Chapter 1: Origins

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4/10/2172

Alliance HQ

New York City, Earth

This was supposed to be simple. Shepard thought to himself. Just get in, get the tech, and get out.

If only it had worked that way.

Johnny Shepard, Finch Adams, Travis Johnson, and the rest of the 10th Street Reds had the bright idea of breaking into the Alliance's New York City HQ. They had just gotten a shipment of some new tech that all the gangs in the city wanted to get their hands on. The Reds decided they would be the first.

But now it was a massacre.

Johnny was the only one left, as the rest were either dead like Travis, or missing like Finch. Travis and Finch were some of Shepards oldest friends. They had all stayed in the same orphanage and proceeded to join the Reds together. He remembered how he and Travis had met Finch. Finch had been getting picked on by some of the other kids at the orphanage because he was a little on the shorter side. Travis saw and told Shepard, and when Shepard saw he sent all three kids to the hospital with broken bones and severe bruises. Who would've thought a 13 year old could do that. Shepard laughed in his head but was quickly reminded of his current situation when a round grazed his left shoulder.

"Dang It!" Shepard was trapped. Pinned by two Alliance soldiers. One he could tell was a woman with crazy good aim, blonde-ish hair in a bun, and blue eyes, not unlike his own. The other one was someone you would have to be stupid to not know. Lt. Commander David Anderson, in the flesh. He was a hulking man at 6'3, 230 pounds and none of it fat. Shepard wasn't a small guy by any means. For a 17 year old, 5'11 ¾, 187 pounds was solid and he could probably match that crazy blonde woman if he had to, but Anderson was in a different league entirely.

Shepard wasn't one to give up so he just fell into a pattern. Shoot. Cover. Repeat. But now he was getting tired… and sloppy. So sloppy that he hadn't realized that he gotten shot with a tranq dart until he felt the hard marble floor against his head as he blacked out.

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Shepard heard voices.

"-hope you didn't dose him too much." Sounded like Anderson maybe? He couldn't be sure, his eyes were still closed and everything was foggy.

"You worry too much, David. I know exactly what I'm doing." The crazy lady?

"And that's what worries me, Hannah. Last time you said that we lost the Sole Survivor of the Mindoir raid."

So the crazy lady's name was Hannah. Good to know. Shepard thought. He tried to move his hands to wipe his eyes to clear his vision, but quickly realized his hands were cuffed to a table in front of him. "Look, David. See? He's waking up. You're just mad because I'm a better shot than you" Hannah said with confidence.

Shepard rapidly blinked his eyes and was greeted by a bright white light. "Ahh!" He hissed. "Can one of you dim the lights please? My god. It's like you want to blind me."

The lights dimmed as Anderson started. "I'm Lt. Commander David Anderson." He gestured with his thumb to his left. "That's my partner, Lt. Commander Hannah Shepard." He then looked Johnny dead in the eye. "What's your name, kid? And what the hell possessed you to try and raid an Alliance base?"

"Johnny." Shepard stated staring right back at the bigger Alliance soldier, not backing down.

"You got a last name, 'Johnny'?'' It was Hannah this time. She was leaning on her left side with her arms crossed in contemplation.

Johnny chuckled. "You guys wouldn't believe me if I told you." Hannah was getting pissed at his attitude, but Anderson started before anything else could happen.

"Try us." He stated plainly. "We might surprise you."

Johnny rolled his eyes as he started. " John Shepard. My friends just call me Johnny." He stared at Hannah as he continued. "We're not friends, 'Commander'."

Anderson cut in again before Hannah could retort. "Ok, so your Last name is Shepard. No big deal. I've dealt with other Andersons before." He said as he shrugged. "But why were you here? What was the point of trying to infiltrate one of the highest secured buildings in the city?"

John shrugged "Knew you had a tech shipment coming in. Thought we'd take it for ourselves." He said nonchalantly.

Hannah was about to start again but Anderson shot her a look that said "Let me handle this" and she put her hands up in surrender as he started. "Who's "we"? What gang are you from, son?" He asked, determined to get answers.

John pulled his eyes up to his and kept them there as he started. "I read red. I see red. I bleed red. My team red."

"10th street reds huh?" Anderson asked contemplatively. "And just who was the mastermind behind all this? How did you know about the shipment? Do we have a mole?"

"I came up with it. It was all me." He lied. Finch came up with it, but he wasn't a rat. So he decided he'd put it all on himself. "I knew about the shipment because I see everything. I don't need a mole when I have eyes everywhere." John smirked. "The reds are going up. Soon we're gonna be the most feared gang in the city."

"You're looking at some serious time here, kid. So I'm prepared to make you a deal." Anderson stated.

"You sound like Major Hackett. Trying to be all diplomatic." Hannah chuckled.

John looked at the two of them skeptically. "I'm not gonna snitch, if that's what you think is happening here." He said resolutely.

Anderson replied. "No. Nothing like that." He took a moment to look at his comrade. She nodded for him to continue. "Look, kid. The charges you're facing carry a sentence of at least 25 years. But you've got talent, and a knack for survival. How old are you?"

John looked confused by the Lt. Commander's question but answered nonetheless. "17… Why?"

"I'm getting to that. When do you turn 18?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. What's today's date?"

"You don't know what date it is?! You really expect us to believe that sh-"

"Commander Shepard! Stand. Down." Anderson interjected. "Let me take care of this. Please." he looked back at John and told him "It's April 10th." John laughed half-heartedly, which led to both Commanders looking at him confused. He saw this and said:

"Tomorrow. I turn 18 tomorrow." He turned his head so he was looking at Hannah again as he continued. "And to answer your question "Commander"," He said while making quotations with his fingers. "It gets hard to know what day it is when you're in the trenches 24/7 and everything starts to blur together." He finished while making gestures with his hands to help explain. He turned back to Anderson as he started again. "So, Commander Anderson. What's this "deal"?"

