Mass Effect: Massive Shock

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Mass Effect or the BioShock franchises or any characters or property that BioWare or Irrational Games has staked claim upon. However I do own copies of the games Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 and BioShock and BioShock Original Characters I come up with are MINE to use and distribute.

"In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."

~Abraham Lincoln~

Ch. 37: Shepherded to Fate

8:27 PM January 3, 2183

I place my Topari on the desk next to the terminal and face the dummy that I set up in my armory. This is a monthly ritual of mine. Seeing as how my plasmids evolve over time, I like to see how they progress month to month. What I've seen over the course of the past 7 years is a slow but gradual growth in my power. It was faster at first, probably because I had far fewer plasmids and tonics. And in addition to the gradual growth, the horizons of my abilities continue to expand. With time I'll be able to do things I couldn't before, like being able to continually fire a jet of flame with Incinerate, the equivalent of Incinerate 3.

Let's check my progress…

I raise my palm so I can see it and activate Detective Mode for my helmet.

I activate Electro Bolt. Cool I can see the electrical pathways in my body. It looks like the electricity originates from my spine and my heart. Each heartbeat creates a flare of light from my heart and spine and a wave of electrical light throughout my body. Though I'll never get used to the fact that I can see my own skeleton and stuff in Detective Mode, it's weird. Though a neat feature I had installed was the Climate Analysis Suite. Normally reserved for colonists and scientists, its purpose is to provide accurate recordings of the environment, from temperature to gravitational pressure, to atmosphere content, and it's even able to measure electrical buildup in more extreme climates.

I point my palm forward and I fire a full power blast from it at my metal test dummy. The bolt strikes its chest leaving a scorch and electricity arcing over its body.

My helmet measures 53 million volts. Damn good. Though it could be better. I'll try again. I blast it again, putting in more effort grunting loudly as I do.

53,232,000. Guess that's as good as I'm going to get for now. But that's still damn impressive. But I still can't believe it's barely enough to kill a man. Though I can put out over 53 million volts on a maxed out Electro Bolt, my amperes is incredibly low. Basically I can hit a target with an incredibly powerful blast for a fraction of a second. As opposed to lightning, which has a voltage in excess of a gigavolt and carries a current of 300 to 500 kiloamperes. In laymen terms, lightning has been known to strike with a voltage of 1 billion volts, maybe more with a current of 300,000 to 500,000 amps. And all it takes to kill a person is 10 milliamperes or 0.01 amps. And I've measured my current as somewhere in the range of 10 microamperes or 0.00001 amps… So unless I really juice up my plasmid power and hit someone for an extended period of time, even for a tiny bit longer, I can normally kill them. Of course this is really tough for me. And in theory, I need no more than 100 volts to kill someone as long as I use the right amount of amps. And I still haven't figured that out.

I sigh. I guess I should look into this more. If I knew more on electricity that'd be ideal.

I deactivate Electro Bolt and activate Incinerate.

I look at my hand first which is giving off 71 degrees Celsius or 159 Fahrenheit as is the norm… sort of.

I blast the dummy with a burst of flame, igniting its iridium form for a few seconds in a tempest of flame before fading with a small whoosh.

1260 Celsius that's… 2300 Fahrenheit even. Nice that's about the melting point of Iron and Manganese and plenty past the burning point of human tissue. Funny, never thought I'd get so good at chemistry. I always hated it in high school but it became a point of survival in Rapture so I had to learn it. And the Brain Boost tonic helped.

I activate Winter Blast and look at my hand and wait slightly as the thermometer on my HUD plummets.

-72 degrees Celsius that's about -97 degrees Fahrenheit. Cool. Literally.

My mask flips up and I take a sip from my drink with my other hand raised at the dummy. Ouch! That was a bad idea. The Topari froze to my lip.

I close my helmet and I freeze the shoulder of the dummy and my helmet measures -102 Celsius. Not bad. My goal is absolute zero though. It seems impossible but, hell, anything's possible. So I have… -170.15 Celsius to go still. I'm getting there. But -102 Celsius is satisfying by any measure. That's far colder than any temperature extremes ever recorded on Earth. Colder than a typical day on Mars even.

