Cousins on the Citadel

Title: Cousins on the Citadel
Fandom: Mass Effect
Characters: Dexter “Shepard” Aksamit, Artemis Shepard, Keira Shepard, Jack/Subject Zero
Pairing: N/A
Ratings: T
Warnings: Jack curses :v
Author Notes: N/A

Dexter looked at Artemis and Keira as they sat at a table. They were at a restaurant on the Citadel and just enjoying their shore leave. It had been a while since the three of them were able to get together like this and it was long overdue. They weren’t at the sushi place Dexter had been shot at in only a few days before. They were at another place both Keira and Artemis picked out. Not that Dexter minded. If he had it his way, he’d be at the apartment watching the holovids and relaxing. Which is probably why his cousins dragged him away from the idea.

“So, Dex, anything cool going on?” Artemis asked. “I mean aside from finding a Prothean and making my wife happy and sad all at the same time.”

“Well…” He mused as he took a drink. “I did legally change my name today.”

“One of us.” Keira giggled. “It only took you forever to do it.”

“Yeah well, we can’t all be cool kids.” He chuckled.

“Seriously though, what took so long in getting it changed?” Artemis asked. “It’s not like you ever cared for your dad anyways.”

“Just never saw the point in it until after I passed the N7 program.” He shrugged. “I wanted to get it changed while I was on Earth but didn’t make the time for it. It was supposed to be a surprise for mom but…”

“I’m sure Aunt Masha would’ve loved it.” Keira said. “She always appreciated whatever gestures you made anyways – however small.”

“Yeah! I’m sure she’s happy about it.” Artemis beamed.

Dexter just looked down at his glass, feeling the creep of embarrassment covering his face. It was good that he was finally accomplishing this goal, however he still felt silly about it. Changing his name from “Aksamit” to “Shepard” was only a matter of time – to him anyway. He had spent most of the morning amongst the bureaucracy of the Citadel to get it changed. Even his status as a Spectre didn’t even help much aside from a slight move up.

So here they were, celebrating his new name. At least when people call him “Commander Shepard”, they’d be more factual. “Shepard” was more of a nickname than anything. Sort of like the call signs pilots from Earth would use to identify one another. Although, people called Dexter “Shepard” because of his mother – and later his cousins. It simply just stuck to him afterwards so he figured he’d make it permanent.

“Oh, did you listen to the recording she left for you?” Keira asked, looking hesitant at her own question.

“Not yet.” He said, shaking his head. “I will before we get back onto the Normandy.”

“If it’s too soon, you can always listen to it another time.” Artemis suggested, sounding just as unsure.

“What if we don’t survive?” He asked them. “There’s a chance we won’t and I’d like to know whatever her last words were before that moment happens. I’ll be fine listening to it. I just need to work my way there first.” Dexter looked at his empty glass for a moment. Way to bring down the mood. He berated himself a bit for his words. They were supposed to be having fun, not this.

Keira looked between her cousins as she felt the tension settle between them. She remembered Jack talking about some sort of arcade game the other day. She got an idea then stood up and bolted off. Dexter watched as she ran off without so much as a clue as to what she was up to. He knew he had some sort of motive. She rarely acted spontaneously like that. It didn’t settle his nerves all too well however. A part of him wondered if it was because of what he said – despite knowing otherwise. He looked over at Artemis. She was looking at something on her omni-tool. Going by the holographic image, he supposed it was something Liara sent her but since it was backwards, he couldn’t make out what it was.

“Hey, I have an idea!” Keira said as she returned to them. “I’ll settle the tab. Artemis, you remember that gaming simulation you told me about the other day? The one Jack mentioned while we were walking around?” Artemis nodded, trying to see what Keira was up to judging by the look on her face. “Meet me there with Dexter.”

Dexter and Artemis got up and left the restaurant. The pair walked towards a taxi and took it back towards the Silversun Strip. The ride back wasn’t eventful but they made some small talk about Artemis’s gaming thing… Dexter didn’t quite understand it but she was happy so he didn’t really question it. She was going on about something called “dragons and barrels” or something. It all really went over his head the more she went into it. He also didn’t want to interrupt her either since she seemed really into what she was talking about. She continued as they walked off the taxi and made their way towards Armax Arsenal Arena.

