It had been three weeks since the meeting with the Admiralty Board, and while Jack had often been out on recruitment and loyalty missions Andy had been working tirelessly on completing the final designs for several pieces of important technology. As the newly-recruited Thane was ferried out to the ship via a Kodiak Drop Shuttle he bore witness to an incredible sight. The entire surface of the Normandy rippled like water, and in the ripple's wake different colours were left. On the first ripple a light matte grey covered the hull, followed by a deep blue, garish green, a blood-red, and then finally the last layer settled slowly over its surface; the ripple travelling noticeably slower than its predecessors. The Normandy SR-2 was no longer reminiscent of a Cerberus Vessel. The orange and yellows had been discarded in favour of a cooler colour set; beautifully pearlescent blues and purples that seemed to fluctuate as one moved position. The underside and top still had the black and white markings where they had been previously, but otherwise it was unrecognizable. Thane had done a double take when he saw a man floating two hundred meters out from the ship in the middle of space, and had nearly choked on his spit when Shepard adjusted course and made for the figure. The reason for his shock was that the man was sitting on a deck chair in a pair of shorts, a singlet, and jandals... sipping on a glass of juice and tapping away on his Omni-tool as he oversaw the replating.
In the middle of a lethal vacuum.
They'd pulled up right beside the man, and Thane saw Shepard give a small chuckle and a shake of his head when Andy gave them all a jaunty wave and greeted them over the radio system. The Drell had dropped his jaw when he'd been told to seal his suit against the vacuum and watched Jack open the hatch and join the man after her armour transformed into a pair of sweatpants, a singlet, and a pair of slippers, and as they made their way towards the loading bay of the Normandy Shepard had warned the floored Assassin to expect to see things like that a lot. The second they stepped out of the drop ship all of their weapons disappeared, and Thane had been confused as to just where they had got to, and how he hadn't seen them be taken. Shepard, likewise, was just confused with the disappearance, at least until he took Thane on the tour and entered the Armory.
Jake was passed out on the floor with a silly grin on his face, and all the weapons racks were stocked with the most confounding looking tubes he had ever seen. They were about the size of his index finger and coloured a matte grey. The Commander had hesitantly picked up one of them, and had nearly joined Jacob on the floor when the tube suddenly transformed around his hand and assembled itself into a sniper rifle; pulling his fingers automatically into the correct position for combat readiness. A film had erected itself over his eyes, and he felt a slight sting before seeing one of the most amazing sights he'd ever beheld. Everything was indescribably clear to him, and he could see a small crosshair appear above where his eye would rest when firing. He hesitantly lifted the weapon to a ready position, and then gasped when the spec outside the window zoomed in and the Citadel came into clear view.
Andy later explained that the weapons system interfaced directly with the optical nerve and Omni-network, hence the slight sting, to give the user complete control over virtually all aspects of the rifle - from 'scope' magnification to projectile size. All the new weapons used a Zero-Point Acceleration Mechanism that blasted their projectiles at nearly a tenth the speed of light, and upon deceleration the projectiles, composed of nanobots, destabilized themselves and collapsed their Eezo cores. The result: a completely silent weapon saves for a small click upon firing, whose projectiles exploded and ionized whatever they hit.
Garrus was last seen leaving the armoury carrying a sniper rifle and heading towards his sleeping quarters.
He wasn't seen for three days afterwards.
Andrew didn't even want to know.
Three days after finishing the armour replacement on the Normandy SR-2 found Andrew standing in the middle of his and Jack's room; the woman herself sitting beside him and looking at a one-meter long metallic pole sitting on the floor in trepidation. "You sure this is going to work?"
He stared at the result of nearly two months design work and shrugged uneasily. "I hope so." They stared at it for several more moments before Andrew pulled up his Omni-tool. "Only one way to find out," he reasoned, and quickly set up a bridge between his system and the static, rather unimpressive pole on the floor. "Well it's interfacing perfectly, and it's running the right algorithms and processes..." He stared at it for a few seconds as if he could change it by just looking, but then shook his head and called out, "Hey Iz, you there?"
A second later the bubbly red-head appeared above Andy's arm and grinned at him. "Heya!"
He smiled back and then looked nervously at the pipe on the floor. This, of course, made Izzy turn around to see what he was looking at, and that gave him the opportunity to punch the button awaiting input on his Omni-tool. Izzy immediately winked out of existence, and the two biotics watched the piece of metal on the floor anxiously. "It's not doing anything," Jack commented after several seconds, and Andy gave a worried chuckle.
