Chapter Two
...Is Resolute
Slowly, thought and his sense of orientation came back to Tyler. His first thought was, At least I'm not sideways this time. The last time he had rolled his truck, it ended up on it's side with him hanging by the seatbelt. In his delusional state, he had released the seatbelt, causeing him to fall from the driver seat to the passenger side and hit his head on the window, which was surprisingly intact. In order to remove himself from the vehicle, he had taken the time to roll down the driver side window before climbing out.
When a sense of feeling returned, he realized that he was not sitting in the fabric seat of his truck, but was instead sitting on a cold, metal flooring with his back against what felt like a wall. He felt no pain, which sent him into a panic. Holy crap, I'm dead! But... I can't be dead, not from something as stupid as that! What felt to be a foot than hit the sole of his boot and a clearly feminine voice drifted into his ears.
"Hey, wake up. You can't sleep here, the cops might cuff you and drag you off."
Tyler's grunted in reply as he blearily opened his eyes. Must have all been a dream. He thought to himself as he looked down at his lap. Sure enough, the floor was made of a metallic material. To his immediate left, he saw a weird planting box. It looked like a storage crate with some orange marking on it.
Another kick to his boot turned his attention to the person standing above him. His eyes traveled up the slender legs and rounded waist but were than caught by the blue hands. What the hell? It's either really cold or those are some real skin-tight gloves. Judging by how I feel, I'd say it's the latter. His eyes continued to travel up until they were locked onto her face. Or rather... it's face.
"Holy shit." Tyler cursed, immediately wishing he hadn't as a look of disdain came across her, it's, features. The entire head was the same blue color as her hands and her "hair" was more like tentacles that were swooped back as if they were coated in gel. A rotating, white circle to her left drew his attention. It seemed real and yet unreal at the same time. What looked like water flowed on the walls of the stairs behind the blue woman but it seemed to stop way too suddenly to actually be water and he could hear none of the soothing noises that water made.
Massaging his temples, Tyler looked at his lap and screwed his eyes shut. He had seen all of this before somewhere. The woman, the circle, the water-like object. He had seen it all before but just couldn't remember where. If only he had someone like the Shadow Broker to get information for him... wait a second.
Opening his eyes, Tyler once more scanned the woman, the circle, and the water-like appearance. Leaning forward, he peeked around the planting box and looked through a large doorway where he could see humans, more blue women, and other vaguely familiar creatures milling about and conversing with one another. It hit him like a brick wall and all he could utter was,
"Holy shit!"
Slamming his back against the wall once more, his breathing picked up in pace, as did his heart rate. The blue woman, Asari (he remembered now), shushed him violently.
"Please don't use such harsh language," she said to Tyler. Under his breath, the teenage boy was muttering even more obscenities. A calm voice emanated from the back of his head,
Calm down. Just calm the hell down. Act cool, they don't know your from the past. Find out what happened to Shepard. What year it is.
After slowing his breathing and heart-rate, Tyler looked up at the Asari's face and, as calmly as he could, asked,
"What year is it?"
Her look of surprise was priceless but it quickly turned to one of ridicule. Tyler held back his wanting to yell at her.
"It's 2181 in your years, Human," she replied, using the word "Human" as an insult. Oh fuck you too, you damn alien bitch. Jesus Christ...
Lifting himself from the ground and brushing himself off, Tyler muttered a "thank you". Without waiting for a reply, the confused and bewildered teen walked off towards the large doorway in an even stride. Passing many conversing beings, he noticed that a good amount of them were giving him stranger looks and finally realized how much he must stand out amongst the crowd, dressed in his BDUs. They were comfortable clothes but he needed to fit in just a little more since it already seemed he may be stuck here. And, if it was a dream (which he seriously doubted it was considering that his vision wasn't blurry), what would selling his possessions really hurt?
