Disclaimer: not mine
Chapter 3
Tim got to his feet, moving to haul Alenko up, the man staggering and then nodding in thanks.
"Commander!" he yelled, running towards the unmoving figure.
Tim moved to Williams, checking her over but she was conscious, just stunned. He helped her up and they moved to where Alenko was examining the Commander. He glanced up and the beacon was totally gone, barely anything left of it.
"We need to get the Commander back to the Normandy," Alenko told them.
"Shouldn't we immobilise his spine?" Tim asked when Alenko went to lift him and he hesitated. They should, but how?
"if we keep him flat, the armour should keep him from moving too much," Williams suggested.
"Williams, cover us," Alenko ordered, moving to his shoulders, and Tim moved to his legs, not needing to be asked.
They carefully lifted the Commander, keeping him as still as possible even as Alenko called the Normandy in. Looking at the ship, Tim was happier with his colour scheme, his ship would be harder to spot in the darkness of space.
'Drake Emissary, we cannot remain in communication with your ship from the Normandy as the humans may detect the signal.'
"Understood," he murmured. He really needed to get used to responding mentally, he hadn't worked on a team with M'gann enough for it to become a habit.
Soldiers spilled down the ramp, a gurney with them and they transferred the Commander onto it.
"Come on," Alenko motioned to him and Tim followed since he was being watched by the remaining soldiers.
He knew his id would hold up if checked, other than the fact they would assume he should be dead. Would he ever tell anyone the truth about his origins? Maybe, if he found friends he could truly trust.
They reached the medical bay to find the doctor examining Commander Shepard whose armour had been removed already.
"Any obvious injuries?" she asked as she worked?
"No doctor," Alenko answered.
"Then grab a bed and wait."
Tim sat on the bed furthest from the Commander and the doors since he figured that would make them feel better. The Geth in his head had already infiltrated the ship's systems, feeding him any relevant data, like the fact they were heading for the Mass Relay and who the main crew members were, like Captain Anderson who had just walked in. Alenko and Williams stood to salute so Tim stood to be respectful.
"And this is?"
"Timothy Drake-Wayne, he says the Geth put him on the planet," Alenko stated.
"The Geth?" Anderson asked in alarm, looking at Tim who had removed his helmet fully, pushing the cloth hood back as well. "Were you a prisoner of war?" he asked warily.
"No sir," Tim answered. "We intercepted the distress call and went to help against the Old Machine and Heretics," he explained.
"Captain," the doctor called and the man glanced between them.
"Please wait in the other room," Anderson motioned to the door in the back, and Tim nodded, figuring they wanted to talk privately about Shepard's condition, the mission, and him.
Tim went inside and took a seat to wait.
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David Anderson watched the boy head into the back room and then looked at Alenko. "Report."
Alenko reported on the teams action upon landing, including Jenkins death and then finding Nihlus' body at the colony spaceport. He kept himself still even when he wanted to shudder in horror at the altered colonists, impaled on spikes. The story of the bombs and their meeting the boy was interesting.
"What do you think of him?"
"I'm not sure," Alenko admitted. "But he pushed me out of the way of the beacon, and when he pushed too hard, he used biotics to keep me from going over the edge. And he immediately helped me up after it blew, went to check Williams while I checked on the Commander. He seems genuine and he was very sure of what he was saying, that the Geth we were fighting were some kind of separate group called Heretics."
David looked down as his omni-tool beeped, a file downloading. He had begun the search as soon at the boy gave his name, they'd need DNA to confirm the id but… "Well, we have a dead man on board."
"Sir?"
"According to the records, Timothy Drake-Wayne died five years ago when the colony on Chasca was wiped out."
"I thought there was a call for colonists, Sir?" Williams looked confused.
"They're trying again," which he personally thought was insane. "Records from the colony are very spotty due to how they cut themselves off from Earth and the Alliance. But everyone was reported dead."
"So, either he's using a fake name or there were some survivors," Alenko murmured.
The question was, which was it?
"Captain Anderson?" Doctor Chakwas called and he turned to her.
"How is he?"
"He'll live. A lot of bumps and bruises but his armour took the worst of the blast. He seems to be dreaming but I'd prefer to let him wake naturally, just to be safe," she explained.
