Author's note: We passed the 500 and the 600 views boundary with that last chapter, so i felt the need to get this one out as well :) I hope you enjoy!
Don't forget to Fav/Follow if you enjoy and/or post a review if you have any suggestions or want to see something in particular.
Enjoy!
EDIT: I have to say, thank you so much to all those who reviewed with positive comments, and yeah, I know its been for freaking EVER since I updated this bad boy, but that's because I've got something else in store that I've been working on, and ideas for this story just seemed to dry up - especially seeming as I was focusing more and more on my A levels, than I was on writing.
For those of you who enjoyed this story, I'm hoping you'll enjoy my new one (when I'm ready to begin publishing) even more! My new story shall have:
AN ALL NEW EMERGENCE INTO THE MASS EFFECT WORLD!
ACTION!
INTERESTING CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT!
ACTION!
CHANGES TO CANON! D:
ACTION!
COMEDY!... If you're into my kind of humour...
ACTION!
ROMANCE!... but hopefully not too soppy...
AND MORE ACTION!
It will be another SI, though in this iteration of the story, there will be other viewpoints as well. I'm currently about... I dunno. Maybe a third of the way through? But I'm actually going to complete writing this story before I decide to publish so that the entire story will be complete, instead of me leaving yet another one dead in the water.
If you're following my other story, The best laid plans of mice and men, I know it hasn't been updated in a while either, but the ideas are pouring out of my head so fast for this new SI that I've put that one on the back burners. Sorry!
(But don't worry, I WILL continue writing for it, just much more slowly.)
If I carry on writing at the speed I am, I'm hoping to have completed it by summer definitely, but Easter is a possible target. And it's gonna be a long one :)
See you all soon,
much love x
"Shit." I cursed silently. Why the hell are they here? Whatever it was, I could tell I didn't want to be a part of it. Cerberus was bad news; it didn't matter if they were going to rebuild Shepard.
I had to get my stuff without being seen… The stairs were only a few metres away. Hopefully I could sneak past them without them seeing me. I edged my way along the counters, staying below the top so I couldn't be seen. I peeked around the corner. There was a squad. A small op but I'm sure they wouldn't be the useless goons that Cerberus usually threw at Shepard. I looked around once more. Most of them had moved into the bar area, and a couple were milling around by the enormous TV.
"It's now or never…" I chimp-walked to the base of the staircase and then, as low as I could, I started to move up the stairs. I kept a keen eye on the Soldiers I could see, but it would be harder once I had rounded the corner on the stairs.
"Hey!" Fuck. The voice was... electronic. I peeked under my arm to see two soldiers running towards me, they had come from the bar and I hadn't seen them. Fuck. No point in being quiet now. I felt as though I was flying up the stairs and I ran into the bedroom; it would be easy to hide and take a couple out if they came in through the door.
"We know you're here kid. Come out and you won't be hurt." Yeah right. I stayed put, trying to calm my erratic breathing, quieting the noise that I was making, giving me away. A spindly, black gloved hand gripped the doorframe and I readied myself. Blue Flames sparked to life around me, and my hands itched for a fight. She came through the door quickly then and I lashed out, the force exploding around my balled fist.
She screamed in agony but it was cut short as I felt her crumple against the wall. I panted heavily with fatigue. I wasn't ready for this; I was fighting a squad with biotics on an empty stomach. Never a good idea, as you run out of energy VERY quickly.
I began to see what had happened. I had just knocked out a girl. Well, there goes the no hitting girls rule. She was really pretty as well… She wouldn't be very pretty for a long time though. Her face was already swollen and disfigured. No time to dwell on it though. I had to hide in a different place, or they would find me for sure. Peeking out of the doorway, I was too late as a white plated hand grabbed my neck and brought me round the door frame. The next thing I felt was pain, quickly followed by a burning numbness. A black veil covered my eyes once again.
I couldn't see when I woke up. The room had no light source at all. I could feel my hands bound to the chair I was sitting on, my chest was bare but I had my comfortable bottoms on at least. This was an old style interrogation. I just hoped that they weren't going to use any of the old style torture methods either. But knowing Cerberus, anything was possible. I tried to move my hands; I struggled against the links to the chair, but to no avail.
"There's no point in doing that, you know." The electric voice echoed around the room. It was still pitch black, but I was beginning to see shapes, two of which was distinctly human.
"Whatever you want, you won't get it from me, dickhead." I tried to fill my words with as much venom as possible. That was when a switch was flipped and a whirring noise filled the oddly still air. I was sitting under the glare of what felt like the brightest light in the galaxy.
"How very noble of you." This was a different voice. A woman's voice, with a thick Australian accent.
