#twitchy!Javik

[ramblinganthropologist]

N7 24 - 18 and 19 Relic and Colony

Summary: It isn't all crazy missions for the Normandy ground party. SOmetimes, it's just a shoot out with a low level biotic over some Prothean relics.

---

 The bad part about colonies was that they didn’t have the best forms of defense. That usually made them sitting ducks for mercs looking for stuff to steal or people to kidnap. This one was no different – save for the fact that it had help.

The sign above the small town had once said it was Miner’s Peak. However, that had been shot off five minutes ago when the fire fight had begun. Now its ruined remains lay smoking on the ground, more hole than metal thanks to how many times it had been struck. Its fall had been the only hint that they were being watched, so he was grateful for it.

Maybe he could fix it later. But, first, he had to survive the fight.

Alistair crouched low behind a wall, pistol in hand and cooling from a round of fire. His helmet was providing him a view of the battlefield – the sensor had picked up a handful of mercs currently firing at them. There wasn’t much special about them; regular armor, normal guns. They didn’t have biotics – at least he hadn’t seen it yet – and there were no turrets. It was just a bog standard fire fight, the kind of which went on countless times every day throughout the Attican Traverse.

So, maybe he felt bad these mercs had wound up facing down with a bunch of Spectres. Maybe.

“This is pissing me off.” Bo’s voice carried through his ear piece. She sounded tense – but it wasn’t from nerves. This was how she sounded when she was bored – he had heard it countless times before. The fight wasn’t keeping her interested, so she was getting twitchy. “Can I just rush in now?”

Tali’s voice also entered his helmet. “Shepard, I’m almost finished downloading the security information. Give me a few more moments to work.”

“You heard the lady, Bo. Let them waste their ammo for a bit longer.” In a brief moment of reload, he let out a few shots just to keep them guessing. “They’re not why we’re here anyway.”

No – the mercs were just following up on the same lead that had directed the Normandy to Miner’s Peak. It had been a simple email from an unknown source, letting the reader know about a newly unearthed relic that could have been as old as the Protheans. No doubt their opponents wanted it for the cash, but they had other plans.

According to intel from both Javik and Liara, this was something they could use to get info on the Reapers’ war on the Protheans. It was supposed to be some kind of living memory that they could access if they got their hands on it – but they would need to grab it first.

“They’re getting a little too close for –“ Bo broke off suddenly. “Fuck, unless that was you really fucking up your shot, they got a biotic.”

She hadn’t needed to say it – he had felt the tingle in the air before he saw the flash of light that accompanied the smell of eezo. Human biotics had a smell about them that they couldn’t shake, regardless of where they came from and how they were trained. No matter how many times he showered after a battle, he smelled hints of it on his skin for at least a day after.

So, he had been wrong about the biotic thing.

Alistair grit his teeth as he scanned the battlefield again. There was a new dot – that had to be the one who had attacked Bo. If he was reading the scans right, this was the boss. It was rare for humans to have a biotic leader – they tended to be specialists due to the scarcity.

In a weird way, he was proud of them.

“I know it’s you, Shepard, I saw your fucking ship at the dock!” Their voice carried over the field as the bullets quieted. “Let me guess, you got the same e-mail we did. Well, too bad, because we got here first!”

Right, because ‘dibs’ worked on more than just the front seat…

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “This doesn’t have to end with anyone dying. Just leave and we won’t give chase. I haven’t even searched anyone for warrants yet.”

Not that it was all that accurate anymore. Thanks to the Reapers, law enforcement throughout the galaxy was falling behind on the paperwork. Mercs were slipping through the cracks, and escaped criminals were finding better ways to hide themselves so no one could come to collect their bounties. If not for the fact they were getting picked off at the same rate as everyone else, crime would’ve been a whole lot worse.

