Me: Hello! I'm back! With another chapter! You know, I honestly thought having League of Legends installed in my computer (fucking finally) Would've gotten me to be uber late with this one. Especially with Cho'Gath being owned now. Love that dude. Can't play him like a boss, but still love it.
Delta: You're getting called a noob so much.
Me: Meh, it's only a little annoying now. Unless they keep it up. Honestly do people really expect someone to play an awesome game every time? Even at 2am too?
Delta: It was only 12…
Me: IRRELEVANT! Disclaimer, now!
Delta: geez, fine…
Disclaimer: Mass Effect and Halo are not owned by Zero612, they are the private property of Bioware and 343 Industries. This story is the mental culmination and work of Zero612's ideas, slight derangement, possible multiple personality disorder and a loooot of soda.
Changing a Gift
Good morning. Good morning. It's a great, sunshiney… oh wait, we're in the semi-lightless void of space… well, there are several (million) stars out there so I guess it's sunshiney. Or starshiney…whatever.
I sit up in my bed and stretch before going out to prepare for the day. I slide down a shaft to get to the crew deck, toiletries and towel in hand along with a change of clothes, my usual uniform. I walk over to the men's restroom and only see Garrus just leaving it while a few of the morning shift female crewmembers are lined up outside theirs. I chuckle a bit too loudly and receive a glare from the nearest ones while stepping inside.
I shower, brush, spray some water on a blacked out Zaeed, apply deoderant, lotion up, pull Grunt out of the stall he got stuck in, wash my face, put on my usual outfit and step out to begin my day with a friendly salute to Jacob as he comes into the bathroom still looking tired but happy.
Guess he had a long night.
Now what's on the agenda today… better check with Shepard. I go up to the CIC and find a vent right above the podium where Shepard's standing, a cup of coffee in her hand and eyes vacantly staring at the hologram of the Normandy. I pull the vent to the side and drop my upper body down in front of her.
"Morning Shepard. What are we doing today?" Shepard's eyes widen in surprise and she leans back some as well but I get a more satisfying reaction out of Kelly who actually jumps back half a foot.
"We're headed to Tuchanka. Grunt said that he was feeling odd before he had some of that pot you brought aboard and we're going to see if anything's wrong with him."
"Okay. So, Tuchanka it is then. Hmm, what should I design this time…" I mutter to myself, smirking as ideas start to form and float around in my head. I adopt an upside down thinker pose while smirking and then chuckling quietly before I go back into the vents, getting louder as I go.
"He's rather unnerving at times…"
"Sometimes. Not as much as a Thresher Maw though."
"It'd be horrifying to see the two together."
"It probably would be."
Left, Left, down, right, up, down the ladder, through the wires, up the pipe, loop-de-loop and jazz hands. Alright, I think this is Miranda's room. Ah yes, I can see the furniture and the credit chit imprints. And some butt imprints. Nice, firm, GE perfect butt imprints. I remove the vent and poke my head out, checking to see if the coast is clear before I drop down to Miranda's desk.
"Alright Silver, you see it anywhere?" I ask quietly, raising my tac-pad up near my face.
"Electronic lock located 97 degrees to your left."
Ooh a painting. I move it aside softly so as not to damage the frame and see a small metal case. Child's play. "Alright open it up, quickly please."
The case clicks and whirs for a second before popping open, a small chip about twice the size of a SIM card and twice the thickness rests in the center of the safe. I pick it up and put it into a slot in my Tac-pad for safekeeping then close the safe and replace the picture while Silver locks it up again. I jump up into the vents and reseal the shaft opening just as I hear the door open and someone walk in. Through the vent I watch Miranda walk inside and look around for a second before sitting down at her desk.
Later in the cargo bay beside the cargo rack holding my armor, I inspect the control chip originally meant for Shepard that I just stole.
"Encryption is difficult but not impossible. Preliminary scans show no tracers linked to chip and casing designed to be shockproof and undetectable to most scanners." Silver said, analyzing and decrypting the control chips data.
"Interesting. So, how does it work?"
"Decrypting…. The chip operates by activating and nullifying electrical pulses in the brain. Control of the body is possible however this form was made more for control of thoughts. If supplanted with a signal booster and hardware to cover its weaker aspects of control, its could provide control over an organic body."
"Good to know. I have an idea. But first, we need to apply a few upgrades to the armor." I turn to the armor, putting the control chip down on my nearby worktable I brought down. Silver's geth body walks over and grabs a few tools when I upload the schematics to him before he starts working on the attachment. I turn and head over to a shaft, planning on paying the good doctor a visit.
"Ah Delta, good to see you again. Was worried about performing a lobotomy to get anymore useful ideas out of your head." Mordin says, a small chuckle at the end letting me know the last part was meant as a joke. At least mostly. I hope.
"Please don't cut my brain out of my head Mordin, I kinda need it for, well, living. As a non-vegetable. Anyway, I was hoping you could assist me with a project I have going on." I walk over to his computer and upload the schematics.
