Disclaimer: I dont own Mass Effect or Marvel

I'm back with another update, the Normandy team finally sets off while the plot thickens at the Project dimension lab. Enjoy :)


Mass Effect Dimensions

Chapter 9: The Normandy

Michael's walk back to C-Sec Academy had been easy. He had familiarised himself with the path to take. Taking a cab would have been quicker, but Michael wanted to enjoy the walk. His Omnitool beeped, signalling that he had a message. Curiously reading the message, Michael raised his eyebrows when he finished with it. The message had been an advertisement from the Consort's Enclave.

In need of entertainment, comfort or are you just looking for someone to talk to?

Then come to the Enclave of the Asari Consort. New clients can enjoy the pleasures of the Embrace Eternity package deal.

He had no idea what Embrace Eternity meant but the price alone put Michael off completely. A hundred years later and still people were paying ridiculous amounts of money for pleasure. He hoped it was something that only happened in this future and not his. Walking into the elevator, Michael decided to again check his Codex for new details. His study topics included alien creatures like Varren and species that would be seen outside of Council space. Michael couldn't find any positive articles about Batarian's. He happened upon an article with the title "Cerberus", but before he could open the file the elevator door opened. Michael gasped as he was pulled out of the lift. Ashley gripped his head in a headlock, ruffling his hair.

"Congratulations Mr Van Patrick, you're coming with us on a mission to stop a rogue Spectre," Ashley said.

Michael slipped out of Ashley's arms, straightening out his hair.

"I already figured you'd be taking me along," He said.

"It makes sense, you did pretty well against Fist's men and that was without armour," Kaidan shrugged his shoulders.

"I still think it's a bad idea, he and Tali may have talent but a couple of thugs are nothing in comparison to trained soldiers. Shepard should reconsider taking crew members with so little experience, no matter how good their intentions are," Garrus explained.

"We're standing right here," Tali huffed.

Wrex chuckled at Tali's angry stance. He leant across the wall a few feet away from the team. The Krogran had already procured a new set of heavy armour and the second grade of his Hurricane shotgun. Michael then looked to Kaidan and Ashley. Kaidan was wearing a suit of dark armour with desert camouflage on some parts of it. Ashley had seemed to upgrader her white and pink phoenix armour to the same Onyx style armour Shepard wore, minus the N7 symbol on the shoulder pad.

"The best warriors are those that are forged in the fires of combat, and like it or not those two are both involved now. It was the Quarian…"

"My name is Tali!"

Wrex showed no offence to Tali's interruption, in fact it seemed to amuse him even more.

"The Quarian knows about the Geth, that gives us an edge and the kid…"

"Its Michael!"

"The boy's involved now because of this supposed vision he saw. Saren wants him dead and that's reason enough to keep him with us," Wrex explained.

"Great, now I'm "the boy"," Michael sighed.

Kaidan laughed while Ashley shook her head. Michael then looked over the other team members. Tali was still in her rusty armour, but she was carrying a small bag along with her usual weapons. Garrus also carried a bag, along with a new sniper rifle. That confirmed Michael's suspicion of Shepard recruiting the two of them.

"Where's Shepard?" Michael asked.

"Down by the requisitions officer, in fact he wanted to see you as soon as he could," Garrus said.

"All right well I'll see you guys later," Michael said as he walked past the group.

Ashley narrowed her eyes at the boy. She hid her feelings on the subject, mainly because of Shepard's authority. But she liked the idea of Michael Van Patrick joining the team even less then the aliens. He was talented, but that would only get him so far. Plus she was sceptical as to the accuracy of this "vision" the Beacon had given him. But Commander Shepard was a man with twice her experience and a Ruthless War hero. If he felt that the team needed Michael, then Ashley had faith in Shepard's decision.


Shepard stood in the C-Sec Requisition office, adding his palm print to equipment forms. Spectres had access to special equipment and supplies, but they had to cover the price with their own income. Shepard had a few favours he could call in, from both his contacts within the Alliance and outside of it. Barla Von and Sha'ira weren't the only characters with hidden agendas that he associated himself with. Shepard had a list of contacts from his days on Earth, thugs that became millionaires, hiding dark pasts that Shepard could out in an instant. He even kept in contact with people from his days as a Red; unlike him some former gang members chose an honest approach to rehabilitation. Gang members that became bouncers acted as good informants, even labourers for companies would at least hear rumours.

