Hello, ladies and gentlemen, but probably mostly gentlemen. I am excited to present to you the new chapter of Ink Black. This chapter is mostly exposition and me trying to lighten the mood a bit. Normally Riley wouldn't talk as easily to new people, but you should understand that he is talking to a very special person who it is very easy to talk to. The next chapters will most likely be a bit darker, but I was in a good mood the most times I was writing this.

Please understand that this story is currently not being beta-ed so I'm sorry for any grammatical or spelling mistakes I make. Also please review and give me your input and please if you liked it or not and why.

Thank you to the people who reviewed, favorited and followed, each review is important to me.

IMPOTANT (somewhat): I have changed Riley's callsign to Archer, since I read a fanfic in which the nickname Jinx was given to the protagonist and I don't want to seem like I'm stealing ideas. That is all.


~Chapter 2~

"Who- What the fuck are you? Where am I?" I asked, while staring at the strange man in front of me. It was still the same guy that I met on the docks, suit and everything. But he wasn't wearing shoes. Why wasn't he wearing shoes?

"To answer your first question; I am a multidimensional being. I am the one charged with protecting all the Mass Effect universes, but I like to take trips to others as well. The Star Wars universe is really beautiful this time of the year. Well, if you overlook the Clone Wars that's going on right now. Anyhow, you mortals usually see me as a god. The answer to your second question is… No, you know what? Look around and tell me what you see."

I looked at my surroundings, taking in all the details and trying to form a conclusion. There were trees, big, grey, leafless trees. The grass in the small clearing we were standing on was dull brown, dead. It felt... off. There wasn't any sound of animals, no wind. It felt dead. "Eh, a dead forest I guess?"

"Yes and no. As of now you are in the Void, the empty space between universes, but what you see is the physical representation of your mind. The trees are tall and strong, but they are dead. The grass was once green and the sky was once sunny, but events in your past influenced them, killed them. This place was once strong, alive, but now it is but a husk of a once strong willed and bodied man. You, my friend, are broken in the worst way possible. That is why I chose you, because there is nothing holding you down to take this opportunity to start your new life. To rekindle life in this forest. That, and you are not afraid to do what is necessary. You have seen the worst of mankind and you have done equally bad things." He picked up a withered flower. "Yet there is still love in this mind. The brotherly love for Sarah, even though she wronged you, the love for your former squad." He started walking down a forest path and I followed him, not really sure what else to do.

We walked in silence until we arrived at another clearing, this one was a bit larger and the center was dominated by a large rock. I left the self-proclaimed deity behind me as I slowly walked towards it.

Engraved on it were five symbols arranged around a sixth in the center. I recognized the middle one as the silhouette of a Corinthian helmet, the symbol of Hades Squad. The one above it was a crow in flight, for Marc. The next one was a rose, for Sarah. Another one were Sergeant stipes, for Mike. The one below that were three horizontal bullets, for Lars. Next to that was a medical cross, for Ronald. The last one was a vertical crossbow… for me.

That was who we were: Crow, Sarah, Sarge, Blue, Doc, and me, Archer. We were Hades, and although Sarah wasn't part of Hades the squad, she was part of Hades the family. A highly dysfunctional family of trained killers and one innocent woman, sought after for almost twenty assassinations, the dismantlement of two major terrorist operations and the abduction of Justin Bieber and three dictators. All in three years. All around the world.

"As you see, everything has a place in the mind. Now follow me, I have to show you some presents you may like." The deity said and walked up another path, eventually leading to some sort of hut. It seemed like the place a witch from a fairytale would have taken residence in. A low, overgrown, thatch roof, an unstable looking chimney and a rotten wooden front door. He must've seen my look of confusion, because the corners of his mouth twitched into a smile. "Not everything is what it looks like, Mister Bridger."

