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

Sera gasped as the knife twisted inside of her thigh, shuddering slightly as the cut was lengthened. As Aptis stood and informed her of what was coming, Sera simply braced herself as Aptis turned her back and got to work making the piercing. Sera was definitely nervous about what was coming, not so much because of the piercing coming as it was who was doing it. Someone like Aptis wouldn't bother to make it safe or painless. To the contrary, the turian would probably rather do more damage just for the sake of punishment.

As her breast was grabbed and her nipple manipulated almost gently, Sera was not aroused by the situation, to say the least. However, her body didn't react to her fear or lack of interest in a way that Sera would have wanted it to. Her nipple hardened exactly as Aptis wanted it to, the quarian squirming slightly as she tried to pull back from the turian's efforts. This time, however, she didn't bother demanding a question be asked, as she had preceding the previous efforts on Aptis' part. What was going to happen was going to happen no matter what, and Sera was realizing that even the slight amount of power she felt she had was a front, and that Aptis truly was in control. As such, she wasn't going to bother trying to take any control.


The turian listened to what Kar requested. "Straight to the point. I can respect that. I'll do the same. We both know who took her, you just have no proof or leads. There's a difference between that and suspicions. The where...that is something we can help you with. It won't be cheap, however. We also both know credits won't cut it with Aria. I cannot tell you the cost of your request, as I will need to take it to Aria. I can tell you that because of the time frame, you won't be in suspense long. I'll take your request to Aria, and someone will contact you once she has a price to offer."
 
If Sera looked closely at the needle held between Aptis' fingers she might see the thin sheen of a translucent, greenish liquid coating the metal. It was faint though and very minute in quantity, thus easily missed in regards to sight. However, once the quarian's nipple was nice and erect so that the turian could hold it in place there would be no missing the effects of said liquid as Aptis pressed the needle through the sensitive flesh. "Can you feel the toxin? Rather harmless and yet blissfully agonizing. I've heard humans equate it to the sting of one of their small insect species, I think they called them ants? The piercing will hurt for a moment and fade, unfortunately, but the toxin I placed on the needle? That will stimulate your pain receptors for hours, maybe even days if you are lucky, and prevent the adrenaline response from dulling the sensation."

While each individual was different when it came to nerve endings and sensitivity, and as such this piercing may not be as brutally painful as she desired, the toxin all but guaranteed the suffering she desired. With the precision of a surgeon Aptis threaded the needle, pushing at a slow and steady pace through Sera's left nipple until it exited the far side. As this penetration progressed the toxin would enter Sera's body and begin working its terrible magic; burning through the area of the puncture itself and spreading to the immediate vicinity around the end of the woman's breast. Nerves would alight like fire, like nails driving through soft flesh, and the sensation would remain a constant reminder; one that did not fade as the moments passed. When she was satisfied that the channel was large enough for a piercing, the turian would withdraw the needle back as she remained careful not to touch the tip where the toxin had been applied. It only activated when entering the bloodstream but caution was always warranted with such things all the same.

A few moments of waiting to let things settle, followed by a light dabbing of cloth to absorb any lingering blood that might yet remain, and Aptis would go ahead and push through the small bar of metal she had fashioned into the shape of a barbell before screwing a small piece to cap the other end. Sera could remove this piece of 'jewellery' in the future, assuming she got free and survived captivity, but for now it stood prominant on her chest as the only thing her body currently displayed that was not her natural flesh. "Let's try a different question. What did you do with the prisoners you took from the Eletania research camp?"


"I've done this before. I know how to play this game." Kar replied in response to the woman's comment on his straightforwardness. There was little point in trying to obfuscate anything when trading information through Aria and, in this case specifically, it would only potentially slow the process down. Still the soft confirmation that Belia was involved was as he suspected but he had hoped there was a chance for something lesser. He couldn't hold onto that hope at this point though and shifted his viewpoint to the worst-case scenario that it was rapidly turning out to seem.

Her assurances that he'd hear back in short order didn't amount to much as far as he was concerned, he needed more immediate results lest he resort to the same ineffective searching he'd ordered Velira to do in the district. He'd have to wait somewhat regardless but he had to expedite the process more, had to sweeten the pot. "I'll wait here." Making it clear that he was serious about this transaction despite the potential cost, he would follow this up with some parting information. "You can tell her that the services of a krogan such as myself, an ex-blood pack leader with the skills to back up his muscle, would be on offer. That's not even counting the fact that I'm now a spectre with my own ship. I'm not writing a blank check, but I expected some wetwork to be in my future."
 
