First of let me apologies for the delay. I only blame three things: Life, boredom and a severe case of writers block. This chapter went through three different variations; on top of that I've been writing an assortment different fan fics for almost any ideas I have. I have drafts for Alternate Universe Mass Effect fics, a Harry Potter fic, a Stargate fic, two Fallout fics, even a Call of Duty fic, and those are just examples and many will probably never see the light of day.
I've also been working on improving my work grammatically and its writing style. Hopefully this chapter will be better than the previous ones.
Anyway I'll continue to work on F.E.A.R. E.F.F.E.C.T. until it's finished, even if there are long periods that I don't upload chapters.
Sorry again for the delay and please review.
Interval 5 – Citadel and Criminals
Shepard shot up screaming. His breathing was frantic as he looked around the room. It was the med bay but his vision was tinted a dull brown. He could hear snarls and chokes coming from his side. He was force back down as a mutilated and horrifying face looked down on him screaming. He screamed back as there was a flash and the creature turned into the friendly face of Doctor Chakwas.
"Commander! Stay calm! You're alright." She said in a soothing.
Shepard relaxed and groaned as he placed his hands on his throbbing head. "W…What happened?"
"I was hoping you could tell me commander. The scans were saying that physically there's nothing wrong; however I've never seen brain readings like this. Also normal people don't just collapse in the lift for no reason." Doctor Chakwas said. "You had us all worried Commander. You were going into cardiac arrest and I had to use the defibrillators."
"How long was I out?" Shepard shakily asked with a grown as he lay on the bed, rubbing his temples that still throbbed with mild pain.
"Only about five minutes." Chakwas answered.
"Alma." Shepard suddenly remembered.
"What was that Commander?" Chakwas asked confused.
"She said her name was Alma." Shepard absentmindedly answered.
"Who?" Chakwas asked again, even more confused.
"Never mind... It's nothing." Shepard said. He felt like it was important. But why would he follow the orders of a psychopathic, cannibalistic mad-man who he barely knows and appears to him in dreams? And that is the most insane thought he's ever had. "EDI, tell Joker to set a course for the Citadel." Shepard said towards the holographic pad where a familiar blue orb glowed.
"Yes Commander." EDI replied as Shepard eased himself up on the bed.
"No Commander! You should lie down."
"I'm fine Doctor."
"No. Having a near heart attack for no reason is not 'fine'. As the ship's doctor I'm ordering you to lie down." Chakwas sternly said. Shepard stared into her eyes for some time before sighing in defeat.
"Fine. But only until we reach the Citadel." Shepard grumbled as he lay on the bed and sighed again. 'What the Hell's going on?'
The Illusive Man took a long puffed of his cigarette and breathed the thick smoke back out into the stations heavily recycled air. He reached for a bottle of hundred year old whisky only to stop as a holographic button appeared beside his chair.
The Illusive Man raised an eyebrow in curiosity and tapped the hologram. A video recording began to play as a report appeared besides him. He watched in interest as Shepard entered the Normandy's elevator only to clutch his head in pain. He fell to the floor and began to convulse before the video suddenly turned to static and then to the Illusive Man's horror, Alma stood in the elevator with Shepard.
The Illusive Man watched wide-eyed as she watched Shepard then suddenly appeared by his side and seamed to soothe Shepard's pain. Shepard fell uncurious as Alma stood and looked towards the camera. Almost as if she was staring right at the Illusive Man who stared back into the sinister golden yellow eyes glowing from behind the shadow of a long black veil of hair. They moved towards him.
The Illusive Man was almost never surprised or fearful of anything but he yelped in both fear and surprise as Alma herself walked out of the holographic recording into his inner sanctum. He unmoving, cold, hateful eyes bored deep into his blue cybernetic eyes as her ever angered face approached his. Streaks of blood trailed after her as she strolled towards him in a calm and malevolent way whist whispers echoed around and flames burned behind her. A slight smile broke on her face as she watched the Illusive Man panic.
His breathes were rapped and deep. Sweet dripped down his face as the still lit cigarette fell from his fingers. He began to role his chair away as he drew a concealed pistol which immediately overheated to such an extent it burned his hand and clattered to the floor. He now found himself against the reinforced windows that looked out upon a dying sun. He pushed himself as far back as possible as he rapidly tapped the alarm button. No one came.