The whole place was loud and boisterous. Dexter felt a little bombarded by how loud the V.I.’s voice was. The colors were also very in his face. He preferred the nightclub at Omega over this and he wasn’t a huge fan of that either. He’d probably appreciate nearly as much as Artemis would if he was into it. She stopped talking altogether and seemed very interested in the arcade. The pair waited outside with the crowd. He kept an eye out for anything strange but it was hard to do considering the amount of looks he was getting alone. He supposed his reputation had preceded him yet again. Although, it wasn’t unwelcomed. No one was staring at him or looking like they were going to give him a hard time.

“Oh, this is gonna be so much fun!” Artemis said with a slight excitable shriek in her voice. “You’re gonna love this, Dex! It’s so up your alley.”

“What is this?” He asked, looking at her.

“Um…” She stammered for a moment. “Do you remember that time you were showing Liara how to shoot better when we were chasing Saren? The combat sim Anderson installed on the ship for training? It’s like that but the higher the score, the better the prizes. You’ll get it once we’re inside.”

“I think I saw something about this place actually.” Dexter mumbled as he opened his omni-tool and searched through his personal messages. He found something mentioning the place a moment later and shared it with Artemis. When she read through the message, her face lit up.

“You have a FREE pass to get in?” She nearly hollered. Had there not been so much noise, he was sure someone would’ve overheard. Even if they did, what would they do anyways? Although, he was certain there’d be an unnecessary commotion either way.

“Well, yeah?” He shrugged. “I meant to forward it to you because I knew you’d be interested in it.”

“Mr. Big Shot over here, looking all badass with his free pass.” Artemis joked. “Guess you’re the one letting us in. Sometimes the prices can be ridiculous in places like this. They probably gave the highest tiered pass too to let you enjoy everything in the place…” Dexter knew the look in her eyes. She was scheming something and it was probably related to the arcade. He’d be concerned but when it came to games, he really didn’t see a reason to be. He did hope he’d enjoy the simulation like she said he would. Although, he wasn’t sure.

“Sorry I’m late.” Keira said as she walked towards them with Jack in tow.

“Alright, bitches, let’s get to killing shit.” Jack said rather eloquently.

“Jack caught me as I was leaving and wanted to join.” Keira explained. “So are we ready?”

“We are and Dexter’s got a free pass into the place so we get to enjoy everything on his behalf.” Artemis chuckled. However, Dexter felt like he was going to regret it judging by how chuffed she looked.

They followed Artemis into the Armax Arsenal Arena. If Dexter thought it was loud outside, it was somehow even louder inside. The atmosphere was more dulled at least and not bombarding his senses at every turn. The lighting was low and more mellowed out but the signs above the ticket counters and the refreshment counter were bright enough to draw people’s attention. There were some holographic banners hanging in the back of the room with promotions to play against certain enemies.

“All right, ladies, we’re gonna go out there and kick ass.” Jack said then looked at Dexter. If he had been bothered by being called a “lady”, it wasn’t gonna be from her. It wasn’t even the first time he’d been called it either but he has heard worse things.

“So, we do we, Artemis?” He asked his cousin.

Artemis bounced in excitement for a moment before walking towards a staircase leading down. There was a translucent red barred gateway that said “athletes only” on it. She walked through it, the red bar flashing green as she passed through it. Keira and Jack followed after her and he mimicked their action. He saw all three ladies crowded around a console as he walked down to join them. He looked around the room, taking it in more than whatever they were doing. It wasn’t remarkable but there was another room, connecting to the one he was in, that looked like a locker room. He could see a weapon bench on the other side of the next room.

“Dexter, come here!” Artemis hollered at him. He walked over towards them to see a rather strange looking console. There were several banner displays for an enemy type, difficulty, modifications, and even the setting.

“You get to pick what we fight.” Keira said as she leaned over Artemis to tap on the console. The banners changed between several enemies. Collectors, Geth, Cerberus, and even Reapers. He looked over at Keira with a skeptical look. “It’s part of the current seasonal hype they’re doing I think. Trying to drum up some support for players to understand some of the enemies you’ve fought against.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, just pick something.” Jack said dismissively. She seemed impatient but it was hard to tell. He looked over at the display. The only one that caught his attention was Cerberus so he pointed over to the banner for it.

“All right, Cerberus on the hard difficulty…” Artemis muttered as she pressed the buttons on the console.

“Shouldn’t we do it on an easier difficulty? It’s Dexter’s first time here.” Keira suggested.

“Please, once we get in, he’ll get the hang of it.” Jack said, crossing her arms. “He may be old, but he’s not that old.”

“Should we split up into teams?” Artemis asked.

“I’m with Jack.” Keira said without hesitation. “You two are scary to team up with when it comes to stuff like this.”

