A/N: You didn't need to read this.
Chapter 3
-Business Opportunity-
Wow. Just…wow. I look through the windows placed on the bridge of the Expedition as the Citadel materializes from the nebula, the arms reaching for us as ships buzz around ports. Its jaw dropping.
"First time seeing the Citadel?" the pilot asks over his shoulder.
"Yeah." I whisper, still stunned by the vista displayed before me.
"I could tell." He quips before going back to his controls and coordinating with the traffic controller.
After a minute I manage to tear myself away from the view and head off to meet Mack, Jay, and Waiter by the decontamination airlock. As I walk I feel my hand bump something and I look to see my kukri dangling on my belt. I wonder what the knife laws are on the Citadel. I better hide it, just in case.
I play with angle adjuster on the sheath and then tuck it so the blade is running the length of my pants right along the waistband, with the handle jutting out of my pants just up and to the right of my right back pocket. I pull my shirt and jacket over the handle as I nod at the Alliance soldiers.
"Maverick!" Waiter calls out as I approach. I give a lazy two fingered wave as I position myself among the group.
"Hey guys." I say. "I guess you're all on leave huh?"
"Yeah, going to hit Flux for some drinks." Jase explains. "You coming?"
"I would but I can't afford to." I admit as I rub the back of my neck. "Turns out the bill for a total organ transplant cost a shitload."
"I'll pay for you Mav." Waiter offers. "I'm sure you could use a few after the beating you took from Mack." He points out the cut on my lip and the lump forming on my jaw.
"Please." I say as I lift my hands. "I've gotten it way worse than that."
"He held his own for a bit." Mack smirks. "He gassed pretty quick and had no discipline or skill whatsoever, but he had some merits."
"Is that so?" I say as a grin forms on my face. "Please Miss Mack, educate us!"
The group chuckles as Mack shoots me the finger before sighing. "Well Mr. Matticks, your charge was the most impressive thing about your performance. The biotic bitch slap was ok to."
"Biotic bitch slap?" Jase asks with a quizzical look on his face. "Never heard of that."
"I wouldn't call it a bitch slap." I say feigning insult. "More like a biotic back hand."
"I'll be honest, that sounds like the same thing, just with a different name." Waiter muses.
"Like you would know!" I shout. Before anyone can say anything the door to the airlock opens and the three Alliance soldiers step into the small room. I absently mindedly follow them into the room and look around as the decontamination waves wash over me and I'm surprised I don't feel anything when they touch my skin. Then the next airlock opens and we step out onto the Citadel. I walk out onto the station and I can only imagine I looked like a kid in a toy store, you know, just walking around staring up at the buildings as I spin around aimlessly. Suddenly I bump into someone and turn to face them.
"Hey watch it!" a turian shouts at me as he flings his hand in the air.
"Holy shit!" I whisper as my hand gingerly touches my mouth. "You're a turian!" I hesitantly reach out to touch his face and he quickly twitches away from my yearning hand.
"Get away from me." He snarls as he walks away. "Humans…" I hear him mutter as he rounds a corner.
Mack, Waiter, and Jase walk up and I turn around to see the three of them staring at me with baffled expressions painted on their faces.
"What the hell was that?" Waiter asks as he shakes his head. I ponder my answer as the three stare at me, after a lengthy pause I finally sigh and run my hand up my face.
"No idea, I… I've never seen a turian before." I say as I continue to gaze around at the wonders of the Citadel.
"So you touch his face?" Mack asks with a scrunched face. "What is wrong with you?"
"What? I can't touch people's faces?" I shout defiantly as I swing my arms in the air.
"No." Waiter remarks as he slowly shakes his head. "No you can not."
"This is bullshit." I pout as I kick at the ground. The group laughs as we stand around awkwardly, waiting for someone to break the silence.
"Well." Waiter starts. "We are headed down to Flux so… I guess we will see you later."
"Yeah, I'll keep in touch." I say as I wave my Omni-tool at them. Mack, Jase, and Waiter wave and shout their goodbyes as I break away from them. I look around for one of those annoying VI info terminals. I quickly find one, but I don't talk to it, I just download a map of the Citadel onto my Omni-tool and head off. I hated talking to that thing in the game so I can't imagine how bad it'd be in person.
