A/N: Hey everyone, how it going? Just a heads up, my updates might slow a bit in a few days. Almost exactly when Watchdogs comes out, but is totally unrelated. I will definitely NOT be sinking all my spare time into playing it day and night. So yeah. Goodbye.

Chapter 8
-Check It Again-

My eyes open as a hand nudges me awake, its Aila holding out a cup of coffee in her pajamas. Without talking she hands me the cup and I thank her as I get up. I shuffle into the kitchen, trying to yawn and drink coffee at the same time as Aila looks through the fridge for food. She emerges from the futuristic ice box with a couple fruits and places one in front of me, I don't know what they are, some sort of asari fruit I suppose, but it tastes like bananas and pomegranates so I eat them.

"Are you going to talk to your friend today?" Aila yawns.

"Yeah, did you get that investment offer done?" I say through a mouthful of fruit.

"Oh I already sent it to you." She says as she sits down at the table. I look at my Omni-tool and see that I have seven messages that haven't been opened, I see a little speaker in the corner of the display and it has an X through it. I tap it and the X disappears and I dig through the options to adjust the volume of the alerts. After a few minutes I have everything set up how I want so I open my first message, it's from Waiter and from the day after I got to the Citadel.

Hey Mav!

How's the Citadel? Crazy place right? Mack misses you, she said she regrets never acting on the feelings she had for you and her loins ache for your embrace. Jase says hey from the infirmary, he broke his arm during a training exercise because he can handle the raw talent I possess in hand to hand combat! Lucky for him he'll be good to go for our next assignment in [CLASSIFIED]. We are shipping there in a day or so. Did the location get blacked out? Does it look cool? I bet it looks cool. So how are you doing? Did you get that job you were looking for? Let me know what's going on.

Warrant Officer Hayden K. Waittens.

I smile as I tap reply at the end of the message.

Waiter!

It's wild man! I didn't think it would be so crowded. Yeah right Waiter, I'm sure they are burning with such a desire that they're melting a hole in the hull. And bullshit! No way you broke Jase's arm, the only thing you could break is a sweat! The location didn't get blacked out, it was replaced with a big CLASSIFIED, it looks pretty cool I'm not going to lie. Wherever you guys are headed, stay safe. I could be doing better but I think it's all going to turn around soon, my job is shitty but the people I work with are great. I've already made friends to replace you guys! Other than that, not much is going on. My biotics are getting a lot better so that's cool and I found a place to live. Keep in touch man

Mav

I hit send and scroll down to my next message, it's from Mack.

Hey Maverick

Don't listen to Waiter, he's an asshole.

Staff Sargent Makenzie S. Lorri

I can help but smile as I tap reply, as I type I begin to walk over to Aila.

Mack

It's ok, I understand, I felt it too. That undeniable spark of attraction and lust, but you're too late. I've moved on and so should you. It's not healthy love.

Regards, Maverick XOXO

Before I hit send I tap the attachment button and set up my Omni-tool to take a picture and stand next to Aila.

"Aila, smile!" I say as I wrap my right arm around her and tilt my forehead against hers.

"What are doing?"

"Just smile."

I snap the picture and attach it to the message and send it, a childish chuckle escaping from a goofy smile.

"Do I want to know?" Aila asks as she sits on the couch and sips at her coffee.

"Don't worry about it Aila." I smirk as I open the next message. "I'm just messing with someone!"

James

Download this program to your Omni-tool.

Saylem

I look at the program and it looks like some security and privacy software, the download takes a few seconds and I see the next two messages are from Saylem, one is Haynes's DNA map and the other just says he's updated Haynes's will. The next message is from the biotic testing people.

Mr. Matticks

There have been some complications in the nature of your biotic ability that have emerged from the test we ran several days ago. We request that you return to this facility to discuss these developments.

Dr. Theela

I wonder what the complications are. I hope it's not serious, I really can't afford to get sick or worse, die. I can't worry about it now though, I can go after I go see Saleon.