For now Shepard was using his own savings to pay for extra weapons he would give to the Alliance. Shepard knew that the alliance was currently working on getting him a ship. So he would pay for weapons, give them to the Alliance, whom would in turn put them on the ship Shepard would take. He then typed out a message to Admiral Hackett. If the Admiral had any missions requiring expert operatives, Shepard volunteered his services in exchange for any information, equipment and credits found on those missions. Sending the message Shepard then picked up his own requests from the C-Sec requisitions officer.

"Here you go Commander, the other items will be ready in a few minutes," The Turian said.

The Turian hefted a suit of heavy armour onto the desk. It was a deep red colour and lacked the N7 symbol Shepard usually adjourned. However it was built specifically with the kind of breather mask Shepard always used. He also requested a small case of upgrades including a heat dampener so he could fire longer bursts and a longer barrel for more damage. Shepard took the items and turned to Michael as the young man walked down the stairs.

"What did you want Shepard?" Michael asked.

Shepard remembered the message Sha'ira had sent him. She had said that for now, Michael Van Patrick would live up to his expectations. Michael Van Patrick's eyes held a new determination within them. Sha'ira had been vague about what they discussed but Shepard understood Michael's situation enough to recognise that the young man had felt lost. Without a cause to fight for, a young man like Michael couldn't simply sit down and adjust to a civilian life in a new world. He needed a mission like the one Shepard was about to go on.

"Did you need something?" Michael asked the question again.

"Actually I think you need something, a new suit of armour, Onyx is good but it won't hold out against the kind of fire you'll face out there," Shepard said as he turned to the requisitions officer. "Is it ready?"

"Yes Commander, would you like it put into a case or will you trade in the old armour?" The officer asked.

"We'll exchange the old armour for parts," Shepard said.

"What did you get me?" Michael asked.

"You needed better armour so I took the liberty of buying a suit of customised Guardian armour."

"What makes it customised?"

"Step into the changing room and you'll find out."

Michael walked into the changing room, taking off his armour as he did. He picked up the new armour Shepard had made for him. It was similar to the other Guardian armour designs Michael had seen. But this medium class armour was a lighter shade of blue and instead of the straps on the legs it had a cargo pouch on the left side. The armour also had an equipment belt similar to what soldiers used in Michael's time. Michael picked up the helmet; it was very different from the ones Ashley and Kaidan wore. The helmet was a smaller and less thickly than the standard issue. Michael put the helmet on and looked at himself in the mirror. The glass plate looked more like a pair of goggles, as it covered only Michael's eyes and the bridge of his nose. He laughed as he realised what Shepard had done. The man had downgraded the armour slightly; there were less magnetic clamps so Michael couldn't carry a lot of weapons. This armour also felt lighter than the Onyx, despite being medium class.

'Oh well, daddy never taught you to be ungrateful,' Michael sighed as he began putting the armour on.

Shepard looked over several rifles as he waited for Michael. When the young man finally finished, Shepard turned to examine him.

"It suits you, the armour is made of a lighter weave than your previous one, but it also has three upgrade slots," Shepard explained.

"Three, I thought you downgraded it," Michael said.

"Its true that on its own it wont last long under heavy fire, but your working as part of a team Van Patrick, that and your agile, heavy armour will only slow you down. Upgrades will strengthen your armour with weighing it down, here take a shielding module to bolster your kinetic barriers, and a medical interface, it'll automatically apply stimulants when your wounded in order to keep you going," Shepard put two upgrade modules into Michael's hand. "Connect them with the equipment slots on your back and he upgrades will take effect immediately."

"Thank you Shepard!"

"Now come on, we need to find ourselves a ship," Shepard said as he grabbed the equipment case he bought.


Project Dimension Labs

Medical Director Wilson was in utter astonishment over the findings of Project Dimension. One of the subjects was a medical marvel, a miracle for humanity. If this subject number ten's rate of healing could be duplicated it would make Cerberus, no humanity itself stronger than ever. Its rate of healing surpassed a Krogan's by stories, even on the brink of death the subject could still recover. Wilson stood with a glass window separating him from Subject Ten. The subject itself was in a glass tube, bathed in a green liquid that was meant to keep him in stasis. Van Damme had designed the liquid to mimic a biotic stasis. The subject's skin was still healing, some parts of its metal bones were exposed and the hair on its head was slowly growing back. Its healing factor was so powerful that it even repaired damaged organs and hair follicles, right down to the hair on its arms.

