Tip of the Iceberg: A Mass Effect RP [TBM and Lord DreamCrusher]

[thebobmaster]

Noveria had proven itself to be quite a bit more than Sera vas Citadel nar Rannoch had been prepared to handle. The six foot tall, slender but curvy quarian rushed into a maintenance hatch, squeezing through. The dim red glow of the lighting inside was absorbed by her black environment suit, reflecting off her white visor as she managed to get herself through the hatch and into the steam vents for protection.

It had seemed like such a simple task: test her skills against a company's firewalls on their budget, and take advantage of her skills to skim a bit off the top. The quarian had done similar jobs before, but this one, she got more than she bargained for when she went digging deeper than she was hired to do. And worse, she suspected that Belia Industries, the company that had hired her, had noticed. She needed to get off-planet, now. But more importantly, she had information that she needed to share with others. At least someone to get the word out to.

As such, the quarian made her way to the back alleys of the Shansiz District, hiding herself among the steam vents before recording a distress call. "This is Sera vas Citadel nar Rannoch. I was hired to hack the servers of Belia Industries, and what I found when I did so is bigger than both the company and Noveria itself. I can't say more over this call, but if you are receiving this, my location is embedded within the call. My life is at risk, so please come to my location as soon as you can."

Sending the message out over every encrypted police channel she knew, the quarian leaned against a wall, trying to calm her nerves down. She hadn't considered a couple of possibilities, in her haste and inexperience. She hadn't considered that her every move might have been tracked from the second she had been hired. She also hadn't considered that just because police channels were encrypted, and her own message had been encrypted, didn't mean that her distress call couldn't be intercepted by less official sources. Her information was vitally important, and the call was made to one particular assassin. "Take her out, your way," the mysterious, voice modulated benefactor ordered over a secure line. "She's no fighter, so I don't expect you'll have much trouble. You'll get a bonus if you find a way to make her death send a message to never cross us, however."

 

[Lord DreamCrusher]

At the brief communication and details sent to his omni-tool the assassin replied coolly, accustomed to dealing death and accommodating client requests. Quarians were surprisingly tough to take down in many cases, very resistant to torture, but this one shouldn't be any trouble according to the information given. "I'll make sure the message is given loud and clear, don't worry." And with that he cut the line and shifted his focus to getting ready. The trip to Noveria wouldn't take that long but time was precious in his business and the contract was clear that he only got paid if he eliminated the target before she could spill any secrets.

Jul Elms was a human and a big time name in the criminal underworld. One of many assassins and mercenaries that took lessons from Cerberus to improve themselves; studying tactics and trying to copy equipment that had proven to be terrifyingly effective during the Reaper War. Sure the company all but went down in flames but their advancements lived on. Specifically in his case he'd trained to be athletic and fit, to move quietly and strike from the shadows with a monomolecular blade in one hand and a pistol in the other. Of course this prevented him from wearing much in the way of armor but that hardly mattered when he wasn't in the habit of being shot at in the first place. So, when he touched down planet side a cycle or so later and slipped into the back alleys to start tracking down his prey, he made only the faintest of footprints in the minds of those he passed through at security; his benefactor providing a sort of 'no questions asked' priority for his arrival.

--

Ganar Kar paced anxiously across the command deck of his modified Turian frigate newly renamed 'Pa'vex'. The krogan was indeed the captain of this vessel but more shocking than that was the fact that he was the first krogan spectre. Commander Shepard pioneered humanity into the council spotlight so many years ago and, in a way, Kar was doing much the same for his own people. All that said, he still had plenty to complain about. His ship was a Turian design and far too 'sleek' and 'elegant' for his sensibilities. He argued with the council over making it into something more suitable for conflict but they barely budged, making only token appeasements. He knew as well as anyone else that he was effectively on probation as well with plenty of people waiting for him to slip up so that they could call for his removal but Kar was a bit more level-headed than that. After all, he never would have gotten the job in the first place if he couldn't prove his worth to begin with.

One of the crew interrupted his inner grumblings with a simple but important phrase: Incoming distress call, captain. "Well put it through. Maybe we will finally get something to take care of." The projected imagery of a female quarian taking into her omni-tool while in some kind of crawl space certainly stood out at a glance but the words she spoke were yet more intriguing. "Danger on Noveria, what a surprise. It's no shootout but I'll take it. Anything to get off this damn ship and do something productive. Helm, grab those coordinates and change course." This wouldn't be his first action as a spectre but he was fairly new still all the same. To him it sounded like a simple extraction of some idiot in over her head with some corporate crap, which was most of Noveria to be honest, but the council hadn't been offering him much to investigate on their own so he'd happily take some small job to keep himself busy. It would take them a few days to arrive though so hopefully this Sera could hold out for that long.

 

[thebobmaster]

Unaware of both parties who were currently investigating her distress call, Sera continued making her way through the back alleys of Noveria, eventually arriving at the location she had signaled in her message. In her mind, she had picked an ideal location to hide until someone responded to her distress call. There weren't many people around, so anyone who did show up would stand out to her, and as a hacker, she had spent plenty of time in alcoves like the one she was currently hiding in, plugged into remote networks through conduits in the walls.

