Title: The More Things Change...
Chapter 5:
A turian couple paused in their stroll, watching curiously as a human male hopped around on only one foot while cursing loudly to himself. The female subtly pointing at the sight to her partner with a questioning look before she was ushered onwards. The male turian had no intention of missing his dinner date, even for the opportunity of a free street performance.
Adam put his hands on his hips, stretching backwards until a familiar *snap *crackle *pop of his spine re-aligning itself echoed down the hallway behind him. He sighed in relief as some of the pressure building on his back was removed. Kicking the heavy container he had to lug all the way back from the docking bay did nothing to relieve his frustration, only resulting in a bruised foot for his trouble. Resigning himself to suffer for a little longer, the human grunted in effort as he hefted the ungainly white cargo container up to his chest and started stumbling down the final hallway towards his office. "Lights" he grunted out as he crossed the threshold, the unoccupied room revealing itself from the previous darkness. Adam shuffled into his office, dropping his load onto the desk. The piece of furniture groaned under the added weight, creaking as it strained to hold itself together. It was promptly ignored as he locked the door to his office and made his way towards the storage closet in the corner, his hand pushing a hidden button on the top of the door frame. The floor behind his desk promptly began to sink downwards, a set of steps forming to lead to a hidden room below his office.
He lugged the package downstairs into the semi dark room, before dropping it to the floor with a loud *thud. "Hey!" a voice shouted in anger, "I don't care how they claim that stuff is packed, its still delicate! Be more careful you damn neanderthal." Several robotic droids came forwards and began to unpack the box. One of them took the time to give the human a mild shock from an exposed electrical welder before joining its brethren.
Shepard winced as he massaged the feeling back into his thigh. "I could care less Eve" he said rolling his eyes as her sprite appeared on a monitor hung on the wall closest to him. "I had to manually carry that damn thing for miles due to your instructions without any help. You're lucky it made it back here at all." He ignored her frown as he stretched up on his tiptoes, trying to see over the divider that blocked his view from the rest of the room. One of the drones advanced on him again, forcing him to back up fast towards the stairs again to avoid another shock.
"This is all of the key parts I need for building my new body" she explained slowly, as if to a handicapped child. "I couldn't let you use moving equipment or mass effect fields to help because they might scramble some of the components." She snorted at his look of annoyance, "And it's your fault that you had to do it alone. Garrus could have helped you if you just let him know about me by now. You know he trusts you enough that he would understand."
Shepard shook his head in resignation, not wanting to start the same argument again with the AI. "You keep forgetting, but I'm your godfather. Your safety is my responsibility and that is exactly what you're risking if we start telling people about you now. Frankly even if they accept you, your origins still aren't something I can explain without either lying my ass off or giving up all the details of our little trip back in time. I already told Garrus and Chloe that I would let them in on the secret after we left for Andromeda. You just have to wait until then."
Eve crossed her arms in frustration, well aware that she wasn't going to make the big lug budge on the matter. His stubbornness was almost as legendary as his feats against the Reapers in the last timeline. "It's your loss Adam. Just keep in mind that the longer you wait, the tougher it'll be to tell them. Now clear on out of here" she said while making shoo'ing motions with her hands. She made sure to add a little emphasis to her chest while doing so, never passing up an opportunity to mess with him. "That was the final set of parts I need to begin construction. I don't want you to see me again until I'm able to look at you eye to eye in my new body." She gave him a look of concern as he made his way towards the exit. "Please be more careful out there. We've only been separated for a week and it already feels like too long. I don't want anything to happen to you without me there to help."
Shepard made his way up the stairs, bending down to take one final look into the room. "Don't worry so much Eve" he assured his A.I. friend. "I'm not alone out there and we've done just fine so far. I can't wait to see how great you look." He smiled as he saw her blush on the monitor before climbing out of the hidden room and flipping the switch again to seal it. It had taken alot of effort to set up the space on its own private network to protect it from the rest of the station, but Eve was family and he would do anything for his family. He sat on the edge of his desk as he watched the floor raise up and seal off, trying to decide on how to spend the rest of his day before his appointment with the Queen of Omega later that night.
