AN: Alright in light of the new Mass Effect coming out me and my co-author (and brother) ethanisawesome55 have decided to create what you see before you. But I'm pretty sure you've gathered that so I'll shut up and let you read.

Disclaimer: I don't have to do this right? I mean it should be self explanatory...

Lieutenant Foster please report to the bridge.

Groggily, Pollux lifted himself from his bunk, last mission had taken a lot out of the powerful biotic. Liara had told him to sleep late at least if he wasn't going to take the day off, which he wasn't. However, seems like commander Shepard had other plans for him today. In his tired haze he almost didn't notice the Turian standing in front of him clad in blue C-Sec armor. "Hey you ok? T'Soni sent me down here to make sure you could actually walk." Memories of yesterday's operation slowly returned in detail; being pinned down by some heavy Geth artillery, getting shot in the shoulder, nearly exploding his Adept biotic implant when he took down a Geth ship. Feeling a twinge of pain in the back of his neck where the damaged amp sat, Pollux let out a sigh, "Yeah I'm fine for the most part. Help me up will ya?" Guarus and Pollux had grown to be very close friends ever since their first encounter when Pollux nearly put a sword through him. Oh yes, Pollux has a sword. It resembles an ancient roman gladius, and even though it may seem impractical, any enemy that has underestimated him doesn't live long. Guarus helped him for a while until he felt strong enough to carry himself, "I still can't believe your metabolism. You almost cleared out the damn mess hall!" Guarus laughed as he punched his human friend in the arm. Biotics need to consume a lot of calories to use their powers or they'll just burn out, and after his big display yesterday he had to eat an insane amount of food just to stay conscious enough to undergo the biotic repair. But even then it was evident he needed a new one, he was probably going to buy a stronger one to keep up with his powerful demand. And maybe a cool new sword, and some ramen.

Eventually they made it to the bridge, Pollux never got to see it because he wasn't ever stationed here but when Saren was at large this place was more busy than Citadel traffic. Now, it was boring and slow, the life and excitement sucked out of each crew member because the council (more like Udina) has Commander Shepard running around the terminus system hunting down the last of the Geth. As they approached they both noticed a very agitated Commander Shepard standing behind Joker while XO-Presley paced back and forth reading the same scan over and over again. "Commander, you called for me?" Commander Jane Shepard is the most terrifying woman in the universe, well to Pollux anyways. He idolized her as she moved through the ranks of the Alliance Navy and she became an inspiration to him and his older brother. The thought of him sent a sour taste into his mouth and he quickly removed the thought from his mind. She turned around and flashed a quick, but tired smile. "Glad to see you on your feet Lieutenant, I want you to go see Liara down in the medical bay. She has some amps to help you replace the one you nearly blew out yesterday." Pollux saluted and began his casual stroll through the ship to meet Liara T'Soni.

Dr.T'Soni was the daughter of two Asari Matriarchs, a damn good Prothean Archeologist, and one of the only other people Pollux could really spar with using biotics; especially after what happened with Guarus one day. The door to the medical bay slid open as he walked in which showed and Liara turned away looking at some medical papers. "You think he's strong enough? I don't want to injure him more than he's injured himself." Chakwas said as she skimmed over the papers. Liara pointed to a part of her papers and responded, "It will work, he has a strong Element Zero signature for starters and I've never seen a human with such biotic capabilities." He smirked at the compliment, even though she wasn't really directing it at him. It was just nice to hear appreciation of his abilities."Ahem, you guys needed to see me?"He coughed, both shot around to him and Liara profusely apologized for not noticing him before while Chakwas immediately started scanning him and checking vitals. "So I was told you damaged your biotic amp correct?" Chakwas said as she scanned the area where the amp was located. Pollux replied with the usual "yes ma'am" and told them about his last mission, and made sure to highlight the parts where he ripped apart the Geth with his abilities. As he talked Liara stood with her hand on her chin, as if to be analyzing what he was saying. "Ok, so it sounds like you've been putting a lot of unnecessary strain on your biotics. Your amp would've given out eventually because of this, but since you decided to overuse it on the last mission, you sped up the process. Now we need to remove it before you damage yourself further." Liara said as she paced back and forth. Panic started to rise in his chest as he retorted, "Whoa no way, you're not taking my amp out." She quickly raised her hands defensively, "We have to, but we have something to replace it. We've been working on a hybrid amp that should be strong enough to take the abuse you give it. It's a mix between some asari amps and human ones, but we're unsure if it's too strong for you." Pollux accidentally let out a snort, "You've seen what I can do. I think I can handle it." This did little to reassure however. "Yes but every time a human attempts asari amps it ends rather poorly. The less I see you in my office the better, even though you've seemingly made your way in here more times than Shepard even." But the asari had a different opinion, "I believe he can do it. But I won't give you false hope. You can die if it doesn't work, so it's your choice. It's either this procedure or you keep blowing out amps, which is almost as dangerous." Pollux, for once, was quite literally at a loss for words. However, fate would have

him postpone his answer….

