Mass Effect: Spider and Wolf

Got some good responses to my last chapter, I'm feeling that high only drugs give you. I never thought I'd be getting so into writing stories again. I once wrote stories on another site, but I ended up losing motivation with those, mostly because back then I had NO CLUE how to do stories and I was in a sort of 'phase' I guess you could call it and no doubt left a LOT of plot holes. The first chapter already explained what happened with my first story on this site so no need to rehash that one. So aside from a bit of filler, this chapter should be getting into the meat and potatoes at last. Now, onto the reviews.

PheronPyscho: Great chapter and good idea about the treaty. I would recommend though, as someone who has worked with military personnel, to have another admiral or commodore to have the option for a piloted version? Completely ignore this comment if you'd like, cuz again the story is going great, but the biggest fear of drones is hacking and jamming especially since this is first contact humanity still. A lot of military higher ups will want redundancy and back up alternatives. We do know of stellar events that can block radio, laser and visual communication in ME, if fact quantum communication systems are rare and only work in pairs (might be wrong there, it's been a while since I've done a tech dive into ME) Don't have a working model though, you've stated that it took 6 weeks to build one drone (with testing and programming) but have it be an afterthought.

Me: I would never have guessed someone with experience would be reviewing, and I meant that in a good way. I will never say no to proper knowledge of anything military. For the Quantum Entanglement, remember that Marrok comes from another universe. One that, while that Earth isn't interstellar yet, is still highly advanced, with several of the brightest minds all individually having made advanced communication devices, I can see Reed Richards or Tony Stark having perfected Quantum Physics. Remember, in the MCU, Tony figured out time travel, might be a 'Time-Travel GPS', but it's still working with traveling through time. With Marrok not holding himself back like Peter does and isn't afraid of doing what he can to actually improving his own life without stopping being a hero, er, hero-ish, I see no reason for Marrok to not know how to figure out how to best utilize QEC. And while I do agree it works in pairs, keep in mind that I have put down that each pilot controls ONE drone with the other drones following that one with a digital copy of the pilot in question's skills. And, also keep in mind that I also put down that should said drone be destroyed, the pilot will 'respawn' into another drone of his squad. To clarify this, if you remember in ME3, the coms you use to talk to Anderson, Hacket, the Councilors, etc., are all done onboard the Normandy while they themselves are in different locations. Now, this is using ME's furthered understanding of QEC, but remember Marrok is smarter than that and already knows about it, so he would be doing the same thing here. While I feel I might not be explaining the tech side all that well, the best way I could put it is the same thing as how you play Enlisted, with how you don't control just one person, but an entire squad and you can control another the instant the one you are controlling dies. I really appreciate your review there, and I hope you comment more with more intel about military matters. While I won't be doing too much military in this story, you can't have too much intel. As for the concerns, I actually did think of those and I already have a solution to that. And believe it or not, you also pointed out a concern for a FUTURE invention Marrok will be bringing out either this chapter or the next that I already have a solution for. For those are, you'll just have to read and see.

kite15663: Next Item in the market should be tanks. T-740 Hovertank from call of duty should do because there's not a lot of tanks in Mass effect. can you also clarify if his armor nanotech? can you provide us with its spec?

Me: Like I said with the last chapter, if I use something from some media, it's because I already had that in mind. I'm not going to do too many changes to the military vehicles as most are pretty solid for the most part. I said MOST, the Hammerhead is a piece of shit and no one can convince me otherwise! The ONLY thing good about it is the speed and jump! It's so pissing weak that it might as well be made of construction paper! No, wait, I take that back, that was too mean, construction paper is MORE durable than THAT PIECE OF WET DIARRHEA!

*AHEM*

Sorry about that. I honestly haven't played much of Call of Duty since Modern Warfare 2, and I mean the old one for the 360, not the newer one, with the exception of Advanced Warfare. I'll do some research on the tank, see if I can't come up with something, cause I don't want to just copy and paste the dang thing. For the nanotech, the first chapter does make mention that his suit does use nanites as he fed a nugget of Vibranium to them to coat his suit. I'll get more into that as the story goes on, so don't worry.

