acknowledging the fact a ranger is a more elite soldier
Who arrives at the cutting edge of battle by land sea and air
I accept the fact that as a ranger my country expects me to
Move further faster and fight harder than any other soldier
-United States Army Rangers

"I would really appreciate it if you would-" were common phrases to Marcus Heinz. This time it was about college. He got accepted into MSU for engineering college essentially free with the scholarships they said he could apply for or in-between the lines apply for them and you'll get them. The citadel offered four free years of college if he would also be a officer in the army. Montana University stated clearly the same offer as Mississippi started but for history.

Marcus sat across his parents arms crossed. His mind was made up. The army was for him even being a lowly private he was content with it. He didn't become a navy nuclear engineer despite his uncles encouragement. He didn't become a marine aviator to his aunt's disappointment. He didn't join the air force to be a drone pilot to his father's suggestion. He became a forward observer to his cousins astonishment.

When his cousin found out he sent Marcus contacts who eagerly mentioned not to subtlety he should join regiment. That was where he was going. His dad watched lone survivor and black hawk down and was worried about him dying. His mom was just being a mom completely worried about the army life.

Marcus refused to even consider anything besides the army to his parent's anger and fear. "I'm going to be a ranger" more words the true problems that would destroy this family weren't really there yet. They just weighed the pros and cobs of all the decisions he could make. It started when Marcus' older brother made fun of his willingness to die. His narrow mindedness to go to war and not go to college wasting his life. That's when Marcus had it he was done.

He wasn't an idiot he was doing this for his birth mom and what the pastor claimed was his fate. His family laughed when he mentioned the pastors words. Despite being atheistic in religious practice Marcus firmly believed the old man's words. He shut down and refused to talk to any family member for his last three weeks home before he went back to training. His brother tried to make amends but Marcus rejected him because he laughed at his duty.

Marcus left home with two cargo bags and a back pack. The last memory his adopted family had of him was a 18 year old admitting he would never come back home. A 30 year old asleep in a sleeper pod wished he said he would come back. His parents died. His dad a heart attack from over working and their mom dying from stress of all the debt.

Marcus came back home and payed most of the debt off with all the pay he saved. His siblings blamed him for their death. They said he created so much stress dad worked two full time jobs to pay off the debt and to pay for a party to bring him back home. Their Mom dying working a full time job and two small businesses to hopefully buy his forgiveness by using that money to find his birth Mom.

All seven siblings blamed the youngest one. Marcus kept tabs on them. All of them led successful lives in engineering or ministry. They didn't have to worry about most of the debt because an unknown benefactor paid 75% of it off who was Marcus. Marcus woke up to the dream of the brother who laughed at him now in tears saying dad died at 54 because of him and mom a year later.

Shutting his eyes he heard hissing opening them back up he was greeted to the sight of the the chow hall or main level. He heard EDI's mechanical voice trying it's hardest to be human say. "Your heart beats were more erratic than usual. I deducted it was unwanted dreams and woke you up. I apolog-"

Getting out of the sleeper pod Marcus cut EDI off. "No! Your fine EDI... Thank you" climbing out he walked to the elevator in a haze. The past trying to claw at Marcus and it was working pretty damn well.

Marcus started to stretch to regain his composure both physically and mentally. Meanwhile, EDI told Marcus about the meeting in the briefing room. Marcus just nodded and headed on over. He wore the same clothes as yesterday or last cycle. He couldn't really tell the time only that specific shifts had certain faces.

He quickly made his way to the briefing room. Opening the door he saw the ground team. There was Taylor, Miranda, Shepard and the turian. Today already looked like a long day.

Jane was reading through the message Alison She had sent her. It was probably the most interesting read in her life. The codex entry was declassified available to the public but as Jane read more she would be surprised if anyone even could know what XCOM meant.

XCOM

Created 1954 during the cold war build up by the united nations to combat potential alien invasion. It was sanctioned by the USSR and USA in an effort to ease the minds of all council members minds of a unified group of nations after WWII. The program would be funded and fully staffed and forgotten about. They were completely reliant on USA and USSR armament without a R&D department. They are 4,000 combat personal and supporting staff based in Europe at *classified*

1961-1973- Vietnam is a growing problem and XCOM is sent in as an elite special ops group to both train and go on missions. They quickly reorganize. They downsize creating a group of operators and a large pool of squaddies for a QRF. They are met with overwhelming success the first to master helicopter insertions and basic long range patrol protocol. The group is eventually sent to train the Army of South Vietnam met with little success besides the South Vietnamese Rangers. The organization at the end of its combat operations and training mission is sent back to Europe to be controlled by the council of 19 nations.

1974- They are reduced in size. 100 operators and 300 squaddies with supporting staff. A R&D department is given to them with full cooperation of the 19 nations in all fields of technology. XCOM is starting to be used for counter terror operations and maintaining chaos in Africa from the south African council members request. XCOM continues these activities until 1980.

Research *Jane this may interest you*

Gene warrior- shock trooper-

Secondary heart- increase survivability, dependability and used for an artificial pump for a hormonal mix to increase aggression, dampen pain, I crease reaction time and maintain homeostasis.

