Seeing Red: A SF/Mass Effect Collab (1 Viewer)

[Sickerton]

Hey everybody!

Me and lasthero recently put out heads together to write a story involving two rather well known artificially enhanced psychopaths. We had a lot of fun with this one, and I personally hope you do too reading it. Enjoy!

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Seeing Red
​

Space. Deep space. A lonely, busted Kodiak shuttle steadily sped along through the vast expanse, casually heading to its next destination. There was nothing too suspicious about it. Standard make. Standard model. The same kind you could’ve seen in a thousand ports in a thousand cities across the galaxy on any given day. Just barely big enough to hold whatever cargo it was probably transporting.

There was only one thing of interest on the entire ship, one thing that stood out and didn’t quite fit the mold, and that was the woman piloting it - or, rather, the woman laying back in the captain’s chair with her feet on the control console, letting the ship’s autopilot take care of everything while she caught some much needed rest.

Sweet dreams, sweet dreams.

Jack had been sleeping, or getting as close to a rest as she ever could these days, when a steady beeping suddenly roused her from slumber. The renegade biotic opened one eye, just enough for her to slide her leg over and tap the console with the bottom of her heel, turning off the alert. She didn’t need to do more than that at the moment. She knew what it meant. She’d finally arrived at her destination: Chasca.

It had taken her a week to get here. An annoying, pain-in-the-ass sort of week. It had started out normally enough, with her hanging around in an Omega titty bar, when a bartender had tried to slip her a little something in one of her drinks. Fortunately for Jack, she was a bit more observant than most, even with a pair of amazing blue tits in her face, and she caught him the act. Oh, she pretended to drink it, and groggily went to the back like he expected her to. But when he made his way into the alley behind the bar, he found a surprisingly awake Jack waiting for him.

They had a friendly chat, at least up until the point where he screamed out his vocal cords. During the conversation - somewhere between the time where she threatened to pull out of his front teeth and the time where she actually did it - he mentioned a Cerberus cell on Omega, operating in secret and keeping tabs on her. That led to a little cleanup, as she made her way around the station and hunted them down. One. By. One.

It was fun to start, but eventually it got tedious, and by the time she was done ripping the leader of the cell apart, she’d about had her fill of mayhem for the week. But it hadn’t been without reward, though - at the end, frustrating as it was, the leader had been kind enough to divulge the location of a Cerberus facility on Casca, hidden amongst all the lush mountains and space cows. A place with some actual people who were worth a shit. High-ranking officials. Where she could make some actual goddamn progress in ripping the motherfuckers who made her what she was into tiny little bite-sized pieces.

That was what lead her here, on a two day trip. Finally. Something for her to sink her teeth into.

Jack let out a long yawn and let her legs down as the ship made its way into the atmosphere, making the floor rumble for a bunch of technical reasons she didn't get. Engineering hasn't exactly been on the agenda when it came to her time growing up under Cerberus’s thumb.

“All right, let’s see what we can see...” She started up a scanning sequence, looking all over the planet for a particular signature. If what the recently deceased owner of this Kodiak shuttle said was true, there was a particular signal around the habitable zone of the planet, which had a weird twist that you would maybe just think was random interference if you didn’t know any better, and…

Ah. There it was.

Jack brought the shuttle down in a valley, right above where the Cerberus facility was located. Or what was left of it. “...the fuck?”

Her intel described an intact, functioning Cerberus shithouse, full of warm bodies for her to chill. What she was looking at - snarling at - was a rundown, beat up, battered and broken husk of a building. Large, sure, looked like it would’ve been a big deal. Four levels. Solid walls. A fancy glass dome at the top, for whatever reason. Probably was hot shit a year ago. But now? The only signs of life were the space cows, milling around the area doing whatever the fuck it was that space cows did.

That didn’t mean she wasn’t going to check the place out - there might’ve been something in there worth looking over, another step on the way to shoving her fist down the Illusive Man’s throat. It just meant that this particular step wasn’t going to alleviate the boring rut she’d fallen into.

Jack sighed and sat the Kodiak down near the entrance, letting it turn off with a hum. She stepped out and stretched and spat off to the side, hissing at the sun blazed in her eyes. Too bright, especially after spending two days cooped up in the shuttle. All the more reason to get what she needed and get the fuck out

******

ESTABLISHING COMMUNICATIONS…

RUNNING PROXY ROUTINES…

QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT ENGAGED…

The Illusive Man sat back in his chair, legs crossed, a cigarette burning in his hand. A common pose for him, especially when he was conducting business. Only today, he wasn’t conducting business. Not exactly.

A few screens popped up in front of him, capturing different angles of the shutdown Chasca compound, with one of them picking up Jack as she entered. It had taken quite a bit of maneuvering to get the dangerous biotic here in the first place, but he’d made it work. The agents he’d fed false information to and put in her path and were all on certain lists, problematic employees that he’d been meaning to deal with eventually. Nothing was lost that couldn’t be recovered, especially if things worked out as well as they had a potential to.

Everything was working well. All the cameras would catch everything they needed to. The only thing left now was for him to check in with his guest for the evening.

A quick wave of the hand and a screen came up, connecting him with Shadaloo headquarters. “Bison.” He brought the cigarette to his lips for a quick puff, a little something to take the edge even further off. “My piece is on the table. I trust yours is ready, as well?”

The holoscreen filled with Bison's image, the whites of both his pupiless eyes and teeth bared in a far-too-large smile contrasting sharply with the murky shadows around him. He was almost the mirror opposite of his conversation partner; While the mysterious entrepreneur slouched comfortably into his seat, the boisterous dictator stood straight and tall with his arms firmly folded across his chest. Despite the rigid stance he showed no sign of tiring, and in fact the feed could have passed as a still image if it wasn't for the following reply.

"She was ready the moment the wager was made." the head of Shadaloo said with a tinge of snideness. "Unlike some, I keep my dogs on a tight leash."

******

Juri Han, sitting cross-legged, once again pulled up the photo on her phone. God knew that there was no reception out here, but at the very least she could check the stuff directly stored on it.

Bald head, lots of ugly body art, and basically a nudist. The target she was given for this job was quite a special snowflake, which should have made things easier for her.

She looked back down, to the body she was holding up by the scruff of it's neck with her other hand. Bald head. Lots of ugly body art. No clothing. It fit the bill.

If only it wasn't also glowing neon blue and half made out of metal.

The Korean girl sighed and let the form drop, it coming to a tumbling rest on the pile of corpses she was currently seated on top of. Any one of these things she carved through when she got here could have theoretically been her mark, but there was simply no way to tell. Whatever had made them what they were now also stole any distinguishing features from the lurching shells that remained.

Maybe Bison had a way to tell back home. He certainly was pulling his fair share of magic tricks with this one.

Han had scoffed when she was told that she was going off-planet for this job; but then everything went blurry and pink for what could have been seconds or weeks and suddenly she was surrounded by raver zombies in a galaxy far, far away. That smug bastard apparently had something now that could replicate his psycho-power-teleport thingie, but for others and stupid huge distances. This seemed like something hilariously out of his league to her, but then again she was catching rumors about some sort of Shadaloo space station in development...

Juri's musings were cut short as tearing metal echoed through the base, and fresh sunlight poured in from where moments before entrance hatches stood. Silhouetted in the ragged doorway was a woman. Bald. With ugly tattoos. Only a single belt for a "shirt". And most importantly, not colored up like a hotel room under blacklights.

A small smile crept over Juri's face, and with a blur of purple she vanished from atop the pile of bodies before the new visitor's eyes could fully adjust to the gloom.

The game, so to speak, was on.

******

"Three seconds in and your pick is already retreating."

It would be exceedingly difficult to tell if Bison ever rolled his eyes, but a tilting of his head and crinkling of his brow hinted of it at the very least.

"Save the jeers for when you actually believe them, boy. You know as well as I that a shark circling a floundering swimmer is not doing so out of cowardice."

******

Good news: Jack found the Cerberus researchers. Or the things that had eaten them, no way to really be sure.

Bad news: they were all sort of, kind of, definitely, unavoidably dead, turned into what Jack could only describe as mecha-zombies.

Worse news: all the mecha-zombies seemed to be dead, too. Or deader. Or destroyed. Or whatever applied in this situation. The point was that they weren't going to put up any sort of fight, which meant that she couldn't even get the simple pleasure of pummeling a bunch of mindless monsters in this little detour. At best, she might be able to get something off the computers with hacking, and she was complete shit at that. On this situation, she had just one thing to say.

“Fuck!”

Jack reeled back and kicked one of the disembodied heads into the pile of bodies, getting only some minimal satisfaction from it. The whole scene wasn't that surprising, really. She knew what happened - one of Cerberus’ teams had been working on something they shouldn't have been, tampered with God’s plan, however you wanted to put it. They screwed up, got fucked, someone came to clean up the mess. She could paint that picture well enough, she just didn't like the outcome. There’d been one hell of a party, and she’d fucking missed it.

Now all she had had left was this giant, steaming, smelly pile of… “Huh.”

