Mass Effect: Massive Shock

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Mass Effect or the BioShock franchises or any characters or property that BioWare or Irrational Games has staked claim upon. However I do own copies of the games Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 and BioShock and BioShock Original Characters I come up with are MINE to use and distribute.

"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life."

~Confucius~

Ch. 36: Enter a New Stage

3:15 PM January 3, 2183

I duck under the biotic attack thrown by one of the hitman.

Quite a pickle I'm in now. Another odd job offer and it turns out to be another assassination attempt. Great. I did background checks, scoped out the mission site beforehand, and I even sent Jada to tail my employer. Everything checked out. And yet? Another assassination attempt. Not just any assassination attempt either. They sent three skilled biotic assassins to do us in.

I press my back against the low metal wall, Jada next to me.

"These guys are quick!" She exclaims at me, her voice slightly excited by the action.

Recalling the Spider Splicers, Houdini Splicers, and Geth Hoppers, I shrug. "I've seen faster."

She rises to a stand out of cover to fire her shotgun but is almost immediately blasted by a trifecta of biotic Throws.

Jada's shotgun flies out of her hands and she herself flies backwards into a wall leaving an extremely sizable dent. She lays unmoving on the ground for a short second before stirring slightly. She's probably unconscious or something though I knew something like that wouldn't kill her.

I glance over at Zero who's pinned down by heavy biotic attacks.

I can't get out of cover, these guys are good. I have to stay behind cover and still take them out… I know!

I take my Gun Mounted Camera attachment from my belt and stick it on my rifle. I put it in a blind fire position over my cover and switch to Gun View.

My Detective Mode lenses snap down and blacken my vision momentarily. After a short second my vision restores but instead of showing me a perspective from my field of vision, I'm looking through the GMC attachment. First time I've used this… it's a little weird and it'll take some getting used to.

I use the laser sight to aim at a target one of the three black and green armored assassins who are still attacking us with biotic attacks. I turn my gun to point the laser at him but the sudden movement makes me very dizzy and nauseated. Okay… slowly.

I slowly rotate my gun until the laser is on the hitman, who is oblivious to it because his focus is on Zero.

I fire the gun slowly three times at the hitman. Each shot blinds me for a split second. The first shot is absorbed by his shield, the second breaks the shield but blocked by a barrier, the third eradicates the biotic barrier.

I angle the gun slightly so it points at his head. Say goodbye. I fire it and the Anti-Armor round pierces his helmet and ricochets off the wall behind him to some unknown position.

The other two assassins are taken by surprise, letting up on their attacks momentarily. I quickly switch off Gun View, my lenses disappearing back into my helmet. The sudden change in perspective makes me dizzy again but I push past it, dropping my assault rifle and drawing my shotgun.

I shoulder it and blast one assassin away while the other is taken down by a subsequent blast from Zero.

I vault over the cover and point at Jada as I walk. Zero nods and rushes over to her to make sure she's okay.

I kneel next to one of the assassins. A small spiral dragon insignia adorns his armor shoulder. Crappy armor, poor shielding, low caliber weapons. They're amateurs so I'd say these guys are the only ones in their group. They were worthy adversaries though, all biotic and all possessing lightning quick reflexes. Not quick enough obviously.

"Splicer!" I hear Zero shout behind me. I straighten and look at him. He's kneeling next to Jada with her helmet off. "She's not breathing!"

Oh shit!

I run over to them, pulling my helmet off as I run and tossing it to the side. I slide onto my knees next to her and take her head from Zero. I place my ear near her slightly open mouth and listen… Nothing. No!

I pop the clasps on her chest plate and remove it. I place my ear against her chest and listen… Fuck!

I tilt her head back, opening her airways. I take a deep breath and fill her lungs with oxygen. I keep an eye on her chest to make sure the air is getting there. No obstruction. She didn't choke.

I straighten quickly and start performing chest compressions, slightly faster than one per second. I stop at thirty and give her mouth to mouth again. What's wrong with her? Her heart just stopped?

I press my ear against her chest again, listening. I close my eyes and wait… She's got a pulse! Just super slow!

