History FanFic / MassEffectHumanRevolution

* AndrocleseLion: Way back before he joined C-Sec, Adam [[DrowningMySorrows was doing his best to fall into alcoholism]] until Bailey found him and helped him out. [[spoiler:This is why Adam didn't out him as a Snatcher. That, and Bailey surpassed his programming and is against the newer, Reaper-aligned Snatchers]].

* CallARabbitASmeerp: [[spoiler:Aleph]] calls biotics "starfire", nanomachine control "[[VideoGame/{{X-COM}} Molecular Control]]" and Charge "[[VideoGame/ZoneOfTheEnders Zero Shift]]".

--->[[spoiler:'''Sergeant Cross''': ''Do you know how many men and women and children (Walker)'s killed? [[TheDulcineaEffect Nah, she just quivered her lips at you and that's all it took for you to start with the killin'!]] I killed for the sake of my nation! [[WhatTheHellHero You killed eleven men for the sake of PUSSY!]]'']]
--->[[spoiler:'''Jensen''': ''[[ShutUpHannibal And I killed twelve men for the sake of little Mettius.]]'' (throws Cross at window so hard he splatters - though his [[CyanidePill Dragon-Fire implant]] makes him rather squishy)]]

--> " Vakarian/Jensen! You think you could..." (BoomHeadshot) "I think I just did!"
--> "You got anything to eat?" "Yeah, I got my candy bars. But they're amino/dextro." "Damn."

---> '''Jensen''': "You know, if our genders were reversed I would be well within my rights to punch you."
---> '''Kasumi''': "I know! Don't you just hate double standards?"

--> '''Hein''': [[FalseReassurance Don't worry, I can guarantee you you won't fall into chilly arctic ice]] [[CallBack like last time]].
--> '''Jensen''': That's a relief.
--> '''Hein''': You're far more likely to fall into lava instead!
--> '''Jensen''': Wait, wha-
--> ''Torpedo Hatch closes''

---> '''Garrus''':''"Oh, most certainly. Not sure why an elite squad of Terran marines is doing using gunpowder weapons, though. Fallen on hard times?"''
--->'''Edward Grey''':''"I'm not the one wearing an Agent mark 1."''[[note]]For the uninformed, Agent Mk. 1 is among the worst armor in the game.[[/note]]
---> {{Beat}}
---> '''Garrus''': ''Touché.''

--> '''Tali''': "''I can see why the rest of the galaxy is worried about the rise of humans. You could easily outpace the Asari within a century!''"
--> '''Adam''': "''... Behold all my works, ye mighty, and despair.''"

--> I should have written the part they were introduced at first, but the whole point of the Roegadyn, the Fiera, and even the humans is to demonstrate something, a problem. It's the same problem Gunther Hermann faced, and it's the same problem the Deep Eyes and Ashley will soon face.
--> How do you deal with your own impending obsolescence? What do you do when you are powerful, but then you become redundant?
--> What happens to the Proud Warrior Race when it meets something prouder and bigger and stronger than it is?
--> What happens to the blue alien space babes / space elves when they encounter something hotter and haughtier than they are, armed with a history and culture that's even older than Thessia's City States?
--> You get the idea.
--> The Krogan face this with the Roegadyn, and before long their mercenary lifestyle will be on the decline. What will happen to Wrex once work dries up, as the jolly green ogres take up all the available work? Because they will take it over. Unlike Wrex, most Krogan are surly, bitter assholes. Roegadyn are polite, jovial, and more professional. Who are you going to hire, honestly? The Turians and the Salarians aren't exactly too happy about the humans, either. Terrans can outfight and outsmart and fight even dirtier than either of them can. What will happen to the Turians if they declare war on humanity and LOSE? What happens to the Salarians when the humans dig up all their dirty little secrets and cause their government to crumble? Even the Quarians face this somewhat with the Omar: Bassac said it himself:
--> "Let's be honest here: Omar make better slaves than Quarians. They're just as technically adept and less of a pain in the ass to maintain. Just get them a dose of that neuropozyne and some sugar and they're good."
--> As mistreated as they are, the Quarians survive economically by hiring out as scabs or doing shit work. The Omar can do it just as good as they can and they've managed to avoid the wrath of the entire galaxy, so what's going to happen to all those poor Pilgrims?
--> And the Fiera? Well, let's just say it'll be a while before the Asari will lose their 'wise, culturally superior to everyone' spot, but they're not stupid. They see the writing on the wall. There's a reason why there are so few male Fiera left.
--> The Asari don't like competition.

