It was strange, being alive again.

As a Counter Guardian, he was perpetually connected to the network that comprised humanity's hivemind. It was a constant influx of thought and idea that spanned the multiverse, so massive anyone (except apparently some weirdo named Zelretch) would go utterly insane trying to make sense of it. Luckily, as a Counter Guardian, Alaya shuffled through all the data for him, giving him what was relevant and letting the rest flow by.

Now, that didn't necessarily mean he had been suddenly disconnected. It was still all there, flowing through his mind, just… well… further away. It was still there, but it was like he was listening to it from the other end of a tunnel, rather than how he used to have it blasting through his headphones.

The second strange thing was now that he was alive again, his body was also alive. After spending (what? An eternity?) as a nigh immortal Servant, suddenly becoming human again was a terrifyingly humble experience.

Though, that wasn't to say he was suddenly crippled, considering he had been having this existential crisis while tearing apart the enemy mechs with his bare hands.

A combination of Alaya's Miracles and whatever the Hell Cerberus did to bring him back from the dead had given him what he would classify as D-ranked strength, which probably made him the strongest mortal human in the world.

Now, the reason he was tearing the robot's apart with his bare hands was because Cerberus apparently didn't keep powerful guns on their research station (AKA a rife, which was a reasonable if not stupid decision), and he could charge down their toothpick thin robots faster than he could use a pistol to burn down their shields.

Apparently, Mass Effect shielding meant people didn't build robots like they used to, and considering he had needed to destroy many more destructive robots in both his time killing Geth and as a Space Age Counter Guardian, he was both relived and disappointed that this was the best Cerberus could muster up.

"How are you doing, Jacob?" Shepard asked, tearing off another robot's arm and using it to 'brain' the next one.

"Honestly, sir?" the man replied from where he was taking cover behind a pile of robot corpses, "I'm feeling kind of useless. I mean, I'm glad this is easy enough for you that I'm useless, but I feel pretty bad making a dead man do all the work."

"Huh, I suppose I am hogging up all the glory," Shepard mused, tearing the head off another Mech (and who put the core possessor in the head, honestly). Looking around and noticing that there weren't any robots left that could do much more than twitch, he nodded, coming to a decision.

"All right. Jacob, you can take out the next room yourself," he told the ex-marine, patting the man's shoulder.

"Wait, what? You're not going to help? At all?"

"Of course not," Shepard scoffed, shaking his head. "How would you learn to better yourself if you never get any field action? I led a team; I was a commander. I didn't charge in gung-ho killing everything in sight. That's what Wrex was for."

"I guess that makes sense," the man nodded, probably convincing himself that Shepard would save him if things got too dicey.

(He wouldn't. The man may not have realized it, but he was currently under assessment to see whether or not he would be a solid addition to Shepard's new team. And while Jacob had the whole 'escaped together from a hostile research center' thing going for him, if he didn't have the skills to back that up, he would be dropped.)

-(-)-

Luckily for Jacob, he was actually extremely skilled.

Biotic pull against one mech to shield against the other mech's fire, then launch the 'corpse' at the enemy and fire while its distracted. Rinse, repeat, and take cover when there isn't enough time for a shield. The man was efficient in a way that reminded him of Garrus and KIRITSUGU. No wasted movement, no flashy attacks, just pure, solid combat.

"Not bad," Shepard nodded at Jacob once the last mech was destroyed. "Take a breather, there'll be more in the next room, and I want you in top shape for each battle."

"Got it—wait, how do you know where the mechs are?"

"Jacob, I've been a soldier a long time, and if there's one thing I've learned, it's that there are always more enemies."

-(-)-

Actually, there weren't any (working) mechs in the next room, just a woman wearing the most impractical combat suit since OKITA's boob window.

"Jacob, have you seen Wilson?!" the woman snapped, looking ten types of unholy pissed.

"No, ma'am!" he snapped up in salute before almost instantly relaxing. "I imagine he didn't make it, though. Everyone we came across was dead or dying, as morbid as that is. Why do you ask?"

"Because," her face morphed into a mask of cold calm as she lowered her gun, "I am going to kill that traitor the first chance I get."

"Wait, trai—"

"No time for that now," she cut him off, before turning to the newly resurrected Commander. "Shepard. Why are you naked."

The man blinked, nonplussed. "I haven't been able to find any clothes, and I'm not about to defile a corpse just to steal some pants."

