MASS EFFECT

JUSTICE

BOOK ONE

WARDEN

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DISCLAIMER: This story contains DARK HUMOR, INTENTIONALLY EXCESSIVLY DESCRIPTIVE GRAPHIC VIOLENCE, SEXUAL CONTENT, ALCOHOL and DRUG ABUSE CONTENT. It is not intended for immature readers. Though, there's really nothing I can do to stop you. Enjoy.

CHAPTER 10

DISCHARGE

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It's January 29th, 2174 and it's late. I watch Kim's cab fly away. I feel like I succeeded at my date but I have no frame of reference so I'm not positive. At the least, I piqued her interest. Now, I have business to take care of.

I smile to myself and retrieve our glasses. I don't remember her taking a drink of her scotch at all. I empty both of the glasses by downing the remainder in each glass and wash them before returning them to the bar. I head upstairs and shower, slowly this time.

I put on my plate carrier suit, sans underwear because who needs it in this thing? I put on my black BDU pants and blouse them into my black no shine combat boots. I have half the outfit of the Citadel Vigilante on but my armor is back at the Warehouse. Well, most of it. My helmet is always attached to my plate carrier suit, to the silver metallic spine on the back.

I do some stretches to makes sure the clothes sit properly before putting on my shoulder holster. I grab my revolvers and holster them before putting on my jacket, zipping it up all the way to the neck. I look at myself. I don't think this looks very subtle. All black head to toe? Maybe I should try for some variety. Maybe a different jacket? Something less tactical?

I unblouse the pants from my boots. Now I look relatively normal. Relative being the key word there.

I replace my credit chit with one of 5 burner chits I bought at a store and head out. I know the best path to the nearest chute now and it's less than a minute from my apartment building. Luxury and convenience usually don't come hand in hand but for once they do.

I use the chute to travel to the Warehouse. Once I arrive I head straight inside and remove my jacket as I enter.

"Jack." Vaas says, nodding to me as he eats from a can.

I nod back. "How's Turok?"

"Good for somebody who got pretty fucked up a few hours ago." Vaas says. "His krogan healing kicked in about two hours ago, but he'll be out of action for the rest of the week most likely."

I nod and head over to where I keep my armor. Senna sits conveniently close by.

"Hey there." I say as I pick up my torso armor. "You look glum."

"Of course I'm glum!" Senna hisses at me. "No power equals no hacking! Why do you think I've been in such a bad mood?"

"Human females have these things called periods once a month." I say. "I've only known you for a few weeks so I figured that it was about your time."

"What? Yuck!" Senna scowls at me. "Asari do not bleed from our genitals like you malfunctioning humans do. Nor do we become bitter once a month."

"So you're just bitter all the time then?" I ask sarcastically as my armor snaps shut around my torso.

"A sense of humor?" Senna gives me an angry face but appears amused by my jest. "Where are you off to, Vigilante?"

"Damascus Energy." I say pulling on my armored sleeves. "I did some research on them. Turns out that they're working on something called a microfusion battery. It's like a nuclear power plant in something that will fit in the palm of your hand. I plan on taking a couple to power this place."

"What makes you think that's going to work?" Senna asks watching me get ready.

"Well." I start as I begin to put my leg armor on. "According to my research the batteries have half-lives of about 6,000 years and are designed to power shipboard energy weapons for as long as the ships are operational, so I figure they can power a building for the time we're here."

"Ok great but I mean how do expect to break into a corporate research facility alone?" She asks.

"Well, I was going to ask you if you could watch my back." I say straightening and grabbing my belt.

She frowns at me. "I'm no good with a gun. Why not ask Vaasarah?"

"No I mean like hack into the security systems and help me through the building." I say letting my helmet close around my head.

"How-"

"Wait, wait, wait." I say putting my belt around my waist. "This is my favorite part, check this out."

I look at myself in a small mirror next to Senna and clip my belt on. Now that my armor has completely been put on, my armor's system activates. The eerie green indicator lights on my armor activate all at once and make me look fucking awesome. Especially the eyes. I look like a ghost or something.

The spine on my back comes to life, reaching out and attaching to my armor. The plates of my armor all shifts slightly as it's seized by my metallic spine and are manipulated based on my movements. It looks almost as if my muscles ripple, but it's just my armor shifting and settling.

"That is so cool." I say with a small laugh.

I unclip and reclip my belt repeatedly for a few seconds, watching the green lights flash on and off.

"Hey quit doing that!" Vaas shouts at me. "It's not a toy, goddammit!"

I clip my belt together one last time and nod at my reflection as I kneel down to blouse my pants again. "Nice… Anyways what were saying Senna?"

"I was saying, how do you expect me to hack into the systems without any equipment?" She asks.

"That's the fun part!" I say with a big grin, my helmet collapsing away from my face. "I'm going to get you to some top notch equipment!"

"Where?" Senna asks.

"You won't like it when I tell you so you should just come with me." I say.

"No fuck off, tell me." Senna says.

"Under Dommar's Bar, in Escape18's old den." I say with a sigh.

"That's a fucking crime scene thanks to you." Senna says. "You have got to be joking. C-Sec is on my ass! There will be cops there guarding the place."

"Yeah, but it's not going to be monitored on their channels because who would think that you'd be hacking from a place guarded by C-Sec?" I ask.

"How do you plan on getting me inside?" She asks.

"A distraction!" I say with a grin. "I am going to distract them and you will just slip inside."

"This is so fucking risky." Senna says.

"Is that a yes?" I ask with a big smile.

