But you helped out the kids at the complex. You didn't have to do all that , but you did."
"I think your misunderstanding something Jane." I continued. " If I was gonna be crashing somewhere, and wanted a low quiet life, then everything around me needs to be fixed. Whether it's a broken home. Endangered children or even greedy adults. Everything I did, I did for myself. It was just a good bonus that you managed to thrive from it."
Janes eyes widen in surprise. But I continued to walk, and she followed after a second.
We walked toward the warehouse. And saw the five men near the entrance straightened. The four by the railcar moved in to flank. Their guns became visible. I noticed their grips seemed more relaxed grips, their facial expression showed they were on guard but a little overconfident.
One of them smirked. "You kids lost?"
Another laughed. " They might be friends of Finch?"
I gave a small nod. "Yeah. We're his muscle."
That earned us a roar of laughter. As the rain continued to drip on us. I knew now was the right time to strike. I shifted my weight.
"Jane. Jump high."
She didn't hesitate. She leapt straight up as if launched by springs.
In that instant. Purple flared around my body. I drove my foot into the ground. And light detonated outward.
A Biotic Shockwave.
A radial pulse of compressed gravity and eezo energy erupted from beneath me. Gravel exploded upward. Air snapped like thunder. As the ground shook.
The men didn't even get a scream. They were ripped off their feet and hurled backward like rag dolls. Bodies slammed into shipping containers with sickening cracks. Metal dented. The sound of bones shattering echoed. One hit the railcar hard enough to cave the panel inward.
Then only the sound of the falling rain could be heard.
Jane landed beside me as debris settled. She was in awe by my display.
"That was powerful. I don't think I've seen biotics, this powerful before."
Then from inside the warehouse— "What the hell are you idiots doing?! The boss is in a—"
The door flew open. A man stepped out mid-sentence. He saw the bodies around us. "What the hell happened to my men."
He began to reach for his pistol—
Jane was already moving. She crossed the distance in a blur, her shoes splashing through puddles. Her fist came from the side, a perfectly angled hook strike.
The impact sounded like a dropped crate of glass. Teeth scattered across wet concrete. The man's body folded backward unnaturally before collapsing. Jane stood over him, as blood was dripping from her knuckles.
She looked shaken, but she steadied herself.
"You ready to go inside," she asked. But gunfire answered her. Five more men appeared deeper inside, pistols raised.
The first shots cracked through the doorway.
Jane's hand snapped outward in defense, and a purple biotic barrier flared infront of her, translucent distortion stopping the bullets' path.
She looked towards me. "Thanks for the safe."
I tilted my head. "Do you mind?"
She nodded stepped aside.
I dropped the barrier. As purple energy ignited around me again. This time more radiated around me ferociously. Then in in a instant I rushed forward, towards the five with great biotic force. Time stretched.
Thunder rolled outside.
Then with a Biotic Charge. I collided with the first man, gravity folding inward around the impact. His body lifted off the ground and smashed through a metal crate.
The second man fell from the air. I could tell his Ribs collapsed inward from the sounds I heard.
The third man slammed into the ceiling and dropped lifelessly.
The fourth and fifth had a pulse of biotic force detonated between them. They hit opposite walls with enough force I heard cracks and squishing sounds.
The rain outside intensified. Jane stepped through the wreckage beside me. Her eyes seemed cold, but I could tell from my psychic sense she was guards and anxious.
Just a little more Jane, were almost done. Then you can cry all you want.
Further inside, that's when we saw him— Finch.
Gun shaking in his hand. Two other teens flanked him, pale and wide-eyed.
And in front of them sat— A woman.
A very well dressed woman. She was unarmed. Or at least not visibly. Behind her stood a man and another woman with pistols raised at the ready, their postures seemed disciplined. They definitely weren't street thugs.
Probably professionals. Former military probably.
But their was a smell in the air. Something that made my nerves tingle. Like my biotics wanted to flare with energy.
Finch's voice cracked through my thoughts. "Who the hell are you?!"
Jane and I pulled back our hoods.
Finch's face drained of color.
Jane's voice was cool, almost cold. "What's wrong, Finch? Thought you said we should get smart and join?" She gestured around at the carnage. "So here we are."
I stepped forward slowly. I noticed Crates of red sand lined the floor. It looked like military-grade containers. This was very organized, a little to organized for a simple drug supplier. This might be bigger then I thought.
Finch swallowed hard. He glanced at the woman behind him. "It's not what it looks like," he babbled. "I told them you'd be useful, Miss Rein. I said if they knew what was good for them they'd work for you."
The woman lifted a manicured hand painted deep blood-red.
Silence fell.
Her voice carried easily despite the rain hammering the roof. A English accent. She spoke very reserved and controlled.
"You," she said, pointing at me. "You're a biotic."
I didn't respond immediately. But the way she looked at me , I didn't like it. It was like she was studying me like a specimen. Just like that bitch.
"In all my years," she continued calmly, "I have never seen a biotic that powerful. And certainly not one so young. Unless they were a Asari."
Her lips curved faintly.
"So let me ask you something, darling." She placed her head leaning on her left hand. "What's your price?"
Jane shifted beside me. The two armed guards subtly adjusted their stances. While Finch and the other kid trembled.