"Miranda? I wasn't expecting to see you for another two years?" What the hell was going on? My eyes once again were beginning to adjust to the intensity of the light. The two figures were standing at the edge of the light, but I could see them both. It was her. Miranda Lawson. She was fucking hot. Shame about her face… She stood silent still her arms crossed. She looked expectantly at me. "What?"
She nodded to the person next to her, he'd been further back, but now I saw him. It was just a soldier, except he wasn't. He was holding bolt cutters. "We thought we'd get a little nostalgic if you didn't answer our questions." My eyed widened, they were insane. They had to be bonkers.
"Ok, hold the phone there." I was beginning to sweat profusely as dread filled my soul. "What do you want?"
"Well, I want payback for smacking me in the head and breaking half my face. But the Illusive Man wants you to answer some questions." Well shit. I'd hit 'the perfect human' in the head and broken her jaw and her cheek bone as well as bruised her eye socket. Her face became more and more visible. Most of it appeared to be healed already, but it was still extremely puffy and swollen.
I tried to my hands again, a little more subtly though. I wondered if I could slip my hands through the shackles if they got sweaty enough. The thought made me chuckle slightly. It didn't go unnoticed. "SHUT! UP!" I was knocked sideways as the soldier swung the bolt cutters and hit me across the face.
I wasn't going to be put down by some nobody. I started laughing again, harder this time. "You know, that's not how you use those." I managed to wheeze the joke out. I thought I heard Miranda chuckle a little over the roar of the soldier. I didn't regret it, despite the boot in my stomach. I coughed and spluttered as I regained control of the convulsions my muscles were making.
"Enough. You can hit him again when I say so." Miranda sounded deadly, but I could both see and hear the ghost of a smile in her words. The soldier stood to attention before lifting me off the floor and putting the bolt cutters over his shoulder and marching away with them to the edge of the light. As he moved away, Miranda moved nearer. I swallowed loudly as the clicks of her high heels got louder. She moved around behind me and laid her hands on my shoulders. "This doesn't have to be hard you know."
I was still slightly winded from the kick that had landed on my unprotected stomach and my ragged breathing quickened. Her hands moved down onto my chest. Now my breathing wasn't just ragged because of the kick. I closed my eyes and breathed out hard. I had to control my breathing. If I focused on that, everything would fall into line.
"Is this getting a little too much for you, Greg?" She whispered into my ear, her mouth on the tip of my ear. I had to think of other things, so I turned my mind to Anderson. He would kill me when he found the mess that was his apartment. She pulled away abruptly, keeping one hand on my shoulder as she walked to my front. "What're you thinking about?" she asked innocently, but it was a poor attempt at flirting.
"You're so bad at this you know." She looked slightly angry at me now. She nodded once behind her. I rolled my eyes at her, "Jeez don't get too upset. Fucking psycho." I waited for the hit to come. When it did it was from behind, not only did it hurt like hell but it surprised me as the cutters came around and hit the side of my head, once again knocking me to the floor. I cried out in agony and then whimpered quietly as blood trickled down the side of my neck.
It took a minute before my breathing was back to normal. I could already feel the swelling on the side of my head. "You better not fucking hit me with that again or when I get out I'll rip your balls off and feed them to a Krogan on a silver platter you fucking prick."
Miranda looked at me, bored. "Are you finished? There's no way you're getting out of those cuffs. The Illusive Man's done a lot to make you… feel at home. They were made just for you." I just scowled darkly at her. They really had gone all out. They were classic handcuffs, they needed a key to unlock but luckily the part that enclosed your wrist seemed slightly too large. I might be able to wrench at least one hand free if need be.
She continued to speak at me in a patronising tone, but I wasn't listening. Not until she stood up straight and slapped me round the face when I didn't answer. I could feel the colour rising in my cheek. That hurt. She placed her hands on my knees and leaned in, our faces level. She spoke quietly, "What is Shepard doing?" Her body was really distracting; I kept snatching glances below her chin. She was… unbelievable.
My brow furrowed as my gaze reluctantly turned into her deep blue eyes. "You managed to find out where I was, who I am and yet nothing about what Shepard is doing? Do you think I'm stupid or something?" How could they know about somebody who'd been hushed up since arriving, and not know one of the most public things about humanity's greatest and possibly most advertised?
She moved again, she kept her hands on my knees, but crouched down, a more comfortable position I presume. "You must've heard me wrong." She snapped her fingers in my face as my eyes drifted down… "I asked you; what did you tell Shepard, not what is he doing."