Now that she was in her marked location, she felt a bit more relaxed. She had done all she could to get the distress call out, and she felt fairly confident that it had only gotten to the authorities. And even on Noveria, she knew that the authorities were very by the book in terms of holding down the law. Unless the corporation could pay handsomely for individual officers to look the other way, but that amount of preparation seemed unlikely to Sera. She'd still stay on guard on the remote chance someone had intercepted her message, but she was equally confident in her own encryption to consider such a chance unlikely. As such, she kept her hand near the knife she kept by her ankle as she sat in the chair she had set up on a previous hacking event, but wasn't quite prepared to draw it without questioning whoever showed up in response to her distress call.

 

[Lord DreamCrusher]

After blending into the alleys and getting his bearings, Jul made contact with his employer again for an update. The credentials they had given him got him through security with his weapons, not an easy feat in Noveria, but he strongly suspected that it was Belia Industries themselves paying him to keep their secrets in the dark so it was hardly surprising. Either way, he didn't much care who was paying him so long as he did end up getting paid once all was said and done. The data stream that filtered into his omni-tool showed the coordinates listed in her distress call but, to his trained eye, it also revealed that the local authorities would be involved as well. The work was sloppy and so many people could have access to her location now if she was indeed still there. He'd have to get creative in order to make sure no one else could beat him to the punch.

Jul knew he couldn't take back the information now that it was out there but what he could do was cause a bigger mess for security to have to respond to instead. This wasn't his first time on the planet and so it didn't take him long to find the nearest security outpost and slip around back. With all the money that flowed through the place their equipment was far better than most planets. However, he had learned that the narrow band systems they used to transfer data between each station just so happened to be within the range than his military-grade device could access. It still wasn't an easy task of course, he had to position himself directly in the path of one such communication band to be able to patch into it, but they also tended to favor keeping signals somewhat low near the six to nine meter height. With a running start, and the help from some actuators in the legs of his suit, Jul was able to leap high enough to nab a finger-hold on the building as start climbing his way up; activating his cloaking field for good measure just in case someone happened to pass by.

A few minutes later he was perched a few stories up and on the side of the building where he had isolated the narrow band projecting from. From there he had access to their communications and, to a limited degree, their information systems so long as he didn't attempt anything too overt to trip any alarms. Planting a false request for assistance in a far district was easy enough and he made sure that it sounded dangerous enough to warrant all units to respond. They'd find out the error not long after they arrived most likely but it would give him whatever time it took for them to organize and move in; probably twenty minutes if he had to guess. It wasn't enough to really take his time with the target, to really send the message his employer wanted sent, but he just needed to flush her out of her hole first and foremost. Cornering her in some maintenance tunnels would be ideal to where he could take all the time he wanted to break her.

With all of this prep-work finished he trusted in his work and moved to Sera's location; little more than a secluded cove in a remote corner far from main walkways. It was a decent hiding spot perhaps for an amateur but hardly offered any true protection. While he peered down from one of the connecting alleyways he debated his approach and ultimately decided on a bolder take. He needed to herd her away so he needed her to flee. Taking her by surprise and knocking her out would be more trouble than it was worth; he didn't want to have to try and drag her through the district. So he drew his sword and strode casually into the open, walking towards the alcove while lightly dragging the tip of the blade against the ground to draw her attention. The scraping sound didn't travel far but it was unnatural and notable to even the untrained ear; a sound of danger as the man's lightly-armored bodysuit revealed not his face but rather all that she needed to know in regards to his intentions. "Hello Sera." Was all that came from the electronically filtered speaker on his mask.

 

[thebobmaster]

Sera's inexperience caught up to her quickly. Even in her relative naivety when it came to dealing with the criminal underground, Sera knew an assassin when she saw one, and immediately knew that somewhere, she had made a mistake. She didn't know where, but it probably at least involved her distress signal. She knew it had been encrypted. Her encryption had been solid. No, it was Belia Industries. That was where her miscalculation had been. They must have had someone in the local authorities after all to allow them access to her location. And they had proven very willing and able to use it.

Quickly, Sera calculated the odds that she'd be able to fight back against this assassin, and knew it was hopeless. Her knife might be able to get through his armor, given how light it was, but that sword could and would go through her suit with ease, and it would only take one strike, most likely, to bring her down. She had all the muscularity of what you'd expect from a hacker who relied on her technical skills rather than anything physical. She still had one possible aid, however. When you couldn't fight, clearly the situation here, and she knew trying to talk down the assassin would be useless, there was always "flee". That was the option Sera chose.