"Well it's a massive tasking, even for the nanobots. They're probably just initializing-" He cut himself off when the rod suddenly shuddered and then seemed to melt into an impossible puddle ten centimeters thick, and a smile made its way onto his face when it slowly begun to form a shape - widening when its momentum increased. It quickly turned humanoid in appearance, and details rapidly begun to take intricate definition - eventually leaving a metallic-looking statue of a busty woman. A second later colour flared from the feet of the construct and surged up the legs to reveal jeans - bursting over the torso and blossoming a white singlet and crème cardigan into existence. Skin seemed to materialize, and then the hair turned fibrous and coloured a rich red interspersed with black highlights.
Then her eyes opened; glowing an almost ethereal amber.
She looked around in confusion, and then at a giddily grinning Andy and Jack in puzzlement. "You look kinda... bigger. How did I get here?" Andy gave an almost mad little giggle and pointed, and she looked at his finger with a raised eyebrow and then to where it was aimed. She stared down at her body in confusion, and then back at a singularly chuckling Andy who looked like he was almost peeing himself with anticipation. She quickly analyzed his body language while relegating most of her workload to the other server banks at her disposal, and then hurriedly looked around her. "Where's my projection point?"
This just made Andrew give another unstable giggle, and then suddenly pump his fists before glomping Jack. "I did it! Hahaha, it actually worked!"
This made Izzy narrow her eyes, and then look down at herself before walking over to the pair and standing with her hands on her hips. "I've got several scenarios calculated, and none of them are feasible. Where's my projection unit?" Andy looked wildly around before brightening when his eyes landed on a bottle of unopened Coca-Cola from the last supply run. He ran over to the bar, picked it up, and then popped the cap with a flare of biotics before nearly skipping back to Izzy and holding it out to her. She looked at it with a raised eyebrow, and then met Andrew's eyes. "Are you on something?"
Jack just grinned at her, and Andy shook his head wildly, his grin not diminishing in the slightest, if anything just getting wider. "Just humour me, take it."
She rolled her eyes and then waved her hand at the bottle to demonstrate that she was just a hologram, but froze, literally, when her hand was stopped by the bottle and she felt cold glass. It was then that she became aware that she was feeling things... like a pressure of the clothes on her body, the warmth of the room around her... and she could smell. The moment she realized that she was actually sensing things she was almost overwhelmed by the influx of information, and turned her eyes up from the glass bottle to look at her creator with wide eyes. "W-how did you do this? Is it an inhibitor algorithm?"
He placed the bottle in her fingers, curling them around it, and then grinned at her. "If that's the case then you shouldn't be able to change the things around you." And then he stepped back, withdrawing his own support from the bottle of cola. It didn't fall. She stared at the glass bottle held in her hand in complete shock, and he gave a happy laugh. "The Xeons and Heliodroids were an AI race that existed around three billion years ago. They created these kinds of bodies for themselves so that they could physically affect things, and the best thing is that its self-repairing... which essentially means immortal, age-wise at least." His grin widened. "Welcome to reality, Izzy." Taking the initiative he stepped forwards and pulled her into a hug, making sure not to jostle the bottle held in her hand, and she stared into his shoulder with wide eyes before hesitantly hugging him back. Several seconds later he disengaged himself, and nodded to the bottle in her hand with a grin. "Go on, give it a try."
She looked at where he was directing her attention, and then snapped her eyes back to him. She received a reassuring nod in return, and falteringly lifted it to her lips before copying what she had seen on videos and tipping the contents into her mouth. She dropped the drink when she felt the fizzing in her mouth, as well as the whirlwind of never-before-experienced taste, and didn't notice when Jack cast her hand lazily out to catch the falling bottle and liquid; too immersed in the new feelings running through her. She automatically swallowed, and her entire body shivered with the feeling of buzzing that ran down her throat. "This is impossible," she muttered after a moment, and Andy just grinned before shaking his head.
"No, Iz, it's not. It's... staggering, finally meeting you I mean... but it's fantastic to finally meet you in the flesh." She looked down at her skin, and then poked it, jerking back when it gave under her touch - just like that of a normal human. She poked herself a few times before holding her hands under her breasts and giving them a jiggle, and Andy gave a cough mid-sip on a glass of water, spluttering for several seconds before managing a, "Right, first lesson: modesty."
It had taken nearly half an hour for Izzy to get over what had happened, which was saying something considering her unfathomable mental capabilities, but she finally understood just what had been done for her, and had spent the next half-hour hugging both of them and thanking them profusely - crying for the first time in her existence. She finally begged for EDI to join them, and Andy finally yielded and pulled another rod from his locker. EDI was just as surprised as Izzy when she realized what had happened, and was equally as thankful. Shepard just happened to walk in on their activities three hours later, and froze when he saw a serious-looking red-head stumbling around slurring about a monk, a rabbi, and a Russian; and a kimono-wearing Asian woman holding onto her sides crying in laughter along with Andy and Jack. It had taken yet another hour after that for to explain to Shepard just what was going on, and by the time Shepard sat back in awed amazement the alcohol had cleared Izzy's system.