---> "A bunch of teenage punks don't scare me. What's the worst they can do?"
----> [[DescriptionCut "THE QUEEN HAS SPOKEN! THE TEMPLARS HAVE BROKEN THE TRUCE! BURN EVERYTHING!"]]
---> [[LampshadeHanging "Me and my big mouth."]]

--> ''Worm has changed his name to [[spoiler:Merovingian]]''
--> "''Arise, [[spoiler:Alex Denton]]''," said Ophelia.

--> [[WhatCouldHaveBeen I thought about rewriting the Caleston (sic) to be less Grimdark]], but then I realized something:
--> Caleston is a vision of what might happen to a Cyberpunk world when the issues of corporate oppression and angry transhuman children get out of control, [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped one that our heroes need to see:]] Gangs kill and take whatever they want. The corporations lose their power to religious extremists. Idealistic hackers get murdered in their homes. Hedonism goes out of control, and the workers simply refuse to work for shit pay to feed ungrateful children. Deep beneath that same world are the remains of a wondrous civilization, its people having learned to become demi-gods in their own right, and cast down by sentient machines infused with the dark purpose of their creator... In the middle of that ruin lies the knowledge of the one that stood against the darkness, a beacon sent to the distant, dark future to light the way.

--> '''Grey:''' "Are you insane?!"
--> '''Hein:''' "Oh, most certainly!"

* {{Cowboy Cop}}s: C-Sec's resident "super-cops" Garrus Vakarian and Adam Jensen. Between the two of them, the Spectres get hacked, thugs get shot in the head, criminal bars are assaulted, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking tail lights get broken]]. Adam generally will try to act as a ByTheBookCop as much as possible, but he's willing to bend and break some rules when things get serious. Garrus on the other hand has fewer compunctions.

* FromBadToWorse: PlayedForLaughs when Hein reassures Jensen that being deployed to Caleston [[CatapultToGlory by way of]] [[DynamicEntry torpedo]]:

* FutureFoodIsArtificial: Or at least [[spoiler: Hwang's]] is.

* [[GodIsEvil Gods are Evil]]: The Batarian practice of slavery is explained as a result of their belief that they must make a large number of sacrifices per year, or else their gods will destroy the civilizations of Khar'shan.

* InvoluntaryBattleToTheDeath: Wrex's claims that his father used to stage pit fights between POW for food after starving them for a few days.

* [[ItsAlwaysMardiGrasInNewOrleans It's Always Party-Time In Caleston's Red Light District]]: After the Templars ghettoed all of Caleston's alien population there, the Red Light district launched into incredible festivities where drinking, dancing, taking drugs, and having sex on the street happen 24/7, usually right next to each other. In particular, Jensen hopelessly attempts to resuscitate a salarian that collapsed dead after four days of partying, with no sleep in between.

* ManchurianAgent: In the flashback where Adam first encounters bioroids, [[spoiler: Julien Seed, Jensen's CIA contact, was actually a bioroid himself. He still thought he was the real Julien though, and when critically injured, begs Jensen to make sure that Julien's family is safe]].

* RightBehindMe: In chapter 29, Jensen asks Manah if Justicars dress in a certain manner... and then describes the exact manner of the justicars. Manah asks how he knew this. Given the name of the trope, it's pretty clear what happens next.
** Not an exact usage of the trope, as the Justicar has merely entered the room, and Jensen and Manah are on the other side of the room, but Manah's back was turned to her at the time, so it still counts.