Passing through the doorway, the teen glanced to his left to see what appeared to be a store through yet another large doorway. What the hell is with them and large doorways. The thought was quickly dismissed, however, as he read the store's name above the doorway.
"Citadel Souvenirs. Hell yes. Exactly what I was looking for." he muttered to himself. A couple of nearby "citizens" as they were called glanced at him before returning to their conversations or continuing on their route.
Ignoring the looks, Tyler strode into the store and approached the clerk. He knew she had a name but couldn't remember it. The intensity of the look she gave him told him that she had been assessing his outfit since he walked through the doorway.
"Why hello citizen." she greeted. Tyler waved his hand dismissively before quickly taking off the BDU blouse, revealing a black shirt underneath that sported the, now ancient, US Air Force coat of arms on the left pec and the Air Force wing on the back. Words informed whoever looked at the shirt that he was a member of the "United States Air Force Junior ROTC" program.
"What are you doing?" the Asari clerk questioned with a slight sense of amusement in her voice. Tyler simply set the jacket on the counter space between the terminal and the electronic catalog.
"How much will you pay me for this jacket? It was part of the clothing worn by the most esteemed military of ancient Earth." Tyler asked of her, quickly throwing in the part of ancient Earth as bait. The clerk looked intrigued as she set her hand under her chin and examined the jacket. She than peeked over the counter at the pants and opened her mouth to speak. Tyler beat her to the punch,
"The pants aren't for sale. They are comfortable, versatile, and the only pair that I got right now. So unless you want me leaving your store in a shirt, undies, and boots, the pants aren't for sale." A shade of purple appeared on her cheeks before Tyler continued by taking off the cap and tossing it on top of the jacket, "But I will toss in the hat as that is of no use to me."
The clerk started to examine the items and, after doing a quick calculation, looked back up at Tyler.
"This is called Citadel Souvenirs but someone would want this. The lack of having it as a complete set will hurt the price, however. If what you said was true and it was part of the outfit worn by one of your ancient militaries than I am willing to buy these from you for... 75,000 credits."
A frown formed upon Tyler's face but he nodded his head solemnly. He wasn't good at bartering and he knew that the 75k would at least get him armor from that Rodam place, which he was sure was upstairs. Maybe even a gun, if the Citadel permitted weapons to be carried. An assault rifle would be nice but he would probably have to settle for a pistol.
The clerk smiled cheerfully as she scooped the clothing off the counter, tucking it away underneath, before she pulled out a small rectangle that displayed the number "75,000" upon in holographic lettering. Setting them on the counter, she scooted them towards Tyler.
"There, 75,000 credits."
Scooping it off the counter, and stashing it in one of the cargo pockets, Tyler pulled out his leather wallet and Droid smart-phone. Setting the phone on the counter, the clerk instantly picked it up and began to examine it with a look of pure curiosity. Ignoring her, Tyler opened the wallet up, revealing a picture of his family. In the picture were his mom, dad, little brother, and himself. Behind that picture was another picture of his older brother dressed in DCUs with body armor and a rifle, standing next to a gun truck somewhere in Afghanistan. Being a Naval Seabee, he was deployed... a lot.
Removing the two pictures, and placing them in his pocket, Tyler emptied out the wallet's contents on the counter before placing the wallet itself on the counter. In the wallet was $60 in paper, American, money, a Wells Fargo debit card, useless now, two Wal-Mart gift cards, and a bank card.
The clerk descended upon the items like an owl upon a rodent. Confusion, Curiosity, and Excitement swept across her face as she examined the items. Looking up at the teen, she motioned to the paper money.
"I assume this is ancient Earth currency, correct?" A nod from Tyler made her smile before she motioned towards the assortment of cards, "And these are?"
"A different form of currency. Money stored in a bank could be accessed by swiping this card during a purchase," he explained, tapping his index finger against the debit card, "These cards held monetary values by themselves but could only be spent at certain stores," this time he tapped on the two Wal-Mart cards with both his index and middle fingers, "And this card was used to withdraw or deposit money into one's bank account," after tapping his index finger on the bank card, Tyler drew back his hand and looked up at the Asari.
