Mass Effect:
What Got Me In This Mess?
By:
Apathy of the Abyssal Void
Chapter 6:
Damnation of the Past
The Geth unit flared his facial plates as he viewed the scenery, or what was left of it anyway. The destruction caused by the conflict between the Collectors and the strange armored humans. Legion had been separated during the fight as he attempted to fend off several Abominations that tried to venture beyond the battlefield. Upon his return, he found the humans lying on the ground unconscious and the Collectors gone. Using his Omni-tool, Legion scanned the humans for their vitals, and each of them showed that they were stable. The only thing left was to find a way to contact Optimus and the others.
He didn't wait very long as several human military vehicles arrived at the new clearing. He observed the humans pouring out of their vehicles and secured the area. A few of them tried to move the unmoving bodies, but could not due to the weight of the armor they wore. He came down to assist, but was stopped by a few soldiers standing in front of the Geth with their guns raised at him. Before he could state that he meant no harm, a groan came from one of the unconscious forms. He turned around to see the one known as Carolina rising from the ground. "Carolina, you are awake. Are you injured?" He queried and her response was a hand-wave meaning she was alright.
Struggling to stand upright, she looked around the area in wonder as she saw the destruction all around her. She glanced over to the other blue soldiers lying on the ground unconscious, each in their own unique fashion. While they suffered some damage, it wasn't very severe. It was almost as if what these things were weren't trying to kill them at all, but they were intent on finding something here. But what could that possibly be? Carolina mused as she kicked the one known as Church gently to see if he woke up yet. She was satisfied when she heard him groan in pain.
"Come on now, those things are gone so quit lying down." spoke the Freelancer to him and yanked the Blue off the ground onto his feet, only for him to stumble from the sudden change in movement before he righted himself. He looked around and asked," What happened? I feel like I had my head sent into a blender. Fuck!" Church grabbed his head and groaned as the pain intensified for a few seconds. As he continued suffering the other unconscious soldier woke up slowly and moaned out,"Shut up would ya? You're giving me a headache!"
"Hey, if I had to get up, you do too. So get up Tucker." Church retorted as he hauled the other Blue to his feet. Tucker shook his head and asked," So if the bug infestations gone, why are we still here?" Church shrugged and said, "Hell if I know, those bastards pack a serious punch though. I probably would've died." Carolina chose that moment to enter the conversation. "I doubt it. Whatever those things were, we weren't the target of the assault or otherwise they would've killed us sooner. But that leaves one question..." The three glanced at each other in curiosity before turning towards Legion, who happened to be standing not far from where Carolina stood.
Oddly enough, Legion had observed their interactions and recorded them for further investigations. For now, they needed to leave and regroup in a different location with their errant charge. Legion paused for a moment as his Omni-tool lit up showing him a message sent from the Illusive Man himself. The geth read it briefly before filing it away for future reference and spoke to Carolina," We must vacate the area immediately. New coordinates have been received and we are to be directed elsewhere."
Carolina nods in agreement and says,"Okay, let's go."
Elsewhere...
Floating over an unknown world, an unusual station with an even more unusual shape, specifically designed for a top secret project. One of which was vital to the safety of it's creators and all of humanity, as well as the galaxy itself. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, the project was about to go through a trial run before it would be properly executed. And a certain AI had decided to assist in this endeavor, although for whatever reasons he has, the others do not know.
While it wasn't uncommon for Delta to experience situations where a comrade was in critical condition and assist them, it was much rarer that he would still be able to assist a friend in need while at the verge of death. At the moment, both the AI and his comatose companion had been transported to a Cerberus facility, presumably the one where Commander Shepard would be found within the next two years. He had asked the one known as Miranda Lawson, leader of the Lazarus Project, to be the one tasked with taking care of the more important parts of the "resurrection".
She initially refused, stating that as the head of the cell, she was the one responsible for both the trial run and the real thing. Luckily, Delta's logic won her over due to the fact he had intimate knowledge of the armored device that remained solidly attached to the body. Although it didn't hurt that the Illusive Man had allowed it anyway.
This lead to the current situation where Delta began the process of searching and activating deeply hidden programs, including the one that was responsible for the rapid regeneration when that assassin attacked them. His holographic avatar hovered over the gauntlet, facing what had appeared to be a command log displaying right above it. The AI turned around, facing two people who would be responsible for the task at hand. One obviously was Operative Lawson as Delta come to know her, and the other was Wilson.
