Just Built Different

Chapter 2: Gone for how long?!

Author notes: For those worried that the MC is a Gary Stu, I'm sorry to say but that is entirely the point of this fic. This is fanfiction, this is written purely for my own amusement. HOWEVER, I am going to at least try to tone it down a bit. And to those who like it the way it is, thank you.

Sir! There's someone in there!

Open that hatch up!

...

Oh my God. This guy's still alive!

Age: ??? years since birth...

As he slowly woke from his slumber his senses returned almost immediately. The bitter smell of sterilization once again reached his nostrils, causing his nose to scrunch up. It was so strong he swore he could almost taste it.

Cursing his naturally enhanced senses, he pried his heavy eye lids open and peered around the hospital room. It looked...strange. it didn't look like any hospital room he's ever seen. Except for the over abundance of pure white that makes up almost everything in the room. In place of the IV stand and bag was a small machine sitting on a table next to his bed that plugged into the wall. Which was a terrible idea, honestly, what if the power goes out in a freak storm or if terrorists came and set off an EMP or even blew up the local power station? The generators in the basement weren't designed to run for long lengths of time.

He chose to ignore the idiocy of the hospital. Looking down he noticed that he wasn't wearing a pulse oximeter. Odd. What comatose hospital patient didn't wear one? He looked back over to the table. There wasn't a Vital Signs Monitor. He looked around the room. Where's the-

His internal monolog was cut short when the door at the corner of the room squeaked open. A young woman who couldn't be any older than twenty three walked in. She has light green eyes and beautiful deep orange hair that looked almost red. Hair dye probably. He made a mental note to remind her that such a thing is not up to regulation for a supposedly upstanding hospital and should wash it out before she gets into trouble. She was looking over a small stack of papers on a clipboard. She never looked up from it as she approached.

Upon reaching his bed he had realized that she must not have noticed he was awake. She came up to the table and adjusted a few knobs before going back to her papers, writing something down with a pen she pulled from her breast pocket.

"Excuse me."

The woman let out a shreak and nearly jumped out of her skin. She whipped towards him and held a hand to her racing heart, the clipboard forgotten on the pristine floor.

Max, despite his efforts, could not stop the grin from spreading on his face. "Terribly sorry about that. You just seemed so lost in your little world there. On another note, might I inquire on where I am?"

The nurse, if the light blue garb is to be believed, seemed quite shaken. Staring at him with eyes so wide he was afraid they would fall out, her breathing was quick and deep, and she had her back to the wall. "Awake...you're awake..."

Max's grin widened and he let out a laugh. "Of course I'm awake. I was only ran over by a semi, I'm not dead." Something he hadn't noticed until now is that he didn't feel any pain. They must be pumping him with enough pain killers to overdose a horse. They probably also noticed that his body expels drugs and other outside chemicals noticeably faster and more efficiently than others too.

She shook her head, the terrified expression never leaving her face. "No. You...you're not supposed to be awake yet-" Her heavy breathing was finally slowing down. "-for another ten months."

Max shrugged with his head. "What can I say? I'm a fast healer." His body's ability to heal is actually quite superior to other humans. Extensive research into the differences between him and normal humans revealed a wide number of things. Including a very minor accelerated healing on his part. A broken arm for him will heal in half the time it would take a regular person, thus cementing even further the fact that he really is the next stage of human evolution.

"No. You don't understand! You..you're not...I...I need to get someone!" The nurse quickly scrambled out of the room, leaving behind a now confused Max.

"What a strange individual." He commented followed by a contemplative humm. He sat still for all of five seconds before making a decision. "Well I can't just lay around all day. I gotta go and ride my new bike." He reached over and removed the IV needle from his forearm and pushed the thin bed sheets off of him. Placing his right hand on the right bed guard he pushed down until he heard a 'snap' followed by the guard sliding down without resistance. Well..that felt weird. Why do his muscles feel so...strange? He swung his legs over the side and-

"Jesus!"

-nearly fell flat on his face. Thankfully the bed was right there to grab onto. "OK. Maybe I was out longer than I thought." He slowly reached down with one hand and tried to rub feeling back into his thighs, with unfortunately little success. Luckily after a full minute of massaging he could finally feel strength return to his legs. He tried to stand up again. His knees shook and wobbled as he slowly and carefully reached his full height of seven foot two inches, completely unknowing of the extra bit of height. Taking a deep breath he took a step towards the door. He almost fell again but this time he didn't need the bed to catch himself. He took another short and slow step. And another. And another.

And soon enough he found himself walking, very slowly traversing the room. "Put one foot in front of the other." He sang softly in a whisper. "And soon you'll be walking across the floor. Put one foot in front of the other." He tore his eyes away from the pristine floor and stared at his goal, only eight feet away now. "And soon you'll be walking out the door. God I love this song."

