Okay! I thank those who have been patient for some time now...turning 21 was a little crazy for me, I guess...At any rate, I am updating whenever I get the chance to, considering that I have a very hectic schedule now, so I won't be able to update as often as I'd like. But please be patient with me, I am still new at this, so you can review at your own discretion, although I am just as likely to ignore anything that may prove to be 'hazardous' to my story (i.e. rewriting my story for you as if it was your own). As I mentioned before, I won't have my character arrive at Rannoch at the beginning, mostly because of a potential clash of events that were to occur, easily making my story a full AU, while I'd rather focus on dealing with The Stations of Canon, after the 'experimental process' the poor guy has to suffer through =).
And so, we start where we last left our...reluctant hero...
Mass Effect: What Got Me in This Mess?
By:
Apathy of the Abyssal Void
Chapter 2:
Preparation for Departure
"Not yet, I believe you need to say farewell to your family, right?" The Illusive Man spoke inquisitively, making me arch my eyebrow slightly at the question.
"I had planned on doing so, why ask me that? Even I knew it would be better to inform them that I'm leaving for an indefinite amount of time, including the possibility of dying during this intense journey." I declared with a little amount of disbelief at the idea of leaving and not say goodbye to them at all. Shaking my head a little, I look back at TIM, only to see that he vanished before I got the chance to ask about the rendezvous point.
"Well Legion, I'll be right back to pack whatever I need to leave."
"Understood, we will remain on guard until your return, preferable if we patrol this house."
"All right then, try to stay out of sight as much as possible, I don't want the neighbors to freak out at the sight of you out in the open. It will also put a damper in our plans should either of us be discovered before we leave Earth for good."
"Acknowledged. We will remain hidden for the time being, Civilian-******."
Man, this really sucks having my name blurred every time it's mentioned...I hate unnecessary censoring, it feels like the universe wants me to keep my identity a secret or something. I mentally sighed, as I walked out of my room, through the small laundry room, and up to the door of the kitchen. Pausing, I stopped right before I knocked on the wooden door, having trouble deciding if I should tell them what had happened not too long ago.
Well, I'm already here at the door, so no going back on this at all. I tell them what happened, omit anything that isn't necessary to mention and I leave this world...somehow.
My mind raged momentarily, until Legion, the ever sneaky b****** that he is, decides to choose for me and knocks on the door loud enough to wake up my step-mom, whom walks to the door afterward. Legion hides right before she opens the door, making me wonder why he wouldn't just simply stand next to me, realizing that she might freak out seeing him there.
She opens the door and asks tiredly," What's going on, ******? It's the middle of the night right now."
I turned to her and said, "I need to talk to you guys, it's very important and I don't have much time to say anything at the moment. You need to wake Dad and ****** up immediately, otherwise I won't be able to have time to say goodbye."
She looks at me, concerned as to why I'm so serious right now, until she nods and hurries over to wake both of them up. Way to go Legion, you made me feel uncomfortable there with you hiding nearby. Oh well, time to face the music once more... My thoughts ending, as I walked slowly to the living room, trying to find a way to explain the situation I've been saddled with thus far. As I paced back and forth in front of the small wooden coffee table, my step-mom came in, with Dad and ****** in tow, her being carried like a baby as she was still very sleepy, having being rudely awoken by her mom.
I stopped pacing once they sat down on the couch in front of me, but behind the coffee table that was set in front of it. I turned to them, still wracking my mind on how best explain my predicament, until my Dad piped up, "******, is there something wrong? Did you have a bad dream?" His last question, while a bit of teasing, held a bit of seriousness to it. I nodded at the first question, but furiously shook my head no at the second, while waving my arms in front of me, further signifying my denial.
After the two adults stopped laughing, the three of us turned serious as I spoke, "Joking aside, I just got my self enlisted to take part in a 'scientific experiment' that requires me to leave the country and I won't be able to come back, since I also have to be part of a 'secret military operation' that occurs sometime after the science project. Even then, I-I don't think I'll be able to return after that, should I...not survive the mission fully intact." I mumbled the last part out, hoping they didn't catch on.
