Hello everyone, new story is up now as I promised before. This story takes place in ME Andromeda, and this is a small multi crossover between Mass Effect, Gears of War, and lastly Crysis. The last one there will feature the one and only oc of this story, so no worries about too many of them appearing in this story. Not only that, but this story is going to be rates T for teen, until we get to the later chapters.

The first chapter here is basically a filler, just to introduce you all to who is going to be featured and what they are capable of. As such, this chapter is going to be relatively small compared to the one's in A Heart of Onyx, but as time and the story progresses, so too will the word count. Also, since this story is a side story, it will be updated once or twice a month, compared to the weekly or biweekly updates on the other story.

Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this story as you all have the other one.

Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter One: Perfect Symbiosis and Impossible DNA

"This is Head Researcher of the Jardaan, Ryulum Kevstis, log twenty-six, date is currently the 32nd of Genesis, of the 86th cycle; the subject for this log is the… hybrid that we found lost is the outer reaches of one of our colonies stellar systems. It is unlike anything we've ever received and seen before.

This… hybrid is the culmination of both organic and synthetic elements, bonded together at the microscopic level: I believe that this is in all actuality a combat exoskeleton designed to keep its occupant alive through the harshest environments imaginable. Allow me to clarify.

It was found in the void between planets in temperatures barely above absolute zero, it was exposed to immense amounts of radiation yet showed zero signs of being affected, it appears to have experienced temperatures that exceed well over 6000 Celsius, and the fact that it draws energy from nearly everything in its immediate area into itself to fuel it was an eye opener for us.

That was only the surface observations.

When we had scanned the internal layer beneath the suit, that's when we discovered that it is still inhabited. We had believed that the occupant had perished, being in the void and in near absolute zero temperatures would support this theory and the conclusions that my colleagues and I found.

We were wrong.

At first, we believed that the suit was affecting our scans: it was as if it was designed to repel any and all attempts to do this course of action, and it was successful. That's when one of our drones, an observer to be precise, that floats around here was hacked into, not long after we stopped. The source of this intrusion was the suit itself, or rather what lies within it.

It was an AI.

It calls itself… Second, I believe, strange name for an AI, but that could be the translator acting up on either of our ends. Anyways, Second had bypassed the security nodes inside the observer and then used its frequency module to communicate with us, albeit we could barely understand it.

After a literal standard galactic week of working nonstop to create a translation matrix, we had successfully installed and uploaded it onto a data crystal, which we then gave to the alien AI.

After downloading the contents, it spoke to us in clear, concise, and practically perfect Jadenian; let me find the recording and I'll play it for the log." The voice says, the sounds of objects being moved around on a surface while the speaker mutters curses under his breath, before the speaker makes a sound of triumph at having found what he was looking for.

"Here it is, and let me be the first to say that this experience changed how we'll deal with whoever is inside the suit."

With that said, the sound of a machine activating and static is heard, before a low, robotic, cold and calculating voice is heard.

"Situational update: digital information download and upload completed, translation software is at 100% completion and efficiency. Scanning unidentified lifeforms… scans complete. Unidentified lifeforms labeled as Jardaan. Threat analysis… complete, threat level… medium. I will protect my soldier until he awakens."

The recording ends there, with Ryulum speaking excitedly about what just happened.

"It was amazing, simply mindboggling at the revelation after we had heard this AI speak for the first time! I'm getting ahead of myself here, my apologies. Anyways, the machine had spoken with us after we proved ourselves to be peaceful to it. When we had reached this milestone, that is when we began asking questions about each other.

I had asked the obvious questions first; questions like: who are you, what species is your operator called, where are you from, and what brought you here were all what we desired at this point. The more… extravagant questions came later, after it finished its questions.

It told us what it was called, the operator was a species who called themselves humans, they hail from the neighboring galaxy, the Milky Way as they call it, and that something called an Einstein-Rosen Bridge brought them here after they destroyed a… Xeno-Ceph, or the term that made all of us stop in our tracks, Charybdis litho-ship that was in the process of taking their world.