Sera grimaced from the penetration of the needle, but she ignored the taunting of the turian torturing her. It wasn't anything she wasn't already prepared to hear. More words about how much pain she was going to be in from the liquid.

It wasn't long, however, before she realized that the taunts were not just empty words. As the toxin made its way through her bloodstream, the flaring pain focused in her breast. Sera tried not to show a reaction to it beyond her grimace of pain, even as the bar was pushed through her new piercing, but the pain simply seemed to grow more and more, with no signs of relenting. As such, she let out a soft groan, squirming in the chair in a way to cause her breasts to sway just a bit, her pierced breast throbbing visibly from the venom coursing through her bloodstream.

As she was questioned again, Sera's voice was softer, somewhat defeated in tone as she tried to shut out the pain without any success. "They were picked up by the Council for questioning. I would assume they went to the Citadel, but I can't say for sure." As she continued to feel the pain in her chest, Sera let out another groan, this one a bit louder than the last. "Please...there must be some sort of antidote for this..."


The turian nodded, standing up. "I will be sure the message gets received. I'm sure she has a job or two sitting around just waiting to be done." With that, she left quickly, heading up to where Aria was likely observing the club from her own private retreat. It wasn't too long before the turian returned with a datapad. "This is definitely wetwork, of a sort. Shop owner is trying to hide information from Aria, like her connection to Belia Industries. You see, if that got out, as well as her under-the-table sales, her kickback price would go up. Getting greedy with Aria is not a good long-term strategy, but every now and then, someone with some muscle thinks they can just take the easy way out. Teach her otherwise. No need to ensure new management, but more than a stern word, if you catch my understanding. Shop is the Serin Dawn. Let's just say the owner is hard to miss. Not many krogan shopkeeps."
 
Aptis paused to consider the woman's words, trying to judge their sincerity while masking her inner thoughts with a straight face. Ultimately the turian concluded that the information was likely true, or otherwise close enough to the truth to make any slight tweaks rather pointless. Aptis wasn't sure how much could be done regarding the researchers at this stage with this new knowledge but, ultimately, her goal here was the collection of information rather than determining its usefulness so she remained somewhat satisfied with this first little tidbit. Regardless, despite her attempts to hide her thoughts and maintain control in the situation, Aptis couldn't help but grow increasingly aroused with every twitch of the quarian's lips as she struggled to resist the pain, every shift of the woman's body as she moved in vain to seek escape. The slight twitching of the turian's remaining mandible belied her enjoyment of Sera's suffering and that was something Aptis simply could not hide.

"Antidote? Oh I'm sure there is but I don't have it." That was the truth. Aptis had little use for remedies for her subjects and believed herself careful enough to not feel the sting of any poisons herself to need such measures. "So you want to keep answering my questions to prevent me from using any more of it, don't you?" Again this wouldn't save Sera from pain and suffering, from slow and agonizing torture, but she was making it clear that things would only be worse if she lied or otherwise refrained from answering the given questions. For the moment, Aptis set the needle aside in thinking that she'd not need it so quickly. Though, if the quarian found some reserve of resolve to resist again, well, Sera had other places that needle could go and it was only one tool in her current arsenal.

When the turian stepped back to her captive she was holding a somewhat small and thin cane of synthetic material. The black implement was an impact tool designed to deliver pain to the exterior of the body, generally resulting in deep bruising that discolored flesh, however Aptis had little intention of holding back on her swings and would be all too happy to crack and break skin as well. "Let's step back shall we? Don't want to dive too deep into your punishment just yet. Would hate to get carried away and make you pass out too early. The early cracks of this won't likely be enough to bother a tough girl like you but the beauty of impact play is how it weakens the flesh through repetition." She drew back and flicked the cane down onto the upper half of Sera's right breast. As it struck her soft flesh the cane made a sharp cracking noise that sliced through the quiet surroundings, evidence of the force behind the implement despite its innocuous appearance.