Then again, it was the Attican Traverse. If it wasn’t batarian raiders, it was someone else messing up the place…

“And here I thought the boy scout thing was just a routine you put on so people underestimated you. You really are that pathetic, Shepard.” They didn’t sound impressed, but he wasn’t about to lose sleep over it – merc opinions weren’t exactly those he held in high regard. “How about we just shoot you until you get back on your fancy ship and leave us to our prize?”

Alistair shook his head as he glanced over to his right. Tali was still furiously typing away on her omni-tool, the screen reflecting against her visor. He could make out the details; the download was almost complete. Just a few more seconds and they were good.

“I can’t do that, I’m afraid. We need that relic to help defeat the Reapers.” He checked his ammo levels just in case – there was more than enough should it come to that, but it didn’t seem likely. “Won’t be much need for credits if they win, you know.”

That line of logic had gotten several merc groups to switch sides – now they were working for Hackett and finding materials that had either been hidden by time or sentient hands. Sometimes, appealing to the desire to stay alive worked for people.

But… judging by the fact he could feel the air vibrate, that wasn’t the case for this boss.

“Well, until they turn us all into soup I still need to get paid.”

Alistair then had to duck as a blast of blue light soared over his head, scorching the wall behind him. Then the gun fire continued, but it wasn’t going to last for long. He saw Tali finish typing and then give him the quarian version of a thumb’s up.

Finally.

“Guess we can’t talk this out then.” He raised his voice. “Bo, we’re good. I’ll back you up if you promise not to intentionally kill anyone.”

She powered up almost immediately, eyes glowing red as she flexed her fist. “No promises, Al. You know how it goes.”

Yes, he did; it was why he sighed and powered up as well, feeling the tingle under his skin as he applied a barrier across her armor for a little something extra. She still hadn’t let him get access to her armor in order to tweak the shields, so this was just an extra level of security for when she broke free.

“Well, can’t say I didn’t try.” He nodded. “We’ll be right behind you.”

That as all Bo needed to hear. With a roar, she tore free of her cover and launched at the mercs. Bullets pinged off his barrier and her shields as she swung a biotic-enveloped fist towards her opponents. The wave of force and light was enough to send multiple flying back, their guns falling silent as their groans mingled with the crack of crates and bones.

He followed behind her, gun drawn. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone aim for them. Instead of firing, however, he held up his hand and then closed his fist. Soon, they were surrounded by a bubble of blue light that caused them to hover above the battlefield helplessly. Until it failed, they were harmless.

That cut their opponent’s forces down severely. After Tali’s drone took out one more, that left just the biotic boss to face their combined efforts. They closed in, pinning them against the far wall. There was enough room for them to try one more attack, but that would be a suicidal final move.

However, mercs often got suicidal if they had a long jail time ahead of them.

“Damn it all…” Their back was literally against the wall, fist glowing with what would probably be their last shot. “I’m not letting you take me in!”

But they never got the chance to fire it off. Instead, Bo got to them first with her specialty – a biotic-enhanced head butt at close range. Some people thought she had learned it from the krogan, but Alistair knew better. She had always been one to go head first into things – it was why the krogan loved her so much.

And also why she had gone undefeated for so long on Omega. The Angry Pink Monster could throw down.

He still winced as the attack sent the merc flying through the air and crashing through a thin wall. It sent up a cloud of dust as they lay their groaning, unable to get up. They weren’t dead, but they were definitely not getting up anytime soon.

“Man, that was too easy.” Bo grumbled as she cracked her neck. “I wasted my energy on all that? You think a biotic would know how to dodge better…”

Alistair shook his head as he emerged from cover, fist still clenched to keep his opponent bubbled. “To be fair, nobody expects to get headbutted in the middle of a fire fight.”

“And that’s why they get their asses beat.”

True; the element of surprise was one of Bo’s favorites, almost to the level of a good punch to the face. But it had gotten the job done – nobody was firing anymore. The area had quieted down, and it was safe to round up their opponents.