Everyone to your battle stations! This is not a drill, repeat this is not-

The call was interrupted by a violent rattle of the ship followed by an explosion in the mess hall near them. The explosion sent all three of them into the nearby wall, giving Pollux an even worse throbbing headache than before. "Is everyone alright?" He said as he helped Chakwas up, she was bleeding moderately from her head. Liara was already completely outfitted in combat armor, helmet in hand.

Abandon ship! Repeat, abandon ship!

Joker shouted from the intercom. Liara quickly put on her helmet and started to help them escort Chakwas, "Take her to a pod and get out of here!" While fighting to stay on their feet Pollux defiantly responded, "Screw that! After we take her I'm getting suited up and helping." They made it to the pods and carefully placed the good doctor in with a few other crew members, "Don't be stupid! I'm going to find Shepard and if you're not in one of these pods so help me goddess!" Another explosion rocked the ship and a crew member got caught under some debris, "No! I'm helping, go find Shepard! No one is getting left behind today and god knows she'll be the last one off this ship if we let her, I'll get as many in the pods as I can!" In a mad dash, not waiting to hear the asari protest, he ran over to the pinned crew member. "It's no use! It won't budge!" She yelled, but Pollux knew what he had to do. He focused on his amp, and in the molecules of the metal pinning her to the ground and used warp to weaken it enough so that it would break and she'd be free. The normal sharp pain he was accustomed to using amps was replaced with an excruciatingly burning sensation, his vision got fuzzy around the corners but it worked, both him and the woman were surprised. "Foster!" Shepard yelled from behind him, he went to look at them but fell to the floor in an instant with stars at the edges of his vision. "Come on! Let's go!" Shepard yelled as she effortlessly picked him up and moved to the pods. "Joker won't leave the cockpit!" T'Soni yelled from the pod; cursing, Shepard was about to put Pollux in the pod when he resisted, "I'll get him Commander." He clearly was in no shape to go save Joker, so Shepard had only one other choice. "Sorry kid, I'll meet you back in the Citadel." And she threw him in just before it shut and jettisoned into space. The pain in his head was far too great to protest, so he submitted and slept till they got picked up. But the thing was, he wasn't going to be seeing Shepard back at the Citadel.

For now….

3 Months Later

Lieutenant Foster, please report to the communications room

Castor sat in the corner of the mess hall, alone, eating his lunch when he heard the intercom. No one dared to sit next to him, not after what happened to a recruit who thought he had the balls to sit next to The Illusive Man's Angel of Death, under a special call sign, Hades. That is what he did anyways, whoever he needed killed or silenced he always called on one of his favorite science projects. Castor had subdermal clocking devices implanted in his skin, connected to his nervous system to become virtually invisible on command. This made him an effective, regretful killer. Castor was able to remember the faces and names of each target, their hobbies, addresses, and what food they liked. Although he did not enjoy being a killer, he knew it was necessary for the good of humankind, being that Cerberus was the only organization that actually cared about humans. Castor pondered all this as he made his way to speak with The Illusive Man.

As he passed a small group of Cerberus soldiers he heard a faint whisper, "Freak." His reflexes snapped to the noise as he easily picked out the unlucky fool from the group. The small group fell back in surprise as they saw him throw their compatriot into the wall and hold him by the neck against the it, Castor enjoyed the pained look on his face for a moment before coldly staring at the others. "So, anyone else want to say something?" The only noise was the resisting and choking of this poor, but stupid man. They foolishly taunted him when they thought he couldn't hear them, but some actually believe he was a demon with eyes in the back of his head. However, the woman behind him would quickly prove that theory wrong, a strong biotic push released his grasp and sent him rolling to the floor. But just as quick he was on his feet, pistol aimed at one of Cerberus's most important, dangerous woman. "Miranda, to what do I owe the pleasure?" She harbored some pity for Castor, but would never show it to him. Both had been subjected to the testing, both made to be better than the average grunt, both made into killers. Instead of showing any pity or remorse, she showed bitter resentment, "Quit dawdling, after you meet with The Illusive Man see me in the hangar." She elegantly strode beside him, his pistol's aim never wavering. She leaned in and whispered, "If you keep aiming that at me, I'll break you in half." Both knew that in everyone's eyes they matched each other in strength and skill, but she had wits and experience where he had a natural killers instinct; in the end he knew she could do exactly that. Without another word she left, and Castor let out an animalistic growl he didn't realize he was keeping which scared off the rest of the operatives and left him all alone to make the trek in peace.