Aptis didn't stop there, however, and proceeded to launch a few more strikes at various places upon Sera's front before deigning to ask another question; mainly stomach, arms, and thighs. "Who is the spectre that you are working with and what do you know about them?" While she was quite confident that the krogan was a male she remained careful not to use a gendered term in her question. The less she let on about what she did or didn't already know, the harder it would be for the girl to try and lie to her after all.


At the turian's return and the given news of his task, Kar took the datapad and glanced over the information just to double check what she was saying was all accurate. Not blatantly as a lack of trust for her specifically but out of habit; always double check every detail and always read the fine print. As far as he could tell there was nothing hidden within this demand and roughing up someone who slighted Aria was hardly a problem for him. If anything he had expected a task that was even harder to complete but he wasn't about to complain about what he felt was a straight deal. "Easily done but if you think I'm going to do this first while my crew mate is being held then you are mistaken. Give me the information so I can take care of my business. Once that's settled, I'll deal with this krogan as promised. If Aria's worried about me trying to dip out on the deal, well, she should know me better than that. Still, block my ship in for all I care to ensure I can't leave. I have no intention to fuck with Aria... heh, unless she asks me to that is." He couldn't resist the crude joke but didn't really mean anything by it. Rumor had it that Aria was more into women than men anyway and nobody had much clue as to the frequency or nature of any of her trysts, assuming the woman even had any. All the same he was making the point of his comfort regarding the bargain; showing the turian that he wasn't afraid of reprisal as a means to trying to reinforce his commitment to honoring the bargain.
 
Sera simply nodded slightly in response to Aptis' confirmation that no antidote was coming. She'd just have to bear the pain as best as she could. Answering the questions honestly wouldn't spare her from the pain. That much was obvious, given how Aptis was clearly enjoying her work. But she had experienced first hand that being anything less than honest would simply make things worse.

Seeing the cane made Sera squirm a bit in the chair, and her concern over what was coming was soon proven to be valid as the cane hit her flesh hard, the breast jiggling hard from the impact. She let out a soft groan as she was hit several more times. Each time her stomach and thighs were hit, what little fat she had jiggled hard from the impacts, the bruising from the hits forming fairly quickly.

Sera considered how to best answer Aptis' question. She didn't want to give away any information that Aptis didn't already know, information that would be useful to Belia Industries, but she also didn't want to give Aptis any more reason to make the torture any worse. "The Spectre's name is Kar. Krogan. Not exactly a common sort of Spectre, as you might expect. Tends to be more than willing to handle things physically if necessary, but is open to negotiation."

As she spoke, Sera continued to squirm slightly in her chair, but this time it seemed to be something other than pain. Someone who had as much experience with torture as Aptis had seen plenty of prisoners reach a point of fear, where anticipating what could be coming was almost worse than what was actually coming, and it was clear that Sera's imagination at this point was getting quite vivid indeed. The pain continuing to course through her chest and the bruising made it next to impossible for her to focus on controlling that fear and imagination, and if Aptis looked closely, her thighs were twitching in a way that indicated the only thing keeping her from clenching them together was the bindings tying them down, a sign that she was very close to losing control.


"That seems fair enough to me, and you know better than most that crossing Aria is not something that she would take lightly, or take at all. As for the information you request, I do not have it available at this exact moment." The turian stood up, leaving the datapad with Kar. "However, I will bring your request to Aria, and hold onto that datapad. Once she gives the all-clear, I will update the datapad remotely with the information you seek. It might take some time in order to gather the information, given how little we have to go on, but nothing gets hidden from Aria. Nothing." With that, the turian left, doing as she said to talk with Aria. It would take time, however, for Aria to both approve of the offer and her various agents to gather information, more than enough time to allow Aptis to continue her work.
 
The turian took in the limited information and weighed it upon what little she already knew. Meanwhile her eyes scoured Sera's face for any signs to suggest she was lying but ultimately felt satisfied she was speaking the truth. That said, one part of the krogan's name and some generic information about his methodology wasn't much at all and Aptis certainly felt need to pry further; though perhaps not right away as it was clear that the quarian was quite intent to protect the spectre to some degree.