Before long, the assembled mechs had been dug out of the wall, pulled from rubble, or released from their biotic bubble. The colony’s security could handle it once they came out of hiding, so keeping them tied up was all they really needed. They had more important things to handle anyway – let Miner’s Peak decide what it wanted to do.

With a click, Alistair holstered his gun. “Tali, are we close to the relic?”

“Based on the schematics, it’s in a vault beneath this building.” She kept tapping on her omni-tool. “We just need to find the door and then you can hack the code.”

Oh, joy. He loved opening doors. It was part of being a boy scout after all – help little old ladies across the street, hold open a door for his allies, don’t shoot to kill. All in a day’s work. At least this way he would get to flex his brain instead of his muscles. He was itching for a good puzzle – it had been too long.

Now, to find that door…

---

“Thank you, Shepard. I’ll get started on analyzing the data immediately.”

Liara’s voice made Alistair want to punch something, but instead of doing that he nodded as he handed over the artifact they had discovered in the vault back on Miner’s Peak. It was a small thing, barely bigger than a coffee cup, but if the asari was right it could hold vital data against the Reapers.

And if it didn’t, he had at least gotten to test his new program against the door code. That was a win in his book.

“Let me know in an email if you found out anything.” He headed towards the door before she could say anything else. However, Liara had caught on quickly that small talk wasn’t a possibility between them anymore – she just nodded and started to work on her new project as he left the room.

At least she was a fast learner – it was about the only nice thing he could say about her lately.

Bo was waiting for him in the hallway. He fell into step as they piled into the elevator to head up to the galaxy map. While they had been out at Miner’s Peak, two more requests for aid in the local system had popped up. Both seemed reasonable enough, so it would be a quick turnaround.

“I don’t even know why I got out of armor.” His sister rolled her eyes as the doors shut behind them. “We’re just going to be back in it when we hit planetside.”

Alistair shrugged as he leaned against the wall, watching the number go up. “Just think of it as  a chance to let your barriers recharge.”

She shot him a blank look. “No, Al, you’re not fucking with my armor’s shields. I like them just the way they are.”

“I’m just saying, I wouldn’t worry so much if they revived a little faster…”

But it was an old argument of the value of a quick recharge verses knowing the default setting better and not overly trusting tech. By that point, it was more of a dance than a fight, with both trading leading and following positions.

One day, he would get the lead finally and convince her – but that wasn’t going to be today. He had his mind on other things.

Bo focused on him as he checked his omni-tool. “You’re thinking something’s up with the aid requests, right?”

He nodded. “They don’t normally cluster like this in areas where the Reapers haven’t hit too hard. And I didn’t recognize the email account that sent us to Miner’s Peak in the first place. It’s all kind of suspicious.”

It hadn’t been a virus, but that was all he could say in the moment. Cerberus wasn’t out of the running, though it would’ve been a poor showing if it had been them. They tended to hire better mercs to get the job done if they didn’t just do it themselves. Their opponents hadn’t been wearing white and yellow armor, but credits didn’t tend to come color-coded.

Maybe he was paranoid, but it stunk.

However, it was still an aid request, and if he could help someone out he would. Alistair had that in mind as they exited the elevator into the CIC. Soon he was standing in front of the galaxy map, plotting out their next trip into the system. The planets were close – it wouldn’t take much.

“Shepard, where we heading next?”

“Looks like we’re going to Reibos. There’s a colony named Green Gulch asking for aid against raiders.” He punched in the coordinates and the Normandy shuddered as it accepted. “Hopefully, we’ve got some survivors.”

Corpses couldn’t answer questions, nor could they point to useful tech or people who could help the Catalyst.

But he pushed that from his mind as the ship shifted positions in order to get them to the new planet. What they would find there, Alistair didn’t know. With any luck, it would be something they could use against the Reapers. After all, if Miner’s Peak had Prothean tech, then the other planets might be the same.

