Hello there I'm The Royal Protector and you're reading the first chapter of my Mirror Images Redux. It's been a while, eh? Sorry for the wait by the way but as they say "Life happened" and I didn't have the time to progress on any stories I was making/planning. But now, thank God, after the last of my finals I can finally lay back and write some stuff.
With that said I had some time to revisit the original Mirror Images and came to the realization that it wasn't heading in the direction/feel I hoped to when I began writing it. There were some other problems as well that I won't get into but the main problem was that by the end I strayed further and further away from the ending I'd planned originally.
And so with these problems in mind I sat down and thought about what could be done with the story. The final verdict was a complete rewrite as you can see from the title, I considered salvaging the original story as well but decided not to, because I felt it would become an even hotter mess than it was before if I tried to. I also considered dropping the story entirely but then saw that a lot of people actually enjoyed it (judging by the number of followers and favorites).
With that said I did some things. Like tearing out the entire first half of the story and replacing it with a new one, deleting a few characters and significantly changing others just to name a few changes.
In a nutshell the story is different but the premise is the same. So yeah, there you have it, a dead fic revived with the help of some coffee, liberal application of alcohol, much needed free time and a defibrillator.
Sadly I also have to mention that this story won't be my main focus for the foreseeable future because I plan on another one that should come out soon. This means sporadic updates from me mostly, sorry about that, but I'll try to write chapters to this one if I can.
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
*sounds, gunfire, etc.*
(Notes, addendums)
(A/N: Authors Note)
Disclaimer: The Mass Effect franchise is not mine, only things I own are my OCs.
Chapter 1: Prologue
"Can't fall asleep!" A man let out a startled cry as his eyelids shot open. He looked in front of himself, eyes unfocused, panting all the while. His mind was running a thousand miles per hour as he tried to find answers to the questions that suddenly plagued his mind.
Where the hell was he? What happened to the others? And why was he feeling so much better all of the sudden?
A frantic beeping sound brought him out of his thoughts and made him actually observe his surroundings. He realized that he was sitting upright in a bed of sorts in some kind of hospital garb with tubes coming out of his arms and chest. He patted his body and was surprised to find no wounds whatsoever, be it inflicted by bullets, blades, shrapnel or falling.
He looked up suddenly, he was in a room that much was apparent. The best way to describe it would be sterile, like actual pre-war hospitals, which was rather odd nowadays with most of them being overcrowded or simply destroyed like the rest of their respective districts. The walls were an aesthetically pleasing shade of blue with snow white lines going through them horizontally as well as a couple of windows. Machinery beeped by his side and several screens showed his vitals. There was one thing that was amiss in this room though.
"What the hell?!"
He snapped his head to his left and saw a teenage girl sitting, with her jaw hanging loose on an armchair with a book discarded to the side as her hands covered her mouth in shock. Now that he saw it he actually recognized that book.
"Is that my journal?" He asked groggily and turned to face the young girl fully. He wanted to feel tired, hell, he should have been exhausted, spent, and empty beyond words after all that had transpired the past night or so but he came to the odd realization that he was neither of the above, the only thing he felt was the tiredness that one had when you wake up from a great nap.
"Wha-? Yes, but I'll have to call Doctor De La Serre. I can't believe you're awake!" She tried to get up from her seat but he beat her to it and unplugged a bundle of tubes and wires to the horror of the girl.
"That should do the trick, now could you tell me how I got here and where is 'here'?" The petite girl muttered something under her breath, she settled back into her place and let out a weary sigh.
"You're in the Singh memorial hospital on Mindoir and you're here because you were injured" She answered warily.
"What kind of injuries are we talking about?" He furrowed his brows. He could have made a semi-accurate prognosis that could be summed up in 'fucked up in all the wrong places" but he thought that an official report would serve everyone better. The dark red haired girl got up again and walked to the end of his bed, she bent down for a second then returned with a really high tech and absolutely unnecessarily expensive looking tablet and read out loud.
"The kind that causes long term coma, broken bones in every limb, four cracked ribs, a fractured spinal column, multiple gunshot and stab wounds, major blood loss and- radiation poisoning? Really?" She looked up at him with unbelieving eyes and all he could do was shrug. The girl rolled her eyes and placed the tablet back in its place.
