A/N: Alright people, next chapter is ahead. On a World Cup note, Italy has finally gone home! Nana na na, nana na na, hey hey hey, gooodbyyye! It actually makes me happy to see them out of the Cup, not only do I not like the team for all of their dives and bullshit, I also don't have to deal with the fans. Specifically the 3rd or 4th generation Italians who suddenly find their heritage and make fools of themselves. Anyway, my predictions for tomorrow. Argentina should beat Nigeria. Iran over Bosnia. Honduras and the Swiss will be tough to call, but I'm gunna say Switzerland will come out on top. France will take the win over Ecuador. Now, it's show time!
Chapter 16
-Justice-
"It's time!" I shout as I jump around the room, I leap over the couch and grab Aila by the shoulders and make her jump around with me. "It's time Aila! This is it!" I jump backwards and land on the couch, quickly raising the volume on the TV.
The anchor starts to talk to her co-anchor for a bit until she starts getting to the facts.
"The human colony Eden Prime came under attack by unknown forces, but colonists who witnessed the attack say the attackers were not organic. Could this be the geth coming beyond the veil? If so, how will the quarians answer for the geths war crimes? More after the break."
A commercial starts play and I fly off the couch, sprinting over to my armor case. I grab the under armor and combat pants and run into the bathroom, trying to beat the commercial. I almost trip over one of my pant legs as I hop out of the bathroom, pulling them up entirely just in time to sit back down on the couch.
"… is rumored that the attackers were after a Prothean relic that was discovered on Eden Prime not more than a few weeks ago. Fortunately a ground team of the Alliance warship, the Normandy, was able to repel the invaders with the help of marines stationed on Eden Prime as well as local hunters. The Normandy will report back to the council when they arrive, which is estimated to be five hours, and we will have more on the story as it develops."
"Local hunters?" I say, cocking my head at the TV.
"Is it not supposed to happen like that?" Aila asks, who is now fully clothed.
"I don't know." I say, still watching the report. "I never saw the news reels of the attack, maybe that was somewhere else."
"What does that mean?" she asks now looking at me, confused with her hands on her hips.
"What does what mean?" I ask as I turn off the TV and start to clip on my armor.
"You said you never saw the news reel of the attack." She asks, narrowing her eyes as she takes a step forward. "Does that mean you saw the attack?"
Goddamn it, I really need to start wording things better. "Uhh."
"Uhh." She says in a low voice, mimicking me as she advances. "What's uhh? You never said how you knew all of this, but now that it's happened, I want to know how you know."
"Aila." I say as I drop my helmet on the table and walk over to her. "I promise I will tell you everything, just not now ok?" I say as I rest my hands on her shoulders. "But you need to do something for me, I need you to take the company, Pac, Saylem, and Broadway and get off the Citadel. Ok?"
"Why?" she asks skeptically.
"Because the Citadel isn't safe, it won't be safe." I say as sincerely as I can. "Promise me you'll move."
"Ok."
"Thank you." I say as I walk back to the table and grab my helmet, tucking it under my arm.
"So you're leaving now?" she asks as she follows me through the apartment as I walk to the door.
"Yeah, I'll be back to get my things later though, but you probably won't be here." I say as I reach the door. "I just want to say thank you, for everything."
"You're welcome." Aila smiles as she gives me a hug. "Thank you, for everything."
"No problem." I tell her as I hug her back. "Tell everybody I said goodbye, I wish I could tell them myself but I've gotta go." I say as I turn to the elevator.
"James!" Aila shouts, causing me to turn around quickly. She's holding her hand out as if she's reaching for me and walks closer.
"Yeah?"
"I…" she hesitates, clearly wanting to say something but she seems very… unsure of herself. I raise my brow as I wait to hear what she has to say, not quite sure why she stopped me. "I'll miss you." She says, looking almost disappointed in her own answer.
"I'll miss you to Aila, write to me when I'm away ok?" I smile as I back into the elevator. "And don't worry I'll be back eventually."
"Promise?" she asks hopefully.
"I promise." I assure her as the door closes and I ride the elevator to the ground floor.
