TheRedWatcher

Mass Effect: Intervention

@KaiserElectric Accepted. And now I can get onto the IC.

Alternative Legacy: New Gotham

This a RP Between Me and @Birdboy

Alternative Legacy: New Gotham

March 11th, 2006 - 9:10 pm
Gotham City is slick with rain. The rooftops are hard to grip. Nightmare has been patrolling the city streets for a few hours. It’s been quiet, except for the few guys who chose to try and steal from a liquor store. They’re in handcuffs with broken arms. Shouldn’t have chosen to steal and you wouldn’t get your arm broken, shouldn’t have chosen to point a gun at him either and you wouldn’t get your arm broken. In ancient times, if you stole you lost fingers and hands.

He could go for a cigarette, but he still has a few hours in the suit. Before the charge of his visor goes out. Ever since he started taking up the streets, crime had started to decrease, probably because he was actually getting something done. Unlike his Father before him.

An indicator on his visor goes off, it seems something is happening in the nice part of town. Huh. He knows that address, it belongs to a well known stock broker. Micheal Snow, turns out he made a large charitable sum recently towards a new upcoming community center. Some people were pissed off by that. A new community center sounded good. Some people were never happy with what they were getting.

Trying not to slip on the rooftops as he navigated his way to Snow’s condo. Considering Snow’s big donation, he had an inkling who was hitting Snow’s home. Likely Mirage. He had a habit of attacking rich people who made large donations. Yet, his Father had never been able to catch Mirage when he did begin to show up, which wasn’t too recent.

Almost losing his footing landing on the balcony of Micheal’s condo, second floor, but it didn’t mean he wanted to fall to the street through the slick glass. The sliding door is open, the wooden floor slippery with rain.

A scream can be heard down the hallway and Nightmare rushes down the hall, despite his boots nearly losing grip from being drenched in pouring rain.





“Pl-pl-leas,” Micheal can be heard pleading.

Rushing in, tackling Mirage from behind. He hits the floor. The both of them go tumbling onto the hardwood.

“Run,” Nightmare tells Micheal.

Micheal, in his boxer, soaked in his sweat. Shaking. He’s too shocked to move.

“Aaa,” Micheal screams looking around, he scrambles off the floor and begins to run away. Fuck. Not from danger though. He’s too scared to actually think straight. Nightmare gets up from the ground. Mirage lay motionless, that honestly couldn’t be it?

He runs after Micheal to shake him out of Mirage’s Dread Gas.

“Micheal,” Nightmare calls out his voice distorted from his helmet.

“No, no, stay away,” Micheal waves his hands.

“Damn it,”

How does he snap Micheal out of it-

Mirage is laughing behind him.

“You piece of shi-

-Shit! Gas is spreading in the condo. Like fog rolling in and settling on the forest floor. It begins to obscure Mirage’s silhouette. While Nightmare’s visor could filter some of the dread gas, not this much. Not this thick;



Fuck.

“See you’re eating the rich again Mirage, you see yourself as some hero,” Nightmare goads. He needs to get outside before the Dread takes over.



The cyber dog demon is beginning to distort, his figure beginning to elongate as all Nightmare can see is six red lights for eyes. Nightmare turns his head towards the porch. He needs to lead Mirage outside.



Hands shaking, as he fumbles with his utility belt, where is that-

-there bolas-

-Mirage is raising his claws. Hope this fucking works, Nightmare charges towards Mirage. He knows Mirage to fight like a feral animal, he’s not trained, Nightmare knows that. He swipes one of his claws at Nightmare. He is able to duck despite the fact he is starting to feel the effects of the Dread. His hands shaking, Mirage’s shape is beginning to turn into bending, shadow, he’s getting taller, his teeth sharper, his claws longer. Mirage sounds like he’s snarling now.

Managing to wrap the bolas around Mirage’s ankle.

“You can’t keep using the old Nightmare against me, Mirage, get some new material,” he yanks the chains of the bolas. Mirage hits the floor again, “Come on let’s go outside and we can talk.”
Nightmare coughs. Trying to shake off the fog. He needs to get out of here quickly before the Dread begins to take over.

Somehow he makes it to the patio. He’s shaking, as he’s dragging Mirage. Is he pretending to be out? Like he did the first time he arrived? He couldn’t be out that quickly from a pair of bolas? Could he? Fuck, this is what pissed him off about fighting Mirage. Bastard was a snake.

Yanking on the bolas-

-shit-

-how did he-

-where did he actually?

Nightmare stumbles backwards when he realizes a big black shadow, back pressed to the railing of the patio. Did he stall that long? Nightmare holds onto the railing with his gloves. Mirage somehow got himself free from the bolas. Bastard always bided his time, didn’t he?

Fuck! Fuck!



“Don’t call me that!"

He can hear his Father’s voice echoing the name. It’s hard to makeout Mirage’s face as it is being replaced by the same helmet and visor he wears, his Father, yet again chastising him for the actions he took. It was never enough. He was never enough. He could hear it whispering in his head now.

“Eugh, shut up!” grabbing for anywhere in front of him and clasping onto whatever he thought was a person in front of him. It was the collar of Mirage’s coat most likely, flipping him around, Mirage tries to push him off, but he’s not nearly as strong as he is. Nightmare flips him over the railing. Mirage goes tumbling over the railing and out onto the sidewalk. While Nightmare vaults over, bracing himself for impact.

He’s going to kick the shit out of him for making him see those things again. He’s no one’s fucking shadow any more. Mirage who is slumped over, trying to catch his breath. Nightmare goes to kick him, he feels something sharp pierce the back of his shin through a weak point in his suit. Mirage’s steel claws pierce through the spandex-like material.

He pulls back his leg.



-Mirage coughs for more air as he stands up-



Fuck this.

His hands shaking as Dread courses through his body. Turning Mirage into a hungry wolf, with multiple eyes, and made of the shadows. He swiftly takes out his gun-

-Bang-

-Mirage doubles back. Mostly shocked. So the fucking monster does bleed. Good. Tightening his left palm into a fist, he charges forward. Punching the bastard in the face, well in the mask. Mirage stumbles backward. He’s going to break this bastards fucking face when he gets through his mask. He keeps on Mirage, punching him again in the mask. This thing is tougher than it looks, even with his padded gloves.

Mirage barely can keep up. It’s because he’s not a martial fighter and Nightmare knows this. The man behind the mask is starting to feel the effects of his gunshot on his side. He would have gotten a better shot if he wasn’t starting to feel feverish.

Now Nightmare is starting to feel woozy. He stops his assault on the mask, when his head begins to spin. As a massive wave of vertigo strikes him. As the streets begin to bend like a heatwave.

Crap. What the hell is going on? The cars on the sidewalk are all starting to look like lurking predators. Headlights become eyes. Grills turn into teeth. The sidewalk is beginning to turn into a puddle of water and he can barely walk. Boots sinking.



-Mirage rasps in pain.







-Mirage gasps.

His mouth is dry. He’s still feeling pretty woozy coming around. There’s the smell of something rotten surrounding him, egh. He ended up in the trash didn’t he? He’s going to be sick, ripping off his helmet, Asher leans over and pukes on the sidewalk. Not his finest moment, and he let Mirage get away. Didn’t he have something important to do, too, today?

Right.

It is to greet the newest member of the team. Johnny something. God his head is throbbing though. Cigarettes first. Cigarettes and get out of this god damn suit. He’s sweaty. Hot. Not feeling so great from Mirage’s Vertigo venom. He’s going to need to get his suit checked out. Need more padding in the leg area.

And where the fuck is George anyway? Did he look for him at all? Or just resigned himself to his bed and figured he was safe?

Day is already starting to start out crummy. His helmet, dead, it needs a charge. He still should have, there is his cellphone in his utility pack to call George.

“Sir Asher,” George answers.

“Do not Sir Asher me, did you look for me?”

“I attempted to track you through your helmet when the signal died, I have been waiting in the car in the city for you,”

“Well, I am in some alleyway, Mirage used his Vertigo Venom on me, did you bring a fresh pair of clothes?”

“I did sir,”

“We have to meet up with the team, right? To meet up with Johnny whoever,”

“Do you want a shower first sir?”

“Do I have time?”

Young Justice Avenger (A Next Generation Amalgamverse)

93 stories? It’s not like Stark handed out RVSP invitations, on the nice fancy paper with written instructions:

Niel's Imagination

93 stories seemed like a daunting task. He didn’t really understand why Tony Stark picked him out of the bunch. There were plenty of B-role heroes to choose from. Truth is, he’s nervous as hell, even if he wasn’t going to admit to that Chie. Whipping his head around, pointing to the elevator.

“Coming?” he asks.

She gives him one of her playful smiles, “How about we race?”

“You want to race up 93 stories? You’re a track star, you’re not a track alien,”

“Scared you’ll lose,”

“More scared you’re going to lose your breaklunch,”

“Sure,” Chie is already heading towards the steps. He’s not sure who she is challenging, him, or the machine.

“Pretty sure you’re just going to make the building mad at you if you think you can beat it,”

“Better hurry or you’ll lose!”

Crap. And she’s run off. Who else is he going to deflect to now? It’s just him and the elevator now. Wonder if any of the rumors are true and that there is an actual talking machine. Stepping into the elevator, wondering if there is a way to rig this thing to play hype music?

“I don’t know if you can hear me or not, or I am talking to myself, but take your time getting up,” because he’s totally nervous right now. And getting there before Chie while she’s still several stories below him didn’t sound like a good time. He hits the 20th floor, knowing full well where he’s supposed to be going. But now alone, he had to sit with the thoughts that had kept him up all night. Wow, how dramatic of a thought to conjure up right now?

“Okay Niel,” he walks himself through it, staring into a blurry reflection from a metallic part of the elevator, “Let’s walk through this, introduction thing.”

Especially not to look like a total nutcase.

“The elevator opens up, and you say,” he’s talking out loud to himself and he knows it, that or he’s being eerily watched by a machine, “Sup. I am Ace of Knaves.”

Sup? Sup? Have you been asked to give an interview before a hit rap music video? Ace of Knaves, you’re not even a masked vigilante. In fact you’re something much worse than a masked vigilante, you’re a private investigator. Way to go you perpetuating the heroism of the police force. You really outdid yourself on that one. Let’s try an introduction that isn’t as try-hardy as that one, please. Just something normal. Cool, well not like cool the way people perceive the word cool to mean.

“Sorry, got lost on the way up, you’d think someone was compensating for something, am I right, Nathaniel,”

That is worse. And what a cliche joke. Like, get an original joke. And that’s two dick jokes you’ve made since waking up. Is there something you’d like to tell yourself, Niel? Oh shut up. That’s not even funny.

“Niel, we have to make a good impression,” he says to himself, attempting now to talk out loud, to wrestle with his anxiety.

“Yeah I got that, but talking in the elevator to myself isn’t helping, what if they hear me?”

“I doubt anyone will care whether or not you’re talking to yourself,”

The elevator stops moving. This is the 20th floor. He laughs nervously, looking down long, sterile hallways, “Oh wow would you look at that wrong floor. Oops.” he presses the button for the 27th floor next.

“I just need a non corny, introduction,”

“How would Robin introduce himself,”

He stands up straight, “I am Robin, it’s a pleasure to meet you guys. I am a natural born leader, who likes to take charge of everything and micromanage just like my Father. Okay Niel tone it back down this is getting bitter.”

Pretty sure he’s going to get turned down if he keeps this up. Pretty sure if the rumors are in fact true about the A.I. Tony Stark will definitely know about the guy freaking out in his elevator. Maybe they’ll say that this guy is too much, and send him off to get his mind flossed. He’s pretty sure this isn’t a normal reaction to anxiety, like some burning itchy, maddening rash.

You just have to come up with a single fucking introduction. Why are you spinning yourself around? In so many damn circles Niel. It’s an introduction, not your whole entire fucking backstory. What are you going to do join the Justice League and treat it like group therapy and trauma dump on them every sad story about yourself?

Oh what’s your superpower Niel? Trauma and angst.

Can you be normal for once?

The elevator stops at the 27th floor.

“Wow weird, how this keeps happening,”

He presses the button for the 35th floor. Just get your shit together Niel. They probably don’t know who you are. Yeah, that’s the spirit.

See you’re sounding like Chie already. How would she introduce herself? Probably bust through the door, and scream, “Hiyah. I am Shuriken, ready to be your sword.” he does a karate chopping motion in the air.

God it's bad when he’s trying to imitate her.

Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Feeling sorry for myself is like my default though. That or irritation. Then get irritated. I have nothing to be irritated by. Ugh. My head is the worst place sometimes. This is why you couldn’t sleep. He wonders where Chie is. Should he have left her alone?

Make up your mind on where you want to argue with yourself about.

How did this go this far? All he wanted to do was practice an introduction. Instead he’s let his anxiety wind him up like a ball of yarn. His anxiety is like a cat bent on destruction, by knocking down the yarn roll, and you begin to watch as it careens in the living room and you’re desperately trying to stop it from unraveling. Way to be dark and dramatic, Again!

You’re really going to earn yourself the academy award for: Best use of Trope. Emo “Hero”

The elevator stops at the 35th floor.

“Crazy, how this keeps handing, all these floors look the same,” Niel jokes out loud.

He goes to press the 44th floor. Realizing he can’t hit the buttons any more. Crap. No. Is he locked out from hitting any more buttons. He furiously hits the 44th button, but the display screen shows 93rd.

“Fuck you, I wasn’t done having my anxiety attack!” he shouts at the ceiling.

He sort of mashes all the buttons together at once. Fuck you elevator. Furiously pressing the 44th floor, but the display continues flashing 93.

“You piece of shit! This is why machines shouldn’t have a mind of their god damn own, I am sitting here trying to fulfill my mandatory mental breakdown!”

The machine still won’t listen despite him trying to get the elevator to stop at whatever level is next.

“I AM GOING TO DISMANTLE YOU! AND SELL YOUR FUCKING PARTS!”

He tries the emergency stop button. It won’t work.

“THIS IS ILLEGAL!”

He’s resorted to kicking the control panel, “I HATE YOU. YOU STUPID ELEVATOR. I WASN’T READY TO GO IN YET. I WAS HOPING SOMEONE WOULD CHANGE THEIR FUCKING MIND AND SEND ME FUCKING HOME. BUT YOU. YOU RUINED IT. YOU ELECTRONIC KIDNAPPING PIECE OF FUCKING TECHNOLOGY. I HOPE THAT YOUR WIRES SPIT OUT OF YOUR MECHANICAL GUTS!”

Shit, the door is open. Isn’t it? Room is full too of people, he waves, casually while clearing his throat “Hi guys.”

Mass Effect: Intervention

⦾ Determine the whereabouts of Cerberus Activity

⦾ Locate Cerberus Facility and follow up on Cerberus Activity

⦾ Mission 1: Secure and locate information Cerberus next project on Ebos



⦾

Mass Effect: Intervention

Quick Note: All NPC's such as Rin can be piloted by other players for their post, I don't necessarily see the reason why I should force someone to wait on me to respond with a character. Characters who players cannot use will be marked with * otherwise if not indicated, the characters are free for use.

NPC Sheet [Free for Use]

Name:
Appearance:
Personality:
Role:
Skills:

Captain

Name: Ka'Sirin Aemoani
[Kah-Ser-Ren] [Ah-mow-ah-knee]
All though she is willing to accept Sirin or Rin for a shorthand

Appearance:

Personality:

Role: Captain of the SSV-Intervention

Skills:

Mass Effect: Intervention

Carving My Own Little Singularity

Got a Problem Take it to the Cat

Race: Human *Raised by Asari

Age: 33

Sexuality:
Greysexual - all though his views about sexuality is nearly identical to that of the Asari in some retrospectives. He believes that true intimacy is one that connects the spirit and the mind. Though he's not going to get that philosophical with a potential partner. He rarely experiences sexual attraction, it's mostly aesthetic attraction. That, however, doesn't mean he's not romantic and couldn't connect with someone on an emotional level.

Gender: Nonbinary - He/They

He's the Chief of Medical, here? Most probably expected someone older, with graying hair, and the signs of aging. Instead what they have is a young man sitting in his early thirties, with messy brown hair. Some aren't even certain that's his natural hair color, when the brown dye is fading exposing electric yellow highlights. Or maybe it's the other way around and the brown dye is covering up adolescent decisions. The tawny, racially ambiguous man stares at others with a fixed gaze with dark grayish irises the color of smoke. Ovalish eyes, with a half-monolid are exaggerated with a tired expression. A white cat, with blue eyes sits on his lap.