Jack sniffed and sniffed again as she approached the mini-mountain of whatever-the-fucks, taking a moment to kneel by one of them. One of the few great things about her unique upbringing was that she’d been around a lot of dead things in her time, and she knew the difference between corpses that had been laying around for a good long while and ones that were freshly made. She couldn’t be too sure in this case - what with said corpses being unholy amalgamations of flesh and metal - but she was fairly certain these things were up and shambling recently. Very recently.

Jack took a moment to run her fingers through her nonexistant hair, then stood up straight up and looked around. The slightest smirk graced her lips as she scanned the area, looking for any signs of movement.

“All right,” She spoke in a normal voice, but it easily cut through the stale silence and carried throughout the building. “Here’s how we’re doing this. Whoever you are, wherever you are, I know you’re close. You’re good enough to do all this, but you know enough about me to back off when I come around.”

She casually stepped over one of the freaks as she circled the pile. “So. The way I see it, you can either stop hiding like a bitch and come out now and maybe - maybe - I don’t make you learn what your own balls taste like. Or…” She unhooked the shotgun from her back and lazily held it at her side while she sauntered. “...I bring this whole place down and you die, anyway. No maybe about it. 95% chance versus 100% chance. You pick.”

Of course, there was always the possibility she was wrong and nobody was anywhere near this place. In which case she looked stupid with no one around to watch. Fine.

******

Unlike Bison, it was simple to tell when the Illusive Man was rolling his eyes. He didn’t do it at this particular time, but after that metaphor, he was sorely tempted.

The Illusive Man hadn’t been called a boy since he was, in fact, a boy, but he let his minor irritation go for the moment. There were more important things to focus on, like whether or not the Feng Shui Engine would become a valuable asset for Cerberus or not.

“Interesting analogy, Bison. Personally, I see Juri more like a dog.” He took a quick sip of his martini, just enough to let the flavor settle. “One that’s going to bite your hand, one day. If she hasn’t already.”

******

The dictator chuckled softly at his compatriots retort. Clearly, there was going to be more than one interesting matchup today.

"Are you aware of the history behind this particular mutt of mine? I assumed you did - since you are oh so good at nabbing intel you have no right to have - but now... I am not so sure."

Bison leaned in closer to the recorder on his end, further filling the screen with his soulless white stare.

"I am feeling charitable today, merchant. This one I will give you for free."

******

Jack let the silence after her ultimatum settle in, herself listening for anything that could betray the location of possible company. She eventually picked up what might have been rustling in the distance, and with genuine anticipation hoisted her weapon and headed down the direction she heard it from.

******

"It is a story I am sure you are intimately familiar with... at least, to a point. A little girl's parents are murdered and she herself mutilated by a mighty power. Girl dedicates her life to getting revenge."

******

Jack rounded the next corner with her shotgun up and ready, although she was not certain if she would actually use it first on whoever was sulking around. It was far too likely to end things quick, and if this was the only living prick here she'd have to spread him thin to make the trip worth it. Maybe a shot to the legs, so she could take her time tearing out his...

...Well damn, it seemed that several ideas she was mulling over were off the table for now. It would be quite a feat to castrate a woman.

******

"Finally, after endless and grueling training to hone herself into the most efficient killing machine possible, the girl hunts down the power that destroyed her life... and asks for a job application."

******

Jack was met by a lady in purple, idly juggling some sort of tripod from hand to hand as she waited.

When the two locked gazes, the girl allowed the device to fall to the ground next to her and gave Jack a small nod.

"Evening, baldy."

******

"Now do not consider me a fool here: I know full well that she intends to bring me down 'from the inside'. She is not the first to attempt it, and many more will continue to try long after she has failed. But the gist to take away from the whole story is this: Not only did she decide to focus her efforts into something more efficient than the typical headfirst rage of someone in her position, but she is specifically trying to take advantage of how little I care about traitors in the ranks."

******

"You're one to talk, beehive" Jack riposted, training her shotgun on the woman's face. She probably wouldn't go through with it - at least not as an opening shot - but this would be the fastest way to get this unlucky asshole sweating. "You done playing with your toys and ready to sing for me?"

******

"You are right in one regard: She is a dog. As is yours. Ragged mongrels beaten and starved and tortured until they desire little more but to tear apart and devour everything, most of all their supposed masters. But there is a vital difference between them."

******

The purple woman idly nudged the device by her foot, and with a shing a collapsible metal shaft terminating in a bladed point shot up out of it to roughly head height. The entire process took only a fraction of a second to finish, the spear extending with so much force that the base jumped slightly upon activation.

******

"Your bitch was beaten until she went simply mad."

******

It was but a brief glance to the side that the other woman made, but Jack's honed instincts picked up on it immediately and she followed in tandem. It was only then that the tattooed woman realized the walls of this corridor were... different. A repeating pattern that she had unconsciously filed away as mere decoration now revealed itself in full: Duplicates of the device that just went off were embedded at regular intervals; with the 'legs' firmly lodged into the wall, and the body storing the spike ready to turn the pathway into a deathtrap straight out of some schlocky action movie.

******

"My bitch was beaten until she went shrewdly mad."

******

"As a matter of fact, I'm not." the purple woman replied smoothly, before spinning to the side with a roundhouse kick to the wall.

******

Upon seeing this whole situation and fully taking it in, Jack had three thoughts.

First: Who the fuck was this? The Asian-looking woman wasn’t Cerberus, she was about 99% sure on that. Cerberus was a lot of things - arrogant, assholes, filled with people who didn’t know the value of stopping when you were ahead - but they at least tried to look professional, like good little foot soldiers. This woman looked like she should’ve walking down a runway, not a battlefield. Granted, Jack was hardly one to talk about proper combat attire, but she could summon biotic shields at will. Sort of made armor redundant. And besides, even she wore shoes.

Second: How the fuck did she even get here? Jack hadn’t seen a ship coming in and the hanger bay looked wrecked-to-shit, so unless she’d parked miles off and walked here in her bare-fucking-feet…

Third: Why were so many of those spike things on…

“Oh.”

******

The Illusive Man had a rare chuckle and a smile at Bison’s assessment. Not so much for the things he said, but the way he said them. People often said that he himself was too melodramatic at times, too theatrical, the way he liked to present himself as the mysterious leader of a mysterious organization with mysterious purpose. None of these people had ever come across M. Bison. In comparison to the bombastic would-be dictator, he was understated.

“You seem to take a lot of pride in a series of events that you had no real hand in orchestrating.” He tapped the side of his cigarette, letting a few ashes spill over the side. “A time bomb shows up at your doorstep, and you light the fuse.”

The Illusive Man ran his hand over the console, switching cameras to maintain a perfect view of the fight. “Besides,” He spared Bison the slightest glance, before returning his attention to the exhibition. “Subject Zero already works for me. She simply doesn’t realize it, yet.”

******

Jack had, maybe, a split second to act before the spikes extended and she turned into the universe’s most powerful pile of hamburger meat. There was no time to think. No time to come up with some plan of attack. No time for much of anything involving mental acumen.

So she simply did what came naturally in such situations: when in doubt, destroy.

She reached deep and summoned the power, feeling a wave roll through as her biotics activated. What few hairs she had stood on edge, and a blue sphere of energy emanated from her body, stopping the spikes in their tracks with only a couple of feet to spare. But that wasn’t all she did.

The biotic bubble burst in a grand fashion, rapidly surging outward in a sweeping showing of biotic might. The spikes were made out of durable stuff, but not quite strong enough to deal with the damage she was doling out - they were flung away, crushing, scattered as the explosion ripped across the room. Jack’s feral scream accompanied the destruction as the walls and the ceiling and everything in the immediate area was blown apart.

Everything except, of course, Juri Han.

She saw the onslaught coming and jumped far away, landing on top of a table in the adjacent room, one of many in the middle of what she guess was some kind of server room judging by all the broken computers and scattered documents. That was a lot closer than she preferred, though, but at least she’d learned that a her opponent excelled in wanton destruction. Good to know. She’d have thought Bison would mention the little detail that her target was a biotic, but then again, he was completely full of shit. This reeked of his usual enigmatic cat-and-mouse, routine.

Speaking of…

“Hey.” Jack made her way into the room, swatting away a rather large chunk of ceiling in her way with a brief burst of biotic power. Most biotics would have been straining to move the ton of metal. Jack looked like she might as well have been swatting a fly. “Sorry about blowing your little arts and crafts project back there. Real creative.” She once again trained the shotgun on her new friend. “You got any more shit for me to blow up? I got all day, keep it coming.”

While a part of Jack wanted to rip this woman in half for that little stunt, it was still tempered by the part that wanted to get some enjoyment after all this. The bitch wasn’t even armed, unless she was hiding something in her ridiculously baggy pants. No reason to rush things.

******

Bison grunted noncommittally at The Illusive Man's reply, but otherwise did not pursue the conversation further. It was clear that - despite all his wealth and resources - he would never truly understand. A "time bomb" to someone who knows they will be left unscathed after the explosion is merely a weapon they no longer have to bother aiming. The concept must be completely foreign to him; the dictator for sure knew who he would wager on if this playboy and his shaven "subject" were locked in an empty room together.

