I am so sorry for the long time it took me to make this, I've been busy with school and stuff, just life in general. And the fact that this is the longest chapter I have to date. But now that we're back, the mind mushing has only just begun. Prepare for more suspenseful, somewhat funny, and WTF! moments.
Klaxon alarms began to sound throughout the area as I continued running. I must have been in the slums part of Ward-D, everything was broken and dirty. This image was what had kept me from recognizing the Citadel before, when I had first landed. But as I sprinted down the alleyways, everything began to become more familiar, beginning to look more like the clean ceilinged hallways I had seen in the Mass Effect game.
I whipping past the sounds of blaster and C-Sec weapons fire as the Ward's security began to confront the new beings the ring had brought here.
"Unknown hostile organic life forms have spread to 80% of Ward-D, elite Citadel Security Forces are being deployed in rapid response. All civilian residents, please head to your nearest emergency exits," came the feminine voice of a familiar V.I. all throughout the Ward. Skidding to a stop in the middle of one of the shinier corridors, I looked over to the wall left of me that held many advertisement screens along its length.
"Avina?" I called out, panting slightly. Suddenly all of the screens along the wall I was facing blacked out for a moment, before being replaced by the face of the violet Asari holo-projection.
"Whoa," I said in surprise at the dozens of identical faces staring at me.
"This unit is programed to respond to the name 'Avina', how may I assist you?" asked the V.I. in her polite, somewhat cheery tone. I looked down at my appearance for a second, apparently the V.I. didn't find what I had on my person as odd.
"Uhh...Citadel V.I., what is today's date?" I asked, trying to at least sound like I was from around there. Avina was quiet for a moment. Then I remembered I had to specify.
"Oh! In Earth Standard Time...please," I threw in hastily, the sounds of fighting still present in the background. Avina's eye's glowed for a moment, as if processing my request. Finally she spoke.
"The Earth Standard Date of the Systems Alliance is currently August 7, 2183 AD."
"That's the right year, but is it the right day?" I said to myself. Suddenly an idea hit me.
"Avina, has the colony of Eden Prime suffered any kind of damage lately? Or say..." I shrugged innocently for a moment, "...an attack."
It must have been my imagination, but I could have sworn I saw the V.I's few facial features tighten in suspicion after I said that.
"Communication with the human colony of Eden Prime has been temporarily disrupted for the last fourteen hours, due to unknown circumstances. Military information on colonial defense, however, is restricted to authorized personnel only."
I smiled slyly, that was all the information I needed.
Just then a pistol shot sounded out at the end of the hallway. I spun around in a flash, my right hand on the Luger, and my left holding the arrow skewered helmet above my head like a club. Down at the far end of the corridor were two figures fighting tooth and nail. One of them was another Klingon, holding a long serrated dagger above his head. The other was a large Turian of about the same height. I could tell he was C-Sec by the blue armour he wore and the Kessler pistol held in his right hand. At the moment however neither of the two could use their weapons to gain an advantage. Both were pressed nearly head to head, the Klingon grasping the Turian's wrist that held the pistol, while the Turian grasped the Klingon's that held the dagger.
"Thanks Avina, you're a lifesaver!" I said quickly, turning and sprinting in the opposite direction as two more Klingons and Turians came wrestling into view, smashing each other into the screens that lined the walls or striking their opponents madly with closed fists and wild kicks. That entire end of the corridor had turned into a brawler's pit.
Despite being in the middle of yet another war zone, I now had my bearings. It was the year the Mass Effect storyline began, and I knew already that Eden Prime had been hit at least fourteen hours ago, which meant that a knocked out Commander Shepard would be here very shortly. Whether this universe's Shepard was male or female didn't make any difference to me, I had to stay as far out of the game's timeline as possible to keep from getting involved.
I was already in way over my head as it was, and I only just got here!
After running down a few more meters I turned left, diving out of sight into another smaller alleyway that seemed to connect to a large corridor running parallel to the one I had just left. But what was standing at the end of this tight alley caused me to stop in my tracks.
Up ahead, with his back turned to me, was an Imperial Stormtrooper (as in THE Imperial Stormtroopers). The white and black armour he wore looked just as plastic-like as it had in the movies, but the weapon he held was by no means a toy prop. At the moment he was speaking in his radio filtered voice to something on the floor of the corridor, just out of my view.
"For the last time, where the hell are we?" demanded the Stormtrooper, pointing his blaster rifle at whoever he was threatening. I slowly crept forward, keeping close to the walls to remain hidden within the alley's dark shadows. All the while as I moved I tried to make as little noise as possible in the loud SS jackboots I was still wearing from my time in Normandy.
Just then the Stormtrooper's victim responded.
"P-Please...I'm telling you the truth! You're on the Citadel, in the Serpent Nebula!" came the frightened voice of a young blonde woman who was kneeling before the armoured man, her right hand holding on to her opposite arm as if she were hurt. In anger the trooper reached down and grabbed her by the collar of her blue form-fitting dress that I had seen most women wearing in Mass Effect 1. After dropping his rifle he used the back of his gloved and plated fist to backhand her across the face, causing her to fall back to the floor with a cry of pain.
"Don't screw with me bitch! There's no such place!" heshouted angrily, stooping down and picking up his weapon as the woman quietly cried on the floor in front of him.
The sight of that made my blood boil, this man was no soldier, he was a bully!
