Three days later and here they were. Clark leaned back in his chair on the shuttle as they entered the atmosphere of Freedoms Progress, crossing his arms he glanced away from the window and to the two others in the shuttle aside from the pilot who were sitting opposite him, Miranda had barely left his side since they left the café. He wasn't that surprised by that, the reason being must have something to do with wanting to understanding everything about him and the only way to do that these days was to be with him, most likely in order to help her convince him to agree with whatever she sets forth.
The other one was a surprise, he introduced himself as Jacob Tayler before they left the station. Apparently, he was some kind of weapons specialist that Cerberus thought might be able to provide some insight that they may have missed but Clark doubted that, he was here to keep an eye on Miranda or watch him for any wrong moves so he can help her out, not that he could stop him if he did decide that he wanted to kill them all.
"before we go in" Miranda started "there are some things that the Illusive man would want to clear up"
He raised an eye brow "oh" he asked.
"yes" she said back without much thought "he'd like to make it clear that as soon as we land, you're in command" she turned and met eyes with Jacob "we'll be following your orders, what you say goes"
Clark nodded "good, that'll make things easier" he agreed as he looked out the window which was now full of red fire as the shuttle entered the atmosphere "a few minutes until we land" he muttered.
"do you have any orders for us?" she asked.
He was quite for a moment before he leaned forward "are you sure you're ok following the orders of an alien like me?" he asked with a slightly mocked tone.
"if the Illusive says you're in charge, then you're in charge" Jacob calmly said back.
"The first priority would be to look for any survivors" he said with a small glance out the window.
"that is unlikely sir, no one was left at the other colonies. They were completely deserted" Miranda calmly argued.
"it would be nice to find somebody, anything's better than another ghost town" Jacob added.
"there's no such thing" Clark muttered to himself.
There was only one minute of silence before Jacob broke it "I gotta say, this is still completely insane" he said looking right at Clark "Superman" he added with a chuckle "I didn't even think you were real growing up"
Clark nodded "it's better that way" he said calmly as the fire left the window giving them all a good view of the empty colony.
"I wouldn't be too sure about that?" he said back calmly as he and Miranda stood up while the shuttle slowed down "Superman meant a lot to lot people"
Clark stood up "and look where it ended" he muttered but he knew that it was loud enough for the others to hear him. They stood up themselves and stopped just behind him as the shuttle came in for landing.
Once it touched ground the does opened and three stepped out calmly, though the second they were all clear of the shuttle it immediately took back into the air and flew away.
Clark noted that even though it seemed that both Miranda and Jacob had a lot of training and experience they didn't raise their weapons, as if they already knew that nobody was here. He looked around briefly taking in the sight of the colony it remained him a lot of the old quarry's back home. It was full of prebuilt building that where laid at different levels.
He took a few steps forward taking in everything around him as the others stayed at his sides. It hit him immediately, something was wrong. Taking in a deep breath through his nose, he could easily smell it. He turned side to side like a blood hound trying to find the direction of the kill.
"Sir" Miranda asked in a confused voice wondering why he was taking in such large sniffs.
"everything alright?" Jacob asked just as confused.
Clark turned to face them with a look confusion as he continued to sniff "that smell" he said aloud "there's something in the air, it's familiar, something artificial... organic"
Jacob gave Miranda a confused look before turning back to Clark "aren't artificial and organic two complete opposites?" he asked.
"but they've been brought together before" she said back "the Geth are a good example"
Jacob turned back to Clark "do you think the Geth are responsible? I thought we ruled out the possibility of the Geth being responsible"
"we did" Miranda said "at least directly, it could be someone else who has a deal with them or something along those lines" she reasoned, trying to come up with an idea about who would work with the Geth, they're one of the very few groups in the galaxy that had no allies at all. Not even mercenaries would work with them.
"it's not the Geth" Clark said interrupting the two "it's similar but this is different" he took another sniff before his head stopped moving "but I think I found someone who could tell us something new" he added.
"what do you mean sir?" Jacob asked.