* SuperDetailedFightNarration: Used as a sign of Jensen activating his SuperReflexes. In Chapter 6, Wrex interrupts before he can execute the attack. In Chapter 17, he proceeds to beat [[spoiler: Agent Lawson]] to a pulp. Though the author admitted that that the latter might have come across a bit stilted. Subverted in chapter 41, where his plan to take out a [[spoiler:Geth Wanzer]] ends with "do something crazy".

* [[TellMeHowYouFight Tell Me How You Play]]: Yang Wen-Li is ''[[https://forums.spacebattles.com/posts/18204451/ good]]'' at this;

** Zig-zagged with Charr, the poetry-loving krogan seen in ME2 and ME3. He joined up with Wreav to make some extra money so that he and his girlfriend could live in peace on Illium, but quit at the first opportunity to surrender because he didn't know that he'd be doing a genocidal rampage.

** In chapter 39 Adam tells [[spoiler:Tartakovsky]] he won't kill the other, [[ExactWords then sics [[spoiler:Hannibal]] on him]].

* YouAreWhatYouHate: The augphobic [[spoiler:Eddie Lang]] is later revealed to be a Snatcher.

** Conrad seems to be the go-to man for these. In Chapter 44, [[spoiler:Tela Vasir slaps a NoWarpingZone on the Durendal so she can kill everyone aboard and seize their cache of artifacts for the Asari. Said zones usually make FTL travel impossible until someone shuts down and restarts the drive - the equivalent of forcibly turning off a hanging computer and rebooting - more than enough time for the attacker to board or destroy the vessel. Conrad not only {{No Sell}}s the zone, but makes the Durendal ten percent faster while ''thinking the whole thing was a glitch.'']]

** Zig-zagged with Charr, the poetry-loving Krogan seen in ME2 and ME3. He joined up with Wreav to make some extra money so that he and his girlfriend could live in peace on Illium, but quit at the first opportunity to surrender because he didn't know that he'd be doing a genocidal rampage.

* AirVentPassageway: Justified; ventilation passages in Krogan battle barges are huge because they're really meant for defenders to outmaneuver boarders.

* AlienArtsAreAppreciated: Played with. Hein states that the influence the Asari exert over alien cultures tend to overwhelm and ultimately replace them with their own. He goes on to speculate that the Asari, by placing themselves as the absolute cultural ideal as well as making use of their long lifespans, subjugate other races this way. Manah though tries to dismiss his claims as the ramblings of a irrational conspiracy theorist.

** Chapter 26: "You're an artificial human that can regenerate from fatal wounds in seconds denying the possibility that a young Asari can breakdown alcohol quickly."

** Shortly afterwards in that same chapter, [[spoiler:Hannibal]] expresses doubt about the idea of "a Krogan scientist worthy of the term", upon which Adam tosses the other's earlier words right back at him.

** In chapter 43, Spooky doesn't believe Adam's exposition on the past of the Prometheans and Reapers. Lunchbox calls him out on it.

** Wrex's official rap sheet includes "Two hundred and sixty-seven counts of driving under the influence, three hundred and seventy-five counts of vandalism and assault, and one count littering[[labelnote:*]] although that littering is a bit more serious since he used another Krogan's ripped off genitals to do it[[/labelnote]]."

** The Krogan [=HeK=] quad shotgun is 54mm[[labelnote:*]]normal {{Grenade Launcher}}s are 40mm[[/labelnote]] a barrel and powerful enough to be used as anti-aircraft or improvised mortar.

** [[spoiler: The Asari Huntresses working for Saren who take Tali captive]] are convinced that Spectres are after them. In the first chapter, it is suggested that Adam is being considered for Spectrehood and [[MythologyGag canon tells us]] Garrus was considered too.

* CutenessProximity: Apparently a common alien female response to the sight of a Pookah, especially from Asari. Even Manah forgets that she can't touch people without ''likely frying their brain'' in her overwhelming urge to hug Alistair.
** Remarkably, Tela Vasir seems to be immune to the effect.

