Note to readers: This is my first fanfiction, and an interesting development occured to me. I will not incorporate Mass Effect in the preliminary chapter(s) to fully develop my character and his story! Will follow mostly cannon event-wise, with one ME2 character replaced. Also, will use (with permission asked) Calinstel's Keelish terminology located on "To Survive: Alliances" glossary along with some of the quarian philosophies. There will be sex, foul language, and the reference and use of drugs by multiple characters. Enjoy!
Today was an important day for the young Antonio Jackson Sanchez. Today was not only his birthday, but that of his fraternal twin Isabelle! Being the son of a Puerto Rican father and a white mother, his family still celebrated many traditional aspects of his father's heritage especially since he'd arrived on the island as a child. However, since both of his parents were in the military, they often did not have the time for anything significant. Such a big event, however, allowed them to dutifully produce a beautiful celebration.
Since the party died down substantially, the brother and sister went to the beach, on their favorite tree swing, perched perfectly overlooking the Atlantic.
"I can't believe how many people showed up!" Exclaimed an exhausted Isabelle. "I never believed the music would stay on so long."
"Well, it was your quinceanera, you have to know why it's so important, and it's so special." Retorted Antonio while examining the last guests leaving the house.
Isa rolled her eyes at him, then commented. "It's not as special as your graduation was! I can't control how old I am, so it just happened. You though, seriously how many people have a high school diploma at the age of 14!"
Well, 15 now... He less than enthusiastically retorted. "Yeah...yeah... I know."
Again, Isa was less than thrilled with his response, and softly stated. "Why can't you let anyone compliment you, Antonio? Sometimes I think you're obsessed with perfection. You've been labeled a savant since we were in third grade! You knew that weird intergration thing by ten. We were still having difficulty doing division..." He merely shrugged in response, and she decided today wouldn't be the day he changed his philosophies. "You know we should celebrate today for ourselves and that invasion thing from last century."
Aj conceded slightly, although he hated being called by his real first name. "Yeah I guess so, it's still strange being born on June 4th… the invasion of Normandy…" He chuckled lightly, and glanced over at his sister. She didn't seem as interested to discuss their coincidental birthday.
Isa responded only with silence for a few moments. He was about to ask her if she was alright, when she phantasmally enunciated. "Do you really think there's living creatures out there? In my science classes, we've learned that we all developed thanks to everything a comet's made out of. They brought everything we needed for life." She looked at him with a thoughtful expression and jokingly added. "Too bad we don't live long enough to go searching."
Aj smirked at her conjecture, but was pondering what she said as he answered. "I hope so, how boring would it be if out of every single planet with a sun, only Earth worked. Our of 1098 g/cm2 of mass, only this one planet had the right combination of elements. It'd sure be a lonely galaxy."
Isabelle stared up at the sky, focusing on the little dipper. "If this one has life… imagine all those other galaxies… I guess that's why I want to be an astronomer. There's so much out there to discover, so much out there even you can't understand…"
Aj laughed, and began trudging from the beach back towards their house. "Well, don't think for too long or your brain will explode." As she followed, he playfully elbowed her rib. "I think your friend's sister is in to me."
Isa face palmed with a sigh, commenting. "Only you would think a talk about the endosymbiotic theory means a girl's coming on to you."
Aj failed to respond, only chuckling at his sister's comment, as they made their way back to the party.
He remembered going to bed in his room after flirting with the new girl he'd met, Harumi, for a few hours. She was slightly older than him, but like many, was a couple of years behind him academically. At this moment, however, his mind was focused on the extremely different environment surrounding him as he woke up. He was extremely lethargic, barely able to keep his eyes open; the feeling was exponentially worse thanks to an obscenely bright light aimed directly at his eyes. Eventually, his vision improved, and he was able to make out his surroundings. The room was a plain white, with a metal door, and had odd grooves in the walls throughout. Damnit, that looks like soundproofing material.
"Greetings Antonio, we've been waiting for you to wake up." Exclaimed a soft, feminine voice. It was almost familiar, but hidden by the obvious, slightly mechanical voice manipulation.
Aj tried to scratch his temple, but was frightened as he noticed his arms and legs were bound to the laying platform. He nervously questioned. "Where am I? I went to bed in my room."
The voice made no attempts to reveal his location, but did at least clarify itself. "You are safe, that is all you need to know. We have a very special surprise for you."