"No wonder the Rebels hated you guys," I uttered quietly as I reached down for my Luger, fully prepared to draw it and shoot this asshole through the side. But then my hand abruptly froze above the weapon as I remembered back to the bunker in Normandy. The shot from the G.I's weapon had nearly deafened me then in such an enclosed area; in this alleyway, which was an even smaller space then the bunker had been, firing my gun would not only disorient me but could also make me miss in the process, throwing away my one shot.
Luckily however I had another option, a bit more brutal, but quiet.
Silently I placed the helmet on the floor. Reaching across to my left side all while keeping my gaze on the trooper, my gloved right hand gripped the hilt of my katana. My exposed ring finger could feel the wrapped fabric on the hilt shift slightly as I slowly drew the blade, careful not to let it ring too loudly from the sheath. Raising it over my head in a striking pose, I inched forward the last few feet between him and me.
"Please, let me go!" the woman begged, slowly picking herself up from the floor, her hand pulling away from her arm to reveal a small tear in her sleeve which was partially covered by a small amount of blood coming from a bruised scratch. The Stormtrooper returned his full attention back to her, pressing a button on his weapon.
"I've had it with you," he spat coldly, pointing the weapon down to her head just like the G.I had done to me. She whimpered and tried crab-walking away from him, tears streaming down her face. By then I had just side-stepped into the corridor behind the trooper and was now stealthily moving within reach of his backside, the blade of my sword raised over me in a classic samurai style attack-pose.
But then the situation took an unexpected turn. Hoping to use the katana to knock his blaster out of his hand, I had taken a step to the left to be more on the trooper's side. Unfortunately it hadn't occurred to me that this now exposed me to an emotionally terrified victim whose life was being threatened at this very moment. Freezing with fear as the Stormtrooper took a final menacing step toward her, the woman used every last ounce of rational thought she had left to turn her head toward me, her glistening eyes widening as she took in my bizarre appearance and gleaming samurai sword raised high in the air.
The moment her gaze settled on me she let out a bloodcurdling scream, raising a hand to shield her face before turning away, no longer able to handle what was happening to her!
"Shit!" I cursed out loud, my body going rigid with surprise at her reaction. The Stormtrooper spun around, alerted to my presence, swinging his weapon wide in order to bring it up to his chest and fire. With all my strength, I swiped the katana down hard onto his blaster rifle, slicing the weapon in half. Within the same second I swung the bottom of the sword's hilt back up in a graceful arc and smashed it across the side of his head.
"UGH!" he shouted out as he staggered backwards, holding onto his head as he reeled from the blow, dropping the smoking remains of his weapon. Taking advantage of his disoriented state, I balled my left fist and smashed a punch straight into his helmeted face. The force of the blow caught him off balance, sending his feet up into the air and his back cracking into the floor, as if he had just been clotheslined.
That effectively shut him up, his body going limp sprayed out across the floor the moment he hit the ground.
After seeing that my blow had knocked him senseless I decided to let out the burning sensation in my fist that I had been suppressing with all my willpower.
"OOWW! I yelled out loudly as I shook my hand back and forth to relieve the pain. Even the cushioning from my gloves hadn't been able to soften the startling hardness of his armour.
"That is definitely not plastic!" I said through clenched teeth, looking down at the trooper as I sheathed the katana and messaged my wrist.
Behind me the woman slowly continued to crawl backwards, her mouth slightly dropped as she stared at me. Turning around to see if I could help her, she recoiled in fear once again at the sight of my front.
"Who are you?" she asked timidly, still moving backwards slowly. Raising my hands out in front of me like I had done with the G.I., I slowly stepped towards her.
"My name is Axel, I'm not going to hurt you," I said in a reassuring voice, trying my best to get this bruised woman to calm down. Looking at my raised hands, her gaze soon focused on my exposed ring finger. Her brow frowned slightly in confusion at the sight of me wearing a glove with a missing finger on it. I laughed slightly, giving a smile to help alleviate her fears.
"Believe me, its a long story."
However instead of relaxing, she seemed to grow more tense.
"I'll bet, you're one of them aren't you?" she said quickly, her eyes flicking over to the Imperial lying in front of her. This caused me to stop in mid-step; she had been able to figure me out pretty quickly. There was no real point in lying to her if she could already guess what I was.
"Yes...I'm not from around here, but trust me I'm not like these other creatures," I said, inclining my head down to the unconscious Stormtrooper beside me. This made the woman stop moving away from me, a new look of relief mixed with suspicion crossed her face.
Suddenly more echoes of blaster fire and fighting could be heard farther down the corridor ahead of me, erupting with a chorus of yells and shouts.
Walking directly over to her, I offered my hand.
"We can't stay here, if you come with me I can protect you until we get out of this Ward, after that you can go where ever you like." She hesitated, looking up at my hand for a moment before finally accepting it. Easily I pulled her up to her feet before heading back into the small alleyway to retrieve my helmet. Once I re-entered the corridor she gave me a lifted eyebrow after seeing the three arrows sticking through the top.
"Another long story?" she asked with a small smile of her own. I laughed a little.
"You could say that." Suddenly the sound of heavy running feet could be heard. Before I could do anything, ten C-Sec agents in full blue battle armour stormed around the corner. Four of them were Turians, one was an Asari, with the other five being humans. All of them had combat helmets on and held assault rifles at the ready.
"Hold it right there!" shouted the leader of the group, who surprisingly was an older human. The fact that he was human instead of Turian wasn't what surprised me, it was the voice that I was able to recognize.
"Captain Bailey?" I blurted out in surprise, remembering the C-Sec officer's voice from Mass Effect 2. The other members of the squad looked at Bailey in confusion, while he stared hard at me, his rifle unwavering.