"Dr Wilson, I don't approve of what you put in your report, Project Ten as you state has a name, and he's also human. You use the term it as if he's some kind of creature," Kelly explained.

Wilson silently sighed; Kelly Chambers was still hanging around. Despite Director Van Damme's attempts to get her to leave, the Illusive man stilled demanded that she stay. She still had not finished her psychological analysis of all of the subjects. Her focused remained purely on Subject Ten.

"Subject Ten is incredibly dangerous Miss Chambers, you'd best stay away from the labs. "It" would gladly kill you if it had the chance, but I see the real value of the subject. The Illusive man can get a killing machine anywhere; this thing here is best suited for the medical aspect of our projects. Just think of it Chambers, if we recreate subject ten's healing factor and mass-produce it then a whole new medical science will evolve. Doctors will become redundant…"

"Costing millions of people in the care industry their jobs," Kelly interrupted the scientist.

He glared back at her, shocking her slightly.

"A few hundred million people losing their jobs is a small price to pay for humanities continued survival. Hell death itself will become redundant…"

"You are spouting nonsense Wilson!"

Wilson turned to the door, his glare fading as he looked at Miranda. The operative looked at Subject Ten's prison in mild interest. Unlike Kelly she wasn't as vocal in her disagreements with the way other projects were run. The Illusive man gave his operatives complete autonomy in order to get results. Wilson was a man who got results despite sacrifices; in fact his whole family had been like that. One of Miranda's favourite scholars had been an ancestor of Wilson's by the name of Cornelius; the man had published many papers on human enhancements. Many of Miranda's own enhancements had been based on the ideas Cornelius published.

"Death is something we can not beat, this man's age may be impossible to determine, but like the Asari he will one day die of old age," Miranda explained.

"But think of what can be achieved by a human who can live for a thousand years," Wilson said.

"I am thinking, experiments like this are necessary to assure human dominance!"

"But what about his human rights?" Kelly asked.

Wilson let out a laugh, unaware of the spike in Subject Ten's heartbeat.

"That thing is not human, I saw the way it acted when it attacked Director Van Damme, its just an animal," Wilson said.

Kelly and Wilson jumped in shock as a banging sound echoed in subject ten's chamber. Even Miranda was taken aback by the subject's actions. Logan bashed his hand against the glass tube, seemingly looking at Wilson, despite the glass being a mirror on his side.

"He heard you," Kelly gasped.

"No way, that things hearing couldn't be that good!" Wilson trembled.

Miranda's usual cold expression was replaced with a smirk as she strutted out of the room. Out of all of the subject's, Ten was the most interesting. He was a short man who you could dismiss as a thug. But Miranda saw more determination in that man than anyone she'd ever met. The other subjects had named him "Wolverine", a fitting name to a ferocious man. Miranda stopped at Van Damme's office, entering to see Van Damme speaking with a contact.

"And you are certain that Shepard will be taking the Normandy?" The director asked.

Miranda noticed that Van Damme was using a headset to speak with the spy. That meant that only he knew what the man, or woman's voice sounded like.

"Good, that saves us money on tracking the boy," Victor nodded his head. "Don't worry you'll get an advance payment…no, don't every try to capture the boy, let him get settled into the Normandy, monitor his performance on missions and then relay his location to us…no not when he goes to a planet that the council suggests, we must ensure it is a mission that does not get in the way of Shepard's long term goal…yes I do believe he will give up the boy if rescuing him gets in the way of stopping Saren!"

Miranda tapped her foot against the floor, causing Victor to turn to her.

"Report to me when the boy finishes his first mission, don't interact with him or any other member of Shepard's ground team…because you fool Commander Shepard is a good judge of character, one conversation with him and he'll know what your up to. Keep in contact, but be discreet, if you jeopardise your position with us then rest assured you wont have to worry about an Alliance prison…think long and hard about what it might mean!"

Victor removed the headset and placed it on his desk.