"And what is this?" she asked, holding up the smart-phone.
"A phone," Tyler replied before going into detail, "It was used to contact someone over long-distances, browse the internet, and was able to do an assortment of other things." Tyler paused shortly before adding, "It's kinda of like an Omni-Tool but without it being holographic, and able to apply Omni-gel or Medi-gel."
The clerk rose her head and mumbled an "Ah" in understanding. After doing yet another calculation in her head, she looked Tyler in the face before saying,
"I'll give her 120,000 credits for all of this. The fact that this... phone is still working is amazing and can be sold to a museum, as well as these forms of currency. Do we have a deal?"
Tyler's jaw had dropped at the price of those items. Holy shit. And to think my dad technically got that phone for free. And he was the one who got me the debit card. A wave of sadness swept over him as he remembered that he would not be able to see them anymore, or at least for awhile. Recovering quickly, however, he nodded his head heartily.
The clerk smiled widely as she scooped the items into her hands and set them under the counter before asking for the credit chit. Fumbling about, Tyler produced the chit and handed it to her. As she transferred the money over to the chit, Tyler just had to ask,
"How come you gave me a credit chit and didn't ask for one?"
"Because you didn't seem to be carrying one or else it would have already been out, ready to accept the credits," she replied with a smirk. Tyler nodded as he mumbled an "I see".
After being handed back the credit chit, now displaying the number "195,000" upon it, Tyler once more shoved it into his cargo pocket before bidding the clerk goodbye. Turning about, he walked out of the small store and back into what he could only describe as a common area. Two things he had not sold the clerk was his ID and Driver's License. Those had too much discriminating information that was readily seen that would draw way too much attention to him.
Turning to his right, the now money-wielding teen, walk back to where he had been awaken. Still ignoring the glances, but actively scanning the crowd, Tyler made his way to the staircase and began to climb. Reaching the landing, he followed it around and climbed some more. As he was climbing, he couldn't help but wonder why the hell the Citadel didn't have such things as escalators. Some hundred years in the future, with humanity spreading across the galaxy like Locust, and yet escalators seemed to be nowhere.
Reaching the top of the stays, Tyler walked under another spinning circle, through a smaller door, and into the Rodam Expenditures store. The Turian behind the counter stared at him as he entered. Approaching the counter, Tyler stood slightly at attention in front of it.
"Human," the Turian greeted simply.
"Turian. I am searching for armor and guns. I heard that this is the best place to get said items for hunting the most dangerous game in the galaxy, mercenaries and just general criminals. Think you can help me in this matter?" Tyler spoke with a calm, yet mature voice. He was trying to appeal to the Turian's sense of the hunt, as he remembered part of the discount conversation with him from ME2.
"You heard right human. This is the best place for guns and armor on the Citadel and you are hunting some dangerous game. I think that I can help," the Turian stated as he leaned back on one leg and crossed his arms, "What models are you interested in?"
"I need something that offers mobility. I was think of something more along the lines of a vest that would cover the torso but allow maximum maneuverability of the arms and legs. As for a weapon, I'd favor an Assault Rifle and Pistol combo but the armor comes first and if I can't afford an Assault Rifle afterward than I will just purchase a Pistol," Tyler explained. The Turian looked at him thoughtfully.
"Mobility. But you still want adequate protection," the Turian thought for a moment longer before nodding his head, "Yeah, I think I got something that fits that. One second."
The Turian stepped back and began to dig through some of the crates behind the counter. After spending a few minutes doing it, he pulled out what looked to be the Aegis Vest from ME2, complete with a collar and the upturned plate at the front that reminded Tyler of Dead Space 2 armor.