"Now, I already knew what was on that datapad, I just wanted to prove that I wasn't making those up" She explained and moved to the side of the bed "What I would like to know is what had happened to you? You were found at the edge of town in weird looking clothes and Mindoir is a literally in the middle of nowhere, out of the way colony on the fringes of human space" She eyed him with an inquisitive look that made him, a veteran of six years, feel uncomfortable, somehow. He was on the fence with this one. What was this girl rambling about? Mindoir? Human space and colonies? As far as he knew humanity only had one experimental colony on Mars before the conflict, and it wasn't even French. With the war going on space exploration and colonization had been put so far in the back of the queue of important things it wasn't even funny, the only things people did nowadays in space was building comm, spy and killsats. And the way she mentioned his injuries, like they weren't the norm just yesterday, field hospitals choked full of injured with many on the waiting list, hell even he had the "pleasure" of doing field surgery on wounded friends who otherwise wouldn't have made it to the nearest professional practitioner. He opened his mouth to ask back but the swooshing sound of the door interrupted him. They both turned to look at the doorway and got to see the startled and panting doctor who probably led this shift. The doctor was a middle aged woman with short brown hair and soft features out of place in this harsh world, she looked stressed, not that he blamed her, making his vitals flatline was not a kind move but he knew how long reception times were these days and he had questions that needed answering.
"Dr. De La Serre, you wouldn't believe who just woke up" The girl greeted cheerily, the older woman calmed down after a second and managed a smile.
"It's good to see you too Scarlet, but isn't it a bit late for you to still be here?" She disregarded the man for a second before sending a nod his way, saying that it will only take a moment.
"It is but I got so caught up in that book and didn't notice it was already late in the night" She mumbled and looked generally embarrassed. The man shook his head and turned to the girl.
"I've got some reservations with you going through my stuff but if you like that journal that much then go ahead and take it with you for the night, I won't mind" Scarlet's eyes widened in happiness and turned back to him again.
"Really? You really wouldn't mind?" at seeing him nod she picked up the book from the arm of the chair.
"Now go before Mrs. Shepard calls me asking where her precious daughter is this late in the night" The doctor chided the young teenager and gave her a quick hug before the youngster disappeared in the hallway with a wave to the bedridden man.
"Now, to our most beloved patient. How are we doing tonight Mr. Carter? Oh and please, it would go a long way with the hospital staff if you wouldn't do this again" The doctor now turned to Carter with a slightly disapproving look, she picked up the tubes and carefully placed them back in their respective places.
"Sorry about that, but it was probably the quickest way of calling you" He shrugged as he settled back into the bed.
"I beg to differ, I spilled my late shift coffee when the alarm went off" She huffed with a ghost of a smile also present "But anyway, I'm sure you have a lot of questions with being in a coma for this long" She continued and sat down on a swivel chair next to him "But don't worry, Alliance is still standing, economic crisis is still in full swing and there are still no Turians on Shanxi" She joked but it only got raised eyebrows from Carter.
Carter was perplexed by this conversation even more than before. It seemed every sentence the people he woke up to spoke served only to confuse him even more. First colonies in space, then some kind of Alliance and finally Turians? What the hell were they supposed to be? And what the hell were they doing in the middle of China? The Alliance he could comprehend on some level, maybe it was NATO or the CSTO but both organizations had been disbanded two years prior, the economic crisis part didn't surprise him however, it was an everyday occurrence to see so called "bread-lines" across the globe with a thriving black market basically running what little remained of the civilian economy in the background. He honestly didn't know what to believe at this point, maybe it was joke played on him by the staff or some other prankster, but he mentally shook his head, no, the people here were too cheerful.
Every person he met in since '22 was either possessed or broken, with the former going to war and the latter either helping the war effort or putting a bullet into their heads. There was no way these people survived six years before falling into either category. He could fall back on one thing though, the things that were grounded in reality, and he did just that, but he had the slight suspicion he had heard those words before, somewhere.
"Lay it on me Doc, how long was I out?"
"91 days, you're one hell of a sleeper" She smirked and glanced at a monitor to check his vitals.
"So the date is…?" Carter asked, last time he checked it was August, but that didn't account to too much, everything was dead and cold since '23, so it could've been February for all he cared.
"July 1st 2170"She replied off handedly as she adjusted some data streams on the touch pad monitor.
The sheer availability of touch pads alone raised some red flags in Carter's mind but that date did something much more.
William Carter was a man of many roles. He was an officer of the EDF, he was a brother and son to a loving family, he was a person fresh off university, ready to conquer life when he was conscripted, he was a survivor of the damned 23rd. But beside those glamorous titles he was also a teen in the 2010s. He heard those names before, Shepard, Alliance, Turians. He got to know what each of them meant during a videogame, Mass Effect.
