The Mass Effect series belongs to Bioware and EA.
Chapter One: My Name Is...
"Get those boxes in the back, we don't have all night," Joseph Darwin said to his crew, irritated with the complete lack of urgency in their movements. Not that they had any reason to aside from Joseph's apparent lack of patience. They weren't in hurry to be honest but Joseph just didn't feel right that night, moving into the warehouse and grabbing another box to put in the truck. Something just felt off to him and he just wanted to grab the things and get out of there.
Hefting the box into the truck, he leaned against a wall nearby, his crew hurrying in their pace to get the job done with. He wiped the sweat from his brow, perspiration soaking his close cut black hair as he looked at the clear night sky above. It was a hot night in the city, it being the middle of summer, the drought lasting for close to a month so far. It was supposed to rain the next day but from the look of the sky above the city that didn't seem likely.
Joseph pulled a cigarette and lighted up, hoping to get some form of relief in this heat, when one of the lookouts came running up to him, clearly freaking out over what he saw. He nearly tripped over a pipe as he skidded to a stop in front of Joseph, who threw the cigarette aside as he moved towards the frightened lookout.
"Fuck! Jo! Pilares is here! They got Mike and Sal! There's a fuck ton of them!" the lookout said, breathing hard as he looked at Joseph wide-eyed.
"Just what I need, fucking Pilares," Joseph thought, telling his crew to close up the truck and to get it moving before they got there. He wasn't sure how they knew about this shipment but he was damned if he was going to let the damn Pils make off with any of it. Once they got it out of there, they could figure out what to do about Mike and Sam.
"First though," Joseph thought quickly as he ripped open a box and passed it contents around to his crew as they closed up the truck. He then whispered in his driver's ear, elicting a nod as he did as he was told.
Their move to get the truck out of the area was too slow, however, as nearly two dozen Pilares members rode in on motorcycles, surrounding them before they could make off with their haul. Looking around at the Pils as they raised their firearms at himself and his crew, Joseph cursed as he realized they were outnumbered almost three to one. Searching the many faces amongst them, Joseph found one he recognized and walked towards him, obviously none too pleased at the predicament he was in.
"Elliot, you fucker," Joseph spat at the man as he stood from his bike, a sneer on Elliot's face. "I didn't think I'd see you tonight. Any reason why you here?"
"You know why I'm here," Elliot said with that ever present smirk, clearly amused at having the upper hand. "Leave the truck and you and your little helpers can go without this getting ugly. I'd usually enjoy killing you Reds but I want to get out of here before the cops show up."
"Why the fuck would you call the cops?"
"A little insurance never hurt anybody. Now leave."
"How'd you even know we were here? Nobody knew."
"Let's just say a little bird told me. The little bird tells me a lot of things, Jo."
"Yeah? Mind telling me who this little bird is so I can rip his balls off?"
"No can do, Jo. I take care of my pets. Now, enough stalling. Get out of here before I get tired and kill all of you. If you need a little incentive, here you go."
Elliot tossed something towards Joseph, him catching it as it started to fall at his feet. Looking at it he recognized it as one of their armbands, the blood blending into the band as a darker red.
"The little girl wouldn't shut her mouth so I shut it for her," Elliot said with a sadistic air, obviously not bothered by what he had done. "The punk shut up pretty quickly after. We'll let him go too if you walk. Now."
Joseph gripped the armband in his fist, glaring at Elliot as he kept that incessant smirk on his face. He looked back down at his hand and slipped the band over his own, looking back up at Elliot with a scowl on his face.
"How about you try to take the truck while I rip your fucking throat out."
"Wrong answer, Red."
Elliot drew his pistol and fired at Joseph, a clean shot right through the face. Or at least it would have been, had Joseph's shields not stopped the shot in its tracks. Shocked at his shot never reaching its target, Elliot didn't move as Joseph drew his own pistol and fired at him, hitting him in the chest. Elliot fell backward with a yell, falling back onto his motorcycle and knocking it down. Covering his wound with his hand, Elliot grit his teeth as he gave out the order.
