Character clarifications:
Reximus- Rex's alternate self from another universe and secret leader of the New Legion
Mirada- Alternate version of Rex's deceased wife.
Persephone/Penelope- Reximus and Mirada's daughter.
Artemis/Rose- Alternate version of Rex's sister. Suffers from schizophrenia
Rose walked through the halls casually tossing one of her knives through the air and expertly catching it before it fell beyond her mid-section. She wore a simple gray dress that flowed into a ruffle around her legs, and concealed by the various folds of the dress where the slits in the dress, held together by strips of Velcro, allowed easy access to her blades and gun strapped to her leg. Her hair had been combed and as per Reximus's commands styled after their dead mother's favorite style, and with some protest he had doused her in a perfume made from lavender and vanilla. The scent their mother had drenched her person in when she was alive; a scent Rose distinctly remembered mixed with the stink of her mother's blood. Though she considered it beneath her to use such tactics of manipulation, her favorite being the kind where she drove a knife through the softer tissues of the neck, seeing the doppelganger squirm. Serves him right for scarring her legs.
When she arrived at her destination Rose knocked on the metal door and waited. She heard the doppelganger moving within the room and silently slid her knife back into its holster just as the door opened and the doppelganger stared out from the dim room at her. His hard angular face a mask, and his dark grey eyes smoldered with contempt, but he maintained the expression for only a moment. When he saw her the hardness of his features disappeared and the fire behind his eyes went out replaced by two emotions she hadn't seen on her brother's face in years. Guilt and love. She saw it play across his face for a split second before he resumed his silent glare, and she smirked upwards at him. He was shaken and weak letting the shock get to him.
"Good morning Courier" Rose said placing her hands behind her back and giving her sweetest smile "I'm supposed to fetch you for breakfast"
"Great I'm starving" the doppelganger said before stepping forward bringing his face inches from hers and inhaling through his nose "Lavender and Vanilla? So that's how's he's playing eh?"
He slipped past her and silently began his walk down the hall. Rose scowled at the back of his head and turned to follow when she felt one of the Velcro slits in her dress was open. She checked her knives and when she found two were missing she barked an order at a guard to restrain the doppelganger. The order caught in her throat as the blade flew past head nicking a chunk of her hair off followed by a second blade to make the other side of her hair match. The doppelganger stood at the end of the hall his grey eyes filled with contempt and just for a moment Rose felt something she hadn't felt for another human being in years. Admiration. Perhaps he wouldn't be as much of a pushover as she thought.
"Sorry couldn't stand you with that haircut" The doppelganger said casually flicking open one of his metal fingers to light a cigarette "I have to admit though; you look just like Mom"
"So I'm told" Rose said joining him and withdrawing a small paper parcel from the folds of her dress and tossing it to the doppelganger. He opened the parcel and his version of her mother's locket clinked into his metal hand.
"Was wondering where this got to" He said smiling before wrapping it around his metal fist and fastening it together. The silver of the locket had long faded into grey and was scratched all over its surface, and when the doppelganger shifted the locket into his palm to open it Rose saw that the small picture within was a faded image of a younger doppelganger and this universe's version of her. The locket she now wore around her neck, under Reximus's orders, had no picture and hadn't ever as far as she knew. A dagger of pain slashed through her brain and she paused grasping her head. The hallway seemed to bend and break around her; the grey concrete being replaced by clear glass and empty darkened cells.
"Not now" she muttered as the light flickered and the cells roared to life with mutilated and twisted forms screaming in pain. To her right a young girl with red hair sat crying as her arms bled from three metal rods stuck out of both of her arms. The rods were connected by clear hoses to a machine built into the wall. What was this? Her hallucinations were usually of zombies or some other beast, and they certainly never involved a younger version of herself.
The younger version of herself looked up, her eyes were slate grey and seemed to glow softly, and she screamed at the top of her lungs. The glass wall split and a shadowed form materialized. It entered the cell and the younger Rose skittered backwards into the wall screaming. Just as the form reached her the hallucination began to fade, but Rose heard the delusion of her younger self say "No! You promised mommy, you promised!"
When she returned to reality the doppelganger stood over her quietly observing her episode. She stood and scowled at him before drawing a blade and placing it against his throat.