"I need to get her heart beating faster." I say quickly to Zero.

"She's still alive?" He asks sounding relieved.

I shake my head. "Barely and not for long. Quick think of something!"

"Uh. Um uh." He panics slightly pacing back and forth. "Try kissing her! I know that'd get my heart pumping."

I roll my eyes. "I just did mouth to mouth. I might as well have been kissing her. Besides she's unconscious, she wouldn't know if I was doing it or not."

"Uh, uh… Do you have a defibrillator?" He asks suddenly.

"No I don't…" Wait a minute. I look at my hands. I'm a human defibrillator! I know I shouldn't take ideas from iNfamous, but I'm out of options! Pulse heal time!

I zip down her jumpsuit to her belly button, keeping it covering her out of respect. I take a deep breath and activate Electro Bolt… Okay… Let's see if this works.

I place my hands on her chest, one hand near her right shoulder and the other underneath her left breast, and give her a quick low voltage charge.

She jerks but remains inert… Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck! I give her another shock, this one slightly higher in voltage… Still nothing.

"Dammit!" I curse. I lean over and listen to her heart beat. This time it isn't beating.

I rotate my head and press my forehead against her chest in anger. How the fuck did this kill her! I've seen her take sledgehammers to the skull and not die.

I wrap my arm around her head, the other wrapping around her back. I press her head into my chest and sob. Shit… Mother fuckers got one of us. Are you happy?! You bastards?!

Something suddenly unprecedented happens. Jada takes a sudden intake of breath.

I jolt back from her in shock, still cradling her. "Jada! You're okay!"

She stares at me in confusion. "What happened?"

"You're heart stopped." I say bluntly, knowing she can take it. "I don't know how but you were dead and now you're not!"

"I think I have a theory." Zero says sounding somewhat confused. "First off how you died, Jada. Biotics manipulate Dark Energy produced by electrical signals to Eezo in their spinal columns. And as we all know, Eezo and Dark Energy are extremely toxic and deadly. The combined attacks from all three assassins was enough Dark Energy to invade your nervous system and cut off electrical signals to your brain causing your heart to stop and for you to stop breathing. This is actually common in victims of attacks from asari matriarchs and such. After you died, Splicer held you and he started glowing. I can't explain that but somehow that cleared the Dark Energy from your body letting your brain work with your nervous system again."

Oh! I understand! "That glowing was a plasmid. It's called Rescue. It can be triggered by intense emotion."

"What does it do?" Zero asks me.

"It cleanses your nervous system of foreign contaminants." I say simply. That's pretty much what it does in a nutshell. For Little Sisters, whose internal ADAM Slug has formed a symbiotic bond with their nervous and digestive systems, Rescue invades their nervous system and severs the Slug's bond to her nervous system, killing it instantly and eradicating it from her system in a very gentle process. Only someone like Tenenbaum could've come up with something like that. Well now Rescue isn't totally useless, I suppose. Now I can clean people's nervous systems of Dark Energy from powerful biotic attacks.

"There you go." Zero says. "Your nervous system was pumped full of toxic amounts of Dark Energy, resulting in death. But Splicer's coincidental intervention cleansed your nervous system of contaminates. For what it's worth, Splicer, I would've mentioned this stuff earlier if I had realized it."

I smile at him and look at Jada who still looks rather confused. She looks at me and smiles wide suddenly.

"Intense emotion? Do you care about little ol' me?" She asks sounding flattered, mock punching my jaw.

I drop her unceremoniously, standing quickly. "Don't flatter yourself. I'm still emotionally challenged from my breakup."

She rolls her eyes and gets to her feet with Zero's help. "Keep telling yourself that if you want. I'll go with my explanation thank you very much."

Suddenly she looks down at her open jumpsuit. "When did that happen? Ouch! Why do I have burns on my chest?"

Suddenly embarrassed I turn away slightly scratching the back of my head. "I may have tried to defibrillate you a few times…"

Jada chuckles and zips up her jumpsuit. "Sure. I'll bet you were just taking it as an excuse to see me with my shirt off."