The door opens and I start to jog to the street, thinking about where I should go to meet Shepard. Chora's den is out, when I played Mass Effect 1 I shot anybody in there with a gun. I doubt Shepard would do this but you never know, so I won't take chances. I hope Ivan is still getting his leg patched up, or at least not working when Shepard rolls through. He could still be in that alley for all I know.
Meeting Shepard anywhere Garrus is would be out of the question, so no Dr. Michele, C-Sec Academy or Council chambers. I guess all that leaves is Tali, yeah I could handle that. Maybe even make myself look good by getting rid of those salarians and the turian.
I should go reload my explosives though, I only used one breaching charge but I'd rather have it and not need it then need it and not have it. Maybe I'll stop by Golums and get some work done on my armor, maybe just to put my name on my helmet. I've got five hours after all.
I walk over to a rapid transit terminal and enter Grash'shas weapons and wait for a car to pick me up. In a few minutes is see a car veering off from the stream of them floating in the sky and it heads towards me. When it lands I hop in the front seat but before the door can close two men in black suits hop in the back with me.
I turn to look at them and see they are both looking at me, my HUD picks up that they're carrying pistols. They've both got buzzed hair which reminds me of the military, and have an air of professionalism about them.
"James Matticks?" the one asks as he sits forward.
"Goddamnit." I shout loudly as I slouch in my seat. "Yeah…"
"We would…"
"Yeah yeah, you wanna talk to me." I interrupt, lazily waving my hand at them. "All your Cerberus bullshit, just put him on the line."
There is a moment of silence before my Omni-tool beeps, I look at it and I see I have an incoming call from a private number. I take off my helmet and I click answer, immediately greeted by a young Martin Sheen on a small video screen.
"Making house calls?" I smirk.
"If the situation warrants." He replies, lighting a cigarette before continuing. "I somehow doubt you would be willing to come and talk to me aboard one of my ships."
"On the money." I nod. "So what can I do for you? Or answer for you?"
"It appears you were right Mr. Matticks, Eden Prime was attacked by an unknown force. I regret that you didn't tell me the location of the attack, that information could have saved human lives."
"I know, but it's a domino effect." I try to explain. "If you intervened it could have gone much worse or it could have gone much better, either way it would change things."
"Which brings me to my next point." He says, taping the ash off of his cigarette. "You say this is a domino effect, you would only call it that if you knew there were other dominos that haven't fallen yet. I think you know more then you're letting on."
"Yeah." I say, nodding slightly and looking off to the side. "I know a lot of things to be honest."
"How far ahead do you know?"
"I'm surprised you even believe me." I tell him, changing the subject slightly. "I thought that even if you did you'd have me tortured or something."
"Only if the situation warrants." He says darkly as the embers from his cigarette illuminate his face, he pauses for a second before letting the smoke billow out of his mouth. "That all depends on you."
"Yeah I guess so." I sigh. "You want to know how far I know?" I ask rhetorically. "Far, about five years, right up till the end."
"The end of what exactly Mr. Matticks?"
"Everything." I whisper. "The end of fucking everything. The Citadel, Thessia, Palavin, Earth, Sur'Kesh, and every other home world and colony. Even your little Cronos station, floating around that star of yours in the Horsehead Nebula."
Harper actually sits there for a minute, his cybernetic eyes narrowing as he takes a long drag from his cigarette. "The reapers." He says, a hint of finality on his voice.
"So you know." I smile. "I always wondered how early you figured it out. When did you find out?"
"Years ago. There are hints of them in between the lines of Prothean ruins, something that could easily be passed off as mythology." He says, clearing his cigarette again. "I found myself drawn to the idea, the idea of something so powerful it could wipe out life as we know it."
"You should avoid them, everything about them." I shake my head, immediately catching that last part as typical Illusive Man greed for power.
"The things we could learn from them are endless, we could jump humanity to the top of the galaxy."
"When I said it would be the end of everything, I meant you too." I warn. "You especially."
"This is beyond me, this is about the advancement of human kind."
"No!" I snap. "It's not beyond you! This obsession you have will be the death of every single human out there!"
"I don't believe you." He shakes his head as he snuffs out his cigarette. "I wouldn't let that happen."
