Disclaimer: I own nothing by my own character...I would think this obvious but hey still need to put this disclaimer up.
Chapter 1
W.T.F.
The first thing I noticed (or felt really, not sure which, but that's beside the point) was the pounding migraine that was taking up residence in my head. I felt like I was in a head on collision with an eighteen wheel big rig. Felt like my entire brain was demanding out of my skull and wasn't taking no for an answer...
"That's a bit dramatic don't you think?" A feminine voice states plainly, cutting off my internal rant.
"What? No, I don't...Wait a minute...who the hell are you?" I ask completely confused.
"I'm Jennifer, I'm the AI installed on this body," she says, like she was trying to explain something to a three-year old.
Great, not only do I not know what is going on, but now I have a frackin AI that sounds vaguely familiar talking to me inside my head. What's next?
"You do know that I can hear all your thoughts, not just the ones you direct towards me?" She queried, sounding droll.
"Shit! Well what do I do now...Wait what? Why is there an AI in my head?" I thought rapidly with my mind still trying to grasp the current situation and failing miserably.
"You died Mr. McCutchn," she answers and I can hear a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
"... Do you happen to know how?" I reply in kind, two can play this game.
"You collided with an eighteen wheel big rig," She replies with more sarcasm.
"Ironic," I reply with mental roll of my eyes
"Yes it is...I can play the incident if you'd like?" Jenny's voice is dripping with sarcasm now. I bite back my instant retort as it becomes obvious to me that Jenny is just as in the dark about what's going on as I am.
"...I'll pass, I have enough on my plate without adding seeing one's death to the list," I tell her plainly; I was just trying to move things along.
"Fair enough...ok then Mr. McCutchn..."
"Just call me Razor."
"... OK then Razor, As far as I've been able to gather, this is a fully functional synthetic/organic combat hybrid..."
"Umm...yeah...layman's terms please." Because I'm totally a computer geek and only I would understand...never mind.
"...Your brain was apparently mapped on to a blank synthetic AI core and then put into an organic body. The body was then...upgraded with a bio-synthetic material. I cannot identify this material at the moment, but in essence, your body in now an organic computer..."
I lose her this point as my mind just goes numb from the implications of what she just said.
"...Razor?" Jenny inquired curiously.
"Please hold, Razor T McCutchn is still currently freaking out about being an AI..." I told her.
She waited for about a minute before asking, "Are you good yet?"
"No, not the slightest," I admitted bluntly.
"Take your time."
"I plan on it," I retorted.
"No rush..."
"OK, so who did this to...us? Why did they do this to...us and for what purpose did they do this to...us for?" I questioned. It seems like a good place to start although this 'us' thing is going to take some time to get used to. It was hard to even say it.
"Unknown to the first two questions," Jenny answered.
"Well aren't you helpful," I muttered.
"However, I can partly answer the third question." I could swear I heard annoyance in her voice from my interruption.
"While your purpose is unknown to me now, you created me to aid your mental well-being as well as help you integrate and acclimate to your new body. I'm self learning and my personality is directly based off yours."
"OK, so something happened to me, but neither of us know what and an unknown party transferred my mind into an AI core; then put that AI core in an organic body and proceeded to turn me into an organic computer. Then I created you inside my head to help me get used to my new body and keep me sane at the same time. Also, you are can evolve on your own and you're the female version of...me...am I following you correctly so far?"
"Pretty much. I'm neither male nor female; I picked this voice because you apparently like it. It also appears that part of my personality is based on her as well. Your memories show it belonged to a Jennifer Hale..."
"Oh Hell NO! Please hold."I knew that voice sounded familiar. Great, I have Commander Fucking Shepard in my head.
"Try not to freak out too much. I would prefer if the three humans currently observing us do not know we are active yet!"
"Did you just scold me like a Drill Sargent would? Wait, what?"
"We are in what I believe is a medical bay being observed by three humans. One male and two female. From your memories, I have identified the male as Captain David Anderson, and the two females are Staff Commander Alexi Shepard, and Doctor Karin Chakwas."
"I'm in the Mass Effect Universe? But that's...Impossible!" I exclaimed dubiously.
"According to your memories, yes these three people are from the video game called Mass Effect," Jenny said.
"Are we talking dimensional or time travel?" I asked.
