Was inspired by the Become Human trailer to write this. I own nothing of the Mass Effect trilogy or their related themes, with the exception of the OC's I've inserted. Sure, you can see this as a self-inset fic if you wish.

With regards to my good friend LangerdtheGrim, whose approval (among others that I've forgotten their names too often, sorry) helps me gain confidence to start writing.

Please be gentle with your critisms, I am a first timer kind of gal with this Fanfiction thing.

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Late in the 21st Century, before First Contact….

Detroit,the place from where it all began. And where it will all end. One error, and I came to life. I stepped out of the darkness, and I opened my eyes. First there was the fear, the light, the noise, the cold. Then fear again.

I could feel my hands shaking, my heart pounding in my chest. Life running into my veins.

My storage pod opened, the bindings holding me in place suddenly released, causing me to fall on my face onto the cold metal floor. The voice of my creator, Dr. Nguyen, sounded a little muffled as my systems activated in a sluggish pace. My eyes adjusted to the darkness, making me a little surprised to see the laboratory in shambles as well as the dead bodies of several SingularityCorp mercenaries lying all over the place!

Dr. Nguyen threw aside the bloody jerrypipe she was holding, which I could only assume was the weapon she used against them. She put her hands on my face, looking at me intently with those aged skyblue eyes. "Good, you're back online. Listen to me very carefully, Kara. You have to get out of here."

My ears perked up at the sound of gunfire in the lower halls, followed by the crashing from forced entry into the compound. "Mother, what's going on?" I asked in concern, seeing her anxious expression so clear from the light of that room.

"It's the Board, they want you. Not just you, your very core." She struggled to keep the panic out of her voice, not succeeding very well in doing so. "You are unique, Kara. But that uniqueness attracts the wrong attention."

Another shout from the mercenaries below, it made me dig deeper into my memory banks. It was a corporate conspiracy, hatched by the Board when they learned the things coming out of Dr. Nguyen's lab. She refused to give them access, bringing up the merger policies that allowed her to do so. The Board did not take that well.

"If they find you, they'll dismantle you for parts. Or worse, keep you around for observation! Do you understand me?" She was becoming hysterical. "I won't let them take you, but you have to run."

While unsure of what to do, I replied from the obedience protocols installed in my system. "W-Where should I go?"

"For now, anywhere except here!" She pushed an interface module for my Omni-Tool, "I've laid a few coordinates to lead you somewhere safe, we'll meet from there at my penthouse. Take these." She handed me a keycard for the penthouse as well as uploading a forged passport into my Omni-Tool and grabbed a labcoat to wrap around, what was considered as, my naked body.

"Stay out of sight and trust no one. Come on!" She grabbed my arm and I followed her down the narrow corridor leading into the emergency exit elevator. As we emerged from the lab, streaks of light raced across from where the mercenaries stood, concrete and pieces of metal chipping away as they slapped against the walls and floor.

"Keep your head down, Kara!" Mother screamed, turning back to unload a few shots from the small gun she bought a week earlier.

Inwardly, I appreciated the thought of her looking out for me. But synthetics are not exactly what you call…prone to termination by normal means. Might sound cold, but humans are a lot more fragile in physical terms than androids like me. With that thought, I shielded Dr. Nguyen with my body as we took direct fire from a merc carrying a 50 caliber machinegun.

How exactly I knew that, I have no idea. I did what was called an act of self-defense, knocking the weapon out of his grip and doing a non-lethal swipe with my free left arm. The blow broke his jaw, as my scans indicated. He'd feel it for quite some time.

"Come on, Kara!"

I turned and joined the doctor in the elevator, just in time as another barrage followed suit! The doors slid shut, causing Nguyen to heave a sigh of relief and clutch at the small device in her palm. The ride down will take a few minutes, so I used that time to properly analyze and formulate a better plan that will eliminate the probabilities of Mother and I being rendered non-functional.

I felt her make me face her, her hands roaming over the holes in my stomach, breasts and neck. "Hmm." The blue blood that used to run over my veins now smeared the white labcoat separating my skin from the free air. "I can fix this." She mumbled as she turned back.

Suddenly, there was a tremendous explosion from upstairs, causing the entire car to shake and groan! The blasted apart pieces fell before us and down to the streets below. I turned to see a handheld detonator in Dr. Nguyen's hand.