"Kill them all, god damn it!"
Joseph had already fallen back with his crew, who were opening fire on the Pils and vice versa. But while the Pils had double the numbers of the Reds, the Reds' shields gave them a significant advantage over their rivals. This was evident as the Pils started to drop while the Reds stood their ground, obviously enjoying their new found protection.
While the shootout went on one of Joseph's crew got up from the driver's seat and started the truck, flooring it as he attempted to drive it away in the commotion. However, a few of the Pils focused their fire on the driver as he attempted his get away. Not having shields like his fellows, he was quickly taken out before he got too far, swinging the steering wheel wildly as he fell to the side. In his swinging the truck had turned towards another warehouse and crashed into it, whistling and smoke coming from the broken engine.
"Fuck!" Joseph said as he turned from the crash and ran into the warehouse alongside his crew. Their shields had been life-savers but they didn't last forever, Joseph already having lost two more of his crew after their shields gave out. They took cover among the crates in the warehouse, waiting for the Pils to come in after them.
The lookout Chuck took the other side of the crate Joseph had taken cover behind, fidgeting nervously as he spoke to his leader.
"What the hell do we do now? There's no back way out of here," Chuck said, hold his pistol with both hands as he peeked around the corner.
"We kill some Pils," Joseph said quietly, listening to where the Pils were walking. "They can't take us all out."
"My shields are all gone! What am I supposed to do?"
"Don't get shot. Now be quiet or they'll know where we are."
The Pils had already begun filing in, swinging their guns around as they looked for Reds to shoot. Though a good number of the Pils had been taken out, Joseph and his crew were still outnumbered and now that most of their shields were running out of power, they couldn't fight in the open. The Pils began to mock the hiding Reds, hoping to flush them out.
"Where you at, Reds? Come out! You guys still chickenshit even with those fancy shields?"
"You bitches got nothing! Keep hiding if you want, we'll find you! There's no way out!"
Joseph eyed what was left his crew, who nodded as they positioned themselves as best they could behind the crates in the warehouse. The Pils were drawing ever nearer and Joseph signaled for them to hold until he gave the signal. This had to happen at exactly the right moment if they wanted to get out of this alive. They just needed that moment to present itself.
As Joseph tried to figure out what exactly could be done to distract them long enough to even the field, a crate crashed to the ground on the opposite side of the room drawing the attention and fire of the Pilares members. A high pitched scream could be heard as whoever had knocked the crate over ran for their lives from the gunfire.
This was just the distraction Joseph was looking for.
"Fire!" Joseph yelled as he swung out of his hiding spot, he and his crew taking the chance of the Pils having their back turned to take out as many of them as they could. The Pils threw themselves behind whatever they could find to escape the barrage of shots, though some were too slow and collapsed from their wounds.
They had evened the numbers a little with that lucky distraction but the Pils now knew where they were and began firing back, using the crates and boxes as cover just the same as the Reds. Two more of Joseph's men were taken out in the crossfire, leaving precious few Reds left in this fight. Looking at his cover and surroundings, several crates and boxes stacked on metal shelves row after row, Joseph got an idea.
"Rory, get over here!" Joseph yelled towards the Red a few rows down on his right, waving her over as he began shooting over wildly from the side of his cover. She ran across the gunfire as they gave he cover, moving to his left as she tried to catch her breath.
"What? What are we doing?" She asked, realizing her gun was now in cool down and would be useless for the next several seconds.
"Help me and Chuck push this over," Joseph said, grabbing hold of the metal shelves they were using for cover. Understanding what he meant to do, she grabbed hold of the structure and began to push as well. Chuck, at first confused at hearing his name, saw what the other two were doing and began to push. Straining against the weight of the crates and boxes, they gave another forceful shove, the shelves teetering as they lifted off the ground before falling back in place. Give one more combined shove as hard as they could, the three sent the structure teetering once more. The metal shelving seemed to hang in place for a second before falling over, crashing into the next shelving, then the next shelving, then the next until the Pils using the shelves as cover yelled out as they were crushed under the weight of crates.