And then EDI had gone walkabout.
People gave her odd looks as she walked past them in the hallways, looking around for her projection medium, and she just gave them jaunty waves and a sly smile in answer to their confusion. She finally found her way to the place she was looking for, and exited the elevator before taking her first ever steps onto the Engineering Level, her tabi socks padding softly against the metal flooring. She quickly made her way into the engine room, and then cleared her throat to get everybody's attention. Tali turned her head and frowned slightly when she saw that EDI was looking more solid than usual, while Kenneth snapped around and sent the AI a beaming smile; his voice heavy with what he considered his charming Scottish accent. "Ah, EDI! How are you today?"
Gabby just rolled her eyes and turned back to her work, whereas the Asian woman walked forwards, picked the man bodily up off the floor, and then pushed him against the wall; her eyes dangerously sly. "You, Kenneth, really need to open your eyes and stop being a horny Scotsman." The man in question was gaping down at the previously-thought-holographic woman, and Tali was staring at the spectacle with a slack jaw and wide eyes - a recently-entered Kar freezing dead in his tracks. Gabrielle simply looked like she was about to faint. "I've seen the way you're all sweet on Gabbi," EDI smirked, "and how she gives you those almost simpering and desperate looks whenever you're not looking. You're being a, as you so wonderfully put it, 'complete arse'" she emphasized with a brilliant Scottish accent, "by ignoring her and ogling other women. She's pretty, and you damn well know it, so stop talking about other peoples' 'fine piece of ass' and focus on hers - because you love her, and she loves you."
Meanwhile Andy and Jack, along with Izzy, were walking along the CIC deck. Much as EDI had gotten, Izzy received odd looks - though because they had never seen her before rather than the fact that they knew she was an AI in the case of EDI. Handing a small cylinder to Izzy Andy gave a wink. "You do the honours Iz, I know you've been dying to pay him back for those comments the other night." He was, of course, referring to the fact that Joker had commented on what a 'fantastic pair of tits' she had. Miranda, his very, very unexpected girlfriend, had quickly dealt him a slap upside the head - though he probably didn't even feel it with the level of intoxication he was sporting, however Izzy had sworn revenge. She had been planning on making a deal with EDI to randomly emulate emails from his address to male crew members confessing his love.
Walking up to the unsuspecting pilot she jabbed the tube at his neck, where a needle two centimeters long imbedded itself in his jugular. His answering squeal made her grin; revenge was sweet. The three, as well as the now very silent crew, all watched as the pilot fell out of his seat clutching at his neck and yelling out obscenities - before quickly letting out a yell of pain and convulsing several times. Miranda sprinted out of the elevator a minute after his yells had begun, and rushed to his side before cradling his head in her lap and glaring up at the three - faltering when she saw Izzy. "What the fuck did you do!" she yelled over her boyfriend's agony, and Andy shook his head.
"Wait for a minute!" he yelled back, and she glared in response.
Twelve seconds later the yells dimmed to moans, and Joker slowly unclenched from his fetal position before glaring up at Izzy. "Foregoing the fact that I don't know how the hell you managed to stab me, what the fuck was that for?"
Izzy gave a small smirk. "That's payback for your comment the other night," she explained, and watched as he paled at the slight glare Miranda gave him at being reminded of the 'compliment'. Her voice softened when she spoke again however, and she sent him a small smile. "It was also for being a good friend."
Both Miranda and he responded to that with confused expressions, and Andy stepped forwards before offering his hand to the pilot with a small smile. Joker eyed the offered hand warily but took it all the same, and he was helped to his feet. He looked at the blonde, confused when he didn't let his hand go, but started panicking when the pressure on his fingers increased. Trying to tug his hand free with ever-widening eyes he yelled at the man, "Oi! What the fuck man, stop it!"
Miranda hurriedly got to her feet and was about to step in when Andy suddenly let go, and Joker, who was mid-tug, flailed backwards before slamming up against the instrument panel. "Jeff!"
She rushed to his side, but was shocked when her boyfriend jumped to his feet stalked over to Andy noticeably limpless, and then punched the biotic full in the face... or at least tried. Andy easily sidestepped the attack and then jammed his elbow right into Joker's sternum with a force that sent him slamming into the wall. He knew that normally that kind of pressure would have broken the pilot's entire ribcage, but that was the point. Joker stumbled for a moment before getting back to his feet and glaring at Andy... at least until the grinning mercenary cocked an eyebrow, crossed his arms, and nodded at him. "So... how're you feeling?"
