Hi! I am pleased to announce that I have adopted this story. Before you read this, you may want want to check out the rest of the story, by Hyliian. Anyhoo, just sit back and enjoy the crossover-y goodness.
Alex Mercer had not been having a good day. Consuming a Reaper? Piece of cake. Survive the resulting explosion? Now that was where the problem was. He was bulletproof, more or less explosion proof, snide comment proof, but not Reaper proof. So when he came to on a desert planet, he wasn't actually too surprised to find out that he was just a sort of puddle of cybernetic Mercer-goo. He groaned inwardly. Reassembling after this would be difficult.
Shepard stood over the button that would send the asteroid hurtling into the Mass Effect relay that the Reapers would soon enter through. The resulting explosion, however, would destroy the Batarian homeworld. "Ten seconds!" Yelled Miranda, but the words sounded muffled and far off. What should she do? What COULD she do? What would Alex do? The thought surprised her. It helped, though. "Five seconds! Four! Three!" She pressed the button.
Alex sat back on his suitcase as the civilian liner made the jump to Earth. It had taken him weeks to get his strength back, feeding off rodents and bugs. Now, he was hiding on board the Liner, in the cargo hold, having used the form of a rat to sneak aboard. A very heavy rat. He grinned. He was going home.
Shepard stood in front of the defence committee, trying her hardest to keep a straight face at the ridiculous tone they were taking. "Our preparations..." "Are going to count for absolute jack shit!" She had finally had enough of this. "The Reapers are coming, and nothing, I mean NOTHING, is going to stop them unless you give me and my team a chance to go and do what we do best." "We are confident in our ability to destroy the enemy. Do you have anything else you want to say?" "Yes, I do. Have you ever fought a Reaper?" "No, in fact." "Well, I have. It was the most powerful thing in the known universe, and only the sacrifice of Alex Mercer brought it down. We have no more Alexes to sacrifice." She let her words sink in. This would convince them. "You may not go." Well, so much for that. "This council is adjourned." A man ran in with a datapad, red in the face. "We have just lost contact with our outer stations. Something big, coming our way."
Alex grunted awake as the tannoy came on. "Attention, this is your captain speaking. Owing to the recent reports of an unidentified fleet near Saturn, we will have to turn back." Alex swore. The Reapers. The thrice-damned sonofabitch Reapers. He didn't think twice. He pulled a pistol out of a suitcase near him, and yanked out the mass field generator. He attached this to a piece of paneling that he tore from the interior of the hull. This would propel him to faster than light speeds, in theory. He grabbed on, and kicked open the bay doors. Emergency Mass Effect fields kicked in, holding the air in place. He held tight to the makeshift sled, and jumped.
The atmosphere in the chambers was tense. Anderson had left, to get the Marines ready. The Reapers were at Mars. The Moon. Earth. Shepard looked out of the window. The sky filled with ships. Reapers. One of them pointed its weapon towards the chambers. Shepard yelled. "Clear the room!" And the world turned to fire. She ducked into a doorframe as the chambers exploded behind her. Something hit her on the head, and her vision blurred. A group of Husks rounded the corner, and advanced. So this was to be her end. No glorious death in battle, no selfless sacrifice. Beaten to death by Husks. She prepared to die with dignity. And then a something fell through the ceiling. The something killed the Husks in seconds. It then ran over to her. "Shepard." She gave a start. She knew that voice. Alex Mercer extended a hand down to her. "Shepard. Get up, the planet's on fire." She jumped up, and pulled him into a fierce hug. "I missed you." She whispered in his ear. "Shepard, you seem to have forgotten that I have personal space issues. I am currently fighting the urge to rip you apart and eat you." She pulled away. "What happened to your face?" "Long story." "I've got time." Suddenly, a blast from a Scion turned the wall to dust. "I haven't got time. Later."
The Normandy swooped down, the ramp opening as it went. Kaidan was on the ramp, with a marine Alex didn't recognise behind him. "Jump, Shepard!" Alex could see that she would never make it. He picked her up, and threw her. She landed safely, and he made the jump himself. Anderson ran up on the ramp. "Anderson, jump!" Screamed Shepard. Anderson shook his head.
"You've seen the people here." He pointed to a group of Marines laying down fire and evacuating civilians in Kodiaks. "They need a leader!" And then, with a wry smile, he added, "I never really enjoyed being Councillor anyway!" And with that, he turned and readied his pistol. "Go to Mars, try and find something useful. A group there were researching a secret project, but we've lost contact. Oh, and Mercer?"
"Yeah?"
"Good job not dying."
"I try." And the Normandy took off. Behind it, a world burned.
Before anyone starts giving me any BS about 'oh, no-one could survive a Mass Effect jump like that', I would like to point out that this is ALEX FREAKING MERCER we're talking about here. Thank you.