Azai Jin: Thanks for the chapter! An interesting little group our MC has put together and a nice beginning with both CSEC and this drone. And about this drone, what does it look like? I'm looking forward to seeing how this story develops!

Me: That actually had me stumped for the longest time, I had most of the team thought up, but the final member was tearing me apart. I couldn't decide if I wanted a quarian, a salarian, a drell, a hanar, a volus, or a damn elcor.

No, seriously, those were what I was trying to pick between. In the end, I made my choice for a bit of story development down the line.

I figured the best way for Marrok to make a splash in the galactic scene would be to aid the local police. After all, can you look me in the eye and tell me that police today would not KILL for just the Web Grenades? Hell, the MILITARY would want these babies for hostage situations, blockades, disabling gun emplacements, and so on, and that's not counting what the webbing itself could be used for in a pinch.

As for the drone, the beginning of this chapter is actually going to go over that, so you'll find out. I WILL put in a better, or more clear cut description at the end in my Author's Notes, just in case if I didn't do a good job in the chapter.

shypunk: thank you for the chapter and for writing' flucking fantastic

Me: And thank you for sticking with me this whole time

Phew, not many, but still feels like a lot with how I had to respond. Anywho, let's get this story rolling!

Marrok was waiting at the warehouse for Drescher to show up. The warehouse was something he got after busting a slaving ring happening right under the Council's nose. He decided to let C-SEC handle the data recovery as he didn't want to expose Lucy. After cleaning the place up and removing all the cages, the warehouse turned out rather nice and was the perfect place to build the drone.

Soon enough, he saw the Admiral approaching and smiled while holding a hand out. "Good to see you again, Admiral. I hope your trip here was pleasant."

She grabbed and shook his hand. "As pleasant as it can be on a warship. So, you said you have the drone ready?"

Marrok nodded. "Yep, right inside. Come with me." He took the lead with Drescher following.

"I have to be honest, myself and just about the whole of Brass were shocked when I got that message from you. None of us expected you would have the drone in just six weeks." She commented.

Marrok snorted. "We would have been done sooner if we knew how to perfect it from the beginning. We were doing pretty good in the beginning, but when we came to trying to figure out how to get the drone to fight just like an organic pilot would, we hit a massive brick wall. Everything we tried made the systems too predictable. But thanks to Wrage, we came up with a different method altogether."

She looked confused. "The krogan? What idea did he have that gave you the breakthrough?"

He grinned as they entered the warehouse and approached the drone in question. It was covered in a tarp at the moment. "Simply have the pilots remote control it instead of techs."

Drescher blinked at this a few times before face palming, groaning. "Are you telling me, have our pilots control the drones to do the jobs that we need the drones to take over? Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of getting the drones?"

Marrok chuckled. "You're thinking too small." He grabbed the tarp and pulled it off, revealing the drone. "Say hello to the Black Hornet."

The drone was smaller than the fighters the Alliance used, but not by much. It was shaped similar to an arrowhead and colored black as the very void of space. Where the cockpit would be was a sort of domed covering. There wasn't any sign of weapons.

Drescher walked about it. "This is…..not what I was expecting."

He shrugged. "Like I once said to Ambassador Goyle, I prefer breaking the norm."

"There doesn't seem to be any weapons. Are they hidden?"

"Nope, because this model isn't made for combat." She looked at him as he raised his omnitool and sent a data packet to her. "This design is built for pure stealth. And while all will be colored similarly, this one is coated with special reflective materials to hide from just about any scanners. It's meant to be a scout and discover any enemy positions. The files I just sent you are three different blueprints. One for this model, one for the normal fighter, and one for the bomber." She looked at the files on her omnitool as he continued. "As you can see, they're all pretty much the exact same other than the weapons and a few differences. The scout has no shields and is built for stealth and speed, the bomber is slower, but has much stronger shields and can carry ship grade bombs and torpedoes, and the fighter is somewhere between them, with weapons that can not only overpower enemy fighters, but also take out a warship's defenses and take at least one hit before needing to recharge, giving the drone time to back off, perfect for hit and run tactics."

