Shepard woke with heavier feeling weighing in his mind than anything else. The day aboard the Normandy, assessing resources and trying to align forces was anything but a relief this day. Everything seemed a vicious blur and soon Shepard felt the weight of everything the lives depending on him, the planets and the whole galaxy was sitting on its hands watching everything he did.
Staring at the galaxy map did little to ease my worries, red pinpricks only reminding what he had failed to protect in the times of dire need. Specialist Traynor could only look on at the forlorn, faraway look in Shepard's eyes as she tried to keep her focus on her duties and nearly jumped out of her skin when the body EDI had taken over touched her shoulder.
"Is Shepard in need of assistance? Conversation or interaction otherwise?" Traynor nodded slowly but didn't say anything as the synthetic approached Shepard as they spoke for a brief moment before they headed to the elevator, seemingly to want to take the conversation elsewhere somewhere more private. Shepard had seemed more concerned today and withdrawn than any other day she could recall. Maybe conversation would help?
"What is on your mind, Commander Shepard?" EDI sat at one of the chairs in Shepard's cabin as the tired, looking man dropped heavily into a chair.
"I don't know if I can take this, EDI. All this pressure and everyone watching my every move is breaking me down. I can feel it. Feel myself losing my damn mind over all of this. Hell, I've even felt different ever since Garrus turned me down…" EDI seemed a bit surprised at the last bit of the confession but offered a gentle touch to Shepard's shoulder and it seemed to relax him even if just in the slightest.
Leon seemed as though he would fall through his own skin and in a flash had pulled EDI into an embrace just to feel something moderately human in his being.
"I don't understand all these things happening to me so suddenly. Nothing feels right anymore, nothing feels…human." Letting of the female AI was harder than Shepard would admit, having something against him even if it was a cold, mechanical body was something more than the empty feelings he'd been kept trapped on him like a mark refusing to leave his skin.
"What did they do to me EDI? What did Cerberus to do me? What did Harbinger do to me? What has this war done to me? I just don't understand!" Standing suddenly, a vicious high-pitched whine filled Leon's hearing before he realized he had struck at the wall and put a decent hole in it.
The pain in his chest was only dulled by the pain in his hand, it bled little but EDI was the only one to notice the slight sheen of something metallic in the blood that welled from the injured fist.
"You are heavily troubled by your responsibilities, Shepard. I recommend you get some rest and find a way to relieve the turmoil inside of your mind. A stress-reliever or hobby as some would call it. First, let me tend to your wound before an infection sets in." EDI took Shepard's hand gently than he thought she could considering she didn't have a sense of touch or nerves like organics did.
"I have watched many vids and had many observations of natural human behaviors. Interactions with Jeff have increased my knowledge of proper reactions." She answered the question puzzling in the Commander's mind before he could ask it and Shepard decided not to push it as his shoulders sagged in the way only a defeated man's could. EDI was puzzled by Shepard's varying emotions at the moment but could comprehend from the behavior she could observe from crewmates and from Jeff but this intimate look into Shepard's mindset was a bit…disturbing.
Wars seemed to not only consume resources, lives and planets but also the very sanity of those trying to stem the tide. It seemed as if Shepard was fighting against a tsunami with nothing but a sword and the promise of a ship coming to save him with even that being a gaping uncertainty. EDI could understand on a note how the galaxy was hoping Shepard would save them like he had done twice before but this time it may not be as easy or even possible.
How many times could a person save before they needed their own salvation? EDI stayed with Shepard as she attempted to restore some pleasantries as she ushered them to speak of more pleasant things and it seemed to work as Shepard's mood improved considerably on something else to focus on.
Hours passed before Shepard finally passed out from something akin to exhaustion and EDI helped the Commander onto his bed as his eyes slid closed as soon as his body made contact with the firm mattress. Taking a moment, EDI watched Shepard as he slept, noticing even in the sliver of sweat that peppered across his skin there was a metallic sheen.
Even the faintest of the scars gleamed in the slightest from the nanomachines working frantically under the surface of Shepard's skin and throughout his body. Was it restoring his humanity or replacing it with something stronger? EDI needed time to process these new developments and left quietly only able to see Shepard's shadow against the bed from the doorway. She was concerned and these new developments only gave her more reason to be so.
