A short introduction chapter to my new story I've started writing. It takes place after ME2 and it might not follow ME3's story, I don't really know yet myself. But I think it's an interesting idea and I'll try to make something out of it.

So the main character is Emilia Shepard and after she stopped the Collectors, Council still refused to believe the real threat, making it look like all Emilia had done was somehow bad. So she took off, returned to her homeland and became a bounty hunter. But the Reapers are still out there and she won't be able to ignore it for long.

I lit myself another cigarette, while watching the news, sitting behind one of the empty tables in the bar.

Bars didn't use to be so empty here on Earth, they were always full of people talking, drinking, laughing, at least that's how I remember it. But not anymore. There were three other people beside me and barman, all of them minding their own business.

The news showed the same images as every other day. People were scared of the Reapers, they were trying to prepare for their invasion, but no one knew when that would be.

My lips twitched into a grin when I saw council on the screen above the bar. They were convincing everyone, that this problem would be taken care of, but I guess no one believed them anymore.

But the next piece caught my interest, so I leaned on my elbows, listening closely.

"Every species in the galaxy want the same thing and this is probably the only thing they can all agree on, we need a leader. Behind me, you can see a demonstration taking place right in the Citadel, for giving Commander Shepard back her Spectre status. Commander Shepard, if you are somewhere out there, listening to this, we need you back. This is Emily Wong, coming live from the Citadel."

I held back a bitter laugh. They need me back? They should have thought about that before the Council banished me from the Citadel. I tried to warn them about Reapers, I chased Saren across the galaxy for them, saved hundreds of people from Collectors. They wanted to throw me into jail for that, they were too blind to see the real threat.

Maybe I've made some mistakes, maybe I've sacrificed lives of Batarians, but I did that to save the whole galaxy. They couldn't see the whole picture, they were refusing to see the truth.

And I'm so fucking tired of their attitude. So I did the only thing I could, I ran. Call me a coward, I don't give a damn. I risked my life for them more times than I can count and I am done.

The only thing I regret is leaving my crew behind and Anderson. But somehow I know they can understand my feelings.

I finished my drink and walked outside, into an empty street of New York, where I grew up. This was the first place they looked for me, but all those skills I've learn actually came in handy. I learnt how to disappear like Thane, I learn to anticipate their moves like Garrus could, even Tali's skills in mechanics are making my life easier here.

And not to mention Wrex, I became a bounty hunter right after I came here. It was an easy job and I got a lot of credits from it and you'd be surprised how many jobs I got since I've first started. And not only killing people, sometimes I worked as an investigator, finding people and bringing them back home.

This was my life now and in a crazy, selfish way, I was happy.