Chapter 28: Synthesis: The Warlord's Path
The Citadel hit me like a symphony of light and impossible architecture, all soaring spires and clean corridors that made Omega feel like a fever dream. After months breathing recycled air thick with smoke and desperation, the Citadel's pristine atmosphere felt almost alien.
"This is where it all happens. Where Shepard becomes a Spectre, where Saren makes his move, where the galaxy learns about the Reapers. And I'm here years early, about to risk everything for a gene."
Miranda walked beside me, her posture relaxed despite the calculated risk we were taking. Her remaining Cerberus credentials had gotten us legitimate IDs, though using them meant alerting the Illusive Man to our location.
"Having second thoughts?" she asked, reading my tension.
"Third and fourth thoughts," I admitted. "But the legendary synthesis potential is too valuable to ignore. If I'm going to face Harbinger directly, I need every advantage I can get."
The dossier Miranda had compiled on Garrus Vakarian painted exactly the picture I remembered from the games—brilliant investigator, frustrated by C-Sec bureaucracy, idealistic enough to believe the system could work if good people tried hard enough. He was currently investigating shipping irregularities that connected to Citadel crime networks, hitting walls because his superiors wouldn't authorize the resources he needed.
"Perfect. I have game knowledge of criminal networks that won't matter for years. I can help him crack cases while building the friendship I need for his gene."
We found him in C-Sec headquarters, hunched over a holographic display that showed shipping manifests and credit transfers. Even from across the room, I could see the frustration in his posture—mandibles tight, shoulders rigid with suppressed anger.
He was younger than the Garrus I remembered, lacking the scars and cynicism that would come from years of watching good intentions fail against systemic corruption. This was still the idealistic turian who believed justice mattered more than politics.
"God, I hope I don't accidentally break him."
My approach was indirect—anonymous tips sent to his official channels, information about criminal networks drawn from my game knowledge. Nothing that would affect the main plot, just enough to make him notice patterns his official investigation had missed.
It took three days for him to track me down.
"You're the anonymous informant," he said, sliding into the booth across from me at a mid-level Citadel bar. "The one who's been feeding me intelligence about shipping irregularities."
"Independent investigator," I said, offering him a drink. "With connections in places C-Sec can't officially go."
Garrus studied me with those predatory raptor eyes, calculating threat levels and potential value. "What's your angle? Information this good doesn't come free."
"My angle is that criminals operating on the Citadel eventually affect places I care about. Omega, for instance."
His mandibles clicked with interest. "You're from Aria's territory."
"I work there. And when criminal networks spread from the Citadel to Terminus space, good people die. Your investigation could cut off some of those connections."
"Truth, as far as it goes. Just not the whole truth."
Over the following week, we worked cases together. Garrus provided official access and C-Sec resources while I contributed criminal network knowledge that came from sources I couldn't officially name. We dismantled a smuggling operation, exposed a corrupt docking authority, and traced illegal weapons shipments that would have armed half the gangs in Omega.
[GARRUS VAKARIAN FRIENDSHIP BAR: 15%... 28%... 41%]
Working with him was exactly what I'd hoped for—getting to know Garrus as a person instead of a character, seeing the brilliance and moral core that made him one of my favorite companions from the games. But it also hurt, knowing what he'd face, what losses would harden him into the cynical vigilante who became Archangel.
"You think differently than most humans I've worked with," he said during our fourth day together. "Most people see individual crimes. You see systems, patterns, the bigger picture."
"Because I know what the bigger picture looks like. I know where these patterns lead."
"Experience," I said. "You spend enough time seeing how corruption spreads, you start recognizing the root causes instead of just treating symptoms."
"C-Sec policy is symptom treatment," Garrus admitted. "We arrest the street dealers but never touch the suppliers. We investigate individual murders but ignore the organizations ordering them. It's frustrating."
There it was—the frustration that would eventually drive him to become a vigilante, to abandon official channels for direct action. I could see it building in him, the recognition that sometimes the system couldn't fix itself from inside.
"Sometimes," I said carefully, "you have to step outside the system to do real good. Not everyone who follows rules is good, and not everyone who breaks them is bad."
Garrus considered this seriously, mandibles twitching as he processed implications. "You sound like you're speaking from experience."
"Oh, if you only knew."
"I've seen what happens when good people are constrained by bad policies," I said. "Sometimes the most ethical choice is the technically illegal one."
Our final case together was a major smuggling ring that connected Citadel corruption to Terminus space weapons trafficking. Garrus had been investigating it for months, but C-Sec politics kept blocking his requests for expanded authority. I provided enough evidence to bypass those restrictions, letting him take down the entire network in a coordinated strike.
[GARRUS VAKARIAN FRIENDSHIP BAR: 73%... 85%... 97%]
Afterward, we sat in the same bar where we'd first met, sharing drinks and watching news reports of the arrests scroll across holographic displays.
"This operation will save lives," Garrus said. "Those weapons would have ended up in gang wars, terrorist attacks, civilian casualties. How do I thank someone for that?"
"By becoming the hero I know you can be. By staying alive when everything goes to hell. By remembering that sometimes the rules are less important than doing what's right."
"You already have," I said. "You took the evidence and ran with it. You're the one who made it matter."
"If you're ever in trouble," he said, extending his hand, "call me. I owe you more than one favor."
When we shook hands, the System chimed:
[GARRUS VAKARIAN FRIENDSHIP BAR: 100%]
[TURIAN ENDURANCE (UNCOMMON) ACQUIRED THROUGH FRIENDSHIP]
[COMPONENT REQUIREMENT MET: LEGENDARY SYNTHESIS NOW AVAILABLE]
[EXPERIENCE GAINED: +500 XP FROM SUCCESSFUL MISSION AND FRIENDSHIP]
[CURRENT XP: 1600/4000 TO LEVEL 8]
[TIMELINE COHERENCE: 83.8% → 81.2% (SIGNIFICANT DEVIATION FROM MEETING GARRUS EARLY)]
As we parted ways, I felt the weight of changed timeline pressing down on me. Meeting Garrus early, giving him different experiences, planting seeds that might alter his path toward becoming Archangel—every interaction created ripples I couldn't predict or control.