I feel my face heat up, not from embarrassment but from the activation of Incinerate. She jumps and raises her hands. "Okay, chill! I was just kidding!"

I roll my eyes, deactivating Incinerate as I do. I retrieve my helmet and guns while the others retrieve their things.

"Who were these guys?" Zero asks, walking up to the one dead merc who isn't blow to pieces.

I shrug. "Random assassins sent to kill me?"

"You mean kill us?" Jada asks sardonically.

Zero shrugs. "Well… I appreciated that you've been taking more missions recently on my behalf but I think we really should have some sort of screening process."

"Or maybe we should actually ask what the job entails." Jada suggests sarcastically.

"We did our homework for this one." I shrug. "Besides, I like the unpredictability of life."

I mean why wouldn't I? Come Mass Effect 1, I'll know exactly what'll be happening. I better milk these new experiences for all their worth. Jeez… two months into 2183 and ME1 hasn't started yet. I wonder when it will. I'll sure know about it when it happens I mean the Eden Prime attack is going to be big news.

We exit the storage facility and walk out onto the street. Odd… There sure aren't many people around.

I shrug and start heading home. I bid my teammates farewell as they head back to their respective homes. As I walk I pass a Galactic News terminal. I touch it as I walk by, turning it on and starting a news report, with no intention of stopping to listen to it. I always do that whenever I see them, I don't know why. Habit from ME2, perhaps?

I stop dead in my tracks when I hear two particular words from the terminal: Eden and Prime.

I rush back to it and lean in close to capture every word.

"…an attack from an enemy, for now unknown. But experts speculate that the human colony was attacked by raiders or bandits from the Terminus Systems, as is common in colonies in the Attican Traverse. The System's Alliance has called for a public audience with the Council to discuss this issue and for now the System's Alliance representatives and the Council are not issuing statements on the issue. A rumor has spread that the attack involves geth, but no particular attacker has of yet been identified. The Eden Prime attack was absolutely devastating, however, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands and tens of billions of dollars in damage to the colony. The audience is scheduled for later this evening and is open to the public."

It's started already! The Council audience is later today! That means Shepard is already on the fucking Citadel! Holy shit!

I break out into a run toward my apartment. I run into my building, up the stairs and into my apartment in a flash, everyone I pass become a faded blur as I run. Nobody's in my apartment, surprisingly.

I rush into the backroom and to my terminal. I've been thinking long and hard on how I would get into the events of ME1, and since I'm the Shadow Broker's go to guy, I would've figured he'd ask me to kill Fist. And if that happens, I'll have to either turn over the job to Wrex or request to work with Wrex on it. The latter I'd prefer.

I check the messages. Nothing new. My heart sinks. So does that mean I'm out?

I sigh in disappointment and walk into my bedroom. I remove my armor quickly, leaving it on the floor with my jumpsuit and walk into the bathroom for a quick shower.

Turns out it wasn't so quick. I've been showering for a while. Since I got to the Citadel taking long showers is my way of thinking. It's the closest thing I can get to walking in the rain.

Mass Effect 1 has started and is well into its story line. It's not too late for me to get in, the first meeting is later. But what can I do to get Shepard to recruit me before the day is over?

Garrus is no problem. Wrex is probably already after Fist. Tali is probably already ready for her "meeting" with Fist. How will I get in then?

"Excuse me, sir." Cloves says, his voice echoing in my bathroom. "But there is an unidentified somebody at the door."

"Probably someone looking for an autograph." I say tiredly. "Could you ask them what they want, please?"

"Of course, sir." Cloves responds.

"Thank you."

I shut off the shower and walk into my room discarding my towel as I go. I walk into my closet and select a pair of boxers and loose khaki cargo shorts. I toss them on my bed and I'm in the middle of picking a t-shirt when Cloves speaks up again.

"Sir, the person has explained that she would like to request help from you, and that she will only speak to you in person." Cloves says.

Normally I would but I learned today the dangers of letting people explain a mission to me in person. Usually it results in a pistol to the face or a knee to the groin. Neither of which work well against me. Quick reflexes, boxing, and a codpiece see to that.