As she looked through them all, she asked another question, one that Marrok was expecting. "I noticed that there's mentions of V.I.s being used, I thought you said you scrapped that idea?"

He nodded. "You're right, we did, for the INITIAL designs. But I decided to tweak the idea just a bit." He used his omnitool to open a vid. It was a simulation he and his team did. "The idea is that each pilot is a squadron on their own. They control one drone, while the rest of the squad is filled with V.I. controlled drones that mimic the skills of the pilot, leading to a near perfect syncing between pilot and drone. And, should the drone the pilot is using ever get destroyed for any reason, he will control the next in his squad, and this will continue until the pilot has no more drones to control. Should it get to that level and the Carrier has no more drones to deploy, the pilot can then take over a drone of another pilot's squad and request permission to either join or take a few drones, with the other pilot needing to authorize the transfer after a code."

"Leading to near constant harassment of the enemy and zero moral loss among the pilots with little to no chance of hackers successfully stealing drones." Drescher said as she watched the vid, her expression becoming more and more in awe. "H….How did you come up with this?"

Marrok scratched the back of his head. "Well, Wrage and I would both give you the same answer. Video games." Her flat expression nearly made him burst out laughing. "I remember playing a game long ago that allows the player to control a squad in a FPS, and when one member was killed, you'd take over another and keep going, with little to no time waiting to 'respawn'. Wrage mentioned playing varren simulation games with the same idea. So, it made sense to use the same idea to give the Alliance a little edge. Basically, the enemy will be fighting for their lives while your flyboys are playing video games and the enemy won't even notice."

She facepalmed again with another groan. "And…how will you ensure the pilots have enough drones?"

"Simple solution there too." He sent another file, which she checked and looked shocked. "Fabricators to basically print out drones. So long as enough materials are available, one Carrier can keep drone production up for an entire battle. AND, since the drones don't need proper runways like normal fighters and bombers, the Carriers can also be redesigned to fire them out like projectiles, adding more armor and defenses. I've already made a basic blueprint of that, but I think your eggheads can refine it." He sent said blueprint to her.

Drescher stared in shock for a good while. "How…..long did you say it took to make this drone?"

"About six weeks, but if we knew what we were doing from the start, a week and half with no sleep or breaks. But while this is the finished product, that doesn't mean it's perfect. The Blueprints are done and dusted, but this is literally just a model. And we did this nearly entirely by hand. With proper infrastructure, we could make one in just…..around an hour, and that's if the materials needed are already refined and made into what is needed. I've also given you the programming for the V.I.s needed as well as the cyber security."

Drescher seemed to be having a mental breakdown as she just kept looking at her omnitool. She looked to be frozen in a trance. He could guess she was trying to understand how he could have not only done what he did, but also design blueprints for several variations of the drone along with the Carrier redesigns. Well, he would never tell anyone, but he really owed Lucy for that bit of help.

Marrok grinned and spoke, which snapped the Admiral out of her stare. "So, about that payment?"

It's been nearly a year since humanity made their appearance to the galaxy at large and Marrok has been doing well for himself. After being paid for his work for the Alliance, he used that money to really build his company while hunting down talent to help him out. He even began building his OWN private military. There was a reason for this, as he still remembers the gift from The Other.

Speaking of, in his new company building, which he named his company Phoenix Incorporated, he had several sections for different subjects of research. Weapons, armor, biotics, tech, etc. The one he was going to however was for gene mods.

He entered and saw the massive lab filled with dozens of people, either working on gene mods, genetics, or were volunteers for the mods. He walked through the organized chaos and soon found who he was looking for. "Folsa, how are the mods coming?"