"Ah, fuck you." Senna says getting to her feet, putting on a black leather jacket. "Fuck you!"

"That is a yes!" I say with a laugh. "Let's go!"

##########################################################

Within the hour we arrive at Dommar's Bar. There are two C-Sec officers standing guard, lazily by the door. One is smoking and the other is fiddling with his omni-tool. Based on the fact that there is only one C-Sec vehicle nearby, there must only be these two.

Hopefully, at least.

"This is so stupid." Senna says. "We are going to get caught."

I shake my head. "No we aren't. Just hide behind those trash cans and slip inside once I get them away from the door."

"Goddammit." Senna says, sneaking away.

"Hey take your shoes off." I say as she leaves.

"What? Why?" Senna asks.

"Why would you wear heels to this?" I ask. "They're the worst shoe to be wearing in this situation."

"I like these shoes!" Senna growls. "Just shut up and distract them!"

I roll my eyes and wait for her to sneak off.

I sneak over to the bar, hiding around the corner to the bar. Senna is on the other side, closer to the door. All I have to do is get them to chase me. Easy!

I let my helmet close over my head and walk out from around the corner, looking down the street as if I'm checking to make sure there isn't anybody coming.

I turn to look at the C-Sec officers just as they notice me.

"Hey!" One of them shouts. "Fuck that's the guy everyone's after!"

They both draw their guns and point them at me, facing me. I see Senna sneak behind them into the bar. I bolt off away from the bar, running down the street, not as fast as I can run though.

"Fuck! Go after him, I'll stay here!" I hear one of the C-Sec officers say.

I look over my shoulder and watch as the turian guard starts pursuing me while the batarian one stays next to the door to the bar, more alert than ever now.

The turian sprints after me. Thinking back to when I first found the Warehouse, I remember one of the officers chasing me was a turian and he was fast as all hell. This one is just as fast. Maybe all turians are fast runners? I can see why. His running posture is like that of a raptor, leaning forward a lot, powerful digitigrade legs propelling him forward like some giant chicken.

I start sprinting full on and I hear the turian curse in surprise as I round a corner and sprint off into an alleyway. I keep running making turns but making sure he can see me make the turns. I reach the end of the alleyway but this is where a chute happens to be. I quickly get into it, using the hatch to hold myself in place.

I wait.

I hear his footsteps approaching.

"What?" I hear him say breathless. "Dispatch, come in dispatch. I pursued the suspect about… a klick higher. I saw him make the turn here but… he's gone it's a dead end. Over."

There's a slight pause. "Roger that. I'll hold position until backup arrives at my location. Pinging my locations. Out."

I smile, satisfied with my work. Hopefully, that'll keep the guards busy enough that they don't check the basement of the bar anytime soon.

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In no time at all, I arrive at Damascus Energy. Per Senna's instructions, I have infiltrated via the ventilation ducts. According to the building plans and the project management files she's accessed, the microfusion batteries should be in the project labs below the building itself. These ducts will get me there in the quickest and quietest, albeit in the most uncomfortable manner.

I shimmy forward. These ducts are a very, very tight fight. But thank goodness that I'm not claustrophobic. Using just my toes and my hands I inch myself forward.

"This is taking too long." I grunt, still continuing.

"Well, you won't be going much farther according to these schematics." Senna says. "There will be a very abrupt drop coming up very soon."

"How soon?" I ask, stopping.

"Very." Senna responds.

I sigh out of my nose and continue forward but find that the drop was directly in front of me. My progress is too slow for my weight to carry me down as my hands slip into the abyss, but I am still taken by surprise.

I curse and halt myself.

"Did you fall down the duct?" Senna asks. "Please say that you did."

I sigh out of my nose again in impatient anger. "No I didn't. Sorry to burst your bubble. Could you please take this a little bit more seriously?"

"Sorry." Senna says. "At any rate. Even though you didn't fall surprised, you have to fall down that thing anyways."

I click my tongue and decide that there will never be an easy way to tackle this obstacle so I just push myself forward and lean forwards, letting gravity take me down the air duct. I feel weightless and the air gets pleasantly cool for a moment as I fall down this shaft.

It's a short fall though and I slide back into a duct, this one much roomier than the one I came in with. It's large enough for me to hunch over in but I take a quick break kneeling while I pull up a video comm with Senna.

"Alright, can you show me where I am and what's around me?" I ask.

She nods "Yeah. Here's a quick overlay. You're right here."

A small green blip appears showing me where I am on the overlay.

"The batteries are here." Senna says and a red blip appears relatively close by. "You're going to have to exit the air ducts pretty soon, but on the bright side, you'll be pretty much right on top of the batteries. I'm checking security feeds and the building is quiet. No guards are on that floor right now and I hacked into the security feeds and I'm running a loop through their monitoring systems. You're in the clear, Jack."

I nod. "Good. I'll be quick. Can you give me a general idea of what these batteries will look like?"

"Like this." Senna brings up an image of a big blocky battery, very similar in appearance to a car battery, but a bit smaller.

I nod. "Alright, got it. I'll get a battery or two and get out no problem."

I close the call and continue down the shaft, slowly, moving so my weight doesn't make the ducts make any noise.

"Alright, you're where you need to be. There should be a vent or something nearby." Senna says over my comm.

I spot the vent I need to pull myself out of immediately. Shouldn't be any problem. I pop the vent out and pull myself out and drop down to the ground. I look around. Nobody and nothing in sight. This is going fantastically smooth. I move quickly to the lab indicated by the overlay but the glass door is shut and won't open.

A keypad lights up requesting authorization.