After we had learned this information, many of us were fearful about what had occurred in our neighboring galaxy: the Charybdis were a race of organic beings that operated in a hivemind to advance themselves ahead of others. We had a run in with them almost a millennium ago; they had invaded our worlds, killed off the population and harvested ever bit of resource that it had to offer. We sent everything we had at them and achieved victory, but not without a cost. It had crippled our entire defense network at the end of the war, billions of our people were dead, and many worlds were lost to the enemy. Thankfully to Meridian, we recovered those worlds and restarted anew: but we still remember all who sacrificed their lives to stop them.

We had believed that they were back and ready to attack again, but the AI had told us that his operator and a fellow… nanosuit operator had successfully removed them from their homeworld and gave everything they had to get to where they are now. These… humans have done the unimaginable in defeating a race that sought nothing but their destruction and damnation. But that still brings up a rather… disturbing point.

The suit is made from their technology; in essence, it is a Charybdis exoskeleton.

My colleagues and I have been at each other's throats for an entire week about this: I keep explaining that the suit has no connection to the alien threat that we had faced once before, but they keep rebutting me with the fact that it's still their technology and that they can track it down.

Sometimes, I wonder why I even bother trying to argue with them.

Besides that, it has been a month since we have had this human in our care, a month of learning all that we can from the AI, and month of studying the organic and synthetic parts of the specimen. He, I assume it is a he based from what we've been told, was bonded with the suit at the age of twenty-one, due to a traumatic accident that almost guaranteed the loss of his life, and that the bonding, or the symbiosis as the AI called it, was the only way to ensure that he would stay alive.

But this procedure came with a price that some, I myself included, would think is too high of a price: once you have the suit bonded with you and symbiosis takes place, you can never remove it. Removing the two entities from each other would kill the operator in almost every case, due to total system shock and various other ailments that would guarantee death.

Once you're in it, you can never get out of it.

However, on the opposite end of the spectrum, there are many staggering benefits and overall improvements that outweigh these detriments.

Faster reaction times, ageless and virtually immortal, extremely high durability and regeneration, protection from all forms of weapons including but not limited to ballistics, energy, mass accelerator, explosives, thermal, cryogenic, and even electrical attacks. Most of these options, the suit will redirect the energy and absorb it into itself; further powering it and replenishing any lost energy. The other functions allow it to survive in a perfect vacuum, heavily irradiated environments, total darkness, extremes heat and cold, and many more. Add in the fact that it grants the user extreme strength, stamina, tactical and situational awareness from the AI giving the user real-time data to work with, a built-in defibrillator that is quite redundant due what he is capable of right now, to be honest, the ability to see on all spectrums, invisibility that's nearly impossible to detect, and an armor function that seemingly makes the user invulnerable for a brief time is utterly… amazing.

Whoever these… Jacob Hargreave and Karl Rasch are, they knew how to make this suit nearly indestructible. We've ran tests that has shown that it could survive a thermonuclear warhead being dropped on top of it and it surviving completely intact.

Astounding.

And the AI is capable of decrypting any form of security and algorithm that it meets with extreme proficiency; having been made from Charybdis technology and using the operator's actual brain as a storage device would help ensure that it would succeed, and from what it has informed me, he and someone named Alcatraz cured a viral disease that the Charybdis had infected on their city in only days.

More onto the side effects that the suit brings its user: it eliminates the need for sleep, nutritional intake from both food and drinks, the user doesn't need to use bodily functions that any other organic would, and this last one is just a theory, it may even eliminate the need to breathe.

All in all, the suit and the operator were designed to be the ultimate soldier; one who never thirsts, one who never hungers, one who never tires, and one who never has the need to rely on what their bodies use to breathe. It does all of that for the soldier and then some.

He is the apex predator, the ultimate soldier, and most of all; the perfect killing machine.

I fear for not only my safety, but other's as well whenever this human awakens; the AI is the one who knows everything that has happened in the last two weeks, not the human. If he were to wake up and discover that he's in an unknown location surrounded by unknown aliens… the results would be catastrophic, to say the least.