Average height at 5'8", he is wearing the standard medical uniform, but over it he tends to wear a relatively over sized military coat, army green in color. Someone has defaced the patches on it, ripping any names or any badges off the camo green jacket. The jacket feels like it should fit a much taller, much more built man. Which emphasizes Riegel's lean form, which betrays the picture of simply a wholesome and honest doctor.

Personality:
On-Duty -
There's something punk rock about Riegel, deep down. Even though he's generally relatively good at keeping his head while on the job, there are sometimes where his inner hot headed nature comes out. Though that is rare, and it often requires someone to push his buttons. Though he's never physically harmed or threatened someone before, when on duty he upholds and maintains the oath he has taken not to do harm onto others. That, however, doesn't mean that he is opposed to using a nudging hand when someone is being supremely stubborn. Which Riegel is supremely more stubborn. He can out stubborn the most stubborn soldier who is injured and refusing treatment. His on duty persona or perhaps a mask he puts on, gives others the impression of a bookish, introvert, loner, who prefers his alone time off duty. Though little cracks here and there probably betray the mask he wears. When those moments arise, Riegel is not a very patient person, push and he pushes straight back, ready for an argument or even a brawl. Though Riegel tries relatively hard to keep those moments far and in between. His own personal code of ethics, is what keeps him from completely slipping into territories where he could easily burn bridges.

On days where his doctor hat is on proper and that's usually often, Riegel is an effective worker with a strong work ethic. His stubbornness ends up helping sometimes in some situations, in matters of life and death if Riegel thinks he knows the answer he's not going to let others throw in the towel. Or won't let himself throw in the towel either. Intelligent and well educated, Riegel the type of person to utilize all aspects of his extended knowledge to accomplish what he has set out to do. On the flip side of this, this makes Riegel a chronic over thinker and a perfectionist. Which he sometimes sews his own fate by doing so.

Off-Duty-
There is a level of professionalism with Riegel, when he's on duty versus off duty. At best Riegel is caring of others, probably a little bit protective of them. That's probably the trait that had him become a doctor in the first place, is simply Riegel's own desire to protect others. Losing his parents at an early age and feeling powerless to do anything about it, Riegel swore with all of his might and power that he would protect others.

There is something wise at the core of Riegel's personality, probably due to the influence of two Asari parents who had the experiences of long lives. Which is probably the reason why Riegel can keep a level head when he's working, but it also probably the reason why he is so blunt and says what is on his mind. When you're taught by people who have hundred of years of experience,teaching, and educating you tend to get irritated with people who see you as lacking knowledge. This makes for some Riegel to be stubborn, though he will back down if he recognizes he is in the wrong. Riegel can admit when he is in the wrong and take accountability at least when he tends to butt heads with other.

The irony of Riegel is that while there is a desire to protect others, the mental toll of his job, and the lost of life has left Riegel distant in his relationship with others. He doesn't seek friendships often or confide in them, due to the fear of losing people or not have the strength to help them. Riegel worries about losing people close to him, it's what terrifies him the most. That despite all that he has done, all the knowledge, power, and strength he has acquired, that still won't be enough. Because it wasn't enough, not then. And he let so many people down.

While he wishes he could be some stoic figure of sagely advice, and mentoring others the way his Matriarch Mother would. Riegel picked up more on his Commando Father's diplomacy skills. Which tends to be forcing his way through doors, literally. While he learned his wisdom, and temperance from his Mother. His stubborn, hot headed side was something he picked up from his Commando Father.

There's something a little punk about Riegel. When he doesn't have to show an air of professionalism, or be expectantly sagely. He can be hot headed, a bit stubborn, and has often gotten into fights with others in the past. He's blunt, with a no nonsense attitude. One of his favorite ways of blowing off steam, is actually usually blowing something up. Except he tends to keep that to himself.

At current his best friend is Suture the cat. Who he is often spotted talking to quite often. He likes to spend his time reading action comic books and collecting models as well. Spends equal amount of time writing song lyrics and listening to music when no one is around.

---

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Talent Profile

Role: Chief of Medical
Education -
*6 years of Citadel Xenoscience Medical Programming
Credentials in Multi-Species Medical Care

Lead appointed medical doctor of the ship SSV-Intervention. Provides health related services to the crew of SSV-Intervention. And leads medical personnel.

Equipment:
Phalanx Pistol; mostly simply for protection. You don't know the people who try to steal medical equipment from the medical offices back at the Citadel. Often at gunpoint. Though rare. At least he can fix the bullet wounds afterwards.

Field Bag; let's say Riegel had to get off the ship, let's just say for a second that Riegel was on the field. He'd probably bring a field bag with him, equipped with necessary medical equipment. Medi-Gel, and other quick fixes for the mean time.

Skills:
Application of Biotics in Field and Emergency Medicine-
The thing is machines fail, they can be hacked, power can go out. And sometimes you don't have a sanitary place to perform sutures or quick field medical care. Riegel uses his Biotics to manipulate for on the field tools to get finer stitches, especially in hard to reach areas, or to get a better, cleaner tighter suture.

Remembering Details-
Riegel is very good at remembering details. It's probably a skill his Matriarch Mother had him practice to keep him out of trouble, which means he's almost always taking extensive notes and going over the details.

Marksmanship-
This one is all on his Father, Solora. He was told that by learning to fire a firearm it help let off steam. This was to the dismay of Rith who argued that this is not the skill you teach an angsty, rebellious, adopted teenager.

Powers:

Modified Reave - Using his extensive medical knowledge, Riegel uses mass effect fields to biotically attack his target's nervous or synthetic systems, slowing down their natural healing. Experimenting with this capability, Riegel has been able to modify - only slightly albeit - the Reave for the opposite effect. While he cannot heal someone like he's biotic medi-gel, he can slow down the rate of someone bleeding out if need be.

Primarily a Kinetic Biotic, who uses his biotic abilities to push, slam, throw,and pull his way through a a situation. Nothing says diplomacy like someone who can bust down a door with gravity like force. It be surprising to some how powerful of a Biotic Riegel is considering he has no implants and no formal Alliance training. Most would have assumed and probably Riegel too that his biotics would be weaker, yet, he has squeezed out creative use out of it, and shown that he is quite capable of defending himself when the situation calls upon.

---

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Dossier

Childhood

Not Everyone Can Say Before they Were Adopted they were Kidnapped

Before Solorha’s impulsive decision to whisk Riegel, an orphan who had been causing a bit of trouble in the Citadel since his arrival, off the streets. Few are very sure of where Riegel came from. The few things known is that his parents are dead. The eight year old declared. He had been wearing his Father’s bloodstain jacket. And Riegel came to the Citadel somehow. Maybe some pirates, looking to make an illegal sale, maybe from some mercs. Who knows. What is known is that he was taken in by a well renowned Commando from Citadel Security.

His first adoption wasn’t so official, as his second adoption. When Solorha was called to investigate a kid, causing problems in the Citadel. Solorha was pissed that she would even be assigned to do such degrading work and wondered what C-sec was doing that they couldn’t 1) capture one kid and 2) actually do their job and investigate. How dangerous was one child anyway?

This wasn’t her job. Someone so officially ranked as her, shouldn’t be looking for a small, little rat. That’s work for lesser officials. Despite her grievances with the task, what they couldn’t have was a troublemaking child in the Citadel causing a ruckus. It disrupts trade. It disrupts people’s lives. The plan was to snatch the kid up, and send him off to wherever was appropriate to send him off to. Till she met the child. Solorha was many things, but one without a heart wasn’t one of them.

Seeing him wearing the bloodstain jacket of his deceased Father. Took her back to the loss of one of her own parents. He was just doing, as all kids orphaned on the Citadel do, what he could to survive. Solorha was known for many things, one of them being her tendency to be impulsive and make impulsive decisions. Perhaps this would be please Rith. Her long term life partner. Whom she met several, several, years ago.

“Dearest, I have a present,”
Rith knew whenever Solorha said something along those lines.
It was never anything good.

“And what could it possibly be this time?”

Her eyes fell directly onto the Human child. Wearing a bloodstain coat.
Holding Solorha’s hand. How long did it take for her to convince the boy to go with her?
And did she threaten him in any way, doing so?

“A Human Child,” if Rith was anything, it was not pleased.

“Technically, an Orphaned Human Child,” Solorha responds.

“And you just took him off the streets?”

“I mean where else was he supposed to go?”

“To the proper authorities,”

“I was thinking we could keep him, actually,”

“This isn’t some fish you buy at the kiosk and dump into a tank Solorha,”

“Well I know that Rith,”
“Then, why would you bring him here?”

“We have talked about children,”

“But not kidnapping them!”

“With our position we could easily make it look less like a kidnapping,”

“You’re asking me to use our positions, to officially adopt the child you kidnapped,”

“I mean who is going to stop us-

-it’s also extremely unethical and corrupt,”

“Taking in a child? It’s a lot better of a use of our official positions than embezzling money, paying on gambling fees, or any other uses the officials use their money for,”

Rith sighs, “That’s a fair point, but-

-listen Rith, I know what it is like to lose a parent, to lose two of them, maybe by some universal reason I was sent out to track him for a reason. We have talked about children before and this one, this one needs a home-

-a lot of them do-

-yes, but listen-

Eventually Rith settled down about the ordeal. Truth was Solorha was right. Eitherway this human child would need someone to take care of him. And while it was true that Solorha and Rith had been discussing children, this wasn’t how she officially saw that going. But perhaps she was right and this child would do better in their hands than any others.

Now the question was how to break the news to their eldest daughter, Nysha. If there was anything Rith never wanted was for her to feel like she was being replaced or loved less. This was new territory for both of them, when she was talking about children, she didn’t entirely mean ripping an orphan off the streets. Nysha was growing up to be a fine young lady all on her own.

We need to discuss something,”

Nysha always being the ever so observant pre-teen, and as impulsive as Solorha sometimes, “Does it have to do with the human boy?”

“Yes, yes it does, you see he will be living with us for awhile,”

“But not actually, because he’s human,”

“All right we need to have a discussion about that kind of language before we continue,”

Bored with the conversation already, Nysha leapt from her seat to greet her new adopted sort of kidnapped brother.

Growing up Riegel and Nysha were relatively close. Nysha liked to parade him around like he was an oddity or spectacle in her otherwise Asari home. She enjoyed taking on the big sister role to Riegel. It seemed Rith and Solorha’s worries about her reaction were quelled. Though some could argue Nysha liked to drag her younger brother around like he were some pet, then out of some familial love. That probably would come later, over time.

Early Adolescents

Tumultuous Struggles of Youth

Maybe Solorha and Rith were a bit naive, thinking they could take a child off the streets knowing so little about his past. Riegel didn’t speak much about his parents or how they were killed. Whether or not he was witness to their death or how he got to the Citadel would seem to be the secret that he would take to his grave. Neither Rith or Solorha believed they could easily heal all mental wounds a child had suffered, but they hoped that they could provide reprieve. A safe space, a loving home. And growing up for Riegel was relatively all of that.

Nysha was the older big sister, who protected him. His Mother and Father’s position meant they didn’t have to worry about money much, and the children were given freedom and education. Which neither of them took for granted, only they acted out when they were bored. And that was relatively infrequent though Riegel was known more as a prankster than his sister Nysha.

One infamous event was the time Riegel was dared by his sister Nysha to deface the front of the arcade.

“Riegel,”

Crap. It was his Mother.

“Mother. Hi,”

He looks over to Nysha. Her eyes are already searching for her escape.

“Have you been behaving?” Ruth takes a second, she eyes the both of them.

“Absolutely. Peak Behaving,”

“So you aren’t in any sort of trouble?”

“Me, trouble? What kind of trouble could I get into? You know around the Citadel, where you um, and Father are well known and quite prominent. That’s me, Master of Behaving, you know,”

“Interesting, because it sounds to me like you haven’t been behaving,”

“Me? That’s weird I would never do that,”

Rith knew all too well it didn’t take long to make the both of them cave. All it took was a single look to get the two of them to cave. Which meant Nysha has been slowly trying to sneak out of the room, and not be noticed. This look is relatively effective on Riegel though because he caves pointing to Nysha,
“She dared me.”
“What! No! I am behaving!”

“Well, so am I, so we both can’t be,”

“Be quiet,”

“So you both were up to something,”

“What? Us, No,” Nysha and Riegel respond.

Though in the grand scheme of things the defacement was relatively light, despite Rith’s coming down on the two for a confession. All they really did was cut out some animal shapes made of paper and taped them onto the windows of the arcade. Defacement the way a thirteen might understand it.

The two of them were punished lightly, you could easily take the animal shapes off the window and it wasn’t entirely that big of a deal.

Growing up wasn’t all that easy, however. The biggest family secret was that Riegel began to show or display Biotic abilities before the age of thirteen. What Rith was worried about was letting others know about his abilities and that he would be forced to join the Alliance. And what Solorha and Rith wished for him was for him to make the freedom of his own choices. Solorha who worked for Citadel Security Fleet preferred their son not be forced into military service and Rith wanted to give him the opportunities of making his own decisions in life.

They would teach him privately. They assumed from the things told by the Alliance about Human Biotics that he wouldn’t never display nearly the full potential of his abilities. However, being able to defend himself was their top priority no matter how much power he displayed.

To no one’s surprise Riegel’s adolescents came with its struggles, any child who would come out of what he went through unscathed. Truth was that likely during his teen years Riegel sought being tough. A part of him yearned to be as powerful as Solorha or Rith or even Nysha, who was old enough to start making her own decisions.

Rith always tried to keep him balanced, always tried to bestow some of her millenia of knowledge unto him. Most of the time it worked, it’s probably what kept Riegel from fully being seduced by seeking the strength he desired in destructive or self destructive ways. While Solorha provided him the tools to cope, perhaps not always with the traditional coping skills - she’s the one who taught him to shoot a gun. While Rith taught him to temper himself.

Fifteen was probably the most tumultuous time for Riegel, who was struggling to cultivate his identity. Nysha was young, and adventurous. She sought exploration, and dreamt of leaving the Citadel. She would constantly talk about going on adventures, taking a ship and flying off. She knew what she wanted to do, and who she wanted to be. She wanted to be like their Mother and Father, wanted a name for herself, wanted to carve a little piece of her into space’s history.

While he was an Orphan. Who lost his parents. Raised by Asari. He wasn’t an Asari, that was obvious. But he didn’t connect very well with other Humans either. Who was he? His Mother and Father wanted to keep him from the Alliance, they never denied Nysha or him the choice to decide where they wanted to be. But the truth was likely even at that age though he knew he wanted to avoid the Alliance types at all cost.

It’s at this age and a few years after, that marked Riegel’s poor adolescent decisions. He sought a cause to fight. He sought the strength to protect people. Because as a child he hadn’t the power to protect his parents, or to stop whatever it is that happened to him. He began taking up a cause on the Citadel. Despite not being Asari or of an alien race, he began to take up the banner banning Humans from taking a seat on the Citadel Council. This would have been fine if Riegel was only protesting against Humans who were anti-alien races, the issue was that these altercations often became physical.

“You’re really going to deny your own race like that?”

“I am not your fellow,” Riegel retorts.

The Human refuge, with the tired expression in his eyes, snarls, “Oh is that so. Cause I don’t see you painting your skin blue and you certainly don’t have any fucking head tentacles-

-which ones? Because I am sure the Turians have fins, and the Asari have cartilage crest, tentacles implies they flop around-

-what are you some Alien expert-

-No I just don’t spew shit from my mouth,”

“You’re just some kid, get out of here, you have no idea what you’re protesting-

-I actually do, funny that I am capable of thought, unlike you,”

“These Aliens are keeping Humanity from-

-they aren’t keeping you from anything, something Humanity hasn’t learned is to shut up and learn from the others before making demands of them-

-wow they really indoctrinated you those Aliens kid-

-yeah and you’re the one arguing with a “kid”,”

One more notorious event was the Citadel brawl that got a few, even Riegel arrested - for a brief moment. Although not the cause of the brawl, Riegel certainly got himself involved in the brawl. Tensions high, the Human Refuges arguing for Humanity’s role on the Citadel Council and those against them, verbal arguments soon became physical arguments, one man was charged for slapping another man with a tablet.

“Surprised to see you here,” Bailey raises a brow, “With the position of your parents, getting arrested looks poor on them.”