While she was processing all of this and giving the girl a slight breather from the cane, though nothing could stop the pain of the toxin in Sera's breast, Aptis traced the bruising lines and noted the trembling in the quarian's thighs. She was experienced enough to see the fear plain as day and could guess what was near to happening so, with continued cruelty to make the next few moments as uncomfortable as possible, Aptis decided to pause on any further strikes to instead do a bit of repositioning of her prisoner's body.

Wordlessly the turian adjusted the chair that Sera was bound to so that she was laying completely flat on her back. At this point Aptis would, one at a time, unfasten the bindings around the quarian's ankles and push the woman's legs upward with knees towards chest before hooking the ankle bindings down with sections of synthetic rope down to the chair by the sides of Sera's ass. The end result would be a very sexual position with pussy and ass quite exposed, though Aptis pushed things just a bit further to enforce a posture that required the quarian to tilt her hips up towards herself somewhat in an uncomfortable fashion. This change of positioning would allow for focus of punishment to different areas to be certain, but the main goal Aptis had here in the short term was that if Sera lost control of her bladder, as the turian suspected might happen, the angling of her hips would likely force the stream of urine to flow out and onto her own body to some degree.

"The turian you two rescued, is she still working with Kar as well?" Aptis questioned rather casually as she rubbed the end of the cane against her left palm and slowly paced back and forth by the end of the chair near to Sera's lower half. While she hadn't started swinging yet it certainly seemed obvious that the turian intended to strike at the more sensitive regions of her things and nethers in short order. Velira was well known to Belia Industries for obvious reasons, and it was strongly suspected that the turian that Kar was rolling with of late was her, though turians working with spectres generally went hand in hand so nothing could be assumed.


The frustration that the krogan felt at all this back and forth was hard to hide as he grumbled a bit, though he didn't press the matter and simply nodded at the explanation as he hooked the datapad onto the waistline of his armor and watched the turian leave. Shaking his head slightly, Kar rose to his feet shortly after and rounded up his crew members to leave the club and head towards the quarian district to start helping Velira with a sweep of the area. It was about all he could think to do right now since there were no standardized monitoring systems or such to try and hack into like on worlds like Noveria. The chance of finding anything useful was slim to none, but it would at least allow him to feel like he was trying to get Sera back rather than fucking off to go do the job Aria asked of him.

It was strange to think how comitted he was to this search for Sera considering how callous he had been as a mercenary. Sending idiots to die in droves had never bothered him for the sake of a contract, and he suspected it still wouldn't, but he had learned something of the commitment to his crew as a spectre and, at the very least, he could justify not wanting to lose those with talent. Kar wasn't quite sure if there were any personal feelings mixed up in all this since romantic interest was never something he'd much dealt with in his life, and they'd only really had one night of rough fucking between them regardless rather than anything more developed, but he did know that he wasn't tossing her aside now; whatever it took to get her back. He just hoped they could recover her alive.
 
Sera couldn't help but flinch as Aptis ran her hands over her body. It didn't hurt, exactly. At least, not any more than it would have hurt if Aptis hadn't done anything to her, thanks to the venom flowing through her bloodstream. At this point, however, Sera was almost more nervous about what Aptis might do to her than anything the turian actually did.

She let out a soft gasp as she was suddenly tilted back, her bindings re-arranged to leave her sensitive parts more exposed, groaning as she shifted her hips to try to get as comfortable as she could. It wasn't completely comfortable, to put it mildly, but she needed to do everything she could to keep from shaming herself by letting her bladder go. She was past concern about any of it running down her body. It would be a bit embarrassing, to be sure, but the very act of letting go would be enough shame by itself, especially given that her captor and tormentor would almost certainly not let it go without comment.

As Aptis paced and asked her question, Sera followed her with her eyes, unwilling to move any more than necessary to avoid jostling her bladder. "The turian...Velira, I assume is who you are talking about. Yes, she is still working with us. After all, it's not like you did much to inspire loyalty on her part, and a lot to inspire the opposite."


After a few minutes passed during Velira and Kar's sweep, his datapad beeped to indicate a message update. We have managed to locate a lead towards your quarian, I believe. Let's just say that people who saw nothing to a Spectre suddenly saw something when Aria is asking. An information broker named Kelia met with her in a club. She generally works through that club, Tthe Mysterin. I'm not saying that she is responsible for what happened, but she is the last person we can confirm having contact with your quarian.
 
