1Author's Notes: This was an idea that came to, me after buying and playing Mass Effect Andromeda in late December or early January, brought me back into Mass Effect. There are well four thoughts that drove this idea. As well as inspiration from the Degeneration series written by Huntingdon's Bride. Considering this will largely take place during the Reaper War of ME 3, and also look specifically at some fairly dark characters and themes, I'm making this T-M.
First: Cerberus in ME 3 was a total waste of time in terms of plot because all they did was make things worse for no reason, only because Kai Leng is there to give their one meaningful success on Thessia. Character-wise, Kai Leng and Henry Lawson are just petty and evil, The Illusive Man is insane, and only Petrovsky is decent by comparison. So my question is what if you take Kai Leng out of position from everything before the Citadel Coup and maybe even toy with a different fate for Cerberus instead of convenient destruction.
Second: Kai Leng while detestable really has nothing in terms of workable character. He's basically just a smug psychopath, who might not even be with Cerberus for its own sake, but just to kill, even if he is a xenophobe. It doesn't help that you basically have four different Kai Lengs that may or may not contradict each other. It's a shame because there could be something to work with if effort were put in to make him more than what he is, which is I what I want to experiment with, even if it means working on exploring and developing an unpopular character.
Third: Thinking about it, Morinth really got shafted by ME 3, to the point you might as well never pick her in ME 2, because if she survives she just becomes a Banshee despite that game giving her a tiny bit more depth to her only through emails. That and I feel you could really work with her backstory as well, even if she is a vampiric serial killer.
Fourth: Considering they do have similar outlooks on life, I wondered what would happen if you just shipped Kai Leng with Morinth, and if you could make it work, just by exploring both characters better, which isn't really hard to do, at least in concept.
Thoughts are in italics, while Bold Italics are meant to represent indoctrination.
Omega, 2186
'Damn this rock, of all the places my target had to hide, it had to be here.' The thoughts came from a human male with slightly long black hair, in a grey coat concealing armor, as he looked at what passed for a decent section of town on an almost literally lawless rock, known as the Kinkaku district with a mixture of shops and decent apartments.
'Grayson, that bastard. The Illusive Man gave him everything, and he threw it away for some girl he adopted, the so-called 'Savior of Humanity' The Illusive Man gave me everything, I went from Kai Leng, disgraced criminal to Kai Leng Cerberus Agent. Sure I've misled the Illusive Man about Hanlon, but I never betrayed Cerberus in the process.' Kai felt a slight pain in his head. 'I'll never understand what the Illusive Man saw in them, damned biotics they still die like everyone else, they will die like everyone else.' Kai was broken from his thoughts by a call from his omni-tool. [1]
"Agent Leng this is Pluto Command. What is your status?" a distorted voice asked. [2]
"The target is in a 'nicer' part of Omega, getting to them will be difficult. I could drift through one of the back alleys to approach the building and but it's not isolated and chances are there might be security. Prepare to provide backup if he runs." Kai hoped this mission could end soon, he was eager to find his target and leave.
"Understood. Other agents are to be informed."
"Agent Leng, out."
To think it had been ten years since he had entered the Illusive Man's service. Well entered hid the fact he wasn't left with much of choice. Although truth be told he cared more about the thrill of fighting and even killing out of pure survival than anything else. Fighting for Humanity really didn't interest him, what was the likely outcome from this anyway Cerberus as power brokers, The Illusive Man as System Alliance Prime Minister?
'Maybe mother was right about government being corrupting, What would be doing after Cerberusbodyguard work? No, she abandoned you, you should have killed her!' Kai ignored that last sentence and proceeded on with his mission, the sooner he could leave the better.
Kai had started to make his way through one of the back alleys when he reached there were security restrictions in place for another forty-five minutes that made entering and leaving impossible. The guards had worn Eclipse armor, not that Kai cared for such filth, but he quickly brought up his omni-tool again.
"Pluto Command to Agent Leng. There's a security lockdown for forty-five minutes, all potential entrances are covered, but at least no one can get out. Observe the rules, and do not draw attention, you are only after the target no one else." The distorted voice was that of a typically emotionless operator, but slight annoyance had crept in.
"Copy." Kai closed his omni-tool with a sigh.