"Tell anyone of what you just saw, and not even my brother can protect you"
The doppelganger made an okay sign and as they began walking again asked "So besides killing people do you have any hobbies?"
"I maintain a collection of weaponry" Rose said distractedly guiding him through the halls, the hallucination had tugged something in her mind and she was finding it hard to focus "I also participate in sparring with the other legionaries."
"Oh that's nice" the doppelganger said taking a drag from his cigarette "do you still collect pets at all?"
"What on earth are you talking about?"
"Oh, maybe you didn't in your universe, but my Rose whenever she found a pest she'd adopt the damn thing and sweet talk me into getting food for it" The doppelganger said smiling with actual warmth "I remember you had a pet radroach named Steve when you were three. Oh man was Dad angry when it ate his stash of sugar bombs"
Another stab of pain erupted in her brain lesser than the first one, and with no hallucination. But whatever was buried in her brain had shaken a little.
"I don't remember much of my time before the institute" She explained as she rubbed her temples hoping she could get back to her quarters and take a pill "I was gravely injured when I was young and the healing process made me stronger, but it also almost entirely wiped my early years save for a few memories."
"That must have been tough" The doppelganger said "I suppose your brother filled in the gaps"
"Yes, almost all of my memories of our parents come from him through memory lounger technology"
"Hmm" the doppelganger mused over this information the locket tapping against the metal of his hand as he walked. The look on his face was somewhere between intrigue and concern, but the look quickly vanished behind an aloof mask.
They walked in silence, Rose's head throbbed with pain and her vision blurred as she blinked away tears as her eyes watered. She needed her pills badly and the sooner she took one the better. The doppelganger for his part was silent as they walked and seemed to be fidgeting with the locket. When they reached the entryway to Reximus's quarters Rose gestured him into the small elevator and turned quickly towards her own quarters. As she walked the walls shifted as if they were water and reshaped themselves into sleek white metal.
She reached the door to her room and opened it allowing the darkness to swallow her. Rose landed with a thud on the carpeted floor and groped around for her pills as she crawled around the blackened room. When she found the bottle she snapped the cap off and turned on a lamp and fished a bright pink pill from the bottle. She raised her hand to bring it to her lips and noticed something was now clasped to her wrist. It was the doppelganger's locket; he had to of noticed that she reacted to it and had clasped it to her wrist with its picture showing. The younger versions of the doppelganger and her alternate self-stared up at her with impish grins on their faces.
A wave of fire spread through her brain burning every synapse and she dropped the pill as the walls of her room shed their grey concrete and weapon racks and became sterile white metal. Her arms fell to her sides and as the locket hit the ground two ghostly figures appeared in front of her. Though their faces were obscured by a haze Rose saw one was a broad shouldered woman and the other a skinny man wearing an institute scientist uniform. Suddenly all of her vicious nature was gone and had been replaced by fear and pain. The figures spoke in muffled words that she couldn't understand, but Rose could see her arms shorten and shift as rods shot out of her arms connecting her to a machine. The years melted away and with a sorrowful sob she was a little girl again cowering not against her bed but a stark white wall as chemical was pumped in and blood pumped out.
What was happening? Where did this delusion come from? Her mind raced with questions as words came from her mouth.
"Rexi stop hurting me!" she yelled in a little girl's yell. Her voice was hoarse from crying and every syllable hurt as she screamed.
The skinny scientist stopped talking and walked over to her. He looked down at her on the floor for a moment before driving his foot into her stomach kicking her into the wall. The figure drew a small box out from his pocket and kneeled down over Rose who had gone limp on the floor. From the box he withdrew a small pink pill and grabbed her chin with one hand and with the other forced it into her mouth before forcing her to swallow. She almost vomited because she was sobbing so hard, and when the pill was swallowed the figure stood up and for the first time she saw the figure's face. It was her big brother, it was her Rexi. No that couldn't be. He promised Mommy he'd never let anyone hurt her; he made a forever promise when the bad men killed her and Daddy. Why was he hurting her?
"Why? Why? Why?" She muttered again and again as she lay there in the floor shifting between times and bodies. After an eternity Rose felt a set of calloused hands gently caress her face and lightly sit her up against the bed. Returned to the present Rose looked at the person who had propped her up and found a familiar face, Myri. Maybe she could tell her why Rexi was hurting her.
