Updated 31.05.2021 for grammatical, stylistic and logical errors. Short chapter but adding more feels like it's going to break the flow of it.
10/01/2174 Serpent Nebula, Widow, Citadel
I woke up to the sound of raised voices, groggy I couldn't quite make out what they were saying. I was laying on my stomach in someone's bed, I knew that because unlike hotel beds or hospital beds this one had a distinct person smell. Quite pleasant in fact and distinctly female, briefly wondering how I know that I craned my neck to look around. Definitely a room that belonged to a woman. A woman with not a lot of stuff but definitely a woman.
Pushing myself off the bed I found that I still had my underwear on but even a cursory glance around the room told me that I wouldn't find any more of my clothes here. I guessed they didn't survive the blast.
I actually hurt. My back was sore and my chest felt a bit too tight but a simple breathing exercise told me that while I was not 100% I was combat ready. It seems someone actually removed the fragments of the bullet and the frag grenade allowing my body to heal faster without needing to devote energy for pushing out the offending metal scrap like what I usually did, no back-alley doctor would have the diamond tipped scalpels needed to cut into me.
Opening the door I found the source of the raised voices. Miranda stood on one side of the living room, Kate Shepard stood on the other side with Ray in between them and Jack sitting on a high stool in the kitchen area chewing on a long piece of candy enjoying the argument as if it was a TV show.
"You can't just show up with Sam injured and pretend like there is nothing to say." Kate said testily
"I don't know you. I can't trust you. Sam might be a friend of yours but I have known him for a day. The only reason I am still here is to get an explanation from Sam." Miranda countered
"Sooo...where can I find some clothes?" I said bringing everyone's full attention to me
"Saaam!" Jack yelled and actually bounced a few feet into the air in surprise. I bet she was proud of that.
"You are actually awake." Miranda stated clear note of disbelief in her voice, not that I could blame her as it's not every day you see a guy take a grenade and wake up a few hours later.
"Yeah, I am guessing getting stunned and then that blast from the grenade was a bit too much." I replied rubbing the back of my neck, a bad habit I seemed to have somehow inherited from the male Shepard in game.
Ray walked up to me and did a quick scan. "You should be ok with a few days rest. And I do mean that you have to take that rest and not to run off on another mission like the last time. You might be made of tougher stuff than the rest of us but a few of those pieces I took out from you actually came away bloody. You will take a few days rest. Doctors orders."
"Sure doc. Now that I am unemployed I can actually do that." I agreed easily, I did need to spend time thinking about what to do next and not just react to events.
"This is impossible" Miranda said and actually sagged onto the couch. She looked exhausted.
"It's not. As I promised I will tell you what I can but could I get some clothes first? Where are my clothes anyway?" I asked feeling a bit self-conscious.
"In the recycler, they were shredded and singed. Let me take a look if I can find something that will fit you. You are a bit taller and quite a bit more muscular but I think I have something that will stretch well enough." Ray walked away heading towards the master bedroom which meant that I had been sleeping in Kate's bed judging by the décor of the room.
"Can I get something to eat too? I am starving. Getting injured will do that to me. " I asked hoping that if I get Kate to do something she will stop blushing while staring at me. I didn't have a nudity taboo or a body image issues any more but being the object of close attention of two women and one teenage girl was not a situation I was comfortable with.
"Sure, it is time for breakfast anyway." Kate said and moved towards the fridge.
"Miranda did you get something to keep your electrolyte levels up?" I asked turning my attention to Miranda, the fight must have taken a lot out of her biotically.
"Jack was kind enough to share her favourite energy drink with me." Miranda replied and the disgust in her voice was hard to miss.
"I did warn you." Kate pointed out, not looking as she was busying herself in the kitchen.
"You did. And I look at it as an educational experience. I never knew you could be disgusted in so many ways at once." Miranda agreed
"Heeey, don't say that, utuuk is nice." Jack protested weakly
The next ten minutes passed in what would easily pass for a normal breakfast conversation. Ray returned with some sweat pants and a t-shirt both of which were a bit snug but it was miles better than being mostly naked. Kate cooked breakfast, Miranda explained that utuuk was an apple like fruit that was grown by asari very much like apples were by humans. The difference was utuuk juice was not fresh squeezed but was made by fermenting squashed utuuk fruit in a cask with spices. It was almost like unfinished spiced apple cider. Unfortunately fermented utuuk tasted as if someone boiled horseradish in honey. Asari sometimes produced extremely odd taste combinations.
After eating practically everything that was put in front of me and seeing everyone else attack their food with the same fervor I judged that it was time for an explanation. I hoped a good breakfast would make Miranda less critical. And people who have shared a meal together tend to be less confrontational with each other.
"So what do you want to ask?" I said after I finished clearing the table and sat back down.
"There are far too many questions in my mind for my liking. But let's start with the most obvious one. What are you?" Miranda looked straight into my eyes as if daring me to lie.