"Cloves, can you ask the person to leave any weapons outside, please?" I ask him as I pull on my boxers and shorts and walk into the main room.

That run earlier got me thirsty. I walk into the kitchen and to my fridge. A rapid series of knocks at my door makes me jump with my hand on the handle.

"I apologize, sir, but she has refused to relinquish her weapons and will no longer speak with me. If I had to make an assumption it must be rather urgent." Cloves says to me as I decide whether to drink Topari or Orange soda.

I grab a can of Topari and take a few sips of it. Urgent eh?

"Hello?" Whoever was knocking asks from outside. "Please let me in! I need your help!"

I frown… That voice sounds very, very familiar… Is that…? No…

I walk over to the wall panel and open the live feed from outside to see who's at the door. I then accidentally cover the screen with Topari that I literally spit from my mouth in surprise.

That's Tali'Zorah nar fucking Rayya! Why the fuck is she here?!

I take a deep breath and compose myself. I'm about to meet Tali. Oh my God oh my God!

I shake off the jitters and take a few more deep breaths. Doesn't work. I spasm in excitement again and dance about the small entryway.

A rapid knocking at the door makes me jump in surprise. Who could that be? Oh yeah. Calm down. Just see what she wants, Rob.

I press the button on the wall panel to open the door and Tali quickly rushes in, pistol pointed square at my face, and shuts the door behind her.

"Whoa!" I exclaim backing away, tossing my Topari away accidently. "What the hell?!"

"Are you Splicer?!" She demands from me, her voice firm but slightly afraid.

I nod. "Yeah just put the gun away!"

"Do you work for Saren?!" She exclaims, keeping the gun pointed at me. "If you lie, you're dead!"

Frustrated, I roll my eyes and disarm her of the pistol by turning it around and pulling it from her grasp. That was easier against someone with less than 5 digits. I toss it on the couch. "Just calm down. I don't even know who the hell Saren is. I'm freelance. I don't work for anyone."

Tali… TALI… Oh shit this is really happening! Tali looks at me suspiciously. "How can I trust you?"

"Uh…" I think carefully. If memory and iPod can be trusted, then she's injured and on the run. Likely afraid. I have to give her a real reason to trust me. I look around… uh… "Okay. I am clearly unarmed." I gesture to myself. "You can have all the guns. I do anything, you don't like. You can shoot me." I use Telekinesis to pull her pistol back into my hand. I hold it out to her.

"You're biotic?" She asks snatching the pistol from me.

I don't have time for lengthy explanations nor does she so… "Sure. Please, have a seat."

I gesture to my couch. She reluctantly takes a seat, the pistol still in her hand and pointed lazily at me.

I take a seat in one of the armchairs nearby. "To set you at ease, I don't work for anybody. I go at my own pace. Currently I'm not affiliated with any major PMCs, businesses, or organizations. And I've never heard of Saren." Total lie. "How can I help you, miss…?"

"Tali'Zora nar Rayya." She responds curtly. Still doesn't trust me. Why would she? "You are connected to the Shadow Broker, are you not?"

I frown. "I've done work for him. Who told you that?"

"You don't need to know that." She responds harshly. Yeesh. "All you need to know is that I need to meet the Shadow Broker. I want to trade important information for protection. I got into contact with him and he's sending me to an agent of his, Fist, who'll set up the meeting between me and the Shadow Broker. I don't trust him."

"And you shouldn't." I respond with an approving nod. "The Shadow Broker can't be trusted. Neither can Fist."

"What makes you say that?" She asks suspiciously.

"Uh…" Say something witty! Don't let off that you know exactly how things will turn out more or less! "Why would you trust anybody with a body part for a name? Fist, foot, tongue, etc."

She chuckles. "Good point. But how can I trust you?"

"You haven't been on the Citadel long, you aren't tied to this place, and it's natural for you to not trust me. Though everyone who knows me, and has hired me, knows that my trust can be bought." I have absolutely no intention of taking any money from her. But I have to keep up this shell, or I'll look like a weirdo who somehow knows everything.