"Why?" she asked hoarsely.
"Cause he can't love anymore baby" Mirada said as she placed the discarded pill into Rose's hand.
"Don't wanna" Rose said dropping the pill to the floor.
"You need to take this now sweetie" Mirada explained with all the patience of a mother "He wants us all at breakfast and he wants you the way he made you to be."
"No makes me forget; makes me so angry"
"Rose take it before He sends someone else" Mirada said placing the pill back into her hand "I know what it does to you, but he'll do much worse if he finds out you remember who you were."
"Myri I'm scared of Rexi" Rose said her voice breaking "he hurt me."
"I'm scared too baby, but we have to do what we have to do" Mirada said raising Rose's hand to her mouth and guiding the pill into her mouth while simultaneously sliding the locket off her wrist. She swallowed the pill and a rush of ice covered her mind and the hallucinations faded away along with the painful memories to be replaced by predatory instinct and venom. Artemis was back.
After a few minutes she stood and Mirada rose with her.
"What are you doing in my quarters?" she asked.
"To fetch you for breakfast" Mirada said her face a mask of warmth.
"Good, I'm starving" Artemis said walking to the door. As she walked she felt her face and found drying tears "was I crying?"
"I think that's just a cold that's going around causes a lot of watering eyes" Mirada said following her out.
"Have your daughter synthesize some medicine for me" Artemis said "I can't afford to be weakened right now."
Artemis left the room, an icy chill comfortably settling in her gut. Today was going to be a good day.
?
Rex rode the elevator up into Reximus's quarters silently smoking. The other Rose reacted to the picture in the locket. Violently. He smoked his cigarette and processed the information before him as the elevator ascended. In the silence of the elevator a figure materialized beside him, and he recognized his mother's grease stained mechanic clothing. She leaned silently against the wall of the elevator and lit up her own cigarette from a pack in her breast pocket.
"Morning Mom" Rex said lighting his finger lighter and lighting his delusion's cigarette.
"Hey bud" she said "You're in a bit of a dilemma, eh?"
"That's an understatement" Rex said "Not only am I the prisoner of my douche doppelganger, but his version of Rose is probably as insane as I am and to top it all off Mirada's alive with their kid."
"And the hallucination of your long dead mother is smoking with you in an elevator" she said taking a drag from the cigarette "you know I hated these things right? Made your dad quit."
"Yeah, but you're my delusion so you play by my rules." Rex said flicking the depleted cigarette into a corner of the elevator.
"It's nice to see what my little Rose grew up to look though" His mother said "Of course she's not mine is she? Our Rose is gone, and that bitch certainly isn't my daughter"
"Language mother please, I know you're a figment of my mind but at least try to resist my bad influence" Rex said before rubbing his face with a hand "You know it occurs to me that they're probably listening in on this conversation, and I sound incredibly crazy talking to myself."
"Hey it's nothing to be ashamed about" She said patting his cheek "You're just a little unbalanced; you're gonna give em hell anyway so what does it matter what they think? Good luck baby, were here if you need us"
He nodded and waved his hand at her scattering like a cloud of dust as the doors opened onto the living room. Rex supposed it wasn't the best course of action to feed into his delusions right now, but fuck it, if Reximus was dragging ghosts from their graves than he'd answer with his own.
Rex stepped onto the carpet and looked around the room. His doppelganger was sitting in an armchair flipping through a stack of papers on a side table. The smell of sausages and eggs wafted through the air and Rex looked behind the counter to find Mirada busily arranging pates of food on the counter top. Her brown hair bobbed around her face and brushed across the long and faded scar that run up her face. Something within Rex shifted and suddenly he was filled with nervous energy as if looking at Mirada triggered his fight or flight response. The skin on the back of his neck bristled and his stomach dropped as he watched silently from the elevator doorway. She had outgrown her plainness of her youth and had developed the subtle almost weathered beauty that suited her quick and determined movements in the kitchen. Strangely Rex's eyes were drawn to her hands as they deftly added spices and sauces to the growing feast with quick determined movements that blurred as she worked. A pang of longing struck Rex's core, and suddenly he was very aware of how long it had been since he'd held those hands, ran his fingers along the soft edges of her heart shaped face, or held her close to him.