"there" he said pointing his hand in front of them, it looked like he was pointing at the building in front of them but both of them new he could be aiming at something that was miles away.
"what is it" Miranda said taking a step closer towards him trying to get a better position to follow the direction of his finger.
"Quarians" he said not noticing the look of that Jacob and Miranda gave each other "two males, two females, all armed" he tilted his head "looks like they're gathered around a holo map of the colony"
"didn't we dismiss the Quarians as the ones responsible for the attacks" Jacob asked Miranda who was his superior at Cerberus as so she'd know more than him about what they know at a whole.
She turned to face him "the idea was dismissed within the minute it was brought up"
"come on" Clark said walking forward "the Quarians being here is odd but it doesn't explain the smell"
The other two quickly moved beside him with their weapons in hand as he entered the nearby building though as they entered the lights came on to see a home that looked very lived in "it looks like everyone just got up and left right in the middle of dinner" Jacob said as they walked past a table that had plates with some food on them that was starting to mould.
Clark didn't stop. Right now, the Quarians where the priority, unless that scent got stronger, then he would follow that. They left the building and walked out onto a balcony that over looked what seemed to be a large body of water that had machines purifying it "hang on" Clark said as he quickly jumped over the railing and lowered himself just above the water. He knew the odds where low but he wanted to be sure, reaching down he scooped up some water with his hands and brought it to his mouth.
Miranda and Jacob couldn't help but be in slight awe, he was flying and he looked so peaceful and natural doing it. There wasn't even a ripple in the still water he was hovering over, Miranda couldn't help but think how useful something like that would be on stealth and infiltration missions. After a moment he flew back up and landed in front of them "whatever happened here had nothing to do with the water" he said calmly as he continued to walk forward coming into what seemed to be a type of loading area, which led to what seemed to be a large door that would have been used to load different things through the building.
"Strange" Miranda mused as they looked around "no bodies. No structural damage. No signs of battle"
"come on" Clark said as they continued to the large door "I want to know what those Quarians are doing here" they reached the door but rather than wait for Miranda or Jacob to use their omni-tools to open it, Clark jabbed both his hands and they went straight through the strong metal. Pulling his arms aside making the whole even bigger and he stepped through.
"you know we could have opened that" Jacob said as he and Miranda went through after him "wouldn't have taken a moment"
Clark just shrugged as he glanced back at him "sorry, force of habit" he turned back forward only to be met with a metal slug hit him in the face, only rising an eye brow as he looked across the wide area, they were now in to see a mech firing at him.
"FENRIS mechs" Jacob said as he and Miranda pulled out their weapons and took cover while Clark just stood there for a moment thinking.
"Strange" Miranda said as she peaked out from behind cover to see the mech that was still firing at Clark who was just standing there "security systems where disabled at the other colonies" she looked towards Clark confused as to why he wasn't doing anything "what do you think?" she asked.
Clark turned to face her and opened his mouth to say something but closed it as his eyes turned red. Looking back at the droids two red beams shot out of his eyes and landed at the target, the mental body of the mech didn't stand a chance, the beams went right through and what was left was nothing more than molten metal on the ground "come on" he said as he led them onward.
"damn" Jacob muttered as he looked at the melted wrecks of the mechs "Something's not right, those mechs shouldn't have been hostile, they should have registered us as human" Jacob said as he looked towards Clark "would they have been able to tell you're not human?" he asked.
Clark looked back at him "Their sensors wouldn't have been able to tell anything about me, I would have been a complete anomaly to them, they may think I'm an unknown alien and going to the default hostile setting" the sound of another mech hitting his ears caused him to turn before he could see two other mechs and what looked like a type of K-9 mech running towards them. Though the second it was close enough Clark simply kicked it, needless to say it smashed into the rock walls with enough force to turn it into dozens of little pieces, while Miranda and Jacob delt with the other humanoid mechs "come on" he said "we're close"
After another few minutes of walking, they reached their target, Miranda took cover on the right side of the door with her weapon at the ready while Jacob did the same on the left while Clark just stood in the middle "open it" he said, Jacob fiddled with his Omni-Tool and the red light over the door turned green and they all walked in to see a group of very surprised Quarians.
