AN: Musical inspiration for this chapter: Monster by EXO, and Monster by Imagine Dragons

Chapter One: Monster

One year earlier

Akksul threw his pistol down, choking on a breath. He had shot Jaal. He was a fellow angaran, not an alien. Not a threat...he was a friend, once.

He balled his hands into fists, thoughts skittering through his mind, none of them making sense.

….not an enemy

...an angaran

….who did he hate, really?

Kett?

The humans?

…..himself…?

Looking up at the beauty of the Havaarl sky, Akksul considered what to do next.

He needed some time to think; to figure everything out.

He had to get away.

To: Ryder

From: Akksul

Human,

"To hate blindly is as dangerous as to trust blindly." An old angaran

proverb, one of many I have forgotten somewhere along the way.

This is not an apology. I don't know if I will ever be able to look upon an

alien and not feel hatred. But what I did to Jaal was wrong. So I must

try.

Akksul

Present day

Akksul stood impatiently, unseen among the luscious fronds and winding vines of Havaarl, watching the different aliens coming and going from what was once a thriving daar of his people. He frowned deeply, mentally naming each kind he saw: asari, turian, salarian.….human…

Human. Like the pathfinder.

He had recently watched the vids celebrating the success of the joint venture of allies against the archon. Many races banded together to fight the kett, which ended in the death of their leader at the place called Meridian. An impressive feat, he grudgingly admitted, no matter his personal opinion of the Milky Way aliens. He could not control his shock however, when he saw Jaal and the pathfinder embracing and kissing like lovers for all to see. He had heard rumors prior to that, but he had given no credence to it, thinking the whole idea ridiculous.

But no, it was obviously true. He found himself curious as to how that worked exactly, despite the initial revulsion. He had not yet researched human sexuality, more interested in their aggression than reproduction, but perhaps he should arm himself with further knowledge. Were human and angaran that biologically compatible, or…

He was interrupted from further ruminations by the welcome return of Thelen, one of his most trusted compatriots.

"Akksul," he said urgently, pressing a data pad into his waiting hands and nodding toward it. "The nav point is there, along with everything else the Resistance knows about the facility."

Clutching the data pad eagerly with both hands, Akksul took a moment to smile at his friend. "Is Miren still your contact here, or was there someone else you had to sweet talk this time?"

He grinned and clapped a hand to Akksul's shoulder. "Yes, still Miren as before. All our exchanges are very pleasant." After a shared laugh, Thelen sobered and nodded toward the data pad. "When do you want to leave?"

Akksul took a deep breath and turned to where their shuttle was hidden, his steps determined.

"We will leave immediately after we gather the others." He frowned, face grim. "There's no time to waste. I only hope this information is correct and we aren't too late."

Akksul sat in the back of the shuttle, an outward picture of confidence and calm while his insides churned with anxiety and an edge of panicked fear. But that was not something he would allow the others to know, he needed them to keep focus on the mission at hand.

He could see the endless ice of Voeld through the front window of the shuttle, this planet where he had spent much time in misery and despair...and anger. He banished the memories of those times from his thoughts; they must hold no sway over him today.

They were nearly to the nav point. All that remained of his fighters were ready, talking quietly among themselves. These were the ones who remained with him; who still believed in him when all others trickled away. The kett were still a malignant threat, even if the other aliens seemed less so in recent times. This was not the time to let their guard down, but to stay as vigilant as ever.

He checked each pistol and his assault rifle a final time, moving to the door as the shuttle set down. He turned toward his fighters, meeting the eyes of each one in turn.

"Come," he said, in a voice vibrating with conviction, "our brothers and sisters are eager for liberation, and the kett for death. Let us not keep them waiting. Roekaar!"

"Roekaar!" they yelled back.

It was night...or was it day? There was never a way to tell with no windows and very little light to see by.

Katherine Johnson lifted a shaking hand to brush the wisps of hair from her eyes, wishing she had something left to tie the long, dirty strands back with. It had been some time since she lost all the pins that usually kept her bun in place, and even the hair tie was gone now. Lost, taken or broken, she didn't know which.

The kett bastards went out of their way to make the prisoners as miserable as possible, keeping them isolated from each other in individual containment cells, and giving them just enough nourishment to keep alive. The only time Kat was ever taken from her cell was when "Blacky", which was what she had dubbed the cruelest one who interrogated her, decided it was time to beat on the human. It was just a guess, since she saw no other prisoners besides the ones in this large room, but she seemed to be the lone human among the angaran prisoners.