Unfortunately, his lighthearted moment had to be completely ruined by the door opening once again. In stepped three doctors and two nurses, one of them being the red haired woman that left a minute and a half ago. They all stood there staring at him in shock. Apparently he wasn't supposed to be walking yet.

"You're not supposed to be walking yet! Let alone awake!

Ah. Of course.

"I assure you I'm quite well. In a minute I'll be able to walk fine again too."

"No!" The doctor in front, the tall one with blond hair and blue eyes, stepped forward while waving his hands all over the place. "You...you can't be awake yet! It's only been a week! How could you have possibly recovered in that time?!"

Max furrowed his eye brows in confusion. A week? Wow. He healed faster than he thought he could. Way faster. No doubt the damage he took would have hospitalized a normal human for years. He guessed his minor accelerated healing capabilities seriously ups it's game the more damage he took, which is a property he hadn't noticed before. He will need to do some extensive research on this new information at a later date. "As I've told your nurse here, Doc, I'm a fast healer. Now if you don't mind I would like to sign myself out and return to the outside. No doubt the world has been eagerly awaiting my return." He took a now far less shaky step forward.

"No!" The doctor, 'Allen' according to his name tag, had put his hands on Max's shoulders in an attempt to stop him. "You can't leave now! We need to perform tests! You need to lay down!"

"Damn it, I'm fine!" He swatted the offending arms away from him. As amusing the near hysterical doctor was it was really starting to ware on his patience. He just wanted to go home and take a day to himself and ride his new bike tomorrow morning when he could stand straight. He could leave right this moment and there wasn't a fucking thing this hospital could do about it. Because he's Max motherfucking Barrett and he doesn't take menial shit from anyone. Especially not from hospitals that hire arrogant pricks like this guy who think they have any authority over him.

"If you will not comply then we will sedate you!"

Big mistake.

He glared down at the prick. The look in his eyes being nothing short of evil. There was enough venom in his glare that they all froze on the spot and when he spoke his voice was low and menacing. "Are you threatening me, Doctor?"

Allen didn't reply, far too busy repressing the shiver trying to run up his suddenly fragile feeling spine.

"The sedative hidden in the inside pocket of your coat better be enough to knock out a horse or you're going to find yourself on the business end of my bad side."

Allen tensed up even more if that was even possible.

"Not that you'll be fast enough to even reach for it before I break your arm." He pushed past the group and reached for the door knob. Only to whip back around and catch the doctor's arm, the sedative in his hand. Max bared his teeth and sharply twisted his wrist.

' SNAP' "AAAAAAHHHH!"

The result was Allen's radius and ulna bones snapping with a crack and a disgusting squelching noise, his forearm now effectively broken in half.

"AAAAAHHHH!"

Leaving the poor man to his own devices he turned back around and walked out the door. Now having been nearly forcefully sedated Max was now very close to being pissed off. ' This is odd.' He thought to himself. ' My patience is usually far higher than this.' He shook his head and chalked it up to having been mentally weakened by his week long coma, which was probably the most likely explanation.

Almost stomping down the hall he passed by numerous people. In his nearly enraged state of mind he didn't bother to question or even acknowledge the fact that over half of the beings he passed weren't humans, but they definitely noticed him. After all so few have actually seen a human as large as him before.

His body has an unusual habit of activating the flow of adrenaline far easier than a normal person, a fact that he tried to remedy with physical and mental exercises in the military so he wouldn't accidentally hurt someone. Unfortunately his anger was continuously rising from his also growing agitation. For fuck's sake a doctor tried to forcefully sedate him! Why is everyone acting so fucking weird?! And...why is a Turian running at him?

Twenty feet down the hall a ridiculously realistic looking Turian from Mass Effect was sprinting directly at him. It's carapace was a light gray with soft green clan markings. It wore what Max recognized as standard Citadel guard armor with a pistol and an SMG magnetically fastened to the outsides of it's thighs.

"Goddamn, that's either a really great cosplay or this is just a really lucid dream. Is it Halloween? Have I been out longer than a week?" Halloween wasn't for another several months.

He could think about this later because the alien was now almost on him. The Turian raised it's arms and tried to tackle him to the ground. Keyword being 'tried' because the moment he got within arm's reach he found the front of his armor being grabbed in a death grip. He let out an alarmed shreak when he was suddenly pushed backwards against all of his previous momentum from a moment ago, lifted up off his feet and was harshly slammed into the floor. The result was a loud ' thud' as the metal of the back of the armor dug small grooves into the tiled flooring.

