Ante Up Chapter 14: Low Blow

Watching the turian siblings fight was quite the eye-opening experience for Shepard. Sure, she'd sparred with Garrus before, but her hand-to-hand style was vastly different from his. Solana, though more lithe and fluid, was using the same style with minimal variances. The only visible adjustments she seemed to be making to the technique incorporated extra footwork, ducking and dodging in ways that stretched and tested her newly healed leg. Garrus was also being considerably less aggressive with his blows. However, the flurry of punches was impressive enough that Shepard couldn't help but want to see them fight at full capacity.

The match had stretched on for nearly half an hour, but neither of them seemed to be tiring. Turian stamina would allow them to fight for hours, so Shepard wasn't entirely sure how a winner would be determined. After watching a bit more, she noticed that they were subtly trying to knock one another off balance. She assumed the victor would be the one who could take the other to the ground. Even that would take time, though, as both were holding their positions well. They also weren't taking the fight entirely too seriously.

It had become fairly amusing to watch, actually. The two circled each other, crouched, arms held out to the side to intercept attacks. Garrus struck and Sol dodged easily, ducking to his side. He swiveled, avoiding a slice that was meant to clip his stomach. He grabbed the lip of her cowl, trying to force her to the floor. She snarled and clicked out an untranslatable string of words that sounded quite nasty, kicking Garrus to knock him away. Garrus stabilized himself, clicking back a similar-sounding sentence. Shepard could recognize the playful lift in his voice, though.

Trash talk, Shepard decided. She sat forward on her bench, watching intently.

A few blows later, they upped their game. Instead of dodging every swing, Sol threw up her arms to counter, the plates of her forearms clacking against Garrus' and grinding as she diverted his arms away. She chirped out an insult again, suddenly regretting it when Garrus lunged forward and tackled her to the ground. After tumbling around for a bit, Garrus came out on top, pinning Sol's arms behind her back. She struggled, barking out indignant profanities, but couldn't gain leverage over him.

He looked over at Shepard, mandibles flared in a grin. "Call it, Shepard."

She laughed, giving a quick count to three. "I'd say you win this round."

He released Sol, and she sat up, growling, "You're heavier than me."

"Weight has nothing to do with it," Garrus said. "Now, lack of skill..."

"Ass," she snapped.

"You haven't fought in a while, have you?" Shepard asked. "You said you left your unit to take care of your mom."

"That's right," Sol said, stretching out her healed leg and rubbing her shin. "Haven't hit the field since Mom was hospitalized."

"Looks like you've stayed in top condition, despite that."

"I'm not at my best," Sol replied, "but I have tried to keep myself in check." She laughed a little. "Of course, Mom has a tendency to throw things if she thinks you aren't paying attention, so you learn to stay alert."

"She throws things?" Shepard asked.

"To keep us on our toes," Garrus added, taking a seat on the bench beside Shepard. "I think she actually started it after Dad had the bright idea to ignore her after an argument. It became a type of training exercise for us." He motioned between himself and Sol.

"Never know when to expect it," Sol said, "so it forces you to be ultra-aware of your surroundings at all times." She added, "It's nothing dangerous, mostly." She suddenly remembered something and said, "Except once in the hospital."

Shepard looked at her questioningly and Garrus asked, "What happened?"

"She hit a low point, was on a trial treatment that didn't help at all," Sol replied. "She was really incoherent, actually forgot who I was. I came into the room, just like always, and she freaked out and nailed me." Sol formed a fist and knocked her knuckles against her temple, where Tacita had hit her. "They had to call Dad in to calm her down."

"That's horrible," Shepard gasped.

"There were other times when she couldn't remember things," Sol said, "but she didn't usually become violent."

"I'm glad we got her on the salarian's treatment," Garrus muttered. "I don't think I could handle seeing her like that."

"It was tough," Sol agreed. "Thankfully, she was only that bad for the month that she tried the one treatment. Most of the others protected her memories, at least."

Garrus focused his attention on the floor. Guilt had formed a pit in his stomach. The whole time his mother had been sickest, he'd been playing vigilante on Omega. He really couldn't blame Sol for being so angry at him before. She seemed to be over it now, however, and hadn't said anything negative after he'd explained what had happened on the corrupt station.

Sol could see him descending into deeper thoughts and quickly dragged him back. "It's probably a good thing you didn't come around on a really bad day, thinking about it. Most of the time, she'd remember everything up to a year or two back. I'd come in without you, and she'd keep asking where you were and how things were going on the Normandy."

Garrus shuddered. "Yeah, just what I would've wanted to hear." He unconsciously leaned into Shepard's shoulder, just another reassurance that she was there. She shifted her weight back against him, earning a slight smile.

Sol eyed them, unamused. "You sure your little hook-up didn't happen before she died?"