Her interrogations seemed less about gaining any information about humans and more about threatening her race and telling her how wretched and unworthy she was of receiving their "gifts".

The sick fucker.

When she closed her eyes, all she saw was Blacky's cruel face smirking at her, laughing at her pain when he hurt her. Purring at her in a way that almost sounded sexual when he cut her…. Gasping, she shuddered and opened her eyes wide, trying to block out the memory of the latest session, even as she felt the pain he inflicted all over her body.

For the millionth time, she wondered if the other members of her squad made it out of the ambush she stumbled into, or whether they were captured. Kat refused to entertain the notion of their deaths. Marcus and Cato were both tough Turians and they had a lot more combat experience than she did. Surely they made it out and informed Kandros of her capture. Maybe.

She huddled closer in on herself, trying to stop the eternal shivers she had suffered since her capture. The containers the prisoners were kept in were heated, but never enough for her to actually feel warm. Kett, and apparently angara as well, did not seem to suffer as much from cold.

"Katherine," came a strained whisper from somewhere to her left. "Are you awake?"

Shifting forward so she could see her young friend, Kat tried to smile, but based on the worried look Zareena was giving her, the attempt was not reassuring.

"He was very hard on you today, wasn't he?"

Taking a deep breath, Kat tried to ignore all the bruises and cuts that were throbbing and burning, at least thankful there were no broken bones. Blacky seemed to know just how far he could push without actually killing her or breaking anything. Better not to dwell on how he had become so expert, or how many others he had practiced on before she came along.

She shrugged, "I've had worse. Remember the time I told you I jumped off the roof of my house onto a mattress when my brothers dared me to?"

"Was that the time you broke your arm?"

Katherine smiled sadly and nodded. "Yeah, that was it." She squinted at her angaran friend, trying to see her in the dim light. "Are you okay, Zar? Did they feed you today?"

Zareena nodded vigorously. "Yes, don't worry about me, I am well enough." She twisted her hands together, concern in her eyes. "Katherine….you mustn't keep drawing their ire just to protect me and the others, I'm worried for you."

"But I don't want my kett boyfriend to look at anyone other than me." She batted her eyelids and smirked as Zareena's mouth fell open in horror.

"You're….you are not serious, are you? But that is an impossibly disgusting thought!"

Laughing quietly, Kat shook her head, still trying to make light of her injuries. "No, but I do prefer he stay focused on me rather than you. Early life with my brothers prepared me for pain, to some extent. Plus, I've had training in case of capture."

Nothing really useful, but the angaran girl didn't need to know that.

Zareena was quiet for a moment, digesting her words before asking her next question. "Your skin is not supposed to be so many colors, is it?"

Kat glanced down at the blues, greens and yellows mottled all across the visible skin of her arms. "It's just bruising, it'll heal in time." Maybe, she thought silently to herself. If he ever stops hurting me. She resolutely refused to think about any of the cuts on her back, since they were hidden and there was absolutely nothing she could do about treating them.

"I'm frightened, Katherine," Zareena said, voice thick with tears. "What if we can't ever get out? Will we die here?"

Rolling so she was sitting on her legs, Katherine placed her hands on the clear barrier of her containment pod and looked at Zareena, putting all the conviction and bravado she could muster into her voice.

"Now you listen to me, young lady...you are not to lose hope. We will get out of here. In fact, I've been working on a plan." Never mind that that was a lie, she thought with a pang of guilt, but went on before she lost her nerve. "Another reason I want them to keep picking on me, is I get to see more of the layout of this place..." Her voice trailed off and she smiled when she saw Zareena's face brighten, looking at her like she hung the stars in the sky.

"I promise. I promise not to lose hope again, Katherine. As long as we have each other."

"Good, now get some sleep while you can. Who knows when they'll be back to pester us again." Kat laid down and closed her eyes, concentrating on keeping her breathing slow and steady while she waited for the pain to dim from a roar to a dull throb. All she allowed herself to hope for was the courage to face another day. She was too afraid to wish for anything more.

When Kat woke it was to the sound of explosives and gunfire. When the ground shuddered, she reached out a hand to steady herself against the barrier and gasped to feel open air, the barrier gone.

Someone must have cut the power.

The silence that followed seemed ominous and had her straining to hear any sound at all.

Moving forward, she groped the empty air, searching for the pod next to hers. "Zareena," she whispered urgently, "are you there?"

Others were whispering and moving in the dark, having also found themselves free.

She felt her at the same time she heard her.

"I'm here!"