"Senna." I say frowning at the keypad. "I'm at the lab but it's saying I need authorization."

"No problem I can take care of it." Senna says. "Just give me a few seconds… There you go."

The doors open with a quiet whoosh and a chill wafts out.

I nod appreciatively. "You're proving yourself very useful, my beautiful dark rose."

"Enough of the sweet talk, get the batteries and get out. I don't like it here." Senna says.

"Bet you like me calling you dark rose." I say.

"... kind of. Just shut up and finish this please." Senna says.

I roll my eyes and enter the lab. I walk towards the batteries, a total of five all arranged on a table neatly. I detach them from all their bases and start loading them into my back pack. They're each roughly the relative size of a football and weigh at least 15 pounds each but they'll all fit. And despite their size, they each hold a massive power source, capable of powering my Warehouse for many years to come.

"Senna." I say checking the time on my omni-tool. "I have the batteries and I'm beginning my exfiltration now."

"Hang on, there should be a small device that's used to monitor latent energy readings." Senna says. "It should look something like a radar gun, but smaller. Look around for it before you go, it'll help us install it here."

I put my backpack on the ground and start searching for the device. Too easy. I pick it up and examine it before returning to my backpack.

"I've got it Senna." I say. "Heading out."

There's no response.

"Senna?" I ask with a frown.

Worried, I grab my backpack and head towards the exit, but just as I'm about to leave it shuts tight and a metal shutter falls down in front of it, sealing me in.

"Intruder Alert." A VI announces. "Intruder Alert. Intruder Alert. All security personnel, report to your emergency positions. Intruder Alert. All security personnel, report to floor 1 to apprehend the intruder. Intruder Alert."

"Fuck!" I curse looking for a way out, while putting a rudimentary escape plan together in my head.

Wait. Did it say apprehend the intruder on the first floor? I'm on the basement level.

What's going on?

"Senna!" I say, drawing one of my revolvers and dropping my backpack on the ground. "Senna, I'm locked in the lab. I need you to unlock the lab so I can get out… Senna? Where are you?!"

I point my revolver at one of the windows into the lab and fire. The round ricochets right off without leaving a scratch and I'm unlucky enough for the round to rip into my hip.

"Fuck!" I grunt, falling to a knee. My hip is shattered, but it starts healing immediately. Wow, that really hurt. I don't envy the people I shoot with my guns.

I take a deep breath and get back to my feet as I feel my hip popping back into place.

"Intruder Alert. Attention security personnel, report to basement level to apprehend the intruder." The VI announces.

Is there another intruder? Or are they talking about me? I hear the energy reader in my other hand beeping. I look at it with a frown. It's ready a massive energy signature... but it's not coming from my backpack. I point the reader at the wall and slowly rotate following the beeping until it becomes a low pitched warbling. The reader is picking a huge energy signature nearby... and it's moving. I drop the reader into my backpack, draw my other revolver and wait.

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Meanwhile, Senna deals with an ordeal of her own.

"Hang on, there should be a small device that's used to monitor latent energy readings." Senna says. "It should look something like a radar gun, but smaller. Look around for it before you go, it'll help us install it here."

Senna waits, monitoring the security feeds of Jack searching the labs. Something draws her attention away from Jack however. She directs her attention to the lobby camera. At this hour, there isn't even anybody working in there, just a security guard who lazes around behind the main desk, like he has all night.

Except for right now. He's moving to the front door. He opens it and somebody stumbles inside and collapses. The security guard lowers himself to help the person to their feet. The second both are standing however the person appears to punch the guard in the chest. The guard flies at least 15 feet across the floor and crashes into a planter, unconscious or dead.

The figure in the feed is humanoid and is wearing a dark hooded jacket, jeans and gloves, concealing their features. Needless to say, he isn't supposed to be there. He also has a messenger bag strapped over his shoulder. He appears to draw a gun and seek cover as some more guards appear to apprehend him.

Just as that's unfolding, Senna hears the door to the basement open and some footsteps begin to descend the stairs behind her.

"Shit!" Senna curses quietly, throwing herself out of her chair and behind the desk. She quickly yanks out all of the chords powering the computers.

She reaches into her jacket and produces a small caliber handgun and she clutches it tightly.

"I've got it Senna." Jack says into the comm in her ear. "Heading out… Senna?"

Senna doesn't respond, too afraid to talk, even whisper and give away her position as the new comer finishes descending the stairs, along with somebody else.

Senna peers at them through a space in the desk. She can see their legs. One is a turian and the other is a human female or asari.

"What makes you think it's connected?" The human or asari asks. Though, listening to her, she's more than likely human.

"Call it a hunch. My guts tell me there's something here. I mean they've been wrong before, but that was rare." The turian responds. "I just can't think it's a coincidence that an individual with a description similar to the one at the Corner Club hit, and at the docks explosion was also seen here inciting the riot that shut this place down and got Escape18 killed. And I can't think it's a coincidence that the individual of similar description at the docks was wearing a t-shirt with a silver chevron and our Vigilante was sighted here earlier and our Vigilante wears armor with that exact same chevron."

"Senna! Senna, I'm locked in the lab. I need you to unlock the lab so I can get out… Senna? Where are you?" Jack says over her comm. Senna winces as he talks, praying they can't hear it.

"You're right, there's too much to make it a coincidence." The human or asari says. "But, and I'm just playing devil's advocate here, wasn't there somebody of similar description to those 3 men who was also killed before this bar riot? Not to mention that the person who incited the riot at this bar was not wearing a shirt with the silver chevron unlike the hit at the club and the docks. And all those guys were humans, and the Vigilante is a batarian."