Her eyebrow twitched; an expression so minute he almost wouldn't have noticed it if he hadn't spent the last (eternity) around near-emotionless mass-murders. "Your armor was in the locker next to your bed."

Shepard crossed his arms over his bare chest. "I don't see how I could have possibly known that. And besides, if we apparently don't have time to discuss a traitor in your midst, then why are you so concerned about my state of dress?"

Her eyebrow twitched again, but she let the conversation drop, instead gesturing for the two of them to follow her into the hanger.

(Still, he admired her composure. The last time he had come off a battlefield nearly naked, the only one who hadn't stared was Wrex)

-(-)-

Almost immediately after getting onto the ship he was given pants, and then he was given a mission by the so called 'Illusive Man' [Jack Harper] to go to Freedom's Progress, one of the Human colonies that had apparently been attacked by the Collectors (he knew it was the Collectors) not an hour ago. Still…

"How did they just destroy an entire colony like that? Nearly a million people dead, and it just happened that quickly?"

That didn't make sense. He knew the Collectors attacked Human colonies—he had spent hundreds of timelines defending the same colony over and over and over again in a vain attempt to capture or destroy the ship. He had it down to a science so how the Hell

"We aren't entirely sure, though we expected it to happen eventually," Miranda told him as he burned through the report. "Humanity has been under constant attack by the Collectors for the two years you've been gone, but similarly we have also apparently been defended by some shadow organization. Nobody knows where they come from or where they go, just that they protect the colonies, and no one can figure out what they look like or even how they fight off the Collectors. It's sent the Alliance into quite the tizzy."

[Cerberus fears them. Wants to know if you know anything about them. Doesn't believe you do.]

"Still, you say these guardians just, what, didn't show u—"

[Kill one to save ten Kill ten to save one hundred Kill on hundred to save one thousand Kill one thousand to save one million Kill one million to save one billion]

"Damn it!" he hissed, angrily shutting off his omni-tool, standing up and pacing furiously, not for the first time hating his job. "How fast can we get to Freedom's Progress?"

"We'll take two more hours to get there at the earliest," Miranda soothed him, perhaps actually sympathizing with him, perhaps understanding she was in the same room as a very angry man that could tear mechs apart with his bare hands. [Both]

A part of him wanted to turn Alaya off, to not be able to know all the thoughts and motivations of everyone around him, but the ruthless part of him reminded him that, while currently friendly, this was easily a potential hostile situation, and having an archive of every thought ever made by a human hooked up to his brain was the most useful tool in his possession if this went hot.

[Is disappointed you are no longer naked]

That didn't mean he needed to know everything, though.

-(-)-

Freedom's progress was a ghost town, inhabited only by murderous robots that Shepard easily destroyed with his newly acquired rifle. It also, apparently, had Quarians.

"Tali!" he exclaimed happily, wrapping his old friend in as tight a hug he could give without crushing her very fragile body.

"Shepard?" she whispered back, sounding as if she had just seen a ghost (Ha). "You're alive? You're here?! What are you—No, if you were alive, of course you'd be—is that Cerberus?"

"Put her down, terrorist!" one of the other Quarians hissed holding a gun up to him (with Shepard's new subordinates following in kind).

"Shepard," Tali stated firmly from where she was still in his arms, a foot off the ground, "If that is you, then you should be able to answer these three questions. First, where were you born? Second, where and why were you naked with Benezia?" someone made a choking noise, though he couldn't tell who, "And third, why are you working for Cerberus?"

He raised an eyebrow at her, instantly understanding what she was playing at. "Honestly Tali, you should know better than to ask where I was born. I didn't even know what city I was living in till I was twelve. How the hell would I know where I was born. As for the second question, it was in our battle with her in Noveria, my shields had been destroyed by Rachni acid right before it, which also dissolved most of my armor. I decided against getting a new set, as that might have taken to long. In fact, I specifically remember telling you and Liara that if I was going to fight, I would do it as my ancestors did; butt naked and screaming bloody murder. Neither of you would look me in the eye for a week after that. And, finally, I'm not working for Cerberus, they're obviously working for me."

The Quarian in his arms snorted. "Yeah, you're Shepard alright. Now, do you mind putting me down? We're on a bit of a time crunch."

"Fine, fine," he sighed overdramatically, gently setting the much smaller (actually not as small; had she grown?) Quarian on the ground. "So, what do you need help with?"

"We're looking to recover a Quarian, Veetor, who was on pilgrimage in this colony. He sent out a distress signal a couple hours ago, and we were the closest able to respond."