Besides, he thought to himself as he shifted his attention to the other feeds. Their main event was just starting to heat up.

******

Dammit. Juri knew that she and Bison were not even superficially on the best of terms, but he could have clued her in on what this punk girl was capable of. At the very least, to save her the time she took collecting and setting up those things.

Oh well. It wasn't like there was a shortage of... wherever-the-hell-they-were in this place if she ever felt like going back to that well. And it wasn't even a complete bust either.

It seemed that, for once in the history of humanity, someone talking tough was not bluffing to hell and back. This (Jack? Subject Zero? The glorified pamphlet she was given as a dossier didn't seem able to make up its mind) threatened to bring down the building, and then actually did it. At least, a portion of it. But Juri had nothing to gain and everything to lose by assuming that spectacle back there was her opponent going full-out.

This made things more than a bit complicated... but other details helped to work with that.

One: Subject Jack-Shit was clearly a hothead. The haircut, the tattoos, the body language, everything screamed it when she was not literally screaming as she literally blew up.

Two: She had shown her hand. Juri had not.

Three: All weapons needed "ammo," even living ones. Unless that strap-bra was to allow proper ventilation for batteries inside her chest, this woman probably could not go 100% for extended stretches of time. And even if it was... you see those mosquito bites? That'd be like, an extra fifteen minutes tops.

Putting it all together: Facing this one head-on would be a terrible and grisly route, but Han could avoid that entirely. She had the element of surprise for her first move, and as Jack figured out what was going on she would have more than enough time to draw back to a safe distance. From then on she could whittle the vulgar freak down; not so much with direct assaults, but by goading her into using up her reserves in fits of rage then going in for some fun.

And if Juri was sure about anything, it was her ability to tease.

******

Jack kept her shotgun steady on her new "friend"; keeping a casual air to her, but at the same time ready to dip down and fire if she tried anything funny. Gutshots weren't immediately lethal...

"You got a name, you crazy bitch?"

The strangely attired woman leaned forward slightly in her crouch, slowly coming to rest on all fours like a prowling animal. "Han. Juri Han."

Jack blinked, not even realizing that she did so, and her vision was now filled with a strange violet glow. In that instant of an instant this Han lady had leapt forward, snaked past her extended arm (and by extent her weapon) and pressed herself up against Jack like a cuddling lover. One normal eye and one shining like a star locked with hers as a hand cupped the back of her head and another came to rest against her bare stomach.

"But for a baaad girl like you..." Juri continued as her fingers crept up Jack and came to rest between her breasts. "...you can call me..."

Han paused to lick her lips, and her wandering hand turned around to instead gain a firm hold on her companion's bra-belt.

"...Master."

Without even waiting for a reply Juri flung herself back, taking Jack with her via the grips on her "top" and neck. As they rolled Jack came to rest on Han's feet, and with a shove off the Korean girl sent her opponent hurtling away behind her.

It was not a blind throw though; Juri had quickly scoped out the room before her mark caught up, and picked out items of interest for such moves. In this case, Han had made sure that Jack hurtled face first into a busted old computer module.

It was long past operational, meaning that Subject Zero was not electrocuted by the bum machinery as she plowed into it, but her face was still gashed and cut as her head sunk into the now-shattering monitor. This was only compounded as Juri pursued to jump up and kick off the back of Jack's skull, giving her extra momentum in her retreat even as she buried her opponent's face further in broken glass and jagged electronics.

The facility resounded with the sounds of Juri's giggles and the tinkling of tiny metal pieces as the two parted ways; Han making a beeline to get herself lost among the servers, and Jack still limply slumped against the module as her mind tried to catch up to pace. It was certainly an amusing sight with the latter, although Han doubted that Jack would appreciate the humor.

In fact, Juri was counting on it.

******

“Your girl is confident Bison, i’ll give you that much.” The Illusive Man cut the silence of the moment with a rare compliment. Rare for him to give a megalomaniacal maniac with delusions of godhood, at least. “But there’s a fine line between confidence and stupidity. I think I see her teetering towards the later.

******

Jack was angry.

This was ordinary anger. Jack was angry by default, having gone through so much shit in her life that it had pretty much become her default emotion. On a scale of one to ten, she was on an eleven during most days.

But the feeling she was going through now went so far beyond regular anger that it felt like a brand new emotion. Rage. Pure, unadulterated, unfiltered rage.

Jack slowly - gingerly, carefully, tenderly - lifted her face off the monitor. By some small miracle, none of the glass had gotten in her eyes, but that was really the only mercy she'd been offered. Cuts all over cheek, sprinkled glass all over forehead, and a gash by her nose that was going to need stitches. Jack had never cared terribly much about her looks, but she would've liked to walk around without Frankenstein’s face. Also wouldn’t help her chances of getting laid, which was a fun little reminder that she’d gone a week without sex because of this little excursion.

Through the blind, seething fire that was raging through her brain, Jack had to wonder just what the hell Juri had done. The glowing eye thing. Her first thought had been biotics, but she’d never seen biotics do anything like that, and if there was one thing Jack knew - aside from corpses - it was biotics. There was always the chance this was just a flavor she’d never encountered before, but she doubted it, if only because she couldn’t imagine biotic fields giving someone fucking superspeed. And she’d never heard of a biotic implant in someone’s eye. How did that even work?

So, what she was up against was a crazy, poorly dressed Asianish chick with unknown powers and flippy martial arts moves. Also a lesbian, judging by the way she felt Jack up. Not that she had a problem with that last part - hell, it was a plus - but it was another reminder that she hadn’t been laid in a week, which was not doing wonders for her mood.

Jack turned around and leaned against the table, taking a moment, just a moment, to pick a few glass shards out of her head. This didn’t go without comment.

“Oh, that looks nasty.” Her chiding voice came from the left, down about three rows, from behind one of the bigger serves. “Shame you don’t have anything to cover that up with or-”

Jack didn’t know how Juri was going to finish that sentence up, and she didn’t much care, as she sent out a hard biotic push towards the server. It sent everything in its path flying, before it hit the server and destroyed it in massive explosion of rusted metal and rotting wires.

But no Juri Han.

“Slippery bitch.” Jack cursed under her breath and took a moment to adjust her top, which Juri had moved all of place. She fumbled with it for approximately two seconds before she gave up and flung the thing away, figuring she was better off without giving Juri a convenient handhold. It wasn’t like she cared very much about modesty, anyway. The only reason she wore the thing was so she could walk around in public without being hounded by the scanners every other minute.

This, of course, didn’t go without comment. “Oh, see, that’s better, let ‘em roam free.” A catcall accompanied the taunt, coming from the end of the row. “Not that you have much to show off, but-”

This time, Jack tried focusing on the section above Juri’s head instead of Juri herself, focusing on a chunk of it yanking it down with a quick jerk of her hand. It all came tumbling down, crashing and crumbling right on the spot where she’d heard Juri’s voice, as well the general area around it.

Any other time, Jack would have just sat back and enjoyed the destruction. This time she was a little more eager, as she ran over and hopped on top of the nearest table, trying to get a good look at the debris. She sent it all flying with a quick swipe of the hand, looked up the pile and saw….

No Juri Han. “How-”

That was the only word she could get out before she felt this tight, relentless restriction against her throat. It took her a moment to figure out what it was, but as she reached up and pulled away at it, she recognized the material and pieced it together: Juri Han was choking her with her own top.

“You dropped this.” The Korean assassin whispered in her ears, tightening the makeshift noose even more as Jack fought and fought and fought for every breath she could get, struggling on top of the table. All her writhing around wasn’t exactly useless, as Juri pressed her loins against the psychotic biotics’ ass and very much enjoyed the feel of it sliding against her, purring with satisfaction. But it wasn’t getting her free. For that, she’d need something a bit more potent.

Jack closed her eyes, started to summon the power within, got ready to blow Juri away and send her flying. It was a process that would only take half a second. Unfortunately, Juri didn’t even need that long to stop it.

The belt was released, forcing Jack to stumble forward and breaking her concentration at the critical moment. Before she could turn around and regain it, Jack kicked her ass - literally, as she punted her squared in the cheeks with enough force to send her flying over the table.

Jack managed to get her hands up in time avoid faceplanting, but she still wound up tumbling along the floor once, twice, three times before she hit the wall with a sonorous crash, right on her face.

“Fuck…” A stream of muttered profanities escaped her swollen lips as she rolled over to her back. She breathed, inhaling big gulps of air and trying to get her bearings back. She was vulnerable down here, had to get up, had to recoup before-

Juri came down on Jack’s chest with both heels, hammering her into unforgiving floor. She hopped off a moment later, but the damage had already been done, as the psychotic biotic rolled away, clutching her chest and fighting for every breath she took. Something was broken. She wasn't sure what, but something.

And here came the taunts. “Good thing the puberty fairy skipped over you.” Juri backed away and brought her hands up to her chest, squeezing at an imaginary pair of breasts. “If you actually had some tits, that would've sucked a lot more.”

The girl had a lot of wit to her. It was going to be satisfying to spread that snarky little brain across the floor with her boot.