Ten meters, The Illusive man tapped harder on the button. Five meters, "Please not now. I've came too far for this." He whispered to himself. Two meters. He clenched his eyes shut preparing for the inedible.
Five seconds passed and nothing happened. One of his eyes cautiously opened. He wished it hadn't.
Hundreds of screaming contorted body's floated around his burning office. They twitched uncontrollably as there eyeless heads snapped towards him.
He screamed as he hit the hard cold floor. Silence. The room was empty. The Illusive Man looked around confused as he now found himself back in the centre, unharmed. The word confused comes nowhere near explaining the level of bewilderment he now found himself in.
He took slow deep breaths and began to calm down. He pushed himself from the floor and looked around his office. Empty.
He turned back to the holographic screen that has descended into static. He filched when the words 'I HATE YOU' suddenly appeared before an 'Error corrupted data' message replaced the static.
He sat back into his seat and cleared his throat before turning to the intercom and in a still shanking voice ordered, "Get me Fairport."
It was a day until they reached the Citadel and Chakwas allowed Shepard to leave the med-bay. Most of the crew came to visit, some to give their support and others out of curiosity. None more so than Miranda who just nodded as Shepard explained what happened.
Garrus also visited and, much to Shepard's dismay, tried to cheer him up with Turian poetry. Shepard was thankful when Chakwas asked him to 'leave Shepard to rest'. He'd rather chew his leg off then listen to another verse to 'Ode to a Krogan slayer'.
'At least Ashley was good with poetry' He thought to himself with a frustrated chuckle as the taxi left the port where the Normandy was docked and began to swoop through the congested skies of the station. 'Ash, I wonder where you are now?'
The Taxi landed outside a C-Sec customs checkpoint. Shepard, Garrus and Mordin stepped out and onto the smooth, white floor.
"Commander Shepard. Enter your password to win a prize." A cheery Japanese voice said catching his attention. Shepard looked towards an advertisement hologram showing the hooded face of a young woman with a purple stripe under her bottom lip.
"Silence is golden." Shepard replied, remembering the dossier.
"Good to meet you Commander." The hologram replied. "Kasumi Goto, at your service." She said with a smile and small bow.
"I presume you've been briefed."
"Nope. I just accepted a job for a secret organization without knowing what it was." Shepard was not amused. He satiated back at the hologram with a serious face. "Okay, fine. Yes I have been briefed. I knew what they wanted me for before they even found me."
"Well if you're as good as they say you are then it's good to have you on-board Miss Goto."
"I may not be the most famous thief in the business, but I'm the best. I suppose I should tell you though, I'm doing this on one condition."
"What's that then?"
"I need your help Shepard. You see a friend of mine… a good friend… someone stole something important of his and I need your help to get it back." Shepard could hear the sadness in her voice, whatever it was it meant a lot to her.
"We'll see what we can do." He said and had a long conisation about grey-boxes and her planed heist before Kasumi left for the Normandy and Shepard turned to enter the Citadel ward. He passed into a long corridor with a turian c-sec officer at the far end. Suddenly alarms sounded.
"What is it...? Yes shut it off." The turian said into his communicator. The alarms cease and he turned to Shepard. "I'm sorry sir but the scanners are saying that you're dead."
"I got better. It's amazing what medicine can do these days."
"Yes quite... Well you're free to go on through but I'll speak to the Captain to get that cleared up." The C-sec officer said. Shepard nodded and walked through the doors.
A sudden sharp burst of ringing and a pain in his head greeted him. The door's had opened to revile a high end apartment with widows looking out upon the cityscape of Illium. The room was dark with the stench of blood and death in the air. Then Shepard saw the source of the smell. A corps lay in the centre of the room with the back of its head torn open as if something was forcefully removed.
Suddenly the sounds of fighting came through the main door. Shepard sighed and cautiously approached curious of what he would find this time. He opened the door and to his surprise found only the C-Sec office.
Shepard shook his head and sighed. 'Why's this happening to me?' He thought.
Yesterday was a long, boring and completely frustrated day of Politics for Shepard. At least he's a Spector again however the council refused to do anything. What made it worse was that despite all the evidence he collected the Council still refused to believe him. He was now wishing that he never saved there arses from Sovereign and the Geth.