"STOP RIGHT THERE!" one of the males said as they reached for their weapons and aimed them at the three while the others gathered their own weapons and aimed themselves.
Miranda and Jacob hand their own weapons trained on them but they were far more calm and collected while Clark himself looked impassive "Prazza" a female voice said and Clark tilted his head to the side as she pushed her way forward "you said you'd let me handle this" she reached out and grabbed the barrel of his weapon and pushed it down "who are you?" she asked looking at Clark "what are you doing here?"
He opened his mouth to replay but was cut off "I'm not taking any chances with Cerberus operatives"
"put the weapons down" she said turning her whole body to face them, making her seem much sterner.
He decided to return the favor, looking over his shoulder at the two he gestured for them to lower their own weapons, which they did. That seemed to ease the soldiers enough for them to lower theirs. Once they did, the one in charge turned back to face them "who are you?" she asked calmly.
"I'm Clark, this is Miranda and Jacob. We're investigating what happened" he said back calmly "what are, what I can only assume are Quarian soldiers doing here? Especially before the Alliance arrives" there was a silence in the air as he said that "it's quite suspicious"
"we had nothing to do with what happened here" she quickly said as she looked right at Clark "we're looking for one of our own, his name is Veetor, he was on his pilgrimage"
"do you know how he's still here?" Miranda asked "everyone else is missing, why wouldn't he be as well?"
"we saw him as we landed" the one in charge explained "but when he saw us, he ran, hid himself in some warehouse on the far side of town. We think he's the one who activated the defensive..." she leaned back as Clark leaned forwards towards her "mechs" she finished as Clark was right in front of her face plate "what are you doing?" she asked, the only answer he had was taking a large sniff in through the nose.
"there it is again" he said to himself as he looked around the room.
"is he ok?" she asked looking towards Jacob and Miranda who just gave the other a confused glance.
"Move" Clark said as he brushed past her and moved towards the soldiers.
"hey, watch it" the one who was aiming the weapon before, Prazza, raised his weapon again. Clark didn't even look as with a speed no-one has seen before he reached out and grabbed the weapon right out of his hands and dropped it to the ground. The others raised their own weapons but he just walked past them and moved towards where they were sitting around the table before he himself and the others walked in.
He just stood there looking at the couch continuing to take deep sniffs ignoring the confused looks he was receiving "Sir?" Miranda said "what is it?" she asked.
"It's stronger here" he turned to look at her "that smell, it's stronger here" he reached down to grab the cushion and ripped it from the couch tearing the fabric before placing it right in his face.
"what's he doing?" the Quarian asked Miranda who just shrugged.
"Sir" Jacob said "I don't want to get in the way of whatever it is you're..." he stopped as Clark raised his finger silencing him.
When Jacob stopped Clark lifted his face from the cushion and brought his finger down and slowly rubbed it across the surface of the cloth. There was another moment before he stood up and looked closely at his finger before rubbing it across his thumb a couple of time, then he looked to Miranda "the colonists were hit with a type of stasis field" he informed and her face immediately went from confusion to concern and then to deep concentration, no doubt thinking about how it was used and who used it.
"wait, what?" the purple suited Quarian said confused "how do you know that?" she asked.
Clark didn't say anything at first just continued looking at his finger before turning and tossing the cushion through the air towards the solider who caught it "give it a sniff, it's like a piece of iron charged with some electricity" he added and stood up straighter noticing the confused looks everyone gave him "I have a very good set of senses" he added casually "alright you two" he said to Miranda and Jacob before turning to the exit "let's keep movin... WAIT!" he said before stopping and turning back to the Quarian "what did you say you were here for? Another Quarian's here?"
"err... yes" the purple one said sounding confused.