** When Adam prepares to go up against [[spoiler: a physiopharmaceutically-augmented clone Turian]], Adam visualizes a SuperDetailedFightNarration in BulletTime. [[spoiler: Then Wrex barrels in and takes the clone out.]]

* CycleOfRevenge: In chapter 18, we learn that in ME:HR's version of Shanxi, human soldiers [[IWillFightSomeMoreForever continuing to fight after General Williams's surrender]] led to General Arterius executing them, which led to [[YouKilledMyFather their children picking up guns,]] which led to [[WouldHurtAChild the Turians fighting back...]]

* TheDreaded: The Dayak is this, and considering its original prey were ''Krogan''...

* EvilVersusEvil: In chapter 7 [[spoiler: Saren's]] Asari Huntresses kill a group of Order-aligned anti-quarian rioters.

** The racism against Quarians gets a much more personal looking-at thanks to [[spoiler: the Tali rescue]] this time around.

** Still exists between Humans and Turians, made worse by the complete-bastardness of both sides' leadership.

** The Asari really really really hate the Fiera for stealing one of their [[PlanetOfHats "hats"]].

** By chapter 35, Hein's group, Bau's, the AIA, Scholar and Europa Genomics, Johann and Hannibal, and [[spoiler:Saren and the Geth]] are all having their own plans for Noveria.

** The return to Dosadi segues into MilitaryScienceFiction with HumongousMecha fighting the aforementioned beasties plus Geth MechaMooks and Krogan with {{Jet Pack}}s.

* GoryDiscretionShot: In chapter 33 the narration cuts away before a combat mech does ''something'' to a mook Krogan, instead having Adam say a horrified "oh God".

** In chapter 26, a [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV Roegadyn]] bouncer reenacts [[spoiler:[[Film/TheAvengers2012 Hulk smashing Loki]]]] with three Krogan.

* [[ItsAlwaysMardiGrasInNewOrleans It's Always Party-Time In Caleston's Red Light District]]: After the Templars ghettoed all of Caleston's alien population there, the Red Light district launched into incredible festivities where drinking, dancing, taking drugs, and having sex on the street happen 24/7, usually right next to each other. In particular, Jensen hopelessly attempts to resuscitate a Salarian that collapsed dead after four days of partying, with no sleep in between.

** Wrex might be a Krogan with centuries of experience but he sees little reason to keep searching for Tali after [[spoiler: she's kidnapped by members of a cult and dragged onto the streets during an anti-Quarian riot]].

* MagicFromTechnology: The Pro(me)theans had this, though not to the godlike level of "true" SufficientlyAdvancedAlien. WordOfGod engages in some DoingInTheWizard for two seemingly fantastical elements [[http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/mass-effect-human-revolution-thread-ii.247855/page-41#post-10022723 in this post.]] Canonized in chapter 25:

** For whatever reason, the Asari Justicars [[spoiler: that recover Tela Vasir's mangled body, have one of their Ardats]] chew her arm off as punishment.

* MalevolentMaskedMen: The Asari Huntresses in chapter 7 wore "gilded Venetian masks".

* NoTranshumanismAllowed: The various races have different opinions on augmentation. Salarians happily embrace them, Turians are lukewarm but willing, Krogan despise them as an admission of weakness. Humans went from having them to hating and banning to reintroducing due to biotics' needs. They also use bioaugs for LoopholeAbuse.

** [[spoiler: The Krogan have been completely sterilized.]]

** [[spoiler: The Rachni queen died offscreen.]]

** The Normandy crew destroying [[spoiler: five Geth Wanzers.]]

** The universal response to Hein's "change of plans" with regard to testing Jensen's 108 suit; instead of the "boring" scheduled friendly spars with Deep Eyes they've prepared for, he's broadcast a false surrender signal to a ''very large'' Batarian slaver ship to give them all some fun combat practice.