Realizing that most of their brothers were now crushed under several pounds of weight and they were now outnumbered, the remaining Pils did the smart thing and ran out of the warehouse before they were taken out too. Taking a breath out of relief, Joseph sat on a box as what remained of his crew yelled after the runners.
"Yeah, you better run! You don't fuck with the Reds!"
"Come back, you shits! Where's your tough talk now?"
Chuck walked up to Joseph, shaking even as he was relieved at being alive. He had moved towards the warehouse doors and taken a peek outside, seeing what the Pils were doing.
"The Pils ran off," Chuck said with a relieved look before a scowl reached his face, realizing who he hadn't seen amongst the dead outside. "Elliot went with them. Asshole just doesn't die, does he?"
"Didn't figure he'd go down so easy," Joseph as he stood up, counting off who was left. There were five of them left, including himself. He knew had had gone down and taking into account who was here, he was left with a question.
"Who the hell was that who dropped the crate?" he asked, looking around at his crew.
"Who knows?" David, one of his crew, said as he nursed a shot he'd taken to the arm. "Maybe Mike got away from those Pil fuckers."
"I don't think Mike would yell like that," Ev said, rolling his eyes as he looked over the bruise on his side from falling over a box as he had rushed into the warehouse.
"Maybe Mike screams like a girl, how'd you know? Or maybe Sal ain't as dead as Elliot said."
"Let's find out," Joseph said as he cupped his hands around his mouth. "Mike! Sal! You guys here? Whoever dropped the crate, come on out!"
They waited a bit in silence, no one coming out to answer the call. Shaking his head, Joseph turned back to his crew to speak.
"Whoever they were, they're either dead or out of here. We need to get moving, the cops'll be here soon. We need to get the stuff and get out."
"What about Mike?" Rory asked, wondering about the lookout who got caught.
"If they hadn't killed him before they have now. Nothing we can do."
"The trucks totaled, how are we going to move the boxes?" Ev asked.
"We need to-" Joseph started but was cut off as an explosion went off outside, shaking the building around them.
"What the fuck was that!" David yelled, turning towards the direction of the explosion. Chuck ran to the door and looked out, running back after seeing what happened.
"The fucking truck blew up!" Chuck yelled at them, unbelieving of what he saw.
"How the hell did the truck blow up! What the hell else was in those boxes?" David questioned incredulously.
"Nothing that'd blow up like that! Maybe those Pils fucking bombed it!"
"Why the hell would they blow it? They wanted it too!" Ev said, clearly confused on why a truck would just explode.
"How the hell should I know!" Chuck answered, frustrated with everyone asking him for answers he didn't have. "It's just blown up! There's a fire and it's spreading. We need to...Jo?"
While they were yelling at each other over their lost haul, Joseph had been focused instead on moving towards the direction of the explosion. While the others didn't seem to have noticed, Joseph had heard the same yell from before come from the same direction and, as far as he could tell, it was a kid. Moving closer and turning a corner, he saw a young boy looking towards him before he ran off closer into a corner of the warehouse.
"Jo, what are you looking at?" Rory said hastily, running up to him after he'd walked off.
"There's a kid here. He's the one who dropped the crate," Joseph answered, moving to where the kid had run off to.
"Man, fuck the kid! We need to get out of here before this place burns down and the cops show up! Look, it's already spread here!" Chuck said in panic, pointing to the side of the warehouse where the fire had spread to. While it was mostly metal, the walls of the warehouse had wooden components that were catching on fire quickly in the dry heat of the summer. It wouldn't be long before the fire weakened the structure enough to cause the warehouse to collapse on top of them if they stayed too long.
"You guys go! I'm gonna get this kid!" Joseph said as he went after the kid, what remained of his crew standing around uncomfortably before deciding to get out of the warehouse. They quickly went around to all their dead crew and took their armbands, leaving afterwards.