Or it might just be a trap – this could be the kind of thing Cerberus was into lately. It was kind of up in the air until they assessed the ground. That was the unexpected benefit to fighting a war with the Reapers – things were rarely boring. They were also a cosmic horror show, but at least it kept him guessing.

Variety was the spice of life in the best times, and a logistical nightmare at the worst. Right then, it was something like a spicy nightmare. Or maybe it was a logistic of life? He could figure it out later on the shuttle…

[twitchesandstitches]

The Condesce wanted an heiress. When she tried to explain this to her fellow conspirators, their reactions were not entirely what she hoped for.

“Can this wait, Meenah?” Javik said terely, his multiple eyes narrowed as he drew a fist back.

The Condesce frowned, though not at the use of her personal name (now, she heard, bequathed to a young clone she’d helped make centuries ago, back before the founding of her empire when she’d still traveled with those nomad bimbos way back when). She loved Javik, in her fashion, and in his own way, he had earned it. No, it was the denying her the chance to monologue she was annoyed with.

“Indeed!” Starscream snapped, in the form of a bipedal bird monster, though in deference to his dislike of the organic body, he was still robotic. Considering that they were all in disguise and pretending to be a party of adventurers so they could associate in peace without revealing their true relationship to the whole multiverse, it was a pretty poor disguise; Starscream made a lousy Rito birdman. “Can it not hold a moment- ow!” He was struck by a large tentacle and sent flying, cursing all the while.

The next one after the hapless robot was blocked by Yellow Diamond, who had simply installed her Gem into a fancy construct of solid gold, giving her access to her full power without having to risk her true form being recognized instantly. (It DID have the absolutely massive curves that befit her status, but that was just her pride coming through.) “Focus!” She growled.

“I don’t wanna!” The Condesce whined, stamping so that her gargantuan breasts, gravid belly and butt all jiggled like gelatin inconvenienced by a nearby sesimic event. “All of you suckers have apprentices! Sidekicks! Heirs! Kids you can hang out with!”

Yellow Diamond squinted as Javik raised the mighty Doomfist, the mega-gauntlet of legend (though it looked more like a massive armature covering one arm, a shoulder, and a good third of his body, beset with container gems holding the life energies of countless foes) and focused its psionic powers into blades from its knuckles; with a roar, he propelled himself like a rocket, right at there foe. There was a horrible bloody explosion, and then silence, but for his laughter. “Is this, a family thing? You KNOW I still have no truck with that nonsense.”

“It... has its charms,” Starscream said loftily, a robot who had fathered thousands of children in his time. Yellow Diamond looked thoughtful at his endorsement, but said nothing. the Condesce snorted; you’d think a Gem who had personally been giving births to billions of Gems all her life would at least grasp the basic concept of motherhood bond.

“I HAVE KILLED IT!” Javik screamed. “VICTORY IS OURS, AND THE FALLEN LAY IN WOE AT OUR FEET. SUCH AS THE WAY IT MUST BE!”

The Condese grinned indulgently at him. “Yeah, yeah, real good, hun. Now hurry up and help me here! Listen, listen. I want a heiress. All you guys have your heirs!”

Javik leaned in. “Ah. I would not call young Kilmonger or Ogundimu ‘heirs’, per se. I simply task them to kill me if they can, so that they may take my place if they are worthy.”

“Yeah, an heir,” said the Condesce, who had a very straightforward view of the world, one with a lot of blood on it. “But like, I want one. My first heiress, my descendant, she wouldn’t take me up on it. Same with the heiress I actually MADE for it! I still miss Janey... but, then, all the trolls I’ve bred to be my heir, they just don’t measure up!”

“Have you considered the possibility that it is YOU to blame here?” Starscream said snidely.

She punched him so hard he flew across the horizon and back; he landed in the same spot, quite unharmed despite the force. “No. But I want an heir already; I want someone to teach, someone to frickin’ talk to, someone that can kill me and take over if she’s got the stuff!”