"The most honest answer? I don't know. Not really. Nearly a year ago an Alliance raid on a suspected slaver staging ground uncovered a secret lab where they found me. I was not the only experiment there but I was the luckiest one. I came out alive and stronger than ever, no debilitating side effects, no missing pieces. But I have no memories of what was done to me, I know nothing of how it was done to me or who did it. All I know is that I woke up in a brig on a ship where Ray was the doctor. I was then recruited into what I believed to a covert total deniability operations branch of Alliance intelligence. I spent a a few months in training and then for the past six months I have been going on missions. If you want a rundown of my physical characteristics then I believe Ray can do it better than I can, he has the required medical background knowledge after all." I replied trying to sound as calm about this as possible. I saw that Jack grimaced when I said I had been an experiment.
Miranda looked at Ray and quirked an eyebrow in a way that suggested he needed to start talking.
"Sam is in simplest terms superhuman. But that kind of label would apply to everyone in the room by the standard of stock humanity. As Alliance soldiers both Kate and I have more than a fair bit of genetic engineering in us to make us better equipped to deal with the dangers of the galaxy. In fact I have a bit more than Kate because mine were done before Sudham-Wolcott Genetic Heritage Act was passed by Alliance. You and Jackie are both biotics and your abilities would look like magic to humans before the contact with the Council.
So to better illustrate how he differs from us you could compare him to a human version of a krogan. His body is still made from the same stuff as all of us but it's as if whoever made him like this dialed every property to 300% of normal. He is faster, stronger and more resilient than it could be possible without some major illegal cybernetics or very extensive and highly illegal genetic modification. The science of how it was done escapes me even after having spent the last two years studying his tissue and blood samples. No doubt the secret organization he got recruited into did the same but I doubt they got any further than I did." Ray explained sounding quite comfortable discussing the subject
"Why do say that Dad?" Kate interjected before Miranda could ask a follow up question.
"Because as far as I can tell the science to do what was done to him does not exist. It's not genetic engineering, it's not cybernetics or surgery. It's as if every cell in his body down to molecular level was changed, modified to be superior in every way. I can't explain it. I doubt there is anyone that could. Living here on Citadel I had seen the level of medical technology of salarians, asari and turians. None of them are capable of doing anything like this. Not even close. Maybe protheans could have done this but we don't know enough about them to be sure. Whatever technology was used to do this it's either far ahead of us or is based on a completely different understanding of science than we have." Ray shrugged
"You sure it wasn't Cerberus?" Jack asked and I saw Miranda twitch as she must have suppressed her initial reaction to deny it could have been.
"As much as I would like to think that they were behind this I know for sure they are not capable of doing this. Otherwise it wouldn't have been just me but a bunch of super-powered Cerberus agents running around and wrecking things. No, Cerberus despite all of their sins have nothing to do with what was done to me." I assured Jack as I knew that to be true beyond any doubt.
"Who recruited you?" Miranda asked this time
"I don't know. I thought they were Alliance but I know now they were not or at least not properly. But I can't really say much, apart from the facilities that I had been to during my training all my interaction was through email. And the training facilities were just temporary so there was nothing to identify them. It sounds worse than it is. They might have been extremely secretive about themselves but every mission they gave to me was above board. I was never in doubt about the need for them or their legitimacy. The need to what was asked of me was easily checked by extranet. Before I came to the Citadel i spent the last four months going after a violent terrorist cell." I replied hoping that my sincerity would be enough to convince them. I had theories about who they were but there was nothing I could prove. And at this point I thought that they were not my problem.
"So your greatest secret is that you don't know." Miranda said clearly skeptical
"You could say that. I don't know who I had been working for, not in detail but that is not that unusual in my former field of work. You know that Miranda. There are plenty of specialists who get hired without the knowledge. I don't know who made me like I am now either but the real question you want to ask is 'can they make more'. And the answer to that question is more than likely no. For the simple reason that where I was found I was but one of many experiments. And while galaxy is big I doubt that Alliance, Cerberus or our friends on the Citadel council would have missed an army of superhumans if that what was they were trying to make there." I continued with my explanation. Of course there were things I could not tell them. Like me being from a different universe where all this was a piece of fiction and that I knew what the future held. Because as strange and bizarre the story I was telling sounded putting the whole different universe thing on the table was just not going to fly.
Miranda looked at me as if trying to scan me with her eyes and determine if I was actually telling the truth. Jack looked confused and was very still as if her movement could disturb whatever she was thinking about. Kate looked like she wanted to either punch me or hug me. Probably both.
"That was interesting but I have to get to work, Jackie here is going to school and Kate is on duty in less than an hour." Ray said and in a few moments I was left alone with Miranda as the Shepard family went about their morning routine that was interrupted by me. I am usually fine with silence but being stared at intently by Miranda does get a bit unnerving.
"What now?" Miranda said finally
And then I explained. She told me I was crazy. I laughed and didn't argue.