Now it all made sense.
Except it didn't.
Those were names belonging to a story, not real life. He could remember his younger self playing those games, any kind of detail was hazy at best of course as it happened more than a decade ago and people don't really get time to reminisce about these memories where there was a war going on.
Reality was reality, fiction was fiction, there is no in-between, it's either or. That's what he was taught and that's what he firmly believed in. Yet here he was with evidence right in front of him. By now he completely disregarded the notion that this was just a prank, no one would go this far with a joke that very few would get in the first place.
William Carter was a man of another role, his best one as he had been told many times.
He was a man who could survive anything.
So he used his vast knowledge on the subject and decided on the best course of action.
He went with the flow.
"Hey Doc, Is there any chance I could maybe smoke a cigarette?" He carefully questioned the doctor, who seemingly noticed his deep thinking and turned away from him. The doctor glanced at him for a second before turning back to the various screens and then nodding.
"I can't see any reason why not, you're not bedridden and your vitals look good, surprisingly" she conceded "And you woke up in the middle of my break so we can make that happen" She added the afterthought with a smile.
It didn't take long to find some more appropriate clothes and putting them on, Will thought. The good doctor was very attentive and helpful all things considered. In less than five minutes they were up on the flat roof overlooking the sleeping city. Will was a hard man to surprise, and a bad one at that, but when he looked up in the night sky there weren't any doubt left in his mind about fiction and reality. The starry sky was clear, no nuclear clouds covering the heavens, the air carried the cold of a calm summer night, not the freezing one of a nuclear winter on the eastern front. The biggest thing that sold him on the idea though was that there had been two full moons hanging above his head.
"Need one?" The doctor called out to him, it shook him out of his stupor and made him turn to her.
"Oh, thank you" He took out one cigarette and ignited its end with the lighter she handed him. He lit it up after a few moments and gave the lighter back to its owner, the woman lighting her own cigarette with it.
Carter took a few long drags from his and leaned against a wall next to the edge, they shared a few moments of comfortable silence, before the woman broke it.
"You know I don't think we've been formally introduced. I'm Doctor Adele De La Serre" She put out his hand which he took in a handshake.
"William, Major William Carter" He told her earnestly, his title caused a raised eyebrow however.
"Major? That would explain your belongings but what are you doing here?"
"My belongings?" He asked back, this time he raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, when you were found you had this weird gear on, like some clothing that looked really amiss nowadays" She shook her head "Not to mention your weapons, I'm not an expert but they looked a bit archaic, I guess, but you still carried enough weapons and ammunition to wage a small war" She concluded and took a long drag, for a moment Will had a faraway look in his eyes but quickly shook it off.
"Do you know where they are?"
"Yeah, what was undamaged we kept for you, you're lucky we found the permits for them, the local police was going nuts when they heard about it, still can't figure out how to get permits for a grenade launcher" She chuckled and turned away for a moment before facing him again.
"Can I ask you something?" She suddenly asked, Carter nodded his head after a couple of seconds of thinking, he had a hunch what she was about to ask.
"What exactly happened to you? Your injuries were borderline lethal, heck without us you would be dead right now, I understand if it's something personal and I won't pry if it is, I'm just curious that's all" She said curtly. She went back to her cigarette and looked at Carter.
"It's… It's complicated and classified" Will replied unsurely. It wasn't a lie, it was complicated and if he remembered general opsec right then that offensive was locked behind red tape, under lock with the letters CLASSIFIED boldly emblazoned on it, or at least until the guys in the propaganda section thought it would be good PR.
Which it wasn't, not by a long shot.
Her eyes lost a certain sparkling effect when he said that and she let out a small sigh.
"Look, I can't disclose anything even if I'm ex-SOG" Carter rolled his eyes at her imitation of a puppy.
"Ex-SOG? What does that mean?" Adele raised her eyebrows and took another drag. Carter regarded her for a second then did a mental facepalm.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I guess I'm just not used to having civilians around. It means I was Special Forces" He shrugged and blew out some smoke.
It was a bad habit, he knew, one that he picked up during the early days when he wasn't used to the atmosphere of survival. He would curl up against the cold permafrost walls of the trenches with his rifle huddled close, his finger would always rest on the trigger, no matter if the safety was flicked on or off. He would shiver not because of the cold, but because of the stress. That stress was understandable, he liked to believe, being next to the corpse of a childhood friend that you grew up with. The facial expression of the corpse and nigh constant sounds of artillery didn't help at all.