Without a word Clark turned around and opened up his senses as Miranda and Jacob worked their way towards him, it took him three seconds before he raised his hand and pointed at the wall "he's over there, in a sealed control room looking at a bunch of screens" he dropped his hand and turned to the group "he's in shock, keeps muttering to himself...'Swarms'" he added with a mutter "swarms" he said again. Miranda was about to speak before she was stopped "SWARMS!" he shouted causing everyone, including the very confused Quarians to jump. He turned to face Miranda "that's why it was so familiar, I used to smell this all the time when I was a kid"
Miranda gave a pleading look to Jacob hoping he would know what Clark was talking about but he just gave her a shrug "smell what?" she asked with a complete confused voice.
Clark just slumped feeling a little annoyed that they didn't catch on "insects" he said.
Miranda just raised an eyebrow "insects" she said back.
"yes, specifically Bees and Wasps" he added with a voice that made it seemed that he was hoping they would get it but the look on his face turned to disappointment when they didn't "oh come on" he looked right at Miranda "well miss super spy?" he asked waited for an explanation.
She glanced over to Jacob who could only shrug "I'm not following sir" she spoke respectfully and just accepted that the Quarians didn't really matter at this point.
"what is a word that you can use to describe a large collection of wasps, bees, hell even flies?" he asked.
"A swarm" she asked but the second the word left her lips it started to make sense, her eyes narrowed for a moment before she spoke again "wait, you think insects are responsible for this?"
He rolled his eyes at her "come on" he turned and headed for the exit "I'll tell you on the way" as he reached the door Jacob and Miranda came up behind him seeming to ignore the Quarians. He placed his hand flat on the surface and pushed, his strength knocking it off the hydraulics it was attached. To the complete shock of the suited-up aliens.
He started to walk completely nonchalantly as three security drones flew overhead "so how are swarms of insects responsible for what's been happening to the colonies?" Jacob asked as he and Miranda held their weapons out and ready for any more drones and any other possible threats.
"it's the only thing that makes sense" Clark added as they entered another one of the prebuilt buildings "before we got here, I had about a dozen different ways in which someone would be able to do this to multiple settlements" one of the mechs that was on his knees in a standby mood stood up.
"unknown hostiles detected" it said raising its weapon but was quickly fired on by the two operatives.
Clark continued walking as if he didn't notice it "I mean it could have been a type of gas, or toxin. It could even have been an EMP that disabled everyone through their Omi-tools but all of those ideas were shot down when we got here, the smell was too much to ignore"
They left the building and ended up on an elevated walkway "yeah, I'm not gonna lie sir. What you did back there was very weird" Jacob spoke before mass effect rounds began to fire and the two ducked for cover though Clark stayed standing seemingly not bothered by the weapons.
The three drones had stationed themselves on a nearby wall and started continuous fire. Miranda took cover and started to return fire but she couldn't help but be annoyed by how calm Clark was about he was currently being shot "Jacob, hit them with an overload would you?" she asked in a calm voice showing just how often she's been in this situation before.
"yes ma'am" he said as he stood up and fired the overload successfully hitting the targets destroying their shields and with barely a glance, she stood up and turned, firing her weapon and without missing a single shot destroyed all three of them. There was a moment of silence as the two operatives looked around making sure they were alone "clear" Jacob announced.
"clear" she stated.
"not bad" Clark added as he started to walk onwards.
Miranda shot him a dirty look as she and Jacob fell in behind him "you could have helped" she added with an annoyed voice.
"yes, I could have" he agreed "I was busy thinking about something"
"such as?" Miranda asked.
"who has the technology and the motive to design and build a swarm of robotic insects mixed in with organic materials, just to get some human colonists" he admitted.
"which you knew because of smell" Jacob added.
"correct" he said "there are a handful of different races that don't like humanity" the others continued to walk up behind him "actually most races don't like humanity but there are only some who don't like you lot so much that they'll try and kill the colonists and potentially starting a war. The Batarians of course, Vorcha, maybe the Krogan but none of them have the technology for that. The only ones who could come up with something like this would be the Salarians and maybe Turians but while they don't really like Humans, they don't hate you enough to do something like this" he explained as they came face to face with a large mental door.