The last message is from Aila, the investment deal is attached to it. I don't know much about that stuff but it looks professional. I close that and open up the extranet and search Dr. Saleon and am given just under a million hits, I narrow it down to the Citadel and am relieved to get five hits. I add salarian to the filters and am greeted with an address to Saleon's Clinic.

I walk over to the couch and grab my shirt off of the back rest and put it on, grunting as a pain sears across my chest and abdomen. Once it's on I look and see Aila with a concerned look on her face.

"You should take something for that." She reasons. "It looks painful."

"I'll be fine, I'll just walk it off." I tell her as I pull on my jacket.

"How will walking help?" she asks.

I walk over to the mirror hanging on the wall and start to mess with my hair after I hang my hat on my head. "It's just an expression, it just means I'm going to tough it out."

She looks at me for a few seconds before coming to a realization. "Are you out of Medi-gel?"

"Maybe." I say as I stand back from the mirror and head to the door. "Besides, the wounds are all patched up it's just the flesh that's tender."

"Whatever you say!" she calls out as I leave the apartment.

I walk out into the street and check my map, Saleon's Clinic is only about an hour and a half away. I can't afford to take a skycar so it looks like I'm walking. I start to weave my way through the people crowding the street. I quickly decide that I'm going to take the less crowded alleyways and duck into one when I had a chance.

After my long walk I arrive at Saleon's Clinic, I walk in the building and look around the clean white foyer. There are a few people waiting around, sitting around in weird pod-like chairs. I walk up to the desk and the receptionist looks up at me.

"How can I help you?" he asks as he looks up at me.

"I have an investment offer for Dr. Saleon." I tell him. "I would like to see him please."

The receptionist makes a few keystrokes on his terminal before turning back to me.

"You're in luck, Dr. Saleon just got out of surgery twenty minutes ago." He explains. "He will be ready for you in a few minutes, just have a seat and I will tell him you're coming. His office is down that hall, the last door on the right."

"Thanks." I nod as I take a seat next to a couple guys waiting in the pod chairs.

I tap my hands on my knees, drumming The Way It Is by The Sheepdogs. After a bit my gaze starts to wander around the room and eventually falls on the gentlemen to my right. The two men from the elevator in Aila's building.

"Well fancy meeting you here." I smirk as they look at me. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We're renegotiating our contract with the owner." The one answers simply.

"You seem to be a busy bunch of guys." I say. "I hope you get paid well for all the running around you do."

"We get by." The other one laughs. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here on behalf of my boss." I tell him. "Making an investment, I guess he's trying to branch out." I shrug.

The receptionist waves at me and I wave back and get up from my seat. "You two take care." I say as I walk up to the desk.

"Dr. Saleon can see you now."

"Thanks." I wave as I head down the hall. As I head towards Saleon's office I can see into the windows of a few operating rooms, one of them is being scrubbed down by a pair of turians. I reach his office and step inside.

I see Saleon sitting at his desk and he is just as seedy as I remember. He has that weird black coloring that blends into his black eyes. He sees me and smiles, making my skin crawl as I take a seat at his desk.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Saleon." He says as he extends his hand.

I reluctantly take it and try to make eye contact with the creep. "James Matticks, I'm here because I have a proposition for you."

"Well Mr. Matticks, please tell me about it." He says as he relaxes in in chair.

God I hate talking to this slime ball, his whole demeanor makes me sick.

"I'm going to cut to the chase Saleon." I say as I lean forward. "We are interested in the medical facility you have here and believe in the work you're doing." I lie. I lean forward and bring my voice to a low whisper. "But I am more interested in your side business Saleon, but in order for us to make this work I'm going to need a sample."

Saleon narrows his eyes at me and clasps his hands together and leans on his desk. "What do you have in mind?"

I smile and open up my Omni-tool and in a few moments I send Haynes DNA map to Saleon. He begins to look over the document as I start to talk. "I'm aware of your cloning experiments, but I want something bigger. I want a full clone, not just organs."

"This isn't something that can be done overnight." He says as he closes the document.