“It was self defense,”

“That’s what I heard, we’re investigating those claims, right now, but it’s probably best you stay out of altercations like that,”

“What am I getting a lecture from you now,”

“No, just trying to keep you on the right track, I know your - is it Father? I am not going to lie, I don’t understand how the Asari work, Solorha. She’s extremely effective and I just don’t want her to look bad, or you,”

“This is starting to sound like a lecture,”

“Okay, maybe it is a little, but you’re doing good work. Fighting for what you think is right, but perhaps do it in a way that gets you in less trouble-

-kids telling the truth, someone shoved him first and he shoved back-

-See, I didn’t even need a lecture, self defense,”

While fiercely politically involved for a few years, up to the age of eighteen. He also began to make friends during this time as well. Becoming politically involved and musically involved. It seems like something every politically charged teenager got into. As Nysha was sending in her application for C-Sec. Riegel started to believe he found his purpose. Maybe he would get into politics or music. Or maybe both.

Yet, it wasn’t enough. It never was. It always felt empty. After a while, music was just a hobby and the protesting didn’t feel much like protecting people. And what could he accomplish as a Human politician anyway? It seemed yet again he was lost to who he was and what he was interested in doing. Pulling out of the political scene. He stayed with his friends, the ones he made from protesting against the anti-alien refuges, and the ones he made while briefly singing in a band.

“I thought you had found a path,” Rith states, recognizing him in a state of dejection, yet again.

Riegel slumps over on the couch, staring at the ceiling.

“I thought I did too, but protesting isn’t going to save anyone,” he sighs, “Maybe I should join C-Sec or Alliance. I don’t know.”

“You think those are your only options?” Solorha interjects, as she's just walked into the apartment.

“What do I do then?!” he sits up, frustrated.

“This is the struggle I think of being a short lived species. You’re so eager to figure out what you want to do at such a young age, though it makes sense, by the time you mature you only have so many years before you leave to the stars. You’re so young, just like Nysha, but unlike her, she has years to reinvent herself. Change, if she so desires, we do not remain the same. Even I am not the same person.I wish I could give you my life. So you didn’t have to agonize so much about what to do,”

“A lot of good that helps, being so short lived,” Riegel angrily responds.
“She’s trying to say that it is okay for you to outgrow the things you have done as an adolescent and change who you are at any time. We Asari merely have many years to do so,” Solorha states, watching from the kitchen.

“Thank you love,” Rith smiles.

“Of course,”

“That’s great,but who do I change myself to? I want to be - I,” he sighs.

“There is no rush to consider how you want to change,”

It was easy for them to say. No rush to change. When they had so many years to live. He’d probably die at ninety something, and he was already nineteen. That’s no time at all. Especially when Nysha had already chosen her path.

Speaking of Nysha and the troubles of youth. Nysha was always eager for adventure and excitement, the calm of the Presidium bored her to tears. She was only accepted into C-Sec because of her parents' positions, and she knew that. She was eager to prove herself. Eager to show that she didn’t need to be babysit.

When Riegel was twenty this meant Nysha was going to get Riegel involved in the most trouble they had ever gotten themselves into. It would cost Nysha her short lived career, and put the both of them in jeopardy. The Citadel, all though a good life, had its dark secrets. As most places do. One day on her usual calm patrol of the Presidium, part of her training, she overheard a rumor one that involved the black market and an illegal smuggling ring. Nysha, who was filled with stories of her Father and Mother, aspiring to be them - decided she was going to capture this operation herself.

Of course with a little help with her biotic little brother.

“Maybe this will help you find your path,” Nysha smiles.

“Or maybe you should report the rumor to your superiors,” Riegel responds.

“But it’s just a rumor,”

“If it’s a rumor, then maybe they should send someone to investigate,”

“Or they will ignore it because it’s a rumor,”

“Nysha, this is a lot of trouble-

-when have you ever been against a little bit of trouble,” Nysha leans her chest onto the counter, folding her fingers together, interlocking them into a prayer, “Riegel, please?”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea,”

“When have you ever done anything that’s a good idea-

-this is different-

-getting in a brawl at the protest-

-it’s not an illegal smuggling ring-

-getting into brawls at the club-

-it’s not the blackmarket Nysha-

-come on Riegel-

-Nysha, no-

-even if you don’t agree, I’ll go on my own,”

“Fine, you do that,”

Of course he wasn’t going to let her go on her own. Even if he wanted to. She was going to get herself into trouble. He didn’t want to betray her, but it was probably best to tell someone what she was up to. Looking up her personal datapad to figure out what she had found out, he’d swing by C-Sec report it to Bailey or one of her superiors and run off to go stop her from doing something stupid. But then again, this is something Nysha longed for. She sought adventure. She wanted to have an exciting career. Wanted to be known for something. Reporting her in, might ruin her chances entirely. She might lose her job. He had a decision to make, spare her career, but potentially put them at more risk. Or report her findings to C-Sec, then track her down.

Going against all better judgment, Riegel said fuck it to telling C-Sec. And ran off to find her before she got hurt or someone else. This was so stupid. She wasn’t thinking, now he knew how Rith felt when Solorha ran off to do something impulsive.

What Nysha had uncovered was an illegal drug deal. And what they were smuggling into Citadel was red sand, being sold under the table. This was the most danger they had ever been in, he hoped that Nysha was smart and pulled out before confronting the Red Sand dealers. That something came across her senses. When he eventually found her, in an alleyway, it seemed she had been planning for weeks to get involved with the dealer. Was her plan to buy Red Sand and then arrest them? By herself? She had no experience fighting six guys by herself if things went the wrong way. And neither did he. A firing range was not the same as real, breathing, individuals with life.

He hid behind a wall. Not to be noticed at first. Maybe he was being over protective. Maybe she did have a handle on this.

“Chips,” the Batarian demanded.

“I have the chips,” Nysha responds, showing off her credit chips.

“Very well, hand the chips over, make it quick,”

“Here,” Nysha states, handing over the credit chips, the Batarian lifts his hand to accept the payment and hands her over a small envelope.

Nysha accepts the envelope; doing so, she grips the Batarian’s hand. What is her plan? “Caught you red handed.” she smirks, she has been working on that one for a while, “C-Sec, and you’re under-

-A shot rings out, bouncing off her Biotic shields.

All chaos broke loose. The dealer's kinetic rounds rang in the alleyway. Briefly bouncing off her shields. Nysha was pinned. And for a second, he was briefly stunned. Paralyzed behind the wall. The fire of the weapons. Nysha running for cover. For a moment it unlocked a brief memory. One buried in the recess of his mind.

Not now when she needed help.

Nysha Slams a Dealer into the wall.

Her shields are down.

“Oh look boss, they tried to hide a kid from us,”
“Wouldn’t have died if they just sold him for insurance,”

Nysha needed help. Her shoulder now grazed.

She lifts her hand wildly sending a Shockwave hurling through the alleyway.

Somehow he managed to move. Stepping out of the alleyway. This was the first time someone had ever shot at him. Not the first time someone had pointed a gun at him. With what knowledge Solorha and Rith had given him, kinetic slugs striking at his natural shielding. Pushing his hand forward and hurdling a Throw. He felt the weight of gravity at his fingertips. And the impact of the man ricocheting off the wall.

“Nice one-

-this isn’t a game-

-we can take them!”

Her purple blood splattered onto the wall. A slug hit her shoulder. She doubles back. He’s reeling from the fact he might just have killed someone, but they are trying to kill them. They will kill them, what is he thinking. They can’t win this fight.Neither of them have any experience in battle. Every time they hit back, he’s too unsteady, panicky. She’s injured.

A door opens, someone is coming.

“Nysha, Riegel,” their Father seems surprised that they are here.
In fact she didn’t even expect them to be here.

“Father, I can explain,” Nysha begins, holding onto her shoulder.

“Just get down, we’ll talk-

-She raises her hand to create a barrier as the Batarians swing around wildly to shoot at their new target.

While Solorha dealt with the Batarians, Riegel made it to Nysha, to help her with her wound. What does he do? Did she have an omni-gel on her then? Probably. It was easier to look at her blood, say than his own.
Nysha was putting on a brave face, but she was scared he could see it in her eyes. He wasn’t sure he could remain calm either, hands shaking, while trying to apply omni-gel.

“What are you two doing here?” Solorha asks them.

“It’s my fault, I- Nysha began-

-were chasing glory!” It was the first time Solorha had ever raised her voice angrily, “you’re going to lose your job. Your actions will affect us greatly. You do realize that Nysha. You didn’t bother to ask, before you ran off-

-the Presidium was boring, nothing ever happens-

-that’s not why I do this job Nysha!” their Father pauses, “And why are you here Riegel?”

Snapping out of his rattled state of mind, being addressed so firmly from his Father, “I - wanted - knew Nysha was coming here. I am sorry. I didn’t want her to get hurt. I knew what she was doing was dangerous.”

Solorha sighs, “Are you two all right?”

Nysha looks at her shoulder, “Yeah, I am. Fine.” she mumbles.

Was he fine? He wasn’t so sure. He felt the man’s body richot off the wall. It wasn’t like releasing something and then it left his hands.

“Are they dead?” Riegel asks.

“What the Batarians?” Solorha asks, “No. I know how to employ my abilities not to do so. These men will be arrested and taken in by C-Sec. We were investigating the Red Sand Dealers, we came here because we caught wind of a deal going on. Had I know it involved you two-

-he isn’t involved in this,” Nysha finds her voice, “He came to stop me from doing something stupid, that’s his only involevment. I get it, I am not fit for this job.”

“I never said that,” Solorha tells her.

“I am sorry,” Riegel states again, “I didn’t intend to kill anyone.”

“Well it was better you killed them, than the other way around, I understand,” Solorha pauses, “And I am proud you came here to protect your sister despite knowing the danger, trying to stop her from a stupid mistake.”

Nysha frowns.

“I couldn’t let her go out without any help,” Riegel responds.

Solorha smiles, “And I love that about you. There will be consequences, however. And I cannot protect you if C-Sec decides to fire you.”

And Nysha was fired.

For three hours.

Nysha was sulking in her room.

Lamenting about the experience to Riegel, “Bailey was going to give me probation and more special training. But Father told him to fire me. I know I made a stupid mistake, I know I shouldn’t have gone off and done that. And I didn’t thank you for helping me out back there. Or healing me.”

Riegel nods.

“I told you it was dangerous,” he mumbles, still going over the events in his head.

Nysha takes a second, “And I dragged you along. Are you okay?”

“No, I decided to go on my own accord, I could have let you go alone, but if I did,”

She likely would have been dead. If he hadn’t been there.

“Yeah,” Nysha frowns, “Now what do I do? I wonder if I can acquire a ship.”

“You just got out of one dangerous situation, to get into another?!”

“Well Mother and Father get in a lot of danger-

-you’re not them-

-don’t be a jerk when you were so cool back there, and now you’re being a jerk,”

“Because you almost died!”

“Don’t be so dramatic-

-what would you have done without anyone else there-

-I just,” Nysha scowls, “Get better. That’s all.”

“That’s what you took out of this, we killed someone-

-and?-

-you know Mother and Father don’t trivialize life like that-

-they were bad people-

-yes I know that, but it’s reckless, you haven’t learned anything about being reckless-

-just get out of my room if you’re going to lec-

-Nysha, it was Batarians who killed my parents and took me from wherever I came from. Today, I remembered a little about back then,”

“RIegel,” Nysha grabs his hand,”I am sorry. You’re right, I am being reckless and full of air. I should have done the right thing and maybe it was best to fire me.”

There is a knock on Nysha’s door. Nysha slumps, pressing her back to her headboard. It was probably either of their parents and she was likely going to get more of a talking to. The door opens, Solorha is holding a datapad in her hands, waving it around, “Here are your probation details.”

“Wait, probation?” Nysha ask, “I thought I was fired.”

“I wanted you to learn something,” Solorha hands her the datapad, “Your Mother is going to want to talk to the both of you after this.”

“Why can’t I just get a talk from you?” Nysha complains and accepts the datapad, “Thank you for not firing me.”

“Learn from this,”

They both would take lessons from that day. Nysha would learn to temper herself and not be so full of air. And Riegel began to recognize power wasn’t the only way to be strong or a protector. Maybe there were other ways to protect people. To potentially give them a second chance. Whatever that was, he was going to do that.

Overview 23-29

Eventually Riegel decided the way to save people, to protect them, to give them a second chance was to go into the medical field. He had found his path, or so he thought back then. At twenty-two he sent in an application to join the Citadel Medical Programming. Solorha and Rith approved of this decision, they seemed proud of him actually for finding his path. Riegel waited patiently for a year to hear a response back from CMP. And on the side he would do what he normally always did, something with music, or models.

At twenty-three he was accepted into the Citadel Medical Programming, where he spent six years studying multi species medicine. Despite a lot of hard work, he tried his best for the first time in his life, keeping his head above water. And himself out of trouble.

Nysha and him would regularly convene together in the Presidium where he would study. And for the first time Rith nor Solorha had to worry about the two of them much. His life seemed to be going steady for once. Scars healing over.

Eventually he would complete his six year studies, to be officially seen as an intern in the hospital at the Citadel. As an intern, he would begin more hands-on training. Though as an assistant of a doctor, whom he would watch, and learn from.

He hadn’t known at the time that he was joining his career in the darkest history.

Trilogy Timeline - Reaper War

At twenty-nine, the beginning of his internship at the hospital of the Citadel, there were strange rumors beginning to come from the Wards. Of a Commander of the Human Alliance Fleet, making accusations of a Turian Spectre. Something had happened on Eden Prime, or so he heard. Riegel still had friends from his protesting days, and got all of the details usually about what was happening on the Citadel Council. From what he gathered the Human Alliance Fleet, with Prime Minister Udina were making baseless accusations with a lack of evidence trying to pin what happened on Eden Prime on Saren. He would closely watch the events that would unfold of this, meanwhile, dedicating himself fully into his internship.

While there seemed to be greater events going on in the background, the most pressing issue Riegel had to face was the one with his old fashion teacher. Doctor Ramirez. Who was always complaining about something with Riegel’s professionalism.

“Riegel we need to talk,” Ramirez addresses him.

“What about? Am I doing something wrong?”

“Yes, but no,”

Riegel frowns.

“Enlighten me,”

“Don’t be so snarky,”

“Sorry sir, what can I do for you sir?”

“It’s your hair,”

Riegel frowns further.

“What about it?”

“Patients are not going to feel confident with a doctor whose hair is colorful,”

“It’s just blonde,”

“Are you being mouthy with me?”

“I mean, I am sorry sir, I’ll dye my hair,”

From blonde to blue. He wasn’t going to give up his sense of self expression for some crotchy, old doctor. None of the patients they had seen ever complained about his hair, in fact most of them complimented the electric yellow color. Ramirez wasn’t impressed by his “rebellion” he called it. Wasn’t even like Riegel was a doctor yet, he was an intern. He watched other Doctors, and participated in taking things like vitals, handing needles, and reciting the right dosages to give each patient. He wasn’t even authorized to deal with non-human species without strict supervision.

Nysha was having a much better time than he was. After redeeming herself and going through her probation and training, she started to excel. The two of them met up often, usually when her patrols were slow.

“What do you think about this whole Shepard business?” Riegel asks Nysha, staring into the water at the Wards.

“I mean, he proved Saren was a bad guy,” Nysha sighs and frowns, she rolls over, pressing her back onto the railing, and leaning over to stare at the Citadel sky. Bending in a way that would make others question whether or not she was actually comfortable in that position.

“That’s true,”

“What about you?”

“At first, I was concerned that he was just pushing similar Human centric politics, but when Saren was exposed and removed from the Spectres, I am less concerned about that. I wonder what’s going on in the greater world,”

“We’re not really supposed to know any of this,”

“Yeah, I know,”

“Riegel, what if something really terrifying happens?”

“If something terrifying happens, then let’s promise to keep each other safe,”

“I am holding you up to that,”

“Promise then,”

“Promise,”

Looking back at it those five months felt more like a storm brewing, but no one knew anything about it or if they did no one was preparing for the worst. No one even knew the worst was coming. The Citadel Council kept any public panic at bay, and the public continued living their life like everything was normal. Riegel watched events he wasn’t supposed to know about unfold, as he got information from old friends, people who were friends with his Mother and Father knowing he would be interested in what they had to say.

That was a strange year in general. Whispers of Biotic refuges out in galactic space. The abuse of L2s was not something he wasn’t unaware of. A few of the patients he had ever seen come in were that of L2s suffering from health effects. It was also the first year that he tried to keep himself out of trouble, so he kept his opinions to himself - for the first time. Though it felt like he was denying a part of himself. That empty, sinking feeling beginning to return.

It wasn’t necessarily working in the medical field that provided his empty feeling. It was all the rules. All the Citadel attention to professionalism and to look a certain way. He felt stifled by it. You’re not allowed to share your opinions. Keep politics out of the department. You’re not allowed to dye your hair. No music. Such was the Citadel professionalism. They felt like trivial things to worry about, considering the worrisome whispers.