I only fear what would happen to result in us awakening him or the other test subject that we have found, but I fear that we may have to do it sooner rather than later.

We're dying. All of the Jardaan are dying.

As the Head Researcher of Meridian, I and my colleagues are close to finishing the project that will be our greatest undertaking since constructing all of the vaults and this colossal space station: the Angara.

Such a beautiful, emotional, and brilliant species they are, or should I say, will be. After we are gone, they will live in this cluster, thrive in it and call it their home. We are leaving them our technology; it is the least we can do for a species that will know so little of the universe around them." He stops for a moment, breathing deeply to get his emotions under control, before continuing with his report.

"My apologies, I… get emotional when I speak about my children. Moving on to the subject that this report is about; the perfect specimen of true symbiosis.

With our technology and the AI's abilities, we are able to see the memories of this individual and the other specimen we have in our custody. What I seen was… heartbreaking to say the least.

This human, Outcast as I learned from his memories, was orphaned at a young age and grew up in relative solitude, only to get away from the life he had lived by joining the military. His scores, skills, and sheer determination throughout his military career had gathered the interest of the special forces unit labeled as Raptor Team, a unit that consists of others wearing this nanosuit. Karl Rasch met with him personally and extended the invitation to him to become a post-human warrior, as he had called it.

He accepted.

About three months pass by and he gets involved in a horrendous accident involving numerous vehicles that nearly costed him his life, then the company responsible for making the nanosuit had taken him to their main facility to be bonded with it in order to save his life. Or rather, to end his normal, human life and trade it in for an augmented one instead.

Beyond that, I have seen the events that had occurred at this remote island called Lingshan, and that was when they had encountered the Charybdis for the first time. They lost two of their own within hours of fighting another nation's enemy, when these monstrosities had shown up. The events that happened afterwards aren't important really: they stopped their human enemy and the Charybdis before the situation could escalate with the use of a portable nuclear launcher. Only for a couple of years later for the aliens to come back to one of their main cities, New York City I believe.

That was when the viral disease had swept through the entire city, infecting everyone that it came into contact with.

Prophet, the commanding officer of Raptor Team, had… killed himself to save the life of another soldier. Stating that he was infected and that he and Outcast would have to finish the mission. Alcatraz and Outcast had set out to find a scientist who would help them get to where they needed to go, and when they had gathered their samples to create a cure, they had released it into the spore carrier/creator that the aliens had in their city, successfully killing off every Charybdis and curing everyone else who wasn't dead from the infection.

That was when it became clear of another ability that the nanosuit had: assimilation.

This feature allows the suit to literally rewrite the entire genetic makeup of a living being: erasing thoughts, memories, mannerisms, and even the DNA and replace it with the previous occupant's, effectively killing off the user and replacing them with the previous one. Making the main user virtually immortal.

If they die and someone else wore the suit, the suit would use their body and kill off the occupant and replace them.

Astounding and an amazing feat of scientific technology, but an amoral and horrifying concept and a bastardization of life.

Alcatraz had once again become Prophet. And, he was none the wiser, from what it seems.

This Cell foundation had captured the two of them and put them into these containment cells and held them there for over two decades, using the suits natural makeup to keep it locked within as the cell was put into storage wherever it was.

That was in the human year 2023, when they had finally escaped it was 2046.

An old friend, someone named Psycho, an individual who was skinned from his suit but somehow survived, had released them and explained what was going on and that they needed their help to finish off Cell for good.

Having been out of combat and disoriented due to the time difference, both Prophet and Outcast had agreed to help them. Days later after fighting Cell forces and more Charybdis, it was discovered that System X, the power source for an orbital weapon, was actually a living alpha Charybdis. The damned fools had been using it as a source of unlimited power for years now.

When they had destroyed the satellite station that kept it imprisoned, it had escaped and used the technology inside of Rasch to attack both Prophet and Outcast. One human, a female named Claire, had interrupted the attack that surely would have been the end of both men; but in return she was mortally wounded and had later perished from her wounds that the indoctrinated Rasch had inflicted upon her.