******

So far, so good! Keep her angry, keep her off balance, and stay in her face so she aims directly at you instead of opting for another blanket of mass destruction. Could she still pull that off now? Juri did not know exactly what Jack needed to do her voodoo, but at the same time she was pretty sure that fracturing bones and pulping organs could do nothing but hinder that.

In any case, just because she wasn't currently bringing down the house didn't mean that the fight was over. Case in point: whatever this malarkey was.

Jack struggled to her knees, hunched over and gasping for air as something inside her refused to play nice. But the one hand not currently clutching her stomach was now enveloped in rippling blue energy, and Juri juuust managed to move out of the way before Jack sent it off across the ground with a small sweeping motion. The floor was quickly dotted with an advancing line of craters as the attack burst over and over while it traveled, spattering the both of them with debris.

While Jack was still off-balance from the swing Juri took the opportunity to step in and deliver a knee to her opponent's mouth, mashing her lips against her teeth and probably knocking a few loose as well.

"You should thank me." Han jested as she hopped back out of grabbing range and resumed circling her prey. "The swelling should give those DSL's of yours a bit more plumpness to them. Tops love it when their twinks are sportin-"

The Korean rolled once more as Jack turned with a roar of fury, and the spot she had just been standing in crumpled like half-assed paper mache.

Jack spun in place, scanning the half-building half-wreckage for the purple bitch. Her search came to an unexpected end as she felt a tug on her right ear, and to her dismay found the Korean cunt herself fondling her biotic amplifier.

"The hell is this?" Juri asked, although it was clear that she was not really expecting an answer. "A hearing aid? Whatever. It's too tacky even for you."

"Subject Zero", a.k.a. "Jack", had been through a great deal of torments during her fast and brutal life. While the Cerebus assholes "raising" her cared greatly for what happened to her body, the same could not be said for her mind or soul, so while she came out of a lifetime of surgical experimentation relatively unblemished physically, very real marks were left on her all the same. She thought that she had felt everything by this point, and had thus grown completely numb to whatever the world could throw at her.

Well, surprise! She'd never had the external part of a brain implant yanked out of her before! Learn something new every day!

With a grisly rip and the twangs of tiny metal cords drawing taught then snapping, Jack's most prominent bio-amp was torn completely off of her body. Juri turned the device around in her hand, casually examining the queer construction as Subject Zero seized and fell over convulsing.

"Huh. Didn't expect it to go that far in."

******

For what was seemingly an eternity Jack saw and heard nothing, her mind and nervous system diverting too much of their efforts to dealing with the sheer trauma to provide any sensory input. Eventually, though, she came back to the world of the living.

A world of the living where her head was pounding like a jackhammer, and what was now her second most hated person was just finishing shimmying the pants off her tattooed legs.

"So sleeping beau... so you woke up!" Juri mused as she pulled off the final bit and threw the trousers; them coming to a crumpled rest next to their owner's head. Jack, for the most part only putting anything on to stop people from complaining about it, naturally wore no underwear; meaning that now she was as naked as the day she was born.

"For a little while there, I wasn't sure if you were going to wake up at all."

With little fanfare Juri plopped herself down on top of Jack, raising an involuntary groan as the straddling of her stomach put extra pressure on many things bruised and/or broken.

"I'm so glad you did." Juri continued, tracing her finger across the top of her captive's collarbone. After a couple of passes she stopped at the indentation at the base of her throat, and dug her nail into the soft flesh there just enough to draw blood.

"This isn't nearly as fun if you can't scream."

******

Originally, the Illusive Man had considered having Miranda watch this as well, wanting her to gather combat data in the real time. He was quite glad he’d not gone through with that decision.

“Your dog is employing an interesting strategy, Bison.” There was a wry smile on the Illusive Man’s lips, barely there. Given his information on Juri Han, this outcome wasn’t at all unexpected, but still. “I’m curious: in your analogy of the shark, how exactly does this fit in?”

If Bison had any reaction at all to the proceedings, he wasn’t showing it. “A vulgar display, but it hardly matters. Your pawn is defeated - what happens from this point is inconsequential.”

“Is it now?” The Illusive Man canted his head to the side as he viewed the screen, as if some small detail caught his attention. “We’ll see.”

******

Naked, sweaty, on the floor with some hot chick straddling her. A typical Friday night, really. The irony wasn’t lost on Jack. Hell, she might’ve even gotten a little enjoyment out of this situation, if not for the broken bones and the bruises and her bleeding ear and the fact that she was being topped by one of the most annoying bitches in the known universe.

Her lips curled into a snarl and a hiss, and the only thing stopping her from rising up was the sharp nail pressed against her throat, threatening to cut deep. Didn’t stop her from talking, though. Few things could. “No way in hell-”

“‘No way in hell I’m screaming for you, bitch’.” Juri imitated Jack fairly well despite her Korean accent, getting the scratch in her voice just right. She rolled her eyes and leaned in even close, as if they were whispering secrets they didn’t want the nearby space cows to hear. “That was what you were gonna say, right? Or, wait, you were about to call me a whore, right? Something like that?”

“Cunt.”

“Cunt.” Juri sighed and ran her finger a little lower, leaving a slight trail of blood in her wake. “I was close, I was close.” She clicked her tongue, a wee bit disappointed that she guessed wrong.

“But yeah, heard that before. Nothing new.” Juri’s hand continued to travel southward, only taking a slight detour as she reached the breasts. In truth, there wasn’t much to work with there - she preferred her breasts big and plump and at least squeezable. But, Juri wasn’t that picky. At the end of the day, small tits were better than no tits.

“Never heard it from me before.” Jack glanced from Juri to her curious finger to her pants, contemplating a few possibilities. “You think this act is fazing me? You think-”

Jack was interrupted by the sudden pain in her breast, as Juri suddenly dug all five of her fingers into her right breast, viciously digging into them. Not quite hard enough to break skin, but close, and Jack just managed to grit her teeth enough to bite back a scream. “Sweetheart. Baby. Puppy. Let me tell you about a little girl named Chun Li. I beat the fuck out of her, left her laying, took her back to my place for a little fun. She was a tough girl. Interpol. High rank. Cream of the crop. She said she wouldn’t scream, either.”

Juri leaned in, brought their faces together, so close that their lips brushed against each other with every word she spoke. She never let go of the clawhold. Not even for a second. If anything, she gripped harder, twisting her five little daggers into the flesh.

“She screamed. Oh, it took a while. Had to work at it. But, somewhere between the time I broke her knee caps or when I ripped the buns off her head, she screamed. They all scream, sooner or later. And you, babe?” Juri’s tongue snaked out and skimmed around Jack’s lip, then quickly retreated when the biotic snapped her teeth at it. “You’re no Chun Li.”

Juri lifted her head up just enough to nibble at Jack’s nose, a playful little bite, before she finally sat straight up now. “So yeah, you're screaming, baldy. Only thing left to figure out is the reason. We can either do it the way that’s fun for me…”

Juri brought her foot up and slammed the heel down into Jack’s mauled breast, grinding it in for good measure. She still didn't scream, but only because she clamped down on her tongue.

“Or we can do it the way that's fun for both of us.” Juri reached back and ran her fingers along the mosaic that was Jack’s skin, traveling up, up, up until she reached the promised land between her legs. She ran her middle finger down the length of her future victim’s sex, dipping just deep enough to give Jack a little taste of what she was offering. Only a taste.

Jack knew what game Juri was playing here - being honest, it was a game she’d played herself a few times. And, maybe, any other time, she’d have been able to resist easily enough...but, yeah, long overdue for a good fucking. Her muscles were tensing, her heartbeat was racing, and a moan escaped her lips despite her best efforts to keep it prisoner. She arched her back and Juri responded in kind, giving her a couple more inches.

“Oh, she likes it.” Juri leaned down and ran her tongue along the indentions she’d made in Jack’s breast, exploring each one and lapping up the faint traces of blood. She moved forward, sliding her thigh against her target’s sweltering sex, feeling the heat and wetness even through her billowing clothes. “You want the full experience, you know what to do.” Juri started to plant kiss after kiss along Jack’s chest, getting higher and higher. “What’s my name? Say it.”

Jack panted and spoke in breathless words, as Juri’s thigh began to rub against her. She stretched out her arms wide, grabbing her pants with one hand and gripping them tight. Just a little faster, just a little harder. “God…”

Juri had a deep, dark, delicious chuckle. “Close, but not it.”

“God…” Her eyes suddenly flew open and glared at Juri. “God, you are so fucking stupid.”

Jack reached into her pants pocket, pulled out a fist-sized bag, ripped it between her and Juri’s face and let it explode all over them in a puff of red dust. Or, to be more accurate, red sand.

Juri leaned back, sputtering and trying to blink away the rustlike cloud that just exploded in her face.

"What-"

******

"-Is that?" Bison asked in a rare moment of admitted confusion, rapidly shifting his attention from screen to screen in hopes that one of the angles would shed more light on the situation. "Did your little rebel just poison her?"