"He might be human." The turian says, beginning to look around the area.

"Yeah, might be." The human or asari says. "But you heard all the witnesses from the other night. He's way too big for most humans, and matches the body type common amongst batarian males. Not just that but the Da'Sha he wears is something that can only be earned in batarian culture through hardship so great that only a few have one."

"Personally I think the Da'Sha he wears is to try and trick people into thinking he's a batarian." The turian says. "I think he's human. He conceals his physical appearance from head to toe, but gives people a detail so specific that they can fixate on it. It's an old psychological trick. But I'll bide, what do you think is going on then, partner?"

"I think that there you're connectinh a couple different people as one person based on a few similar details. I think there was a guy who attacked the corner club who also was at the docks the day of the Cartel weapons trade. I think that guy is working for the Dix Ice Gang. Then, I think there's a guy who's unlucky enough to look like the Dix Ice hitman who got killed by the Cartel who then bribed their way into the morgue to recover the corpse because maybe it had some damning evidence on it. And I think there's a guy who either held a grudge against Escape18, or was paid to kill him and accidently incited a bar riot here. Finally, I think there's the Vigilante. 4 different people, Chellick. And have you ever considered the fact that this Vigilante is so intelligent, that he is using a noticeable, very specific detail, the chevron, to trick detectives like us into thinking he's who he wants us to think he is and that he's connected to these crimes that he didn't actually commit so that we get lost trying to make connections that didn't exist in the first place."

There's a length of silence.

"I think, that we should stop trying to create this web that might not exist and focus on the facts and what we know and the evidence we have for the Vigilante so that we can catch him before he kills more people. Chellick, we have so much work to do, they found literally like 20 more people who they believe were killed by the Vigilante based on the MO spread across the fucking Citadel on 3 different wards. Today! In a single fucking day, Chellick! We can't waste our time here, because you have a hunch when we could be examining evidence from the other crime scenes and building the real web." The human continues.

There's another length of silence.

"You're right." The C-Sec detective named Chellick says. "Yeah you're absolutely right. And I wish I could just drop this hunch and go find the facts but I'm not your typical detective, Miss Jordan. I am a fucking great detective. I never have a hunch I can't back up with evidence I have. Facts that I have. Escape18 and numerous other people killed at this bar were killed with a very specifically large caliber handgun. However no handgun matching those ballistics were found. The Cartel guys at the docks were incinerated pretty badly by the explosion, but we were able to determine that they were killed by gunshot wounds and they were big guns, and based on video evidence we can determine that the human assailant was using handguns. Finally we know that our Vigilante uses two large caliber handguns and I lined up the ballistic reports from all three cases and the guns used in all three cases are exact matches on caliber and mass accelerator footprint. Who's following hearsay now?"

"Fuck, Chellick." The C-Sec detective named Jordan says. "You do your homework."

"Fuck yeah I do. Now I figured that maybe Escape18 was doing work for our little riot starter who may or may not be our Vigilante as well. His servers haven't been sorted yet so I figured I'd just come to the source. So I'm going to search his records and see if I can get a list of names that may name our little Vigilante." Chellick says, grunting as he presses buttons to no effect. "If I could get them to work."

"Are they plugged in?" Jordan asks.

Senna feels her heart skip a beat.

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And at this very moment, Jack waits to see what he will be facing: An army of angry guards, an intruder after the same tech Jack is after, or maybe something a bit worse.

I grip my revolvers tightly as I hear muffled gunshots sounds and cries of pain. Then it gets quiet really fast.

My grip tightens even more as I stare out of the window.

I wait, my breath held.

I see somebody run by the window and glance inside before they do a double-take and stop, staring at me.

This isn't a guard.

He's wearing a dark hooded jacket and has a messenger bag. His face is half concealed also by a scarf wrapped around his mouth and nose. In addition to this, he's wearing a dark knit cap. All I can really see are his eyes and some of his skin. His eyes have weirdly bright irises. But they're dull at the same time. Even in the low light though, his eyes glint like pieces of metal.

We stare at each other for a long time.

He glances around, looking at the window before looking at me again, and then looking at the blocked door. Then we just stare each other down for a while. Well isn't this tense.

I watch as he looks up and down the hall and gets close to the glass. He covers his face with his arm as he aims his gun at the window.

"I wouldn't do that." I say.

He pauses and looks at me.

"I tried already." I say. "And my guns are bigger than yours and they couldn't bust through that."

He looks at his gun and then lowers it, staring at me still.

"I'm guessing you're after these?" I ask, holstering a revolver and removing a battery from my backpack.

His eyes widen slightly but he doesn't say anything.

"I'll take that for a yes." I say. "Well, I need them too."

We just stare at each other for a while before he moves towards the door. I lose sight of him but then I hear a loud banging noise. Sounds like he's trying to break his way in.

That's going to take a while.

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...

Senna holds her breath as she watches the turian's legs moving around the desk. Her grip tightens on her gun and she reaches behind her and grasps the wires for the computers. She blindly shoves them into the outlets in the wall, panic overtaking her.

"Oh!" Detective Jordan says. "They're turning on, Chellick."

"Oh, I guess they needed a second to warm up or something." Chellick says, musing to himself. "Let's see what we got here…"

Senna turns around as the turian returns to the front of the desk and finishes plugging in the rest of the chords. She slowly releases the breath she'd been holding, air rattling out of her lungs.

"Hm… It's got an encrypted log in." Chellick mumbles. "I don't have the equipment to get into this."