'How annoying. I wonder if this scrap heap has a quiet place to eat. To linger too long would draw suspicion, as would simply watching the apartment, and it's not like the targets could leave either.' Kai thought as he looked and found a very conspicuous sign.
It read Narala's, which Kai figured was Asari, but why was it in Cyrillic was the only question on his mind. Curious, Kai had walked into the establishment only to be greeted by smells he rarely had the time to smell, that of Russian food. Looking around the establishment he saw a mix of humans, batarians, asari, and a few turians, and in front of the counter stood a remarkably young looking asari.
'I'm surprised she's not dancing, considering we're on a literal rock where morals go to die. Still why the food choice, or do the Asari like to steal and reinvent everything?' Kai thought with a smirk as he remembered several Cerberus members passionately debating over the merits or lack thereof of Asari Yoga, before heading on up to the counter.
The asari looked at him with a small smile. "Hello, welcome to Narala's. I am Narala Galinichna T'Vani please take a seat and look at the menu."
Kai was handed a small pad that brought up several food items, all of them mostly familiar, for it was all the cuisine of his home of Russia, not that he could really call it home anymore. [3]
"May I ask why the menu consists of Russian food?" Kai asked in a curious tone that masked annoyance that this was just some fad to the Asari. To her credit, her brown eyes lit up in response.
"Of course! My 'father' for lack of a better word was a Russian woman, my mother met her when she did research on veterans of the First Contact War, just a year after it. I was close with my father and picked up on the cuisine, and she died unexpectedly a few years ago." The asari frowned for a moment before regaining her happiness. "When I said I wanted to honor her memory, my mother scoffed. So the impetuous maiden that I am decided to run away and make a living here selling food."
"Then what is the situation with Galinichna, it is an odd name choice, even if your 'father' was a woman." Kai was trying not to wonder why he had to end up in the strangest place to eat on this rock.
"I wanted to honor my father despite her protests that she was a woman and that some people would look at me strangely if I did that. I always was her reckless Narechka." Narala gave wistful a sigh before looking back at Kai. "Anyway what would you like to have?" [4]
"Just Pelmeni, half varren and half pyjak, I'm going to assume it's not Siberian-styled?" Kai did not mind the unorthodox filling choices, both made for decent eating provided they were cooked properly. [5]
"No, but I do make it myself." Narala looked at Kai unsure as she entered in the order. "If you do not mind me asking how would you know of that, the meat filling is raw if I recall, and I don't think it was served that way on the Human colonies."
"I come from Russia, Vladivostok to be exact." Narala's eyes widened again, as Kai wondered why he was even humoring this person, an alien claiming to be Russian. He never really talked about home, not that he felt there was much to talk about. He only cared to remember Vladivostok as a city in the pocket of port magnates and gangs. Personally being a part of the latter to work for the former, he supposed it wouldn't be that much different from here.
"Really! My grandparents came from and live in Arkhangelsk, what is Vladivostok like?" She seemed to expect him to say something wonderful.
"A cesspit at times like this place, but at least you could move from it." he replied quickly.
Any optimism Narala had had quickly disappeared, but it did not take too long before she gave a small smile. "One of these days I'll pay Earth a visit. I'd love to know more about where my father came from." Narala was only met by a simple nod as she moved back toward the kitchen
'She considers Russia some kind of home? Delusional fool, her kind, have no place there, regardless of their parents.' Kai recoiled from another brief headache I should focus on eating this probably insulting slop and hope those damn security restrictions are dropped soon.' Kai thought hoping he'd leave this truly bizarre place.
Kai waited for his food, and looked around to get a good look at the patrons. The batarans at two joined together simply making conversation with each other, laughing. 'Probably about some slave raid or petty crime' Kai mentally commented. Another table had two turians and a human drinking. 'What could be worth celebrating here.'
Kai took note that Narala was coming back with a small plate that was set down on his table.
'These do not look too bad, even if they could use more than cheap sour cream.' Kai thought looking at the food on his plate and began to eat. It was strange to taste food that both reminded him of his time on Earth, but brought back experiences of some of his missions both with the Systems Alliance and Cerberus. The Pelmeni was thin enough to be worthy of the name, even if the meat combination was unusual.