"Not quite..." The Illusive Man responded, currently more interested in shaking the tip off of his cigarette into a nearby ashtray. "...But close enough. I am actually surprised that you don't recognize it, with your noble empire building so much of itself up from drug trading. Just let me send you an article over and..."

A new window opened up on the dictator's screen, and he eagerly consumed the contents. It seemed to be an excerpt from some kind of reference guide.

Red Sand

A commonplace stimulant across the known galaxy. Derived from concentrated Element Zero, it is often prized for it's ability to temporarily manifest low-grade biotic abilities in otherwise non-biotic subjects and further boost the powers of those already available.​

Universal symptoms of Red Sand ingestion are blurring and discoloration of the user's vision, bloodshot eyes, and luminous teeth. Non-biotic users often gain low-grade telekinesis for the duration of their high, while natural or artificial biotics experience slight increases in power and capability. Overly large dosages may also impede balance, induce delirium, or in extreme cases result in neurogenic shock.

The article was short, but did not need any more elaboration. For the sake of this wager, the same gist would have gotten across just fine with a crude sketch of a middle finger.

"So your peon is now-" Bison began.

"Stronger." The Illusive Man finished. "And yours is dusted out of her mind."

The mysterious entrepreneur may not have been nearly as over-the-top as his betting partner, but that was for the most part because he did not want to be. He still knew how to control a room, and all the little flairs that could be used to drive points home.

"You consider yourself one of the most powerful beings alive." The Illusive Man mused to Bison. "I have my doubts, but suppose you are. Tell me, sir..."

The head of Cerberus took a deep drag of his cigarette and exhaled, for a moment obscuring his feed with smoke. All that could be made out through Bison's admittedly grainy projection was the mere hint of a humanoid and the piercing glow of its cybernetic eyes.

"...How well of a fight could even you put up just after dropping acid for the first time?"

******

Jack watched with amusement as what up was until this point her torturer reeled back, coughing and sputtering like a teenager after her first toke.

"What the hell did you..." Juri started, before being sidetracked by a new spectacle. Said spectacle was the back of her hands, as her vision turned crimson and a fog descended upon her brain.

"...What the hell did you do?"

"Not as hardcore as you thought, party girl?" Jack answered with a half-smirk, half-snarl. Feeling new reserves of energy as the familiar rush rolled in, Jack reached up and grabbed a handful of the spidery woman's stupid flashy top.

"Then let me show you the ropes." Jack growled, before pulling Han in for a headbutt.

******

It was odd.

Juri knew where full well where she was, and what was happening. She heard the crunch of her nose folding against the tattooed woman's forehead, felt the pain race through her body and blood begin to flow down her throat. She just... couldn't get anything to do anything about it. Although she no doubt was sent reeling back from the blow viciously and violently, it all played out as if in slow motion to her muddled mind. In fact, the droplets of blood sprayed from her whiplashing away seemed to hover in the air in front of her.

It took a couple seconds to realize that was because they were.

The blood, as well as everything between her and Jack, had been telekinetically "caught" by one of Jack's outstretched hands. She was simultaneously reeling in pain and frozen in place.

"Here's the deal, bitchtits." Jack growled through gritted teeth. "I was going to grill you for info, find out who sent you. Not so much now. You can rat out anyone you want, but it isn't going to change a thing. This is all for me."

Following this Jack flicked her hand, and with a pulse of blue energy Juri was blown off her as if shot with a cannon.

******

Han hit and pancaked against a wall of what remained of the facility, but did not have enough time to even fall before the reinvigorated Subject Zero was on her once more. Choosing to get more personal than usual, Jack unleashed a flurry of body blows into Juri's toned stomach.

"YOU!"
whump
"FUCKED!"
whump
"WITH!"
whump
"THE!"
whump
"WRONG!"
whump
"BITCH!"
WHUMP

Han crumpled against her assailant as she gagged and gasped for air, but that only egged her furious opponent on further. Overcome with multiple types of red haze, Jack bit into the purple woman's shoulder and tore out a chunk of her flesh before finally allowing the beaten woman to slump down against the wall.

About half a minute into this new "round" and Juri was already a mess. Bruised bleeding and just barely starting to breathe again, her pitiful form shuddered as she tried to rise but got nothing through her drugged stupor. To add insult to injury the bite tore the shoulder straps to one side of her dudou, causing it to fold down and reveal the top of one of her breasts.

It took major effort and some sort of miracle on her part, but Han finally managed to raise her head to look up at what was mere moments ago her helpless plaything. She could have sworn that Jack was pulsing with energy; although whether that was for real or just a figment caused by her high she had no way to tell.

"You-" Juri started, before her head was forced against the wall by a foot to the face. Jack pushed down hard enough on her for Juri's cheeks to deform them against both the wall and the sole of her foot, forcing her expression into a rather unflattering pucker.

"I'm just starting to fuck you, like the cunt you are."

******

Juri didn't do drugs. It was hardly a moral statement. Really, even if she had made a habit of snorting/injecting/ingesting illegal substances, it would be such a minor blip on her litany of crimes that it might as well be jaywalking.

No, the reason she lived the straight-edge life was because of the Feng-Shui Engine. After it had been installed, she was helpfully informed not to drink alcohol anymore. Or smoke. Or even take an Aspirin. The reason being that the Engine was designed to work with a normal, functional brain, and that disrupting it with foreign substances could have unforeseen consequences. She couldn't remember their exact words, but she did recall talk of her head exploding. So, yeah, drugs were out. She had better ways to get her kicks, she’d decided.

Well, now Juri had some actual hard data on how the Feng Shui Engine took drugs - they caused the stupid thing to reset. That wasn’t anything new, really. It was a prototype, after all. Glitchy as hell. However, this was the first time it had ever happened while she was in the middle of dealing with a naked, bald, enraged biotic goddess who wanted to rip Juri’s bones clean out of her body, and had the power to actually do that.

Not having the ability to access the Engine would’ve been bad enough, but thanks to whatever crazy substance this was ripping through her body, she was tripping balls. So even if the Engine came back online, it would be a little hard to fight when she couldn’t tell how many of her own fingers she was holding up.

To put it in a mild way, Juri was fucked, and she didn’t currently have the mental acuity to figure out how to get unfucked.

Jack on, the other hand, felt great. Actually, no, she felt like utter shit. She was mauled mess, bleeding from several spots all over her body, likely dealing with some internal damage and maybe a mild concussion. After she finished up here, she would need to seek medical attention, and she wasn’t entirely sure where she’d find that on this backwater planet.

But that could wait. At the moment, the main concern was the bitch she was currently repeatedly stomping in the face.

“You-”

“No talking.” Jack lifted her foot up and drilled it against Juri face, hammering it into the metal wall with a resonating BANG.

“I’m not-”

“Bitch, no talking!” Her foot came down again, and this time she took care to make sure the heel landed right on Juri’s nose. As irritating as it was to walk around this place with no shoes on, she had to admit, she loved the sensation of this bitch’s nose breaking against her bare heel. The feel of the cartilage giving way, that distinct cracking sensation, the vibration from Juri’s stifled moans...perfect.

She moved her foot away and waited for Juri to say something else, but there were no words forthcoming. She just laid there, propped up against the wall, blinking with her mouth wide open and a small stream of blood trickling out of her nose. A good start, but not nearly enough to even the scales, in Jack’s opinion. She was going to turn this bitch inside out, but she had to think of something to do until she reached that point. Had to make it last.

She was about to settle for simply pummeling Juri’s face into an unrecognizable mound, when she caught sight of that tender breast poking at her, freed from the fakakta top she was wearing. It was a nice tit. Juicy. Not the best Jack had ever seen, but she wasn’t in a spot where she could really find better. It was enough to remind her, once again, that she was in a bit of a sexual drought, one that she would likely have to endure for another week or two, still, before she could get back to Omega and find a willing partner. Or an affordable one.

“Right, then.” Jack ran her hand over her lip, clearing away some blood. As close as she would get to freshening up. “You want to fuck? Let’s fuck.”

******

The Illusive Man was many things - provocateur, master of intelligence, a humanitarian - but, ultimately he was still, at his core, a man. As such, his body had certain natural reactions to the sight of two women doing what these two were about to do. He wouldn’t acknowledge these reactions, but they were there. He couldn’t help but wonder if his counterpart was still human enough for a similar experience.

“Bah.” Bison waved the whole scene off with a dismissive wave of the hand, as if his sheer will could make reality fast forward past it. Given his endless ego, he might’ve actually believed that on some level. “Now your pawn is the one underestimating her prey. Useless vulgarity.”

“Is that a fact?” The Illusive Man switched angles on his display, getting a closer look at the two battered women. “If your shark is going to start biting back, she needs to do it while she’s still physically able. After Jack has her fun, that won’t last very long.”

******

First, the silly hairstyle had to go. Jack refused to fuck anyone who looked like that. She pulled the purple holders out of Juri’s hair, letting her long, shimmering hair cascade down those porcelain shoulders. Quite a lot of it, really, and it was especially useful for Jack’s purposes, giving her something solid to hold onto when she grabbed her head and rammed her knee into the Korean’s face. Just a little something to keep her nice and placid while she went about her work. And because it was fun.

