The Howling Dark

by smart grid

Two years have passed since the dark day that humanity's best was extinguished. Now it appears that the dead Shepard is not so dead, and that the enemies Jorge helped defeat, are not so defeated. Shepard is going to need humanity's best to take on the genocidal threat of the Collectors. Fortunately for her, Jorge has volunteered to help.

2. Q&A

IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE STORY YET, SKIP THIS CHAPTER AND COME BACK TO IT!

Well ladies and gentlemen, I have taken some time off, written some other things, experienced a little more life and now I am back! Here we will see Jorge, now established in the Mass Effect Universe for two years, take significant part in the events of Mass Effect 2 as a part of Shepard's team. Shepard is going to need the best in her efforts to save the galaxy; fortunately, Jorge is more than willing to step up to the plate.

Now, for those of you new to this story, welcome! For those old hands who followed me, update after update, through the events of Mass Effect 1, welcome back! Just like before, I post this story with full intent to see it through to the end. Come hell or high water. Unfortunately, this does not necessarily mean 'timely'. I am working around things known as 'life'. Updates will likely be measured in terms of weeks; sometimes, months. This is currently my only writing priority, but that does not mean it will get done fast. But again; I intend to see this project through to the end, no matter how painful. What I start, I fully work to finish.

As I see questions in the comments or PMs that I feel need answering, I'll update this chapter and tell you when I update it.

Update! NOW!

Yea, yea, I'm workin' on it, I'm workin' on it.

Will EDI interface with Jorge's armor? That would be badass!

A good idea. That said, that's a pretty deep ask there- his armor is his home, adding an AI would be inviting someone into his home. You don't want to do that to a known terrorist. And as nice as EDI is, Cerberus holds the reins… for now.

Why does Jorge have the Mjolnir? If it's half as precious as Chapter 1 describes, why let it out and potentially into the hands of a terrorist organization?

Well, there's a couple of things to unpack here. First, yes, it's a very valuable piece of technology, but it's still a piece of armor; it's meant to be worn. Jorge is also the only person who can wear it, so it's not like they can keep it and have someone else do field testing. Second, yes, they learn something new every time, but there's so much they've already learned over the course of two years that the R&D budget is having trouble funding the sheer number of projects that keep coming out of it; the ideas and technology they have extracted will already keep them busy for years if not decades. Third, there's some politicking and backroom deals going on here. Hackett and Anderson are pulling strings in Shepard's name to make sure that Jorge is fully outfitted and capable; nothing less than the best will do, that's why Jorge is there in the first place.

So, I imagine it's a combination of those three as to why Jorge is being allowed to take his armor on his 'vacation'.

Where is Zaeed? Will Kasumi be appearing in here? What about other DLC (Overlord, Arrival, Shadow Broker…?)

Given that Jorge has jacked his spot, it is safe for everyone to assume that Zaeed isn't going to be appearing in this story. So, sorry, Zaeed fans. Kasumi, I am sorry to say, is in a similar situation; I never downloaded her so I don't feel that I have a good enough grasp of her character to write her. As for the other DLC missions, well… I haven't decided how I want to handle content AFTER the suicide mission has been completed yet. It's possible Jorge will go on them, it's also possible that Jorge is back at the Alliance again and misses out. I haven't decided yet.

UPDATE: Yes, I know I could watch replays and videos to try to get a feel for Kasumi, but I don't feel comfortable writing for her that way. I played ME2 many, many times, and I feel I have at least a moderate understanding of the majority of the characters because of that repetition; Kasumi, not so much. I feel I cannot write her acceptably, and because of that I have no intention of having Kasumi appear. Sorry :(

Will we see more people from the Halo universe? Master Chief and Cortana could be blown there, Spirit of Fire maybe, Admiral Cole...?

Nope. If they did indeed get blown to another universe like Jorge happened to in The Fighting Spirit, they got blown to a different universe. There are infinite possibilities out there, after all. Anyways, this story's here for Jorge, not for additional crossover into the ME universe. We're exploring Jorge as if he were dropped into the ME universe.