Disclaimer: Bioware owns Ashley M. Williams, Donnel Udina, David Anderson, Kai Leng, and the cast of ME2. In this case, they also own a little bit of Shepard due to the fact that in this story he is based on the archetype of a paragon rather than my personal interperetation. Dignam, Behring, and the rest of the characters are owned by me. Enjoy!

Mass Effect: The Faithful Departed

Dignam:

A flash split the night and shattered the calming melody of raindrops splashing against the windows. For the briefest moment, the world was made of light; the tops of looming skyscrapers and cars illuminated like a midsummer day, and then cast down into darkness. The darkness swallowed the light forever.

Welcome to my world, ladies and gentlemen. That's the story of my career in a nutshell: Something incredible and groundbreaking would happen, and then nothing. That's actually the story of the life of every officer in the Special Investigations Unit of the Elysium police. That's a mouthful, I know. Most of us call it the SIU for short. It's said to be a "prestigious honor" and an "important commitment" or perhaps my personal favorite the "chance of a lifetime." Of course once you're inside the unit, you never have time to appreciate any of that candy-ass propaganda garbage.

A job where I get paid to watch some kingpin dine in style at some fancy restaurant with a name I can't pronounce from the back of a surveillance van for twenty hours.

Today was turning into one of those twenty hour workdays real fast. After 16 hours of crime scene reports and official paperwork, and there's still eight inches of paperwork left to go, I know where I'll be at 11:30 at night.

Behind my desk, guaranteed.

Now, I turned back from the soothing downpour outside my office window and back to my Leaning Tower of Paperwork crowding the right half of my desk. Paperwork is actually an outdated term, because now everything is digital, stored in digital files with a harsh orange screen and a grey back holding a dirt mine of data. However, when I really dug my heels into the files, my day got a whole lot more interesting.

The files given to me were those regarding the abduction of Commander Shepard.

Not his supposed death two years ago, but his highly publicized and bloody kidnapping three days ago on the Zakera Ward. It was confirmed by first responders and C-Sec investigators that over two dozen Cerberus Agents ambushed and made off with John-boy near the entrance to the Presidium at 1600 hours. Fourteen Cerberus agents were killed by Shepard's associates, Miranda Lawson and Garrus Vakarian. Miranda was ex Cerberus, so her record was completely nonexistent. Garrus I had known form a prior stint at C-Sec. He had a good heart and fiery ambition, but that also gave him a loose trigger finger and a general lack of professionalism on the job. He had been a close friend, but had recently dropped off of the grid and out of contact with any former colleagues.

I had been given these files because C-Sec investigators put their thick heads together and managed to figure out the Shepard was on Elysium. That was just perfect. Cerberus operated like a military unit and was nearly impossible to track down. Detectives spent years spinning their wheels in the inescapable mud pit of bureaucracy looking for agents Cerberus had planted in the various governments and agencies, to no avail. Now the same task would be asked of the SIU, finding a solution to an impossible problem under public scrutiny.

My thoughts were interrupted by a banging on my door. Oh, great.

"Dignam!" Open up, it's Behring."

Ah, that would be Lieutenant Behring, my stable friend for the past four years. Technically, he was my boss, but I never gave him any reason to pull rank on me.

"What is it?" I shouted back. He had better not need me for something.

"I need you for something." That's just poetic.

I rose from my chair and started toward the door.

"There had better be a goddamn fire in the building," I said as I opened the door.

Behring was standing in the hallway with dark circles around his eyes and a dreary look on his face. He looked exhausted. "Well Dignam, we have a problem. An Alliance Rep is here to speak with you."

"With me?"

"No. She just needs to talk to somebody above the rank of Sergeant, and everyone else is busy, so you're on deck," he said matter-of-factly, leading me into the main office area.

"Thanks. It's good to have friends who care so much," I said dryly as we skirted around a pair of Turian officers and past a jumble of tables and chairs flooded with data pads. The Special Investigations building was always crowded, as officers, detectives, and occasionally Alliance tools came here to tell us to hurry up our investigations or inadvertently slow them down.

We stopped walking. "Listen, Sergeant. This Alliance rep is here about the Shepard case. She's an Operations Chief, so just be nice, and show her some respect and hospitality, and the give her the Blue Wall of Silence."

I knew he was going to say that. He wanted me to bring the Chief's investigation to a standstill. It's one of the oldest tricks in the book for thoroughly pissing off Alliance brass and letting them know that we can handle ourselves. I had no personal problems with the Alliance, but they were constantly sticking their noses in our business, which gets tiring after a while.

Eventually, our walk took us to the guest waiting area, where I could see her sitting uncomfortably in a chair meant for a Turian. If there was any clearer definition of hardass, then I must have missed it.