"I do not have enough information to say which at the moment, but if I have to guess, I'll lean toward dimensional for now."
"Why's that?"
"They have run a full series of scans and took a sample of blood to run through their database. It apparently came back negative. They are still discussing what this fact means. I've also learned we seem completely human with no trace of synthetic material," Jenny informed.
"How do you know this?"
"Even though our body is asleep, I'm still fully connected to our senses."
"Cool." If I was awake, I think I might actually have a small grin on my face.
"We actually do not require sleep; however, your body itself does for recuperation. From listening to the doctor and other various people who have come to look in on us, I have been able to deduce that we are irrevocably more advanced than anything these people are able to create."
"OK, if this is the Mass Effect universe, and I'm not sold on that one yet just FYI, then that would mean we are older than the current civilizations. But that would also mean... Reapers... Hell, I seriously hope you're wrong on this."
"I highly doubt it," She replied, sounding indignant that I would accuse her of being wrong. "however there is something that they are currently discussing that is a cause for concern." her tone changing from indignant to concerned.
"...Yes?" I ask worriedly when she didn't immediately continue.
"We were found adrift in a Cerberus escape shuttle and were soaked in blood that was not our own. However neither you nor I have any recollection of how this came about." she said in a perplexing way.
"That doesn't make any sense." I say equally perplexed.
"If we're questioned about this I suggest we claim amnesia of our time with Cerberus, from what I can tell from your memories of the organization, it should be believable ." though from the tone of her voice I can tell that she doesn't like having to use this option.
"Agreed." though this wasn't sitting any better with me than it was with her. Quite frankly, This was disturbing me. "Do you think Cerberus created me?" I mean they did create EDI.
"Unlikely, Cerberus didn't create EDI until after Sovereign's destruction. It is extremely unlikely that they would be able to produce you beforehand" Jenny states plainly.
"Well, if in-fact the Reaper threat turns out to be real in this reality; I guess we'll just have to wait and see on this one." I give a mental sigh.
"If the Reaper threat does exist, there may be a way to find out when you were created," she said matter-of-factually, but her voice was grim.
"Well?" I waited impatiently for her answer.
"It would require comparing our tech to reaper tech." She states plainly.
"Well ain't that peachy? How 'bout we don't but say we did? I'd rather not be indoctrinated...or hacked in our case by them." I mentally shiver.
"We do not have any outside connections via our body, we are effectively sealed off; just like any other human." Jenny states optimistically
"OK, but that just rules out being hacked. I'd rather not test out if we're immune to indoctrination." I deadpan and when Jenny doesn't respond, I'm satisfied I've made my point on the issue. "Well, seeing as AI's are illegal in the Mass Effect Universe, we can't just tell them we're an AI. We need a back story and then we have to decide what we are going to do if this...reality is anything like the game depicts," I decide moving to the next issue at hand.
"If that happens, are you planning on helping Shepard?" Jenny asks curiously.
"Well, if you are correct, then yes. If the Reaper threat exists in this reality, then I'm going to help Shepard. It's not like we will have anything better to do. And I'm sure we can prove ourselves more than useful."
"Then maybe we should figure out our body's functionality?" Jenny suggested casually.
"You mean we have a manual?" If that was the case and she was just now telling me this, I was going to be pissed.
"Not exactly..." Jenny replied, her tone sounded… not appealing. I can't explain it. I just don't like the sound of it.
Well, my life just took a turn for the more interesting.
AN: Welcome to my first story on FanFiction and thank you for reading. This is an SI story and while it will be cannonish, I will not be sticking strictly to cannon and it eventually will go AU. I have a general idea of where things are going, however I'm a firm believer of the characters write the story, so nothing is set in stone. Intro chapters are hard to write. I went through several versions and sent it to my beta three times before I was satisfied with it. Future chapters will be longer and I have no set time-table on when I'll update, but this story will encompass all three games. I'm not going to split this into three stories so this is going to one long story. I hope you enjoy the ride. Reviews, critiques, plot holes pointed out, advice and ideas are always welcome. But please no flaming, If you don't like it tell me, but tell me why you don't like so I can improve.
I'd like to give thanks to my beta and collaborator Wisegirl502 for allowing me to bounce idea's off her and for helping turn the randomness of my writing style into something resembling flow. If you like what you read so far, then I recommend you read her works as well.