Quickly finishing his meal, Kai paid with credits from an account that came with the cover alias for this mission. He had also included a small tip, the food was okay, and command had an unwritten rule to always tip, both to make you stand out less, and because they thought it was polite. Kai gave one last look at the patrons without having to wait, only to notice he was being watched. In a distant section of the establishment, there sat a lone asari, dressed in what appeared to be brown Asari Commando armor and a grey cowl that concealed most of it.
'What's with the look.' Kai noticed that Asari looking at him it's not like relationships are on the table. I can hardly keep friends inside or outside of Cerberus.' The more Kai looked, the more he noticed she seemed to be staring, with a simile on her that put him ill at ease.
'Unnerved? What kind of hunter are you? Asari merely play at being soldiers, take away their biotics and they are nothing.' Kai had been having slightly darker thoughts as of late, and he did not know it. Brushing it off, he went outside to see if any progress had been made only to find the lockdown had been extended by another hour. 'This is a waste of time, why not just go after him like the cornered rat he is?'
"Pluto Command lockdown has been extended but I am going in. Tell the squad to be ready, when I signal." Kai said starting to move
"Agent Leng, are you insane?" The voice lost any sense of cool, but Kai did not care and moved towards a back door guarded by one guardsman, which looked to be a salarian. Noticing he seemed more distracted by something on his omni-tool, Kai quickly crept up to him, quickly overpowering them and knocking the alien out. With no other distractions, he could hack the entrance and get in, with no problem. However as he entered the apartment, little did he realize he was being followed.
Kai had tracked his target to the fourth floor of the complex, with any luck things would go smoothly.
"Pluto Command I have the target located, be prepared to follow. I'll try to extract without casualties, but first I need to flush him out" Kai reported.
"Hmph. 'Try' yeah right." The voice remarked dryly. "Pluto Command has informed the squad and they are nearby to help extraction." Kai ignored the informal remark and placed a breaching charge on the door that was under Grayson's assumed name Paul Johnson. A blast rang out as the door was forced open, Kai Leng quickly ran into the apartment to try and apprehend Grayson, but was met with the telltale blue flares of biotics. There stood Grayson and an asari, both partially undressed, it seems there was no getting lucky here as the alien would complicate things.
"I apologize if I'm interrupting something, but you're coming with me." Kai said with disgust as he readied himself.
"How many times will it take for your boss to take a hint, he's not getting me or my daughter back." Grayson clearly left his past associations a secret.
"You are coming back with me, regardless. Giving up would save me the trouble, but I'd relish the thought of beating you, just because you're a traitor." Kai could not hide his eagerness. 'Come on. Fight back.'
"Over my dead body." The asari shouted readying a biotic throw.
"Only if you insist." Kai flashed a sinister smile before drawing an M-8 Avenger just to provide significant pressure and possibly wound them. The catch with biotics was you only need to exhaust them. 'Even if Grayson was an experienced agent he could only do so much without those powers.'
Both biotics began their attack forcing Kai to dodge them, while he fired back. It seems Kai was fortunate to strike when he did, the asari seemed more tired, so taking aim he fired a wrist-mounted tranquilizer dart knocking her out. Taking advantage of this lack of firepower, and Grayson's seeming concern for the alien, Kai moved into either threatening whatever she was to him or to outmaneuver Grayson.
It seems Kai did not have to do everything on his own, a skycar hovered over the balcony, and out came four of six Cerberus troopers dressed as mercenaries. The mercenaries fired and managed to break Grayson's concentration and he was knocked unconscious by a tranquilizer dart.
Kai had turned towards the prone form of the alien. This is what Greyson betrayed us for sentiment and sex. I should kill her just to see the reaction on his face when he gets up.' Yet before even Grayson's body could even be fully secured, gunshots rang out, killing three of the four Cerberus soldiers present, as Kai found himself flung towards the hallway.
"Tsk tsk, I thought you were capable of more fun than just breaking and entering, even if you do have a pretty face." Kai got up only to see the asari from earlier, getting a better look at her. He saw her skin was a pale blue while her scalp crests were a darker blue. Her face had a passive smile, but her eyes full of bloodlust reminded Kai of himself at times, and for some reason, he could not understand that terrified him.
'Banish these thoughts, you are an infiltrator, a killer, the top of the food chain. Kill her, but make her suffer first because she is nothing to you.' Kai did not know why these intense thoughts came to him, surely they were his right? It did not matter, she would die by his hands.