** Said by Neil in chapter 44 when [[spoiler:Tela Vasir wants to board the Durendal to confiscate Prothean artefacts and Manah.]]

* PossessionImpliesMastery: Discussed aversion in chapter 41, where Bau expresses surprise that the geth would use a Reaper artefact without understanding how it works, because salarians are expected to understand their technology before being allowed to use them and he had been under the impression synthetics would do the same.

** Udina is against augmentations because, according to his InsaneTrollLogic, Adam's use of augs reveals humanity's inferiority compared to the alien races that didn't need them to reach their current level of advancement. The irony is that Salarians happily embrace augs and Turians while lukewarm are still open to the idea. It's the Krogans who share the dislike of augs due to seeing them as a sign of weakness, but they are genuinely superior to baseline humans.
** For the aliens' own part, Executor Pallin (a Turian) thinks that Earthlings are NOT Puny.

* PurpleIsPowerful: Discussed in chapter 45; the drive exhaust from Krogan spacecraft is purple, which Manah thinks is pretty but Echo thinks should have been something manlier like red.
* PyrrhicVictory: [[spoiler: The conclusion of Noveria. The Geth and Krogan invasion has been repelled, and Europa Genomics' experimentation at Peak 15 has been stopped... but most of the citizens of Upper Dosadi were either turned into or killed by Reaper incubators, massive damage has been suffered, Scholar got away, Ramsus is dead and his sister with massive psionic potential is still in Illuminati hands.]]

** Hein's crew is looking increasingly motley with everyone he picks up. There're a bunch of US Marines, a cyborg supercop, a Turian Rebel, a group of Quarian pilgrims, an ArtificialHuman, an Omar, a pair of hackers, an Asari with a unique mutation, a ditzy physicist...
** Jondum Bau's too. He has a pair of Systems Alliance marines, a smuggler and child, a Krogan and a Roegadyn mercenary.

* RedshirtArmy: The SSC are glorified security guards rather than proper military-grade forces, unlike most fictional PMC, and do about as poorly as you can expect against Geth and Krogan.

** As we learn in chapter 25, the Batarian practice of slavery is perpetuated by their priesthood, who pick children at random to become slavers. They use fearmongering to justify it with the excuse that only the sacrifice of slaves will keep Batarian civilisation from descending into the lawlessness of the greater Terminus.
** The Justicars, viewed in the canon Mass Effect as a sort of KnightTemplar who protect the Asari from their own mistakes... are a lot more morally ambiguous in this timeline, where the Ardat-Yakshi are a tiny percentage of ''known'' Asari mutations, most of which are more like [[NeurodiversityIsSupernatural autistics]] than "highly evolved killers". And said autistics tend to be used for "Holy Prostitution" to support the rest of the order. The result is that the terms MutantDraftBoard and ''StateSec'' can be added to their Knight Templar credo.

* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: In chapter 7, a random quarian points out Tali to the Asari Huntresses looking for her. When Tali refuses to cooperate, they kill that quarian.

* SinisterMinister: Father Sandy, a priest from "The Order" biased against Omar and Quarians.

** In chapter 32 the inversion (fathers getting punished for the sins of the sons) is Discussed by an unknown contacting Adam, who asserts that Quarian culture conditions them into self-victimization and against taking responsibility lest the atrocities of the Geth be laid on their shoulders. Adam disagrees, saying that what the Geth did is their own fault and the father should not take responsibility for the sins of the son; in the end everybody must be held accountable for their own actions.

* SterilityPlague: The Genophage[[spoiler: According to Bakara there hasn't been a Krogan birth in 15 years. Resulting in the Krogan species slowly dying off, leading Urdnot Wreav to retaliate by joining forces with Saren.]]

** In chapter 38, Garrus figures that the mission can't get worse after a big fight with mercenaries and a complicated moral dilemma. Then the Krogan drop pods start falling.

* UnfortunateName: In chapter 20, a pair of Krogan mooks are called [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skhug Skhug and Zhug.]]

