AN: I do not own Worm, I do not own Mass Effect. Not that I should need to clarify that fact but there you go.
I'm staring. Frankly it is hard not to. I mean the sheer volume of what they had collected! Sitting in front of me was over a sixty pages in twelve-point font. Each detailing various series with Artificial intelligence, a brief summary of the story, any unsavory scenes best avoided, and descriptions of any noteworthy cast members I might be able to gain new powers from.
"Fuck."
Dennis nodded. "Pretty much what we all said."
"This, this could take years at the rate Piggot has me going through things!"
"You probably won't need all of those." Amy said, rubbing my arm reassuringly.
"Yeah, but still, even if we go at the directors pace this could take months to find the right powers. With the shadow clones I'll be able to get a handle of new powers a lot faster than normal, they might be a big help when I get to the actual programming portion too... But some of these…"
I flipped through a few pages.
"Potential tinker power. Potential tinker power. Potential tinker power." It goes on and on and on scifi and tinker powers are just constant companions. "Each of these tinker powers is going to call for specialized tools to get anywhere with. Plus, I just know that Armsmaster is going to be all over me to explore each one. That alone could take years since tinkers can always improve their tech." I said.
"Which doesn't even touch on the fact that you might be able to combine elements of three different tinker specialties into one project. Possibly more if you keep detailed notes and swap them out a lot." Chris chimed in darkly.
Chris seemed fairly frustrated by the whole thing. I could understand that. While he struggled just to discover what his specialty might be I could have access to hundreds of tinker specialties, and I would likely know exactly what they could do in advance. Honestly I wished there was something I could do to help...
"Hey Chris… do you think if maybe I looked for thinker powers I might be able to figure out your tinker specialty?"
Chris actually seemed to freeze in place. "I don't know." He frowned. "Maybe if we could find a tinker or thinker power that gives you an inherent understanding of technology or something…" Chris trailed off before glancing at some of the others.
"We'll look into it." Eugene promised. "If we're lucky it might be useful for checking some of my stuff before using it too." Chris nodded thoughtfully, then shot me a small, grateful smile.
I gave a half smile back. One more thing to add to my to do list.
Pulling my thoughts back to the present started looking through the notes once more.
A lot of potential choices seemed fairly limited to AI and robotics. Not necessarily bad skills to have, but they just might give the game away a little bit quicker than I was ready to accept. Something with a variety of powers would make for a better cover. I could probably do a few books or movies on my own at home without giving anything away so I should try to take on the more time consuming options officially through the Wards.
It took a while but eventually I found just the thing,
"Alright how about we start with this one." I showed the group my selection.
"Hmm that's going to be time consuming and it'll work better if you let Jeff and I do a run through first that way you can get a head start on the stats when you do your run through… assuming your power lets you do that, of course." Eugene said tapping at his chin.
"It would give you a lot of options." Dennis said. "Not to mention it could be a good base for learning about AI… Though we need to cover some pointers about not unlocking the relationship options… well unless you want to-ooph" Dennis was cut off as Missy slapped the back of his head.
"Idiot." She grumbled.
"Ok. How long do you guys need to do this run through of yours?" I asked Jeff and Eugene.
"Give us say… four days." Jeff said.
Eugene nodded. "Between what the Protectorate has us doing and switching off four days should give us enough time. Five at the outside."
"Right, everyone, look through the character list. If you want to come this one might call for sick leave from classes."
Chris snorted. "Oh it's definitely going to call for sick leave if you want to max everything out. Honestly I think those two are being optimistic about the timeframe they gave you."
"Shush young apprentice." Eugene intoned calmly. "Simply sit and be amazed at the power of the masters."
Shaking my head, I started looking through the notes. I'd commit the whole thing to memory if that's what it took.
{}{}{}{}
Sitting on the couch I glanced around at the group coming with me.
Missy was here hoping to pick up a few new tricks she could use her power for. Amy had tagged along for emotional support and to give herself a vacation claiming it would be she deserved several after the past few years and Naruto had been fun but less than relaxing. Jeff and Eugene naturally decided to come with me as well.
Chris wanted to see if his tinker power could make any sense out of the technology from the game, and Dennis chose to come simply because.
I suppose it really wasn't all that many people but then again we expected to be gone for four to five days given we would likely need time to recuperate between missions. Besides my teammates and girlfriend there would be, well a lot of me. I'd maxed out the shadow clones at twenty-five. All but one of which had grabbed onto me or someone already touching me. The last clone would be an experiment to see if they were dragged along regardless of contact.
With a deep breath I picked up the controller and started the process.
"New Game." I murmured clicking the green 'A' button. "Import ME2 Character." Jeff and Eugene had powered through the game and their previous save files to get this ready for me so I could max out my options and I intended to fully exploit that. "Taylor Shepard." The loading screen displayed some kind of ship with charging green bars near what I assumed to be the engine.