She was in her late twenties, hair tied firmly in a bun that seemed to tug at the sides of her head. Her skin color was slightly dark with bulging biceps beneath her blue Alliance uniform. She looked anxious, her legs fidgeting. Her face was the look of a woman who had been through the wringer and come out with slightly less of herself than before. If you hadn't already guessed, I had made something of a habit of shamelessly reading people, a useful skill for an investigator.

Behring turned and winked before walking away, disappearing into the melting pot of individuals behind us, with bigger issues on his mind.

I had already made up my mind. If I had the chance to coordinate with the Alliance to find the Savior of the Galaxy, then I would give it my all.

I took a deep breath. Here we go.

Ashley:

I was trying desperately not to fidget in the oddly shaped chair I had been foolish enough to sit in.

I couldn't decide why I was so jumpy. I couldn't sleep on the transport here or the night before that, yet I still had energy. What I didn't have was a place to direct it.

I tried watching the SIU officers bustling here and there, absorbed in casework of one type or another. I couldn't help but compare them to C-Sec due to the nature of their work. C-Sec was an organization I didn't have a lot of respect for, mainly due to all of the regulations and their tendency to just sweep issues under the rug instead of dealing with them. I had decided during my time on the Normandy that I could never be a cop. Too much legal BS and not enough actual action for me to try and make a career out of it. I was a marine anyway; I wasn't born to do anything but serve my race just like my father and his father before him.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a pair of human officers speaking in low voices with a sense of urgency about them. Must be contagious around here.

One was a lanky officer in his thirties, unshaven and practically sleeping on his feet. He had a really bad haircut and a Predator handgun strapped to his right thigh, he must be left handed.

The second officer was a few years older than me, with a haircut to match his friend. At first, he appeared to be wearing suspenders, but after a second glance I saw the Camifex sidearm tucked in his shoulder holster under his left arm. He took a brief look at me, sizing me up, then a look toward his friend who was walking away, and finally began to approach me.

I rose from my seat as he extended a hand towards me.

"Staff Sergeant Dignam, pleased to meet you," he nodded courteously as I grasped his hand.

"Operations Chief Ashley Williams," I nodded back. At a second glance, he seemed in his thirties and was in shape, more or less. I stifled back a giggle at picturing all of the officers trying to fit their pot bellies into combat armor.

I had a job to do.

"Can I speak with you? It's about the Shepard incident. The one-"I was cut off abruptly.

"We'll discuss it in my office," he interrupted, leading me past the conglomerate of people in to a small office at the rear of the building.

I silently cursed myself for being impatient. I couldn't just wait until I was in a secure area to spill my guts, could I? Nope. Had to do it right in the middle of the room for all of the free galaxy to hear.

We entered the office. He locked the door behind us, looking down the hallway to make sure nobody had followed us. He was careful, I will give him that.

I leaned against the wall opposite his desk while he sat on the edge of his desk, not having the nerve to take a seat while a woman was standing. He folded his arms and teetered on the edge of his desk, undoubtedly his favorite stance.

I started. "Commander Shepard was… kidnapped," I managed to say the words aloud, still not believing it myself.

"Yeah, I heard. Zakera Ward, right? About three days ago by some Cerberus bad boys on his way to the Presidium. I also heard that he was rumored to be here on Elysium somewhere. Did I miss anything?" he asked. He had a very cynical detached way of speaking, limiting how concerned he was for an issue. It came off as rude, but it was probably the way I would talk if I were in his shoes. That didn't make me feel any better though.

"How did you know? Who gave you that information?" I demanded.

"Captain Sidereaux, Commander of the Special Investigations Unit. Who gave it to you?"

"Councilor Anderson. Since you already seem to know everything, I suppose you don't want the locations of rumored Cerberus hideouts around your city, do you?" His hard boiled cop thing was getting very old very fast.

He sighed, knowing I wouldn't take attitude from him. "Williams, I appreciate you coming here to help, but things don't look very good for Shepard right now. If Shepard gets to the Illusive Man before we can get to him, then I'm afraid we're going to have to make some difficult choices. Those leads you were given on Cerberus…" He trailed off.

"What about them?" I asked.

"They're false. Let me tell you something about retrieving information, Chief. When you go looking for information on the organization that has penetrated the Alliance using sources in the Alliance, you'll hit a dead end."

I could tell that was experience talking. He had spent a long time in the cat and mouse world of organized crime and spies and informants.

"So we start our own investigation, off the books?" I asked.

"Now you've got it, Chief. What we look for are cargo ships that make drop-offs in unpopulated regions of the city. Do you know any shell companies Cerberus owns?" He asked, now interested.

I thought for a moment, trying to remember. Then it came to me. "Anderson told me Cord-Hislop Aerospace is a valuable asset to Cerberus. Let's start there" I suggested, energy and hope flowing through me for the first time in a long while.

