Disclaimer: not mine
Tim's pairing is listed on AO3 if you want to know in advance
Chapter 7
Tim woke and stretched, one great thing about the Geth, even in his sleep he could keep learning. It was very interesting to see just how much of Earth's history was the same between the dimensions. It seemed the big difference was the existence of heroes and vigilantes, Clark coming to Earth. But Krypton didn't exist here, a totally different solar system existed where it should be. Instead of magic and Green Lanterns, anything like that, they had biotics, not even Metas. Their first contact had definitely gone better than this Earths', they hadn't been thrown straight into a war after all.
The loneliness was there. Sure, Jeff seemed nice enough, friendly, so did Alenko, but…there was no one his own age. No one knew the truth. And he hated it. He ran a hand through his hair and then sat up, the Geth quiet, it was his decision to make, not theirs.
He got changed into one of the casual outfits that he'd grabbed while they were on the Citadel. Well, he'd given his measurements, preferred colours, and styles and then the clothing had been delivered to the ship while they were at the hearing, like the armour.
He went into the communal bathroom to quickly shower and change and then headed for Shepard's quarters, the Geth informing him that the man was within. He pressed the chime and the door soon slid open, allowing him inside, finding Shepard working at his desk already.
"Tim, is there something I can do for you?" Shepard asked.
"Do you have time to talk?" he asked.
"Take a seat," Shepard waved to the single guest chair. "Is everything alright?"
Tim took a deep breath; he could do this. "The file you have on me…is fake. The Geth made it and chose the colony because it was wiped out and there is no one left to contradict it," he admitted softly.
Shepard tensed and Tim kept his body language open and defenceless.
"My name and family history are true, other than living on the colony. I was born in Gotham City on Earth."
,
John listened to Tim, not sure what to think. Another dimension? A different Earth? It was fantastical, insane…and yet the kid looked dead serious. His omni-tool lit up, files being transferred, the data the Geth had on his existence, except they had put Tim into Earth's system, how could he know if these were true?
A recording of Tim's arrival of Rannoch in a flash of light and then data downloaded from elsewhere…dates, names, places…none of them familiar.
"Why tell me this? You have to know this is making trust more difficult."
Tim nodded. "I've been dealing with secret identities since before I hit double digits, even if I didn't have one myself then. I've never had to live completely in a role, yes the Geth know, but it's not the same. And if I was going to tell anyone then you make the most sense."
John leant back in his seat, pondering the boy's words. The idea of a world like his, an Earth with similar and yet also vastly different history… men who could fly? Well, aliens, but still. And earlier contact with aliens would likely lead their Earth to advance more quickly since they hadn't gotten alien tech till they reached Mars and found the Prothean relics.
Magic…he wasn't sure what to think of that but apparently it was how Tim had ended up on Rannoch. He wanted to say it was impossible, crazy even, but… Tim had passed his physical, no sign of mental damage and John had seen crazy people, fanatics… Tim showed none of the signs.
"I know it sounds crazy," Tim murmured.
"It does but…maybe I'm crazy for believing you."
Blue eyes went wide in shock and relief, the smile on Tim's face almost shy.
"So, is it anything like comics show?"
Tim laughed. "It'd be nice to walk off bullets. Sure, the body armour would mostly stop them from penetrating but it doesn't stop the bruising or even cracked ribs. Though, grappling through the air…there's nothing like it."
"So, what's the worst injury you ever had from being a vigilante?"
"I was impaled by an assassin called the Widower and lost my spleen."
John's jaw dropped in shock. "But Dr Chakwas…"
"The Geth gave me a new spleen and basically cloned all of my skin, all my old scars are gone," the kid shrugged.
No wonder he didn't flinch going up against the Heretics!
,
Tim looked up from his breakfast, smiling as Kaidan joined him. He liked the older man, serious and good at his job but he also knew how to relieve the tension when it was needed. "You ok?" He asked as he saw Kaidan rubbing his temples, clearly in pain.
"Yeah, just migraines from the L2 implant I have. It'll pass," he assured him.
Tim began accessing the information databases on L2 implants. "You know, we could upgrade you to an L3. It isn't that hard." And way better for his health. How had any medical board ever cleared the usage of the L2's? The power was not worth the side effects!