'Shit.'
"Sandra, get away from that man," ordered Bailey to the woman I had saved. She looked between me and him for a moment, trying to decide, before slowly moving away from me. She continued until she was behind the wall of agents. All of them kept their weapons trained on me now.
"I'm a lieutenant sir, and you've just landed yourself in a hell of trouble," the old officer growled at me, inching closer.
Suddenly Sandra broke out from behind the other agents, pushing herself right next to Bailey. "Armando! This man saved my life from that thing over there," she said defiantly, pointing over to the still passed out Stormtrooper laying on the ground next to me. (Man, that was one hell of a punch I'd thrown)
Bailey glanced at her for a moment. "This entire Ward is in lockdown to stop those things from escaping, and he's one of them." Sandra placed a hand on the top of Bailey's rifle. "But he isn't like the others, maybe he can help," she insisted.
While the two continued to debate wether to shoot me or arrest me, I still just stood there, watching the rest of the agents keep there weapons leveled at me. The fighting I had heard earlier was even louder by where I was, the agents seemingly too far away to hear. Turning slightly to my right, I was able to crane my neck to see over my shoulder down the corridor. At first there was nothing, but soon the source of the chaos became clear. Two C-Sec agents, a Turian and a human suddenly came into view, running at top speed down the corridor towards me. Both of them looked terrified, each having dark scortch marks on their armour. Behind them came a group of about eleven to twelve Stormtroopers.
Bailey and the rest noticed the new threat right away, pushing Sandra behind them again as they lined up. Two of the Stormtroopers opened fire, each blast catching one of the retreating agents in the back. As the agents fell dead to the floor, the troopers quickly made their own line, keeping their weapons pointed at Bailey's team on the other side of the alleyway.
"Oh shit!" I said, quickly looked back and forth, my hand firmly gripping the handle on the Luger. This was not good, I was standing right in the middle of a perfect cross fire, between two enemies hell bent on killing each other.
"C-Sec! Drop your weapons!" Shouted Bailey. The Stormtroopers only changed the settings on their blasters to full power.
"Drop your weapons!" Shouted the commander of the squad. The Stormtrooper next to me suddenly let out a groan, moving his hands towards his head.
"Son of a..."
Not wanting to bother with him right now, I delivered a sharp kick to his helmet with the heel of my boot, sending him back to sleep. Looking around the alley, I quickly tried to spot an exit, somewhere I could escape to and fast. "Thank God!" I said in relief once I saw it, a small doorway built into the wall between two flashing advertisement screens. Unfortunately that relief was to be short lived.
"Open fire!" I heard the Storm commander's voice shout. Both the Stormtroopers and Bailey's agents opened up, lacing the area with red and blue blasts. "WHOA!" I shouted, throwing the helmet forward as I dived for the floor just before the blasts could slice me in half. The Stormtroopers and Bailey's men were getting cut down by the second, forcing them to fan out and find cover.
I crawled towards the door on my front, grabbing the helmet again along the way as blasts continued to criss-cross over my head. I looked over to see Sandra kneeling behind Bailey, both of them pinned down behind a waste unit similar to the one I had landed on. The Asari in the group began to glow with a cloudy blue aura surrounding her body. Using her Biotics, she ripped one of the large screens from it's wall and hurled it at the Imperials. The screen shattered into a million pieces as it smashed into one of them, sending shards and sparks slicing into two more. Another Turian and one of the human agents were picked off, both from the Storm Commander as his men continued to give him cover.
"Axel!" I heard Sandra shout over the blasts. I had just reached my hand up to the flashing red console next to the door, at my touch it turned green and slid open. Turning my head back I saw her looking desperately at me, pointing in the direction of the Stormtroopers. Still keeping myself on my stomach, I looked back at the Imperials. There were still about six of them, including the Storm Commander, who was marked with an orange shoulder pad. But it wasn't them that she was pointing at, it was a line of piping that ran along the ceiling, which at the moment contained an odd glowing fluid.
Turning on to my side, I drew the Luger and pointed it down at the glowing line. Cocking back the hammer, I closed one eye and squeezed the trigger. The loud crack from the weapon seemed to make eveyone pause for a moment. The bullet pinged off of the piping, puncturing a nicely sized hole in the center, making the glowing fluid spray down all over the Commander and a few other troopers standing underneath it. The Stormtroopers seemed stunned for a moment as they looked at both the piping and each other.
Apparently this was the opportunity Bailey needed, as he bolted up from his position, aiming his rifle straight at the Commander. He shot off a single round that struck the Imperial in the chest, setting him and any nearby fluid ablaze with raging blue and green flame. The Commander and any other troopers covered in the stuff screamed and fell to the ground as the flame seeped through their armour.
Now this was my opportunity. Holstering the smoking Luger, I snatched up the samurai helmet and bolted forward through the open doorway. At the moment Bailey was distracted by the sight of the burning Stormtroopers, but as soon as he saw me move, he turned his rifle on me again. "Stop!" he shouted as I turned back. With one motion I snapped my left hand forward, slamming my palm into the green console next to me. It flicked red and the door began to slide shut in front of me, cutting in-between the two of us.
Bailey squeezed the trigger, but at that exact moment Sandra grabbed the rifle and shoved it upward, sending the shot into the ceiling. I smiled thankfully at her just before the door shut in front of me. Using the point of my elbow, I smashed the centre of the console, causing it to spark and stutter, permanently locking the door to keep Bailey from following.