"The Cord-Hislop Aerospace? The one that is based here on Elysium?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yes! Let's go," He and I rose from our chairs and started down the hallway.

We met the other lanky officer from before, Lieutenant Behring, and shut ourselves inside a briefing room. Behring operated the interactive hologram in the center of the room, while Dignam and I narrowed down the likely locations where Shepard was being held. Finally, we narrowed it down to a single warehouse on the city limits.

"Want me to call backup, Dignam?" Behring asked.

"No, keep this between the three of us. Would anyone else have access to this information?"

"Not unless they either have a bug in here or can successfully hack our system," he answered.

"Let's roll, Sergeant," I said, concluding the discussion.

Five minutes later, I was suited up and ready to go, armed with my full compliment of weapons and gear.

"Whoa, Chief!" Dignam held his hands up is a gesture of mock surrender. " Remind me not to catch you on a bad day,"

We both managed dark laughs despite ourselves. Dignam and I piled into his unmarked cruiser and drove off into the rainstorm outside. He seemed oddly relaxed, the rain somehow soothing him, despite our near suicide mission ahead. He checked the load of his Avenger Assault Rifle, keeping one eye on the sky ahead.

"So Chief, why did you get this assignment anyway?" he asked.

I chose my answer carefully. "He was my former CO. I felt obliged," I answered quickly, not wanting to reveal what Shepard and I had. What it could've become.

"Mm-hm," he answered with a mocking tone.

"What the hell does Mm-hm mean?" I demanded. Somehow, he had already found out.

"Nothing, Chief. Just commenting..." he let his voice trail off for the extra effect, sensing my defensiveness.

"Look, it wasn't like that,okay?" I tried to be convincing, but it was in vain.

"You are such a bad liar," he laughed, not knowing he hit a nerve.

"I can't lose him again!" I blurted out. That shut him up.

After a long, uncomfortable pause, he said"I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I didn't know how special he is to you."

"Yeah, it's fine. We loved each other a couple of years ago. It just..."

"Whaddya mean you loved him? You do love him. Present tense, Williams."

I managed a smile at his unique way of helping. "Thanks, Dignam." I realized what he said was true. I was still in love with him, I had just been denying it for so long that I couldn't remember what it felt like. "So what's your story?"

"Nothing special. I've been a cop ever since I was eighteen, and now I have a job in the SIU that keeps me busy."

"Must be an honor," I commented.

He started laughing."You have no idea."

Suddenly, I found myself squinting and leaning out the window. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something had caught my eye. Something was out of place.

"No sights this part of town," he interrupted my thoughts.

I ignored him, keeping my eyes peeled. Finally, I saw it. The one thing out of place.

"Dignam, does Cord-Hislop have any other warehouses this part of town?" I asked quickly. When he said no, I knew I had the right to be suspicious. "There's an armored truck with the company logo on the side. At the intersection ahead." I pointed frantically, my instincts kicking in. This changed the mission. Our plan was now totally obselete.

"You're call Williams. If we let this go, and they walk, then we might never see Shepard alive again."

I had already made up my mind." Let's go."

Shepard:

The world was blood red. Inside the container, it was dark, yet tinted red.

My hands were tied firmly behind my back, not that the Cerberus agents needed the knots. My battered body had stopped cooperating a long time ago. I was propped up in a small plastic seat, in the middle of an empty room. We were moving, somehow the room I was in was moving steadily forward. The motion combined with the blood I had lost made me want to throw up, but I could hold it back. That was the only thing I still had control over. The last couple of days/weeks/months(I was unable to tell how much tine had passed) were a complete blur.

"Hang tight, soldier man," a voice said mockingly from a few feet away. Petrenko. That was his name. He was of Ukranian heritage with a throaty accent to match. He was also a former Spetznaz operative for a Russian-based organization on earth before it had been disbanded. The tattoo on his bicep proved my assumption.

"You know, if my friends weren't here," he said in a Russian monotone, loosely angling a thumb over his shoulder, stepping closer." I would spill your guts out like they were jello!" he shouted, throwing a roundhouse kick into my side.

I felt the foot slam into my kidney. I probably would have tasted blood if I had not been already doing so for the past 24 hours. It ached, but somehow I was numb to it.

"That was a pretty weak kick, Petrenko," commented another voice. I didn't have to see to know who it was. The punk's name was Barrigan; a sarcastic, passively-ruthless operative in his twenties. He wore a black shoulder holster with a Predator handgun strapped in. He seemed like the type who could kill an alien and then laugh about it, based on his detached, smug attitude.