"what about the Geth?" Miranda asked as she and Jacob stood behind Clark as he ran his hand over the surface of the large door, most likely checking to see what it's made from and how thick it is.
"well, that goes without saying" Clark calmly said back as he floated up into the air and stopped just before he went over the door completely "but that begs the question" he jammed both his hands into the roof of the door and start to pull it down, the metal began to bent and crack while the wires and circuits blew out "why would the Geth do something like this? They've never cared about the alliance or humanity in the past" his feet touched the ground and he lowered the door just a little bit further, so he reached up with his leg and pushed the rest down into the ground.
The area that just opened up seemed to be a large court yard area with a few more compact buildings scattered around the place "revenge maybe" Jacob guessed with a shrug "retaliation for what the alliance did during their attack on the citadel"
The three walked forward "not likely" Clark said back "the ships at the citadel would have been a very small fraction of the complete Geth Fleet. Don't forget you're talking about the race of machines that are keeping the Migrant Fleet, the largest fleet in the history of the galaxy. 50,000 ships from taking back there home. In order to stop themselves from being destroyed from simply being overwhelmed, they need at least a few thousand ships for themselves and they need to be incredibly advanced in order to fight them off. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if the Geth would be able to take on any of the council species in a one-on-one fight" he explained "so the fleet at the citadel would have had to have been something else then just Geth, maybe a splinter fraction or something" he guessed.
Miranda and Jacob both looked at Clark like they just saw a ghost "how could a race of A.I have splinter fractions?" Miranda asked confused and shocked by the very motion of something like that.
"Simple" he shrugged back "they're A.I, they'll have different ideals from each other just like we would" he added and ignored they Miranda and Jacob both looked to each other, it was clear by the look on their faces that they were trying to come with a counter argument but before they could the sound of gun fire caught their attention.
They all turned forward to see three of the four Quarians running away while shooting at whatever was chasing them. The two Cerberus operatives both raised their weapons as a large YMIR mech walked forward towards the Quarians, who by this point realized they were out match and stopped firing in favour of sprinting to cover.
However, one of them, a woman tripped on her stomach and Clark's saw what was about to happen next. Before he even knew what he was doing, his old instincts kicked in and he ran forward. To everyone else he simply vanished and reappeared standing over the woman, as the YMIR Mechs foot raised and was about to crush the woman who hadn't even recovered from being knocked over and see what was about to kill her. When she finally did turn around to see where the threat was, she stunned into silence, along with everyone else. The metal foot of the YMIR Mech was groaning as it tried to push down the hand of Clark as he stood strong over the downed solider.
Clarks face was stoic as he stayed still against the death machine. The Mech's singular head/eye turned to look at the kryptonation and after a small moment raised its arm and fired its primary weapon directly into Clark's face. All the Quarians could only stare in awed silence still not even believing what they're seeing.
Even Miranda and Jacob couldn't help but be shocked, seeing him use his strength and senses, hell even when he flew, that was amazing but this. Taking on fire that would have ripped a Krogan apart and not even flinch? That was something else entirely. Miranda wasn't sure and it was hard to tell due to the flashes of the weapon firing but it looked like he wasn't even blinking.
Calmly, he reached out and grabbed the end of the weapon and crushed the barrel as it was still firing causing a small explosion which destroyed the weapon.
The mechs head turned and it raised its arm and looked at it closely. Assessing the damage, no doubt, it barely had time to raise its other weapon to attack before Clark simply raised his hand higher and took a step forward forcing the mech to fall on its back. Before he it recover, Clark gripped the foot just a little bit tighter and threw it backwards over his head as if it where nothing. Everyone watched in shock as the mech that weighed at least three tons, fly through the air without making a sound and crashed into one of the smooth mountain walls.