"Now where am I?" I said as I turned around, looking around the new room I was in. It looked to be some kind of store room, lit up in certain sections by dark yellow lights hanging overhead. Large metal crates lined the walls, stacked one above the other. Each had a locking mechanism with a key pad and display screen.
"Let's see what we got," I said as I crossed over to one of the crates. Setting the helmet down next to it, I used my index finger and tapped the large button on the key pad. The screen went red with a short buzz. I frowned at this and went to grab the helmet again. However, the ring suddenly light up silver. Quickly I drew the katana, ready for what ever the ring was calling this time. But instead of monsters or movie characters, the light on the crate's screen turned green. The door on the front of it separated down the middle, pulling away to reveal its contents. The ring's light faded away again as I looked inside. Folded neatly on lit shelves were dark clothes in plasic bags, obviously meant for shipping to a store of some kind. Also inside were bundles of large brown sacks, probably meant for military gear.
"Finally I can get out of this," I said gladly as I sheathed and unstrapped the katana. I did the same to the Luger before removing the armour and SS uniform underneath it. Grabbing hold of a few bags, I tore them open to find a black T-shirt with matching cargo pants. I felt much better finally being able to take off the samurai armour, it had been heavier than I would have thought, especially when strapped over top of a full black uniform meant for European conditions. After getting dressed, I put the jackboots back on along with the gloves and samurai gauntlets. Then I searched through the SS tunic, finding Alexandre Henri's flintlock pistol still in its pocket, along with my ROOTS wallet. I re-strapped the Luger holster around my waist, sliding the flintlock in between the belt and my left side, while fastening the strap for the katana around my torso. With the sword secure on my back, I grabbed one of the sacks, putting the remaining armour pieces inside, including the helmet, before folding and placing the SS uniform in as well. After tightening the sack closed, I took my ROOTS wallet and placed it in my right pocket.
I felt like a chameleon, having changed from simple jeans and a jacket to a uniform and armour. Now I was in a T-shirt with cargo pants, jackboots, gloves with a missing finger on one, and samurai gauntlets.
"I was late for work...I was only late for work!" I said angrily as I stormed over to the far wall, leaving the sack behind until I found another exit. Suddenly a loud clang echoed throughout the room. With my left hand I drew the katana from behind me, and with my right I drew the Luger.
A chuckle sounded out, almost as if comming from the very walls. "You're not one to run from a fight," said a voice, a very familiar voice. Keeping the pistol and sword ready, I slowly krept back towards the sack, looking all around.
"Who are you?"
Another clang echoed out, this time closer. "Are you saying you don't recognise me?" said the voice amusingly. That made me stop, I did recognise that voice, but it couldn't be who I thought it was!
"I'm right here," it said, directly behind me. Freezing in place, I tightened my grip on the hilt.
In the blink of an eye I spun around, bringing the sword swiping through the air. The figure that was standing behind me didn't even move, the sword passing through him as if he weren't there. My eyes widened as I got a good look at who the voice belonged to.
It was me! An exact look alike stood in front of me, dressed in the SS uniform and armour I had just had on.
He chuckled again as he folded his arms and leaned back against the crates. Every detail about this duplicate was exact. The eyes, the hair, even the scratch and bullet marks along the armour and uniform he wore. "That was impressive," he said with an amused smile. I took a step back, dumbfounded. Raising the Luger, I pointed it at his head. But he simply laughed and shook it.
"I don't think you want to do that." I stood there, my heart hammering as I tried to wrap this around my head. Finally I lowered the pistol, but stayed at the ready in case this thing did something. "What are you?" I managed to blurt out, taking another step back. My clone stepped away from the crates, his face taking on a more serious look. "I'm..." he paused for a moment, looking slightly un-comfortable. "I am a guardian of the ring, I was sent as a guide to help you master your powers," he said, looking me dead in the eye. Now I was really dumbfounded, I was stuck in a different universe with powers I had no idea how to use, and was now talking to another version of myself.
"No!" I finally said angrily. This caught my double by surprise, making him frown in confusion. "This can't be real, I can't just fall down a hole and then start leaping through different dimensions, especially ones based off of video games!" I shouted at him, putting away my weapons before turning around to find another way out. But as I turned around, I nearly ran straight into another version of myself!
This one was dressed in my old clothes, the jeans, sneakers and leather jacket I had been wearing back in Calia's tomb. This one looked hard at me, trying to convey what the one behind me was saying. "This is real, you've been given a great gift," said the new clone, pointing to my right hand. Suddenly a clicking sound echoed nearby, like the sound of boot heels hitting the floor.
I turned away from my second duplicate to see a third version of me step out from the darkness. This one was dressed in just the SS uniform when I had first landed in Normandy. His had no bullet marks however, and still had the Nazi swastika around his left arm; he was also still wearing the black and silver officer's cap I had lost.
"If you don't learn to control the ring now, what is happening here will be nothing compared to what you will release later on," said the third one, stretching his hands out all around him. I noticed then that the glove on his right hand wasn't missing a finger. I just couldn't grasp this, I was talking to myself, literally!
"That's it!" I suddenly said after rubbing the bridge of my nose. The three looked at me expectantly. "I'm dreaming! I'm still down in that hole, I just have a concussion from that fall," I said, reaching behind me to feel the back of my head. But as my fingers went through my hair, they felt the swollen cut still there, and as soon as I touched it it felt just as painful as ever.
Just then I felt a heavy weight on my shoulder. Spinning around, I wasn't surprised to see a fourth version of myself, except this one was clothed in the same attire as me. (Damn it was getting crowded in there) With his four fingered gloved hand on my shoulder, the newest of the group spoke.