He opened the door and I followed him inside. Where I expected to be some old dusty furniture and perhaps an old woman stirring in a large cooking pot, there was a pristine white hall, way too big to fit into the cabin. The walls were covered in weaponry. Some seemed so alien that they had to be from other universes, while some looked like they belonged in the dark ages. Some of it though, was recognizable. I saw a sections with weapons from my era, weapons from Star Wars and an entire wall dedicated to weaponry from Halo. I immediately made my way over to that wall. There on that wall hung one of my favorite fictional weapons ever; the SRS 99-S5 Anti-Matériel. That baby was almost as long as I was, only shorter by 20 centimeters. It fired 14.5x114mm rounds at a speed of 1530 meters per second, able to penetrate high-density armor in a single shot. The knockback on this thing was so strong that even with the shock dampeners in the stock a normal man would need to either be prone or crouching to fire it properly.

I took it off the wall and held it in my arms. It felt almost natural, me being a sniper and all. I put it back after admiring it for a couple minutes, moving on to the next weapon that caught my attention. The DC-17m interchangeable weapons system, the weapon Republic Commandoes used. I looked it over and quickly put it back. It was nice, but not my style. That was when I spotted another wall and ran at it like an exited puppy.

"I see you are enjoying yourself." The interdimensional being interrupted with a smile. "You can take a better look at those later. I have someone that would like to meet you, and I bet you'll be overjoyed to see who it is. Or rather what it is." I looked at the giant glowing sword longingly, but once again followed him as he stepped through a door that I was sure wasn't there before.

On the other side of said door was a circular, pristine, and you guessed it, white room. The only noticeable thing about it was the elevated platform in the middle with a set of stairs leading to it. On the platform was a pedestal with a sort of round, silver ball with a lens in the middle held in place by a blue field on top of it.

I shot a hesitant look at the shoeless god, who smiled warmly and just motioned for me to step forward toward the strange object held above the -no surprise there- white pedestal. Slowly I ascended the steps, a strange sense of foreboding dominated my thoughts. This is something important. My subconscious kept telling me, and I was inclined to believe it.

Finally I reached the pedestal where the silver… I stopped dead in my tracks as I realized what it was. Hovering in front of me was an actual, real life Monitor. It looked exactly like 343 Guilty Spark, the containment field reflecting blue off its shining hull. The only difference was that the lens glowed a dull orange color, interrupting the serine blue shine.

There was a holographic control board hovering a few centimeters from the pedestal, asking for verification of a user. I hesitantly moved my hand toward the panel, not trusting myself to not break something and I shot one last glance at the self-proclaimed deity, but he was still smiling warmly, urging me to proceed. So, with doubts still on my mind I pressed my hand on the –surprisingly- solid board, the hologram immediately taking the shape of a human hand and a feminine sounding voice spoke up. "User identified. Welcome, Corporal Riley Bridger. To release the current object from containment, please enter the correct password."

Password? I don't know the password. What the hell? "Hey, God guy, you know what the password is?" I said as I turned around, only to find out he was standing right behind me. Alriiiiight, that was not creepy at all.

"12345" the deity answered, causing me to mentally facepalm. Was this guy for real? That's like passwords 101: Don't use 12345! Thinking that he was probably joking I entered the almost-too-stupid password and sure enough; the robotic feminine voice spoke again, "Password correct, access granted. Releasing object from containment."

Oh well, he's an inter dimensional being, he doesn't need to make sense. I thought as the blue field disappeared, leaving a hovering monitor staring directly at me. It's eye suddenly lit up and seemed to pierce straight through my soul.

"Oh my, an actual Reclaimer…" it said as it scanned me. I just stared at it in disbelief "Oh, excuse me, where are my manners. I am 333 Silent Traveler, it is my pleasure to finally meet my new travel companion! I would almost do a backflip in joy! Of course, such simple tricks would be degrading and therefore I won't do them, but still, figuratively I did."

I raised an eyebrow at the orange glowing super AI in front of me. It or he or whatever was now darting around his new environment. "How exiting! So, where will we be going, reclaimer? I hope it is something a bit more technologically advanced than last time. Don't misunderstand me, those big flying reptiles you reclaimers call dragons are fun to be around, but I would like to finally be able to interface with something again."

It said, it's happiness just vibrated off him. Oh god, I almost had to puke, he was so happy. Luckily the deity spoke for me: "You will be going to the Mass Effect universe. I think you will like it, Silent Traveler." You know, for its name, it sure did talk a lot.