"As much as I love surprises, I... I'd rather not." He stuttered, failing to sarcastically induce himself into a calmer demeanor. Unfortunately, he had no means of escaping his current predicament.
The voice devilishly continued. "Well, your parents told us how smart you are, and we've been watching you for a long time. I think you'd make a perfect candidate for our little experiment."
"Where am I !?" Aj questioned very lightly, barely able to comprehend his situation. What the hell is going on? Where's Isa?
For some reason, ominous and detached voices never seem to answer lingering questions. "Don't worry, I think you'll approve. You are young enough so that your body is still pliable. You're still growing, developing, and discovering new links. We think that at your age, you'd accept our treatment better than our other subjects."
"What experiments? What happened to them?" He yelled, finally unable to hide his fear, anguish, and utter helplessness.
The voice sighed, but did not change its tone. "Unfortunately, they weren't as.. accepting to our upgrading. Your nervous system, I know that you're well aware of how it works."
"I know the basics..." He hesitantly replied.
The voice seemed more upbeat as it explained. "Good, well, soon yours will have another system parallel to it. You will be able to directly interface with technology. The effect may not manifest itself for a long time, or ever, since organic matter often has difficulty dealing with high amounts of metalloids. Hopefully, you don't die with the sudden artificial interface to your mind if it does succeed, that'd be an unpleasant waste of resources."
"Hopefully? I don't want that crap?! I'm fine how I am. Please" Aj pleaded. That's just going to kill me… it's impossible…
The laugh what emanated seemed as cold and lifeless as one would expect from a serial killer. "Ah, what a pity… You'd better start thinking positive. If you give up on us, we'll make sure Isabelle is our next 'patient'. Thankfully, you'll know a lot more soon enough. You will awake, and everything will be fine. You'll be in pain; if you start dying, we'll keep you alive."
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?" Aj barked out in protest.
There was no answer, and he heard a door open. He saw a woman, indistinguishably masked. She had wheeled in a small cart full of various-sized syringes. Not one, not two, but over a dozen. He was about to plead for mercy, but the individual wasted no time in her efforts. The first, and largest, syringe went deep into his chest, the needle piercing his lung. The blackness consumed him. There would be no escaping whoever or whatever this is.
Aj finally awoke covered in sweat and hyperventilating. His body felt like he'd bathed in a vat of acid. He couldn't find a single scar throughout his body. He was about to scream for his parents, but the vivid dream kept him from crying out. Was it a dream?
When he went downstairs, nobody was there. His entire body screamed in protest as he walked, but it seemed only a mental hindrance, as his muscles seamlessly complied. Aj cautiously asked, "Hello? Mom? Dad?"
Fortunately, his sister was there, and she seemed as chipper as ever. "Good morning AJ! Glad to see you didn't sleep until noon again, you were up pretty late!" She happily retorted.
I forgot… I met one of her friends last night… that was last night? God that was a hell of a dream… He smirked, and slyly remarked, "Yeah yeah, I think your just mad I got her number." She rolled her eyes, but before she could comment, he quipped. "So where's mom? I know dad needed to go back to the base today."
Isa shrugged her shoulders as she went to grab some orange juice. "She went with dad I think, I haven't seen her all day."
Aj seemed satisfied with the answers as he plopped on the nearby couch. He flipped on the T.V., and adjusted the volume to a low setting. "You're probably right." Last night was so weird… if it was just a dream, why the hell is my entire body on fire? There's no way it could have been a dream… it was so realistic… and I didn't even take a melatonin… what gives…maybe it's just sleep depr- His thoughts were interrupted when his sister sat beside him with a worried expression. He calmly stated. "Yeah?"
She frowned at his verbage, and inquisitively remarked. "I asked you twice if you were going to call Harumi, and you never answered. I was even going to make a spiffy comment, but you don't look like your thinking about her… you just look…confused… What's wrong?"
Although both of the siblings knew he was undoubtedly the more 'astute' when it came to academic performance, it never ceased to amaze him just how adept she was at delving into people's subconsciously expressed behaviors. Aj calmly responded. "I just had a really bad dream last night, but it was different. I've never had one what felt so real, so… terrifying. I don't know, maybe I'm just really tired."
Isabelle raised an eyebrow at him, but let it rest at that. She handed him a glass of orange juice, and supportively said. "Whatever it was, don't let it get to you." He gratefully accepted the cup, but her unsatisfied expression did not fade. "It must have been really bad if you're worried about it."
