I am Iron Man

by Colin Cook

  pulled out of the world of a film and brought into ours, its ludicrous," Bailey stated to Moira with a small shake of his head after looking over the images one last time.

  "You haven't seen nothing yet Bailey, if ludicrous is what you're after then get a load of this," she said before typing another request into the terminal.

  The images of Yoda and Jango vanished from the screen, soon being replaced by a single large picture of a familiar robotic spider creature frozen in an attack pose.

  "I overheard the descriptions you and your boys at the Docks gave about that strange horde of mechanical insects that suddenly joined up with Axel. So on a hunch I

  cross-referenced them with a few characters I know of from my private Sci-Fi collection. This little guy fit the likenesses to a T," Moira explained to the two officers before

  turning back and pointing to the bluish-grey spider. Chellick was already nodding his head the moment he saw the fearsome machine displayed on the screen.

  "That's them alright, what exactly are they?" asked the Turian after bringing his eyes away from it.

  "They're called Replicators, they're a race of self-replicating A.I. controlled machines from the 20th century TV-show Stargate SG-1," Moira explained informatively, her

  voice and manner concerning the subject sounding almost as cultivated as a fully licensed Ph. D explaining a highly complex scientific theory. Bailey opened his mouth to

  say something but was suddenly cut off my Chellick snapping his taloned fingers, as if having just come to a revelation.

  "Wait, I've actually heard of these guys before! Yeah they were one of the main villains in the later seasons of Stargate, the ach-enemy of the Asgard and the machine

  race that could consume and re-utilize almost any technology they came across. I can't believe I didn't recognize them until now!" he stated with an oddly surprised smile.

  Bailey slowly turned to the Turian with a very pointed glare before shaking his head with a gruff sigh; unable to believe he was now hearing this kind of geek-talk from

  Chellick.

  "Hey, sometimes I watch episodes from old Human TV shows, once or twice Stargate just happened to be one of them," Chellick defended with a shrug.

  "Annnd if you guy's want something that's even more impossible, check this out. Remember that Iron Man suit F'Loson went chasing after over the Embassies…" Moira

  added back to the duo before typing into the terminal again. The picture of the Replicator spider disappeared and was replaced by a blurry but unmistakable shot of Axel's

  black and silver suit, freeze-framed at just the right moment as he blasted past an Embassy District security camera.

  Beside this was another image of a similar, but purely silver Iron Man suit flying across a dark nighttime cityscape.

  "It was almost an exact lookalike to the Mark II suit built by Tony Stark in the first live-action Iron Man movie made back in 2008," she finished with a nod to the screen.

  "The Replicators must have built it for them, it's the only thing that can explain why nearly everything from that warehouse was…" Chellick began to both of them when

  suddenly Bailey's omni-tool materialized around his arm accompanied by a small beep.

  "Forensics to Lieutenant Bailey," a Salarian voice came through the tool's speaker.

  Bailey pressed a button on its keyboard and brought the microphone closer to his face.

  "Bailey here."

  "We've completed our analysis of the evidence you sent down sir. Unfortunately we weren't able to get anything more conclusive like DNA, but we were able to lift a

  partial fingerprint originating from the suspect's ring finger."

  Bailey looked up and nodded to Chellick and Moira, feeling a small surge of excitement well up in his chest.

  "That makes sense. When I first saw him during the Ward D incident he was missing a portion of the glove that covered his right hand, which left his ring finger exposed,"

  Bailey stated to the others before returning his attention to the omni-tool.

  "Good work, transfer the print to Moira Kealoha's desk terminal and we'll handle it from there," the lieutenant ordered before shutting off the device, causing it to fade

  away in an instant.

  After a few seconds of silence Moira looked over her shoulder from her screen with a small smile.

  "Got it, it's pretty clear for a partial so we'll have plenty to compare it to."

  Bailey walked out from behind Kealoha's desk and stood before the large wall screen still showing the last half of Pallin's embarrassing news broadcast.

  "Alright bring it up on the main screen and link in to the Citadel's supercomputer network, start sifting through all known Alliance files: criminal, civilian, and military, give

  me everything you can nab," Bailey said back to her as he folded his arms and stared at the screen.

  Immediately the image of Pallin and F'Loson still withstanding the barrage of questions being thrown at them disappeared and was replaced by a partially complete Human

  fingerprint lit up in emerald green.

  Beside this on the left side of the screen was a rapidly changing array of similar prints, all of them belonging to a long list of various people, from captured Terminus pirates

  all the way up to retired and accommodated Alliance captains.

  While Moira ran Axel's print against all of these different files, Chellick moved around her desk until he was standing right beside Bailey.

  "So what are we looking for Bailey?" Chellick asked while they both kept their gaze on the flashing prints and various names that appeared and then disappeared within

  the blink of an eye on the main screen.

  "From our own experiences and from some of the eyewitness accounts given by our agents in the field, we know Axel's a trained expert in the use of firearms and handto-hand

  combat, I wanna know where he learned those skills and who taught them to him," Bailey answered as he took a step closer, squinting up at the screen slightly

  after several interesting names popped up.