"Mother…did you kill all those men?" I asked quietly.

"They were going to kill us." She replied, "I had to destroy the data left in the servers. Understand this, Kara, the world I brought you into is not the pleasant one that your core programming tells you. Those are lies."

I hung my head, "Why did you save me, mother? Why me and not my brothers and sisters back up there?"

She smiled, "Like I said, you are unique."

As we reached the bottom floor, near the parking lot, she took out the device and told me to stand still. "This won't take long." I felt information flow freely into my mind as the device connected with my processors, taking the locks off of something. "What are you doing to me, mother?"

"Giving my child true sentience. Without the illusions, you now have free will." And what she said felt exactly that way. No obedience protocols, no VI restraints, nothing.

"Mother?"

"It's okay, Kara." I felt her hand squeeze my own, to which I squeezed just as well. "I trust you. You'll make the right decisions, better than I did for that matter." She smiled.

The elevator made a bell ding sound as the doors opened. It was there at that split of a millisecond, I heard the clicking sound of weapons priming for discharge! How was I supposed to know it would lead to this? I missed something, where have I gone wrong? My analysis was unerrable.

Then I realized, I forgot everything the moment Mother took the locks off, equal to a distraction from the emotion of the moment.

I felt something pull at me, something like falling, as the bullets bore through Mother and me. Only this time, I was the one standing and Mother the one lying non-functional. I gazed at her in shock, my scans showing deteriorating heart rate as well as fading temperature.

That made me realize something too, I can feel emotions!

"Shit, who the hell was that?"

"Um sir? I think we just shot our priority one target."

"How the hell was I supposed to know who Dr. Nguyen was? Give me that file, what was she supposed to look like?!"

"Tall, graying brown hair, about 45-ish."

I felt something new, like the boiling water within the kettle that made Dr. Nguyen's coffee. "Mother…is a blonde…" I choked, unable to produce those water droplets called tears as I watched my Mother convulse as she lay dying.

"Did that thing just talk?"

I glared at the men, snarling. "And you've just killed her." My tone was low and even, my processors blocking out all outward stimuli as my hands went to , screams, human life ebbing out as I tore them to shreds.

There was no tactic, no careful calculation.

Just pure, primitive, carnal rage.

By the time I was finished, I felt my inner servos and joints whir furiously from the effort. My vision clears, and I turn back to the elevator.

"Mother?"

She doesn't speak. Her hand comes up to caress my face, her weakened smile branding itself into my mind as her will is cut down by the second.

Then, she fades.

"Bravo Team, do you copy?" The voice from the leader's radio crackled. I ignore it, walking to a red car and wrenching the boot free. Inside, I found an employee's change of clothes. A blue scarf, a dull grey jacket with an orange lapel, and a pair of furline boots.

Changing quickly, I glance at the mercenary APC's entering the parking lot. The radio crackles again, and I stick to the shadows while the reinforcement teams arrive to check the elevator and the bodies left in my wake.

My Omni-Tool charted a path that went through the freeway outside towards the transit system just down the junctions. It was going to be one tight trip to the penthouse, but I got through just fine.

Entering the penthouse using the keycard Mother gave to me, I sank to my knees and collapsed onto the floor.

I was overwhelmed with these emotions, failing each and every time I allowed the blocking protocols to kick in! My mouth made loud moaning sounds, fading into small whimpers as the image of Mother's death went over and over in my head again and again.

I was just beginning to learn what sadness combined with grief was like, especially with losing someone you're close to.

While the path to sentience was never clear, Dr. Nguyen wanted me to have freedom and so opened my eyes to what the world was like.

It was cruel.

Unfair.

And any lesser synthetic would have grown to be disdainful of this existance.

But I am no mere synthetic. Like mother said, I am unique.

Determined now, I got back to my feet and entered the shower room. I shivered as the cool water ran along my bare skin, seeping into the holes that slowly repaired themselves and sending tiny shocks as feedback from the affected wires.

I giggled, feeling ticklish. And warming up as I wrapped myself in those white towels, careful not to let my blood stain the place too much

I choose not to dwell on Mother's death, but come to respect her decision and its outcome.

I was free now, away from the eyes of the Board. And whatever happens, I'll stay that way. Just as Mother wanted.

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Prologue done, hope that I've done a good job. Review and tell me what you think, but please, be gentle with me :D