A rumor crept to the surface, bubbling forth like some magic spell - something about Reapers. It came from the shadows, whispers that weren’t supposed to be spoken. Apparently this Shephard, who had become an icon in the world of galactic space in the short span of five months. Shephard was known of, probably before that, though not as talked about till now. First Human Spectre. Managing to remove Saren off the Spectre Force. Some in the Presidium thought Shephard was a conspiracy theorist grasping for power. And others valued the things he had to say.

Riegel was uncertain of any of their opinions. Attempting to remain a silent observer, listening to the rumors, while finishing his education. It annoyed him to no end, having to be the quiet, professional, with no opinion of his own on the job. All he had was his family, more specifically Nysha to lament from time to time. He tried not to take up Solorha or Rith’s time, they seemed strangely busier than usual.

Citadel Attack 1 - Geth Attack

Geth Attack

The day started as it ordinarily started out, Ramirez being particularly annoying as he always is. For a man who often told him to keep his opinions to himself, Antonio constantly spoke about his opinions. He was going on about Commander Shephard being a conspiracy theorist, whose move to the Spectres was a grab for power from the Alliance.

“I have friends from high places,” Antonio liked to always tell people he had friends in high places. Especially him. Riegel wasn’t really paying attention to what he had to say, he was currently taking a patient's vitals. As he had been doing for the last five months. This was starting to get boring. Antonio never liked to give him actual work. And he had constantly asked to learn under any doctor. Sometimes he got lucky. Oftentimes he got unlucky having to hear Antonio and his ego.

“Uh, huh, friends from high places,” Riegel humored him at least.

“And they think that Shephard is grabbing for powers, trying to incite some public mass hysteria,” Antonio continues. Isn’t this a little unprofessional to talk to in front of their patient?

“What’s this about Shephard, isn’t that the first Human Spectre?” asked Desmond, their patient coming in for his regular check up.

“Right, the public haven’t heard anything about Shephard’s claims,” Antonio clears his throat, “Your vitals look solid Desmond as usual. It’s that workout routine.”

“Well, you know the demands of C-Sec,” Desmond laughs with a smile. Though Riegel thinks Desmond just puts himself through such a rigorous routine for his own pride. He’d never say that. He learned when working with Ramirez to say silent. It’s endlessly killing him inside not to tell him to shut up. Maybe Nysha and him have that in common, he was starting to grow bored. It wasn’t that he needed something to happen. He just didn’t desire to do the same things over and over again.

While some of his interns were dealing with interesting diseases. And seemed much freer, it seemed Antonio kept him doing meaningless work. Antonio sighs as Desmond leaves.

“You could pretend to like this job a bit more,” Antonio tells him.

“I actually do enjoy my job, certain people on the other hand,” crap he let his frustrations slip.

Antonio raises a brow.

“Excuse me,”

“Nothing,”

“It sounded like you had something to say,”

Don’t say it. Don’t say it.

“No, sorry that was unprofessional of me,”

“No, go ahead,”

“I said it was unprofessional,”

“Say it,”

“Should we-

-say it-

-our next patient-

-say it, I have been looking for an excuse to get you written up-

-I haven’t done anything for your open hostility-

-you don’t think so? You’ve taken up the spot that someone more deserving could be in, you come in here with your blue hair, your pompous attitude, and don’t think I haven’t heard about your troubled past-

-he’s behaving as if he did something criminal.

“Yeah, I guess you and me both, you took up the spot of someone who would be less of a self righteous prick,”

Looking back on it the argument seemed silly in comparison to the rest of the day. Though it had been clear to him for the last five months Antonio had an issue with him since he set foot in the Citadel Hospital as an intern. He refused to give Riegel any real work. Treated him like his personal tool grabber. Acted like he was a volunteer who had just stumbled into the hospital bumbling and unknowing. It irritated him, a man so high on his own opinions, openly silenced opinions he disliked. Riegel was fed up. And perhaps it was that frustration that drove him that day.

No one knew what was going on that day. An alarm struck:

Please Begin Emergency Evacuation Procedures. This is not a Drill.

Two things ran through his mind;

They had been warned and no one knew what was going on.

No one knew what was going on and no one was prepared.

He couldn’t evacuate without knowing the whereabouts of Nysha. Against all things sane, Riegel fled the hospital to head to the Presidium with as much Medi-Gel as he could stash in his pockets to the protest of Antonio he would risk the consequences after. Where Nysha would be patrolling. They had no idea what was going on. Everyone was frantic. C-Sec was in a rush, trying to ready all personnel. Civilians didn’t know what to do. Not everyone believed the Citadel could be attacked and everything coming out of the Citadel Council and the Prime Ministers was hazy and unclear.

It felt like everything happened all at once;

The Citadel shaking

Alarms blaring

C-Sec guards were quickly overwhelmed by - Geth. The Presidium was on fire. The Citadel rumbled. Civilians were being gunned down. Kinetic bullets echoing everywhere. It was pandemonium. The wounded that survived, likely going to the hospital. He was no soldier, but why didn’t they have any medical personnel with them?

Despite needing to find Nysha, hoping she wouldn’t be overrun. He needed to help as best as he could. Without getting blasted, by lampshades. Or noticed. Hiding and searching. He’d heal who he could in hopes they could make it out of this mess. While the Geth were placing up towers, and skewering dead bodies. The fuck was going on here?

Finding a C-Sec member, bleeding out.

“I am here to help,” Riegel tells her.

“What are you doing here, you should be evacuating,” she tells him.

“I am here to help, I am a medical professional,” except he came here, instead of staying at the hospital. He was probably going to get in trouble, “I am going to help, whomever I can so they can get to the hospital. I am applying some Medi-Gel.”

“Do you have any way of defending yourself?”

“I’ll be fine, I am looking for one of your fellows, Nysha, any idea where she is,”

“She’s probably not going to make it,”

“I refuse to believe that,”

“You’re optimistic,”

“Not at all, more like defiance, I refuse to go into a situation giving up,”

“She might be trying to evacuate civilians,”

“There, you should be patched up enough to get to the hospital, oh here,” he hands the C-Sec soldier some medi-gel, “If you find anyone else you can help. Apply this to them. I’ll do the same.”

“Are you sure you’re a medical professional?”

“Pretty sure, I am not here to play soldier,”

“You’re insane then,”

“After this, probably,”

He’s not here to take on any army of Geth. He’s not a soldier. But his first instinct seems to make sure that his sister is safe. This is probably the most insane thing he has done. Trying not to be noticed by something he was certain should belong on someone’s nightstand. Along the way patching anyone up he could. There was death everywhere. EMT personal, soldiers. And there were those weird towers the Geth seemed to be loading bodies onto. For what purpose?

Somehow through maybe universal luck, he managed to find Nysha. She was fending herself and some civilians from the lobby, leaving the Embassy Bar.

Raising his hand, gravity at his fingertips, it felt like a leash at his fingertips as he pulled a Geth closer to him. Nysha smirked, “You’re late.”
Nysha raises her hand, power surging surrounding her as she unleashes a wave of explosions. Pushing the Geth to slam into one another.

They did make a promise to each other.

“Sorry, was sort of caught up,”

“Hopefully not by these freaky spotlights,”

“I got around them without noticing,”

“Cool, should we get out of here?” Nysha points to the civilians cowering behind the receptionist desk as makeshift cover.

“Anyone injured?”

“Eww, you’re like all medical professional now,”

“It is literally my job Nysha,”

“Anyone injured?” Nysha ask.

“No, can we get out of here! Instead of you two joking around,” screams a man, his voice cracking a bit.

Right they should get on that, shouldn’t they?

It wasn’t that he was unphased. He just found he had to focus on other things. Bent metal. Blood splattered on the floor. Bullet holes. Fires breaking out. The alarm blaring. The A.I. repeating the same message about evacuation protocols. The dead being gathered by the Geth, seemingly like useful material they discover. The sound of their clicking. If he joked with Nysha, if he focused on something he could control, then it helped his nerves. Inside his heart was racing and he was trying to hide his panic.

He’ll never really know how they made it out of all of that. Nysha kept him calm, despite her own fear, she made the event feel lighthearted. And all he had to do was pretend the Geth was Doctor Antonio Ramirez to rip them apart. Probably not the healthiest way of handling his frustration at his boss, but it worked to keep his nerves at bay.

After the Geth attack on the Citadel, things seemed to go back to normal unusually quickly. Despite the attack and the mass casualties, everyone went back to their lives relatively quickly. The Citadel Council put a gag order out on anyone to talk about the attack, and the event was labeled a Geth attack. Though Riegel wasn’t stupid enough to believe that when those events seemed to have changed Solorha the most. She was a Commando after all. She couldn’t speak about it, only indirectly confirmed there were more horrifying things in the world than the Geth. She indirectly implied there was more going on. Though neither Nysha or Him were privy to the knowledge of what that was.

Everyone outside of his home seemed to want to move on. Everything surprisingly moved on. As if nothing had happened. People might have lost family members, but it was like none of that death had occurred. And yet, his actions remained. He did leave the hospital that day and “Stole” a bunch of medi-gel. If it wasn’t for that C-Sec soldier and the people he had helped along the way he might have gotten more in trouble. Though that made Antonio’s hostility towards him even worse. Considering Riegel seemed to have earned some brownie points from others. His fellow Interns thought he was pretty cool.
Other Doctors seemed to want to offer him opportunities to work with him. Once again with his luck, it seemed one setback led to another momentum forward. Though it was evident to anyone that it might suit him better if he joined the Citadel EMT service. Being stuck in the hospital all day didn't really suit Riegel’s style and after hearing his exploits from the Geth Attack he was offered a position in the Citadel EMT. Which he gladly accepted. Tired of the hospital, and the Citadel’s insistence on professionalism, stifling him.

Despite the harrowing Geth Attack, he thought the busy work of EMT medical work suited him better. He continued his medical training for a year under the Citadel EMT services and learned many of his techniques working on the field, which often forced him to be innovative and creative.

He joked, when Shephard returned, he was just cleaning up Shephard’s messes left in the Citadel.

Two years had gone, but it seemed the Geth Attack was behind the Citadel. And the year after was relatively calm despite the rumors coming out from space. Shepherd at this point had become an icon, you couldn’t go anywhere in the Citadel without hearing his name, or his voice. The news seemed to endlessly talk about the Collectors, and the impending Reaper threat. More disturbing news came from deeper intel that he wasn’t supposed to know, but ended up finding out simply due to the positions of Rith and Solorha.

There were concerns about the controversial Cereberus organization. He heard a bit about them during his own research, about their experiments. Their illegal laboratories disgusted him. News about Biotic terrorist circulated for awhile as well. Though Riegel could perfectly understand their reasoning, when they were being affected by disease, rampant health problems, and there was still prejudice against those with Biotic powers. Some people believed there had to be ways to leash them. He was lucky in some ways, fortunate that no one had discovered he was a Biotic. And he made friends among EMT colleagues. Who found Riegel simultaneously unusually cool, and a slightly aggravating person.

Mainly because he refused to take lip from anyone, after enduring doing so when he originally worked in the hospital. Yet, he was good at what he did. Endlessly creative. Full of ideas. He himself was starting to become a person of talk. Though no one was going to sell him as an action figure or use his voice at a kiosk or talking about him on the news.

Citadel Attack 2 - Cerberus Attack

Hider

Was anyone in the Citadel ever prepared? Sitting in the shuttle. Waiting for a call. They came through semi-regularly. He had seen it all. Gang violence. Ordinary health disruptions, heart attack, the common cold, to C-Sec soldiers requiring official aid. At least in the air car he could listen to music while waiting for a call. His partner Ayden didn’t find his music nearly as entertaining as he did.

A blip on their screen.

“Looks like a call,” Ayden says, tapping the screen.

Both of them pause. Flashing on the screen is a message. It reads:

As soon as you can get to safety.
Love Father
Ayden shifts his attention to him. Riegel says nothing at first, staring at the message. He’s getting that sinking feeling again. The one he experienced during the Geth Attack. It’s both anxiety and calm.

“We better do what she says,” Riegel tells Ayden.

“What’s going on?” Ayden is panicking.

“How much Gel do we have?” Riegl ask trying to handle his anxiety quietly.

“Enough-

-Good-

-Why?”

“You remember the Geth Attack-

-you don’t think they will again-

-I don’t know, but my Father wouldn’t send this message for no reas-

-Comms are down. Just like the last time. His Father should know that neither him nor Nysha were ever going to get to safety. If she is worried. It means a lot of people are going to get hurt.

It goes dark. The Citadel is on lockdown. Then the bullets begin to ring. C-Sec is attempting to defend the Citadel. Riegel only knows two things, things were going to get bad before they got better and they need to help as many people as they can. Since he became an EMT, Solorha gave him a pistol for protection. The other thing he knew, he wasn’t the same person he was when the Geth attacked.

He was no Shephard. He had no Alliance shoulder. He wasn’t going to go in to fight. With the comms down, no one was going to call anything in. And Cereberus would shoot down anyone who flinched.

“Riegel, I don’t want to die,” Ayden whispers.

“I am not stopping you, but I am doing my job,” Riegel responds.

“You’re insane, we’re not soldiers-

-I am going to die trying to help others, and those people are going to live to spite Cerberus,”

“This is crazy-

-yeah,”

He knew that already. The Citadel was painted red. The hallways were patrolled by Cereberus, yellow and black marching through the Citadel. Why had no one seen this coming? He knew how to navigate the Citadel even when the doors weren’t working, lessons he learned from when he was an orphan.
Slipping into the service tunnel, sneaking around the soldiers. Scanning the hallways, for anyone critically injured, but not dead. A man, he didn’t look too wounded, but he was going to die without treatment. Slipping into the hallway.

“I am here to help,” he whispers.

“...no…just..let me die,” the man stutters, exhausted, but also clearly terrified. They’d just gundown whomever, wouldn’t they?

“You won’t die if you let me help,” Riegel tells him, “So just sit still. I’ll heal you, and you can evacuate.”

“Everybody,” the man coughs, “Ran. You..should too.”

“No,” Riegel snipes in an angry whisper, “I can stop the bleeding, then I will apply medi-gel, then you’ll go.”

He had to work quickly. He heard Ayden behind him. He clearly seemed nervous.

“Riegel, we cannot help-

-shut up, help, or find somewhere safe,” Riegel hisses.

Ayden stares at the man bleeding, then at Riegel. He sticks his hand into their field bag, “He needs some bandages.”

“We need to dress the wound quickly, I’ll slap some quick gauze, and we’ll make a quick suture,” he pauses, “Thank you Ayd-

-Ayden slumps to the floor. A bullet rips through his forehead. A Cerberus soldier staring him down with a gun. Riegel quickly grabs out his gun. It wasn’t like he wasn’t prepared; he might have to fight. The soldier fires first and what saves him is his kinetic energy. Riegel hands shaking a little. He fires back. They have armor, of course they do. Scrambling off the ground. Need cover.

He cannot look at Ayden’s body right now. Brains splattered out onto the metal of the Citadel hallway. He hears another gunshot, at first he thinks it’s directed at him. But it’s not. The man he tried to save, has been gunned down. It gave Riegel enough time to find somewhere to hide. He cannot take on an armored guy. Heart racing. Hands shaking. Maybe Ayden was right. No. His job. His oath was to save these people. His oath was to heal the wounded.

Breathing in. Hearing the soldiers footsteps. Calm. Just stay calm. Though the fury welled up in him. The Citadel yet again wasn’t prepared for another attack. No one knew what was going on. All of this needless fucking death, yet again, because the fucking Citadel Council cannot do shit. Fuck calm. The soldier passes. He comes out from the corner, fuck this guy. Feeling energy at his fingertips, tingling, leashing him with force. Dragging him in. Then shoving his hand forward, throwing the man into the wall with as much force as he can muster, his body caves into the metal walls. It bends under the pressure. The man lies prone, and without hesitation this time he steadies his pistol.

“Fuck you,”

The plan wasn’t going to change. He would grab his field bag and find as many people and direct them to the hospital. He wasn’t anxious any more. Just angry. Angry at the situation. Angry that yet again, people counted on the Citadel Council and the government to do something and they failed to do it.

SSV-Intervention

There was some disdain for a while of the Citadel Council from Riegel after the Cerberus attack. He felt that the people of the Citadel were merely pawns in the bigger battles of other more important people. And despite gaining kudos for his bravery after trudging through the halls of the Citadel, evacuating, and applying emergency medicine to civilians and C-sec alike, it didn’t ever bury the void that had developed.