* UnstoppableRage: Adam in chapter 41 after being [[BerserkButton set on fire]], culminating in a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown on the Krogan responsible that makes what [[ComicBook/SinCity Hartigan did to the Yellow Bastard]] look pretty. His mental dialogue shortly afterwards suggests that he got his reputation as the Shadow of Elysium while under this.

** In chapter 15, a black ops squad kills a Turian child in order to LeaveNoWitnesses.
** In chapter 18, we learn that the Turians on Shanxi fought back against human children continuing the fight.

** As we learn in chapter 25, the batarian practice of slavery is perpetuated by their priesthood, who pick children at random to become slavers. They use fearmongering to justify it with the excuse that only the sacrifice of slaves will keep batarian civilisation from descending into the lawlessness of the greater Terminus.
** The Justicars, viewed in the canon Mass Effect as a sort of KnightTemplar who protect the Asari from their own mistakes... are a lot more morally ambiguous in this timeline, where the Ardat-Yakshi are a tiny percentage of ''known'' asari mutations, most of which are more like [[NeurodiversityIsSupernatural autistics]] than "highly evolved killers". And said autistics tend to be used for "Holy Prostitution" to support the rest of the order. The result is that the terms MutantDraftBoard and ''StateSec'' can be added to their Knight Templar credo.

** The Asari really really really hate the Fiera for stealing their [[APlanetOfHats "hat"]].

* InSeriesNickname: Alliance troops are called "Allies" by UNAS ones.

** In chapter 26, a roegadyn said "puny krogan" after beating one around. In chapter 40 Wreav says "puny roegadyn" after [[spoiler:killing Bren.]]

** Alliance Intelligence Agent Lawson.

** Black: ???

* AlienArtsAreAppreciated: Played with. Hein states that the influence the Asari exert over alien cultures tend to overwhelm and ultimately replace them with their own. He goes on to speculate that the asari, by placing themselves as the absolute cultural ideal as well as making use of their long lifespans, subjugate other races this way. Manah though tries to dismiss his claims as the ramblings of a irrational conspiracy theorist.

* AlternateUniverseFic: Any real detail would go deep into spoiler territory, but suffice to say that the history of the galaxy is a vastly, vastly different one from canon even before the ''Deus Ex''-derived bits come in via Humanity entering the galactic scene

* AmicableExes: Averted. Wrex and Bakara. While it is implied that they were close once upon a time. Now, they can barely hold a conversation without heating up into a argument. Despite this it is shown that they still care about each other despite their fighting.

** Jensen is a polite, soft-spoken man who just happens to be one of the most dangerous cyborgs ever built. Most of the time, he limits himself to non-lethal maneuvers and weapons, even when fighting the most hardened of criminals. But if he gets into a situation that sets off his ChronicHeroSyndrome(innocent people threatened by powerful forces), ''[[LetsGetDangerous the gloves come OFF]].''

* ComicBookFantasyCasting: Done with pretty much every recurring character. Most of them are 'played' by the VA or InkSuitActor of that particular character in the source work (with little exceptions for cases like the use of several different Yvonne Strahovski characters at once) and a lot of ActorAllusion thrown in for good measure.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: In chapter 44, [[spoiler:Adam and Aya walk in on Johann]] masturbating.

** Back in 2027, Jensen foiled a Russian company's plot to do this to the Japanese government.

* EarlyBirdCameo: The events of [[VideoGame/MassEffect1 the first Mass Effect]] are still underway, but Wreav, Tela Vasir, Samara, [[spoiler: Legion (sorta)]], Kasumi, James, Jacob, [=CAT6=], [[spoiler:Bakara aka "Eve"]] and Bau have already shown up.

** In chapter 39 Adam tells [[spoiler:Tartakovsky]] he won't kill the other, then sics [[spoiler:Hannibal]] on him.

* FemaleGaze: InUniverse in chapter 18. 'Despite herself, Aki couldn't help but glance at his posterior. It was plastic and carbon, of course: there wasn't much point in augmenting someone's legs unless you replaced every leg muscle. Still, it was a nicely sculpted piece of plastic and carbon, and from the quick embarrassed glances Tali tried to not to take at it, Aki could tell she agreed, too.'