“We just get dialed in.” Artemis laughed. “So me and Dex versus you two.”

“Who goes first?” Dexter asked. “If we’re splitting up into teams.”

“Why not you, old man?” Jack laughed. “It’d be funny to see some pixels knock you down.”

“If Grunt can’t knock me down, how’s a pixel gonna do that?” He retorted. Jack only laughed even more and waved him off. Artemis grabbed his wrist and led into the locker room.

“All right, so don’t be weirded out but we can use the gear we use for missions here.” Artemis explained as she opened one of the lockers. To his surprise his gear was in there. He looked at her with a confused look.

“It’s like Keira said, they’re doing a special event at the moment for players to get geared up like Commander Shepard and his crew…” Artemis explained. “It should fit you too. I think Jack found a message saying something about how they replicated the gear you and some of your crew use if you wanted to bring anyone else here.”

“Glad they left that out of the message.” Dexter sighed. “That’d be weird to try and explain without making it super weird.”

He started to put on his gear. After he settled into it, he looked at the weapons on the bench nearby. He grabbed one of the assault rifles and a shotgun. He picked up the pistol and submachine gun for Artemis after he put his own weapons on his back. Even if they weren’t his actual weapons, they felt very real.

“Ready to kick ass?” Artemis asked. Dexter felt a little nervous but more out of his element.

“Anything I should worry about?” He asked her as they walked towards the elevator leading into the stadium.

“Just act like you normally do for a mission.” She smiled at him. “Oh, and remember it’s a game. Although, I think we’ll do just fine between the two of us. Trust me, you’ll get the hang of things as soon as the game starts.”

She made it sound so easy. He chewed the corner of his mouth for a moment as they stood in the elevator. It stopped a moment later and opened up. Artemis walked out into a place that looked unreal. It was a forest with a lit brazier in the middle. It looked like it was actually dark too, like they were in some night time operation or something. There were strange looking holographic ammo boxes floating around the stadium. There were some noticeable panels on the back wall that he could see through the trees and he saw him and Artemis on them too.

“Up there!” Artemis said as she pointed up to a large box protruding from the ceiling above them. It had a scoreboard on it with a timer too. “That’ll tell us our score and time left as we play through the match.”

“Missy, I’ve seen biotiball you know.” He chuckled at her. “It’s the same thing there too.”

“Okay, well. If you need ammo, find the floating ammo boxes.” She explained. He nodded, not wanting to tell her he already figured it out on his own.

“Players, game is commencing in… 3… 2… 1.” The V.I. declared in a booming tone.

Dexter reflexively grabbed his assault rifle and aimed it in front of him. There were several red balls with numbers counting down. Cerberus operatives manifested from them when the counter reached zero. Without hesitating, Dexter shot at them as he ran towards a tree. He used it as cover while Artemis shot at the holograms. He could hear the V.I. mention a kill streak followed by a number.

Dexter remarkably had more fun with the match as it proceeded. Artemis was right about how he’d “dial in” as soon as he got into it. He zoned out the extra noise going on as he shot down the holograms. He moved from cover to cover between the rounds. He was surprised with how versatile the programming was. It was like he was actually fighting against Cerberus operatives too with how they acted. He lit up a bit in the third round when an Atlas dropped into the stadium. He made a hand sign to Artemis motioning for her to go to the far side to avoid the Atlas. He fired a couple rounds to get its attention and dove towards the opposite direction Artemis ran towards. He could hear turrets going off and then explosions.

He was hiding behind the brazier in the middle of the stadium and grabbed a frag grenade from his belt. He chucked it towards the Atlas. He heard the explosion and threw another one at it. It was so focused on him, that it seemed to have forgotten Artemis. There weren’t anymore noises going on – that weren’t coming from the Atlas anyways.

“Hey! Over here!” Artemis shouted behind it. She sneered at it as it turned towards her. She dodged the missile it fired at her.

Dexter took the opportunity to leave where he was. He looked around and saw a grenade launcher on the ground nearby. Convenient. He picked it up and whistled to get Artemis’s attention. He pointed towards where one of the ammo crates were in the space between them. She nodded and ran towards it. He sprinted to a couple of trees leaning against each other. He peeked over his shoulder to see where the Atlas and Artemis were. She dove for some boulders as it fired another missile at her. He rounded the corner and aimed at the cockpit of the mech. The grenade launcher fired and crashed against the glass. Without missing a beat, he charged at the Atlas and flung his right arm down to ready his omni-blade. Once the mech had steadied itself from the attack, Dexter was already in the hologram’s face and stabbing at it. He tossed it out and was ready to jump inside when the hologram fizzled out.