"I will now begin the revitalization process." Delta stated before turning back to the floating panel. Wilson frowned before glancing at Miranda and whispered,"What's so special about this kid anyway? It's not like the Illusive Man to waste money on some nobody when we could be doing the same thing with Shepard." Miranda glanced back with an icy stare and replied,"The Illusive Man wants to make sure the project goes smoothly without difficulty. You've been told this before Wilson." "So? What's your point?" he asked, not satisfied with the answer he received.
"It's because the Illusive Man sees something of value in this person, and I do as well. I believe it's better to leave it at that than to ask pointless questions." Delta responded, causing the pair to look back at the AI with mixed emotions, Miranda's expression was outwardly neutral but internally, she was glad that he ended the conversation so she didn't have to continue further. But that left her with a problem. The Illusive Man never gave any specific detail on the boy's importance, thus labeling him as an unknown, something that irked her greatly.
Delta glowed brightly before vanishing into the armored device, causing it and the panel glow for a brief second before it died down a little. The device gave a loud noise, as if a computer started up and the panel began to display words on its screen.
[Initializing...]
[Initialization...Complete.]
[Begin scanning for structural damage.]
[Scanning...]
[Warning. Severe physical damage. Locating all defensive/support subroutines...]
[13 subroutines found. Prioritizing subroutines...Done.]
[Begin activation sequence...]
[Activating all subroutines...]
[Temporary Armor Extension: Activated.]
[Advanced Armor Transmutation: Activated. Transmutation Type: Healer.]
[Set Transmutation to Preselected Form.]
[Form: Savior. Set.]
[Beginning Transmutation...]
[Transmutation Complete.]
[Defensive Subroutine Activation. Complete.]
[Activating Support Subroutines...]
[Subsidiary Restoration Transference. Activated.]
[Outlier Strengthening Enhancements. Activated.]
[Internal Restoration Expansion. Activated.]
[Basic Outlier Renewing Inverse Neural Gatherers. Activated.]
[Beginning reparation sequence...]
[Repairing...2%]
...
[Repairing...4%]
...
[Running diagnostics...Done.]
[Repairing...9%]
[Activating Rapid Restoration Mode...]
[Initiating Restoration Buffers...]
[Repairing...13%]
...
[Repairing...24%]
...
[Repairing...29%]
As this was occurring, both Miranda and Wilson watched in wonder as the device shuddered and began shooting up along the arm, covering the whole body with the same material as the gauntlet. Then the armor gave a dull green glow as the armor shifted once more, changing into something that they never saw before. The new armor looked completely alien and yet, it radiated an angelic like aura about it.
Several new screens began popping up around the command log, displaying the areas that were damaged the most which were slowly being healed. Miranda quickly ordered,"Wilson make sure this is recorded. The Illusive Man will want to know everything that's happened." "I'm on it." he replied before heading to a nearby console, bring up multiple data screens that were monitoring the process. Miranda furrowed her brow as she observed her new source of intrigue.'This is very interesting. I must know what the secrets are to that device...I do have plenty of time, of course. I have all the time in the world.' she thought to herself, eagerly awaiting the time when she would use the new data to replicate the results to benefit Cerberus.
However, Delta knew that this was a possibility, having access to the organization's databases sometime ago and subsequently learned of their not so pleasant history concerning the rest of the galaxy. Therefore, Delta had prepared to to delete any and all data that was relevant. For now, he would wait and see what they would do. After all, it was a matter of time until his compatriots would arrive as well and knowing them as much as he did, there was no way the Cerberus workers here would try anything.
As the main active occupants in the room remained focused on the task at hand, a knock was sounded on the door rather lightly. The door quickly opened to reveal a lone worker transporting various items on a cart that looked incredibly out of place from its surroundings. While the two human occupants gave a look of incredulity, Delta's form noticeably brightened at the sight of an old backpack with different items tucked away inside of it. The worker awkwardly said,"Uh, sorry about this. I was told to bring this stuff here..." Delta responded in his usual monotone voice,"Excellent. You brought what I asked for. You may leave." The worker nodded slightly before exiting the room, having left the awkwardness in the air for a few seconds before it dissipated.