Kai fired his assault rifle, only for her to bring up a biotic barrier in response. Sensing that it would be a good time to reposition himself. He moved down the hallway covering his position only for the asari to charge using her biotics to close the distance, before letting loose a push that threw him and his gun down the hall.
"Hm, dark and broody, yet worthless in a fight. I can't say this is the first time I've been disappointed in my prey, but you are the most recent one yet." The assailant had a mocking smile on her face, that only seemed to widen to Kai's annoyance.
"What the hell do you even want?" Kai reached for a combat knife, chances are if she wanted him dead he already would be. Kai wanted to chalk this up to typical asari arrogance, but he never met any commandos that acted so eagerly violent, just resolute and disciplined.
"To see if you were worthwhile, I enjoy interesting people of all stripes, and drinking in all of their wonderful experiences." The asari noticed Kai's hands before pulling out a knife of her own from her hip before lunging forward. "In you, I see darkness and violence, you might burn like a bright flame or you could be a small ember, but I'll never know unless I experience you." She purred as blade met blade.
"You couldn't have just asked for a casual hookup?" Kai was not at all amused at her reasons for getting involved nor would he have humored her. The asari seemed to chuckle in response, before going in for another strike.
"Tempting, but too easy." The attacker remarked with mock thoughtfulness before she smiled again as another thought crossed her face. "Although I do wonder if your experiences with that knife are better than the one you're using now." Kai scoffed before responding with a series of aggressive blows.
"When Asari talk about their ancient knowledge does it also include dated senses of humor as well?" The asari parried them, still wearing that irritating smile on her face.
"So you can do more than scowl." She was about to resume her attack when a skycar rode near the window and began shooting, forcing her to put up a barrier.
"I don't care who both of you are. You're both going to die here, you picked the wrong damn place to go break and enter." The voice came over a loudspeaker from the car, as the sounds of shouting grew from the lower levels of the apartment complex
'Damn it, I'm not equipped to go take on so many in the open.' 'Coward.' Shaking his head, the Cerberus operative looked at the asari. "As much as I hate to admit this, it seems we have to postpone this little fight." Kai remarks only saw the Asari just look back at him in annoyance.
"I take it you don't have much of a plan to escape this do you?" The asari's tone was flippant despite the situation.
"Not really, considering my whole plan was to capture someone and leave. I'm sorry I could not anticipate to have most of my team wiped out by a maniac who then decides to go fight me afterward for kicks, only for this to happen." Kai was wondering why he shouldn't just shoot her here and now.
"It's not my fault, you stand out." The asari shrugged before her face turned serious. "Our way of here will be the one they least expect, their own car. Get your gun and follow my lead. I'm going to bring down the skycar, I'll need you to provide covering fire to distract and then kill the crew, and we'll escape."
"We?" The Cerberus operative looked as if the asari had grown a second head.
"Yes, us. We can try and kill each other now, but that just leaves us open and we're doing their job for them." Kai wanted to argue, but she had a point.
"Hmph, fine. I hope your powers are even half as great as you believe."
"Even if they are half as great, they are still worthless if you're as hapless as your friends back there." The alien replied dismissively.
Ignoring the aasari's comment, Kai moved out to a nearby balcony getting the attention of the skycar which turned to fire on him leaving it's doors open. After an exchange of gunfire, the car was quickly engulfed by a blue field, forced down near the ground, and quickly lifted it back up disorienting the crew. Taking his chance Kai jumped across to the interior of the car and began to fire at the stumbling mercenaries when he soon heard another thud on the inside as his new ally entered the car.
"Nice work." She gave a nod of approval. "I'll drive, I know the best way to evade any of their friends. You might want to buckle up." the asari remarked quickly, taking control of the skycar, using a key off the dead pilot's body. Kai had little time to prepare as the skycar jerked and began to rapidly accelerate.
"Won't a vehicle driven by a raging lunatic attract attention?" Kai wondered why he put his life in this madwoman's hands instead of shooting her right here and now. 'Yes kill her, how dare she order you. How dare she lord over you, kill her.' He felt his hand reach for his rifle to aim.