Next, she wanted the top off. She crouched and looked over Juri’s chest, trying to find a clasp or something to undo it, but she didn’t see one at first glance and she didn’t care enough to try harder. Instead, she grabbed the top, pressed her foot down into Juri’s tit and tried to rip the thing clean off. It took a few tries, and Jack had to take a break to throw a couple of mounted punches in Juri’s face when she made a feeble attempt at fighting back.

But eventually, she managed to rip it free, exposing Juri’s bare breasts to the fresh air. Jack’s breath grew hot and ragged now - maybe it was the drugs, maybe it was the work her new friend had done on her earlier, but the more she stared at them, the more she wanted them. The more she wanted to taste them, to maul them, to do all the things Juri likely wanted to do to her.

So why wait?

Juri was roughly hauled off the floor as biotic energy encircled her body, being lifted like a puppet with too many broken strings. Jack let the her face fly into the ceiling, just out of pure spite, before she flung the bitch across the room and dropped her down hard onto a piece of Cerberus equipment she was intimately acquainted with: an operating table.

******

Juri was starting to regain some senses, beginning to become more lucid. She doubted the red sand was done fucking up her system, but she was coming down from the initial high. This was a double-edged sword.

On one side, that meant she was closer to being able to fight back. If the Feng Shui Engine came back online, she could actually use it well enough to defend herself. Assuming all her limbs were functioning and she wasn’t bleeding to death at that time. Neither of those were safe assumptions.

On the other side, the return of her mental faculties meant she could feel everything that Jack was doing, had done, and would likely be doing in the near future. Her face was an assortment of pain, and every breath she took through her battered nose seemed to hurt worse than the one that came before it. Her teeth hurt, so something was likely broken in there. She definitely had some broken ribs from getting ragdolled over the place. It was just a fun time for the whole family.

Juri start to roll off the operating table, realizing it was just not the place she wanted to be, when a pair of tattooed hands reach out, coming after her. One hand grabbed a handful of hair, yanking her by the roots, while another dug into her breast, viciously and vigorously tugging her back. Juri started to put up a fight, throwing an errant kick in Jack’s face, enough to make her stumble away.

The psychotic biotic took a step back and rubbed her jaw, glaring back at Juri with a strange mixture of hatred and raw lust. Yeah, that probably wasn’t a good idea.

For one second, gravity increased all around Juri, pinning her to the table. Everything was heavier by dozens of times. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t breath. Just this heavy, crushing force over her entire body.

When it was over, Shadaloo’s top operative was left gasping and heaving on the operating table, trying to just get her lungs to work properly again. Jack walked back over with a manic laugh. She took a moment to spit blood in Juri’s face, then strutted over to her legs and went back to business.

“You’ve still got some fight in you, huh?” She began tugging the pants off Juri, revealing a powerful pair of legs and purple lace underwear. Jack was kind of disappointed, really. She expected Juri to be wearing some kind of spider-themed panties underneath. A web design, maybe. But no. Just a regular pair. “That’s fine. Wouldn’t be a good fuck without a little fight.”

Jack tossed the crumpled pants away - far away from Juri, not wanting to tempt ironic fate - and hopped on top of the table, straddling those world-class kicking legs of hers. Without a single word of warning, she reached down and grabbed the panties, yanking and pulling and snatching at them like a terrier with his favorite chew toy, until she roughly snapped them off.

“There we go.” Jack slid up Juri’s body until she was straddling her waist, letting their sexes slide against each other. The two of them both had a reaction - Jack had a husky moan, as weeks of pent-up sexual frustration finally found some release, Juri shivered as pleasure began to cut its way through a mountain of pain. Nature had its way and the psychotic biotic began to rock her hips, working up to the mood.

The fun was about to begin. Jack just needed to do one quick thing, first. “I like the screams, too, but I’m honestly sick to death of hearing your voice. So...” She dangled Juri’s sweaty panties, still hot with the heady scent of her own pussy, in front of her mouth. “Open up.”

******

The two spectators watched in mutually awkward silence. What was there to talk about? Strategies? Techniques? Whether the security cameras had zoom functions?

The Illusive Man - ever the entrepreneur - had taken the lull to think over further possibilities he could wring out of this. Either way the "duel" went, he was fairly sure at this point that his databanks now had enough footage for several promising ventures. A little editing here, a little selective cutting there, and there was at least one high-quality holofilm ready to sell on a very lucrative market. If Bison's minion somehow managed to turn things around it would be one last way for the Subject Zero project to benefit him, and if Jack actually survived... well, what was she going to do? Hate him more?

"Are you recording this?"

The Illusive Man was somewhat caught off-guard by Bison's out-of-the-blue question, but even moreso by the content of it. He did not expect the self-proclaimed god to be so... frank.

"Yes," The Illusive Man replied slowly. "Everything you see is being stored on Cerebus servers."

"I request a copy sent to me afterwards."

The charismatic head of Cerberus, for once, was at a loss for words. He bought a few seconds of time with glancing down at his drink glass as he casually swished the contents around, then once he decided how to continue brought his ‘icy’ blue eyes back up to meet with his betting partner.

"You are aware that there are easier ways to get material like this, right? I know many interesting people, even excepting current company. If a certain itch needs to be scrat-"

"Bah!"

Bison had finally broken his completely immobile stance, if only to raise a hand in dismissal.

"I have no such petty cravings. This will be used as an instructional video."

The Illusive Man waited for elaboration. As the pause grew longer, he came to realize that the crazy despot actually thought that was a good enough explanation all by itself.

"...Instructional... video?"

"Yes." Bison responded, his face settling into a scowl as he turned back to the 'fight' feeds. "Do you not also have presentations for new recruits? They need to know the fates of operatives that... disappoint me."

******

Juri blearily shook her head side to side; more than a little out of things, but still present enough to realize what was asked of her and how little she wanted it.

"Oh come on, bitch." Jack chided, bringing the panties closer. "Don't tell me you're finally clamming up just when that mouth of yours would have a use."

Jack attempted to simply shove the underwear in, but Han still resisted. While it did manage to clear the lips, the Korean kept her mouth clamped shut as the panties pressed up against her bloodstained teeth.

"I don't have time for this." Jack finally growled; bringing up her free hand and summoning more of her power. Juri suddenly felt a constriction around her windpipe; she was being throttled via telekinesis. She held out as long as she could - silently squirming sandwiched against the woman above and table below - but she could not do so forever. Eventually her mouth opened in a desperate bid for air, and Jack met that plea with a handful of musky undergarments.

The psychic stranglehold faded away after Juri was given her 'meal', leaving her to gag and retch for a whole new variety of reasons. Jack, for once pleased with what the purple slut had to say, turned her attention downwards.

******

This would not have been the most pleasant experience under normal circumstances, but very little of what had happened and would happen in the immediate future could be considered so by any stretch. In this case the stimuli enhancing side effects of Juri's high had turned the normally distasteful sensations of her looted panties into something almost overpowering by itself; the overwhelming taste and smell of her own wetness saturating her senses.

So overcome by this, she barely noticed as Jack began to suckle on her breasts.

Well, until she bit down.

Han's back arched and she let out a muffled squeal as Jack's teeth sunk into her tit; just enough to pierce the skin and dig in for a proper 'grip'. The bald woman's tongue circled around the traitorously hardening nipple as she shook her head violently back and forth, savaging the breast as she played with it.

Juri tried to push her off, but Jack had more than enough time to notice and act against Han's drugged movements. Jack reached up and placed a palm on Juri's forehead then slammed her down, rattling her brain as the back of her skull bounced off the operating table. Han's body seized once, and her shaky hands instantly dropped to her side to lie still.

Jack drew back, licking blood that was no longer entirely hers from her bruised and battered lips. It was quite a sight to see this bitch as helpless as a virgin on her honeymoon; splayed out, chest heaving, and looking at her with a foggy gaze that seemed to realize how little she could actually resist. Jack was glad that last blow didn't knock her out. She had a new idea she was just dying to try.

"I saw you eying my ink." Jack commented as she ran her hands over the glistening body below her. "You think they're ugly, right? Well I think you're missing out. It's always worth trying something at least once."

Jack's hands began to glow with blue energy once more, and an odd sort of tingle began where her palms laid on the Korean.

"Lucky for you..."

******

As a biotic, Jack had the ability of telekinesis. As a mad science project to create the greatest biotic alive, she also had capabilities with it that far surpassed most using the same power.

Naturally, this usually meant bigger and grander. Despite being Subject Zero, she tended to go to 11.

But that did not mean that was all she was able to pull off. Greater control also meant that she could go smaller and more precise, although she rarely came across any situation where that seemed useful to her.

This was one of those rare moments.

As Jack laid her hands on the helpless Juri, biotic energy began tearing and rending at the cellular level. Layer by layer Han's epidermis was flayed where fingers touched; leaving wet, pink marks where she was ground down just enough to pass the skin but not quite reaching the circular system. The result was a stark contrast against the rest of her pale, shuddering body.

Now armed with this method of 'tattooing' Jack went to work on her sentient canvas.