No-one spoke for a moment, the downed Quarian was taking deep breath as she looked up at the one who saved her. She honestly had no idea what to think, there was no way that should have been possible. No-one could have survived that and yet this man was here, looking down at her with a blank look.
Clark knew that he shouldn't have done that, he was kicking himself mentally for it. He stopped saving people a long time ago and for good reason, he could get away with doing it once or twice but always when they were alone and never when he could be identified.
This wasn't because he was a monster now, he likes to think it was because he grew up a little bit, realized that the more people he saved the more they got hurt. Not to mention he knows without a shadow of a doubt that if he came out of the shadows in this day and age, it would be just like earth all over again expect this time it would be on a galactic scale. He couldn't deal with that again, if that happens all the peace and quiet goes. Because everyone would be after him, of course they would never be a threat to him but it would be so annoying.
Deciding that he just really didn't want to deal with this right now, he turned around and headed to the sealed door that the Quarian was sitting in. He didn't knock, just jammed his hand in the door and pulled it back, disconnecting it from the building.
He stepped inside the dark room that looked like it was used for storage, the only light present was coming from the multiple screens "Masters coming back. Mechs will protect. Safe from swarms. Have to hide. No monsters. No swarms. No-no-no-no-no" Veetor said as he continued to type on the panel in front of him.
Clark tilted his head at what he said, thinking about the best way to go about this. He walked forward but he did it loudly so he wouldn't get to shocked by his presence. When Clark stopped behind him, he waited for a moment before speaking "Veetor" he said loudly.
The Quarian didn't even turn his head "No Veetor. Not here. Swarms can't find. Monsters coming. Have to hide"
"you don't need to hide" he said calmly "the swarms are gone"
There was just silence coming from him, the only sound in the room was the beeping that came from the holo-panel that Veetor was using the type "I don't think he's listening to you sir" Jacob said as he and Miranda entered the building behind him.
Clark opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted "have to hide. Have to hide" Veetor said as he continued to type and mutter to himself.
Clark looked over to Miranda "can you shut off those screens"
Miranda nodded and lifted her omni-tool before waving it which shut off all the screens. Thankfully that seemed to snap Veetor out of whatever trance he was in. After a couple of seconds, he turned the chair around a stood up, it was the first time Clark felt like he had Veetors' full attention "you're human" he said in an amazed voice "where did you hide? How come they didn't find you?" he asked.
"who exactly didn't find us?" Miranda asked, she was willing to believe Clarks theory about the swarms but she would still like proof.
When she asked Veetor immediately became agitated and skittish "the... the monsters. The swarms. They took everyone" he explained but it really didn't help.
"these monsters" Clark said as he took a step forward "could you describe them for me" he asked gently not wanting to spook him.
"you don't know?" he asked surprised "you didn't see? It's ok, I saw it all" he turned around and used his omni-tool which turned the screens back on, expect this time instead of screens of code it was one large shot that was spread out over all screens.
Clark tilted his head at what he saw and took a step forward "that's... unexpected" he said as he saw the screens, it wasn't a good quality but it was clear enough to see what was happening. A handful of unknown aliens carrying one of the colonists and placing it into a type of organic pod "is that what I think it is?" he said out loud but honestly, he was just muttering to himself.
"yes" Miranda answered "it looks like a collector" she confirmed.
Clark has heard of the collectors in his travels, though to be honest he's never given it much thought. He never really investigated them but he did know enough to have an idea about what they looked like but that was all he had "Miranda" he said "tell me what you know" he said trying to ignore the sounds of the multiple footsteps as the group of Quarians came in.
"they usually work through intermediaries, like slavers or hired mercenaries. If they're involved with the reapers somehow, it could explain what happened to the colonies" she explained but Clark did try to black out what she said about the Reapers, being honest he still didn't really believe that they were real.
"The collectors have said to have extremely advanced technology, so it match's up with what you said sir" he added looking at Clark.
"Veetor" another voice said, the three turned to see the woman who was in charge of the squad come forward "are you alright? Are you hurt?" she asked. Clark had to admit though, that the woman seemed to ignore what she saw outside or at the very least didn't want to talk about it right now, something he liked very much.