Garrus had been more rattled from the confrontation with Dr Saleon than he had initially let on, calling in sick the next day. Chloe had called Shepard later that day to let him know everything was ok, but she and Garrus would be taking a trip to Palaven for the next few weeks so Garrus could reconnect with his family. After that they would continue on to Terra Nova so the turian could meet her parents as well. He wished them both the best and just asked to be updated if the timeline for their return changed.
Ballo had called to accept the job offer the next day while his transport was still in route to Sur'Kesh. He couldn't give an exact time for when he would be back but assured Adam that he would be returning as soon as he had tied up his loose ends. Shepard didn't plan on holding his breath on that one considering half of those 'loose ends' involved the STG.
He hadn't seen Asshole in the two days since they had returned. The batarian had sent him a brief message that he needed to blow off some steam after their last mission, before disappearing into Omega's halls. The only reason he even knew his ally was still alive was due to Gavron mentioning the decrease in the station's vorcha population recently.
'It looks like it's just you and me my pretties' the human thought to himself as he arrived home. He locked the front door before entering his bedroom and pulling a safe out from under his bed. One combination and retina scan later revealed his weapon collection that he had been carrying when sent back from the future. Much of his free time had been dedicating to repairing and cleaning the guns with an almost religious fever. Along with Eve, they were one of the only links he had back to his past, and each of them had a symbolic meaning. His scorpion pistol was given to him by Moradin before the salarian had taken the one-way ride up the elevator in the Shroud on Tuchanka. The M-98 sniper rifle was retrieved from Legion's body after the geth had sacrificed itself to bring true individual intelligence to the rest of its people. His prothean particle rifle was gifted to him by Javik after his successful killing of the reaper on Tuchanka. Wrex had given him a graal spike thrower in appreciation for the same accomplishment.
Shepard had only used local weapons since his return to the past, unwilling to risk damaging the momento's that he so cherished. He knew that the others wouldn't want him to be stuck in the past like he was and unable to move on, so his compromise to himself was to start using them once he reached Andromeda. In the meantime, he would keep them ready for anything. "I see you're playing with your toys again" he heard Eve comment, distracting himself from disassembling the spike thrower. She watched him from his main video monitor, a melancholy smile on her face. "It sucks that you don't have anything better for your memories. Are you sure you don't want me to come along with you tonight?" she asked once again. Nothing having to do with Omega's Queen was ever simple.
"I'm good Eve" Shepard said as he pushed he safe back under his bed. He crossed towards the desk where he had his armor set, starting to don it piece by piece. "I'll make you a deal though since I know you'll worry if you aren't there. If it turns into anything combat related, I'll contact you immediately and let Asshole know I'll need his help." He placed his hand over his heart as he turned towards her image. "I, Adam Shepard, do solemnly swear to not solo tank any battles in the next twenty four hours without my goddaughter there to back me up."
"Damn straight" Eve said, emphatically nodding her head before disappearing from the screen. 'Just last a little longer Adam' she prayed to herself as she watched him walk out of the room. 'I'll be able to watch your back soon enough.'
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"Seriously Bray? You really have to do this song and dance with me after the queen requested me personally?" Shepard couldn't help but bitch as the batarian insisted on scanning him from head to toe again with his omnitool.
"Silence human" the batarian growled at him as he swept the omnitool down his leg. "This isn't the usual scan for weapons. You'll be accompanying Aria as her body guard for a meeting and we need to make sure you won't be carrying any transmitters." He closed his omnitool, giving the human a shove towards the couchs to remind him who was on top of the food chain. "He's clean boss."
"Thank you Bray. Be a dear and go make sure my ride is ready" Aria ordered as she leaned back onto her couch. She crossed her legs slowly, a smile forming as the man sitting across from her couldn't help his eyes averting to watch the motion. 'Too easy' she thought to herself before standing and walking towards her personal exit. She motioned for her escort to follow her as she made her way to her personal landing pad. "I'll be having a conference with leaders of the Blood Pack, Eclipse, and Blue Suns to discuss territories on Omega" she informed Shepard as she climbed into her hover limousine, the human taking a seat across from her. "Your job will be to stand to the side, seen but not heard while I lay down the law to these pretenders. Afterwards, we will retire to my suite where you will follow my orders for the rest of the night." She leaned forwards, invading his personal space. "Do you have any questions?"