Quickly standing from her chair, Sera reached to her hip and threw a small disc at Jul's feet, frantically typing on her omni-tool to set off a bright light. Her visor filtered out the worst of the light, leaving her with slightly blurred vision, but hopefully, this assassin hadn't been quite as prepared and would be at least briefly blinded. Taking her chances, Sera quickly ran past the assassin, stumbling slightly as she drew her knife from her ankle as she passed him by. With her knife pulled, Sera slipped into the maintenance tunnels, using her slender build to easily squeeze through. Even if her move had had full effect, she knew she'd only bought herself seconds, so she needed to get to somewhere where she could try to catch him off-guard. Surprising an assassin seemed like an impossible task, but it was also, by her count, the only chance she had. She just hoped he didn't somehow have a map of the tunnels. They could be confusing going in blind, and she knew that for every path she took, there was a risk that an alternate path could allow him to catch her on the other side, and ambush her instead. If that happened...She could feel her heart racing at the prospect, and not in a good way. He could have struck her down without warning her, and the fact that he had announced himself meant he had even worse intentions, she felt.

 

[Lord DreamCrusher]

Jul's visor also blocked the worst of the bright flash but it still stung. He could have still reacted in time to catch her but he fought against his instincts and let her slip past; this was all part of his plan after all. Giving himself time to let his eyes recover before he gave chase, just in case she had something prepared for him to follow, he shook his limbs to help get his blood flowing and took off after the quarian who unwittingly ducked into exactly the place he wanted her to be. He didn't have a map, nor did he have the layout memorized, but he had used them before in the past to move around the city and thus held some lingering familiarity to feel comfortable in his chances of catching up to her. Furthermore the actuators in his suit did more than boosting his jumping capability, they enhanced his speed and agility as well so he doubted there were many individuals who could hope to out-run or out-maneuver him. He was confident in his skills, cocky perhaps, but one didn't make a name for themselves as a hitman without having some skill.

Rather than blindly follow her foot path like a fool he did try and trust his instincts in hopes that some faint memories might prove to his benefit and peeled off in the hopes of cutting her off for an intercept. A few minor mistakes cost him some time as the chase led deeper into the maze of tunnels but this was acceptable as well, perhaps even preferable to help hide what he was going to do to her. At every crossroads he'd activate his cloaking to help conceal his position in the case that he moved into her field of vision and he felt the gap narrowing with each passing moment until finally, after a few minutes of their independent running with no contact, he emerged directly in front of her path by only a couple of meters at most. With no real time to plan out his move, and still all but invisible for a few seconds longer thanks to his suit's cloaking, Jul spun on his heels and twisted his torso to bring his right elbow around in a circular strike aimed for Sera's neck.

 

[thebobmaster]

After several minutes of running, Sera felt a bit less on guard. She was still in danger, she knew that. How much danger, she didn't know, but it was definitely not an easy clean death if she allowed herself to get caught. For that reason, she always had her knife at the ready. The second she saw something out of place, she was ready to slash at it. At least, that had been what she thought.

A better, or at least trained, fighter might have at least seen the attack coming, reacted to the sound of the soft shuffling directly in front of them and slashed just in case. Sera, however, was not trained, and was caught completely off-guard by the elbow. With a coughing gasp, Sera sprawled out on the ground, her knife sliding out of her grip and reach as she landed on her stomach. Breathing rapidly in clear panic, Sera briefly considered her options: stand and face the assassin, or scramble for her knife. She chose the latter, getting to her hands and knees and moving towards her knife after about half a second to shake off the impact of the hit. As she moved, it would be obvious to Jul that she was hardly a fighter, just the equivalent of a street kid in terms of combat skills, allowing him plenty of options at his leisure if he could keep her away from her knife.

 

[Lord DreamCrusher]

Feeling the solid impact and hearing her body fall to the ground and slide a bit, Jul relaxed somewhat and believed he had managed to complete the bulk of his work right now. The odd strike he had thrown did require him to spend a moment or two recovering his balance but, when he did, all he saw was a pathetic woman crawling weakly towards a simple knife she thought to be her salvation. Killing such an individual such as her was practically a mercy in the grand scheme of things but he pushed those thoughts aside as he couldn't let himself get complacent just yet; she had proven to have a few tricks up her sleeves so far.

"You run faster than I expected but you didn't seem to realize..." The filtered, crackling voice came from his speaker again as the man took a few steps closer. Pulling his left leg back, Jul launched a heavy kick into the side of her torso; making sure to follow through with the motion to not lose any force. "...I wanted you here." He didn't need to take the knife for himself, he just needed to stop her from reaching it. Getting some early abuses in now to soften her up further would only help keep her from causing too much trouble. That said, he did want to take her a bit further in order to find a nice place to begin the torture proper so he followed up the kick by grabbing her nearest ankle to quite literally drag her away as he pleased. He didn't need anything too special, just a little more space to work with than most of these tunnels afforded, and he was certain he could find a junction or such close enough that pulling her along wouldn't be too much hassle. If she struggled, well, his blade could make short work of such willfulness.