She shakes her head. "I can't pay you. What I need from you is a guarantee that you'll be my protection when I trade this information. The Shadow Broker will pay you."

I frown. "So you're asking me to be your protector, after you trade this information for protection."

"Exactly." She says nodding. "But I need your protection now. Saren is after me as well. You said your trust can be bought but I can't pay you now."

I frown further. "But you don't trust Fist or the Shadow Broker, so you want me to come with you to the meeting. For free."

"You're smarter than you look." She says. That supposed to be a compliment? People have said that before… Do I look stupid or something? Well of course I do, my hair isn't done yet so it probably looks stupid.

I run a hand through my damp hair pushing it back. I better put something in it soon or it'll get all frizzy. Then I'll look awful. "Tali… I can call you that right?"

"Maybe. Will you help me?" She asks hopefully.

"Maybe." I respond quickly. I then smile. I'm a good actor. I should try out for a play. "Whatever it is you've gotten yourself into it seems big… Sounds exciting… I'll help you on one condition."

"Name it." She responds quickly.

I smile. "You buy my trust with yours. If I help you, you tell me who sent you here and you show me the information."

She pauses eying me. "How do I know you won't kill the person who sent me here and kill me once you've seen the information?"

I smile, trying to reassure her. "First off, I'm still unarmed, and you have a gun pointed at me. If you show me the information right here then I'll work with you. And I need to know who sent you because I have a lot of enemies and they want to see me dead. It's a precaution to make sure this isn't some trap. You're not the only one afraid for their life."

Tali ponders this thought for a long time finally she nods. "Okay. I was sent by Dr. Chloe Michel. She knows your friend who knows you."

Nata. Nata used to go to Dr. Michel a lot. Damn. Dr. Michel has got connections. I nod. "Thanks. Don't worry, she's not an enemy. She's a friend and I'd never hurt her. Though I don't think I've ever met her. Shame. Anyways the information."

She nods and opens her omni-tool. "I found this on a geth I tracked and disabled. It's an audio file. Listen."

She plays it.

"Eden Prime was a major victory. The Beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit." I hear the pleased voice of Saren say.

"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Matriarch Benezia adds.

The playback ends.

"The first voice was Saren." Tali explains. "It proves he was involved in the Eden Prime attack."

I nod. "I see. But what makes him so important?"

"He's a Spectre." She says simply. Thank goodness she didn't go on with some huge explanation. I'd have hated that. I already know all of this. Though my memory of everything is very fuzzy. My iPod has only given me general information so little things are hard to remember.

"That is big then." I mutter. "What about the second voice, the woman's. Do you know who she was?"

Tali shakes her head. "No. I don't know it."

"Well what about all this about Beacons, Conduits and Reapers?" I ask dreading a long response. "What's with all the cryptic names? Cloak and Dagger phrases maybe?"

She shrugs. "Your guess is as good as mine. Though the Beacon is what they found on Eden Prime, only further implicating Saren's involvement in the attack."

I nod. "When's your meeting with Fist?"

"4 hours." Tali responds after checking her omni-tool.

I nod. "Okay, I'm going to get suited up. I have a quarian friend who comes here often, there's some top quality food paste in the fridge. Please help yourself, you must be starving. Don't run off now, remember I did agree to help and you have my word."

She nods reluctantly. "I won't… though… You mind if I'm in the room while you armor up? I don't fully trust you yet, I'm afraid you might try to contact somebody."

I frown and look down at myself. "I will be getting naked. You want to see me getting naked?"

Tali jumps slightly, her pistol forgotten on the seat next to her I don't know how long ago. "K-Keelah! N-no! That's not what I meant! I meant that I don't trust you! I mean-"

"Calm down." I say standing. "I won't try anything."

I walk over to my bedroom and grab my omni-tool I place it on the coffee table in front of her. I walk to the back room and disconnect my terminal from the wall. I carry it out and place it in front of her as well. "There that's all the stuff I could use to contact somebody. Please eat something. If you want you can come watch me change. Dinner and a show."

She chuckles, mood slightly lightened.

I walk to the back room. "I'll leave the door open so you can hear me."