"I'm aware." I say as I bring up Aila's contract and send it to him. "But if you can do this, the funding we can provide will be able to get you anything you want. Equipment, labs, workers, new tech, and better clientele."

I watch as his beady eyes slink side to side as he reads through the document. After a minute he looks up to me and smiles.

"I think we can arrange something." he says in a low creepy tone. "As for your request, how does two weeks sound?"

"Sounds like we are going to be seeing a lot more of each other Doctor." I stand and extend my hand. He takes it and gives it a shake before leading me to the door. "I'm looking forward to seeing your work, but remember, a DNA match is key. If you can't do that than your of no use to us." I threaten.

"That won't be a problem, I will message you when it's close to completion." He tells me as we reach the door to his office. He holds out his hand again as he smiles. "I'm looking forward to this partnership Mr. Matticks."

I hear the door open to my right as I take Saleon's hand. "I'm looking forward to seeing what you can produce." I notice that someone is standing next to me, two people in fact. They must have been the ones to open the door, not us. I turn my head as I release Saleon's hand and I see the absolute last person I wanted to see.

Garrus stares back at me as I look at him and his partner, the blonde Brit from the academy. I can feel Garrus's glare burn a hole in my head, his partner looks more confused and suspicious if anything but Garrus is fuming. If I think about it, it makes sense, he was mad at Saleon in the first game and that was after he had time to cool down on the Normandy. Now though, it's all fresh.

I nod at the two officers as I squeeze between them, Garrus not taking his eyes off me until I'm out of his line of sight. I hope he doesn't scare Saleon off before I can get the copy of Haynes. If I don't get that then everything will fall apart, I can't be stuck here while Shepard runs around the galaxy without me.

As I walk out onto the street, I bring up my Omni-tool and make a group message to Aila, Pac, Saylem, and Broadway.

Hey

Two weeks.

Mav

I hit send and look up the biotic facility on my Omni-tool. Shit, that's a four hour walk. How am I going to get there? I look around for a rapid transit terminal and quickly find one. I scroll through the options and am disappointed that there is no free option. Damn.

I move to the side and let a turian use the terminal, I look over their shoulder and see that he is going to the same ward that the biotic testing facility is on, it's only a forty minute ride to the ward. I see a skycar break away from the line of buzzing skyvehicles and make its way to us. I think if I play this right I might be able to steal a ride with this guy. I just have to be confident, if you look like you belong then nobody questions you.

Most of the time.

The skycar opens up and the turian makes his way into the car and I follow behind him, he takes a seat in the front and I make my way to the rear right seat. I see him staring at me in my peripheral vision, but I don't look up. Instead I bring up my Omni-tool and start to flip through my messages, ignoring the staring turian. I smile as he turns back around and the door to the skycar closes.

I walk into the biotic facility and step up to the desk. I ask the receptionist if I can talk to someone and I give her my name and information. I take a seat and wait about fifteen minutes until the doctor who first tested me leads me into an office.

"Mr. Matticks I have good news and bad news." She says in a professional tone. "I will start with the good news."

"Ok lay it on me Doc."

"The biotic nodes that are in your body, the things responsible for your biotic ability, are showing no signs of rejection." She explains. "One of the nodes has also attached itself to the prefrontal cortex in your brain, the prefrontal cortex is the part of your brain that allows you to focus on tasks and multitask."

"Ok, what does that mean?"

"Most biotics train with hand gestures, that way when the gesture is made it triggers the nodes in their body and allows them to use different abilities based on the gesture. The unique placement of a node on your prefrontal cortex allows you to successfully use your biotics without gestures. Your brain is able to multitask your biotics and your natural movement, eliminating the need for muscle memory gestures."

"Sounds good, what else?"

"That's the good news."

"What's the bad news?" I ask, sitting up in my chair.

The doctor takes in a breath and leans forward, the look on her face suggests it's something serious.