A part of him became concerned or perhaps it was obsessed with Cereberus. He believed that someone should be doing something about them. Months after the Cerberus attack and the Reaper invasion had been quelled. As people were rebuilding he was using his connections. The one his Mother and Father knew, the ones Nysha knew, the ones he knew. Truth was maybe he felt like more could have been done.

Going Dark

Redacted

Returning months later. With a cat he found, being sold by pirates. Riegel returns to the Citadel, with a warm greeting.

“Where the goddess have you been?” Rith is mad that he hasn’t contacted her.

“I needed, a,” he pauses, “vacation.”

“With, what is that?” Rith asks.

“Some pirates were selling it in the Citadel, I think for meat, said to have slipped onto a ship from Earth during the Reaper invasion,”

“Did you tell your superiors you would be gone for so long?”

“Yes, I did, they cleared it before I left,”

“I’m just glad you’re safe,” she hugs him tightly.

Now he has to suck up to his bosses and hope they would let him back on as an EMT. He had been gone for a while. He never told his Mother or Father what he had been up to or what he had done. Though he suspected, considering they shared so many similar contacts, that they probably knew. But we're never going to pry. Once again, his reputation saved him. His superiors understood the request for needing time to leave, and accepted him back on almost immediately due to his heroism he had shown. At least his actions granted him some perks.

It wouldn’t be for another couple months before he was told in person by Solorha his actions had earned him an even bigger opportunity. There were rumors, always rumors, always whispers when it came to the Presidium, that there was a plan to track down Cereberus. Now his impulsive actions felt like that, just reckless, impulsive actions. If he had waited. If he had stayed he wouldn’t have left in such a rage, and would have heard about this anyway.

One day sitting in his shuttle. Waiting for a call, Solorha approached his vehicle. Opening the door.

“Congratulations,” Solorha tells him.

“What’s going on?” Riegel asks.

“Well, thanks to your services, extensive medical knowledge, your heroism, and your actions in the time of need you have been invited to serve on the SSV-Intervention,” she was beaming with happiness. This was a good thing, then? Him, serving on the SSV-Intervention. He knew from the rumors this was supposed to be the fleet tracking down Cerberus. A part of him leapt at the opportunity, another part of him hesitated.

“I would be serving as?”

“Chief Medical Officer,” Solorha responds.

He coughs.

“There’s a fucking mistake, I an EMT Doctor, certainly there is someone else for the position,”

“You don’t want it?”

“I want to know why me,”

“Oh let’s see, valiantly running into a Geth attack to save as many people as you could, with extensive knowledge of emergency medicine at your side, heroically applying medical aid to C-Sec and Civilians alike during the Cerberus attack, you are the most qualified for the position,”

“Me?” he laughs in disbelief.

“Yes, you. I believe it. I am the one who put in the word for you-

-so you abused your pos-

-and Rith-

-that doesn’t bode confi-

-and Bailey-

-mm-

-and the Citadel Medical Board-

-will you stop listing people-

-and Nysha-

-okay, I get it, why are you telling me this?”

“I intercepted the courier because I wanted to be the one delivering you the news, should you choose to accept,” she hands him a datapad, “Doctor Riegel Clossius Chief Medical Officer.”

“That sounds like a mouthful,” he accepts the datapad, “I um. You approve.”

“I am proud, your Mother and I are going to host a surprise celebration dinner before you leave-

-I am pretty sure that defeats the purpose of a surprise-

-Goddess-

-Uh, yeah, okay, Chief Medical Officer,”

---

---

Connections and Relationships

Affiliations:

Family
Mother

Matriarch Rith - Alive

Matriarch Rith - an old and powerful Asari, she bestows an unknown important Asari on the Citadel with words of wisdom. She is known for her deep words, and her millenia of knowledge. Calm, and pragmatic, Rith united with her Commando partner when she was asked to come to the Citadel some time ago, convinced to leave Thessia to support an important Asari of influence and power in the Citadel. Rith is a powerful biotic warrior, those who have faced her say she wields her biotic powers the way a soldier holds their gun, precise, no mess, no flourishing. When Rith needs to get something done, she gets it done with swift efficiency.

Father

Commando Solorha Clossius - Alive

By Asari standards Solorha had a lot to prove. Her unusual skin complexion made some think she wouldn't live up to much. Their beauty, their culture. But Solorha proved them all wrong, working her way up in the ranks of Asari command for many years. She didn't hail from the Citadel, but her skills, her training, her effectiveness in combat eventually lead her to the Citadel. Where she associates herself through C-Sec and as an Asari Commando. Like her partner Solorha is known to work efficiently, and effectively albeit maybe a bit messier than her partner. She's known from others as being impulsive, sometimes hot headed, and the type to charge in first and think later.

Sister

Nysha Clossius -Alive

Nysha still has a lot to prove about herself. She joined C-Sec when she was an adolescent Asari, much like Solorha she is quick tempered, and impulsive. Nysha is known for making quick, irrational decisions from time to time, though that might be a given considering how young Nysha is. All young and hasn't quite proven herself, her swift response in both the Geth and Cerberus attacks has gotten some people to turn their heads her way.

Intern Doctor Suture - The Cat

Suture

Found at the Citadel docking bay, someone was trying to sell Suture off for his meat. Being sold as some exotic foreign food from Earth, Riegel knew that he had to negotiate the man selling the cat. Like him, the cat probably needed a home and be rescued from being made into cat stew. Suture is sort of like a walking dog, rather than a cat. Following Riegel like a little white shadow. Suture likes leashed walks, and doesn't seem particularly picky about what he will eat, his favorite is canned varren. Riegel likes to jokingly hire him for jobs, he'll see how long it will take for the SSV-Intervention to figure out the intern is a cat.

Citadel
Presidium Members - I'll update this as time goes on and am more than willing to work the GM with NPCs.

Citadel Medical Board

C-Sec Officials - *Same as above for Presidium

Relationships:
TBA

Mass Effect: Intervention

Original RP by LetMeDoStuff

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W h a t R e m a i n s

_{Even after a great war, peace remains unsustainable...}

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It's been four years since the legendary Commander John Shepard, human Spectre and Officer of the Alliance Navy, dealt the final blow to the Reaper invasion. By using the Crucible, all synthetic life was destroyed in order to put an end to the cataclysmic cycle that had ravaged the galaxy for what felt like an eternal process. Such a move sent a shockwave across the galaxy and put the order of galactic politics, society and conflict at a complete standstill. The Reapers were gone, as were the Geth, and everything seemed to go silent for a while. The Mass Effect relays were damaged in the process of final victory, and the last three years were dedicated to repairing and reactivating all surviving nodes of intersystem travel. Come the end of the third year, the natural order of the galaxy's original state returned in theory, yet nothing was ever to be the same again.

If one thing is for sure, then it goes without saying that the Reaper Invasion left a traumatising mark on all sentient life. Homeworlds had been brutalised. Planets had been wiped clean. Entire colonies had disappeared without a trace. The loss of life was all but ghastly. Human, Turian, Salarian and Asari militaries were devastated by the fighting, whilst non-council species differed in devastation. There was no real natural order of life anymore. Some species, such as the Batarians, were whittled down to as little as fifty-thousand survivors. Large swathes of galactic space had been reduced to echoes and silence. There was no great relief the moment Shepard pulled the trigger on the extinction cycle. Many had no real clue of what to do next. Bureaucratic stagnation returned to folly in the wake of billions killed. Repair and recovery coordination was admirable at best, and lopsided, disjointed and failing at others.

The Citadel and its Council fell into an identity crisis. Some ambassadors made large for enacting normalcy to a galaxy that could barely resemble it. Others called for great reformation, some even devolved into demands for reparations in a sea of debt-struck citizens. There was never quite the happy ending as once heralded by the countless news networks throughout the war, but at the very least, life lived on without having been harvested once more. Despite this, countless threats still plagued Citadel Space, from within and from the reaches of the Terminus System, or throughout the desolate wastelands left ravaged by the invasion. Civil conflict, those who see others unfit for leadership, sits as a close prospect in many systems. That universal unification of all life fritters whilst some fall to insecurity in the face of annihilation. It seems that the sudden revoke of the apocalypse set in motion a grand disturbance throughout. But at the very least, there remains hope among those that wish to persist with the aftermath seen by their saviours. It is simply a test to see whether said ideals come to fruition, or if they die in the ever-changing galaxy.

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C a u g h t I n A L a n d s l i d e

_{...for the guns stop firing only when they need to reload.}

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Mass Effect: Intervention is to follow crewmembers of the SSV-Intervention, an Alliance vessel leased to the Citadel that was constructed from 'Andromeda Initiative' ship designers back in 2184. The Intervention is captained by one Te'yany Janniius, an Asari put in command of one of many new ships in the name of the Citadel's centralised military endeavours, beyond that of system-by-system policing by the Turian Empire and Systems Alliance. A new doctrine, inspired by the actions of the SSV-Normandy, has set out a number of autonomous companies who's intent is to provide flexible and effective military force between the cracks that formed in the damaged fleets' coverage. Though a licensed design in Alliance hands, the ships authority lies on the Citadel, and thus a range of races and species are found on board the ship. The Intervention is a relatively new vessel, having ran only several exercises and a few missions since its construction. Finally, it is to be bathed in baptism. The crew has been fully assembled. And with it comes its first task.

After the conclusion to the Reaper Invasion, it was easy to forget another major foe that still lurked in and out of Citadel space. Cerberus, the fanatic human organisation, remains, though much of its physical strength has been reduced to atoms. The death of the Illusive Man drew what many hoped would be the fatal strike to the group, however it served more to break the limbs of the beast than to sever its head. Cerberus remains out there. Their goals are once more uncertain, though the Citadel Council are more than eager to shut down any instances of its existence. Any cells and outposts that are discovered are immediately met with detainment or elimination. Ships like the Intervention specialise in removing these threats. Most recently, Cerberus activity was picked up on Virmire, in the Sentry Oemga, far into the remnant lands of lost battles. The assignment has been left to the Intervention to investigate the reports, and to either detain, disrupt or destroy any presence found.

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W e l c o m e !

_{...for the guns stop firing only when they need to reload.}

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Hello and welcome, interest checkers and newcomers, to Mass Effect: Intervention, the thread set aboard the aforementioned SSV-Intervention, a reconnaissance and security frigate commissioned for Citadel matters. We're here to bring together a wide variety of characters all in the same boat, from different walks of life, in a post-Reaper Invasion galaxy. A lot has happened to the galaxy, and though the Mass Relays are only just starting to reach a condition viable for usage, there's a lot to reconnect and recover in the wake of a destructive war. We will all fall under the initial command of the vessel and create an interactive breathing space for these characters to develop, add to the story and to forge their own path in a time left over by the legends that preceded them.

I think you get the gist of the story setup. For the tl;dr: Citadel want to root out pockets of Cerberus, and the SSV-Intervention, a relatively fresh ship in a tested design, is being sent to Virmire to investigate a reported presence. The main focus of this RP is surrounding the characters and how they interact/bounce off of one another. The plot should be the vessel for them to develop and engage in varying levels of relationships with one another, be it the professional camaraderie, the friendships, rivalries, disdains and even romances that stem from a ship's community-like crewspace. Of course, this means that over the long course of the setting, we'll be visiting different planets, locations and stations to help flesh out a series of connected stories. Depending on how the RP goes, we'll either focus far more on the ship's micro stories or its macro stories. Either way, combat, working lives and tragedies are sure to strike along the way. The galaxy is still very much a dangerous place, and the hole left if the galactic balance of power post-invasion has put many in precarious spots in life.

So, it should go without saying that first I should introduce to you the SSV-Intervention. As mentioned before, this vessel was a System's Alliance design obtained from the Andromeda Project before they set out. Since its acquirement, the Alliance had begun development on their own version until the Reaper Invasion cut plans short. Out of the ashes of the war came time for innovation once more. The ship's design schematic - the Hood-Class Frigate - was then brought into fruition as a cost-effective, yet highly resilient, vessel that brought to power a new doctrine of galactic peacekeeping. Shepard's spearheading of this doctrine through his use of the SSV-Normandy SR2 was then brought to the Citadel Council at first notice, to which they purchased licenses for existing ships and brought them into their own ranks. And though the ship hasn't seen much wide adoption outside of Alliance in their attempt to rebuild strength, the Citadel Security Fleet has employed around 90 of these, many still bearing Alliance designation. One of these, freshly out of trials, comes the Intervention.

The SSV-Intervention

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For the few familiar with the Andromeda Initiative, the Hood-Class Frigate design strikes heavy resemblance to that of the human ship 'The Tempest' deployed in much secrecy to the unknown galaxy. What massively detaches it from its privatised origins is its heavily robust and militaristic upgrades made at the cost of the state of the art luxury seen on its far-gone parent design, as well as an overall upscaling of the design from 95 metres in length to 160. The ship is armed with a series of standardised systems found commonly on most frigates of the era: a GUARDIAN Point Defence Laser system, Kinetic Barriers, and a spinal-fitted mass accelerator cannon embedded within the ships' body. Additionally, what was originally to be a main battery weapon that sits on the ship's underside is a Lambda Cannon, a supposedly cheap alternative to the famed Thanix Cannon. However, due to underperformances, the weapon is best suited for peppering larger targets' weak spots for delivery of the ships' mass accelerator cannon. There are bays for Javelin Disruptor Missiles as well, as favoured by many small frigate crews.

Top Floor: Captain's / XO's Cabins

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The worst downgrade in luxury compared to the Tempest is the Brass' quarters. These cabins are, however, the most comfortable living spaces aboard the vessel. Additionally, the Executive Officer has their own slightly smaller version of the same cabin, only missing some of the space for decoration such as the model stands that separate workspace from bedroom. Many of the crew might envy the privilege, but the Captain has once said the bed isn't as entirely comfortable as it looks.

Second Floor: C&C / War Room

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To a lesser extent, the Command and Coordination Centre (or C&C) is modelled after many small frigates alike. A main podium for the ship's mission planning and disclosed mission planning takes place in this main centre, with systems feedbacking directly to the pilot for immediate communication. Thus, this acts as the primary war room for most known operations the Intervention is expected to go on. This then links directly to the pilot and navigator's cockpit. Other systems such as the main docking bay doors and small security posts can be found around this area.

Second Floor: Operations' Room / Research Station

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Note that the War Room's main function was for mainline operations. However, for matters and operations that are undisclosed to the main crew, as well as a space for the Captain's affairs to be shared with higher ups / specific crew, the Operations' Room sits near to the rear of the second floor, separated off by a security checkpoint and a spare room that's been converted into a small research lab. A great deal of mystery was said to have been discussed behind those closed doors, usually closed off from the standard crewmate. Those who are brought inside tend to not openly discuss the matters the Captain had brought to them either, giving it a sort of wives' tale level light-hearted conspiracy.

Third Floor: Crew's Quarters

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One part, however, that can be seen at times as an upgrade are the quarters for the regular crewman. Beds are able to be divided by cubicle like walls, adding a small sense of security and privacy those that may wish it. Though not every crewman sleeps with their walls shut, still favouring the communal sense of a barracks, the options still stands for most beds, though it does drastically reduce living space to store personal goods. The additional benefit, at least, is that on-ship protection for non-combatants allows them to hide themselves within these quarters fairly easily, though it does little to protect from ship breaches. Among the quarters are two communal eating food preparation areas, a larger-scale kitchen and communal relaxation spot, blending into an off-side observation deck and relaxation point, though by far the built in bar counter is a lot less desirable than that of the once heralded Normandy. Most importantly, the main doctor's office is located on this floor, where treatments are made to the injured and sick if need be, as well as generalised care to those struggling with on-mission stress.

Fourth Floor: Engineering / Main Systems Maintenance

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The Engineering Deck is sectioned by many dividing, strongly reinforced rooms that protect key systems for the vessel to run. Though backups for critical systems are found on the command floor as well in case of emergency, the backbone of maintenance is found here. There are some spots for crew relaxation to minimise the flow of jumping between floors to catch a break, but they are small and less comfortable than the crew quarters' counterpart. Things such as basic VI systems, tertiary data banks, the mass effect drive core and all manners of engineering namesakes are found throughout here, as well as most of the crew specialised in its wellbeing. A decent number of engineers are combat trained too, though many act as reserve security over ground-team deployments due to their preference to stay aboard.

Fifth Floor: Shuttle Bay / Quartermaster's Office

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The Shuttle Bay makes up the vast majority of the fifth floor deck. Though two shuttles can be fitted to the ship for extended operational use, one is favoured for the most part. This section is partnered up with the Quartermaster's Office, a sectioned off and secured room that acts as the main armoury storage for the ship. That being said, there are secondary, smaller weapon compartments on each and every deck, for boarding emergencies of course. Most of the weaponry is standard issue, though as the doctrine has opened up space for a somewhat wider net of non-specialised weaponry, the Quartermaster doubles up as a space for part shopping. Final note, the Shuttle Bay also acts as the main cargo bay.