Folsa turned to Marrok with excitement in her eyes. "I don't know where you came up with the idea or even HOW you did it, but these are amazing! Able to be used between any species, Levo or Dextro, little to no rejections, and just vast improvements compared to normal mods!"

Marrok smirked. "Folsa, focus."

The salarian snapped out of her excitement and actually looked embarrassed. "Right, apologies." She cleared her throat before continuing. "Anyway, while changes of the base mod for specializations are rather easy, all have the same abilities. Increased strength at the minimum of double, reflexes increased by twenty percent, flexibility by fifty percent, cognitive functions increased by thirty percent, speed increased by half, as well as leg strength by a factor of five, allowing them to leap much higher. A normal human can only jump at around an estimate of 24 inches. With the unaltered mod, that same human can jump five to ten feet. Bone strength is also increased, allowing a fall of great heights to be taken with ease, a maximum of 75 feet without any assistance. Add with a minor healing factor that can mend even broken bones if given time and you'll have soldiers that just won't go down."

Marrok grinned. "And those specializations?"

Folsa shook her head as she too smiled widely. "Oh don't even get me started. I will admit, I do like the names you've picked for them. Given the source inspirations though, they do fit. Jumpers for the speed and cognitive functions, Tarantulas for strength and durability, Stalkers for stealth, and so on."

"And how are our volunteers?" He asked.

Heavy thumps were heard as one of said volunteers approached. Looking up, Marrok saw it was Wrage, wearing only a pair of krogan tailored pants. He grinned as his bright violet eyes looked at Marrok. "Never been better. I feel I can kill a thresher maw with my bare hands! I feel five hundred years younger!" The old krogan bellowed with a happy laugh. He was strong before, but now he looked ready to start waging war with only his hands. He then cracked his knuckles. "And I feel I have a chance to finally beat you."

Marrok smirked. "We'll see about that, but not right now. How are the others?"

Wrage nodded. "They're fine, still getting used to the new stuff. Once they're off their power trip, I'll put them through their paces and then we'll be ready for anything."

Marrok shook his head. "Not everything. Or rather, not yet anyway. You've been rather well at keeping the new guys in line, so you and them will be getting some new toys. Something you've been wanting a crack at for a good while now."

Wrage's eyes widened in shock. "No…..you better not be teasing."

Marrok laughed. "I wouldn't tease about this. You're getting your very own krogan armor that's based on my own armor. Along with a new weapon."

He turned and spotted a few people, humans, turians, and asari, coming in while pushing hover carts with many weapons and mannequins wearing different armors, but all had the same spider motif like Marrok's own. One of them was clearly meant for Wrage. It was heavily armored with many spikes along the back and forearms, the spider symbol on the chest. The helmet looked like Marrok's own, only shaped for a krogan. The coloring was yellow and chrome, much like Wrage's normal armor colors.

Wrage stared in awe as Marrok began showing him various things about the armor. "The wrists hold web shooters that were modified to handle your weight, allowing you to grapple up buildings or capture targets without killing. Also, like my own, the fingertips have retractable spurs that can anchor into just about any surface, allowing you scale walls should you need stealth for any reason, though knowing you, you'll either use it to stop yourself from falling off a cliff or to gut someone with makeshift claws. The spikes can be ejected at high speeds, giving a surprise attack for any that try to attack from a blind spot, but it's a one time use until you return to base to get more. Also, everything the gene mod is doing for you right now? The armor will do just as good, but increase it by a LOT more. It's not wrong to say that without those mods, just trying to use this armor would KILL YOU."

Wrage blinked at that and looked at Marrok. "What do you mean?"

Marrok smirked as he took the helmet off and pointed to a glowing light, very small and only the size of a human pinkie finger tip. "These armors, like my own, are not moved by your body, they're moved with your mind. This little piece here is a neuro-link that takes in your thought patterns and turns them into movement for the armor. In other words, if you think of walking, the armor will walk, not you, you're just riding the armor from the inside. And the armor moves at the speed of thought, meaning there is no delay. If you weren't modded like you were, just clenching your fist would have shattered the bones and torn the flesh of your hand, nevermind what would happen with the rest of the body."