"Ahhh, interesting. Best reduce thruster size. Mass effect field will lessen weight, extra thrust not necessary. Can't reduce too much, threat of failed liftoff. Compact form, possible. Difficult but possible." Mordin keeps muttering things while looking at the schematics and his equipment.
"I guess I'll just leave it to you then Doctor?" I ask with a slight smile.
"Yes yes of course, core is easily made, can fashion thrusters, pack and harness with ease. Similar one to your blades yes?"
"Yup."
"Right, will get to it. Tell when done." Mordin types into his computer before going over to a table and grabbing a few vials of chemicals and such. I leave before watching too much, headed back down to the cargo bay where I find Tali and Silver together. Crap…
"Creator Tali Zorah we are providing upgrades to Delta-Specialist's battle armor. He is currently with Doctor Solus to discuss parts of his intended upgrades." Silver's light widens and then dims as he turns to see me walking over. "Correction: He is headed over to this unit now."
Tali turns and looks at me while I walk over. I give her a small wave before stepping past to grab some other tools that Silver can't currently wield with his hands full. "Hey Tali, what's up?" I turn to my suit and get to work adapting it for the harness.
"I was making sure this Geth didn't sabotage your suit."
"Aw, you do care."
"I'm not heartless. Besides, with your supposed control over it, if it turns on you then no ones safe."
I don't really have control over it. Whatever Silver does is of his won free will. "Right, but he's operating within the parameters set here. I don't think he's likely to turn on us so quickly, especially me since I have been the one most accommodating."
"Be that as it may."
"I get it Tali, you don't trust him because he's Geth. Don't trust him, trust me. Silver is perfectly fine and as much a part of the team as you and I and as likely to betray Shepard or anyone on the team as Garrus is. Trust me on this."
Tali stands there after my pause in working to speak and continues to stand while I get back to it. She turns to Silver who looks back at her for a second before refitting the back of the armor before turning back to myself.
"What are you two doing then?"
"I'm gonna make Garrus jealous of what evolution cut him off from."
"Really…"
"Mhmm."
"And you're using rockets for this?"
"Oh yeah. Unless I get down anti-gravity modules. Course that would be a weird thing to have in my mental…inventory…" Wraiths and Ghosts use antigravity to stay afloat, and banshees use em to fly… Fucking dumbass!
I jump away and run to Mordin's lab. "Mordin! I have a new idea! Stop what you're working on!"
"What?"
I run to his computer and start typing into it, changing the schematic to the one my mind slowly shows, pausing to let it "buffer" before transferring it to the screen. "Here, antigravity modules. Think you could make it work?"
Mordin looks and widens his eyes a lot more than usual, which is a surprising amount. I didn't know they could open that wide… it's kinda creepy. Anyway, he widens his eyes and starts typing then going around thinking, muttering thoughts and moving at a progressively fast pace until I can't follow and it just gets weird. I just start stepping towards the exit as Mordin moves around and does his thing. I hurry back to the cargo bay and over to Tali and Silver who are working.
Together.
Flash. "What was that?" Tali asks, turning around to see me with the tac-pad up and flashing as a picture develops on the screen.
"I was taking a picture to commemorate this moment where you guys are not locked in a subtly-hostile argument and instead working together. Like the old days."
"Before they started killing us."
"And the moment's gone. Well done Tali. Anything else you have to say that might ruin my hope of thigns getting better?"
"I have a shotgun."
"Duly noted." I hurry past her and look at the armor, seeing the two are making good progress. "Well… guess my assistance isn't entirely necessary here." I walk off, taking the control chip out and to my worktable to see what I can do with it. Should I make a gun or something else. You know what, manual insertion would be a fun thing to do so I need it able to be injected. And a device needs to be on top to latch onto the head… oh this is going to be so much fun.
"What are you doing?"
"Experimenting. Turning a mistake into a gain."
"How so?"
"Maybe you'll find out next mission." I say with a smirk at Tali before turning to the table. Let's get to work.
I can't believe how fast that took. It's amazing how much stuff I can find that works even better than what I had in mind. I thought I'd have to make my own penetrating electrode array but lo and behold its here. Why its also encased in armored penetration parts is anyone's guess but I'll chalk it up to weird Cerberus shit. Maybe its supposed to be an anti-tank emp mine or something…. Anyway, my newest original idea is complete and I think we have about an hour or two before we reach Tuchanka.
"So how does it look?" I ask Tali and Silver who are both looking at my armor.
"Pretty good. Which makes me wonder why YOU are getting this."
"I thought of it and I'm providing the experimental technology to Mordin to augment research and development. Most of these ideas will be shared with the galactic community after we use whatever I come up with to kick the Collector's asses and then the idiots in the Council can decide what to outlaw and what to allow." I say in response.
"And the rest of the team?"
"Is free to ask me for help in applying the upgrades to their own stuff."
"The only things that seem useful are your plasma blades and no one else really uses bladed weaponry."