Sadly, my hopes were shot when Dad interjected, "What was the last part? You were all like mumble mumble." Granted, I didn't want to say this out loud with my little sister there, being 6 years old and all, it was all too difficult for me to say anything until ***** spoke, " Well ******, what was it? We need to get some sleep for work in the morning."
Without realizing it, I snapped at them angrily, waking my baby sister up with the following words that I would regret for the next few days, "YOU KNOW WHAT? FINE! I'LL TELL YOU WHAT IT IS! AND DON'T YOU EVEN DARE INTERRUPT ME! I'M SUPPOSED TO HELP AN ALIEN ROBOT TRAVERSE TO A UNIVERSE, WHICH I THOUGHT DIDN'T EXIST, UNTIL NOW!" I stopped to catch my breath from having to yell so much at the moment, which I continued," AND! AND I HAVE TO HELP A MAN WHO NEEDS TO PROTECT AN ENTIRE GALAXY FROM AN ARMADA OF PSYCHOTIC ALIEN ROBOTS,WITH A NIGH-INFINITE SUPERIORITY COMPLEX, IN WHICH I COULD EASILY DIE AT ANY TIME!"
After that explosion of emotions I released, I started to breathe heavily, my eyes watering, threatening to spill at any moment from my sorrowful rage. I felt rather light-headed from that grievous outburst, swaying slightly, before I set my left hand on my chest and hunched over, with my right hand on the respective knee. I lifted my head upward, only to see my baby sister, with her head slightly raised from her resting position, looking at me with her tired eyes and appeared to be confused at my emotional ranting. I regained my breath and slowly stood up, all the while Dad and ***** were trying to get ****** to sleep again in order to put her back into her bed, finally realizing that I wasn't joking around about how serious my situation really is.
After they put my sister back into her bed, Dad came back out first and ***** right after he did, making sure the little one was fast asleep again. I gestured them to sit again, wanting to finish what I intended on saying before I left my home for an indefinite amount of time and possibly to never return. I really need to work on my anger issues when it builds to the breaking point. Although it was odd, having fired off like that, maybe it's because of all the things that happened so far, that I just couldn't take it anymore. I wonder when I need to leave, it seems like I should do that pretty soon... My thoughts drifted away, when I noticed that they were waiting patiently for me to explain why I flipped out like that.
I closed my eyes, breathing deeply a few times to make sure that I was willing to continue the explanation. I opened my eyes and began to weave a tale of a galaxy similar to our own, how only a single human was brave enough to chase down a traitor, enlisting unique squad-mates of various alien species, and managed to bring down a colossus known as Sovereign. During the conversation we held, we heard a noise, but quickly dismissed it and continued to discuss the events from the Mass Effect series, unaware of a viewer nearby.
Meanwhile, with Legion
The Geth had left ******'s room to patrol the household, but to proceed with caution, should any of the neighbors possibly discover him. He made sure to scan at least 50 yards around the vicinity, to keep his optics out for any intruders, malevolent or not. Legion had also kept his transmitter active as he heard noises from within the house, decided to observe only, then slowly crept around the front of the house, his optics quickly scanning the front yard and the road, making sure no vehicles were passing through, before he crawled underneath the windows, out of sight of any living being. He just managed to turn around the side, when he heard a crunching noise under his foot, and immediately paused, waiting for the humans inside to continue their conversation after they stopped to listen, and continued to move to the closest window, where he would observe from his new position.
As he watched ****** talk with his relatives, he gazed at the room in which they were in, having a sense of displacement within the current time period before the discovery of Mass Effect technology, noticed how simplistic and slightly cluttered the room is. Wooden floorboards stretching from one end of the living room to the other end, with small furniture placed in centralized positions in front of each of the walls, yet having assorted items set in disarray within small groups upon said furniture. A reddish-brown door stood in-between two couches that were of a odd shade betwixt a light green and a lighter gray from the previous color, with a window behind each couch, the closer one being much larger than the one on the right side of the door. Legion quickly ducked and moved away from the window and kept on moving.