Wrage actually paled at that. "And….you wear that kind of armor ALL the time?"

"Yep." Marrok said with a grin.

Wrage was silent for a good while before grinning. "Now I want to fight you even more."

Folsa snorted while Marrok shook his head with a smirk and grabbed the weapon and held it up for Wrage to see. The krogan looked at it with a confused look. "It's…..a shotgun? Not very exciting."

Marrok smirked wider. "Maybe, but this particular shotgun has been around since humans used gunpowder, all the way back to 1972. It was and still is to this day the most feared shotgun to exist. And not because of the caliber of shells it used or the destruction each shot could do, but for the sheer fact that you only needed to reload it ONCE before everyone in front of you is turned into red pudding. Wrage, say hello to the AA12 shotgun. Modified for modern use. I called it the Mauler." The shotgun didn't look too different from how it had looked 200 years ago, except it was bigger and the drum no longer carried shells.

Wrage was now looking in pure awe like a child seeing a brand new toy. Marrok gave it to him, leading to Wrage looking at Marrok as if he wasn't sure he could actually have it. Marrok nodded. "Give it spin, see how long it takes before you have to let it cool."

Near instantly, Wrage rushed over to a set of dummies, all with old C-SEC armor and all with different settings, one with shields, one with barriers, one with extra armor, and one with none of the above. Wrage aimed and held the trigger. The barrage of shotgun blasts rang through the lab, disturbing everyone while Wrage was having fun like a child, a wide, happy, and near manic grin on his face. Once the first dummy was reduced to mulch, the krogan moved to the next one, still shooting. Then the third, before finally the fourth, Wrage never having stopped shooting. Finally, after the fourth was destroyed, along with the armor of all four, Wrage stopped firing, but only because he took his finger off the trigger. He spun around. "HOW?!" He asked, so excited. "How was there so little recoil and WHY didn't I need to stop?!"

Marrok laughed. "The recoil part was already there, it's designed to have as little as possible, I just updated it to fit with the times. As for the lack of cooling, that drum holds the answer. That drum is actually split in half. The back half holds up to five metal blocks that rotate with each shot, and the front half holds five heat sinks. Each sink can handle around fifteen shots before it shifts to move around while the one behind it takes over between shots. There's a cooling line going through the whole drum, so when the new sink moves in, the old one is being cooled off. And by the time that sink returns to its original spot, it'll be fully cooled. So long as you have the drum functioning, you can hold off an army at a choke point for days or even weeks if you're lucky. Oh, and you can switch between standard shotgun blasts and single slugs. Attach a scope and you can snipe with this baby."

Wrage cheered as he held the gun and grabbed the armor. "I'll be suited up before you know it!" He then bolted.

Folsa held back a giggle. "I swear, sometimes I forget he's so old or even a krogan."

Marrok laughed. "He's no different from anyone doing something they love, give them new toys to use and they'll be happy for a long time. Speaking of, how is your 'secret' project?" He asked as Folsa tensed at this, her eyes snapping to him.

She stared for a few seconds, longer than should be needed for a salarian, showing just how much he caught her off guard. "I don't know what you mean."

Marrok raised a brow before leaning in and speaking softly so only they would hear. "So you're going to deny that you're using my labs for a special project that could easily have this company destroyed and everyone working in it executed if ever discovered?"

Now Folsa looked worried. Marrok never thought he'd ever see a salarian sweat, but Folsa was coming close. "How long?"

Marrok leaned back and crossed his arms. "About a month or two after the Black Hornet deal. You cover your tracks well, but not enough for me."

Folsa clenched the data pad in her hand. "And…..what happens now?"

"Now?" He asked before shrugging. "You continue."

She blinked rapidly. "Wha…?"

