Tinker Effect

Most people in my situation are there due to vaguely defined ROBs dragging them into a malfunctioning game. In my case, I think its because of a group of interdimensional nutcases out to defeat a golden Superman. Oh well, at least I'm not as helpless as some of them.

Hmm, Worms becoming my new DXD...eh, its a fun sandbox to play in. That said, this time the Worm side will be a tad more background, mostly limited to a few cameos and possibly Shepard getting her arse kicked by Contessa. Should be fun. Anyway, enjoy!

Chapter 1

The first thing I became aware of as consciousness returned to me was the pounding in my temples, closely followed by the realization I was laying in a puddle of some unknown liquid.

"Urrg, what the fuck did I drink last night?" I groaned as I slowly pushed myself up.

It took a few trys, but eventually I was able to force my eyes open. I found myself sitting in an alleyway between two buildings, with my only company being an overflowing dumpster. Lovely.

"Where am I?" I muttered.

I pushed through the pain and tried to remember what the hell happened last night...only to suddenly realize that I was missing massive gaps of my memories. I could remember bits and pieces, like where I had grown up and that I was a literature student, but I couldn't remember things like my own Parents names. Hell, I couldn't even remember which University I attended! Just about the only thing I remembered with any clarity was reading a web serial named Worm. How scary is it that I could remember that but I couldn't remember what my name was or even what I looked like?

"Whats going on?" I groaned, "Why can't I remember anything? Urrg, I need...I need to…"

I wasn't sure what I needed, but I struggled to my feet none the less. I took a step forwards...and promptly fell flat on my face.

"Owww, what the hell?" I groaned as I pushed myself up.

As I did, I made a rather startling discovery. My hands had completely changed and a quick glance down revealed that they weren't the only thing. I now had three fingers and toes, dusky purple skin and my legs had a rather large backbend that revealed the reason why I face planted so spectacularly.

"I...what the fuck?!" I spluttered.

I stood and, still wobbling on my unfamiler legs, stumbled over to the wall of the alley where a darkened window was set at about head height. It wasn't the best mirror, but it revealed that my face was also completely different and visibly not Human. Aside from the obvious change in skin colour, my ears were longer and tapered to a point and my eyes were a little too large, almond shaped and one flat pale lavender colour, making them look like the Hyuuga clan's Byakugan eyes and glowing faintly. The rest of my features were surprisingly Human, although my hair looked a little thicker than a Humans and was a shade of very dark blue. I was currently wearing what looked like the tattered remains of a jumpsuit of some kind that was splattered with blood and full of holes that I'm pretty sure were from bullets. However, other than my newly inhuman features, the thing that most drew my eye was the tattoo on my cheek of an Omega symbol.

"I...oh you have got to be kidding me!" I whispered, "Is that…"

My thoughts were cut off by the sound of a loud voice coming from the entrance of the alley. Not really wanted to get found quite yet, I dove behind the dumpster, just in time for the newcomers to round the corner, dragging something behind them.

"Damn suit rats, don't even have the dignity to die in the trash where they belong," growled a deep, male voice.

Another voice answered, but it wasn't speaking any language I recognized. Instead, it sounded more like a cross between a six foot bird and a raptor. The english speaker seemed to understand whatever was said though as he grunted in agreement.

"Come on, lets dump it and get out of here," he said, "No point in sticking around. It doesn't even have anything worth taking. Even this gun is crap."

There was another squark and the sound of something heavy being tossed into the dumpster, before the footsteps moved away. I cautiously peaked out from behind the dumpster and my jaw dropped when I saw a Human and what looked like a Turian walking away. I quickly pulled my head back into my hiding place before I could be spotted and sat still, my eyes wide. Well, isn't that interesting? Apparently, I was actually in the Mass Effect universe...or there was a Turian based Case 53 walking around. Not sure which is more likely. Then again, the Human was talking about suit rats, so…

I quickly stood and opened the lid to find, sure enough, that the body they'd dumped was a Quarian. Yep, definitely Mass Effect. I quickly heaved the body out, grabbed the discarded gun that was next to it, and dragged the corpse deeper into the alley. I didn't exactly like the idea of looting the corpse, but the envirosuit would make a good disguise and I could at least defend myself with the gun. He might even have an Omni Tool I could use.

I quickly found an abandoned looking building and dragged the dead Quarian inside after prising the doors open. Once inside, I started trying to figure out how to remove the Quarians suit, only to make a rather startling discovery.

"Huh...how did that happen?" I muttered as I stared down at the dusky purple face that had been hidden by his mask.