"Because if you drive into the outer reaches of Omega's gravity well, it's very easy to lock the skycar's ability to lift even with lack of traffic, just in case you want to try and kill me. You know how tragic murder-suicides are?" his sudden ally explained her threat nonchalantly.
"Hm, so this is to keep yourself alive as a backup plan." 'Not a bad idea at all. I can appreciate holding someone's life hostage as a threat.' 'You admire the handiwork of an alien, are you a traitor?'
Before Kai could respond the asari turned around with an exaggeratedly stoic look on her face, while the skycar was set on an autopilot course. "Yes, young one. An Asari as old as I has taken several of your lifetimes to learn all about larceny, hijacking, and getaway driving. Some might even say the Asari have perfected them." She then laughed in her regular tone, as Kai could at first only scowl in response, before giving a small chuckle himself. "The first skycar I took for a joyride was my mother's. I miss those days sometimes." This time her face seemed to smile with something other than desire or malice, but something truly joyful.
"So why do you hunt and stalk people like me?" Kai asked as he sent a message in code via omni-tool to Pluto Command. What is Grayson's status? I have been waylaid by an assailant and forced to commandeer a skycar with their help. Track my omni-tool for extraction, Agent out.
"Simple, it's exciting and a way I can live freely, life is no fun bound by oppression." Kai raised an eyebrow, when were the wise and beautiful queens of the galaxy ever oppressed?
"How? Aren't the Asari so powerful you could do whatever with the time you have?" Kai eagerly waited to hear what trifling story she could bring up, compared to how he had to live within the Vladivostok gangland. Instead, the alien gave a look not smugness or calm, but of a familiar bitterness, mixed with rage.
"Asari society is a cesspit of lies. You are always going to be judged, if it's not being too young to be trusted or to know anything, then it's who were your parents. If your mother melded with a certain species you have some stereotypes, and if it was with another asari well what your but another disgrace to the species. And in the worst cases they lock you away in some monastery before your even forty, all for the crime that your parents were two Asari who loved each other"
"Surely your mother could help you if she still lives." The asari's face just grew angrier.
"My dear mother is the one relentless enough to hunt me, and who you call my 'father' died when I was twelve." The alien referred to her own mother as if it were a curse. "Perhaps she feels responsible for what I've done, or maybe my very existence is one big mistake she has to correct. She nearly did with some help, but I managed to escape. Civilization may as well be cruelty and oppression masked by smiles and honeyed words, and none are so good at that as we 'civilized' Asari." Kai tensed up at the word mistake. [6]
"Is that all you are my son? Just some thug to men who believe they know better." Kai recalled the memory of his father. 'No, you are greater now than you ever were, who that person is should remain dead. You don't need your family on yourself.' Kai could only put his hand on his head, these headaches were recent, but the doctors apparently could not find anything wrong. "I know the feeling of not really having parents anymore."
So, what about you? You're here on business, I get that much, but what brings you to such a brutal line of work?" The asari regained with her all too familiar look of interest.
"The idea Humanity does not get its proper respect, and the rules of the Council only hold us back I work for some kindred spirits in that regard." It was something he had to practice in talking with those who were true believers in Cerberus.
"So, you want Humanity to be strong alone?" The pale-skinned alien actually gave the words some thought, instead of dismissing them outright. "Bold, but probably foolish. The Krogan have a saying, that even the toughest thresher maw can be killed by a horde of mediocre Krogan. Even I have worked as a mercenary from time to time, as much as I would like to be solitary. You travel with others as well do you not?" Her voice now sounded like the tone he had come to expect from typically older asari.
"And most of them have left, with some turning traitor, hunting one such person was what brought me here, and I hope to never come back." A look of disappointment across the alien's face before it became predatory again.
"I can help with that." Kai felt the presence of the alien become attractive, as if he wanted no, needed to get closer to her. All of a sudden the headaches flared up.
'Kill her, you weak fool! She wants to use you as a tool, but only we offer salvation through destruction!' The thoughts nearly threatened to split his head open, but he felt her presence expand and envelop it. How is this possible? You will be harvested for this. The headaches ceased, and all he wanted was to stare into the light blue pools that were her eyes as he felt himself drift close enough that her hands were on his face. Her touch seemed unreal, somehow if it was soft yet it lit a fire within him. [7]
They were snapped back to reality by a blaring noise by Kai's omni-tool. Quickly looking down he saw a message that the team carrying Grayson was close by.