It suddenly became very evident to just what the technological genius was referring, and Jeff Moreau looked down at his hand, and then his torso in shock. "Okay, now I'm just fucking confused," he murmured, and the three could only laugh when Miranda pulled him into a crushing hug having deduced what had happened as well.
Jeff's Vrolik syndrome was no more.
The 22nd of June 2185 would forever go down in history as the day of complete and utter overhauls in regards technology. The main guns were reconstructed by the nanobots lining the hull; the wormhole generators were completed; construction of heavy defensive weaponry began on over four hundred planets; the Quarians had begun manufacturing ship-mounted weaponry of Andy's design with the aide of nanobots he'd left on the Fleet; and Thane's meal was spiked with a cure to his Kepral's Syndrome. Galaxy-wide the operating systems of all non-isolated computing units were rewritten stealthily to ensure immunity from any and all hacking attempts bar those originating from Jack, Andrew, and anybody they specified.
Perhaps the most meaningful advances in technology however, were shared within a group of only a select few.
Shepard was very ready to crash. He had spent the entire day with Andrew being briefed on all the new technology they now had at their fingertips, and his mind was fuzzy with the overload of information. He hated to think how the mysterious mercenary had felt when he'd gained Otrere's knowledge. He stepped wearily into his cabin and gave a small smile when he saw Liara working diligently at his desk. She had come clean to him about being one of the new Shadow Brokers after a week in his company, and he hadn't made a big deal about it - simply smiling and telling her how proud he was that she was a part of something so huge. She greeted him with a warm smile, giving a wince of understanding when she saw his drawn expression, and walked over to him before pulling him into a hug. He leaned on her slightly, and she gave a small chuckle. "Hard day at the office love?"
He chuckled right back and gave a nod. "Yeah, just a bit. I can't believe some of the things Andy's done; they're almost incomprehensible. I mean, take EDI and Izzy for instance; he's given them solid bodies. They can eat, Liara, and drink - they're just like normal humans, only with the brain power of a supercomputer and able to regenerate far, far faster than we can. And the guns, my God, you should see the benchmarks on the main battery, and that's not even mentioning the fact that they've cured two previously incurable diseases." She gave a chuckle and nodded before leading him over to the bed to sit down and walking over to pour him a much needed drink of water. He nodded thankfully as she handed him the glass and sat down next to him, and he emptied it in mere seconds. "I needed that."
"I know you did," she smiled, and he smiled back - leaning in to kiss her. He was interrupted however, when a small beep came from his door signaling a visitor, and with an annoyed sigh he pulled away and waved his hand at the door.
It snapped open to reveal a grinning Andrew and Shepard gave a groan and buried his head in his hands; his muffled voice issuing forth a moment later. "Andy, I think I've heard more than I can take today."
He stepped inside and waved his hand reassuringly, his smile widening. "Just one more thing Shep and then I'll get out of your hair, 'kay?" Once he got a reluctant nod from the savior of the Citadel he dragged the chair over from the desk and looked at the pair with a small smile. "See, everybody else's had something. Thane and Joker've been cured of their afflictions, Miranda's had that Reaper shit removed, Jacob's jizzed over the new guns-"
"Didn't need that mental image," John interrupted, but Andy continued on like he hadn't heard.
"And Garrus' got the frustration that the new guns don't need his oh-so-revered calibrations. Tali and Kar have top-of-the-line immune systems, EDI and Izzy have bodies... and it just seems unfair that you, the man who brought us all together, gets nothing." He looked to Liara and gave a small smile and nod. "You too. You've become a great friend over the past couple of years, and so you deserve something as well." He pulled a small phial from his pocket and threw it to Shepard, and the man caught it before looking at the bright green liquid inside dubiously. "Trust me, Shep, and drink that. Oh, and prepare for some- well, a lot of pain for a couple of minutes."
John looked up at his friend seriously for several seconds, searching for any traces of a joke, and upon finding none gave a nod, unscrewed the lid, and then threw back the contents; swallowing with a grimace. Andy brought up his Omni-tool and looked to Shepard, and when he received a short, sharp nod he pressed the confirm button on the prompt awaiting him. The man immediately convulsed, and a low, agonized groan tore itself unbidden from between his clenched teeth. Liara jerked away with a pained expression on her face, and looked worriedly to Andy who shook his head with a reassuring smile. "It's alright; a fast tracked genetic modification like this is pretty much impossible to complete without feeling pain like he is." She gave a small nod before returning her attention to her lover's writhing body, and moved to take his hand when Andy moved with a burst of speed and slapped her fingers aside before they could touch the man. She looked up, hurt, and Andy shook his head sternly. "His muscles are all tensing to maximum capability," he explained, "if he got your hand in his he'd be liable to crunch all your bones to dust. Seriously, I'm not joking."