Max let go of the downed Turian, stood up, stepped over the alien's twitching arm, and continued on his way to find the exit. He took five steps before turning back to the wheezing Turian. It's breathing is low and uneven, awake but will need a moment to reorientate it's mind before attempting to get back up.

After slamming the alien down on the ground, he had a moment to take in a close up look at the being. The dark brown skin of it's neck as well as the mandibles both looked and moved so realistically that he almost believed it was real. Maybe it wasn't a costume?

"Yup, this is definitely a dream."

"It isn't."

Max turned to his right. "Wha-" Pain exploded on his face as blood fell from his broken nose. He flew backwards into the wall and fell to his ass. His head fell to the side, seemingly dead. All of his anger and agitation seemingly vanished and was replaced with delirious confusion. He had to blink several times before his vision stopped swirling like a pinwheel. He heard footsteps from his left.

"Damn it, Krogan, you killed him!" The dual toned voice of a Turian reached his ears before being followed by a much deeper single toned one.

"No I didn't, you read the reports on this guy. He can take a punch."

Max's military training told him to sweep their legs and knock both of them down. Sadly he wasn't in his right state of mind at the moment. Instead he brought his legs in and began standing up with his back using the slightly dented wall as support. When he stood to his full height he realized that he was taller than the Turian by several inches but was the same height as the Krogan. The Turian was staring wide eyed at him while the Krogan just grinned.

"Heh, guess I was right."

"Shut up and just knock him out already."

Max's eyes narrowed and his lips pulled back in a snarl. Oh I don't think so.

The Krogan pulled his fist back again and swung forward. They and all the bystanders watching were immensely surprised when the fist was caught.

"If you keep this up I will become mildly annoyed." Krogans are stronger than his base strength, something he acknowledged when he actually struggled to stop the alien's punch. It was a good thing he had at least a dribble of adrenaline running through him otherwise he would have had his own hand bashing his face in. He lifted his other hand and swung forward in a heavy right hook. It was caught by the Krogan and suddenly they were at a stalemate, however it honestly felt more like a contest of who is stronger. He is of course, at absolute full strength he could break the reptile's spine with a punch and throw him down the hall, but the alien didn't need to know that.

The Krogan gritted his teeth as he pushed with all his strength, but the human refused to move. He growled and threw his head forward in a nasty headbutt. Max, seeing it coming a mile away, swung his own head as well to match it.

...

...

...

He slowly came to with a headache threatening to split his head open. Goddamn it felt terrible. He can't remember the last time he had a headache this bad, or if he ever had one even remotely close. That was a weird dream. A low groan left his partially parted lips and he lifted a hand to rub his head. His attemps were stopped however when the bite of cold hard metal dug into his wrist. Parting his eye lids to the bright lights of the hospital room, the same one in his dream he noted, he looked down and realized he had been handcuffed to the bed. It was a different bed, this one had metal guards on the sides instead of plastic ones. He turned his bleary eyes to his other wrist. It's cuffed too. Why the hell is he in handcuffs? Whatever the reason is it's probably in his best interest if he just lays there and doesn't break out of them.

I see my patience has returned. Despite the annoying headache doing it's best to attempt otherwise.

Just then, two people walked in. A doctor and a nurse. The doctor walked up to his bedside with a smile that didn't quite reach his ears, his hands were in his pockets in an attempt to emanate a relaxed attitude. "Howya doin', Max?" His voice was friendly and false. His spine, despite the slight slouch, was tense.

"I'm doing alright, although I would appreciate getting something for this headache."

The doctor, Samuel according to his nametag, nodded. "Of course, we wouldn't want you to feel uncomfortable." The nurse, stepped forward and handed Samuel a syringe from a small doctor's bag slung on her shoulder. Samuel stepped forward and inserted the needle into a slot in the IV machine. He pressed the plunger down halfway before taking it back out again. "That should do it, it will start working in a minute and your headache will fade away." He handed the syringe back to the nurse.

"Thank you, Dr. Hayden." Max said with some slight humor in his voice.

Samuel gave him a strange look. "Hayden?"

Max shrugged his shoulders. "I was making a reference." He looked down at the tube that connected between the needle in his arm to the machine on the table. It was filled with some unknown red liquid. "What is this you're pumping in to me? I hope that's not blood, I have a unique blood type and it would be a shame if I died here on a hospital bed due to someone neglecting to check my medical record."

Samuel waved his hand in dismissal. "It's not. We know about your uniqueness. We realized normal saline wouldn't have done the job by itself so we put together a concoction of chemicals including saline, a number of proteins, sugar, and a bunch of other things to make a solution thats both compatible for your body and actually treats you without causing problems."

Max hummed in joy as the headache finally started to go away. One less annoyence to deal with. "Ah, that's better." Wow, that worked really fast. Weirdly fast.