“Aw…” He mumbled as Artemis ran up to him. “I was looking forward to jumping inside.”

“Why? The match is over.” She asked.

“I mean, because I can?” He shrugged. Artemis laughed in response though he wasn’t sure what she expected. Out of all the times he’d been shot at by Cerberus, he’s yet to actually pull someone out so he can operate the mech. The damn thing exploded every time before he got the chance.

“Match over.” The V.I. announced. Both Artemis and Dexter looked up at the scoreboard to see “9990” on it.

“Um… that’s good, right?” He asked.

“That’s very good!” She squealed as she hugged him. “Keira’s gonna be mad trying to beat that.”

“You mean Jack is gonna be mad trying to beat that.” He replied. “She’s just as bad as we are when it comes to this stuff.”

“Keira really got screwed out of a partner I think…” She mumbled.

“I think she accepted it the moment Jack appeared.” He replied. “I’m sure he wanted us to run this with just us before that.”

They walked back towards the elevator and were back in the locker room before they knew it. Dexter had just made his way towards the weapon bench when Jack nearly knocked him over as she grabbed onto his shoulder. He felt himself sink down towards her and used the bench to keep himself leveled.

“Some badass shit there with the grenade launcher.” She said. “Just wait until you see that scoreboard light up with a pair of badass biotics.”

Dexter didn’t get to reply as she let go of him and grabbed the weapons Artemis had from her. Keira mouthed an apology to him as she grabbed his assault rifle and a sniper rifle from the bench. He watched as she left and tossed the shotgun on the bench. He got out of the gear he was wearing and walked towards the next room. There was a monitor on the other side of the room so the participants could watch the current match. Dexter watched as Jack and Keira used their biotics to kick all sorts of ass. He hadn’t realized Artemis was next to him until she cheered for Keira really loudly in his ear. He just laughed and joined her. The match concluded rather quickly. Artemis’s jaw nearly fell to the floor when she saw the final score: 9999.

“How did they do that?” She asked.

“Probably because they kept their kill count up in that last round.” Dexter shrugged. “I mean we lost it because of the damn Atlas.”

“Dexter, we’re doing this again.” She said looking rather serious.

“Why…?” He asked. Sure hearing Jack brag was going to be annoying but it wasn’t worth running through that again just to get the same score.

“Because I wanted to get the reward for getting the high score!” Artemis pouted.

“Well goodie for you, Artemis, you can have whatever it is.” Keira said as she and Jack joined the pair.

“What? Really?” She asked, looking rather surprised.

“It’s just a damn outfit anyways.” Jack shrugged. “Cerberus themed too. Fucking gross.”

“You say that, but I know how to change its look.” Artemis said, looking proud.

“Using Glyph doesn’t count.” Dexter teased.

“Says you!” She said, sticking her tongue out at him. Keira and Artemis walked up the stairs to go to one of the ticket counters. Jack and Dexter followed them up and waited for them near the refreshments counter.

“So that was fun.” Dexter said to her.

“Cathartic.” Jack shrugged. “You had some cool moves back there. That was neat with the grenade launcher.”

“I just wanted to get inside the Atlas.” He admitted.

“Of course you did.” She laughed. “Sorry if I ruined family night.”

“You didn’t. I just feel bad for Keira.” He said.

“Why?” She asked.

“Because she had three competitive knuckleheads to deal with instead of two.” He explained.

Jack laughed again as Keira and Artemis walked towards them. Something came to Dexter and it probably wasn’t the ideal time to mention it either. However, seeing as his apartment was nearby, he was certain he'd make a quick getaway. It was a little bit of a shame, she looked really excited about getting whatever prize she got from the counter.

“So, Missy, I have something to tell you and you have to promise to not be mad.” He started to explain. “I want to remind you, this happened when I was trying to hunt down those Collectors and was under the impression it was a one-way ticket.”

“Oh this is gonna be good.” Jack said, looking smug as she crossed her arms.

“What did you do…” Artemis asked as her happy demeanor fell. Keira simply raised an eyebrow in response.

“Again, Collectors.” He repeated himself.

“What did you do, Dexter.” Artemis repeated herself, this time sounding like she was dreading the answer.

“I watched the rest of Enterprise without you and binged it with Joker.” He said quickly and sped off. Artemis’s jaw dropped and she chased after him.

“This is normal, right?” Jack asked and Keira sighed heavily.

“Unfortunately…” She mumbled as she shook her head.