I just shrug and step up to my armor, waiting as the main parts; the gauntlets, greaves, and chestplates, are applied to my body by small mechanized arms and held in place while the rest of the armor folds out from the bulky main parts to form into my smoother armor. My back was a bit more weighty than usual but the artificial muscle augments in the armor helped take most of the packs weight off my back. On my back is a medium sized smooth, curving backpack-like add-on to my armor. The middle segment is a smooth black teardrop shape with blue lights dimly glowing atop it on either side. On its side are symmetrically designed "wings" shaped like a V with the open tops attached to the top and bottom of the pack and pointed out with a black and blue orb at the base that glowed blue. On the bottom of the pack were two fin-like ovals that had a blue slit going down the middle.
"Power core stable. Operating at 65%. Energy expenditure and generation equalized at 100%/100%. Jetpack systems synchronizing…. Synchronization complete. Control link established. Awaiting orders."
"Alright, thanks Silver." I look at Tali and nod, stepping down from the case holding the arms and the storage for my armor parts. Tali, you might want to stand back a bit.
She nods and backs up, watching carefully.
"Alright Silver, start up the antigravity modules." I hear a low hum build up as the lights on the pack get brighter slowly. I soon feel myself get lighter and lighter until my feet lift up off the ground and hover above it by about half a foot. I lean to the left and move in that direction then lean right and do the same. I nod to myself and get familiar with the odd weightlessness.
"Alright, alright. Now, lets start with the thrusters."
"We recommend first use at 5% propulsion."
"Nah, lets take it up to a quarter power."
"Are you sure?"
"Yup."
"Acknowledged."
The slits on the pack's fins light up and thrust me upward, a short blue trail line following behind like in Tron but dissipating quickly. I'm excited by the sudden thrust and look up but frown when I see the bottom of the Kodiak above my head "Crap, Silver cut the power!"
"Acknowledged." All power shuts off in the pack and suddenly gravity comes back with a vengeance. I fall back to the ground and hit hard, bouncing off the top of a large crate then facedown onto the floor. Tali runs over and crouches by me as I groan in pain.
This is probably Karma telling me not to steal again. Shut up karma.
"I say you quite worried me when you left my grip. I sure hope you do not try to do so again, I was quite frantic when you slipped out." Says a miniature purple elephant in a top hat floating by Tali's head. Oh, I think I knocked a wire loose…
"Are you okay Delta?" Tali asks, worried.
"No worries Tali I'm fine. A little banged up but fine. Ok, so from the top. At 5%"
"We think this could have been avoided if testing began at 5%"
"Shut up Silver." The external speakers in my helmet let out a rhythmic series of soft static. It reminds me of someone snickering with grit teeth trying to hide their laughter. Wait…
"Silver, are you laughing?!"
"Affirmative." I chuckle then start laughing myself as I see Tali get a small look of shock on her face. My little programs are all grown up, ha! We reactivate the antigravity "wings" and then put some energy into the booster thrusters, which send me up again at a slower pace and no light trail apparent. I get used to moving and guiding the pack myself so Silver just needs to work on energy distribution instead of driving as well, unless I start chasing someone on a skycar shuttle or something so I can use my guns. Once I'm familiar with movement I bring up the energy gradually and accelerate. Soon enough I'm zooming small circles and loop de loops in the air above Tali at 15% energy.
"Delta, Tali, Shepard has requested your presence on the mission to Tuchanka."
Oh sweet sweetness! I drop down and turn off the pack when by my worktable, quickly picking up the prototype device I created in secret and pocketing it in my armor's reinforced tactical hard-pack. I walk with Tali up to pick up our weapons from the armory quickly, taking my Plasma Repeater, Viper, and the Locust smg instead of my phalanx pistol. Tali takes her Scimitar shotgun and phalanx pistol with her and we both walk into the shuttle seeing Shepard already there with Grunt and Mordin.
"What did you do to your armor this time?" Shepard asks me, looking at the pack attached that makes me half as bulky as Grunt with the same shape.
"A flying attachment. Like the shape? It's pretty compact and extremely effective. Plus it makes me look like a little krogan! Look at my big hump! Look at it and be jealous of my hump that brings all the enemies to their deaths!"
"You're insane." Was Shepard's only reply.
"Partially! I have a shred left and that is occupied by my intelligence and morals off the battlefield."
Shepard shakes her head as the shuttle takes off, flying down through the sky into a ruined Tuchankan city. Finally we shall see Grunt's induction into the Urdnot clan and see what Mordin does to his former student. Oh the excitement is so palpable Grunt is fidgety, Mordin seems to be thinking about something and is muttering to himself. Tali and Shepard are checking over their weaponry.
And I let out a fart. And everyone's staring at me.
"Uhhh… It was him." I point at Grunt.
Shepard facepalms.
Me: Well, there's another chapter for you all to enjoy Delta's incredible amount of randomness, ingenuity and overall, funny stupidity.
Delta: It's genius! Not stupidity! Geni-
Me: Yeah yeah, go back to your corner before I get my bro to Derp you.
Delta: Derp me?
Me: It's his way of cursing. I never know what swear he's using since he just censors it with that word. Last time he derped someone didn't end well though.
Delta: Really? How bad was it?
Me: He fed someone to Kog' Maw. Called it light derping.
Delta: ….
Me: Yeah. Anyway, next chapter is coming soon everyone. Until then, PEACE!