"Well, it was worth a shot I guess." Jordan says. "I guess we'll just have to wait for the techies to compile the data on the servers. In the meantime, we better get over to one of the crime scenes. I think we should go to the one at the apartment building, it's by far the bloodiest one."

"Yeah." Chellick says. "I can't help the feeling that I'm missing something though."

"Don't think about it so much." Jordan says. "Let's go partner."

"Right." Chellick says shutting off the computers and following his partner up the stairs and out of Senna's sigh.

Once she hears the basement door close, Senna scrambles out from behind the desk and turns the computers back on. She quickly hacks through the log in and is pleased to see all her applications are still open. She quickly hacks into the security system and isolates the lockdown to the first, second and third floors and isolates the labs from those floors, releasing the lockdown on the labs themselves.

With a smile, Senna switches to a camera feed of the labs and stares at Jack, standing in the middle of the lab with his revolvers in hand. But her smile vanishes as she sees the intruder from earlier step into the lab as well.

"I fucked up." Senna mumbles to herself.

##########################################################

…

"Senna you fuck up…" Jack mumbles as the door to the lab slides open and the man in black steps inside.

I point my revolvers at him but don't fire yet.

We stand there in stalemate for a second before he steps forward slowly, raising his hands as he drops his pistol.

I relax slightly. "Listen, there are five batteries here. I don't need them all. I'm sure we can come to an agreement. What do you need them for?"

The man in black doesn't say anything, just takes another step forward with his hands raised. I reaffirm my shooter's stance and raise my revolvers again.

"I'm not your enemy." I say. "We can work this out and both of us can get out without anybody getting hurt."

"I know who you are." The man in black says for the first time. His voice in undoubtedly human, low and firm. "You're that batarian going around killing criminals."

"I kill people who do wrong things. People who deserve to die." I say. "And I don't know yet, but something tells me that you're not a good person."

"Is that a threat?" The man asks. "For your information, I didn't kill anybody to get in here."

"Have you ever killed anybody?" I ask.

"Of course I have." The man responds. "Where I come from, it was as common among people as learning how to walk and talk. It wasn't about good, or evil. It was about survival."

I frown. "Survival is justified… But if you keep getting in my way, I will kill you."

"First off, I'm doing this for survival as well... And I don't think you'd be able to." He says. "I'm not that easy to kill."

"Neither am I." I say, my grip tightening as the tension of the situation builds.

The man makes a move to rush me and I open up on him, my revolvers firing off their complete clips. I know I hit him, but he still rushes me and rams into me, slamming me into the opposite wall. I holster my revolvers and activate my omni-blade, the blade shooting out of the bottom of my fist. I raise the blade up over my head and attempt to stab him through the back and through his heart but he throws himself back just in time. Not quite quickly enough, as the blade cuts his shoulder. He's very strong for somebody that thin. He probably weighs 160 soaking wet. 170 at the most.

The man in black doesn't leave any room for recovery, spinning around to plant a kick in my sternum. I move to the side and catch his leg under my right arm and slash the back of his knee with my omni-blade. He yelps in pain and jumps, spinning around and using his trapped leg to pivot himself through the air as his other leg connects with my head.

The armor takes the pain of the hit but the impact makes me fall over. Fuck that was a solid kick. I shake my head and get to my feet just as he gets to his, blood running down his leg. I rush him and block his knee strike before ramming my shoulder into his stomach. I lift him up off the ground and slam him into the floor. I quickly throw myself on top of him to keep him pinned underneath me with my significant weight. I raise myself up to bring my omni-blade down into his skull but he catches my arms with his, the blade inches from his face.

We struggle for a second, my strength just a fair amount greater than his, the blade inches closer and closer to his face. How is he this strong? I can over power him but only barely. And I can overpower anyone short of a meta with superhuman strength. Then something strange happens. I see him squeeze his eyes shut and a flash of light makes not only my omni-blade, but my armor malfunction. He uses the momentary confusion to throw me off of him before he gets back to his feet.

I get to my feet quickly, my body stiffer from my armor's malfunction. Suddenly I notice my inability to breath. Fuck! My helmet's malfunctioned. I gasp and struggle to remove my helmet manually. I gasp and yank at my helmet's clasps before I realize that removing my helmet by force will kill me thanks to the armor's counter measures. Fuck! There has to be an emergency release.

I struggle and struggle to find it, my vision getting dark. Suddenly something slams into my head with such great force that part of big chunk of my helmet breaks off. And as I fall over to the ground, something catches me by the hole in my helmet and rips it open more with impressive strength.

I gasp as air finally reaches my mouth and nose.

"Hey, you're not batarian. You're a human." The man in black says, a thick pipe in his hand. "Regardless, I can't have you following me. Be grateful that I saved your life, Vigilante."

I look up at him and get to my feet slowly as he brings the pipe back and slams it onto my exposed head. The pipe connects just fine but doesn't really do much thanks to my dense skull. I get knocked to the side a bit but I just look back up at him as I continue to straighten.

"What the…" The man says with a frown. "Why won't you fucking get knocked out?"

"It's not that easy." I say. "You're going to have to try harder than that."

The man frowns. "Alright. You asked for it."

He drops the pipe and removes his gloves. He pulls his hand back and I see that same strange flash of bluish light as he slams his fist into my head. The force is staggering and I feel face break, one of my eyes popping out of its socket.

I fall over to the ground, blood pouring onto the floor, my smashed eye rolling away.

"Oh God." The man says. "Oh fuck, I didn't mean to hit you that hard. I didn't mean to kill you, I didn't… What?"

More blood spills out of my face as I get to my feet once again.