Hm… I'll test the Newton force of Concussive Force and an object thrown with Telekinesis.

I deactivate Winter's Blast and wait a second for my body to heal a little. I activate Concussive Force and hold the ball of pressure to my helmet. I can almost feel it through my helmet.

My helmet is measuring that the ball of pressure in my hand is exerting a constant force of 300,000 newtons, comparable to the nuclear blast wave created by the Little Boy nuke at Hiroshima. Holy fuck. I'm glad it's contained. I'd bet I could crack someone's head open with this thing.

I blast the dummy with a Concussive Force. Its free-swinging arms flail wildly as it's pushed by the concussion.

Interesting. It starts at 25,000 newtons, comparable to a bullet traveling through the air, when I first blast it. But in the first half second of flight it drops to about 1000 then it plummets quickly. So that's why it blows people up at point blank range. It's like getting shot with a giant bullet. But at larger distances it's like getting pushed by a giant hand. I know for a fact that I, if not most people, can generate more than 1000 newtons of force with a punch. I guess I'll have to let this one develop more.

I deactivate Concussive Force after my dizziness subsides then activate Telekinesis.

I pick up a 50 pound kettle bell weight with the power and hurl it at the dummy. It collides with its head with a bang before falling to the ground with a loud thump.

4800 newtons. Not bad. I'll get better in time with everything though. The drawback of this all is that my plasmids advance slower if I have more of them. Though Tenenbaum hypothesized that if I inject myself with pure unaltered ADAM, which is extremely dangerous might I add, that I'd get a permanent and dramatic growth in my power. I'm not willing to risk it though. I've seen what happens to people who take unaltered ADAM. Not pretty.

My helmet opens and I take a sip from my Topari and walk over to my EVE locker on the wall. I grab a hypo and boost up. I place the empty hypo on my desk. I like to save them. I had to get them custom made so they were pretty expensive. Waste not want not. How many should I take when I go on the Normandy?

Gosh I didn't even think about EVE and ADAM. I didn't even consider that. I won't have a ready supply unless I take a Keeper with me. So I'm going to have to take some ADAM with me along with enough EVE to last me a while, maybe… 27 hypos. If I run out then I'll make more with the ADAM I have. Hopefully Shepard won't mind my little science experiments.

I hear the door open and I look at Tali who looks around the room curiously.

"You're awake." I say pleasantly.

She nods. "Yeah… Did you blow a grenade in here or something?"

I frown. "No… why?"

"I hear what sounded like an explosion in here." She mutters glancing at the dummy. Only now do I notice the pistol in her hand. Cautious little quarian, isn't she? Though I don't blame her.

I chuckle. That'd be Concussive Force. "No. I didn't throw any grenades. It's good that you're awake, the meeting is in an hour or so, I was just going to wake you."

"Thanks for letting me rest here, by the way." She says gratefully. "I tried not to fall asleep but I was exhausted. To be honest I still don't trust you."

That kind of hurt, but in retrospect it's appropriate. I shrug. "That's alright. I don't expect you to trust me so quickly. Though if it means anything, I trust you. Besides, even if you tried to betray me or kill me or something… I think I could take you."

She folds her arms over her chest and cocks her hip to the side, clear signs she's either angry and indignant or being sarcastic. Either way I keep a neutral expression.

"Oh really?" She says. That's sarcastic.

I smirk. "Yeah. I think I could take you."

She shakes her head. "I have a shotgun you know."

I draw my own. "Me too. And I'll bet mine's better."

"I'll take that bet." Tali responds drawing her own shotgun and placing it on the desk and taking a seat.

I place mine on the desk as well, smug expression on my face. I'd like to see her beat Tyrannax's craftsmanship.

She picks up my shotgun examining it. "Hm… No ID number or logo… This is custom made isn't it?"

I nod with a smug smirk. "Sure is."

She continues to examine it. "Hm… No stock or mods. Low yield heat sink. I'd say this thing has pretty poor shot yield and wouldn't pack much punch. All bark no bite."

"Well you'd be very wrong." I respond. "Go ahead. Test it out on the dummy."

She stands and walks up to the dummy and stands about 1 meter away. She aims the shotgun at it and continually fires it until it overheats 4 shots later. There's a large dent in the head of the dummy. I smirk.