The doctor smiled at him again. "Yeah, you took quite the hit to the head back there."

...Wait. What? Did he wake up earlier? Was it actually Halloween and he saw some Mass Effect costumes? Did he headbutt a wall? That would explain why he had a dream about Mass Effect and headbutting a Krogan, but not the pain. What the hell did he hit that caused the headache?

...

Wait a second. Why is he in the hospital? He got ran over by a semi...why was he in the road?

...

...

...

THE LITTLE GIRL!

"Where is she?"

Samuel frowned in confusion. "Who?"

Max looked up at the doctor, his eyes hard. "Where is the little girl? Is she safe? Is she alright?"

Samuel stood there silently for a moment, his eyes glazed over in thought as he tried to recall who Max is talking about. Then his eyes widened. "Oh! Marissa Benton! The child you saved before you were hospitalized. Oh yes, she was quite thankful when she was eventually explained how she was saved. I hear she grew up to be a great woman who spent her life helping others as a charity worker. She made quite a bit of progress too as she founded the biggest and most successful charity organization the Earth's western hemisphere has ever seen. By the time she died-"

Max interrupted the doctor's monolog. "I'm sorry, did you say 'grew up'?"

Samuel took on a sheepish expression as he reached over and rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh yeah, I..I probably should have started with the other thing. You see, you were gone for..a very long time."

"How did she die?"

"Old age. Her heart gave out when she was ninety seven."

Max suddenly felt like his heart was pumping ice through his veins instead of blood. Ninety seven?! How many years was he out?! "Oh God. How...how did...did I...-"

Samuel gave a weak smile. Attempting to salvage the situation he very poorly decided to crack a joke. "Hey look at the bright side, at least you aged far better than she did." Max gave him a hateful look. Unfortunately Samuel, in his now growing panic, continued. "You certainly don't look your age. For five hundred and eighty four years old you still look as young as the day you got hit by that truck!"

...

...wait, what?!

"Five hundred and eighty four years old? Are you having a fucking stroke?"

Samuel was now fully panicking. "No! No no!" He cleared his throat to try and calm himself. "You see, uh, due to some unusual circumstances you, uh, um...fuck." He turned to the almost frozen nurse behind him. "I've lost control of the situation, go and bring them in!"

"Bring who in? What the fuck is going on?"

The nurse opened the door and in walked...

...

...

What the fuck?

Alien species from both Halo and Mass Effect walked in. First in line was a light green Salarien adorned in a doctor's jacket. Following in second was a rather short and thin Sangheili wearing a nurse outfit. And finally the third and fourth in line was the Turian and the Krogan from his dream. They came forward and stood in line at a distance from his bed, by the wall near the window to his left. They stared down at him with expectant eyes.

...

...

What a fucking shit show this turned out to be. "You know, I am a man who takes a bit of too much much joy in questionable humor." He turned back towards the doctor with a flat look. "But seriously, what the fuck kind of sick prank is this? I get ran over by a fucking truck and barely survive and now you're telling me that I just laid here in a fucking coma for over five hundred years in a transdimensional hospital bed? I may have just woken from a coma, doctor, but I'm not that fucking delusional."

"Actually, Max, you were put into cryo-stasis."

"...What?" The cold! That damnable cold he felt after he got ran over... Oh god..is..is this...

"Max, you disappeared from the hospital you were staying in after three days. You were kidnapped. It wasn't until a week and a half ago that the cryo chamber you were put in was discovered. You were in cryo-sleep for five hundred and sixty four years."

Max's mind was racing. Flying through theories and possibilities. Calculations upon calculations were performed far faster than what the second most advanced human mind will ever hope to match. Is this a dream? No, the headache was definitely real. Is this a prank? Can't be, they look way too real to be costumes. The Salarien's skin has a wet shine to it and the eyes were too big and twitchy and real, not to mention the concave chest. The Sangheili's movement mimicked what a body shape like theirs would be like far too accurately, which included the mandibles. Same goes for the Turian and the Krogan.

There was only one explanation for this.

He's on drugs. Some heavy shit too judging by the vivid hallucinations.

"Well, I got to admit, this was pretty fun. I'm deeply upset, but this was fun. Although I would appreciate it if you didn't give me hallucinogens in the future."

"We didn't give you anything besides the painkiller for the headache. You are completely clean right now. This is not a dream. This is not a hallucination. This is real life."

Max honestly didn't know what to think. There was still the possibility he is on drugs, but what kind of hospital would purposefully give their patients drugs that causes hallucinations this life like? Hallucinations so strong that it was indistinguishable from reality save for the obvious ridiculousness.

There is only one way to make sure what he was being told is true.