 

[thebobmaster]

Just before she reached her knife, Sera felt pain explode in her side as the assassin kicked her with enough force to send her to the ground once again, this time lying on her back as she groaned. Before she could recover enough to try going for the knife again, she felt him grab her by the ankle and drag her away. His taunt didn't really phase her, even if he seemed to be mocking her lack of experience. She had done the best she could under the circumstances, and now she had to find a way to continue to do so.

She knew struggling would be pointless. He had her overpowered, and trying to fight back would just end badly for her. Instead, she tapped on her omnitool, activating the hard light blade to scrape along the ground as she was dragged. If anyone managed to track down where she'd been captured, she'd at least be leaving them a trail. A faint hope, but it was all she had to cling to as she was dragged to a nearby junction. She was familiar enough with the tunnels to know what this particular installment was used for. Inside were stored barrels of water, used to cool down the nearby machinery, and all the space that the assassin could want to do his work. As she contemplated what the assassin could have in store for her, she couldn't help but squirm in his grip. It wasn't enough to even come close to weakening his grip in any way, but the movements did have an inadvertent side effect, her fairly firm breasts swaying slightly as she moved. Not much, but enough to draw attention if the assassin was so inclined as to notice her figure even in these circumstances.

 

[Lord DreamCrusher]

Jul was confident but not clueless and he noticed over his shoulder as she started dragging her blade along beside her. The sound of the blade materializing from her omni-tool was a familiar one to his ears and he looked over his shoulder reflexively to make sure she wasn't lunging at him in attack. When it became clear that she wasn't, well, he put it out of his head; though continued to stay wary of her movements should she grow bold with the device. True that his armor was light and limited but he still had some shielding that should protect against a strike or two. Nothing he wanted to rely on of course but a good fall back should his skills or senses fail him. Nevertheless it was clear he needed to disarm her of that device before starting to have his fun with her and, as he dropped her leg at the junction and turned to look at Sera more directly, the subtle jiggle of her breasts beneath the exterior of her suit did catch his eye momentarily.

The assassin paused for a moment before shaking off the dirty thoughts. To be certain he could have some fun with her body in that regard before finishing her off but he needed to focus on the main priorities first. Pointing the tip of his sword towards her throat, Jul used the threatening display to protect him as he crouched down and began to reach for her omni-tool; specifically the area around her arm where he had seen her project the small blade. By his experience the actual device could be manufactured and equipped in many different ways but the most common ones were either gloves worn on the hand or small little boxes that attached to the outside of the forearm. "Keep still, deactivate that blade, and you won't end up with a hole in your throat." He'd need to do some investigating to figure out how her omni-tool was integrated, and how difficult it would be to remove, but surely he could manage the task one way or another.

 

[thebobmaster]

The sword at her throat immediately gave Sera pause. Any thoughts she had about resisting, trying to run again after he let go of her ankle, went out of her mind with his threat. Nodding slowly, the quarian reached down for her omni-tool, quietly deactivating the blade without any hesitation. As she did so, she felt herself start to tremble, her heart racing as the situation she was in truly began to sink in. This man, this assassin, he wasn't just going to kill her. If he wanted to, his sword would be through her throat. No, he intended to draw it out, and what that meant for her was uncertain, but it was not going to be pleasant. But by herself, she knew there was nothing she could do to stop him. Her only hope was weak, but it was someone else responding to her signal, and managing to track her down. She could at least make it a bit easier, but she'd have to try to be subtle about it.

After deactivating her omni-blade, she made a show of being even more compliant. If her captor had any sense, and he'd proven to have a fair bit of it, he'd ask her, or force her, to remove her omnitool next. Acting as though she were merely anticipating the order, Sera removed the glove that the omnitool was attached to, tossing it aside before he could tell her to do so. As she did, however, she pressed a certain button, sending out a tracking signal to anyone on a certain frequency, one that was used by many law enforcement agencies. To be sure, this captor had tracked her down in likely the same way, so she knew there was a slight risk of the signal alerting him, but there was also no reason for him to monitor the feeds with her at his mercy, surely. Just to be safe, she knew she had to distract him.

Reaching up with her now-bare hand, the soft lilac skin exposed, she put a hand on the flat of his blade. Not as a sign of resistance, but merely indicating an awareness of her precarious situation as she spoke in a contralto voice belying her youthful figure. "What do you want from me, assassin? You could have killed me several times over. Why drag this out?" Her voice trembled, showing a great deal of fear that she had no need to fake.

 

[Lord DreamCrusher]

The initiative shown was surprising but appreciated as Sera removed her omni-tool for him. Of course he was suspicious about the movements she made in deactivating the blade but each device was designed differently enough, not to mention customized uniquely to the user, that there was no real way to tell at a glance if she had tried to dupe him in some fashion. Jul intended to check the device regardless just to be certain but was distracted for the moment as she reached up and grasped his blade gently. Honed instincts screamed at him to strike but he continued to suppress these as he felt like he was truly in little danger from the quarian. This proved to be the right call as she wasn't really in a position to do much of anything about the weapon; the motion just seemed like an odd choice from his perspective that he couldn't quite figure out.