She lowers it and tosses the shotgun back to me. "Like I said: Low shot yield and no punch."

"Excuse me?" I ask slightly offended. "That's an iridium dummy! I'd like to see your shotgun do better."

Tali grabs hers and fires it at the dummy's head. The head gets torn apart much to my surprise.

She lowers her shotgun. "You were saying?"

I gape at it. "Huh… Mine weakened it for you."

She rolls her eyes. "Mine's better."

"Oh yeah?" I say turning on Slug mode. "Can yours do this?"

I shoot the dummy in the torso, blasting it in two.

She nods. "Not bad. That's a slug you fired?"

"Damn right it is." I say turning on Spread Mode. "Check this out."

I shoot the dummy in the leg, creating a perfect circular hole.

She examines it. "Interesting. What was that?"

"This shotgun has multiple modes." I explain showing her the shotgun. "That one was Spread Mode. With it I can split the special barrel into 12 separate ones and control the spread angle of the shots."

I crank the front grip and the laser sights spread slightly.

"Hm." She says approvingly. "Alright that's not bad. But mine is still better."

"What? Why?" I ask incredulously looking at her, frankly, bulky shotgun.

"Simplicity is often better. Mine is just a shotgun and it can get ammo and body mods. Yours can't get them." She says pointing at my shotgun.

I look at it. "Really?"

"Yes. It's built so you can't switch ammo blocks or barrels or anything." She says looking up at me. "It's a good shotgun. But it's not versatile. If you ask me you should stick to normal ones."

I roll my eyes. "I like this shotgun and I'm keeping it. It was pricey so I'm not getting rid of it anytime soon."

She shrugs. "Your choice but I think I won that bet."

She exits the room, shotgun in hand. I glare at her. Yeah right. Mine's better. Tyrannax wouldn't fail me. I holster my shotgun on my back and follow Tali out of the room. I see her leaning against the wall next to my counter.

Tali sees me and pushes herself from the wall. "We should be going now. The meeting is in an alley near Chora's Den on the Wards. You know it?"

"Never been there personally." I respond, walking past Tali and exiting the apartment with her close behind. "But I know of it. It's supposed to have a pretty bad reputation."

"Why's that?" Tali asks, following me up the stairs to the garage.

I shrug. "It's a bar for low lives and scum. In a bad neighborhood and all that. Plus, according to a friend of mine, it's a crap hole."

She chuckles a little. "Crap hole, eh? Just goes to show what kind of person Fist is."

I chuckle, remembering his personality. Yeah… he's not much better than the people who frequent his bar.

I walk up to the cab terminal and pay for a ride to the Lower Wards near Chora's Den. Why there's one near that pit is a mystery to me. If you put me in charge, I'd make it hard for people to get there.

I enter the cab with Tali following. As the cab takes off, I close my helmet and rest my head against the headrest. I close my eyes, which feel very heavy. I should've slept while Tali did.

"Splicer." I feel a nudge on my arm. I look up at Tali. "We're here."

I look out the window. "Already?"

"Yeah, you fell asleep, I think." She responds.

I'm going to need to catch some sleep soon. I'm exhausted from the day's events. Thinking back, a lot's happened today. I'll get some sleep on the Normandy. That is if I live long enough to see that happen.

I exit the vehicle with Tali and we start walking, slowly, toward the alley next to Chora's Den. Funny. This place is so familiar yet so foreign to me. I've never been here and that isn't any accident. I've deliberately avoided this part of the Citadel, but I can't say for sure why. Balance, maybe? Who knows? Point is that I don't feel right following Tali down this alley toward the meeting place. Everything is so familiar. The Keeper is even where it's supposed to be.

We stop near some crates waiting. It looks like we're a little early. I cross my arms and lean against the wall. I know what'll happen, so no worries about me being taken off guard. Tali on the other hand doesn't know what'll happen. I better cue her in to be safe.

"Hey." I say loudly, catching her attention. She turns to look at me. "Be on your guard. I doubt we'll be meeting the right people, after all."

Tali tilts her head to the side slightly. "You think so? Hm… Do you think Fist will betray us?"