The only other man in the room was Kai Leng. He was the best trained individual I had ever met. Sporting skills with knives, guns, and especialy his bare hands, his speed and strength could easily give Thane Krios a run for his money. I knew his job was to keep me restrained and prevent me from trying any ill concieved escape attempts, or hold off would be attackers. So far, his skills had been put to waste. The only action he participated in was in my abduction, which was a blur in my memory, one of the many blind spots I had since being rebuilt by Cerberus. I never told anybody, but Miranda and Wilson couldn't bring all of the memories back, despite what they believed after all of the extensive work. Had cerberus gotten Miranda too?

I could only guess about what was happening in the world outside of my personal hell.

"Enough," Kai Leng spoke in a quiet, yet assertive voice."We are almost there."

Suddenly, the whole world rocked with a thunderous BOOM. A third of the room was torn open violently, like some massive creature had taken a bite out of it. Rain poured in from outside, a constant stream soaking all of us. The cold water felt so good on my body, soaking my wounds and washing away the blood at the same time.

Kai Leng didn't hesitate, lunging into the nearest corner of the room and pressed his hands against the walls, hanging on for dear life.

The rest of us weren't so lucky.

Barrigan tumbled into the other side of the container, out of view.

Petrenko barreled into me, knocking both of us to the floor. Tidal waves of pain surged through my nervous system, blotting out the world in a flood of red.

I had to get out of this chair. Somehow, I had to move now or not at all. The knots on my hands were tight and done by experienced hands, but eighteen hours of silently working them paid off. That combined with the blood dripping down my arms acting as a lubricant, giving me wiggle room. I tugged and pulled for all I was worth, and suddenly my hands were free.

When I tried to raise them, the white hot pain brought them down again.

It hurt like hell, but my hands were free.

Kai Leng grabbed his pistol in a flash, drawing a bead on me. But he held his fire. He still wasn't authorized to kill me, not even now.

Suddenly, a pair of boots flew through the window, smashing violently into Kai's shull, knocking him backward and into the intact wall of the container, withan equally sickening crack. He didn't get up.

A figure materialized in the opening, rifle drawn. I didn't believe it.

Ash was here! How? I didn't believe it, but here she was, charging into the container to save me!

Petrenko drew his service knife from his belt as he rose onto his feet. he never carried a gun around me, as the risk of me killing him with it was too high. But he had his ten inch service knife, and started toward Ash, who was still facing the fallen Kai Leng.

I pushed myself harder than I had in my entire life. I had to get up. Had to do something. In a cry of defiance, I shouted "Not my Ash!"

Suddenly, I was up and running, trying to ignore the pain of being beat on for days.

Petrenko turned to face me. When he did, I threw a wild left hook that connected with his jaw with a satisfying crunch. Finally, I had hurt him. After hurting people for his entire life, it was about time someone hurt him back.

He staggered backward directly toward Ash, his knife tumbling into oblivion. Ash sidestepped and grabbed Petrenko by the collar and hurled him out of the opening and into the maelstrom.

That's my Ash. Another man appeared behind Ash, holding an Assault Rifle and was wearing what looked like suspenders.

For the first time in my life, I didn't ask questions, I just ran toward my Ash and her friend.

Suddenly the man screamed,"Barrigan! "How'd he know who Barrigan was?

I turned around mis-stride to see Barrigan recovering and drawing his pistol from under his armpit. He fired two shots, shattering the man's rifle.

That didn't stop him from charging Barrigan, beating aside his pistol with one arm and landing a punch to his temple with the other.

Barrigan threw a sharp elbow that connected with the man's forehead as he desperately tried to get a shot off. This stunned him briefly, allowing Barrigan to fire a round into his kinetic barrier.

The man recovered and grabbed the straps of Barrigan's holster and shoved him to the floor, leaving him struggling to fire his weapon

"Come on Dignam!" Ash shouted.

Dignam. That was his name. He stopped fighting and ran over to us.

Suddenly, Ash grabbed me and pulled me out of the opening and into the rain. For a moment we were floating, totaly weightless in zero g.

Then we crashed down into the seat of a car riding alongside the transport.

Dignam hit right after us. Immediately, he grabbed the wheel and yanked hard to the right, breaking our paralel course with the transport.

Kai Leng had recovered and was returning fire, a wild look in his eye. After a minute of darting through traffic and weaving dangerously between lanes, the shots became less frequent as out car mixed in with the other million nameless and indistinguishable vehicles out that night. I hung on for dear life. Times like these made me realize just how serious my fear of reckless driving was. I was fine if Joker was at the helm of the Normandy of I was driving with Liara on Illium, trying to catch a spectre. But I don't like putting my life in the hands of someone I don't know.

It was pouring outside on whatever planet we were on. Ash had closed the door but we were still soaked to the bone.

Dignam was shaking, still on his adrenaline rush. I saw what I thought was suspenders was actually a shoulder holster with his sidearm still inside. I saw the badge around his belt. It read, Elysium Police SIU. Whatever the hell that was, I'm glad it had sent a man to help rescue me.