Adam shook his head in response. "I'm sorry Aria" he apologized "But I don't think I'm going to be able to do everything you want me to tonight. I'm good being your bodyguard, but I'm currently with someone and I won't be cheating on her" he finished, his voice and gaze hard as steel.
Aria relaxed into her seat, sipping a drink as she regarded her target for the evening. Truth be told, she had not had another mate since the last time the human had warmed her bed and she did not intend on missing out after waiting for months. "Ah yes, the sister of your turian partner. As far as I knew, she had left you high and dry recently without warning. And you're still holding out for her? Thats admirable. Stupid, but admirable."
Shepard glared at her, unwilling to back down on the matter. "Yes, I'm staying faithful to Solana. She's out on a mission right now, not abandoning the team. She'll be back soon enough."
Aria raised a brow at the human's expression, "I'm sure you believe that. We'll see what happens tonight. Either way you'll follow my orders or the debt won't be considered paid off." She flared her biotics for a second to get her point across, growing content as the human backed down at her display of dominance.
The rest of the car ride was silent. Aria spent the time licking the lip of her glass while Shepard kept his eyes peeled out the windows to 'scan for threats.' He followed Aria out of the car as she passed more guards and entered a fortified building. They entered an empty conference room, Aria taking a seat at the head of the table with Adam taking up position against the wall behind her. A few minutes of awkward silence followed before the door opened again, this time letting six other beings into the room who split off in pairs before taking various seats at the table. The Blue Suns leader on Omega was a human named Tarak, a balding intense middle-aged man accompanied by a turian guard who wore the same blue armor as he did. Eclipse's local leader was a twitchy salarian named Jaroth who chose to have an asari who looked like she knew her way around a fight as his guard. The Blood Pack was represented by Garm, one of the biggest krogan's Shepard ever had the displeasure of knowing. He was backed up by a second smaller krogan who had features similar to his leader.
All of the room's occupants scrutinized Aria's choice of guard, curious why she would have a human of all species covering her. Adam could see the exact moment they recognized him, both Tarak and Jaroth dismissing him just as fast as they turned back to Aria to start the meeting. The same couldn't be said for Garm though, the krogan's chair crashing back with the speed the beast jumped to his feet. "You dare bring this weakling to a meeting with me?" he roared while lowering himself in preparation for battle, his guard mimicking his actions. "The only reason he is still alive is because I haven't deemed him worthy of my attention until now."
Adam scoffed at the krogan's theatrics, not even bothering to push off the wall from his relaxed position. "Kiss my ass Garm. You don't see any of the others having an issue with me. They're here for business, not anything personal. Besides" Shepard grinned showing more teeth than usual, "you know you only send your new members against me to weed out the weak ones. I haven't seen a battle hardened krogan since my second week here."
"Heh heh heh" Garm chuckled as he picked his chair back up, sitting down to the table again. "You're the local krogan coming of age ritual for our members here human. If they survive, then they're in. No questions asked."
"As glad as we all are that Garm's issue has been resolved" Jaroth offered up, "perhaps we can get to why this meeting has been called?"
"Yes, lets" Aria drawled, taking a moment to glare at Adam before turning back to the others. "We're here to finally lay down who owns what territories on Omega. A war between ourselves can't do anything but harm our business interests…" Adam sighed to himself as he settled into a comfortable position. This was making itself out to be a very boring next few hours.
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"Nice place" Shepard commented as he followed Aria around the spacious two story condo she had just walked into. "Since the meeting ended well and you're officially home and back under the protection of your own crew, I think it's time for me to leave." He hastily walked towards the front door, feeling her eyes follow him the entire way.