"the monsters didn't find me" he said as he rubbed his hands together nervously "but they took the people onto the ship and left, the ship flew away" he stepped forward and gripped the woman's shoulders "but they'll be back for me. No one escapes them"
"I think that's probably all we're going to get out of him sir" Jacob said and Clark couldn't help but agree.
"thank you Veetor, you were very helpful" he added calmly.
Veetor let go of the womans shoulders and turned to face Clark "I studied them. The monsters. The swarms. I recorded them with my omni-tool. Lots of readings. Electro-magnetic. Dark energy" he listed as he read from his omni-tool.
Apon hearing this Miranda jumped at the chance "we need to get his data to the Illusive man. Grab..." she said before Clark stepped forward and lifted his hand gesturing her to stop, which thankfully she did.
"Veetor" he started with a gentle smile but that didn't seem to help the woman very much as she tensed quite a lot when Clark approached "would it be ok if you transfer that data to my friend over there" he said.
"Yes, yes. I can do that" he walked over to Miranda and began the transfer "the more people know. The better chance they have to stop the monsters"
There were few moments of tense silence as the data was transferred, Clark glanced at the other Quarians and they all held tight grip on their weapons while looking at him, he rolled his eyes. All he could do now was hope that the Quarian admiralty board decides to keep this teams finding a secret.
"done" Miranda said as he lowered her arm and looked to Clark.
He nodded back at her and then turned to Jacob "call the shuttle, we're done here" he said as he headed for the exit, his mind full of questions.
Clark kept a calm face as the holographic environment appeared around him, in truth he wasn't thinking about it that much, his mind was on the same topic it's been on since he stepped on the shuttle.
The collectors.
One of the problems with being him is that things got boring really quickly, there were very few things that interested him anymore, everything became so mundane after a while and it was sometimes just too easy for him to detach himself from everyone around him, it wasn't uncommon to see himself as above all those around him, comparing him to all the species around him was like comparing a human to an ant. Meaning there was a massive difference between them. He really did need to humble himself sometimes just to make sure he doesn't start to see himself as a type of god. Something he really, really, really didn't want to happen.
Thankfully he had a way to stop that, there was an entire galaxy around him. Full of different species with their own history, culture, tradition. All of it was his to learn and explore and he's already got a pretty good grasp of them. But the collectors, they are something he's got nothing on and that was very exciting, despite all the death that's came from it.
Turning his attention to the matter at hand, he focused his eyes on what appeared in front of him. It was a nice view, a large office that had a massive glass window that showed was looked like a red super-giant star. Calmly sitting there in a chair smoking a cigarette "Mr. Kent" the man said.
"You must be the Illusive man" Clark said as he crossed his arms "I have to admit, I'm surprised you're not here in person"
"A necessary precaution, I'm sure you're not that surprised" he said calmly.
He shrugged slightly in return "no I really am, usually when I meet human supremacists they can't wait to get in my face and yell how amazing they are" he explained.
"I assure you Mr. Kent, I'm much more refined than that. And while I do not hide that human dominance of the galaxy is something I have always wanted, I'm not stupid enough to think it can't happen without working with other species, like yourself for instance" he explained taking another puff.
"that was a surprise" Clark admitted "but from what I've learnt you could have trained and fitted a small army within the time it took to find me. That can't have been just for power" it went without saying that he was talking about all of his power.
The Illusive man shook his head "No, while I won't pretend to know the limits of what you can do or how useful it would be. The reason I went to such great lengths to find you is because of what you represent" he started "make no mistake about it Mr. Kent, no matter they may say the Citadel council is looking for you even though officially they deny you exist"
"I know" Clark nodded "though out of all of them the S.T.G has got the closest, nearly found me twice" he added.