"What an idiot, "what does that mean?" he asks. I'm surprised to see that your still here Miranda," Victor said.

"I see the value of project dimension, so I'm willing to put up with your attitude," Miranda crossed her arms, using them as a barrier between herself and Victor.

He was inches from her and she could hear his heart beating, in perfect synchrony as hers. They were both perfect calm, neither one willing to back down from the other. But Miranda did remember a time when she would have followed Victor for more personal reasons. She shook those thoughts aside; Victor Van Damme was arrogance incarnate. He was foolish enough to believe that only his view was valid.

"Tell me Mirande what would you do if you were in charge of the Illusive man's little side interest, this New human Spectre!"

"I would simply monitor Shepard's progress, his reports indicate the possibility that Saren is working on behalf of a group known as the Reapers. The Illusive man is interested, thus Cerberus as a whole must be focused on these "Reapers" as well. If they represent a threat to humanity then cooperation with Shepard would be the best course of action," Miranda explained.

"Just as I expect from you, loyalty to humanity first as always, you do realise that humanity isn't the only group worth saving, there are other races of infinitely more value than simple humans!"

"Enough of your ranting," Miranda said as she turned to the doorway.

"Shepard doesn't fight solely for humanity, his policy is "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few", if he is faced with saving a million aliens over a thousand humans, he'll sacrifice the humans because there are less of them. Thus he is not an ally of Cerberus, he is a threat," Victor explained as he gripped Miranda's arm tightly.

Miranda slapped Victor's hand aside and walked out of the door. When she was out of sight she took a deep breath to calm her pounding heart. Victor Van Damme was a man of action and ideas. If he did become a threat to Cerberus, Miranda knew that she needed to be ready to kill him. That meant that she couldn't let the man make her vulnerable again.


Citadel

Shepard and his crew walked out of the elevator. They had been ordered to go to a private space dock, one that would be ready for them constantly. Much to Ashley and Kaidan's surprise, the ship waiting for them was the Normandy. Tali looked at the ship in astonishment, her expression of awe hidden by her mask. Like any other Quarian she had always been interested in ships.

"Wonder how much the Alliance pays for a private space dock," Wrex huffed.

Waiting for them was Anderson and Udina. The two men had clearly been discussing something, but stopped when the team arrived. Udina turned to Shepard, a neutral expression stamped across his face.

"I've got big news for you Shepard, Captain Anderson is stepping down as commanding officer of the Normandy. The ship is yours now," Udina said.

"She's quick and quiet and you know the crew. Perfect ship for a Spectre, treat her well commander," Anderson exclaimed.

"The Alliance Brass has ordered you to give me the ship haven't they?" Shepard asked.

"Partly, but you needed your own ship and a Spectre cant answer to anyone but the council. And its time for me to step down, I was in your position several years ago Shepard, I failed, now's its your turn!"

Shepard nodded his head, letting the topic drop so he could focus on the mission.

"What kind of leads do we have?" He asked.

"Saren's gone, don't even try to find him. But we know what he's after: the conduit, he's got his Geth scouring the Traverse looking for clues," Anderson explained.

"We have had reports of Geth in the Feros System shortly before our colony there dropped out of contact. And there have been sightings around Noveria," Udina said.

"Figure out what Saren was after on Feros and Noveria, you might even be able to find out where the conduit is before he does."

"Anything else?" Shepard asked.

"We do have one more lead. Matriarch Benezia, the other voice on the recording. She has a daughter, a scientist who specialises on the Protheans. We don't know whether she's involved but it might be a good idea to find her, see what she knows. Her name is Liara, Dr Liara T'Soni, last we heard she was at an archaeological dig on one of the uncharted worlds of the Artemis Tau cluster," Udina explained.

Shepard put a hand to his chin, thinking for a moment.

"She may have valuable information, or at least provide us with something we can use against Benezia. We'll go after her first," Shepard stated.

"Its up to you commander, you have free reign to use whatever methods you can to stop Saren," Anderson said.

"But your actions still reflect on humanity as a whole, make a mess and I'll be stuck cleaning it up," Udina said.

"It'll be necessary Ambassador!"

"I was afraid you would say that," Udina sighed. "Anderson, brief Shepard on the final details then come back to the Embassy, good luck out there Shepard. And remember, you were a human long before you became a Spectre."

