Just starting a new Mass Effect story following from pre-ME1 all the way to post-Crucible. This will be a different kind of story in that it may be slightly AU but not a lot it will still follow the main canon of the story and characters just with some changes that I think will make it better. This is an MShep story. Earthborn and I'm currently not sure where I'm going to take him as far as Para-Rene or romance options so we'll find out together :).
As is to be expected all rights belong to Bioware and not me.
The rain gently cascaded down the windows of the dimly lit apartment that overlooked the bustling city of Vancouver. It was late afternoon and the rain storm that had blown in during the early morning was gradually starting to dissipate. In the low light the moisture in the air seemed to give the city a clean sheen that would wash away much of the dirt and grime from its streets. To many a city like this would be the pinnacle of human culture, civilised and ordered, where people followed the rules and safe. To most this was what life was but to the man looking out the window over the city he could see what was truly hidden within the depths of a city such as this. Crime ,sin , filth and debauchery among many other of humanity's finer vices, people selling themselves or whatever they can find or steal just to get their next fix or a measly scrap of food to sate hunger for just a couple more hours. This was the world that John knew a world where every day is a fight, a fight where looking for food and looking for somewhere safe to sleep was a daily occurrence.
It wasn't always like this for him he could remember long ago when he had a family and a home, where safety wasn't a feeling but a fact. He couldn't really remember his father as he had either died when he was young or had left his mother to raise a young boy and baby girl alone. Granted they were never rich but he never went hungry and he knew his mother worked hard to try and make their lives a little bit better. John knew his life was tough but he had no idea how hard it could actually get after his mother passed away. He was barely 13 when she got very sick and died, leaving a scared little boy to look after his 9 year old sister on his own. Having no other family that he knew of they were on their own and had to leave the one room apartment where they lived and were now out on the rough streets of Chicago.
During those first couple of months john and Claire moved around a lot from shelter to shelter while there were schemes for housing and feeding the homeless the resources were always severely limited so some days when people tried to get food they would be left with empty stomachs. When John became the defacto sole guardian for his sister he promised he would always protect her and someway make sure that she would have a better life. To this point he always tried to ensure that she stayed in school, everyday he would wake her up and walk her to the same school that she had attended before their mother died. While Claire never really liked going to school while he didn't he hoped one day she would understand everything he was doing for her. Sending Claire to school served two purposes one it had her in school where she could hopefully get a decent education and possibly have a better chance of a better life. The other benefit was that it had Claire in a safe place off the dangerous streets while he could go and trying to get food and money for the both of them. To that end he had gotten in with a particularly bad crowd, the Tenth Street Reds, a human gang of scum who would kill, intimidate and extort anyone who didn't pay them protection money. While John would normally never associate with the kind of people who made so many unfortunate people's lives even more miserable he didn't have a choice, everyone living in a situation such as the one John and his sister found themselves in would eventually at some stage cross paths with the Reds. For John this meant doing some rather unpleasant things, at first this only involved odd jobs like delivering packages of highly illegal materials from one location to another but this was only while he was still young.
When he was sixteen he was still doing the odd jobs here and there for the Reds and he had finally started to develop in to the man that he would become later in life. Now standing at just under six foot and still growing with each day, he had quite broad shoulders but was still quite skinny which was to be expected for someone who often went without food for the benefit of his sister. John was carrying a backpack that contained a large amount of red sand meant for delivery to a small warehouse behind a number of run down shops. The trip had been fairly uneventful John thought to himself as he rounded the corner on to the small alleyway that would take him to the drop-off. As he slowly made his way down he suddenly got the feeling that he was being followed, glancing over his shoulder he caught the shape of two people slowly making their way down the alley towards him. Not knowing if they were here for him or just a coincidence he kept walking to his destination when his path was blocked by another larger man who walked out of the shadows in front of him.
"What's in the bag kid?" John heard the man in front of him ask with a gravelly voice.
"Nothing just some clothes" John replied. Taking in the man now standing in front of him he was clearly a couple of years older than him but was obviously using a lot of drugs judging by his face alone.
Behind him John could hear the other two getting closer and moving around to block any way out. The one to his right held what looked like a bat in his hand as he eyed the bag on Johns back as if it were gold dust. "I think he's lying I think he's got a present for us" he sneered through yellowing teeth.