A response came, from all people, Yellow Diamond. “You don’t say. Well. Do you recall that realm adjacent to the spirit world? Where four elemental nations harnessed the powers of spirits?”

‘I think so. Why?”

“Well, while most of them have migrated to the Endowed Fleet and their boy toys and little girlfriends in the Earthborn Coalition, not all of them did. Some have found their way into our good graces, and I think the strongest of them might interest you.” Yellow Diamond’s eyes, metal in this construct form, gleamed. “I think Phoenix Queen Azula may be of interest to you, rainbow empress?”

[wardencommanderrodimiss]

Javik is allowed one “make fun of Shepard’s boyfriend free” card because Shepard has nearly shot him twice thinking he’s some or another Reaper foot soldier. Fighting Collectors has left her twitchy.

Just watched Garrus get stuck trying to jump over a gap and he had to attempt it three times before he got the jump on the fourth. Cannot imagine that Javik, who was watching this sad display, feels any better about how the primitives have evolved.

[twitchesandstitches]

in mass effect canon, Javik’s people designate certain people as avatars of various abstract concepts, and he himself claims that he is the avatar of Vengeance.

the difficulty is that i honestly can’t think of a way to have that make sense here; this version of Javik has not had his society destroyed, at least of this writing, so he hasn’t gone through the same personality shifts. The idea for this portrayal of him was based on removing Javik from his traumatic circumstances and seeing him as the guy he would have been otherwise, warmongering conquerer and all.

now, I could make it so that Javik did come from one of the previous existing mega-empires I’ve mentioned in the past, and has revived its spirit in his Imperium, and is partly motivated by vindictiveness. the problem is that it still doesn’t fit, as he has no particular enemy to take vengeance ON; the chaotic setting itself causes the downfall of empires, and while there is some sort of secret society behind the chaos, its too dissolute for him to target. He has no one to blame or target.

So I’m thinking of designating him as an avatar of a completely different concept; such as Victory (which in canon, he names Shepard as, which may be a plot point here).

[twitchesandstitches]

all the ringer leaders have some kind of ship dynamic going on, obscured beneath a dozen layers of subterfuge, public persona vs private veneer, and quite a lot of scheming going on so it is just a complete pile up of conspiracy and plots done just to convey a ‘hiya doing today’, and one hilarious consequence of this is that Condy is shipped with Javik here.

now, Javik isn’t QUIITE in the same mental place as he is in mass effect proper; those familiar wtih him will recall him as a grumpy, vindictive and embittered robot-hater who is also delighted to screw with people and with a sense of humor based on the fact that you never know when he is winding you up.

he still has that trolling vibe, but the Reapers never destroyed his civilization, at least to the same degree as canon. His Prothean Empire is alive and well, and while he remains his people’s Avatar of Vengeance, it’s a more abstract sort here. So he’s not QUITE as bitter, and is calmer overall.

however, he is still deeply ruthless, incredibly vicious, and operates on a darwinian survival of the fittest mentality: “If you can kill me, you DESERVE my position.’

So it makes it all the more hilarious that he is still the one brain cell between him and Condy, who is otherwise an unslakable hurricane of lust, self-indugence and perpetual whims, and he is extremely annoyed about this.

(part of their future plans involves getting PUBLICALLY married, perhaps as part of a union of their respective empires, but even now Condy loves doing the giga giantess equivalent of leaning her arm on his head and winding him up about how small he is to her. she tries to tease him and he just finds a way to roll it around to teasing HER while being unaffected, and she is just >:O HOW DID U DO THAT)