"Why won't you fucking just stop?" The man asks. "You won't die either?"

I crack my neck as it gets stiff and my cheekbone pops back into my place, my unhinged jaw wrenching up painfully to reconnect to my fusing skull. The cuts on my face from the broken bones heal seamlessly and I feel voids in my mouth from where I lost teeth get filled by new ones that grow back in seconds. Then I lean my head back as my new eye fills in where the old one was lost. I clear my throat as the healing finishes.

"No. It's not that easy to kill me either." I say.

"Oh my God." The man says. "You're… I need to come with you."

"The fuck? You're lucky I'm going to let you go. No time to kill you how I want to kill you. Now get out of here before I shoot you in the face." I say retrieving my back pack.

"Please, take me with you." The man says, dropping his hood and lowering the scarf over his face. "I need to talk to you."

"What's there to talk about?" I ask with a shrug. "You're not going to stop me. You can't."

"Please!" The man pleads. He's human clearly, probably of mixed ethnic origin. His eyes are a stormy grey and he has pale skin that compliments a soft yet prominent bone structure and curved nose as well as large pale lips and slender jawline.

"No." I say again. I take a second to remove the bits of my helmet lying around. I leave the blood and the eye. I know they won't be able to do anything with that.

"Wait!" The man shouts grabbing my backpack.

I stop and keep my hold tight, as I draw my revolver again and point it at him. "Back off."

"Watch!" He shouts, opening the backpack and taking a microfusion battery in his hands.

"Put that back!" I shout shooting next to him.

But I frown in confusion as he grunts backing away a few steps as he grips the battery in his hands. Suddenly electricity arcs out of the battery into his hands and up his arms and into the ground and into his torso. He grunts and growls with clenched teeth as electricity courses into his body. Suddenly he opens his eyes and I see they're glowing bright blue. I notice his very pale greyish skin take on more color and he drops the battery, panting, smoke wafting off of his body.

"What the fuck?" I frown at him.

"We come from the same place, you and I." He says, his eyes now a vibrant electric blue, and slightly luminescent.

"What?" I ask.

But we're interrupted as I hear noises, voices and shouts of alarm.

"C-Sec!" Somebody shouts. "Give yourselves up!"

I curse and look at the man. "Come on, we have to go."

He nods and puts his hood back up but gives me his scarf. "For your face."

I nod and wrap it around my whole head, covering everything but my eyes as I put the battery the man took back into the backpack and pick the backpack up again. I draw my revolvers and exit the lab running back to the air duct I came in with.

I leap up and grab the duct and pull myself in, and even though it's quite a considerable leap, the man manages to do so as well.

I pause for a second and pull my communicator out of the remnant of my helmet. "Senna? Are you there?"

"Yeah, I just got back on." Senna says. "What's going on?"

I look at the man. "I made a new friend I guess."

"The guy in black? Can you trust him?" Senna asks.

I shrug. "I don't know but I guess I'll find out. How am I getting out of here?"

"Take the ventilation duct in the opposite direction from the way you came and it'll lead out into an alleyway. If you head higher you can follow the alleyways to a chute back to the Warehouse. Can you make it from here? I need to get out of here. There were some detectives here, which is why I disappeared for a bit there." Senna explains.

I nod. "Yeah, go ahead and go. I can make it from here."

"Good luck, Jack. I'll see you at the Warehouse." Senna says.

"Wait, wait!" I exclaim. "What do you mean by, 'head higher?'"

"Like as in, head towards the Upper Ward? It's like, cardinal directions, you know? Like go higher to get to the Upper Wards, and go lower to get to the Lower Ward?" Senna explains.

"Ooooooh!" I say with a slow nod. "Makes total sense. Anyway, go ahead and go, I'll see you back."

"Got it." Senna says.

I look at the man. "Follow me."

He nods, and I can tell he nods because his eyes glow dully in the darkness. We head in the direction that Senna indicated until we both find a large vent that leads into the alleyway. I kick it open and poke my head out, looking around for anybody that might see us. Nobody in sight and I hop out into the alley. I lead the man deeper into the alley and break out into a slow run in the direction we have to go. Eventually, we get to the chute, without hindrance.

I open it for the man and look at him. "Get in."

"Where does it go?" He asks.

"Somewhere safe." I say. "Go, I'll be right behind you."

He looks reluctant but hops inside and I follow close behind, shutting the door behind me.

I listen to his shout in alarm at every turn in the chute. It's humorous, to say the least. At the other end I find him seated on the lift, looking disoriented. I lower the lift and laugh, removing his scarf and handing it back to him.

"Thanks." I say.

He shrugs. We hop off the lift and enter the Warehouse.

"Senna?" I call.

She rounds a corner and looks at me. "I'm here."

I nod. "Good, I was worried you may have been caught."

She shakes her head. "The guard saw me leaving but I played it off like I was a hooker looking for cheap booze."

"Nice." I say with a nod and a smile.

She shrugs and taps me on the arm. "I've learned from the best." She frowns as the man enters the Warehouse. "Who is this?"

"He's… I actually don't know his name." I say.

"So you brought a potentially crazy person here?" She asks.

I shrug. "I'm in no position to judge. I was curious about him, sue me."

The man approaches. "I'm glad you trusted me enough to take me with you, Vigilante."

"It's not about trust. More like curiosity, like I said." I look at Senna then back at the man. "And my name's Jack."

I start walking to my little table, dropping the backpack full of batteries next to it.

"Vaas!" I shout. "Get over here!"

He comes to me, and frowns. "What the fuck did you do to my armor?"