"Yes, that one." The turian replied as Sera clarified Velira. That was useful information indeed and it certainly felt like she had gotten over the quarian's resistance to questioning by this point. It was a bit sad really, as Aptis did so enjoy excuses to turn up the pain and punishment, but she ultimately didn't need such excuses to have her fun anyway. "Maybe your fate will teach her better about loyalty once she finds out?" She wound up and swung hard with the cane, feeling satisfaction from the impact against the quarian's left, inner thigh as the crack of the strike rang out. Sera was holding on for the time being, trying not to embarrass herself in any shameful fashion, but Aptis was confident that the woman couldn't hold her bladder forever. Even if it took minutes or hours it would come out at some point and she could be paitient.

"I won't kill you... not yet. I'm not sure exactly what is planned for you after I have my fun but, when your time is up, I'll be there to deliver you to the worst end imaginable for all the trouble you've put me through." She swung again with the cane, striking the inside of the opposite thigh this time, then slid the tool down to gently rub against Sera's pussy lips. The glint in her eye was unmistakeable, should Sera even deign to look, and when the turian's arm raised up once more it would bring the cane down hard upon her sensitive folds; expertly accurate enough to ensure that some part of the cane hit the quarian's clitoris to deliver as much pain as was reasonably possible from the otherwise simple tool.


It didn't take long at all to get an update through the datapad and he was ever-impressed with the efficacy of Aria's information network. Not that he ever had any reason to doubt it. "I'll see what she has to say for herself." He shot back in response, though he wasn't much certain if such communication was welcomed or not in this case. Regardless he relayed the new information to Velira and her team, asking that she come around from a different angle to be in position to back him up should trouble go down. He wasn't much worried about a conflict but he was more concerned with this broker potentially running from him if she had a guilty conscious and was otherwise involved.

Kar would waste no time in taking his team to The Mysterin. Kelia certainly looked suspicious at this moment, and he'd not shy away from applying pressure, but there was a chance that she was simply a breadcrumb in a larger trail so he wouldn't get ahead of himself.
 
Sera groaned as her thigh was hit, what little fat she had jiggling as the skin reddened. She almost lost control at the hit, but she managed to just barely hold it back again. "Loyalty is earned, not forced. When you hold someone prisoner, they probably aren't going to stay loyal," she pointed out once she managed to reassure herself that she wasn't going to lose control just by breaking her focus for a few seconds.

Of course, the news that she wasn't going to die here was far from reassuring. It was good to hear that there was a better chance of her getting out of her, with Kar having more time to get her out rather than having to find her corpse wherever it was dumped. Still, it seemed that Aptis was taking her efforts to thwart Belia Industries quite personally, and she could only imagine how Aptis might take her revenge if she was ever let off her leash, so to speak.

As she was hit directly on the pussy, Sera let out a soft cry despite herself, squirming as she held back her bladder once again. It was starting to become a lot harder with each hit, however. She could tell from the look in Aptis' eyes that she was truly enjoying what she was doing, and she could only imagine that it wasn't merely an idle pleasure, but potentially even erotic for the turian. If so, Sera truly feared what might be next for her, shivering despite herself.


Velira responded. "We'll be in position. She's not going to get away with anything even approaching ease. We'll get answers from her whether she likes it or not."

At the Mysterin, Kelia stood out a fair bit. The lithe asari had her own private booth in the corner, currently talking to a potential client, who left almost as soon as Kar stepped in, but clearly more coincidental than anything, given how relaxed the asari remained. She didn't appear to be very old by asari standards, likely still in her maiden stage, but a trained eye could identify that her dress was made of rather sturdy material, to dissipate any energy blasts from a pistol, indicating that she was cautious as a matter of course.
 
The turian didn't rise in response to Sera's words, preferring to focus on delivering pain and punishment instead of debating morals and ethics. As the quarian struggled and managed to hold on to her self control for the time being, even despite the snap of the cane against her womanhood, Aptis considered how she wanted to proceed next. Obviously there were more questions to ask, though she was quickly at risk of forgetting all about the interrogation with as much satisfaction that she took from this process, but the desire for harsher treatment weighed against the wish to keep her victim conscious for a long duration. Ultimately though Aptis frowned only slightly, her one good mandible twitching by a hair's breadth, as she considered that this slow and steady buildup with the cane was not really doing it for her right now. Sure it was allowing the quarian's mind to race in fear of what might come next but the here and now was relatively lacking.

