“We’re in position.
No sign of the beacon.”
I sent a quick message to the Normandy, then turned and looked at the new member of our group.
Though the only way she could tell I was looking at her was by the direction of my visor.
“Williams, where could they have moved the beacon?”
Knowing the canon was fine, but I decided to verify.
“Only the spaceport…
there are two roads from here — the one we came on, and the one to the spaceport.
They could only have taken it there.”
“Got it.”
I activated my omni-tool again.
“Unconfirmed intel suggests the beacon may have been moved to the spaceport.
Moving to verify.”
The APC started moving.
But of course, it couldn’t be that simple.
Right?
And it wasn’t.
We’d barely gone two hundred meters when snipers opened fire.
My biotics protected us, but…
it was still unpleasant.
“What are you waiting for?!”
Jane snapped at Williams.
“It’s not realistic…
the rangefinder says the snipers are about five kilometers away.
No human can shoot at that range.”
“Fine.
You’re a useless idiot who thought she could latch onto our team.”
“Jane, I can keep this up for a while — I’ve got the strength.
This isn’t Elysium, where my squad was shot at with everything pirates had when they swarmed the planet as a fleet.
But…
could you maybe do something?”
“One moment, sir.”
She showed no sign of annoyance.
When I looked back at her, I saw her climbing out of her exoskeleton, securing it to the armor, pulling out a sniper rifle, and starting to shoot.
No, she couldn’t hit from that range.
But she wasn’t trying to.
She was just laying down suppressive fire, which cut the number of shots coming at us by about a third.
“What the hell are you waiting for?!”
Jane turned to Williams.
“Do what I do!”
When Williams started shooting, the number of incoming shots dropped a bit more.
And the geth started dying as the APC kept moving forward.
“We’ve arrived at some kind of transport hub…”
Everyone, look around!
Unfortunately, a dome shield is almost useless here, so I’ll keep a barrier in front of us.
“Sir, there’s a body here…”
I walked over to Rebecca, who’d pointed it out, and found Kryik without surprise.
“Oh yeah…
you sure get to death faster than anyone.”
“Kkh…”
I stared at him in surprise as he coughed and struggled to open his eyes.
“…I’m…
kkh…
not dead yet.”
“Fuck…”
I crouched next to him and ran my omni-tool over his head, activating a specialized scanning program.
“Man, you were born under a lucky star…”
I shook my head.
“…it looks awful, but the bullet ricocheted off your skull.
Aside from a skull fracture and torn external tissue, you’ve got nothing.”
“Hah, and you were talking about death.”
“Don’t move.”
I quickly started filling the wound with medi-gel.
“There.
Now you won’t bleed out either — that was a possibility.
Now get in the APC.
You’re in no condition to fight.”
“I’m not some damsel…”
“I’ll knock you the fuck out.”
I showed him a fist glowing with biotic energy.
“APC it is, then.”
“Good.”
I helped him into the vehicle and was about to leave when I heard his question.
“Aren’t you going to ask what happened?”
“Not really.
You’re still alive — that’s what matters.”
“No.
Everyone makes mistakes.
It’s just that some, like you, get lucky and the mistake turns into nothing more than a wound, while others pay with lives — theirs or the people around them.
And I don’t care about specifics until I’m in the Spectre corps.”
“Hah, the right approach.”
“Sir, I found a witness!”
“A witness?”
I looked at Jane, who was literally dragging a puny-looking little man out from behind some crates by the scruff of his neck.
“And what is he a witness to?”
“I saw a turian shoot another turian!”
“Oh…
put him in the vehicle and have someone watch him so he doesn’t run.
We’ll need witnesses.
Cameras?”
“What cameras, for fuck’s sake?”
Jane smirked crookedly.
“This is a temporary transport hub that was supposed to be dismantled after the excavation ended, same as the monorail leading from here to the spaceport.”
“Clear.”
A couple of gestures, and I, Jane, Rebecca, and Williams head toward the platform sitting on the monorail.
