Five: A Lesson

Wrex placed his mug down with a clink, baffled. His red eyes blinked slowly. "A sock." He stated, uncomprehending. Shepard nodded emphatically, gloved hands gesturing for emphasis.

"Lucky sock."

His mouth opened, then closed. Somewhere in the background, Grunt was snickering.

"It's a sock."

Shepard's face twisted, eyes rolling up in exasperation. Her skin seemed to tinge an even deeper shade of red. Wrex found that he liked the flushed look on her.

"You wouldn't understand." She grumbled, turning to glare at her young krogan charge.

Wrex scoffed. "Clearly."

One of her hands came up and ran quickly though her bright hair. She ignored the way blood got caught in it, stubbornly lifting her chin. "It's a human thing."

Wrex hummed in agreement, unable to see the appeal. He'd certainly never worn the odd contraptions; much too much fabric between his toes.

"Would you stop looking at me like that? It's driving me up the wall!"

He nearly started; he hadn't realized he'd been staring blankly at the human. But that line of sweat dripping down her neck was rather… distracting.

He shook his large head, smirking.

"No, that would be your missing sock."

Shepard sucker punched the laughing Grunt, voice biting with frustration. "Stolen, lucky sock." The sound stopped immediately, replaced by a kind of wheezing cough. Both the Battle Master and the Commander ignored it.

Shrugging indifferently, Wrex took a last gulp from his cup, savoring the burn of liquid as it traveled down his throat. His other hand had yet to loosen the grenade. "Same thing."

Shepard huffed impatiently, tone clipped. "The pair isn't lucky unless I have both of them."

"Why not?" Wrex shot back, glaring pointedly at a krogan scout across the room. If that wretch dared to laugh again...

He pulled his attention back to her just in time to see her fists flare blue, teeth bared. "It doesn't work that way." Wrex's free hand drifted casually to his thigh, lingering over his pistol. There was obviously no reasoning with her in this state, so he did the only thing that would guaranty his safety.

He stayed silent.

The air was strangely still around her tense form and Wrex felt the uncommon urge to shiver. Suddenly, she turned on heel, red hair flaring about her in an arc as she moved to face where he sat. Damn if she didn't look like some sort of warrior goddess, standing there atop the rubble, dust rising in the air behind her, eyes fixed and deadly-

He almost didn't hear what she said.

"Make the brat tell me where it is."

His eyes glinted then, challengingly, and he leaned back, drawing himself to his full and considerable height.

"Can't you?"

Now it was her turn to shrug, a dangerously subtle movement. "I'll kill him."

"Ah." He rumbled, eyes narrowing.

She lifted her chin higher, then jerked her head at the now ill looking Grunt. "Well?"

Wrex ran his eyes down her form, flickering back and forth between victim and abuser, contemplating. Then he sighed.

"Fine."

He rose, weapons disappearing into the folds of his suit. The rock crumbled beneath his feet as he descended, scared face fixed in a grim smile and keen eyes locked on the soon to be squealing whelp.

"Send him to the Normandy's medbay when you're done, will you?"

Wrex glanced over at Shepard for a moment, catching her sharp grin and bright eyes as she sauntered away. The air suddenly felt lighter, the absence of her raw biotic energy doing wonders for the tense atmosphere. The hounds in the pit started their growls and hisses, restless with vicious energy. In the balconies and far corners, the deep thrum of krogan conversations began again, louder now that they had something interesting to talk about.

The old krogan rolled his eyes, calling over his shoulder as he turned to the youngster still tied to the ceiling. "Don't push your luck."

Grunts' eyes were wide when he met them, his teeth gritted behind bruised lips.

Wrexs' smile broke into a fierce grin. He flexed his claws, adrenaline suddenly spiking through his blood at the prospect of letting off some steam.

"All right, kid. Time to teach you a lesson you'll never forget."

And as his fist drove into genetically engineered flesh, he couldn't help but wonder if she would accept a certain request of his.

~The End~

AN: I wanted to wrap it up, but I didn't know how. So I came up with this. What do you think?

Review Please!

~Delgodess

P.S.- It is sooo nice to be able to say "The End"!