"Ah, of course! They have the Cuttlefish problem don't they?" My other eyebrow joined the one already raised. Cuttlefish problem? What the hell does he- Oh yeah, didn't Marc say something about sentient spaceships that looked like cuttlefish?

The deity answered 333's question. You know what? I'm just gonna call him threes. "Yes, the Reapers. Loki and Hermes put those in as a prank, but even they don't know how to get rid of the stupid things. I've tried restarting the universe three times already and they're still there. Every person I send in there to help Shepard has defeated them in one way or the other, but they're still there, in all 27.3 of the different 'verses. I knew I should have locked my part of the void."

My eyebrows shot up even more. What the fuck was going on? Threes wasn't any help, he was just nodding slowly.

"Soooooo…" I started, "I really don't care about that, can I get my weapons or what?"

"Yes, yes. Go knock yourself out. But nothing from the magic wall."

Finally! I thought to myself. Time to get some guns!

I immediately found myself grabbing the SRS, slinging it on my back and continuing to the next part for a handgun. I found one quickly on a wall that read [Destiny]. I think that's a game. I grabbed a silver revolver type gun from the rack and inspected it before looking at the nameplate. The Silvered Maverick MK. 41 handcannon. Oh yes, yes yes yes. Not handgun, a fucking handcannon.

I took two.

I moved on to find an assault rifle and eventually went for the HF Gruber, a futuristic piece of equipment that looked as deadly as the description said it was. And it could be adapted to work with Mass Effect's technology. Which meant almost unlimited ammo. Fuck yeah.

Now the only thing left to grab was a Kevlar vest and some frags and I would be all fine and dandy and ready to kick some ass.

"No you're not." Jesus fucking Christ on a unicycle! I turned around, startled by the deity's sudden appearance. He was standing there, all smug looking in his fancy suit and with threes hanging over his shoulder.

"And why not?" I inquired.

"You don't have any armor. You should understand that it is quite important in my universe. Also you haven't been briefed yet."

"Alright, alright, just give me the armor and let's get this over with." I said impatiently. I was really starting to feel the urge to shoot someone by now.

The Interdimensional being pushed a button on the wall the I was sure wasn't there before… again, and a piece of the wall retracted, exposing a menacing looking set of black armor. I recognized it immediately. The ODST battle armor stood there in all its glory, light reflecting off its sliver visor. Hmm, I'll have to do something about that. Can't have someone spot me because of it.

"I thought you might like it," he said with a chuckle, probably noticing the eager look on my face, ",since you like the Librerian's 'verse so much. Come, stand at the console, I can imagine you'd want to make some modifications to it."

I did just that and was met by a whole list of things I could change. Alright, first the visor. It immediately turned from silver to a dull tone of black. Next is the camo. Hmmm… let's see, mottled or digital camo. Digital urban it is. Just like the visor the rest changed immediately into a plethora of blocky shapes with various tints of grey. The undersuit stays black. Next after that is miscellaneous. Let's see… It was obvious, I chose to paint a white Corinthian helmet on both pauldrons and the top right of my chest plate. Hades Squad might be dead, but I can still honor their memory. I pressed [Finish] and the armor teleported directly onto my body, leaving the clothes I was wearing –bar my underwear- neatly stacked on the ground next to me and my weapons were suddenly attached to the magnetic plates on my armor.

"Alright, now you're done with that, we can get to the briefing." I nodded and followed him to another room that wasn't there before.

"Now, first things first: you'll be dropped in just before the raid of Mindoir in 2170. There you'll meet the Shepard family. The planet will be raided by Batarian slavers a day after you arrive, your primary concern is keeping Shepard alive, no matter the cost. Once she is in good hands you can go and help the marines that will be sent there to free the planet. Or not, it's your choice. Do realize that the Batarians will eventually start using slaves with control-chips implanted into their heads and the ones that don't will have bomb collars, but Silent Traveler should be able to disable those very easily."

"Good. And what happens after that?" I asked, a bit disgusted that a space faring race would use the population against their own troops.