"Here we are. This should fit perfectly to your needs," he stated as he laid it out upon the counter. Tyler nodded appreciatively,
"Mind if I try it on?" he asked seriously. The Turian shrugged but didn't respond. Grabbing the vest, Tyler carefully slid his arms into it and let it slide down, his head fitting perfectly in the collar. Adjusting some straps on the armor made it fit a bit more snugly.
"I like it. How much?" Tyler asked as he fished out the credit chit. Still have to buy an Omni-Tool he reminded himself. Though he would like nice armor and weapons, he couldn't have everything and still expect to have some extra credits for food and the like. If it was the year 2181 than Shepard wouldn't be around for two years. Tyler already had an extremely weak plan formulating but he needed weapons and armor if he was to make it work. He needed to look intimidating.
He needed to join the Blue Suns.
"3,000 credits," the Turian answered as he nodded at how it looked on Tyler. The human teen set the chit down on the counter, allowing it to be scanned by the Turian.
"How much for a pistol?"
"Depends on the model and attachments."
Tyler was stumped. How the hell would he remember the model names of the pistols? All he knew about them was that they folded/unfolded real pretty like and put clean holes through the people trying to kill you. Goddamn it. Well, here's one for winging it.
"I think my friend said to get the model that started with an H..."
The Turian closed his hand and set it under his... chin, or whatever they called the area underneath their jaws. After thinking for a moment, he seemed to smile and shake one sharp, pointed talon at Tyler. Turning once more, he dug into the crates again. Tyler let out a small sigh, Thank god. I wouldn't wanna look like an idiot in front of this guy. After awhile of digging, the Turian came back to the counter with what looked like the starter pistol from ME2. It was differently colored, however, so it had to be one of the pistols from ME1.
"This is a Harpy I," the Turian began, "it has a nice amount of kick, doesn't overheat quickly, and is pretty damned accurate. Another interesting aspect is that a magnet on the vest, under your left arm, will attract a magnet in the pistol and keep it secured in place." the Turian chuckled, "Just remember to keep that side away from your enemy when in close-combat."
Tyler smiled at the way he described the pistol. It seemed like a fine piece of work for shooters, just like the Mona Lisa was for artists. Even though Mona Lisa was an ugly son of a bitch.
"How much?" Tyler asked, trying to hold back at a chuckle about his wandering thoughts.
"6,500 credits. This is a nice pistol and I can't just be tossing them around," the Turian explained. Tyler waved at his credit chit, which still sat on the counter-top. The Turian smiled and, after setting the pistol on the counter, took the chit and swiped it once more. As Tyler picked up the pistol and holstered it under his left arm, much like Shepard did in the game, he watched in dismay as the holographic number on the chit quickly dwindled. The new number, "186500", shined brightly upon it. With how much this costs, I should be able to get a rifle, a pack of food and supplies, an Omni-Tool and still have enough to try to bribe a freight captain to take me to Omega. From there, it's just a matter of either them coming to me or me finding them. Either way, this should be interesting enough.
As the credit chit was set back down on the counter, Tyler set his palm against the blue top and leaned forward. He knew the rifle he wanted, as he had stared at it before on the Mass Effect wiki site. It looked nice and was apparently semi-auto, which would be nice to have. And if the Illusive Man's message that they posted on the site hadn't been utter bullshit, it should have been in circulation now.
"You don't happen to have a Mattock rifle in stock, do ya?" Tyler asked. The Turian seemed a bit surprised at the question and huffed.
"I sell guns kid. Even guns that no one's ever heard of, I got. One second." he said before he went back to digging through crates. Soon, he came back with the glorious rifle. To Tyler it looked greatly like a mix between the Battle Rifle and Assault Rifle from the Halo series. The black stock seemed to be hidden by the overall steel color of the body of the weapon.
The Turian gently set it down upon the counter, "This will cost ya 8,000 credits Mister Rich."