Ok so there is an employment center right in Zakera ward, they should be able to help me find a job. It's only a twenty minute walk away from where I am now so I guess I better start walking.
[Walking might actually do you some good.]
…
What is your problem?
{He is just grumpy. Don't listen to him, you look great!}
Do you two even have a purpose? You know, other than to slowly drive me insane? Every other fanfic I've read has some sort of guide or spirit animal or some shit, like death or some inter dimensional traveler. You two fuckwads on the other hands have done absolutely nothing! You just sit up there in my head and coddle me or mock me.
[You want to just tell you everything you fucking pansy?]
{Don't you think it would be more rewarding to figure it out on your own?}
Yeah, maybe. I… I just don't know why I'm here.
[Who cares about the why? You know more about what's going to happen than anybody else in this shitty universe.]
{You are here for a reason, and that is to help people.}
[No matter what it takes.]
So it's up to me? Bullshit! Everything ends relatively well in Mass Effect 3, nobody needs me here! And what about the canon? Everything could change just because of the slightest thing, it's fragile!
[Because there are people in this shithole universe who will fuck everything up.]
{It's up to you to try to make the best possible outcome, and prepare for the worst.}
This… is a lot for just me to do by myself and there are tons of people in Mass Effect who try to fuck with Shepard. But you think I can do all that by myself?
{You aren't alone!}
Yeah, you two are here.
[Among other things you dense prick.]
Yeah, Shepard and his crew… or her crew. I wonder if Shepard's a man or a woman, either way I hope it's the default Shepard.
"Excuse me, sir?" I blink and shake my head to see a uniformed asari quizzically looking at me. I look around and see a bunch of people talking to other uniformed asari and a few humans.
"Umm yeah?" I ask, not quite sure where I have wandered off to.
"How can I help you?"
"I don't know." I say slowly while leaning forward on the counter.
"Do you need help finding a job?" she asks, fishing for an answer.
"Yeah!" I exclaim, scaring the asari, this must be the employment center. "Can you help me?"
The asari sighs and begins typing in her terminal. "Yes sir, I can help you. What is your name?"
"James Matticks."
After a few keystrokes she looks up at me with a slightly concerned look on her face. "Mr. Matticks, do you have any discernable skills? I don't have any records of past employment in your file, in fact this was made less than 24 hours ago."
"I know, I was picked up by the SSV Expedition, they treated me for my… injuries and brought me here from Freedoms Progress." I explain to the asari.
"I see, well I have some good news Mr. Matticks." She says through a warm smile. "There are several entry level positions open right now on Zakera and hundreds more around the rest of the Citadel."
"Perfect!" I smile. "The work doesn't matter as much as the pay."
"Ok." she says slowly as she plays with her terminal. "Here I have a kitchen staff position which is full time, and pays 14 credits an hour. How does that sound?"
…
That's nowhere near enough money! That would take me years to pay off my bills, probably closer to a decade. I guess I have no choice though, there isn't much else I can do.
"That sounds great." I say as I force a smile. "What do I need to do?"
"Well most people apply via the extranet, but some have gone to the location and applied directly. I would suggest the latter."
"How many people have applied to this job?" I ask suspiciously.
"547 via the extranet and 92 have chosen to be direct."
…
Goddamnit.
"Thanks." I moan as I walk out of the building. My Omni-tool pings with the location of the job and I head off in that direction.
Well that went better than I thought. I open the door to the restaurant and walk into the bustling streets. Ah who am I kidding, that job sucked. Just a bunch of cleaning and menial tasks, shit I swore off when I got a real job, a job where you build something. With your hands! Like a man! Not sitting around mopping, doing dishes, and taking pushy peoples orders!
I might never pay off this debt. That means I won't be able to join Shepard on the Normandy, I'll be stuck here paying off bills. That's really depressing.