The question brought his mind to the forefront of the moment and he saw no reason to deny her curiosity. In the end it didn't matter what she knew or didn't know, and it didn't truly matter how frightened or pained she ended up being, he just needed to make sure that whoever found the body could imagine the girl having experienced agony before demise. That and, of course, the autopsy would have to support the fact that such tortures were done pre-mortum. His crackling voice responded with no real delay to explain the trouble she was in. "I am not being paid to kill you. I am being paid to make an example out of you."

The distinction was subtle but surely horrifying even beyond the current fear she presented to him. To back up this reveal he began to slowly move the blade over the exterior of her suit, gently touching the tip against the material here and there as it hovered down from her neck and crossed her chest. He paused to push the flat of the blade against her right breast, intending to stimulate motion to emulate the earlier jiggle he had noticed, but otherwise continued to move the weapon along her arms, over her stomach, past her groin, and along each leg in turn. In his mind he was imagining where he might like to begin, where a few choice cuts or thrusts might inflict some sweet pain without causing much beyond superficial injury.

Sera had removed one of her gloves already but he knew that quarian suits were compartmentalized and highly stuffed with redundancy systems left behind from a point in history when their immune systems used to be all but non-existent. Make a breach in the suit and it would respond in kind to close it as best was possible. Make a series of small breaches in many scattered places and the suit became as constrictive as bondage gear from all the various attempts to protect the occupant; not to mention any pain from the actual harm done to the flesh beneath.

Ultimately, after a few minutes of toying with her like this, he decided to follow through and pushed the tip of the monomolecular blade into the lower part of her left leg. Jul didn't sink the blade in deep, only enough really to break the skin and inflict pain, but he could hear the suit's systems going to work as he withdrew to start forming a temporary seal. "Quarian suits are very resilient, aren't they?" He shifted the tip of the sword to her left arm and pushed inward at the inside of her forearm for another small puncture, same as before. The sword might as well have been sliding through butter for all the resistance it met, requiring not real effort from him at all and rather demanding that he exercise restraint to not just thrust clean through her. He paused a few breaths before making one more small thrust into the right side of her abdomen, just above the hip, after which he flourished the blade in a spinning motion before sheathing it upon his back. Some small amount of pain would help limit her mobility and harm her focus, lessen her will, but he'd much rather break her down slowly and in less immediately harmful ways. To this end he'd reach down to her shoulders and try to lift her up to her feet, or at least to a point that he could drape her over one of the water barrels.

 

[thebobmaster]

She trembled harder as his words confirmed all of her worst fears. She wasn't just going to get killed if she didn't get a rescue at some point. That was merely going to be the end of her struggles, her torment. She had sensed from what she had found about Belia Industries that they were into some very shady things, and she had known her information was potentially worth silencing to keep from spreading, but this was beyond anything she had been prepared for.

She couldn't help but gasp as he ran the point of the sword over her body, trying to brace herself for the sword sliding into her. Behind her visor, she bit her lip as he made her right breast jiggle with the flat of the blade. That could not have been done accidentally, and now Sera was worried on a completely different level about the intentions of the assassin that was currently toying with her, running the sword over the rest of her body. She had no idea what he was planning. All she knew was that it was just a matter of time before-

Keelah! Her thoughts cut off as the worst pain she'd ever felt flared up in her left leg. It was only a superficial wound, no real damage, but the clean cut still caused her to cry out in pain, even as the suit tightened to compartmentalize as designed, flinching with the last two stabs. As the suit tightened to seal off the injuries to prevent infection, a design that was redundant given the increased immunity systems quarians had gained over the past several decades, Sera was vaguely aware of the torso of her suit tightening below her ribs, causing her already somewhat prominent breasts to become even more pronounced as her tightening suit had the same effect as a corset.

Sera struggled to stand even as the assassin lifted her to her feet, leaning on the water barrel to help support her weight. Breathing hard, she faced the assassin with her back against the water barrel, feeling the blood inside her suit running down her arm, leg, and stomach, albeit quite slowly due to the tightening of the suit. While she had no idea what was going to be next in store for her, she was far from comforted when he sheathed the blade. Her suit wasn't even armor of any sort, and the flexible material would allow him to do anything he wanted to her with his hands. She wasn't strong enough to stop him, after all. As she imagined one action after another, she started to tremble uncontrollably, trying automatically to pull away from him and nearly knocking over the open water barrel as she did so. "You don't have to do this, I have money..." she began to beg, her voice trembling as hard as her body. "Whatever they will pay you, I can match, I'm sure..."