"You do." I say, trying to be sincere. "I know you don't want to but there's nothing you can do about it, it's not you who does it, it's the reapers."
"How?"
"I couldn't explain it to you. I… you'd have to see for yourself. It's called indoctrination, it's why Saren did what he did. Once it starts you can't stop it, and that happens to you." I try to explain. "I can't tell you anymore right now, the times not right but to be honest if there's one thing I wouldn't mind changing it's you."
"I still don't believe you, I don't believe I would put humanity at risk."
"I didn't think you would." I say to myself. "Just wait and you'll see, for now I can leave you with a little look into the future."
"I'm listening."
"You have to promise me you won't interfere."
He seems to consider this for minutes, but it was probably only a few seconds. "You have my word."
"Today Commander Shepard will come back and report to the council. They dismiss the fact that Saren is crooked until Shepard and his crew find Tali Zorah who has evidence of Sarens involvement in Eden prime." I start, rolling my head left to right as I tediously list of the events of Mass Effect 1 from memory. "He recruits Tali Zorah, Garrus Vakarian, and Urdnot Wrex." I finish. That should keep Harper off my ass and help me start to change his mind, I really hope I can change his mind.
"And what do you plan on doing when this is all unfolding?"
"I plan to join Shepard."
Harper lights himself another cigarette and I roll my eyes, I don't know how he can still smoke this far into the future. I like a cigar now and then but cigarettes are fucking putrid. He takes a long drag before sitting up in his chair.
"I'll be in touch." He says as the feed cuts out, letting me let out a huge sigh.
I hope this doesn't become a regular thing but knowing him it will be. I don't know if I can change his mind though, it took Shepard the whole of Mass Effect 3 to do that and by then it was too late. I don't think I have even close to the same persuasive skills as Shepard, but I got to him four years early.
He still didn't believe me about how he ruins humanity, even though I called every event up to now though I was a little vague. This time I gave him heaps of information, I know he's thick headed but come on!
The skycar shudders as it lands on the ground a block from Grash'shas's store, cracking open with a hiss. I start to crawl out of the skycar, turning back to grab my helmet and wave to the two Cerberus guys in the back. Their job must really suck.
I jog up to the store and walk in, greeting Grash as I do. "Hey, need more charges!" I say as I walk up to the counter.
"You got it." He says gruffly as he reaches under the counter. He pulls out a box of breaching charges and I take one out, unrolling it and examining it.
"Cheers." I nod as I stuff it into its home on the back of my thigh.
"Just one?"
"Yup."
"Need anything else?"
"Nope."
"Ok." he shrugs and rings me up after putting the box away.
"Thanks Grash." I nod as I start to make my way out the door.
"Come back when you run out, I'll set you up right." he calls back.
I walk out of the store and open my Omni-tool. Shit I've still got a long time before Shepard gets here, I haven't even wasted and hour yet. I start to make my way down the block towards Golums place, getting there in a few minutes.
"Golum!" I cheer as I walk into the store.
Golum casually glances up from his Omni-tool and nods to me as he straightens up.
"What can I do for you?" he says as I walk up to the counter. He looks at my arm and smiles. "Never mind, I can see what you need. Took one in the arm eh?" he laughs as he pats my wounded arm, making me flinch slightly. "Doesn't look so bad, how's the other guy?"
"Dead." I shrug.
Golum lets out a hardy laugh as he celebrates death as krogan do. "Good boy!" he cheers.
"Boy?" I cock my head, a little bit insulted.
"I'm six hundred years old, I would call any human boy no matter how grey they are."
"Makes sense." I nod. "I still don't like it, but what can I do eh?"
"Not much." He shrugs, still smiling. "Let's get that off you, should be an easy repair."
I walk over to the courtesy curtain and remove all of my armor, folding up the under armor before I pull on my combat pants. I toss the under armor to Golum and he takes it into the back room, while he does that I put the rest of my armor on save for my helmet and start to walk around the store.
I catch a glimpse of myself in a mirror and stop to look at myself. Without the under armor I have a realistic gears of war thing going on, realistic in the sense that my limbs aren't the size of basketballs.