Nerves- increase reaction time, dampen pain

Brain - reduce pain and pleasure

Bones- increase density and flexibility

Muscles- Increase mass and strength

Eyes- increase

A gene warrior will be the model super soldier. S/he will be able to survive suicide missions without hindrance opening new avenues of deployment. Missions could be continually done without rearmament. Close combat will become relevant again. With them able to close the distance and kill any foe.

They will be used like a pack of rabid wolves. Killing g all who stand in their way with unmatched aggression. They will be my master piece.

-Dr. Vahlen head of R&D department

Jane then saw the same tattoo Marcus had on his lower arm. A DNA helix orange and black. Leaning back into her chair she tapped on her table. There were too many things adding up for Marcus to be a mercenary with amnesia.

Data kept pointing at this now known paramilitary organization. Jane remember from her history classes the mentioning of after the first contact war or even during it humanity was met with great success. It was odd considering the gap in military battle doctrine compared to the new technology. Historians normally blamed it on humanities long history of war so bloody Turians found it barbaric.

The codex entry made no mention of XCOM being shut down. What if XCOM was the father of Cerberus and Terra Firms. XCOM may be the military branch while the 19 man council was the political side now the party Jane herself was apart of.

Scratching her head, Jane though about how far of a stretch that would be. Even then, the data wouldn't even reach her. Jane was a active member compared to most party members and would think that they would've let her in on a secret that big awhile ago.

Despite this, Jane counted her blessings being allowed to have an omni tool unlinked to the alliance or Cerberus. It was a gift from Liara. Jane couldn't help but also speculate why Liara couldn't find her information but an old friend from Terra firms could. The Shen's while well connected tended to lean on the engineering side not the military side. Running a hand through her messy hair, Jane closed her eyes trying to figure it out.

Running her hand through her hair a few more times she stood up to make her way to the briefing room. She was two hours from purgatory and was going to brief her crew before the mission. Her life was filled with no brainers. Invasion from slavers? Stop them. Specters gone rouge? Track him down. Discover a genocidal race hell bent on trying to destroy all sentient life? Stop them. Jane couldn't help but feel relief knowing the answer to her biggest problem in life was pretty straight forward.

Kill the collectors and prevent the reapers from having an ally. Unify all races. Hint to alliance military members to invest trillions into the military. Make Cerberus kill reapers that was probably the easiest on her list. I mean if you just ignored the geopolitical and socioeconomic problems of these objectives they were pretty cut and dry. It's as easy as shooting things and picking a dialogue button in an arcade game. *violent coughing*

With that Jane headed to the briefing room. She saw the members of the ground squad slowly filter in. The time between each member was just a handful of time so instead Jane just pulled up the dossier of Jack. There wasn't a picture and at least sounding educated on this matter gave the team something to complain about. This created a unity that transcended all other team building activities. Ah the glory of bitching. It really did bring people of all types together to share the same complaints about problems or annoyances they experienced.

Jane quickly scanned Jack's profile. Being the nerd she was, remembering key points from a 5,000 word summary of a biotic cultist gone thug life wasn't that hard. Jane looked up and saw them all there. Jacob Taylor stiffly stood to her left just past Miranda who stood maybe four feet away. Marcus was surprisingly close to her right maybe 3 feet away. Garrus stood to the side leaning against the wall to her right.

Jane told Mordin he wouldn't be joining for any missions instead focusing on any research to give them an edge. Mordin of course agreeded instantly understanding his value as a scientist not a combat tourist. Garrus was also off the mission. Jane told him it was due to his injuries and he eventually was talked down. Jane honestly didn't want him here. Garrus and her didn't talk much and suddenly Garrus talked to her like if they were buddies.

She just wanted a little space. Coming back to life, extremely stressful. She didn't have the facial scaring fortunately due but on a really bad day she would see doctor C for medicine because of phantom pain from the scars. She wasn't in the mood for Garrus to remind her of the last oddessy together and recreate that stress and in extension pain.

Taylor on the other hand was her tank. His suit had hidden but sting shield capacitors and the armor wasn't too shabby also. He could also control the crowds with his biotics nothing fancy though. Miranda made up for Taylor's lack of damage. Her biotics were devastating both one on one and for crowds. Her accuracy with a sub machine gun ate through armor shields and flesh. The only problem was she wore little protection besides normal shields so the cool down between biotic attacks weren't too long.

Jane was by no means a biotic. She was just a stand up soldier. Her strength lied in leading thus her rank. A rifle or more specifically avenger always suppressed while she reorganised her men. In a pinch, she carried a mantis sniper rifle and almost always killed or wounded an enemy with a pull of the trigger.

Marcus was a wild card. If he was a gene warrior from XCOM not as much as an if but more as a 'if he was trained and qualified'. He would be a hybrid between Miranda and Taylor. He would have deadly precision fire and be able to get shot three times over a normal marine before his body gave out.

Jane was by all means ready for a mission with the wild card but wished she had more real solid Intel. She had no idea what type of combat Marcus would be the best for. She didn't want to waste potential.

