Calabrese woke up in a white room. He blinked, wondering what he did this time that he wound up in a mental hospital. Then he realized that he wasn't wearing a straight jacket.

"Well, this is a change of pace," he mused. He grabbed his head as he suddenly deceloped a massive headache.

Calabrese remembered what happened, now. "Oh, yeah... I died."

He was out at the bar for his 21st birthday. Alone. He wanted to drink his sorrows away, but couldn't have more than a single gulp of the awful alcohol. He spent the rest of the night nursing a cup of water on the bar, watching people come and go. One such person included a young lady, too young to drink here. She was the bartender's daughter, apparently. From where Calabrese was sitting, he could see her tidying up dishes in the back. She finished up and came trounced over to the bartender.

"Hey Dad, dishes are done. Need anything else tonight?" She asked in a chipper tone.

The older man laughed, his belly shaking slightly. "No, sweetie. You can go home."

She hugged him and then left through the back door. What she didn't know was that a group of four men with sunken eyes and dirty smiles followed behind her.

What they didn't know was that Calabrese followed behind them.

She'd gotten about two blocks before the guys caught up with her, one quickly stepping in front of her. "Hey there girlie. Want to come hang out with us?" He asked with a leer.

She was having none of that. She pushed past him without saying a word, but another one grabbed her arm none too gently.

"Now aren't you rude," he said as he pulled her into a side alley. "We was just asking a simple question. Why be so mean?"

Calabrese, from a discreet distance, dialed the police. He got a dial tone. "We're sorry, but the lines are currently full. Please hold." He swore softly and tucked his phone back in his pocket, watching, thinking.

She was pushed further into the alley, the four men blocking her escape. She glared. "I'm not interested. Get out of the way."

One of them, clearly the head honcho, grinned down at her, his yellow teeth gnarled and twisted. "Oh, but we are interested. And for being such a rude little girl, we won't go easy on you."

She tried to punch him, be he caught her hand and spun her around, his other hand grabbing her ass. She squirmed and tried to elbow him, but she couldn't even scream she was so terrified. Watching this was the two in the back and another off to the side.

Calabrese quietly snuck up behind the two in the back, pulling a batman by knocking their heads together, putting them both to the ground. The echoing "thud" caught the attention of the two remaining men. The honcho leered at Calabrese, tossing the girl aside. "What do we got here? A little prick thinking to play hero, huh?"

Calabrese's heart thumped wildly in his chest, but he held firm. He didn't speak, just walked forward. The second man pulled out a knife and swung at him. Calabrese dodged the knife, but not the boot to his stomach shortly after. He heard laughter, and that pissed him off. He stood upright and prepared for the knife guy's next hit. He went in for a stab, but Calabrese grabbed his hand, pulling him forward and off balance. Then he grabbed the man by the back of the head and shoved it downwards as he brought up his knee. The man fell, broken nose bleeding and eyes closed. Calabrese grabbed the knife and turned to the honcho, who was applauding.

"Not bad, kid, not bad at all." His disgusting smile aimed squarely toward Calabrese. The man glanced at the girl, who was standing against the wall, eyes wide and scared. "But I'm done fucking around. Walk away, or this gets ugly."

Calabrese looked at the man, the girl, and the unconscious bodies behind him. "It can't get any uglier than your face, dickweed."

This startled the man (and the girl) enough that Calabrese rushed in, knife at the ready. But the older man was too quick. He punched Calabrese square in the forehead, knocking him back to the ground. In his dazed state, it was the best he could do to turn to the girl and say "Run!"

The girl snapped out of it and took off out the alley way. The Honcho tried to run after her, but tripped as Calabrese grabbed his foot. He kicked Calabrese in the head, hatred in his eyes, his lust for the girl gone. Now, he only wanted to kill this little shit. He stood over Calabrese, kicking him in the back and the arms.

"I told you I was done fucking around," The man said as he pulled out a revolver from the back of his pants. He aimed at Calabrese, but at that point, he stabbed the knife into the achilles' tendon of the larger man, who fell to the ground. Calabrese jumped on top of the man struggling with the gun, trying to keep it pointed away. But he was shoved back and punched in the chest.

No, wait, it wasn't a punch. Calabrese looked down at his quickly bloodying shirt. The older man held a smoking gun and looked triumphant, but Calabrese screamed out in effort and plunged the knife into the man's throat. The man gasped, but could only breathe blood, and he died first. Calabrese rolled off him and lay down on his back, eyes to the stars. He had a few thoughts running through his head as he breathed slower and slower.

Only one dead. Who knows what the other three will do now. Maybe they'll get away and come back for that girl. I never even got her name. It wasn't... it wasn't good enough, Calabrese. If he could still lauch, he would have chuckled to himself. So young, too. Ah, well. You know what they say. Half as long... twice as bright.

He closed his eyes, a last smile etched on his lips.