I look down a side alley and see a familiar sight, the Chora's Den sultry asari neon sign. I start to walk up the path, stopping by the door and lean on the railing as I realize I can't afford a drink. I watch the skycars land underneath the walkway and the people get out and trudge up the path to their inevitable hangover. Strange, I never noticed that little path leading from the port to the Den. I hear a door open and raise my brow as I see some poor drunk asshole get tossed out on his face by a tattooed bouncer.
"Jay hoo muggerfugger!" he slurs as he stumbles to his feet. "Ib cuja fuggen bahws agg ooh bidch."
I can't help but smile as I turn to the side and lean on my left arm so I can get a better view of this idiot. The bouncer has an unamused look on his face as he sighs at the drunk.
"Mudak." He mutters as he buries his head in his hand. Wow, a Russian with a shaved head, and tattoos, way to be a stereotype Ivan. "Look, you have to stop doing this, you do this every week. So if you don't get out of here right now, and stay out, I will beat you within an inch of your life." He says in a tone that makes me think that's not just an empty threat. I laugh as I see the wheels turning in his head, trying to decide whether or not to fight the bouncer, I'm surprised there's no smoke coming out of his ears.
Suddenly he looks at me as he hears me laugh and a sloppy scowl smears itself across his unshaven face.
"Whah joo lagen ab? Hugh!? Joonoh whah?" he says as he reaches into his pocket. I see the bouncer tense up as he begins to slip his hand behind his back. I can feel a tingle as my barriers manifest but I don't move. I'm not giving him the satisfaction of making me squirm even if he won't remember it. Then he pulls out what looks like a Swiss army knife and fumbles around with it for a while before folding out the "blade". He then points the metal Popsicle stick at me and makes probably the smuggest face I have ever seen any human being make in my entire life. Let's fix that shall we?
"What's that?" I say, carefully laying my verbal bait. The man's face twists and somehow appears smugger then before. Seriously, this guy is radiating smugness.
"Ib a ngiph!" he jeers at me. Alright time tear this assholes world to the fucking ground in the most fitting way possible.
"That's not a knife…" I snort as I step forward and reach behind my back. "…This is a knife."
With a slow, deliberate pull I unsheathe my kukri. In a fluid motion I twirl the deadly blade in my hand and grip my hand firmly around the handle, I raise my brow as I inspect the knife I'm holding at the drunk. I take a mental picture as I watch the man look at the 16" blade in my hand, he then looks back at his Swiss army knife, his face straightens out and he just walks away. Not as climactic as I wanted but it was absolutely awesome to say that when you actually pull out a bigger knife then the other guy.
I turn back to the bouncer to see him smirking at me while I return my kukri to its home. He simply nods his head back at the bar inviting me in. I shake my head at the offer and curse myself for having no money to buy booze.
"Have one on me." He says as he stands to the side of the door and motions me inside. "It is the least I can do for you getting rid of that guy."
How can I say no to that?
"Sure." I say as I walk past him and into the Den. Just to let you know, this place is way seedier in real life then in the game. The dancers up on the stage are basked in dirty blue light, the whole place reeks of liquor and is packed to the gills with people. Most of them are human with a handful of turians and one krogan, though I'm pretty sure he is a bouncer because he is now chatting with my new tattooed friend. I walk up to the bar and a pretty girl with blonde hair looks up and smiles at me.
"You Dundee?" she asks. How did she… I look over my shoulder and see my bouncer friend shoot me a quick nod. I shoot him a two fingered wave and turn back to the bartender. I'm surprised he even knew that quote but then again that movie is a classic.
"The one and only." I say as I smile. "I was told you're the person to talk to for a drink?"
"The one and only." She says as she slides me what appears to be a space beer. It's in one of those weird Mass Effect chrome cylinder cups, with a colored stripe running up the side. I pick up the cup and inspect it, sloshing around the drink and giving it a sniff. Smells ok, like any other beer really. Tastes… good actually, like a fruity Guinness, but thinner.
After I finish my space Guinness I stand up and start pushing my way through the crowded club, giving a small wave to the bouncer but he seems preoccupied as he talks to a turian with white face paint. I pay it no mind though and leave the club. Wow it was loud in that club, I jam my fingers in my ears and try to shake out the ringing noise. I notice that the lights are still on and I check my Omni-tool for the time, ahh it's getting kinda late, I suppose I should look for some sort of shelter to sleep at.