"My phone. Where is it?"

Samuel gave him a strange look. "Max, it's dead. It's-"

Max gave him a hard look. "My phone, Samuel. Now." He held out his hand expectantly, the chain of the handcuff jingling slightly.

Feeling like he was being scolded by his grandfather, the doctor hesitated before reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out the desired device. There was a long crooked crack running diagonally from the top right to the bottom left of the screen. "It wouldn't activate for us. It's dead, Max." He handed it over.

"That's because you're not me." He swiped his phone from Samuel's hand. "And that's 'Barrett' to you, Hayden."

"My name is not Hayden."

"I could not possibly care less." He clicked the power button on the side. Nothing.

"See? I told yo-"

"BT, wake up and deactivate the security lock."

" It is good to see you again, Max." A deep, smooth, and oddly flat voice rumbled out of the phone's speakers as the screen immediately lit up. In the center of the screen was a glowing light blue circle with three columns jutting out of it that get darker in shade the farther they reach. One went straight down while the other two went diagonally upwards, forming an upside down triangle, the thickness of the circle and columns occasionally changed and readjusted.

"It's good to see you too. It feels like I haven't seen you in a long time and yet I also feel like I just talked to you a few hours ago."

" That is understandable. A human's perception of time typically becomes disoriented after going through a heavy sleep cycle. I detect you are not at your full physical and mental capacity, I recommend ample rest and exercise."

Hopefully he's referring the coma. Just the coma. "All in due time my diligent friend. But right now I need to know something."

" Of course, Max. What would you like to know?"

However, before Max could ask his question the Salarien doctor from earlier spoke up. "Excuse me." The voice was of a higher pitch. A female. If Max was being honest he would say that he ignored their presence so harshly that he had momentarily forgotten they were there at all. "What exactly is that and how did it survive this long?" Her...omnitool...was on and she was typing away at it. She oddly reminded him of Mordin Solus...sort of.

"Oh, my apologies." He gestured to the device with his free left hand. "This is BT. He's the AI in my phone. Say 'Hi' BT."

" Hello, I am BT-7274, the artificial Intelligence currently inhabiting the cellular device belonging to Max Barrett."

"I programmed him myself. He's one of my greatest achievements!"

" Correction: I am your greatest achievement."

The Mass Effect aliens looked between eachother for a moment before the Salarien turned back towards him. "Obviously not a true AI of course. Such a thing is not possible with the technology your species had during your time."

Max actually laughed at her, thankfully it was not one born from mockery. "Actually he is! You see, the phrase "I am held back by the technology of my time" doesn't fit me at all because I can simply make whatever the hell i want when I want it. If I want to invent something that requires materials or pieces of technology that doesn't exist yet then I just make them. Because I'm simply that smart. When I really put my mind to something few things are outside my reach. Like, for example, a true AI." He held his phone so they could see it better. "This bad boy runs on a next-gen quantum computer, none of that Stone Age regular binary shit. And it needs it to house BT or else I wouldn't be able to take my best friend everywhere I go."

"Your best friend is a computer? That's kinda sad ain't it?" The Krogan asked, arms crossed over his chest.

Max pointedly ignored the snide comment. But before he could continue his monolog BT decided to speak up.

" Correction: It is not 'sad'. I am a fully functioning intelligent being capable of holding a conversation with Max Barrett without falling behind. It is also healthy for a human mind to attach and form a bond with someone that possesses a level of mental capabilities similar to their own."

Max smiled down at his phone. "Oh BT, I find it amusing that you think you can keep up with me." He looked back to the Salarien. "He really is a true AI. He thinks for himself and has his own opinions and all that shit. He even passed the Turing Test a hundred times in a row. I know it's not that great of a way to test an AI but it was all conducted by me."

The Salarien continued typing away. "If it past the Turing Test then why is it's speech so robotic?"

Max shrugged. "He likes to talk like that, it's his preferred method of speaking."

"I see." The frog like alien hummed while tapping at her chin. "My other questions. How did the battery survive for this long? How did the cryogenic freezing process not damage the systems beyond functionality?"

Max's lips peeled back in a humorous grin. "Heh, well you see when I designed it I went the extra mile and made it extra tough. A hardened gold-titanium alloy case and ironglass screen allowed it to survive being crushed by that truck like me."

"Ironglass?"

Max nodded. "Yes, ironglass. A material I made specifically for the purpose of being one of the toughest glass like materials out there. Now as I was saying. The insides i made out of tougher materials than what was used for other phones. Everything inside it is a material I invented specifically for it. Anything delicate found in a normal phone is replaced with something tough enough to survive pressures up to fifty thousand pounds. At this point in time my phone is, for all intents and purposes, as close to indestructible as a phone can be without being made of unbreakable material... Granted I could make it tougher by making stronger materials but I felt like it was already resilient enough."