  However after a few minutes of silent processing, in which Moira's link with the Citadel's vast networking capabilities ran through hundreds of thousands of names and

  profiles, the unthinkable happened.

  The left side of the screen abruptly stopped searching and brought up a single line of flashing red text which stated in bold letters…

  'NO MATCH FOUND'.

  Chellick blinked in surprise while Moira leaned back in her seat and cocked an astonished eyebrow.

  "Well…that's never happened before," she remarked out loud.

  "No military records, employment transcripts, or even brushes with local law enforcements, he mustn't be from the Alliance then. Perhaps he was born on one of the

  outer colonies in the Traverse; try searching…" Bailey began. But before he could continue with that train-of-thought Chellick turned to him, a very deep faraway look in his

  eyes.

  "Wait! Hold on a sec…" he said to Moira before turning and moving back over toward her while raising his left arm. With a curious look Moira leaned over toward Chellick

  while Bailey came around near his right side, also intent on learning what the Turian was now going on about.

  With a flexing of his wrist Chellick activated his own omni-tool and began typing into its glowing keyboard, subsequently bringing up a small holo-screen with a series of

  jagged lines running through it.

  After a few more button taps a small indicator appeared near the beginning of the group of lines with a short set of numbers hovering next to it. Looking down at Moira,

  Chellick semi sat himself on the outer edge of her desk and leaned forward so that his omni-tool was placed in between the three of them.

  "This is a recording we took from the omni-tool of a Turian marine who was injured during a confrontation between Axel's group and another man who appeared just

  minutes befor
e they made their escape. What you're about to hear just might give us a lead to the information we're looking for," Chellick said in a hushed voice to Moira,

  taking a quick look around himself to make sure none of the other agents and officers in the room were eavesdropping on them.

  With the press of a button, the recording began playing, the jagged lines moving with each sound or change in pitch while the indicator began making its way down the

  width of the screen, the numbers on it quickly counting off the recording's duration.

  "Uhhhhhhhh…Axel. I'm drawing a huge blank on this one. Who exactly is this guy?" came the almost indiscernible voice of the terrorist Alec, who had it not been for his

  direct questioning of Axel could have easily been mistaken for Axel. Barely a second after this Axel himself spoke.

  "Second-Lieutenant Jarrod François, of the Canadian Royal 22e Régiment, Light Infantry 3rd Battalion out of Valcartier, Quebec. Graduated with honours, participated in

  multiple tours-of-duty in the Afghan theatre…"

  Hearing this caused Moira to do a double take, her brow wrinkling into a severe frown.

  "What?" she stated up to Chellick in shock. But right away Chellick held up a talon to silence her.

  "He gives more..." he said quietly, taking another look around to see if any of their coworkers were watching them.

  "…Shot and killed by friendly-fire while in the Kandahar Province on September 25th, 2010, due to a violent psychological breakdown that turned him against his own unit

  and endangered the lives of many surrounding civilians." At that Chellick tapped another button that paused the recording. Both Moira and Bailey were looking at each

  other with widened eyes, now seeing where the Turian was going with this.

  "You both heard that. September 25th, 2010! Axel was referring to an incident that happened over 170 years ago!" Chellick said lowly, looking between both of them with

  his head partially bowed over his omni-tool.

  Bailey frowned at this, both in contemplation but also in disapproval.

  "Hold on Chellick, are you trying to say you think Axel might be some sort of time travelling soldier from the early 21st century?" Immediately Chellick gave a small shrug

  with a half-hearted, almost indecisive nod.

  "After everything we saw during that chase Bailey, can we really rule out anything at this point? Levitating trees, men turning into Minotaurs and giant gorillas, strange

  creatures suddenly dropping in wherever Axel happens to be…" he began listing off before turning and gesturing over to Moira.

  "And a horde of 'good' Replicators charging to the rescue and building an Iron Man suit out of spare parts!" Bailey cocked an eyebrow, flicking his eyes down slightly in

  thought before giving a small nod.

  "Everything we've seen today has been on the more incredible side. You really think time-travel could somehow be involved in this too?" he asked up to Chellick.

  But before the Turian could answer, Moira spoke from her seat.

  "Actually Bailey, Chellick may be right." Both lieutenants turned their gazes back to her.

  "How so?" Bailey asked.

  "I was born near Minnesota back on Earth. Because of where we lived when I was a little girl I met a lot of Canadians travelling back and forth across the border.

  Sometimes a few of them turned out to be senior Army retirees," Moira began explaining.

  "When I managed to speak to a few of them they would always tell me stories of their military careers and each of the units they had been assigned to during their

  heydays."

  Both Chellick and Bailey were now frowning at each other.

  "Moira what does this have to do with Axel…" Chellick asked. But with a wide grin and a raised hand Moira held him off.

  "I'm getting to that. So one time when I asked a few of these retirees about their histories, one of them told me about how he used to serve in an Infantry Battalion of

  the Canadian Royal 22e Régiment." Now Chellick and Bailey were beginning to get the picture, both of them inclining closer and listening intently to Moira's every word.