"The amount of eezo that was taken into your body has manifested into several biotic nodes in your body, unfortunately the eezo has also developed into Acute Discrimination Biotic Cancer or ADB cancer. This can be cured fortunately but the procedure is very expensive and will not work past a certain stage of the cancers evolution…"

I stare back at the doctor, not sure what to say. I feel my breath shorten and the doctor's voice becomes an ignored drone. This can't be right, there must have been a mistake with the test. That must be it, there was a mistake on the test. The doctors voice clears up and I listen to the end of her sentence.

"… the cancer in its late stage begins to farm a warp effect and will begin to breakdown the cells in your body an-"

"Can you check the test again?" I interrupt with a misunderstanding smirk.

"Mr. Matticks." She sighs. "I'm sorry but the tests are accurate, what we can do is give you a medication tha-"

"No." I interrupt again, she doesn't get that the tests were wrong. "They have to be wrong, I don't, I can't have cancer. There must have been a mistake, please check again." I plead.

The doctor gives me a sympathetic look. "Mr. Matticks, I'm sorry bu-"

"No." I cut her off. "Check. It. Again. It has to be wrong!" I stress.

"The tests aren't wrong Mr. Matti-"

"They are wrong!" I yell. "Check it again!" I plead, pointing at her as I yell.

"I'm sorry, I can't-"

I shoot up from my chair, sending it backwards across the room. I slam my hands on the desk and leaning over it, getting right in her face. "CHECK IT AGAIN!" I scream. The asari jumps back in surprise, looking down at my hands and then back to me. I look down and see the biotics fade from my hands, two deep handprints denting the metal desk.

I step away from the desk, still staring at the hand prints sunk into the metal. I mumble an apology as I slump back into my chair. The doctor doesn't say anything as I sit motionless, she patiently waits for me to talk, giving me time to take in the news.

After five minutes of silence I finally look up from the floor. "What uh, what can I do to get rid of it?" I ask as I pull the chair back up to the desk.

"Well the only thing you can do for now is go on medication." She responds.

"That's it?" I ask in disbelief, there must be something else.

"For now." She reiterates. "After a year on the meds, we will be able to perform surgery."

"Why the meds?" I ask. "Why can't I just do the surgery now?"

"The medication prepares your body for the surgery, without it the likelihood of the surgery being successful is slim." She tells me. "After a year of medication you should be ready, then we can operate and attempt to remove the cancerous cells."

"Ok, so how much is the medication?" I ask, knowing full well I can't afford them.

"Each dose costs 75 credits, after 365 days you can stop taking it." She tells me, handing me a datapad with the information. "The surgery itself is very quick and costs 10,000 credits."

"Ok, what if I can't take the medication right away?" I ask, hoping that I have time.

"The cancer spreads slowly, it's not aggressive in its early stages. You have to take the medication for a year, that is certain. Unfortunately the cancer has a beta stage in which it begins to aggressively attack the body in order to form a warp in order to spread even faster, this stage takes over ten years to end, causing the start of the apex stage. The apex stage takes two years to finish and at the end, you will expire. The last ten minutes of the stage is when the warp manifests, this is excruciatingly painful but is the only pain you will feel throughout any of the stages. It's not uncommon for patients to "opt out" to save themselves from the pain."

"The cancer causes a warp?" I ask. "Inside me?"

"Yes, but it will take well over thirteen years to manifest, possibly more. You're very lucky that we caught it so early, this gives you ample time to take medication, most people find out too late and enter the beta stage before the medication can prepare them for surgery." She says. "I have to tell you though that if you get the surgery before the beta stage it will still only have a sixty percent chance of being a success. Goddess forbid it reaches the beta stage but if it does, you have at most a five percent chance of pulling through."

I stare at the datapad, eyeing the price of the medication. Even if I get rid of Haynes and start making real money, I have half a million credits to pay off from my last surgery. But the cancer takes two years to reach its apex, I can pay my bills off in a year and have enough time before it gets worse. I can do this.

{Of course you can! You're a fighter!}

Thanks, that actually helps.

[Did you not listen? It's still a sixty percent chance at best, those aren't good odds.]