I shrug. "He's got plenty of reason to. The Shadow Broker may not see us as essential after the data's been swapped. At which point we'll just become loose ends."

Tali shrugs. "If it comes to that then it comes to that. But between the two of us I think we can defend ourselves just fine."

I nod in agreement. Makes sense. If memory serves correctly anyway, there's only going to be three guys.

Tali takes a seat on a crate next to me. "So, how'd you get into the mercenary business?"

I look up at her.

"Just trying to make conversation." She says defensively.

I roll my eyes under my helmet. "Uh… Just sort of happened really. I was low on cash and I had sort of had previous combat experience so I decided to get into contact with the Shadow Broker because I knew he probably had a lot of work that needed to be done."

"So you do work for the Shadow Broker?" Tali says suspiciously.

I shake my head. "Not often. I don't trust him at all. Some of the stuff he's asked me to do are sort of low key and I don't even know what I did for some of it. I can refuse anything he asks me to do, even though that might not be exactly smart. There's a reason he's the Shadow Broker. He's always behind you ready to stab you in the back. But he pays damn well."

Tali shrugs. "This information is too important. I don't think he'd go behind our backs… would he?"

I laugh a little. I vaguely remember in the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC, a dossier on Tali that provides clear proof that the Shadow Broker was going to go behind her back. "I wouldn't put it past him."

"Well… it's a good thing you're here then." Tali states confidently. She pauses for a second, looking away in thought somewhat. "I need to ask you something."

I frown. "Shoot."

"If this deal does go backwards, are you going to stay with me? Watch my back?" Tali asks, looking at me. "If the Shadow Broker chooses to double cross me, what's stopping you from running off?"

I frown. Like I'd even think about doing that. Even if she wasn't an important character, I'm not the kind of guy to abandon someone and let them get eaten by the dogs. I shrug. "I'll stick around most likely. I don't leave jobs unfinished or half-assed. So, if worst comes to worst, do you have my back?"

Tali is silent for a while before nodding. "As long as you have mine, I'd be glad to return the favor. Besides, you're in as much danger as I am. You've seen the information so you're just another target for Saren."

Good point. I grin. "I guess it looks like we're screwed now. Not just you."

She laughs. "Looks like it. You're so casual about that. Don't you care your life is on the line?"

I shrug. "I'm a mercenary. I do this for a living."

"Put your life on the line?" Tali tilts her head to the side and gives me a look… I think.

I shrug but don't respond.

"It doesn't worry you even a little bit? Going into a fight, not knowing whether you'll get out of it alive or not?" Tali asks pulling her feet up onto the crate and rotating to look at me.

I look down at the floor. "No. I've never noticed that before. I've never felt nervous going into a fight. Not once… well… recently that is."

"Why do you think that is?" She asks. Quarians love stories so it'll be hard to get her to drop it.

I chuckle and look down at the floor. "I think it's because a short fire fight is nothing compared to six years in hell. I think it's because I go into and come out of each fight knowing that I have something to go back to. And in hell… you have nothing."

I stare at the floor for a while longer. I look up at Tali after a while who is staring at me silently.

"Sorry." I say looking at the ground. "You've probably got enough on your mind without me adding to it with cryptic crap."

She laughs. "That's okay. You're an interesting person you know."

I continue to look at the ground. "Why do you think that is?"

"I don't know…" She responds staring at me. "You got this… I want to say quality but I know that's not a very good answer so… You have this air of cold confidence and there's an odd disconnection about you. You are funny and charming but I can see something behind that. I look in your eyes and I see something there that makes me sad."

I look up at her.

"Especially with that helmet on." She comments. "The skull and such. The eye holes accent your eyes and isolate that sadness. Why are you so sad?"

Nosy quarian. I shake my head. "I'm not sad."

"What are you, then?" Tali asks sounding almost sympathetic.

I shrug. "I don't know… I really don't."

Now that I'm in my own head, I'm excited. This is so cool! Not all the personal questions, I hate those. But the fact that this is finally going down!

Suddenly the sounds of distant gunfire make our heads shoot up toward the end of the alley where we came in.

Tali hops off the crate and draws her shotgun. I push myself off the wall and draw my assault rifle. We face the direction of the gunfire, the way we came in. That must be Shepard and his crew attacking Chora's Den.