I quickly examined the rest of the body and, sure enough, my biology was an exact match for the Quarian. Same build of limbs, same solid white eyes, same everything. The only difference was that he had black markings swirling on his skin like tribal tattoos that I lacked, but that could be dismissed as simply something that not all Quarians had. I frowned. This was...bloody weird. All of the indications were that I was one of the Cauldrons victims, being in the apparent ME universe aside. However, that didn't explain why I was physically identical to a Quarian. Then, a rather worrying thought crossed my mind. If I looked like a Quarian, did that mean that my immune system was the same? I felt fine, but I'd been here for about an hour. Was that long enough to catch something nasty?

Now feeling really worried, I quickly detached the Quarian's Omni Tool and brought up the inevitable medical scanner. Two seconds later, I was staring at the results in shock. I had nothing to worry about. At all. My immune system wasn't weak, in fact, it was right up the other end of the scale. Judging from the readings I was getting, I could probably shrug off just about any disease you can think of in moments. Hell, even poisons would have a hard time affecting me! Not to mention the fact that my biology was still Levo based, although it looked like I was still compatible with Dextro as well...somehow. Oh, and I still showed up as a Human, albeit with some fucking weird additions to my DNA. Parahumans are fucking bullshit.

I breathed a sigh of relief, before I blinked and looked down. How did I do that? I'd never even seen an Omni Tool since just a second ago and yet I'd managed to, not only identify it, but also operate it like I'd been using it for years. Hell, now that I took a moment to think about it, I'd actually just improved the scanner without even thinking about it! I frowned as I put the finishing touches to the improved Cyro Shot program and...I'd done it again! In the time it had taken me to question myself, I'd create a program that would let me freeze a target right down to the bone. How did...ohhhhh.

"Well, I guess that fits," I muttered as I carefully dropped my arms and picked up the gun I'd rescued, "A Quarian based Case 53 being a Tinker...shame really, I'd have liked to be able to fly...oh god damn it!"

I held up the newly upgraded pistol and ran a critical eye over it. I'm not sure how I knew it, but I'd somehow just increased its penetrating power, number of shots between cooldown cycles and accuracy. I'd also given it the ability to fire Warp blasts using the tiny amount of Eezo inside and...holy shit, how did I do that?!

"Good grief, I'm a Tinker specializing in ME tech in the ME universe," I muttered, shaking my head in exasperation, "Thats so broken its unreal. I wonder how I got here though..?"

Unfortunately, unless I wanted to find a way to contact the Cauldron, I wasn't likely to get that answer. It probably had something to do with the Path to Victory though. Maybe Contessa intended to recruit Shepard to fight Scion or something? Then again, I suspect that the Entities are a tad more difficult to deal with than the Reapers. After all, the Reapers might be a galactic threat, but the Entities were a DIMENSIONAL one. Bit of a step up.

I shook myself off and turned off my Omnitool with a scowl as I realized I'd been programming it to be able to fire of Reave shots (somehow) and turned back to the dead Quarian. I didn't need it, but the envirosuit would be a great way to disguise myself. I would need to modify it of course, not only to increase the defence and possibly include a strength enhancing device, but also so no other Quarian would recognize it. Hmm, maybe if I add in some Eezo dust it'd let me fly or even…

I shook myself out of the Tinker trance and stripped the Quarian before I started thinking of ways to use his body to create mechanical spiders or something...GOD DAMN IT!

Tony Marvolo peaked nervously over the edge of the makeshift cover he and his buddies were hiding behind. He'd known from the start that trying to rob the Citadel's upper classes during the charity ball was a TERRIBLE idea, but the boss had insisted and one does not go against the boss when he insists on something. Now he and his buddies were pinned down by C-sec with nothing but the flimsy, fake-wooden barricades between them and being riddled by sand grain sized Tungsten rounds. Just about the only good thing about the whole situation was the many hostages they had was keeping the cops at bay. For now.

Then, the lights went out.

"WHAT THE FUCK!?" yelled one of his buddies from across the room, "WHO TURNED OUT THE LIGHTS!?"

A moment later, there was a meaty smack and the sound of a body hitting the floor.

Immediately, Krug, the Krogen of the group, turned and fired a blast from his shotgun in the direction of the sound.

"What the fuck Krug?!" spluttered someone not far from the target.

"Shhh, somethings here," growled the Krogen.

There was a moments silence, before he suddenly let out a roar and fired of three shots that momentarily lit up the room.

"Did you get him?" asked Tony, doing his best to stop his voice from trembling.

"No."

Tony nearly jumped out of his skin at the unexpected voice in his ear, before someone rammed something sharp under his armour and one million volts of electricity surged through his body.