"Damn thing shorted out." I say. "I couldn't breathe and my helmet wouldn't come off. This guy smashed it off of my head."

"Here, let me get my tools." Vaas says walking off.

"Anyways." I say looking at the man. "Who are you?"

"My name is Desmond. Desmond Pierce." He says. "And I think we're alike, you and I."

"You said that earlier." I say as Vaas returns to remove what remains of my helmet. "What did you mean?"

"I mean…" Desmond sighs. "I'm a meta-human. And I'm not from here."

I frown at him. "You're a what?"

Desmond nods. "A meta-human. You're one too right?"

"Yes." I say frowning at him still. "Ok, I want you to explain to me how you came to the Citadel and I don't want you to lie. I want the truth."

"Ok." Desmond says. "I was travelling from Atlanta, Georgia towards the Great Lakes while looking for a better place to stay because food was getting scarce. The year was 2283. It was late evening. There was this flash of bluish white light and I woke up here on the Citadel, approximately 100 years prior. But there was no such thing as the Citadel from what I remember. I did research and found out that I was in some kind of alternate timeline. I've only been here for about month now. I think I got here on January 4th."

"That makes sense." I say. "The same happened to me. I was in San Diego, California. 2283. I was hiding out in a bunker and then there was the light. I ended up on the Aroch Ward on January 4th as well."

I lied.

Desmond smiles. "I thought I was the only one."

"If you're here then there must be more meta-humans here too." I say with a frown. "There might be many."

Desmond nods. "Yeah there might be. We should try to find them."

I shake my head. "And accomplish what? If they're smart they'll stay hidden for now, try to blend in as best they can. What have you been doing for the last month?"

"Just that." Desmond says. "I've been laying low. Trying the local food. I made money by selling some of the things I had with me when I came but that's dried up. And because of my powers, I need to not only eat food to survive but I also need to absorb energy in order to not only use my powers but to also like… live."

"What are your powers?" I ask, waving Vaas away as he finishes removing my helmet. I set about removing my armor.

"What's all this about powers?" Vaas asks. "What the fuck is going on?"

"I'll explain later." I say. "Go away."

He glares at me but leaves.

"Your powers?" I ask looking at Desmond.

"I'm a Beta class meta-human." Desmond says. "I need to absorb energy, primarily electricity to survive. But once it's inside me, I can expel it at will. With a good amount of energy, I can fire bolts of lethal lightning. I can also use electricity to manipulate magnetics to an extent and adhere myself to metal surfaces and propel myself towards or away from metal objects and I have some telemagnetic abilities. But the lightning is most useful. When I have energy in my system, I heal extremely fast, I'm really strong for my size and I don't get tired until that energy is used up. And if I'm sparing with my abilities, I can last up to a month without draining anything. I can sense where objects of great electrical current are. Those batteries are some of the brightest things around, and I could drain those without compromising any of the electrical systems in the area. Not only that, but those things are practically endless sources of power for me. I can drain them without ever depleting their power output."

"Interesting." I say with a nod. "Electricity powers, eh?"

He nods. "Yeah. What about you?"

"Nothing quite as versatile." I say. "I don't know where I fall in on the class scale, but I'd call myself an Epsilon class meta-human. I have incredibly dense bones, muscles and skin, making me resilient to most forms of harm. I heal about as quickly as I get injured and as a result, my muscles never atrophy so I'm at a physical peak. In addition, I can't really be harmed by normal means. You'd really have to just eviscerate or mutilate me to actually kill me. Or blast my head apart. And on top of all that, I can't really die."

"What do you mean you can't die?" Desmond asks.

"Well, I do die, I just come back to life after 8 hours." I say with a shrug. "I age, if you're curious, but whenever I die, my body regenerates and rolls back the clock for me. Once, I died of old age and came back in the body of a 23 year old man."

"That's incredible!" Desmond exclaims. "That's… How old are you?"

"23 to everyone. But in reality..." I think for a second. "239 years old."

Desmond blinks. "No shit. You're immortal then?"

I shrug. "So far."

"Sounds to me like you're more of an Alpha class meta-human." Desmond says.

"I can't like, destroy the planet." I say, rolling my eyes. "I can just survive a planet getting destroyed."

"What'd they call you?" Desmond asks. "Humans loved to name us. What'd they call you?"

I frown at him and don't answer for a second. "I've had many names over the years. Prometheus was my personal favorite."

"Appropriate." Desmond grins. "They called me Discharge."

"Discharge." I say with a frown. "That's almost better than your actual name."

"Ouch." Discharge says with a small laugh. "So what's going to happen now?"

I shrug. "I'm not sure. These people here, they're in danger and I'm keeping them safe. They don't know much about my powers or my past, but I guess you being here will help. You can stay here if you want to, but you don't necessarily need protection so you don't need to stay if you don't want to. It might actually be helpful for you to be here, seeing as how you're the only other person other than myself that can come and go as they please. But I'm warning you. You know more than most people around me do. If you let any information out whatsoever, I will come and kill you, no matter how many attempts I have to make."

"That's slightly terrifying." Discharge says. "To think that no matter how many times I kill you, you can always come back to finish the job. I don't want to be on your bad side Prometheus."

I nod to him. "Come with me so I can talk to the people that live here."

##########################################################

I gather the audience. Vaas, Senna, Draco and Turok and with the help of Discharge, we tell them where we are from and what we can do. We tell them about how these impossibilities came to be and how they can bring great suffering as much as great prosperity.

The story rounds out to a close and the floor is open for questions now. They know everything and we performed several demonstrations to prove to them that meta-humans do exist.