No more strikes of the cane fell upon Sera's form for the moment and Aptis spoke up to break the silence that had settled in. Surely the agonizing pain in the woman's left nipple and breast was continuing to eat away at Sera's nerves, as it would for many hours more to come, but it wasn't enough in the turian's eyes by a long-shot. "I have a little work to do I think. Why don't you tell me about what you have learned thus far about our plans?" While it was worded as a question, a suggestion perhaps, there shouldn't be any denying the fact that avoiding an answer would go poorly for Sera.

In the meantime Aptis walked away to one of the tables to give the quarian a brief respite. While it was difficult to get a clear view or idea of what Aptis was actually doing, some things were fairly clear even with an obstructed view as the turian gripped one of the many grenades upon her armored torso and popped it free with a satisfying click. She got to work with a few common tools to pry open the outer casing safely to reveal the inner compartments and soon the soft sloshing of liquid would be audible. What aptis was actually doing was diluting the incendiary mixture of an inferno grenade to drop it down from a lethal concoction to something more manageable for torture. She'd figured out this trick long ago and while mixing up a burning solution from scratch was much more precise, she simply lacked the time and materials to do that right now.


The observations that Kar could draw from the asari weren't all that surprising. Most information brokers on Omega were no strangers to violence and threat even if they preferred not to partake in such things when it could be helped. Dangers was always around in this place so anyone who attracted any shred of attention needed to be careful. Still some part of his mind felt uneasy about how the woman made him think of Aria. Not in appearance, he wasn't to say that all asari looked alike or such, but in the way she carried herself; full of confidence and perhaps too cocky. Then again, these thoughts were just a snap judgement so he wouldn't trust them to be accurate on closer inspection but the fact that they came to mind at all gave him a bad gut feeling about the woman.

The krogan waved his two crew members off, wordlessly telling them to hang around and stay alert, and trundled over to the corner booth. He too was paying attention to his surroundings in case his movement drew any concern, he was always looking out for danger to some extent, but his focus was clearly on Kelia as he stomped over. Kar didn't wait for permission nor introductions before he took a seat across from the woman and made himself comfortable, or at least as comfortable as he could be considering his generous size even before accounting for the full battle armor he wore. "You were talking with Sera earlier. You are going to tell me what that was all about... and where she is now."

Although he danced around the insinuation that Kelia was responsible for Sera's dissapearance it would be fairly obvious that he suspected this to be the case from the tone he was using. His deep, rumbling voice was level and straight like a blade towards the chest. Kar wasn't here to play games and, while he wasn't outright attacking her or such, his scrutinizing stare should tell her exactly how quick he'd be to resort to violence if he felt the need.
 
Sera squirmed as she watched Aptis waiting for a hit that never came. Instead, she heard Aptis' "question" as she watched the turian walk away to work at the table. She couldn't quite make out what she was doing or preparing, but she knew it was going to be nothing good for her.

With Aptis' back turned, however, she had another matter to consider. Her control wasn't going to last forever, and she didn't want Aptis to actually watch when she did. This was about as good of a time as she could give into the inevitable. Groaning internally, she felt her pussy lips get wet and warm, then her mound as she relaxed her bladder, allowing it to slowly flow over her with a wince of both pain and shame, her urine flowing down her torso as well due to her awkward positioning, feeling it spread across the bottom of her breasts. Aptis would definitely notice what she had done when she turned back around, but she would at least have missed the actual moment. Sera felt a strange sense of accomplishment at that.

"Not much. We know you have been smuggling geth parts. We know that you were working on an undetectable bomb. What we haven't quite put together is how these schemes are connected. That's something we are here to try to find some leads on." As she spoke, Sera allowed herself to relax as much as possible in her current position, to ease the pressure on her body. There was no point in remaining tense now that she had relieved herself.



Kelia looked at the krogan sitting across from her. Part of her wanted to show this krogan just how strong she was with the way he carried himself, or maybe just cause a scene to draw in the guards, but a closer look made her reconsider. He wouldn't be intimidated by a scene, and any fight with the krogan would probably be at least evenly matched, even with her skill. She had no illusions about how strong she was, but she hadn't lasted this long in the business by underestimating those against her, or overestimating herself.