Kaidan laughed, surprisingly not bitter about what he went through. "Sure, if you don't see the risk of brain damage as an issue."
"Why would there be brain damage?" Sure, if a human performed the surgery, then Tim would agree, way too dangerous, but that kind of surgery was done by a VI.
"Do you know how dangerous that type of surgery is? I could die on the table."
"Only if the VI was hacked or really badly programmed." Hell, there were a handful of people back on his Earth who could probably manage that kind of programming or even the surgery.
"Tim, the procedure is so difficult and precise that it takes months to program the robotic scalpel with the right procedures," he explained.
Months? Even his Earth had the beginning of robotic surgery now, so why would programming it in a more high-tech place take months? Sure, brain surgery was delicate but that just didn't see right. Something to consider later. "Well, that's why the Geth could easily do it for you. They rebuilt me from a mess of…well, a mess on the surface of Rannoch."
"Tim-" Kaidan grimaced.
"Look, go to Dr Chakwas and tell her what I told you. Tell her to show you the videos of when the Geth put me back together. My brain is mostly synthetic. Upgrading your implant is very simple compared to that." Tim shrugged and stood to return his dishes, leaving a contemplative Kaidan behind as he headed to engineering.
"Chief Adams," he greeted the head engineer.
"Mr Drake-Wayne, can I help you with something?"
"Put me to work, please?" he asked, he was bored. Yes, he was still mentally working on things, but he needed something to occupy his hands too.
"You any good at engineering?"
"I have the Geth in my head, they can always give me instructions if it's something outside my knowledge."
"Alright then…how about the elevator. It's up to spec but I've had complaints from everyone about the speed. But upgrading it would normally require an Alliance dock. Let's see if you and the Geth can fix that."
"Sounds great," he smirked, and Adams nodded, waving over another man.
They grabbed tool kits and headed out.
,
Jason lowered his guns, breathing heavily which made him sound a little like Darth Vader thanks to the voice modulator. He double checked it was clear, holstered his guns, and ran to where he'd seen Dick go down. "Wing?" he called, looking around…there!
He slid on his knees, leaning over his brother. That…that was a lot of blood. "I need the Batmobile, Nightwing's down! Call Dr T," he snapped over comms.
"The Batmobile is on its way, eta 5 minutes," Alfred answered.
"Come on Dickie, open your eyes," he pleaded even as he dug out both their medical supplies, doing what he could to staunch the bleeding.
A soft groan from his brother was a relief, proof that he was alive. The five minutes felt like an eternity, but finally he heard the sound of it approaching. He carefully scooped Dick up and carried him to the car, laying him out in the backseat, putting him on the emergency oxygen while attaching the sensors so those in the Cave would have an idea of his condition. He got in the front and set the Batmobile to return.
,
"Tali, I want you to help them." Chief Engineer Adams said quietly to the Quarian as they watched the two-man team leave.
"Why?" She almost whined.
Adams knew of Tali's dislike of Tim; she was constantly muttering about him under her breath.
"Tim is going to be doing what the Geth in his head tell him to. So, first of all we don't know how good his fingers are when it comes to putting those instructions into action. Secondly, any good engineer knows that a little bit of an artistic flair is needed because math is not the be all and end all of all things." And Tim didn't seem the artistic type to him, though that could just be due to the short amount of exposure he'd had to the kid.
He seemed like a good kid but that was what he was, a kid. He couldn't have much experience, especially coming from a colony that chose to cut itself off from the Alliance. It made no sense to him that colonies kept doing that, not when there was so much evidence of what tended to happen to those colonies. How had Tim survived? Poor kid had lost everything, it wasn't surprising he clung so tightly to the Geth, despite how different they were to him.
Hopefully, he could find a new family among the crew…so long as Tali didn't shoot him.
,
She had to agree with what he was essentially saying. The best engineers on the Quarian flotilla weren't the ones who just followed the manual exactly… it was the ones who didn't even need the manual. Of course, there was the occasional bosh'tet who thought he could do it without the manual and no talent. They were usually assigned to waste systems… with a rag.
"Fine. I'll help," she agreed reluctantly as she headed for the door.