"Hmph, looks like that is my cue to leave, my team will be here shortly, well what's left from the ones you didn't kill. So what happens now?" remembering the alluring alien could try and kill them both if he made the wrong move.
"I can drop you off somewhere close, and drive away like this never happened." A look of disappointment had crossed her face. "Can you at least give me a name to remember you by, I'm Morinth" The name felt good to his ears and he did not know why.
"Kai Leng." It's not like anyone could really trace him, and who would believe a wanted criminal? The last thing that the Alliance knew is that he died ten years ago, in a botched prison break. The skycar soon landed at its destination, with Kai getting out. He gave the stolen car one last look as it flew off. Before long a familiar sky car landed and out stepped one of Kai's remaining squad mates.
"We have the prisoner if there are no other issues." The soldiers seldom bothered Kai, and he liked it that way but knew the man as Isaaq.
"There shouldn't be. Let's get out of here." As interesting as this mission had been so far, it wouldn't be prudent to keep the Illusive Man waiting.
"I've heard the situation from Pluto Command. Who the hell was that assailant, they took down Stauder, Matsura, and Lombardo like they were nothing."
"This person was just a criminal on the run, nobody important." At least not to Isaaq or Cerberus, but to him she felt, like a kindred spirit.
After Kai boarded the car, a message was sent.
"Pluto Command here. You are to continue with the second part of your mission, the Illusive Man believes the traitor still has his uses. However Agent Leng, the Illusive Man wants you as on-site standby, given your recent actions."
"Understood." Normally the agent would be incensed and offended, but Morinth stood out as something bright that for once he could not care as the car was heading toward the ship that would take them off Omega.
A/N 8/8/21: Looking back on it, I've probably made a radically different Kai Leng already from the outset. The biggest problem with writing a canon Kai Leng is you have four different portrayals of him, that can all contradict one another. In ME 3 proper Kai Leng, is arrogant, brash, petty, and cruel, but he doesn't seem to be overtly xenophobic or sexist. ME Retribution gives him a far more serious persona, with a sadistic streak, more overt xenophobia and sexism that doesn't seem to be touched on. The much-maligned ME Deception actually takes away the sexism of Retribution, but gives Kai one of the more infamously petty scenes which it tries by saying he's an adrenaline junkie. The ME Foundation comics seem to be closer to the ME 3's characterization.
Characterization-wise, I want to strike some kind of a happy medium that keeps Kai Leng recognizable as Kai Leng, even with the backstory I want to craft that keeps him at least open to sympathetic character development. He still spoils for a fight, can be cold, prideful, and even mocking, but not to the point of pettiness. So I hope he's rough around the edges enough, but at least has something redeemable about him.
A/N 5/30/22: Well irritatingly enough, in writing the current chapter I had to go back to this one to revise some things because what I've established later as Kai's background really makes this introduction as it was jarring. Even the slight imitation of canon Kai Leng I had doesn't even fit anymore.
A/N 8/1/22: I made a few small changes to make it not be so obvious Morinth is an Ardat Yakshi.
Notes for context
[1] This part takes place during a rough version of Mass Effect Retribution so between ME 2 and ME 3.
[2] Kai Leng's name in the East Asian naming convention would be Leng Kai, Leng being his surname, and Kai his given name. Kai only works as a surname if he was Japanese, but he's Chinese and Russian.
[3] Supposedly Kai Leng has East-Slavic heritage, I'm running with him being either half or perhaps a quarter Russian.
[4] Russian names tend to have patronyms or having a middle name based on the name of one's father. Galinichna would be daughter of Galina, which would not work normally, but I could see an exception being made for an asari. Narechka is meant to be a diminutive name
[5] Russian dumplings, close to perogies, but with a meat filling. Depending on the context it could be seen as a normal meal in a family household, or something close to instant ramen for college students.
[6] Basically, Shepard backed Samara, but something happened that let Morinth escape. So Morinth never joined Shepard's crew while Samara is very much alive.
[7] As an indoctrination write around, the only real way to 'cure' it is to replace Reaper influence with something else be it Thorian or Leviathan mind control. Considering Morinth can do the same to collector troops even possessed by a full-on Reaper such as Harbinger, I figured this would make enough sense.