I was confused, and really distracted not just by Miranda either; the pain in my head had faded into an ache but I felt really dizzy now. "Uh…" I swallowed. My head was spinning. "Do I really have to tell everything to you? I mean… I really can't be bothered to repeat it all." I sniggered.
"Do you want to get hit again, or do you want to answer my question." She looked deadly serious but I just wasn't in my right mind anymore. I was high on concussion and blood loss.
"I don't think I can answer that." I slumped forwards in my chair as I fell unconscious again.
I groaned loudly as I stirred, I was still in the chair and now my bum was beginning to feel sore. "Right, you're awake so let's try this again shall we?" Her voice came from behind me and I felt her hands clasp onto my shoulders again.
"You guys are really annoying, you know that right?" I didn't bother trying to look at her as I spoke. "All I wanted to do was try and fit in with society for a week, like I was asked. But oh no. Apparently, I'm not allowed to do that because of some Indoctrinated twat sitting in a chair, smoking a cigarette a trillion miles away." Her hands gently rubbed against my shoulders for a moment, before she put her head on mine, her breasts squishing against the top of my back, her hands falling softly onto my bare stomach.
"It's just us two." Her voice was a whisper. "I've given you medigel for your head, but you'll probably have a scar there." She paused, waiting for me to speak I supposed. "This would all be a lot smoother if you had just cooperated."
"Huh. As if. You know as well as I do that Cerberus doesn't really care for humanity. Cerberus cares for Cerberus. End of. And I won't be a part of that, and neither should you." My rant was over but at least I was awake now. The sleep had gone from my eyes and I was looking down at my wrists. My left hand was clammy enough to squeeze through the cuff.
"I'll admit, working for Cerberus had made me part of some… questionable activity. But I don't regret anything. I came here to-"
I don't need this. "I know why you came here, lil' miss perfect. You need get some conversational skills – I mean; I know it bothers you, but come on. Use what you're given and don't find an excuse to bring it up every five minutes." She moved away from me now. I put some more effort into getting my wrist out of the cuff, while her back was turned. Pulling my hand through the cuff was proving a little more difficult than expected. My hands were only just small enough to get through, but it felt as though I was breaking the bones in my hands as I did so. My left hand got out and it was sore, but it definitely felt good to have movement in my arm again.
I made sure that I kept my hand by my side; so that at least there was a chance she wouldn't notice I was half free. "You know Greg you really are arrogant for a seventeen year old. But you're right. I am awful at flirting." The way she spoke made me wonder what she was thinking. The next thing I knew there was a blue fist in the side of my face.
I hadn't just fallen to the floor as I had when the soldier hit me. This time I'd been sent flying across the room, the chair shattering against the wall, my back following it closely. "What the fuck was that for?" I grunted at her through gritted teeth, my now free hands tending to the swelling, aching side of my face.
"I told you I wanted payback." She walked over to me and put her heeled foot onto my chest, forcing me to lie back. She reached over to the cuffs still attached to the chair legs. Oh HELL no. I grabbed her legs and lifted her into the air. She fell with a crack, as face first, she hit the floor. I turned her onto her back, and energy coursed through my veins as a fiery fist cracked into her stomach. I might have to apologise for this later… I fled the light so I could try and find a way out of my prison, but my eyes were taking their time to adjust. I looked back over to Miranda and she was on all fours, retching. I saw her vomit once, and blood was coming out. I looked around, frantically now. I saw the glow from light leaking through the crack of a door. There.
When I reached the glow, I realised it wasn't a door, but rather a break in what seemed to be a thin wall. I took a deep breath. I heard a woman yelling at me as blue lit the room around me. I took two steps back, and threw a throw field at the wall. I wasn't sure what happened next, I was running at the wall, and then it felt as though I was being simultaneously disintegrated and reiterated. When I realised I had managed to phase through a solid object, I was already falling.
But the ground was rushing up to meet me. I had burst out of a tower on the Citadel, high above the wards. I began to panic as I struggled for what little air there was and my speed began to pick up.
It's ok. Calm. Just stay calm, and you'll get through this. My breathing slowed as I held as much air in my lungs for as long as possible between each breath. Everything became unreasonably clear as I hurtled to the fluorescent lights below, sky cars whizzing past. I saw a group of aliens in one car spot me and I saw the horrified look on their faces as they watched me plummet for a few moments before the driver turned and came rushing towards me.
I remembered how Samara had floated gracefully down from the top of a crate in ME2. How she did it, I could only guess, but I had to try. If these people had any chance of saving me, I had to soften the blow to the car.