As Legion traversed the yard, using the tall hedges for cover on his right side, quickly and silently moved to the door again after taking notice of a large light blue barn not far from his position. The air cooled noticeably around him, realizing that the time to depart was drawing ever closer now. He needed to inform ****** about their impending departure and prepare to leave, with due haste. He slowly walked to the door and proceeded to knock, oblivious to his timely introduction to ******'s relatives.
Back with ******...
As our conversation came to a close, I looked at the clock, anxiously wondering, Is he going to come in or do I need to drag his metal butt in here? I told them enough info to sate their curiosity, but I require his presence, to further cement the information I gave to them...If only he were to- A loud knocking came from the kitchen, startling allthree of us. I quickly recovered and told Dad and my step-mom, " I'll get it!" I instantly arrived at the door with my quick feet, being careful to avoid tripping over my long gray pajama pants, and opened the door.
Normal P.o.V.
I see Legion standing stock still, with his back away from me and snapped a full 180°, facing me at attention and holstered his weapon. Before he could speak, I brought my hand to my mouth in a "Shh!" position to prevent my Dad and step-mom from hearing him. I motioned for him to wait as I walked back to the two, waiting for me to speak and happen introduce Legion. I examined Dad and *****, checking to see if they would react how I imagined they would, when they would meet Legion. I would laugh if they freaked out or something similar to that.
I closed my eyes and said, "Remember when I mentioned how the Geth were divided between those that revered the Reapers as godlike beings, and those that opposed them entirely?" They both nodded and I continued, "There's one I'd like for you to meet...You can come in now." As I heard him enter the kitchen, I stepped aside for them to see Legion, in all his machine-like glory. You know, now that I think about it, I don't really have any friends to come with me on this journey...this sucks. Major. Balls. All the way. Okay, bad thing to think about...must repress bad imagery...where's the bleach when you need it? Ugh, if anything else happens, I might end up using odd catch phrases or worship something like a log...hmm...maybe worshiping a log doesn't sound like a bad idea...beats praying to a guy that you don't know whether or not he exists, right? I might get killed for thinking that though...Although it doesn't matter if I die, more for The Lazarus Project, I guess.
Anyway, I turn my head to see how they reacted and...they were simply chatting with Legion, as if they had known each other for years. Must've been too deep in thought too notice their reactions. Oh well, maybe Legion will tell me later about it, should I ever provide the inquiry...Nah, I might forget anyway. So they seem fine with seeing a Geth here, and took all that information pretty well...although she was a little skeptic about the whole thing until I exploded and Legion's introduction. Other than that, gazing at the clock again I thought, we need to leave soon, so I better say goodbye to them...I don't like it, but I have to do it, they could be in danger should I remain here any longer.
I spoke aloud to let them know I'm still here, "I think it's time we leave, right Legion?"
"Affirmative, the quicker we leave, the sooner we will arrive at our destination." Legion responded and turned to my Dad and *****, speaking in his usual deadpan voice, "We will depart and go our separate ways here, RN-David-" Wait a moment there, my Dad's name was mentioned there without censors...Now I know someone is screwing with me here...And I'm looking at you too...whoever you are, making me suffer for not having my name shown here or something...I'll get you for this!
My Dad stood up to shake Legion's hand before walking to me and hugged me before saying, "Well Bunky-"
"Daaaaadd!~" I groaned, "Not in front of him! Now you're embarrassing me in front of a ME character too, must you do this every time?" I complained helplessly in front of Legion, trying not to act too stupid or something.
"Yes, yes I must. After all, this is the last time we'll ever see each other again!" Dad responded mirthfully, trying not to laugh at my current predicament at first, before settling down. My step-mom, *****, was giggling next to Dad, already too late for her to hold it in.
"Tch, meanie..." I pouted as I turned my head away, pretending to act a little cranky about his little jab at my dignity, all the while Legion stood observing our little squabble, curious in our behavior, which seemed similar to a Red Oni/Blue Oni thing or a Vitriolic Best Buds relationship...I can't recall which one it might be...meh, I shouldn't really care either. I turned back to them, looking seriously as I carefully regarded them in silence. I then gave my Dad and my step-mom a hug before stepping back to look at them one last time before leaving forever.