I walk inside and grab a fresh under armor suit. I strip down and pull it on.

I start attaching my armor pieces to my body piece by piece until my helmet is all that remains. I walk over to my weapons rack and attach my weapons to my back along with EVE for my pauldron. I walk out to the main room and smile.

Tali is asleep on the couch, several empty food paste tubes lying on the coffee table. I clear them up and take a second to stare at Tali, creepy as that is.

Can't believe this is really happening. That's really her and I kind of secured a ticket to ME2. If and when Shepard comes to break up the "meeting" I'll be there to help. Now that I've heard the recording, I'm involved and he's smart enough to see that. Also worse comes to worse, I'll pull the "I was hired as Ms. Zora's protector and I never leave a job undone" line. Corny but it proves its point.

She must be exhausted. Nice to know she feels safe enough to sleep here. Maybe she trusts me. If she does then I must be good at convincing people of stuff. She went from gun in my face to asleep on my couch.

I scoop Tali up gently and carry her towards my room. I pause for a second and look down at her… Is she dead?

Oh nope. Just really out.

I take a second and ponder the fact that I'm in actual physical contact with Tali'Zora nar Rayya from Mass Effect 1. She's real, living, breathing, warm, real. I very gently bounce her up and down to test whether she'll fall through my arms and vanish and I'll wake up from some extremely elaborate dream… Nope. Real. Damn, she doesn't weigh much does she? Must be malnourished or something. She's pretty lean though. She must get a lot of cardio running from Saren's goons and geth.

I continue into my bedroom where I lay her in the bed and cover her with the sheet. I'll wake her in a few hours, she needs the rest. She's tall. Or at least taller than I would've imagined. She's still shorter than me by a noticeable margin, but I would've figured she'd be about Nata's height for some reason. Though in the game, Tali's a little shorter than Shepard… I wonder how tall Shepard is.

I walk out of my room quietly pondering it. If Garrus is a few heads taller than me, Shepard must be at least my height or maybe slightly shorter. Wrex is huge, no issue there. Maybe not Ramlok proportions but… This reminds me, I need to ask Wrex about Hirvio, he's his son after all. Wrex probably won't think much of him because he was abandoned and for all he knows, Hirvio is dead.

I take a seat on my couch and think. And think. And think some more. Until my head is swimming with thoughts all happening at the same time and I've entered a sort of Zen.

Geez. I would've thought this would take less thinking. I mean I already know this stuff. Sure my memory is fuzzy after 7 years and whatever, but I would've thought this stuff would come easy like clockwork… or… easy as something that isn't as complicated as clockwork… Anyways… Yeah! I used to think that when Mass Effect 1 came around, then things would happen just like in the game and I wouldn't need to think too much on it. But in retrospect that was an ignorant thought. I need to consider what my presence will do to the game. After all my actions were directly linked to Barla Von's death, the Battle of the Suns, the Legion, and a lot of little things I don't know about.

I rest my head in my hand. Whoops. Forgot to do my hair.

I stand and walk into my bedroom and quietly to my bathroom. I shut the door and go about restyling my dry and frizzy hair while humming to a random tune that came into my head. Hm… Legend of Zelda. Funny how that's the first one in my head. That game… Gets to you.

Suddenly I become super bummed.

I never got to play Skyward Sword…

A/N: Come on guys! You guys are killing me! 14 reviews left to 200! I know I'm sounding needy but I'm SOOO CLOSE! Ew… Pfft that was sort of funny you got to admit. Anyways…

Uh, once the story is over and done with I'm going to turn back the clock a little and re-do a couple of chapters I'm unsatisfied with, namely chapters 15-19. Uh… and maybe a few others. Those were total ass and I'm sorry for putting you all through that so I'm going to rewrite them from scratch. They won't be the same anymore, so get your fill of them if you want. But I wouldn't suggest that because they suck. Hm… Just looked over the rest of the Crisis multi-chapter series… I'm going to do some alterations to the whole thing. Maybe I'll make changes to the whole story. Wait and see I guess. Anyways…

Thanks for reading. I'll see you next week.

Mockingbird79