 

[Lord DreamCrusher]

"Have to?" He laughed in response to her desperate offer of payment to stop this from proceeding. "I want to do this." Despite the electronic filtering of his voice it would be impossible to miss the hint of glee held within his words as he reached up to Sera's mask and spent a moment figuring out the release before prying it away and dropping it on the floor beside them. Jul would proceed to manhandle her yet further, spinning her around so that she was leaning over the barrel and facing away from him while he sidled up close and pressed his groin tight against her rear. This was a tease of things yet to come but his true goal here and now was more torture, more punishment, as he gripped the back of her head and shoved her face under the water contained within the barrel. He wouldn't kill her this way of course but repeated efforts would be a quick way to wear her down physically and mentally; not that she was affording much resistance to him on either front.

--

Sera couldn't know it but her faint hope of rescue was coming but not in any way she might expect. With the local authorities still busy with the false alarm set by the assassin, Kar had made planetfall with his ship and plowed through the security checkpoint with all the diplomatic intentions of an eight hundred pound krogan. Thankfully it hadn't come to open gunfire due to Noveria's acceptance of council affairs on the planet but a krogan was hardly a readily-believable spectre candidate so tensions had most definitely been high in the face of his claim. Still, it would take Kar some time to follow the trail and find Sera so she'd have to suffer a little while longer under the care of her captor.

 

[thebobmaster]

Sera froze up slightly at both his words and the tone of his voice. The fact that he actually wanted to do this erased any hope she had of appealing to the assassin for mercy, and now she was relying on the incredibly faint odds that someone would respond to her distress call and be able to track her down. Until then, she was completely at the mercy of this assassin.

Before she could do much more than let that sink in, his hands were on her mask, prying at it. She struggled only briefly before it was unsealed and pulled away from her face, revealing the face of a young quarian, likely in the human equivalent of her early twenties, with dark blue hair still constrained by the hood of her suit, although that fell away without the mask holding it down when the assassin spun her around.

She gasped and trembled as his groin pressed against her firm, tight ass, feeling him even through her suit. The true panic, however, set in when he pushed her head underwater. Squirming, she gripped the sides of the barrel, futilely trying to push against his hand, but the only time she got any air or relief was when he pulled her up. The first two cycles, she kept up the resistance, but after the third submersion, she started to weaken physically, and as she was held under for the fourth time, her fear finally got the better of her. The knowledge that he was going to torment her, and enjoy it, and the simple terror of being drowned all combined in her mind.

While she'd lost air simply due to lack of attrition before, this time it might have been possible for the assassin to hear a faint whimper accompanying the bubbles that rose to the surface, but if that didn't indicate her level of terror, her body's next reaction would. To her faint shame, she felt first her crotch, then thighs grow damp...then soaking wet as her bladder simply let itself go. With how dark her suit was, she knew that the assassin wouldn't see it, and if she'd had her suit's systems fully activated, it would have simply cycled through, but the suit was more decorative than functional for her. She wore it as an outfit, nothing more. If it wasn't an automatic design function, like the self-sealing, she simply didn't bother maintaining it. And so, with the assassin pressed up so tightly against her, she knew there was almost no chance he wouldn't feel her essentially pissing her pants. And even in her terror and shame, she knew he'd probably enjoy that knowledge. Sick fuck...

 

[Lord DreamCrusher]

True to her thoughts Jul felt the wetness seeping into her suit and openly laughed in a cruel and haunting fashion. This did afford her a brief respite from the cycles of drowning however as he pulled her head up and took a step back to create a bit of space while she continued the act of wetting herself. In many respects silence could have more effect than words so he simply let her drain her bladder with nothing to distract her mind from the process. Weakened as she was already from the water torture he ultimately figured it was as good a time as any to give her a few moments to recover. Torture was one thing but he couldn't off her yet. That, and variety was necessary to ensure she didn't grow numb to the sensations.

When he felt confident that she was finished, at least as best that he could tell from an outside perspective, the man spoke up to break the silence. "I usually prefer the ones that put up a good struggle but, I have to admit, your weakness is quite arousing." Jul didn't know quarian suits well enough to understand all the nuances but this did seem unusual for him, not that it really mattered in the grand scheme of things. His curiosity did spur on his intentions to get a better look at her figure though as his hands began to explore the sides and back of her suit to see if he could find a way to crack it open. If he truly needed to he could cut it, though the self-sealing nature would make that a slow and tedious process he'd rather avoid in this instance. Really he just wanted to expose her ass for now to taunt her more on her pathetic state and to take a look at what she could offer him for his pleasure.

 

[thebobmaster]

Sera coughed up water as she finished wetting herself, pulling herself away from the barrel as much as she could as she trembled. She didn't respond to his taunts. Nothing she said could do anything more than please him, or worse, upset him into potentially doing more. She hated the idea that she was arousing him with just how terrified she was, but there was nothing she could do about either his reaction or, clearly, her own.

She froze up as he ran his hands over her suit, clearly trying to find a way to crack it open. She tried to turn around, prevent him from finding the seals, but his hands brushed against the seals as she did so, feeling her back and rear get exposed as the suit was opened. Quickly, and in clear panic, she turned to try to face him directly, leaving her clothed front facing him rather than her now exposed ass. As she did so, she couldn't help but glance down at the assassin's crotch, clearly concerned with how aroused he seemed, and seeing if his body proved to be just as aroused as his taunting and actions indicated.