The hurt look disappeared, returning to one of immense concern as she looked at Shepard, but she relaxed when he slowly stilled; his breathing short and jerky. "Goddamn," he rasped after a moment, "that really fucking hurt."
Andy gave a small chuckle and went and refilled the glass of water before handing it to the wincing man who had been helped into a sitting position by Liara. He slowly sipped at it, sighing as it soothed his suddenly-parched throat, and looked to his chief technological advisor with a raised eyebrow. "Mind telling me why I went through that?"
Andy nodded and pulled the desk chair closer so that he was sitting just in front of the couple. "I'm not sure if you know about it, but due to Jack and I being unleashed Biotics we possess a unity with Dark Energy never before seen. Without any conscious input out biotics work in tandem with our bodies to ensure stability and maximum performance. The result of this is biotic-guided genetic replication in new cells." He saw dawning comprehension on Liara's face, and smiled at the confused Shepard. "What that means is that, as I once explained to Jack, you should imagine the normal human body as a line of one hundred humans. You whisper something to the first person in the line, and then they whisper it to the next person, and so on until it reaches the end. Do you think the last person has the same message?"
"Not bloody likely," was the adamant reply, and Andy gave a chuckle and an agreeing nod.
"Right. That's a model of the normal human body; as your cells replicate over your lifetime the information gets corrupted, and eventually gets to the point where the original message is lost - whereupon you die. With Jack and I however, what our biotics allow is for a piece of etched metal with the message on it to be passed down the line to the end. Our message will eventually get scratched and messed up a little, but it's still easily readable in its original form with the aide of our biotics...or at least that's what I once thought. I once calculated just how many times this would extend our lifetimes by, but I was a tad off. I told Jack that it would allow us to reduce the errors in our cell replications by eight, which brings our lifespans to around one thousand two hundred years."
"That's... that's just incredible," Shepard commented after a moment before frowning. "You overestimated?"
Andy gave a small chuckle and shook his head. "If only. No, I underestimated. I took a genetic map four years ago of myself. Three days ago I took a sample from the same place, and the genome had deteriorated by, well... it was identical."
Liara stared at him, deadpan. "You're talking about immortality."
He nodded sheepishly. "Right... pretty much. It seems that the dark energy has a memory of sorts, and collaborates around Jack's and my bodies; keeping all the DNA code perfect and in complete synchronization. We're, well, we're going to be twenty years old until we decide to pass on really."
"Dude..." breathed Shepard, and after several seconds pause pregnant with anticipation, he followed with, "that's freaking awesome."
Andy gave a small chuckle but looked doubtful. "Is it? I'm going to have to go through watching all my friends die, you two included. I'm going to watch wars pass, civilizations evolve, the entire universe change whilst I stay stagnant. The only thing that makes it seem comforting is that I have an eternity to spend with Jack... but I think that neither of us could stay alive for an eternity. Jack and I discussed it and both agreed that in the end, when we both felt ready, we would pass on together - to the next great adventure." He shook himself slightly upon seeing his two friend's understanding expressions and sent them a smile. "But we're off track, aren't we? See, Asari have lifespans of just over one thousand years... and John, well you're scheduled to expire in around a hundred... which means that Liara's going to live for around nine hundred years alone... because if I judge it correctly, I have a feeling that she would never love again because everything would pale in comparison to what she feels for you."
Shepard looked to Liara questioningly, and she gave a small nod and blush. "You're my life mate," she explained quietly, and Shepard's shields came crashing down.
Before he could move to comfort her however, Andy cleared his throat to bring their attention to him. "This is where we come to my gift to you. I have disposed of the research that led to the creation of what you just ingested, as many would swarm to peel apart its secrets and inner-workings, but... well you're not entirely human any more, Shep." He grinned at the soldier's confused expression and leant forwards to explain. "You're, if we go by average lifespan, about a fifth of the way through your life. Translate that into 'Asari' years and you're at around two hundred years old." Liara, once more, looked like she was catching on if her widening eyes were anything to go by, and Andy grinned before turning to Shepard. "That concoction you just drank was something akin to what Tali had - but it had to be done simultaneously or else you would risk rejection, hence the pain. The nanobots were programmed to take a scan of a stem cell within your bone marrow, and then modify it using their own computing power and that of my Omni-tool. The entire cell mechanism was modified, as was the process of cell replication. Your helicase, that's a protein that unravels your DNA to ready it for replication or transcription, was replaced with one modeled on the Asari. All the DNA Polymerase, Primase and all that jazz was done away with, and the entire process simplified with a modified Asari protein that did all the tasks in one step, thus reducing DNA transcription errors. I won't get into all the other specifics, but every part of every cell in your body was optimized and modified to mirror that of an Asari Cell's efficiency and accuracy." Shepard looked on the verge of understanding, and Andy leant over and tapped the man's knee to interrupt his concentration. "Shep, you're going to be able to live as long as Liara."