But I'd also gained something invaluable. Not just the gene I needed for legendary synthesis, but the knowledge that Garrus Vakarian was exactly the person I'd always believed him to be—brilliant, principled, and strong enough to face whatever darkness the galaxy threw at him.
"Please let this make things better for him. Please let this path lead somewhere brighter than the one he was supposed to walk."
[NEW RELATIONSHIP ESTABLISHED: GARRUS VAKARIAN (FRIEND)]
[STATUS: WILL REMEMBER MARC IF THEY MEET AGAIN]
[POTENTIAL FUTURE INTERACTIONS: POSITIVE BIAS ESTABLISHED]
Back on Omega, Dr. Solveli practically vibrated with excitement as he prepared the legendary synthesis chamber. This wasn't like previous gene integrations—legendary synthesis required precise conditions, careful monitoring, and enough credits to fund a small war.
"The combination is theoretically sound," Solveli explained, checking readings for the hundredth time. "Two copies of Krogan Blood Rage provide the foundation—combat fury and enhanced regeneration. Turian Endurance adds discipline and tactical awareness. Together, they should synthesize into something unprecedented."
Miranda monitored my biometrics while I settled into the synthesis chamber, feeling nervous energy crawling across my enhanced skin.
"Are you sure about this?" she asked. "Legendary genes change you fundamentally. There's no going back."
"Without Krogan Warlord's Legacy, I'm just another enhanced human playing at being powerful. With it, I become something that can stand against Harbinger himself."
"The Collectors are coming," I said. "Whatever I become, it has to be strong enough to matter when that happens."
The synthesis process began, and pain beyond description flooded my nervous system as three distinct genetic patterns merged into something entirely new. My bones reshaped themselves, muscles restructured, neural pathways rewired to accommodate enhancements that pushed the boundaries of biological possibility.
[LEGENDARY SYNTHESIS INITIATED]
[INTEGRATING: KROGAN BLOOD RAGE (RARE) x2 + TURIAN ENDURANCE (UNCOMMON)]
[RESULT: KROGAN WARLORD'S LEGACY (LEGENDARY)]
[WARNING: FUNDAMENTAL BIOLOGICAL RESTRUCTURING IN PROGRESS]
[ESTIMATED COMPLETION TIME: 47 MINUTES]
The process felt like controlled evolution, my body adapting to accommodate power that no baseline human should possess. When it finally ended, I was something new—still Marc Wayne, but enhanced beyond anything I'd imagined possible.
[SYNTHESIS COMPLETE]
[KROGAN WARLORD'S LEGACY (LEGENDARY) ACQUIRED]
[EFFECTS: +35 STRENGTH, +25 VITALITY, +20 ENDURANCE]
[COMBAT FURY: DAMAGE AND REGENERATION SCALE WITH INJURY LEVEL]
[TACTICAL AWARENESS: ENHANCED BATTLEFIELD PERCEPTION DURING COMBAT]
[WARNING: EXTENDED ACTIVATION MAY CAUSE PERSONALITY SHIFTS]
I felt the power thrumming through enhanced muscles, the promise of fury and strength that could tear through Collector drones like paper. But underneath lay something darker—the primal rage of krogan warriors, barely contained by turian discipline.
"This is what I needed. The power to fight monsters. But at what cost to who I am?"
Miranda helped me from the chamber, her scanner beeping frantically as it tried to catalog the changes.
"Your cellular structure is completely rewritten," she said. "Enhanced bone density, improved muscle fiber, accelerated healing factor. But Marcus... the neurochemical changes are significant. This gene will affect how you think, how you react to stress."
"Will it make me lose control?"
"Not lose control. But it will make violence feel... natural. Satisfying in ways that might concern you later."
I thought about Harbinger, about Collector General drones, about the harvesting ships that would come for Omega's population.
"Then I'll have to be stronger than the gene," I said. "Control the power instead of letting it control me."
Outside our laboratory, construction crews continued fortifying Omega's defenses while faction leaders implemented the anti-Collector protocols I'd helped design. In a few weeks, maybe days, those preparations would be tested against enemies that had never lost a harvesting operation.
I had the power now to stand against them. Krogan fury, turian discipline, and human adaptability merged into something that could face Reaper agents and survive.
The question was whether I'd still be me when the fighting ended.
"Forward is the only direction available. And sometimes, becoming something new is the price of saving something precious."
The legendary synthesis was complete. The timeline was irrevocably changed. And somewhere in the depths of space, Collector ships were preparing to harvest Omega's population.
+1 CHAPTER AFTER EVERY 3 REVIEWS
MORE POWER STONES == MORE CHAPTERS
Love [ Mass Effect: Adaptive Predator ]? Unlock More Chapters and Support the Story!
Dive deeper into the world of [ Mass Effect: Adaptive Predator ] with exclusive access to 40+ chapters on my Patreon, you get more chapters if you ask for more (in few days), plus new fanfic every week! Your support starting at just $6/month helps me keep crafting the stories you love across epic universes like [ In The Witcher With Avatar Powers,In The Vikings With Deja Vu System,Stranger Things Demogorgon Tamer ...].
By joining, you're not just getting more chapters—you're helping me bring new worlds, twists, and adventures to life. Every pledge makes a huge difference!
👉 Join now at patreon.com/TheFinex5 and start reading today!