"Hey" He heard a feminine voice call for him, his head slowly turned to the source of the noise. It was one of the soldiers that came with that Polish division that were supposed to relieve them and take their post. He chuckled mentally, that went as well as expected and now they waited for another reinforcement wave, time would tell if they would survive.
She was young, as young as he was figured, he didn't have any idea how her long chestnut hair went through inspection but he couldn't care less at the moment, her face was simply beautiful and her eyes were captivating, although her features were marred with early stages of frostbite, frozen blood and mud. She was in a similar position, albeit she still managed to put a on a weak smile.
"Do you have a lighter?" She gnashed through her clattering teeth with a cigarette between her lips. His mind stopped for a second while he regarded her. What was she doing here in the first place? Weren't her unit supposed to be on the left flank? He pondered for a moment before catching sight of her leg. There was a deep bullet wound on her lower thigh, it was bleeding steadily.
He patted through his vest and not long after he crawled his way towards her. He turned on his storm lighter and lit up her cigarette.
"Thanks, ah- what are you doing?" She interrupted herself when she noticed that the man he called just a second ago was attending to her leg.
"This trench is getting full of corpses, believe me, I don't need another" He replied earnestly and begun to bandage her up. The woman looked at him oddly for a few seconds before huffing and leaning against the wall. A few moments later she took out a pack of cigarettes and brought it into his field of view.
"If you're so helpful to total strangers than at least let me repay in kind" He stopped then continued treating her wound.
"I don't smoke" He replied curtly but she didn't give up.
"You know, I don't either but it has an amazing effect on my nerves, and well I saw you earlier and I really think it would do you some good"
He stopped completely and now was looking at the cigarette with an unsure look.
"Come on, what do you think is more likely? Dying of this cancer stick or that sniper that did this when I was running between two positions?" She let out an out of place laugh and motioned to her leg. He let out a weary sigh and took one out.
"Alright, why not"
"You were?" She emphasized the past tense. Carter shrugged.
"I was a normal soldier at first, then someone in some higher place thought that I could achieve more and recommended me to some Groups. Spent a few years there then I left on my own volition back into the regular army, bad memories I guess"
"Oh, some black ops kind of things? Like ONI and stuff?" She tried to talk like she knew what she was talking about but didn't really get through.
"No, not really. I mean yeah, the stuff I did was in secret but nothing that needed to be denied, it was more like deep reconnaissance, get dropped in, scout and monitor whatever my commanders wanted me to and get out" He replied honestly. It wasn't black ops when the country you were dropped in was at war with yours, and he really didn't do shady things… except that one time, but that was on his own violation.
"So what are you going to do now?"
Those words struck something within him that awakened a line of thought he long buried in his mind along with friends, family and hundreds of other corpses. It was a question asked by a person he held dear in his time in the army.
"What are you going to do when the war ends?"
There were many solutions and dead ends to his predicament with reality and fiction, but all of them lead to one conclusion.
For him, the war was over.
When he was asked that question he laughed it off, he never believed there would be an end, not after all those years in the line of fire, and if it somehow did end, he was convinced he wouldn't live to see it.
He was proven wrong.
His mind went into a frenzy and threatened to break down entirely. What was he to do now? His entire life was consumed by war, his friends, all of them dead, his family, in ruins, the remains of his once normal life, under the nuclear rubble with the dreams of millions.
He went to university, yes, he studied history and was interested in politics but his degree was in another reality or some 150 years old by this point. Maybe he had an identity here? The nurse did call him by his name, and medical care isn't free, even if it's the future, so he must be present in some governmental databases. But if so, how would he find a living here, the doctor said that there was an economic crisis going on.
The thoughts came without stopping and without an end in sight, but he had one conviction that he wasn't going to let go of.
"I haven't the slightest clue"
He will never join the armed forces ever again.
They continued talking about some less sensitive topics after that, and for that Carter was grateful. Whatever had happened to him had left him in an unsure position and state of mind. On one hand maybe his deeds caught up to his conscientious and he finally lost it, maybe this whole situation was just a figment of his imagination. But if that were the case it was a pretty impressive illusion his mind was playing on him.
On the other hand maybe he really was saved from the Grimm Reaper and was flung 150 years into the future where everything just corresponded with a story he once seen.
Talk about being between a rock and a hard place.
For one he didn't feel insane, not that he knew what that even felt like. He saw fellow soldiers losing it on the field and he was fairly sure he wasn't behaving like them. But the other option just screamed impossible in his face then mocked him for even thinking about it.
