//------------------------------// // Highscore // Story: Mass Effect: Element of Kindness // by CommanderApplejack //------------------------------// Chapter 21 Highscore [Try using the black orb again to save Atick] 57% Not having the time to warn the turian of the imminent danger coming from the geth, the pegasus did the first thing that came to her mind. She slammed down onto the ground and pointed both her wings forward, trying to recreate the orb she had previously created in panic. Does Fluttershy manage to recreate the black orb? Critical no Fluttershy stood still with her wings forward in deep concentration... only for the small black orb that was forming to fizzle out again. Before she could even consider trying to fire another move at the geth the machine fired its rifle at the turian, taking him out instantly. "BUCK!" Fluttershy cursed loudly, her face turning beet red as she immediately realized what she had just shouted. What she didn't realize was that the shout had attracted the attention of the geth and her moment of embarrassment stopped her from noticing that fact. Not that it would be hard to figure out since the machine didn't waste any precious time waiting on the pegasus to start paying attention again. Its virtual bullets started to impact against her shield which dragged her back to reality. Fluttershy made an attempt at getting out of its line of fire but as she walked backward she tripped over her own tail. This gave the geth the time it needed to finish her off. The virtual bullets ripping through her shield while she simultaneously felt a sting in her chest and immediately dropped to the ground as the arena's systems created a biotic stasis field around her to simulate her death. "Fluttershy, what's going on over there?!" Liara's asked over the comm, the pegasus wanted to answer but found that she couldn't with the stasis field around her. She now simply had to wait for the end of the match, something that didn't take too long since all the geth were now focussed on the lone asari. The same sound that had started the round now put an end to it as the stasis field shut off again. Fluttershy, Atick, and Ardri standing up from the ground. "Sorry that I didn't get here in time." Fluttershy immediately apologized to Atick. "Don't worry about it, I shouldn't have let that geth sneak up on me in the first place," the turian chuckled but he was clearly annoyed with himself. Liara met up with the group at the entrance of the arena where they returned the gear they had borrowed from the arena. "Shall we go look at our stats?" Liara asked the group who all voiced their agreement. They headed to the side room where they could pull up their statistics. Atick won with the most kills, the turian having taken out the most geth by far. Ardri took the lead with most damage taken, the salarian had used his tech skills to constantly reinforce his shields which meant he had been able to soak up the fire from the geth until he got overwhelmed. Liara, in turn, had the best accuracy, using lift in combination with a single shot of her handgun meant that she almost had perfect accuracy. At last, there was Fluttershy, the pegasus had obviously gotten the high score in most biotics used but that wasn't what was notable. "That amount of damage should simply not be possible," Ardri stated with wide eyes. "Must be bug in system." Fluttershy grimaced as she looked at the amount of damage she had done to the geth she had destroyed in panic, she could have taken out nearly ten of the machines with that single hit alone. "Let's check it out," Atick said as he opened one of the recordings from the match, they gawked at the pegasus after the recording finished playing. "Uhm, oops?" Fluttershy said as she looked sheepishly at the three other aliens. "You know what, I don't even want to know. This is Spectre level kind of crap." Atick blankly stated, not knowing that he wasn't too far from the truth. With that, the salarian and turian said their goodbyes and split off from Liara and Fluttershy who took seats at one of the observation platforms and ordered a couple of drinks. They were able to view the current match that was being played by a group of turians. "You're not going to ask about what I did back in the arena?" Fluttershy asked as Liara just silently sat across to her. The asari shook her head. "I'm pretty sure what you created was a singularity but it was just... way too powerful," She said clearly astonished, "I know you can do things that defy the workings of biotics but that quite literally shouldn't have been possible." Liara picked up her drink and took a sip, noticing that Fluttershy was hiding behind her mane again. "Look, Fluttershy, I'm not scared of you. You're a beautiful person and I don't believe you'd ever harm anyone on purpose that didn't deserve it but I'm afraid of what it will do to you when you harm someone that does." Fluttershy didn't exactly know how to respond so she decided to simply say nothing and take a sip from her own drink. The two silently sat at their table while looking at the ongoing match as they both suddenly got a message on their omni-tool—a notice from Shepard. The color drained from Liara's face the further she got into reading the message, the content of the message being that the Alliance Intelligence Service had found Matriarch Benezia on Noveria and the Normandy was on its way back to pick up its two missing crewmembers. "So we have ten hours to pack up and get ready to go?" Fluttershy asked as she closed her omni-tool again. "Seems like it, did yours say anything different than mine?" Liara asked as she quickly finished her drink, Fluttershy nodded. "Garrus sent me a side note that he contacted the armorer and that she'll have the armor done by the time the Normandy docks." "That's good, I think we should be getting back to the hotel to get our stuff," Liara said as the two left the arena in a hurry. "We also should go by a hairdresser to get your hair cut, I'm pretty sure if anyone on the Normand were to do it it wouldn't be pretty." She does have a point, I tripped over it in the simulator and if that had been a real situation I'd have died and my mane probably won't fit in a helmet but it just feels wrong to cut it. I don't want to do it but it might be something I'm going to have to do. 1. Go to the hairdresser 2. I'd like to keep my hair 3. [Let's just get it over with] [Vote link]