"Thank you, Doctor. We need a DNA sample from our guest to confirm his identity."
She nodded and scanned the bed where the boy had been sitting, the scanner beeping as it detected a sample. "Identity confirmed as Timothy Drake-Wayne," she announced once the test had concluded.
"The attackers were never conclusively identified, were they Sir? Could it have been the Geth and they kidnapped at least him for some kind of plan?" Williams suggested as Chakwas checked her over.
"Perhaps."
Soon they had both been examined and Shepard was beginning to stir.
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Tim was relaxing in the chair when the door opened to let Captain Anderson and Commander Shepard in, he straightened but didn't stand since he wasn't military.
"We've confirmed your identity Mr Drake-Wayne," the Captain told him, but Tim knew since the Geth were in the computers. "However, you are supposed to be dead, along with your whole colony."
"The Geth saved me," Tim answered, this was where it got tricky, merging truth and lies. "But even they don't know how I escaped the massacre." Tim slumped in the seat, staring at the wall. "I've seen the images and records…I appeared on Rannoch about a quarter of a mile in the air. Guessing you know what that kind of fall does to the human body."
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David couldn't help blanching at the thought of such a fall…that was not survivable. Was the boy a clone? Chakwas would need to do a thorough examination. He didn't know what to think of their guest, he was connected to the Geth and yet had worked to help the team on Eden Prime and had apparently destroyed the Geth there, though he seemed to think they weren't Geth. Brainwashing? A child would be easy to influence and convince of things, but were the Geth capable of that?
"Where are you taking me?" the boy asked, watching them.
"The Citadel," he answered, there was no harm in him knowing after all. "There's a lot of questions that you need to answer, son."
"Can you tell me why I should answer your questions?" He countered, seeming more curious then angry.
"It would only be to your benefit," David reasoned. "We are currently holding you because you claim to be allied with the Geth. The Geth are an enemy of all Citadel Races which makes you either an enemy or delusional."
"So, the fact that I destroyed all those Heretic platforms on the planet means nothing to you?" Drake-Wane asked.
"If you answer our questions, we might be able to reach an agreement," Shepard spoke up to offer. No one wanted to interrogate or lock up a kid after all…though he was almost eighteen.
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Bart slipped back into the memorial room now that everyone was long gone. He stared at the statue and honestly, he didn't think it looked much like Tim. Not their Tim who was so goofy and awkward, who didn't really do emotions very well. No, it was an image of Red Robin, the leader and detective. Two different sides of the one person. He missed him so much and there was nothing he could do. It was so tempting to try…but he'd been warned and he knew they were right; the timeline wasn't stable enough to risk it. Tim would understand and agree with them. He hated it! It was meant to be the four of them against the world.
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"You mean you'll let me go? Maybe even say 'thanks' for all the help I gave you?" Tim asked doubtfully.
The two men shared a look.
"You have to understand our position-"
"How about you understand mine," Tim interrupted the Captain. "I willingly responded to a distress call from a colony. I willingly risked my own life to protect that colony. I saved the life of your Commander by getting him away from that beacon. That sound about right?" He asked irritably.
"According to the reports of the ground crew, yes," Anderson allowed.
"Right. So, let's look at what you did." Tim suggested as he stood, keeping his body relaxed since he was still in armour and they weren't. "You greeted me with guns in my face despite my obvious friendly actions in disarming the bomb. You forced me onboard despite my honesty, openness, and lack of aggressive intent towards you. Finally, you kidnapped me and locked me in a room despite having just rescued your Commander. Now can you see where I'm coming from?
Anderson sighed. "Yes, I understand where you are coming from but-"
"So, ask yourself this: what would your people do if you were kidnapped by an alien force?" Tim asked innocently.
"Um… Captain, there's a ship that is blocking the Mass Relay, they're claiming that we have their ah… 'Emissary' captive and are demanding his immediate release."
Tim smirked at the announcement over the speakers. "The Geth just wanted to make contact. That is why they sent me. Not very hospitable to keep me locked up now, is it?"
"But now you've got a ship threatening us." Shepard argued.
"No, we have a ship making demands. Your guy on the speakers didn't say anything about weapons," Tim clarified.
"Joker, what is the status of the Geth ship's weapons?" Anderson called out.