They pulled each other into a tight hug, breathing a laugh in relief. It was mere seconds later when all the lights turned on in a bright flash. They were both blinded by the sudden brightness, but Kat quickly recovered and pulled Zareena behind some containers to hide, unsure who might be coming through the doors.

She peeked out and blanched when she saw Blacky flanked by several guards. Her stomach dropped and her heart started pounding a staccato rhythm, adrenaline flooding her system. Reflexively her grip on Zareena's arms tightened while her mind scrambled for a plan.

"Okay… Listen, I need you to stay here and I'll draw their attention. When they're focused on me, I want you to run like hell for the door. Get out, and don't look back, you hear me?"

"No!" Zareena wailed, and flung her arms around Katherine's neck, clinging tighter to her than before.

Kat grimaced and eased out of her grasp enough to lean out from the containers to see what was happening. Blacky was very close now, and she could see he was focused solely on their hiding spot, breaking into a jog when he locked eyes with her, one side of his mouth curling up into a smirk.

Fighting had broken out on the other side of the room, the sound of shouts and gunfire coming as from a great distance. Everything narrowed to the creature who was bearing down on her and the sound of her heartbeat pounding in her ears, war-drums of vengeance.

Standing, she shoved Zareena hard enough to knock her back into the safety of cover as she stepped out and walked toward him. Gathering all the biotic power that she could manage into her hands, Katherine pushed it all forward, knocking the kett back a dozen feet where he smashed into a console before falling to the floor, momentarily stunned. Running forward, Kat snatched the dagger off of his belt...the same dagger he had used on her so many times….

"You're"

stab

"a fucking"

stab

"Monster!" she screamed with every bit of pent up rage.

Stumbling back, she dropped the dagger and fell to the floor in a heap, her shaking legs no longer able to hold her weight. Kat was breathing so fast her vision started to swim, not quite able to process that she had actually managed to kill her tormentor. Leaning forward she rested her head against her knees, her hair falling around her like a curtain.

Akksul strode down the hall of the prison facility, a pistol in each hand as he dispatched kett after kett, almost casually. He was flanked on his right by Thelen, and on his left was Thelen's brother, Virron, both crack shots.

The tension was building in Akksul's shoulders as he came closer to where the prisoners were kept. The layout was similar to so many other facilities he had been in over the years. Pushing open the doors to the detention area, he scanned for any kett, shooting one guard in the back while the brothers fanned out and eliminated any stragglers.

Akksul held up a hand to stop his warriors from moving forward, watching while a kett went flying across the room in a burst of blue light, closely followed by a human with murder in her eyes. The scream she released echoed in the space, the primal sound striking a note of empathy from him before he squashed it, focusing on the mission at hand. Observing that the last kett lay dead, he gave orders regarding the prisoners and looked beyond the human, seeing the one person he had come for.

Holstering his weapon, he moved swiftly forward and laughed, catching his sister's slight form against his own, lifting her in the air and spinning her with pure joy as she cried tears of relief and happiness.

"Akksul, you came for me! I'm so sorry, brother, it happened so fast," she sobbed into his chest.

He shushed her, holding her tenderly. "Don't be sorry, Zareena, you've done no wrong." Akksul held her at arm's length, examining her. "Are you injured? Did they hurt you?"

Zareena pushed out of his arms and turned toward the human, gesturing toward her. "No, this is my human friend, Katherine. She never let them hurt me. She made them hurt her instead." With a worried look toward her brother, she knelt down next to Kat and pushed her hair back so she could see her face.

Looking down at the human, Akksul frowned and lowered himself so he could look her in the eye. "Human, can you walk? We must leave this place now."

Katherine studied his face, from his stern expression, to the orange markings across his features. Finally, she nodded and looked down. "I think I can, but I may need some help. I'm sorry, I'm very weak right now, I used the last of my strength on that bastard." She jerked her chin toward the dead kett.

Zareena helped Katherine to her feet, but when she swayed unevenly, her face going an even paler color, Akksul scowled and made a sound of annoyance, leaning down to scoop her up.

Kat gasped in pain, her eyes going wide as she looked at him then slamming shut, biting her lip to keep from crying out.

"Be careful of her, brother, she has wounds on her back too, I think."

Akksul shifted, trying to gentle his hold, then gave up and started walking quickly, ready to be out of the facility. He checked to see his sister was keeping pace, pausing to give orders to one of his men before heading for the shuttle.

Kat leaned her head against the burly angaran's shoulder and let herself drift off in a haze of pain and fatigue, grateful to finally feel safe.