But he couldn't worry about that now. "Is this suit really necessary?" He asked the cherry Japanese woman next to him.
"It's a privet party, stickle black tie." Kasumi replied with a smile as she flew the car towards the hilltop mansion. "You'll do well to fit in Mr Gunn."
"Mr Gunn?" Shepard asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Solomon Gunn, head of a rising freelance company out in the terminuses." Kasumi explained.
Shepard listened to her and her plan on how to retrieve the graybox from the vault of the arms dealer Donovan Hock. Shepard was impresses at the sight of Hock's mansion as they landed and the man himself personally greeted Shepard however insisted that Kasumi had to remain outside. He didn't count on her tactical clock to take care of that inconvenience.
Inside many partygoers stood around with glasses of champagne conversing about their business and current events, some even talked about rumours that Commander Shepard was alive, he chuckled at that. At a glance no one here would at all appear to be mercenaries, smugglers or arms dealers. It was as if the rich and powerful of humanity were simply having a social gathering. Unfortunately that was the truth.
After mingling with the crowds Shepard snuck down a flight of stairs into a narrow passageway with only one door. On the other side was the Vault's door surrounded by a variety of security devices. Kasumi hummed to herself, "Kinetic barriers, DNA scanners and a voice lock. Keiji could open it in his sleep and I'm better." She mused to herself.
First was simple, all they had to do was cut the barriers power supply. Shepard traced the cables back through the party to a small library where hidden behind a fireplace was the circuit board which was easily cut.
Next was the voice scanner. Shepard needed the password and a sample of Hock's voice. The latter was surprisingly easy to get after Shepard managed to get him to make a speech. The password was slightly harder.
Shepard burst into the security room and placed a round into the first guards head. The second reeled back in surprise but before he could stand and return fire Shepard put two bullets into him. "Clear." Shepard said.
"Right Shep, let's get to work." Kasumi said as they turned to consoles and data-pads and began shifting through the piles until Shepard stumbled across the information they need.
"Peruggia, that's the guy who stole the Mona Lisa." Kasumi stated as they left the office.
The final step was to collect samples of Hock's DNA from his privet quarters. It was easy for Kasumi to imitate the guard's superior to allow Shepard access but as soon as the door open Shepard's eyes waded as he saw a familiar black haired girl in a red dress walk down a flight of stairs.
Shepard cautiously approached and sure enough Alma had disappeared. He shook his head as Kasumi de-cloaked next to him. "What is it?" She asked.
"Nothing." Shepard sighed before heading towards Hocks room.
As he helped Kasumi search the lavish room for DNA his mind always drifted to thoughts of this Alma. Who was she? What does she want? How does she keep appearing and disappearing? Why is she following Shepard? She frightened him yet somehow he was drawn to her. He had a feeling, no an urge to hug her and let her know everything was all right. Yet he also feared that his skin may not remain on his body if he tried.
Once they had collected enough samples of Hock's DNA it was a simple matter for Kasumi to open the vault. Shepard also donned his armour and weapons they had smuggled in and once they reached the vault was impressed by its sheer size of let alone the artefacts on display, Quarian stone writings, ancient krogan statues, Michelangelo's David and most impressive the head of the original Statue of Liberty and that was just a few. But what Kasumi was most interested in was the small device sitting alone on a stand. A graybox.
A relieved Kasumi started to download the data when suddenly a voice echoed through the Vault. "Don't bother Ms Goto. It's codelocked." Said Donovan Hock as his face appeared as a large holographic projection on the far side of the vault. "I had a feeling that was you at the door." he continued. "I thought about sending my security after you but I knew you'd just get in anyway."
"You know me, Hock. I don't like to disappoint." Kasumi calmly responded as the download continued.
Hock snarled. "I need that greybox of yours Ms Goto, and you know I'm willing to kill you and you friend to get it. I'll admit your skills are impressive, you walked into my vault as if I left the doors open. But that won't do you any good. You see as I speak my teams are surrounding the vault. You'll die screaming Ms Goto, just like…"
A sharp sudden gunshot echoed through the room as at the sound of smashing pottery clanged around. Both Hock and Kasumi turned to see a frustrated Shepard pointing a smoking gun at the remains of a five thousand year old Asari Vase. "Can we get this over with?"