Eventually Golum walks out with my armor, tossing it onto the counter before typing a price into his Omni-tool.
"Hey are these that expensive?" I ask as I nod to the armor.
"Not really, why you want a few extras?" he asks. "You planning on getting shot?"
"Is that normal?" I ask, honestly not sure but it makes sense. "And I don't think anyone plans on getting shot."
"Yeah true enough, tell you what, get one and I'll give you the next one half off."
"Alright, I'll take them. I also want you to add something to my armor."
"Tech or those pretty colors you humans are so obsessed with." He smirks.
"Pretty colors big guy." I smile, placing my helmet on the counter. "Nothing crazy, just a little egotistical style." I run my finger along the left jawline of the helmet, stopping an inch before the Icarus logo on my mouth. "Just paint the name Maverick right here."
"It's your money." He shrugs as he picks up the helmet.
We sort out the placement and font and in the three minutes it takes to print it I put on my fresh gel armor.
"You want to take these home?" he says, pushing the two gel armors forward.
"Nah, just send it to this address." I say as I send him the address to Aila's place. "When will it be there?"
"Two hours?" he shrugs. "Three at the most."
"Cool." I say as I pay my bill. "Thanks man, see you later."
I arrive at Chora's Den, still no bodies littering the walkway so that's good. I walk around and decide to go into Chora's Den to see if anybody's in there yet. The music is a bit quieter because it's only the middle of the day and there are almost no people her compared to when it's dark.
I see a few familiar faces when I take a seat and look around. I see that shit head Harkin sitting in the corner, looking like his usual sleazy self. I don't see Wrex yet, so I still have a while to go before Shepard gets here. The one that bugs me is Ivan, I don't see him anywhere. Shit I shouldn't have left him in that alley, he probably bled out next to that shitty building. Maybe he didn't, maybe someone found him.
I get up and walk towards the bar, getting the attention of a scantily dressed bartender.
"What can I get yah hun?" she asks with a smile.
"I'm looking for someone." I tell her, resting my hands on the counter.
"Well you found her." she winks. "Thought you'd be on a horse and in shining armor but I'll take tall dark and dangerous any day." She says with a coy smile as she looks me up and down.
"Some other day love." I shake my head. "I'm looking for a friend who works here, Russian guy, tattoos?"
"Oh yeah." She nods as she starts cleaning some sort of fluid off the bar. "Haven't heard from him in a few days, I think he was supposed to be in today but he hasn't shown up yet."
Shit, I shouldn't have left him there, nobody deserves that. Well, maybe Haynes, but Ivan seemed like a good guy.
"Thanks." I say as I take off my helmet, the bartender smirking as she looks at my face. "Got any scotch?"
"That I do." she nods as she reaches under the counter and pulls out a glass.
"Just one finger." I nod as I hold up my finger.
"I more of a two finger girl myself." She says with a sultry smile as she pours my drink.
"You know I gotta friend who would love you." I smirk. "You like quarians?"
"Never tried one." She says as if checking an imaginary tally. "How would that work?"
"I don't know." I shrug as I take my drink. "Apparently you need an attachment."
"I've got a few of those myself." She laughs as I walk away from the bar.
"Yeah I bet you do." I mutter to myself as I walk to a booth in the corner.
I sit in the corner for a few hours, downloading a few gigabytes of music onto my Omni-tool as I sip at my drink which I'm sure is watered down. I download a lot of big band music like Frank Sinatra thanks to my brief addiction to Fallout and a lot of rock, most of it Canadian like Head of the Herd and Monster Truck. I set a timer on my Omni-tool and listen to music as I wait for Mass Effect 1 to happen, getting more anxious as every minute ticks by.
My music dulls and an alarm beeps, cutting Rose Tattoo by The Dropkick Murphys off before the final verse. I turn off the alarm and look around at my surroundings. There are is a noticeably larger amount of guards hanging around, I guess I didn't notice them come in. None of them are Ivan, which makes me feel really shitty. Harkin is still trying to drink the sleaze off of him, it's not working. It seems generally busier in the Den, but not enough to warrant all of these guards.