"We're here to help you Axel, that ring you have is one of the most powerful forces in the universe, you must learn to control it." I backed away from him, surrounded on all sides by the four clones. "Okay, either I'm crazy, or this was all a huge mistake," I said, looking at each of them.
"We know," the first clone laughed slightly.
"Ever since the ring was created, it was always passed down from the bearer to an apprentice, but..." began the second clone. I looked at him, growing more tense by the minute. "But what? Why didn't Calia pass on the ring before she died?"
The third clone took on a more solomn tone. "But as the centuries passed, the ring began to take on a mind of its own. Soon the apprentices were no longer worthy, each one used the ring for their own gains." I turned to him as he continued. "Eventually the ring itself began to choose new bearers."
The fourth clone came up behind me. "When Calia became a bearer, the ring felt content to stay with her forever." I turned around to him, a look of deep confusion on my face. "You are the second bearer since its creation to gain it through its original passage," he finished, inclining his head down to the ring.
I shook my head. This was overwhelming. "What do you mean its original passage?" I asked.
"When the ring was given to its first bearer, the creator placed an enchantment on it. It stated that if the ring was not passed down willingly from its bearer, the only way to get it would be for someone to find it, but not want it."
As the clone finished, I couldn't help but want to facepalm myself hard. If I hadn't followed Alexandre's finger, I never would have found that damn tomb. One of the most powerful beings in the universe, and I had found it, but not wanted it. I took a mental check of my options, and they all didn't look good. I might as well co-operate, if these guys could help me I might be able to find a way home.
I sighed in defeat. "Fine, why is all of this happening?" All four seemed to brighten up at that, right before the last three vanished in a swirl of gray smoke. The first clone that I had run in to, wearing the uniform and armour, laughed at my stunned expression as he came up and clapped me on the shoulder.
"It was all me!" he said through his chuckles, before clearing his throat and continuing. "The ring is confused, its been asleep in that tomb for over four hundred years. When you put it on, it was forced to wake up, having no idea who you were or what was to be expected of it," said the clone as I bent down and slung the sack of armour and clothes onto my back. I looked down at the ring, giving it a half hearted tug just in case it might come off this time.
"I tried getting it off when I first put it on, why won't it work?" I asked as we both walked over to a space of bare wall in the lines of crates. The clone stopped and gave a small shrug.
"The ring has now become grafted to your body, non of the previous bearers ever tried to take it off because they knew of this before hand," he said casually. I looked at him as if he were insane.
"WHAT! I never wanted this thing, if its scared of me I'll gladly take it off and put it back!" I shouted, grabbing him by the shoulders. Instead he instantly shrugged me off and grabbed me by the collar, no longer the casual joker he had been before.
"You are the Ring Bearer! That thing is now a part of you, like it or not. Its gifts are now your gifts, its troubles are your troubles!" He let me go gently, but continued to stare sternly at me. He was right, I had to stop trying to fight this and start working with it.
"I'm sorry," I said finally. Surprisingly he seemed to soften up after that, reverting to his old self. "No worries mate," he said with a smile, clapping me on the shoulder again. "I know how hard this must be, which is why I've been sent here, we're gonna go on this journey together," he said, smiling again.
Turning to the wall, he continued. "The first thing we''ve gotta do, however, is get out of this room," he said with a slight uncertainty, pointing to the wall in front of us. I placed the sack on the floor and looked at the wall, up and down for any cracks or openings. 'Why did he bring me over here?' I wondered to myself. My clone stepped up to the wall and gave it a knock with one of his gloved knuckles. He chuckled for a moment. "Yes, yes this will do nicely..." he said under his breath to himself.
I cocked an eyebrow as he turned back to me with his ear against the wall, waving me over. I stepped forward, becoming more confused as he suddenly smiled and let out an excited "AH HA!" with an energetic fist pump. (To this day I'm still not sure if he was alright in the head) "There is definately another corridor behind here, now we just need to get rid of this wall," he said, stepping back and motioning up and down the wall. I just stood there, still just as perplexed as before. "And how are we going to do that? I didn't exactly bring any C-4 with me," I said sarcastically, looking back at the wall. My clone laughed, pointing to my hand.
"You're the one with the ring, I'll let you do it." This caused me to spin around, looking first at him then at the ring in shock. 'What else was I capable of?' "I can't do that, I wouldn't be..." but I was cut off as my clone came up, grabbing me by the shoulders, and stood me square in front of the wall. "You blew a hole straight through both a G.I. and a ceiling back in Normandy, I think you can take care of a single wall," said the clone as he stepped away from me, watching me intently. "You want me to throw a lightning bolt at that wall?" I asked.
He suddenly had a knowing look in his eye, "you can do a lot more than throw lightning bolts." "Stretch forth your hand, and image removing that wall from our path," he instructed, folding his arms as he continued to gaze at me. He was really interested in what would be happening next.
Looking un-easily at my hand for a moment, I slowly raised it towards the door, my palm straight and my fingers extended. My eyes narrowed as I concentrated on the wall, the ring slowly beginning to glow. But before anything could happen, I broke my concentration. Something was nagging at the back of my mind. I looked over at my companion, who was now the one to look confused.
"If we're going to be travelling together, I think I need to know your name," I said, keeping my hand extended towards the wall.
My clone suddenly looked surprised. His eyes moved back and forth, as if searching his memory. But he didn't seem to find what he was looking for, his face scrunching up in even deeper confusion. "Uhhh...I..I..don't..." he stuttered, still searching his memory, his hand moving up to his forehead as if to relieve a headache. I frowned as he began muttering something under his breath. "You don't have a name?" I asked. He glared at me, looking somewhat embarassed. "Well, I...I did, once...but its been so long since I was last sent as a Ring Guardian. I've spent too long sleeping inside the ring that I've forgotten."