John glanced over his shoulder to see that he was now truly surrounded. His heart gradually started to increase its beating rhythm. "I don't want any trouble" John said to the larger of the group still standing in front of him. Looking at the other two quickly he could see that they seemed to be around the same age as himself but seemed to by equally as gaunt and unclean as the first.
"Well see thats the problem right there kid you have something that I want so unless you give it to me, me and my friends here are gonna have some fun smashing your face in" he replied back with a toothless grin.
"I can't give you what isn't mine. I give you this I'm a dead man" John answered getting more and more worried of how twitchy one of his attackers behind him was getting. He was completely unarmed while two of his three assailants appeared to be armed bats. The third was much smaller than john and definitely younger, clearly just a tag along probably brought just to make up the numbers and keep a lookout.
"Ha-ha if you don't give me that bag right know you'll know what a dead man feels like" the large one, who John assumed by now was probably the leader of the group given his size and the fact he was the only one who seemed to be talking, said as his smile slowly turned more sinister as he seemed to be motioning to one of his friends.
John knew his chances of making it out of this without any injury considering he was unarmed was slim if he let them hit him first so throwing all caution to the wind he decided to end this quick starting with the largest of the group. Wrapping himself in the dark energy of the ezo in his blood he was suddenly aglow with a dark blue flame of a biotic field and prepared to charge his attacker.
"Shit he's a biotic" yelled the large attacker just as John crashed into his chest. The large man tried to lift his hands and bat up in front of him to protect himself but couldn't stop the force of the impact that broke his bat in half while sending him flying into a number of trashcans that sat along the side of the alley. Cursing as he hit the wall and ground he looked up to see john turning to deal with the others. As john turned towards the others the smaller of the two seemed to lose his nerve completely and started to make a hasty retreat back the way he came. The final armed attacker seemed to be in two minds about what to do and this was all the time john needed as he turn on him and threw a shockwave straight at him.
John had only used his abilities very rarely since they had started to manifest themselves when he was young. When he had first found out he was a biotic he was terrified of what was happening to him. It also didn't help that he had found out in front of Claire and she wouldn't stop screaming or crying at her brother who seemed to be on fire in front of her. Eventually she calmed down and they tried to find out exactly what john could do. To say that it was a mistake to use untrained biotics for the first time in an enclosed room would be an understatement, luckily the only damage that seemed to be done was to the walls of the shelter that the two happened to be in. Even Claire was laughing at what John had done up to the point until they were asked very kindly the leave the immediate area by a number of their disgruntled neighbours.
Catching his armed attacker straight on with the shockwave sent if crashing into the far wall with a sickening crack that had John worrying for a moment about whether he had actually killed him or not. A moment until he heard a noise behind him to see his first attacker slowly rising to his feet before lunging towards John wielding what remained of his broken bat. Swinging his arm in a wide ark coming down at Johns head, John barely reacted in time but was able to just move his head out of the way but still not enough as the end of the bat still glanced him across his shoulder sending him stumbling backwards. This was the only opening that his attacker needed as he seemed to be on John in seconds swinging wildly with fists and the bat handle in a feral rage. John tried to block as best he could but was still getting hit with some hard shots. He swung wildly to his attackers head and connected with his nose with a crunching snap. Stumbling back and grabbing his nose that had now begun to gush with blood down his face, John's attacker was momentarily stunned and unable to clearly see as his eyes also started to water giving John a chance to reach down and retrieve the broken bat handle that had just been dropped and then swinging up with all the force he had left in him and cracked it off his attackers head causing him to fall back. Seeing this as his chance to end this something in John took over and he kept swinging at his fallen attacker until he was brought back to reality as a gunshot rang out over his head.
After hearing the commotion from up the street a number of Reds members left the warehouse and looked up the street to see what was causing all the noise thinking it was possibly a rival gang coming to start trouble. Instead all they saw was a tall skinny 16 year old boy beating a poor unfortunate sod that appeared to be bleeding profusely from his head. Firing a shot into the air seemed to do the trick as the boy looked up dropping the handle of a bat raising his hands above his head.
"What the hell you doing kid?" demanded the one now pointing the gun squarely at Johns chest.