* GenreSavvy: Adam and Garrus at times. Hein in one particular scene.
--> '''Edward Grey:''' "Something wrong boss?"
--> '''Hein:''' "I think I felt something brush past me."
--> '''Edward Grey:''' [[ItsProbablyNothing "Maybe it was just the wind. The bay doors ''are'' wide open."]]
--> '''Hein:''' "IT'S NEVER '''JUST''' THE WIND!"

** In chapter 16 one character says "it's probably just the wind" when Adam is trying to sneak past in cloak, only for a more GenreSavvy companion to disagree. In chapter 40 another character speaks similarly under similar circumstances, but this time no one disagrees.

** "''Please''," dismissed Tevos. "The likelyhood (sic) of that [multiple Spectres dying in short order]-" [[GenreSavvy but then she reconsidered uttering that sentence.]]

* ImplausibleFencingPowers: In Interlude 3 Alexandre deflects bullets with his sword.

** Caleston is a [[HighFantasy High]] ScienceFantasy, where Jensen uses state-of-the-art armor and melee weapons in a battle with TheKnightsTemplar in the ruins of {{Sufficiently Advanced Alien}}s.

* FandomNod:
** Adam using a fridge as an ImprovisedWeapon in the first prologue could be a reference to the MemeticMutation of Adam knocking out entire armies with common fridges and vending machines. He also later casually uses a public toilet's sink in the same way.
** Garrus incapacitates a whole group of Drell mercenaries to get something the group needed, rather than negotiate it from the mercs. Jensen felt like chastising Garrus for it, but then he remembered that he would do the same thing[[labelnote:+]]Knocking someone out and stealing their important item is an accepted strategy in [[VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution the source game]].[[/labelnote]]
** In chapter 24, when [[spoiler: trapped in a lab on board the ''Durendal'']], Adam's automatic response is to look for an air vent.
** In chapter 26, we learn of The Jensen: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y414Q7vVgYU Adam can dance if he wants to/he can leave his friends behind...]]

* ActorAllusion: The fic runs with these like crazy, from Sarah Walker to Junko Zayne Shepard to the Omar Smuggler Drebin. You might want to check in on the Characters page for the full set for major characters. Other ones on minor characters include:
** Creator/MichaelShannon as [[Film/ManOfSteel a warmongering general]].
** Nathaniel Lees as [[Film/TheMatrixRevolutions the pilot of a poorly-armoured,]] MoreDakka-spewing mech.

** Part of the Skyllian Blitz. Elanos Haliat stole a variant of [[Film/{{Serenity}} Pax]] from the turians and dropped it on Elysium. One million people went Reaver almost immediately, killing almost ''seven million more'' before they [[RealityEnsues died of sepsis from eating people's entrails.]] Jensen's life-support augs made him immune, so he was able to rally a defense.

** In chapter 26, a [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV Roegadyn]] bouncer reenacts [[spoiler:[[Film/TheAvengers Hulk smashing Loki]]]] with three Krogan.

* MegaCrossover: Of a sorts: the bulk of the continuity is set around the Deus Ex and Mass Effect universes, but there are elements from Atlus, Konami - like ''Franchise/MetalGear'' or ''VisualNovel/{{Snatcher}}'' - and SquareEnix series such as ''VideoGame/FrontMission'' and ''Anime/FinalFantasyTheSpiritsWithin'' [[FusionFic fused in and altered to fit]], creating an experience greater than the sum of its parts. There's enough other stuff combined in it too that sometimes, it feels less like a Mass Effect/Deus Ex crossover, and more like a crossover of those two franchises and everything else.

** The return to Dosadi segues into MilitaryScienceFiction with HumongousMecha fighting the aforementioned beasties plus Geth MechaMooks and Krogan with JetPacks.