Mass effect: wild-card.
Summary: when james scism wakes to find himself a spartan in the world of mass effect he must find out how he got there while helping Shepard and the gang to stop the reapers. And along the way find some surprises that will test his resolve. Warning this is not your usual self insert fic. "shatter and return to the shadows from where you came"
chapter one – awakening
james scism age 18 groaned. The dutch Irish male slowly opened his emerald eyes to see he was in what seemed to be a high tech chamber before a raptor like humanoid and a large Grey hulk like humanoid. The brown haired man with mid shoulder length hair in the back stared at them wide eyed. He looked around without turning his head to see he was in what seemed to be a bar. If there was one place james would never be found in it would be a bar. He avoids alcohol at all costs. By preference. As the prolapsed valve he has wont let that happen even if it is a minor case meant he had to be careful. The raptor being noticed his stare.
"hey you okay there kid you look like this is your first time seeing a turian and krogan" said the raptor being in a feminine tone revealing it was a female.
"oh citadel this is your first time seeing our kind huh got a name kid" asked female alien.
"james scism and wait what am I doing in a bar I usually avoid places like these due to my heart condition" said james snapping out of his shock. He stood and looked at his body in shock.
"and what the heck happened to my body I don't remember ever having something like this" said james in confusion.
He was decked out in high tech armor that reminded him of the spartan armor from the halo games and the armor was a deep red color with a silver visor. Heck even his physical structure was that of a Spartans. He removed his helmet and looked at the mirror behind the bar glad to see he kept his face. the krogan was startled to see james was about even in height with him.
"great last thing I remember was heading home from a Halloween party now I am in a place I usually avoid very altered just where am i" said james.
"your in the bar known as the synch it's located at the eastern district of the citadel. I'm swift the krogan here is my friend burst nice to meet you your not from around are you" said the turian.
"nope but why does the name citadel sound familiar" said James then some other humans in streamlined armor walked past.
"hey did you hear commander Shepard just returned from Eden prime" said one of the soldiers catching the trio's attention.
"commander Shepard that is wait turian, krogan, citadel, Shepard, Eden prime holy beast core im not even in my own reality anymore that explains why I don't remember entering this place as I appeared possibly from a dimensional rift" said james eyes wide.
"hold on there james you saying your from another universe just from what some soldiers said" said swift in disbelief.
"i got proof lucky I keep recent pictures on hand" said james pulling out a picture that showed him at his current age with the physique of a martial artist built for speed.
He was definitely not as tall as a krogan there. The only way they saw it was the same age was that there was no change in hair nor face. He was in a red shirt and Grey sweatpants in the pic. The date was 12-27-2014. that made the two look at him wide eyed.
"james if this picture is right then there might be some truth to your theory but you been here since dawn. And that means you have been in this world out cold for some reason" said swift.
"wait if Shepard just returned then something is going on from what I know from fiction novels back home one of the specter's is a traitor and a quarian is being targeted by them. I better see about helping out with protection decal there" said james.
"we are in this sounds like some adventure" said swift.
"more like war I may only be eighteen but I am a legal adult back home." said james putting on his helmet.
The armor hummed as it activated.
"okay this armor is the real deal never thought I would become a spartan in a world so different then the one it originates from" said james pulling out a gun.
"never used a gun before either but I got the basics let's go if I am right Tali'Zorah should be meeting up with Shepard soon. Let's go and don't be surprised if a c-sec detective is with her. Let's go" said james as the trio ran out and headed to central district then west district.
It wasn't long before james heard gunshots.
"shit the enemies started we got to go" said james as he jumped onto a crate then into the air.
He felt time slow down to him as he spotted jack Shepard defend tali from some rouge turians and two krogan. He pulled out his gun and shot the knees of the turians just as he landed next to Shepard while garrus and swift gave suport fire while burst lived up to his name letting plasma fire rounds fly at the downed turians.
"need some back up" asked james as he shot a krogan in the gut. Whatever his weapon is it has shield piercing rounds apparently.
"thanks names jack Shepard of the Normandy" said Shepard.