I let down my hand and thought of something I had heard before. "Alec," I suddenly said. My clone looked over at me. "I think I'll call you Alec," I said as I raised my hand to the wall again. The name had suddenly come to me as I was randomly remembering the character Alec Trevelyan from Golden Eye. "Alec...I like it," said the clone to himself as he mused on his new name.
'Its fitting, he was Bond's friend and travelling companion, at least for a while. But then again he did betray and try to kill Bond later. Dammit, I hope this clone doesn't...' BANGG! I was suddenly brought out of my thoughts by the sound of metal being torn away. I nearly staggered backwards as I gazed at the enormous jagged, smoking hole I had created in front of me. "Holy shit," we both said at the same time as he came up next to me. Grabbing my sack, we both stepped out into the corridor, over the jagged debris that littered the floor. The hallway was relatively clear and clean, aside from the damage I had just done, showing no signs of coming in contact with any of the creatures still running loose throughout the Ward.
Alec suddenly let out a cry of victory with a small jump into the air. "ALRIGHT! You're picking this up faster than Calia did!" said the mad clone with a laugh. I myself couldn't help but smile, maybe I could get the hang of this. Shouldering the sack with all my stuff in it, we both set off at a jog down the corridor, Alec keeping pace next to me.
After a few minutes we came to a large white door with a glowing red locking mechanism next to it. Without thinking, I simply pressed it and watched as the door folded away. What was on the other side made us both stop in our tracks. In front of use was a long white stairway that led down into a large orange lit alleyway, much like the alleyway I had to save Tali in during the game. Except this one was filled with a lot more then just thugs. Packed from nearly wall to wall, fighting with what ever they could get their hands on, were more Klingons! (How many of those guys were around here!)
There were probably a hundred or so of them, but it was who the Klingons were fighting that really made me say "what the fuck!".
A hundred Uruk Hai warriors (or Orcs for those of you who've never seen or read Lord of the Rings) bashed their broad shields or used their large fists against the toughened leather armour of the Klingons. The entire alley was a mass of large, long haired brutes smashing the shit out of each other.
A Klingon screamed out as an Uruk stabbed him through the chest. The black skinned Orc grabbed hold of the hilt and ripped out its dagger. After throwing the body to the ground, he glanced up at the two of us, who still just stood there dumbstruck at the whole scene. The massive creature narrowed its large yellow eyes and snarled, before drawing back its arm and hurling the blade at us.
"Oh crap!" we both shouted as we flung ourselves behind each side of the door frame. The blade flew past us and stabbed itself straight into the wall ahead. I quickly drew the katana from my back, grasping it with two hands. The pounding footsteps of the Uruk thundred closer as it charged up the stairs towards us.
"I've got an idea," said Alec from across me. I never got the chance to ask, for the Uruk stormed out in between us. Suddenly, Alec transformed. The armour and uniform he was wearing on his top half disappeared as his body became three times its size, with large muscles and veins bulging all over him. His skin changed to a dark gray as curved horns sprouted from his head and long claws from his fingers. His eyes glowed silver and his teeth grew large, sharp fangs.
I was the first the Uruk saw, as he turned and snarled at me. I was about to strike, when Alec grabbed the Uruk from behind with one of his new mammoth hands. He lifted the struggling Orc in front of him, as it snarled and fought. It roared in Alec's face as he spun it around.
He brought the Uruk closer and roared back in its face, sending spit and grime shooting from his changed mouth, his roar sounding like a pissed off lion rather than a person. That was more then enough to make the Uruk shut up for a moment. With the flick of his wrist, Alec hurled the Orc back into the thrashing brawl down in the alley, smashing it into a group of its brethren. Still keeping my katana ready as I stared down at the mass of fighters, I glanced over at Alec's new body.
"Where'd you get that from?" I asked with a laugh as I looked back down at the alley from behind the door from. He gave a throaty laugh, his voice having gone very deep with his transformation. "A demon I met in ancient Mesopotamia," he said, giving a toothy smile that showed his fangs. Looking down at the very end of the alley, I sighed in frustration. Up another set of stairs, surrounded by fighting Uruks and Klingons, was a glass elevator with an arrow sigh pointing up, and the word EXIT written on the door.
"We'll need a distraction..." I began, just then the ring lit up silver again. Suddenly a bright portal opened up directly in front of the elevator down at the end. This one however, expanded in size, something big was about to come through.
"You have got to be kidding me!" I shouted out in frustration mixed with shock. Out of the portal stormed the enormous muscle bound form of a Darkspawn Ogre!
Both the Klingons and Uruk Hai stopped in mid fight and stared up at the enormous creature. It stared at them for a moment before letting out a blood curdling roar and smashed both its fists into the group, crushing or knocking down any Klingon or Orc nearby.
Despite the carnage now ensuing, Alec stepped out from behind his cover, scratching his chin in confusion. "I'm getting some of your memories, that thing is from the game Dragon Age: Origins right?" asked the guardian casually as he turned to me. I couldn't believe this guy, he was breaking every rule in the book! "Get down!" I shouted as I shoved him back, just as two Uruks came flying towards us, screaming as they were thrown down the alley by the Ogre. Along its shoulders and wrists were thick armour plates covered in spikes, and the Ogre was using them with impunity to shred through both Klingon and Uruk Hai alike.