I realized I forgot to grab my bag of things I planned on bringing with me...if only I had a duffel bag shaped TARDIS with me, I wouldn't have a problem bringing my stuff with me tonight. I ran to my room to grab some clothes, personal effects, including my iPod and laptop. I'll definitely need them some day, whenever things get a little tedious on the Normandy and I need to do something...probably not, things are hardly boring with the Commander involved, I thought as I packed the last few items into my bag, making sure everything was secure and the room was very tidy after clearing up anything that was mine.
As I looked around, I see a little white envelope laying on the carpet floor, in front of what used to be a stereo system. I picked it up, feeling it's smooth surface and trying to figure out where it came from, 'cause I'm positive it wasn't here before when I entered the room earlier that night. I flipped the envelope over to see my name on it, in terrible writing with it misspelled and all, while the name of the sender was written in a rather neat and organized manner...let's see: it's from TIM, no surprise there, and my name was written like a child would have or someone with awful writing skills. I opened the envelope to see a letter in it, all tucked neatly inside without so much as uneven crease.
I quickly pulled it out and threw the envelope aside, I scanned the letter, only to pull a double-take, before rereading what was written:
Dear Roland,
I see that you found this letter in your room, obviously you must be fully prepared to leave right now. However, it appears that Legion's arrival has brought unwanted attention from your government and has prepared to move in on your location, in which they will arrive in about 2 hours from when you finish reading this letter. I have prepared an escort party for you and Legion once you leave the household, although I must warn you that your escorts are rather...eccentric is a bit of an understatement. To give a hint would be saying: "Memory is the key" or something else vaguely similar to what you would know as a media reference. I have also brought a few souvenirs from different worlds as necessary items you will need for your journey. You will acquire them in an orderly fashion, either as rewards or tools needed to complete a task for me.
At any rate, once your escorts arrive at the house, you will be taken to a secret location for safety, out of public and government eyes. You will then hitch a ride on a ship that will transport you to your first of many destinations, in which you must prepare yourself for the events of the ME universe. I expect nothing less from you or you will die trying to achieve these goals. I will meet you on the other side.
Until then,
The Illusive Man
PS - Your first gift will be with your escorts, so once you obtain it, I expect you to familiarize yourself with it's contents by the time we meet again.
I glared at the letter in irritation, hoping that it burns or explodes in front of my eyes, due to the sheer audacity that TIM has for ordering me around like that. I turn around to see Legion standing behind me, his facial plates bent slightly inward, thinking for a few more seconds before speaking, " Our sensors indicate that you dislike The Illusive Man for his decisions, concerning your departure. Also, we believe it is time to leave now."
I breathed slowly and closed my eyes to ponder, What will happen should we leave this location? Everyone here is in danger, so they need to get to safety before government agents come down and capture every single innocent civilian, then possibly torture them for information on us. Legion's right, we need to leave, and fast.
I grabbed my iPod and headphones, searching for a song to play at the moment, until I found what I was looking for. I placed the headphones around my neck and the iPod in the right jacket pocket for now, until we reach our escorts location. I also grabbed my bag, making sure it's secure before I went back inside to say goodbye to Dad and *****. I carried it inside and set it down on my left side, which Dad promptly bear hugged me tightly, with my arms flailing sideways and attempting to breathe before he released me slowly. I quickly gave ***** a hug before I said a rapid, "See ya!" and ran outside to the front of the yard, with my travel bag in tow, searching for anyone nearby that may look familiar to me.
I see Legion catch up to me, arriving next to the mailbox, waiting for our transport to arrive, until we hear a deep voice speak, "Greetings Roland *****, it is nice to meet you in person for the first time." For some odd reason, I hear the song 528491 play in my head, when I clearly know that it isn't best to hear it at the moment. Once I turned around to face the speaker, the infamous booming noise played as I gazed upward to see, to my utter surprise, someone I shouldn't be able to see here right now.
I am facing Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots.
I had only a small thought, as I gazed into his peripherals, feeling incredibly small as a newborn baby.
Well...shit.
Alrighty, the second chapter is finished now! How will he get to his destination, with Optimus with him, government agents out to get Legion, and a galaxy to save? Stay tuned until next time, readers!
-Apathy of the Abyssal Void