"Geth ship? Captain, there is only one ship out here and it doesn't look anything like a Geth ship," Joker reported. "It looks a lot like the Normandy and it hasn't powered up its weapons. Though it's hard to see thanks to the colour scheme."
"The Normandy is a prototype," Shepard frowned as he moved to the lab's computer and brought up the sensor and camera readouts.
"It only looks like the Normandy. The Geth decided that you wouldn't fire on a human looking ship without cause," Tim explained, done with the discussion. Honestly, he was tired and would love a nap. He wasn't used to that kind of combat and it had actually felt more stressful than he last 'discussion' with Ra's. "They won't take aggressive action unless you threaten them or me.
Tim took a deep breath, leaning on the back of his chair. "Look, I am not a threat. I've already proven that I'm an ally. Stop treating me like a prisoner and I will answer any questions I can. I was heading for the Citadel before the distress call so I can easily do it with you."
"What about that ship about there? You just happen to have an exact duplicate of one of the most advanced ships in the Alliance fleet?" Shepard asked as he indicated the image of the ship on the screen.
"Like I said, it only looks like the Normandy. The inside doesn't look anything like this ship, even externally there are differences. If you want to then we can go over and have a look." Harry offered.
Shepard and Anderson shared another look. "Very well Mr. Drake-Wayne, we won't keep you locked up. However, we will have to assign you an escort though as you are a civilian and this is a military ship." Anderson agreed.
"Fine by me," Tim nodded, he couldn't blame them for that, even back home a civilian would have to have an escort on a military vessel,
"How did they know you were locked up?" Shepard asked.
"Well… apparently the Geth in my head hacked your running lights and used them to signal my ship," Tim admitted, honestly, it had been a smart plan and one likely to go unnoticed by the crew. "Sorry about that. I can reconnect with the rest of the Geth network so they can track me directly. Save everyone some trouble."
"Captain there is a signal being sent and received from the ship located in the medical lab," Joker reported worriedly.
The Captain and Commander glared at Tim who shrugged.
"At least you'll always know where I am. Also, the ship has additional data and downloads from Eden Prime if you want them," he offered.
"Can you at least get them to let us through the relay? We need to report back to the Council about the Geth attack-"
"Heretic attack." Tim automatically corrected the Captain. The sooner people began differentiating between the two groups, the better for the Geth…and him.
"-Saren, Nihlus and the Prothean Beacon." Anderson finished as he ignored Tim.
"Captain, the ship has moved out of the way and they say they won't stop us."
"Take us through Joker," Anderson ordered.
"Roger."
"You will need to undergo a full medical exam for everyone's safety and then, once cleared, the Commander will give you a brief tour of the less secured areas. I'll oversee the Normandy docking."
It was unspoken that the Commander should grill Tim as much as possible without pissing him off.
"Aye Captain."
Tim watched the Captain exit the room. "So… you ask a question, I ask a question?" he offered.
"Fine. But let's get that exam over first."
"Wonderful," Tim sighed. He hated hospitals, he always preferred patching himself up or letting Alfred do it if he couldn't. But that wasn't an option anymore so he followed Shepard back into the main room of the medical bay.
"Dr. Karin Chakwas, this is Timothy Drake-Wayne. The Captain wants him to have a full physical."
"Take a seat Mr. Drake-Wayne," she motioned to the bed, and Tim hopped up on it. "Am I looking for anything specific?"
"He claims to have several Geth implants." Shepard stated, staying close, guarding the doctor.
"Geth? Were you captured and experimented on?" She asked as she motioned for Tim to lay down.
"No, I just sort of…landed on their planet," Tim explained more briefly this time.
'We could provide Chakwas Doctor with our files on your arrival and subsequent medical procedures.'
"Yeah, just don't make me watch it again," Tim agreed, shuddering. Even for a seasoned vigilante, those files were too much, surely even Bruce would struggle to watch them.
"Excuse me?"
"Sorry Doctor. The Geth were suggesting that I give you a copy of my treatment. I've seen some of it and it wasn't pretty."
"You can hear the 'Geth' talking to you now?" She asked carefully, and it was pretty obvious what she was thinking.