With that done and over with, the three remaining soldiers had found the location of the last remaining Charybdis area with ease; having a portal open up in the sky with a bright light coming from it was definitely a large hint that gave away the leader's position. Having attacked the key targets from the surrounding areas, they had overcharged their suits once again, a feat that grants complete and total invincibility with increased strength, speed, stamina, and other factors and used it to destroy the mind-carriers needed to draw out the leader.

And they were not happy about what they were trying to tell them through those carriers.

Together, they had both laid waste to every single hostile that stood before them and their target; with extreme prejudice.

That was when it showed up and started to attack them personally.

But I sense that it had somehow underestimated the two soldiers and their capabilities: they both used their weapons and skill to kill any remaining hostile that was sent their way and used a bow loaded with a high-explosive shot, and fired it into the open maw of the alien. This bow is completely unnatural and shouldn't even be here, but it was folded and collapsed onto his back. We have it in a separate area and are currently studying it and what we are learning about is phenomenal, to say the least.

It was a scene that almost made me cry in happiness: not from the death of the creature, but from the fact that the two of them successfully saved their world from being rendered extinct by the hands of these monsters.

It wasn't over yet.

They were both sucked into the portal and ended up in space right were the Charybdis litho-ship was coming from. However, it would seem that luck or a deity of some sort was on their side: The Archangel weapons platform.

Utilizing a nearby vehicle as leverage, the two of them used all of their might and pushed themselves to the platform and bypassed all of its systems. They then proceeded to utilize it and fire it at maximum charge at the exposed core of the ship, utterly annihilating it.

This scene did make me cry in happiness.

Sadly though, the two soldiers were knocked away from the blast, Prophet headed back to their homeworld and Outcast was pulled into the gravitational well and beyond the portal's entry point fue to an implosion from the ship's reactor core.

And that is how he came here to our galaxy, albeit that time dilation and the very fabric of space, reality, and time must've been bent around the young man to send him here.

It may be an alternate universe, considering the fact that the Charybdis that the Jardaan knows would glow blue and could have easily conquered their planet. But that is the case with alternate universes: some things remain similar, but they could be drastically changed. Such is the case for this instance, the alien threat could've been weakened from before and that gave humanity enough time and a chance to fight back. That and add in the fact that no one can use their weapons, even after my people have tried to unlock the biological blocks that are infused with their technology. But they did, a primitive race that has barely even explored their stellar system had done what we could not.

My predecessor must be laughing at me from beyond.

And that brings us up to this point in time; and as such, this will be a decent place to end my report.

This is Head Researcher, Ryulum Kevstis, signing off."

"This is Head Researcher of the Jardaan, Ryulum Kevstis, log number twenty-nine, date is the 12th of Scourge, of the 86th cycle; the subject of this log is for the other specimen that we have in custody: this… human with impossible traits and genetics.

Allow me to clarify: unlike the other human, this human has a natural regeneration that far surpasses anything that we have here in our galaxy, he is very tall and stands just over two meters in height, approximately three to four inches taller than the other individual that we have, has impressive strength, though significantly less than other human, and his DNA contains a perfect blend of both dextro and levo proteins which benefits the host to the point that he can eat practically anything he desires to. However, he had an unknown parasite living within his body; one that would've been the death of him eventually. Upon discovery, we had removed this parasite from his body and studied all that we could about it before incinerating it.

We didn't want to know what would've happened if it were to infect other species.

Anyways, we had found this human washed up upon one of many shores that span the planet of Ustaavin and he was in very critical condition: it appears that he had been attacked by some form of animal and had been practically mauled to the point that his armor had been melted away in the chest, arms, and legs areas and that he had been practically bleeding out on the sand. When he was discovered, we had placed him inside of a stasis field to halt any ongoing damage that was currently happening, until we could figure out how to heal him.

Using our technology, we were able to see his memories to get a better understanding of just who we're dealing with here: his name was… Benjamin Carmine and he and his humanity lived on a different planet from this Earth, a planet named Sera. This planet has a higher gravity threshold, almost twice as much as the other human in our custody, his humanity was less advanced but somewhat more advanced at the same time; usage of weapons called the Hammer of Dawn which was capable of destroying anything against a race of subterranean creatures was a dead giveaway that he and the other human are from separate universes as well.