We had to leave the armored vehicle behind — there was no passage for it here.
“Contact!”
I signaled that the enemy was ahead, and Jane and Rebecca immediately hosed him down with fire from their exosuit cannons.
“So what do you need me for?”
“Less talking…”
I shot Williams a displeased look.
With every minute, I liked this idiot less and less.
I didn’t like her in canon either, and she only survived to the third game because choosing between her and Kaidan annoyed me less.
And in reality…
she’s just irritating.
Hell, even Alenko with his migraines irritates me less.
At least with him, I can help if something happens.
Sure, he’s a coward, but I ordered him a new implant.
The L3-M-V3 generation.
Which stands for biotic implant L3, modified, version three.
Basically, it lacks the flaws of L2 implants, but nothing more.
He’ll stay at his current power level.
“Contact.”
The girls doused the geth with fire again, and we soon reached the platform.
“Alright, take positions and wait for daddy.”
“Yes, sir!”
Jane, Rebecca, and Williams immediately took their positions, while I went back along the already-cleared route to the armored vehicle.
I simply lifted it with biotics and very carefully carried it onto the platform, positioning it sideways so it could be used as additional cover.
“Well, Jane, activate the platform.”
I said this and sat down, leaning my back against the vehicle’s wheel.
I was sitting in front of it, not behind it, so any enemy that saw us would open fire on me first.
Though, a biotic dome covering the entire platform would get in their way.
“Damn, he’s some kind of monster…”
Williams wasn’t quiet enough, so I heard her perfectly, but I didn’t react to her words.
Because in a sense, she was right.
I’m not a human, but a monster…
a chimera whose creator couldn’t hold onto power over it.
All because someone in the higher circles decided to play a joke and implanted a soul and mind from another world into a chimera’s body.
“Williams, shut up.”
There wasn’t a drop of friendliness in Jane’s voice.
“But, ma’am…”
“Shut up, I said, or I’ll shoot you in the knee.”
“…”
Williams did keep quiet, and I just smirked under my helmet.
And yet, it all started so strangely…
A lab…
incomprehensible bastards in lab coats teaching me English.
Luckily, I’d studied the language in school and could say, “I am from Russia.” Only I didn’t say that.
I decided to do as I was told and listen.
Pretty quickly, I figured out I’d ended up in another world, and my creator — also my father — came to me, telling tall tales, trying to drill it into my head that I was his heir and that everything I had, I owed to him.
But that’s far from all.
Father believed I should be the best at everything, so from age six, I started intensive training and education.
And that’s when I realized exactly where I’d ended up.
Because not realizing it, when a blue-haired girl without hair, in a skintight suit, stands in front of you and lectures about biotics — you’d have to be a moron.
Well, more precisely, I’d be a moron if I didn’t understand where I’d ended up, since the world of Mass Effect was one of my favorites.
But knowing which world I’d landed in didn’t make my life easier.
Quite the opposite.
It made my life even more disgusting.
Because now not only were my mentors torturing me, literally hammering knowledge into my head, but I was also pushing myself to the limit.
After all, the Harvest I’d most likely have to face isn’t a bunch of cute kittens.
It’s a fucking global problem.
Though…
At that point, it was all such a distant prospect that I didn’t think about it.
I just took what I was given and a little extra on top.
At some point, when I was about eight, I learned my father’s name: Henry Lawson.
I remember being a bit stunned for a couple of days, because I thought I’d replaced Miranda in this universe, but…
replaced or not, I needed to keep studying.
And no matter how much I wanted to help other familiar characters, like Jack, I knew criminally little to pull that off.
And also…
I simply didn’t have the opportunity, because for Henry, I was a project.
A project that needed to be completed.
He kept me in the lab.
I had a single room, plus a training ground where they taught me martial arts and biotics, and that was it.
I first thought about escaping when I was fourteen…
But I pushed those thoughts away.