I turn down an alley and begin to walk towards the next street, according to the extranet there should be a shelter at the end of it. Once I'm out of the alley I notice there are almost no humans, or any other races for that matter. Just a shitload of batarians, it looks like a bustling 3rd world country out here. Nothing horrible mind you, just like a busy market with people selling meats and fruits. Everyone seems to be giving me dirty looks but then I remember that all batarians are racist.
Is that racist?
Is it racist to not like racists?
Ahh never mind. Either way these dirty look prove my point. I see the shelter in the distance and quicken my pace to get away from the barrage of glares. Then I hear a shout and see movement out of the corner of my eye, I turn to see a well-dressed human man huddled on the ground and three batarians are crowded around him aggressively. Shit I think they're mugging him.
Not a fucking chance.
I slowly creep down the alley and behind the batarians, I can hear them mocking the poor man.
"Transfer the money now human." One of the batarians yells at him as the others jeer at the poor guy.
"Hey!" I shout as I stand broadly, trying to be as menacing as I can. "Leave him alone."
The three batarians turn and look at me like I'm a joke. They exchanged amused glances and the leader steps forward and scoffs at me. I can feel the anger building in the pit of my stomach.
"You gotta problem?" he says as he leans forward. "Human." He spits in disgust.
"No." I say as I step closer to him. I feel the anger course through my body and can feel my biotics crackle off my skin in violent pulses. I push my face towards his and stop a few inches from his head. I look down at him, my biotics reflecting off of his wide eyes, and I whisper, "You do."
I nod my head behind me and the three of them hurry past me as a smirk creeps on my lips. That's right fuckers, get out of here while you can. I walk up to the man who is looking up at me as if I'm an angle sent from heaven.
"Are you ok?" I say as I reach my hand down to help him up. As he reaches up I hear footsteps behind me and the sound of a weapon unfolding. I felt my barriers kick in the second I heard the footsteps, like a paranoid flinch. I turn to see assholes from before and about ten pf their friends, they got here fast. The leader with the gun steps forward and shoots me a satisfied smirk.
"Now who has the problem?" the leader sneers as his merry band chuckles behind him.
My biotics flare again is I feel the rush of adrenaline course through my body, I can't help but put on an evil smirk as I watch the thugs flinch.
"It's still you."
I feel my heart rate accelerate and a tingle tears across my body. In a flash I charge at the leader and plant my shoulder into his chest, I feel it resist for a fraction of a second before it gives out and his ribcage caves in on itself. He takes in a labored gasp as he falls to the floor and I turn and smack away the four batarians with a biotic pulse, the furthest ones are forced to the ground while the closest get flung away like ragdolls. I can already feel myself getting tired, I need to get rid of the other ones fast before I pass out. I follow through with my backhand and launch myself at the last group, slamming my hand on the ground in between them causing a nova to detonate, sending the last batarians in all directions.
I look around as I pant, noting it's nowhere near as exhausting as last time though I did use the same moves, the bodies are littered about the alleyway. I walk up to the leader who is breathing heavily as he clutches his chest, I stand over him, watching him struggle.
[Hurry up and kill him.]
{You need to help him, he is hurt!}
[He would have killed you without a second thought, don't give him the courtesy of mercy.]
I can't kill him!
[Do it, don't be a bitch! He was weak!]
{Which means he needs you, don't do something you will regret!}
No, I won't kill him.
I lean down and I can see the fear in his eyes as I hunch over him, I bring up my Omni-tool and search the term Medi-gel. I find that my Omni-tool has two applications of Medi-gel, heh I guess Waiter forgot to take everything off. I quickly read through the instructions and hold my Omni-tool over his chest, a little display lights up, acknowledging there is an injury, and with a wave of my hand the application applies to the wound.
The batarian takes in a desperate breath and starts to relax. Suddenly I hear more footsteps behind me and here someone shout.