He smiled at her. "You've been with us from the beginning, and I feel I'm a good judge of character. While it took some digging to get everything, seriously STG systems are more tedious than anything, you've yet to do anything that I don't approve of. And what you're doing now is a good thing, even if the Council wouldn't see it that way. However, if you're going to be doing these kinds of projects from now on, please inform me. I'm more than willing to have a special lab made for such things. Why else do you think I made this building so big?"

Folsa became limp with relief as gratitude filled her eyes. "Thank you. I promise, I'll explain my reasons. If I'm going to be open with you, I want you to know everything."

He nodded. "Alright then. I'll be in my office for a few hours or so, you can come to me in that timeframe." He said before turning and leaving the labs before heading to the elevator to head to his office. Upon arriving, he stepped out of the elevator and headed for the door. He saw the desk just outside his office with a turian woman working behind it. "Trixis, has Officer Vakarian arrived yet?"

Trixis looked up from the terminal. She was a young woman, a bit younger than Lanaria, but thankfully not too young. She nodded to Marrok. "Yes sir, he's inside. He went in only a few minutes ago."

Marrok nodded. "Thank you. Folsa should be coming up within the next few hours, once she does, you can take the rest of the day off."

She smiled at this. "Thank you sir."

"Anytime." He said before entering his office. The office was large with a view of the Citadel at the back through the wall high windows and various pieces of art from different races along the walls. He immediately spotted his old friend Castis admiring the fish tank that had many Earth fish, the one holding his attention being a shark that swam seemingly aimlessly. He approached and stood next to Castis as he too watched the shark.

Castis spoke first. "Lemon Sharks, I believe they're called, correct?"

Marrok nodded. "Yep, one of the friendliest sharks humans have ever encountered. If it weren't for the fact that we can't breathe underwater, we might have domesticated them."

"Rather strange to name such a predator after a sour citrus fruit."

Marrok shrugged. "Not my choice in naming. I remember hearing that it was because of their coloring that helps them blend in with the sandy ocean floor." He said before using his omnitool to activate something. A few fish were dropped into the enclosure and the shark went for them, catching and eating one almost instantly, scattering the rest of the fish before the hunt was on.

"For a relatively small creature, it has a lot of power."

Marrok nodded. "Now, as much as I'd love to chat about my shark here, we both know I didn't call you here just for that." He said before heading to his desk and took his chair while Castis did the same with the guest chair.

"Indeed, you mentioned you had something new for C-SEC?" He asked as he leaned into his chair, which was modeled to fit those with digitigrade legs like turians.

Marrok grinned widely as he used his terminal to activate a holo emitter in the desk. The hologram showed a mechanical spider that was next to a human hand, said spider very tiny. "TWO things actually. The first is this tiny thing. I call it the Spiderbot. It's only the size of a fly, but with help from a V.I., a skilled Tech specialist can control up to three hundred of them. While not useful in combat, they CAN be used to squeeze into larger tech like turrets or even bombs and render them useless from the inside, or they can be used to spy on anyone suspected of crimes, or in emergencies, they can be used to slip through the cracks and gaps in rubble to find survivors."

Castis stared in shock. "How…..How are you able to make such small machines?"

"Humans have been making tiny machines since the 20th century. With new technology, came the ability to refine that process. So while complex, this isn't something earth-shattering. The biggest hurdle was getting this to work without an EEzo Core." Not really true, Marrok had hundreds of thousands in his utility belt at all times back from his old universe, but he didn't want others to know that until this was more widespread.

The turian snapped his head over to Marrok. "Wait WHAT?! NO Element Zero?!"

"Yep, because getting the eezo for a core THAT small would have been a literal waste of credits as well as unneeded. These aren't heavy at all, they aren't being used as bullets, and they aren't meant to be used in combat in the first place, so really it was a problem on how we can power it without eezo and the answer was actually rather simple."

"And that would be…?"