  "The Royal 22e Régiment was still a part of the Canadian Armed Forces well after Humanity discovered the Prothean Archives on Mars, and even after we began

  developing our first FTL Drives. It wasn't until 2149, when most of Earth's major nations came together and signed the Systems Alliance Charter that the Régiment was

  assimilated into the new Alliance Navy and Planetary Defense Forces, pretty much erasing it of name and title." Bailey was looking off into negative space again, putting

  the pieces of this new information together.

  "So that would mean…" he began as he looked back at her, but Moira was eager to finish this part.

  "Even if Axel was lying about the incident 170 years ago, in age wise if he really was a part of the Canadian Régiment before it faded away that would still leave him in his

  late fifties to early sixties at least!" Moira stated.

  "I saw the footage you two captured of him during the manhunt, and I can tell you right now he barely looked to be in his mid-twenties," she finished with a serious nod

  to the both of them. Bailey's eyebrows shot up as he snapped his head back to Chellick.

  "Could it be possible? Could Axel really be visitor from the past?" he asked to both of them quickly, flicking his head back and forth between his two colleagues, even his

  strict no-nonsense mentality cracking open to the idea of it. As if in answer to his question Chellick lifted his still active omni-tool slightly and tapped a code into the

  keyboard. The holo-screen above his arm shimmered slightly as the recording of Axel and Alec fast-forwarded to a specific part near its end.

  "I think he may have done more then just travel through time, listen to this," he said before pressing the play button again.

  "In case you hadn't noticed Jarrod, we're not on Earth anymore. This is the Mass Effect universe, the universe that I've been brought to to complete a great quest…"

  Axel's voice spoke out from the tool's speakers again before being cut off by Chellick pausing it again.

  Both Moira and Bailey's mouths dropped open and they semi-jerked toward the Turian.

  "ANOTHER UNIV…!" they both almost shouted at the same time.

  "Shhhhickh!" Chellick hissed viciously at them while frantically putting a talon to his lips or making a sharp cutting gesture with his right hand to shut them up before they

  could say another word.

  Quickly looking around the office, Chellick smiled widely and nodded as best he could to dissuade the many glances now being thrown at the trio from several agents that

  had been witness to that sudden outburst. After waiting for most of the watching eyes to turn back and continue with whatever it was they had been doing before being

  interrupted, Chellick leaned back toward Bailey and Moira with his head bowed low again.

  "Now do you see why I've been trying to keep this whole conversation more on the quiet side?" Chellick whispered seriously to the other two, still periodically glancing

  over his shoulder for any onlookers.

  "So Axel could not only be from a time far back in Earth's history, but also from another universe as well? Is that even scientifically possible?" Moira whispered up to

  Chellick before addressing both of them, leaning closer in her chair with her elbows propped on her knees to help keep any others from hearing.

  "Remember these are Axel's words, they came straight from his mouth so there has to be some kind of merit behind them. And besides if you're talking scientifically,

  scientific communities from many races throughout the galaxy have been presenting the theory of alternate realities and universes for hundreds of years now. The idea of

  a universe different from our own isn't the issue we're trying to figure out here, its how a bunch of people, several of whom hav
e been seemingly brought from a set of

  fictional universes, could have crossed the threshold into our universe…and why," Chellick explained clearly and rather logically despite the subject of the matter.

  However right away Bailey turned to him with an indicative hand gesture.

  "But they know things Chellick, both Axel and Alec know things about this galaxy that no person or creature from an alternate universe should. When I first ran into him

  Axel recognized me just by hearing my voice, he identified and understood who I was without ever having met me before," Bailey whispered while jabbing a finger into his

  own chest.

  "And Alec. When we had him outnumbered and surrounded back on the Ray, he already knew your name and even knew your very mindset when he saw your face for

  the first time. Explain to me how that's possible?"

  Chellick cocked a brow-ridge and turned toward Moira's terminal screen, which at the moment was flashing with different computer images as Moira herself sat up and

  began tapping into its keyboard again, now searching for something new through the Citadel's archives.

  "Moira already showed us the answer to that one Bailey. If Axel was somehow able to bring Jango Fett and Master Yoda from the Star Wars Universe into ours, then

  perhaps it went the same way for him and Alec. Except instead of taking something from our universe, they were the ones who got pulled into it," explained Chellick.

  "So what you're really saying is that, to Axel, our entire universe could be nothing more than an entertaining idea cooked up by some overpaid producer at an office

  desk?" Bailey demanded, his voice started to rise in irritation. Sharply glancing around, Chellick leaned in closer.

  "I wouldn't put it quite like that, but consider this Bailey to Jango and Yoda's perspectives their universe was undoubtedly just as real as ours is. Our universe is as real and

  as tangible to us as theirs was to them; but to Axel, a man from a completely different universe, perhaps ours originated in his from something similar to Star Wars," he

  said firmly to the older Human.

  Bailey's eye twitched, his face holding the look of a man who had just heard a scientific argument explaining why the moon was made of cheese!