I closed my eyes. Concentration is key. I moved into a more vertical position, but now I was moving faster, the wind rushing past my face, the cold atmosphere burning my cheeks. Push. I lit up as jets of light burst from my hands. I stopped moving momentarily, but quickly accelerated once again. Push. The sky car rocketed past me, only just missing me by a couple of feet. I don't think they were expecting me to try and stop. It stopped a few seconds later, nearly a hundred feet below me. That gives me a little bit of time to try and stop myself from crashing into the car.
The door of the sky car opened and a Turian leant out, waving at me frantically. He climbed carefully onto the roof of the car. I plummeted towards him, burning blue. One more push. My bare feet crashed into the windscreen of the car. And the whole thing jolted unstably. The Turian grabbed my arms and fed me through the door to the car before following me in.
"Are you ok?" It was the Turian that helped me into the car that spoke. They were all watching me intently, shock still apparent on their faces.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. I, uh. I need to get to the Presidium." I was sweating uncomfortably. I was relieved but…
"What did you think you were doing?" A Salarian asked me, his wide eyes vexed.
"I didn't know it was the edge of the building, ok?" I shouted at him, irrationally. "I had to get out…" My voice quietened and I started to shiver, being above the heated floors of the wards wasn't comfortable, but neither was being in a cramped car, half naked with a bunch of strangers.
Half an hour later and I was fully clothed, with a big cup of hot chocolate. It was delicious; you know the ones where you have cream and marshmallows in? Well it was one of those, with fancy alien marshmallows.
"You were gone for quite some time Greg. Are you sure you're ok?" Anderson was looking at me like with a concerned look on his face. I just nodded as I stared into space, interspersed by liquid heaven pouring down my throat. I still needed to have a shower, to get rid of the dried blood coating my neck, and the profound smell of sweat that flooded off my body. But I had to wait until Anderson said I could go back to the apartment. For now though, I was waiting in his office while he got things sorted out.
"Anderson?" His brow rose, expectant for my question. "I thought Cerberus weren't allowed on the Citadel…"
He nodded his understanding. "Well, they haven't been banned from it yet, but they certainly aren't welcome here." There was silence for a short moment. "Shepard's heard what happened. He's just trying to get Major Kyle to come peacefully and then he's coming back to the Citadel."
Five minutes passed and a beeping came from my omni tool. A message from Shepard.
'20.22.2183
From: Cmd Shepard
To: Greg
Greg, I heard about what happened. I've got to deal with this Major Kyle thing and then we'll be on our way to you. Feros was mostly a success – Liara took a hit, but otherwise everything was as you said.
Sit tight, we'll be there soon.
Shepard.'
I looked up from the message and Anderson was walking back from his desk. "It should be fine to go back now. The glass has been fixed and there'll be sentries on and around the building until you go."
"Thanks Sir… I was enjoying myself until this happened." I headed towards the door. "Maybe I would've fitted in here. But not anymore." He nodded slowly.
"It's ok Greg. I understand. This was mainly just to please Udina anyway – I know that Shepard wants you on the Normandy even if you're not going to fight." I smiled lightly before I turned to leave the room. "And Greg?" I stopped in my tracks and turned to face him again. "Don't call me Sir." He smiled and winked in a parental way. I smiled back and as I headed to get ready there was a skip in my step.
The sky is a beautiful thing. Especially at night, when the clouds a gone. You might not think about it much but nobody looks at the stars enough. I don't think it's possible.
My thoughts were drifting lazily by as I sat, fully armoured on the Normandy's dock, waiting for the ship to come in. I stared through the pale haze of the nebula to the faint drops of light, billions of miles away. I raised my hand to my head, touching the sore line cutting above my right ear, soothing it. It was odd, not having hair there anymore. I had always had short hair – I preferred it. But the doctors had all but shaved the sides of my head so they could see the damage done. I now had twenty staples in the side of my head, holding me together, running along the bright red line going from behind my ear to just past my temple.
I heard the docking clamps depressurise and shift outwards to greet an incoming vessel. There it was. The Normandy. It felt like I was going back home after a holiday. In a way, I suppose, I was. I had been forced to relax for a week – even if it only ended up being four days and now I was back to where I felt I belonged, safe from surprise attacks and with the only people in the galaxy doing something about the Reapers.
I was smiling as the airlock opened, and there everyone was. Wrex, leaning back against the inner airlock door. Kaidan and Ashley were chatting next to Wrex, they turned their attention to me when the doors opened; Kaidan smiled and waved, Ashley just glanced at me before resuming conversation. Then there was Liara. She was on crutches, her leg in a cast and a slightly green tinge to her cyan skin. Shepard rushed up to greet me, Tali and Garrus hot on his heels.