Delta then focused his attention to Miranda once more and spoke, "Now, Miss Lawson. There should be a small electronic device that the boy stored in his bag. I need you to retrieve it and bring it here." "Is there any particular reason why you need it?" Miranda asked, curiosity began to gnaw at her. Delta paused for a moment before responding,"I wish to see how the newly formed armor would react to this device, since the armor is currently fused to his nervous system, it could react to everything he does or thinks. It's possible the armor may reconfigure itself to integrate the device into its systems."
Miranda gave a look of surprise at the AI's analysis of the armor. Though she had a feeling there might have been more to it than that. So she decided to voice her thoughts on the matter. Delta gave the following response," The other reason is that I was told he had an interesting array of music, so I wished to see for myself what type of music his device contained." Miranda huffed in annoyance before moving the bag and began her thorough search for the device."I honestly don't see the point in retrieving a useless relic of a toy. It's beyond me that the Illusive Man would even need someone like him. He has no real talent, despite his interests in technology however miniscule it may be. If anything, our universe would break him in every way imaginable. So let me ask you, why did he even agree doing this?"
While their conversation level had been neutral at best, there was no way she would willingly trust a complete stranger (even if he was a human) to take part in something he had no reason for doing so. On Delta's side, however, he noticed that she had held in her doubts about Roland for the most part until Wilson voiced his concerns earlier, which undoubtedly affected her in turn. Normally she would have been the type to not ask these questions unless she felt that the source of her troubles were to become a threat to Cerberus as a whole.
After a brief nanosecond of internal deliberation, Delta responded,"I understand your concerns Miss Lawson, however illogical they are. I can assure you 99.9% that he will not recklessly endanger your mission here. After all, he has a personal mission that's not too different from what Commander Shepard would do. The likelihood of him succeeding is unknown, due to numerous variables that would need to be taken into consideration. I agree that he does not have a specialty at this time. However, given enough time to gather the remaining items necessary, he will be able to survive what's to come. Right now, he must recover from his injuries, so I suggest we continue this conversation at another time."
Miranda continued searching while listening to Delta, having ignored the part where he gave the percentage, until she felt smooth metal in the left outer pocket of the backpack, carefully pulling it out in the process. She examined its peculiar design, having a silver back with printed labeling on it and a sleek black front with most of it being a screen. It also had a small indented button with a gray hollow square in the center. As she glided her fingers all over it, she accidentally pressed the button, which caused the screen to display a picture of an almost empty battery, a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark, a symbol for lightning and an odd symbol that looked like a semicircle with two lines sticking out, all of this being shown in front of a black background.
"I found it, however this thing needs to be recharged from what the display is telling me." Miranda commented as she brought the device in front of Delta, who had reappeared in front of the floating screens. Delta gave a motion to show he nodded, although it was hard to tell due to how stiff he was. He turned around, facing the screens and glowed briefly before the screens glowed as well. Suddenly, the upper chest area began convulsing before creating a ripple effect across the entire body. It shook for a moment longer before shooting upwards, two thin discs with 4 inch diameters slowly ejected from the armor, spinning gently in the air. Soon after, the discs hovered over to the small device in Miranda's hand.
One of the discs turned onto its side, the broadside much more visible. Lines began branching out from the center of the disc before they shifted to show circles from the center to the edge of the disc. The lines then flashed a red color and those lines caused the disc to separate into multiple rings of various sizes, remaining together within a tight formation. Slowly, each ring began to spin in a different direction before picking up speed rapidly, creating a blur with an accompanying hum as well, giving the appearance of an orb. The second disc, on the other hand, began to inflate from the broad areas until it became a sphere.
What made it so interesting was that both things happened simultaneously, leaving Miranda and Wilson speechless. The sphere then began emitting a blood red colored light from the outer most center facing them and shot out a beam onto the device, which enveloped it in the same light, lifting it into the air.'A miniature tractor beam? No, something like that is unheard of. Then again, we are dealing with unknown tech here.' Miranda thought as the other rotating orb shined with a luminescent blue light that spread out onto the floating device, slightly mixing the colors together. The process took a few seconds before the light switched to green and vanished back into the spinning orb. The orb suddenly stopped, all of the rings frozen in place. The rings then slowly came together to reform into the disc they came from and the disc floated back to its point of origin, reinserting itself back into the armor.