I see the light of the door opening pour into the club and turn to see a mountain of red and muscle walk into the club. Wrex is here so it's time to get moving, I slide my helmet on and click in the seals before walking out of the Den.
I follow the déjà vu like a spirit guide, searching for the alley where Tali is going to be. I find it remarkably quick and look around to see nobody. Good, this should give me some time to prepare. Shit there isn't much here I can use, the one alley is out because that's where Shepard comes from, the other alley should be where the hit men come from, then there's these crates awkwardly stuffed in the corner. All options equally shitty, where can I go that they won't expect me.
My eyes eventually trace their way up the wall that the crates are against and I get an idea. I strut up to the wall and clap my hands together as I build a warp in each hand, bits of warp sparking off after each clap and dissipating before they hit the ground. I lower my mass as I press my index fingers into the wall, climbing my way up as fast as I can.
After about fifty feet and ten where the hell am I going thoughts later I reach a small tow foot wide lip in the wall. Why is it there? No idea, but I'm pretty happy it is. I perch myself on the lip and scour the alley like a hawk, quickly getting bored and listening to music through my helmet.
I start thinking about what I should do, I mean obviously I'm going to fly down like a falcon on these guys but I think I should say something. Something cool that reflects my personality and makes Shepard say 'Hey, that guys really cool!' or something like that… I don't think there's anything that could make Shepard say that, he or she isn't a goddamn after school special.
I see movement out of the corner of my eye and see Tali walk into the lobby, purple hood and weird geth robot arm and all. I never got why she wore that thing, it just reminds me of Saren. She's nervously wringing her hands together as she walks into the center of the alley, constantly looking around but thankfully not up.
I see a guy start to walk through the alley, he seems to be hell bent on something because he's walking pretty quickly. The first thing I notice about him is he has long brown hair, tucked up in a lazy ponytail but I also notice he's got something in his hand, some sort of pipe or something.
He stops in front of Tali and much to my surprise he starts talking to her. Who the hell is this guy? He wasn't in the game but then again Shepard came at the last minute anyway. Maybe he'll go away… or Tali will shoot him. She points her pistol as him, making him raise his hands and that weird looking pipe.
They talk for a bit more and I curse that I can't hear them from way up here. What could they possibly be talking about? It doesn't matter, as long as he leaves soon, I assume he's leaving because Tali lowered her pistol.
They seem to be done talking and I expected him to walk away but this guy runs over to the crates and starts to climb in one of them.
What, the, fuck, is this asshole doing?
He disappears into the crate and Tali stares at it for a bit, clearly more confused as I am. In less than a minute the turian and salarians round the corner and the déjà vu kicks back in, I really hope that goes away. Tali and the turian start to talk and he starts running his talon up and down her arm.
Show time!
I see some shadows start to smear against the entrance of the alley as I push myself of the ledge. Aw shit, I forgot to think of something cool to say! Fuck! You're already halfway down, just say something, anything!
"JUSTICE!" I roar at the top of my lungs as I slam onto the turian, using him as a cushion as I force him to the ground. He rolls around quickly on the ground just in time to meet my heavy fist. The crack of fabricated plate against natural plate echoes off the alley walls, blue blood splatting across the white Icarus logo on my hand.
I ignore the fact that I just killed another man, at least this time it was quick, and turn to swat away the salarians but find that they're being taken care of. The contrail of a sniper round pierces through one of the salarians head leaving a mess of blood shooting out behind him. The last salarian takes a round in the shoulder, violently spinning him around 180 degrees until another bullet slams through his visor from the other side of the alley.
The gunfire echo's away as the last salarian stands there before falling to the ground like a board, hitting the ground with a thud. I look up and smile when I see Ivan in the alley, even though he looks pretty furious to see me, but that's understandable.
Wait… what the fuck is Ivan doing here?
I hear a creak and turn to me left, seeing the long haired guy awkwardly looking around, staring at me and Ivan with a miffed expression on his face.
I hear the quiet thunder of footsteps and turn to see a welcome sight. I see Shepard standing straight as she scans the alley for more threats. Her wild fiery red hair hanging over her green eyes and freckled face. I have to say, she looks fucking good! She was hot in the game for sure, the third one specifically but in the flesh it's another story entirely.