"It didn't." He glanced over at Sheard and quietly added, "And not because I wasn't thinking it."

"I tried," Shepard hissed back, "but subtlety is lost on you."

Sol laughed, sounding very much like her mother, and stood, arching her back in a stretch. "Care for a round, Commander? You said you've fought Garrus before. Or was that just a lie to disguise how he was actually keeping sane aboard the ship?"

Garrus mumbled out a few embarrassed words in his hometongue, earning another trilled laugh from his sister. Shepard rose from the bench, cracking her knuckles. "No, we've sparred plenty of times."

"Good," Sol chirped. "Never had a friendly match with a human before. Hope you don't mind if I fight you like a turian."

Shepard stepped within striking range, taking a defensive stance. "Wouldn't have it any other way."

Sol grinned and threw the first punch. When Shepard blocked it, she feinted, ducked, and tried to sweep Shepard off her feet. The rest of the match proved quite difficult, not because Sol's skills were superior to Shepard's, but because she was so damned fast. She'd been playing around with Garrus, but had apparently brought her best moves to the fight with the commander. Shepard would actually venture to say that Sol was a better hand-to-hand fighter than her brother, simply because her smaller frame worked to her advantage.

As the match progressed, Shepard became more winded, a side effect of her human physiology. She had plenty of stamina for certain activities, but prolonged sparring wasn't really one of them. As a vanguard, she relied heavily on her biotics to take out her enemies while she caught her breath or reloaded her guns. Stripped of her biotics (because she definitely wasn't going to bring them into a friendly match), she wouldn't last long against Solana.

She'd had the same problem the first few times she'd fought with Garrus. Only after she'd found a way to exploit his bulkier frame had she been able to win against him. Sol's agility complicated things. To take her down, Shepard would have to find a structural weakness, a place without plating where she could land a decent blow. Unfortunately, she wasn't nearly as versed in female turian anatomy as she was in that of males, so pinpointing a fleshy spot would be a bit challenging.

As Sol rushed at her, Shepard ducked and planted her shoulder in her stomach, planning to use her own force against her. Shepard was surprised when her shoulder met with with toned muscle instead of segmented plates, like she would've encountered on Garrus. Sol gasped, stumbling back and clutching her stomach. Shepard let her catch her breath but held a defensive position.

Garrus laughed a little too loudly, and Shepard threw him a questioning stare. He explained, "Turian females aren't plated around their abdomens. To hit a woman there during a friendly match, while she isn't wearing armor, is roughly the social equivalent of kicking a human man in the groin. It's, ah, funny, but..."

"Kind of... a bitch move," Sol finished weakly. She fell back and splayed out on the floor. "I give... spirits that hurt..."

Shepard suddenly felt terrible. "I didn't know," she said quickly, hovering beside Sol. "I'm really sorry."

"S'ok," Sol muttered, laughing half-heartedly. "Just... please don't do that again."

Garrus appeared next to his sister, offering a hand to help her up. She took it hesitantly and allowed him to haul her to her feet. She wobbled, coughing once to dispel the aftershock of the stunning blow. Irritated, but hardly serious, Sol glared at Garrus and snapped, "Your mate's a bitch."

"She's a brilliant fighter, Sol," Garrus chided. "She instinctively knew your weakest point."

Sol groaned, still holding her midsection. "Can't remember the last time I took a gut-shot." She eyed Shepard warily. "Is it not painful for a human to be hit in the stomach?"

"Of course it is," Shepard said. "We just guard ourselves better because those hits aren't off-limits." Again, she apologized, "Sorry, I was expecting you to have plating like Garrus."

"No," Sol corrected. "Abdominal plating would make pregnancy a little... difficult. As I understand it, turians and humans carry children the same way."

"But you have plating to protect against radiation," Shepard said, confused. "How is it that your children don't become exposed?"

"Thicker skin?" Sol guessed. "Advanced internal structure? There's something there to compensate for the lack of plating."

"I see," Shepard hummed.

"Good match, at any rate," she said. "Should've have my guard up." She turned to Garrus again. "You offered lunch forever ago."

"I did," he responded. "We can go now, if you want."

"Sure," Sol replied. "I'm send Jack a message, too. She should be done with her Alliance business by now." She leaned closer to Garrus, inhaling. "And you might want to shower off before we go anywhere public. Your scent is masked more now, but I can still tell you two weren't just sparring or something. A change of clothes wouldn't hurt, either."

Garrus nodded. "Good looking out." He squeezed her arm affectionately. "Go find Jack. We'll meet you later."

"Meet in half an hour," Sol urged. "No time for you two to screw around."

Garrus chuckled, joining up with Shepard at the door. He leaned in to her, mandibles brushing her ear, and whispered, "I think she's underestimating me."