 

[Lord DreamCrusher]

It was perhaps a bit frustrating that the space he had created also afforded her the chance to turn around and deny him the view his hands had worked to expose, though ultimately he still held all the power and didn't allow the minor turn to make him do anything too hasty. His own suit by comparison was just as form-fitting and tight and hugged his joints in stretchable materials that were durable but not much protective. The few pieces of armored protection were located in areas that did not need to flex such as his back and chest, forearms, and lower legs. His groin, however, was not concealed in such a fashion behind any outer shell and thus his stiffening manhood did offer a rather clear outline for Sera's eyes to travel down to.

At a glance it would seem that that section of his suit could be opened with ease as well due to some conveniently placed seams that formed something near to a triangle around his genital region. The truth was a bit more complicated that just a flap that could peel away, the section itself could actually slide upward entirely and be out of the way, but everything yet remained covered and concealed for the time being at least; the man was aroused to be certain but he wasn't flaunting his cock openly.

"Still holding on to a bit of resistance huh? I'm surprised you can still move that fast... what with the three stab wounds and the rounds of water torture." The crackling filter didn't hide the sharpen tone that his voice was taking as he took a step forward and lowered his stance momentarily before launching into a sudden uppercut targeting the small wound on her stomach with his right fist. "Clearly I need to put you in your place." He would hit her a few more times in the stomach but not actively targeting her wound with the follow up strikes, moreso just trying to inflict enough pain that she'd double over so he could force her to the ground and on her stomach; So he could look at her ass and get himself ready to violate her as he pleased.

 

[thebobmaster]

The sight of his stiffening cock gave Sera pause, to be sure. It also seemed to her that he had designed his suit to make it far too easy to whip it out at a moment's notice, and he was probably already making plans to do just that. As he commented on her ability to hold onto some resistance as well as remind her what she had already gone through, she opened her mouth, possibly to remind him that she was aware of what he had done to her, but the punch to her stomach drove the words, and air, out of her.

With a cough, she clutched the barrel behind her, but the next two blows caused her to lose her grip, doubling over and easily allowing the assassin to hold her down to the ground. As she struggled, her soft ass swayed slightly, the exposed flesh jiggling softly with every one of her squirms, the size of her cheeks seeming to be just about the perfect handful as she tried to get away from his pin.

 

[Lord DreamCrusher]

With one hand on the back of her neck helping to keep her in place he got down quickly to straddle her to help prevent any side to side motion as well. It wasn't a terribly secure pin as far as they go but Jul figured it was enough for the moment. Besides, it left his other hand free to reach down and play with her ass at his leisure. To be certain he couldn't experience the full softness of her skin through his gloves but they delivered some tactile sensation to him all the same as he ran his hand over each cheek, pausing to squeeze firmly and drive home what he intended to do to her soon enough. The man would even go so far as to deliver a few hard slaps as best he could in the somewhat awkward angle; they weren't particularly powerful considering but he still enjoyed it all the same. When the slight whirring sound of his suit came to signal the retraction of the fabric at his groin, and both the heat and hardness of his cock pressed down on Sera's right ass cheek, it felt inevitable that he would soon slide his throbbing length inside of her but Jul's distraction ended up being his downfall.

From down the hall they had entered this junction from came the telling sound of biotics activating. As quick and agile as the assassin was he could barely manage a "Huh?" before the glowing mass of energy hit him in the back and flung him forward into the wall a few meters away with a solid crunch right in Sera's field of vision. Jul tried to get up quickly and draw his weapons, cock and balls still bouncing in the open air, but the hearty thrum of automatic fire tore into the man's limited protection and filled him full of bloody holes. The bursting energy of his shielding failing was all but drowned out in the chaos but it only lasted a few seconds before silence filled the maintenance tunnels again.

A deep, throaty voice that could only belong to a krogan piped up as casual as ever and lacking any urgency or concern. "Well, aren't you looking worse for wear. View from here is pretty good though." His eyes stared unabashedly at her exposed ass while he allowed her the chance to collect herself. When she did manage to turn around she'd see him clearly; a prime example of a brute of a krogan clad in thick blue armor that glowed with yellow holographic layers added onto the outside commonly referred to as 'Tech Armor' in the military side of things. Yellow slit-eyes peered out from beneath a black painted head plate and in his hands he held a heavy assault rifle, specifically an M-76 Revenant to those who might recognize such things. "You are Sera vas... something, something... Citadel right? Would hate to think I'd spent this time tracking the wrong girl." While he certainly was dangerous, most all krogan were just by their nature of being krogan, this one was not attempting in any way, shape, or form to intimidate her like the human just had.

 

[thebobmaster]

Sera groaned as she was squeezed, then let out several shouts as he slapped her ass. It didn't hurt too much, but the spanks certainly stung, and the shame made her flush as she kept trying to get out from under him. It was useless, however, as she felt his cock press against her. She knew she was seconds from being raped, and there was nothing she could do to stop it....