He eventually gave up on trying to find an explanation and retreated for the night. Maybe the morning would give him some much needed answers. Hell, maybe it was just a sick and twisted dream of his.
That notion was quickly smashed to pieces when he woke up in the hospital bed. He let out a weary sigh and accepted the fact that whether he was insane or not, this was his life now.
"Am I allowed to leave the hospital?" Will asked as he was served his breakfast, it was nothing much but it would suffice for someone who lived on nothing more than MREs and whatever else he found.
"I'm afraid not. While you're not bedridden anymore I wouldn't advise roaming around the city this soon after waking up" Doctor De La Serre shook her head, apparently she didn't have many patients at that time and provided him some company while he ate "I may be lax with rules but I'm not about to let a coma patient of mine wander off on his own, sorry" She shrugged unapologically.
"Figured you might, still it was worth a shot" He admitted and turned back to his food.
"You don't like it here I take it?" Will shook his head quickly.
"It's nothing personal, I-… I just don't have great experiences with hospitals, though that's probably because of my line of work" He quickly explained and she nodded in understanding.
He ate the rest of his meal in silence, his partner content to leave him to his thoughts. He wanted to leave as soon as he could, but he wouldn't cause a problem to these people when they realized he up and vanished, he owed them at least that for patching him up.
"Good morning people!" A feminine voice crowed from the doorway. It was the girl- no, judging by the date, her age, which he guessed to be in the mid-teens, and her mother's name she was none other than the fabled Commander Shepard, minus 15 odd years.
"If it isn't our resident trouble maker, happy birthday Scarlet" His doctor greeted her with a smile as the young girl stepped in the room. The pair shared a quick hug before the older woman continued "I hope you got home in time. The last thing I need is your mother pestering me about why her little gemstone is falling asleep in the middle of class" She chuckled.
He didn't know what to think at that, the game was an action RPG, which meant that the girl before him could be as pure hearted as a cute puppy or a heartless psychopath ready to massacre half the galaxy's population just because they looked at her the wrong way.
"Don't worry, I wasn't late by that much" She rolled her eyes "Sooo, what are we doing today….?"
'She's just a kid…' He reminded himself. She was not a ruthless killer or savior of the galaxy, she was just that, a kid. Her biggest concerns now isn't the fate of the galaxy or the lives of her command, it was teenage life 'problems' like whether that boy from a grade up liked her or not.
It was as if a weight had been lifted off him. His memories were hazy at best but he could still remember the main plot point of the trilogy.
The kilometer long syntho-organic creatures that fancied themselves as gods, or otherwise known as the Reapers.
They were a threat to him, if not because of their sheer power then because of their annoying persistence. He could run halfway across the galaxy to some place not even God knew about and those things would still find him.
'You don't play hide and seek with the person who designed the place you're supposed to hide in'
But the main point was that that he still had time. He still had 13 years before things turned to shit, 16 if he wanted to see said shit hit the fan. Now other people would start to plan and prepare for the coming apocalypse while plotting their master scheme to get on that cursed ship, what was its name? Normandy? He shrugged mentally, he didn't care either way. He wasn't going to intervene, he wasn't going to change things to alter some sort of 'timeline' to get a happy ending for everyone. Why would he? It wasn't his home, his home had been burning for the most part of the decade. He tried to stop it, he fought to stop it, and what did he get for his efforts? Medals, pats on the back, encouraging fake-smiles, some rank he never asked for and a blinding flash of light from his own nation.
He gripped the edges of his plate tightly enough to crack it.
He sighed.
He felt tired.
He spent most part of his adult life in some far away trench fighting for a cause he didn't have the heart to believe in. He didn't want to do it again.
He wouldn't fight when the Reapers arrived, but he wouldn't roll over and wait to be processed either.
That would be too slow a death, a bullet through his cranium would serve him much better.
"You okay old man?" A soft voice called to him and he looked up to see the root problem of his late thoughts. She was standing beside his bed with a worried expression on her face.
"Old man? I'm only 29" He pointedly ignored the question once he realized her gaze was on his cracked plate.
"Still old" She shrugged unhelpfully with a smirk, he rolled his eyes in response.
"Soo, I wanted thank you for lending me your book" She took out his journal from her backpack "It's really interesting, I've never thought being a soldier was like that" She handed him it, he regarded the book with a weary expression. The book contained everything he did during his time in the armed forces, it was the physical representation of the most defining chapter of his life so it was understandable that he caressed it with some care.