"james scism spartan and apparently sharpshooter" said james as he spun and shot the other krogan.
He saw swift about to take a round to the face. James just reacted on instinct. His arm suddenly opened up revealing machinery that reformed into a gun and he shot a charged beam that pulled the bullet to him in midair.
"what the heck just happened to my arm" shouted james in shock.
he sent the bullet back to the weapon that shot it causing it to dismantle. Swift gave a sigh of relief at the close call while james stared as his arm now became a drill. He reacted on instinct and placed it into the last enemy standing and panted as the adrenaline left him.
"seriously I have no clue what the heck just happened. It's like someone messed with my body when I suddenly found myself off earth and altered. Seems that after this is over I got to figure out what else changed. Whoever did this to me is going to have some explanation" said james really mad at what just happened. Burst sighed.
"spartan is right this is not normal for him to suddenly be in a place he doesn't even remember going to to finding out his body was altered without consent and if I was him be really mad" said burst.
"plus his heart condition as well makes things really complicated. He has reason to be mad" said swift.
"what heart condition" asked Shepard.
"prolapsed heart valve minor case but still fatal if not careful" said james. 'I just sounded like mordin' thought james.
He looked to his drill arm and sighed as it reconfigured into his regular arm. Then his armor suddenly shifted and compressed into a belt that had what seemed to be a scanner for a buckle. Leaving james dressed in a blue bodysuit with circuitry visible all over. then james yelled in shock and horror. The suit was transparent in the upper torso to reveal most of his body was machine with his heart still organic in very bad condition. It can still function but it looked like three heart valves were destroyed. His arms were even robotic. He fell into a sitting position on some crates staring at his heart in horror and then finally his face went pale.
"what in the world happened to me" said james.
Tali was horror stricken with swift. Even tali knew that james' heart was only barely hanging on.
"shit looks like you need medical attention stat" said Shepard as he helped james stand.
"im going to need a shirt don't want to cause a panic out there" said james. He had a point the residents would go into a panic if they saw him.
"good thing I got one you can use" said swift pulling out a blue shirt from her backpack.
James put it on and the group went to the council. James looked around and spotted a certain saurian spectre. He tuned out the meeting until Shepard got to the point he was waiting to get to after tali gave her evidence.
"now for a more pressing matter this young man here woke up far from home and found out someone altered his body without his consent while he had a heart condition james here helped me protect Tali'Zorah from her attackers. He was in a high tech armor that was placed on him by whoever altered him. He needs medical attention stat"said Shepard.
"how do we know you are telling the truth" asked udonna.
James removed his shirt revealing the transparent torso and what was inside.
"trust me this came as a huge shock to me" said james before he felt his eyes widen as his heart slowed down for a few seconds long enough for him to collapse making everyone gasp.
"quick get him to the hospital I agree that whoever did this will be brought to justice. This level of bionics is insane. And we don't know if others have underwent the same fate. Check the security camera's of where he first awoke to find if we can get some clues as to who did this" said udonna as the human ambassador was furious.
One of the races under her charge was just altered under her nose and she wanted answers. James was quickly placed on a stretcher.
"once he is fixed up send him to the Normandy as of today he and his friends are part of my crew with tali and garrus they have proven able to help out in this mission as tali is still being targeted she has to go along for protection. Plus her skills as a mechanic will be handy" said jack as james was wheeled away.
That was all he saw before darkness claimed him. He came to in the Normandy's medical bay with Shepard, tali, garrus, sift, and burst nearby.
"how long was I out" asked james.
"about six hours. They had to scan your body to actually figure out how to open your chest so they can replace your heart. What they found wasn't pretty. Half your body is machine. The lower legs, upper torso and half your brain was machine. We did find out who did this and it's our target a traitor in the specters. Saren he's got geth on his side and what seems to be husks" said Shepard.
"yeah those dragon's teeth are a pain in the neck I did my research on this kind of thing there's more to this then you realize" said james.
He looked at the now mechanical heart in his chest.
"research you a scientist" asked Shepard.