The communications room was top of the line, like most Cerberus tech, and seemed like an empty room, but, when activated, gave real time 3D imaging with no lag whatsoever. The room activated and went pitch black and an image of a chair turned away from Castor appeared, the cigarette smoke digitally visible. The chair slowly, and quite dramatically, turned to reveal the infamous Illusive Man as he stared into Castor with bright blue eyes. "So, do you harbor some sort of disdain for my other operatives or are you just not a people person?" Castor responded, careful not to show any emotion, "The latter, sir. You needed to speak to me?" An amused smile escaped him as he responded. "Yes, I'm gathering up a team of scientists and engineers to be the crew under the command of an old soldier. Her ship, you may find familiar, is the Normandy. You're under the command of my finest operative, Miranda Lawson. She will brief you on the situation." This was not going to go well, Castor has a history of not playing well with others. "Will there be anything else sir?" The amused look on The Illusive Man's face only annoyed Castor more, "Do try to follow orders, for once." With that the communications room deactivated and Castor headed to his quarters first to get suited up. He was equipped with Cerberus Armor designed for shock troops, with a few homemade enhancements. Like motorized joints for mobility and extra strength, a shield booster for emergencies, and last but certainly not least was a thermal cloak that hid him from sensors. Now, his favorite part, the guns. Typically he would've bought different weapons than use the default shit he's usually given, but Cerberus had some of the best weapons in their seemingly infinite arsenal. So he equipped the Cerberus M-13 Raptor for long range assassinations and combat, the Cerberus Harrier for situations where the enemy gets a little too close for a rifle, and the M-35B Talon as his sidearm for those special occasions. The com link in his helmet buzzed, but like usually he ignored it. Then again it sounded, a bit more impatiently this time, but he still ignored it; they never were really important when they called him. That was until the intercom linked to the entire base exploded with a familiar feminine voice, "Dammit Hades if you don't get to the hangar bay right now I'm going to rip your bloody head off!" He chuckled as he continued to leisurely stroll through the base, taking the long route. When he finally reached the hangar bay he was greeted by an immensely pissed off Miranda, "About damn time. Come on,we're 3 minutes behind schedule."

Two hours later...

The ride was quiet for the most part, Miranda stared daggers into Castor for most of it. But still, Miranda had to break the silence, "Are you aware of the importance of this mission?" His head snapped to the sudden noise, "Not really, he wants me to be apart of some crew. Which reminds me, he of all people should know how well I play with others, so why would he order me to be apart of a crew?" He asked, hoping that he could trick Miranda into explaining the situation. Castor made it abundantly clear he was not a people person and did not like working with others. "That's classified, all you need to know is that the fate of humanity lies with this mission and there is no room for error." She stood up abruptly and made Castor's reflexes twitch with the sudden change, "You are to follow my orders to the letter, I tell you jump you ask how high. Got it?" Oh he didn't like that at all, he took his helmet off that masked his face and stared hatefully into her. "Not. Happening." Was his only response, both knew where this was gonna go so Miranda threw her pistol to the ground as Castor set his weapons to the side. "You are such a child." She said, his only response was sending a fist directly at her which was countered gracefully and sent him colliding with the walls of the small dropship. "Maybe if your brother was here, he'd actually follow orders instead of being an immature brat!" Well that's definitely not what you say to Castor, ever. As he turned to her his once green piercing eyes were glowing orange from the implants in his brain, which meant he was pushing them into overtime. With uncanny speed he charged her and kicked her into the cockpit, when she hit the back seat of the pilot he turned, "Hey watch it! I got a bad leg as it is I don't need you two beating the shit out of each other!" Miranda looked up at him from the floor, "How much longer?" He turned to the console and pressed a few buttons, "20 minutes out ma'am." She sighed, this was going to be a long 20 minutes.

Later….