"Who knows about this?" Vaas asks after a stretch of silence. "Just us?"

"To our knowledge." Discharge says. "From what I can tell by watching the news, meta-humans are staying hidden, like we always have. In the wastes, even after the Great War, humans and meta-humans never got along and humans always outnumbered us. We were always hunted. I don't know if Jack and I are the only two meta-humans who jumped the timeline, but if we aren't the others are staying hidden well."

"What about the powers?" Senna asks. "Like what can meta-humans do most of the time?"

"It always varies, person to person." I say. "Sometimes there are two people, usually family, who have powers that are very similar, but just like a soul or a fingerprint, no two are quite exactly the same. In the earliest days, when meta-humans were first beginning to be studied, they were categorized by the strength of their ability or the effect that it has on them. Alpha, Beta, Epsilon, Gamma and Omegas. Omegas are the least powerful and their genome creates obvious physical changes, marking them as meta-humans all the time, without any real usefulness to their powers. Like having a beak or something. They are usually killed off immediately. Gammas are one step up. Their appearance is altered by their genes, but to some extent their physical form offers them useful abilities. Like having incredible running speed for having animal-like legs, flight because of wings or incredible strength because of your ape-like body. They sometimes last longer than Omegas, but again are usually killed shortly after birth. Epsilons are somewhere in the middle. They have powers that are useful, that may or may not change their physical appearance, and if so, not much. But they may or may not be in control of their powers. I think I am an Epsilon class meta-human, but arguably I may be a Beta. Betas have very useful powers that do not alter their physical appearance, and they may or may not have control over them either. Then there are the rarest meta-humans, the Alphas. Their powers are world changing in potential. I've met a few over my years. I met a child who held power over life and death. He was killed when he was very young. I knew a man who held power over plant life and could grow an entire forest in mere hours. He was killed as well. I knew someone who had power over the very earth itself, able to shape it to his will. He was killed too. Alphas, may be the most powerful but they are also the most feared. An intelligent Alpha keeps his or her potential hidden away, lest he be hunted to the ends of the Earth."

"I am a Beta meta-human." Discharge says. "I have pretty useful powers that I can control, but I rely on them to live, and in addition, I can't change the world with my powers. Jack here on the other hand is arguably an Alpha. He is potentially immortal, from what I can tell. And he's the only person I've known with powers like that. I've known fast healers, but nobody could cheat death until you."

I shrug. "Natural talent. At any rate, I think I'm more of an Epsilon, a Beta at best."

"This is too confusing." Senna says with a shake of her head. "So there are some meta-humans that can like… move mountains with their minds and some just are born like, purple?"

I nod. "Pretty much. And it's different for everyone. Both of my parents could have been Alphas who could move mountains or travel time, but I might be born... purple for lack of an example."

"That seems unfair." Draco comments.

"So does Type 1 Diabetes." I say. "Some things are just beyond your control. Discharge, I've been meaning to ask you about your parents."

"My father was a meta-human. My mother was human." Discharge says. "My father was called the Engine, he could run at locomotive speeds and almost never fatigued. He was also crazy strong."

"That's pretty cool." I say with a small laugh. "My mother was a meta and my father was normal. My mother had foresight, but only 14 seconds into the future."

"14 seconds can save your life." Discharge says with a shrug.

"Not if you die of influenza." I say frowning at him.

"I'm… Sorry." He says looking embarrassed.

"Happened 236 years ago." I say. "I'm over it."

"I still can't believe you're 239 years old." Senna says with a shake of her head. "I'm not even 239 yet…"

I shrug. "It's not a contest."

"It's really all we asari have got on you humans! Lifespan!" She exclaims. "I mean look at you people! Your skin tones range like across an entire spectrum, you're all so different from one another, you come in all shapes and sizes and you have hair that you can style to your whims! What do we have? These weird floppy things on our heads? Oh and now you have super powers!"

I choose to ignore her weird baseless moping. "Humans don't have super powers. Meta-humans do. There's a difference."

"You guys have to go public with this!" Draco says. "Imagine all the comic nerds who'll have wet dreams over this! I mean, you guys have fucking SUPER POWERS! Jack you're like the Wolverine without claws and facial hair and like 15 times as crazy and Discharge you're like Electro from the Amazing and Superior Spiderman serieses except he was a bad guy and you seem nice. Unlike that fucker next to you."

"Fuck off." I growl at him. "And we're not going public with all this. We're just two people who happen to have super human powers. And we're trying to lay low."

"Well, I am." Discharge says. "You on the other hand are running around at night fighting crime."

"Yeah! You're like Batman but with super powers and you kill people!" Draco says with a laugh. "That's almost better! Batman, meets the Wolverine, meets Daredevil, meets the Punisher!"

"Who are these people you keep referencing?" Discharge asks.

"Turok, you've been pretty quiet this whole time." I comment, looking at him.

He grunts. "Yeah. I've been drifting in and out but I got the picture. You guys can kill better than the average human."

"Got to say, I'm still not used to this whole alien thing." Discharge mumbles to me. "I mean, he looks like a huge… frog or something."

"Thank you!" I say with a laugh. "I thought the exact thing the first time I saw one."

Another meta-human is here with me… I wonder if there are any others that made it too?

A message from the Author:

I apologize sincerely for the inconsistent updates. Finals had me all over the place, and now working full time is just as strenuous. I'll keep updating, but I'm only human and I'm forgetful. Thanks for reading and reviewing. You all have said kind things about the story so far. But the plot is unfolding now.

Once again, thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.