This was definitely home. Tali pushed past Shepard as they neared and pulled me into the tightest hug I've ever been in. "You… you… you Bosh'Tet! I've been – I mean, We've, been so worried about you! When Shepard told us Cerberus had taken you…" She had stepped back so she could look into my eyes, as she started to do some finger wagging.
I looked down sheepishly and rubbed the back of my neck. "Yeah well… There wasn't much I could do." Tali put her arms back around me and hugged me again, but this time Garrus and Shepard joined in. "Did Anderson tell you how I got out?"
We separated and Garrus clapped me on the arm. "No, but I'm sure it was spectacular."
"Oh, definitely one for the books." I chuckled. With that we walked slowly back to the airlock and the others. I could feel their eyes on my scar, but I don't think they wanted bring it up; afraid I might go crazy or something.
"That reminds me Greg. Anderson messaged me before we docked. He had left a package for you in loading dock 9, so we picked it up before coming here. It's next to your locker." I grinned at Shepard.
"Do you know what it is?" I asked him eagerly. But, before he could answer, Wrex's booming voice pierced the air.
"Nice scar you got there kid. Maybe one day, you'll be as handsome as me!" His grin was unsettling, especially when he patted me on the back. "You gotta tell me how you got it; all good scars have a story behind them – a good story at that." I nodded my agreement as I wasn't really sure that I wanted to compare scars with a Krogan over three hundred years old, or get on the bad side of one.
The Normandy's VI started the decontamination process and then we were on the ship, a team once again. Shepard looked left as we entered. "Joker, start a course for Noveria. Take your time though. This is gonna be a tough one to get through."
"Aye aye, Sir." Joker's response was immediate, as was the slight jolt as the Normandy left the docking clamps and we began to move smoothly away from the Citadel.
"Come on Greg, it's still in the box." Shepard led me and the rest of the team down the stairs, and then down the lift to the cargo bay. Sure enough, there was a great big metal crate in front of my locker, large Alliance logos painted on it with several fragile and warning signs on as well.
"This is exciting." I said in a rush, my words blurting out of my mouth. I scanned the crate with my omni tool and there was a hiss of compressed air being released. A heavy clunk sounded as two sets of bolts on the front slid open. I lifted the heavy lid with a slight grunt, and inside was… armour? I spotted a hand-written note underneath one of the shoulder guards.
'Greg,
This is a customised set of tactical armour.
I would read the instruction manual if I were you.
Anderson.'
There were more bits of paper stuffed under the armour. I took off the armour I was currently wearing to put the new one on. The new armour looked fairly similar to the old one, but there were more hardsuit plates, as well as a ton more ammo pouches, grenade pockets and arrow quivers, each quiver with a small but distinct symbol on it to determine the arrowhead. "Oh this is so cool."
Frantically I pulled on each piece of my new armour. I looked back into the crate and saw two large, flat metal pieces. I took the torso piece off and flipped it over; they definitely went on the back. I put them on and a faint whine was made as the power source was injected into the armour. I put the torso piece back on – this armour felt as though it was moulded to me, it was flexible in every respect, and it fit like a glove!
When I was dressed in my new armour, a message appeared on my omni tool; UPDATE: tactical armour command module. I clicked accept and in a few moments it beeped again, signifying completion.
"I've only seen a few people in the galaxy with this kind of armour Greg, you're extremely lucky." I looked over at Garrus who was leaning against his locker, eyeing my armour jealously.
"Yeah, aren't the only military group with this tech the Armiger Legion?" He looked at me, wide eyed.
He came over to stand next to me, and hushed his voice to a whisper. "How do you know about the Armiger Legion? They're not even known by most Turian."
I stood in full armour, hearing what Garrus was saying, but I couldn't make sense of it. "Why doesn't everybody know about them? I thought they were supposed to be special ops for you guys."
"Well, they are, though they get mixed in with regular troops on dangerous missions. They only handle high risk missions though. I'm pretty sure they're on the same level as Spectres, even if they aren't granted Citadel support."
"Yeah, that's got to be one of the biggest advantages of being a spectre. The council pretty much goes with whatever you say." I was fiddling with my omni tool, trying to get my armour to work, when I spotted an icon appear in the hollow above my hand. I selected it popped up a message: ENGAGE. I clicked it and suddenly I was looking through my arm to see the crate below. "This is freaking CRAZY!" This was so cool. I could go invisible! It only lasted for a couple minutes though before a warning beep sounded and I reappeared in the cargo bay.
"Nice." Shepard had left briefly to get something to eat, and when he came back I reappeared as if by magic next to Garrus. "We can use that when we get to Noveria, you can get past a lot of the security you mentioned without being detected."
"When we get there."