"Charge Batteries. While we can't justify making eezo cores that small, rechargeable batteries are very easy to make. Each Spiderbot can last for two hours before needing a recharge, which they can return to their controller and feed off the electricity used to work with the eezo core that powers your shields. The feeding is so small that it can't even affect the strength of the shields. So long as you have shields or even a working omnitool, you have power for the Spiderbots."

Castis rubbed his chin. "Amazing. If this amazing gift is the first thing, just what exactly is your second?"

The grin returned as Marrok changed the hologram, this time it was of two different spiderbots, but these were on either side of an image of Marrok. And they were MUCH bigger. One was the size of a doberman pinscher, while the other was as big as a rhino. "May I introduce the Citadel Spider, or C-SPI for short. As you can see, these are MUCH bigger than the original spider bots, that's cause these are not used to track or spy on criminals, they're meant to help officers bring them down."

If they could, Marrok had no doubt that Castis' eyes would be popping out of his skull. "SPIRITS! What are those things?!"

Marrok laughed a bit. "This is the next step in law enforcement. The C-SPI is VERY customizable. These two you see here are the biggest and smallest they come in, with other sizes in between them."

Castis swallowed loudly. "And….how will they be of help in enforcing the law?"

"I'm so glad you asked. As stated, the sizes can vary. However, the forms they can take can vary as well. You can LITERALLY have an order placed for ANY spider from Earth and their forms and behaviors will reflect those forms. Best of all, each C-SPI will have TWO forms they can shift between, one for interacting with civilians and one for dealing with criminals, either for utility or for the fear factor. Cause, let's be honest, can you look me in the eye and say that you wouldn't be terrified of a spider nearly the size of a person looking like THIS?" He pulled up his omnitool and showed a picture of a tarantula.

Castis flinched back at the sight before nodding. "I can definitely see the benefits of having these in law enforcement. But what about their capabilities in combat?"

Marrok put his omnitool away before answering. "Well, as I said, the forms will behave differently, that will have to be something that's researched by those placing the orders, but the smaller ones, like Jumping Spiders, will be meant for speed and agility, able to keep up even with a speeding skycar or dropship, while being light enough thanks to the eezo cores to hop from skycar to skycar. The bigger ones, like Tarantulas, are the tanks basically, able to fight a krogan in a straight up fight and win every time. But all of them have TWO things that will never change. They all have the ability to use webbing of the same strength of the web grenades I made for C-SEC a few years back, as well as a tranquilizing venom that can vary in dosage, but the higher end can knock out a krogan."

"What about hacking attempts? Someone could easily take control of such a large machine and turn it on us." Castis pointed out.

"Already prevented." Marrok said before changing the hologram again to more C-SPIs, but this time with people of different species beside each. "Each one comes with both a DNA scanner AND a neural scanner. The C-SPIs are meant to be paired with ONE person and are to be given a drop of blood from their partner while also wearing a neural headband for half an hour. This will 'bond' the Spider to the person and when dealing with civilians or off duty, they'll act like affectionate pets, but when on duty, they'll obey the orders, vocal or mental, of their partner without hesitation. In other words, the ONLY way to 'hack' them, is to FORCE their partner to allow them to be hacked."

The turian looked intently at the hologram. "What of possible infection, or cross contamination?"

"All it would take is a prick from the fangs as said fangs are constantly cleaned and sterilized to prevent that very risk. And each has been tested for both Levo and Dextro based species, so you won't have to worry about a turian or a salarian getting sick from trying to bond with their partner."

Castis crossed his arms as he thought on this. He seemed to already have gotten over the insanity of Marrok's inventions. "What do you need to make these a reality?"

"I already have everything I need to make them. In fact, I use these for my security and PMC. Though I would like C-SEC's endorsement on them."

He nodded and stood up, as did Marrok. "I'll talk with Pallin and get him to see the benefits of these. These can save many lives."

Marrok nodded. "I know. However, word of caution, just because everyone can get one, doesn't mean they should. I've been hearing some whispers about Harken lately."

Castis growled. "Ah, good point. But we can't just deny him one given that he's the first human C-SEC officer, it would look bad on both sides."