Kasumi let out a short giggle but Hock didn't find it funny. "Kill them!" He all but screamed as the Hologram fazed from existence. The doors at the far end swished open as Eclipse Mercs charged in guns blazing.
Shepard and Kasumi dived behind cover as bullets smashed into the priceless antiques. Mass-accelerated rounds whizzed and swilled over Shepard's head. He focused, his berthing depend. He leant out of cover as the world slowed and pulled up his M-96 Mattock rifle. He lined up the sights with the almost still head of an Eclipse merc and squeezed the trigger. Blood sprayed from the now shattered skull as Shepard moved to another, again the same crimson spray flowed form his skull. Three more went down in rapid succession before he ducked back down as bullets began to smash into his shield.
"Kasumi," He called. "You flank ri… Kasumi?" He asked as he stared at the spot the Japanese thief once crouched. She had disappeared again. It was the surprised screams of the Eclipse mercs that let Shepard know where she went. He picked around the corner to see Kasumi stab one merc before using his corps as a shield whist she took out two others with her gun. She dropped the corps just in time to kick the gun out another mercs hand before letting loos a flurry of punches and kicks before finally snapping the merc's neck. Shepard was impressed as he stood and carefully waked towards the Japanese thief who stood amongst a pile of yellow armoured corpses stained with crimson blood.
It was them something moved in the corner of his eye. He turned to see a final merc, Security Chief Roe his HUD marked. She moved to lean out from behind Michelangelo's David, her gun ready to kill. "KASUMI! DUCK!" Shepard screamed as the world around him slowed to a near standstill.
He drew up his rifle and with cool, slow and deep breaths aimed for Chief Roe. He fired. The mass accelerated thermal round left the barrel and speed across the vault and with immense accuracy punched though the merc's weakened shields and subsequently turned her head into a fin red mist.
"Wow, thanks Shep, good shot." Kasumi said.
"Don't worry about it." Shepard said dismissively, "And that was some good kung fu stuff."
"It was karate actually, mixed with a bit of ninjutsu." Kasumi smile as the two headed trough the vault doors in such of an exit.
What followed was a myriad of shooting, ducking, diving, drop-kicking, curb stomping, slide tackling, explosions, disintegration, burning, invisibility, slow-motion, and most of all killing as Shepard and Kasumi left a trail of death and destruction thought Hock's underground labyrinth.
Shepard finally let loose a sigh of relief as they eventually made it to an outside docking pad. "EDI we're outside, send down the shuttle." He said into his communicator whilst carefully scanning the cargo crates for threats, it was then he heard the unmistakable hum of fast approaching engines.
A gunship sot up and over the landing pad. Its engines roared as the ripples of kinetic barriers flowed around its hull. Its mas accelerated machine guns opened fire forcing Shepard and Kasumi to dive ever side to for cover.
"We've could have done this the easy way, Goto!" The voice of Donovan Hock, filled with spite, called through the gunships loudspeakers. "Now, allow me to show you the hard way!"
He opened fire pelting Shepard's cover with mass accelerated rounds. He kept low as he scurried around the crates that were brushed aside by the storm of flying rounds. What made it worse was that more Eclipse mercs arrived on the platform and opened fire suppressing him. "KASUMI! COVER ME!" He called as he unclamped the ML-77 Missile Launcher from his back and prepared himself behind the reinforced container that shook with impacts form the Gunships and mercs' weapons.
"On it!" Kasumi called back as she cloaked and leaped over her cover. She sprinted across the platform narrowly avoiding a few stray rounds that glanced off her barriers. She reached a group of four mercs who were firing on Shepard from a small circle of crates. She leaped over crashing into one and quickly dispatched them all. The other mercs turned their attention to her allowing Shepard to lean out of cover and in slow-motion launch a volley of guided missiles towards the Gunship.
The missiles flew through the air and each impacted the Gunship depleting its barriers to almost nothing. Hock panicked, he swung the gunship away from the platform before Shepard could take the killing blow. What made it worse was that more Eclipse mercs had ascended onto the platform. Shepard and Kasumi opened fire and one by one the mercs fell. Suddenly the sound of edges rose again as Hock's gunship with its barriers fully charged crested the edge and hovered.
