History Fanfic / TheSpartanEffect

* NoKillLikeOverkill: As far as the Normandy crew is concerned, [[spoiler: simultaneously overloading a Flood infested colony's three nuclear power plants and creating a meltdown that makes Raccoon City look like amateur night, then hitting the irradiated remains with a HAVOK nuke roughly four times more powerful than standard warheads, is considered to be the bare minimum needed to stop the Flood. Shepard briefly laments that they can't simply destroy Sanctum outright.]]

* NoKillLikeOverkill: As far as the Normandy crew is concerned, [[spoiler: simultaneously overloading a Flood infested colony's three nuclear power plants and creating a meltdown that makes Raccoon City look like amateur night, then hitting the irradiated remains with a HAVOK nuke roughly four times more powerful than standard HAVOKs, is considered to be the bare minimum needed to stop the Flood. Shepard briefly laments that they can't simply destroy Sanctum outright.]]

** Cortana to most of the Normandy crew. Due to the innate suspicion of AIs in the Mass Effect universe [[spoiler" and the fact that Chief only revealed her presence due to the dire circumstances on the Dawn]], the initial reception of the Normandy crew upon meeting Cortana directly is primarily suspicion and/or caution (though some take her presence in stride). [[spoiler: Due to her aid allowing them to fight off the Flood]], she quickly earns their trust and respect, to the point that even Tali [[spoiler: is prepared to defy her own people's traditional hatred of synthetics to bring Cortana out of her comatose state after the events on Sanctum]]. From that point onward, the Normandy crew regards her as a trusted companion, which is helped significantly by her friendly and snarky personality.

** Similarly, the Chief starts off practically dependent on Cortana, purposefully isolating himself from the crew and generally just existing from day-to-day, rebuffing any attempts to get him to open up. After being forced to spend time outside of his comfort zone [[spoiler:due to Cortana going rampant]], he comes to appreciate the value of the Normandy crew and slowly begins trusting them, partaking in social activities and spending more of his time in their presence. By the end of [[spoiler:the battle of Sanctum]], he has come to accept the Normandy as his new home and the crew as his new team, finally finding a place amongst their number.
** Also, Chief wrestling a Geth Prime, and Grunt killing a ''Praetorian'' in one-on-one combat.

This work provides examples of:

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* NotSoDifferent: Between Jack and the Chief. The moment that she learns of the Chief's backstory - namely, the whole "kidnapped at an early age and turned into a supersoldier" part - Jack ''explodes'' into a truly epic fit of rage, with at the vast part of that rage directed at the fact that she and him have fundamentally similar origins, even if they turned out very differently.