"C-Sec! Don't move!" the officer shouts. I slowly raise my hands and stand up to face the officer, it's a turian and there is an asari standing behind him. "Sir, are you ok?" he shouts as he raises his hand at the suited man who is still crouched on the floor.
"He is now." I say as I lower my hands and walk towards the man to help him up.
"Don't move!" the asari shouts at me as she levels he pistol sights with my chest. I stop and raise my hands again, why are they yelling at me I saved this guy!
"No." the man stammers. "He saved me." Damn right I saved you! I raise my brow at the asari and she nods at me and holsters her pistol. I walk over to the man and hoist him up to his feet. "Thank you!" he stutters as he shakes my hand. I smile at him as he continues to shake my arm out of my socket. "Thank you so much!"
"Don't worry about it." I say as I watch the C-Sec officers check the bodies, most of them are moving so they should be fine. "Are you sure you're ok?"
"Yeah I will be fine." He says as he pats some dust off of his jacket. "I can't begin to think of how I can repay you. Where are you headed?" he asks as he watches the offices start to cuff some of the more active batarians.
I shrug as I run my fingers through the hair poking out of my hat and look around. "There." I say as I point to the shelter. The man looks at me and then at the shelter, then back to me.
"A shelter?" he asks.
"Yeah, until I can get a job." I say. "Until then I guess I'll just run around and fight crime." I laugh.
"Well first of, I need your name." he says as he extends his hand again.
"James Matticks." I say as I clasp my hand around his and give it a firm shake.
"Frank Haynes, it's a pleasure." He smiles. "And secondly, I have a business proposition for you." He wraps his arm around my shoulder and begins to lead me out of the alleyway. "Can we go?" he yells to the C-Sec officers. That asari jogs up and scans our Omni-tools with her own, I watch her look at it for a moment and then she looks up from our Omni-tool.
"Yes." She says as her Omni-tool fades. "We will summon you via Omni-tool when we need you for questioning. We are going to start with these people first, they're a known gang in this area so it will be a few days. Take care." She says as she walks back to her partner
"Let's get some food in you and then we will talk." He says as he leads me to a rapid transit terminal. "I know a quiet little café on the presidium."
"So." I say as I eye the cafés menu. "What's good here? I'm kinda new to the Citadel." I look up from the datapad to see Frank smile as he puts down his menu. He looks up at the waitress and smiles at her.
"Two of the usual sweetheart." He turns back to me as the waitress saunters off with our order. "Now tell me about yourself, more specifically your biotic ability."
"Yeah sure." I say as I lean back a bit in my chair. "Well I grew up on… Freedoms Progress… way out in the… uh, terminus. Some slavers attacked the colony and I was taken with hundreds of other colonist, I managed to get out of my ropes and made my way to the engine room. Once I got there the engine went critical and filled the room with eezo, somehow I survived thanks to the SSV Expedition and its medical staff. Then they promptly put me into crippling debt and dropped me of here."
"Wow." He says as he leans forward. "So you have only had biotics for a few days then? When did you get your amp put in?"
The waitress walks back and drops some sort of fancy looking meat and pepper filled sandwich and a coffee in front of each of us. It looks so good, the meat is overflowing from the thick bread with sauce just barely hanging on to the pepper things. Then the smell of coffee begins is assault on my nostrils. I slowly pick up the coffee like it's the Holy Grail and carefully pour the hot liquid into my mouth.
Oh man. Space coffee is so good.
I look up and see Frank staring at me, did he ask me something? Oh yeah, amp.
"I never got an amp." I say as I pick up the sandwich.
"What!" Frank shouts, attracting the attention of the whole café and more importantly, almost making me drop my sandwich. "But you… the thugs… with the charge and… how?"
"There was a lot of eezo in that engine, I was covered in that shit when I woke up after the explosion." I say as I jam as much of the sandwich in my mouth as I can. God it is so good! Some sauce drips out of the other end and onto the plate but its only there for a moment before I mop it up with the sandwich and take another bite. "So you mentioned a business opportunity?"
"So if you had an amp…" he thinks aloud, seemingly ignoring my question. "…your biotics could get stronger?"