"What did you expect it to be like then?" He asked her with a raised eyebrow.
"I didn't know it was this awesome for one" Her silvery blue eyes sparkled with excitement and he couldn't help but raise an amused eyebrow.
"Oh, what makes you say that?" He inquired, he decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and treat her like what she was in his eyes, a kid and nothing more.
"There was a part when the team was stuck in a sandstorm for two days straight and had to wait for reinforcements to arrive, they were holding an abandoned temple near an oasis. They were surrounded on all sides by dozens upon dozens of enemies who attacked them relentlessly but they won and got back home without a scratch! It even says that in their celebration they managed to set fire to a bar! How cool is that?!" She rambled and Carter let out an amused chuckle, if only for the girl's sake. He remembered that mission and it was anything but awesome. It was his first command and he almost got everyone killed by missing a deadline. It was a miracle they made the first night let alone the second. The fire was actually really funny, he had to admit, one of his late teammates didn't know what absinth was and freaked out when he saw it burning… He did some drunken things and somehow managed to burn down the entire bar… The garrisoning company wasn't happy about that but oh well.
"It's a romanticized version you know that, right? That doesn't usually happen in real life" He chided her.
"But you said this is a journal? It's full of stories like these" She looked at him with a confused expression. He looked at her with equal confusion before he made an 'ooh' gesture and sighed.
"You haven't finished the journal, have you? Where did you stop?"
"Uh- about halfway?" She admitted somewhat reluctantly.
"Just as I thought" He said and looked at the book in his hands. He remained silent for a few seconds with varying expressions before taking in a breath and holding out the book to her.
"Take it, you'll probably enjoy it much more than me" He declared with a small smile. Scarlet was lost for words but took the book after a few moments of silence.
"A-are you sure? It's your journal after all" She looked at him with an expression which was of half gratitude, half trepidation.
"Yes, I'm sure, consider it a birthday present, kid" He rolled his eyes, he was actually eager to part with the book, it represented a part of his past he would like to forget as soon as he had the chance, and if the kid could make use of his misery then all the better.
"Thanks" She gave her a genuine smile before it turned upside down "And I'm not a kid, I'm 16" She was less than happy now. Carter gave her the most deadpan look he could muster.
"Still a kid" He shrugged unapologically at her. She glared daggers at him and he could hear his doctor struggling not to snicker in the background.
"Whatever you say, old man" She frowned at him, then turned to the other woman in the room.
"Is he allowed to go outside?" She asked his caretaker.
"No, he just woke up from a coma yesterday, you know that Scarlet"
"Yeah I know, and I also know that he's just as healthy as me right now and he probably needs the fresh air, right?" Scarlet argued back and nudged him, Carter nodded and watched the exchange silently, he didn't know what she was hoping to achieve but he didn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth.
"Yes, but I can't exactly let go of him, what if he faints in the middle of the street? We can't go with him, we're still on shift"
"I can, it's not like I'm needed here today. Besides, I can take care of him if something happens, you've taught me after all" She countered offhandedly. They all looked at De La Serre for a response. She held their gazes for a bit with a frown. It seemed as if she wouldn't budge but she caved in after a few moments.
"Fine" She scoffed and rolled her eyes "You'll be his caretaker for the day, don't go too far and be back by 6. If anything happens you know my number and don't be afraid to use it"
"Of course, Doctor De La Serre" She cooed in acknowledgment but it was clear she wasn't really listening. It didn't go unnoticed and earned a glare from the good doctor, the girl of course was completely unfazed by it and picked up her bag and strode out the door. He stopped outside and glanced back at him "Come on old man, you're coming or what?"
He blinked once, why did she seem more eager to leave than he did? He looked unsurely at the doctor who just shrugged and mouthed a 'You encouraged it' and looked away.
Back in his previous clothes Carter stood cross armed in front of the entrance of the hospital. He looked around in wonder at his surroundings. Perhaps unsurprisingly the hospital was situated near the downtown area, the traffic showed that at least. Carter never thought he would see flying cars, holo-adverts and what were those glowing things around people's arms? Omni-tools? His memory was getting better now at least, so that was a positive thing.
"There you are" His 'caretaker's' voice called to him. He looked in the direction where he heard it from and was greeted with the sight of a red-headed teenager who was on the short side of things with a large travelling bag over her shoulder.