"Sera came to me looking for information on Belia Industries. She figured I knew something, and I did. Problem is, Belia has people everywhere. I am not proud of selling her out, but the option to do otherwise was even more unpalatable. I can't say where she is, but wherever it is, Belia Industries is also there. I'd imagine Sera never made it back to your ship, but she's not in lethal danger. They wanted her alive."
 
Lost in her focus as she was, and with the more controlled and gentle nature of Sera's urination upon herself, Aptis indeed missed the show entirely while she worked on her concoction. The turian's focus was not enough to prevent her from listening to what the quarian had to say, however, and she hummed slightly to indicate she was processing the information. Aptis was obviously careful enough to not provide any sort of response to confirm or deny what Sera said, and had no intention of elaborating to reveal any further details but, from her own perspective, these little tidbits of information she was drawing out were useful enough despite being a bit... unfocused compared to her usual work.

After a couple of minutes she turned around with a decently large glass tube filled with a pale orange fluid in one hand. The woman's eyes immediately were drawn to the wetness that soaked Sera's lilac skin, the obvious signs that she had relieved her bladder of its pressure during her work, and the slight twitch of her remaining mandible might suggest that she was disappointed in having not seen the show. Still, humiliation was an easy thing to force later on and Aptis could easily get a second chance if she so desired by forcing the quarian to drink. Nevertheless, Aptis' mind was focused on pain right now and allowed this missed moment of shame to flow away.

"Most people would be smart enough to walk away after surviving one attempted assassination. You are a stupid girl for pushing your luck like this." She stepped close to Sera and loomed over the quarian's bound form, gently swirling the liquid in the glass with her right hand for effect as it bubbled and hissed softly. "How familiar are you with inferno grenades?" Aptis let that sink in for the moment to hopefully build anticipation and fear again but the pale coloration of the fluid was far from the brilliant and vibrant orange that normally filled such grenades. Even if Sera wasn't an expert on the subject, it wouldn't be hard to figure out this was a diluted version.

Aptis did continue all the same as she began to explain in a roundabout fashion. "It's not so much the efficiency in which they kill that I enjoy personally, focused explosives are more direct and immediate, but the screams and the suffering that come from those affected which make them among my favorites. Normally it requires two mixtures to interact for ignition. It's pretty easy to mix it together in a manner that keeps it just under that point though. Unstable though, if I shake it up too much it will alight, but so too will the act of, say, pouring some upon flesh from a few inches above also cause the desired reaction. A weaker reaction to be certain, just enough of a burn to sear and scar your flesh if I made it right. So, anything else you'd like to share about your investigation? Or about your spectre friend? That sting in your breast will eventually fade, the neurotoxin only lasts a few days, but even the best cosmetic surgery struggles to fix deep tissue burns. Wherever I pour this will likely never look the same again, and I can pick anywhere I want."


There was certainly tension in the air as he sat down and made his demands. Kar knew well the look of challenge she threw him, the anger and perhaps pride at being challenged as such, but he was far from insecure enough to feel threatened by anyone who didn't immediately bow down to his will. He was more than an average krogan and, while people didn't tend to expect a krogan to be anyhting but dangerous, he'd found that other races often still underestimated him in regards to his skill with both tech and biotics when it came to combat. All the same he'd rather avoid a fight if possible, though wouldn't hesitate to tear this girl apart if he found out she had a hand in the capture of Sera.

When she relaxed enough to suggest she intended to cooperate, his suspicions were only validated; a fact that he figured was rather stupid to admit to him. He responded as his anger dictated, whether or not it was wise to heed it in this moment, by flexing his left hand and openly channeling biotic power towards her. He wasn't trying to actively harm her just yet, and there was the chance that she could defend his attempt, but he was hoping that the sudden nature of his manifestation would catch her by surprise to allow him to effectively pin her in place with a stasis. "You dumb bitch." He led off with. Regardless of whether she resisted the stasis or not he intended to make his position yet more clear. "Sera was working for me. By selling her out you just crossed a spectre, one with little paitience for people who get in his way. Then you tell me that you don't even know where they took her? Why should I even let you live?"
 
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