He set the car down at an empty landing pad and jumped out, falling to his knees in the rain. He looked defeated for some reason.

I turned to Ash, who hadn't taken her eyes off of me the entire time. She was staring at me with a look of... hope. Hope that she would see me again. Hope that Horizon wasn't really the end for us.

Hope that someday we could love each other again.

I tried to think of something to say, something to make it right. I had run over my apology a hundred times, but now even those words would be in vain. So I said the only thing I could think of.

"I'm sorry."

As soon as the words came out, Ash lunged forward and caught me in an embrace. Her warmth was pulsating next to me for the first time in over two years, filling me with a serene sense of peace. Whenever I was with my Ash, nothing else mattered. I had been captured by Cerberus and was incredibly beaten up. A man had died today.

But it was alright.

"It's okay," Ash whispered into my ear, pulling me closer. I was in tears over Ash, having spent so long without her advice or comforting presence. I think she was crying too. Even now, after barely letting herself shed a tear on Horizon, she had turned on the waterworks for the real reunion on some landing pad on a planet neither of us had been to. I wasn't letting her go, I would never let her go ever again for as long as I lived.

We left our rapture after untangling ourselves from each other.

"How did you find me?" I asked.

"Help from a friend," she said with a sly smile. I loved her smile, when she chose to let me see it.

We both turned to see Dignam slowly making his way to us, drenched. We saw the hollow look on his face, a sense of dread about him.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Barrigan. He's back. In my lifetime he's back."

After our emotional reunion, I leaned that Sergeant Dignam worked for the Elysium police, Special Investigations Unit. He had agreed to help Ash rescue my sorry ass as a favor to the Alliance. I also learned that he had a smug attitude, a slight detachment from whatever he was trying to deal with. I had seen people with far worse attitudes, so i took no offense to it.

We rode to a half empty hotel on the south side of the city, where Cerberus wouldn't track us. Ash had said it wouldn't draw too much attention if we decided to stay the night.

The door opened to our room with a soft whine. As soon as we were in, I laid down on the overstuffed sofa, still in pain. Ash was there to save the day once again, providing some medigel for my wounds and bandages to begin the healing process. I was enjoying my assistance from Ash more than I should have, but I don't think she had a problem with that.

As soon as I could sit up, I got into the extranet terminal in the main seating area. I typed in the code for the Normandy's private channel and prayed for a response. Dignam had already contacted his captain and Ash had done the same with Anderson, all involved were en route.

Someone on the Normandy answered, a green light indicating that the comm channel was open. Ash leaned in next to me, watching intently. Dignam stood behind us, arms folded. Funny, some of his mannorisms were like Barrigan's; with his cynical attitude and habitually standing in the background instead of at the forefront. I kept this stored in my brain for later use.

"Hello?" a voice spoke into the other end of the line. It was shy and reserved, kind of like a child wondering if they should be answering the phone when their parents weren't home.

It was Kelly Chambers.

"Kelly, this is Shepard," I replied.

"Shepard! Are you okay? Where are you? Are you hurt? Have you-" Her questions came at me a million miles an hour, not giving me a chance to answer.

"Kelly!" I interrupted her flood of questions in a calming voice."I'll be okay, could you put me on screen in the comm room and notify the crew?"

"I'm on it!" she practically shouted into the receiver and ran away, spreading the news like it it was Christmas morning.

"You guys certainly have enough coffee on your ship, don't you?" Ashley commented. Dignam just laughed.

"Shepard, I'm putting you up on screen now," Chambers updated me. I could see her moving around the camera in the comm room as my faithful crew slowly gathered from behind her.

Shouts of joy were heard from the cheap speakers as crew members waved to the camera. It was nice to see that they had made it out and were okay as far as I could tell. It was a good thing nobody else had been captured instead of me, because I would burn Elysium to the ground trying to smoke Cerberus out if they had.

"Who are you?" Dignam asked from behind us. We cleared so that Chambers could see him.

I just then realized how bad of an idea it would be for Dignam to meet the crew. Oh shit.

"I'm Yeoman Kelly Chambers. I serve as Shepard's yeoman as well as a psychologist aboard the Normandy," she answered.

"Really? So every so often one of Shepard's badasses gets to come to you and cry about their feelings after having to, ahem, discharge their weapon in the line of duty, right?" he said with a wicked grin. He had no idea who he was talking to.

"Actually, that's my job," is what I wanted to say, but I held my tongue.

I heard a few laughs in the background mixed in with some cursing from Jack and Grunt, and a brief greeting from Garrus.

"Hey, Shepard, who's with you?" I heard Miranda ask from the background.

"This is Ops Chief Ashley Williams, she was the Alliance rep on Horizon." I pulled a reluctant Ashley closer to the camera. I couldn't believe it, but Ash was actually nervous. Ha! Now that was a sight I didn't see every day! Her cheeks were even red!