Tyler smiled widely as he waved for the Turian to swipe the chit. Grabbing the rifle, he tested the weight in his hands. It seemed to be a balanced weapon. The lacking of an obvious place for a thermal clip told him that it relied on a internal heat sink and will overheat. Oh well.
After the Turian swiped the chit and set it back on the counter, Tyler carefully attached the rifle to magnets on the back of the vest so that it was slightly cock-eyed to make it easier to grasp. The teen felt the rifle fold upon itself, bringing yet another smile to Tyler's face.
"Feels good?" the Turian asked with a chuckle.
"Hell yeah," Tyler replied enthusiastically. "If I need anything else that deals death or protects me from it, you'll be the first I call."
The Turian nodded, "I'll be glad to supply you in the future Human. Good luck on your endeavors."
Tyler nodded back before he turned and left the store, after buying a pack. The pack had hard sides, unlock the pack of the 21st century, and would not fold upon itself or be crushed. The new rifle was able to be connected to the side of the pack while the pack itself was magnetized against the back of the vest. Now he had to make his way to a store that sold Omni-Tools. If he remembered correctly, on this level was the game salesman, Rodam, and the bar. Tyler smirked as he remembered the Turian barkeeper who makes the drinking into a game. He thought of going to him and asking him if he knew what was happening around here, just to mess with him. The fact that he had an objective in mind and a deadly rifle on his back deterred him from doing that, however, as he kept in mind that this was serious. The fact that after all he had done, he had not seen a random, giant worm appearing from nowhere or had a random scene change told him that this was definitely not a dream. God I have weird dreams he thought to himself, sliding a hand down his face.
Walking back down the stairwell, Tyler began to cross the common area to the Cafe place. In ME2, there was customer arguing with the clerk over the spices and food to use for a date. It was actually pretty funny to listen to. This time, however, there was only one other customer in the room (a Salarian), and he seemed to be browsing the catalog.
Approaching the counter, and the Turian behind it, Tyler noticed how the Turian's eyes seemed to carefully examine what the human wore, especially the weapons. When Tyler reached the counter, however, he looked straight at the human's eyes.
"How can I help you Human?"
"Well," Tyler began as he crossed his arms casually, "I need rations and water. I understand that you view this store as the best around. However, where I'm going, having elaborate ingredients to make complicated food would be useless. I need simple foods that can be cooked on the run and packets of water that could be easily stored."
"I would not normally sell such primitive products to a fine citizen of the Citadel, but you do make a good point Human. Judging by your-er... appearance, I presume that you most certainty will be on the move a lot. I think I got just what your looking for. Where will you store these rations?"
Tyler removed the pack, slowly transferring the rifle from the side of the pack to his back, and set the empty pack upon the counter after opening it. "Three-quarters of this I would like to be filled with the rations," he explained clearly. The Turian nodded before he went and procured said rations. There seemed to be three boxes of what Tyler guessed was food and five plastic bladders of water that the Turian neatly placed into the pack.
"That will be 400 credits, Human."
Fishing out the chit, Tyler set it on the counter. After the Turian swiped it and set it back upon the counter, Tyler returned the chit to the cargo pocket. After returning the pack to his back, transferring the rifle to the side of the pack once more, the human teen muttered a quick "Thanks" before retreating from the store. Being human in a place where most of the clerks were non-human bode well for him as he could purchase items that he normally would not be able to. What also helped him was the fact that he looked aged in itself as he had what his friends and parents called "that look" about him.
After making his down another level, the young teen began to scan this common area for the place he was looking for. To his right was some sort of human cafe and a transit area. So, probably isn't that way. Making up his mind, he turned to the left and strode down the path cautiously, always keeping an eye on the people around him.
Stopping in front of a small doorway with a large window next to it, Tyler glanced up at the name of the storefront. Saronis Applications. This is the place. Entering the store, he was greeted by an enthusiastic Salarian clerk,
"Hello, how may I help you today?"