[twitchesandstitches]

i like to think that the four leaders of the Ringer empires have their big conflicts and rivalries as purely a public front, and in reality they’re actually a four man band of sorts, but which role is filled by who tends to shift from day to day; sometimes you have Yellow Diamond as the one who provides the spark of momentum and is the leader, Starscream as the idea guy, Condesce as the lovable muscle who is weirdly affectionate in her own rough way, and Javik as the heart. Sometimes. if the heart means encouraging their tiffs and fights for the hell of it

outside of that, in private they tend to split into Javik/Condesce and Starscream/Yellow Diamond. With Condy and Javik it probably it probably is shippy (since her type seems to be ‘ya got spunk, sport’ and Javik is the kind of guy who actually SAYS things like ‘I am the last voice of a dead people, here to shed blood for blood that was lost!’

starscream and yellow diamond, conversely, are closer to super best friends who absolutely refuse to acknowledge or face that they click together really well and like each other a lot. they’re proud, they’re angry, they have too many years of internalized doubt and fear to be totally honest with themselves, and they’re facing down countless ages of their people having an incredibly nasty rivalry

gems and transformers HATE each other; the living machine despises the thinking mineral. so starscream and yellow diamond plot and scheme against each other, they snarl and snap and duel one another, they engage in ludicrously long term plots...

and at the end of the day, they hunch down and have a drink of liquid magic/purest homebrew Energon and enjoy each other’s company and desperately try to deny that they have found a Friend(tm)

[twitchesandstitches]

twitchy mass effect squad thoughts: 3

please note that I’ve never played most of the DLC (save for the ones that get you Javik, and the extended cut ones), so I dunno what most of the DLC squadmates are like.

Javik: This guy’s kind of a dick. It’s tends to be obvious, but given my opinions on, say, Williams, I need to be clear that I’m not giving him a pass or anything. It’s actually interesting given that he is a major figure in my AUs, but the Javik of canon is coming from a VERY different place than Javik in my continuities. Like, he makes it clear he’s an asshole from the beginning; he’s vindictive, he boils with barely restrained implied threats, he’s imperious and condescending and makes it clear he is an imperialist who views everyone as beneath him. His character development is all about him coming to respect the people in the future (For him) as being worthy successors, linked to him no longer referring to others as primitives. He’s also genuinely hilarious once he start trolling others. But he’s mean to Legion, and to EDI, so FUCK ‘IM. (I kid, but I draw the line at being mean to the robo-friends.)

Javik works best when you play as Paragon Shepard, because then he becomes a contrast in even more of a way than Wrex; while Wrex was simply resigned, Javik is a quietly raging bastard of a man, out to make the reapers BURN no matter what it takes, and their interactions are very interesting for the conflict.

James Vega: OMG, a human character I kind of relate to, even though we literally have nothing in common? That I honestly really like?? I like him a lot, and while I get that he and Cortez are single in order for them to be shipped for male shepard players that want a gay romance, their dialogue... there is so much romantic tension, they genuinely talk to each other like they already ARE dating. In my canon, they’re in a relationship and have been in for a while. sometimes they double-date with Shepard and Garrus and things start exploding.

EDI: If Samara is in my top five, she’s in my top THREE. I absolutely am fine with her being THE fanservice gal and face of this series, as she is the personification of a lot of its themes for a paragon playthrough. And while she first appeared in 2, I’m grouping her here as we see much more of her personality shining through. She gets major points for being an AI that is a friend, and living proof to the in-universe argument that AIs will always attack their creators. (Hey, maybe if you stopped being SUCH MASSIVE DICKS TO YOUR CREATIONS ALL THE TIME, THEY WOULDN’T RISE UP. EVER THINK OF THAT, HUH.) She bounces off her love interest REALLY, REALLY well, and their dynamic is one of the sweetest things in the series. More than that, though, her slow development into appreciating human outlooks and valuing her existence as a thing unto itself, and learning to understand herself as a person, is just really touching.

As cool as her fembot body is, though, EDI’s true body is the Normandy for me. She’s just more interesting to me as a ship intelligence who can interact with humans through an approachable platform, rather than that being her ‘real’ body.