Liara stared in disbelief; after what felt like ages she finally found her, or what was left of her. She could hardly believe it when Cerberus of all people asked her to do this and not some human archeologists. Albeit the team they sent didn't trust her, but at least she had a friendly drell to keep her company. Even though he was working for the shadow broker rather than her or Cerberus, but at least he didn't treat her with disdain. As usual she was lost in her own little world of thought and had not noticed the trooper at her door, so when she spoke all of Liara's items in her hands fell; making her already messy work area worse.

"Mrs. T'Soni. You're needed in the hangar, our commander wanted to meet you before we left with the package." She scoffed, but rather than unleashing a torrent of expletives she gathered her things and headed out. Cerberus told her what their plan was, for the most part. In fact The Illusive Man himself contacted her and explained the situation, but she wasn't too sure if this Lazarus Project would work like they said. Liara knew better than to trust a "terrorist organization" but this seemed like the only way to get her back, the galaxy needed her, Liara needed her. She was actually impressed how quickly Cerberus created an operational base on Alchera, seeing as how it was almost void of life and couldn't sustain any living creatures other than the Krogan, and even that's a big if.

In the hangar her ship was all ready to go to take her back to Illium. A part of her was glad to be going home, yet another part dreaded it. A small Cerberus drop ship came into the hangar and lightly landed in the middle of it,and as it did all the troopers and other scientists stood at attention as if to be apart of the Alliance Military. When the engines cut off she expected a small silence, but there wasn't. Sounds of struggling we're coming from inside, everyone looked confusingly at the one another, wondering what exactly was going on. Liara herself was concerned as to what was going on, so she decided to approach it cautiously. That was until the doors opened and what looked like a Cerberus trooper almost was flung out into the hangar, skipping along the hard metal surface a few times before rolling back up on his feet.

He landed only inches away from Liara, and the face she saw brought a gasp from her mouth, "P-Pollux?" She questioned, she felt as if that wasn't true however.

The same curly, dark brown hair, Caucasian human she remembered was present in front of her but at the same time he wasn't. His skin was more pale, his eyes were glowing bright orange, and his overall aura was primal almost. It was very evident that he had been fighting someone as there were cuts and bruises all over his face and the blood from his nose covered the front of his armor.

"No, you're not Pollux. Are you Castor, his brother?" She said shakily. She was only briefly told about her previous crew mate's brother, and what she was told only portrayed him as a bloodthirsty monster. He started to charge back towards the ship when he suddenly froze, he was probably fighting a biotic who just used stasis on him. Miranda stepped off the ship and leisurely walked over to both of them and introduced herself and Castor, she didn't have a scratch on her.

"So, where is it?" She asked, or more like ordered. "She is in the ship awaiting to be taken to the Lazarus facility." Miranda showed no emotion, Liara just continued to stare her down, and Castor was just waiting for the stasis to wear off so he could kill the bitch.

Miranda remembered that she had froze Castor in place and decided to use it to her advantage, "Ok, I won't leave you here on this god forsaken rock and show you why your mission is so important if you promise to behave. Trust me, the fate of humanity is at stake, I need you to follow orders for once."

The stasis wore off, but instead of charging her like wanted he stood there and calmly brought his breathing and heart beat back to normal levels. He couldn't attack her for multiple reasons and he wasn't stupid enough to charge her with over 20 troopers around and his cybernetic implants completely drained. He stared at her quietly and mockingly said, "Say please."

A smirk grew on his face as pure frustration took hold of Miranda's. "Please, Castor." His smirk shattered, the realization of how important this was hit him like a charging Krogan. She never said please, or anything like that, and for her to submit to such a stupid request like that was unheard of. He put on his helmet and nodded to her, Liara began to show them to the ship they would be taking to the Lazarus Project facility; both women were very good at keeping him in the dark about it on the way there. Inside the ship there were scientists all over the place, and they were swarming this glass coffin like thing in the middle of it. He walked over to it, it was a corpse, very badly burnt and disfigured. What threw him off the most was the letters "N7" faintly written on the armor and nearly scratched off.

"Who is this? What's Project Lazarus?" He asked; Liara shuffled uncomfortably, not sure whether or not to tell him because he acted so unpredictably. Miranda on the other hand was irritated and just went out with it. "That's Commander Jane Shepard of the Alliance Navy, and a Council Specter."

For once he couldn't think, his brain wasn't processing this, Miranda didn't miss a beat, "So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me.I Knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" Then Lazarus rose from the dead, and left his tomb." The confused crowd looked to her, she placed a hand on Castor's shoulder and stated loud enough for everyone to hear. "We're going to bring Shepard back. From the dead."