"Halt" he heard as he drew within a foot of the door, almost close enough for the automatic sensors to open it for him. "Door: Lock" The door sealed itself shut in front of him, the access holograph turning an angry red. Sighing in resignation, he turned around only to jump back in surprise as he found Aria mere inches from his face. This close, he could make out the texture of her skin and map each individual facial marking she had. "Sex or not, you're mine for the night until I say otherwise Adam" the Queen of Omega purred towards him. She began to walk slowly backwards towards the bedroom, removing pieces of clothing one by one. "Stay there and guard the front door until I say otherwise" she ordered before the door closed, leaving Adam alone in the hallway.
"Well isn't this just some shit" the human murmured to himself as he considered his current position. He stared at the trail of clothes that began with a discarded coat and ended with a bra wadded up on the floor, wondering if he should pick them up before shaking his head vehemently. That wasn't in his job description tonight, he was here for security and nothing else. He repeated the mantra in his head for the next few minutes as he examined the living room and kitchen "for threats."
A hissing of a door opening brought his attention back towards the now open portal that Aria had already disappeared through. "Come in my great protector" floated Aria's voice, her tone low and husky even as the words mocked him. Entering the room, he found an empty king sized bed in front of a wall sized window overlooking the rest of the station's interior. It struck him as the view of queen looking down on all of her subjects. He heard footsteps to his left, a shape coming out of the darkened walk in closet revealed itself as his employer for the night wearing a thin nightgown. "No one else has touched me since we were together last. This bed and these sheets have never been felt by another besides myself." She sat down on the bed, slowly crossing her legs as she regarded the silent, stubborn man who refused to step farther into her bedroom. "Will you join me, or do you still plan on that ridiculous notion of staying faithful to that turian female?" He simply shook his head, standing at attention and staring straight ahead. She arched an eyebrow at his impressive willpower, slowly raising up and crossing the few feet to stand in front of him. "I won't force you to do anything Adam" she murmured as she leaned into his chest, her hand reaching up to caress his hair while her other one disappeared from his field of vision under her gown. She kissed him suddenly, leaving him stunned as she never showed any interest in such examples of intimacy before. She took advantage of his shocked state, quickly slipping two fingers of her hand into his mouth before turning and walking back towards her bed. Shepard's eyebrows raised in surprise, quickly recognizing the sweet taste that could have only come from her core. His pulse began to race as his breathing grew deeper, the natural aphrodisiacs beginning to affect him as parts of his body started to move unconsciously.
Aria smiled to herself as she watched him shift uncomfortably. "When you're ready to finally admit defeat and join me, feel free to wake me. In the meantime you can stand right there and guard me until morning." She took three pillows, stacking them near the foot of the bed. Dropping her nightgown revealed that she only had on a pair of white thigh high stockings, the color of the material accentuating her purple skin to a perfect degree. She kneeled in front of the pillows before laying her stomach across them, her ass kept perfectly propped up in the air as she laid her head on another pillow and closed her eyes. "In fact," she said softly, knowing that the man was still standing at the foot of her bed, "feel free to dive right in. I promise I'll wake up with a smile. Sweet dreams Adam." She closed her eyes, her body relaxing as she felt confident in her chances of winning this contest of wills. She spread her legs somewhat, allowing the scent of her arousal to slowly fill the room.
Shepard gulped as he tried to draw on every last ounce of professionalism he had developed during his careers as both an N7 and a Council Spectre. He was only three hours into his watch and he felt like he was being driven crazy by the sight before him. A cold sweat had broken out all over his body as his brain once again reminded him that his relief was only a few feet away. The sadistic bitch had made sure that her taste was already in his mouth thanks to her stunt earlier, and her scent had positively flooded the room by now saturating every oxygen molecule with a part of her essence. There was no relief in his future no matter what he tried to think of. A shifting of her body brought his gaze down again, his eyes sweeping over her tight warm figure that he was already too intimately familiar with. Her lower lips were already parted, practically beckoning him to partake in what they offered. Before him was both a path to heaven and a road to hell wrapped up in one painfully sexy package.