"Hey, Williams!" Garrus, Tali, and Joker waved at their old comrade.

"Hiya fellas," Ashley waved back, then retreated.

"Who else is there?" Tali asked quizzicaly.

"Guys, this is Sergeant Dignam. He's with the Elysium police, he and Ash helped rescue me from Cerberus." He nodded, and some more curses were mumbled into the reciever.

After that, I explained the current situation to my crew, from the presence of Kai Leng and Barrigan to the method of extraction used to get me out.

"Wait," Ash interrupted me, which was odd for her."You two have Cerberus emblems on your uniforms," she pointed to Jacob and Miranda. She reached to kill the connection, but I stopped her.

"Ex-Cerberus actually, Chief," Jacob explained.

"So how dangerous is Kai Leng?" I asked Miranda.

"Extremely. I would recommend running when you see him. He's the best operative Cerberus has to offer, specializing in wet work. The only reason he wasn't put on the team is so the Illusive Man could have a way to control you if you disobeyed his orders, whcih proved to be quite effective."

"We get the picture," Ashley said. "So who's this Barrigan character?"

Dignam spoke up in the background. "He was a cop once upon a life. He went rogue after believing the police couldn't stop all of the corruption in the galaxy. He gunned down two officers before fleeing the Special Investigations Unit. It was believed that he entered a cryo stasis somewhere in the Traverse in an attempt to outlive his arrest warrant. Yet, I saw him here, tonight."

"Did you know him well?" Jacob asked.

"Yes. I am one of the few who remembers him as Sergeant Barrigan."

"Anyway," I took charge of the conversation, a force of habit. "We are going to hold out here tonight and meet with Anderson and Udina when they arrive. We'll find some way to get me off world without Cerberus finding out."

"Contact us when you're off of Elysium," Miranda told us.

I nodded. "I'll talk to you then. Shepard out." With that the conversation was over. My reunion would have to wait, Anderson and Udina had arrived.

Ashley opened the door for them, greeting Anderson and ignoring Udina respectively. Udina must have still been the political tool that he was two years ago. I didn't know what to think about Anderson. He was a good officer, an impossibly honest politician, yet he still didn't trust me completely. I didn't take that too hard; I was used to people not trusting me on a regular basis. I still didn't know about Dignam. He had rescued me, but I've seen people do a lot more deceiving than that to get a whole lot less in return. That and the fact that he kept reminding me of Barrigan for some reason.

After them, a weary looking Lietenant Behring and Captain Sidereaux, a salarian, arrived with other officers to secure the building.

"Shepard, it's good to have you back...again," Anderson said in his normal deep, booming voice. Behring almost laughed from his seat next to Ash and I on the sofa, but squelched the idea before Ashley did the same to his head.

Udina started,"Shepard, it's good to see you up and walking again. Do you need a doctor? Did Cerberus give you any injections of any kind?"

I couldn't believe Udina cared, not that I was going to ask any questions about it. "No,sir. I've been given medigel by Ops Chief Williams. I'll make it...And I appreciate you sending her, sir. Without them rescuing me, I would've never been seen again," I said, realizing how true my words were. I turned to Ashley. "Thank you,Chief."

She gave me one of those meaningful looks that I love. "No problem, Skipper."

"Hallmark moment," Behring mumbled. Sidereaux and Dignam chuckled, ruining our "Hallmark Moment", to our distaste.

Sidereaux straightened up, clearing his throat. "Alright, we know Cerberus is after Shepard and we know that the operative Kai Leng and former officer Barrigan are involved. The question is: How do we get Shepard off world without attracting Cerberus to the LZ?" He spoke like a Salarian, yet was considerably slower and easier to understand than most. Well, maybe not. Maybe I had just been talking with Mordin too much.

"That's why you called my office," Anderson filled in. "The SIU can't guarantee a safe transport for Shepard anywhere, let alone to an LZ that my men are defending."

"The SIU is compromised, but we intend to keep this off of the books," Dignam explained.

"Oh yeah, that'll help," Udina mumbled sarcastically. Anderson nodded in agreement.

"Compromised?" I wondered aloud.

"Yes. We think that there may at least one rat in the police, but we don't know who he works for," Dignam explained grudgingly. I could tell announcing that he worked for a corrupt law enforcement office took some pride away from him. No wonder things were so hush-hush around here.

"So the fact that Ashley and Dignam found Shepard as he was being taken away from a Cerberus hideout is just a pure coincidence?" Anderson said facetiously, obviously fed up with the officers trying to cover up their own issues within the unit. See, that was Anderson's only problem. He was too honest, sometimes brutally so.

Sidereaux stood up, offended."Actually, I had men ready to handle the investigation when your office got involved-"

"My office? You think that my office is the one that is compromising this operation?" Both Anderson and Sidereaux took steps toward each other.