No, that wasn't right, this Mirada wasn't his. The woman he had loved was long dead, and this doppelganger would only serve to throw him off balance even more. He needed to keep his head and not let anything distract him, so he steeled himself and walked into the room readying himself. That lasted only a few seconds, because at that moment the girl entered the room.
Of course he had seen her before, but now knowing who she actually was it stopped Rex in his tracks. The girl who called herself Persephone stood before him examining him with wide grey eyes that were like a mirror image of his own. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Though she had her mother's brown hair and cheek bones the girl had his eyes and frame. Her long thin fingers gripped an old leather book and her lean frame was draped in yellow sundress that ran to her upper thigh. At the sight of her an icicle pierced through Rex's heart, this was so much worse than seeing Mirada alive, this girl standing before him now represented a life he had never experienced. Years of raising a child and seeing her grow into a beautiful young woman.
"It's not fair" he muttered under his breath as the girl looked to her father.
"He's here" She looked away and shuffled to the counter to help her mother place the food on the table. Though he knew he shouldn't show it Rex's face contorted into a grimace full of longing and pain. He allowed three seconds of grief before taking a deep breath and turning to greet his doppelganger.
"Rex! Good to see you buddy" Reximus said patting Rex on the shoulder and beaming a wide grin, Rex noted that the smile didn't quite reach his eyes, before looking behind him "Where's Rose?"
"She seemed a little under the weather; I think she went to her quarters" Rex said watching his doppelganger closely.
"Oh really?" though he tried to hide it Rex detected malice in his doppelganger's tone "Mirada babe would you go and check on Rose, you know how she gets and I'd hate it if she missed breakfast."
Reximus words dripped with familial concern, but Rex found something off with his tone. Like a journeyman actor delivering a line, it sounded believable to be sure but still sounded as if they were reading a script.
"Of course Hon" Mirada said drying her hands and tossing her stained apron onto the counter before walking past the pair of Rexs and entering the elevator.
"How ya feeling this morning Rex? Mirada was worried sick after you passed out last night" Reximus said guiding Rex to the table and handed him a steaming cup of coffee.
"Great thanks, turns out being kidnapped and finding out that one of my worst enemies is my doppelganger from another dimension takes a lot out of you"
"Kind of zen really" Reximus said "Your worst enemy was you all along"
"Most would consider my Mental illness and self-destructive nature my worst enemy; you my friend are a close second" Rex replied taking a sip of his coffee "So let's get to the matter at hand; what are your plans for the Mojave?"
"To create a perfect world of course" Reximus said a genuine smile across his face as he stood "Rex for the entirety of my life I have toiled to create sciences that would one day be used to lift the irradiated remains of humanity beyond the place of our ancestors and into perfection. Unfortunately my superiors at the institute were too closed minded and xenophobic to authorize their use; to allow me to actually interact with the people of the commonwealth. I offered them a society without crime or decay, but they shut me down and ordered me to remain within the walls of the institute."
"And how do you create and maintain your perfect society?" Rex asked.
"A mixture of class hierarchy, social programming, chemical adjustment, and force" Reximus said sneering like a child explaining multiplication to a toddler "Under my rule the people will be split into castes depending on their individual aptitudes and skill sets. Through chemicals designed to pacify in the food and water supply alongside specially produced entertainment and propaganda to keep the lesser castes compliant we will have complete control over the bulk of the population. The merchant and academic castes will be kept loyal through power and land grants as well as the odd purge to keep the caste genepool from becoming too intermingled, and of course the ruling caste will hold sway over it all through the Military caste who will be mostly made up of synths. I have much more detailed explanations of my programs if you'd like to read them Rex."
Rex scratched his chin and expressed genuine admiration on his face, but internally he was seating. What Reximus was talking about was stripping every man woman and child of choice and creating a kingdom of slaves and vassals not a nation.
"Sounds like your building an Empire" Rex said taking another drink of the coffee to hide his scowl.
"I do what needs to be done Rex" Reximus said as he sat down "You and I both know that the people of this world need to be led by a strong hand. Look what you've done in the Mojave; in the last two years you've created a super power. You preach about freedom and individuality, but in reality you are a dictator who uses his knowledge and command of powerful tech to control the drones. Face it Rex you and I are more alike than you'd care to admit."