"That easy?"

"That easy." Max shifted in his bed. "The battery lasted so long because i designed it to. This thing won't run properly without a sufficient power source. Lithium and other conventional batteries won't suffice so I went ahead and made a new element called 'Barrettium' and used it to make a power cell. Even under constant use it will last at a minimum of fifteen hundred years."

"Jesus Christ."

"Thank you." Max replied to the stunned nurse. Though she wasn't the only one that was shocked.

"You really were far ahead of your time weren't you?" Sal, the name Max decided to give the Salarien until he was told her name, stated more than asked. "You may no longer be the greatest mind of your species but I can see you still have much to offer to the galaxy."

"I can guarantee you that what you just said is false. Now, if you'll excuse me." Max gave his attention back to his phone. "Alright, BT. Is what the doctor said true? Was I really put in a cryotube? Am I really in the year twenty five eighty four?"

" I am afraid so, Max. After you were hospitalized in late January of the year two thousand and twenty you disappeared from the hospital after three days. A group of individuals belonging to an unknown organization had kidnapped you and placed both of us in an experimental cryo-chamber for currently unknown reasons. I lost my connection to the outside when we were sealed, I believe the chamber was lined with a wide number of heavy elements due to the fact that none of my scanners could pierce through."

"So I was frozen." Max clicked his tongue and narrowed his eyes in thought. "But why kidnap me? Why freeze me instead of using me for ransom? What did they have to gain? Who would gain from this"

" Unknown. Soon after being sealed, I went into sleep mode to conserve power. However I left several systems on incase anything changed, which included a time tracker. We were in cryo-sleep for approximately five hundred and sixty four years, one day, and five seconds before we were discovered and unsealed by a group of SOS responders."

One day and five seconds? That's...oddly close to an exact year. Is it coincidental or was it orchestrated? He will have to look into this at a later date. "SOS responders? Why would a secret organization let themselves be discovered like that? And what was giving off the signal?"

" The organization appears to have been dismantled for quite some time, or the facility was abandoned but that theory is less likely as they probably would have taken you with them. The cryo-chamber ran on an unusually advanced experimental hydrogen fuel cell. It would have lasted for another three hundred and fifty one years but it had malfunctioned. The malfunction had caused the cryo-chamber to enter a 'panic mode' and send out an SOS signal that attracted the attention of the local law enforcement."

Max hummed to himself. It must have been an underground facility, why would an abandoned building from his time be left alone for over five hundred years? Now, let's say for a moment he actually believed that he was currently in a hospital room with aliens from some of his favorite games, this obviously is another dimension. Absolutely no fucking way that Halo and Mass Effect could be games in his time AND be the future of the same universe. There is no fucking way that Bungie and Bioware got the alien species down so accurately like this.

So, time travel AND universe hopping.

Well, not really time travel, cryo sleeping the time away doesn't count.

Oh who is he kidding. He's totally fucked.

This entire situation is completely fucked...whatever said situation happened to be.

" After the cryo-chamber was unsealed I had regained access to the internet, now called the 'extranet'. With it I have managed to learn much of this new timeline, with that in mind I would like to point out that there are a few things I wish to speak to you about in private."

Max nodded slowly. "Alright, BT." He thought silently to himself about how strange this all was. Honestly what the fuck is going on?! Hold on a second. He turned to the other worldly beings. "Now that I think about it, why are there aliens on earth? Are you diplomats?"

" Max, we are not on Earth. We are on a massive space hub referred to as 'The Citadel'. It is used as a space port, city, and as the political and cultural center of official Galactic Space."

Oh my God. I'm on the fucking Citadel! Holy shit! "Oh...Wait." Max adopted a baffled look. "They found me, Max Barrett, humanity's greatest mind and arguably the most important human around, took me from the Earth and put me on a giant space station inhabited almost exclusively by aliens? Who's the moron that decided this?"

"How did you know that?" Samuel asked. The others were confused as well.

"I can put two and two together, dick. Don't interrupt again." Ignoring the befuddled doctor he turned his attention back to BT. "Who made that decision, BT?"

" It was a collective decision made by The Citadel Council and the UNSC Executive branch."

Max felt his irritation coming back. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath through his nose. He is supposed to be unknowing of this timeline, he cannot point out that the UNSC is just the military branch of the UAG and therefore, by itself, does not technically have the authority to make such a decision. Then why did they? And why would The Citadel Council want anything to do with this? "That doesn't explain why, but we'll get to that later. For now I'd like you to tell me about my physical recovery."