"Indeed, that is why I wanted you to be a part of this. Because of what you represent, nothing has ever come close to matching you Mr. Kent. The amount of power you wield is enough to make everyone nervous, it's my belief that if we can get you to believe in the Reapers existents then maybe you could convince the rest of the galaxy so we may be able to get the strength to stand against them"
Clark had to give the man credit, the plan wasn't the worst he's heard "that's not a bad idea" he admitted "the problem being that you still need to convince me that the Reapers even are real. While I admit that the idea of the primary attack ship that led the Geth against the Citadel being itself a Geth ship just doesn't seem right and some things just don't add up, it doesn't mean I believe that it's part of this whole Reaper conspiracy" he stated calmly.
The Illusive man took another puff "I don't expect you do this without any proof Mr. Kent, While I can give you what I have on the Reapers I doubt it would be much more than what you already know. That doesn't mean you won't have the means to get your own proof later down the line, and I believe you will, assuming you wish to continue to work with us"
His voice was calm but Clark could tell that there was a great deal of hope in his words, he really wanted Clarks help and he couldn't really be blamed for that "assuming that I do work with you" he started "what would that work be exactly?" he asked.
The Illusive man straightened his back and putt out the bud of his cigarette "the involvement of the Collectors makes this a much more dire situation then I previously believed. It also strongly proves the Reapers involvement, I can only assume the actions of the late Commander Shepard drew their attention when he led the charge that killed Sovereign. You mission, should you choose to accept it will be to take command of a Cerberus ship, track down the Collectors and stop them" he said.
A couple of seconds of silence went by without a word as Clark thought about the offer, in truth he knew he was going to say yes, the idea of going after the Collectors and learning about a brand new (old) species, that was just too much to turn down, true he could do it on his own but having the support of an organization like Cerberus could really speed things up.
"I assume I would be reporting to you?" he asked placing a hand on his hip.
"No" he said back quickly earning a raised eye brow from Clark "I'm not going to pretend have some level of authority over you, this isn't employment Mr. Kent, this is a mutually beneficial partnership. Cerberus will provide you with a ship and a full crew as well as leads that will aid you in this mission. Operative Lawson will serve as your executive officer, she will be the one reporting to me, giving me updates on your progress"
Clark did think it was ironic that he just said that it was a partnership but also said that someone would be reporting on him "well" he shrugged "if I'm doing this then I'm gonna need a team, a very good one" he announced.
"I assure you, the crew of the ship you're going to be working with are the best of the best" the Illusive man argued.
"that's not the point" Clark said "if you really want to prove the Reapers existence, then you're going to need more than just me believing it. We'll need more, someone from each race hopefully and ideally someone with sway in the governments" he explained.
The fact that the Illusive was clearly thinking about what was said, which did raise Clarks opinion of him. It wasn't that hard to understand once you thought about it, if the Citadel council was going to believe them about the Reapers then they would need a more trustful voice to tell them "we did have a list of soldiers, scientists and mercenary's that would have been used if Commander Shepard had survived. They hail from all corners of the galaxy and each have different levels of prestige within their respective governments. I'll have the dossiers sent over to miss Lawson, if I recall correctly there was a rather brilliant Salarian scientist that should be a great help the understanding and countering the Collector's seeker swarms"
Clark nodded back at him "I could do that myself but I can admit and extra set of hands would be nice. Alright I'll get started; this is defiantly going to be an interesting partnership"
The Illusive man stood up "I look forward to working with you Mr. Kent" he nodded "good luck"
Clark nodded back and turned to leave, stepping out of the holo-ring. And the first think he saw was Miranda in front of the door with her hands behind her back in a crisp stance "Sir, your ship is ready for you"
Ok everyone, please let me know what you think and I hope that was a good enough reason as to why the famous Mass Effect 2 is still needed despite Superman being able to do everything solo. I also heard what everyone has said about the romance option, mainly that Liara may be a better choice than Miranda, I'll keep that in mind.
Please leave a review, give me your thoughts.
P.S: I know I said that 'Star Wars rebels: A New Origin' would be next but I also said that a new chapter in this one would be done first. Now it's that story all the way... unless I change my mind.