Calabrese sat on the empty white floor, thinking over his last moments. He didn't have a family left, no friends that would care for more than a month, and his dog Sparkles would at least be taken care of by his neighbor. All in all, he didn't want to die, but he supposed he wouldn't be missed. He wasn't important enough.

He heard a noise behind him, and he pushed himself off the ground. Whatever comes next, he'd rather face it standing. He turned to find a glowing white light, about human length and width, standing in front of him. Calabrese looked at it and could feel the light on his skin.

"Hello there, Calabrese Profeta." The light spoke in a calm, almost approving voice.

The man in question was surprised by the tone. "Who are you, and where am I?"

The voice laughed. "We are nowhere, or maybe the afterlife. Whichever you want to call it. As to who I am... I'm your new best friend." It moved slowly towards him, circling around. "Because I intercepted your soul on it's way to the after afterlife, and I'm going to give you a choice."

"What makes you think I didn't want to go the afterlife?" He asked, but kept the aggression out of his question. He was smart enough to know that you shouldn't piss off god-like entities, especially if they claim to be doing you a favor.

"You didn't have much of a life for there to be an after," It responded, amused. "I'm willing to give you another shot at a better life, where you could at least live past 21. I'll place you in another universe, one that you're at least familiar with, and I'll give you a little something to go with it. In fact, if you don't show up there, everyone there is pretty much screwed. You get to be a big damn hero."

Calabrese heard what the voice said, but he couldn't understand. "But... why?"

"Why what?"

"Why me?" He asked. "I'm nobody. I've got no military training, I've got no great skills, no great brain, no great body, no great personality. If you were going to send someone to go save a universe, why not send somebody worth two squirts of piss?"

The light stepped in front of him. Calabrese could almost see a smile. "Why? Why not? I'm sure you'll do just fine. I'll send you in as an infant, an orphan. You'll have a better body by the time you've grown up. As well as some military training if you're not an idiot. And you're not; you've got a good head on your shoulders. A smart lad. As for your personality..."

A television appeared next to the light, showing a overhead view of Calabrese's fight in the alley. It was surreal, watching himself take down the different men, killing the last one, then dying. From this far angle, he could see the girl had ran back in the direction of the bar. He turned to the light. "That girl, did she... is she going to be okay?" Calabrese asked, concerned.

There was definitely a smile in the light. "Yes, she'll be just fine. Once she got back to the bar, they called the police and the men were arrested. They'll be away for life. I made sure of it."

He took a breath of relief. "Thank you."

"That's why I picked you, Calabrese." The light shone brighter. "You care for others. Even though you don't have a family, or had real friends, you still want to help others. Nothing could change that. That's why you're going to succeed."

Calabrese stood silently for a while. "Where will I be going, exactly?"

"You'll be dropped off in the Mass Effect universe."

His eyes snapped open wide, and a grin formed on his face. He'd played all the games, he'd loved them. A sci-fi universe like that? Hell yes. But... "Wait, you said the people there are screwed. How can they be screwed? Shepard wins the day!"

"This isn't just like the game, kid. This will be entirely real, and some rules that the game has won't apply."

Calabrese thought about that. It made sense. Another thought popped up. "I'm not into renegade, but I don't want to join the Alliance. I'm cool with them, but I don't really want to be a part of it. Do you see what I mean? I don't want to have to get in through that."

"That's fine. You can still get military training. Just ask Shepard for some lessons. You'll learn other things, too." The voice spoke brightly. "Which brings me to the final point, here..."

The television turned into a very large holographic board, full of words on them. Calabrese skimmed over a few. Super strength, flying, mind reading...? He turned to the light.

"This will be your edge, your signature ability," The light spoke informatively. "Pick any of these superpowers. You'll enter into the world with it. But choose wisely, you don't get a redo."

Calabrese browsed through the selections. There were some that didn't interest him at all, like xray vision or fire breathing. But a few had him conflicted. He made a short list of the ones he liked until he came across one that made him stop.

"I want this one." He spoke with absolute certainty.

"Are you sure?" The light asked.

"100% sure."

"Okay, then." The light closed down the hologram. The light shimmered for a moment, grew incredibly bright, and then dimmed. "I've got the power ready. Are you prepared for it?"

Calabrese thought back on his short life, his final battle, and thought of the future of Mass Effect. "I'm prepared."

The light walked towards him, enveloping him, and then sinking into him. Calabrese gasped, feeling the power flying through his body. He heard a small chuckle in his head.

"Yeah, it's quite the rush. Remember, you'll have to train it up from basically nothing when you get there." Calabrese just nodded, taking a deep breath. "Oh, and I'll be here with you, but I'll only show up if something really bad happens or if you have a question you can't get the answer to or something like that. Otherwise, don't pay me any mind."

A shimmering portal opened up in front of Calabrese. He knew what it meant. He took a deep breath, released it. I swear to you; everyone of the Mass Effect universe that I know, we will stop the reapers and save the world. I promise. He stepped into the portal.

The last thoughts echoing through his head this time were not his own. "Telekinesis. Not a bad choice at all. Let's see how far you can take it..."