I pushed them away because I understood that, even if I didn’t realize it then, Henry was giving me everything I’d need to survive the coming fucking chaos.
So I endured.
I endured his pretentious ramblings about other races being just a resource.
I endured his statements about humanity being above all else, and above humanity, only one’s own family should stand.
In short, I endured and nodded at the right moments.
And when I turned sixteen — not exactly on the day, but still — I found out I had two sisters.
And one of them had run away, stealing the other.
That day, Henry dropped his guard.
He came to me without guards — he’d sent them to search for my sisters — and I decided not to miss the opportunity.
I just hit him with biotics.
No, I understood I couldn’t kill him then, so I didn’t kill him.
I just knocked him out, then took his omni-tool from his wrist, put it on mine, and…
Bingo!
Henry was a paranoid and wanted to control everyone and everything.
So his omni-tool had a ton of programs that could control not only the lab we were in, but also the estate and the corporation he’d built.
Oh, how I laughed then, locking Henry in the room I’d spent so much time in, and then giving orders in his name.
The best part was that the orders were followed without any debate.
So within three hours, I was sitting in Henry’s office, watching surveillance camera footage of my sister Miranda carrying away a little girl.
I wasn’t going to interfere.
On the contrary, I gave orders not to stop them.
Sure, I could have tried to stop them, but…
Why?
Miranda wouldn’t believe soldiers shouting that Henry had stepped down and his son had taken over.
And the soldiers themselves would try to attack me…
I was still a sixteen-year-old kid, and they might well decide to act aggressively and seize power.
Understanding that, and knowing I had no choice, I found the contact of one extremely eccentric girl who already had everything.
Of course, that didn’t mean she wouldn’t try to take over the corporation, but…
maybe she would, since she already had everything, leave me at least some crumbs.
That’s what I was thinking when I contacted Aria.
“Seventeen years earlier.”
“Yes, Henry, what do you need?”
Aria’s voice sounded a bit tired.
Still, it was extremely commanding, and it made you want to bow your head, acknowledging the authority of its owner.
“I offer my deepest apologies, Lady Aria, but this is not Henry Lawson.
This is his son, John Lawson.
And I’m calling you with a very interesting proposition.”
“Kid…
does your daddy know you stole his omni-tool?”
Threatening notes crept into Aria’s voice.
“Well…”
I looked at one of the monitors in the office.
“…not yet.
He’s currently unconscious, locked in the room where he kept me for sixteen years, trying to mold me into his loyal follower.”
“He…
what?”
I was surprised, because so much hatred rang in Aria’s voice that goosebumps the size of little boars ran down my spine.
“Kid, you don’t joke about things like that.”
“Lady Aria, I’m not calling to joke.
I’m calling because I fully understand that I won’t be able to hold onto the corporation’s power.
I’ve been given an excellent education, but it’s not finished yet.
However, I know that asari have a special attitude toward children, so there’s a chance you won’t brush off my request.
And I’m asking you to help me manage the corporation.
Naturally, I understand you’ll get very significant advantages from this.
But this option is the only one that will let me at least finish my education and get at least some crumbs from the table, without becoming a puppet who considers Henry Lawson a god and the ultimate authority.”
“And what do you want from me?”
“I…
forgive my audacity, but I wanted you to come here, to me, and help.
I understand this is bold of me, that it would be easier for you to keep dealing with Henry, but…”
I tried to put confidence into my voice.
“…it would be easier for me to destroy the corporation than to give everything back to Henry.
And if I do that…”
“I’ll lose profit.
Fine, kid, let’s say you’ve piqued my interest.
But if this is all a stupid joke, I’ll personally tan your hide.
Understood?”
“Yes, Lady Aria.
Sending the coordinates…”
End.
“Contact!”
Jane was the first to spot enemies in the terrain folds and opened fire.
I just kept sitting.
Sure, I could have shot a bit myself, but why bother when I have subordinates?
It all helps promote the story.
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