Andrew had never before seen Shepard truly speechless, but now was an exception. His mouth opened a couple of times in an attempt to voice some response, but he just couldn't manage it. Andrew stood when he saw tears begin to make an appearance, and nodded to the both of them with a happy smile. "Congratulations, both of you. I'll give you two some privacy. If you want to find me or Jack we'll be in the medical bay getting our new amps installed." Receiving a small nod from Liara who broke away from peppering Shepard's face with soft kisses he quickly made an exit and punched the button for the crew deck, telling EDI to lock down the Captain's quarters for the next twelve hours unless opened from the inside. EDI confirmed that it was locked, and when the doors opened he came face to face with her. She smiled. "Jack's waiting for you in the Medical Bay."
He nodded and smiled, and she walked by his side as he made his way there. "It's kinda weird being in a body and yet still having all my other programs running," she commented, and Andy sent her a small smile.
"I can imagine."
"You're quiet," she commented, but then her eyes lit up in understanding. "Ah, you gave John the cellular modification."
He nodded and paused outside the Medical Bay. "It's... I don't know. I think it's sort of overwhelming. They just looked so happy when they realized that they had an entire lifetime together; that they wouldn't have to spend time without the other by their side. It- well, it sounds kinda sappy, but I just feel amazing... so light, after gifting them such happiness."
She patted him on the back and sent him a smile. "You deserve to feel amazing after what you did, now get in there before Jack comes out to try and find you; you're ten minutes late."
He nodded thankfully and walked into the Medical Wing, immediately catching sight of Jack lying down on one of the benches being scanned over by Doctor Chakwas. "Emily," he greeted warmly, and she nodded friendlily back.
"Andy," she returned, "take a table."
He took the one directly to Jack's right, and she reached over to take his hand with a small smile. "How did it go with Liara and Shep?"
"Fantastic," he answered warmly, "simply brilliant."
"Good."
They lay through the good Doctor's various scans in silence, at least until she came over with two injections on a tray. Jack turned her head to look over at him, and gave a small smile. "You die on me and I'll bring you back to life and kick your arse," she threatened, and he gave a chuckle before nodding.
"Same goes for you. I love you."
Her eyes softened and she smiled back as the needle slid into her arm. "I love you too Andy... so much."
Slowly her eyes closed, a small smile left on her face, and Andy turned to look up at Chakwas who was looking down at him; his own needle held in her hand. "Both?" she questioned with a raised eyebrow, and he looked back across at the serenely sleeping woman whose hand he held before looking back to the grey-haired woman above him with a nod.
"Both," he confirmed, and she nodded with a small smile before slipping the needle into his arm. He felt consciousness draining out of him when he unjunctioned the protective measures around his body, and his eyelids slowly began falling; his last sliver of sight that of his lover lying opposite.
And then there was nothing.
OORAH!
"Andy, Shepard wants you in the comm room... like, five minutes ago."
The blonde in question stirred from his sleep and blearily looked up at the ceiling, groaning when he saw the numbers 0128 projected onto its surface. "Whatsat?"
"Comm room, now. Shep's getting worried and the Illusive Man's grilling him about you and all this new tech."
That got him awake pretty snappish, and he sat up with a frustrated hiss; gently slipping out of Jack's embrace so as not to wake her. "I knew some little shit would blab to him about it. Jesus, EDI?" The Asian appeared in a hologram beside his dresser and he looked at her; his eyes irritated and his thoughts cursing himself for not thinking about getting rid of any spies earlier. "Find out just who the hell dobbed us in to the Illusive Man, and run diagnostics on all cached transmissions. I want to know who the moles are and what they've said."
"I'm on it," she assured him before disappearing, and Andy wrote a quick note for Jack before walking out of the room; the morphic armour sliding up over his chest before solidifying into his training gear. The moment the doors opened onto the CIC deck he jogged quickly to the communications room and walked in to hear the Illusive Man tearing into Shepard for his reckless actions with the Admiralty Board. Before things could get too heated he stepped into the quantum entangler's scanning field, and the Head of Cerberus immediately snapped his attention to him - a charming smile appearing on his face. "Ah, Andrew, it's a pleasure to finally meet you." Rolling his eyes he looked about for a chair, and upon finding none just sat down on the floor. The Illusive Man frowned at the actions, but didn't comment. "I was just asking She-"
"Berating him, it sounded like," he interrupted, and the ex-mercenary sent him a subtle glare.