"Is this where I can purchase an Omni-Tool?" Tyler asked seriously as he stopped in front of the counter. The Salarian nodded quickly before responding in the hyper voice that seemed to be natural of his species,
"Why yes, would you like to purchase one?"
"Yes, I would. What model do you recommend?"
"Are you biotic or having to deal with any engineering?"
"No."
"Than I suggest the model. Has everything that the Mk.I has but also includes some special hardware to help someone so," the Salarian gave a quick glance over of the pistol, armor, and rifle before continuing, "prepared as yourself. It come with an upgraded communications module and heat sink, as well as increased speed in it's functioning."
"How much?"
"40,000 Credits."
Holy shit... Tyler fished out his credit shit and examined the number glowing upon it while hiding it from the Salarian's eyes. "178,040" was brightly set in it's orange coloring against the gray back-set of the chit. Goddamn it...
"I'll take it," Tyler stated as he tossed the chit on the counter, "One question. How do I install it?" he asked with a sheepish smile.
After having the device installed, which was less painful than he thought as it was a handy-dandy projector upon his wrist, and having a crash-course in how to operate it and it's "special functions" Tyler crossed the common area to enter the Sirta Foundation storefront.
I think I'm going to try the catalog, how hard could it be?
Approaching the catalog, Tyler looked on the screen and saw the sheer amount of items that the storefront sold. Well, shit he thought to himself, this is a lot more than in the game. The scroll bar seemed to be just an inch in length and the text was a roughly small size. Luckily, Tyler spotted a search bar at the top of the screen with a blinking cursor already in it.
Using the keyboard on the device, Tyler tapped in the word "Medi-Gel" and hit the enter key. The long list cleared out and was displayed with a profile page, of sorts. It displayed the item's name, function, description, cost, and history, in that order. It than contained a button that simply said "Purchase". Seeing no obvious mouse on the device, Tyler jabbed it with his finger, having the faint idea of how stupid he'd look if it didn't work.
To his surprise, the screen darkened as a message became the forefront of the screen.
"Please insert quantity"
A text box than appeared with a button next to it and two underneath it. The two underneath it said "Cancel" and "Continue" while the one next to the box displayed the word "Max". Tyler stabbed the "Max" button with his finger and the message suddenly changed to a different one.
"Linking with Omni-Tool...
Link complete...
Information transfer complete.
Please scan Credit Chit now."
Tyler looked at the machine and, sure enough, there was a glass window looking thing that housed a little scanner. Fishing out his chit, Tyler allowed it to be scanned and watched as 600 credits dwindled away. Once it was done, Tyler stashed the chit back into his cargo pocket as a new message appeared on screen.
"Please see the clerk for assistance in the placement of the purchased Medi-Gel."
The screen than switched back to the large list of the items. Tyler saw the clerk's terminal come to life, drawing her attention away from him and to it. Nodding her head, she held out her hand to Tyler.
"Omni-Tool please," she demanded in a kind tone. Tyler held out the arm that wore the device to her. The Asari woman stripped off the device and retreated to the back of the store. Returning later, she grasped Tyler's arm and slid it back upon his wrist. She than manipulated it until it showed the screen she wanted. The screen seemed to display the amount of Medi-Gel applications he could perform before he ran out of the nanites that made up Medi-Gel. Ten uses. That's a lot more than the game, actually.
"Fully filled, sir. Thank you for shopping here."
Tyler nodded but than looked thoughtfully at the catalog machine. If he remembered correctly, the Sirta Foundation was about caring for humans in the galaxy. I wonder...
"Ma'am," he began, turning to the clerk, "do you sell any hygiene products?"
"Yes, please use the catalog for any purchases," she replied with a forced smile.
Oh, goddamn it.
A/N: That's the end of Chapter Two. Don't got much to say but that Chapter Three will be out soon, if all goes well.
Next Installment:
Chapter Three
The Bargaining