When she arrived, she found that they had already raised the carriage partially so they could get underneath it, all she could see was their legs.
"Where did you get that ladder?" She asked as she saw the thirty-foot tall ladder reaching to the mess hall.
"It's not one ladder. We pulled out the emergency ladders and connected them to make them long enough to reach," Silas answered. "Bit shaky but it'll work for now. Mr Drake-Wayne was the one to try it out."
"Seriously Silas, call me Tim and it was your idea to use the ladders."
Tali watched carefully before moving to help as she worked out what they were doing. She had to ensure he did not get the chance to sabotage anything.
"Is there a problem with the elevator?"
The group looked up the shaft to see Shepard standing there.
,
"You mean other than the fact that it takes nearly a full two minutes to travel twenty feet?" Tim asked sarcastically.
"Won't it put a strain on the workings if it moves faster? It is supposed to be for heavy objects," he asked as he looked down at them, taking in the makeshift ladder.
"Which is why we are converting it to use mass effect fields," Tim explained.
"What if the power goes out?"
"Then we have bigger problems than a busted lift," Tim smirked. "But we are designing it to switch over to the manual system in an emergency." System redundancy was something that should be in use already. Had the locals become so used to biotics that they just didn't see the more mundane uses for them?
"Shepard, we should probably install a ladder between decks. We shouldn't be using an elevator of any type during emergencies," Tali suggested, sounding nervous. She as young and Quarians were generally looked down on so it wasn't surprising that she could feel out of place around the command crew. But nervous was better than glaring at him.
,
"A good suggestion, Tali. I'll send an order to Adams to make it official," John smiled at her. "Tim, can you come up? I need to talk to you about something."
"Sure." He turned to Tali. "Here, these are the Geth designs."
"Don't do that!" She hissed as her omni-tool sprang to life.
Tim shrugged unconcernedly before jumping, biotics lifting him to the top.
"You make that looks so easy," he admitted.
He tended to not use his biotics much; he hadn't undergone anywhere near the kind of training Kaidan had received so it didn't feel as natural. Or was it because he'd been older when the abilities had appeared? Tim may have only had his for a few months but he'd had the Geth training him in his head.
John led Tim round the corner to his personal quarters and invited him to sit at the table there. "I received a call from Admiral Hackett of-"
"The Fifth Fleet." Tim nodded. John frowned in concern and Tim shrugged. "You mention a name or I see something that I don't understand and the Geth instantly fill me in."
John nodded, that must be very useful, and continued. "There is a situation at one of our training facilities. We use advanced drones to train soldiers in live fire exercises. Unfortunately, the VI that is controlling them has gone rogue. I was hoping you might be able to work with the Geth to remotely hack the VI and shut it down."
Tim sat there, seemingly lost in thought, so talking to the Geth? "Do you have access codes?"
"Everything needed for remote access will be provided," John assured him.
"As long as you don't mind the Geth actually being in the systems then it shouldn't be too hard for them to handle a simple VI… rogue or not."
"I've been given permission to handle this however I see fit. I thought it might be a good way for the Geth to make a good impression on the Alliance," he explained.
Tim smiled happily. "The Geth are very grateful. They've just dedicated a whole second server to the issue."
"Is that a lot?"
"At any one time there are literally thousands of Geth programs in my head. A single server can contain millions… plural. Think of a sever as the Geth version of a city. They have six working on a way to help the Quarians with their suit problem and another three on working out how to make their platforms more organic friendly."
John's eyebrow rose at that news, that was…impressive. "I'll be sure to make the Alliance Brass aware of that," he promised.
"Thanks Shepard. The Geth honestly appreciate the opportunity and are very close to expressing an emotion." Tim chuckled.
"Well, we would go in person if we could but we received a distress call from Alliance Marines so we need to see to that. Gear up and I'll alert the others."
"How are we getting planet side?" Tim asked as they no longer had the Mako.
"We'll have the Normandy drop us a few clicks away from the source and we'll have to hike the rest of the way to avoid detection."
"Still sounds better than you driving the Mako," Tim teased and John mock glared at him.
,
Tim marched up to the airlock where the rest of the team was waiting for him already in armour. "Shepard, the Geth have dealt with your little VI problem."