"No, Andrew, I was simply expressing my concern about the technology he gave the Quarian people. They already have the largest Fleet in the galaxy, and by giving them such advanced machinery it will allow them to become stronger."
"That's... well that's kinda the point," Andrew said after a moment, "you know, with the Reapers and all? Yeah, well we need the galaxy outfitted with the best of the best. The Quarians and we made a deal, whereupon I fixed their immune systems and gave them a planet to colonize, and they would manufacture parts to retrofit onto not only their own ships, but Turian, Asari, and a multitude of other vessels - including the Alliance's."
"And rather than allowing this technology to advance the human race... you give it free of charge to aliens?" questioned Tim, and Andy looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Ah, yes, yes I did. If you think that just humanity can defeat the Reapers then you're barking mad; we need all the help we can get."
Andy watched as a flicker of annoyance jerked at the Illusive Man's features, and stifled a small smirk. "Yes, well I'm afraid that we haven't received any of your designs or retrofits here at Cerberus."
"That's because I never planned on giving you any," Andy replied easily, "you are, after all, a pro-human extremist organization, and giving you the means to advance yourselves, and the firepower to decimate any ship in this galaxy... well that just doesn't bode well for non-humans, whom I have no problem with."
A tick started flickering in the man's temple, and Shepard stepped back, knowing by experience that an annoyed Illusive Man was a dangerous one. "You showed no aptitude for technology upon your arrival here, nor in your training," Tim commented coldly, "and Asari that have been around for twenty, even thirty times longer than you have still haven't achieved what I have reports you have. This technology is too valuable to be shared - don't forget who made you who you are today, Andrew. Give me the plans and codes to your technology and I will let this transgression pass me by."
Andrew gave a smirk. "Ah, so you've discovered the protections I have on all the new technology then? Did you like the self-destruct feature that kicks in as soon as it recognizes a non-designated user?" The look on his face clearly displayed the Illusive Man's feelings on the feature being discussed, and Andy gave a smirk. "No? I thought it was quite ingenious. Of course this means that there's a traitor in the Quarian camp," he surreptitiously gave a glance down at the inside of his right arm and stifled a smile when he saw the blue text 65% flick over to 66%. "We'll find out who they are eventually and alert the Admiralty Board," he assured the man, and Tim glared balefully down at him.
"Andrew, I will give you one warning before acting. You will give me the codes or else there will be serious consequences."
79%, and Andy made a show of thinking before sinking his shoulders and pulling up his Omni-tool. The Illusive Man's eyes widened at its appearance, but hurriedly he brought up his own terminal which bleeped a moment later. The raw excitement in his eyes was palpable, at least until he opened the message and saw one word, capitalized, in reply to his request.
"NO."
A snarl of anger twisted his face, and after a few taps he looked to Andrew expectantly. Shepard looked to Andrew when a small beep issued forth from the blonde's Omni-tool, and watched as he pulled up a window before enlarging it. "Release serum and stimulate obedience centers..." he murmured clearly, and then up at the wide-eyed man."Well that's not very nice now, is it?" Another bleep after some hurried tapping, and Andy's eyebrows rose. "Initiate nervous system overload, far out, I mean I knew you were brutal but this is just a step to far Jack."
A sharp intake of breath met his statement, and he looked lazily up into the shocked eyes of his benefactor. "Yeah, I know who you are Jack Harper, and pretty much everything you've done in your miserable little lifetime. But that's beside the point, isn't it? You thought that I'd be curing Quarians and not have the technological expertise to make sure I was clean? I mean come on Jack, I'm not stupid. I've been feeding you false information from two years after I arrived here, and I soon rewrote the firmware for my implants. Since then I've created my own versions of firmware and imprinted them, so your little bugs and box of tricks was gone a long, long time ago." He stood up from where he was sitting and stared at the Illusive Man; his eyes cold. "And if you think I'd give you anything after what you did to Jack, as in Subject Zero, then you've got another thing coming." A check to his wrist revealed a green tick, and he sneered at Tim. "This conversation is over. EDI, sever the connection." The Illusive Man winked out of existence, and EDI quickly replaced him.