"nope writer it was the safest job I can get with a heart condition. Plus I love to write "shrugged james as he activated his armor.
"now that I get a good look at that armor you now look a little bit like a quarian like me" said tali.
"well there is a major design difference but I see what you mean. So any idea what this tech is as I doubt Saren used alliance tech" said james.
"geth tech" said Shepard with a frown on his face.
"great that's going to make my life difficult let me guess what Saren did somehow leaked out to the public and I am on the news" asked james with an annoyed tone.
"yes your now as popular as me james and that's saying something for the first cyborg specter they managed to pallet swap your armor to the spectre uniform. While I am the first human spectre your now the first cyborg spectre. The council did this so you can look for Saren and bring him to justice to get back at him" said Shepard.
"well because of him I can't use my fox style martial arts I was built for speed before he altered me" said james.
"james we told the commander here your situation of being from another reality even showed your picture for proof. We weren't sure if your being here in this world wasn't also because of Saren" said swift.
"thanks and at least I know I got some good friends" said james.
"so what is a spartan" asked Shepard.
"super soldier from a book series called halo they told the story of a spartan named master chief who was allied with a AI named cortana who was not like other ai's as she was his best friend. I call myself a Spartan because the armor resembles the same armor from the books" said james. "got it so what else" asked Shepard. "come up with a call sign im now a soldier even if I hate war so better have a call sign to make sure im not reconsigned by the enemy on this mission" said james.
"well then well-come to the team spectre gear" said Shepard. "not funny Shepard your just making fun of the fact im no longer fully human" said james in a mad tone.
He winced.
"guess I should have come up with a better one" said Shepard with an apologetic tone.
"call me alter" said james.
"fits I guess" said Tali'Zorah as not noticed by anyone she was blushing around james and was glad she wasn't nervous.
The guy did save her when she and Shepard were cornered. James then spotted kaiden and Ashley walk in.
"so this is the full team so far a krogan, two turians an quarian and a cyborg spectre plus us three humans this is some team" said kaiden.
James mentally commanded the helmet to collapse revealing his face.
"said cyborg is from another dimension need I remind you besides not anyone in this universe know this but I am related to the famous Davy Crockett the war hero from the Alamo" said james.
"you are!" said the humans in surprise.
"yeah on my mom's side take away my beard and mustache and give me brown eyes and I would look just like the guy" said james.
"that explains a bit of your DNA when we checked it to see if you had any relatives around in this universe before these two let us know your secret" said Shepard.
"surprisingly you do have relatives here back on earth two 'cousins' named Stan and Liz scism. Lives at California. Your ancestor is ol' Davy" said Shepard.
"did you tell them about me" asked james. "yeah they were surprised to hear of a alternate dimensional cousin" said Shepard.
"if I know anyone of my family they are really protective of others let me guess they want in on the beat Saren to an inch of his life party" said james with a chuckle.
"right on the money they will join when we get back to the citadel. Now about your weapons the basics are way more advanced then they look. Your pistols seem to be made of Nanites and powered by element zero" said Shepard.
"meaning I can disassemble them and build my own personal weapon. Guess I will have my own personal den-gasher here" said james.
"a what" asked everyone.
"ever hear of kamen riders" said james.
" no what are they" said tali.
"this place have a theater" asked james as he pulled out of his backpack a group of DVD s.
he placed the first disk into the player and the whole team waited to see what this kamen rider he was going on about was. He hit play and sat next to tali.
"i will explain about this once the disk is finished so save any questions until the end. I put up subtitles as it's in Japanese this was a very popular show back home and has a history spanning forty years and up" said james.
He watched the teams reactions to the life of ruutaro and how he became kamen rider den-o. Once the first twenty episodes were done introducing the main forms of den o and the den-gasher's modes he popped out the disk.
"what in the world was that about" asked Ashley with a chuckle.
"ruutaro nogami is a guy with unbelievable bad luck as you saw, one day he ended up finding a pass that allowed him to become kamen rider den-o the protector of time. The imagin he contracted are rouges who help him out in the form of den-o's various forms. Ruutaro is a singularity point and thus can exist out of time." he took a breath and continued.