And then chaos ensued. It was over so quickly that it took some time to sink in for Sera as the assassin was thrown off of her by some biotics, and then shot down before he could fight back. As the krogan commented on her body, and her current state, Sera slowly stood up again, using the water barrel for support as she slowly turned to face her...rescuer, she hoped.

The krogan was definitely a bit intimidating, not least because of his race, but he didn't seem to be too aggressive against her, wasn't trying to intimidate or threaten her. She definitely wished she was in a better state, of course. Besides being half exposed, she was still well aware of her soaked legs, the darkness of her suit the only thing that might prevent the krogan from noticing that particular shameful element. "I am. I am also very grateful for the rescue. This is a rescue, isn't it?" Her voice was still badly shaken from what she had endured, her arms automatically reaching behind her to seal her suit up before she reached down to retrieve her visor, sealing it back in place.

 

[Lord DreamCrusher]

His face was hard to read as she turned around and slowly got up to face him. It was clear that she was weak and possibly injured, though it wasn't until he got a clean look at her front side that he could see the suit ruptures; small as they were anyway. Removing his left hand from his weapon the krogan activated the omni-tool on said hand to do a quick medical scan of the quarian before him before applying small doses of medi gel to patch her up for the time being and dull the pain. "I didn't fling you against the wall and shoot you. What do you think?"

While he was tending to her injuries he of course had to step closer and, in doing so, he sniffed the air a few times before focusing back on his work. "Smells like piss. Him or you?" The question wasn't judgemental at face value and honestly not even an important one as far as he was concerned. He pushed past the remark as the last of her injuries were sealed, eager to keep moving rather than waste time. "Take your knife, get your glove, and grab that guy's pistol if you don't already have a gun. You can tell me all about the trouble you are in when we get back to my ship. If it's as important as you say the Council will want to know. If not, well, getting to shoot something was worth the effort." He pulled her lost knife from his back and extended it out towards her in offering while he otherwise waited for her to collect herself to some degree.

 

[thebobmaster]

The medigel, combined with his words, seemed to do the trick to get her to be more relaxed, feeling less nervous. As he sealed the last of her stab wounds, she walked over to her discarded omni-tool, putting it and the glove back on before taking the knife back, then grabbing the gun. She didn't answer his question about the smell. In her mind, the lack of an answer was probably enough of one in any case, but she didn't exactly want to confirm it out loud. She didn't have much dignity left, but she was clinging to all that she had.

Strapping the gun to her waist, she made her way to the door. "I think the fact that he was going to kill me eventually is enough indication that my information is important, but I do think being in a safe environment first would be a good idea. I'll definitely feel better when I'm not in the same room as my would-be killer. And in on a ship with...a Spectre, I'm assuming, given your reference to the Council."

 

[Lord DreamCrusher]

"Heh, you wouldn't believe how many assassination attempts I've dealt with over trivial matters on the Citadel." Still he wasn't denying the danger she was in, that much was clear and obvious. If one assassin was sent then surely more would follow until the business with the stolen secrets was concluded, one way or another. Time would tell if the information was far-reaching or just a lesser corporate scandal but Kar was at least willing to look into it for himself.

In regards to his status he was mildly surprised that she'd make that guess but it wasn't a stretch; just more that many people couldn't comprehend the posibility that a krogan was serving the council in such a fashion. His induction hadn't been cast to the extranet. "Made that connection more easily than most, though it's clear you don't really believe it. Ganar Kar, first Krogan Spectre and all that. Now stick close and stay behind me in case there are anymore people looking to kill you." He trusted his ability to find his way back without much issue but the fact that the Noveria authorities hadn't come down here was concerning. Of course, Kar didn't know anything about the misdirection and planted alarm but he wasn't letting his guard down regardless until they were both back on his ship... assuming they made it that far without trouble.

 

[thebobmaster]

She stayed very close to him as they made their way through the back alleys again, then through Noveria properly before eventually arriving at his ship. Surprisingly, there wasn't any trouble as they approached the ship, but that wasn't to say that they were unnoticed. Rather, a cloaked turian followed the pair through the docking bay, making a note of the bay number. "Bay 25D," she rasped into her omni-tool, alerting her boss to allow them to get the rest of the ship information from the docking authorities.

Unaware of the tracking going on, Sera made her way back onto the ship, looking around as she spoke. "OK, now that we are on the ship, I'll lay out what I know," she said quickly. "After what I just went through, I'm rather eager to not sit on that information." She took a deep breath. "I was hired to test the security of Belia Industries. I got in through their security, and...well, I'll admit I got curious, and did a little extra digging once I was in. The files I found were troubling. There is a weapons factory that was closed down a year ago after its foreman had an accident, but was bought up using this company's funds suspiciously quickly. However, the factory is both having more funds put into it, and not officially active. Those two things do not make sense...and why is a research company buying a weapons factory to begin with? Seems suspicious."