The sphere on the other hand, carried the little device over to the armored body before lowering it until it was a mere centimeter above the chest. The sphere abruptly jerked over to the right arm, the source of the newly formed armor, dragging the device with it. As it hovered above the metal forearm, a section of the gauntlet opened with a series of fibrous cords running through began moving out towards the red sphere surrounding it. The sphere then retracted the red light back into itself and glided back down to where it came from, the remaining orifice of the armor. As it reached the hole, the sphere began to destabilize and shattered, the fragments melting down to fill the hole until no signs of it remained.
When the device was released from its red prison, it descended towards the awaiting cords that reached for it, quickly wrapping around it then brought it into the slot where it was meant to be inserted. As the bound device got closer, more and more of the cords parted to allow room for it, opening outward as if they had become a blooming flower. Once the space became large enough, the cords retracted further into the armor until the device was unbounded and properly placed inside. As it made contact, series of circuit-like lights shot out from the slot and part of the armor slid over it, sealing it away. "Intriguing, isn't it?" Delta queried, directing the question to the Cerberus operative and the assistant.
"Yes." Miranda replied, her voice faint and eyes distant. It's no wonder this technology was so special, to have something react upon the subconscious desires of its user and project those very same desires via armor. Although the armor itself only appears to be temporary until the rest are found. Perhaps that's why he wasn't automatically sent to Shepard's location. Once the remaining pieces were found, who knows what could happen. Some obvious theories came to light, such as accessing other functions that would require the use of multiple armor pieces once attached. Therein lied the problem: Where are the remaining pieces?
Before she could muse further, a white bordered screen popped up (with the sound of a small bell ringing to boot) above the other screens, nothing being displayed at the moment. It faded out after a few seconds, leaving Miranda to wonder the reason for the screen to appear in the first place. It reappeared not long after, revealing an unusual statement:
Thank you for bringing the Ipod. I greatly appreciate your assistance.
Miranda gaped as she read and repeated the statement in her head. "Wha-what is this?" she asked aloud, not really believing what she was seeing. In response, the words in the screen faded out and a new piece of dialogue showed:
Sorry, can't really hear you. The goofball's unconscious as you can so easily tell. Hold on a second. I must be confusing you right now. In fact, let's have Delta bring up a keyboard so you can type to talk. It's better we converse as the body is being reconstituted, other wise we may not have another chance to talk. Since Delta's already here, would you kindly?
Delta imperceptibly responded by bringing up a semi-holographic keyboard in front of the screens, with the white one moving down until it was just above it. Delta faced Miranda and spoke,"It is ready for use Miss Lawson." She nodded and walked to the keyboard, her fingers over the buttons in anticipation. She had no idea why she was feeling this way, but due to the recent bout of craziness, she felt entitled to having an anchor of lucidity to hold it all down, starting with this mysterious bystander. Running through a numerous amount of possible questions in her head, she started off with the simplest one, Who are you?
Her question popped up, removing the previous dialogue that was showing. Not very surprising, since it was behaving like any normal computer would, with a few...discrepancies. The screen remained eerily silent for a brief moment before it responded:
There we go Lawson, you do know how to talk! I kid, I kid. At any rate, as to who I am...'tis a secret I cannot tell. However, I will say this: I am no enemy here. Nor am I a so-called PARASITE, as those radical dreamers would say, I am nowhere near from that despicable position. At the same time however, I am far, FAR worse than you could possibly imagine...
As the mysterious voice spoke, the integrated Ipod began playing a song, which displayed itself on a different screen, but it lacked the information to show what the name of the song was. Although from the tone it was setting, the song was anything but pleasant. It was loud enough to be heard within the room, giving off that same unpleasant feeling, only more so. When the new text appeared, she would realize how terrifyingly accurate the song was in relation to what would be stated...
What would the name be, you ask? It'll come up soon enough. Now kindly read what this being has to say...
Our positions are somewhat...unique. In fact, I would go so far to say that we are two sides of the same coin. I represent all that of which he has kept locked away within himself, which is understandable, considering that he fears naught but the darkness within his imagination. His darkness, gave me sentience out of kindness and fear. He believed that he would become a mindless beast that sought its own destruction and the destruction of everything around him. No, that's not right at all. I was the savage beast back then. Not him. His mind wouldn't have been able to handle the guilt of committing the one atrocity no one should commit in their young life. Especially at the tender age of 12 years old.