Udina walked to the elevator, leaving Shepard with Anderson. He motioned for the team members to get on the ship. Everyone but Michael moved towards the ship's side hatch. Anderson looked at the young man curiously.

"Did you have a question?" He inquired.

"Anderson, you said that you had also been in Shepard's position, what do you mean by that?" Michael asked.

"When I was Shepard's age I was chosen as a possible Spectre candidate. Saren was chosen to evaluate me."

Michael widened his eyes and Anderson nodded his head. The young man put two and two together.

"Saren and I were on a mission to rescue a scientist, we discovered her location and split up to rescue her. The nearby Element zero refinery was blown up just as I managed to rescue the Doctor. In his report Saren said that I blew his cover, forcing the terrorists to blow up the Refinery, but I think he triggered the explosions on purpose. A lot of people died, the casualty list numbered in the hundreds, with many more wounded and crippled," Anderson explained.

Michael and Shepard could both see that this memory was personal to Anderson. Shepard had heard many rumours, one of which had been that Anderson was personally involved with this scientist he had rescued. Anderson's face was a mask of professionalism, and his voice didn't give away any guilt. He was completely certain that Saren was involved.

"I've seen how Saren works, no conscience or regret, he'd kill a thousand if it meant completing his mission and he hates humans too."

"So that's it isn't it? That's why you were so determined to see Saren go down, he ruined your chance to be a Spectre," Michael said.

"There's a little more to it than that, but I had my chance, now its yours and Shepard's turn to stop Saren," Anderson said solemnly.

"We wont let you down Captain," Michael lifted his hand into a salute.

As Shepard and Anderson went over the final details of the mission, Michael walked to the Normandy's decontamination hatch. He blinked in astonishment as the scanner's light ran over his body.

"Decontamination complete!" The computerised voice said.

As Michael stepped into the ship, he again marvelled at its design. The CIC had a full staff of crewmembers. Chief navigator Pressly shook his head in disapproval. Michael traced the line of the man's site and spotted the alien members of the crew. Ashley and Kaidan guided them through a door and down a set of stairs. Looking to the Normandy's cockpit, Michael smiled as he confirmed his suspicions. Apart from the shore party there was no significant change to the crew. Joker was still the pilot, sitting impatiently as his chair as always.

"Hey Joker, enjoyed your shore leave, or have you just been sitting admiring the sites?" Michael asked as he walked up behind Joker.

"Hey Mike, believe it or not I do get out of this chair, I went to get a snack from the mess hall a few hours ago," Joker said.

"You must really like your ships!"

Joker chuckled; he didn't take any offence to the ignorance of Michael's statements.

"What can I say, the Normandy's state of the art, she's my new baby I'm not letting anyone else touch her."

"Whatever rocks your boat, though make sure no ones watching before you start stroking the controls," Michael chuckled.

Joker laughed at the statement as well, sighing as he leant back into his chair.

"Too bad about Captain Anderson though, he survives a hundred battles and gets taken down by backroom politics. Shepard better be careful or he'll be next on the chopping block," Joker explained.

"Well I'll go and get settled in, see you around Joker," Michael said.

The pilot nodded his head at the new crewmember. He sighed as he looked to his side; Shepard and Anderson were still talking. Anderson activated his Omni-tool, transferring data to Shepard's journal.

"This is to remain between us Shepard, but Admiral Hackett's deep cover agents in the Traverse have reported several disturbances, energy fluctuations that resembled the kind on Eden Prime when Michael appeared," Anderson explained.

"One in the Artemis Tau Cluster, I see, after we pick up the Doctor we can also check out this disturbance," Shepard said.

"Its not quite that simple Shepard, Hackett's contacts confirmed that the party they're spying on also sent several ships to the area…seventeen frigates were shot down Shepard, something of unbelievable power lashed out at this group before leaving. That's tells me that there was something on this planet they wanted really badly, once you've found the Professor, go to the uncharted world, investigate the wreckage and find out what Cerberus was after."

"Cerberus? The group was Cerberus?" Shepard asked.

Anderson nodded his head.

"I see, I'll use discretion for this captain, there's no reason to get Van Patrick more worked than he has to be. Tell Hackett to send any other reports of these disturbances to me. If Michael was right and he really is from another world my crew will be the first to welcome his "friends" when they come through," Shepard explained.