That doesn't help. Aren't you a part of me? Shouldn't you be trying to help me?

[Of course, asking for help again are we? Why can't you do anything by yourself?]

I do thing by myself! I've done lots of things!

[Name one!]

I… I did…

[Exactly! You need help with everything you do!]

{Don't listen to him, you've done lots of things on your own! You saved Franklin from those muggers and saved Saylem from Wrex and the bad guys in his house!}

Yeah, I did do all that. So fuck you asshole, I do plenty! I don't need to take your shit, especially now.

{Don't worry James, you're going to be ok!}

But what if I'm not? I just got here, it's too soon to leave now, and like this. Cancer, this happens to other people, not me. I don't even get sick, how could this happen?

[You're weak.]

{You're human, it could happen to anyone. You'll get through it, and you'll have friends to support you!}

No, I'm not telling them.

{Why not?}

I don't want them to worry, and I'm not a charity case. This is something I need to beat on my own.

{Your friends can help you, there's nothing wrong with getting help!}

No, they'll probably try to give me money. I've already mooched an apartment from Aila and all I've done to repay her is clean up after myself. I can do this on my own.

"Mr. Matticks?" the asari snaps me from my thoughts.

"I'm sorry." I stammer. "I wasn't listening, what were you saying?"

"Would you like to purchase the medication?"

"I can't afford it." I tell her as I stand up. "I will be able to soon, but not now. Is there anything else you need to tell me?" I ask as I step backwards to the door.

"Mr. Matticks are you ok?"

"Yeah, why?"

She looks at me with a puzzled glance. "You just had an outburst that ruined my desk, most people would still be upset, but you seem to be back to normal. Are you ok?"

"I'm not one to pout doc." I smirk halfheartedly. "What's done is done, crying won't make it go away. Sorry about your desk by the way."

"I've had worse reactions, and patients with less optimism." She smiles. "Have a nice day Mr. Matticks."

"You too." I say as I walk out of the door.

I make my way out of the building and back into the busy streets of the Citadel. I let out a sigh as I rest my hands on my hips and look up at the looming arms of the Citadel, reaching out into space. It's crazy to think that in a year it will be under attack by Sovereign, then Cerberus three years after that. All only to be taken to earth and used as a barge for people to be harvested and then destroyed by the catalyst.

There is so much that is going to happen, the geth, the collectors, Cerberus, the Reapers. It's all so much, how much of a difference can I really make? I'm just one guy. I'm not a soldier or tactician, I play paintball and Halo Wars. The only thing I bring to the table is my knowledge of the game and my biotics, which I haven't even scraped the surface of.

I push past more people and cut through an alley, slowly making my way to Aila's. I look at my Omni-tool and groan when I see my estimated time is three hours. Goddamnit.

I walk into Aila's apartment and see her gathering her pajamas from her dresser.

"Hey Aila." I smile as I hang up my jacket. "Going to bed?"

"I'm taking a shower first." She says as she walks to the bathroom. "How were your meetings?"

"Good." I say as I watch her head into the bathroom and closes the door. "Nothing interesting really, just the usual stuff you know, getting clones and whatnot."

"Just you regular Saturday errands right?" she laughs over the sound of water hitting the metal tub.

I chuckle as I sit on the couch and bring up my Omni-tool and start searching through biotic techniques. I look through the usual stuff, throws, pulls, warps, slams. Then I come across the more difficult ones, singularities, stasis, dominate and a whole other list of things that weren't in the games. My eyes linger on singularity, it was always one of my favorites.

I read for a few minutes and start to concentrate, following the recommendations of the website. A purple swirl begins to form on my palm, I try to focus on pushing it tighter to form the singularity itself. I can see my arm straining as the swirls pick up speed and tighten in my palm, but I can already feel myself getting tired. I guess there's a reason only the best biotics can use it.

I finally give up after working up a sweat and only getting the swirl as small as a softball, I look back at my Omni-tool and curse when it tells me I need to get it to disappear completely to make the miniature black hole. I stand up and walk over to the bathroom and knock on the door.