"Kid, get out here! This place is burning down," Joseph said, looking around each corner for the boy. As he looked around each corner, he finally found a little nook where the kid was sitting, arms around his legs. Looking around the area the kid was in, it was obvious someone had taken residence there. There were several ragged blankets on the ground as bedding, an old pillow forming the head of the "bed". There was a lot trash around the area, mostly candy bar and pastry wrappers. A few empty bottles of water and soda were strewn around as well. Whoever had lived here had been there for some time.
"Kid, you need to come with me, someplace safe," Joseph said, looking at the frightened child before him. The boy seemed around six or seven from what he could tell, much too skinny for his age. He had rather dark brown hair that reached his neck, the boy obviously not having a haircut in a long time, and tired brown eyes that looked down at the ground. He was wearing a dirty shirt and jeans covered in holes and stains.
Joseph recognized a kid of the streets when he saw one; a kid that didn't have a home to come back to. He'd been one himself before finding a home, the most recent one being the Reds. Joseph held out his hand to the boy, hoping the kid would take his offer.
"Come on. We need to go."
Joseph continued to hold his hand out, the boy still staring at the ground. After a few quiet moments, the fire crackling as it spread from wooden panel to wooden panel, the boy finally looked up and stared at Joseph. Joseph knew those eyes as well.
The boy took his hand and Joseph pulled him along, getting him out the warehouse before it collapsed. Looking around, he could see that his crew had already left and thought of how to go about this when he could hear sirens in the distance. Realizing he didn't have much time, he grabbed one the Pilaris bikes and hopped on, sitting the boy in front of him as he started the engine.
"Hold on tight, kid. This'll be scary," Joseph as he hit the accelerator and drove out of the warehouse district. The boy closed his eyes as they drove along, obviously frightened at the speed they were going. Joseph kept his eyes forward as they reached the road, leaving the sirens behind them.
Joseph drove to where they had left their car but it was gone, his crew probably taking it when they left. Making sure the kid was okay he turned the bike around and began to drive to Nathan's hideout. It's where his crew would have gone to explain after losing the truck, not to mention the product.
He abandoned the motorcycle before getting too close, knowing better than to drive into Red territory with a Pilaris bike. Walking the few blocks to Nathan's, the boy walking alongside him, Joseph didn't really know what to say to the kid. He'd gotten the kid out of there but what should he do now? He couldn't leave the kid, especially after the kid's...home was surrounded by police and that's if the fire hadn't burned everything down. The kid stayed quiet, his eyes down at the ground as they walked along. Before he could think of what to say Joseph reached Nathan's hideout, the Red watching the place recognizing him and letting him move along, though eying the boy at his side.
The hideout was a decrepit old one story building, abandoned for a while by the looks of it. At least by normal residents. Nathan had commandeered the building at some point and used it to shuffle along product from place to place, using it mostly as a night place away from the peering eyes of the "law". It was where he was supposed to bring the truck after getting the boxes from the warehouse but that had gone out the window, obviously. Looking down at the kid, he wondered whether the kid would stay if he went in or not.
"I'm going in for to check in. You can wait here," Joseph said as he gestured at a bench on the side of the road. The kid only nodded before sitting on the bench, staring at his shoes. Watching the boy for a bit, Joseph moved towards the building and knocked on the door, being let in by the guards.
One of the guards escorting him deeper into the building, they eventually reached the room where Nathan was at, his crew already there. Nathan was six foot eight, taller than mostly everyone in the Reds. He had slicked back black hair and a dark complexion, a serious expression present on his face most of the time. He wore a sleeveless white shirt and black pants, the intricate tattoos on his arms and neck visible for all to see.
"Boss, Joseph arrived," the guard said before leaving him to Nathan.
"Jo..." Nathan said slowly, keeping his eyes on Joseph's people who were obviously a bit intimidated by the boss. "You mind explaining to me how you lost your haul and half your people?"
"Pilaris showed up," Joseph said, looking at Nathan even if he didn't at him. "Someone tipped them off. When we ran them off they must off bombed the truck or something because it just blew up. The haul was destroyed, nothing we could do."
Nathan was quiet, contemplating something before continuing.
"You lost everything? Every shield, every omni-tool?"
"Except for the shields I passed around, yeah."