"Combat difficulty… Casual." Jeff groaned like I was making some kind of mistake, but this was going to be my first shooter game. Not to mention I'd feel it when my character got shot. I was going to stack the deck in my favor however possible.
"Auto level up, off. Subtitles, no. Squad power usage... Yes?" That was a shot in the dark but I figured it couldn't hurt anything. "Autosave, definitely yes."
The opening credits started to roll. Wow that was a pretty view and… oh wow that outfit didn't leave much to the imagination now did it? I tried to pay attention to the dialogue but between only getting a synopsis of the game before this in the series, and the fact I was waiting for the tug of the black room it was hard to focus.
I sat enraptured as the scene continued to play out. The graphics were really quite impressive. Leaps and bounds better than anything I had seen from a game before.
My breath hitched as we watched the Normandy begin to fall apart under enemy attack.
Everyone was exchanging nervous glances now. Why hadn't my power kicked in yet?
Finally, a dialogue choice came up. Selecting 'they'll be here' I leaned forward slightly grimacing and hoping for the best. Still no tug from my power. Was I attempting to bring to many people?
Another dialogue choice had me sending Kaiden off of the ship.
Leading my character on I guided her to the bridge... Flight deck? Control room? I shook the thought aside and told Joker 'not to throw his life away'. With baited breath I watched the ship come under fire again. I watched Shepard launch Joker's escape pod and drift into space.
I saw her begin to thrash about as her suit vented. I was shaking like a leaf. All I could manage to think was how happy I was my power had yet to kick in. Having my blood boil and the oxygen ripped from my lungs was not on the to do list.
More images started to flash over the screen the human body and brain, medical tools and more.
Another set of options. I spent a few minutes creating an appearance that at least held some similarities to my normal face though it was by no means a perfect match.
Then came a list of powers from which I could select. After a moments consideration I decided to select barrier as my bonus power. I wasn't sure about being a 'vanguard' or whatever but everyone who knew the game assured me it was the way to go. With that I accepted the character and finally my power engaged, tugging us all into the black room.
I quick head count showed that my stand alone clone did come with us. I wasn't sure if, or how, that could be useful but I filed the thought away for later.
Missy ever excitable ran up to the scan the options and gave a low whistle at the number of possible characters.
"Ok, who is the most badass female space warper?" Missy asked.
"Jack." Was the simultaneous deadpan response from all of the boys.
"But you probably shouldn't-" Dennis trailed off as Missy vanished from the black room. "Fuck. she's going to kill us all." The redhead moaned.
"Why?" Amy asked.
"Because," Chris cut in. "Jack's starting outfit is a pair of tight jeans and a set of suspenders that only really cover her nipples."
Groaning my clones and I all put our heads in our hands. "Great, just what I needed. Sexual harassment of a minor with a Parahuman ability. Piggot is going to be soooo happy about this."
Clearing his throat Chris checked out the characters. "Right, I'm just going to grab Jacob and see if I can make heads or tails of any of the games guns." Chris said being careful not to look at anyone.
"Oh my God." Eugene said with a look of awe. "You're going to try and figure out how to make the Cain aren't you?!"
"Hey! It's a good idea! Imagine hitting an Endbringer with it!"
"Umm, just how powerful is this thing that you want to use it on an Endbringer?" Amy asked,
Jeff grinned. "The things nickname is the mini nuke."
What the hell am I about to unleash? Forget it can we just, let's just get moving, please?
Jeff and Eugene shared a look.
"Grunt. Definitely, Grunt." Jeff laid claim.
Eugene just snorted. "Take him, I got dibs on Garus." The two shared evil grins before taking their selected characters.
Dennis look up and down the wall. "I could be Joker… I'd have an awesome beard. I would get to be badass/smartass pilot who pulls off amazing maneuvers…. But I'd also spend most of the next four or five days just sitting in a chair… Legion is fucking awesome… But he's more adorable than funny or bad ass. Thane is just, well he is awesome but not my kind of awesome."
Dennis stood tapping at his chin for a few moments before shrugging and slapping the light labeled Joker.
"That just leaves you Amy." I nudged her forward.
Amy looked over the options contemplatively. Then spotted something that caught her eye. With a devious little smirk and a swing of her hips she tapped the light labeled Miranda Lawson. For some reason I felt a small shiver run down my spine.
With a wave to my clones they came forward and selected any other persons of interest until only one light remained. With a deep breath I stepped up and selected the one labeled Shepard.
I opened my eyes on an operating table. Standing up I stretched out the muscles in my neck.
Time to get started.
AN:Read and review!
Also this isn't going to be like the Naruto cross. I'm going to do a series of short scenes picked from the massive list of mission and cut scenes in the game. Question for you all. DLC Characters. Yes, or no? I never played any of the DLC so I'm clueless about them. Not that they would make much, if any, difference to how I plan to write this up but are the powers worth it? I know Kasumi can cloak but that's about the extent of my knowledge. And It's more interesting and faster to ask you all then do the research myself. ;)