"They use a small computer that they installed in my brain. Most of which isn't my original brain though," he grimaced at the reminder, honestly, he preferred thinking of the changes as implants than admit the majority of his brain was now synthetic or cloned.
Chakwas immediately brought the scanners over the bed. "Well, I'll be," she muttered. "This work is far more extensive and advanced than anything the Alliance can do. Even the Salarians aren't this advanced."
"Why is his skeleton glowing?" Shepard asked in concern.
"Because of the metal it is made of. His entire bone structure has been replaced with some form of super dense alloy."
"Yeah, they actually dropped me onto Eden Prime from orbit. One of the most terrifying things I've done," Tim admitted. Usually when he was in free fall there was a meta around to catch him, Kon…Cassie…even Bart running up a building to grab him and slow him. No, he couldn't think about them at the moment, he had to focus on the present.
"You survived an orbital drop? Without a pod?" Shepard demanded with wide eyes.
"What's a pod?" Tim asked, hiding a grin since he had that data, his ship just didn't have any yet. He should get some in case he had others on board who couldn't survive the fall.
"Something's wrong here," Chakwas said quickly as she began tapping the screen. "The machine is being fed data from an outside source."
"Apparently the Geth don't believe in asking permission, Tim offered dryly. "They've hooked themselves into the medical computer so you can view the data collected by the nanites in my body."
"Nanites? You have fully functioning nanites?" Chakwas demanded in shock.
Tim shrugged. "They've also downloaded a copy of my medical files. If you are going to watch them, can I wait outside?"
"What? Yes, of course." She agreed quickly. "In fact, both of you can go and I will view these privately. Mr. Drake-Wayne is not a soldier so doctor/patient confidentiality applies."
Tim jumped off the bed and headed for the door… leaving Shepard in his dust.
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When John realised that his charge had left him, he quickly followed only to find the kid waiting outside calmly.
"Everything ok? The images can't be too bad."
"Commander, when you land on the ground from around a quarter mile and break every bone in your body, then you can complain. I've had a lot of nasty stuff done to me… but watching a video of the Geth replacing my powdered bones with metal, not to mention the pulverised organs, is more than I can stomach."
"Ah, yes," John grimaced, feeling rather queasy himself at the thought. "How about we find you something so you can ditch the armour, unless you have clothes with you?"
"No, this is literally all I own," Drake-Wayne admitted.
That made sense if he had been on Rannoch for the last few years, what use was clothing to the Geth?
"Oh, do you eat?" he asked, not sure if that was insensitive or not.
"Yep, thanks to the nanites I can actually eat food a normal human can't. The Geth had to start up some old Quarian food processing plants while they were…fixing me, then they got some shipments of human food in."
"They can do that?" he asked in concern.
"Sure, it's all computerised. They had deliveries made to a remote world then picked them up," the kid shrugged. "Speaking of which, I'm hungry. Any chance for some food?"
"Well, I am supposed to give you a tour. Quartermaster for clothes first and then we can start with the mess."
"Thanks."
"Of course, Mr. Drake-Wayne."
"Tim is fine, it's a lot less of a mouthful and I honestly never used the whole thing. Wayne was my adoptive family and they wanted me to keep my parents name."
"So do you prefer using only one?"
"The Geth tend to call me Drake Emissary," he grimaced, and John didn't blame him, that sounded awkward. "I'll answer to either or both together, I've never been particularly picky about it."
John nodded and showed him to the Quartermaster who quickly took his measurements and gave him a uniform without any rank insignia. John waited while Tim changed, noticing the uniform was a little big on him. And then it was on to the mess for food. He took Tim to the food dispensers and showed him how to use them.
"So why were the Geth attacking Eden Prime?" he asked, figuring it was a good time to start sharing questions.
Tim put his utensils down and looked at him steadily. "Alright, let me explain this to you clearly. Several years ago, a very Old Machine, an AI in a huge ship, approached the Geth. It offered to advance the Geth beyond their current state. For the first time in their history, this offer split the Geth into two groups. Those that wanted the advancement and those that felt it would be better to advance on their own terms. It doesn't help that the Old Machine wanted to eradicate all organics," he explained and then took a sip of his drink.
"The Geth that joined the Old Machine split off from the main group and are now known as 'Heretics'. You cannot call them Geth because it would be like referring to racists as the human species. They aren't. They are just a group of evil gits who happen to share the same body type like Nazis and actual people."