"Aila!" I shout. "You almost done?"

"Just drying off!" she yells back, and in a few moments the door opens and Aila walks out in her sleepwear. "It's all yours!" she smiles and I walk into the bathroom.

I take off my clothes and toss them into the washing machine. The thing immediately turns on and starts to clean my dirty clothes as I hop into the shower. I look around for something to wash my hair but can only find soap and a loofa. I guess that makes sense, asari don't really need shampoo. So I wash my hair with the soap and get out and dry off.

I put on my pants and look in the mirror, clearing the condensation with my hand. I notice that there's a bit off muscle building up, maybe not building up, maybe I'm just losing the bit of fat I had. The food in the future is always healthy, hell I haven't seen a single overweight person yet. Either way, I look fuckin good! I start to flex in the mirror and make stupid faces before I hear a knock on the door.

"What?" I shout over my shoulder as I strike a Hulk Hogan pose.

"I have to use the bathroom!" Aila frantically yells through the door.

"I don't know." I tell her. "I'm pretty busy in here!"

"Please!"

I laugh as I toss on my shirt and open the door. "You owe me Aila." I joke as she runs into the bathroom. I walk over to the couch and plop down into my makeshift bed.

I start to think about my condition, how it'll affect my life, how it'll affect Shepard's mission. It shouldn't if I don't let it. But there is no point in worrying about that now though.

I can cross that bridge when I get to it.

R/R

tylerbamafan34: Thanks man. Those are oddly specific examples (You mentioned Aiden Pierce so I can only assume you're excited as I am for Watchdogs) but I'm not sure yet. I was tossing around the idea of using some tech from Titanfall but I think it's just because I've been playing it so much lately, you ever play it? It's surprisingly good! I might scrap it though, I'm still not sure. Would you be interested in stuff like that? I love feedback from the reader, it helps me make a better story for you to read!

Wolfshark: Yeah! Fuck Haynes! Not really a vengeance, I don't want them to heavily impact the story like other authors have done. I try to make them out as a sort of moral system and a place to sneak dialogue in between important stuff. Thanks for the review man!

cmitts93: Yeah Mav and Garrus aren't on the best of terms right now, at this rate it probably wont be getting any better. Thanks for the review man!

DelVarO: Haha! Fuck the system! Don't let the man keep you down dude! Haha! Thanks for reading man, and thanks for the review, I'm glad I could brighten your day in the land of grey over there! ;)

KrystylSky: Yeah for sure! And knowing Garrus he won't be letting that go very easily! Thanks for reading!

general-joseph-dickson: Just a few, it's really too early to tell! Thanks for the review!

CrimsonKnight117: Thanks, I thought it was a good idea! I never got why some fics just followed the storyline and only helped in that regard, there's no reason why you can't do even more right? Not saying that the other major fics are bad, hell some of them aren't even done yet, I just thought it was a good idea! Thanks for the review!

XRaiderV1: Thank you man!

Spiritstrike: Yeah, you always gotta give a nod to the greats now and then! Yeah so far Mavs been fucked every time he rounds the corner! Really? It seems weird to me, maybe not weird, sadistic might be a better word! ;) And yeah Wrex is the best, did you ever have to kill him in ME3? If not look it up on youtube, between that and stopping Mordin it's two of the things that are in ME3 that makes me wonder who could possibly do that! I hope I don't have to wait forever either! ;) And I like reading through your long reviews, but PM's might not be a bad idea. We have seems to slip more and more into a full blown conversation that has nothing to do with fanfictions at all! Anyway, thanks for reading!

masterdude94: Haha, don't say hacked! Your only fueling my anticipation for Watchdogs! Yeah, anything to get rid of Haynes, it actually makes me mad writing in the shitty things I make him do! Thanks for the review!

V-rcingetorix: Not bad if I do say so myself! Haha, you'll have to wait man! And Garrus is heavy for a reason you might not expect, you'll find out when Mav goes to court. Thanks for reading and leaving a review man!