~~~~~~~~~~~[Slight Smut]~~~~~~~~
Shepard attempted to rest easy but the image of the singular optic glowing brightly only stirred his body from sleep into a ravenous arousal. The pain was obvious in Shepard's motions and movements were only as painful as it was sudden. The older was bucking and squirming feverishly before he had time to mourn the encroaching loss of his sanity. Eyes shut tightly against the dark surroundings.
He felt his mind fading as cold steel slid across his burning flesh. Moans only made his flesh dance under the touch, no matter how brief or sudden even if it was his imagination. His mind even conjured the soft, mechanical whirring sounds he came to enjoy so much, he could already see the cool metal digits drawing over his skin raising pinpricks of pleasure as it went. Could feel the hair thin fibers and cables that made the shape of the three-fingered hand bumping over his stomach and ghosting across his thighs.
Shepard arched harder against his bed, moaning loudly at the touches and felt his stomach tighten he could almost see the burning, blue light shining on him knowing that Legion was watching…Memorizing his body and thinking of it…A cool touch grazed the tip of his cock as he gasped, jerking his hips and arched as a secondary touch appeared lower on his thigh, close to the junction. Hissing at the cold touch of metal wrapping around his cock, he still couldn't stop his hips from rolling into the tight grip wanting more of it to cool the fire tingling from his thighs and gathering in his groin.
The grip suddenly tightened and moved faster, jerking and squeezing as Shepard stiffened before crying out as he pumped his hips harder crying out hoarsely when a curious pressure on his softer skin pressed harder pushing inside of him.
~~~~[End of Slight Smut]~~~~~~~
"Oh god! LEGION!" Shepard screamed as he arched hard at the rush of pressure, pleasure and pain burning across his skin, it was met against a stark cold barrier in front of him. Shepard's eyes snapped open as he met a bright, burning light bathing over him before his lustful scream whirled down into a quiet whimper as his body relaxed before limping into unconsciousness.
Unaware of the mechanical body above him withdrawing his hands and curiously looking at the thick, white liquid on one of its hands before looking back at Shepard's sleeping body. Legion's face plates moved in its contemplation and rapid discussions among the many platforms combined in the mobile unit before the geth moved off of the bed and drew its other hand along Shepard's body, gauging the reaction as light sparks followed the path of its hand.
Pulling back the geth's singular optic widened and shrank considerably before the geth turned and left the room. Still stuck in a various modes of consensus and confusion among the platforms that felt Shepard's newest developments were not just mentally but physical as well.
Leaving Shepard's room the geth went back to the AI core it was so familiar with only to find EDI waiting for him as her mobile platform sat on the berth in the room.
"We have concluded Shepard-Commander is lacking in inefficient human response but has grown in synthetic reaction and function." Legion spoke clearly over the slight static in its voice as EDI stood to face it, "Shepard's nano-machinery has taken on an advanced cycle of replacing human organs and tissue with synthetic ones. Breaking down what is making him human and turning him into a synthetic." Legion was silent for a moment, face plates shifting before he made almost a shrug, a human gesture.
"Shepard-Commander is no longer human?" Legion asked as EDI took a sharp nod, "No longer human enough to be considered human. Both organic and synthetic functions in his body have merged making it impossible to tell one from another. Exposure to Reapers may lead to Shepard becoming indoctrinated as the geth were with his mind now being vulnerable to a larger frequency." Legion glanced down briefly at the large hole in his chest plates and then at the N7 armor still embedded on his shoulder before it came to a decision.
"We have come to a consensus." EDI tilted her head and looked down as she pondered what could be done before Legion sent her plans. Her silence dragged on as her own calculations ran over the possibility of Legion's thoughts.
"Your plan is…unconventional but percentage of success is high. It may work." EDI spoke and then stepped toward the doors leading out of the AI Core as she stopped to look at Legion briefly.
"Take care of Shepard. His software will be vulnerable and it reliant upon yours." She stepped out before Legion could answer as the doors closed softly the geth took a long moment to examine the armor on its shoulder once more.
"We will not fail Shepard." And for a moment, the white optic flashed a bright red.