Garrus Vakarian tapped his talons against the car he was taking cover behind as he shifted his grip on his pistol. He'd have prefered to be one of the snipers positioned on the roof across the street, but as one of the first officers to respond, he was stuck on the ground, waiting for the order to move in. Frankly, the Turian was of the opinion that they should have already done something, but the higher ups were worried about spooking the crooks inside. To be fair, that wasn't completely without merit considering that the leader of the gang was a known sociopath and would have no problem whatsoever with executing his hostages if pushed.

On the other hand, they couldn't sit here all night and there had been the sound of gunfire a short time ago which really didn't help Garrus' worry. Eventually, something had to break…

CRASH!

As if on cue, one of the windows suddenly exploded as someone was kicked through the glass. As they fell, the person lit up with a Biotic aura and took hold of the glass fragments, flinging them at the figure who followed him through with a roar of fury. The second figure brought up the staff-like weapon they were holding and spun it, deflecting the razor sharp projectiles, before shooting a grappling hook out of one end of the staff that wrapped around the falling Biotic (who Garrus had identified as Brad Meadows, the leader of the attacking gang) and yanking him back. The staff wielder spun in the air and drove his heel into Meadow's gut, sending him crashing to the ground with enough force to crack the concrete.

Now they were at ground level, Garrus saw that the mysterious newcomer was apparently a Quarian, although his Envirosuit was clearly heavily modified with armoured segments and seemed to be made of some kind of fabric Garrus didn't recognize that shimmered slightly in the floodlights. His helmet was also rather different, with metal plates covering it, leaving only a pair of slits where his eyes were rather than the standard tinted visor most Quarians used and covered in a blue hood. The weapon in his hands was actually headed with a rather deadly looking blade that he vaguely recognized as being a Halberd with a blade at both ends, one of which was currently acting as the tip of a grappling hook.

"So, still want to fight?" asked the Quarian mildly as if he wasn't stood on the clearly broken criminal.

Meadow's spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Fuck you suitrat!" he snarled.

"Suit yourself," said the Quarian and pushed a button on his staff.

There was a crackle of electricity and Meadow's jerked violently, before going limp. Muttering something under his breath, the Quarian retracted his grappling hook and flash forged a set of restraints onto the lightly steaming criminals wrists with his Omni Tool. With that done, he attached his halberd to his back, heaved Meadow's over his shoulder, turned on his heel and marched over to the gathered C-sec cars and the C-sec personal who were all staring at him with expressions ranging from worry to complete and utter disbelief.

"Here, I think this is yours," said the Quarian, dropping Meadow's on the bonnet of one of the cars, "His goons are chained up inside and the Krogen is currently cooling off with a cocktail of rather potent tranquilizers in his system. I strongly suggest that you get him somewhere secure before they wear off cus he won't be happy when he wakes up."

What he got was a battery of incredulous looks.

"What?"

Garrus quickly shook himself out of his utter shock and quickly issued orders to take Meadows into custody and head inside to check on the others. He had no real reason to doubt the odd Quarian considering he'd come from inside and seemed to be honest.

"Right, now thats done, I need to get back to work," said the Quarian, "Bloody crooks, just had to start attacking when I was in the middle of Tinkering…"

"Hold on a second!" called Garrus, making the Quarian pause.

"Hn? Need something?" he said.

"Who are you?" asked Garrus, "And...why did you help?"

The Quarian shrugged.

"Why not?" he asked, "I heard about this little caffuffle on the radio and figured it'd be a good field test for my gear. Turns out I still need to make some adjustments and now I have a whole load of new ideas that'll be useful for non-lethal takedowns and…"

He shook himself violently.

"Stupid Tinker trances," he muttered, "Anyway, I guess you can call me Arsenal."

With that, he turned and walked away, muttering to himself and fiddling with his Omni Tool.

And there we go, done. Well...the Reapers are boned. Seriously, an ME based Tinker in the ME Universe? He could probably build something designed to take down the Reapers out of duct tape and paperclips.

To be clear, Arsenal is a Case 53, which means he's a mutated Human who just so happens to be physically identical to a Quarian...on the surface at least. Hes a primarily a Tinker, but his altered body grants him above Human physical powers, although not high enough to be marked as more than a Brute 1 or 2. Well, naturally at least. Like all Tinkers, he uses power armour and in his case, it can even grant him the ability to use Biotics. Hell, he could build a gun that shoots singularities with relative ease.

Yes, the Citadel now has its very own Cape and yes, Brad Meadows is a reference to Worm. Although I don't plan to send them to Bet any time soon, Arsenal and Shepards team will run into a fair few familiar faces on their travels. There won't be any other Parahumans though. Mainly because there aren't any Entities and the Cauldron has no interest in offering powers to people not on worlds at risk of being obliterated by eldritch abominations.

Anyway, I'm done now. Don't forget to leave a review on the way out!