Why does all the strange and bizarre occurrences happen to me?

Anyways, moving on from that, this human had been fighting in a planet wide war against this locust enemy for over a decade, in their planet's time measurement that is; it comes to be around over sixteen years for the other human's measurements. He had been fresh from their basic training to help fight the enemy of their people to secure a better tomorrow, he joined because of his three older brothers, two of whom are dead, an Anthony and Devin I believe are their names, all while hoping to live up to their family's legacy. He believed that his brothers had died valiantly and that he would never forget them by becoming a soldier as well.

From then on, he was assigned a role onto this Delta Squad, the same group his brother Anthony had been on, and their commander, Sergeant Fenix, was hard on the boy, but it is in my belief that he cared for the young man in his own way.

Similar to my brother and I when I was still in the military.

They had fought together to stop a giant worm, a riftworm, from swallowing the ground beneath numerous cities, but at a price: he fell out of their evacuation vehicle and right into its maw and was subsequently swallowed whole.

The next twenty minutes were… nightmarish, to say the least.

He had been attacked by creatures within the beast, creatures that tore into his armor and flesh and proceeded to rip him apart. I wept in sorrow at such a kind, gentle, and hopeful soul being subjected to this horror." The voice trails off, seemingly getting emotional from having to speak about what he had seen occur to the young man.

After getting his emotions in check and going through numerous breathing exercises to help calm himself down, he continues where he had left off.

"My apologies, yet again; it brings me sorrow to see such a thing happen to one who doesn't deserve it. After this had occurred, Sergeant Fenix had found the young man and held him as he gave his last words to him, telling him to inform his parents and his brother that he tried to fight and live up to their legacy and that he loved them all. He had passed away in his arms not two seconds later, after giving the man his identification necklace.

How he had appeared on Ustaavin remains a mystery, even to me, but I see this as a justice to bring this young man back to health and ensure that he lives a very good, long lasting life. It is the least I could do for him and for his friends and family.

I will use our technology to ensure that he lives to be well over a hundred and fifty years, maybe two hundred, after I fully heal him of his injuries, boost his immune system to make him immune to any disease and with his weapons following him here, I'll make sure to find a way to ensure that they never run out of ammunition and for his armor to be upgraded so that it's on par with our most elite military forces. And maybe I'll upgrade the other human's armor and bow, add a few jump jets in the feet and back so that he may traverse the environment of any planet easier than ever and make the weapon out of sturdier materials and other properties that further enhances its abilities. And whoever they come into contact with, be it a species from this galaxy or the next, I have installed a translation software within their minds so that it could automatically translate any unknown language that they may encounter. It'll take a bit for it would register and process the words that someone will say to them, but after ten or so minutes, they should be well enough on their own.

Their weapons are another story as well: the bow I have mentioned has a maximum draw weight of over six-thousand-pounds, and is capable of stopping many opponents with a single shot, add in the fact that it also has different types of arrows that it uses; an electric one, a super thermite explosive one, an airburst one, and finally the standard one that is generally loaded. Not much I can do there, besides increasing the durability and ammo reserve that it has. For the… lancer assault rifle, I can do infinitely more with it: I can make it an energy weapon that never runs out of ammunition, I can make it even more durable than it currently is, I can make the energy bolts fire at different temperatures from extreme heat to extreme cold, and overall just make it better. I do this, so that if they choose to still be soldiers, they will have the equipment necessary to use against any hostile forces. Since Outcast doesn't have a weapon suitable for extended combat, I can relinquish a couple from our armory, possibly a sniper rifle and an assault rifle.

It is the least I can do for two beings who have been through so much pain and suffering. I will ensure that they will receive a better life here in our galaxy; on this, I can assure you that by my name and title, these two humans will have a better tomorrow here in our galaxy, one that they have named Andromeda.

A better name than what my people has for it; we call it the Kintasei'ahna, it means 'a home such as this welcomes any species who comes here.'