I tear my eyes of the red haired beauty and look among the other Normandy crew members. Wrex draws my eye first, how could he not? He doesn't seem to care that I'm here, or that Ivan or the crate hippy is here but he seems satisfied. He probably got to kill Fist, which must explain the sour look on Ashley's face. She's always kinda pissed off though, especially with new people.
Kaiden is there too, leaning towards Ash as he whispers to her. "Did he yell justice?" Goddamnit, why would I yell justice? I'm a fucking idiot. Oh well, I move on from the fellow Canuck to see Garrus, who definitely doesn't recognize me in my armor. He actually seems to be glaring at Ivan, who shouldn't be here.
Then there's… Garrus's partner? Why the hell is he here? He shouldn't be here, what the fuck is going on here? And who the fuck is that?! I see a guy in light Alliance armor with a… a Mattock? Where the hell did he get that? Who the fuck are these people?
"Thanks for the assist." Shepard nods with a smile as she holsters her sniper rifle, hmm must be an infiltrator. That's new.
"No problem." I say at the same time as Ivan, causing us to look at each other, though his is more of a glare. We stop staring at each other to look at the crate hippy who is making a shitload of noise getting out of that crate.
I look past Shepard and stare at the two new guys, Shepard must have picked up on this because she turn to them and then back to me. "Well thanks anyway, I'm Commander Shepard and this is my crew, Kaiden Alenko, Ashley Williams, Garrus Vakarian, Urdnot Wrex, Ian Shaw…"
I… Ian Shaw?... No, it couldn't be the same…
"and Dylan Owens."
Dylan… isn't he… it, it couldn't be…
"Who are you?"
"Just call me Art."
Art?... vexations… no it...
"Alex Engelstein."
Ivan's Alex?... isn't he from…
"What's your name?" Shepard asks, looking at me for an answer.
"What. The. Fuck."
R/R
OBSERVER01: Yes it does, and yes he did!
Spiritstrike: A little bit, but at the end of the day they just care about the money, no honour! Yeah, Mavs got quite the folder at C-Sec. Pills hmm, the only thing that comes to mind is Left 4 Dead, pills here! Yup, pre ME1 is done and we're on to ME1. I figured as much, and thank you! I have no doubt in my mind you could, it seems like that's your thing. And yeah, that was the one! I couldn't help but laugh the whole way through, not that it wasn't good, but it was like reading a friends journal or something. No matter how serious it is you can't help but laugh. Thank you!
V-rcingetorix: Yup, thanks man. I don't have a beta, I have to do it all on my own so it feels good that you didn't find anything. Yeah I try to be careful with the timing, I made sure to say at least or at most when talking about the Eden Prime date because I couldn't find a date for it. And thanks, biotics is a crazy idea and has almost limitless combat potential. Thanks man!
.77: Yup, more than most realized! Yeah, seems Aila might be falling for our Mav, but who knows… it's me, I know ;) Thanks, I'll definitely try!
general-joseph-dickson: Yeah, they are.
FLaTone: That'll come eventually, and Mavs pretty good in fight!
Orchidellia: Yeah, Eden Prime is here! Thank you, I liked writing the pre ME1 chapters. Haha, most of them are wrong, and I didn't see it coming either. That whole game was fantastic. Yeah, I liked England. I think this is one of the first times they were eliminated so early in 50 years, I think, I'm not positive but either way it's an upset.
XRaiderV1: Thanks man, I appreciate the review.
SoMuchGerry: Lorin will be sticking around, probably more after ME1.
toprichie97: It will all be staying the same. I never limit how long a chapter will be, it just ends up being around 5k. the updates will be the same to because I still have to save time for work, playing video games, going to the pub, and hanging out with friends. You know, stuff that keeps my sanity level in the green.
Niras91: Hey, don't worry about it, I get that. Thank you, making conversations is probably my favourite thing to do! Thanks again! I like to think there's more to the story then banter and shenanigans. Again, thank you! I went back and reread my story and your right, I noticed a bit of refinement but also kept the writing style. How's that for putting Mav (among others) in the story line? Thank you, you're just full of compliments aren't you? Makes me feel good so thanks!