Anderson began. "Like I said, you've got talent. You lasted longer than any of your friends and you're a good shot. Maybe better than her." He said nodding to Hannah who now wore a shocked expression. "So I'll make you a deal, If you're interested. You can either take the 25 years and spend the majority of your young life in a cell, only to get out and the whole world has changed. Or tomorrow, you and I take a little trip and you join the Alliance." He finished purposefully.

John thought about it for a bit. They're not giving me many options. He thought for a while longer then answered. "Alright, Commander. You've got a deal."

Anderson smirked as he responded. "Glad you could see reason."

"Just one question. Where am I gonna stay 'till our "Little trip"?" John responded.

"You're going in a cell for the night, big guy. You do remember you broke into an Alliance facility and killed Alliance soldiers right?" It was Hannah who responded.

John replied. "Eh. Ain't my first time locked up."

"Commanders. You guys ready for me?" A new voice sounded over the comm. Male. Probably a little older than these two. John thought.

"Yeah. Come on in." Anderson answered.

As the door on the left hissed open, a man walked in. He had tan skin. Not as dark as Andersons though. He had dark brown eyes and dark brown hair that was a little curly, not unlike John's. A pleasant reminder that he probably had some African-Amirecan heritage somewhere in there. He didn't know why, but he liked being able to say he had a lot of different backgrounds in his DNA.

His thoughts were cut off when Hannah started talking. "John. This is Serviceman Williams. He'll be your escort to your cell."

"Commanders." Williams said as he saluted. Hannah and Anderson responded in kind as he continued. "Am I taking him?"

"Yes, Williams. He's all yours." Anderson said. As they were getting John up from his seat and removing the cuffs from the table clamp, Anderson continued, this time addressing John. "Make sure you get a good rest. We ship out at 0630."

John nodded at the Commander as the Serviceman walked him out.

As they were walking through the facility, they passed a girl who was looking at something on an omni-tool. Shepard thought she was around 14 maybe. She had tan skin, deep brown eyes and wavy brown hair that was up in a ponytail. Must be his daughter. Shepard thought. His thoughts were proven right when she looked up at them, waved at the Serviceman, and proceeded to give him a confused but amused look. The Serviceman waved back and they kept moving.

Shepard didn't say a word on the outside, but on the inside his mind was moving a mile a minute. What did I just get myself into? Shepard shook his head as they walked down various hallways and corridors. Finally they got to an empty holding cell and Serviceman Williams uncuffed him as he closed the cell door. Williams looked at him and stated. "You made the right choice, son. Not everyone gets a shot at redemption. It's a good thing you took it. Everything may be all sorts of confusing right now, but this is the best decision you will ever make in your life."

Shepard simply nodded at the man before he walked away leaving Shepard to think about what the hell he just walked into.

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As Serviceman Williams walked back, he got to where the girl had been. She saw him, smiled, and spoke up. "Hey dad. You ready to go?" She asked with a calm expression.

He looked at his daughter, smiled and responded. "Yep. All done here, Ash. Let's go. We still have to pack up, we leave for Amaterasu next week."

"Still sucks that we have to go so close to my Birthday though. We can't really do anything." She answered sadly. Her dad put his arm around her and she leaned on him.

"Don't worry, Ashley. Once we get settled on Amaterasu, your mom and I will do something special for your Birthday. You only turn 14 once." He said with a chuckle.

Ashley laughed as she retorted. "You told Abby that last year when she turned 11."

The two continued to converse as they left the facility.

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4/11/2172

Shepard awoke to loud banging.

"WAKE UP MAGGOT, WE'RE LATE!"

It was Commander Anderson, Shepard realized as he opened his eyes as he was being tossed off the bed. "Hey! What the hell is this? You said get up at 0630!" Shepard said extremely groggy and confused.

Anderson looked at him like he was an idiot. "No. I said that we ship out at 0630." he looked at his omni-tool. "Right now it's 0615. You've got 15 minutes to get yourself ready to go." And just like that he was gone. Shepard just sat there. Dumbfounded. And not for the first time in the past 24 hours, Shepard questioned just what the hell he had gotten himself into.

10 minutes later Anderson was walking with Shepard towards the docking bay where their shuttle was. While they were walking they crossed paths with Lt. Commander Shepard. She saw Anderson and nodded in acknowledgement. Anderson greeted. "Hey, Shepard. You coming with us?" He asked, hoping that she would answer in the affirmative.

She frowned, shook her head and replied. "Sadly no. I wanted to, but Hackett just messaged me. Said the brass wanted to see us about something, so I'm getting on the next shuttle to Vancouver, and from there Arcturus."

"Alright, then good luck, Soldier." Anderson replied while shaking her hand and gave her a friendly smile.

"Same to you. This one's gonna need it." She answered nodding at John.

John then took his chance to speak up. "Wait. I have one question for you, Commander Shepard."

She looked at him with a quizzical expression. "Alright. What'cha got?"

"Do you know a Tyler Shepard?" He asked, with a look that told her he was serious.

"Yeah. He's my older brother, but I haven't seen him in decades. Why?"

"...Because he's my dad."

The color instantly drained from both of their faces.

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"Well… I'm glad that's over." Anderson broke the silence on the shuttle.

Shepard shot him a look and responded. "Yeah yeah. Can we not talk about this right now?"

Anderson put his hands up in surrender as Shepard continued. "Where are we going anyway?"

Anderson looked directly at Shepard as he gave his response. "Brazil."

Shepard looked at the older man incredulously. "Brazil? The hell is in Brazil?"

The Commander looked at Shepard as he chuckled. This is gonna be fun. He thought.