"Nazara won't show up until 2183, until then you can do whatever the hell you want as long as Shepard survives. I have already manipulated the 'verse a bit so that you won't be out of place and I have also set up a small reputation for you as an assassin only known as Hades. You'll be given an omni-tool and a bank account with enough savings so that you can survive until you can set up your own source of income. I don't really give a fuck how you get it, but try not to draw too much attention from the governments."

"Okay, I can find myself in that arrangement. Anything else?"

"Yes, one last thing; your ship. I have plucked a Firespray-31 from the Star Wars Universe, you know, the ship Boba Fett flies in, and modified it with Mass Effect technology. It should be very easy to operate, you'll learn to fly it like an ace in a week. The Force twins were not happy when they noticed one of their prize possessions was gone. That should be it. Good luck, Riley Bridger, don't fuck this one up. Oh, and I do not wear shoes because this way my feet fell more free."

A flash of light enveloped me and I felt weightless for a second before I blacked out again.


I slowly blinked. I saw some leaves waving gently in a breeze I couldn't feel before I remembered I was wearing full body armor. As what felt like the past three hours slowly came back to me the HUD, or Heads Up Display suddenly turned on and started showing my vitals, shields and apparently an ammo counter.

I turned around and Threes was hovering there, right in my face, "Gah!" I shouted at the sudden orange glowing lens pressed in my face… well, visor really.

"Hello, reclaimer. I thought it might be good to give you a little rundown on your armor, if that is acceptable to you?"

I nodded slowly, "Suuuuure," I drawled, ", tell me, lightbulb. And where's my ship?"

"Good, your armor is outfitted with medium strength MK III kinetic barriers. It should give you enough protection to survive in a firefight for a little while. The undersuit is vacuum rated, so going out in space shouldn't be a problem, unless you're not wearing your helmet of course."

Did Threes just make a joke? I wanted to ask for confirmation, but it, he, whatever continued talking.

"The plates themselves are a titanium-ceramic alloy. You also have an exoskeleton to help carry the weight of both your weapons and the suit itself. Further applications include an Omni-tool adapter in your bracer and an active cloak. Your ship is right behind me."

He was bullshitting me, right? There was no ship there, only a clearing in the otherwise forested area. Wait, didn't he/it say active cloa- Just as I thought that a black and red ship shimmered into view, filling up what only seconds ago was empty. I really should stop being surprised about stuff, shouldn't I?

I took a good look at the ship. It was exactly what the Slave-1 from Star Wars looked like, but black and red instead of green and brown. Awesome. Now that is taken care of, what to do next? The guy said to find the "Shepards" whoever they are.

"Hey, Threes, can you like, put a waypoint up for me to the Shepard residence?" I asked.

"Of course, reclaimer." An arrow appeared on my HUD, showing me the direction I needed to go, "I would suggest you take the transportation bike inside the ship. It would reduce travel-time by approximately five hours."

You know, why the fuck not. It's better than walking, anyways. So, with that thought in mind I step up the ramp of the ship to find some sort of boxy thing clasped to the wall. Threes flew up to it and a second later it unfolded into a hovering bike-ish –yes, that is a word now- thing.

I looked at it with a skeptical gave as the clamps holding it on the wall released, leaving the speeder hovering in place. "So… does this thing drive like a regular bike?" I asked the floating lightbulb.

"Basically, yes. Only a lot faster. Now go, I will watch the ship and stay in contact with you through your helmet."

"'Kay." I answered as I mounted the speeder bike and started the engine. This should be fun.


Please understand that this story is currently not being beta-ed so I'm sorry for any grammatical or spelling mistakes I make. Also please review and give me your input and please if you liked it or not and why.

I'm very sorry for the lack of action and the slow update, but the idea I had for this was a bit harder to turn into words than I thought, I even had to rewrite it once. Because of the time it took, however, I was able to really put some thought into how I want to progress with Ink Black and I scrapped future plans, thought of different ones and then changed them again.

Next chapter will be bit more action as the Batarians will be making an appearance and we will meet the Shepards.

Thank you for reading and have a great day/night.