"This is your last warning Kasumi! Lay down your weapons!" Hock demanded. Shepard and Kasumi answered by opening fire on the gunship and the newly arrived mercs. Hock responded by releasing a salvo of missiles that Shepard narrowly avoided before releasing his own back. Once again the gunship's barriers took the full force of the blast.
"He's gonna escape again!" Shepard called in annoyance.
"Not this time." Kasumi answered and before Shepard could ask what she meant the Japanese thief sprinted from cover and in a swift and skilled series of jumps and swings, she scaled the side of a large pipe before sprinting across the top. Shepard looked up in awe at the sight as Kasumi made a seemingly impossible leap form the end and miraculously landed gracefully on the Gunship's cockpit. She raised her omni-tool and in a flash the barriers were down. Finale she gave an understandably upset Hock a smile and wave before leaping of, flipping thought the air and landing unharmed on the platform next to a wide eyed Shepard.
"Well don't just sit there. Shoot him!"
"Oh right." Shepard said as he shook his head clear of amazement and turned back to the Gunship. Using his last clip he let lose a final salvo of missiles. They flew through the air and banked towards the Gunship that swerved at avoided them. They didn't miss. They hit the Gunship side on, blasting through the armour plating and striking the element zero core. First there was a ball of fire and then the flames turned blue as the eezo ignited. Then there was the blast and shockwave as the Gunship and Hock was reduced to dust with the odd peace of small debris.
The last remaining guards panicked and in the confusion Shepard and Kasumi dispatched them before their shuttle finally arrived.
Kasumi nodded to Shepard as she connected the greybox. Shepard nodded back in silence as he opened the files on the console and allowed Kasumi to access the files though her greybox. Shepard watched in silent as Keiji's last recording played for her. Shepard was startled by the fact that Keiji was the same man that he saw dead in a hallucination on the Citadel, he chose to keep that to himself however and hoped that soon all this will be over so he could focus more on the collectors than his sanity.
He turned his attention to the memories that scrolled pass. Some happy, some sad, some completely privet like the one Kasumi was viewing and then there was the top secret ones. One stood out for Shepard more than to others, its filled him with dread as his head ached and ears rang, 'Project Origin'.
He clutched his head as images scrolled across his mind. A large metal door with the words 'Project Origin'. Then Shepard as a child, he could only guess he was about ten or eleven, and then there was a moustached man in a lab coat looking at him.
"It's too dangerous to keep him, let alone the pointlessness of it." The man said, his ghostly voice reverberated through Shepard's mind. It was then a woman in a lab coat entered his vision.
"I agree Harlam, but he may still have some use, our boss likes his super solders." The woman said in a similar fashion.
"Yes Genevieve, I have a friend, her name is Hanna Shepard, she's always wanted a child, I'm sure she'll be happy to adopt." The man said.
"He'll have to have his memory wiped first." said the woman, her voice was cold and harsh as the young Shepard began to panic.
There was a flash. He saw an operating theatre, the same one as before, and then the moustached man again looking down on him. "NO!" A completely distressed woman screamed. In the background "GIVE HIM BACK!"
It was after another flash Shepard found himself back on the shuttle. "I… I can't do that, this is all what's left." Kasumi said to the virtual Keiji.
"Goodbye Kasumi, I love you." Kaiji's recording said. Kasumi gave the unreal shadow of her love a hug before exiting the greybox.
"What should I do?" She said more to herself than Shepard as sadness crept into her voice. It was then Shepard noted the girl in the red dress, Alma, in the corner.
"Keep it." She said before turning to ash, like always the words entered Shepard's mind without traveling through his ears.
"If it means that much to you Kasumi, keep it, but be prepared to live with the consequences."
Back on the Normandy Shepard ordered Joker to head to a planet called Korlus where the Illusive Man wants him to recruit a Krogan Doctor from his Blue Sun friends. Shepard's mind however was on other things as he sat in his cabin, he had entered the words 'Project Origin' into an extranet search engine and didn't come back with meaningful results. 'What was the meaning of my visions?' He thought to himself, it was driving him mad.