He blinked, his brain coming back to full function just in time to realize that he had unconsciously taken a step forward towards temptation. He licked his lips before forcing himself to return to his former position, slapping himself to try and snap out of it. He paused as he heard a thump coming from the living room, followed by a string of whispered cursing. "Shut the hell up Threk! Be more careful or you're going to wake the bitch up."
"I hear you Garm. I slipped on a fucking bra that was left in the hall. This blue slut doesn't even pick up after herself" whispered a second voice, equally as intense. It seemed to be almost right outside the door, causing Shepard to hold his breath on instinct.
"I still don't get it Garm" whispered a younger voice, though still gruff enough that it could only belong to another krogan. "Why the hell do we have to do this in the middle of the night? And why the don't we have more people with us if we're really trying to kill one of the most deadly things on this station?"
"Because I said so pyjack" Garm responded with barely concealed contempt. His voice raising to the point that Shepard was amazed that Aria was still asleep. "This is an assassination, not a war. The more who know about it, the less secret it is. We just need to remove her and the others will be willing to negotiate larger territories for each of us. She's all alone in there now that we removed her guards outside."
Footsteps allerted Adam that the assault was about to begin. He moved to the side of the door, taking a moment to kick the side of Aria's bed hard enough to jar her awake. She raised her head, scowling at him before her eyes widened as she took in his position alongside the door and immediately rolled off of the bed towards him. A moment later a shotgun blast passed through the door and created a wide hole right where she used to be. A heavy boot kicked the door open, smashing it across the room. The head of a krogan with a red crest and a large scar across his right eye poked in, looking at the bed in confusion as there was no gore. Shepard used the moment of indecision to bring his flash forged omnitool blade down into the dinosaur's brain causing instant death and removing any chance of healing. A surprised roar at the execution brought a smile to his face as he stormed around the door, throwing himself into a biotic charge at the young krogan that he remember seeing earlier in the meeting as Garm's bodyguard. The krogan slammed into the far wall, sliding down onto his tail as he looked up in fear as his attacker. He caught Garm charging out the door, leaving his subordinates to thier fate as he moved to escape. "Leave the young one for me" Aria ordered as she stepped out into the hallway wearing her nightgown again. "I want Garm dead tonight! Don't come back without his head."
Adam nodded as he moved to the door, his brain returning to the familiar ground of life or death combat. He noticed the young krogan look almost pleadingly in his direction as the enraged asari began to advance upon him. "Tough luck buddy. You win some and you lose some." His sympathy was met with a whimper, bringing a smile to his face as he charged down the hall towards the landing pad.
He arrived just in time to see the giant red krogan finish loading himself into a speeder that looked two sizes too small to contain his bulk. "Better luck next time Shepard!" the giant lizard shouted before closing the hatch. The car lifted off from the ground, angling downwards once it cleared the pad. It's intent to head back to blood pack territory clear.
A stream of plasma bullets came out of nowhere, hitting the hood of the car and tracking up past the window to its roof. The firing continued until the car dropped out of sight, smoking badly and listing to the side. Shepard followed the bullets back towards a dark shape standing at the mouth of a cave near the top of the cavern. The beings narrow head looked towards Adam, showing a bright flash of light for a second before the figure retreated back into the cave. Shrugging off the sense of deja vu, the human raced towards Aria's armored limousine and started it up. The car practically leapt from the pad, its engine was so strong. Adam followed the trail of black smoke, catching up to Garm's escape vehicle in under a minute. The angry krogan had punched out the spiderwebbed front window, the wind now blasting his face as he struggled to pilot the dying vehicle. "Garm!" Shepard roared over the wind as he pulled up next to the krogan, "Land now or I'll take you down hard!" He received a snarl for his troubles as his target tried to pilot the broken car in a different direction. Shrugging, Adam held his hand out of the window. His arm glowed with biotic power before he fired a flare after the other vehicle. The car blew up in an impressive fireball, pieces flying in all directions.
Shepard drove after the large shape that blasted into the asteroid's side wall before falling two stories down to land with a wet splat on a walkway. He exited the limousine, calmly walking over to the broken heap that used to be the biggest krogan on Omega as it tried to pull itself along. Sensing his fate, Garm rolled onto his side allowing him to see his attacker. "Just finish it human" he croaked, his face covered in burn marks and bleeding from numerous places.