"Already?"
"Only took ten minutes." Tim shrugged. "Most of those were spent testing the new safety protocols they installed for the Alliance as well as testing the other upgrades."
"They really want to make a good impression, don't they?"
"If they knew how, they would make you dinner and massage your feet," he admitted, then again, a platform might be able to do that? It was just following instructions for the basics of cooking after all. Surely anyone could follow a recipe…then he remembered B's last attempt and decided that no, there was more to cooking anything.
"Alright, I'll contact Admiral Hackett when we get back. The rest of you, ready up." Shepard ordered.
,
Damian sat beside Richard's bed, reading a book for school. It was…comforting to hear the beeping of the machines, indicting that Richard was still alive. Several bullets had penetrated his suit, causing a massive loss of blood, tissue and muscle damage, as well as hitting his liver. He'd needed surgery but Dr Thompkins seemed to believe he would make a full recovery. She was a competent doctor and so was likely correct.
Father had not taken his injury well; it was the first major event since Drake's death. Cassandra had indicated that it was normal for him to take it so badly. He and Todd had taken care of the gang who had caused Richard's injuries, they would be spending a long time in Blackgate as they deserved. He thought Todd should have been allowed to make lethal shots.
,
Ashley glanced around, grimacing. Who exactly reported Geth activity in this swamp? Wouldn't they rust? No…the metal they were made from didn't rust otherwise Tim's skeleton would surely be rusting due to the fact the human body had a lot of water in it. No intelligence agency got it right every time, but did it have to be swamp.
BANG!
Shotgun blast!
"Skipper?" she called over the comm in alarm.
"Not us. Garrus?"
"Medevac now!" Was Garrus' response. "Put the shotgun down!" he was snarling in rage, and Ashley glanced at Wrex before they booked it. She didn't know Garrus could sound that angry.
They ran to where Garrus had been watching Tim and Tali's backs as they worked on some abandoned tech and she froze in shock. "What the hell?" she gasped before shaking off the shock. "Wrex, restrain her," she ordered even as she joined Garrus beside Tim.
"Normandy, medical emergency. Severe facial trauma, inform the Dr."
"Understood," Joker's voice was tight with tension. "Id?"
"The Emissary," she answered. Titles, not names, on comms.
,
Karin's head snapped up as alarms began to blare, her instruments coming to life….and a monitor lighting up with life signs. The Geth?
"Prep for medivac," Joker's voice came over the comm. "Severe facial trauma to the Emissary."
"Understood," she answered and went to work prepping what she might need. Good thing she already had his medical files. "How bad is it?" she asked, knowing the Geth could hear her.
The life signs were mostly steady if not as strong as they should be, so she assumed that medi-gel had been applied to stabilise him. The shift in the sound of the engine showed they had entered the atmosphere to retrieve the team. She wished her medbay was closer to the shuttlebay but at least they had upgraded the elevator to make it quicker.
,
"Garrus what happened?" he asked, voice low and dangerous as he stared at the unconscious teen, blood surrounding him, but he was still alive. The Geth had put him back together after a fatal plummet, surely, they could fix this.
"I didn't hear what Tim said to set her off," Garrus admitted. "First, I knew of it was the sound of her shotgun. Shepard, she definitely aimed right at his helmet."
"Damn it," he shook his head.
And then the Normandy was dropping towards them, hovering just above the ground. Several marines dropped to the ground, taking up defensive positions while two more appeared with a stretcher. They got Tim on it, ensuring not to let his neck move, and then they were moving.
,
Karin swallowed as they carried the boy in, taking in the blood coating his armour. "Let's get this off him," she ordered, Alenko stepping in to help her since he did have some medical training.
They got Tim's armour off, leaving his helmet for last. She grimaced, that was bone, not good, but it seemed the shots hadn't shattered the metallic bone at least.
"How close a shot was it?" she asked.
"Point blank," Garrus answered grimly.
"Alright, everyone who doesn't need to be here, out."
They filed out, Kaidan remaining to help her. He worked to clean the blood away so she could see what she was working with. "Doc, look," he murmured, and right before their eyes, a section of muscle seemed to regenerate.
"The nanites," she sighed in relief.
TBC….