"What is that?" Tali asks me looking at me nervously.

I shrug. "Don't know for sure. I'm going to take a look. Stay here."

I want to make sure it's them. My presence in this universe has changed a hell of a lot and I'm slightly worried it may have screwed this up too. So I need to make sure.

I start jogging away and as I hit the top of the staircase, Tali calls to me.

"Splicer." She calls. I turn around. "Be careful."

I scoff. "No worries. If anyone's going to survive a bar room gun brawl, it's me."

I exit the alleyway and walk over to the entrance to the large open square walkway that leads to the entrance of Chora's Den. I peek past the wall toward the open entrance of the club. It sounds like a freaking warzone in there.

Suddenly somebody stumbles out of the club clutching at his ribcage and holding a pistol loosely in his hand. He walks quickly in my direction, glancing over his shoulder at the club to make sure no one is following him. He needs help, I better do something.

I walk out of cover and towards him. "Hey-"

He gasps at the sight of me and fires at me frantically, backpedaling toward the club again. The shots spark oddly on my shields which fail quickly. Phasic rounds!

A final lucky shot strikes me in the neck as I try to dive for cover. It causes my helmet to malfunction.

My breath catches as the respiratory function fails and the mask is unable to open. Shit! I claw frantically at my helmet and the clamps holding it to my armor. Finally I remove them all and throw my helmet off. I breathe in and out frantically and desperately for air.

I get to my feet and look around for the bastard who shot at me. He's nowhere in sight. I need to get back to Tali, the meeting should be starting soon and if I delay anymore she's screwed. I jog back toward the alley with my assault rifle at the ready. I hit the door control and run inside once it opens.

I run up the stairs but stop dead in my tracks when I see Tali facing the three Saren agents as the enter the alley from the other end. I crouch down and raise my assault rifle. I pop out the scope and turn on the laser sight. I'll cover her from here. If they see me they'll start shooting so this is safer for her.

I look down the scope and aim at the turian who's doing the talking. This asshole is threatening looking. Face paint that looks like a skull. What turian colony has that as their face paint I wonder?

Damn they're talking kind of loud. I can hear them from all the way up here.

"Tali'Zorah?" The turian with the skull paint says circling around to Tali's other side while the salarians stay on the other, blocking her routes of escape.

"Yes. You're not Fist. Who are you? Where's the Shadow Broker?" Tali asks immediately.

"Did you bring it?" The turian says approaching Tali, who valiantly stands her ground. They must've just gotten there.

"Where's the Shadow Broker? Where's Fist?" Tali says confidently and suspiciously.

"They'll be here." The turian says running a hand down her arm, causing me to tighten my grip on my rifle. "Where's the evidence?"

Tali slaps his hand off her and turns to walk away. "No way. The deal's off."

The turian backs a step and nods at the two fully armored salarians near some crates. One draws his pistol.

Tali sprints away tossing something off her belt at them. Whatever it was it's explosive, throwing the two salarians off their feet. I aim down the scope at the turian who's drawing a pistol. Damn Shepard and his team sure are late.

Suddenly a massive shock of pain shoots though my head and I stumble back. I feel myself trip over something and start to fall. As I fall I white out.

?

The Dark grips me like a vice. I struggle to fight it but it is too strong.

"Robert Jackson." The Noise in the Dark calls to me, screaming into my ears. It's such a Noise that it rattles my bones and makes my limbs feel numb.

The Dark gripping me materializes into the Grim Reaper. Its hideous half organic half machine body clutches me in its bony hands.

"You… You are coming to be a real problem, more than an asset. Why don't you just die when allowed to?! Why do you fight?!" The Grim Reaper's grip tightens unbearably.

But I struggle. I know I can fight it.

The Grim Reaper stares at me with endless eyes. The feelings, of pain, of horror and of panic tear at me once me. The Dark, it grips me once more. It is a blackness so absolute, so entire, it hurts the ears to listen for it. The Noise, it buries me once more. It is a quiet. I realize it now. It is the Noise of the Dark. That quiet that you strain to listen to. The Noise that makes every sound make you jump, for fear of someone watching.