"The Data mine into the isolated system completed with ease," she confirmed, "and we have lists of all their top-secret files, including informants. I have sent a copy as per procedure to all major Fleets. Informants present on the Normandy are as follows: Kelly Chambers, no surprises there; Miranda Lawson, though she has been feeding only false information since the removal of her control implant; Gabriella Daniels, though once more she has been feeding false intelligence; and finally Marcus Grint in engineering. I must confess that I am surprised that the moles are so little in number, but it does make sense and conform to the Illusive Man's stealthy espionage tactics."
Shepard rubbed the bridge of his nose and gave a shake of his head. "It makes sense that he'd have people here informing him. I'm just hacked off that we didn't get them sooner; I could've done without breaking from Cerberus right now."
"That makes two of us," Andrew murmured under his breath, and was about to leave when Shepard grabbed his shoulder and held him back.
Andy looked at the Commander, surprised, but his eyes turned understanding and slightly steely when his actions were explained. "Admiral Hackett contacted me."
After several seconds' thought Andy gave a nod. "That's fine. I was waiting for the AI bodies to be ready, but since that got done last week we're as ready as we're going to get. Might as well set course for Urmola then, and tell Joker to use the wormholes; I don't want to take any chances with this."
"You still haven't told me why there's such a huge fuss about this mission," Shepard protested after a moment, and Andy sat down and gave a small chuckle devoid of humour.
"You're right, and you deserve to know just what kind of shit you're getting yourself into. Doctor Kenson is indoctrinated." Shepard gaped at him, and Andy gave a single bark of laughter, "Oh you think that's bad, just wait. See, she's planning on crashing an asteroid into the Mass Relay situated in the system because they discovered a plot by the Reapers to use it to come through. Smart right? Big question there, Shep, is where that information came from."
"Alliance?" John guessed with a small wince. He knew that it had to be something more unsavory.
Andrew's answer of, "Try a Reaper artifact that they have housed on their facility on the asteroid and you're closer to the mark."
"...Holy shit."
"Yeah, that's what I thought when I first 'foresaw' it."
"That's... you've never really spoken about the whole seeing the future thing."
Andrew tensed, and then let out a small sigh. "I have, just not to you. Jack's the only one who I trust with that information, because if it got torn from your mind there'd be trouble. Jack can protect herself against melds and Reaper indoctrination... you can't. Well you could probably go toe-to-toe against indoctrination, but the melds... not so much." He saw a look of frustration appear on Shepard's face and waved his hand to get his attention, a small smile on his face. "Hey, when the Reapers are dead and gone I'll tell you. Until then I'd rather keep everything between as fewer people as possible - it's not meant as a personal offence."
Shepard gave a rueful smile. "Yeah, I know Andy... it's just this whole war thing's getting to me, ya know? I've been in the Alliance since I was seventeen, N7 at twenty two, and Spectre at twenty six. I've seen shit that most people haven't ever seen, and will never see... things that I wish that I hadn't seen. I've also always been the best, which is maybe why I seem a little cold to you at times. You come out of nowhere, like, I've never even heard of you before, and apparently neither had the entire Universe up until around three years ago... and you're kick-ass. Biotics that are through the roof, combat abilities that would make even some N7 soldiers quake in their boots, and just recently knowledge that... well I just can't even get into how incredible that is." He gave a helpless shrug and a small chuckle. "Maybe it's just my ego playing up, but I kinda feel like a third wheel."
Andy stood and punched Shepard in the jaw.
Really, really hard.
The black-haired man slammed into the wall and collapsed to the floor, clutching at his mouth with wide eyes, and looked up to Andy who was almost glaring down at him. "Shepard, shut the fuck up." The man in question, for the second time in just two weeks, was speechless. "You, a third wheel? Give me a fucking break John; that's bullshit and you know it. Without you we'd be nothing; none of us would even be here, firstly because Sovereign would've succeeded, but also because you're the center of this whole operation. Yeah, I may take command occasionally; yeah a lot of the crew see you and I as equals; yeah, I've got more cool shit than you," that got a small, but slightly pained smile, "but seriously John, think about what we'd be like without you here. I wouldn't have any of this knowledge, because I would've never met Samara, and by extension Morinth, and through her Otrere; Miranda would still be indoctrinated, and sure as shit wouldn't be in love with Joker; Kenneth and Gabby wouldn't be together; Kar and Tali wouldn't have found one another... Liara wouldn't have the love of her life. You're about as much of a third wheel as I am like Udina, the great prattling bastard."
Shepard gave a small chuckle and took Andy's offered hand; letting himself be helped to his feet as he still massaged his jaw. "Thanks... I think I needed that. You punch me again and I'll have your ass up for insubordination."
"I'm too awesome for that kind of shit," Andy quipped with a grin, and Shepard rolled his eyes, chuckling again.
"Never change Andy."