Although if one had observed the situation as a neutral party, they would hardly blame the child for reacting the way he did. But I suppose that's all I can say about that. He never did like speaking poorly of his family, especially his siblings. I on the other hand...
*chuckle*
But I suppose that's me putting it lightly. However, that doesn't mean he never had problems with them in the past. In fact, they were the reason he had lost his mental faculties. They were the reason he lost control of himself. They were the reason his mind broke into the tiny fragments before being improperly rebuilt. THEY were the reason I was created in the first place. THEY WERE THE REASON HE ALMOST LOST HIS INNOCENCE AND HUMANITY!
The words displayed themselves exactly as how someone would normally talk, including where the speaker had gotten angry and yelled through the screen itself, causing it to distort slightly before both the speaker and the screen settled down. Once the screen became normal again, the speaker began again; only this time, it would be a lot worse.
As she heard the music, she started to become more and more afraid of what she would 'hear' from this foul being that she was conversing with, the music in the background amplifying the mood. Despite this, she pressed onward with a morbid idea that she would learn something she would never forget...And you know what? She would be correct on that assumption.
I was born the moment he almost became something that later on neither of us had wanted, especially him. A terrible creature of chaotic emotions that would have murdered his own in a blind rage. But he was weak, his body wasn't strong enough to overpower and murder his would-be victim. Unfortunately, the damage was already done.
They saw what became of him when he unleashed the monster within.
And out of that sorrowful savagery, his mind fractured violently at the mere thought of the implication of his consequences had he followed through with it. You know what I'm referring to, don't you Miranda Lawson?
No, she thought to herself, her body shivering from the false frost in the room, unmindful of the fact that the room itself was terribly affected by the music as well. The lights had dimmed considerably, the electrical equipment had become thoroughly erratic, and even the room itself shuddered by the dark influential music. Wilson had noticed what was happening, and was suitably freaking out at the sudden chaos in the room. He shouted hysterically,"What the fuck is going on here!?"
Miranda gave a small shudder as she moved to the side to see the body in the same position, completely immune to the chaos it wrought upon them. She turned to Delta, who was observing the scene with great interest. Never before had the AI seen such things happening during his brief existence. It was rather startling how a human with a dark alter ego would be the cause of all of this. Nevertheless, he remained silent as the conversation continued.
Oh yes...you know exactly what I'm talking about. You're no stranger to Death, Miranda. We both know what you've done in the name of your beloved 'Cerberus'. All of those people that have died because of your organization.
Those people who died for your organization.
Those who have suffered at the hands of your organization.
Those who fear you.
Those who hate you.
Those who loathe you.
Those who despise you.
Those who conspire against you.
Those who love you.
Those who worship you!
But enough about you. Back to the subject at hand. Our dear friend here, who lies in a coma because of YOUR ORGANIZATION! Did you honestly think I wouldn't be able to notice the logo on your assassin? Did you really think the Illusive Man's pet would actually pull one over us? No? I didn't think so.
As I previously stated, my friend's tortured mind had hastily rebuilt itself and therefore stunted future growth for a small time until I fixed it all. I helped him survive his ordeal. I pleaded with him to allow me to take revenge against his aggressors, but he stayed my hand with good reason to boot. Besides, who would want to live the life of a KIN SLAYER!?
Throughout the entire conversation, the music became more intense with the use of strong chords of guitars, the chorus rising before settling for a series of strings that sounded very sinister, and again the chorus would rise slowly (and more powerful) before it switched to a woman wailing at the end of the song. As it ended, the name burned itself in the center of the screen, flames dancing around the letters in a monstrous manner. The letters themselves, inscribed in bold Gothic letters with blood as their chosen color to properly fit the sinister name. Once the name was fully written, the flames flashed brightly before vanishing, revealing not only the song's title but the very nature of the boy's terrible past...
The Eternal Conflict
Alrighty! It looks like our little hero has a bit of a dark side in him...Who knows what'll happen next.
At any rate, I humbly apologize for not posting this chapter sooner. Lemme know what ya think and if there's anything that requires additional thought to this chapter or any other chapter that I have completed.
Until next time...
En taro Tassadar!