I stop struggling. I know I can't fight it.

The Grim Reaper stares at me with roaring hatred. "You. You are such a strange thing. The others entrusted on me to find the most willfully powerful beings in existence that were weak in their ignorance and could be broken. The others were broken. They bend to the wills of those more powerful than them. But you. You do not bend. You fight back. If you continue to fight the bend you will break. You can't fight something more powerful than you! You will snap into pieces! Why don't you bend?!"

I start to struggle again. The Grim Reaper is unsure of itself. It is the ignorant one not me.

The Grim Reaper's stare of hatred burns ever brighter and the silent Noise of the Dark screams. "You… You insolent child! I am a being everlasting! I am eternal! I transcend death itself! I laugh at it! I am death and power in its purest form! Ignorant! You are ignorant! You think you can fight a being far more powerful than you?! Why?! Foolish! You are mine! You are my slave! Don't you understand you mongrel?! You ungrateful savage! I gave you all that you have! I brought you here! I made you what you are! I turned your accident existence into a meaningful existence! Why?! Why do you continue to fight me?! Why don't you just give up?! Why don't you understand this?! Why won't you listen?! Why do you fight?! What is it that drives you?! What?! WHAT?!"

I wake face-down in a dark, damp room. I get up onto all fours and shake my head, leaning back onto my knees. I look up. Looks like I feel down a trash chute. That'd explain the smell…

Only one way out.

I start to climb.

What is it that drives me? That rings in my ears. The Grim Reaper is back. But I don't care.

It's weak. It doesn't understand.

What is it that drives me? What is it that makes me choose to carry on, despite all the pain? What do I have to hold on to? To reach for? What drives me?

I look up at the beam of light at the top of the chute.

The light at the end of the tunnel.

And so I climb.

End of Part One

A/N: And so ends part one of Massive Shock. Thanks for reading! But I wanted to thank all you guys for sticking around this long! It warms the heart.

Part two of Massive Shock, Massive Shock 2: Infinite Mass is coming soon. I'm going to take a little break and focus on working on part 2 then I'll post the prologue for Massive Shock 2. If you want to know for sure when I'll release it, but I'm sorry I don't know yet. But, I'll be sure to put out a date for the prologue release on my profile. Of course if you're too lazy, you can favorite or follow me as an author to be notified via email about new stuff I post.

After I post the prologue I'll wait a bit and post the official story sometime after that. How long will that be? Uh… we'll see when we have to cross that road. Don't worry I'll keep you all updated.

I'm going to take the time and thank each and every one of you one last time for following me through this. Especially those who've been with me since chapter 1, coming in week after week, and reading my story as it progressed. To you, and all of my readers, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. To my frequent visitors and reviewers, I'm going to thank you specifically. You don't know how much it means to me that you guys would take the time to tell me what you think of my story and it means a lot to me. I'm not the kind of person to do shout-outs to specific people because that doesn't seem fair, seeing as how I love each and everyone of you all equally. But, my consistent reviewers and readers, know that I know who you are and I can't thank you enough for all your support. That said, I believe at this point I'm at 199 reviews and it's driving me bananas! I'm pretty sure that I'll get to 200 and that's all thanks to you guys! I never dreamed that I could reach anything close to that and I'm so so happy that I've been able to reach 200 reviews!

It's been 259 days, or 37 weeks, or about 9 months and to all you who have been around since chapter 1, I thank you for your time and your patience and your attention. And to everyone else, I thank you just as much. You're all awesome and to show you all how much I love all of you, I'm going to offer this special deal for the sequel:

Every time a milestone is hit, whether it's a certain number of reviews, words, follows, or favorites, I'll post a special one-shot following the Massive Shock story. Except this will be about Splicer's time in Rapture! I have a few ideas for it already, such as Splicer's first plasmid, or his first Little Sister saved, or even Christmas in Rapture! I'll keep the measure of the milestones to my own discretion, but I'm a generous guy so you'll get plenty of them.

It's been nearly a year coming, and I'm sad to see it come to an end, but we've got an exciting sequel on its way! And I still enjoy doing this. And I'm not even close to being done.

And I hope to see you all again, in the weeks to come.

Mockingbird79

Logging you out.