"Be honest Shepard, do you think this is some kind of invasion?" Anderson asked.

"The Council will ignore this and the possibility of the Reapers being real. My policy has always been to presume the worst-case scenario. The worst case scenario for this mission is that the Reapers exist and that whatever these disturbances mean they cant be good."

The Captain and the Commander saluted one another, wishing each other good luck. Shepard walked onto the Normandy and straight towards the cockpit.

"Comms open for you commander, if you want to say something for the crew go ahead," Joker said.

Shepard nodded his head as he pressed the intercom. As he spoke his voice echoed through the Normandy. Michael was putting his equipment into his locker when he heard Shepard.

"Listen up Normandy, this is your commander speaking. We have our orders, find Saren before he finds the conduit and I refuse to let anything get in the way of that mission."

Chakwas had been working at her post when she heard Shepard's voice. She stopped working to listen to the commander. Kaidan's headache faded slightly as he heard the Commander strengthen the crew's resolve.

"We all know what happened at Eden Prime, we saw the bodies, the destruction, we saw what Saren did. And I plan to make him pay!"

Tali turned to the intercom as she settled into engineering. When she heard Shepard speak of hi species and the part they had to play, she couldn't help but compare it to her people's solitary nature.

"For too long our species has stood apart from the others, now its time for us to step up and do our part for the rest of the galaxy. Time to show them what human's are made of."

His speech reached the ears of the common crew members, the CIC and engineering staff. They all listened as they prepared the ship for launch.

"Saren and his forces will be waiting for us, but we'll be ready for them too."

Garrus, Wrex and Ashley stood at the Normandy's galaxy map. They looked to Shepard with an admiration fitting their commander's reputation. Ashley in particular held a smile on her face.

"This is the most important mission we have ever been on. The fate of an entire galaxy is at stake, we will stop Saren no matter what the cost!"

"Well said Commander the Captain will be proud," Joker said.

Shepard took his hand off the intercom and turned to leave.

"Fancy speeches wont stop Saren, get this bird in the air Joker, our first stop is the Artemis Tau Cluster," Shepard's professional demeanour returned as he walked down CIC.

The crewmembers looked at him with a mixture of respect and intimidation. Shepard was someone to fear, but his speech had quelled their doubts about his qualifications. Ashley saluted the Commander as he walked to her, Wrex and Garrus.

"We're ready to carry out our duties Commander," Ashley said.

"Good, you three will stay in the cargo bay, Ashley you take up your role as gunnery chief at the work bench, use these upgrades I bought at your own discretion," Shepard explained as he handed Ashley the case of upgrades. "Garrus, Wrex, feel free to contribute in whatever way you can, just be ready when I call you two to move out!"

"Thank you Commander, I noticed you don't have anyone watching the Mako, I'll be happy to repair any damages as well as calibrate the targeting matrix for the turret," Garrus said.

"Call me when you need me Shepard," Wrex huffed as he walked away.

Ashley and Garrus gave the commander a final salute before leaving for their posts. Shepard walked to the galaxy map, standing at ease and watching his crewmen work. He would check how the ground team was doing later, but right now he would simply wait for the Normandy to reach its first mission. Michael put his helmet in his locker and ran a finger across the symbol on his shirt. Like Wrex, Tali and Garrus he didn't wear an alliance uniform. Michael understood that he needed to take orders from Shepard, but he never once thought of himself as an alliance soldier. Despite his situation he was still a member of the Avenger Initiative. That meant that until he had a mission his priority was to train. Taking a rifle from the rack, Michael walked to the Normandy's targeting range. He looked down the barrel and straight towards the illuminated target.

'Who you used to be doesn't matter anymore Saren, former Spectre, former hero it doesn't matter. Right now you're a threat to public safety, and we'll be ready to take you down," Michael thought as he pulled the trigger.

The Normandy flew away from the Citadel; ready to finally begin the mission it was made for.

Next Chapter 10: Training and Downtime


Next time will kind of be another filler chapter, we take a look at whats happening on both the Normandy, Camp Hammond and the Project dimension labs, expect a few more revelations into the relationship of Miranda Lawson and Victor Van Damme, as well as Victor's ancestry!