Now looking down the barrel of a gun for the first time in his life John felt real terror for the first time and it left him completely frozen stiff unable to answer with his mouth hanging open.
"Well answer me you little shit" barked the red with the gun.
Suddenly John found the words as he replied hoping that tonight wouldn't be his last. "They tried to mug me and take my bag but I have to deliver it to the warehouse just over there." John babbled hoping that his answer was sufficient enough not to warrant another bullet being shot at him.
"Ah so you're the delivery boy." came a much older voice from behind the Reds that stood in front of him. Now walking through the line of Reds a man presumably in his late thirties walked past the other Reds and stepped towards John raising a hand and gesturing for the bag. "Well give it here boy then." he said.
Taking the bag from his back and handing it to him the man opened the bag and gestured to his associates to the bodies behind John. "Check on our friends Sen."
"Yes sir." Was the only reply John heard as one of the Reds walked over to each body and started checking them.
"Well this is very nice indeed. Yes very nice." The man said as he checked the contents of the bag. "What is your name boy?" he asked.
"Eh, John." "John Shepard." John replied.
"Nah boss we aint gonna find out anything from these two. Delivery boy here done a real number on em. I reckon they are just a bunch of junkies looking for a score from the smell of them." Sen said waving a hand in front of his nose as he walked back over to the other Reds.
"Oh well it does not matter we have the merchandise." replied the boss. "Get this out on the street right away." Handing the bag to Sen who then started to walk back to the warehouse with the other Reds. Turning back to John he reached into his pocket and pulled out a rusted silver coin with a number of strange symbols on it and handed it to John. "Not bad boy, not bad at all. I need people like you around me people who can get the job done. You work for me now and of course there are benefits to my employment take this to the store down by the old storage shelter and give it to the owner and he'll give you as much food as you need. You look like you could do with a good feed."
Looking down at the coin in his hand and then back up to the man. "Thank you sir." was all that John could say.
"Please call me Mr. Smith. Come back tomorrow and I may have work for you." He said and turned to walk back into the warehouse. John stood in the alleyway not moving as what had just happened washed over him as he took in his surroundings. There he stood in the alley way with two people he had just killed lying no less than 10 feet from him on the ground. Suddenly he felt sick rising from his stomach and was then bent over puking what was in his already empty stomach on to the ground by his feet.
When he finally stopped he wanted to be anywhere but here so he started running and didn't stop until his lungs burned and he could barely stand. Now leaning up against a street corner breathing heavily trying to catch his breath he checked the time and saw that he had to go collect Claire from school but first checked his reflection in a shop window as he passed. He was a mess, parts of his face were swollen and bloodied while some of his clothes were covered with blood that was from him and his recently deceased attackers. Taking off his coat and using it to wipe the blood from his face and trying to make himself look slightly presentable, he then tossed his filthy coat into a trashcan and started towards the school.
A 12 year old Claire Shepard sat waiting just outside her school waiting for her brother to come pick her up. Sitting on a ledge looking down the road that she knew John would have to walk up if he had come from where they were staying but he still was nowhere to be seen." Hey you ready to go home?" John's voice called from the opposite direction and startled her so she jumped off the ledge wiping her head around to see him. Once she turned she could instantly see that his face was in a right state, he had a cut in his eyebrow which was also quite swollen and his bottom lip was split. All in all he looked like shit and he knew it but he just smiled at Claire as she looked at him with concern in her eyes.
"What happened?" she asked now a little bit worried.
"It's okay I just got into a little fight nothing to worry about." He said with a forced smile to her hoping that she would accept it and leave it at that. To John she didn't need to know what he had done and hopefully never would. "Are you hungry?" he asked hoping to change the subject.
"Yeah ok." She said smiling a little.
"Ok come on I know a friend who has a store where we can get all the food we want." He said taking her bag and turning to lead the way.
The two Shepards then started walking down the street with the much smaller of the two telling, her best friend, the larger of all the amazing things she had learned about at school. To John he smiled knowing that she was safe and would be now getting something to eat. He didn't care what he'd have to do but so long as she was taken care of that was all that mattered to him. He was never a truly a religious person and never worried about damning his soul with all the evil he would do but the end justified the means and he would sacrifice himself to protect the one person that truly mattered to him.