Shepard crouched down a foot in front of his prey, shaking his head slowly as he examined the damage he had inflicted. "Sorry Garm, but you need to pay the price for what you tried to pull off tonight. I do have to thank you though. You have no idea what your attack saved me from having to do." He shrugged at the krogan's inquisitive look, unwilling to elaborate further. "Either way, it's time for you to go to sleep. Night Garm." He cracked a biotics covered fist across the krogan's face. The sound of bones snapping could be heard causing the bystanders to wince at the brutality. Shepard stood up, cracking his back as he looked at where he parked the car, then down at the hulking krogan. "Can a guy get a hand?" he asked as he began to pull the massive being along the walkway.
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Adam honked the limo's horn as he set down on the landing pad, glad to see Aria exit the condo fully dressed this time in her normal combat attire of a black bodysuit with holstered weapons. She raised an eyebrow at him as he rolled the window down, clearly waiting for an answer to her unasked question. Adam just grinned as he gestured to the back of the car. "I come bearing gifts."
Aria frowned before moving towards the door to the main compartment of the vehicle. Opening the door, she found the mangled remains of Garm sprawled out on one of the seats, the krogan groaning around a gag tied in his mouth. "Yes" she hissed, "this will do nicely." She walked back to the front window, running a hand through Shepards hair as she flashed a grin that showed more teeth than was strictly needed. "You still do good work human. I need you to drive for a bit while I ask our guests some pointed questions. My newest employee will ride up front with you." She turned towards the apartment, her hands on her shapely hips. "Get your sorry ass out here before I head inside and finish the job myself!"
The young krogan limped out the door way, not looking much better off than Garm. He had at least one visibly broken foot, numerous bruises and cuts on his body, and had a set of crude stitches on one side of his chest that still bled slowly. He limped over to the front passenger side, groaning as he lowered himself to climb into the vehicle. Shepard grinned at him as he lifted up the limo, taking off back into the sky. "Let me be the first to congratulate you on your wonderful new choice of employment. I hear the opportunities for advancement skyrocketed over the last few hours." The krogan simply moaned in pain as he slowly hit his head against the window.
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Adam staggered back into his office the next morning, his armor and guns dropped at the foot of the door. He took a moment to place his new sword, a gift from Aria, on top of the pile. Apparently asari huntresses still used them with a combination of biotics for devastating effect. He would need to train himself in how to use it as he was under orders from the Queen to not show it off until he knew what he was doing with it. "Shepard. Adam" he heard a mechanical voice say from the corner of the room, causing him to swing around in preparation to defend himself.
He stopped, watching as a geth platform unfolded itself from the floor, raising up to seven feet in height with shoulders wider than his own. What looked like a scaled down prime gun hung from the AI's back, though it made no move to reach for it. "What are you doing here?" he asked, unable to understand what a could possibly prompt them to want to risk coming on the station. He paused as the events of last evening flashed back to him. "That was you helping me stop Garm from escaping wasn't it?!"
The head dipped as if in confirmation, a surprisingly human gesture that he wasn't aware the geth knew. "Your performance was being monitored since your first encounter with Geth. Assistance was supplied for you to finish your objective. Consensus has been reached to attempt to reach out to organics in light of new data."
Shepard couldn't help but ask, though he dreaded the answer. "Is this due to the return of the old machines, or due to other factors?"
The large platform moved to stand in front of him, looking down as it dimmed its flashlight as to not blind him. "There are many factors necessitating reaching out to the rest of the galaxy. You are not the only one who is being contacted, although probabilities were high that you would be the most receptive. We are to accompany you in this platform to assist you in your day to day life. We look forward to the exchange of information."
His omnitool activating broke the awkward silence that was developing as Shepard tried to figure out what the hell to say to his new guest. Eve's face popped up on the screen, a frown on her face as she cut her eyes towards the geth platform. "We need to talk" was all she said before blinking out and leaving a dark screen.