But what of the characters of this vessel? Well, to begin with, there'll be a pool of races to choose from, with the non-Citadel Security Fleet races being allowed as secondary characters down the line if they were to be introduced aboard. For the most part, the crew will differ from all sorts of backgrounds. Some of you might choose to have characters already know one another, either minimally or extensively, prior to the maiden mission of the SSV-Intervention, whilst I assume most will be there as new faces to the ranks.

There is one somewhat important prerequisite to the character you make: they must at least be a serviceman for their home systems' organisations (i.e. Alliance Military, Turian Fleet etc.) or a recruit of the Citadel Security Fleet. Now this doesn't just mean the brunt and brutes of soldiers, this could be down to the more logistical and civilian-like positions found throughout, such as doctors, scientists and researchers if you want your characters to fill those niches. I was asked this during the making of the OOC thread. If you don't have a desire for the "militaristic" background, then the Citadel Fleet fills that gap more, acting more initially as a civilian-like job. Of course, they'd end up being recruited officially for service aboard the Intervention, whether through requested transfer or necessity, and with the Galaxy still bandaging its heavy wounds I can suspect there might be a good array of backgrounds that precede their introductions.

Another topic to quickly touch on is the characters' jobs. Not every character has to be a combatant first and foremost. I've talked the interested and we have such ideas as the ship's main doctor, think Chakwas for the Normandy, or a pilot. I'm fine with these, eventually people will have the space to make landfall in their own ways, should a major story event come about, and I'll try to best include everyone where I can, but just keep in mind of what might influence your character in their specified roles. Also, alongside these roles comes the topic of "class". I wouldn't say there's any super strict class structure for combat-based explorers and peacekeepers, such as the general soldier, engineer, adept and onwards, but it is worth looking at the six "classes" to better narrow down any combat skills, of which you'll choose from three, just to make sure we don't overextend what our characters can do from the beginning. There may be opportunities to better equip and hone a characters' skillset, but I don't generally want to gameify the abilities too much as this is a narrative RP foremost.

Last side note for the character sheet: I'm posting the most basic skeleton for it. Some people like format their sheets differently, and I'm all cool for that. So long as you include all the necessary information here, you're green to go ahead, and if you want to put in any additional information, then go for it.

Character Sheet

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An image of the character could go here. Though advised you get a faceclaim, ones without are required to write heavier detail in their appearance section as a result.

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Name
Should be simple enough

Race
So, the Intervention selection so far would be: Human, Turian, Salarian, Asari, Quarian, Batarian, Krogan & Drell.

Age
Pretty explanatory, but mark it down as in human years, just to avoid confusion.

Sexuality
What's Mass Effect without a little potential romance on the table?

Gender
Again, self-explanatory. Especially for the Asari.

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Appearance
Description of how they look physically, as well as their potential combat gear, on-duty attire (though I assume for most humanoid races this would simply be the standard Intervention uniform, and what they are likely to wear off-duty. Physicality is the main focus, though.

Height
Easy enough.

Personality
What kind of individual are they, both on duty and off duty?

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Role / Specialty
What is their role aboard the SSV-Intervention? A good note to make is that ground-team peacekeepers usually have a smaller, secondary role aboard the ship. Some are self-explanatory and only need the one summary, such as Combat Engineer, as that'd fill two very obvious spots onboard and offside.

Equipment
What sort of things do they most generally use? Mainly weaponry, or small devices required for their role to function? Obviously the omnitool is present with everyone, so don't feel the need to mention it here.

Powers/Skills
A small, three tiered list of abilities generally found within the Mass Effect franchise. Things such as concussive shots, biotic abilities, specialised grenades, drones, hacking implants etc etc. Do ask if you have any suggestions or questions regarding this.

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Biography
More or less self-explanatory. What happened in their lives? What brought them to where they are now? How did the Reaper Invasion four years ago impact their lives? And what eventually led them to the Intervention, such as whether it was a leasing from their home race or through recruitment into the Citadel Security Fleet?

Affiliations
Who are they families, major friends or life-impacting individuals with prior to their posting aboard the SSV-Intervention?

Relationships
Optional, but a fun way to document how they see other characters they regularly interact with.

Character Theme
Not necessary, but just a bit of fun innit.

Again, bare minimum format, so feel free to decorate or reformat the sheet to your heart's desires, because who doesn't love a bit of flash and flair to their introductory character sheet?

Overall, I do dearly hope you enjoy the RP we've got here. Those who've shown interest already, I'm super excited to see what you bring to the table, and if anyone new is interested in joining simply drop your interest in the OOC here and I'll be excited to see what you come up with. If there are any problems with submitted character sheets I'll query about them as best as I can to make a compromise if it's something that I feel may harm the experience (which honestly is a rarity). Thank you all for reading this, and to send it off, I'll leave a small list of major events detailed by Shepard's exploits to summarise the galactic events that are still in influence today.

The Exploits of John Shepard

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>Shepard was an earthborn, first gaining for being the sole-survivor of a Thresher Maw attack on Akuze.
>He saved the colony on Feros and spared Shiala, ending the Thorian infection.
>The Rachni Queen was not spared on Noveria.
>During Sovereign's attack on the Citadel, Shepard saved the council at the cost of the human fleet's strength.
>Shepard exposed Saren after his defeat, however it was quickly covered up a week later.
>Councillor Udina remained as the human representative post-Battle of Citadel.
>Shepard regretfully destroyed Maelon's data.
>Shepard reluctantly chose to destroy the Mass Effect relay out of necessity, delaying the Reaper's arrival.
>The Collector base was destroyed.
>Shepard survived and became the headliner for the war against the Reapers.
>He cured the Genophage, allowing the Krogan to repopulate. Salarian support was mostly sacrificed as a result, as he was unable to save the Salarian Councillor alongside Thane during the attempted Cerberus Coup on the Citadel.
>He personally shot Udina during the coup.
>Shepard made contact with a sentient race deep in the Oceans of 2181 Despoina. No information about this is public and remains confidential to the highest authorities.
>During the Battle of Rannoch, Shepard was unable to properly broker peace between the Geth and Quarians. This resulted in the morn of a final battle, but was quickly suppressed and the Creator-Geth War ended in a Quarian victory and reclamation of their home planet.
>Though Shepard defeated Oleg's Cerberus forces on Omega, the City was never fully taken back as Aria T'Loak had initially hoped for. Cerberus cells lingered. Since the end of the Reaper War, Cerberus forces are still reported to have heavy presence within the city, risking another civil war.
>Shepard managed to amass just enough forces to siege down Earth and to break through the Reaper defences, though the cost of life was as high as anticipated.
>Shepard, deeming the threat of the Reapers too large to ignore, chose to destroy the Reapers with a virus implementing into their systems.
*Head Cannon: Putting together the minds of the Quarian's knowledge of technology, information from the Citadel, they found out there is a way to infect the Reaper's programming with their own programming, creating a virus they implement, which will disable any synthetic life form attached to the Reaper's programming i.e. the Geth who were indoctrinated and the Reapers. No space jesus. No green mist, and not every Geth has been destroyed in the process.

Thornwood Asylum For The Criminal Insane- A Villain Roleplay. (Closed Indefinitely)

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Hemlock - Red - Represented in Teal , Rueyn - Siri - Represented in Orange

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The kaleidoscope circuitry is easier to navigate now that he knows the path. He hadn’t walked as Digital Ghost in so long he had forgotten how it felt. A part of him wanted to take divergent paths and begin to seize the facility from the inside. Choking its circuitry is like a heart attack of the motherboard. Though he would show some temperance until they knew the full plan and he could remove his body out of the danger zone. He should have accounted for the splash zone, however-

He shudders. This facility is so cold-

-something splatters across his face. It's warm. Wet. And sticks to his skin the consistency of paint, though he is certain this isn't that.

“Fingerpainting are we,” he states, there is a touch of annoyance. As far as he is aware, when they escape he didn’t have a change of clothes and two people coated in blood tended to look suspicious.

“My bad, I don’t exactly have a dropcloth handy,” Rue drawled, licking the blood off of her bone colored claws. “I said I would protect your body, never said anything about your clothes.”

So some assholes had decided they wanted to add a tally to their kill marks, and openly talked about it pretty close to her. So she decided she had a problem with it when they decided to come at Hemlock.

“Humans limbs tear like paper,” Rueyn commented, “Blood goes flying when a man’s arm is completely ripped from its socket by about 90 pounds of brute force. Same goes for the rest of his limbs. And there were two of them. So, pardon me, your highness.”

“As commendable as that is and I appreciate the save, how are we going to get ramen now covered in bloo-

Rue ignored his comment as she cracked her knuckles, then broke the cuffs around her wrists with the horribly loud crunching noises of metal being bent and crushed in ways it was not meant to be. She growled with satisfaction as they crumbled from her wrists. Without the electric currents running through them properly, they were no match for her strength that was measured at 4tons (8,000 lbs) of weight. Then she did her ankles.

If her powers being unleashed had any effect on how Hemlock saw her, they likely shifted with the black shadows and smoke that emanated from her body, limbs and face.

She turned her gaze towards him and wiped the rest of the blood off on her black jumpsuit, having licked most of it from her hands and even her face, that’s how long her demonic, forked tongue was. It was also prehensile like a chameleon tail, which helped. And was probably an unnerving sight for others to witness. Especially since she stood surrounded by a pile of gore that was once two metahuman inmates.

He's trying to ignore the sounds of her tongue on her skin. Saliva dripping, lapping up blood? How he longed for simple things, a cup of ramen, perhaps a shower, and somewhere to listen to the static hiss for a while.

“Gods fucking damn,” Rue rumbled. “That’s better. Okay, now what do you want to do, tech genius?”

“Don’t you mean tech highness,”he is definitely being a wise ass and she can’t help but smile at it.


“Okay, your techness,” Rue wondered if he could sense her rolling her eyes with her tone. “As much as I have no doubt you can make your way to the needed area of interest yourself, you’re not exactly a match for even the average human’s strength, and that’s just my strategic observation,” she added. “I’m going with you and we will travel by shadows, no one can touch us in the darkness. Just direct me based on your senses and I can take it from there.”

“It’s not always about physical strength. I could microwave a man before he could twitch a muscle. Sometimes I don’t cook them first and I let them twitch in paralyzing agony for a bit,” his smirks with a challenge.

But Rueyn stood resolute in her decision.

She had already decided he was hers to protect. And with how dangerous prison riots were (she’d lived through at least five in her two decades of being there), she wasn’t taking the chances of his getting fucking murdered on the way to free them all. As far as she was concerned, the plan was doomed without him. And she wasn’t about to lose yet another being that she felt some measure of caring for. Twenty years so soon after the last was still too soon.

“It is quite useless to argue with me, Lock,” she told him matter of factly. “I’m not above throwing you over my shoulder to ensure your safety and thereby the success of this plan.”

“I won’t resist your assistance Rueyn,” he tells her, “But please if I do resist, do not hoist me up. I prefer my feet comfortably on the ground.”

He stands up. Now what to do? Soon there is going to be a riot, isn’t there? He had control of the cameras, and the monitors, as well as the alarms and the handcuffs. Still he didn’t like being Digital Ghost when there is so much activity around. Too many variables, like two men being ripped apart by Rue. Which meant he would have to navigate the facility by foot, using the security system as his guide.

“Unfortunately, one of my capabilities, leaves my body for too long, exposed like this. I am still capable by myself, don’t worry about me, when the riots happen, I’d like to take the path of least resistance Taking my trip into the security system, I have a relatively decent map in my head of the layout of the facility. I hadn’t realized how far underground we are, no wonder everything feels so smooth,”

If there is one thing he wished he had right now, it is a blanket. He should have brought one from his cage before leaving for the cafeteria. Then again he didn’t expect there to be an escape plan happening today either.

The last part of his sentence struck a chord in her and she growled.

“Underground? Really? No wonder there’s an underlying smell of dirt and mold everywhere all the time.”

She made a noise of disgust in the back of her throat and replaced her mask.

“So, what will it be, Oh mighty Digital Royal?”

“Should that be the name I take up, then, Digital Royal, instead of Digital Ghost,” he gives her an airy dry laugh, “I will accept your alliance. I just like being difficult for the sake of being difficult. It gives me human qualities.”

“Very well then,” she replied. “You make fair points. Come, take my hand or hold onto me somehow, you won’t come with me otherwise.”

She was glad he didn’t argue with her. It was less of a headache for her. She laughed at his comment.

“Cyberspace Royal sounds better,” she admitted. “Digital Ghost, though, that’s got a whole different ring to it, edgy and dark almost. Let me know when you have a firm grip on me. Skin to skin is best but holding onto my clothes works just as well.”

She gathered the shadows around her in preparation, her outline dwarfed by a solid black mass that flickered and writhed, her eyes glowing.

Truth is, he’s hesitant. Her Nebulous form is easy enough, now, to gauge where she is standing. Yet, there is a fragment in his mind, a distant memory. Being dragged along by a parent insisting he needed assistance. He understands that is an entirely illogical response to this situation. As they aren’t similar, from what he can determine her powers were similar to his that required touch.

Extending out his hand to grab her own, or really he awkwardly felt around for it in front of him. He’s not able to determine things like limbs separately from the whole body. This is embarrassing.

Rue noticed his awkwardly feeling around for her and to save him further embarrassment, gently grabbed his hand to lace his fingers with hers, being very careful not to use too much of her strength lest she accidentally break his fingers.

She’s surprisingly gentle. Her hands are warm. Like previously.

“Are you ready?” she asked. “It’s going to feel weird, especially since you can’t see, though you likely won’t have the usual fear upon seeing pure blackness around you that most people have.”

“I don’t see total darkness,” he tells her, “It’s like being surrounded by snow I can feel. It’s like my brain registers something is there, but I have no visual reference for what I am seeing. Just big splotches of color. I am ready. I admit I am fascinated to experience another's power."

“This is interesting,” Rue replied, bringing the shadows around them both. “If only I had the one power that allows mental connections to share images, well, at least without using my Mark.”

She walked through the inky shadows that covered the building and walked into the layer of blackness, Hemlock’s fingers firmly laced in hers. Anyone who was watching them would have seen them just disappear into darkness, fading away with a few blinks, shortly before the lights went out and all was plunged further into chaos.

Young Justice Avenger (A Next Generation Amalgamverse)

I Am Not Him

Nathan Quinn

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Age: 20

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Hero Name: NA - "I am not that kind of hero. I don't wear lavish suits, parading around in a mask, the truth is that I recognize I am probably incredibly plain to people. Incredibly so."

Known Aliases: Joker's Son, Niel, Ace of Knaves [Thought it was funny at the time], Joker Junior [call me that to my face and I will stab you in the eye no questions asked], Doppelganger

Powers:
Poison Immunity -
No man could literally fall into a vat of chemicals and live. Any ordinary human would have instantaneously died. It's questionable how the Joker came to be, questionable how he even survived a vat of chemicals. The only logical conclusion would be some sort of immunity to the poisons that altered the man sometime ago. This poison immunity was then inherited to Nathan. Who has immunity at best for most known poisons, and at least mild resistance to more lethal strains of unknown toxins that his body adapts to.

*Notes: How this work is that Nathan is immune to all known poisons, cyanide, arsenic, chloroform, even his own Father's poisonous gases, etc. However, Nathan is not immune to unknown poisons from alien planets. He is resistant to these poisons they may affect him, but his body learns to break them down like a virus and provides its own anti-venom to the solution. Over time, and with a ton of exposure Nathan will become immune to that toxin.

Enhanced Physicality -
Sure he isn't invulnerable like some folks are, but Nathan can take or give a big beating before ever succumbing to physical exertion, or even succumbing to his physical wounds. For all intense and purposes Nathan is beyond peak human physical fitness, he sits at the teetering edge of being as freakish as a Meta Human, but at the lower tier. This means he's more agile than others, combine this with his uncanny predictions and Nathan can react far more quickly to a situation than others can. It means he has more stamina than the average human, even the average human with peak physical human attributes. Nathan has always proven with his freakish unnaturalness that he may not be simple an average, ordinary Human.