Juri screamed against her pungent gag, feeling herself being torn apart even as Jack resumed her grinding. Pleasure and pain entwined as she was fucked both literally and figuratively. The combination was only heightened as Jack still stopped to fondle and play despite the agony of her hands; brushing up against the bottom of Juri's breasts just enough to make them jiggle, working her fingers under Han to leave red palm marks on the cheeks of her ass, dipping down dangerous amounts on Juri's pelvis to no doubt tease with what else she could do...

Jack was clearly nearing her limit. And Juri, while she never would admit it, was not terribly far behind. Everything - the pleasure, the pain, the humiliation, the high - flowed together into a massive ball of tension that begged for release. As she stared up at the woman above her - her panting and heaving body dripping steady rivulets of sweat into Han's open wounds - one realization finally came to her:

When did she get vision back in her left eye?

******

"Oh fuck yeah. Oh fuck yeah!"

Jack increased her tempo, having finished the 'piece' to her satisfaction. Like every artist she signed her work, carving "Jack" into the mound just above the spidery bitch's nethers.

She was on the home stretch, and loving every second of it. Breaking this sassy little tramp was a hell of a rush, even without the Red Sand taking her higher.

"Take it, you slut!" Jack screamed,digging her fingers into Han's hips to grind even harder. "Take i-"

Two thoughts passed through Jack's mind in the following moments.

One: The fuck is happening
Two: This is some really good shit

For a moment the tattooed woman was blown aloft, shot straight upwards by the explosion of purple 'fire'. But then the blast turned into something more akin to a tornado, swirling her and the wreckage of the room about wildly. Jack was battered and buffeted by all manner of debris until the storm finally died down, depositing her on the ground in a tumble that eventually ended with her spread out facefirst.

She pushed herself up groggily and turned back to the operating table, to try to make sense of...

Ah, shit.

Juri had risen to her feet on the table... kind of. She was partially hunched over, as if just barely staying upright. Jack could see that she occasionally lost balance and corrected herself at the last moment, although these motions were almost nothing but blurs when they happened. Han's weird eye glowy thing was back in action, but apparently kicked into overdrive to the point that the new 'tattoos' she sported pulsed with purple as well.

What struck Jack the most was Juri's eyes: One was predictably going off like a spotlight, but the other was... barely open. And from what she could make out of the two, neither had much in the way of clearness to them.

Juri Han was seemingly back in action, but she had not yet come back down from her high. Jack was not sure if she should consider this a good or bad thing.

"Yrr un frr i..." Juri began, before realizing that her panties were still crammed in her mouth. With a sidelong retch she spit them out, turning back to flash Jack a smile with her now-glowing teeth.

"You're in for it now, pinhead."

******

The Illusive Man was doing more than simply recording this battle. He was also analyzing it. The cameras, discreetly set up around the facility, were also designed to read energy levels, monitoring waves and particles and dozens of little things. He assumed Bison was doing the same, really - after all, even if their respective pawn lost, there would still be valuable information to glean from the outing. While having the Feng Shui Engine in hand would be preferable, the Illusive Man was reasonably certain he could construct something like it in a few years.

The data so far was productive, but that all came to a screeching halt the moment Juri’s eye began to glow. The feedback was tremendous, immediately shorting out at least half of his sensors. The ones that were still operational had all maxed out, combining to tell a simple story: they had absolutely no read on what was going on.

Judging from Bison’s unusual silence, he didn't either.

******

Jack had no absolutely no clue what she was looking at.

Oh, she could process the image. Juri, despite being ripped and bruised and broken and burned and fucked silly on top of it all, was standing. Or hunching, at least, and judging from the way she kept stuttering and staggering as her eyes lazily wandered about the room, it seemed like she wasn't even sure what planet she was on. Jack knew that look, it was one she’d seen on way too many dumbass kids who’d snuck into a club and tried something they weren't even close to being ready for. Only none of them were glowing purple.

But even though she could process what she was seeing enough to register the events, she didn't understand why or how it was possible. But it was happening. And it certainly wasn't a good thing.

“Wow” Juri blurted out of nowhere, as her half-lidded gaze suddenly turned to something off to the side of the room. Jack followed her look and found…nothing. Unless Juri was fascinated by a ratty old rundown couch laying against the wall. “You...don't see that, do you?” Juri lazily glanced between Jack and whatever invisible craziness that was filling her brain. “Trippy.” She hopped of the table and started to walk towards Jack with her gaze still wandering. “Let me just-”

As amusing as it was to watch Juri taking her little trip into the exciting world of narcotics, Jack was a little more concerned about the glowing garish energy that was swell around her, a weird violet hue. She had no clue what it was and she decided she didn't want to now. Best to just deal with this and ask questions never.

Jack charged up, reeled back, and took a fierce kick in her stomach.

“-guh.” Jack croaked and fell back, grasping her stomach as she collapsed to her knees. It hurt. It hurt so much that Jack barely even noticed the shattered glass her knees were setting in. Juri was standing there, right in front of her, with her foot still raised from the spinning heel kick she’d launched. Jack hadn't seen her move. She couldn't. She’d been looking straight at the bitch, and she’d managed to cross at least ten whole feet before Jack’s mind could even register the movement. One second, she wasn't there. The next she was. “How-”

Juri’s foot crashed into her jaw with a swift snap kick, but not just a snap kick. This one had enough power to send her crashing through a wall, hitting with a thunderous impact that would have killed her straight away if she didn't get her shields up in time. Even so, it was hardly a fun-fun happy-happy time, especially since she hit the wall upside down and landed right on her head. Definitely more than a mild concussion, now.

Juri leisurely strolled after Jack, moving like it was just another day at the park. Except for the way she was idly fondling her own breast “I gotta admit,” Juri’s tone was conversational, talking to Jack like they were two friends meeting for the first time in decades. “I’ll feel a little bad about killing you. Not because you don’t deserve it-”

While Juri was talking, Jack had rolled to her chest and groggily rose to a single knee while a fiery blue haze radiated from her her. She summoned her powers once again, this time focusing on some shattered glass nearby. She sent the shards flying towards the Korean bitch with enough speed and force to rip her to shreds, turning the trash into deadly projectiles.

If they hit. Which they didn’t.

Juri didn’t dodge around the shards so much as she danced. She swayed to left, twisting her hips, undulating and letting the deadly point slip on by. She ducked under another and it slipped through her flowing, shimmering hair, cutting through some strands but leaving the rest of her untouched. She bobbed and weaved and swerved around every little deadly edge, until she reached Jack.

All of it only took a single second. Maybe less. Jack had just enough time to blink before a roundhouse kick crashed against her cheek. The blow had enough force to jerk Jack upright and send her into the wall, which she hit with a sickening thud. She started to fall forward as gravity had its way, and it looked like her lifeless body would crash on the floor.

No. Not if Juri had her way.

A kick crashed against Jack’s knocking her back against the cold wall before she could even collapse halfway. Another followed up after that, this one slicing deep into her chest, and a followup to that hammered her in the gut. For the next few seconds, Juri played hackysack with the psychotic biotic’s failing body, planting each kick in the exact spot it needed to be in order to keep her standing, moving around in violent violet flashes.

Here, there, here, there, everywhere. Precise, punishing, but most importantly, practical, as she made sure to deal out just enough damage to keep Jack from passing out. She wasn’t in a mood to wait on her to wake back up, after all, and she wanted to finish this while she was still on her buzz.

When the barrage was through, Juri finally let Jack fall forward, landing flat on the assortment of bruises and broken bones that had been her chest a few seconds ago. Her body quivered and convulsed for a few seconds, and Juri took a moment to step back and enjoy the show, watching as her victim flopped about.

It took her approximately five seconds to get bored with it. “Okay, enough of that.”

Juri meant to just kick Jack in the side and flip her over. Instead, she hit her with enough force to make her tumble and skip across the floor in a wild roll, flopping about she hit the stupid couch Juri had been eying a moment earlier. Seemed like her powers were still a little fritzy. She’d watch that.

Juri sashayed on over while Jack laid on her back, holding her sides while she ground. Ribs were broken, obviously, but she couldn’t tell how many. Every breath hurt. Just being awake was a torture.

So, when Juri, stepped on Jack’s chest and put all over her weight, the wail that came from Jack’s mouth was somewhat understandable.

It was a pure reflex and one that continued on even after Juri sat on the couch and took the pressure away. Bones were sloshing about in her chest, far from where they were supposed to be, and every breath she took was a new agony. She tried to bite it back, tried to stifle the banshee scream, but she couldn’t stop.

Not until Juri shoved her foot in her mouth, anyway. “Yeah, not crazy about your voice, either. Best I can do for a gag, with you going commando and all.” She slumped over and worked the foot in a little deeper, really wedging it between the jaw. Jack gagged and shook her head, but there was no getting the foul thing out of her mouth.

Juri ran her fingers down her chest, just enjoying the feel of her body, until she came across the little souvenir Jack had etched into her skin. A permanent reminder of their time together. Juri wasn’t sure whether she liked or loathed that idea.