" Of course, Max. After we were sealed in the cryo-chamber your recovery had slowed significantly. In turn this has allowed your body to more efficiently heal itself without complications. You were fully recovered by the five hundred and eighth year. However, soon after your recovery your body had begun to..decompose."

Decompose. Max felt immensely uncomfortable upon hearing that last bit. The idea that he was... rotting alive while asleep is incredibly unnerving. "What did I lose?"

" For unknown reasons the decomposition process was greatly faster than it should have been. You have lost twelve point one percent of body mass during your time in the cryo-chamber, seventy two percent of which was used to heal your body."

"The cryo-chamber you were put in was primitive and inperfected. It was flawed and did not perform a perfect cryo-stasis. The result was your body still functioning like normal, just slower." It was Sal the Salarien who spoke up this time. Max found that he wasnt upset, probably because he actually likes her.

" I would also like to point out, Max, that due to the stress caused by the extensive damage done to your body coupled with the healing process and the imperfect cryostasis has caused your lifespan to shrink by two decades."

WELL, THAT'S CERTAINLY SOMETHING. "...oh." Actually it's not that big of a deal, he could easily get those back. It honestly wouldn't be that hard for him. "So nothing to worry about."

Everyone had visibly tensed up at his words. "Nothing to worry about?!" Surprisingly it was the Sangheili that had spoken. And Max found himself slightly embarrassed when it occurred to him that it was a female too, something he should have realized when he noticed how short and thin she was. "How could you possibly not be worried about it?!"

Max stared blanky into her eyes and could not help but acknowledge how cute she is. Despite being what most people would think as an 'ugly alien' he found her to be quite the opposite. The awkward twitching of her mandibles and the worry filled eyes was doing weird things to him.

Damn my attraction to Sangheili. It's going to get me into trouble. And yet he found that he didn't care.

His silent staring was starting to make her uncomfortable, she started awkwardly shifting her weight from foot to foot before he began to talk. "I'm not worried because it's an easy fix. Do you really think it would be that difficult? It's actually not. You see it's quite simple, all I have to do is-"

" I apologize, Max. But I believe this would be a good time to start preparing to leave. We have much work to do."

Max's eyes widened. "Ah, you are right, BT." He briefly acknowledged the fact that BT had probably just kept him from revealing one of the steps to pseudo-immortality. He turned to the doctor once again. "I would appreciate it if we started preparations for my leave. There is much work to be done and only I can do any of it."

Samuel glanced between the others, thinking of the best way to go about this. "Alright. We can start in a few hours. First, however, we must perform some tests to see where you are in terms of motor skills and cognition."

Max nodded. "Of course. It would be quite embarrassing if my legs gave out suddenly in front of a crowd."

A laugh caught his attention. He turned his sight to the humored Krogan. "How's that head feel?

Max's grin matched the reptile's. "Ready for round two, you fucking dinosaur."

Slight time skip: A few hours later...

Max, now dressed in human clothing that matched this timeline, walked out of the hospital side by side with the Turian he slammed into the floor. His name is Tullnus Helcius and he used to be a c-sec officer before he became a guard at the hospital. Which, by total non-coincidence, happened to be near where the Citadel Council happened to operate. How convenient. Before he left the hospital he had asked the cute Sangheili female if she would be interested in having a coffee sometime, causing her to blush. Who knew Sangheili could blush? He didn't.

Some asswipe had witnessed his surprisingly successful attempt at flirting and immediately grilled him for "consorting with the enemy". Max's response to that was to place his hand on the human's shoulder and whisper "Anything for that alien coochie". He took five steps before he realized that he was awake in this universe and time for less than a day and he was already trying to get some alien pussy. What a fucking time to be alive. Whether this is all a dream or just a really lucid hallucination he honestly didn't care anymore. He just wanted to enjoy it. And what better way to do that than to do nothing but fuck around and have fun doing random shit?

He is Max Barrett, the greatest mind humanity has ever produced. He disappeared in 2020 only to reappear, alive, in 2584. His intellect is so vast that even in this time he is still the smartest motherfucker around. And because of this fact the entire fucking galaxy is waiting to see what he would do. But what is it that he wanted to do?

"I would've had a guide show you around but if you're as smart as everyone says you are then you should have no trouble navigating on your own." Tullnus gestured around them. There were people, shops, a bar, a clear view of the arms of the massive space station, and so many other things. In the distance he could see a Hanar was floating on by, uncaring of the odd looks it was receiving by a few humans who Max immediately figured were new to the Citadel. "You should have received the address of your new apartment in your omnitool by now."