Ash stood up, getting in between the Sidereaux and Anderson before I could.

"Both of you! For Christ's sake, we don't have to deal with the corruption in either of your offices now. All we need to do is keep the operation small and between us. Look, we don't need any heavy support for this mission, just a handful of officers and marines to secure transport and lock down an LZ outside the city limits and we can get him safely off world before Cerberus will have time to mobilize."

Her sudden tactical appraisal blanketed the room is silence.

I spoke up. "She's right. As long as we keep this small, then the Cerberus teams won't have to get organized. And I could use someone of Ash's caliber on the Normandy, so she and I can depart."

Now everyone was looking at me, to my dismay. I had hoped to say that in the least attention-grabbing way possible, but that plan was officially blown out of the water.

Anderson broke the silence. "Yes, Chief Williams can be our liason on the Normandy, provided she wants the assignment."

"Yes," Ashley blurted before I could wonder if Horizon was really the end for our tome together.

Anderson clapped his hands."It's settled then. We'll escort Ashley and Shepard to an LZ outside the city and then fly them off world so that Shepard can continue his mission on the Normandy."

"The SIU can provide safe transport to the landing zone alongside any marines you have involved-"

"That won't be necessary Captain. You're concern is appreciated, but you said it yourself. Your unit is compromised." Anderson seemed stuck on the fact that the SIU would get us killed. We also appreciate the concern, but I think we can trust Sidereaux and Behring's men to get us there alive.

Sidereaux and Dignam were reaching a breaking point, having their dignity continually taken away every time Anderson spoke.

"No offence grandpa, but I think that Behring and I can provide tactical support without getting word out," Dignam pointed out.

"Fine," Anderson compromised. "But if anything happens to those two, then I'm holding your office responsible," he told Sidereaux. Sidereaux nodded, having heard that threat before.

After our meeting, we all dispersed. Anderson and Udina departed, leaving a handful of marines spread throughout the building. The Behring and Sidereaux left to get some sleep, and Dignam stayed in the apartment next to ours.

After the last officer was gone, Ash and I finally got some alone time.

Ashley:

Thank god they left! That's all I was thinking as I playfully pushed Shepard down onto the bed before falling down next to him.

We both giggled like a college couple for several minutes, lost in each others company.

"I thought we'd get to watch a fight back there," I laughed.

"Anderson's a tough old dog, I'll bet that he would take Sidereaux down in a flash."

"Maybe," I contradicted him for the sake of contradicting him, just to get him going.

"Maybe?" Shepard asked. "I think I'm right about that."

"Oh, I don't think Anderson's that fast anymore. I also heard that he punched Udina in the gut a while back," I told him.

"Really? That wouldn't suprise me. If I were Anderson, I would level that tool in a second," Shepard joked. It was funny because I knew he wouldn't do it in a million years. Shepard is such a nice guy, he wouldn't lay a hand on anybody he knew... Well that's what he was like last time I saw him.

"So, how have you and your new friends been doing since I left?" I asked it casually, but was desperate for an answer. It had been over two years, and I didn't even know what Shepard had been up to.

"Better. They were all at the end of their own personal ropes when I found them, or at least most of them. Tali and Garrus were glad to see me. Joker had already signed up for Cerberus, so he was about as pumped as he can be. The rest you haven't met yet. They're strong individuals, mentally and physically. They all had their own sets of troubles, but have managed to work through them with some help."

He stopped, apologising for rambling, but I told him to keep going. I liked the way he talked. He sounded like a preacher or an old war vet halfway through his memoirs with a case of writer's block, eager to spill his thoughts out. He wasn't like most other loser boyfriends I've had, considering my career didn't intimidate him and he wanted to do more than just get into my shorts. Actually, he wasn't like any other man I had met. He was his own breed all together, with a sense of duty and motivation to do the right thing no matter what setting him apart from, or perhaps above, others.

Then it was my turn.

I was reserved at first, but I realized I could trust Shepard. I felt like a normal person for the first time in a long while, staying up later than I should be and talking about things I had been forbidden to speak of. For the past couple of months, the only contact I had with the outside world was a video chat with Lynn and Abbey, and a manditory leave ordered by Anderson. This was a refreshing change of pace, despite the circumstances.

Sometime, I started up my personal music player, and began showing Shepard what I had. We had slightly different music tastes; I liked the intense music that was playing in clubs, the real down to earth tunes that didn't involve a lot of voice editing, mixed in with some updated versions of boring classics. Shepard liked music that was written by people who have been dead for a hundred years. We found a common ground somewhere along the line.

Then he found the song "Comfortably Numb" by Rodger Walters and Dar Williams.(no relation) I liked that, it was a little slow for me, but it was perfect for the moment. He turned it on and we held each other, staring off into space wondering what tomarrow might bring. The only thing that mattered was that we had each other for one more night, even though it might be our last night together.