Turning her gaze down to the “artist,” though, a new plan began to form in her half-delirious mind. A proper sendoff, and a perfect way to show her how much she... appreciated the new look.

Glancing up for a moment, Juri scanned the surrounding wreckage for a... Good! There was one about halfway across the room. Even landed 'upright' after the whirlwind too. Perfect.

But that was going to be step 2. It was best she not get ahead of herself here.

Juri withdrew her foot from Jack's mouth, and Jack began to count what few blessings she still had left for that. The apparent act of mercy was instantly shown for what it was, though, as Juri's heel came crashing back down into her with astonishing force. Over and over Han stomped, hearing wet crunches and whines below her with every downward strike. Only when she no longer felt physical resistance in her prey's mouth did she stop, move her stained foot aside, and lean down to pull open Jack's jaw and peer inside.

It was a mess of blood and bone in there, but the job she wanted done had been accomplished. All of the biotic's front teeth - as well as many of her side ones - had been dislodged and now floated aimlessly in the growing crimson pool of her craw. There would be no biting in what followed.

Humming idly to herself as she clutched Jack by the throat and dragged her along, Juri headed toward the next step in her plan.

******

Through her haze of agony, Jack felt a pain in her back as she was thrown forward and landed awkwardly on something.

SHING

Oh, was she thinking that was a pain in her back before? It was nothing. This was pain. And more than just there, too.

Jack convulsed as the Dragon's Tooth extended fully, shooting it's spike through her torso and out her chest. She tried to scream - oh boy did she try - but her rapidly filling lungs now permitted her only a ragged gurgle. Her body was raised several feet off the ground as the pole extended, but slowly slid down the shaft afterwards until she reached a halt somewhere around waist height.

"Oooh, that looks like it stings." she heard a familiar voice taunt.

Above her, that fucking Asian sauntered into view as if this was nothing special. The purple bitch leaned against the pole she had been impaled upon and took a quick lick of the blood dripping down it.

"Hm." Juri mused. "Alright flavor, but nothing to write home about. I don't think biotic popsicles are ready for market yet."

Jack may have had mulch for lungs now, but her unbridled rage simply refused to let that slide. With all the willpower she could muster she managed to force out a weak "Fuck... you..."

"No, I fucked you." Han replied, moving forward to stand next to jack's shoulderline. "That's the problem. You had your fun, but despite that 'bang' back there you failed to finish me off."

Juri hooked one leg over the dying biotic's head then settled down, straddling her face. Far above her Jack could see the lusty grin of her soon-to-be murderer, but that was not the cherry on top here. At her eye level was the word 'Jack'. The cheeky little signature that she had carved into Han to hammer in her superiority would now be the maître d' for her last meal.

"Let's make a deal, chrome dome." Juri cooed as she took hold of Jack's head and pulled her in. "You use your dirty little tongue to show me a good time..."

Jack felt a pressure build on the back of her neck as Juri brought one of her legs up to cradle her between the back of her knee and her muscular calf.

"...and I don't snap your neck like a twig. Deal?"

Of course, Juri was lying. She fully intended to do it; either gradually if Jack didn't take the offer, or immediately after she got what she wanted if Jack played along. Even if she didn't, Subject Zero was going to have a matching pulse regardless very soon. But Han knew that people get rather... strange when they know they're about to die. They make choices they otherwise wouldn't. They learn rather interesting things about themselves.

Han pulled Jack further in and waited, eager to learn if baldy had one last surprise left in her.

******

"Victory! Once again Shadaloo conquers all!"

With the outcome all but decided now, Bison had gone into full overblown egoist mode. He assumed that his companion's silence was a sullen sort, that of a sore loser trying his best not to show his frustration.

The truth was a little more complicated though. Something had caught The Illusive Man’s interest.

It wouldn't change the flow of battle any - even he would admit that Subject Zero was done for - but he knew the details behind that spike she was impaled on. And he seemed to be the only one present who did.

Dragon's Teeth. Devices used by the Geth to "convert" bodies into footsoldiers. The Chasca outpost was running experiments with them, and the half-metal monsters that Bison's lackey dispatched when she arrived was what remained of the researchers after things got out of hand. Any corpse impaled upon them would become infected with a transformative virus that morphed it into a shambling abomination with crude biotic abilities and the desire to destroy all organic lifeforms.

His attention was snapped back to dictator, as he was addressed directly by the celebrating madman.

"You put up a good fight, but the outcome was inevitable" Bison spoke through a giddy sneer. "No work of science could ever stand up against the will of a god. Although I will still claim my prize."

Ah yes, the prize. In addition to bragging rights, they had also agreed that the loser would forfeit the corpse of their champion (as well as all of its contents) to the winner. The Illusive Man was interested in examining how the other woman's prosthetic achieved such unique energy efficiency, but that was now off the table. However, Bison's spoils had been... well, spoiled. At best, he would get to examine little more than how the Dragon's Teeth transformed their victims. At worst, “Jack” would sit up on a Shadaloo dissection table and promptly get to work on vaporizing the entire research wing.

Should he tell him?

...Nah.

"Your pawn was clearly the better." The transgalactic philanthropist replied, bringing his glass up to hide his smile. "May you receive all that you deserve."

******

Jack, to put it mildly, was at an impasse.

She was dying. No doubt about it. She knew about pain and torment, and this was not something anyone could walk away from. So the purple slut's bargain for mercy was as retarded as it was hollow, and held no sway over her.

But on the other, she was still horny as fuck.

She had almost reached her peak right before everything went boom, but almost doesn't count. That alongside the high of the drugs and the heat of battle and the week long drought, she... had never been so aroused her entire life.

And now, her nose filled with the musky aroma of ready sex as she was pressed against the crotch of a woman she simultaneously hated and lusted with every fiber of her being, Jack decided that if she was going to die today she might as well do it satisfied.

******

"Oh yes... Juri cooed as Jack began to dig in with her bloody tongue. "...good, good choice."

Han rocked against Jack's face slowly, riding her like a horse as the biotic worked her. The stale air was filled with their gasps; hers loud and clear, Jack's weak and muffled. Their bruised and battered bodies shuddered in mixes of agony and ecstasy, working as one towards a shared goal.

Juri could feel herself edging, which meant that it was time to prepare for the finale. She clamped down her leg hold on her victim, but Jack - resigned to her fate and too focused on achieving her own sendoff - merely grunted at the increased constriction and picked up her pace.

It was almost... it was almost...

Juri leaned back and screamed, convulsing deep within as she finally went over. Jack, saturated with her rival's juices as they poured out over her face and engulfed her senses, also came with a shudder and a low moan.

Then Han pulled her leg tight with a brutally quick motion, and with a snap Jack's seizing took on a whole new meaning.

All the tension in the biotic's body drained away, leaving her dangling limply from the shaft she was impaled on. Juri could obviously not see it, but she could feel Jack's mouth slowly open and close in an attempt to say something before finally hanging slack.

Juri thought that Jack's last sight was her face, as her eyes seemed to lock with hers before they rolled back into her head, but in truth they had already unfocused by then. The actual final thing that the most powerful biotic saw was her own name, carved into her murderer like a plane stencil on the side of a dogfighting jet.

******

Bison gestured to the Illusive Man, still giddy from his victory.

"Patch me into the speaker system of your little facility. It is time to give my dog a bone."

******

Juri had dismounted her twitching foe and just started to catch her breath when a familiar voice rang out in the silence.

"Well done! Now, grab hold of the body and prepare for transfer."

Juri's hand dipped down to somewhere around her hip, then came back up to her ear in a cupped position.

"What's up, boss? How are ya?"

******

Bison's milky white eyes narrowed as he regarded the feed in front of him. "What is she doing?"

"I think she believes that you just called her on her phone." The Illusive Man answered, setting aside his drained glass. "Also, that she still has her phone. Also, that she still has pockets for that phone. Do I need to bring that article back up for you?"

******

"...I... Am fine." Bison's voice replied after a lengthy pause. "What is important now is that you-"

"Wait." Han interrupted, moving her “phone” in front of her to stare at it quizzically. "How the hell did you get a call out here? And on top of that, how did you know that I just..."

She trailed off, spinning in place as she surveyed the area with new eyes.

"Waaiit a minute here..."

******

The two spectators watched the feed in intent silence, neither exactly sure where this was going to lead. Juri's brow furrowed as her muddled mind tried to put all the pieces together, and they held their breath.

Then Han's brow relaxed, a satisfied smile spread across her face, and she began to giggle.

"Nice try, jackass!" Juri shouted at nothing at all. "Why don't you come out yourself if you want to settle things, big man? Scared?"

The two onlookers turned to regard each other as the one remaining fighter punched the air and laughed, babbling about how she was unstoppable and Bison was a coward. Eventually, it was the dictator who broke the silence between them.

"If you ever wish to issue a similar challenge again, I will be ever ready to accept it with her as my entry. Say, if you accidentally create another monster worthy of fighting..."

"In your face, you dictator of dicks! In your faaace!"

"...Or five, or six...."

 

[Kargan3033]

Excellent!, well done Sickerton, lasthero this was a delightfully entertaining story, thank you for sharing it with all of us.