"Thanks." Max checked to make sure. Upon being given a brand new omnitool he had almost immediately hated it. "It's so terribly designed" He had helpfully informed them of the idiocy of the device's arguably poor quality. "A personal computer that lights up and shows everyone around you exactly what your doing? What moron made this damn thing". Confirming that he had indeed received an email (We still call it that?) containing the address, he turned his head to his temporary companion. "I'd like to apologize for what happened back there in the hall. If I hurt you I'd happily pay for any damages."

The Turian shook his head. "Don't worry about it, I've taken harder hits from people bigger than you. All you've done is bruise up my back a little, it'll heal."

"That's good. It would be a shame if I had hurt anyone on my first day back."

Tullnus purposefully didn't remind him that he broke a doctor's arm. He himself held no positive opinions on that particular human.

Max smiled down at the shorter alien. "Don't worry, I'll make it up to you someday. Maybe I'll make you some armor? I'm thinking tungsten-carbide for outter plating, titanium weaving underneath coated in an impact gel layer. I'll also include some motorized joint assists, make you stronger and faster."

"You don't have to do that."

"You're right, I don't." Max put his hand on the Turian's shoulder. "But I want to. Come on, it'll make me feel better about what I did."

Tullnus sighed as he realized that there was no stopping this human. Well, atleast he could get something out of this. "Alright. But can you make some guns too? I'd hate to walk around with all that armor without the firepower to back it up."

Max laughed. "Of course! Trust me, Tullnus. You're gonna love it." He reached out for a handshake that was eagerly reciprocated. "And tell that asshole I want a rematch, alright? Can't have him thinking he beat the strongest human that easily."

Tullnus laughed, mandibles spread wide with his humor. "I'll be sure to do that! I'd like to see that fight too so don't forget to include me." He walked off back inside the hospital with a final goodbye.

Max waved as he watched his new friend disappear behind the automatic doors. He turned back around and stared out at the vast emptiness of space visible between the arms of the Citadel, his mind occupied with thoughts about his life in the past. I'm surprised the shock hasn't hit me yet. I'll never see my family or my...two human friends ever again. Maybe I'll get lucky and it'll hit when I get to my new apartment.

He eyed two Asari that were walking by. The one on the left caused the word 'voluptuous' to appear in his head while the other held a certain attractive cuteness to her. Both were giving him endearing looks as they past by, putting on some extra sway to their hips as they walked off.

Max smiled. "I have a feeling that I'm going to love this place." His smile widened. "Ferb, I know what I'm going to do." He laughed. "I'm going to have a lot of fun making references nobody understands." He pulled up his omnitool and put in the directions from the email from earlier and began following the GPS. Looking around he took in everything he was seeing. This is fucking astonishing! He saw Turians, Sangheili, Volus, Asari, Unggoy, Kig-yar, Salarians, Quarian, Hanar, and Krogans. There was even a few Jiralhanae and San'Shyuum sprinkled in here and there.

Wish I had my journal, I could document everything I'm seeing. But God knows where that thing ended up.

Somewhere else in the galaxy...

A man sat in a near empty room. The only thing filling it was the chair he sat in and the old thick leather bound book in his hand. The floor and ceiling was a polished black painted metal, slightly reflecting the light of the star coming in from the wall sized window on the far end of the large room. The man silently flipped through the pages as his glowing cybernetic eyes carefully took in the words written on the aged paper. Eventually he got to the chapter written in another language. A language currently being translated by his best subordinates. He slowly closed the book and stared at the cover. "Max Barrett." He turned over what he read in his head. All the theories, concepts, mathematical equations, and explanations for things previously thought to be impossible even by today's standards. "You truly are humanity's greatest mind."

Subject: Max Barrett (new updated info)

Age: Physically: 22 Actually: 584 (Due to the imperfect cryostasis Max's bodily functions have merely slowed down. Because of this his body has continued to age albeit very very slowly.)

Height: 7' 2" (218.44 cm)

Health: 81/100 (After Max's body fully healed it began to decompose. Because of this he has lost a noticeable amount of body mass. The stress caused by the massive damage he took during 'The Incident' and the effort it took to heal him has caused his lifespan to be measurably reduced by 2 decades. Max has a plan to reverse this.)

Intelligence: Unknown/10

Strength: Unknown/10

Durability: 20/10

Speed: 15/10

Weakness(es): Bodies of water deep enough to drown in. Various. (It should be pointed out that despite Max's massive physical resilience he is still human and can still die by human means. For example: Max's blood type is unique from any other human and therefore if he is given a blood transfusion with anything besides the artificial blood he created specifically for himself then he could suffer side effects like a hemolytic transfusion reaction, which will do as much damage to him as it would a normal human.)

Notes: At this moment Max is on the fence about whether he should believe if these events are really happening or if it's just an extremely vivid dream while in a coma. His guilty pleasure song is still Die Young by Kesha.

End 2nd entry.