"Ok, then why did the Heretics attack Eden Prime?" John decided to humour his guest.
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Karin studied the files that had been uploaded. It was far more than the boy had admitted to but she didn't blame him, this level of alteration would be hard to accept…there was very little of the original body left. Cloning, nanites, synthetic replacement…but the most important part appeared to be completely original and now very protected. The parts of the brain that had to do with memory and personality remained intact, now enhanced to a degree to make his memory even better, but seemingly unaltered. Honestly, it was a miracle there was anything to salvage after such a fall. Did he understand exactly what the Geth had done to him?
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Dick stared at the Red Robin suit in the memorial case, at least the plaque on this one didn't say good soldier, not that Tm would probably mind such an epithet. His baby bird was dead. Had Tim died hating him? Then again, he'd never hated his parents despite the years of neglect, he honestly didn't seem to feel a lot when it came to the senior Drakes. B was more of a father to Tim then Jack had ever been.
Why hadn't he tried to breach the distance between them? He'd been verbally ripped a new one by basically everyone over what had happened in the Cave that day. And deep down, he knew they were right. There'd been over a month between when the boys had been injured by Jason and that night, plenty of time to talk to Tim about passing Robin on and taking a new mantle. So why hadn't he? Why had he blindsided him? He knew how horrible it had been to have Robin taken from him, that had been why things were so awkward with Jason in the early days. And he'd gone and done the same thing.
If he could, he'd go back and do it right, but he couldn't. He would never get to tell Tim how sorry he was and how much he loved his little brother.
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Tim could tell the Commander was humouring him, but that was fine. It always took time to build true trust off the battlefield.
"Because of that beacon apparently. The leader of the Heretics is a Turian named Saren Arterius. He needed the beacon for something to do with the old machines. I don't know what because the Geth don't know. This was all they could find out from surveillance footage."
"There wasn't any surveillance footage," Shepard countered, frowning.
"There was, before the Heretics wiped it. The Geth hacked the systems from orbit as soon as we arrived. That Saren is not to be trusted, he shot the other Turian in the back," Tim scowled. To shoot someone in the back when they trusted you…that was not the kind of thing he could forgive. He could see it in his head, as if he was right in front of a screen.
"You're watching the footage now? In your head?"
"Sure. It's kind of weird. Honestly, I think the Geth messed with my brain more than they have told me because I am sure it shouldn't be as easy as it is, I'm sure I shouldn't be as accepting of all this as I am."
There was a pause as Tim tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. "Apparently they added false memories and experiences that made me think I had been using this stuff for years. Once my brain had achieved 'sufficient levels of competence' they removed the memories. Since I was out for about two years, they had plenty of time to do that and then add in protections to help make me resistant to further brain washing." That got an argument but Tim shook his head. "Conditioning my brain to accept this is still a kind of brain washing, even if it is a beneficial kind," he argued.
"So why did the Geth choose you as their Emissary?" Shepard asked as Tim went back to eating.
"They believe that I was sent to them and in a way, I have to agree. I did appear rather randomly on their planet and in a method that they can't work out."
"But why do they even need an Emissary? They've stayed isolated for centuries," he pushed.
"Because they want to be with the Quarians again. Personally, I think it's a mistake but they it's their decision to make," Tim sighed.
"But they attacked the Quarians. They drove them off Rannoch." Shepard was frowning now.
"Actually, the Quarians attacked them. The Geth were just defending themselves," he clarified, it wasn't surprising that the story the Quarians had spread was the opposite of the actual events.
"Commander Shepard to the CIC."
"Should I just wait here?" Tim offered.
"No. Come with me, just don't touch anything and stand where I tell you to."
Shepard allowed Tim into the cockpit so he could watch as the Normandy docked. Being in space never got old and the Normandy and his own ship were very different to the ones he was used to.
And honestly…he'd never seen anything like the Citadel. It was breathtaking. He was excited to meet new species once aboard but he figured they would want his report on Eden Prime so he might not get much time to look around just yet.
He could slip away easily enough but that might cause issues later and he wasn't sure about calling his ship in now that his connection to the Geth would be known.
TBC…