Taking off the belt buckle-like contraption, he tossed it to Nathan who caught it with one hand, eyeing it top to bottom. The others took theirs off as well, handing them to Nathan.
"Five shields is all you got? Out of a shipment of two hundred kinetic barrier belts and three hundred omni-tools all we could get is five shields."
Joseph stayed quiet as Nathan put the belts down on the table, who was shaking his head in disbelief. Turning back towards Joseph, Nathan finally looked at him, anger in his eyes.
"You know Jo, I gave you this job because I thought you could handle it."
"I know."
"I figured you'd be able to get these things without any trouble."
"I know."
"Instead, all I got was this."
As Nathan said this, he held up the armbands of the Reds killed in the fight that night. Joseph's Reds.
"...I know."
Nathan now stood in front of Joseph, staring him down. Joseph didn't have more to say. He'd failed the job. There wasn't more to say.
After a few quiet moments, Nathan merely shook his head and walked back towards the table, placing the armbands on it.
"You disappoint me, Darwin. Get out of here. All of you."
With that, Joseph and his crew left the room. Before he left, however, Joseph added Sal's band to the pile, leaving without another word. When David tried to ask him something, Joseph merely shook his head and said it could wait till tomorrow. Now, they should all just head back home.
Leaving the building, Joseph saw that the boy was still waiting on the bench. Walking up to him, the boy looked up at him and blinked, waiting for him to say something.
"Come on kid, let's get something to eat."
Walking down the road, they got to a fast food restaurant and Joseph ordered them burgers and fries. They sat by the window, waiting for the order to come out in silence.
The boy, as Joseph correctly guessed, was ravenous quickly dug into the burger in front of him, eating rather sloppily. Joseph ate his own larger burger at a slower pace, looking out the window occasionally during their somewhat quiet meal. However, upon no longer hearing the boy's hurried devouring of his food, Joseph turned to look at the boy in front of him. He had stopped eating, still holding the burger in his hands but staring at it rather intensely. After some time, the boy spoke up in a quiet voice.
"...Why are you helping me?"
Joseph could have said a number of things. Because he reminded him of himself. Because he didn't want to let a starving kid out on the streets. Because he didn't have anything better to do. Because he burned down the kid's "house". Because it was the right thing to do.
He breathed out before giving his answer.
"Because I want to. Now eat."
He'd taken the kid back to his apartment in Red territory. It wasn't the fanciest of places but it served his needs well. Taking a blanket from the closet, he gave it to the boy who was sitting on the couch.
"You can sleep on the couch. We'll figure what to do with you tomorrow."
The boy only nodded before laying the couch, obviously tired. Looking at the time, Joseph realized it was rather late, which would explain the kid's exhaustion. The kid would probably be out within the minute now that he had somewhere to sleep.
Turning out the light in the living room, Joseph stood there for a minute before asking to the darkness, "Hey kid, you got a name?"
There was silence before a quiet voice answered.
"...Shepard."
"Shepard, huh? You got a first name?"
"...Steres."
"Steres Shepard. Well, get some sleep, Steres," Joseph said as he finally decided to let the kid get some sleep, hoping to get some shuteye himself.
Heading into his own bedroom and closing the door, he rubbed the back of his head before falling back into his bed, laying quietly in dark.
"What am I doing?" Joseph thought to himself, staring at the black ceiling while listening to cars out the window. "Am I planning on taking this kid in? What if he's got family? That set up looked like he was alone but you never know. Well, he probably would have mentioned he got family. Still, what am I going to do with kid?"
He laid there with his thoughts for a while longer before closing his eyes, turning to his side.
"Whatever. Tired. I'll figure it out in the morning."
Author's Note: Well, I've now written Chapter One of Mass Effect: To the Stars! Yeah!
Not much to say yet in these Author's Notes. I feel that it's pretty self explanatory. There will be more Shepard next chapter than there was in this chapter. This was just setting up some characters and groups that will play a role later in the story.
Anyway, thanks for reading. Reviews are always welcome and I hope you'll find this story entertaining as I move forward.
Also, I rerated it as M because of strong language. Go figure.