"Maybe you're right" Rex said swigging the rest of the coffee "Say you're society gets built and after all the unmentionables and the free thinkers are handled what's to stop some asshole not so unlike ourselves from toppling it all? No society can remain perfect, especially one structured like yours, it will stagnate within a few generations, and then thanks to your social conditioning making the societal structure so rigid it will shatter. Adaptability is key to a society's survival, and your society favors the rich and powerful while leaving the rest to work as drones. Even a pacified work force, I doubt you plan to completely dope them, can simmer to the boiling point. Who will fight your battles when the poor taste blood and your synths fail you? "
Reximus locked his gaze with Rex's and for an instant Rex saw anger burning behind those calm grey eyes "That is why I need you Rex. I have become accustomed to a certain way of thinking, and I have come to the realization that my viewpoint while logical and fact based is lacking something. Understanding of the human condition. Within the walls of the Institute I was shielded from true humanity for so long, and it has somewhat skewed my viewpoints. I lead an army of savages through misdirection and parlor tricks while my true soldiers the synths stand around me collecting dust. Ideally I would replace the human element with synthetic, but in this case that would be as fruitless as attempting to teach a legionaries the finer points of astro physics."
"Why? I thought the synths were sentient" Rex asked accepting fresh coffee from Penelope.
"In truth only two of my synths possess true sentience Octavian and Athena" Reximus said frowning "The secrets of creating true synth sentience was lost to me in the war for the Institute; the fools wished to squash the potential of synthetic life."
Rex tapped his metal fingers on the table rhythmically and he looked at Reximus internally cursing his captor, but externally he held an expression of doubt and contemplation.
"We'd be partners in this?" He asked.
"We'd be brothers Rex" Reximus said smiling, once again the smile didn't quite reach his eyes "I meant what I said about you joining the family. Imagine it Rex, you and I ruling side by side our only equals the gods themselves. Together we can resurrect this world and remake human civilization in our Image."
Rex sipped his coffee and even though it made him sick to his stomach he rose and extended his hand "For the sake of my people I'll ally with you. If the only way to ensure their safety is an alliance, then so be it."
Reximus's smile widened into a vicious sneer for just a moment before he contorted his face back into warm smile. Not very good with that eh "Brother"? Rex thought to himself returning the smile.
"Good Good" Reximus decreed motioning for Penelope to pour Rex more coffee "This will be a beautiful partnership Rex. You'll see how effective my policies are soon enough after you and I tweak them of course."
At that moment Rose and Persephone entered the room from the elevator. Reximus met his wife and sister at the door and pulled Mirada close whispering into her ear while Rose walked to the table and plunked down into a chair before grabbing a sausage. Her demeanor had changed from earlier; now she felt like the predator he had locked up back in New Vegas. She sneered at him as she drew a knife and began slicing the plump sausage. Rex himself grabbed a stack of pancakes and drenched them in syrup before returning Rose's glare with a blank stare.
?
Shepard jogged through the Big mountain facility dodging soldiers and technicians hauling weapons and supplies towards the Teleporter nexus set up outside of the think tank. Her own crew was split between helping with the battle preparations and preparing the Hammer Head with a retrofitted mass effect core running on this universe's Element zero. The all-terrain vehicle was being outfitted with a massive Focused Laser cannon capable of firing a sustained beam that would melt through armor and flesh alike. As she jogged through the bustling crowds Shepard's com went off.
"Commander do you read?" Tali's voice emanated from Shepard's omni tool.
"Yes Tali, what do you need?"
"Ugh, commander you need to see this for yourself; can you come to the mother ship"
"Sure thing Tali I'll be there in a few minutes" Shepard said turning around and jogging back the way she came towards the teleportation nexus. She used one of the stations to teleport to the mothership. Like an army of worker bees repairing a scuttling across a hive technicians and workers streamed across the hull of the Mothership installing hardened laser cannons and teleporter beam emitters. Shepard hurried up the walkway leading into the massive ship and navigated the sleek halls to one of the ship's computer rooms where Tali, Miranda, and Legion worked on an Alien computer server.
"What's the situation?" Shepard asked as she entered the cramped room.