"Machine" Mind -
Both parents displayed genius level of intellect, Joker was always well known as a Super Genius Mind, while Harley's unpredictable nature probably disguised the intelligence hiding within. This level of intelligence has been inherited by Nathan, though with some caveats. While Nathan does have a genius level of intelligence, this has developed into a far more sharper capability. Nathan is able to make some extremely fast, impossible levels of predictions in given circumstances. It's what makes him so deadly at his job as an investigator, as well at hand to hand combat, where he can react to others faster than what is humanly possible.

Hyper-Mobile -
There are just things Nathan can slip into that shouldn't be humanely possible, narrow bars, slipping into narrow crevices. He's not made out of rubber and he's not going to extend his body out like Reed Richards, he's just able to ferret his way through cracks and crevices he shouldn't be able to. We're not talking going under doors level of hyper mobile, we're just talking locked gates, narrow - narrow tunnels. And overall movement in hand to hand combat, giving him an uncanny ability to weave and dodge a lot more than a traditional human.

Notes:
The drawback to almost of Nathan's capabilities is that he is still Human. It's uncertain if Nathan is just an extraordinary Human, or if he is a Meta Human. Nathan can still get injured, case in point his brain damage, he can still get sick from the cold and flu. He's not going to go toe to toe with the likes of someone like Superman, except with some extreme luck.

Equipment:

Grinmaker - "Yeah. Yeah. I get it. It's why I don't say it out loud. I admit it's a crude joke."
Nathan carries on him a multipurpose Knuckle Knife, he named Grinmaker. He thought it was funny at the time, though he probably realizes now why some people's eyes twitch when he calls it by name. The knife gives Nathan the flexibility of using it's blade in combat or switching up the grip and using the knuckle portion in a fight.

Grinmaker

Knee Slapper - "Okay. I get it. I have problems. I am not even going to defend myself this time."
A crowbar. An axe. It's the knee slapper, a multipurpose, crudely made, slapped together axe crowbar combination. That Nathan utilizes in multiple ways, using the crowbar portion to trip others and sweep them onto the floor. Or to deflect incoming attacks from longer range weaponry. The axe portion can be used to break locks, door handles...break knees.

Knee Slapper

Chemical Grenades - "No fancy names. Okay I lied."
Nathan carries on him chemical grenades, he's engineered himself, considering his Mother's connection with Poison Ivy, who his Father is. Nathan with some help has been able to design a few small, but capable chemical grenades;

Sleepy - A grenade that once the pin is pulled releases a sleeping toxin into the room, which Nathan is immune to all of his chemical grenades, putting those who breathe it in to sleep. Those who are resistant to his sleep bomb, may feel just slightly drowsy. The duration of this sleep affect is based on a person's own immune system. If you have no resistances or immunity, you'll probably be out for a few hours, if you have some resistances you'll likely be out for at least half n hour to an hour, and those resistance to it might shake off the sleepiness within fifteen minutes.

Grumpy - Releases a toxin of poisonous gas that causes mild parallelization for a duration of time. See above. All grenades are based on how the victim of the chemical gases react on a biological standpoint.

Wheezy - Strong coughing poison, that makes a person's throat feel like it is on fire, starting a coughing attack they cannot control. A much milder mustard gas that simply makes someone throat burn, starts a coughing fit, and gives them teary eyes. As noted above all grenades are based on how an individual is immune or resistant to a chemical.

*Note: The drawback of Nathan's grenades being based on someone's biology is a drawback built from Nathan's own will to not outright create grenades that could kill a person. It's with great resistance of his own mental state to create irritating grenades that require at worst medical treatment for the average person, and a bit of time to shake off from a metahuman versus outright being lethal.

Tablet - "How else am I supposed to gather notes? I am super intelligent, I don't have super memory."
Nathan carries on him a tablet, in which he records information about a place or keeps his notes on people. It's the tool he uses the most during investigations.

Skill:

Cold Reading -
With Nathan's extraordinary intelligence and prediction skills, Nathan is exceptional at analyzing a situation and his environment. Within moments of entering a place of building or speaking with a person, Nathan is making a mental list of the things he needs to consider and take note of. Potential escape routes, potential dangers. A person's ticks, nervous habits, even potentially getting an instinctual feeling whether or not someone is being genuine with him or not.

Escapologist -
Considering who Harley is and who the Joker is, Nathan has been taught on how to escape a number of restraints, traps, and other methods of containment. Nathan can break out of handcuffs, straight jackets, even cages.

Mixed Hand to Hand to Combat -
Though not trained in one specialization or another, Nathan was taught by Harley, and even at some point in the Teen Titans with hand to hand combat. A consistent rivalry with Robin a.k.a Damien Wayne, meant that Nathan used his intelligence and prediction abilities, learned Damien's combat skills, in order to otherwise best him. Nathan's skill of hand to hand combat, compiles a cocktail of skills and techniques from all over, his mother's acrobatic gymnast approach to hand to hand combat, his Father's knife fighting techniques, Damien Waynes street-boxing style, even some of Batman's assassination martial arts style. As well as Nathan's own knowledge using his predictions, hyper mobility, and slippery movements he is mixed with Russian Knife combat, Sambo martial arts without weapons, and other influences.

Master of Disguise -
With the combination of his intelligence, cold reading, and prediction capabilities. Nathan uses these skills in order to dawn different disguises. He's no shape shifting freak who can change his appearance at will, instead he has had to learn different techniques in order to disguise himself as whomever and anyone;
Sewing, Nathan makes his own costumes, and sews his own clothing together in order to dawn his disguises. He usually stakeouts a place and/or persons in an environment to make this convincing.

Acting, using his cold reading and intelligence Nathan learns the habits of others in order to perfectly mimic the way they walk, talk, and act. He goes above and beyond this, however, by learn to imitate their quirks and odd habits that other who know them best would know.

Makeup, sometimes in order to convince others that he is someone else or this is somewhere he belongs he uses makeup in order to achieve this. The number of times he had watched his Mom dawn makeup on, he learned mostly from her.

Voice Impressions, sometimes to better be a person you have to learn how they speak. How they use language, what words they choose, and their accents.

Drawing and Painting -
Due to Nathan's err - moody and unpredictable mental health, it was suggested to him that he should gather a hobby that might help him de-stress and relax his mind a bit more. Nathan has always been interested in drawing and painting even when he was a child, and so it was easy for him to reconnect with that artistic and creative side of himself. In his spare time Nathan prefers to be on his own, painting or drawing in peace and silence.

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Appearance:
Harley? No. At first glance from a distance you can see the resemblance, but getting closer you recognize that "she" is a he. Tall and lanky, there is something foreboding about his presence - in fact there is something familiar in everything about his appearance. While, tall, and skinny, it is clear in the lean muscle in his arms, and his upper torso that he has a lot of upper body strength. Long and skinny legs, you realize when he smiles at just the right time - Joker? Blonde hair, cut in a bob with bangs that sweep across his eyes, Nathan's not fond of his blue eyes. In fact when you look him straight in the eye you see someone with a fractured mind, slightly unhinged and he tries to use his bangs as a way to hide this fact from others. Natural dark circles under his eyes and pale skin, his facial features are similar that of Harley Quinn, his mother. Her nose shape, her angular features. Though his build and height is similar to that of his Father standing at the midpoint of both of them at 5'9". He dresses like a typical private investigator, with a long black trench coat, and often wears monochromatic suits - mostly of black and white. A fedora shadows his eyes, once again to divert anyone's gaze on him almost. You'd almost think he was an average person, dressed in the way he is, until he opens his trench coat and you realize the amount of utility pockets hidden on the inside, carrying his weaponry, and other equipment like he's the merchant from Resident Evil.

Personality:
Nathaniel is a complicated individual, probably nearly as complicated as both his parents, though his complications were likely never inherited. Instead developed over time due to who his parents are. There is a genuine struggle of identity in Nathan, on one hand he can actually be quite protective and caring of others. Making him an actual genuine hero, someone who saves others and can often times be quite selfless in this pursuit. Someone who genuinely cares for the well being of others, and goes out of his way to support them as best as he can. Does nothing give good advice? Maybe not always, but he tries his best to be there for those who need it. With as much trauma Nathan has, Nathan genuinely doesn't want people to go through the things he has been through or is going through.

However, this sincere humanity to Nathan is often a spiraling mess while Nathan struggles with his mental health the brain damage that makes it harder for Nathan to control his traits of psychopathy. While there is a Nathan who is kind, protective, maybe even heroic at times, there is also a Nathan who is unhinged at times. Nathan has described it as his brain glitch. In the past, he may have had a handle on being able to detect when he was going too far. Though these days its like a part of his brain shuts off entirely and Nathan can go from simply apprehending someone to breaking their arm because he lacks the impulse control to stop himself.

Also the fact that Nathan is "well known" to be diagnosed with Bipolar Type 1 disorder. While he tries his best to manage his condition, his manic episodes are often exasperated by the damaged parts of his brain, making Nathan come off wildly unhinged at times, as he makes erratic, impulsive and sometimes even dangerous decisions. He can often times come off as reckless, dangerous, psychotic, and murderous to some. Which is Nathan's greatest fear, as he often struggles to separate himself from who his parents are and who he is.

This has always lead to the fact that Nathan struggles with a lot of trauma, spurred on by his explosive relationship with others, his toxic family dynamic, and Nathan's own struggle to find atonement with his actions. He seeks redemption, as this point clinging to an ideal that he could be a hero, but that ideal is slowly slipping away as Nathan battles with his own mind. To some he might not even be seen as material to be a super hero, but a super villain and they await for the inevitable to put him down like a dog.

With all that said Nathan genuinely attempts to be a good person. What keeps him from completely failing at his heroism is his sheer determination and willpower not to succumb to his conditions. Though this is also what tortures him as well.

Known Associates:

Harley Quinn - Mother

My Natey Boy is Such a Doll

More infamously known as the Joker's lover, the two separated some time during Nathan's childhood. Harley in one of her rare moments of clarity knew she had to protect Nathan, not afraid of what the Joker would do to Nathan. More afraid of what the Joker would teach, she sought Batman's aid knowing that really only he could provide the safety they needed. Sometime as Nathan was growing up Harley became a member of the Justice League, fighting for the forces of good. Which likely is what inspired Nathan down the path he is currently on.

Joker - Father

Ol' Pops is Still Around

8 million followers and counting;
It's not known whether or not Joker has any association with Nathan besides in his early formative years. There is some hint that the Joker has been there in the background, defending Nathan from danger. There is a common misconception about the Joker only being self serving. Over the years he has been misunderstood as purely an agent of evil, but the Joker has always been someone to point the flaws in the system. He's recently turned over to social media where he has a large amount of followers, who watch his content focused solely on folks getting their just desserts. Either the people watching him are unaware of the actual violence of his content or don't care.

Poison Ivy

I am Here If You Need It

Ivy has always been there to pick up the pieces whenever Harley was struggling. She has always been a support system for Harley, especially considering her wildly toxic relationship with the Joker. When Harley split from the Joker, perhaps from some encouragement of her own fearing for Nathan's safety, they became relative close. Grew to know each other, perhaps even care for each other. Maybe at that time Harley, reeling from the lost of the Joker and seeking the guidance and care of someone in her life, they thought they loved each other. So they dated for a while. Till it became evident that for Harley it was infatuation. She had desperately relied for so long on a co-dependent relationship she was only really seeking the same things from Ivy. The two of them broke up, but Ivy never left Harley's side. They still remain close. Ivy promised Harley a long time ago to watch over Nathan.

*Raven

Contrary to what you believe I do understand

Raven's probably the only person who stood by his side, even after all the others turned on him. The truth was that the both of them had a lot of common. The both of them at the time, struggled with their identities and who their Father's were. What and how that defined them. During his time with the Titans, Raven and Nathan grew close. Close enough that the two teenagers dated very briefly. Despite their relationship not really working out, the way Raven and Damien may have worked out, they remain close friends simply due to the way they bonded. This probably continues to fuel Damien's spite against him.

Gotham Police -
After being kicked out of the Teen Titans, Nathaniel struggled for a little while to find a drive or purpose. Especially after he was briefly thrown into Arkham Asylum. Niel has always desired to be a person of action, someone who shook the shadows people cast onto him off. Though he necessarily couldn't, he was struggling to accept the violence he can cause, and also trying to find a new purpose. He began to dive into vigilantism, but didn't really desire to be another Batman.

Known Adversaries:
*Damien Wayne a.k.a Robin

Tch It's Joker Junior

It's pretty clear that Damien and Niel were never going to get along. Damien believed to ideally in his Father's ideals he might as well have been an exact clone of him at the time they met. A lot of Batman's prejudice fell onto Damien. And Damien leading the Teen Titans only really saw Niel's presence as a threat to their security and safety, much like his Father. And yet, Niel and Damien's intelligence clashed, both intelligent and bright boys. Niel was constantly changing the plan on him, had no respect for authority, and he was a risk to himself and others. It definitely infuriated him that Raven and Nathan dated briefly for awhile. Before Niel's big violent breakdown. Which Damien promptly handled - with his Father's intervention. In his eyes Niel should be securely watched, he is no hero. He's going to become a villain some day and he's watching.

My Sparkle a.k.a. Biography:

0-7

December 9th;

Nathaniel came to the world on a frosty, snowy Gotham day. Whether or not the Joker realized that Harley had slipped or even for the fact that she was pregnant, she returned maybe reluctantly or hesitantly afraid of the reaction to Nathan’s birth. To her perhaps her confusion or maybe her delight, Joker seemed to accept the newborn with relative warmth. While her relationship with the Joker had always been relatively icy, and oftentimes she felt the relationship like a noose around her neck - the Joker was surprisingly tender with the young Nathan. It frightened her. It frightened her to think the Joker would even accept him. Something had changed in the Joker or maybe she had just discovered all the things she originally had fallen for in him. His surprising tenderness, his surprising honesty. Who was this man who saw Nathan and there was a genuine smile on his face? Not the one he put on like a mask.

Deep down inside of the Joker there was a Human. A man behind the Monster and that was the Man Harley had always attempted to pull out of Joker. And for a while there it seemed she had. The Joker suddenly changed, perhaps softened up a bit, he made promises to her to take care of them both. And he did. And that weighed on her constantly. When was he going to change? When was he going to become the Monster again?

That is the environment Nathan lived in for the seven years he was growing up. The Joker an actual significant amount of his formative years. While the Joker showed none of his violent tendencies at home, he was often left in the care of Ivy when Mom and Dad had “to take care” of something. Ivy was a strangely tender babysitter, who tended to “spoil” Nathan whenever he did arrive with whatever he liked, coloring books, toys, and even treats he asked for. She taught him about her job as botanists. Nathan being very bright was a very quick learner and took to skills relatively easy.

Truth is maybe Nathan could have grown up entirely like this. With his parents' occupation hidden from him. The issue is that fact couldn’t escape past Nathaniel even if they wanted it to. There were whispers, things Harley nor the Joker could keep from him. About his parents' criminal activity. It eventually would catch up to them anyway. This “happiness” they had experienced for seven years was quickly going to fade. Perhaps this was recognized when Joker was teaching Nathan about chemical compounds. Or Nathan being a curious, and intelligent child discovered his Mom’s weapons hidden in her room.

What worried her was that he, the Joker, had no fear of Nathan discovering these things. He always knew it was inevitable that he would end up discovering it. That fact made Him ecstatic. That fact made Her nervous.

Who was Nate going to become growing up? Would he never have the opportunities to choose those things for himself? The “happiness” or perhaps maybe the delusion of them being one big happy family shattered, and all of those mirrors casting the illusion shattered, it was clear from the beginning that none of the family members were walking on eggshells, but shards of glass.

She was afraid he saw a legacy.

Joker actually worried about losing them both. Even if it weren’t clear to her or others. The Joker had always a complex set of morals and codes that no one really understood, not even Harley.

One night, convinced by Ivy who had always listened to her, had always supported her, she knew she had to take Nathaniel somewhere safer. A better environment, but knew she couldn’t abandon him. It wasn’t right, he had known her for seven years of his life. It would be cruel to leave him at an orphanage or have him adopted by some other family. She had to raise him on her own, away from Him. In hopes to give Nathan more choices, more opportunity than just to turn out like the both of them. It was a rare moment of clarity from her. Though maybe that moment of clarity from her came too late. While she was getting advice from Ivy, Nathaniel was alone with his Father.

Ultimately the Joker knew he was going to lose Harley and Nathan. Harley never fully trusted him and he couldn’t ever fully trust himself. So, he sat down with Nathaniel one final time. Knowing he’d likely not see him after tonight, it was a gut feeling, an instinctual one.

All Men's Minds Wither

Nathaniel
Joker

“Say, Nate, let’s have some fun together,”

His Father had always been supportive up to now. You could almost call him a loving and devoted Dad at the time. Nathan, unlike Harley, didn’t have the same distrust that either the Joker or Harley had about his Pops.