"That elevator is the fastest way out of this Ward!" I shouted to Alec over the shouts and smashing of metal coming from down in the alley. Alec transformed back into his original form, with the SS uniform and armour. "Are you seeing what that thing is doing, it'll shred you apart as soon as you set foot in there!" shouted Alec as the Klingons began to use their disrupter rifles on the Ogre, which was putting most of its attention on the Uruk Hai who were only armed with shields and swords. "Yeah, and I've seen what you can do, I've got an idea," I said with a mischievious smile as I grabbed my sack and dived over to him.
Down in the alley, the bodies of both Klingon and Uruks alike lay strewn all over the floor. The few Uruk Hai alive surrounded the thrashing Ogre as he tore apart a struggling Klingon. The few Klingons continued to fire their disrupters at the beast, having little to no effect on its tough hyde. With a swipe of its thick arm, the Ogre roared viciously as it shredded through the last few Uruk Hai around it, sending the bodies into the small squad of Klingons.
Shakily they lifted themselves up, covered in blood and sweat, their disrupters smoking in their hands from overheating. The bloody Ogre spread its arms open and lunged forward, making itself look bigger as it roared at the scared soldiers. The oldest survivor of the group threw down his useless disrupter and drew a curved Klingon sword from behind his back.
"Stand firm my brothers! For the Empire!" he shouted to the last few, rallying them around him as they drew their swords. The Ogre made a gutteral sound in its throat, almost like a horrid laughing. Just as it was about to leap on them, a sharp whistle sounded out, gaining everyone's attention.
Everyone looked over to see the strangest sight. Before them, I stood on the shoulder of another Ogre! With my left hand hanging off of one of its large curved horns, I held onto my drawn katana with my right while my sack hung tied off around my torso.
"This is gonna work right?" I heard Alec ask under his breath, all the while trying to look his fiercest in his new Ogre form. "Steadyyy..." I said from the corner of my mouth, not breaking eye contact with the real Ogre staring at us. The Klingons slowly began backing away, keeping their swords in front of them. The Ogre stomped its feet as it turned towards it, drool slobbering from its chops as it snarled at us. "I think we're making it angry," said Alec, this time openly. The Klingons jumped at the sight of my Ogre speaking perfect English. The real Ogre smashed its fists together and bowed its head, pointing its horns directly at us.
"Be ready for it!" I said, crouching my legs on Alec's shoulder. I tightened my grip on both his horn and my katana. Alec himself crouched lower, tensing his massive arms in front of him. The Ogre roared a final time as it kicked up its leg like a bull before charging, doing just that not a second later.
"Hold on!" Alec shouted as we both braced ourselves, the Klingons diving out of the way as the Ogre thundered past. The raging force of nature smashed into my companion, nearly sending me off in the first blow. Alec locked his arms around the Ogre's back, pulling it tight to his body. This took it by surprise, it didn't know what to do, beginning to squirm and thrash. Quickly I jumped from Alec's shoulder onto its back, this time holding onto its horns as I viciously drove the katana through its back, stabbed down into its spine. But even that wasn't enough to stop it!
In a fit of rage, it bucked backwards, throwing me off. I crashed with my limbs sprawled, landing painfully on the stairway that led to the elevator. Groaning, I sat up. The Ogre had broken free of Alec's grip and was beginning to bash at him with its fists. At first it looked like he was losing, but I knew better.
I smiled knowingly as I stood up, Alec laughing like a mad man as he began to smash the Ogre with a few punches of his own. Grabbing onto each others' shoulders, the two beasts began shoving each other into the walls, sending debris down from the ceiling. The few Klingons stumbled from the shaking as they raced for the stairway that led to the other corridor.
"Go Axel, I'll catch up!" shouted Alec over the shouts of the Ogre, as he delivered a punch to the head, followed by a knee to the stomach.
Staggering to the elevator from the brawl going on behind me, I pressed the glowing red console, making the glass door raise up as I entered. I was slightly guilty leaving my new friend behind, but I felt pretty sure that an imortal guardian could handle his own. As the elevator rose above the alley, I caught one last look of Alec grabbing hold of the Ogre's neck from behind and twisting it.
Finally sheathing my katana behind me, I let out a tired sigh as I leaned against the glass door. At first there was nothing, just the concrete walls of the elevator shaft flashing by. But then blinding sunshine assaulted my eyes. "Ahhh..." I said in annoyance as I rubbed my eyes, not use to the change in the Citadel's artificial lighting. After adapting, I looked through the glass down at the Ward below.
"Oh God..." I said in horror at the sight before me. Gray smoke rose up from several street blocks within the Ward. Emergency Response units hovered above them, spraying the areas down with jets of water. In other areas, hover cars along with gunships circled above areas lit up with conflict from more creatures the ring had brought. My knees gave out. I slowly lowered myself onto the floor and leaned back against the wall, watching the scenery pass by. Lines of different ships and Rapid Transit cars criss crossed the skyline, some large military ships could be seen docking in large cradles connecting to the Presidium ring.
"This is my fault..." I said as I hung my head. The sounds of sirens and fighting could be heared faintly even this far up. Suddenly I felt a breeze next to me, right before seeing a pair of familiar black jackboots materialize in a whisp of smoke.
"This isn't your fault, the ring is testing you to see if you are strong enough to master it," came Alec's voice as I looked up. He looked like me again, dressed back in the torn uniform and dented armour. I smiled as he helped me stand. "I knew you'd find a way out," I said with a slight chuckle. Alec did so himself as we both looked at the Ward down below.