We were in way over our heads, but it was alright.

Nine in the morning had never come so soon.

It hit me about as hard as the banging on the door and Dignam telling Shepard and I, now called "Joanie and Chachi", to get up.

I moaned and began to untangle myself from the sheets and Shepard's arms and slowly rise out of bed. Shepard was still out like a light, though.

"Come on, Skipper. We've got a flight to catch, " I pulled the pillow out from under his head, to his suprise, and convinced him to get his tail out of bed.

We picked up the pace, dressing ourselves and grabbing our weapons on the way out. Shepard and I both donned cargo pants and loose t-shirts. Mine was dark blue with the Alliance logo stecniled across the back. Shepard wore a faded workout tee that had served me for many years. It was clearly a womean's shirt, but he didn't complain.

As we stepped out, two human marines saluted me. On instinct I saluted them back, even though I had no idea who they were.

Behind them stood Behring, looking well rested for the first time in weeks. Dignam leaned up against the opposite wall as he watched down the hallway, his hand already on his hand canon, expecting trouble. Accompanying them were two more asari officers cradling assault rifles, with black and blue EPSO (Elysium Police Special Operations, I think) combat armor, looking alert.

"Expecting trouble?" I asked the question in a grave tone, checking the load on my Predator just in case.

"We don't know yet. But the transport Anderson was supposed to send should have been here about three minutes ago," Behring siad in an exasperated tone.

"Have any other officers in the building seen anything?," Shepard asked hurriedly.

"I've been doing radio checks about every fifteen seconds, " Dignam told me. I could tell from the look on his face that he wasn't even kidding.

I swore under my breath. I hated times like this; when we didn't know if a mission was compromised or not. Times like this all of your training and your entire life can come down to a judgement call, and usually that call is an educated guess, failure or success only a random-ass judgement call away.

Dignam turned away to do a radio check, freezing after a couple seconds of static. Only static. No chatter, just nothing.

"Oh shit, " I was the first to notice. By the time I had said aloud what everyone else was thinking, we all had our guns out and were covering each end of the hallway.

"We have to move. Is there an exit?" Shepard asked, trying to stay calm.

"Not one that they don't have covered," Dignam replied. "Cerberus agents seal off the exits first, then shut down the elevators, then start working their way up."

I didn't have time to ask how he knew all of that, but I had time to take it into serious consideration.

"Okay, that makes them hard to escape, but easy to predict. What's it gonna be, Skipper?" I asked. The decision rested on Shepard, as most usually did.

He thought for a second, weighing out all of the options before realizing what needed doing. Everyone actually knew what he was going to say, as there was no alternative.

"We'll have to hit them head on. They will be spread thin across all of the stairwells and elevators, so it would be best if we all punched through one way and escaped before they could coordinate a counter attack. It's ugly, but it's all we've got."

All of us nodded. It was time to take the fight to them.

Kai Leng:

The officer hit the floor with a thud, with a crushed windpipe and a dislocated shoulder.

Not bad, Kai Leng thought. Not bad at all.

He rounded the corner, combat knife up his shirt sleeve. Another officer turned around in suprise, but dismissed the man as another bystander, as he didn't have a gun. He was human. Six two. A hundred and eighty pounds. Mid twenties. Young in his career, not wanting to waste it guarding some run down hotel. Cops were easy like that. You could guess at how they would handle a situation by just watching them in the moments leading up to it, their physical features and facial expressions telling all.

Reading people in the few second before he killed them was something Kai Leng took pride in. He had truely beaten them after having known them in a way that even their loved ones couldn't dream of before killing them in ways that they couldn't imagine.

Kai Leng moved swiftly, darting towards the young officer.

The man's eyes went wide in shock before angling his rifle for a clean shot.

As he was about to fire, Kai Leng jumped and kicked off of the adjacent wall, giving him the momentum of a krogan as he slammed a closed fist into the officer's nose in mid air, smashing the cartalidge into a pulp.

The bloodied young man reeled, dropping his rifle. Now was his chance.

Kai Leng spun around, drawing the knife and ramming it into the man's neck at an upward angle in one motion, the blade plunging into his brain, stopping his pain cold. The speed of this motion was matched only by the speed of which Kai Leng slipped the knife back into his shirt sleeve. Had there been any witnesses, they wouldn't have even seen it.

He let the pathetic excuse of a cop slump to the floor, dead.

That was the last one. There had been seven on the other floors, and they were all dead.

Kai Leng rejoined Barrigan and the rest of his eight man team, dispersing them to different exits, where they would box in Shepard and the others. He had one condition, though.

He was to be the one to kill Ashley Williams.

Thanks for reading all! Please post reviews and give me feedback on the story, as this will be a great help as I continue the adventure.