Clearing her mind she looked at Miranda, Taylor and Marcus. "The facility knows Cerberus is coming and we're going to recover Jack a potent biotic. Garrus you will work with Shaftner on ship security. They aren't specters qualified but they aren't a push over either." Garrus nodded and swaggered out the door to his designated mission.

"Taylor you'll be our point man and crowd control. Miranda hang back and take care of the high value targets. Marcus I want you next to me." Miranda and Taylor nodded before heading to the armory while Marcus slipped off before she even dismissed them.

Jane went up to see Joker. She passed by the crew who hurried to get ready. Shaftner's security detail consisted of 4 other crew members plus Garrus in Cerberus fatigues and avenger rifles. A few other crew members were hurriedly changing over posts due to the timing of this event was during a switch over. Most were hurrying around out of excitement on their first mission where the Normandy might actually face space conflict.

Jane twisted around someone before finally reaching Joker. "Careful EDI don't scratch my paint job!" "Joker as a AI I'm fully capable of -" "yeah yeah yeah you can do everything I can do but better."

"Incorrect nothing can replace a -" "Commander Shepard! How can I help you and your holy presence?" Jane inwardly rolled her eyes not really used to Jokers humor yet. She felt the same way with him compared to Garrus. She was so focused on catching Saren she didn't really talk to anyone besides Wrex, Ashley and Alenko.

"We locked on?"

"Yep we are locked on tighter than-"

"Joker please refrain from creating a vulgar joke based off you-"

Jane was already speed walking away from that fiasco. She remembered Alenko mentioning Joker's private time and how he stumbled in on it during a late night shift. She didn't really need to know. She also felt wierded out with EDI's Avatar. Jane felt like she was talking to a zipper.

Jane reached the air lock quickly. She saw Taylor and Miranda in their same suits. They no doubt had expensive concealed shield capacitors. Meanwhile, Marcus wore her same angular matte black N7 battle armor. The same design with contours to show off the muscular human physique. He was just missing a helmet and N7 emblem and rightfully so.

The team all carried their weapons. Miranda a predator pistol and tempest sub machine gun. Taylor a Katana shotgun and avenger. Marcus only had a avenger. Jane carried just a mantis sniper and predator pistol since it was just a grab and go. If they were going to get ambushed they'd probably get vented out.

The team entered into the airlock and quickly emerged from the other side. Immediately walking out Jane saw a team of blue sun's scum waiting for them. Jane couldn't help but notice all of them were xeno not one human.

Jane made her way over to them. She didn't bother to look over her shoulder. Humans were always reliable in their own way. This time itd be no different. Purge the unrighteous xeno to protect the pure humans.

A/N

Hey all. I apologize. I'm in MS waiting for my AIT training and MS has no interwebs. I'm fearful of my data plan dying right now and my addiction to snap chat... In my defense I just started. Anyways onto stuff you care about.

Red Rat- that's how I wanted Marcus portrayed. A very open individual when prodded but completely silent if no one makes any effort to talk to him.

HK- Thank you for your opinion and I'm leaning a bit on that side

Eye of Sparta- I have updated my faithful reviewer! I will never forget you and your questions!

Me Myself and I-

Yours is a long one. I originally planned for that to be the main sub plot. Freedom Guard originally gave me the inspiration for this story but as you can tell this story has drastically changed from Cerberus being a Intel branch of XCOM to this more mysterious search for XCOM

The Marcus and Jane idea I haven't thought about. I have to honestly say I won't do it due to the 50/50 split with you and HK and myself not really sure about how much XCOM should be in here. I don't want an OP moment in this story like other more in my opinion unoriginal ff yet I don't want to abandon a chance to tell a good story. I just planned on a interbranch rivalry between the two but I will look more into a more angsty relationship between the two.

I also wrote the first 1k words before your review and felt like it would dampen the blow of demons of Marcus' past. I really enjoyed your idea of Marcus' future relationships. I actually see how a lot of those things could happen even with my personal view of Marcus happening without him being OOC. Thank you it actually helped me try and figure out how to do some of the interactions.

Your idea with XCOM was interesting to say the least. It made me want to write a whole 10k chapter but I'd be getting ahead of myself.

In case your wondering, I'm modeling most of Jane's relationships based off my my play through. I was so caught up in fighting the non existent timer to catch Saren when ME2 rolled around I was lost on why all the characters lived my Shepard who I played as xenophobic kill on sight take care of only proven soldiers douche bag. Anyways that's why there isn't your stereotypical bromances and etc.

Anyways, tell me. You think Marcus is a straight ranger god or a talented individual. Will Jane and Marcus learn to trust one another. You think Marcus will overcome his demons now that his powers seem to keep him up at night.

What are your predictions. I enjoy hearing people's thoughts and how close you guys are to predicting my plot. It makes me try hard to create a future twist.

Please any questions concerns or pictures of monkeys created out of hash tags are welcomed.

-SITH

PS. I never played any of the ME DLC... And I'm writing this based off of my memories so any help I would really appreciate I kinda sold my Xbox...