"This elevator should take us near the Presidium, we'll be able to find a way to get off the Citadel...or we could..." began Alec, before trailing off. I knew what he was leading up to, he held a portion of my memories and knew all about the game by now. He was suggesting that we get involved in the Mass Effect storyline, but why?
"Why can't I go into any other dimensions? Before I was jumping in and out almost at will, but now I'm only bringing things with me, we can't we leave through another portal" I said to my companion, looking over at him. Alec was quiet for a moment, watching the ships pass our slow moving elevator before speaking.
"In the past, whenever a bearer has received the ring, they have had to go on a quest to truly master their powers," he finally answered, not looking at me.
"Throughout human history, almost every prominent figure has worn the ring. The deeds they are credited with have usually been the very quests they were trying to complete in order to master the ring," he finished, pacing to the back of the elevator.
I frowned as realisation dawned on me. "So that's why I'm stuck here, I have to stop the Reapers!" I said as I spun around. Alec turned to me, nodding gravely. "If we can't leave this universe, then helping Shepard would seem like the most logical choice."
I nodded slowly, that would be the best plan, and what made it better was that I already knew the events ahead. But messing with timelines that you weren't a part of had consequences, if we were to do this we would have to do it right. "If I help Shepard, we might be altering the events that are suppose to happen in this dimension," I said after thinking it over for a moment, this caused Alec to frown.
"What are you proposing we do?" I rubbed the slight stubble I had neglected to shave this morning. 'What do you do indeed?' Then it came to me, I snapped my gloved fingers together as I looked back at Alec.
"We follow, go ahead of them and assist in events from the shadows, if they become too complicated we jump into the fray," I said, pointing over to the Presidium.
Alec smiled widely, nodding in agreement. "We'll need a ship..." he began.
"...and a team to crew it, much like Shepard's," I finished, now a bit excited. Turning back to the window, I looked over to the Presidium and caught sight of the ship I had been fearing at first. The small arrow like form of the Normandy was visible even from this far away, slipping in and around the larger military vessels on its way to the Citadel Tower.
Shepard was finally here.
"I'm also going to need a master in this sort of thing...someone who can help you teach me how to use my powers in this universe," I began, turned back to Alec. He was a good teacher so far, adn I didn't want to completely discard him. But he was use to the quests the other bearers had done on Earth, this would be a hard burden on his own out in space. Surprisingly however, he nodded in agreement.
Coming back over to my side, he gazed over at the Presidium. "I won't be able to teach you properly in this setting, we need someone experienced and more familiar with this," he said, motioning to the large weave of moving ships before turning to me. "Know anyone?" he asked.
I rubbed my chin again, what person did I know from a space genre that would understand the type of abilities I now possessed?
"Wait! I do know one person," I said suddenly, turning to the wall behind us and stretching forth my hand. "Remember to concentrate hard on that specific person, otherwise you might bring someone else with them," said Alec beside me.
The ring began to glow silver again, but just then an explosion rocked the elevator, sending the both of us stumbling into the walls. Suddenly the glass door shattered, sending millions of shards shooting at us. We both tried to shield our eyes, falling to the floor from the force of the blast. From close by, the sound of a familiar jet pack screamed in my ears.
Looking up, I wasn't surprised to see the mighty visage of Jango Fett hovering above the shattered remains of the door. Gently landing down inside, he turned off his pack and slowly began walking over to me, his leather boots crunching on the glass shards.
"Now...where were we," said the Mandalorian, his voice tinged with his New Zealand accent. Just when I thought he was going to finish me off, a bright silver light engulfed the entire elevator, coming from the very direction I had tried to summon our new companion. Jango had to shield his eyes from the glare being shined into them by the new portal. When it was over, the bounty hunter staggered backwards at the sight of the creature I had summoned.
He was bald with a few white hair poking out here and there. He stood about three feet tall with large pointy ears and green skin. Around him, he wore a tattered white robe and held a small crooked walking stick in his right hand. At the moment his eyes were closed, and he was messaging his temple as if just coming out of a headache.
"You?...the universe is a small place after all," said Fett calmly, pointing his pistol at the wise, old alien.
The master opened his large yellowish eyes, and with a grim expression looked up at Fett with both his hands on the top of his walking stick.
"Pitiful this is, in another universe you still make trouble Jango Fett," said the old master, disgusted, in his deep croak like voice.
Alec looked up from the floor at this new creature with his eyes wide.
"Yoda..." he said with awe in his voice.
And so the adventure begins! Will Axel make it out to help Shepard? Or will the ring prove his undoing? You'll have to stay tuned and see. I must also give a deep apology to all those who have been waiting intently for this the last few weeks, this is the longest chapter I have done for this. Tell me if it was too long, or if it ran on or tried to explain things too fast. I'll listen to your comments and reviews and try to update faster next time. But on a lighter note, give me a show of reviews for how many of you were saying WTF! when I brought in those random characters, especially the clones. Oh, and a little word for Alec, he is an original character of mine, but I'm going to try to base him heavily off of the Genie from Aladdin mixed with some of Gibbs from POTC. So if you see anything familiar from him it'll probably be from those two films. So I hope you enjoyed my longest chapter yet, and I'll have more for you guys later.
Prev 1. A rough morning2. The Find of a Lifetime3. What the hell!4. We'll need a ship and a crew5. Seriously! No more elevators!6. The Citadel's Most Wanted7. I am Iron Man? Part 18. I am Iron Man? Part 29. I am Iron Man? Part 310. I am Iron Man? Part 411. I am Iron Man? Part 5 Next
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