"Damage to the past get's fixed when he's there as he can remember the future events. After all the past is made of memories. The reason why he is a singularity is that he remembers a man who erased everyone's memories of himself even from ruutaro's sister who was the fiancee and ended up traveling time." he once again took a breath then continued
"The guy in the tench coat was that guy. As you all saw the den-gasher is den-o's weapon and has many modes. By building my own I can alter my fighting style to make myself unpredictable and get an advantage over Saren. The subtitles helped out with explaining some of what's going on. This was only disk one there are about two more disks of episodes then onto the movies" said james.
He put in the second disk and pulled it out when everyone saw zeronos.
"that was the past version of ruutaro's supposed to be brother in law yuuto sakurai allied with Deneb a imagin like ruutaro he is a singularity. The wing form was introduced as well before this episode remember making ruutaro having to share his body with five others in total. " he went through the process again as even he can't talk so much in one breath.
"But one other thing before the next disk I am sure you all wonder what happened to those cards right well those cards were constructed from future yuuto's memories and they vanish for good when the armor is used." and again.
"This is how yuuto erased everyone's memories but ruutaro as you can see he was a lot arrogant when he met den-o. But he definitely has the skills to back it up" said james.
"that is way to interesting I can see about replicating the tech so you can use it on this mission but we got to finish the episodes and then these movies" said tali the inner scientist in her letting idea's flash in her mind.
James was sure she also meant the belts.
"well tali you better make sure to find a way to keep the zeronos cards permanent as I doubt you can find supplies to constantly make them" said james as he put in the final disk of episodes.
Tali blushed. They watched right up to the end and james laughed once climax form came up. He smirked when ruutaro became den-o liner form.
"that right there is liner form den-o's final form until a movie exclusive appeared" said james.
-den-o on screen charged at the mole imagin and activated his finisher. Golden train tracks formed and he hopped onto them.
"um … densha giri!" said ruutaro as he slashed. Causing the den-liner group to exclaim
"what horrible sense".-
"and there is the finisher of that form" said james and then they watched to the end of the series.
"now then the movies" said james pulling them out in order.
They watched them all and james smiled as the ooo den-o movie came up.
"now this one is my favorite as it shows every rider up to ooo all of them taking 40+ years of history" said james as it came on.
Once that was done he saw the shocked looks on Shepard and the others.
"the first rider is a cyborg" asked Shepard.
"up to black rx, kyuuga onwards was more varied. This made two era's of kamen rider. Showa and heisai there was three more riders after ooo called fourze, wizard and gaim I got the entire franchise of the show in DVD format in my bag. I showed den-o first so you had an idea what I am going for" said james.
"well then strike den-o's belt it is then I am going to need that belt that contains your armor to do this" said tali. James deactivated his armor and pulled off the belt and handed it to tali.
"thanks tali as while we only knew each other for a day im glad you all are my friends. Also tali not all AI are evil or rouge so I doubt they are completely illegal in the citadel." said james in a teasing tone.
"Cortana even fell in love with her spartan partner and I am sure you will change your mind about the geth. While you were thinking the commander explained what happened with the geth" said james in explanation when tali jerked in shock..
He soon left for his quarters on the fourth deck near the engine. He sighed as he went to sleep on his bed finding sleep came to him quite quickly as he was born with insomnia. It was late anyway so it was normal in a way.
(end chapter)
a/n : this is a revised chapter thanks for the reviewer that pointed out it was a wall of text. I also put in some more detail as I noticed I just had the guy turn his arm into a drill during battle then abruptly skipped to after the battle my mistake there. Well guys I need help on this as I don't actually have the games I can't describe the rest of the game's story without knowing what came after the rescue tali mission. And I will put up a poll on weather my si-self will get a harem in this as im keeping it teen so no sex at all but maybe some gore in the case of the heart earlier. The choices will be tali, swift, lissana and Jackie for who confesses to him first and also who will be the one to pair up with him first if harem is out for the paring.