He sighed "Alright kid, what are you planning?" He asked knowingly, she wasn't exactly overt before. To her credit, she actually looked affronted.
"Me? I would never plan any…" She began to say but stopped when she saw his complete deadpan and unbelieving look.
"… Fine, as you've heard today is my birthday and I didn't really want to spend it cooped up in there…" She tilted her head to the side in a slightly embarrassed motion.
"So you decided to spend your birthday with a complete stranger instead?" He chimed in. He did a facepalm when she responded with a so-so gesture "Glad to see your priorities are in order" He remarked sarcastically.
"It's not that" She denied "It's just that Mindoir isn't the…. most exciting place in the galaxy" She explained.
"Nothing interesting happens out here and it gets boring really fast…" She continued unsurely.
"And you want to come with me because you're bored?" He questioned with a condescending tone.
"Pretty much, yeah" She gave a tentative nod. Carter regarded her with an expression that basically telegraphed an 'are you for real'.
"So what do you want to do?" He asked her in a deflated tone. It seemed he was to entertain an annoying teenager for an entire day just a day after he was thrown out of a blender.
He suddenly wanted that blender back.
Her features lit up almost instantly and she gave him a toothy grin "Weeell, I'm not sure if you've been informed but you can take all of your stuff back anytime from our storage room. I took the initiative and did it for you" She tossed the travelling bag to him, he caught in without trouble and warily opened it.
His eyes widened when he saw the contents, he slowly glanced up at his companion and saw her grinning innocently at him.
"You really are something else, kid" He shook his head after a few seconds.
"I've been told that a few times"
"If you tell anyone about this, I'm taking you to the grave with me" He sighed exasperatedly. Scarlet waved him off while she laughed.
"Oh! I've found one!"
"Shush, you're louder than fireworks!"
"Eh, sorry?"
"Do you see it clearly?"
"Yeah, but can't I do this upright? My neck hurts now…"
"If you really want to then yeah, go ahead"
"Really?"
"Of course not. You'll be knocked on your ass with aching bones"
"Sheesh, you could have just said no"
"Whatever, are you ready?"
"I think so?"
"Then do it already! I don't want to lie in grass all day"
*CRACK*
An annoyed eye roll later the rifle barked with an almighty boom and a .50 cal bullet sailed through air until it met the flesh of an unfortunate deer. The bullet tore through its neck like wet tissue paper and vaporized a large chunk of flesh before it continued its journey on the other side.
"Eww" Scarlet frowned and looked away from the gory image the scope granted her.
"What? Never seen a decapitation before?"
"Of course I haven't! Oh, I think I'm going to throw up…" Her face took on a shade of green as she struggled not to taste her breakfast again.
"Hey, it was your idea to hunt"
"Yeah, but I didn't think it would be this… bloody" She defended hastily.
"Relax, maybe it was a bad idea to use the anti-material rifle on a deer" Carter shook his head and patted her on the shoulder. It felt like using a sledge hammer on a small nail, it worked but it was overkill.
"How's your shoulder?" He tried to divert her attention from the corpse in front of them.
"A bit stiff. The kickback was brutal honestly" She admitted.
"Told you so" He looked up at the red sun above them. It was probably past a couple of hours after midday if he were to guess. They had spent the day tracking, hunting and trying out his equipment. The girl's eyes practically became saucers when she saw all the weapons and accessories, she looked between him and them frantically as if afraid if she lost sight of them for longer than a second they would disappear. With a chuckle he let her have a field day with them.
The girl turned out be a gun nut, who could have guessed?
He unloaded everything of course, knowledgeable or not she was still a kid.
Besides the entertainment of a teenager it also provided an opportunity for him to take stock of his belongings.
He had to admit, the good doctor was right when she said he was loaded for bear.
A JA-50 anti-materiel rifle, his P-90, an M1911 pistol and his combat knife for weapons, several grenades ranging from fragmentation through smoke and concussion, a couple pounds of C4, accessories and ammunition for afore mentioned guns and his combat operator suit.
If he didn't know better he would have thought command wanted him to raid the Kremlin all by himself.
There were other things as well, more personal objects as well. His eyes sparkled when he found his watch among a few attachments, that thing survived the sands of the Sahara and the ice of the eastern front with him, the thing was as good as a survivor as him honestly. He quickly put it on his left arm and dug deeper, his earlier sense of joy was only reinforced when he found his most beloved flask, thankfully full.
