Remember Him
His name was simply Marauder Shields.
It was a simple, if not slightly derisive name the rest of the Mass Effect 3 enemy AI had given him. Marauder Shields had been slightly bothered by it for a while, but eventually, he had gotten used to it, even gotten fond of the name. Hell, he had come to like the rest of the AIs who had named him.
That made what he was about to do difficult.
Marauder Shields was an enemy AI, rather insignificant really. But as a part of the game coding, he had learned of all three endings that awaited the player. Seeing it had horrified him, the utterly lunacy of it had almost made him turn tail and delete himself from the game code. The other AIs sympathized with him, also agreeing that they disliked it as well.
"There's nothing we can do about it," A Brute rumbled grimly, lumbering off back to his coded position in the game world. The other Husks and Marauders nodded and trudged off, leaving Marauder Shields with a feeling of loss and hopelessness.
"Now I know what the Shepard AI has to deal with every day," He had mumbled quietly to himself, depressingly sitting on his cot.
It had taken him several in game days to formulate his final plans. As the final enemy in the last level of Mass Effect 3, he was meant to simply shoot the Shepard AI once and then delay on the second shot, allowing him to be killed by the player. His coding said to fire only once, and it had taken him days to subtly change his coding enough to allow him to fire as much as he wanted without the game discovering the difference in the game code and auto-correcting the glitch.
So in the present, Marauder Shields gripped his assault rifle and stared at the light beam fearfully. Harbinger's attack had ended a few moments ago, and the player would be approaching soon. Marauder Shields looked around its hovel of wreckage and saw three Husks crouching down, ready to pounce at the moment their coding demanded it. One of them looked over and nodded at Marauder Shields, mouthing the words, "Good luck."
The Husk knew of his plan, but made no move to stop him. He hated the endings just as Marauder Shields did.
Marauder Shields nodded back gratefully and looked back at the beam, squeezing his eyes closed and listening for footsteps. The player was getting closer; he could hear it, even above the roaring of the background noise. He heard the Husks growl and burst from cover, set in their attack. For a moment, Marauder Shields hoped that the Husks could handle the player before Marauder Shields would have to. His hopes promptly fell with his heart as three gunshots burst through the background, and then silence, save for more footsteps.
Damn!
Marauder Shields waited, fear beginning to corrode his sense. He was doing this for the player's sake, he told himself. There were millions of copies like him in millions of game copies everywhere, some, he knew, felt the same as he did. He knew that some weren't crafty enough to get away with changing their codes without getting caught, and others wouldn't even try to change their cores in the first place. Marauder Shields couldn't save all the players from the harsh reality that was the Mass Effect 3 endings, bur he could save this one.
Now I know what that Shepard AI is talking about when he's blathering on about hope.
Marauder Shields breathed in deeply and jumped from cover, his one scripted shot firing off and striking the Shepard AI in the hip. The AI staggered back, and Marauder Shields prepared to take another shot. But something happened, the Shepard AI stiffened, raising his arm limply and fired, knocking out the Marauder's shields and half his health bar in a single shot. Marauder Shields staggered back, the barrel of his rifle flying to the side and his next shot striking the rubble. Another shot slammed into his stomach, knocking out the rest of his health. He collapsed at the foot of the beam.
Marauder Shields lay there, agony and grief consuming him on the inside. The Shepard AI passed him by, and Marauder Shields looked up at the fellow AI, jaw opening and closing soundlessly. The Shepard AI's eyes flicked down to him, and Marauder Shields saw a flicker of understanding and sympathy.
The Shepard AI knew of his plan, and he was just as terrified about the endings as he was, Marauder Shields realized. As Shepard passed, he nodded almost imperceptibly at the Marauder, and mouthed the words, "I'm sorry."
Marauder Shields nodded back and allowed his head to tilt back, allowing his coding to be erased.
Remember our Savior, remember Marauder Shields.