"Shepard commander Creator Tali'Zorrah has discovered data within this ship's archives that prove a hypothesis we have been debating"
"What hypothesis?" Shepard asked folding her arms over her chest.
"See for yourself" Miranda said tapping a key on her Omni tool and activating a small display in the floor that projected a hologram of lettering into the empty space between them.
Shepard examined the writing for a moment. It was different from the writing of aliens, and was strangely familiar.
"What am I looking at here?" She asked.
"Shepard Commander, this alphabet and sentence structure matches ancient Krogan with 97% match with the writing style preferred by Krogan war masters" Legion said.
"Wait a minute, as in our universe's Krogan?"
"Yes commander" Tali said as she opened another display "I was digging through the files to try and understand the ship's weapon systems better when I stumbled across this archive. I stumbled across the Krogan writing when I accidentally accessed logs from several centuries ago. It appears the "Zetans" as the locals call them, were connected with this universe's version of the Krogan at one point. Thanks to Legion's help with the translations we've discovered that these Zetans were fugitives in a sense; the two ships that orbited the earth were survivors of a disaster that saw most of their race marooned on their home world. Before that it appears the Zetans were allied to the Krogan."
"Commander, you know what this means correct?" Miranda asked "If this universe has Krogan…"
"Then the other races might exist too" Shepard responded before turning back to Tali "What happened that would force the Zetans to be grounded?"
"It's not really clear; most of the logs from that time have been corrupted; we only just managed to restore a small segment of the logs" Tali explained "But Shepard that's not the only reason we called you here." She tapped a command into the terminal and an orange symbol appeared before them pulsing every other second or so.
"What this?"
"A quantum entangled transmission activated by the Zetans approximately six years ago when the human known as Alyssa took control of the ship." Legion explained "It appears to be a last resort protocol activated by a worker."
"I don't suppose we can take solace in the fact no one's answered yet?" Shepard asked.
"No, what we managed to dreg from the corrupted files tells us that the Zetans were grounded shortly before this ship and its sister ship came to earth several hundred years ago" Miranda explained "The Zetans apparently took advantage of their teleportation technology and appeared in this system without using the Mass Effect Relay which presumably, if it even exists in this universe, is still buried inside Charon."
"It wouldn't be impossible for a race advanced enough to use the Relays to reach the sol system from a neighboring star system with a mass relay; Legion and the floating Drone ED-E have run the calculations, and have concluded that if the message was heard we'd expect to see a response within a decade." Tali explained.
"What if they were all destroyed by the reapers?" Shepard asked "We assume this planet was spared because of the great war, but the rest of the Galaxy would be ripe for the taking."
"We may have confirmation that says otherwise" Miranda said activating a sound file. A message played through a speaker in the ceiling; a message played in wat Shepard assumed was Krogan, and then cycled through three four other languages including the Zetan's own.
"What's that?" Shepard asked.
"A response received approximately three days after the initial message was sent" Legion said "We have identified Krogan, Salarian, Turian, Quarrian, and Zetan languages within the transmission. All appear to be relaying the same message: To those who believed they escaped punishment know one simple fact: we are coming. Do not flee we have locked onto your ship's signal and you will not be able to escape. You will answer for your crimes and "
"Well they sound nice" Shepard said "No Asari in that message?"
"It would appear that the Asari were not included in the declaration" Legion replied.
"How long before we can expect them to come knocking?" Shepard asked rubbing her temples.
"Our calculations suggest that if a response was dispatched shortly after the message was sent then we should see a response within the next three years" Miranda said looking through text files "what are your orders commander?"
"Keep this quiet until after we've dealt with the legion and got Rex back" Shepard said to crew "We'll figure out our next move when we 've handled the more immediate problem."
"Yes commander" the three said in unison.
"I want any and all intelligence regarding this situation as soon as it become available" Shepard ordered as they went back to work.
Shepard gave a salute and left the small room. Internally her mind was reeling; if the council races existed in this universe that could expedite their stay here, but it was also a possible danger. Who knew how much of a divergence there was, and the lack of an Asari voice in the message was troubling. It was just another problem to deal with, but for now she needed to focus on saving Rex and the Mojave. As she left the mothership Shepard looked up to the sky, blue and vast, and as she teleported to the lucky 38 she muttered "Can I have one god damn week of my life that goes to plan?"