Andromeda… such a beautiful name for our home.

Anyways, not much else to be said about Benjamin here, not as much as Outcast at least. The AI has tampered with the memories so that his name would be protected from our intrusions. Understandable, but frustrating nonetheless.

I only hope that when the time comes to release them onto any planet of their choice, they will come to see that there's no reason to be soldiers anymore and to live their lives the way that it was meant to be: free and however they wish it to be.

It is the least I could do to repay them for all of their sacrifices that they had made for their people, their home, and most of all… themselves.

This is Head Researcher, Ryulum Kevstis, signing off."

"This is Head Re- it doesn't matter anymore: we are under attack and it is total war over here at Meridian; our enemies have found us, and they are now taking offensive measures to ensure our destruction. The date is the 36th of Scourge, of the 86th cycle; Meridian has been launched and is now exiting the stellar system as I speak, our enemy is hunting for it while the rest of their forces remain to secure this station.

I will not allow that to happen." Came the grim reply, the man activating something in the background shortly before the sounds of their machines activating throughout the entirety of the station as klaxons blare in alongside it.

"I have activated the entirety of our defense systems all across the cluster, if our enemy so desires our technology and Meridian, they'll have to fight for it. As for the Angara… we have sent them off to live on a planet of their choosing, one of them even named it Havaarl. I had loaded the last of their kind onto the life ships and sent them there to live their lives in peace.

As for Outcast and Benjamin… I'm giving them their weapons and armor, the second one being for young Benjamin, and sending them off to one of our vaults on a different planet, where they will remain in stasis until the time comes when they are awakened by one who has the knowledge and skills necessary to utilize our systems. They each will have enough energy to last a couple thousand years, though with the nanosuit and its energy absorption properties, Outcast's stasis field will only have around 1300 years of energy. When they awaken, they will have an understanding of our technology to the point that they can use it whenever they please, afterwards, they will fight the oppressors and send them back to whatever hole they came from, mark my words.

This is the last day of the Scourge, with our systems running on defensive actions and asset denial mode, the hardened mass of dark energy will overtake sections of this cluster; ensuring the safety of Meridian from hostile minds and hands.

This is Head Researcher, Ryulum Kevstis, signing off and to whoever finds this recording and data… please forgive us and find these two soldiers and spare them of this fight."

After that was said and done, an explosion rocks throughout the facility, sending debris and metal everywhere as Kevstis hurries to where the two interests of the scientific community have been kept, before activating a console and sending them to wherever it was that he had unknowingly chosen.

He'd rather die than give up his home, his research, and these two humans to the enemy.

With them loaded up onto stasis pods and onto a ship, they are both sent away to be hidden in a vault far away from their current location.

He had saved them, when he couldn't have saved himself.

With the ship carrying the two humans sent off into space to be placed into underground vaults, this will be the last time that anyone hears or sees of them for a very, very long time.

And when they'll awaken, it won't be in a place that is familiar to them, or even a universe that is familiar to them at that: everything will be alien to them… even each other.

Centuries have passed since that fateful day, centuries of being in suspended animation inside of a stasis field designed to protect them, and something happened to the vault they were in: it was reactivated.

And soon afterwards, they will be discovered as well by someone very important to the galaxy at large: A Pathfinder.

And that wraps up this beginning chapter. I hope that you all enjoy this as much as you all have the other story.

Now onto the stats about the Predator Bow: the bow was made by Niles Archery, Crytech Armories. A normal human can lift around 1000 lbs, or roughly 454kg, max. When under the effects of adrenanline during the fight or flight response, that can reach up to 3000 lbs, or roughly 1364 kg. The nanosuit doubles the strength of a human. The highest draw weight of the bow is said to take the maximum strength that the suit is capable of so that the draw string can be pulled taut. With that said, it could be extrapolated that the highest draw weight is around 6000 lbs, or roughly 2727 kg.

However, this is debatable when in the game you can kick and toss heavy machinery and concrete blocks over couple dozen or so meters, which implies that the suit is even stronger than this explanation.

Anyways, with that out of the way, I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you all next time!