It all seemed suspicious to him, why was he sent 150 years into the future, armed to the teeth with bristling new weapons and armor? And why not 10 more years into the future? Why was this date more important than 2183 or 2185 or hell, 12183? It just didn't make sense, at all. It filled him with an ominous feeling like he should know something that only some higher being was privy to. It was frustrating beyond words.
He took a swing from his flask "Come on, we can move onto the SMG if you'd like" He stood up from the ground and dusted himself off.
"Can I have some of that?" She got up as he did and sent him a pleading look.
"When hell freezes over, kid. I'm not about to give alcohol to a minor" He glared at her and pointedly put away the flask above his heart.
"Aw, come on! Guns, blood and talking to strangers is 'fine' but alcohol isn't?" She complained with exaggerated gestures.
"You guessed it" He shrugged nonchalantly and walked back to the bag where all of his equipment laid bare.
"What about smoking? Is that fine with you?" She quickly asked, following closely behind him.
Carter stopped and turned to her with a raised eyebrow "Are in your rebellious phase or something?" He looked at her up and down, searching for something.
"No" She denied with a scowl "Maybe" she admitted reluctantly after seeing his flat expression.
"You know, you remind me of someone… looks and personality" He had a thoughtful expression on as he regarded the teenager.
'Chin length dark red hair, silvery blue eyes, pale skin with soft features, definitely on the shorter side…'
It was odd, he knew she was the soon to be Commander Shepard but he felt something else, something more personal about her, like he knew her or something.
His earlier thoughts about his situation didn't help at all and he felt like something was missing, like the universe was telling a very complicated joke and the punchline was about to hit him in the face like a brick.
"Oh, a past love I hope?" She put her hands on her hips and looked at him with a smirk.
He raised an unamused eyebrow at her "Sorry kid, but you're not worth a prison cell"
"Oh, you hurt me" She put her hands on her heart in mock hurt.
"That was my intention, yes" He responded flatly and took the rifle from her hands.
"You're no fun" She pouted and Carter sighed. He unloaded the weapon and detached every attachment while Scarlet inspected the SMG with sparkling eyes. Using the silence of work Carter decided to think further on his situation, this time using Shepard as an anchor point for his thoughts.
'Alright, let's see what I know… Shepard is still a kid, not military, the date is 2170. Is that important? Not much is concrete about her character before the first game I think'
'The player could choose a background for her… what were the options? Earthborn orphan? No, we're not on Earth and she has a family. Space roamer or something? She did have a family but her words did suggest she rarely left the planet if at all'
'What was the last one? Survivor? But what did she survive? Oh, Colonist survivor… That seems likely, we're on Mindoir after all. What was the story again? Some alien slavers came and wrecked her planet if I remember correctly. Whole colony either killed or enslaved, her family the former. A heart wrenching story if I ever heard one, still where I come from there are no shortage of those'
'It didn't happen yet, obviously, the colony was still functioning and she wasn't a broken mess of tears. So it will happen soon, she was a teenager, so it is bound to happen'
'The backstory said it happened when she was 15? 16?'
'Hold on a second….'
"Hey kid, how old are you again?"
She opened her mouth to answer but a screeching whistle silenced her. They turned toward the city and saw several high velocity shells impact buildings. The sound of the explosions travelled for several painstakingly long seconds before it reached their ears. Scarlet stumbled and fell on her back with a terrified expression on her face, meanwhile Carter's eyes focused above the now burning city.
Several black dots began to descend from the clouds to the city in a controlled manner.
'Cue the brick'
And there we have it, the first chapter done. It feels good to be back, also I believe you've noticed a few of the changes I've made with characters. It's only Will and Shepard now but there will be others later on.
On that note I will answer some questions that I just know will come up:
As some of the readers that read the original Mirror Images could have guessed, the war which Will fought in was the Great War in that story. I just mentioned it before but with Will being a veteran of the conflict it will come up more often with some flashbacks.
Shepard doesn't think that Will is a time traveler or something, she only thinks that he is just some collector who owns a journal from some random soldier and likes antique weaponry, and why would she think otherwise? The concept is just outlandish to her even without the "I know you from a game I've played 160 years ago". This will be expanded upon literally in the coming chapters but I could just imagine some reviews asking about why she doesn't react to a time traveler at all.
There won't be an OC/femshep ship in this story. Sorry guys but a 12 years age difference is a bit much, rather their relationship will be of a different nature, one I hadn't actually seen in the ME category. At all.
If Shepard comes off as a bit eccentric in this chapter then it is because I made her so on purpose. That behavior won't last long though sadly.
Until next time.