Marrok rubbed his chin before grinning cruelly. "Well, YOU can't deny him. But on the other hand, I CAN."

Castis looked confused as Marrok continued. "C-SEC will be getting these from me and they will be given to officers whose records are clean, and acceptable. Basically, anyone NOT Harken. And if Harken throws a tantrum, tell him that he can come see me since that is MY condition for giving these to C-SEC in the first place." Marrok's grin grew more. "Even though you and I both know that I'm basically just giving this to you for free."

Castis's eyes widened before his mandibles shifted into a grin of his own. "And when he predictably decides to come to you, you can basically use his unannounced arrival and disrespect to strip him of his place in C-SEC and have him kicked off the Citadel."

Marrok nodded. "I see you're adapting to my ways at long last."

Castis laughed at this. "After dealing with you for a year now, I feel I know you well enough."

Marrok chuckled. "Alright, you head on out now. I do have other meetings to take care of and the sooner we can supply C-SEC with their new toys, the better." Castis nodded before he and Marrok shook hands and the turian left.

Around an hour later, Trixis contacted his office. "Sir, Miss Folsa is here to see you."

Marrok answered. "Thank you Trixis, and have a pleasant day."

"You too, sir." A few seconds later, Folsa entered his office and took the seat Castis sat in before.

Marrok clasped his hands together and rested them on the desk. "Now then, let's hear it."

Alright, chapter done. I know, dick move for the cliffhanger, but this chapter was getting long without me meaning it to so I had to end it here. However, enjoyers rejoice, cause I have a little game for you all.

The shotgun I SORT of stole from Plan for the Galaxy by Bored Peasant, with my own little twist to it. The AA12 is my favorite shotgun, real or fiction, and has been ever since the first Expendables movie. Terry Crews made that lovely thing SING. I have other weapons I plan on converting to Mass Effect tech but keep their reDONKulous killing potential. Many you can find in the VR game Pavlov.

Now, for the drone. I tried to explain its appearance as best as I could, but I know I failed that hard. So, if you just look up Ace Combat 7 MQ-101, you'll find it there. I had a hard time deciding between the MQ-101 and the Weapon UAV drone you can use with the ADFX-10F, but decided with the MQ due to the size and power it has. It's no different from any other fighter other than being a drone. The mimicking pilot skills also came from that same game, I just tweaked that idea a bit to fit better with the story.

What do you think about the Spider-proxies? I tried to make it so they weren't as powerful as a Spider-man, but clearly stronger than normal gene mods. And in case you didn't get it, Wrage has the armor that will be standard for the Tarantula troop, corps, squad, whatever you want to call it. Since Tarantulas can kick off their hairs as a defense, I figured I'd give the armor a similar ability, and with the same drawback. Good luck trying to get a stranglehold on a guy wearing that armor.

The Spiderbots and the neuro-link are both from Otto Octavious, the former from Superior Spider-Man and the latter from the metal tentacles, specifically the Spider-Man 2 variation, but for the neuro-link instead of keeping advanced intelligent tentacles in check, and yes, the armor moving with thought is from Halo. I honestly believe Spider-Man, any Spider-Man, could use a Mjolnir armor with no issue, if only for both the reflexes and flexibility alone, never mind the other powers.

The C-SPIs however were something I honestly came up with on my own. I remembered the movie Eight Legged Freaks and seeing so many of them all together, for SOME REASON, had my brain going 'I wanna ride that giant one', the Tarantula that was shown for only one scene. When I remembered that movie and that thought, when I originally came up with this story, I thought about what if those spiders were on our side? So, the C-SPIs were born.

Now for that game I mentioned. Some people might have already guessed why Folsa joined Marrok, so I'd like to see if anyone can guess correctly. And let me just say, it's NOT as clear cut as you might think. For those who get it right, I'll PM you and give you the full details of her and will give you one of three rewards of how you can affect the story in the future. Just something fun for my readers to do.

See you all in the next chapter!