“What are we playing today?”

His Pops playfully rubs Nathan’s hair, and calmly, gingerly pats the floor to sit beside him.

“How about we play superheroes?”

“Okay,”

Nathan gets up to find his action figures. His Pops was weird, he had to admit, but he hadn’t ever done anything bad. Despite what the TV says about him. Should he trust him? Mom doesn’t seem to think so, but Pops hasn’t done anything to harm him. Yes, he’s kind of weird. Yes, there seems to be something beneath the surface.

“Here,” he hands the shoebox of figurines to Pops.

“See, such a good boy,”

“Ivy taught me to clean after myself or else a carnivorous plant was going to eat me,”

His Pops is rifling through the shoebox, taking out a generic looking male doll. He searches around for a pen, and grabs it. Drawing on the face of the figurine, till he is wearing a black mask, “This is Batman.”

Nathan watches with curiosity. He’s being handed “Batman”. His Pops rifles through the shoebox, and grabs one of his generic action figures. None of his toys ever match.
“This is a bad guy,”

“Is Batman going to stop him?”

“Oh I am afraid so,”

Pops dumps the rest of the toys on the floor, “And this is Gotham.” He has the shoebox stand upright. Nathan nods.

“Who’s playing Batman?”

“I’ll do the honors,”

“So, I am the badguy?”

“Now let’s set the stage,”

Nathan watches intentionally.

“Another night in Gotham city, it is relatively calm, when what’s this, the bat signal,” Pops uses a flashlight, “High in the sky. Batman perched up on top of a skyscraper. He alone is the stoic hero to protect Gotham alone stares at the bat signal. He breathes in and puts on a brave face. It’s time for him to go to work.”

“That’s where I come in?”

“That’s where you come in,”

“Um, the bad guy, in question is um holding a bank up,”

“Are there any hostages?”

“Yes, I think so,”

“How many? And who is working for him?”

Nathan rifles through the pile of toys scattered on the ground, grabbing some similar looking soldiers, “4, and.” he grabs a few of the last of the dolls, “5 hostages.”

“Are they tied up?”

“Yes,”

“Continue,”

“Four armed robbers are holding up a bank, with 5 hostages,”

“What are they attempting at the bank?”

He watches his Pops. Not money. It’s generic.

“To get his girlfriend back, she works at the bank, and he’s willing to hold people hostage to earn her heart back,”
Pops laughs, “What a clever setup.”

“Do I continue?”

“Play it out,”

Taking one of the generic female dolls in a pink dress, with black hair, “Get out of here. I don’t want you around.”

“Take me back,”

“Leave me alone,”

“Don’t make me hurt anyone,”

“Then she spits in his direction, I think,”

Pops is watching him, “Does he act violently after that?”

Nathan mulls it over, “I think so.”

“Then, what does he do?”

“Walks over to a hostage I think,”

“Then, what?”

“I don’t want him to shoot him, because if he shoots the hostage, then it wouldn’t get the point across, so he has to hurt the hostage-

-break his arm,” Pops suggests.

“Yes,” he nods.

Pops leans over, “Narrate.”

“The Badguy, er - Victor walks over to a hostage, a man tied up currently, he unravels his binding-
-does he try to run-

-yes-

-then what happens-

-one of Victor’s allies shoots him-

-where?”

“In the head?”

He watches as his Pops tears the head off the action figure. It gives a notable pop before completely dislodging off the neck of the action figure, “Hostage 1 is dead. His blood pools out onto the floor from his forehead.” His Pops searches around the coffee table and grabs a ketchup packet. Squeezing it onto the floor.

“When does Batman come in?” he asks him.

“When everything seems dire and all is lost,”

“Cynthia is the bank teller, she screams,” Nathan continues.

“All I ever did was love you Cynthia,” Nathan speaks for Victor the action figure.

“I never loved you, you’re a Monster,”

He looks up to see if his Pops approves of the current storyline. He’s known to correct him when the storyline isn’t to his liking. So far his Pops is simply watching.

“You used to appreciate these things about me,” Victor continues.

Nathaniel looks over to the flashlight, “Victor. The bat signal.”

“Victor panics,”

“And Victor’s men?”

“They would, flee,”

“All of them,”

“One of them goes for the door,”

“And then what?”

“A shot rings out,”

“Who shot him?”

“They don’t know,”

“What then?”

“They point guns at each other,”

“Where was the man shot?”

“I think the shoulder,”

“So he’s bleeding out,”

Pops spreads some more ketchup onto the floor. Though Nathan is starting to really see it. A bank in Gotham, the real nice one with the pretty shiny, polished floor. It’s the one with the gold tiles, and the black circle in the center. Hostage 1’s blood is pooling out onto the black tile, Bad Guy 2 has been shot in the shoulder, he crumples to the floor, bleeding out. Now Victor and the group of men edgy, panicked, fearing Batman’s arrival are pointing guns at each other. Cynthia tries to duck behind the counter, perhaps to run into the back room,

“Cynthia tries to flee,”

“Someone shoots her,”

“Who?”

“I think Victor,”

“Why?”

“Because he saw movement out of the corner of his eye and they are all on edge and nervous,”

“Where is she shot?”

“Across the neck, it’s not a clean shot,”

“So Cynthia is still in the picture,”

“Yes,”

“Go on,”

“Bad Guy number 3 says they have to go,”

“Viktor is distracted, he cannot believe he shot Cynthia,”

“What next?”

“Bad Guy Number 4, probably turns his gun towards the hostages, the only way they can escape is if there are no witnesses, so he shoots Hostage 2 in the back of the head,”

“Hostage 2 is dead,”

Hostage 2 slumps onto the tile, a bullet wound through their head.

“Then, what?”

“He turns the gun to Hostage 3,”

“This is where Batman comes in,” Pops states, he has Batman descend down from the sky onto the floor, “It’s dark. Dramatic. Glass rains down onto the tile floor for what feels like the hundredth time this bank has seen it. And Batman stands impressively in the center.”

“This is where, Badguy 3 shoots at Batman,”

“Yes, go on,”

“Badguy 4 tries to shoot another hostage,”

“And Victor attempts to run, towards the counter I think where Cynthia is,”

“Batman swiftly swooshes in and takes out Badguy 4, and deflects the bullet of Badguy 3,”

“Does Victor make it over the counter?” Nathan ask.
“Does Victor?” Pops ask.

“I think so,”

He sees it. Batman bust through the window. Glass raining down. The gun rings out, as Batman swoops in and uses his cape to deflect a bullet. While he punches Badguy 4 in his face. While Victor slithers over the counter, “Cynthia screams,”

“Batman notices and swings one of his batarangs at Victor,”

“It misses?”

“It’s a near miss, sticking into the wall, in front of Victor,”

“Victor grabs Cynthia who tries to run, and holds a gun to her head,”

“Is that all he does?”

“Batman’s not supposed to save the day in this scenario, is he?”

“No, do you know why?”

“Why?”

“Let’s take this back to the top, shall we?”

“Okay,”

“We will start here, Badguy 4 gun pointed at a hostage, Batman dropping in,”

“Okay,”

“Batman descends down from the window, very moody, very dramatic, it’s quite the scene, as the room grows quiet as the dark, tall stoic figure lands. Badguy 4’s finger is already on the trigger squeezing tightly, Batman notices and dives in to save the day, when Badguy 3 shoots out in a panic at Batman, Batman uses his cape to deflect the bullet, and subdues Badguy 4, but not before Hostage 3 crumbles to the floor, blood pooling out of a wound,”

“Batman was too late,”

“Precisely,”

“This has happened before?” Niel looks up at his Father, “Hasn’t it?”

“Let me tell you something about Mortal men, they are fragile, their bones break,, and their minds wither. You can break as many bones as you like,” his Father grabs an action figure ripping an arm off, “They can and they will break over and over again. And they will heal, maybe not as complete as they were. But the one thing that doesn’t heal is the mind, Nate.”

“What are you saying?”

“That night the one they don’t tell you about, the one where Batman saves the day, posing gallantly and dramatically on the news. Is also the same man as Me, he simply denies it. Every time he loses control, every time, he loses that control, he denies it. That night, Batman, failed, he failed to save one person, and he took it out on the one remaining person,”

“Victor,”

“Victor, Victor behind the counter grabs Cynthia after his batarang misses, he’s shaking and sweaty after a hostage was killed and he was too late to save them. Potentially feeling his age, but relentless and never willing to give up. He leaps over the counter, and Victor stabs Cynthia in the back. Batman saw for a brief moment that night the thing that haunts him. He grabs Victor, after Cynthia slumps to the floor. And throws him to the ground, slamming his face into the tile, it’s visceral, there is blood everywhere, and it is the first time that Batman had to recognize, that his mind is withered,”

He’s saying this by demonstrating tearing the toys apart. All of this is narrated, while his Father is ripping toys limbs off. But in Nathan’s mind, they are bones, because that is how Father has presented. He can see it, the bank, the dark bank with the polished golden tile. Stained in blood. Hearing Batman pounding Victor’s face in the tile. A primal look on his face.

“Who is the hero then?” Niel asks his Father.

“No one, everyone who believes they are heroes will eventually succumb to their mind, they will all eventually wither. The difference between I and them is that I recognize that my mind has withered and I accept that side of me. Heroes, true heroes, will never realize that their mind has withered, they will never recognize the scars, in their mind. All heroes fall, never try to be the hero, simply be the person who takes actions,”

7-15 - Under Surveillance

There was one person Harley knew who may provide her and Nathan protection after fleeing the Joker. The one man who the Joker wouldn’t provoke intentionally that is. Batman. She fled with a seven year old Nathan that night after Ivy’s convincing, in a rare moment of clarity from Harley - she took a sleeping Nathan with her to contact Batman. She assumed Nathan would be asleep during the time, and she manipulated the bat signal, and waited for Him to show up.

Harley's Asks for a Favor

Harley
Batman
He arrived as he normally did, from the shadows. Quiet despite being an impressively large man, Harley had been sitting at the edge of the signal, waiting. She hid Nathan behind the watertower in hopes Batman wouldn’t notice till she mentioned something.

“You’re not Gordon,” Batman tells her in his usual stoic way.

“No, I ain’t no old timey detective with whiskers on his face,” Harley responds.

“I assume you have a reason to be using the signal then,” Bats is clearly not amused by her presence.

“I actually do,” Harley tells him standing up, “See I need your help Bats.”

“My help? I thought you rejected that a long time ago, Harlene,”

“Oh you don’t have to big ol’ grumps about it, I get it, but this is important,”

“It better be for your sake Harlene, you’re using the signal in a way it wasn’t intended for,”

“It’s a way to contact you, ain’t it, or you just mad I ain’t your boyfriend waiting for you. It’s Harley, Bats, not Harlene. She’s dead,”

“I am listening,”

“I need one of your favors. One of your Bat favors. I’ll promise anything, as long as you help,”

“Depends on what that is,” he’s growing impatient.

Truth is this was a lot easier to rehearse, than it is to say. She had been rehearsing what she was going to say since she got here. Now staring at the man in front of her, her eyes darting back to the water tower, oh she hoped he’d stay sleeping. Because Bats is going to be mad with her. She didn’t regret having her Natey. No she wouldn’t ever regret him coming from her. The issue was people like Bats were going to unfairly judge him before he even had the chance to grow up. They take one look at Jokes and one look at her and think that’s who Natey is going to be. She wanted him to have a choice. The ability to choose who he wanted to be.

“Look I need you to promise not to get mad,” Harley begins.

Bats says nothing.

“Cause what I am gonna say is gonna make you upset,”

He continues to stare her down.

“Go on,” he finally declares firmly.

“See, there’s somethin’ you don’t know,” this was a lot harder than the Bats in her head, “But I had a kid.”
She can almost see the immediate scowl on his face despite it being covered in the cowl.

“With who?” he asks so firmly it sounds like a Father.
“You can’t get upset,”

He says nothing.

“You have to promise,”

He says nothing.

“I guess you can guess who it is,”

“Are you sure,”

“Well he’s the only man I know whose got one of his wands to do that sort of thing, unless Ivy got one of those I don’t know about,”

“The Joker is the father!”

He’s mad. Real mad.

“Pretty sure,”
“How could you!?”

“It ain’t like I said oh yeah having a baby with the Jokes is off the table. It happened. Things like that happen no matter how careful you are-

-The Joker isn’t someone who-

-Bats it’s done and over it ain’t like I can pop him back in there, he’s seven, no way of forcing his head all the way back up. How would I even-

-There were options-

-I decided those options weren’t for me, you don’t tell me what to do with my body, already had another man do that for me-

-This is serious-
-He’s already born, and is this really the first impression you wanna have with him, the big timey supah old Hero tellin’ me that I should have aborted him, or that I should find a time machine - cause there are plenty of those out there in this damnable universe- to abort him,”

“He’s here?”

Oh Natey. You were supposed to stay asleep. Nathaniel has been watching at the edge of the doorway behind the watertower. She noticed when the Bats started yelling. Immediately the Bats turns around, facing Nathaniel.

That was the first time Nathaniel had seen Him. The Batman. The one who was often talked about on the news. He’s taller in person, a living statue of a man. And Nathaniel can only think to himself, how is this the man known for his stealth? He’s so brawny, so muscular.

A Deal Struck for a Favor

Harley
Batman
Nathaniel

“If you’re old enough to watch, you’re old enough to be part of the conversation,” Batman tells him firmly.

Niel looks up at his Mom. She smiles at him.

“He didn’t mean to spook you, Bats is just an ol’ grumps,” she tells him with a reassuring smile.

Niel steps out from behind the structure containing the staircase to the police department’s roof access. He stares up at Batman. The Batman doesn’t seem to like him very much, that’s evident. They were talking about getting rid of him. What is he even doing on top of the police station anyway? When his Mom woke him up briefly tonight, he thought most of that was a dream. But he woke up to the two adults arguing about getting rid of him.

“Are you going to get rid of me?” he asks immediately.

“Oh sugar plum,” Mom comes up to him immediately, “No never. There ain’t any way of putting you back. This ain’t like a flavor of ice cream you don’t like so you ask for a different flavor. Or putting something back on the shelf. I can’t do that with you. And if Bats thinks I am. Then I will go find someone else to help.”

She grabs his hand. Squeezing it tightly. She smiles in that way that makes him believe that everything will be okay. Even if her eyes say that she is scared and uncertain of what is going to happen. Nathaniel looks up at Batman. Who is staring down at him. This man harbors so much hate for him. He can already tell he’s wrestling with something. He’s taken back to the thing his Pops and him discussed this evening. About how heroes never know their minds are withering before they are too late. That’s the impression Nathaniel gets of the man before him too. Perhaps his Pops was a little right in the retrospective then.

“Nathaniel,” Batman addresses so firmly it sounds like Nathans been put into bootcamp.

“Yes,” he replies.

“What have your parents taught you?” he asks.

Nathan looks at his Mom and then back at Batman.

“It’s okay Natey, say what you want cause it ain’t like we taught you anything wrong,” she gives a defiant glare at Batman.

Batman glares back, if he can even glare any more than he’s already glaring.

“Well Aunty Ivy-

-Ivy!-

-She’s a friend, I am allowed to have friends Bat-

-she’s taught me about science and mathematics, I go to hers to be homeschooled is what Mom said-

-I ain’t the sharpest drawer when it comes to all that biology stuff,” Mom attempts to rectify the situation.

“And Pops,” Nathan stops as Batman stares at him.

“You consider the Joker your Father?” he ask like this is an interrogation.
“Well, yes, he is My Biological Father,” Nathan snaps, not liking being judged by a man ages older than him.

“Do you know who your Father is?”

“Well, yes and no, it’s not like they can keep me from watching the news, I am seven, I am not stupid, they aren’t the same thing,”
His Mom puts her arms around his shoulder, holding him close, “Its’ okay. Natey. Bats all I am asking is for you to put us in some kind of custody protection. Please.”

Batman stares at the both of them, “Fine. This is against my better judgment, but Harley, you have to agree to all and every one of my conditions.”

“I said I do anything Bats,”

Batman's protection wasn’t nearly as much protection, as it was surveillance. Harley was placed under house arrest so she could watch Nathaniel in an apartment setup for them. Nathaniel grew up for nearly half his life with cameras everywhere in their home, he too was being treated like a criminal before he even had ever been able to take an action. And then there was one other part of the agreement, when Nathaniel turned 16, he would be turned over to the Teen Titans. If there was one thing Batman always worried about was that Nathan was born evil or born with Joker qualities. He felt the best option for Nathan when he was old enough was to be reformed.