Aj nodded, scratching his chin for a moment. "It was… I've never remembered so many details before… The last thing I remember was a giant needle got pressed into my chest." He put his fingers around the area he'd remembered, and felt an extremely sharp pain along with the sensation to cough.
Apparently he winced rather expressively, as his sister's expression changed from confused to extremely worried. Isa nervously asked. "Are you okay?"
He suppressed a cough as he retorted. "Yeah, just hurt for a second. I still don't get why-" Unfortunately, he could not suppress the cough for long, and it rather loudly made its presence known. That's not what caused either of them to freeze in shock, but more so the coagulate of blood on the hand which had covered his mouth.
His sister immediately stood up, and whipped out her phone. "I'm going to call dad, you need to get to the hospital." Aj was about to protest, but another sharp pain and coughing up another sputnum of blood seemed to assuage his reservations. His sister randomly grumbled "Damnit!" into her phone before slamming it shut. "He's not answering, and neither is mom." She paced the room a few times as he nervously laid on the couch.
What the hell is going on… or what happened last night? He reassuringly said. "Relax Isa, I feel alright. If it was serious, I'd be having trouble breathing. Just keep your phone out and ready, we can wait for a while." He wasn't sure if he was trying more to comfort her than to worry about the true gravity about the situation.
She glanced at him worriedly, but begrudgingly accepted and sat on the nearby recliner, eyeing him with a disapproving expression. "Fine, but if you even cough again, I'm calling an ambulance."
Thankfully, the next hour on the couch was free of any major malfunctions, and his breathing didn't seem to be impaired, although he was still in shock. This couldn't have been a dream, then… could it? Instead of pondering the plausibilities, he and his sister conversated about the party last night, and who showed up. Naturally, she began to digress on her dress and other self decorations, and he did his best to keep the façade of interest. After nearly an hour, a loud knocking interrupted their conversation. Aj was slightly pleased he wouldn't need to be educated on the different reasons she chose a blue dress instead of black.
Isa immediately hopped out of the recliner, and frowned at him as he tried to lift himself. He took the unspoken cue and reluctantly relaxed back into the couch. She walked over to the door, and quickly opened it to see who the visitor was. Aj could see two large men in dark suits, sporting the nearly cliché sunglasses and expressionless jaw set. He saw one of them glance at him, then tap his ear set and make a quick verbal communication. The duo walked over to the couch, along with a confused Isa behind them.
Noticing her look, Aj cautiously inquired a gentleman as they approached. "Can we help you?"
The man nodded, and gestured Isa to sit beside Aj. Once she did so, the man's accomplice began to speak. "We're from the CIA, Mr. Sanchez." It felt incredibly strange to possess a surname in conversation, but his thoughts were interrupted as he continued. "We regret to inform you that both of your parents have been compromised."
"WHAT!?" Isa yelled from the couch. Aj was in complete shock and was unable to say a word.
"Your father was giving a speech at Camp Blanding, when he was…." The man paused, glancing at both of the two young teens in front of him. "He was assassinated, we think by a terrorist organization. Your mother is fine, but she needs to be relocated for defense purposes, as we don't know if they'll go after her next. You'll be staying with your grandparents now for your own safety. We are all incredibly sorry for your loss."
That was the last thing he could remember…except his sister immediately bawling on his shoulder for a few hours as he held her close. Within a few minutes, he was joining her, except in a more reserved and quiet manner. The two gentlemen did not leave their house, and actually respectfully did not interfere as the children wept and gave them their space. He remembered a few flashes of the two CIA agents actually helping them pack into a large armored vehicle; they only left the furniture behind. They even let him pack his father's old pistol…
He would be moving to a different part of Florida, down near the Everglades, with his grandparents…without his father. Nothing would be the same, although he momentarily forgot about the lingering pain in his chest. Why isn't mom here?
Never had he taken such a long drive in his life, a lifeless, depressing trail towards the north. He didn't resent his grandparents; he loved the dearly…but in the past 24 hours, he'd had two life changing events. One, he was still unsure of….his other problem…but that wasn't his concern at the moment…he lost the most important mentor of his life. However, as he saw his sister sleeping beside him, her eyes dried from a constant stream of crying, he knew he had a purpose still. To keep his sister safe.