Hmm, that's a good question.
"Maybe, regular biotics get a power boost from them, why wouldn't I?" I say as I try to decide between eating the last bit of my sandwich in two bites and trying to cram the whole thing in my mouth.
I go with cram.
"Really?" Frank says as he watches me swallow the huge amount of food in my mouth. "You don't seem to be bothered by appearances James." he points at my jacket and my hat.
"Hey, this is retro Frank." I say as I feign insult. "And let me give you a tip, real words to live by." I lean forward as if to tell him a secret and he leans in to hear. "Life is too short, to give a fuck. Do what you want to, when you want to, and if people don't like it then they can fuck off. Be yourself 24/7 and nothing else." I lean back with a satisfied smirk.
"That's actually not a bad way to look at things I suppose." He admits as he leans back in his chair. "Anyway I have one more question, how far are you in debt?"
"Frank I couldn't ask you to pay of my debts for saving you, I pay my own way in that regard." I tell him while I wave him off with my hand. "I appreciate it but this is my problem, not yours."
"I like that." He exclaims as he waves down the waitress. "But I still owe you more than a sandwich and a coffee, so let me ask you something. How would you like a job?"
"I'd love a job! What do you have for me?" I say as I lean forward.
"I run a shipping company that takes in goods and exports them all around the Citadel and now we have started to branch out into council space." He explains as he pays our bill. "I recently just opened another port in the wards but my Forklift operator wrecked my 250,000 credit electric forklift. Needless to say he has been fired, and I'm out an operator."
"I see so you need a new operator, I can do that." I tell him as I take another gulp of my coffee. "I have industrial experience so I'm used to factory work."
"See here is the kicker." He smiles at me in a way that is honestly, unsettling. "You can lift things with your biotics right?"
"I can learn, I learned everything else almost instantly." I shrug.
"Well I'll tell you what, I don't want to buy a new forklift. So what I'm thinking is I pay you what it would cost me for an operator and the hourly cost of running the forklift."
"That sounds… good but I have to tell you, I just got my biotics so if I use them too much I get pretty tired." I say slowly so Frank gets the point.
"That's fine!" he says happily, ignoring my warning. "I can get you energy drinks, water, food, whatever you need to work."
"Ok, it might take me a while to get going but I'll only get more conditioned the more I work, so I have that going for me. Plus I could use the practice." I say more to myself then him. This is perfect! Money and biotic conditioning, it's a win-win. "What's my starting wage?"
"Well, starting operator wage is 28 credits and hour, with a nine hour day, five days a week." He tells me as he clasps his hand together on the table. "And It costs me just over 100 creds an hour for the lifts power needs, so how about this. I pay you 75 credits an hour for the first two weeks, I'll use the extra money I save to get you a good amp. After that you'll make 100 an hour until you match the lifts efficiency, once you're as good as the lift I'll pay you 125 credits an hour."
"So let me get this straight." I say shaking my head slightly as I sit up. "You're going to pay me those wages, get me an amp, and the chance to train my biotics?"
"Yes."
I don't even have to think about it.
"You have a deal!"
A/N: Review Response GO!
Zomvee: Thanks man, and don't worry, I won't! ;)
Michae1ange1o: Yeah I'm the same way, and what the fuck! A dog ate your eyelid? Jesus Christ! I'm also disappointed there are more Mavericks out there, I'm going to have to do something about that… Oh and if you don't like movies where dogs have to be put down, go watch I Am Legend, it's a pretty decent movie if you can get over the bad CG.
CrimsonKnight117: You have good instincts sir!
XRaiderV1: Yeah, the best way to learn how to do something is to actually do it!
Universal-Public-Cockblocker: Thanks! That's what I was going for when I wrote it!
FtDLulz: It's always awesome to be told your SI good! And it fits in bills? Well look at that.
NothingVentured: Thanks man, I really self-conscious about mine grammar so it means much thank you.
Spiritstrike: Thanks I tried to make it subtle so it wasn't crazy obvious. Really glad you enjoyed the story so far, and no! It wasn't a lame example! I fucking love that movie!