"Wait," Tali's lackey Quarian (Tali had a lackey holy shit he was so proud) butted in, having not lowered his gun, "Are you actually suggesting we work with terrorists?!"

"No, Prazza," Tali soothed her lackey, "We aren't working with a terrorist organization; we are working with Commander Shepard who has happened to have taken over a terrorist organization."

Miranda made an affronted noise behind him, but luckily it was quiet enough he didn't think anyone else heard.

"So, you need me to take out the Mechs, then, while your group goes around and rescues your missing pilgrim, right?" Shepard asked, bringing the conversation back on track.

"Shepard," Miranda hissed from behind him, "the Quarian might have valuable data on the missing—"

"Which Tali with be happy enough to share with us after this rescue mission is over," he cut her off. "After all, we're all on the same side, aren't we?"

Her eyebrow barely twitched, but it was enough to know he had [pissed her off]. Oh well, it wasn't like she was a permanent addition yet anyway.

"Good. Tali, I'll see you again when every enemy in a ten-mile radius is dead—er, disabled."

-(-)-

Shepard dug through the remains of the Loki mechs, salvaging what he felt was useful as Miranda read over the data Veetor had gathered on the Collectors. It wasn't like he needed to see it, as all the information that entered her mind eventually made its way to his. Tali had apparently needed to return to the Migrant Fleet, and as disappointing as that was, he had managed to wrangle a promise out of her to meet up again later. It wasn't like it would be hard, considering he technically didn't exist. Or maybe that would make it harder. Who knows.

"Shepard, how certain are you that the Quarians didn't deceive us?" Miranda asked, not looking up from her omnitool. A bit away, Jacob was guarding the shuttle as it waited for him to finish salvaging.

"Absolutely, why?" he replied, using the butt of his rifle to knock off one of the guns. (You could never have too many guns, and at the very least if you took all the guns then that means there's one less gun in the world for your enemy to use.)

"In the video there is a ten-minute interval at the end of the attack that is completely corrupted, to the point it almost crashed my omnitool trying to watch it."

He got up, wiping his hands on his armor. "Here, let me see," he told her, more for appearances sake than anything. The information was already downloading into his mind.

Looking over her omnitool, he watched the entire attack through the blurry security feed, [Humanity's] memories laid over it. The entire attack lasted exactly fourty-two minutes, (terrifyingly efficient), and finally ended with—

He froze, years of training allowing him to stop himself from showing any reaction. While Miranda's omnitool glitched out into static, the overlaid vision only he could see showed a man with dark skin and white hair suddenly appear from nowhere in front of Veetor's hiding place, twin pistols raised and slaughtering any Collector that crossed his path.

But it was too late to save the colony. The last of the humans were already being loaded onto the ship, and any Collectors remaining on the ground were just unfortunate casualties. The ship took off, leaving the remaining Collectors to die, their bodies dissolving to a state that looked disturbingly like a dead human.

But the GUARDIAN didn't shoot at the ship, never even glanced at it until it was already a speck in the sky, and only then shot off a few bullets that any marksman could tell was never meant to really hit.

And then the man was gone, and the static ended, returning to the normal security camera.

He let out a breath, wondering why. Why would ALTER only come at the end, when the attack was already over? When there was no one left to save?

[Kill one million to save one billion]

Of course. A distraction.

The Counter Guardians had showed up to stop every Collector attack so far, all of them without fail. But obviously, they weren't perfect (they weren't. They always failed to save the colony the first time, but then the timeline was aborted, and they tried again and again until they got it right) and were prone to mistakes like any other human.

And so, we were late, the one time it counted. But not showing up would be more suspicious. So, one came at the end, gave a token resistance, and the left, apparently having failed.

Apparently.

[Kill one million to save one billion]

-(-)-

On the Collector's shuttle, invisible and intangible, a ghost waited. Nobody knew he was there, and even if they did, there was no way to get him off. But, in the end, that was their mistake. To attack [Humanity] first was their downfall, and now bringing the living, breathing bodies of his fellow humans to their home would be their annihilation.

On the Collector's shuttle, invisible and intangible, a monster waited. Stalking its prey, unaware of the fate they were going to bring onto themselves, of the horror they would soon receive. It waited, sharpening its claws and checking its guns, waiting patiently for the perfect time to strike.

On the Collector's shuttle, invisible and intangible, Emiya ALTER smiled.